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 Helix dropped out of warp space near the Sector 18 warp gate, having completed the jump from the Astaranth system. The squadron of plasma ram mounted Supremacy heavy cruisers that had guarded the gate on the Helix’s way into the sector lay in wait for the returning frigate, this time led by a battleship. Dmitri wasn’t surprised; the little warp stunt they pulled on the way in to avoid the blockade had clearly caught their attention.
“We need to get through that warp gate now!” Dmitri shouted to his crewmates.
“Uh, boss? They’re hailing us,” Minerva told him, nodding at the blinking indicator light on the console. “Wanna answer it?”
Shane answered the call and a dark-haired naval officer with a neatly trimmed goatee appeared on the viewscreen. He stood in front of a big black and red banner with a Honedge emblazoned on. “Hello, I am Captain Lee Heilovic of the Romanov Supremacy, commander of the RSS Zavist,” he introduced himself.
“We don’t want any trouble,” Morgan replied. “We just want to leave. We didn’t come here to bother you.”
“I have received interesting reports from my subordinates of your arrival through this gate and your, shall we say, entanglement with our forces,” the captain explained.
“We were actively trying to not engage,” Shane told him.
“Oh, I do not blame you,” said Heilovic. “But this warp capability is interesting. We would very much like to acquire it for the Supremacy.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Morgan told him.
“May we board your ship?” the captain asked.
“No,” Morgan replied coldly. As she spoke, Shane held up his arm, the mark from Giratina glowing its brilliant shade of purple, and raised his middle finger at the Romanov captain.
“A pity,” Heilovic responded, not recognizing the significance of Shane’s mark. He turned to a subordinate off screen and said, “Engage the tractor beam.”
“Uh, guys … they wanna board the ship,” Minerva said, a nervous look in her eyes.
“Well we’re not gonna let them board the ship, now are we?” Morgan asked rhetorically.
“Good! Because this is a big problem.” Minerva tried to dodge out of the way of the tractor beam, but it snared the Helix and started to pull the ship toward the Romanov battleship. “Guys, we’re stuck in the tractor beam,” the pilot said. “I don’t do tractor beams. I do not do tractor beams!”
“Then what did we hire you for!?” Morgan shouted at her.
“You hired me because I can avoid laser fire and melee ships that ram people!”
“I think I can get us into the Warp without using a warp gate,” Shane said in an attempt to calm the pilot. “Can you get us back without using one?”
“I’ve never done free warp flying. No one ever has.”
“We have,” Dmitri told her.
“Well good for you!”
Shane focused hard on trying to pull the Helix into warp space. The mark started glowing brightly as he tapped into its power, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to enter warp space. Not even for a moment like he had last time.
“I can’t move in a tractor beam guys. Do something!” Minerva shouted.
“We’re trying!” Morgan shouted back.
“This isn’t working!” Alex shouted as Shane continued his attempt to pull the ship into warp space. Dmitri looked on as the girl tried to hack into the battleship’s systems remotely. It was clear that she had never attempted something like this before, but she managed to do it. Alex definitely had more skill with computers than Dmitri had given her credit for. It could only get her so far, though.
“I can’t find their tractor beam code, but I’m in their scanners!” Alex shouted. “They’re scanning our warp drive. And now they’re scanning their own ships,” she added with a laugh, having redirected their scans.
“Keep trying to get control of the tractor beam,” Morgan told her. “But we need to be prepared to fight them if they do board us.”
“I absolutely do not do hand-to-hand combat!” Minerva shouted.
“You don’t have to!” Morgan shouted back at her.
Suddenly, a Romanov voice came in over the comms. It was a man frantically shouting about a problem with the scanners.
“Oooh. Looks like I’m in their comms now!” Alex said. “Hey, you!” she then shouted, pointing at Dmitri. “You’re Romanov. Tell them to turn the tractor beam off!”
“I cannot lie to save my life,” Dmitri told her.
“Damn it. I’ll do it,” she replied.
“Comrade, there is problem with tractor beam,” Alex said into the comms, speaking with what was the worst fake Romanov accent Dmitri had ever heard. “We need to shut it off.”
“Who is speaking?” a voice asked. “What is name and rank?”
“Uh … Lieutenant Smirnov?” Alex said.
“What department?”
“Engineering.”
“One moment.”
There was no response after that.
“Well, it was worth a shot,” Alex said, shrugging. “Okay, um … I’ll try to get into the tractor beam again.” She continued to snoop around their systems, but they soon found the breach and kicked her out. “Damn it! They found me!”
“Morgan!” Dmitri shouted as an idea came to him. “Should we try to use the Red Suns virus to weaponize the warp gate?!”
“What?” Minerva asked.
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about us,” Shane told the pilot.
“Well if it can get us out of this mess, then do it!”
“What if you try flying straight at the tractor beam?” Alex asked.
“What … are you thinking?” Minerva asked her.
“Since it’s pulling us in, wouldn’t flying right at it like launch us out or something?”
“That’s not how it works! Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“What if we board their ship?”
“They’ve got hundreds of soldiers on there,” H said.
“You can board their ship. I’m staying here,” Minerva responds. “You know, where I don’t bleed to death!”
“Screw it, let’s do this!” H shouted before running off the bridge.
“Wait, H!” Shane called after the cyborg, chasing after him.
Shane followed H to the airlock, where he found the cyborg changing into the Helix’s sole space suit. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Boarding their ship, of course,” H stated.
“But they’re already pulling us in,” Shane pointed out. “You don’t need the suit.”
“But the tractor beam is outside,” H said. Before Shane could react, the cyborg shut the interior airlock door.
Shane could only watch as H opened the exterior airlock and dive out into space in the direction of the tractor beam that held the ship trapped. The cyborg landed right on it, but his metal legs became trapped in the magnetic pull of the beam. H charged up some electricity, then fired it at the tractor beam, disrupting it for a second and allowing him to free his legs.
“Damn it, H,” Shane muttered as he watched his crewmate begin to float off. He was going to have to rescue him now. Ever since Shane received the mark from Giratina, the unease he had felt toward entering the vacuum of space unprotected had vanished. He felt no fear as he opened the airlock and dove across to the rapidly approaching docking tube of the Romanov battleship.
Passing through the ray shield, Shane successfully landed aboard the enemy ship. Unfortunately, he now found himself surrounded by a squad of Romanov Supremacy soldiers. He quickly used his powers to switch places with H and found himself in the space suit, free floating outside the ship. He then teleported himself back to the battleship. Appearing back where he had been, Shane saw the Romanov soldiers all lying on the floor, incapacitated from one of the cyborg’s electrical attacks. He then looked up to see H latched onto the ceiling.
“Well that happened,” Shane said as the docking tube locked into place on the Helix’s airlock. Then, after reaching for his commlink, “We’re on the Romanov ship now, but some backup would probably be nice.”
With a loud clank, the Romanov docking tube latched onto the Helix. They were trapped. Alex looked between Dmitri and Morgan, unsure of what to do.
“You heard Shane!” Morgan shouted after a moment. “You two go help them!” she told Alex and Dmitri. “I’ll stay here and try to hack into the warp gate.”
Following Dmitri’s lead, Alex ran off the bridge to the airlock the docking tube had connected to. The pair hurried down the tube and joined H and Shane on the Romanov ship.
“Let’s disable the tractor beam,” Dmitri suggested as they regrouped.
“From inside the ship this time,” Shane said, looking at H.
The four crewmates exited the docking tube into a small hangar and ran for the door on the far side. As they approached the door, Captain Heilovic stepped out, flanked by two mean looking Bisharps.
“I tried to be polite,” he said with a disappointed look on his face. “All I wanted was a look inside your ship. I might have even let you go, but you had to be so rude.”
Without saying anything, Shane suddenly vanished and the space suit he was wearing dropped to the floor. Taking this as a cue, Alex and the others reached for their Pokeballs. The two Bisharps moved forward as they did, assuming a defensive position around the captain, their armor gleaming like iron.
“Anubis, go! Use Bone Rush!” Alex shouted as she sent out her Lucario. The Aura Pokemon charged forward as he created a bone from his aura energy. He aimed for one of the Bisharps as he lunged with the weapon, but the Sword Blade Pokemon proved to be a nimble foe, dodging out of the way with ease. The floor tiles shattered as the aura bone slammed into the ground instead.
“Wilhelm, Confuse Ray,” Dmitri then commanded his Haunter as he released him from his ball. The ghostly Pokemon’s eyes started flashing, dazing the other Bisharp. Dmitri then sent a similar ray of energy at the first Bisharp, dazing that one as well.
It was at this moment that Shane reappeared behind Heilovic and struck him with his marked arm, leaving the captain winded and wondering what happened. He then jumped away and sent out his Klefki.
“Personal warp suit?” Heilovic muttered to himself as he gazed at Shane.
Snapping out of their daze, the two Bisharps stepped forward. The one on the right lunged at Wilhelm, dealing a powerful blow to the Haunter that left him visibly weakened. The other one started focusing, building up power for an attack. The Sword Blade Pokemon then threw a powerful punch at Anubis, knocking him back with incredible force. The Lucario coughed up blood as he hit the ground.
“Oh no!” Alex shouted in distress. She’d never seen her Pokemon take such a hard hit before “Hang in there, Anubis …” Alex recalled her wounded Pokemon, her concern turning to anger. “Your turn, Diablo!” she shouted. “Use Ember!” Her Houndoom sprang from his ball and spit a jet of fire at the Bisharp, singeing the Sword Blade Pokemon’s armor a bit. It didn’t seem too bothered by it, though.
“K.E.Y.S., use Metal Sound!” Shane ordered his Klefki, pointing at the same Bisharp. The Klefki sent a burst of metallic sound at the Bisharp and it appeared to weaken it somewhat.
“Go #5! Use Flame Burst!” H shouted as he fired a Pokeball from his cannon at the Bisharp. His Numel popped out mid-fight, upside down. The Numb Pokemon shot a blast of fire from his spout right before he hit the Bisharp, dealing a chunk of damage. The force from the blast slowed the Pokemon’s descent and allowed him to flip himself over and land on his feet.
Ignoring the Numel, the Bisharp swiped at K.E.Y.S., its metal claws shimmering in the light, and delivered a hefty blow. The other Bisharp, meanwhile, moved up and slashed at Wilhelm again, taking the Haunter out of the fight.
“Diablo, use Ember again!” Alex shouted. Her Houndoom spit out another jet of fire, but this time, the Bisharp dodged out of the way.
“Go, Obsidius!” Dmitri then called out, switching to his Slugma. “Flame Burst!” The magma slug spit a blast of fire at the other Bisharp, but the attack didn’t appear to do much.
“This should break through their defenses!” H shouted as he fired a magma grenade from his Pokeball cannon, doing a real number on the Bisharp they’d all been ganging up on.
“K.E.Y.S., come back. You’re up, R.A.G.E.!” Shane shouted as he switched out his Klefki for his Clefable.
“Diablo, you too,” Alex said, recalling her own Pokemon. “Okuma, it’s your turn!” She released her Joltik further back from the Bisharp, out of range of its attacks.
Holding position, both Bisharps began focusing, preparing to unleash another powerful round of attacks.
“Okuma, use Thunder Wave! Paralyze that thing!” Alex commanded her Pokemon. The Joltik shot a bolt of electricity at the Bisharp. Sparks flew along its body and it seemed to freeze up a bit.
“Obsidius, Yawn,” Dmitri then instructed his Pokemon. The Slugma yawned and the weakened Bisharp appeared to be getting a bit drowsy.
“Now, R.A.G.E.! Use Dazzling Gleam!” Shane commanded his Clefable. The Fairy Pokemon bounded across the field to get in rage and unleashes a flash of brilliant light, striking the Bisharp and disrupting its focus. If that wasn’t enough, it fell asleep due to the Slugma’s influence. The other Bisharp, however, was uninterrupted and slammed Obsidius with its supercharged punch, knocking the Slugma out of the fight.
“Ness, you’re up!” Dmitri shouted as he recalled his fallen Slugma and sent out his Gyarados.
“R.A.G.E., use Wake-Up Slap!” Shane then commanded his Pokemon. The Clefable moved up to the sleeping Bisharp and slapped it back and forth as hard as he could. However, the Bisharp’s armor was so strong that it didn’t even wake up.
“Damn it! This isn’t working!” Shane yelled to the rest of the crew. “Our Pokemon are going to die if we keep this up,” He then reached for his commlink with the Helix. “Morgan, how’s that warp gate hack coming? We’re in trouble here.”
“It’s all ready to go!” Morgan’s voice replied over the group’s comms. “I’m firing it at one of their cruisers now!”
“Right. We’re on the way back!”
“We didn’t stop the tractor beam, though!” Alex pointed out.
“We’ll figure something out,” Shane told her. “But we need to go!”
Deep down, Alex knew Shane was right. Anubis had taken such a dangerously powerful attack and she didn’t want to put any more of her Pokemon at risk. She recalled Okuma as the others recalled their own Pokemon.
As the crew began to run, H threw a string shot grenade at their attackers to keep them from following. He then grabbed the space suit off the floor as they ran back toward the Helix.
“Good job unsticking us, guys!” Minerva greeted them as they returned to the bridge.
“Shoot at it or something!” Alex yelled.
H took a seat at the gun controls and fired the plasma beam at the tractor beam. The blast loosened the grip of the beam, allowing Minerva an opportunity to escape. She undocked from the battleship and started flying over it. The beam stayed locked onto the Helix, but it was behaving more like a loose rope tied to the ship. Minerva banked the Helix around the other side of the battleship, breaking the beam’s grip.
As the Helix flew inverted past the Zavist’s bridge, Alex could see Heilovic standing there with a cold look on his face. She flipped the captain off as Minerva fired the engines to maximum and flew the Helix right at the warp gate.
“Where are we going?!” the pilot shouted as she powered up the warp drive.
“Anywhere but here!” Morgan shouted back.
Minerva punched in a destination and the gate slingshot the ship into warp space.
On the bridge of the RSS Zavist, Captain Heilovic stood looking out the viewport at the damaged Broadsword class heavy cruiser. The hull still gave off an irradiated glow as the last survivors were evacuated.
What power! he thought. If it could be harnessed for the Supremacy …
“Was it successfully planted?” Heilovic asked his executive officer.
“Yes, sir.”
“Excellent.”
Session Notes: Well that was a fight. First time we’ve had to run away. Two level 100 Bisharps with stupidly high defenses. DragonStorm said he built them to defend against Physical attack … yet they had maximum special evasion!
Going back through the recording of the session, I noticed a lot of flubs in the later hours of this motherload of a session. Especially in this fight. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say we all need to pay a little bit more attention during combat encounters.
I also noticed a tendency for us to shout over each other and talk at the same time ALL THE TIME, especially me, DragonStorm, and H’s player. But that’s to be expected in a TRPG campaign. Needless to say, my ears hurt after listening to eight hours of that.
So shit went down. There’s a new faction in town: the Romanov Supremacy! If you’ve had a bit of trouble following along, basically after the huge battle at the end of Volume 1, a rogue faction of the Romanov Union seemed to be responsible and there was foreshadowing of the Romanov radicalists in the previous chapters. Apparently the news doesn’t realize or just isn’t reporting the fact that these radicalists seem to be a fully unified faction. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Heilovic again, as if that little scene at the end wasn’t obvious enough.
After the shit that just went down, I’m sure that there’s going to be some heavy RP at the beginning of the next session. Minerva kinda freaked out, and Alex has been seeing some pretty weird shit since she joined up with these guys … Can’t wait for Sunday!
Update 11/3/21: Not too many big changes needed on this one. It was mainly just putting it all into past tense and making sure it was all in a consistent perspective for each scene. Aside from the final scene with Heilovic, the whole chapter was originally one scene that jumped around to different perspectives. I broke it down into a couple smaller scenes, picking perspectives that made sense. I added some extra dialogue and descriptions here and there to help with the flow and to make proper transitions between the separate scenes. It was also necessary to make some of the shorter scenes long enough to justify their existence. I also changed the name of Heilovic’s ship to have a Romanov name instead of an English one. That seemed more appropriate.
As the original notes indicate, I was salty about the Bisharps. I still think the difficulty was probably a bit high for where we were as characters at the time, especially since we weren’t playing properly by not knowing about the minimum damage rule in the system, but they don’t seem that tough to me now. Any one character in the party in the Spacemon game I’m currently running could solo these Bisharps, even long before they reached the point of their Pokemon starting to hit level 100. Whatever the case though, I think this fight being too tough for us actually made for a better narrative.
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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