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!
“What the bloody hell happened in there?” Arlon asked the rest of the crew once they had returned to the Dunsparce.
“I’m not really sure myself,” Shane replied.
“Something just seemed off about that guy,” Arlon continued.
“Definitely,” Shane agreed.
“So, are we going to go to those coordinates?” Dmitri asked.
“They’re in a bloody uncharted sector, mate,” Arlon pointed out.
“I still think we should go,” Dmitri insisted.
“It might be interesting,” Shane chimed in.
“We must go,” H agreed. “For science!”
Arlon looked at the faces of his crewmates. Judging from their expressions, it seemed that they were all determined to travel to the mystery coordinates. Even Morgan looked like she wanted to go.
“Alright, looks like we’re headed to the mystery coordinates then,” Arlon sighed. “I still think this is mental, but if you lot want to go …”
The bounty hunter trailed off as he gave the idea some consideration. He couldn’t deny that there was some kind of allure to the potential of this mystery expedition.
“Right then,” he said after a moment. “Before we go anywhere, we need to prepare ourselves. First, we need to figure out how the bloody hell we’re going to get to a sector without a gate. That could take a while so, in the meantime, we should train our Pokemon. I say we challenge another gym.”
“Which one?” Dmitri asked.
“Let’s see,” Arlon said as he sat down in the pilot’s seat and checked the nav computer. “The nearest one is on Silicron in Sector 35. Fire type, if I remember. That planet’s pretty nasty, so we may want to get some heat-resistant gear. I’ll plot a course that takes us near somewhere where we can get some supplies.”
Shane nodded. “Let’s do it.”
“We’re almost at Silicron,” Arlon’s voice sounded over the comms.
Hearing that the were close, Shane stood up from the bed in the room the crew of the Dunsparce had provided to him. With nothing better to do, he decided to head up toward the front of the ship so he would be ready when they arrived.
As he passed through the living quarters, Shane noticed a Pokedex lying on the ground. He picked it up and noticed that it had been left on, viewing a series of messages. Not interested in snooping, Shane only took a cursory glance through the Dex until he determined that it belonged to Morgan. Figuring that he will find her near the cockpit, he continued on his way so that he could give the Pokedex back to her.
When he arrived at the computer room behind the cockpit, Shane found Morgan extremely focused on doing something on the computer. “I think this belongs to you,” he said to her as he held out the Pokedex.
She didn’t respond.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
Morgan continued to ignore him, remaining focused on whatever it was that she was doing.
Suddenly, H’s Rhyhorn came leaping out of nowhere in an attempt to grab the Pokedex. With his quick reflexes, Shane easily dodged out of the way. He then shot an angry look at H as he entered the room.
“What are you doing!?” Shane yelled.
“#1 has smelled something interesting,” H calmly explained.
“Your Rhyhorn could have hurt someone!”
“Nonsense! No one was in any danger. #1 was just investigating this Pokedex, which Morgan clearly does not want.”
“You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, don’t you?”
“It is not ridiculous at all,” H said. “It is you who is the ridiculous one!”
Shane sighed. This was going to be a dumb argument.
As the Dunsparce dropped out of warp space in the Phoays System in Outer Rim Sector 35, Arlon brought the ship into orbit around the planet Silicron. It was a harsh, volcanic desert word infamous for its brutal heat and unpredictable temperature spikes. Quite the location for the Fire Gym, he mused.
Arlon reached for the comms and was about to inform the crew of their arrival when he heard a commotion in the room adjacent to the cockpit. Getting up from his seat, he went to see what was up.
“What the bloody hell is going on back here?!” He shouted as he stepped into the room to the sight of H and Shane arguing with each other. The pair ignored him as they continued bickering amongst themselves.
“I can’t believe I have to put up with this crap,” Arlon grumbled to himself.
Quickly assessing the situation, he determined they were arguing about a Pokedex. Judging from the conversation, it belonged to Morgan, who was sitting at the computer, so laser focused on whatever she was doing that she didn’t even seem to notice what was happening around her. Without anyone even noticing, Arlon walked over, took the Pokedex, and put it in Morgan’s pocket.
“We’re here!” he then shouted before returning to the cockpit.
Sitting himself back down in the pilot’s seat, Arlon took up the controls and began to bring the ship down toward Silicon’s surface. As the ship descends, a warning flashes on the console.
Warning: Surface temperatures exceed recommended landing parameters.
“Oh, shut up,” he grumbled, dismissing the warning. He cranked the shields up to maximum and continued to search for a good landing point.
Soon enough, Arlon spotted what seemed like a nice location to land and set the ship down. He then met up with the rest of the crew so they could discuss what to do. By now, Dmitri had joined the others and the situation appeared to have calmed down.
“I set the ship down on the surface,” Arlon informed them. “I figure we can find some good Pokemon to capture here before we challenge the gym. I’m headed out there now. Anyone care to join me?”
“I’ll go,” Dmitri answered.
“And I as well,” said H.
“I’ll stay here,” Shane said, glancing over at Morgan. She was still working intently at the computer. “Someone should keep an eye on her.”
“Good idea, mate,” Arlon agreed, nodding before leaving with Dmitri and H.
Before jumping to Sector 35, the Dunsparce had stopped at a Sinai merchant station to pick up some supplies. Arlon had purchased a heat-resistant suit and had encouraged the others to do the same, but no one heeded his warnings. They had, however, all chipped in to purchase a space suit for the ship.
“Be careful with that, mate,” Arlon told Dmitri, who was putting on the space suit in lieu of a heat suit.
“I will,” Dmitri assured him.
Once Arlon and Dmitri got their suits on, they followed H out into the harsh climate of Silicron. “You sure you’re alright without a protective suit, mate?” Arlon asked, looking at H wearing nothing but his lab coat and a pair of pink boxer shorts.
“Of course!” H exclaimed before continuing to march down the cargo ramp and out into the blistering heat of Silicron’s twin suns.
After walking a good way out from the ship, the trio came across a Slugma and a Cyndaquil hanging out by some lava. Before they could react to the Pokemon, a group of three Numels suddenly ran by with a pair of Houndours in hot pursuit.
“A Houndour will do nicely on my team,” Arlon said to himself. He reached for his Pokeball belt and released his Froakie. The other two followed suit, sending out Gastly and Rhyhorn.
“Wilhelm, Confuse Ray,” Dmitri instructed his Gastly. The ghost Pokemon fired a strange wave of psychic energy at one of the Houndours, sending it into a confused daze. Dmitri then followed up with the same attack, confusing the other as well.
“Jiraiya, use Water Pulse!” Arlon commanded his Pokemon. The Froakie leapt forward and shot a blast of water at one of the Houndours. In response, the Houndour ran at Jiraiya for a counterattack, but the dazed Pokemon fell flat on its face.
“And now for the capture,” Arlon said as he pulled out a Pokeball. He threw it at the fallen Houndour and captured it with ease.
“#1, attack those Numels!” H commanded his Rhyhorn. The rock Pokemon plowed into one of the Numels and started racking up some hits on it. H then threw a Pokeball at it, successfully capturing it while the other two began attacking his Pokemon.
“Wilhelm, Night Shade!” Dmitri commanded his Pokemon. The Gastly fired off a blast of dark energy at the remaining Houndour. Before it got a chance to react, Dmitri pulled out a Pokeball and quickly threw it, easily capturing the Pokemon.
“Jiraiya, use Water Pulse and take down one of those Numels!” Arlon commanded his Pokemon. The Froakie turned his attention toward the Numels around H’s Rhyhorn and fired off another pulse of water, taking one of them down.
“Now, #1, use Stomp!” H commanded his Rhyhorn. The Spikes Pokemon lifted his foot and slammed it down on the remaining Numel, dealing a pretty hefty blow. Dmitri then pulled out a Pokeball and threw it, successfully capturing the Numb Pokemon.
H recalled his injured Rhyhorn while the other two went after the remaining Pokemon. Arlon easily captured the Cyndaquil while Dmitri had a bit of trouble with the Slugma. Dmitri ended up wasting all his Pokeballs on it, but he finally captured it with his last one. As the battle wrapped up, Dmitri’s Gastly began to glow and it evolved into a Haunter.
While Dmitri checked out his newly evolved Pokemon, Arlon noticed that the sand beneath their feet was starting to turn to glass. The glass began to crack and glow red and the temperature began to increase rapidly.
“Run!” Arlon shouted to his crewmates. He began bolting back to the ship with Dmitri and H close behind.
Shane was beginning to grow tired of watching Morgan stare so intently at the screen. He needed to do something to occupy himself so he decided to help her do … whatever it was that she was trying to do.
Being an AI, Shane was able to enter computers in much the same way as a Porygon. Thinking the could help from the inside, he popped into the computer to have a look. From what he could tell, Morgan appeared to be attempting to decrypt some heavily encrypted data.
While Shane did want to help, Morgan seemed quite intent on doing things on her own. He decided to only provide a bit of assistance so as not to upset her. As Morgan continued to break through the decryption, Shane saw files on something called a Genesect.
Eventually, Morgan finished the decryption and all the files were left exposed. As he began reading through the files, Shane noticed a mysterious blob of data that didn’t seem to be related to the rest. His Porygon, which he had brought with him into the computer, curiously approached the blob and began playing around with it.
After briefly parsing through the decrypted files, Shane popped back into the real world to ask Morgan about them. As soon as he manifested himself in physical form again, Shane noticed that Morgan seems to be feeling proud of herself.
“So what are these files exactly?” he asked her.
“Before we met you, we delivered a package to a Romanov science station,” Morgan explained. “They were making these things,” she continued as she brought up a blueprint for some sort of cybernetic Pokemon on the screen. “They’re called Genesect, apparently. They look dangerous. The scientists seemed suspicious so we stole some data before we left.”
“I see,” Shane replied as he looked over the specs for the Genesect. “We should probably warn someone about this.”
Before they could discuss any further, the exploration party returned to the Dunsparce, exhausted, out of breath, and, in H’s case, badly sunburned. Arlon immediately headed to the cockpit, running past Morgan and Shane.
“Hey, Arlon, we need to talk to you about something,” Shane told the pilot as he passed.
“No time!” Arlon shouted as he jumped into the pilot’s seat and fired up the engines. He quickly took the ship up, seeming eager to be off the ground.
Glancing out the viewport, Shane could see why. The ground below seemed to be rapidly heating up. Even with the shields set to max, the unpredictable temperature spikes and shifting magma close to the surface could put the Dunsparce in danger.
“Sorry about that,” Arlon said as Shane and Morgan joined him in the cockpit. “The ground’s a bit dangerous and I thought it best we find somewhere else to land.”
Arlon eventually located the large plateau where the gym was located and set the ship down. Once it was settled, he swiveled his seat around to speak with them. “Alright then, what did you want to talk about?”
“While you were gone, I decrypted the data I stole from that Romanov station,” Morgan told him.
“So that’s what you were doing … Would it’ve killed you to tell us that?”
Morgan didn’t say anything.
“It doesn’t matter now, anyway,” Arlon said. “What did you find out then, luv?”
“Those Pokemon they were making … They call them Genesect,” Morgan explained. She pointed to the blueprints on the screen and Arlon took a good look.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” he said after a few moments.
“I think we should warn someone,” Shane told him.
“Like who?” Arlon asked. “The Alliance? The Federation? This will be stuck in bureaucratic bullshit forever.”
“But we have to do something,” Morgan insisted.
“Until we know more, there’s not really much we can do,” Arlon said. “If we’re really going to chase those mystery coordinates, we can’t worry about this right now. Now, let’s do what we came here for.”
The crew stepped off the Dunsparce onto the plateau, out into the blistering heat and sunlight. A lone man stood a distance away. He was a good-looking guy with dark hair, a bit older than Dmitri, but a bit younger than Arlon. He wore nothing except for a pair of rather short athletic shorts and a pair of sunglasses. The sweat glistened off his lean, muscular frame.
“I am Masou McKay!” the shouted across the way as the new arrivals approached. “Have you come to feel the heat!?”
“Quite the, uh, place you’ve got here, mate,” Arlon said sarcastically. “Not much in the way of a gym.”
“So much better to feel the burn this way!” McKay responded. “Now, are you here for a challenge or not?”
“Why else would we be on this bloody planet?” Arlon asked.
“Very well,” the gym leader responded. “You may each have one Pokemon out at a time and you may each have one in reserve, as I expect you will be burning through them.”
“Right then, Ironhide, you’re up.” Arlon said as he released his Aron. He then took a few steps back to make room for the battle as the others sent out their Pokemon to back him up. The Aron was joined on the field by Rhyhorn, Haunter, Lotad, and Porygon.
“Mauna Loa! Kohala!” McKay called out as he released his own Pokemon: a Magmortar and a Chandelure. “It’s time to crank up the heat! Mauna Loa, give them a taste of the twin suns with Solarbeam!” The Magmortar quickly positioned itself with a clear shot through #1 and Wilhelm, then fired off a massive blast of solar energy from its cannons, taking the Rhyhorn down and badly injuring the Haunter.
“That didn’t go so well,” H mumbled to himself as he recalled his Rhyhorn. “#4, it’s your turn!” He sent out his Trevenant onto the field, but he made sure to release it a ways away from McKay’s Pokemon.
“Wilhelm, Confuse Ray,” Dmitri then instructed his Haunter. The ghostly Pokemon sent a beam of energy at the Chandelure, sending it into a state of confusion.
“Kohala, it’s time to burn them up!” McKay called out to his Chandelure. The ghostly chandelier attempted to blast the challenging Pokemon with fire, but in its confused state, ended up not being able to do much more than sputter out a few harmless embers.
“Clément, use Nature Power!” Morgan commanded her Lotad. The small Pokemon then summoned up a natural attack from the planet, in this case unleashing an earthquake. The quake struck the Magmortar, dealing a bit of damage.
“#4, stay back and use Growth!” H commanded his Trevenant. The ghostly tree hung back and began to build up power, aided by the strong light of the twin suns.
“Ironhide, use Rock Slide!” Arlon then commands his Aron. The Iron Armor Pokemon charged at the Magmortar, kicking up a surge of rocks as it ran, then slammed them into the fiery Pokemon, dealing a severe blow.
“D.A.T.A., use Psybeam!” Shane shouted to his Porygon. The Virtual Pokemon proceeded to fire a beam of psychic energy at the Magmortar.
“Mauna Loa, dodge it!” McKay commanded. Despite its injuries, the Blast Pokemon managed to dodge out of the way of the Porygon’s attack. “Now, use Overheat!” The Magmortar fired a massive blast of flames at Shane’s Porygon, dealing a hefty blow. The flames continued to rush past D.A.T.A. and also engulfed Morgan’s Lotad, knocking him out of the fight. Morgan quickly recalled the fainted Pokemon and sent out her Solrock.
“Wilhelm, finish that Magmortar off with Night Shade,” Dmitri commanded his Haunter. The Gas Pokemon blasted the Magmortar with ghostly energy, finally taking it out of the fight. As it went down, Shane’s Porygon began to glow in a weird reaction to the data it had been exposed to earlier, and it morphed into a Porygon2.
“Your turn Hualalai!” McKay shouted as he recalled his Magmortar and released his next Pokemon, a Houndoom. “Use Fire Fang on that Haunter!”
“Intercept it with Sucker Punch!” Dmitri commanded his Pokemon in response. As the Houndoom charged at him, the Haunter took a swing at it with one of his floating hands, but the swift canine Pokemon dodged out of the way, then leapt at him. The Houndoom’s fangs sunk in and did some damage.
“Camille, use Ancient Power on that Houndoom!” Morgan commanded her Solrock after the newly sent out Pokemon. The Meteorite Pokemon lifted up several rocks with its psychic abilities, and blasted them at the Houndoom, dealing a powerful blow.
“Kohala, use Will-o-Wisp!” McKay instructed his Chandelure. The Luring Pokemon sent off a small, ghostly flame at Morgan’s Solrock, inflicting a burn upon it.
“D.A.T.A., use Conversion 2!” Shane then commanded his newly evolved Pokemon. The Porygon2 began shifting a bit as it changed its typing.
“Hualalai, use Thunder Fang!” McKay commanded his Houndoom, correctly guessing the type-shift. The Dark Pokemon charged at D.A.T.A. and sank its shocking fangs into the Porygon2, which was now a water type. Miraculously, the Virtual Pokemon managed to weather the hit.
“Camille, use Confusion on that Chandelure!” Morgan then commanded her Solrock. The Meteorite Pokemon fired a blast of psychic energy at the ghostly chandelier, but it didn’t seem to do much to it.
“Kohala, use Hex!” McKay commands the Chandelure in response. The ghostly Pokemon fired off a powerful blast of energy at the Solrock, taking it down instantly and knocking Morgan completely out of the battle.
“Ironhide, use Rock Slide again!” Arlon shouted to his Aron as he pointed at the lethal chandelier. Ironhide rushed the Luring Pokemon with another surge of rocks and dealt a pretty powerful hit.
“Hualalai, use Inferno!” McKay then commanded his other Pokemon. The Houndoom let out a powerful blast of fire at Shane’s Porygon2, and took it down. Shane quickly switched out to his Rotom while the others pressed their attack.
“Wilhelm, Confuse Ray,” Dmitri commanded his Haunter. The ghost Pokemon unleashed a blast of psychic energy and sent the Houndoom into a confused rage.
“#4, Horn Leech!” H then commanded his Trevenant. The massive Elder Tree Pokemon charged across the battlefield at the raging Houndoom and slammed it hard with his powerful limbs, taking the Pokemon down.
“It’s your time to shine, Kilauea!” McKay shouted as he released his final Pokemon, a Torkoal. The Coal Pokemon emerged from its ball, spewing out thick smoke from its nostrils.
“Ironhide, use Metal Claw on that Chandelure!” Arlon commanded his Aron, keeping his focus on the gym leader’s already weakened Pokemon. The little metallic Pokemon charged at the ghostly chandelier and swiped at it with his claws, whittling it down a bit more.
“Kilauea, use Inferno against that Trevenant!” McKay commanded his newly released Torkoal.
“Teleport!” H shouted to #4 as the Coal Pokemon began to spit out a ball of fire. The Trevenant quickly warped away just before a massive surge of flames engulfed his position.
“Wilhelm, use Night Shade!”
“B.O.L.T., use Shock Wave!”
Dmitri and Shane both commanded their Pokemon. The two ghost Pokemon unleashed their attacks on the Chandelure, but it somehow managed to stay up.
“Kohala, use Shadow Ball!” McKay shouted in response. His Chandelure fired off a ball of shadowy energy at Wilhelm and knocked the Haunter out of the fight.
“Alright, you’re up next, Gigan,” Dmitri said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon and released his Scyther. “Use, Pursuit!” Gigan flew at the Chandelure at top speed and swiped at the Luring Pokemon with her blades. The hit landed and the Chandelure was finally taken down!
“Use Inferno!” McKay commanded his Torkoal, as he pointed at Ironhide. The fire tortoise unleashes a massive tide of flames at the Aron, almost taking the sturdy Pokemon out with one hit.
“That’s enough for you, mate,” Arlon said as he recalled the injured Pokemon. “You’re up now, Hydra.” Arlon threw out another Pokeball, releasing his Deino.
“B.O.L.T., use Confuse Ray!” Shane then commanded his Rotom. The electric ghost shoots a blast of psychic energy at the Torkoal and sends it into a state of confusion.
“Kilauea, use Gyro Ball!” McKay commanded his Torkoal. However, the Coal Pokemon fell over in its confusion as it attempted to make its attack and failed to land a hit.
“Now, use Astonish!” Shane commanded his Rotom. B.O.L.T. landed a hit, stunning the durable Torkoal.
“Hydra, use Dragonbreath!” Arlon then commanded his Deino. The Irate Pokemon spewed out her powerful breath at the Torkoal, further immobiling it.
“#4, Phantom Force!” H followed up with a command of his own. His Trevenant vanished from sight as he prepared to attack.
“Kilauea, attack!” McKay shouted at his Pokemon. However, thanks to Hydra, the Torkoal remained immobilized. #4 then reappeared right above the Torkoal and slammed down on it with unstoppable force, finally taking it down.
“Well fought!” McKay declared as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. “A powerful fire burns within your hearts! These Star Badges are proof of that.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of gym badges, which he presented to the victorious challengers.
Notes: Holy crap, I forgot how much of a slog fest that fight was! That was the first battle in which I wrote down every move used in the fight in my notes and, I have to say, there were a ton of them! Going back for this rewrite I ended up cutting out a lot of repetitive, boring, and unnecessary parts to keep it from going on too long. It was just too much to read.
That Torkoal was a major pain in the ass. It was just so tanky. But then we shut it down so hard. Between me paralyzing it and The Other Guy confusing it and flinching it over and over, we managed to keep it from doing much of anything while H’s player built up his Trevenant’s combat stages to take it down in one fell swoop!
I also retconned that Shane’s Porygon evolved in this fight. He did find the upgrade item in the Genesect data, but he never actually told us when it evolved. It just sort of became a Porygon2 at some point. He kept calling it Porygon as well so that made things more confusing. We all agreed this seemed like a good place for it to have evolved.
Update 9/8/21: I think this is my most involved touch-up yet. The first few scenes did a lot of weird perspective jumping within the scenes themselves, making it awkward to read. The solution was to reorganize and reorder some bits to make each scene stick to one perspective character. From there, I added a couple extra lines to make it all fit together. Other than that, not much else needed changing other than the usual stuff. Like Johan, McKay has since appeared in the Rising Stars campaign and has been fleshed out a little more. Based on his name and the token art used in that game, we determined that he’s from the Alliance and has Pacific islander ancestry, so for that game, I named all his Pokemon after Hawaiian volcanoes. Just as with Johan, I added those names in here along with touching up a bit of the combat dialogue. I think the chapter reads a lot better now with all that done.
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!
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