Spacemon, Vol. 1 – Chapter 2: An Unlikely Partnership

Welcome to another exciting installment of Spacemon, the tale of a Pokemon TRPG campaign! It is a sci-fi space epic played using the Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU) system and GMed by fellow TAY author DragonStorm247. You can get caught up on the entire Spacemon saga here!

Arlon sat in the co-pilot seat in the cockpit of the newly acquired ship, feeling rather confused. He could have sworn the Red Suns had somehow tracked him to Gigan Station— despite the fact that, as far as he knew, they believed him to be dead. But they were after something else and Arlon was extremely curious as to what it was. All he knew was that it was some kind of data package.

He realized that this was not the time to dwell on it, though. There were far more important things to worry about at the moment. Arlon pulled himself out of his thoughts and formulated a plan of action.

“Alright, here’s the deal,” he said, turning to the young woman in the pilot seat who had been flying the ship. “We’ve got no warp drive, which means we’re not leaving this sector any time soon. We’ve also got limited fuel, so we need to refuel if we want to go anywhere.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” the young woman asked.

“Well, lucky for us, there’s a planet nearby where we can refuel, maybe even find a warp drive,” Arlong told her. “Erebus,” he continued, pointing to a planet on the nav chart. “It’s a small forest planet. There’s a … I wouldn’t exactly say spaceport there. More of an … outlaw’s den, if you will. Not a very savory place, but we can get what we need there.”

“Alright. I’ll plot a course,” the woman said.

“Right. Well, since we’re all stuck together for the time being, what are your names?” Arlon asked, looking from the young woman to the two others sitting in the seats behind them.

“Morgan,” the young woman said calmly.

“Dmitri,” said the Romanov man.

“And I am Experiment #1749XQR5Z-H, but you may call me H,” the quirky blonde man said.

“So what are you, some kind of escaped lab experiment then, mate?” Arlon asks.

“I am a superior being! I am the one who will bring Humanity to perfection!”

“Right,” said Arlon, thinking it best just to agree with the strange man.

“And who are you?” Morgan asked.

“The name’s Arlon.”

The rest of the trip was spent in silence, the four strangers not feeling very talkative. Having just met, they didn’t feel particularly keen on sharing anything more about themselves. The ship eventually arrived at the planet Erebus and Morgan flew it into the atmosphere. As they approached, the ship started rumbling and Morgan seemed to be struggling with the controls.

“Pull up!” Arlon shouted at her. “You’re gonna crash the bloody ship!”

“I’m trying!” Morgan shouted back.

“Let me do it!”

Without even waiting for Morgan to get out of the way, Arlon seized the controls and pulled the ship up from its crash course. The tops of the trees shook wildly as the ship passed over them, narrowly avoiding a collision.

“How about we let the experienced pilot fly the ship from now on then?” Arlon said as he settled into the pilot’s seat.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Morgan asked, sounding quite annoyed with him.

“Well you were so keen on flying, I just assumed you knew what the bloody hell you were doing. But now that that’s cleared up, I’ll be flying this bucket.” He brought the ship in low and set it down in a clearing in the lush forest of Erebus, a couple miles outside the settlement.

“Why are we landing so far away?” Dmitri asked.

“This isn’t exactly the nicest place to be,” Arlon told him. “Trust me, mate, you don’t want to land any closer than this.”

They disembarked from the ship and set out in the direction of the town. As they walked along, there was a sudden loud rustling in the brush.

“Hold up,” Arlon told the group, motioning for them to stop. “Something’s coming.”

Before anyone could react, a Scyther burst out of the bushes. It was closely pursued by a pack of wild Poochyenas.

“That Scyther’s mine,” said Dmitri, reaching for a Pokeball. “Wilhelm, Night Shade!” he commanded as he released his Gastly. The ghostly Pokemon sent a blast of energy at the Scyther, which caught its attention. It lunged forward and swiped at its attacker. With the Scyther distracted, the Poochyenas started ganging up on it, biting it in several places.

“Best to mop up the Poochyenas if you want to catch it,” Arlon said, throwing out his own Pokemon. “Ironhide, Metal Claw!” he commanded the Iron Armor Pokemon, pointing at one of the Poochyenas. The Aron charged forward and swiped at his target, knocking it away from the Scyther.

The others soon joined the fray, sending out their own Pokemon and directing them to start attacking the Poochyenas. The sudden large group of assailants soon caused the pack to turn tail and flee.

“Not so fast,” Arlon said as he threw a Pokeball after them, catching the Poochyena at the back of the pack. He then turned to his Aron and commanded, “Now, Ironhide, hit that Scyther with another Metal Claw!”

“Yvonne, Tackle it!” Morgan then instructed her Eevee. The two Pokemon landed their hits, leaving the Scyther pretty beat up. The Mantis Pokemon still had plenty of fight left in it, though. It lunged at Ironhide and swung one of its blades at him, but it just clanged off of the Aron’s armor, only inflicting a bit of damage.

“#1, hit it with Stomp!” H commanded his Rhyhorn. The Spikes Pokemon charged at the Scyther and kicked it hard, knocking it into a tree.

“Now it’s all mine,” said Dmitri as he threw a Pokeball at it. The ball pulled the Scyther inside and fell to the forest floor. It shook a couple times, then fell still.

“Nice work, mate,” Arlon said as he picked up his own Pokeball, now housing a Poochyena. Glancing down at the ball, the bounty hunter muttered to himself, “Guess I’ll need a name for you.”

The group continued on through the forest and eventually arrived in a large, cleared out area with a small settlement. The place appeared quite unpleasant, crawling with what looked like all sorts of criminals and scum.

“Best watch yourselves here,” Arlon warned his companions as he led them to the cantina.

“Hey mate, you know where I can get some fuel around here?” Arlon asked the bartender.

“Sure,” the man said. “If you buy a drink.”

“Fine. Just give me a beer,” Arlon said. Then, turning to the others, “You want anything?”

“Yeah,” Dmitri replied as he joined Arlon at the bar. “I’ll take a bottle of Vodka.”

“A whole bottle?” the bartender asked. “That’ll be a hundred credits.” Then, turning back to Arlon, he said, “And thirty for the beer.”

The pair paid up and the bartender served them their drinks. “The man you’re looking for is Aarn Hondo,” he said as he handed Arlon his beer. “You’ll find him in the scrap shop across the way.”

“Thanks, mate,” said Arlon, sipping his beer.

After Arlon and Dmitiri finished their drinks, the group headed over to the scrap shop. Upon entering, it became pretty apparent which of the men inside was Hondo. He was sitting at a desk at the back of the shop with his feet up on it and a pygmy Skarmory perched upon his shoulder.

“I hear you’re the man to talk to to get some fuel around here,” Arlon said as he approached the desk.

The man perked up as Arlon walked over. “Ah, yes, my friend, I do believe I can help you with that. What kind of ship you got?”

“It’s a Genevan bucket class ship,” Arlon informed him. “A Vulcan.”

“Ah, a Vulcan bucket. Very nice,” Hondo said. “How much fuel are we talking?”

“Just fill it up; we’re pretty much out at this point.”

“Very well. That’ll be fifteen-hundred credits.”

“That seems a bit steep there, mate,” Arlon said. “Why don’t  we sweeten the deal a little? I don’t suppose you also happen to have a warp drive for sale here do you?”

“I may have one or two lying around,” Hondo tolds him. “It’ll run you fifty-thousand credits.” 

“I’m afraid we don’t have that kind of money at the moment,” Arlon informed the junk dealer. “I was thinking we could work out some kind of deal.”

“I’m listening,” said Hondo.

Arlon folded his arms as he began to work his angle. “I believe you may be familiar with the bounty hunter Arlon Jett.”

“Ah, yes. I believe I’ve come across the name,” Hondo replied.

“Well he’s me, mate,” Arlon said, deciding to take a risk on revealing his identity. “I don’t suppose you need anything done.”

“Word is that you’re a dead man.”

“Well, I thought it best that my enemies believed me dead,” Arlon said. “I am a wanted man.”

“Ah, yes,” Hondo said with a laugh. “It is a lot harder to catch a dead man. Very well. What kind of deal are we talking about here?”

“Well, I was thinking we could do something for you in exchange for a warp drive, and a better price on the fuel.”

“Ah, yes. I do have something I think a man like you could help me with,” Hondo said. “Let’s just say I have a package I need delivered.”

Arlon let out a slight chuckle. “Of course, a smuggler.”

Hondo flashed a grin. “I prefer the term businessman.”

Arlon nodded. “Let’s get to business then. Where are we taking this package?”

“Not so fast, my friend,” said Hondo. “What’s to stop you from running once I give you a warp drive?”

“Well you should know from my reputation that I never break a contract,” Arlon said.

“Very well. The package and the warp drive will be delivered to your ship, and I’ll knock five-hundred credits off on the fuel,” Hondo said, rubbing his hands together. “I need the package delivered to the Alexi System in Romanov Sector 17. Figuring out how to smuggle it through their tightened border security is up to you. Oh, and one more thing: whatever you do, do not open the package.”

“Sure thing, mate,” Arlon told the smuggler. “I believe we can handle that.”

“A pleasure doing business with you.”

“Likewise.”

As the unlikely crew exited the scrap shop, they were stopped by a group of shady looking characters. “You lot are trainers, yeah?” one of them asked as he dropped his cigarette butt to the ground and stamped it out. “How about a battle?”

Arlon glanced back at his comrades and they gave him a nod. “Alright then, mate,” Arlon said to the man.

“How about we make this interesting then? Two-thousand credits on each side in the pot, winner takes all.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Arlon told the man as he reached for his Pokeball belt.

The three opposing trainers sent out a Boldore, a Quilava, and a Beedrill. H released his trusty Rhyhorn while the others opted to use their recent captures. Dmitri sent out his Scyther, Morgan her Solrock, and Arlon his Poochyena.

“Misery, use Pin Missile!” the Beedrill’s trainer commanded as the battle kicked off. The Poison Bee Pokemon locked onto Morgan’s Solrock and fired a nasty stream of stingers in its direction. Only one managed to meet its mark, but it was enough to take down the Meteorite Pokemon instantly.

“Fireball, use Flame Wheel!” the Quilava’s trainer then barked, pointing at Dmitri’s Scyther.

“Gigan, Dodge it and use Wing Attack on that Beedrill!” Dmitri commanded his own Pokemon. The Scyther flew to the side as the Quilava whizzed by in a wheel of fire. She then charged full speed at the Beedrill and landed a strong hit with her wings.

“Crocuta, Bite that Quilava!” Arlon then commanded his Poochyena. She ran forward and sunk her fangs into the Quilava as it emerged from its Flame Wheel attack, dealing a pretty harsh blow.

“Igneous, use Headbutt!” the last rival trainer commanded his Boldore. The rocky Pokemon moved in on Crocuta and hit the Poochyena with its head, knocking her back a bit.

“#1, use Stomp!” H commanded his Rhyhorn into the fight. The Spikes Pokemon charged the Quilava and stomped down on it with one of his sizable feet.

“Yvonne, use Quick Attack!” Morgan shouted out as she releases her Eevee to avenge her Solrock. The Evolution Pokemon ran up to the Quilava and slammed into it, knocking it out of the fight.

“Misery, use Twineedle!” the Beedrill’s trainer commanded. The deadly bug Pokemon flew full speed at Crocuta and hit the Bite Pokemon with its dual stingers. The Poochyena couldn’t stand up to the hit and she went down.

“Gigan, use Wing Attack again!” Dmitri commanded his Scyther. The Mantis Pokemon flew after the Beedrill and struck it with her wings again, knocking it out.

“Igneous, use Rock Blast!” the last opposing trainer still in the fight commanded. His Boldore looked at Dmitri’s Scyther and fired several rocks at her, but she was a swift fighter and managed to dodge out of the way.

“#1, use Fury Attack!” H commanded. His Rhyhorn ran up and struck the Boldore repeatedly with his horn, but the attack did little more than scratch the Pokemon’s rocky hide.

“Yvonne, use Quick Attack again!” Morgan commanded. Her Eevee sprinted at the Boldore and threw herself at it, but the Boldore paid no mind.

“You too, Gigan,” Dmitri instructed his Scyther. Again, the same result. Gigan flew in for a Quick Attack, but the Boldore was quite resilient.

“You’re up, Ironhide!” Arlon shouted as he released his Aron. “Use Metal Claw!” Ironhide emerged from his ball and charged at the Boldore, swiping at it with his claws. The strike cut through the Boldore’s defenses far more than the previous attacks, but the Ore Pokemon stayed standing.

“#1 finish it off!” H commanded his Rhyhorn. His Pokemon charged the Boldore and crashed into it, finally taking it down.

“Not bad,” the Beedrill’s trainer said to the victorious team.

Arlon didn’t trust them, but these skeevy-looking trainers didn’t back out on their deal and paid up. Arlon split up the money with his new crewmates and then they went on their way.

In good spirits after their victory, the group headed back to the ship. On the way back, they encountered a Wurmple, a Weedle, and a Caterpie in the dense forest. Arlon pressed on toward the ship while the other three stayed back to capture them. The small bug Pokemon didn’t put up much of a fight and they captured them with ease. The trio then quickly made their way back to the ship.

Hondo’s men arrived at the parked ship a short time later with the warp drive and the package. A group of them worked on installing the warp drive in the ship while another group secured the package in the cargo hold.

“Remember, don’t open it,” one of the men reminded Arlon before they departed from the ship.

“Alright, let’s find out what’s inside,” H said as soon as the men were gone.

“We are not opening this package,” Arlon sternly replied.

“Why not?” H asked, seemingly flabbergasted by Arlon’s words.

“Hondo specifically instructed us not to open it. I don’t break a contract, so this package stays closed.”

“Well that’s no fun,” H replied before walking out of the room.

After H left, Arlon took a quick look around the cargo hold and discovered a few Great Balls lying around. He pocketed them before exiting the room and locking it behind himself to make sure H didn’t mess with the package.

Arlon made his way to the cockpit and plopped himself down in the pilot’s seat. He then activated the ship’s comm system and summoned his shipmates, “Get up here so we can figure out a plan.” 

Once they all gathered in the cockpit, Arlon looked at them and explained the situation. “We have a warp drive now, but we’re not getting to the Romanov Union without a Pokemon to act as a psychic navigator,” he informed them. “I don’t suppose any of you happen to have one capable?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Morgan told him.

“I don’t either,” said Dmitri.

“Nor I,” said H.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to catch one then,” Arlon said. “Let’s head to the next system over for now and see what we can find.”

After a couple hours in warp space, the ship arrived in the next nearest system. As luck would have it, as Arlon flew the ship through the system’s asteroid belt towards the interior planets, he spotted a Beldum floating between the large space rocks.

Arlon quickly activated the comms and informed his crewmates, “There’s a Beldum out in space. If we can catch it, we can use it as our navigator.”

“How exactly do you plan on catching it?” Morgan asked when she arrived in the cockpit with Dmitri. “It’s not like we have space suits or anything.”

“How indeed,” said H as he joined them. “We all have Pokemon that can survive out in space. We will use them to bring the Beldum onto the ship.”

“And how, exactly, do you propose to do that, mate?” Arlon asked.

“Simple. We will use a rope!”

“And how do you plan on getting a rope around it?”

“No, no, no. We will soak the rope in water and it will freeze into a pole of ice in space. #2 will coat the end in string shot so it can easily be stuck to the Beldum. Your Geodude will guide it into place from the airlock and Morgan’s Solrock will help stick it on with its telekinetic abilities. Dmitri, your Gastly will lure it in.”

Arlon stared blankly back at the peculiar man. “You realize this plan is complete bullshit, right mate?”

“And that is precisely why it will work!” H declared as he headed out of the cockpit and toward the airlock.

“You’re lucky I’m such a bloody good pilot then,” Arlon said under his breath as he let out his Geodude. “Terra, go with them and follow the plan.” The Geodude nodded and then followed Morgan and Dmitri out of the cockpit.

Morgan and Dmitri arrived at the airlock to find H overseeing his Weedle as it coated the end of a length of rope in sticky string. “Excellent!” he exclaimed when he saw his shipmates arrive. “Release your Pokemon and well shall begin!”

“I can’t believe we’re actually trying this,” Morgan replied as she released her Solrock. “Come on out, Corinne.”

Under H’s supervision, the plan got underway. Dmitri released Wilhelm and instructed the Gastly to fly out into space and get the Beldum’s attention. In the meantime, Arlon attempted to keep the ship as close to the Pokemon as possible.

Whatever Wilhelm did seemed to work as he was able to lure the beldum near the airlock, where Terra and Corinne were working on extending the rope. They successfully stuck it on and began to reel the Beldum in. Arlon worked hard to keep the ship as steady as possible as the Pokemon pulled the Beldum closer.

Once the Solrock and the Geodude got the Beldum into the airlock, H slammed the close button and sealed it in. Arlon quickly set the ship to autopilot and ran to the airlock to assist. In the meantime, Dmitri raised his hand and released a ray of psionic energy, sending the Beldum into a state of confusion.

“Terra, grab onto the Beldum and hold it in place while we open the interior airlock,” Arlon commanded his Geodude as he arrived on the scene. The Rock Pokemon moved in and wrapped her arms around the dazed Beldum and Arlon opened the airlock.

“#2, use String Shot!” H then commanded his Weedle. The little bug Pokemon sprayed the Beldum with string, binding it in place.

“Wilhelm, use Nightshade,” Dmitri instructed his Gastly once the ghost Pokemon had returned. The Gas Pokemon blasted the Beldum with a surge of dark energy, doing some decent damage. The rest of the group followed up by instructing their Pokemon to attack and whittle it down.

“Alright, it is time to catch it!” H shouted as he reached for a Pokeball.

“Here, use this,” Arlon told him, handing him one of the Great Balls he found in the cargo hold. H grabbed it out of his hand and threw it at the Beldum. The ball shook violently and the Iron Ball Pokemon soon broke out.

“Now it’s my turn,” said Dmitri.

As much as he wanted to hang on to the Great Balls, Arlon knew they needed to catch this Beldum if they wanted to go anywhere so he tossed one to Dmitri. Dmitri nodded at him and then threw the ball at the Beldum. The ball shook violently again as the Beldum was pulled into it, but this time it fell still after a few moments.

“I can’t believe this bloody plan actually worked,” Arlon said to his shipmates.

“I told you it was going to work!” H exclaimed.

“Whatever, mate,” Arlon replied. “Now let’s get this guy hooked up to the warp drive so we can actually get somewhere.”

Notes: This was another session from before I introduced the Notes section at the end of each chapter to summarize the interesting stuff that happened in the game and how it affected the story. This session was a bit more memorable to me than the previous one because this was the first time that we worked together to do this crazy bullshit plan to do something. In this case, it was to catch a Beldum in space without having any space suits! I still don’t know how we even managed to pull it off.

Like the previous chapter, this one was also written from memory as I hadn’t yet started to take notes on the sessions for the sake of writing these. If I recall correctly, this was around the time when I first got the idea to actually start writing about the sessions here on TAY, although I never got to it until after the third session. That’s why the first three chapters were written in one post originally. So going back to this chapter for revision, I had to again fudge some of the details as they have been long forgotten by me, DragonStorm, and the other players!

As for interesting stuff that happened this session, as players we were still getting to know each other, much like our characters in the game, so RP was a bit awkward still. But once we teamed up to catch that Beldum, we really started to bond in both respects! Then there was that killer Beedrill! That thing completely murdered Morgan’s Solrock in one hit, I’m not even joking. Like the HP dropped from full to below -100% which is the threshold for killing a Pokemon instead of fainting it that we’ve been using (the book says -200%, but DragonStorm made it harsher). But because it was the second session and we all barely had any Pokemon, DragonStorm showed mercy and let it live. So far, it has been the only time such mercy was shown because, you know, we’re fucking badasses.

Update 9/2/21: This was a fun chapter to come back to. Aside from the usual reworking into past tense and some details about the ship, there were really only two main areas that needed some extra attention. The smuggler Aarn Hondo has received a lot of development since his first appearance here, so I added some of those extra details. I also made a few additions to his exchange with Arlon to just make it flow a bit better. The other thing that needed some updating was the battle with the three random trainers. I gave their Pokemon nicknames, and updated some of the descriptions of the attacks. No results were altered, though. A funny thing that stood out to me here was Morgan, the one person with a psychic Pokemon at this point, saying she didn’t have a Pokemon capable of being a psychic navigator. I assume it just wasn’t a high enough level, but it’s just funny to think about. Speaking of Solrock, it getting wrecked by that Beedrill is still one of the most memorable early Spacemon moments. Good times.

Post-Chapter Challenge: The purpose of the first session was to get the party together and get them onto a ship, so there wasn’t much time to get to know the characters. With this session, we got to see a bit more of their personalities as they interacted with each other.

For this week’s challenge, I would like you to come up with your own character in the Spacemon universe. You can come up with a new addition to the crew or a standalone character. If you’re feeling particularly creative, you can even try coming up with a whole crew of your own.

Who is your character? What’s their name? Where are they from? What are their goals and motivations? What are their fears and flaws? What are their quirks? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What’s their story?

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!