Originally Published: Jan 23, 2023

Part II: Friend, Foe, or Frienemy?

It was a strange and oddly quiet night when Astarte slithered out of the gym. She came across a couple of strangers at the gyms, which she found very odd, even though, her encounter with her new Primarina friend paid off. However, the fellow Milotic seemed to have been roped into yet another encounter with a Pokémon stranger. “Hey there, toots! I see ya’ve got yourself into a doozy, do n'tcha?” said a mysterious voice. “Wha... hey, where are you?” Astarte asked while swiftly looking left and right to find where the voice came from. It was starting to get dark from the nightlight as well, so it wasn’t as crowded on the streets of the city anymore. “I’m up here for ya, toots! Use your eyes a bit better!” the mysterious voice echoed again coming from a higher level. Astarte had to look up to witness the sight of a light-grey, white, and red fox chilling above a ledge on a building. The fox’s hair was waving in the air like some kind of flame. The strange part was what the fox was wearing as their choice of clothing. It was too strange and suspicious that he was not wearing any casual clothes. They were wearing some kind of purple masquerade to cover their eyes, purple leather boots to compliment each leg, a purple waistband wrapped around their small feral body, and a purple bandana to add to the décor of their apparel.

“Uh, who are you?” Astarte asked looking up to the odd fellow lying over the ledge. “Heh. The name’s Walter, kid. Please to meet ya! Ya need some help, amiright, toots?” the Hisuian Zorua with the masquerade and purple bandana asked. “Well, I-” Astarte murmured a bit confused before getting cut off by Walter. “Eh, don’t answer that cuz I know ya do. I won’t need your name either. So listen here, cuz I like ya; no doubt. But time is money, kiddo, and I’m a busy man here. Since ya got yourself a noodle body, let’s hope ya ain’t got noodles for brains.” the masqueraded fox spoke to the sea serpent. “No offense, but why do you talk so weird?” Astarte asked Walter. “Eh, it’s called culture, toots. Ever heard of that? Ever been outside, flown kites with your family, or whatever?” Walter added to their odd conversation, but he resumed with his speech. “But that ain’t relevant now, is it? What is relevant is your reputation was placed into a blender and chopped up into a tasteless smoothie cuz a blowout happened on that stage of stars. Ya got a new friend to support ya yet ya got a family to support too, say?”

“Are you spying on me?” Astarte firmly asked. “Oh, toots, lighten up on that attitude a bit, will ya? A kiddo like me must always stay informed of the world around him. Like I said, I like ya, kid. Major respect for ya. But ya’ll face nothing but regret if ya dare defy my authority. Speaking of face, ya got yours smokin’ on the front page, toots.” Walter briefly shows the newspaper with the heading, “Local Milotic Rampages Fashion Show” with a picture of Astarte going berserk on the security guards. “How did the press publish that so quickly?” Astarte asked all confused and concerned at the same time as she gazed upon the newspaper article that was shooting up her reputation into thin air. “Eh, that’s the paper biz for ya, toots! Now are we gonna burn some valuable seconds standing here running our lips or are we going to make some cash? Rush hour’s over, baby! So let’s go on to the Snack-sol Café, ya hear me?” Walter rushed Astarte out of the alleyway towards the Snack-sol Café.

“Wait, how do you know I’m heading there, Walter?” Astarte asked as they were rushing over to the Snack-sol Café. “I’ve got a torn reputation just like ya, so I’m here to help ya get money fast and easily,” Walter answered while panting a little from running. “H-How does that relate does that answer my question?” Astarte asked confused with a pinch of frustration into the mix. “No time for questions, toots! We’ve just made it to our destination. So you go talk to your pal and I’ll be there to check up on ya, capisce?” Walter said while cutting Astarte off. Astarte sighed, trying to hold in her confusion and frustration at the same time. “Fine. I just really don’t understand what you’re trying to do here, Walter.” Astarte entered the Café while keeping a close eye on the suspicious Hisuian Zorua with the purple masquerade and bandana.

Astarte slithered into the Pokémon-centric café to meet face to face with the Absol who’s the mascot of the place, Walsper. “Oh my goodness! Astarte, it’s been a while!” Walsper said with content. “Yeah, it has been,” Astarte muttered in a quiet tone. “I’ve heard it’s been quite rough for you lately.” Walsper spurred out with showing some signs of sympathy for his Milotic pal. “You had it rough at that beauty contest.”

During their banter, a few of the Pokémon customers turned their heads to face the approaching sea serpent who accessed the building. “It’s that Milotic! We must run before they have another tantrum!” One of the Pokémon broke their silence to plead with the others to evacuate the café until Walsper stood on top of the counter to announce to his patrons. “Oh, get over yourselves! An Absol like myself doesn’t sense any danger coming from this girl! But maybe you should be considerate of her feelings, so she doesn’t snap from being a victim of such lackluster generalizations!” Walsper was shown to be disappointed as he scolded his patrons for basing his friend on past actions. The patrons gingerly positioned themselves back into their seats. “You only act when the criminal is repeating or committing an offense. Having caution, however, is still acceptable as it’s diet self-defense.” Walsper emphasized the importance of being cautious but not discriminatory.

“Yo, Danny! Cook my friend up some nice fresh curry, on the double!” Walsper shouted through the pick-up hole to view the kitchen. Danny, who appears to be a Flareon wearing glasses nodded and got straight to cooking the Milotic meal she didn’t voluntarily ask for. “Anyway, you were saying. Sorry about that. It’s just I believe that with the right timing and influences, everyone has a chance at redemption.” Walsper resumed their banter with Astarte. “I need funds to help my master get treatment to recover,” Astarte complained. “I see. Your loving Sauce-girl got pretty crippled from that sculpture that fell on her-” Walsper incited before getting cut by Astarte. “I know, I know. Just... don’t remind me.” Astarte moaned loudly without opening up her teeth. “I was wondering if I could have a job here.” Astarte offered as she was willing to sign a contract. “Astarte... I’m not hiring at the moment. Plus, the way I see you, you’re not interested in this job, you only feel obliged to do so. Besides, even if you do work here, your payment won’t be very high to pay for such medical bills. It would take a year or two of working.” Walsper indicated in a modest tone. “I have nothing against you, my glorious friend, but I’m just stating the facts that your payroll wouldn’t be beneficial here.”

Astarte gave a deep sigh as to accept the disappointing reality of her scenario at the moment with her friend’s brutally honest input. “You’re right... I need a job worth value in the short run.” Danny came out of the kitchen to place a hot, fresh plate of delicious curry in front of the mistress’ seat. “It’s on the house! You had a rough day!” Walsper sympathized with Astarte. “I’m not hungry though,” Astarte muttered as she used her tailfin to slightly push the plate to the side. “Ho ho! Well, today may have left a terrible stain on your life, but just remember one thing, Astarte...” Walsper leaned in closer to Astarte to whisper the following, Sometimes, your past actions can benefit you in the future. What moves you have done in the past may benefit you in the present to expand your future.” Astarte nodded in agreement as her mind was clouded with thoughts on what to do next. “So, I should-” Astarte was talking but was cut off by Walsper.

“Hold that thought!” Walsper suddenly became alerted about something. “I sense a criminal offense occurring. Theft! I think he’s back!” Walsper whispered to himself as he looked around with his eyes squinching in suspicion. “Who’s he?” Astarte interrupted Walsper who was on guard. “The little one,” Walsper whispered on full alert. He was not going to let his guard down that easily.

“Oh, well, I had this one little fox guy who was with me earlier,” Astarte mentioned to Walsper, obviously referring to Walter. Walsper’s head perked up and locked eye contact with his noodle friend. “Hold on, did you say... little fox guy?” Walsper immediately interrogated through the conversation before Astarte had the chance to speak again. “Yeah, he looks like one of those ancient Zoruas that are currently endangered.” Astarte resumed, describing the fellow she met outside. “And what was he wearing?” Walsper asked, beginning to panic his face filled with concern. “I didn’t think the city would be holding a cosplay convention today, but he was wearing a purple masquerade-” Astarte was giving further details about the suspicious fox before getting cut off by Walsper again. “That’s no cosplayer!! That’s Walker!! Sly Walker!!” Walsper shouted in a panicked tone of voice with its volume abruptly elevated. “Woah, woah. Calm down. And his name’s actually Walter-” Astarte responded only to be cut off by Walsper once again. “No, you don’t understand! You’ve been fooled by Walker! His real name is Walker, not Walter! He’s the city’s most wanted criminal for serial theft!” Walsper went a little berserk talking to Astarte. “That Zorua has tried to steal 15 kilograms of food from my café! I even have a large wanted poster with his face on it!” Walsper elucidated while tearing down an advertisement poster to reveal a large wanted poster of the same Hisuian Zorua on display. “What do you mean, he only TRIED to steal from you?” Astarte questioned the motive of their purple-masked, snack thief. “Because he may be a thief, but he’s a pretty incompetent thief though. He would steal the goods successfully only for the police to retrieve it all from him shortly after. He’s only competent of getting himself away from arrest.” Walsper spelled out for her with concern still drawn on his face.

An unhinged laughter echoed in the building. “C’mon, even my classic gangster impression gave that away. I told you I have a bad reputation like you do. I guess you do have noodles for brains, toots. But thanks for being my distraction! Ta-ta!” Walter, who was Walker, wryly scoffed at the Milotic and Absol before bolting out of the window. “You... YOU!!! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE MY LIFE MORE MISERABLE THAN IT ALREADY IS!!!” Astarte bellowed in pure anger and frustration out the window. Astarte was about to go after Walker only to be halted by Walsper behind her. “Astarte!” Walsper raised his voice to get her attention. Astarte gave a quick glimpse back at him. “Go after him! His arrest will give you a fortune.” Astarte nodded before she darted out of the door to chase after the criminal Hisuian Zorua. She was motivated to capture that evil, tricky fox, not only to restore her honor but to get the funds for her master’s recovery.

Astarte slithered swiftly among the streets to see if she could target the presence of that scummy, little fox. The streets were surprisingly empty for blocks away. Not even a blob of personnel or a figure of a Pokémon in sight. Astarte questions how an urban place like a busy, crowded city would be this empty, especially at nighttime. It was like the citizens of the whole city decided to clear out of the way for the two to rumble. Astarte then heard a voice echoing from a distance. The snake zoomed in to follow the echo that was supposedly guiding her. When Astarte got closer to where she heard the voice, she witnessed a fox-shaped shadow figure zoom into an alleyway. The Milotic shortly followed after the fox thing. Thankfully, Astarte’s luck was shining because the alleyway was only one-way. Her target couldn’t escape now.

“You know, I could just phase through the walls to escape from here, but that would make things anti-climactic, wouldn’t you say?” the figure spoke with a familiar voice, turned towards the sea serpent to reveal themselves to be that scummy, little fox, Walker. Astarte charged towards the thieving fluffball. “Hold up!” The Zorua halted the Milotic from slithering any closer to him. “What is it?! Are you afraid I’ll beat you down to a pulp at this rate?” Astarte asked with a threatening tone of voice. Her raging eyes indicated how angry she was at the little fox. “No, because you’re such a good listener just like how you’ve listened well to your Primarina and Absol friends. Besides, I think you should at least give me a chance to hear my last words before you beat me up, yes?” Walker smirks wanting to bargain with Astarte. “Fine, what do you have to say?” Astarte asked in frustration, willing to accept his offer of monologuing.

“Well, you only snapped on that stage because you wanted to be yourself and want others to follow your interest, yes?” Walker asked with a smirk. “Selfish, selfish, selfish.” Walker scoffs at Astarte while slowly shaking his head in disbelief. “You don’t understand how society works, do ya? So let this be a lesson for ya, toots. Anyone who takes advantage of their emotions abuses their feelings for personal gain, and attempts to enforce their interests and beliefs upon others in society ends up harming others. If anything, it hurts you more than them... in the head.” Walker explained while slowly getting up into Astarte’s face and booping her nose. “You think anyone’s going to care about your personal interests and feelings when they both stop putting food on the table? It’s a tough world out there, kid. Abuse of emotions is what gets people KILLED!” Walker abruptly raises his voice when he says the last word as his fiery fur combines to form a skull.

“No, I think you don’t understand, Walker! How would you think you know how society should run when you’re breaking the law?” Astarte firmly questions Walker’s motives as she pushes him away from her. “Oh, Noodle Body, you misinterpreted me. People and Pokémon have been taking advantage of their feelings for their own selfish gain, and you’re one of them.” Walker exclaimed to the Milotic. Astarte was ready to budge and grab Walker to turn him in.

Walker suddenly pointed one of his front paws at Astarte to halt her from getting to him. “Hey! Don’t get mad at me cuz you can’t deny it’s a fact! Back to what I was saying about how society’s been abusing their feelings for their own selfish gain. Have you ever looked around, Noodle Body? Society only cares about self-gain and they’ll never care about your personal interests. Businesses and corporations, they only pretend to care about their consumers when they only care about getting the most of the money out of their wallets. Politicians and activists, only pretend to care about civilians as long as they feed them power and are a bunch of yes-men with their beliefs, but mistreat the opposition. The consumers and civilians aren’t any better. Consumers are always expecting perfection from a worker’s work and civilians are never satisfied no matter what their politicians do because they’re just as greedy for self-gain. And yet, the same people and Pokémon are calling me the greedy one because I’ve been a thief.”

“Because theft is immoral, you dimwit!” Astarte scolded Walker. “Immoral, huh? Heheheh, society is just blinded by their own selfish greed for money and power. So, tell me, Noodle Body; is having selfish greed not immoral?” Walker commented. “You don’t know what you are talking about! Society isn’t all that bad and neither am I.” Astarte had red in her eyes from the anger she was inheriting. “Oh, really? Your incident in damaging the stage and harming your master may have been an accident, but your motivation to intercept your personal interests in doing something else rather than being a fashion model was clearly on purpose.” Walker added. “I don’t want to hear any more from your mouth!” Astarte angrily shouted as she marched closer to Walker.

“And that’s exactly it. You don’t want to hear the truth about yourself. Isn’t that what your new sea lion friend told you?” Walker smirked giving a smug glimpse towards Astarte. Astarte just perked on with her eyes widened. “How do you know about that?” She asked in shock. “You see, I’ve been spying on you ever since you left the Beta Pokémon Center because I knew your reputation was crushed just like mine. I just used the newspaper to cover my tracks.” Walker responded. “I knew you were the perfect subject to fool since you were caught off-guard from your lament. But go on, talk about how much of a horrible being I am, it just proves my point about society’s ignorance of the truth and its selfishness.”

“C-cut it out already!” Astarte begins to stutter for a bit but really begins to slither close to Walker, ready to tackle him and turn him in for the reward. “How about I cut you a deal instead, Noodle Body?” Walker turned around to face Astarte smirking while he pulled a wad of cash out of his bandana. The Milotic gazed upon the wad of money that was just pulled out. “I see you’re interested in the moolah here.” Walker chuckles as he waves the wad of cash back and forth. “Here’s the dealio: if you let me go with the sack of food, I’ll give you this wad of cash. Heck, Maybe I’ll share the food with you, you can sell it with me. Think about it, Noodle Body, all the extra dough you can get even after you pay for your master’s treatment to full health.” Walker continued to smirk, looking up to the Milotic who started to think to herself.

“Your public image is already in shambles, so why not take advantage of the bad reputation? Why should you care about what the public thinks about you when they already don’t care and never would’ve cared about you already? Only a limited number of friends you got care for you at the moment from what I’ve seen. Friendships don’t always last forever though. But your love and desire of loyalty for your master does. You got to get this money to her now before she kicks the bucket, yes?” Walker continues to wave the cheese back and forth, trying to convince the Milotic to make her decision. In Astarte’s head, she remembered some of the things her friends told her earlier. Starting with what Sonata told her, “Your body and mind are telling you that you were meant to be a fighter.” Astarte’s mind started to lean closer to her decision for this sticky situation. “Think about it, Noodle Body, you may be doing the wrong thing, but you’re only doing it for the right cause.” Walker included in.

“Or are you going to turn me in for a reward you probably won’t get anyway? Think about it. Your shattered rep has likely cost you the trust of our law enforcement. You were probably lucky they didn’t throw you in prison for your actions.” Walker was continuing his bantering while Astarte’s mind was clouded with flashbacks of what her friend’s told her. She suddenly remembers a quote that Walsper told her, “It’s just I believe that with the right timing and influences, everyone has a chance with redemption.” This quote really pushed her mind forward to her finalized choice, but she was still listening to what Walker had to bargain.

“Not to mention, remember what your café boyfriend said? I’ve always gotten away from arrest. Being a ghost-type has really helped me with the escape. So do you really want to humiliate yourself some more? That will make you even more of an embarrassment and a failure to your master than you already are!” Walker firmly insulted and launched those threats into the Milotic’s ears. Milotic quickly perked up as she felt violated hearing those very last words coming from the tricky fox’s mouth, so she began to act out. “NOOOOOOOO!!” Astarte bellowed a very loud and intimidating war cry that even pushed back the thievery fox a little. Astarte finally made her decision. Her objective now was clearly to knock out and turn in Walker. Little did Walker realize, that the ending to his monologue was a trigger for Astarte since she had a goal of protecting and impressing her master at all costs. Walker’s eyes widened too as if he realized that he messed up.

Astarte launched a powerful swing of her tail at the little fox with a purple masquerade. It turned out to be to be the move, Knock Off. Walker’s slip was that he revealed that he was a ghost-type Pokémon. Astarte was intelligent enough to remember that dark-type moves are super effective against ghost-type Pokémon. The tail successfully slammed Walker right into a wall and knocked the sack of food right out of his grip. The sea serpent ignored the snack treats that spilled out of the sack onto the ground. Her focus was primarily locked on her target, the tricky fox. Walker had a bruise or two on his face. Astarte swiftly slithered up to the fox and used Knock Off on him again without hesitation. Some cracks were made on the brick wall after that second swing. Walker surprisingly still hadn’t fainted after that rage-filled swing on his face and little body, but was heavily breathing with his chest raising up and down.

“Astarte... Astarte, stop!!” Walker pleaded to the Milotic to not receive another POW to his face. “You can have the money! Just take it!” the tricky fox cried. Walker was holding out his paw, pointing at Astarte’s face whose eyes were still filled with rage, with the other front paw covering his face out of fear she would swing at him again. He was shivering in fear at this point. Astarte has made her message clear to Walker not to mess with her. But Walker realized that the wad of money was no longer in his paw, and he was holding up nothing towards Astarte. The money also spilled all over the ground when she used the first Knock Off on him. It’s what the move Knock Off does anyway. The money was scattered, and Walker panicked even more because the Astarte was now capable of seeing through what would’ve been another one of his scummy tricks. The wad of money Walker was holding was play money.

“Fake money, of course! You were trying to set me up yet again! I doubt you were even going to share that food with me to sell anyway! I think it’s time that my Knock Off became Knock Out!” Astarte stormed at Walker with the final blow. “NOOO-” Walker screamed panicking before getting cut off by his final sight of seeing the Milotic’s scales closing in on his face. It was pure silence for a few seconds except for our fellow Milotic panting and tearing up from her genuine rage. Astarte lifts her scaly tail to reveal the satisfying outcome that occurred beneath her tail. There was a huge dent in the brick wall now, but the wild (criminal record) Zorua has fainted! Astarte used her tailfins to wipe off the tears leaking down her face resulting in a smile. The type of smile that you get when you feel you have finally accomplished something that will benefit your life after suffering through some dire consequences and tragedies. There was one thing Astarte wanted to do to celebrate her victory. “I call this the Beauty Bind!” Astarte lifts her scaly tail again and wraps her whole snaky body around the passed-out fox’s body. Astarte now had Walker in a bind to secure the fox in her grip, in case he woke up and escaped.

Suddenly, a light was flashed onto the sea serpent holding the passed-out fox like a trophy. “FREEZE!” a scream echoed throughout the one-way alleyway. Conveniently, it was a police officer, shining a flashlight at the two Pokémon. “I was informed about some loud noises going on here and-” The cop firmly shouted while marching his way over to the duo when he realized who the Milotic was holding in her grasp. “Did... Is...” The cop was nearly speechless, struggling to get his words out from being so amazed by the sight. “Is that Milotic holding Sly Walker? Our most wanted Pokémon criminal?” The cop asked with his eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it. The cop then lifted his hand and pointed all five fingers at the two. “Arcanine, observe that Zorua!”

An Arcanine a police K9 unit vest pops out from behind the cop and gallops his way to the duo. The Arcanine walks up to sniff the fox in Milotic’s bind. The dog Pokémon’s eyes widened as he turned around to bark at the officer for confirmation. The cop could tell by the tone of his barking that he was confirming that the fox was Walker. While Astarte, being a Pokémon, could decipher the barks into “This is Zorua we’ve been looking for.” The cop turned his attention to the Milotic and he showed his signs of being impressed. “I’m not sure if you can understand me, but you just caught our most wanted criminal. You’ve just earned yourself a big reward.” Astarte gasped with an excited smile on her face now, holding in her tears of joy.

Reinforcements walked into the area and one of them asked the following question, “Woah. Isn’t that the same Milotic that went berserk in the beauty contest?” The first cop placed his hand on the other cop’s shoulder. “Just let that slide, Wan. The Milotic is a saint compared to how much that Zorua has terrorized this city.” The first cop commented. “We’ve finally got our most wanted.”

Some time has passed by as it was almost 9 PM according to the clock. Astarte and the cops were able to lock Walker into a jail cell for the night. Astarte was patiently waiting at the jailhouse lobby for her reward so she could finally return to her master and pay for the treatment she needed for recovery. “Arcanine, are you sure we should trust a Pokémon to carry a briefcase full of money around? The Milotic has no arms to carry it.” the cop asked his K9 unit partner. The Arcanine barked in response, which was deciphered into “She needs to get that money to her dying trainer at the Beta Pokémon Center.” The cop looks back at the Milotic as he hands her the briefcase of money as her reward. “Well, here you go. I’m not sure how you will carry it unless with your mouth.” The cop commented.

Astarte was leaning over to take the briefcase when suddenly the Arcanine started to growl after doing a quick sniff of the briefcase. The cop and Milotic look over at him in confusion. But they realized the Arcanine was not growling at Astarte but at the briefcase. “What’s wrong, Arcanine?” The cop asked before the Arcanine started barking a bit. The barking translated to “Open that briefcase! Something’s off!” Surprisingly, the cop understood the tone of the barking and quickly opened up the briefcase. “See? There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just full of... play... money...?” The cop then muttered out of confusion as he gazed at the fake cash in the case. A note was left inside that said “Thanks for the real moolah! This was my plan all along, Noodle Body!” ending with a purple emblem that has the Walker’s masquerade and the shape of his flame-like hair blended.

“Walker!!” The cop shouted angrily and confused at the same time as his body flipped a one-eighty to face the corridor containing the jail cell they swear they locked Walker in. After a glance and observation, the figure that looks like Walker inside the cell was the cell’s pillow wearing Walker’s masquerade and bandana to make it look like him from a distance. “He fooled us again!! How is he that good?!” The cop shouted in anger. “He’s terrible at getting away with the stolen goods, minus the cash that was just in this briefcase, but he’s a Houdini when it comes to getting away from us, cops!” He slammed his fists on the counter and gave a loud sigh afterward. “This is why we need to get up to date and transfer the cash digitally. We should’ve also kept him in Pokéball, but our Pokémon Control Rangers have been using all of ours due to the recent surge of wild Pokémon encounters and interferences on the streets.” The cop placed his elbow on the counter with the hand placed by his forehead.

Astarte was desperately trying to hold in her understandable and justified rage. She worked so hard to stop the wanted tricky thief until that same thief hurt her once again. It was back to where she started now. She couldn’t imagine how her master’s family would’ve reacted if she brought them back a case full of fake money because that would’ve been the final straw for her with her master’s father. Astarte was on the verge of giving up at this point to doom her master’s life because it was pointless to save her at this point. Astarte tried to do everything in her power to save her master’s life and to redeem her reputation. She at least has redeemed her reputation with law enforcement, but her master meant more to her than anything. Saucez was the reason why she was a Milotic, to begin with. Her stress returns to cloud her mind with hopelessness. She screamed in frustration, “What am I going to do now?!”

“What are we going to do now?!” A sudden new voice loudly echoed from the entrance of the police station through the doorway. “This is just great! Just great!” the mysterious human ranted with some hints of sarcasm while stomping their feet towards the front counter where the cop was attending. “I’m sorry, but who are you?” Asked the cop. “I’m the head producer of P.W.F., sir!” The angry man answered. “P.W.F.?” The cop responded in confusion. “The Pokémon Wrestling Federation! Come on, are you living under a rock?” The producer aggressively scoffed at the cop. “I’ve come all the way here from the ring to report a major assault!" The producer complained aggressively. "You walked over here? You didn't just think about calling us or...?" The cop responded with an eyebrow raised. "With all of the serial theft going on lately, do you think it's a good idea to have any Poké Gear phone in your pockets with the risk of getting pickpocketed?" The producer muttered sarcastically. The cop just stood there in silence. "Tonight was supposed to be a big night for the P.W.F. and now one of my wrestlers is severely injured and unable to participate!” The producer resumed ranting with his hand glued over his face while shaking his head. “Was it during a match, sir?” the cop asked. “No, it wasn’t! The Hitmontops were heavily assaulted by some other vile Pokémon on the streets. The Pokémon Center nurses said they needed to operate to fix up the Hitmontops which will take days of recovery. My event tonight is ruined! I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel the event tonight because we don’t have an even number of wrestlers for the midnight matches. Now, I’ll be forced to give refunds to all of the ticket purchasers who have been patiently waiting for the matches to get into action.” The producer went into depth.

“Have you tried to get another Pokémon to participate?” The cop asked. The producer just twitched an eye as he turned to face the cop. “It’s not that simple, officer!” He spat out. “People and Pokémon love watching the midnight matches but don’t want to be in them because wrestling is a very dangerous sport. Plus, they’re at midnight. How many Pokémon out there would have the energy to wrestle at that time? I’ve even promised high payments for a replacement.” The producer said, still filled with a bubble of frustration. “I have less than one hour to find a replacement or the matches are canceled and the Pokémon Wrestling Federation will lose so much money and loyal patrons.” The producer held his baseball cap down his face, overwhelmed with stress.

Astarte stared at the sight of the stressed producer and had a flashback of how stressed she was at the gym and how Sonata stepped in to help her out. Astarte was given help when she needed it by someone else, so she decided to pay the favor forward. Astarte slowly began to raise her tailfin like someone who was raising their hand to get the teacher’s attention. She then remembered when Sonata told her she was meant to be a fighter. It’s like it all connects. Next, she remembers how she knocked the punching bag off of the chains at the gym to impress Sonata. Then, she got a flashback of how she knocked out Walker back in the dark alley. Finally, her mind sparks the quote of Walsper telling her back at the café, “Sometimes, your past actions can benefit you in the future.” This made Astarte raise her tailfin faster and higher to get the attention of the producer. “I volunteer!” She shouted out loud to get everyone’s attention. The humans turned to gaze upon the Milotic. Despite how they couldn’t decipher what she was saying, the producer could tell by the tone and delivery of that shout, that she was trying to tell him that she was dedicated to helping him with his problem.

“Are... are you saying... you want to be the replacement?” The producer stuttered with his question while being amazed at the Miloticase if he just realized a voice from the heavens to gather him hope. Astarte confidently nodded to confirm her dedication. “But you have no limbs...” The producer added in. But before Astarte’s hope was going to be shattered, the cop intercepted the conversation. “You’re kidding, right?” He huffed at the producer. “That Milotic was able to hold a criminal in a very tight and secured bind to the jailhouse. We also have records of her having severe aggression at a Beauty Contest.” The cop explained to vouch for Astarte. The Arcanine barked out the following, “I’ve seen her at the Pokémon Fitness Club. She’s a strong and tough girl on the punching bags!” The cop went to translate his Arcanine, “She’s strong and tough with the punching bags at the gym? Wow!” The cop added one more vouch for Astarte, “She was able to knock out our most wanted criminal. I’d say the Milotic is perfect for the job.”

“Binds, being strong on punching bags, works out, and knocked out a criminal, eh?” The producer was thinking to himself. “Hm, now that I think about it, I like it.” The producer turns to face the Milotic once more and reaches his hand out. “Welcome aboard!” The producer shakes his hand with the Milotic’s tailfins. Astarte was thundered in pleasure and was granted the opportunity of hope once again. She was going to temporarily become a pro wrestler for the Pokémon Wrestling Federation and get paid tons of funds. It will be more than enough to pay for Saucez’s treatment. However, the one issue is that’s only if she wins the midnight match with her unknown opponent.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Characters used/mentioned:
-Astarte (Milotic), Dorian (Dewott), and Sonata (Primarina) - AwesomeSaucez

-Walker (Hisuian Zorua) - DoveyDraws

-Sonata (Primarina) [Co-Owner] - Uber-Dan

-Walsper (Absol) - Walsper

-Danny (Flareon) - LaVallett1

-Arcanine- (anonymous friend)