Under Shtomp and Key

“Andrew, I know you’re upset,” Charlie sighed. “But we have Leo in police custody. After he gets his… trial.” The Raichu bobbed his paws in the air to emulate air quotes. “He’ll go to a dirty prison like any other criminal. You won’t have to worry about him.”

The Pokemon sat in Andrew’s office. The Marshtomp had a weary expression as he rested his head on a flipper propped up on his desk. It was late in the afternoon, with warm sunlight illuminating the room and creating a pleasant warmth in the castle’s usually chilly air.

“It’s not that I’m worried about him. No, worrying implies that I’m afraid of him.”

Charlie grinned. “You seemed pretty afraid of him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. It’s more so that I took proper and necessary caution due to Leo’s want-to-kill-me-ish nature,” Andrew said, narrowing his eyes.

The Raichu stood up, stretching his arms and yawning. “I don’t have all day. You obviously want me to have Leo killed. Mirage would do that occasionally whenever someone got a bit too noisy, and it never ended well. Trust me, having someone killed sounds really cool until you actually do it. Not to mention once the media gets a hold of the story—Andrew, there are no words I could use to describe how much you’d hate it.”

“What?!” He uttered as he crossed his flippers. “I never said I wanted to kill him!”

“Then what do you want?”

The Marshtomp leaned back in his chair. He tapped a finger against his forehead as he gazed at the ceiling. “I want… No, we need to make an example out of him. Yeah. I want to show him—show this whole country what happens when you mess with me.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “Ooh, how vague and scary. Get to the point.”

“I want to break him,” Andrew replied, a maniacal smile coming over his face. “For attempting to kill me, Leo certainly deserves death. But! We are merciful Pokemon, and let’s be honest, we’re way more morally superior than them in every way.”

The Raichu nodded. “That’s something I agree with.”

“And because of that, instead of killing Leo, we should break him. Both physically and mentally. Do whatever it takes to make him see the error of his ways, and cause him as much pain in the process,” Andrew explained matter-of-factly. 

Charlie leaned forward, a smirk on his face. “So, you want to brainwash him with torture?” 

“No, no!” Andrew uttered sarcastically, holding up his flippers dramatically in defense. “Of cooooourse not! I just want to… teach him the error of his ways through physical discipline.” 

“That’s a creative way of explaining torture.”

The Marshtomp humphed. “Who cares if I want to torture him? Is there anything wrong with torturing someone who tried to kill you? He’s my enemy, so he’s basically an enemy of the state. Which means he one hundred percent deserves to be tortured.”

“But,” Charlie began, his grin growing. “You just said you don’t want to torture him.”

“Of course not. I’m a dignified person—Pokemon, and torturing someone would be barbaric. As I said, physical discipline.”

The Raichu’s gaze slowly turned toward the window before he got up from his chair. He walked forward and placed a paw on its cool glass. “Andrew, I’ve been in the world of politics my entire life. And if I’ve learned anything from the council and Mirage, it’s that you’ve got to walk a fine line between power and public support.”

Andrew cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s face it. Most Pokemon aren’t royalty, most Pokemon aren’t on the council, and most Pokemon don’t hold high-ranking government positions,” Charlie replied as he began to pace around the perimeter of the room.

Andrew snorted. “Well, somebody in this room is royalty.”

In an instant, Charlie’s expression became cold. His eyes became empty and his mouth formed a straight line across his face. The very temperature of the room seemed to drop. 

Andrew’s heart skipped up a beat as a feeling of dread washed over and pierced his very essence.

“I am not royalty, Andrew, ”the Raichu murmured spitefully. He was staring daggers into Andrew from across the room, but the Marshtomp felt as though he was standing close in front of him. 

“B-But you’re Mirage’s kid,” he stammered before gulping. “Doesn’t that make you… royalty?”

Charlie put a paw over his face, letting out a long, deep, sigh. “Andrew, you understand that I am Mirage’s bastard kid, right? I’m not recognized as his son.”

“I think one of the Resistance people called me a bastard. So what? You’re Mirage’s kid, you’ve got royal blood. Or royal fur. Whatever the Pokemon term equivalent is,” the Marshtomp remarked.

“I wasn’t in line for the throne. Even if I had been, Mirage still had a couple hundred years left in him. I’ll be lucky if I reach one hundred. And of course, very few people knew I was Mirage’s child,” Charlie explained, tugging at his ear before approaching Andrew. “I’m not royal. The royal family of Grandeport is dead.”

Andrew laughed. “Oh yeah. I do wonder if Mirage was a good swimmer. A true shame he was involved in such a terrible boating accident.”

“Yes, how tragic,” he sighed, his head falling. “Jokes aside, I’m not like my father. We’re not like him. We’re something better than what he was, we’re not royal.”

Andrew straightened his bowtie, avoiding eye contact with the Raichu. “I suppose that’s true… Anyways, on the topic of torturing Leo…”

“Oh! Right. Where was I?” Charlie asked as he rubbed his chin.

Andrew pointed at him. “Something about power and public support.”

“Right. So as I was about to say, most Pokemon don’t have any power. Because most Pokemon are stupid and, frankly, not worthy of it. However, most of these Pokemon aren’t capable of understanding their own stupidity. This leads to them lashing out, like with the Resistance.”

“Mhm, I understand,” Andrew said, nodding attentively. I do not understand.

Charlie held up his paw. “We have the challenge of demonstrating what happens when somebody attempts to stand up to us, without radicalizing more Pokemon into doing so. It’s a delicate game.”

“You know,” the Marshtomp began, scratching the back of his head fin. “I care more about punishing Leo than making an example of him. Great if we can, but if it’s not worth it, I understand.”

“Doing so wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’d be best to deter any more attacks… But we don’t want to make the people feel sympathetic either,” Charlie remarked, narrowing his eyes.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Andrew’s mind. The cogs of his brain began to turn, a smile creeping onto his fishy face. “Maybe we can have the best of both worlds. Let me ask, what’s the scariest place you’ve ever been?”

“This place’s basement,” the Raichu said with a shudder.

Andrew bit his lip. “I’d prefer not to have dangerous prisoners in our basement.”

“Most of Grandeport isn’t too scary,” Charlie remarked with a shrug. “The old harbor naval base looks kind of intimidating, I guess, but it was built to look that way.” 

“That’s perfect!” he yelled. “Do you think that naval base could be used for non-naval purposes? Perhaps for purposes relating to the imprisonment of Quilavas?”

Charlie raised his brow. “You want to build a new prison to jail a single Pokemon?”

“I mean, we can throw other Pokemon in there. The whole Resistance can live in the new prison. We’re so generous, in fact, that we won’t even charge them rent,” Andrew laughed. A self-satisfied grin grew on his face, the Marshtomp fully confident in such an act being one of generosity.

Charlie crossed his arms. “Luckily for you, the old navy hasn’t been in use for fifty years now.” 

“Excellent!”

“Unfortunately,” he continued. “It has been abandoned for fifty years. I’ve never been there, but I’d be surprised if it’s still functional. Then again, it is made of stone…” 

Andrew pushed his fingers together, his left eye twitching. “No, it’s perfect! The more abandoned it is, the scarier it is. Hear me out. If we scare the public into seeing what happens if you’re a part of the Resistance, there’s no way they’ll want to join it.”

“We can’t put a bunch of Pokemon in a military base that could collapse tomorrow.”

“I guess you have a point,” Andrew groaned. “It wouldn’t be a good look if they all died because of us.”

Charlie laughed. “Oh, who cares about that? How would they even know? I’m more concerned about police and other public officials dying there.”

“That’s fair. But still, it’s perfect! Imagine the horror! The terror of being locked fifty stories beneath the ground where nobody can hear you scream. Imagine the pure anguish—riveting fear that will strike their very essence as a dreaded Pokemon torturer walks through the door, ready to teach them a lesson,” Andrew stated with increasing vigor before bursting into a fit of crazed laughter. He rocked back and forth in his seat before finally catching his breath.

“Wow,” the Raichu scoffed. “I didn’t know you knew so many words.”

“Shut up.”

Charlie tapped the back of Andrew’s head with his tail. An unpleasant shock went through the Marshtomp, eliciting a grunt from him. 

“As much as I love the idea of a torture prison… well actually, I don’t. But building it wouldn’t convince anyone of anything. Well, maybe it’d freak out Leo a bit. Let’s just throw him in jail and be done with it.”

Andrew whined. “I want a torture prison!”

“I said no.”

Andrew brought his flipper off the desk, raising it higher and higher until it reached as far as the Marshtomp could get it over his head. Then in an instant, he swung it back down to onto the table. Faster than sound, light, or even Raichu. With a loud, painless, thwack, his flipper struck the the desk, causing it to shake.

“I want a torture prisooooon!”

Hey! I didn’t break the desk this time!

Charlie had put on a deadpan expression. He sighed, breathing out his disappointment to replace the air in the room. “Andrew, stop acting like a child. The answer is no, this is too stupid even for me.”

Like that’s a high bar.

The Marshtomp bore a stern expression, his fingers tightly knitting themselves into fists.

“We’re making that old navy base a prison. Have a construction crew do some renovations, and it’ll be good to go.” 

“Well, Andrew. There’s a small issue that I forgot to mention, Charlie replied with a mocking tone”

He groaned. “And what might that be?”

“It’s on an island.”

“So?” Andrew sneered.

“How do you plan to transport the materials we’d need to actually do this? And where would you get the money? Because I—” 

The Raichu paused, letting the implications of his statement sink in. 

“…Am not giving you one. Single. Poke.”

---

“Arceusdamnit,” Charlie uttered.

Andrew took a breath of salty ocean air. He and Charlie stood on the bow of a large ship, the wind blowing strong against their skin and fur as Grandeport began to fade into the distance. 

It looks so… tiny from here. And not just because we’re far away. I mean—look how small Grandeport is! That’s barely a skyline! 

Most of Grandeport became invisible, obscured by the sandy beaches and coastal beaches lining the edge of the city. It hardly looked like more than a quaint town from their distance. 

“Y’know, Charlie?” Andrew asked.

“Huh?” Charlie responded, half dazed. “Know what?”

He continued staring out at what little of the city he could still see. “When I imagine a capital city, I think big. Where I’m from, we have these things called skyscrapers. They were super tall buildings. Like, one hundred stories kind of tall. Even our government buildings were huge compared to yours. Grandeport Castle’s big and all, but you could probably put ten of them inside the Capitol Building.”

“Capitol Building? That’s not very creative.”

Andrew gave Charlie a bored glare. “And Grandeport Castle is?”

“Whatever.”

“Also,” he continued, “Our cities have so many more people. I’m talking millions of people living in one area, plus an extra few million more during working hours. It’s pretty crazy when you think about it. It’s odd, you know. Adjusting to a place that’s so much more… primitive.”

Charlie’s eyes widened and his mouth fell agape. “Excuse me, Andrew?”

“Am I wrong? The technology in Grandeport doesn’t match up to anything I had back in my world. Hell, this tiny boat is the kind of thing they used four or five hundred years before I was born,” he said nonchalantly. 

Charlie’s face contorted into a grimace. He bore his canines and his cheeks crackled. “I’m really sorry for being upset, Andrew,” he said sarcastically. “I owe you a real big thanks for calling the society that you’re in charge of primitive.”

“It’s not an insult!”

The Raichu tilted his head. “It sounded pretty insulting.”

“I just miss having advanced technology,” Andrew replied as he leaned over the railing to stare down at the pristine blue ocean. “I miss heating and air conditioning. I miss potato chips, driving into the city. I miss going to museums, and I miss being taller than five feet.”

“My Arceus, Andrew! Do you know how sick I am of hearing about your stupid height? Yeah, we get it! At least you get to evolve and be taller one day. Guess what? I’m stuck like this forever!” Charlie yelled, stomping a foot on the deck.

“Well, uh, ha,” Andrew laughed nervously. “Never say never!”

Charlie rolled his eyes and groaned at the remark.

Grandeport had since disappeared over the horizon. Slowly rising from the ocean was a flat, secluded island. It was small, no more than a few hundred acres in length. Atop it stood a structure too far away to make out the details of.

“Land-ho!” a Pokemon with a gravelly voice called out from overhead. 

Andrew turned his gaze toward a Samurott perched atop the ship’s crow’s nest. He stood proud, his mustaches blown by the wind as the boat continued toward the island. How did he even get up there? I can barely climb as a two-legged Pokemon!

The structure came into view as the ship drew near. It was short, only two or three stories high, except for four spires which shot up an extra couple stories on each corner of the base. Jutting outward were dilapidated wooden docks, with cracks in the wood and some planks missing altogether.

The stone comprising the base also showed its age. Dark spots and water stains lined the walls. Erosion had given many of the stones an uneven texture, with small juts and crevices occurring on nearly each of them. Yet despite all this, the structure remained intact. 

The ship turned, revealing a small area of the island covered in overgrown grass. 

“Anchor!” the Samurott above yelled.

Two Pokemon appeared on the bow, a Machoke, and a Haxorus. The dragon bent down to grab an iron handle bolted to the floor. He pulled it up and grabbed onto an object with the Machoke. The two slowly began to lift their arms, grunting, their feet digging into the floor. A large anchor was revealed before being thrown straight into the ocean through the pair’s brute strength.

A chain followed it with a series of loud clunks, each link flying off the deck and plunging into the deep ocean below. The process went on for only ten seconds. With a sort of snapping sound, the chain stalled in its position. 

The world around them stopped moving. The island was no longer getting any closer or farther; the ship had slowly drifted to a stop.

The Haxorus walked over to Charlie and Thomas, his heavy footsteps shaking the floorboards. “You two er’ Mister Marshtomp an’ Raichu, right?” 

Charlie nodded. “That’s us alright.” 

“Follow me, I’ll take ya to the boat,” The Haxorus directed. He motioned without waiting to see if they were following and began to walk away.

Take us to the boat? Aren’t we on the goddamn boat?

The Haxorus led them down the bow and up a set of stairs. They climbed up to the boat’s top deck where towering masts dominated the space. Veering sharply to the right, they found themselves beside a small rowboat.

Small—at least in human size. The walls of the boat reached just above Andrew’s eye level and were only marginally shorter than the tip of his head fin. He let out a groan. “I’ll barely be able to see out of that thing! Why can’t I just swim to the island? I could probably do it faster than it’d take with this.”

“I dunno boss. Why don’t ya?” the Haxorus mocked. He climbed into the boat, pulling out two oars from inside. “Well, don’t just stand there!”

Charlie obliged. He stuck his arms up and grabbed onto the edge of the wall. Kicking his legs in the air, he hoisted himself up and beyond the walls of the tiny rowboat.

Andrew simply stood there. He starred, tapped his foot, and made his best attempt at a whistle. He could barely meet Charlie’s eyes. 

The Raichu stood up to look down upon Andrew. “Are you getting in?”

“I told you, I’m swimming,” he insisted.

“Oh, Arceus. What am I going to do with you?” the Raichu asked. He cracked a grin before turning to the Haxorus. “Could you please give our Marshtomp friend a bit of a… helping hand?”

Andrew stuck his finger up. “Nobody will be giving me a—”

The Haxorus leaned over, grasping Andrew’s flipper and proceeding to lift him. A mild pain shot through his shoulder and his body felt weightless before the Haxorus lowered him down next to Charlie.

 “Not cool,” the Marshtomp grumbled.

“Aw, that’s a shame,” Charlie remarked sarcastically.

Ignoring the bickering pair, the Haxorus craned his neck around. “Pokemon er’ in! Lower us.”

Andrew couldn’t quite make out what was happening. The boat shook and began to move—a sinking sensation overtaking him. The wooden hull seemed to rise above him, the railing of the deck becoming higher and higher up as they descended past a row of windows. 

Splash!

The rhythmic churning of the waves rocked the boat. The water had far greater control over them than they had in the much larger ship. Andrew grimaced, feeling a subtle but creeping sense of fear at the idea.

The oars dipped into the ocean as the Haxorus began to row. 

This is stupid. Charlie’s stupid, why can’t I swim? I can swim faster than this overgrown lizard can row. Why is my life so hard? Why does everyone in my life need to mock my hard-earned talents by forcing me to do stupid things like sitting in stupid rowboats?

The Haxorus continued to row for a few minutes, which felt like forever to Andrew. Then finally, the boat stopped. The dragon stepped out of the boat, followed by Charlie. 

Andrew darted his eyes around. No one’s watching? Good. He raised his flippers, grabbed the top of the boat’s walls, and hoisted himself up in the same manner as Charlie, if a bit more strained. 

A sense of relief washed over the Marshtomp as his toes touched the grass. His heart slowed, some voice in the back of his mind made him feel everything was going to be alright.

“Andrew?”

He perked up. “Yeah? What is it?”

“Just making sure you’re still there, Andrew,” Charlie laughed in a sing-song voice.

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”

The Haxorus cleared his throat, eyeing the two. “I’ll be ‘ere by the boat waitin’ for ya. When’re ya gonna be back out?”

The Marshtomp shrugged. “Give us at least—” 

“An hour. If we don’t come back by then, assume we’re injured or kidnapped and act accordingly,” Charlie interrupted.

“Right,” he coughed. “Be back by then, will ya? I’ve got a headache.”

Charlie nodded. “Can do.”

A hole in the wall of the fortress caught Andrew’s eye. It wasn’t just any gap in the stone—it was a particularly large opening. It was easily big enough for him and Charlie, and even the Haxorus to enter through. Even stranger, it had an arch shape, the sides rising seven feet straight up before curving to meet each other.

The Marshtomp scampered over to it. “Charlie, look what I found!”

With a flash of light, Charlie materialized beside him. He turned his gaze up. “Humph. I was expecting the doors to at least still be here. Not just… a hole.”

“I’m sure they can put in a new door,” Andrew remarked. Without a second thought, he crossed the stone threshold into the ruins of the old naval base.

The pair was met first with the remains of a courtyard. What once may have been a well-maintained area was covered with grass, overgrown just like the outside. Flowers as small as Andrew’s fingers sprung up between stalks of grass. They were as small as Andrew’s fingers. Compared with the gray stone and earthy foliage, the flowers seemed to be the only vibrant thing in sight.

Three rows of windows lined the towering walls. The glass was cracked, broken, or missing on many of the frames. Looking upward, Andrew found the roof’s gray shingles remained mostly intact. Over a dozen brick chimneys stuck out from it. 

On the wall directly in front of Charlie and the Marshtomp stood a doorway—one actually containing a pair of doors. It was the only Pokemon-made entrance to the interior.

“Should we go in?” Andrew asked.

Charlie sighed. “I’ve been stupid enough to let us come this far. Lead the way, Marshtomp.”

The two traversed the forest of grass and colorful flowers. The strands brushed up against Andrew’s skin, surprisingly causing him irritation. He scratched his arm. Would it have killed them to cut the grass before abandoning this place? Wait…

After another moment they were at the entrance. Two iron, circular handles stuck out from each of the large doors. The higher set was four feet above the ground, while the other was… more accommodating to Pokemon of Andrew and Charlie’s statures.

The Marshtomp grasped the cool handle, pulling his arm back with all his might, ready to see what awaited them inside. 

It didn’t budge.

Andrew pulled harder, grunting. He dug his feet to the ground, threw his other flipper onto the handle, then pulled, pulled, pulled!

His heart raced as moisture rolled down his forehead. His teeth scraped against one another and created a horrid grating noise. His flippers were becoming sore, their muscles expending all their energy to give him strength. He kept stubbornly pulling but, it was no use.

“Andrew?”

“Wh-What?” the Marshtomp wheezed. “Can’t you see I’m doing something here?”

Charlie looked down in embarrassment. “It’s a push.”

“Oh.” 

Andrew pushed forward on his next attempt. With a groan, the wooden door creaked open.

Charlie walked inside, followed closely by Andrew. The Raichu inspected the area. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see that.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Andrew sighed as he too took in the surroundings. They weren’t pretty. The room they were in was hardly a room, more of a differentiated section of a hallway. It seemed to be a lobby of sorts.

In front of them were two sets of stairs, one big and one small. Ten feet away in either direction was a stone arch. Andrew walked forward and stuck his head to the side, seeing arches line a well-lit hallway for a few hundred feet before it turned.

The floor was made of a black tile—or rather, it had been. There was more exposed concrete and loose bits of the material strewn about the ground than intact tile. The ceiling wasn’t much better. It was made of plaster, which had turned to a sickly yellow with age. Brown and black splatter-like stains littered the ceiling.

Andrew shuddered, turning his gaze back down.

The only saving grace of the hallway was the windows. Even while cracked and broken, they provided more than enough light for Andrew and Charlie to safely traverse the base.

“I’ll admit, I was expecting something less depressing,” Andrew remarked, unable to get the sight of the ceiling out of his head.

Charlie kicked away a piece of tile. “Welp. This is it. Can we leave now?”

“No, it’s perfect,” he replied before running to the center of the hallway and holding up his flipper. “It’s got everything! Despair, fear, eeriness, even you want to leave!”

“Speaking of leaving…”

Andrew swung his head around. “C’mon! Don’t want to do a little exploring? Where’s the Charlie who always made crazy decisions? Like making me a police officer, or police chief, or president of Grandeport.”

“That Raichu made his decisions, and now has to live with them dragging him out to a building that’s about to collapse on his head,” Charlie groaned. He put his paw in between his eyes, rubbing the spot.

Andrew crossed his flippers and pouted. “Fine! I guess I’ll go explore myself.”

The Marshtomp suddenly took off, speeding down the hall. It wasn’t particularly invigorating, nor did it fill Andrew with any sense of pride like running sometimes did. It was impossible to ignore the dilapidated conditions. 

He was running only at half speed. His legs began to tire, aching and becoming like jelly. He slowed to stop only to find Charlie standing in front of him.

“Really?” the Raichu asked, the word dripping with disappointment. 

“It was worth a shot.”

Charlie scratched the back of his head. “Okay, look. Here’s what we’re going to do. Grab onto me, we’ll do a five-minute tour of this place. Then we’re leaving.”

The Raichu stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Andrew. He burst into a sprint, accelerating to what must have been one hundred miles an hour in a split second. The scenery was impossible to make out. Blurry brown of wood, a red carpet. The cold gray of some nondescript room. All of it came for a second before disappearing to give way to something new.

Andrew felt his stomach flying into his feet as they rushed up a flight of stairs. On the next floor were similar corridors, though they were lacking the stone arches. 

Suddenly, things began to come into focus. 

One hundred miles per hour, ten, one, then zero. 

Charlie skidded to a stop.

“Just going to rest for a moment,” he panted before releasing Andew and sitting down.

The room they were in was large, enough so that Andrew felt a bit small compared to how far the ceiling stretched. Two mostly intact windows overlooked the calmly dancing waves of the ocean. The ship was not visible from their position.

It was hard to tell exactly what the room had been used for. There were empty stone shelves built into the, fitting with the base’s aesthetic. The only piece of furniture was a single wooden chair in the corner.

Andrew went over to it. The chair was in an expectedly poor condition, with jagged stripped wood and a frame that shook when Andrew merely stepped close.

“Alright!” Charlie called out. “Should we continue the tour?”

Andrew scowled. “I’ve barely been able to see a thing! How am I supposed to determine if this place is properly-suited to be a torture prison?”

Charlie stomped his foot. “I thought you already decided it was!”

“Well, it is,” he replied with a shrug.

Charlie clasped his paws together pleadingly, desperation conquering his expression. “Then can we please leave now?”

“Only if we can put Leo in this place’s basement,” Andrew humphed, crossing his flippers. 

Charlie threw his arms out in front of him. “I’ll make sure he never leaves this place if you let us leave.”

Andrew shrugged. I guess I’ve seen everything I need to… or all that those stupid Resistance Pokemon will need. Once Leo undergoes proper discipline, I have a feeling this little Resistance problem will be hardly more than a thing of the past. 

“Deal.”