venoshockcomic

[venoshockcomic]

Quarter-Finalists

18 Months Earlier

“Welcome back, poke trainers and fans to the quarter finals of the Hoenn Pokémon League championship!” The announcer’s voice rang through the massive stadium. “We’re in the fifth match of the quarter finals between Johto newcomer Chandler Roget and Sinnoh ace Amanda Cantwell! Both trainers are now down to their last pokémon, which means this next round is going to determine which of them advances to the semi-finals!”

Dressed in a black jacket and pants, Chandler sprayed some potion on his flygon’s back and rubbed it in between the dragon-type’s wings, watching the clock counting down the seconds before he’d have to send Bugsy back into the field.

On the opposite end of the field, the green-haired woman in a formfitting orange bodysuit stood with her arms crossed over her chest. In front of her was the towering form of a gyrados. Fresh from the ball, the woman’s last pokémon hadn’t seen any action yet, while Bugsy had taken licks in a bought with her kadabra and tropius in the previous rounds.

“You still got this, Bugsy,” he said, doing his best not to let concern slip into his voice. He’d seen the other trainer tear through her qualifiers and knew they were the clear underdogs in this matchup. That Bugsy had managed to take down two of her pokémon after she’d knocked out the rest of Chandler’s team was already a miracle, but he would be damned if he and Bugsy didn’t push for the day’s biggest upset. “That gyrados is a beast, but you’ve got the air on your side. You just got to wait for the right moment to knock that oversized sausage flat on its back.”

“Fly!” Bugsy replied affirmatively.

The signal bell rang and both pokémon entered the field, Bugsy taking off into the air and the large gyrados slithering into the multi-environment arena’s pool of water.

“Staying in the air isn’t going to save you!” Ace Trainer Jessica shouted. “Gyrados, use hurricane!”

The serpent spread its fins and spun with tremendous speed that seemed to defy its enormous bulk, filling the arena with furious gusts of wind. Bugsy was no stranger to inclement weather, but even he had difficulty navigating the gale force winds and Chandler worried about how well the flygon could hear him over the roar.  

“Bugsy, use screech!” Chandler shouted at the top of his lungs.

After a tense pause with nothing but the sound of the wind filling his ears, there came a sharp pitched cry that pierced the noise of the hurricane force winds thrashing the interior of the arena.

“Oh! A screech from Chandler’s Bugsy has pierced through the sound of Gyrados’s hurricane!” The announcer’s voice boomed over the stadium’s speakers. “I hope everyone in the audience had their ear plugs on for that one!”

The winds dissipated, and there was gyrados, shaking its head and recoiling in pain, undoubtedly wishing it had arms to cover its ears about now.

I can’t let this drag on, Chandler thought. Bugsy was tired and the gyrados would certainly outlast the flygon in a battle of attrition. They had to go for a swift knockout punch.

“Bugsy, while it’s guard’s down, use Dragon Rush!”

Energy crackled around the flygon and it dove down on the gyrados at startling speed.

“Dragon Tail, Gyrados!”

The gyrados’s tail glowed with a similar energy as what was currently surrounding Bugsy and swung it around to meet the flygon head on.

“This may settle the match!” The announcer cried.

CRACK-BOOM!

Bugsy collided with the gyrados’s glowing tail in an explosion of brilliant light so intense that Chandler had to shield his eyes. When he removed his eyes, he saw Bugsy sailing back, struck hard in the chest by the gyrados’s tail. The gyrados’s tail was badly scorched from the collision and probably wouldn’t be seeing any more action this match, but that still left its head, which was more than enough.

“Gyrados, use ice beam!” Gyrados opened its tremendous jaws and fire a massive blue beam in the direction of the disoriented flygon.

No! “Dodge it!”

Bugsy snapped his wings back, stopping mid-air and preparing to dart up out of the path of the beam, but it was too late. The attack struck Bugsy straight in the chest and he lost all control over his flight as the frigid beam.

“Fllllyyyyyy!”

Bugsy crashed to the ground on Chandler’s side of the arena, his torso and right half of his body – including one wing- encased in ice. His left arm clawed weakly at the ice but was hardly making a scratch.

“Bugsy…” Chandler whispered in disbelief. “No.”

“Trainer Chandler’s Flygon is brought down by a surprise ice beam from Trainer Amanda’s gyrados!” The announcer said, clearly reveling in the thrill of being a spectator to this event. “Can Chandler’s flygon pull out of this?”

Chandler’s opponent wasn’t going to wait to find out.

“Let’s finish this, gyrados!” The gyrados exited the pool of water and stalked towards its foe.  

“No! That’s enough!” Chandler leapt from the trainer’s box and sprinted across the battlefield.

“What’s this?” The announced cried. “Trainer Chandler has entered the field, thereby forfeiting the match! Trainer Amanda Cantwell advances to the semi-finals!”

The crowd that must have numbered in the tens of thousands erupted in rapturous applause, but it was nothing but a dull moan in the back of Chandler’s mind. All he saw and heard right now was Bugsy.  “Hold on, Bugsy!” Chandler shouted. “I’m coming!”

The flygon strained its neck to look at his trainer, letting out a mournful cry. Beneath its translucent red eye shields, its eyes were filled with pain and regret. It knew its trainer entering the field meant the match and everything they had trained for up until this point had come to an end.

“It’s okay,” Chandler said. He took his jacket off and began rubbing it up and down against the ice that had collected over his pokémon’s body, trying to remove as much as possible. “You did great.  You were more than great.”

Across the field he could see a team of pokémon nurses and their chanseys making their way towards them. Soon they’d be transporting Bugsy to the Pokemon infirmary where they’d patch him up quick as could be, but he didn’t intend to leave the dragon’s side until he was safely in the Pokécenter.

“Fly…” Some emotions transcended species, and the disappointment in his pokémon’s voice was unmistakable.  

“I know… I know…” Chandler wrapped his arms around Bugsy’s neck and pulled the dragon’s head to his chest. “Next time we’ll go all the way.”

Chandler didn’t even notice the hot tears streaming down his cheeks.

Next time.

#Venoshock #Chandler #Bugsy #Human Chandler #Hoenn #Pokemon #Pokemon League #Flashback #Story #Story Post #gyrados #flygon

[venoshockcomic]

Prepare for Trouble

Time seemed to slow down from the moment the poke ball left the woman’s hand, as if it was having to traverse the same mud the two pokémon in the pit same as the two pokémon currently struggling with each other in the pit. After all the pokémon Chandler had captured as a human, was this some karmic comeuppance that soon she’d be imprisoned and at the beck and call of this loathsome woman? “Absolutely,” several Pokémon Rights advocates would say.

The ball collided with Chandler’s head, bounced back, opened, and then… Nothing! To the disbelief of every human and pokémon on the scene, the open ball dropped to the mud with a light splat.

Chandler blinked in disbelief. The magenta-haired woman blinked. Even the Arbok seemed to blink. All of them had seen hundreds, if not thousands of poke balls thrown in their lifetimes, but not once had they seen one fail to do… Anything!

“It’s always some stupid thing!” The woman scowled and retrieved another poke ball from her belt. “Let’s try this one more time. Poke ball, go!”

The second ball flew, collided with Chandler’s head… And then joined its sibling in the mud.

“That’ssss…not possssible,” Arbok said, every bit as surprised as her master.

“AAUURGH!” An exasperated scream from the woman as she retrieved a third ball. “Do the one thing you stupid things are made for!”

Unsurprisingly, the balls didn’t respond.

Chandler didn’t often chalk things up to fate or entertain the thought of miracles, but it was undeniable in this moment that she’d been saved by some force beyond any of them.

“What?!” Arbok suddenly shrieked, eyes widening as a pale blue glow spread across the purple serpent and suddenly it felt a tremendous force pulling it away from the captive salazzle. Her muscles flexed, trying to keep a hold but the power that was seizing her body  

“Psybeam!” A pokemon’s voice exclaimed and a purple blast of energy slammed into arbok’s crest with enough force to send her flying out of the pit and smashing into the magenta-haired Team Rocket grunt!  

“I heard a commotion,”

“Bubbles!” Chandler exclaimed, relief washing over her.

“Guess that was your first real taste of battle,” Bubbles said, a slight smirk on her bill. “How did it feel actually being in the pit?”

“Horrible,” Chandler conceded.

“You get used to it. Now, let’s get Dani and—”

“Victreebel, use energy ball!” A male voice shouted.

Bubbles barely had time to turn her head when the ball of green energy collided with her chest and sent her skidding into the mud.

A blue haired man wearing what could only be described as a spandex salazzle costume now stood on the other side of the pit, a Victreebel at his side.

Great there are two of them, Chandler thought, along with a series of other harsher words unbecoming of a mother.

“Looks like there are some interspecies relationships going on here,” a new, immediately grating voice said while Bubbles staggered back to her feet. The two human Team Rocket members were joined by a meowth that was walking on its hindlegs and carrying a cage that contained Dani. That it was walking on its hindlegs was odd enough, but then it did something even more surprising: it was the one speaking!

“You two must be in a bunco group together or something,” it said with a mischievous grin.

Something about this set a new fire Chandler snarled, shaking a fist at the trio above. “What do y’all think you’re doing?!”

All three Rockets’ jaws dropped.  

“She can talk?” the man asked with astonishment, turning to the woman.

“She can talk!” the woman confirmed.

“Eh, I don’t see the big deal,” Meowth said turning his nose up as if the revelation wasn’t every bit as surprising to him.

“Yeah, I can talk,” Chandler said, gritting her teeth. “You come into my home, kidnap my daughter, try to choke me out with Coily McScales there—” she pointed an accusatory finger at Arbok, who’d just managed to get back up and slide next to its master—“and then you tried shoving me in one of your stupid balls! Now, give me back my daughter before I have to come over there and take her from you.”

“Oh yeah?” The Meowth said, crossing its arms across its chest. “You and what army?”

“That’s as good a cue as any,” another pokémon’s voice squawked from above, causing everyone to look up to see the Murkrow soaring above the tree line, a round pink sphere in its claws. Joey swooped in, releasing Carol from his talons as he arrived. The clefairy did a graceful spin, landing on a single foot beside Chandler.

“Tah-dah!” Carol said, fairy glitters radiating about her.

Then there was the crash of a mid-sized tree being toppled from behind the pit, announcing the arrival of Troy and Blaster.

“Master!” Blaster called in a worried voice.

“Looks like we made it just in time,” Troy said, pulling one of his muscular arms behind his back in a stretch.

Lastly, a large gust of wind marked the arrival of Bugsy who landed in front of Chandler in a defensive posture. “Are you okay?” He shouted back, to Chandler. His teeth bared, and his typical calm had given way to something primal at the sight of his trainer and mate roughed up and spattered in mud.  

“I’m alright,” Chandler said, trying to ignore how witnessing the larger male coming to her defense made her heart flutter. “But those jerks have Dani.”

Bugsy turned his glare on the Rocket trio and their pokémon. The Arbok, which had seemed so cold and vicious winced, clearly recognizing the fury of the flygon father at the abduction of its mate and child.

“Look here,” Chandler addressed the humans in plain English, confidence swelling in her chest. “This is a Pokémon League certified battling team you’ve crossed. You all really screwed up my week, but there doesn’t have to be any more violence today. Just release my daughter and get the hell out of our forest.”

“Your forest? I don’t see your name anywhere!” Meowth shouted back. “Besides, you’re just the same as any other pokémon, so we says ‘finders keepers, losers weepers’!”

The irony of that statement coming from another pokémon was not lost on those present. Chandler wondered if Meowth was also a human transformed into a pokémon by the same mystical forces that had changed her or if he was an ordinary pokémon that wished he was a human. Either way, she’d like him to crawl down into the pit and open his big mouth within striking distance of her tail.

“Timeout!” The man exclaimed, “Let’s have a group meeting!”

The three huddled around Dani’s cage, locking arms over each other’s shoulders like football players readying their next play.

“Hey, James began, “do either of you feel wrong taking a baby from a pokémon who can talk like us?"

"Meowth, I don't!"

“REEEEEEE!” Victreebel added.  

"I’m only trying to say we didn't think there'd be more than one of them,” James said. “We don’t exactly have the best track record on these things, and if those other pokémon are League certified, perhaps it would be best if we took her offer to leave peacefully.

“She’s clearly bluffing!” Meowth replied.  

“Mhmmm,” Jessie nodded. “If they perform anything like Little Miss Scaley Hips did against Arbok, they’re nothing but a bunch of pushovers.”

“Arrrr-bok-bok!” Arbok said with some trepidation in her voice.

Meowth looked up at the snake. “The golduck caught you by surprise, that’s all.”

“If that salazzle can talk, she’s even more valuable than we initially thought,” Jessie said.

“The boss will be extremely pleased for sure,” Meowth said, “It’s not every day a talking pokemon drops in his lap. As the former top cat, I should know.”

“Not to mention all the bonuses we’d get for catching the rest of her motley crew.”

“Ah, you two have a point…” James thinks for a moment, then grins. “In that case…”  

The Rockets snapped back to attention, taking positions on either side of Dani’s cage and began something Chandler and her team would have never expected in the middle of a tense standoff.

“Prepare for trouble, it’s baby’s day out,” Jessie began.

“Make it double, wipe that frown from your snout,” James adds, giving Dani’s nose a little boop.

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all people within our nation!”

“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Jessie!”

“James!” He said, casting off the salazzle and revealing his white and black uniform beneath.

“Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!” “Surrender now or prepare to fight!”

“Meowth, that’s right!”

The trio ended their enthused performance by striking poses, their bodies together resembling an R and holding it as if expecting an applause. What they were met with instead was the blank stares of Chandler and her team.

“Did you… rehearse all of that?” Chandler asked.

“Of course we did!” Jessie shouted. “It’s our team motto!”

“It’s our way of saying we mean business!” James added, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff.

“They’re idiots,” Bubbles said dryly.  

“I heard that!” Meowth shouted.

“I don’t know,” Joey said, flying down to perch on Troy’s shoulder. “Maybe we should put some thought into this motto business

“Not a Vanillite’s chance in hell,” Chandler rebutted.

Jessie and James pulled occupied Poke balls from their belts and threw them above the pit.

“Let’s go, Arbok, Dustox, Yanmega, Lickitung!”

“Go, Wheezing, Victreebel, Carnivine!”

“So,” Chandler said with a resigned sigh, “I guess we’re doing this.

“Fine by me,” Bubbles said, cracking her neck as the rest of Chandler’s teams assumed their combat stances while Team Rocket’s balls exploded in dazzling flashes of light, the pokemon they were about to face materializing.

#Venoshock #Chandler #Bubbles #Carol #Joey #Bugsy #Troy #Blaster #Fan Fiction #Story #Story Post #Team Rocket #Prepare for Trouble #Battle #salazzle #arbok #murkrow #victreebel

[venoshockcomic]

Where are all the other pokemon you've caught? Do you miss them?

I do find myself wondering about the rest of my pokémon. If they're anything like my current team, I'm sure my other mains are worried sick about where their Trainer has gone off too... But I'm sure they're living a good life on the research ranch outside Violet City (where all my Pokémon are teleported when I exceed six in my party).

I wonder how Kingsley, my Kingdra, is doing… Mr. Spoons, my Kadabra... Ember, my Flareon… Spooks the Haunter... So many I didn’t bring on this trip and may never get to see again. 

#Venoshock #Chandler #Q&A #Trainer Chandler #salazzle #Human Questions

[venoshockcomic]

As a trainer, did you catch any other Pokemon than the ones in your team?

Oh, I've caught a TON of pokémon. Last time I checked my Pokédex, I had over 100 caught, and 50 or so evolutions chronicled. And I’m not even one of those trainers who makes filling the ‘dex one of their priorities! 

#Venoshock #Chandler #Q&A #Question #Answer #Salazzle #Pokemon Trainer #Trainer Chandler #Human Questions

[venoshockcomic]

Since you seem to be a connoisseur, what are your preferred alcohol and tobacco products?

Given my current situation of acquiring luxuries via whatever Joey can pilfer from clumsy trainers and picnickers, I can't be choosey, but as a human I always enjoyed a good glass of Talon Whiskey or an Orange Islands Rum and cola. As for smoking, my brand of choice was Lucky Catch ("Luckies"), but I have become fond of Seven Leagues charcoal filtered cigarettes, seeing as they're the most commonly smoked ones in Hoenn and therefore the most readily available.

#Venoshock #Chandler #Q&A #Question #Answer #Vices #Human Life

[venoshockcomic]

What was your experience with Team Rocket when you were a human?

I was born and raised in Johto, and extensively traveled Kanto, so I am quite familiar with Team Rocket. It’s next to impossible to be a competitive League certified trainer without having some of those ghouls trying to recruit you into their ranks or steal your rarer pokémon at one point or another. Thankfully, my dealings with them as a trainer were breath, and they never really came after me with much vigor. (Their loss, seeing as my team is friggin’ great.)

#Venoshock #Chandler #Salazzle #Q&A #Team Rocket #Human Life

[venoshockcomic]

Why are you so afraid of finding out what it's like inside a poke ball? Aren't you the least bit curious?

Because I'm not a pokémon! Well, er, I am a pokémon in body, but not in mind. The thought of being trapped and confined in one of those things for any amount of time terrifies me. It isn't something I was ever supposed to experience.  

“But Chandler,” you’re probably thinking, “didn’t you spend a large part of your life capturing pokémon in these balls? Didn’t you capture all the pokémon you currently surround yourself with, including your mate?” Yes. Yes, I most certainly did. And you’d better believe I have mixed thoughts about that now that I’ve really gotten to know them as people and not just my battling team. They don’t seem to hold anything against me, as pokémon seem respectful and obedient of trainers who catch and raise them so long as they do it right (which I must have done since they’ve stuck by me). My brain does not operate the same way theirs do, and just thinking about being captured, whether by my own hand or, worse, some random trainer who happens upon me out in the woods… It would be losing my last shred of humanity.  

So, call me a hypocrite if you like, but my position is unmovable. I do not wish to ever know that feeling of being captured and having everything I am and ever will be tied to one of those f’ing balls. 

#Venoshock #Chandler #Question #Answer #Q&A #Salazzle

[venoshockcomic]

Chandler Captured

“Dani!” Chandler cried in a warbling salazzle call that disturbed a couple of zigzagoon milling about the forest path. It had been half an hour and there still was no sign of the little salandit.

Kid, where the heck have you gotten off to now?

Chandler had Dani’s scent, but, admittedly, wasn’t the best at putting her advanced Poké-nose to tracking purposes. Having not grown up with these enhanced senses, it was still easy for Chandler to be completely overwhelmed by the sheer sensory overload of being able to detect such a vast number of scents with every given sniff. But, even so, Chandler recognized her daughter’s aroma among the myriad scents, so she had to be heading in the right direction.

Chandler entered a meadow, sniffed the air again. After making a scene at the cave, her team had split up to search for the missing salandit. Bugsy and Joey searched by air, while Carol and Troy went to check the caverns (the same caverns Chandler had been transformed in). That left Chandler to search the area around the human cabin she’d once rented as a trainer. What she sensed the closer she got to the cabin was foreboding. The scent of humans was fresh and strong around the cabin. She’d been careless to show Dani the way down to this property. She needed to find Dani and then they needed to get far, far awa—

There she was!

Sitting in the middle of the field, her back to Chandler.  

“Dani!” The salazzle cried, relief washing over her as she, raced across the clearing.

Perhaps if she’d been expecting trouble, she would have noted that this was the longest she’d ever seen her child standing still when she was awake, or that the smell of freshly turned earth filled the air. But she didn’t, because all she could think about was getting her arms around her daughter and rushing her off far away from this place. It wasn’t until the ground gave way under her that she noticed the rope tied around Dani’s leg and that she’d charged straight into a trap, hitting the bottom of the bit with a splash. Chandler groaned, steam swirling around her as she sunk into the muddy water at the bottom of the pit. Someone had dug a rectangular pit four feet deep that was the size of a basketball court and flooded the bottom with water.

Who could possibly have had the time and determination to have done such a thing?

“Oh-ho-ho-ho!” as if to answer that very question, a woman’s laugh rang out melodically from above.

Looking up, Chandler saw a woman with magenta hair curled in a comet tail behind her head. Her midriff baring white top displayed the unmistakable red R of Team Rocket. She was smiling triumphantly over the mud pit Chandler had so carelessly run right into.

An arbok slid down into the pit across from the cornered salazzle.  The tremendous purple snake had a large hood that displayed a frightening pattern. Scars from what must have been countless battles were spread far across its scaly body and its cruel predatory eyes were fixed on the salazzle struggling to regain her footing in the mud.

It was then that Chandler realized this pit wasn’t just an arduously dug trap, but a makeshift Pokémon battling arena.

And Chandler was a Pokémon.

“Let’s go, Arbok!” The woman commanded.  

Chandler managed to stand up on her hind legs, the ribbon like protrusions near the base of her tail unfurling in a threatening display. With all the strength she could muster, drawing from her burning center, Chandler opened her jaws and spat out a beach ball sized sphere of fire, pouring every ounce of her maternal fury into the attack. Her aim was true and it struck the serpent’s crest dead center.

FWOOSH!

When the dust cleared, the former let out an alarmed squawk. To her great dismay, the inferno had broken against the larger Pokémon without leaving so much as a single scratch.

“Is that all mommy can do? I always thought a mud bath was good for the skin, but I suppose that isn’t the case when you depend on keeping your body hot,” The Team Rocket member taunted. She then pointed a gloved finger at Chandler and commanded her pokémon, “Arbok, put the squeeze on that scaley floozy!”

“Ar-BOK!”

In an instant the massive serpent had spun around Chandler, trapping her in its coils like a thick, muscular rope, pinning the salazzle’s arms to her sides. Chandler snarled with the ferocity of any wild salazzle and to raise flames from her palms and tail, but she simply couldn’t generate fire hot enough to make the experienced battling.

A cold snicker filled Chandler’s ears. “You’re weak,” the arbok hissed in Chandler’s ear, her voice cold and cruel. “Ssstill, you will be a welcome prize for Team Rocket.”

“N-no,” Chandler growled, but the more she struggled, the tighter Arbok’s coils constricted around her chest. She opened her jaws and bit down hard on the snake’s body, feeling her razor-sharp teeth dig into the snake’s flesh, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth.

But the arbok hardly even flinched. Of course not. It was another poison-type, immune to Chandler’s venom, and toughened up by countless hours of training and battles.

“Keep ssstruggling,” the arbok taunted Chandler again. “It only makes thisss quicker.”

Chandler continued to writhe, biting the snake again, not willing to go out without a fight, but it was no use. It was becoming difficult to breathe, her vision was blurring, and she couldn’t generate fire hot enough to hurt the veteran Rocket’s pokémon. Was she going to die like this?

“Not much of a fight, just the way I like it,” the human said, an empty poke ball in her hand. “Now, be a good girl and say hello to your new master!”

No, Chandler realized. She wasn’t going to die. What the Team Rocket grunt had in mind was much, much worse.

Then, with expert precision, the magenta-haired woman threw the poke ball at Chandler.

#Venoshock #Story #Chandler #Salazzle #Team Rocket #Jessie #Arbok #Dani #Salandit #Fan Fiction #Prepare for Trouble #TFTG #transformation #Battle

[venoshockcomic]

How would your family react to your situation with Bugsy and Dani?

It’s funny to picture my parents receiving the news, “Congratulations! You’re the proud grandparents of a lizard.” Dad would probably walk out back to smoke a cigarette, and mom… Mom would probably have a heart attack.  

Still, I want them to know their grandchild. I hope they’d still love me after all I’ve done and become and accept this baby girl as the latest addition to the family tree. I’d like so much to sit down with my mom and receive motherly advice (even if it didn’t translate one-to-one raising a Pokémon). 

God, I miss them so much. 

But I’m afraid Dani will probably never know her grandparents. It would be too dangerous to reveal our whereabouts to the outside world, and my duty as her mother is to protect her from the human world. My daughter will not be caught and raised to fight or be used as breeding stock for the sports of men. So long as I have any power over her, I won’t let that happen. 

#Venoshock #Question #Answer #Chandler #Salazzle #Dani #Salandit #Pokemon #motherhood

[venoshockcomic]

Dani’s Walk

“Salandit!” Dani cried, giggling as a flock of tailows took flight. She giggled gleefully as the flock dispersed, feeling a sense of empowerment. One day she’d be this forest’s top female (behind her mother, of course), and it was good that the other denizens of the forest already knew to make way when she came along.

The salandit entered the open meadow and took in the sight of the meadow she now found herself in. The morning air was sweet, filling her nose with the scent of dew bespeckled grass and more flowers than she could count.

“Yooooo-hoooooo,” A high pitched voice rang from across the clearing. “Little salandit, where are yooouuuuu?”

“Salandit?” Dani stopped in her tracks, standing up on her hind legs to look around. Mommy? The voice was unfamiliar, and its words were indecipherable to the pokémon kit, but the pink and black tailed rump peeking out of the grass was immediately familiar. After all, her mother was the only salazzle Dani had ever seen in these woods.

“Sal…” Dani murmured contritely. Her mother tended to speak in strange alien sounds that none of the other pokémon did. Often when she was frustrated. Mother did not approve of Dani going off on her own, but the kit had an instinctual need to explore that not even the stern instructions of her mother could deter. Still, when her mother came calling, it was time for the day’s solo explorations to come to an end.

“Salandit?” Dani said again, now only a couple of feet from the tail. There was an unmistakable whiff of salazzle pheromones projecting from the bush, but there was also something else. Something she only had smelt near the cabin her mother frequently ventured to. Something that she’d been warned to stay away from. Something—

“Gotcha!” An effeminate male voice cried as Dani was grabbed by unfamiliar hands in fire retardant gloves.

#Venoshock #Dani #Team Rocket #James #Pokemon #Fan Fiction #salandit #salazzle

[venoshockcomic]

If you have spare Pokeballs, have you considered catching yourself so no one else can catch you?

I have enough existential dread as it is, so I don't want to add knowing the inside of a pokeball to my list of strange experiences.

#Venoshock #Chandler #Question #Answer #Pokemon #Salazzle #TFTG

[venoshockcomic]

What technology do you have? You mentioned a Pokégear and laptop.

I have a few pieces to remind me of my old life. 

- Pokégear+: Just an all around great device that does most things I need in the field, with features like a Pokédex app, web browser, camera—You know what a smartphone does, so I won’t bore you with the details!  

- Pokébook Pro: It’s my laptop, and the main device I use for maintaining this blog of my time spent as a salazzle. 

- Pokéballs: I still have my team’s Pokéballs along with two dozen or so empty ones. 

- Clothes: I have the tattered remains of the clothes I was wearing when I was transformed, but most of them were severely burned as I sort of flamed up when I became a salazzle. (My fedora blew off my head prior to the transformation, so it also survived, but Joey’s decided he’s in charge of its safe keeping.) 

- Backpack: Thing I was fortunately not wearing when I was transformed. Made for a trainer’s rough and tumble lifestyle, it takes a beating and keeps ticking, protecting my remaining gear.

- Cigarette Lighter: Pokémon League branded metal plated cigarette lighter with my name engraved on it. It was a gift my ex-girlfriend Chrissy gave me after I made it to the quarterfinals of the Pokémon League. I don’t really need it (I can produce my own fire these days), but it’s nice to have these personal items with my name on them.  

- Zephyr Badge: Easily the most valuable memento leftover from my human life, seeing as I’m originally from Violet City and it was the first Pokémon League Gym Badge I earned on my journey as a Pokémon trainer. It survived my transformation, being made of metal, and being fastened around my neck with a chain. The back has a message from Gym Leader Falkner that reads, “Great battle, Chandler! Continue reaching for the skies and you will go far.” It’s important to remember where I came from, no matter what has and will become of me, and I intend to wear it the rest of my life. 

#Venoshock #Chandler #Question #Answer #Technology #Pokemon #Salazzle #Human Life

[venoshockcomic]

Might as well ask a simple question to pass the time. What’s one of your favorite Pokémon? Could be a current one or one you’ve liked since you were a kid.

Articuno was always the Pokemon I loved as a kid! Even though there aren't any photographs of it in the wild, I OBSESSED over artistic depictions of it. Gorgeous Pokemon. I'd still be ecstatic if I was able to see it in the wild.

[venoshockcomic]

So what did it feel like being pregnant and laying an egg?

At first it was terrifying. I could feel something growing inside in the course of a few days and laying it was... Not something I can really put into words. It turned from horror and a good amount of pain to a sense of accomplishment.

But I think instincts took over from there, as I watched over the egg until Dani hatched. Then it began to feel like I'd done what I was placed on this earth to do. That seems so unreal if I stop and think about all the steps that got me here, but it's true. I'm a mother now.

#Question #Answer #Venoshock #Chandler #Motherhood #Salazzle #Dani

[venoshockcomic]

Something Missing

A beam of morning sun penetrates the cave, landing on Chandler’s nose. Her purple eyes open, two purple half-lidded slits in the gloom of the cave. As the dreams slip from her thoughts, she feels Bugsy spooning her from behind, one of his small arms draped over her. She squeezes his protective three-finger hand appreciatively. Two years ago, she’d have never imagined being bedfellows with a Pokémon, even one of her own team, but now she couldn’t imagine a better sensation than falling into sleep’s embrace pressed against the flygon.

Little over a year ago, she was a League certified trainer and all she could think about was how to better her team for their next run at the Pokémon League. Now watching the sun rise over the peaks of the distant mountains, snuggling back against Bugsy, she thinks about how she wouldn’t mind waking up like this for the rest of her life. It wasn’t the first time she’d had this thought.

But there was something missing from this idyllic picture. Where was…

Chandler’s purple eyes snap open as she pushes Bugsy’s arm away and she sits bolt upright, looking wildly around the cave. The motion is enough to stir the dragon, who wakes with a snort and yawn.

“Chandler?” He says fighting back the sleep, “What’s wrong?”

“Dani!” She replies. “Where is Dani?!”  

At that, Bugsy is on his feet, red-shielded eyes also looking around the cave while Chandler races about on all fours. At the back of the cave she only found the sleeping forms of Blaster and Troy, the large males’ snoring echoing through the back of the cave.

“Wake up!” Chandler shouts, giving Blaster’s furry rump a kick with her long-toed foot.

“W-ha—huh?” Blaster wakes with a leap, the fire shooting from the red spots on the back of his muscular neck.

“Get up and help me look for Dani!” Chandler says before turning heel and disappearing back up the cave.

“O-okay?” Blaster says, fires on the back of his neck receding back into the red spots around his neck. He turns to look at Troy, who was also woken by the commotion.

“Urgh. Females…” Troy says with a yawn. “Even when they used to be male, it’s always something.”  

“She’s still our trainer, isn’t she?” Blaster said meekly, “we need to help her.”

“Sure, but she’s also a pokémon now.” Troy stood up and stretched his powerful arms. “She’d be a lot happier if she started acting more like one.”

“You really shouldn’t worry so much,” Bugsy suggests reasonably as Chandler dashes back to the mouth of the cave. “Dani always wakes up early.”

“I’ve told her REPEATEDLY not to wander off alone!” Chandler says frustratedly. “It isn’t safe out there.”

“You don’t know that she’s alone,” Bugsy said. He tries to put a comforting claw on Chandler’s back, but she shakes it off. “She could be with—Ah!” He points, “Here comes Carol.”

The clefairy skips into the cave, holding a bouquet of freshly picked flowers. “Good morning-morning, friendlies!” She says in a voice like a windchime. From the back of the cave, Blaster and Troy shuffle onto the scene, not particularly pleased to have been woken in such a rude fashion. “I’m surprised to see you all up bright and early.”

“Dani is gone,” Chandler says, cutting right to the chase.

“Have you seen her?” Bugsy asks, managing to get a grip of Chandler’s shoulder with one clawed hand.

“Really?” Carol says, raising a surprised finger to her mouth. “Mmmmmm, I can’t say I have! Is she missing?”

Chandler hissed out a string of curses in the human language and Bugsy just manages to avoid being burnt by the flames that spit out from the back of her tail. “Chandler,” he began comfortingly, “she’s just doing what comes naturally for pokémon her age.”

“She isn’t even speaking, yet,” Chandler said. “What if she encounters an aggressive wild pokémon or, worse, a trainer?”

“I don’t see how that would be particularly wrong,” Carol said obliviously. “I got caught by you when I was about Dani’s age, and look at how well I turned out!”

Chandler cut Carol a wicked glare. “Dani is MY child, and I don’t intend anyone to raise her other than ME.”

Bugsy placed both of his three-fingered hands onto Chandler’s shoulders. “I know humans stick close to their parents for an awful long time, but it’s natural for pokémon kits to start venturing out on their own. I’m sure she hasn’t gotten far.”

#Venoshock #Story #Chandler #Bugsy #Dani #Blaster #Troy #Carol #Pokemon #Fan Fiction #salazzle #flygon #typhlosion #machoke #clefairy #salandit

[venoshockcomic]

Given you and your team's status as non-native, what has been the typical interaction with the wild pokemon there?

Interacting with wild pokemon has been an interesting part of this journey. A lot of them are more intelligent than I ever imagined when I was a trainer (no offense, team).

It's kind of weird, from a human perspective, that none of them take on names of their own, but they all have clear personalities and always manage to tell each other apart. It's like their names are their subtle differences (slight physical variations, scent, etc.). It makes my team and I seem a bit odd to them since we all have names.

#Venoshock #Chandler #Question #Answer #Pokemon #Wild Pokemon

[venoshockcomic]

The Scheme Takes Shape

Chandler swung the backpack over her shoulder and held Dani to her chest. She’d spent enough time around the cabin and could tell by the scent in the air that humans had been their recently. Probably just the usual team of caretakers who dropped by every so often to maintain the place, but she wasn’t going push her luck when the scent was this fresh. Especially not with Dani.

“Sal-andit?”

“Yes,” Chandler cooed, “it’s time to go back to our home. I’m sure Carol’s found some wonderful berries for you to eat,” she tickled Dani’s chin, eliciting excited chirps from the salandit, “I bet there’s some nice and juicy for you.”

“Sal!”

---

“Look, there’s another one,” Meowth said, looking over the window. 

“Awww, how sweet,” Jessie said, voice dripping with malevolent sugar as she snuck another peak, “looks like our technologically gifted salazzle is a mommy.”

“What? I want to see the baby!” James said, popping out from cover to—THWACK! Jessie slammed his head back down with a gloved fist. “Auugh!”

“Don’t blow our cover!”

“S-s-sorry,” James said, sprawled on the floor and watching the ring of stars currently dancing around his head.

“That could be used to our advantage.” Meowth was more careful in sneaking a peak of his own.

“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.

“All our pokémon are still spent from the last tangle with the twerp,” Meowth explained. “I’m not sure we could tangle with a salazzle one-on-one in their current state.”

“Oh,” Jessie said, the realization hitting her like, well…

“Pikachu, use thunderbolt!”

“Pika-pi!”

CRACKLE-BOOM!

“Aaaah! Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off agaaaaaiiiiiin!”

*Ding*

With a full-belly, Jessie had completely forgotten they hadn’t had the chance to have their teams properly recovered at a Pokécenter or a local Team Rocket station.  They’d given it their all on the last scheme, with costumes, gadgets, rubber gloves—the works. They even put all their pokémon in play, but, even after two years of arduous training and trials on the roads of Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and Hoenn, they’d once again been thwarted by the twerp, his yellow rat and the rest of their little friends.

“What are you thinking, Meowth?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He said, a mischievous snaggletoothed grin forming, “we nab the kid to get to its mommy.”

#Venoshock #Chandler #Dani #Salazzle #Salandit #Team Rocket #Jessie #James #Meowth #Fan Fiction #Prepare for Trouble #Plot