Spacemon, Vol. 1 – Chapter 8: Meeting on Manitou

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!

The large blue gas giant Manitou quickly came into view as the Dunsparce dropped out of warp space in the Hadrian System in Outer Rim Sector 31. The planet, orbited by six moons and many asteroids, was a busy economic hub in this region of the Rim. Colonies had been established on all six moons, and their surfaces were scattered with various mining facilities. Several more facilities orbited Manitou itself, from private research stations to platforms built to harvest valuable gasses from the planet’s atmosphere

Arlon flew the ship towards the fifth moon, a terrestrial rock with no atmosphere to speak of. The moon was barren on the surface, but deep down it was rich with ores. The Manitou V boasted the most developed colony of all the moons and many organizations and businesses, both legal and illegal, operated out of it. Arlon’s old acquaintance Maxx Aler was in charge of one such operation.

“So who is this Maxx guy, exactly?” Morgan asked Arlon as he set the ship down in one of the hangars in the colony’s spaceport.

“He’s a merchant of scavenged ship parts,” Arlon explained. “He mainly specializes in weapons, but he also sells various ship parts and upgrades … and he’s also a bit of an information broker. He’s the best at what he does out here.”

“And you’re sure we can trust him?”

Arlot cut the engine, then looked over at Morgan. “I ran a lot of jobs for him back in the day. He’s trustworthy.”

“If you say so,” Morgan said, getting up from her seat.

With H and Shane still locked away in the lab, Arlon, Morgan, and Dmitri disembarked from the Dunsparce to meet with Maxx on their own. Arlon led his two crewmates through the colony’s economic center to a storefront with a sign that read Manitou Starship Supply. The three of them entered the store to find it empty except for a tall, thin man with dark, slightly graying hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was scanning through his datapad, and didn’t seem to have noticed them.

Arlon cleared his throat, causing the man to look up.

“Arlon Jett?” Maxx Aler asked in surprise. “Is that you?”

“In the flesh,” Arlon replied.

“I heard you were dead!” Maxx exclaimed as he walked over. “What have you been up to my old friend?”

“Well, uh … I’ve been ‘dead,’” Arlon said jokingly.

“Ah, yes,” Maxx said with a laugh as he gave Arlon’s hand a firm shake. “So what can I do for you today?”

“Well I’ve found myself with a ship without weapons. You’re the best in the business so that’s why I’m here.”

“Ah. I see. What sort of ship is it?”

“It’s one of those old Vulcan buckets,” Arlon said.

“A Vulcan bucket, huh?” Maxx nodded in recognition. “Those don’t normally come with weapons systems.”

“Yeah. We had one installed since we’re going on a dangerous mission into uncharted space.”

“Oh, ask him about the warp stuff,” Dmitri chimed in.

“Let’s worry about the weapons first,” Arlon told him before turning back to Maxx.

“So what exactly are you looking for?” Maxx asked. “I’ve got your standard ion and photon laser cannons, and some very high quality beam weapons.”

“What about missiles?” Dmitri asked.

“I’ve got those too.”

“Missiles aren’t very cost-effective, mate,” Arlon warned Dmitri. “We’re tight on cash enough as it is.”

“What’ll it be then?” Maxx asked.

“We’ll take a photon cannon and an ion cannon,” Aron told him.

“That’ll be ten-thousand credits,” Maxx informed the crew.

“I don’t suppose you could give a discount to an old friend?” Arlon asked, flashing a cheeky smirk.

“I’ll tell you what, I heard your friend here saying he wanted to get some information,” Maxx responded. “Maybe there’s something I can give you to sweeten the deal.”

“Very well, mate,” Arlon agreed. “We’re going on a mission into an uncharted sector but we don’t have a way to get there.”

“I see. Well I can’t offer you much in the way of getting to an uncharted sector, but … I did manage to acquire some weaponized warp tech from the Alliance … if you’re interested.”

“Sounds great, mate, but we’re tight on credits so I don’t see any warp weapons in our immediate future.”

“That’s a shame.”

“There’s one other thing, though,” Arlon continued. He pulled Maxx aside and said, “The Red Suns seem to be up to something and I need to find out what it is.”

“Ah, yes, the Red Suns,” Maxx said. “They seem to be expanding. Ever since Garth took control.”

“I’ve noticed. We crossed paths with them a while back. He’s got all these pirates working for him now. The amount of influence he’s got right now … I don’t like it.”

“Wait, you knew who those pirates were and you didn’t tell us?” Morgan cut in, sounding quite annoyed with Arlon.

“Sorry, luv, I didn’t think it was important at the time,” Arlon told her, not expecting to have been overheard.

“There’s a lot of things you didn’t think were important.”

“Okay, I guess I probably should have told you guys sooner, but I had to make sure you were trustworthy first. They’re called the Red Suns. I used to run with them back when they were an elite team of bounty hunters. Let’s just say that the last op I ran with them went south … real south. I was set up; our leader and the target we were supposed to be grabbing were both murdered and I got framed for it. I had to fake my own death to survive.”

Morgan didn’t seem impressed. “I see.”

“Now the new leader, Devlin Garth, seems to be expanding, employing pirates, turning the Red Suns into something they’re not. He’s up to something and I intend to find out what it is.” Arlon turned back to his old employer. “Maxx, I assume you heard about the attack on Gigan Station?”

“Indeed,” Maxx replied.

“Well they stole something, a data package of some kind.”

“I may be aware of what they stole, something that pissed off a certain Alliance corporation; one dealing with exploration of uncharted space. I’m sure that might interest you … I also might know their current whereabouts.”

“Well, mate, care to share?” Arlon asked. “If the Red Suns are involved with something that might help us get to uncharted space like you seem to be implying, then we need to know.”

“Not so fast,” Maxx told him. “I’ve been hearing rumors about some rogue scientists in the Romanov Union. If you can bring me some tangible information on that I may be … persuaded to share this information with you. I might even throw in that discount too.”

“We might just have what you’re looking for,” Arlon said, realizing what Maxx must have been referring to. “Something we acquired while making a delivery. We need to go back to the ship and get it.”

“Very well,” Maxx said. “You know where to find me.”

Arlon nodded, then turned to leave. “We’ll be back.”

---

Morgan scowled as she watched Arlon leave. What was he thinking? she fumed to herself. He’d known all this time that he knew about those pirates and hadn’t told them! H was bad enough. That man was clearly insane. And Dmitri … He seemed rather impulsive, but he was harmless enough. Arlon, however, Morgan had thought was reliable, even if a bit shady. But if he was keeping this a secret, how reliable was he? What else could he be hiding?

She sighed. They needed to have a very serious discussion back on the ship … about a great many things.

Glancing back at Dmitri, Morgan saw that he was still speaking with Maxx. “Do you know if there’s some sort of black market for selling Pokemon?” she heard her crewmate asking as she approached.

Morgan sighed. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“I may know something about a ring here on Manitou V,” Maxx informed Dmitri. “But you didn’t hear this from me.”

“Alright,” Dmitri agreed.

“The man you’re looking for is Barr Braxton.” Maxx pulled up a map of the station on his datapad and showed it to Dmitri. “You can find his black market Pokemon ring here,” he said, pointing to a location on the map. “I should warn you though, their sellers often become their targets.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“I’m sure you will,” Maxx chuckled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He waved Dmitri away as he glanced back down at his datapad.

“You’re not seriously considering this, are you?” Morgan asked disapprovingly.

“Sure, why not?” Dmitri asked.

Morgan sighed. There was no point in arguing about this. She would need him on her side when she confronted … just in case.

“Whatever,” she said. “But before you do anything stupid, I need your help with something.”

---

“This must be what Maxx is after,” Arlon muttered to himself as he went over the Genesect data on the Dunsparce’s computer. The more he went over the files— and the more he thought about what he’d seen in that lab in the Alexi System— the more uneasy it made him, but he couldn’t turn it over to the Federation. Not while he was still wanted for murder. An information dealer like Maxx, though … Maybe that was the next best thing.

“Project White Noise, huh?” Arlon muttered as he read the name on the Genesect files. “What are these scientists up to?”

He couldn’t worry about that right now, though. Arlon copied the files onto a data disk, then got up from the computer. As he turned to leave the room, he found the way blocked by Morgan and Dmitri.

“There you two are,” he said. “I was wondering where you got off to. I’ve got the Genesect data on this dis—”

Before Arlon could finish, he was cut off by Dmitri shooting a ray of psionic energy right at his face. It felt like his brain was being scrambled. “Ah, shit,” he groaned as he stumbled back in a confused daze.

As he struggled to regain his senses, Morgan grabbed Arlon’s arm and pushed him against the wall. “Arlon Jett was it?” she said, her voice cold and sharp.

“What … ?” Arlon asked, still completely disoriented.

“This is not okay, all your secrets,” Morgan continued. “I can almost deal with this warp bullshit, but if we’re going to die, it better not be because of something so mundane.”

“Huh … ?”

Morgan’s eyes narrowed as she fiercely stared right into Arlon’s. “From now on, with anything that concerns any of us … There will be no more lies, half-truths, deceptions, or obfuscations. Otherwise I will not hesitate to push you out the airlock.”

“Woah, slow down there, luv,” Arlon told her, finally snapping back to his senses.

“Uh … What’s going on?”

The all looked over to see Shane poking his head out of the lab, a confused and concerned expression on his face. It was the first time they’d seen him in days.

“He knew who those pirates were,” Morgan explained. Her voice was still cold with anger, but she loosened her grip on Arlon, allowing him to straighten himself off.

“Pirates?” Shane asked as he stepped out of the lab.

“You know, the pirates who blew up the station where we all met,” Arlon told him.

“Oh right, I remember you telling me about that.”

“Well … I may have neglected to mention that I used to run with them,” Arlon continued. “Back when they were a respectable team of bounty hunters …” He looked from Shane back to the others. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys. I was waiting for the right opportunity. I needed to know if I could trust you guys.”

Arlon then looked back at Shane. “But what about you, mate? Where the bloody hell have you been? And what happened to H?”

“I think we should all just calm down,” Dmitri suggested.

“Says the man who just shot mind lasers at my bloody face,” Arlon grumbled.

“Sorry,” Dmitri said. “I was just mad that you didn’t tell us … Look, maybe we should all try to get to know each other a bit more, or something. So we don’t end up in another situation like this.”

“Sure,” Arlon nodded. “If we’re all putting our secrets on the table.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Morgan announced.

“Really?” Shane asked incredulously. “It seems like with that code you were trying to decipher … You were really into it and I don’t think that could have been passion alone.”

“What would you know about passion?” Morgan snapped back at him. “You’re just a computer.”

“How do you know about that?”

“You told us.”

“Oh … uh … right.”

“I’m just a student from Parisa,” Morgan continued. “There’s nothing else to it.”

“You still might be hiding something.”

“I’m not the one who should be getting grilled here,” Morgan said defensively. She turned her attention to Dmitri and demanded, “What about you? Who the hell are you anyway?” Then, turning to Shane, “And you! Where the hell have you been?!”

“Yeah, mate,” Arlon said. “You still haven’t answered my question. You and H disappeared in the lab for days without so much as a word. What the hell were you doing in there?”

“Science,” Shane replied.

“Now who’s being evasive?” Morgan said, folding her arms.

“H and I were experimenting with that warp goo on various objects,” Shane explained. “A key chain, a loaf of bread, and a potted plant.”

“We had bread and weren’t eating it?” Arlon asked.

“Yeah, I just kind of found it.”

“I take it that it’s no longer safe to eat …”

“I would assume so, though I’m not sure that it was before. It’s self-regenerating now, but I wouldn’t want to eat it.”

“So where’s H anyway?” Dmitri asked.

“He’s in the lab.”

“Well then let’s see what he has to say for himself,” Morgan said. 

The four of them entered the lab, but there was no H to be found.

“Well, he was here,” Shane said, casting a nervous glance at the rest of the group.

Arlon had a feeling there was something Shane wasn’t telling them. It seemed Morgan felt the same. He watched as she walked over to the storage closet. As soon as Morgan opened the door, H’s unconscious body fell out, right on top of her.

“I can explain,” Shane responded, growing more nervous.

“I’m sure you can,” Morgan replied as she coldy stared across the room at him. “Would you care to begin?”

“You know how … pushy H can be,” Shane said. “When he finally accepted that I am, in fact, an AI, he wanted to put me in a computer and trap me there to experiment. That’s the very reason I ran away from the Sinai station where I was created.”

Morgan sighed. “I never really liked him anyway,” she said, looking down at H’s unconscious body at her feet.

“You could have told us, mate,” Arlon said. “Not that I’m one to talk.”

Shane nodded. “I suppose I should have.”

“Well, what’s done is done. Now, help me get him up on the table.”

Arlon and Shane grabbed H’s body on either side. Together, they lifted him up and placed him on the medical table.

“So, are we all good then?” Arlon asked, looking around his crewmates. Dmitri and Shane nodded back at him.

“As long as we can all understand each other from now on, I suppose things will be alright,” Morgan said. She then turned and stormed out of the lab.

“Is there something wrong with her?” Shane asked once she was gone.

“Absolutely,” Arlon replied, shaking his head. “But, damned if I know what it is, mate.” 

---

“Remind me again, you’re doing what?”

“I’m going to sell some Pokemon to a ring of black market dealers that your friend Maxx told me about,” Dmitri explained to Arlon as he removed the Pokeballs containing his good Pokemon and set them down on his bed along with his other valuables.

“And this is a good idea, why?” Arlon asked.

“Because I don’t want them and we need money,” Dmitri bluntly answered.

Arlon sighed as he followed Dmitri to the cargo ramp. He had a point there.

“I still think you’re crazy for doing this,” Morgan said. “I want no part in this.”

“Then stay here,” Dmitri replied, looking over at her.

“I intend to,” she said, giving him a disapproving glance. “I think what you’re doing is dangerous and stupid.”

Dmitri just shrugged and headed for the cargo ramp.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Morgan mumbled as he left.

Arlon looked over at Morgan and she shook her head back at him. “Idiot,” she said.

“I suppose someone had better go with him, right?” Arlon said.

Morgan sighed. “If you want to, go ahead. I’m staying here.”

“Right,” Arlon said. “Meet us at Maxx’s shop later and we’ll finish our deal.”

“I’ll be there,” Morgan replied.

“Alright, see you the,” Arlon said. “I’ll make sure that idiot doesn’t get himself killed.”

---

Dmitri took a look around as he arrived in the location Maxx had directed him to. He soon spotted a group of shady looking individuals. They had to be the black market Pokemon dealers that he was talking about.

“I’m looking to sell some Pokemon,” Dmitri announced as he approached the group.

“What makes you think we want what you have?” asked the apparent leader, a man with a short fade haircut and a thin strip of facial hair on his chin. He must have been the Barr Braxton Maxx had mentioned. “Are they any good?”

“They’re decent,” Dmitri told him.

“He says they’re decent, boys,” the leader said, laughing as he looked around at his men. “Let’s see if he’s tellin’ the truth.” He pulled out a Pokeball and released a Crawdaunt. In response, Dmitri sent out his Shellos.

“Get him, Barr!” one of the men shouted as the Crawdaunt menacingly snapped its claws.

“Use Mud Bomb,” Dmitri commanded his Shellos. The Sea Slug Pokemon spit a large clump of mud at the Crawdaunt, though it didn’t seem to do very much.

“Crusher, use Vice Grip,” Braxton commanded his Crawdaunt. It moved in on the Shellos and clamped one of its large claws around the Sea Slug Pokemon, delivering a pretty nasty blow.

“Use Mud Bomb again!” Dmitri commanded the Shellos. The Sea Slug Pokemon backed up and spit another blast of mud at the Crawdaunt, this time much larger than the previous one. This time the Rogue Pokemon seemed to take a significant hit.

“Now, Crabhammer!” Braxton barked. The Crawdaunt moved in once again and smashed one of its claws down on the Shellos, knocking the Sea Slug Pokemon out.

Dmitri sent out his Solosis next. The gang leader just laughed at the sight. “Night Slash,” he commanded. The man’s Crawdaunt swiped at the Solosis and delivered a nasty blow that downed the Cell Pokemon instantly. Dmitri immediately sent out his last Pokemon, the Numel he caught on Silicron.

“I thought you said they were decent,” Barr Braxton taunted. “Crusher, use Crabhammer again.” His Crawdaunt moved in on the Numel and slammed its claw down once more. However, the Numel managed to narrowly avoid getting hit.

“Use Magnitude,” Dmitri commanded the Numel. The Numb Pokemon unleashed a quake that delivered another significant blow to the Crawdaunt, but it wasn’t enough to take it down.

“Use Harden!” Braxton commanded in response, and the Crawdaunt hunkered down and hardened up its armor.

“Use Lava Plume!” Dmitri then commanded the Numel. The Numb Pokemon unleashed a blast of lava at the Crawdaunt and finally took it down.

“That Numel is impressive, but the others not so much,” Barr Braxton said, recalling his Crawdaunt. “I’ll give you eight-hundred credits total for all three and I suggest you take it.”

“Alright,” Dmitri agreed. He placed the Pokeballs down on the ground, then took his credits and left.

He only made it a short distance before running into Arlon. “Not bad back there, mate,” his crewmate told him. “I was watching just in case, but I guess you didn’t need me after all.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Dmitri said.

“Sure, mate. Now, let’s go get our ship some weapons.”

---

“You’re back,” Maxx Aler said as Arlon and his crewmates stepped back into his shop.

“And I believe we have some information you might be interested in,” Morgan told him.

“You mentioned before,” Maxx said. “Go on, show me.”

“We made a delivery to a Romanov research station and we stole some data on what they were working on,” Morgan explained as Arlon handed Maxx the drive he copied the Genesect data to.

“I’m pretty sure it’s exactly what you were looking for, mate,” Arlon told his former employer, watching him bring up the files on his datapad.

“Interesting,” Maxx said as he began to scroll through the information. “Very interesting.”

“So, about your end of the bargain,” Arlon said, snapping Maxx’s attention back to the deal at hand.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “Last I heard, the Red Suns established a base in Sector 27. On a desert planet called Banton. It’s a rather civilized world, but there’s still a large underworld there. Perfect place for people like us.”

“I know the planet,” Arlon told him. “In fact, I have an old friend on Banton I was thinking of paying a visit.”

“Isn’t that convenient,” Maxx said with a laugh. “As for what they’re up to,” he then continued. “Ever heard of the Megastellar Association?”

“The name rings a bell,” Arlon said. “They find planets and sell the development rights or something, right?”

“Something like that,” Maxx said. “I heard from a contact at their local office here on Manitou V that the Red Suns pissed off the company when they hit Gigan Station. Something about a new method of exploring uncharted space.”

“Thanks for the tip, mate,” Arlon said.

“Not a problem. Now let’s get that ship of yours equipped.”

---

Notes: This part of the session was interesting. After we spent the first half on the planet Otho, we met with one of the contacts I came up with for Arlon in order to advance the plot. I kind of derped and didn’t bring up Arlon’s past very sneakily and made him seem kind of like an idiot, but it was good to get that information out of the way and start moving Arlon’s character forward.

I actually developed Arlon’s backstory a lot more since the original chapter was posted, so in going back to the rewrite I was able to describe Arlon’s past a lot better. That’s one of the cool things about coming back to the old chapters all this time later.

A funny thing happened at the end of the session. DragonStorm used his random planet generator to come up with the planet the Red Suns are on and it turned out to be a level 3 civilization desert planet in the Outer Rim near Alliance space, which is exactly like the planet Banton I came up with for one of the other contact locations. DragonStorm just rolled with it and decided that the planets were one and the same.

Update 9/13/21: Wow, this was a big effort to touch up. There were a lot of changes that needed to be made here. There were a lot of inconsistencies with the pacing. Like we were getting weapons to prepare for the journey into unexplored space, then kind of ended up on this tangent with the Red Suns, but the connection to how it could help us get to unexplored space was never properly explained in the writing. It was always there, but I made sure to make it a bit clearer. Then there was also some weird pacing with everyone seeming mostly fine with Arlon at the end of this chapter only to be super pissed again at the start of the next chapter. The solution there was to do what I was too afraid to do before: include parts from different sessions in the same chapter, sometimes out of order. I decided to move the entire first scene of the next chapter to the middle of this one. I did need to change a couple details to make it fit, but overall it didn’t need much altering. Overall, it greatly improved the flow. Since it was from the next session, The Other Guy was back, but H’s player missed that one as well, so we got a bit of Shane too. Since H’s player wasn’t there, The Other Guy got full reign of what happened in the lab. He gave a good bullshit story about goo experiments that resulted in his Klefki, a regeneration loaf of bread, and a potted plant that grows in reverse. Aside from that big change, I added a few extra small scenes and other details to make it all fit together. The black market Pokemon gang leader also briefly appeared in the current Spacemon campaign I’m running, so I added his name and description from that here and gave his Pokemon a nickname. I have to say, I love how this chapter turned out with all these improvements!

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Post-Chapter Challenge: Casting call! We’re far enough into Volume 1 that you have a pretty good idea of what the main characters are like and have seen some interesting supporting characters. So here’s the challenge for this week! Spacemon is being adapted into a movie trilogy and it’s up to you to select the actors and actresses who will be portraying the characters! Feel free to pick anyone from A-list stars to not-very-well-known talent to your favorite voice actors! Let’s keep it to Volume 1 for now, though, just to avoid major spoilers.

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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!