36 Gas leak
I sit on meowths couch/bed watching TV with my legs up on the coffee table with meowth laying by the side on the ground, normally he would be laying his big head on top of my lap or laying across me wanting some back scritches but with my still broken arm and leg, possibly even a few ribs he's been giving me some space so he doesn't catch a sore spot accidentally.
Miltank is lounging on the other side of the floor on a blanket and some pillows watching TV with me and skiddo next to her just minding his own business… Ferroseed is actually in my "room" on her own watching one of her dramas on a smaller a TV I got to watch in bed
"In other Viridian news, there has been a gas explosion in a local chain of the popular restaurant Kanto Fried Farfetch'd and fire crews first on scene claim it was sparked by poor maintenance and lack of regulation and mandatory service on the exterior gas lines, rescue crews were on site 10 minutes after the reported explosion with local hero and celebrity Gym Leader Giovanni to help with recovery efforts, there are reported 23 fatalities with 43 injuries ranging from minor to critical….a sad day for locals indeed…."
The lady reporter kept spewing bullshit for another few minutes and there was even a "live" interview of someone dressed in what "looked like" a firefighters getup…I say "looked like" because even though he was "on scene" he didn't had a single spec of dirt on him which was sus especially after how he went on about how he was a first responder….first responders are usually caked in sweat, dirt, sometimes even blood from pulling people out of buildings….which might have been unfair with the existence of Pokémon and all but it seemed like he was full of shit after claiming it was just a gas leak gone bad.
The mention of Giovanni didn't help my sus metre none either…he's a shady mother fucker that's for sure, but I only know that from my hindsight knowledge from before I got here…if I didn't know he was who he was I probably wouldn't suspect him either…
I lean over to look at meowth who's watching the TV as well and notice a small feline frown on his face as well after hearing of the "gas leak". Being there when it happened would do that to ya when they keep talking shit on TV…
*Reeeeee*
Suddenly I hear car breaks pulling up close to the abandoned building we call home and I hoist myself off the lounge with great care to not mess up the homemade splints gracing my arm and leg….I really wanted to get to the hospital and get checked out properly but my situation doesn't really allow that.
They would ask all the usual questions like where my parents were followed up by what orphanage I live at which would just spiral out of control until it fucked me…. And especially so after learning Giovanni is a hero in this city and not just some gym leader and seeing how I murdered one of his underlings and burned down one of his recruitment schemes I doubt it ends well for me… or maybe it does and he recruits me? But I'm not willing to risk it…
I hobble over with a crutch meowth found for me while he was out hunting Ratatta amongst the rubble yesterday to look over the side of the building to see Becky and machop hop out of my stolen little tonka truck that's loaded with 4 large cardboard boxes strapped into the tray with a dopey looking Slowpoke lazing on top of one of them.
It's been 3 days since the "gas leak" and after resting for a night and realising I was pretty much helpless until I was back on my feet I had to put my….trust….in Becky and have her run some errands as we were literally at risk of starving otherwise…I so managed to teach her the basics of driving with a few painful lessons of driving around the block and her hitting the breaks a little hard…
But she got in down pretty pat in a few hours and afterwards I taught her how to use a ratchet strap to tie down the big shopping trips she was going to make.
Some might be thinking, why didn't you teach machop to drive? Well I've been in this world a little while now and never ONCE see a Pokémon drive, I didn't know if I was because it was a luxury few could afford or some other reason but seeing as we only had a few days of food left I didn't have the time to find out….hence Becky's driving lessons…
As I'm watching machop and Becky undo the straps holding the big cardboard boxes I see slowpoke float gently to the ground and wait… I also notice Becky's butterfree hovering around looking a little worse for west with a bit of blood leaking from cuts and bruises covering its body….wild Pokémon really don't like cars and with machop being in the front and only Slowpoke and butterfree as deterrents I guess a few took a shot….slowpoke looks untouched though
Machop lifted up one of the over 6 foot tall boxes like there was nothing in it, holding it from the sides and jumps off the truck and walks over to Slowpoke who promptly starts shimmering pink and in the blink of an eye and a small humming they are all suddenly in the "living room" with Becky and butterfree in tow.
Hobbling my way back into the room I see machop placing down the box as Slowpoke floats over to me and starts hitting me with another round of heal pulse treatment….it work's different on humans than Pokémon and takes a different set of skills apparently so it's a slow but effective process even when he's not that good at it yet…but he's getting better which is a plus..
"How'd the trip go?"
Becky turns to me after fussing a little over her bleeding butterfly
"The shopping went pretty good….I managed to get the two big fridges and chest freezers you asked for…heh heh… even managed to talk them down from $1500 to $1200 each….but things kinda went sideways on the way home when a small flock of spearow decided to dive bomb the truck….slowpoke managed to scare em off quickly enough but not before butterfree took a bit of a beating….and Slowpoke won't heal him for some reason.."
Eh that's probably on me….when I mentioned about butterfree being able to learn teleport after Becky learning about Slowpoke having teleport I made it pretty clear she was on her own with that and to see if one of the bosses of the northern forest would be willing to help it learn….I don't know what's going on with that but I'm pretty sure they're teaching them something….
Anyway it's kinda the same thing….slowpoke won't help Becky with anything unless i specifically ask him to….the same with all my Pokémon really, except miltank who is happy to help with whatever.
But they used to say that dogs took after their owners and it seems the same with Pokémon, machop, meowth, Slowpoke and Ferroseed won't help anyone but me and only grudgingly help someone else….AKA Becky… when I asked them to… and considering I won't help people unless it suits me it seems they take after me….skiddo is still on the fence I think with being raised on a people friendly farm and all but he's slowly becoming like the rest…
"Eh…slowpoke hit butterfree with a couple pulses and run back downstairs with machop to grab the rest after he's done setting up the new fridge.."
Machop was already out of the living room and out in an unwalled area a few "rooms" across where we set up some extension cords for some new fridges and freezers, while it has a roof over it, it's still technically out in the open, so if a west bound wind is blowing on a rainy day it'll get em….I'll build em some shelter when I'm back in action but for now it's fine….
It took about 30 minutes to get everything unloaded, teleported, unboxed and plugged in before they were done…but Becky has a few more trips to make into town before she was done for the day..
"Alright now that's done….you got the list?"
She has a "list" which is closer to a mid sized booklet with the literal 3-4 months of supplies she's supposed to pick up on this next trip…which to be honest won't fit in the back of the truck with just one trip so…big day for her…
"Yep, got it right here…"
She waves the book at me..
"Just follow the book and you should be fine…you know how to get this done right?"
"Yeah yeah, you already explained it 20 times….grab a big load move it to where Slowpoke points and teleport it back to the truck…rinse repeat…explain I'm shopping for my sick grandparents if asked and if they get too chatty with the questions shout "stranger danger" and bail..."
"Close enough, and remember to keep your head on a swivel but don't be to obvious about it, don't pull out too much money when you go to pay and try to blend in…."
"Ugggh I got it!… I still think you're being too paranoid…"
"Think whatever you want just get it done and keep your mouth shut…."
"Yeah whatever…but…..Gideon?"
"What?"
"Where did you get all this money?"
I turned my tone very serious anawering this question….well as serious as a 10 year old could be..
"Don't worry about it, all you gotta know is no one knows I have it but you. so if someone comes looking for it I'll know who's snitched and let we warn you that you'll find what I do highly unpleasant….."
She gulped a little at that but nodded with a serious look on her face…
Even with the trust I'm putting in her I have hedged my bets a little…machop and Slowpoke are keeping an eye on her and listening to what she's saying….I told em if she started mentioning anything about having a lot of money or mentioning me, where we live or anything like that, they were to shut her up…not kill her or anything…but I told them if she was insistent on trying to blab they were alright to hurt her and bring her back…without being followed of course..
And of course I'd never let her have their pokeballs….that would just be crazy…
She took what I said for what it was….a warning and teleported back down to the truck with machop and Slowpoke to make another run into town….this time with meowth in tow, food is a bigger target than fridges and a car for wild mons and it needed defending, meowth was the guy….although I was HIGHLY uncomfortable not having Slowpoke, machop AND meowth so far away, I'd have to make so.
And just before she was about to take off I shouted out "DONT FORGET THE PAINKILLERS!!! GET THE GOOD SHIT"…
I was still sore even after all the heal pulses and I needed something to take the edge off…
My paranoia had been dialled up to 11 after the "gas leak" and besides stocking way more food for less trips into town I've even started thinking about getting a couple more Pokémon as well for protection…
6 is a full team but I doubt it's going to be enough for this death world….and make no mistake this is a death world, I always knew it was way more dangerous than my old world but I had rose tinted lenses on filled with nostalgia from my childhood giving my brain plausible deniability..
But even after waking up in a rocket recruitment base, almost dying to an asshole and his poochyena to murdering a bunch of people….I was still kinda delusional about everything working out ok…but for some reason that explosion that nearly took me out with the city block, things just kinda clicked into place.
I gotta be ahead of the game if I want a chance of survival, I have no delusions of ever getting home, this world was home now and that's how it was…but I wasn't planning to just roll over and let just any random thug take their point of flesh without fighting back so…more Pokémon…which means I need more money, so I need to get to the black market and see where I can make money as fast as I can….but before that I promised myself I'd have a machoke and Persian so…more training…I just needed to do….more
