by KJ Harlow
Shoulder Charge - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Ram foes with your shoulder)
Branch Swords - Type: Grass - 30/30 PP (Strikes up to five times with branches in each hand. Critical Hit percentage +10% for each successful strike).
Yoshi nodded slowly. “Nice, very cool.”
“See, told you the Guild would let us into the Battle Theater without you,” Soph huffed. “And I made a whole lot of dosh! Oh shit, I mean–”
“Right, the Coins.” Yoshi put a hand out. “Your debit card please.”
“No,” Soph said. Clutching her hands to the pocket of her Sakura Speedrobe.“It’s mine.”
Yoshi took a step towards her. “Don’t make me push you into the water.”
The bird-kin’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Yoshi lunged, arms wide in a pincer formation. The flying-type easily evaded him, even giving him a kick in the bum for good measure.
Why do I even bother?
Yoshi floated up, spitting the warm, chlorinated water out. “Fine, keep the Coins.”
“Thank you, master,” Soph said in mock sweetness.
“What else you got in there?” Yoshi asked, eyeing her pocket.
“What? Oh this?” Soph said, putting the metal box out. “Beat that Cava bitch who flagellated you at the Guild. She was holding onto this.” She tossed it and Yoshi caught it. He turned it around, feeling its weight in his palm. There was something… odd about this Special Move. Its description materialized:
SMDX1 - Bowel Explosion
1/1 PP
This Special Move is a prototype only to be used by Team Boom for its girlfriends. Upon activation, an exothermic reaction occurs in the bowel of the girlfriend, eviscerating her. It causes massive radial damage and reacts with the girlfriend’s stomach acids, producing noxious fumes that have a 60% chance of poisoning (in lab conditions). This Special Move is a prototype only to be used by Team Boom for its girlfriends. May harm trainer. Girlfriend dies after use.
What the Frank? What sort of sick fuck would teach their girlfriend to learn this sort of move?
“So what move is it, bossman?” Soph asked. “A flying-type move? Is it Fly?” she said, eyes shining brightly.
“No, it’s not.” Yoshi trudged over to his bag, stuffing it in deep at the bottom. I need to hand this in to the police. “Alright, enough relaxing. Let’s go back to the Glasshouse to–”
“Breaking News!”
Yoshi spun on his heel, looking up at the large screen. The thousands of people treading water, swimming around or sitting at the edge of the Dish followed suit.
“This is Sam Billings with Channel 44. We interrupt your regular viewing to bring you breaking news.” The camera zoomed in, his terse face filling up over a quarter of the ginormous screen. “Last week, Mayor Trev Arlington was arrested by the Federal Elite Strike Squad on suspicion of withholding information about illegal mining activities in the Celeste Caverns.”
Behind Sam, there was an impressive sandstone building 30 yards in the distance. Two rows of fountains flanked a central path leading to the doors. There were dozens of reporters outside the gates of the premises, which were guarded by demon hound Labbies.
“It is believed that Amethyst has formally charged Mayor Arlington with corruption and he is to be stood down from his position immediately.”
The shockwave rippled through the sizeable crowd that had built up at the Dish. Yoshi caught snippets of conversation here and there:
“They can’t do this? Who’s going to run our city?”
“He’s the best mayor we’ve ever had!”
“He should have never accepted their money in the first place.”
“Seems like this decision isn’t popular with the people,” Starry said quietly.
“Here he is now.” Sam powerwalked across the road towards the gates, which had started opening. Just like the first time, the mayor was flanked by two powerful Chernoires. Unlike the first time, he was now cuffed and had a defeated look on his face.
“Why is Chester standing with him?” Arlif asked.
Yoshi frowned. “That is him, isn’t it?” The Gym leader of Sapphire had done away with the awful fedora, going back to the green mohawk. He looked like he hadn’t got any sleep since he left the previous night.
The only sound at the Dish was the gushing of water out of the slide. Everyone else watched and waited for the mayor to speak.
He stepped up to the lectern, cleared his voice and pulled out some notes. “My fellow Sapphirans. I stand before you today, ashamed.” He paused, looking at all the cameras pointed at him.
“I have been charged by the federal authorities for intentionally withholding information about certain… organizations… that have been destroying the Grand Stone, a heritage listed site. It was a responsibility bestowed to me that I have intentionally forsaken. I have betrayed the trust of the country.
“More importantly, I have betrayed your trust, the people of Sapphire.” He lowered his notes and sighed. “All I wanted was for this city to be the best in all of Ohno.”
“It is, because of you!” someone yelled from the middle of the pool. Spontaneous cheers and applause from others around the Dish broke out.
“In exchange for turning a blind eye, this… organization… provided me with funds with which I used to upgrade our city’s slide and canal infrastructure, alleviating the bottlenecks that so many of you had been frustrated with. While this has benefited you, I have gone about this the wrong way and now, I cannot lead you any further.”
“Mayor Trev, appeal this, please!” another trainer wailed.
“Effective as of today, my son, Chester Arlington, will be the interim mayor of Sapphire.”
“Son?!” Yoshi and his girlfriends blurted in unison.
Chester shuffled uncomfortably next to his father, looking out over the sea of reporters.
Yoshi hummed. This must have been why he was so uncomfortable yesterday.
“How’s he going to be Gym leader and mayor of Sapphire at the same time?” Flick murmured.
“He said ‘interim’. Probably going to find someone to replace him eventually,” Yoshi mused.
“He has grown up beside me and knows how much I love this city.” Trev glanced across at his son, who was concentrating really hard on not looking at him. “I have the utmost faith that he will lead Sapphire the way that I have: with dedication to her people.” There was a flash of contempt on Chester’s face. It was gone as quick as it came.
“I will be back,” Trev said, as the Chernoires each placed a hand on his shoulder. He pulled back just as they started directing him away. “Remember, wetter is better!”
The reporters clamored towards him, but a few sharp looks from the antlered demon hounds sent them back.
“You have seen it here first. For further updates, tune into news at 6. This is Sam Billings of Channel 44.” The live broadcast ended, footage returning back to the slides at the Dish. Most people were still too shell-shocked to believe what they had just heard.
“See? This isn’t something I could have helped with,” Yoshi said, turning to Starry. She sighed in acquiescence.
“He’s gonna be pretty busy running the joint. You still think that he’ll be the gym leader?” Soph asked.
Yoshi shrugged. “All I know is that this doesn’t affect what we’re going to do. We keep on training, battling, saving up Coins and making sure you guys are strong enough to take on the Gym here. I want everyone to be at least level 30.”
“I still feel like we should help him out,” Starry said quietly.
“I’ve got his number,” Yoshi said, pulling out his cell. “I’ll send him a text. He’s probably inundated with them right now.”
“Let’s go and find him,” Crystal suggested. The other girlfriends nodded, standing around their trainer.
Yoshi put his hands on his hips. “You guys won’t let this go, will you?”
“Dude, you wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for him,” Soph t
rilled. “He’s ten times the trainer you are.”
Geez, low blow much? From my own girlfriend too.
He threw his arms into the air. “Alright fine. First things first, we have to find out what that building’s called. Then we need to find out which of the slides go there.” He looked at Flick.
“On it.” She leaped backwards, diving into the water with barely a splash. Seconds later, she was at the other side. She pulled herself out of the water and made her way to the map.
“Breaking News!”
“Ah!” Flick squealed. She lost her balance, slipped, and fell back into the water. Just as the people of Sapphire had started coming back to life, they turned back to the big screen.
“Sam Billings from Channel 44 here again.” He was running, the cameraman doing a great job at keeping up and not falling over. “I am at the entrance to Route 41 where it is alleged that an overpowered girlfriend from the Abandoned Glasshouse that was being brought into Sapphire has broken loose and is now wreaking havoc.”
Arlif’s hands flew to her mouth. “Lady Scardino!”
Yoshi groaned. Spence did end up reporting her. She must have escaped to find her trainer.
“Trainers are being urged to go indoors and not engage with this girlfriend. An official statement from the police says–”
The cameraman pulled away from Sam, directing it to a disturbance further up the street. The reptilian girlfriend was running straight towards the cameraman. She drew her clawed arm back and crunched it through the lens. A blue screen appeared on jumbo vision, along with the words, “We are experiencing technical difficulties.”
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP–
Yoshi turned to his girlfriends. “Looks like we now have a way of helping the new mayor out.”
18
Scarzilla
Yoshi pulled himself out of the landing pool and ran, his girlfriends not far behind him. He stopped at an intersection, looking both ways. He turned left and ran past people screaming and crying. Scary, don’t do this. The further he went, the more horrific the damage was. Smashed windows, long, gaping claw marks on the side of buildings, ambulances tending to both trainer and girlfriend alike with horrific injuries… he picked up the pace.
“Where do you think she could be headed?” Yoshi yelled behind him.
“I don’t know,” Arlif panted. “Like I said, she never mentioned anything about who her trainer was.”
“If we follow the trail of destruction, it should lead us straight to her,” Starry said.
Yoshi scrolled through his list of contacts and tapped Chester’s face. Come on... pick up…
“Hi, this is Chester. I can’t come to the phone right now, so please–”
“Why are you calling him?” Flick asked.
Yoshi slowed down and caught his breath. “I wanted to ask whether it’s OK for you guys to fight Scary given the circumstances. Fighting in cities is usually a punishable offence.”
“You kidding me? This is a city-wide emergency!” Soph said, flapping her arms wildly and sending feathers into the air. “There would be dozens, if not hundreds of trainers all trying to stop that nutzodino from destroying the city.”
Yoshi nodded. She’s right. He looked around. The problem with trying to follow a trail of destruction is that there wasn’t always a trail. The screams and cries of agony mingled in with the chorus of sirens wasn’t helping either.
“#230?” Yoshi said, jogging over to the Labby. The police dog was slouched against the wall, breaths shallow. Yoshi swung his bag off and pulled out a potion. “Here.”
He took off the cap for her and poured it into her mouth. She choked and coughed but her breathing began to slow down.
“Yoshi?” She sat up against the wall, wincing. “What are you doing here? You should be indoors.”
“What happened with Scardino?” Yoshi asked.
#230 bared her teeth. “She got away from us.”
“Why was she brought into Sapphire?” Arlif asked, squatting beside her trainer.
“A trainer claimed that she had injured him. We went over to the Glasshouse, interrogated her and she handed herself in.”
“And then she started going berserk when she entered town?” Yoshi probed.
#230 shook her head. She looked at him with her dark, brown eyes. “She was fine. There was no indication that she would lash out like that.”
“She will defend those that she cares about,” Arlif said, gazing off into the distance where dark, billowing smoke curled into the sky. “She looked after all of us in the Glasshouse. Did you tell her that her trainer was in trouble?”
#230 shook her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t part of the pack that brought her in. I was only called as reinforcement after she started attacking everyone.”
“Do you know who her trainer is?”
“Negative.” She hacked a clod of blood to the side of the path.
“Let’s just keep moving,” Yoshi said. “Someone might have already–”
*PSSSSSHT*
#230, do you read me? Over.
*PSSSSSHT*
She winced and disengaged her walkie talkie from her hip.
“Affirmative, over.”
*PSSSSSHT*
“#230, what is your status? Over.”
*PSSSSSHT*
“Down, but not out. Has the detainee been subdued? Over.”
*PSSSSSHT*
“Negative. We are tracking her movements and are triangulating on her location. Over.”
*PSSSSSHT*
“Where is she?” Yoshi said, snatching the walkie talking away from #230. “Over.”
“Give that back,” #230 said, reaching out to him. “Apologies, a concerned civilian, though I would also like an answer to his question, over.”
There was silence for several seconds.
*PSSSSSHT*
“She is lurking in the gardens outside the Office of the Mayor, over.”
*PSSSSSHT*
“The Office of the Mayor?” Yoshi asked. “Is that the building the Mayor and Chester came out…?”
Yoshi’s jaw hung as he stared into the wall behind #230.
“Yoshi?” The Labby gave him a prod. “Are you alright?” She looked at his girlfriends with a raised eyebrow. “What’s happened to him?”
His girlfriends huddled around, looking at their trainer with expressions ranging from puzzlement to ‘WTF’.
“A father, a mother, a son…” Yoshi said. He turned to Arlif and gripped her shoulders. “A father, a mother and a son!”
Arlif cocked her head. “You mean that photo on Lady Scardino’s desk? Yes, that’s her family.”
“No, don’t you see?” Yoshi urged. “The father is Trev, the son is Chester and the mother is Scardino!” His girlfriends exchanged looks with each other, unable to keep the doubt out of their eyes. “The police were bringing her back into Sapphire for questioning and she must have overheard them talk about him on that.” He stabbed at the black box in the police dog’s furred hand.
“Whatever you’re on bossman, you need to stop,” Soph said firmly.
Yoshi snatched the walkie-talkie away from her again.
“Hey!” #230 barked. “I’ll have you know that taking a police officer’s property is an unlawful act punishable by–”
“Police! Headquarters! Whatever. Answer this question.” Yoshi licked his lips. “Is Scardino’s trainer Trev Arlington?”
Silent seconds that felt like minutes ensued.
*PSSSSSHT*
“Affirmative. Trev Arlington is Scardino’s trainer.”
“It all makes sense now,” Yoshi said breathlessly. “Trev retires from girlfriend training, settles down, marries his prime girlfriend Scardino, has Chester. But he still feels like he has more to offer, so what does he do? Becomes mayor.”
A pack of a dozen Labbies streamed past Yoshi and his girlfriends. Their noses know best; let’s tail them.
“I’ll give you points for guessing correctly that they were all
family,” Flick said.
“It’s not a guess,” Arlif said, mid-huff. “I’ve seen that photo hundreds of times. Now that I think about it, the mayor and his son do look like older versions of the people in the photo.”
“Ex-mayor and his son,” Crystal corrected from behind.
“What I want to know is why Trev abandoned Scary,” Starry said. “And why she still tried so hard to protect his identity.”
“He builds a gigantic mansion in a humungous tree, all inside a ginormous glasshouse and then he ditches her?” Soph shook her head. “I call bullshit.”
“He admitted that he accepted money from an organisation. It’s possible that a lot of this money also went into building the glasshouse and everything inside it.” Yoshi stopped, hands on his knees. The Labbies had led them straight back into the police station. Out the front was a Chernoire loudly berating a police officer Labby, who looked like she was ready to shrivel up and die. “It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is finding Scary before she destroys the entire city.”
“#230 said that they weren’t taking Trev back to Amethyst immediately,” Arlif said. “I wonder where he could be now?”
“Surely he knows that his wife is searching for him.” Starry said.
I wanna be the very best, like no-one ever was…
Yoshi pulled out his cell. “It’s Chester.” He answered the call. “Hello? Chester?”
“Yoshi, thank Frank you picked up.” Chester sounded understandably tense.
“Chester, where are you now?”
“Me and the mayor-”
“You mean you and your father,” Yoshi interjected. There was an uncomfortable silence for several seconds.
“Right, me and my… father. We’re in the OOTM.”
“OOTM?”
“Office of the Mayor. Anyway, sorry to call you like this; I didn’t know who else to ask. You have a Lifee yeah? Arlif?”
Yoshi looked at his grass-type girlfriend, neon face glowing with curiosity. “Yeah. That’s her.”