FLASHBACK
William silently stepped through the black market, trying not to make his presence known. Archie—among other responsibilities—now had given him the task of selling items gotten from ship raids. In the past few months he had learned lots about Team Aqua, and it seemed different from what he had initially imagined when he joined the team.
He believed it would just be a group of evil criminals who were stupid and wanted to cause as many problems in the world as possible. how else had their team come to the conclusion of flooding the world?
Well, at this point they hadnt, right now they were just raiding wealthy ships and stealing from them, nothing like the lofty—and borderline stupid—ambitions that defined the original Team Aqua in his past life.
In the short few months he had been he had managed to gain Archie's trust. Not just because of his intelligence, but also his strength. His Pokemon were in a completely different league compared to most of the other grunts. In fact he was pretty sure he was the strongest trainer on the team. He would be testing that out soon regardless.
In the meantime he just needed to keep his Pokemon fresh and battle ready. In less than a few months time he would be an admin, and after that he would be the leader. Everything he had planned was already going ahead of schedule.
He cautiously walked through the black market—hands on Lochness' Pokeball in case anyone tried to test him. His eyes darted from place to place: a move learner, a woman with a special powder to forcibly evolve trade Pokemon, a man selling all kinds of things—hacked pokedexes, banned items, illegal Conference League streaming services—he had it all.
Although curious, he never glanced at one person or thing for too long, and kept his head down. He was here to trade the raided items in, not to cause trouble, so it's better to be inconspicuous and unnoticed.
So he would just keep his head down and not cause any proble—
There was a loud commotion up ahead. A group of criminals—some masked—were organised in a square shape, cheering at something below.
William inched down, in closer. He looked.
A small square with no escape. Two Pokemon were trapped.
A Staryu and a Mightyena stood across from each other, both bloodied from fighting. The Mightyena looked like a bloodthirsty hound, mouth frothing with saliva, scars across his body, and eyes full of red rage.
The Staryu, on the other hand, looked weak. It looked desperate and had a look in its eye as if it knew it was the end, but was determined to keep fighting.
Both of them were injured, but it was clear at the rate the Staryu was going to fall, it was going to go first.
"Fight back! I didn't put you in here just to die!" a voice shouted. William walked through the sea of bodies over to the man.
"You. Is that your Staryu in there?"
"What?" The man tensed. "Hey, look man, if you bet on the Staryu, I'm sorr—"
"I don't give a shit about bets. Is. It. Yours?" William said, growing increasingly agitated.
The man mutely nodded.
"How much?" William asked.
"What?"
"How much for the Staryu?"
"That piece of crap? Why would you even want it? It's about to be turned into fish meat by—"
William grabbed his collar. "If the next words out of your shit mouth aren't the price of the Staryu, I'm going to fucking kill you where you stand."
"You can have it! You can have it for free! It's dead to me! It's also about to be dead, so you can have it. Here's his Pokeball, just leave me alone!"
William took the Pokeball and strode towards the front of the audience, barging past dozens of men watching the fight.
By now, the Staryu was on its last legs, and the screams around intensified as the prospect of death got closer and closer. The crowd was out for blood and death. some people were forced into villainy—these people just reveled in it, it was disgusting.
He brought a hand to one of his Pokeballs. "End it quickly. Save the Staryu, and quickly kill the Mightyena. Let it rest and put the poor Pokemon out of its misery." in his eyes he was saving both of the Pokemon, just in two different ways. One was too far gone, while the other had just been brought in.
Swampert was released from his Pokeball, immediately jumping down into the pits below.
Mightyena, bloodlusted, hadn't even noticed its presence as it bared its bloodied teeth to kill the Staryu.
It lunged with hunger, and the attack would have ended it all right there, but before it could happen, Swampert—Lochness—grabbed the Pokemon by its neck and twisted it in one clean motion.
Quick. Painless. It was dead before it knew what happened.
Shouts of anger, accusations, and confusion were thrown at William, but he remained unshaken.
"That Staryu is my Pokemon!" William shouted, holding up the Pokeball. "The transaction happened during the fight, meaning it was never signed off to be brought into the pits by myself. I never signed any contract or obligation or agreement. I am simply protecting my Pokemon!"
"And if any of you care that much, I can ease your worries by sending you to the same place I just sent that Mightyena."
No one said a thing.
"Good," and William simply withdrew the Staryu— now his Pokemon, his companion—,with Lochness trailing behind him, and left.
FLASHBACK END
William still didn't know why that day he decided to save the little Staryu. Something was ignited in him when he saw it standing there so pathetically and weak— but still ready to fight until the last breath. It reminded him of someone. It reminded him of himself.
William always had a habit for picking up unwanted and mistreated Pokemon. He bet on losing Pokemon. It was a terrible way to gamble, but he had never lost. All his Pokemon had turned out strong and loyal—they were connected by something, through circumstance or goals or meaning.
Lochness wanted to be loved and appreciated.
Leviathan wanted to be strong.
Juggernaut wanted to escape.
Britney wanted to be included.
Staryu—Vortex—wanted to keep fighting despite the overwhelming odds.
In a way, William wanted all those things for himself. He had granted them all their wishes, and now they would help him grant his.
He recalled his father—with his bright blue hair—abandoning him and his mother. He hadn't heard from him since that day. His mother took care of him, but she showed him no love. His dark blue hair reminded her of him. She never saw the shades—the difference in bright and dark—just blue.
She had so much hate it had won out over her maternal instincts.
It was more out of obligation than love that she kept a roof over his head and fed him. Sickness soon took her in the following years—maybe it was for the best—and before he knew it there was no one left to take care of him but himself. He believed in his second life he could finally have a chance at a family, but the moment his father left it began the catalyst of events which brought him here.
William felt a tear drip down the edge of his cheek before he gave himself a sharp slap, and turned his attention back to the task at hand.
He was a completely different person to all those months ago. Before, he was just an ordinary member of Team Aqua— albeit with slightly increased responsibilities. He then became an admin, and then the leader after defeating Archie.
Now that he was leader, even in this lawless place, he could enact whatever justice and order he pleased because he had the strength to do so, and what would please him the most would be to punish the sick bastards who ran and participated in these fighting pits, and to send a message to anyone participating in the debauchery.
The door opened with a loud slam, the hinges blown off completely. The owner of the fighting pits sat there, filling out paperwork. He leaped out of his seat, shouting obscenities at William. William's previous grief was now replaced by a cold, calculated rage. He didn't hear what the man said—it was just white noise to him at this point.
William threw out Starmie, "Get him, Vortex."
Vortex spun in excitement. With this, the message was clear. And just in case it wasn't, he would also make the trip to the very same guy who sold him Vortex, and do the same to him.