WebNovels

Chapter 20 - Tana Moon

Tana Moon

"How in the hell did you know where he was?" Tana asked John, stunned. They were in the editing, watching footage of a teenager in a red and white mask answer questions like he was a forty-year-old noir detective, rather than a kid in the prime of his life.

"I got an anonymous tip!" John said cheerily.

"An anonymous tip that told you where a superhero was down to the exact street?"

"And how he looked," John frowned. "You think I was tricked?"

"I think that kid is being followed," Tana said. "Or he's got someone who tipped you off so he could get PR. Good or bad PR, I don't know. Seriously, the kid must have the luck of the devil to not only get a reporter on-site during a sympathetic story like saving an abused woman and her kid but to get you there. If any of our harder-edged competitors were there they would have eaten him alive."

"I'm hard-edged," John whined.

"You're a puppy," Tana said, not unkindly. "Okay. Then we go live with the story asap. Goddamn, I wish the kid had a better look though. Something that makes him more professional than this."

John winced but said nothing. Tana looked the kid over. He was wearing that hockey mask, white on the right, red on the left, with a black line in the center. It was painted cleanly at least, but it was still a freaking hockey mask. He was a black t-shirt and jeans under a trenchcoat that looked like it had better days. He didn't look like a superhero, he looked like a random teen that had found a mask. Hell, the hockey mask might have been too big for him.

Thankfully, his Pokemon (Tana figured she'd better get used to the name), did the job of being impressive for him. The grey one was built like a midget bodybuilder. Even with the nose of a clown, the way he swung that I-Beam around so easily, muscles flexing under his skin, made him seem more impressive than his size.

And Slugma was ugly cute, leaning on the side of cute. A slug made of lava shouldn't have tugged at the heartstrings, but the way she sometimes looked at Kahu made Tana smile. Like a small child at her dad. It was fuckin adorable, and so damn perfect for ratings.

"Have the editing department blur out as many clips of the mom and kids faces as possible without removing any chance of people understanding the story. Block out their names. The last thing we need is some idiot tracking them down out of revenge. Same with the dad."

"Seriously?" John scowled. "That asshole should have his name in lights as a wife and child abuser."

"I wish. But protecting them means keeping him hidden too. Let the police deal with him. Because if we reveal who he is, and the Dragons track them down from that, I'm going to feel guilty. And I work hard to avoid that."

Tana crossed her arms. "Right now, KONA-TV has more power over a story of this magnitude than I can remember in years. We're in the beginning stages of it. If we can control the narrative, no matter what happens we're on top of it. This kid could be famous, fizzle out, or get arrested. And we'll be able to break the story."

"Tana, the kid seems honest," John said. "I don't think him getting arrested-"

"We cover the news, John. Good or bad. If the kid flames out, we talk about it, and make the station money that keeps us all employed and fed. If he succeeds, even better, but we will tell the whole story. Good and bad."

Sam Mokoa

"A TV INTERVIEW!?" Sam tossed a clock at his office floor, the old piece of wood and metal shattering. He scowled at it. "The kid runs around Honolulu all the hours of the night, and not only do I not hear about it, he ends up on the goddamn news!?"

The unlucky man who had brought Sam the message winced. "Sorry sir! The kid is kinda… elusive?"

"He was followed by a big ball of lava and a muscular circus clown!"

"But he didn't do anything technically superhuman! I mean, he roughed up a few toughs, but nothing too crazy. And police around here don't really have procedures for dealing with superhumans. They were going to implement them, but the Dragons went quiet, so…"

Goddamn bureaucrats.

Sam scowled, turning to stare up at the screen. "We have any leads on his identity?"

"Beyond a brown-skinned teenager in Hawaii?"

Fucking hell. An out-there idea struck Sam.

"How about those claims that he's an alien? Have we got any reports from space observatories about odd sightings in the sky or anything like that?"

"I'll look into it."

The man ran, looking relieved. Sam looked back at the screen. Kahu was talking.

"So I'm making my stand. No more Dragons. And if they want to come at me with everything they've got, then they better be sure of this fight-" Sam shut off the tv. He stared at the black screen, at his own reflection. His anger had faded. Now he looked… sad. God. He looked almost pathetic.

"..." Sam walked around his desk, pulling open a drawer and bringing out a bottle labeled Spirytus. He opened it up, took a swig like it was water, closed the bottle, and put it away. While letting the alcohol burn in his belly, he sighed.

"No more Dragons. We all make that promise. Never works out."

Comment Section Of KONA-TV

Under the video posted on the KONA-TV website of the interview with Kahu Kiaʻi, chaos reigned.

Bud: Dude, how many of these things does he have? Mako, Aumakua, now a… midget… clown… bodybuilder? And a lava slug? I don't even know what we'll name these now.

I'm Okay(Tron): I liked his speech at the end. The Silicon Dragons are total dickheads. It's nice to see someone standing up to them. Still that last sentence about how the 'ceiling on what he and his pokemon can do' was kinda weird. How strong are those things?

Ranco: Superman level maybe? I mean, nobody guessed how strong Superman was when he first showed up, maybe these things are the same.

Halo: So, we actually going to name these things? Maybe 'Bodybuilder' and 'Volcano'? Also, I'm not sure I believe that kids' speech. He's like, twelve, I don't believe his speech, it's too cheesy. Can't be genuine.

Korone: 可愛いので抱きしめたい!

Bao: Korone Yubi Yubi!

Garnyan: Maybe we should come up with more creative names. And besides, teens always make big promises like that, it ain't the worst thing for him to believe his own hype...

WOLF626: Uh, no is gonna mention that the slug ATE A MICROPHONE!?

Battyfan: Dude. Kahu, I emphasize with your mission. But your costume really needs work. Hard to trust a hero who dresses like Jason.

James Deen: He should talk to whoever gives the Justice League their costumes.

Proman: I don't know about you, but I don't want this guy and his things around. Sure they seem to mean well, but the slug accidentally destroyed that mic. Imagine what it can do when it means it. Fighting with animals is bad enough when they get mad, but give them superpowers. It's just too risky!

Entomoid: They don't seem to be just things or animals. They seem to interact with much greater intelligence than that dude. If you're not worried about Wonder Woman crushing you... then you should be fine with the adorable lava slug.

Proman: Oh I'm not worried about Wonder Woman doing that... wink... wink.

Nilhus: This will all end in tears, I promise you. He's an alien! That means we'll have an invasion of crazy animals from the sky!

Hestia: Well, I for one, welcome our adorable new oppressors! Anyways, names. Well, maybe the lava slug should be named Pele?

MWKillKenny84: Careful about that name. You don't want an old white woman coming to your door demanding cigars and booze.

Darkgamer: Wow. That slug thing is amazingly ugly. And it just ATE a microphone! Yuck.

Sinsystems: Pele is pretty appropriate for a female slug monster though, and we've given all of them thematic names from Hawaii.

Robopanda: Which is weird to me. He's not Hawaiian.

Sinsystems: Robopanda You clearly have no understanding of what it means for us to have our first superhero. We're giving them Hawaiian names. Those are the rules, I don't make them.

Rift120: Ah man. I was really hoping he would bring Stitch again.

Themarineguy101: Who? Why are you talking about that movie?

Rift120: The blue one with super-strength.

Chaosglory626: I thought people were calling the blue one Mako?

Rift120: Yeah, WRONG people.

Quantum01: Ah, I see the volcanoes have gone from rivers of fiery death to cute slugs of fiery death. I don't know which is worse! I want to hug her but I would die...

Windona: Well, that's done it. I'm drawing fanart right the hell now! Woot!

CapnOblivious42: I don't get it. What movie is this for?

Ina: CapnOblivious42 Are you serious?

CapnOblivious42: Ina Huh?

Ina: Nothing. Your name is nice by the way.

CapnOblivious42: Thank you!

BigHumuHumu: On a more humorous note it is nice to see the tradition of wrapping assholes up in duct tape is alive and well!

Snakespm: First

Mariic: Snakespm Not even close, dude.

Uncle B: If we're naming them, we should really have the names listed.

rainfallMyth: Seriously, we're gonna name these fucking abominations of nature?

DOCCER: Abominations are cuter than I remember.

Relyt33: He's not wrong.

Kodaly: I still think we might need to worry about the alien invasion thing. So far, this kid seems cool, but remember he SHRUGGED OFF BULLETS!?

Lagoon12002: Yeah, but if he causes trouble we can just send him to an orphanage. He's like 12.

Dmehta19: He's like 16. Plus, what kind of teens do you know can toss a grown man 20 feet.

TheRestlessHunter: Aren't there like, nine sidekicks who can do that?

Tyler: Man. I was really hoping that tiny scary cute one would show up! She was adorable!

DesertChocolate: This entire comment section is among the weirdest things that have ever happened in my life.

RichardWhereat: DesertChocolate Well, we're excited!

DesertChocolate: I appreciate that. I have different reasons for being weirded out.

Mahmoud Schahed/Kahu Kiaʻi

I closed the comment section and looked up. I was back at the Restaurant Royale, Alakazam floating alongside me. Gurdurr was chewing at a steak while glaring at a smug Persian, while Slugma was sitting in a pot full of minerals that she was cheerfully chewing through. Giovanni was eating an omelet across the table from me in his posh personal dining room.

Roxanne pulled the laptop she'd been showing me away and smiled. "So. We've made an impression."

"A good and bad one," Giovanni looked me up and down pointedly. "Gurdurr and Slugma were brilliant. Well done."

Gurdurr looked away from his staring contest with Persian to look over at Giovanni, looking like he didn't know how to take that compliment. Slugma chirped happily, crumbs of stone sizzling around her lips.

"But you? My god man, who taught you how to dress!?" Giovanni looked honestly disappointed in me. "I tell you that you are going to meet reporters and you dress like a homeless serial killer?"

I shrugged. Yeah, that was fair. "It was what I had. Besides, I like this mask."

"It's well painted, but too big for you, and has a pop-culture image of murderous psychopaths to overcome," Giovanni sighed. "If I had known you would do this, I would have sent you to a tailor."

"I'm not wearing a big 'R' on my chest."

"God forbid you ever do," Giovanni snarked.

"How did you not know what my costume looked like?"

"I had hoped you were simply trying to throw me off, not that you had little to no style."

"He does have a point," Alakazam said, stroking his chin. "Presentation is everything. Updating your 'costume' would go a long way towards that. After all, if we are presenting you as a hero, then it would be to your benefit to push that image further."

"Yeah, all right," I didn't really care about my clothes anyway, beyond them being functional for their purpose. And having some sort of nerd image on it. "Okay. Training?"

Giovanni nodded. "Yes, training," he wiped away his chin after finishing his omelet and rose to his feet, walking closely. Roxanne, Alakazam, Slugma, Gurdurr, and Persian followed after him. I ended up walking right next to him. "Now. As I believe you know, I have a preference for Ground-type Pokemon. Despite the weakness to Grass, Ice, and Water-type Pokemon, I find their numerous strengths fit my personality. I spent years of long study and practice, understanding my Pokemon, understanding the enemies they would face. My team is not a hodge-podge of various Pokemon I simply met over the years. They are selectively chosen for their breeding, power, and numerous abilities they possess."

"You, on the other hand, seem to have picked up whatever spare refuse came your way."

Alakazam glared at him. Slugma looked between me and Giovanni sadly. Gurdurr clenched his teeth. I didn't speak.

"You seem to have gotten lucky, but anyone with a brain can see yours is not the team of someone who put any thought to synergy, ability, or good genetics in his Pokemon. We'll have to work around that."

"Giovanni. I don't know why you're insulting my Pokemon, but I'd like you to get to the point before I just leave right now. And not this building. This whole endeavor."

We stopped in the hall. Giovanni turned to look at me, lips raised just slightly.

"I don't care what you say about me. But my Pokemon aren't 'scrap' pulled together. They're the ones who stood by me from the start. We came together with the way all friends, all families do. Because we decided we gave a shit about each other, and we fought and scrapped together. They're my team. And they are strong. Now. We just want to get stronger. So if you could please? Train us."

Gurdurr grinned slowly.

Giovanni laughed. "Good. Good. I would not have trained someone who didn't at least respect their Pokemon enough to defend them from insult. Or, I would have, just to laugh as you fail."

"You really needed to do that?"

"Yes. Your speech gave enough time for the room to be ready," he turned and walked up to a set of doors, opening them dramatically.

Inside was a Gym. Not a gym lowercase, with nothing but weights. We're talking a legit Gym, with a dirt floor, outcroppings of desert stone, a small river running down one side, dozens of bars across the top where a Pokemon could swing from, sprinklers to mimic water, high powered lights to mimic harsh sunlight.

"...At some point, you need to stop flexing," I said as I looked around the basketball-sized room.

"Bruno once told me that was a lie weaker men tell themselves," Giovanni pointed at the center of the room. "Now. I believe we should start with something simple. A battle."

"Gurdurr?" he asked.

"Yes. A Pokemon battle. Let's see how you do in a traditional spar," I swear, his eyes were lighting up with happiness. "I must admit. It has been some months. I might be a bit rusty."

"Should I have him sign the waivers now?" Roxanne asked with weariness to her voice.

"I was wondering why you came along," Alakazam said.

Giovanni placed his right hand in his pocket, took out a Pokeball, and bounced it up and down in his palm. Persian licked his lips, eyes gleeful.

Gurdurr, Slugma, Alakazam, and I faced him. Gurdurr swung his I-Beam around. Slugma was staring at Persian fearfully. Alakazam took out his spoons and twirled them briefly between his fingers, face a mask of stoicness.

I stared up at him and nodded, gritting my teeth, my fists clenching.

"Okay. Let's have a fucking Pokemon battle."

Author's Note: This isn't a cliffhanger, I had to get to sleep for work and this is the best ending I could do. Later guys! Also, please consider supporting me on !

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