Welcome to another exciting installment of Spacemon, the tale of a Pokemon TRPG campaign! This is a spinoff of the sci-fi space epic played using the Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU) system, this time GMed by yours truly. You can get caught up on the entire Spacemon saga here!
“The word in the underworld is that the Markovics really pissed off the Yongs,” said Gordon Garth as he eased himself down into one of the chairs in the Maverick’s living quarters.
“We knew that already,” Gaster told his boss’s bounty hunter friend. “They wouldn’t have put out the bounty otherwise.”
“True, but I heard it’s got the whole family runnin’ scared,” Gordon replied. “Apparently he and his sons have been pullin’ their assets out of everything.”
“Well that certainly doesn’t help us find them,” Cyrus commented.
“No, it doesn’t but— Hold on, I need to take this.” Gordon suddenly got out of his seat and pulled out his Pokedex to answer an incoming call. “Whatcha got fer me?” the bounty hunter asked whoever was on the other end of the line as he walked out of the room.
Gaster leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh. Gordon had arrived on Tanov a few hours earlier and had been planning a strategy for tracking down Markovic with the Maverick’s crew since. So far, they didn’t have a concrete plan. The Romanov Gangster hadn’t exactly left behind much of a trail for them to follow.
“Got some good news for y’all,” Gordon suddenly announced, reentering the room. “That was one of my contacts. He says that Markovic’s location’s been leaked. Got the coordinates right here. Some old shipyards on the far side of the sector, near Romanov Space. It’s only a matter of time before more bounty hunters hear about this so we need to leave now to make sure we get there before anyone else.”
“Who leaked it?” Ace asked.
Gordon shrugged. “No idea. My contact got the info from one of his contacts. You know how it goes.”
“Oh,” Ace replied. “I guess we should get going then. We should tell Simon about this too, and maybe the Red Riders too?”
“Good idea,” Cyrus told the android. “We should bring as many allies as we can. We’re gonna need all the help we can get, especially if that psychic bitch shows up again.”
“Twelve enemy ships,” Anya announced as the Maverick dropped out of warp space in the Lasinov System alongside a small squadron of Paladin ships under the command of Simon Dolohov, as well as the UAS Sunrise and the UAS Vermilion, the ships belonging to Gordon Garth and the Red Riders, respectively.
Out the front viewport, Captain Cyrus Drake could see an array of buckets of varying size as well as a few larger frigates positioned around an old station in the abandoned Lasinov shipyards. Upon detecting the newly arrived ships, the small fleet began moving to engage them.
“That’s quite a few,” the captain observed.
“Head for the station,” Simon’s voice sounded on the open comm channel between the Maverick and the ships of the crew’s allies. “We shall handle this gangster scum.”
“You heard the man. Anya, take us in!” Cyrus instructed his pilot. “Ace, Gaster, man the guns!”
“You got it, boss!” Gaster replied as Anya pushed the engines to full-throttle.
As the ship began rapidly closing distance, Ace and Gaster unloaded on one of the enemy ships, landing several hits before it could finish charging its shields. Most of the enemy ships moved to engage the paladin ships that had begun to open fire on them, but the one Ace and Gaster had shot and one other took aim at the Maverick. Anya quickly rolled the ship to avoid the incoming shots, then corrected course to continue the approach to the station.
The two ships broke off from the main group as the Maverick rocketed past them, but the time it took for them to turn around gave Anya plenty of time to put some distance between them. Firing back at their pursuers, Ace and Gaster managed to break through the shields of the previously damaged ship and damage its weapons, rendering it unable to fire accurately. The two ships returned fire, but only the undamaged one was able to land a hit. Fortunately, the Maverick’s shields managed to hold.
One more barrage of laser fire from the Maverick was enough to blow up the damaged ship. The other pursuing ship wasn’t about to give up, though. Continuing the chase, it fired off several volleys, ripping through the Maverick’s shields.
“Hold onto something!” Anya shouted as she brought the ship into a sharp dive, taking it in close to the station for cover.
The pursuing ship remained hot on the Maverick’s tail as Anya weaved it through the outer structures of the station. It fired off several shots, landing some direct hits. Cyrus felt the ship rumble from the impact, but the hull was holding for now. The enemy ship kept up its assault, but thanks to Anya’s flying, the remaining shots missed the Maverick and hit the station instead.
As Anya continued to evade the incoming shots, Ace and Gaster returned fire, landing a few grazing hits on the pursuing ship. Unfortunately, the pilot was so focused on avoiding the laser fire that she accidentally flew a bit too close to the station. The entire ship rumbled as one of the engine pods clipped an antenna on the station.
“Be careful with my ship!” Cyrus shouted at the pilot.
“The damage was minimal,” Anya replied, glancing at the control console. “At least for us. Can’t say the same for the station. That antenna is gone.”
Before the conversation could continue, the pursuing ship fired off another volley of shots at the Maverick, punching a hole through the hull and into the cargo hold.
“That one’s gonna need a repair, though,” Anya said.
“Ya think? C’mon, boys, get rid of that ship already!”
“Working on it!” Gaster shouted back.
Moments later, the Maverick’s guns landed a direct hit on one of its pursuers’ engines, leaving it vulnerable. Another sustained volley of fire blew the ship away.
“Good work, boys!” Cyrus complimented the two gunners. “Looks like our friends have the rest of the ships under control. Anya, bring us in to dock.”
“You got it, Captain,” Anya replied.
As the pilot steered the Maverick toward the nearest docking tube on the station, the ship’s sensors reported another ship dropping out of warp space.
“Looks like we’ve got more company,” Cyrus said.
“You think Markovic called in more backup?” Anya asked.
“Maybe,” the captain answered. “Or it could be other bounty hunters. In either case, we need to get moving. Step on it.”
“Be ready for anything,” Cyrus said as he led the way down the docking tube.
“I’m always ready for anything, Captain,” Gaster replied, tightening his grip on his laser rifle. “It’s how I’ve survived this long.”
“Well aren’t you proud of yourself,” Sikari teased the former smuggler.
“He can be proud that he’s better at his job than you are,” Taraka teased the assassin in kind.
“Now’s not the time for this,” Ace cautioned his crewmates.
“Ace is right,” Cyrus said. “Cut the chatter and focus. We don’t know what could be on the other side of this door.”
“We’ll fight through whatever it is,” Ace said, brandishing his Aegislash.
“Time to find out,” the captain continued, approaching the door control console. He held up three fingers for the rest of the crew, then began counting down. When he reached zero, Cyrus opened the door, revealing five armed men on the other side, one of which was holding back a growling Mightyena.
“This should be fun,” Sikari said before activating her cloaking device and vanishing from sight.
Quickly assessing the situation, Gaster commanded his Galvantula to move in and attack. “Nicole, hit that Mightyena with Signal Beam!” he barked as the Bite Pokemon’s trainer released his grip on it. The Mightyena charged forward, but it was just as quickly knocked back by a beam of energy fired by Gaster’s Pokemon.
“Sirius, use Dazzling Gleam!” Taraka ordered from behind Gaster as the former smuggler began taking aim with his rifle. The monk’s Togekiss flew over Gaster’s head and moved up along the left side. Once in range, the Jubilee Pokemon fired off a brilliant cone of light at one of the mercenaries.
“Blyat!” the man spat as he threw his hands up to shield his eyes.
“Good work, Sirius,” Taraka encouraged his Pokemon as he put up a protective barrier around the crew and their Pokemon.
“Gonchaya, use Thunder Fang on that thing!” the Mightyena’s trainer responded, taking aim at the Jubilee Pokemon with his rifle as he did so. Fangs sparking, the canine Pokemon leapt at Sirius, but the Togekiss flew up and out of the way.
As the mercs began to open fire, Cyrus moved up along the right side and returned fire while the rest of the crew spread out. Chaos soon unfolded as the rest of the mercs sent out Pokemon of their own: an Alakazam, a Jolteon, a Lapras, and a Vaporeon.
Suddenly finding a Vaporeon in his face, Gaster began to move back so he could line up a good shot, but not before the Bubble Jet Pokemon got off an attack on him.
“Livni, use Aurora Beam!”
Gaster grunted in pain as the cold beam of energy struck him, but he kept moving. As he got to a safe distance, the other mercs issued commands to their Pokemon.
“Lozhka, use Calm Mind!”
“Zorya, use Frost Breath!”
“Grom, use Thunderbolt!”
As the Alakazam focused its mind and built up power, the Lapras unleashed its freezing breath upon Ace and the Jolteon fired off a bolt of electricity at Sirius. Ace guarded himself with the shield of his Aegislash, which was much more resistant to the icy attack, while Taraka’s Togekiss once again managed to use her swift aerial maneuverability to avoid being hit.
As the firefight raged on, Ace pushed forward, slashing at the Mightyena and one of the mercs with his Aegislash blade. “Nicole, use Electroweb!” Gaster commanded his Galvantula, directing her to back up his android crewmate. The EleSpider Pokemon shot out an electrified web at the Mightyena, but the quick canine managed to avoid it.
Just then, Sikari decloaked between the Alakazam and its trainer. Before the merc could even react, the assassin stabbed him in the throat with her psionic blade, killing him instantly. She then turned and stabbed the Alakazam as it attempted to blast Taraka with its psychic power, leaving a nasty wound on its back.
Sikari’s surprise reappearance served as enough of a distraction for the remaining mercs for Gaster to line up a good shot without worrying about getting shot himself. He quickly lined up a shot on the Lapras and fired, landing a direct hit. The former smuggler then ducked back into the docking tube as the Mightyena’s trainer began firing at him with his rifle.
“Sirius, use Swift!” Gaster heard Taraka command as he peeked back out of cover. The former smuggler watched as the monk’s Togekiss unleashed a storm of energy stars upon the Mightyena and the Lapras’s trainer, who was unfortunate enough to be standing too close to the Bite Pokemon. The Mightyena went down from the attack, but the merc managed to stay standing, if barely. However, as the man stumbled backwards, Cyrus dropped him with a well-placed shot.
“Livni, use Blizzard!” the Vaporeon’s trainer responded. The merc’s Pokemon fired off a blast of ice and snow at Cyrus and Sirius, dealing some serious damage to both of them. The merc himself then fired at Gaster’s Galvantula with his pistol, scoring a direct hit. Gaster tried to fire back on the man, but Ace and the Jolteon’s trainer passed through his line of sight as they traded blows.
“Zorya, use Thunderbolt! The Lapras’s trainer then commanded, keeping the focus on Ace. His Pokemon fired off a bolt of electricity at Ace, but the android mostly shrugged the hit off. Maintaining his assault on the Jolteon’s trainer, Ace struck again with his Aegislash, taking the merc down.
Returning his attention to his Pokemon, Gaster commanded her to fall back to his position and attack, “Nicole, get back here and hit this Vaporeon with Signal Beam!” Passing under a Thunderbolt attack from the Jolteon aimed at Sirius, the Galvantula skittered back to her trainer, then fired off her attack at the Vaporeon, landing a powerful hit.
Meanwhile, Gaster took aim at the Alakazam, which was squaring off with Sikari. The assassin stabbed the Psi Pokemon again, but then it Recovered from its wounds.
“That’s no good,” Gaster said before pulling the trigger. As his laser shot landed a direct hit on the Alakazam, the former smuggler squeezed the trigger again. His second shot found its mark as well, bringing the Psi Pokemon down.
Gaster nodded at Sikari then turned to find his next target. Scanning the corridor, he watched Taraka blast the Jolteon with psionic energy while the monk’s Togekiss unleashed a Dazzling Gleam on the Lapras. Meanwhile the captain was keeping the Vaporeon’s trainer occupied with sustained gunfire. He wasn’t able to land any shots from his angle, but he did keep him pinned down so that Ace could get in and strike with his Aegislash, laying him out on the floor.
“Livni, use Aurora Beam,” the Romanov man grunted from where he lay on the floor. The Bubble Jet Pokemon fired off a powerful rainbow beam at Gaster’s Galvantula, but that proved to be the last thing it did.
“Nicole, use Electroweb!” Gaster commanded his Pokemon in response. The Galvantula dropped an electrified web on the Vaporeon, then, while it was still trapped, Ace moved in and struck with his Aegislash, bringing it down.
Meanwhile, the Lapras unleashed an icy attack on Sirius. Thankfully, Taraka’s barrier absorbed most of the damage. The Jolteon then made an attack of its own against the Togekiss, prompting Taraka to run in to heal his Pokemon. Along with the captain, Gaster laid down some covering fire to give the monk a window.
“Sirius, hit that Jolteon with Fairy Wind!” Taraka commanded his Pokemon once she was back in fighting shape.
As the Jubilee Pokemon flew after her target, the Lapras fired off another Thunderbolt attack, this time at Taraka. With his heightened monk reflexes, Taraka easily avoided the attack while Ace moved in to finish the Lapras off.
“Nicole take that Jolteon out with Signal Beam!” Gaster then commanded his Galvantula. Skittering back out of the docking tube, the former smuggler’s Pokemon fired off her beam attack at the Lightning Pokemon, which was still reeling from the Fairy Wind attack, and brought it down.
“Damn it, fall back!” the merc with the rifle barked as the last of the squad’s Pokemon fell. As he began backing up down the corridor, he fired off several bursts of fire at the Maverick crew and their Pokemon while his remaining comrade picked himself off the floor. Before the merc could get to his feet, however, Sikari closed in and finished him off with a stab to the gut.
“Blyat!” the final mercenary cursed before breaking into a full run.
As the man fled, Gaster stepped out of the docking tube, lined up a shot, then fired, hitting him square in the back. Despite the hit, the merc kept running, but a blast of psionic energy from Taraka brought him down.
“That was pretty tough,” Gaster said as he pulled out a Super Potion to heal his Galvantula.
“Indeed,” Taraka agreed as he pulled out one of his own to give to his Togekiss.
“There’s bound to be more, so stay sharp, everyone,” Cyrus said.
“Let’s hope our friends get their asses onto this station soon, then,” Gaster replied.
Once his Galvantula was healed, Gaster then recalled her to her ball. She had taken a beating, so the former smuggler decided it was best to go with a Pokemon that was still at full strength.
“You’re up, Rusty,” Gaster said as he sent out his Typhlosion.
“Anyone else need to heal or switch Pokemon?” Cyrus asked, looking around at the members of his crew.
“All good, Captain,” Ace answered.
Cyrus nodded. “Alright then. Let’s move. Which way do you think?”
Gaster glanced down the corridor to the right of the docking tube, then down the left. “No clue,” the former smuggler said. “Let’s just pick a direction and go. How does left sound?”
“Left it is.”
Gaster could feel the station rumble as stray laser fire from the space battle outside struck the hull. Glancing out a viewport as he and his crewmates made their way down the corridor, he caught a glimpse of the Paladin ships trading shots with what remained of the mercenary ships outside.
“That’s one hell of a battle still raging out there,” the former smuggler observed.
“Glad we’re not out there,” Cyrus replied.
“Instead we’re here on a station crawling with people who want to kill us,” Sikari pointed out.
“I’m not too worried,” Cyrus told her. “Gordon and the others should be joining us soon.”
The assassin shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Anyway, enough talk,” the captain said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Continuing down the corridor, the Maverick crew soon arrived at a large, open room. Three armed men stood waiting in the center of the room and approached as they neared the end of the corridor. Two armored mercs with heavy rifles stood on either side of a thin, sleazy-looking, blonde haired man that Gaster recognized as the younger of Markovic’s two sons, Emil.
“You,” Emil sneered at Gaster upon recognizing him. “You have a lot of nerve coming here.”
“Where’s your daddy at, Emil?” Gaster goaded. “He’s got a lot of questions to answer.”
“If you want to get to him, you need to go through us first,” Emil spat back.
“Well if that’s how you want to do this, then alright,” Gaster said, taking a step forward.
As the former smuggler advanced, Emil took several steps back up and motioned to his men. The two mercs fanned out, then all three of them sent out Pokemon. Emil sent out an Aggron, the mercenary on his left sent out a Granbull, and the one on the right a Kangaskhan.
“Rusty, drop a Smokescreen in front of us!” Gaster commanded his Typhlosion as the enemy Pokemon began closing in. Moving up in front of the Maverick crew, the former smuggler’s Pokemon sprayed out a thick cloud of smoke to obscure them all from sight. Raising his rifle, Gaster then stepped forward into the smoke and lined up a shot with the aid of his cybernetic eyes, which were able to see through the smoke.
“Avariya, use Rock Slide!” the merc on the right barked at his Pokemon in response to the Smokescreen. His Kangaskhan proceeded to fire a barrage of rocks into the smoke. The attack wasn’t accurate at all, but the sheer number of projectiles flying into the smoke meant the Kangaskhan was almost guaranteed to hit something. Gaster winced in pain as several of the rocks pelted him, but his Typhlosion was even worse off given his weakness to rock attacks.
As Gaster regained his bearings, two psionic flame wisps flew past him at the Kangaskhan and its trainer. “Sirius, use Thunder Wave on that Kangaskhan!” Taraka followed up with a command as his attack found its targets and left both with psionic burns.
Flying up through the smoke, the monk’s Togekiss fired off an immobilizing wave of electricity at the Kangaskhan, leaving it stunned. Seizing the opportunity, Ace charged forward to engage the Parent Pokemon while it was immobilized.
Meanwhile, Cyrus advanced through the smoke, firing off his pistol at Emil. “Bronya, use Iron Head!” Markovic’s son commanded his Pokemon in response. Stepping into the captain’s line of fire, the Aggron charged forward and slammed into him with its armor-plated skull, dealing some serious damage. “Now, strike again! Iron Head!” The Aggron reared back to attack once more, but this time Cyrus managed to dodge out of the way and retreat away from the Iron Armor Pokemon.
“Yama, get in there and chase them out of the smoke!” the merc on the left commanded his Granbull. “Use Crunch!” The merc’s canine Pokemon charged into the smoke and lunged at Gaster, but the former smuggler took advantage of its smoke-impaired sight to easily avoid its attack.
“Rusty, hit that Granbull with Flame Charge!” Gaster commanded his Typhlosion in response before ducking down to avoid a volley of incoming gunfire. As his Pokemon made his attack, Gaster stood back up, took aim at the Kangaskhan, then fired, taking it down with a well-placed shot.
With the path clear, Taraka ordered his Togekiss to move up and attack. “Sirius, use Dazzling Gleam!” the monk commanded, pointing to the merc on the right. The Jubilee Pokemon flew up and made her attack, then Taraka followed up with a blast of psionic energy, knocking the merc out.
Now that one of the two mercs had been taken care of, the Maverick crew focused their attention on the second. Cyrus and Gaster landed a few glancing shots on him before Emil’s Aggron stepped in to intercept a charging Ace.
“Bronya, use Iron Head!” Emil commanded the Iron Armor Pokemon. With a roar, the Aggron lunged at Ace, landing a powerful blow.
Undaunted, Ace kept up his advance, striking the Aggron with his Aegislash as he passed. He then turned and swung at the enemy Pokemon’s back, landing a second hit.
Meanwhile, the remaining merc fired back at Cyrus and Gaster and commanded his Pokemon to attack, “Yama, use Headbutt on that Typhlosion!”
“Rusty, use Heat Wave!” Gaster reacted as the Granbull landed its attack on his Pokemon. The former smuggler’s Typhlosion moved back from the attacking Grabull, then unleashed a massive blast of flames that consumed both the Granbull and the Aggron.
“Damn,” Emil cursed. “Bronya—”
Before the young gangster could finish his command, Sikari appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back. Turning quickly, Emil aimed his pistol at her and fired, landing a direct shot to her shoulder.
Gaster began to line up a shot on Emil to help Sikari out, but the gangster’s Aggron came stomping out of the flames at him before he could get it off. Fortunately for the former smuggler, Taraka’s Togekiss zapped it with a Thunder Wave, halting its advance. Taraka gave Gaster a nod, then recalled Sirius and sent out his Hitmontop. The monk then threw up a fresh psionic barrier, just in time to deflect incoming fire from the Granbull’s trainer.
“What?!” the merc shouted in surprise when his shots failed to hit their marks. “Damn it, Yama, hit them!” he then barked at his Pokemon in frustration.
As the Granbull moved in to attack again, Ace retreated back to assist the rest of the crew. He swung once and missed, but he connected with his second swing as the Granbull attempted to evade.
“Use Overheat!” the Pokemon’s trainer commanded it. The Granbull let out a fierce howl, then proceeded to breath out a massive torrent of flames into the smoke.
Gaster turned away to shield himself as the fire poured over him. He got by mostly unscathed, but some of the others fared worse. Ace was starting to show signs of wearing down and Cyrus appeared to be in pretty bad shape. Even Gaster’s Typhlosion was looking quite hurt, despite his fire resistance.
“We need to end this!” Gaster called out to his crewmates.
“We’re just getting started,” Emil said in response. A wicked grin formed on his face as the screeching grind of bending and breaking metal began to sound from somewhere above.
Gaster cast his gaze upward just in time to witness the ceiling rupture open. Chunks of metal and other debris rained down as a lone figure crashed down through the hole. A shockwave exploded out in all directions as the figure collided with the floor.
Gaster heard a familiar scream ring out, reverberating throughout the room and within his mind, as the figure stood. A shiver ran down his spine as the psychic assassin turned her gaze upon him and his crewmates. Despite the lack of features upon the faceless mask the armored assassin wore, the former smuggler felt his eyes lock with hers.
“What the fuck!?” the Romanov merc shouted, aiming his rifle at the assassin.
“Don’t shoot,” Emil warned his goon, motioning for him to lower his rifle. “This one’s on our side.”
Notes: Well this was an exciting chapter! After the uneventful previous session, it was time to get into the action. The extra week of prep allowed me to make this session as good as I wanted it to be. This chapter covers just about the first two thirds of session 58, which turned out to be a rather long session for this game. It was a big mission that ended up needing to span multiple sessions and I needed to split this session into multiple chapters to keep things from getting too long.
To start things off, between the events of the previous chapter and this one, Gordon Garth arrived to help the crew out. I started the session with him getting the tip about Markovic so I could get them to where I needed them to be, but there wasn’t a whole lot in terms of RP here, so I expanded it a bit to make a good intro scene. And then they decided to call in some more help from the Red Riders and the Paladins, but there really wasn’t a scene for that in-game and I didn’t feel like it was necessary to add one in for the chapter.
From there it was into the action. I started off with some fun space combat stuff. Ace and Gaster manned the guns, and Novi got to roll for Anya’s piloting so he could have something to do since Taraka couldn’t do anything. I kept the focus on just a couple ships chasing them so we didn’t spend too much time on this part. It was easy enough to say their allies were taking care of things for the most part.
Next up was some combat right after boarding. I made it a little tougher because they had backup from Cyrus and Sikari, and it worked out nicely, giving them the right amount of challenge for the encounter.
From there, it was on to a second encounter with someone who wasn’t a faceless grunt. For the campaign, this was actually the first appearance of Markovic’s son Emil. However, for the writing, he’s not a new character. It may be the first time the party interacts with him, but he’s already appeared a few times, first in Anya’s flashback scene, then in a couple villain-only scenes. It makes this encounter with him carry a bit more weight. The real meat of the encounter, though, was with the psychic assassin. I planned to have her show up part way through the fight to catch the party by surprise. The session kept going from here, but this was a good stopping point for the chapter, leaving things off on a nice little cliffhanger. Tune in next time to see how things play out!
That does it for this chapter. As always the Spacemon gang and I will be monitoring the comments to foster discussion and answer any questions. Feel free to give feedback and critiques of the writing so I can improve it for the future, or just leave a comment with what you think about what went down in this chapter or what you think might happen next! You can also revisit past chapters, check out the rest of the Spacemon saga, join the Spacemon Discord server, or like our Facebook page to stay updated on all things Spacemon! Click here for the next exciting installment of Spacemon: Frontier!
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