Chapter Text
"How much is your partner worth to you, pal?"
The man whirled around, in a fright; instinctively, a hand flew to his belt, hiding something on his hip. Behind him, a broad-shouldered youth glowered from under dark, tangled bangs, his beady eyes glimmering with malice and a sickening grin spread across his lips. "What?" He stepped back, trying to pretend he had not been hiding something; the interloper pushed himself off of the wall, hands buried in the pockets of his jackets, walking calmly forward without the slightest change of expression. Now that he was more clearly illuminated by the pale moonlight, one could clearly identify the lime-green band tied roughly around the boy's right sleeve.
"I asked you a question," he said, his voice soft and friendly. "I asked how much your partner there is worth to you." He nodded to the man's belt - the man flinched back, pulling his jacket over the solitary red-and-silver ball that hung there. "The way I see it," the boy continued, now gesturing broadly and raising his voice, "Pokemon are friends, right? And there's nothing in the world more valuable than a good friend."
"Yeah," the man blurted, stepping back further. "Yeah, um, listen - "
The boy lurched forward - and suddenly had thrown an arm around the man, laughing and guiding him forward, patting his stomach; beneath his hold, he could feel the man shivering. "See," he cried, "you're a good Trainer, with an attitude like that. Seein' your partner as more than just a thing in a ball, y'know? That's a good thing. But sometimes you gotta put your money where your mouth is, if you know what I'm saying."
"I'll call the police," the man warned, pulling away, but his voice was weak. All around him he began to pick out shapes of other young men, some older, some younger than the boy beside him. And Pokemon, too - a Scraggy there, a growling Houndour here...
"And throw your poor partner under the bus?" The boy laughed - letting go and stepping ahead, swaying in an about-face to lazily gesture back at his mark. "Listen, all I'm saying is, we just wanna know if you think your little friend there is worth all the money you've got on you. Give up the money, go home safe, enjoy the company of a good friend, right?" His grin grew, and his arms spread wider. "Or, if you prefer the money, we'll just beat the snot out of your Pokemon instead."
The man's eyes darted between gangsters. Four of them, and three Pokemon that he could see. They were chuckling now, and drawing closer; he heard some behind him, too. The boy's eyes glittered, his smile faltering just a little. "Tick tock," he hissed.
"This isn't really what I'd call a fair battle," the man managed, reaching towards his pocket - pretending he had a plan, any kind of plan.
"I'm not challenging you to a battle," the boy purred, rapping his own belt - no Pokemon of his own. "I'm just asking you to show your friend how much you really care for it. Or... don't."
Just then, a blast of water erupted from one side of the alley, knocking aside one of the boy's cronies - at first the man thought a pipe had burst somewhere, before he realized that it had somehow knocked a door open. A blue-and-white blur followed, slamming into the Houndour and sending it scrambling into a wall; the Scraggy jumped up and out of the way, as the gangsters' attentions turned to face the new threat: a Croconaw, grinning toothily at everything nearby. A girl sprinted up beside it, apparently its trainer - the man registered only a shock of blue hair before she pointed at him. "Get out of here!" He didn't need telling twice.
One of the ruffians turned to try to catch the man - but he seemed pretty quick on his feet. Sayaka huffed with relief, glad to at least have split them up. A couple years ago she would've happily taken them all on, but the situation had changed a bit since then.
"Last time I saw you, I told you to quit mugging people," she snarled to the boy at the center, who turned slowly to face her, gnashing his teeth. "Looks like instead you just brought a bunch more thugs and thought that'd stop me."
"You're out of your mind challenging us this openly, girl," the boy retorted. "Do you really think you can take all of us on?"
She nodded to the collapsed Houndour, smirking. "You guys really rich enough to find out?"
"That's not what you should be worried about right now," he hissed. He snapped at his cronies - they shifted between him and Sayaka, and he turned on his heel, leaving them to deal with her. On her left, a Scraggy; on her right a Snubbull. She scoffed - what was this, amateur hour?
"Fang, blast them," Sayaka ordered - the Croconaw snapped her jaws and a jet of water erupted from her mouth, knocking both of the Pokemon and their trainers aside immediately. At the very end of the alley, she saw the boy from before still walking casually, but at the commotion he whirled around... and then broke into a sprint, reaching the street and turning south. Sayaka dashed forward after him, smoothly recalling Fang into her Pokeball as she passed by.
When she broke into the open, she looked around swiftly - to the south the boy was still running. But just a little ways north the man from before was battling with that one gangster that had splintered off - he had just a little Pichu, and it was cowering under the leering gaze of a Machop. She swore to herself and drew her second Pokeball from her belt, storming towards them.
He turned to see her before long. "Your fearless leader decided to run," she snarled. "Maybe you ought to follow him."
"Tough talk," he sneered. She smirked, and released her second Pokemon - a Honedge - in response; he quickly angled itself protectively before her, and he paused at that. Small though it was, Honedge was a bit of an intimidating Pokemon, after all. The Machop huffed, and aimed a punch at him, but its fist was met with Honedge's blade, drawing a yelp from the creature and sending it stumbling back with a snarl of frustration.
"C'mon, let's get out of here," the boy growled, recalling Machop and stomping past Sayaka - shoving into her shoulder as he walked by. She glared at the back of his head, ensuring that he really was leaving, before rolling her shoulder and turning back to the man from before. The Pichu had scampered back to his side, and was staring up at her in terror.
"My name's Sayaka," she offered, drawing herself up and smiling at them both, offering a hand. "Let me walk you guys home."
"That was awfully brave of you," the man remarked. He had introduced himself as Hiroshi; the Pichu, Maya, was now riding his shoulder happily. He'd explained that Maya wasn't even his Pokemon, but rather, a gift for his daughter when he returned home.
"I wouldn't say so," Sayaka chuckled sheepishly. "Mostly just kind of stupid. But they're just street punks, you know? It'll take more than that to stand up to Fang."
"I haven't been to Johto in a few years," Hiroshi murmured, shaking his head. "But I haven't known regular street punks to try to mug people like that."
"Well, things have changed a bit," Sayaka replied, morosely. Maya's ears drooped and she poked her head out to look at Sayaka with concern. "I would've thought the whole world knew about it by now."
"What?" Hiroshi turned to face her, as well.
"I don't know what happened," Sayaka sighed, "but suddenly Pokemon Centers all around the country have had to start charging money. That means some people can't afford to heal their Pokemon, right?"
"I had heard about that," Hiroshi gasped. "But that's led to - this?!"
"Yeah," Sayaka agreed. "They threaten to beat up your Pokemon because they know a lot of people around this part of town can't afford to pay to have them healed. For most of those folks, you either give up your money and your friend doesn't get hurt, or you give up your money but get your friend beat half to death first. It's a no-brainer, so now people are just out in force mugging whoever looks poor enough."
"That's horrible," Hiroshi murmured, shaking his head sadly.
"But that's why I try to stand up for people," Sayaka added firmly, grinning. "I've got Fang, and she's way tougher than most Pokemon around here. So the two of us want to help anyone get out of situations that they can't get out of themselves safely."
"Well," Hiroshi chuckled, "you're braver than most, then, Sayaka. The world needs more people like you."
"Aw, well," Sayaka laughed, looking away as her cheeks grew hot, "I'm not really that special, trust me." She slipped her phone out of her pocket - just a few minutes past eleven now; the crooks were out earlier than usual. But more importantly than that, someone had messaged her a quick affirmative.
"Alright," she said, stopping and gesturing forward; the glimmering moonlit main road of Goldenrod lay just ahead. "I've got some other business to take care of, but if you stick to the main road you ought to be safe. Get back indoors quickly now, okay? Don't wanna have to save your ass twice in one night!"
Hiroshi laughed. "You won't have to," he promised. "Take care, Sayaka."
Sayaka waved eagerly as he turned to walk away; Maya turned around to wave back. Once they had reached the street proper, she sighed heavily and turned around as well, slinking back towards the darkness. Another figure, this one tall and lanky, leaned against the wall of a meager side-street apartment building, previously unseen in the shade; the white of her grin illuminated her face as Sayaka drew closer.
"Come on, Crystal, do you always have to act so dramatic?" Sayaka sneered. The girl laughed, tossing her dark hair and shrugging comically.
"I can't help it," she replied smugly. "I love the night! Moving around unseen, taking on bad guys... it's the life!"
"Yeah, until somebody gets hurt," Sayaka grumped, but she couldn't help but grin, too. "C'mon, we've got somewhere to be."