Liberty, Chapter 1:What a beautiful word

“Liberty. Such a beautiful word, but what does it really mean. Liberty means to be free, liberty means to free others. Free them from injustice, free them from oppression. That is our goal, liberty. But liberty simply can’t be handed out, liberty has to be delivered, earned. We are the messengers of liberty, ‘tis why we’re here. We came across the sea to spread liberty to all the oppressed, both foreign and domestic. Now, it’s time to start our work on producing the ideal Hoenn, a Hoenn without oppression of Pokémon. Now. Who’s with me?!”

The crowd roared with agreement and Dustin rose his hands to quiet the crowd before continuing.

“Our dreams, which we share with our king, will be for nothing if we don’t work for them. The league, the main contributor of the abuse, will only listen to experienced Hoennese trainers. We will have to pose as league trainers to get the respect we need to make changes. Otherwise we will be written off as insane fools. We also need more civilian people, people who work at a PokeMart and seem like an average guy as sympathizers. It won’t seem exclusive if some of you pose as normal public sympathizers. Some of you need enter the big Hoennese companies, like Devon. Their opinion matters in this, so we require it. All of this needs to be done in six months, which is when our king goes public in Unova. We shall reveal ourselves alongside our king. Now, who are we?!

The crowd, which was silent moments before, screamed out one word in eerie unison. “Plasma!”

“We are Plasma and we are the knights of liberty. In six months, this liberty shall be achieved. I will assign tasks to each of you. Now, go spread liberty into the world’s heart!” Dustin stepped down from the makeshift stage and started talking to the individuals around him and assigning them tasks.

I sighed, knowing I would get one of the more mundane tasks. It didn’t truly bother me as much as it could have, I was doing what I wanted to do. I was still saving Pokemon from oppression. I mindlessly flowed about the crowd until someone stepped on my toe, making me wince. I decided to scan the crowd for Dustin, but I couldn’t see his signature black pompadour haircut anywhere. The crowd started dispersing and I followed along, disappointed in not receiving a task. I felt a tug on my arm and glanced over my shoulder to see Dustin standing behind me. “Thought you could sneak out without me knowing, didn’t you. You should know me better than that, mate.”

I shrugged, “I didn’t think you would’ve selected me... sir.”

“Cut it out with the ‘sir’ stuff. I’m only a few years older than you, for God’s sake. You make me feel old. But, yeah, I have a task for you. I want you to be part of the trainer group. You have a way with Pokémon some of the others lack and you’re confident enough to manage it, I think.”

I chuckled slightly, “Good joke. We both know I’m terrible with training. Get someone like Jonathan in the trainer group, he’s the best trainer we got.

Dustin sighed, “Johnny’s good and all, but he doesn’t have the same flair with Pokémon as you. His strength lies in tactics, not training. I’m dead serious by the way, I want you in that group. I know you don’t want to be a trainer, but consider it would you?” Dustin begged. Dustin wasn’t his real name, as everyone in the group went by an alias. No one was really sure what his real name was.

I sighed in partially mock exasperation. “Fine, you win. I’ll join the trainer portion of our group.” Despite my words I was actually elated to learn I was in the trainer portion. It meant I wouldn’t be stuck doing a mundane but necessary task, like rigging Pokeballs.

Dustin’s eyes lit up and he pulled a poke ball out of his pocket. “Thanks mate, I owe you one. I would do it myself, but the others would worry about me and I actually have a reputation in Hoenn. I used to live here once, you know. But anyway, this Pokémon’s yours. Set an example for others with the whole catch and release system. I can’t blame you if you keep this one though, everyone needs a flagship Pokémon. I want you to set out to Littleroot as soon as you can. We need to make sure you’re officially registered as a trainer, no legal shortcuts for us. Just claim you live in Mauville and went to study abroad if anyone asks you questions.  You’ll be sent out tomorrow by the way. Thanks again!” Dustin presses a poke ball into my hands, took a few steps, and disappeared into the crowd. I sighed, wondering what I got myself into.

The building we took over as our temporary base of operations was decrepit and falling apart. Holes were common in the roof of New Mauville and allowed sunlight to light up some of the power plant. I stared at the Pokéball, wondering what creature I had been given. We’d only been in Hoenn a few weeks, so it couldn’t have been too rare of a local Pokémon, if it was a local one. Knowing Dustin, it was either exceptionally strong, oddly exotic, or massively underwhelming underwhelming. Dustin really had no sense of balance when it came to power levels. The ball felt cold in my hands and I bounced it between them a little bit. Eventually I figured I should meet this strong or underwhelming Pokémon that would be my starter. It was the latter. I tossed the ball down and out came what looked to be a little oval shaped weed with a little bulb atop its head. The Budew rushed over toward the first ray of sunlight and basked in it. I sighed, realizing that the little weed would become my starter. “Hey little Budew, I guess you’ll be my starter for now. At least until I beat the first gym, then you’re free to go.”
The Budew quietly let out a chirp and unfolded its bud, revealing the two red and blue petals there.  A shower of pollen exploded outward from the bud. I found myself curled up on the ground violently sneezing. My eyes were streaming as well. I managed to pull myself together and sat down. A sweet fragrance could be smelled coming from the bud.
“Eugh, wha? I hate pollen.... I, err, I guess I have to give you a name now? Err, uh, Leafy, no. How about Leif?” The Budew shook itself. “I guess not then. Lei? Nah, too Alolan almost. Err, how about Grace?” The Budew’s eyes opened and it started to hop briefly before sitting down and basking in the sun again. “I guess you liked that? I’m fine with it, Grace it is.” Grace suddenly frowned and shot up, glaring towards the cloud which covered the ray of sunlight streaming down on her. She quickly found another ray and decided to plop down there. So far Grace didn’t seem to do much except laze around in the sunlight. I still had no idea how Dustin thought I was some master trainer, I could barely get a Lilipup to listen to me. Training Grace would be hard if all she wanted to do was laze around in the sunlight. I was starting to wonder if this was Dustin’s idea of a joke. Budew, and by extent Roselia and Roserade, were not exactly famous Pokémon people found themselves rallying behind. I was beginning to wonder if it was possible to capture the public’s attention with a Budew.