Lapras

A small boat was sailing across the blue sea.

Splash!

A graceful serpentine Pokemon closely followed it from the side. Milotic appeared to be having fun. After all, she rarely got to swim in the sea. Her pond back at the gym was too small for her to swim freely.

Seeing Hisoka driving the boat, she slowly sneaked behind and splashed water on him.

"Milotic!"

Hisoka smiled helplessly. He was soaking wet from head to toe.

"Don't bother me, alright? I'm trying to drive the boat," he petted her head.

"Mee!"

Milotic rubbed against his cheek and returned to the sea.

"Bu!" Buneary cried out excitedly. It was her first time on the sea. She sat on the side of the boat, legs dangling, under Gardevoir's careful watch.

Meanwhile, Suzie was sitting next to him, holding her only Pokemon, Vulpix.

This time, he only brought Gardevoir, Weavile, Rhyperior, Milotic, Chansey, Buneary, and Porygon with him to Orange Islands. Onix and Misdreavus stayed behind to guard his gym.

Currently, they were on their way to Tangelo Island, where the breeder competition would be held.

Tangelo Island was located near Valencia Island. Typically, many trainers who wanted to challenge the Orange League would start their journey here.

After sailing for an hour, they finally arrived at Tangelo Island.

***

"Hello. Welcome to Tangelo Island. You'll have to pay a fee to dock here, sir."

A man came to Hisoka and Suzie as they got off the boat. He was wearing a yellow vest and a safety helmet. Apparently, he was the harbor master.

"How much is the fee for one day?" Hisoka asked, taking out his wallet.

"100 dollars per day, sir," he replied.

"We'll be staying here for three days," Hisoka nodded, handing him the money.

After the manager left, Suzie turned toward Hisoka and said, "So where should we go now?"

"Let's stop by at Pokemon Center first. Professor Ivy told me to send a parcel to Nurse Joy," Hisoka replied, showing her the parcel in his hand.

"Okay," she nodded.

They slowly walked toward the beachfront city. After they dropped the parcel at the Pokemon, they decided to take a stroll at the beach.

Tourist boats and luxury cruise liners were coming into and leaving the island. The street was crowded with many people. Beautiful women were dancing in hula skirts and garlands as the crowd screamed and whistled constantly.

Accompanied by their Pokemon, they took in the sight of Tangelo Island.

At the moment, both of them were enjoying the sunset view as a cool ocean breeze came drifting gently.

"Should we go to the Pokemon theme park first or the hotel?" Hisoka asked, shifting his gaze toward Suzie.

Suzie thought for a few moments and said, "Let's go to the hotel first. The tournament will not start until tomorrow afternoon. We still have a lot of time. Besides, I'm very tired."

"Let's go," Hisoka nodded.

Aah!

Before they could leave, they suddenly heard a scream. When they ran in the direction where the sound came from, they saw a Lapras being surrounded by three men. Most importantly, it appeared to be injured.

"Hey, hurry up! Move!"

A blond-haired man was standing on its head, kicking its head repeatedly.

"Move! Damn it!"

Another man with green hair picked up a large branch and smashed it on its head, laughing mockingly.

The repeated blows caused the Pokemon to be in constant pain. It leaned its head to the side, trying to avoid another blow from the man.

"Damn! It won't move!" said the man who was standing on its back.

"What should we do?" the man with green hair asked.

"Since it didn't want to move, why don't we break its shell using a drill?" he suggested.

"Let me do it!" Another man waved his hands excitedly.

"Nice idea!"

"Haha!"

Seeing them abusing a gentle Pokemon like Lapras was a bit disturbing. It was as if the Lapras was nothing but a pig for slaughter in their eyes.

In this world, there were some people who hated Pokemon. Still, most people maintained a peaceful attitude toward Pokemon.

"That's a Lapras! What are they doing to it!" Suzie stared open-mouthed. She couldn't believe what she saw.

Lapras, a plesiosaur Pokemon whose history can be traced back to hundreds of thousands of years ago.

A helpful and gentle Pokemon, it enjoyed ferrying people across bodies of water. Its high intelligence allowed it to understand human speech much better than other Pokemon.

Their singing had the ability to make people feel calm. In some places, Lapras was worshipped for their beautiful singing. Some people even believed that its singing could heal the sick.

In the past, its docility made it an easy target for hunters. It nearly went extinct at some point.

***

"Let it go!"

Before Hisoka could stop them, Suzie already went toward them, eyes full of anger.

This was his first time seeing the kind and gentle Suzie lose her temper. It was a bit scary, to be honest.

"Fuck off! This is not your problem! Or else..." the green-haired man warned, raising the branch toward her.

"Go away!"

"Don't mind other people's business!"

Hearing that, Suzie took a deep breath and stressed out her words one by one.

"Let it go!"

"Uuu! I'm scared!" the blonde man on Lapras's back laughed. "Why should we listen to you? We discovered this Lapras first. We can play with it however we like."

After he said that, he kicked Lapras head again, causing it to groan in pain. Tears rolled down from its eyes as it looked at Hisoka and Suzie, hoping they would be able to save it.

Hisoka could see at a glance that the Lapras was seriously injured before she ended up here. Otherwise, it wouldn't just accept the beating of the three men.

Lapras was a gentle Pokemon, true, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't retaliate if they suffered an attack. Just an Ice Beam alone was enough to kill these three stupid men.

The front flipper had signs of obvious cuts. It looked pale and had a small crack on its shell. It must have been stranded here for a while.

This place was quite far from the city. They would not have discovered this place if they hadn't heard Lapras's scream.

The blond-haired man jumped off Lapras's back and swaggered toward Suzie, along with the two other men.

Hisoka took a step forward, pulled Suzie behind him, and said, "Let me handle this."

"Yo! This man wants to be a hero!"

They laughed uproariously. Clearly, they looked down on him.

"Get out of here, kid!"

Hisoka pricked his ears and said, "Are you done?" He looked at them condescendingly.

"Fuck! Let's get him, boys!"

"Beat him!"

They shouted while taking out their Pokeballs.

"Gardevoir!" Hisoka called out.

Bang!

Gardevoir appeared suddenly in front of them and before they could release their Pokemon, they were already down on the ground.

"Control them, don't let them escape!" Hisoka shouted.

Gardevoir then used her psychic power to put their hands on their back, locking them in place.

"Porygon. Call the police, " Hisoka said to his watch.

Beep!

"The police are on their way." A mechanical voice came from his watch.

After that, he punched them in the face and tied them up with a rope. He then asked Gardevoir to move them away.

"Do you know that Lapras is an endangered Pokemon? According to the law, you will go to jail for at least ten years for abusing an endangered Pokemon," he smiled at them in a mocking manner.

"You bastard!"

They roared at Hisoka, trying to break free.

"Watch them, Gardevoir!" he ordered.

"Rest assured, Hisoka. I won't let them out of my sight," Gardevoir responded angrily. She had seen the injury on Lapras. If Hisoka told her to chuck these guys in the middle of the ocean, she would do it without blinking an eye.

She then put some pressure on their bodies using her psychic power, causing them to groan in pain.

'Serves you right!' she thought.

Wee-woo!

A police siren sound was heard in the distance. Just a minute later, a police car came to view as it slowly stopped next to them. Then, Officer Jenny and a policeman got out of the car.

"It's you again! What did you do this time, huh?" Officer Jenny shouted. She seemed to recognize these three men.

"Officer Jenny! Please! We didn't do anything!" cried the blonde-haired man.

'While we were playing at the beach, we saw a Lampras stranded on the beach, We wanted to help it return to the sea, but these two guys suddenly appeared and beat us up," he added, sobbing.

"Yes, Officer Jenny! They are the ones who hit Lapras just now. Not us." The other two men also joined in.

"Do you think I'm a fool!" Officer Jenny roared.

"That's Hisoka, a Kanto gym leader. And do you really think I didn't know your tricks?" she sneered.

She then looked at her partner and said, "Take these three into the car first. I'll need to ask some questions from that man first."

"Yes, boss!" the policeman saluted.

He then walked toward the three tied-up men and kicked one of them in the leg.

"Get up!"

"..."

"I said get up!"

The three men ignored the policeman and kept their heads down.

"Sigh!"

In the end, he could only push them into the car one by one.

Officer Jenny tidied up her clothes and walked toward Hisoka. Although she already had an idea of what happened just now, she still had to ask the relevant parties in accordance with the law.

"Mr. Hisoka!"

"Yes, Officer Jenny?" Hisoka turned around after hearing Officer Jenny calling for him.

While he was taking care of the three men just now, Suzie had already went to check up on the Lapras.

"Are you Mr. Hisoka from Kanto? The gym leader of Dark City?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded.

She took a step forward, took out a notepad, and said, "I'm sorry, but I need to know in detail about what happened just now."

"I'm sorry, but can you wait for a moment?" he said apologetically.

"I'm going to check the Lapras first. I'll answer your questions later. Is it okay?" he pointed to the injured Lapras.

Officer Jenny turned toward the Lapras and was shocked by the wounds on its body.

"What?" she shouted angrily.

"Did those three men did that?" she looked at him.

"No," Hisoka shook his head. "By the look of it, the Lapras was already injured before it stranded on this island."

"I see. Then, I'll take those guys in for questioning first. I'll call you later," said Officer Jenny.

"Thank you, Officer Jenny," Hisoka replied.