Pokemon: Duty or Justice?

Tightly gripping the Poke Ball in hand, a small happy laugh escaped from Janine's smiling lips, only for a few seconds later for her face to turn serious - she felt it. She could feel in a fundamental part of herself something building, changing, and shifting. Something ephemeral, something new.

Her eyes fluttered shut as with a mental hand, she wrangled a tight grip over her carefully grown energy, like twisting a faucet knob, ever so slowly she fed her energy into that strange new sensation. With every moment she could feel it growing and forming, something blooming from nothing. She could feel emotions not her own, petals fluttering in the wind, strength flooding her too-small limbs, the happy laughter of a full family.

She could feel the terror for her-yet-not-hers family. A bond formed, something sacred, something raw, that in time, would grow and become sturdy, that would root deep into her soul. Yet compared to the future, as her eyes shot open, Janine could feel it scrapping across her essence, stretching her energy, and absorbing everything that made up her - and all of it surged into the Poke Ball. 

For a brief moment, stars spun in her eyes as static crackled inside of her ears, but with a steadying breath, Janine stood strong, even as the rapidly forming bond drained more and more from her. 'I didn't expect… a fully evolved Pokemon even when they're weaker than Spinarak to take so much!' Taking in a deep breath, Janine casually gave a calming scratch to the spider on her shoulder who had been nervously chittering, before slowly rolling her neck. 'It must be because she just evolved, her body is already in a state of wanting to devour energy. On top of us being a compatible typing WITH the Poke Ball bonding technology compounding it all.' 

Doing her best to regulate the flow into a more precise and smooth transition, her fingertips began to turn purple as ethereal wisps of energy seeped into the Poke Ball. 'Alright, I think a few more minutes and it should subside.' Adjusting from the shock of such an energy drain she hadn't expected, Janine glanced to the side, and upon noticing the uneasy Nuzleaf, flashed a tight smile. "Give me… a couple of minutes to adjust, and then I'll send her out, okay?" Having to take a gasp of breath in the middle of her sentence, Janine ignored whatever response the worried husband was about to give and closed her eyes.

Five minutes went by in what felt like an eternity as Janine continued to be barraged with fragments of thoughts, emotions, and memories. Another reason why rookie trainers were so restricted by Leagues; the risk of being subsumed if you bonded too rapidly with Pokemon.

Luckily, she was who she was, and the only reason her Spinarak wasn't rated Advanced was, well, because he was a Spinarak. So; her energy reserves were more than enough to manage this surprisingly eventful and draining bonding. 'What kind of monster is Lance to have a full-fledged Dragonite as a starter?' Honestly, it was baffling to think about considering while she could have lived having her new Roserade as a starter, she certainly wouldn't be in any position to start training for a long time afterward, yet reportedly Lance was up and on his feet a few days later.

She knew she was innately gifted, by far the most so of her entire clan. Yet, some people? They were just built differently. The worst part was that if the protagonists of the game worlds showed up, although they wouldn't blow out of the water Lance's feat of a Dragonite starter, they would over time manage to capture the monsters that were Legendary Pokemon - of which even the weakest of them would be an ace on an Elite Fours team, and most even being an Ace on a Champion team, and of course many of them far beyond anything humanity could conceive.

Honestly, the thought of a Unova trainer having such a potent Pokemon as Reshiram or Zekrom was almost enough to send one into a panic attack, let alone the potential for a Hoenn trainer to have Mega Rayquazza. 

Letting out a sigh to release her rising tension and stress - something which always built up when thinking of the monsters that could soon exist in other regions, Janine opened her eyes again to force her thoughts to subside, before holding out the ball that had remained tightly in her grasp. "Come out, Roserade."

Her words were far steadier than before, and in a flash of red light, there stood Roserade - who looked just that bit more vibrant and stood with a straighter back than even before their quick battle. Before the trainer and new Pokemon could exchange words, Nuzleaf sprinted over, and with a cry latched onto the Roserade, tears streaming down his face as he blubbered into her.

Janine's lips twitched. 'Aah, he's uh. Well, he's definitely an anime husband.' Of course, considering his wife nearly died, and now was going to be taken away from her family it was warranted.

… It didn't stop her from being creeped out by gigantic anime tears streaming down Nuzleaf's face as Roserade hugged him tightly. Honestly, it felt like they were misinterpreting something…

"You two do know that I plan to stay here for at least a few more days, right?" The couple froze before both heads snapped towards Janine.

"Rose?!?"

"Nuzleaf!?!"

"Of course! You took the wind out of my sails alongside that, you just suffered a grave loss, and both your family AND tribe need both of you right now. Outside of that, it'll give Roserade, Spinarak, and I more time to bond - and will even let me train you, and I can help give training ideas for your entire family, and the entirety of your tribe if you so wish."

At her explanation, Roserade let out a happy trill, and Nuzleaf only began to bawl even harder. "I'll… leave you two alone." Awkwardly turning around Janine quickly walked away. 'That… is one strange Pokemon.' Honestly her first impression of him considering his size had been far different than it was after witnessing… that.

Finding a place to sit down, rest, and recover Janine had to fight back the amusement from showing on her face as what were clearly parents dropped off their children in the form of Budew and Seedot for her to watch over. Whether it was because they wanted the strongest person around watching them - or just because she was a good jungle gym to climb on, she wasn't quite sure.

Honestly, she didn't mind. She liked Pokemon. Pokemon were easy. For 99% of them, you always knew exactly where you stood with them, completely different from humans.

Letting out a huff of amusement as Spinarak angry-eyed what was very clearly a newborn Seedot from its size, she held very carefully still as it climbed on top of her head, before rooting itself in her hair. Honestly, she had never appreciated how cute some Pokemon were in her past life. But a really young Seedot with its big old eyes, its tiny little feet, and a silly grin on its face? Well, there wasn't much cuter.

—

A few hours of being a jungle gym on top of being a babysitter later, Janine was idly watching as Spinarak thawed enough to start 'training' around the younglings. In other words, the tiny little softy was putting on a show for the kids to watch in awe as he swung around on a string, made hundreds of needles, or seemingly disappeared only to reappear behind them. Or, crushing rocks with his legs, before reassembling them into 'artwork'.

Honestly, it was probably good for the kids to see that they too while so small, fragile, and 'weak' in their stage of evolution could theoretically gain similar heights of power, even if that was incredibly unlikely. 'Of course, the fact they're so young and don't understand what they've lost, on top of being Pokemon means they're almost already passed yesterday's events.' 

Most Pokemon were incredibly adaptable like that, and it was the rare few who would truly spiral into depression their entire life over something like life and death. 'Although that Nuzleaf…' Shaking her head to not think about that silly, yet quite large 'mon, she idly tickled the bud of a Budew before settling in for the rest of the day, content with recovering from her wounds and the even deeper usage of her energy that today had become.

Another twenty minutes passed, and it was only then that they were finally interrupted by the kids' parents beginning to pick them up. Where they had gone - she didn't quite know, albeit it was certainly out of the clearing, and outside of her hearing, sight, or even nebulous sixth sense. 'Of which no one can confirm that really exists, yet most experienced trainers can pick out the rough strength of Pokemon, and other minor things, well, outside of Psychics of course.' 

Suddenly being freed from her prison as a jungle gym and sleeping place, Janine let out a chuckle as Spinarak as soon as the baby Pokemon walked away and no longer looking back, hurriedly jumped up onto her shoulder before with the closest thing a spider could do to a purr, rubbed into her cheek. "Yes, yes. I know, the mean cruel babies took your spot." If anything he only rubbed into her harder before barraging her with a string of nonsensical chittering noises.

Giving him all the attention he wanted for a few minutes, sadly for Spinarak they were cut off from pet and cuddle time as their new companion Roserade finally showed herself again, her husband nowhere to be seen. Letting a smile appear on her face, Janine patted the ground next to her.

Curling her legs underneath herself, Roserade a couple of seconds later sat down next to Janine, a pensive look in her eyes underneath the face mask. 'Aah… Yeah, I guess we should, huh?.' Giving Spinarak one last scritch underneath the chin, the smile dropped off of Janine's face as she looked Roserade in the eyes.

"I suppose we should talk Roserade."