Pokemon New Age

The year is 2424. The world has been at war now for longer than most people can remember. In the year 2366 distrust between humans and Pokémon finally came to a head. The humans, fearful of the power held by the Pokémon, unleashed their machines to try and balance the scales. The machines created by humans proved to be so great of a match against the raw power held by the Pokémon, that in order to survive, the remaining Pokémon were forced to organize into an army and train in their natural strengths. As of the present, humankind has established a stronghold in the Unova region, specifically Castelia City while Pokémon have created their stronghold in the caverns of Mt. Coronet of the Sinnoh region.
It is here in the recesses of Mt. Coronet where our story begins and one Pokémon will question everything he has come to know....

Waking up in an unknown dark abyss, a Meowth asks himself, "Where am I?"
With nothing to be seen in any direction, the Meowth begins to worry and speaks again. "OK, let's start with what I do know. My name is Shoteneko and I am a Scout class soldier for the Pokémon military. The last thing I can remember is being knocked out during the Battle of Slateport but now where am I?"
Suddenly a single word appeared in the blackness commanding Shoteneko to: Run.
"OK, I'm running but the scenery still isn't changing." He said to himself.
As Shoten ran further, the space in front of him began to morph and showed the playground of a school.
"Hey, that's my elementary school!" Shoten exclaimed, still running. "Isn't that me over there?"
Sure enough as soon as he mentioned seeing himself, the scene shifted and began to focus on the young child. He was on the ground crying with a Machop and Timburr sneering just above him.
"Why aren't you fighting back? Is the widdle baby too scared?" The Machop said before launching another Low Kick into the young Shoteneko's stomach, sending him tumbling backwards, books spilling everywhere.
"It's not that I'm scared." Shoten sniffly replied while picking up his books "It's just you're too strong. You do this every day."
"What'cha got there?" Timburr said, snatching a book from Shoten that he had clearly been trying to hide from the bullies.
"Hey, give that back!!" Shoten exclaimed
"The Slash, A Legacy of a Hero. You really read this stuff?!" Timburr asked.
"So what if I do?" Shoten said, beginning to show a little backbone.
"This stuff is for little kids." Machop broke in. "There are no such things as heroes in this world."
"You'll regret those words when a real hero shows up!" Shoten cried.
"Hear that everyone?!" Machop proclaimed to the rest of the class, "Shoten here actually believes that a hero is going to swoop in and save him. Let's teach him a lesson."
As the class began to repeatedly strike him, Shoten could only say, "Someday, you'll all see. If heroes don't really exist in this world, then I will create a world in which they can thrive!!"
After hearing those words, the scene in front of him slowly faded back to black. Still running, Shoten remarked, "Those guys were jerks but at least they helped me decide what I wanted to do with my life. When am I going to be able to stop running?"
Suddenly, in the matter of an instant, the word Run that had been floating on the horizon morphed into two other words.
"Too Slow?" He read, confused as to their meaning.
As soon as Shoten read the words, a gun appear from nowhere and fired at point blank range.
"Gahh!!" Shoten exclaimed, waking up in a hospital bed. "It must have been a dream. Where am I?"
"Welcome back Shoteneko." Replied a Chansey just off to his left. "You're in the medical bay in Mt. Coronet. You were knocked out during the attack on Slateport City and brought here."
"That's right, the attack to cut off the human's supply lines. Did we win? What about the rest of my team? Were they able to make it through the rest of the battle without a scout?" Shoten asked anxiously.
The result of the Battle would have serious implications on the war. If the Pokémon succeeded in taking Slateport, the enemy would have to find another way to ship resources found in Hoenn to Unova to eventually be used in their war machines.
"Unfortunately, the attack was unsuccessful and the rest of the attack force retreated back to Verdanturf. On the bright side, the rest of your team made it through the battle unharmed. Flamerunner was simply forced to megaevolve during the battle and cover both your position as scout and his own as team leader."
In the Pokémon military, Pokémon are broken into squads of three which act under the authority of those above. Each squad needs someone to fill each of the three roles, leader, tank, and scout.
Leaders of each squad are almost always able to megaevolve if the situation calls for it. Due to this many squad leaders are usually able to cover another role in their squad. For example, Shoten's squad leader, Blaziken, codename Flamerunner, is able to megaevolve in order to cover both the scout position and the leader position when needed.
Tanks are the muscle of each squad, able to take a hit and dish out three more. They are the main offensive force of each squad and are usually sent to take care of the most heavily armored parts of the enemy's formation. Druddigon, codename Bruiser, the tank on Shoten's squad often works in tandom with squad leader Flamerunner as both of them boast hefty attack power.
The final position available on a squad is that of a scout. Scouts focus solely on speed. Their job is to simply spy on the enemy, take note on what is seen and then get out as quick as possible. What is seen is then reported to the squad leader who then formulates a strategy to take on the enemy. During intense battles, scouts can also be used as distractions against the enemy in order to clear the way for the bigger guns. Unfortunately, this strategy doesn't come without risks as many scouts are often knocked out of the action, just like Shoten was in Slateport, when it is employed.
Chansey continued "You've been out for a few days but other than that you are perfectly. I suggest you take it easy here in Mt. Coronet for a few days before heading back to the front lines in Verdanturf."
"Ok." Shoten quickly replied. Perhaps while off the front lines I can learn a couple new moves to delay my inevitable return to our makeshift hospital. He thought to himself.
After the great schism between humans and Pokémon, all important literature, such as historical documents, books detailing Pokémon moves and those describing technology were taken to the headquarters of each race. Those which did not find their way to either Castelia, the base of the humans or Mt. Coronet, the Pokémon home base, were either lost or destroyed.
While walking to the library Shoten tried to decide which move he wanted to try and learn. His repertoire consisted of mostly physical attacks such as Slash, Shadow Claw, and Fury Swipes and a couple of speed enhancers such as Agility and Double Team. After careful deliberation, Shoten decided it was time to diversify and try to learn a special attack, hopefully with a little bit of type coverage.
As he walked into the library, Shoten had the fullest intent to learn a new move for battle but was soon drawn to a different book, "The Slash, A Legacy of a Hero" Inside, it detailed the exploits of a great heroic Meowth from the olden times, before the great schism. All of the Slash's moves and exploits were detailed in the book and reading it had been a guilty pleasure of Shoten's since elementary school.
"If I only I could learn these moves." Shoten said to himself dejectedly. "That would be awesome, granted I'd be branded a traitor."
As the Slash had been a hero in the time before the great schism, naturally he saved both Pokémon and humans alike. The leaders of the Pokémon military had long since forbidden the teaching and use of Slash's moves since it was believed that anyone sharing his moveset would also share his love of human life and create an insurrection within the ranks of the military.
"I know it's forbidden but this is my childhood hero we're talking about." Shoten said quietly to himself. "What the heck, I'm gonna do it! I'm going to learn some of the Slash's techniques."
Conscience screaming, Shoten checked the book out from the library and went to his room. Once their he began to read and take notes on three of the Slash's most iconic and versatile attacks: Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt.
AN: Here's my first fic on this site. Let me know what you think!

 

Chapter 2​

"Shadow Ball!" Shoteneko cried, trying to perform the new technique. Gradually, a small orb of dark energy appeared in Shoten's hand and fired itself at the target across the room. While not hitting dead center, this was the farthest Shoten had gotten with the technique.
"Darn it. If I only had a couple more days of practice, I'm sure I could at least perfect Shadow Ball." Shoten said, wiping sweat from his brow.
That morning he had received word that the humans were preparing for an assault against the Pokémon stronghold of Verdanturf and was ordered back to the front lines. In the three days since awakening, Shoten was trained nearly nonstop on his new moves as a sort of physical therapy to prepare for a return to the battlefield.
During this amount of time, Shoten has learned to generate Shadow Balls at will, with a little effort. With greater time and usage of the technique, the effort needed to create a single Shadow Ball should decrease immensely. Although Shadow Ball was well on its way to being integrated into Shoten's arsenal, little progress was made on the other two techniques. Thunderbolt only comes out as small sparks and almost nothing was done to learn Dark Pulse, as he believed it would be easier to learn after mastering Shadow Ball.
As he began to towel off and prepare for his departure, Shoten began to have yet another attack of conscience. While learning these moves with the intention of emulating the heretic known as Slash, Shoten has frequently been experiencing "panic attacks" and paranoia that someone will learn of his secret.
Will the rest of my squad recognize where I came up with the ideas for my new moves? Shoten thought to himself. Their suspicions will be heightened since both Slash and I are Meowths but other than that there is no logical connection between my moves and Slash's right?
Mentally berating himself again, Shoten began to justify his action once again by telling himself that it was his childhood hero he was trying to emulate and that it was for the good of the Pokémon cause but each time, the words seemed just a little hollower.
While trying to calm himself, Shoten walked to the teleportation chamber that would take him back to his squad and the war.
Since the beginning of the war, certain psychic types were specially trained to be able to teleport themselves and others over long distances, allowing for easy scouting, spying and transportation unmatched by the humans.
Walking up to an Abra, he stated his orders. "I am Shoteneko and I have orders from high command to return to Verdanturf and prepare for battle."
"..." Abra replied. Although nothing was said, I could tell Abra understood his orders. Since Abras tend to sleep all day, most are relegated to transportation duty until they evolve, at which point they become a much more valuable resourece.
Shoten placed a hand on one of Abra's shoulders and soon the scenery faded away only to be replaced by the military camp of Verdanturf.
As Abra teleported back to Mt. Coronet, Shoten began to perform his normal duties for the squad. No hero's welcome, no one waiting for him to return, just each individual focusing on their own task for the glory of the cause.
Just as he was finishing his work, a loudspeaker turned on and announced "A mandatory tactical meeting will be held in 15 minutes to discuss the defense of Verdanturf. All available troops should attend."
Sighing inwardly Shoten said to himself, "No rest for the weary." And began to make his way to the main pavilion where the meeting was to be held.
Once everyone arrived, the commander, a Reuniclus, began "Welcome everyone. We have received reports from our scouts that the humans are beginning to mobilize their troops toward Verdanturf and the creation of a defense strategy has become imparitive."
Across the room, both Flamerunner and Bruiser subtly took note of Shoten's presence with a slight nod. Shoten nodded back before turning back to Reuniclus.
"A large regiment of tanks have been dispatch from Mauville and are heading west toward our position." Reuniclus continued. "We need to send the squads most familiar with the forest surrounding the city to lay in wait. Perhaps they can surprise the enemy and reduce the percentage of the force that makes it to the city."
There's no way this is the only part of the plan. Shoten thought to himself. Reuniclus is known as an expert tactician thoughout the military and the only thing he wants us to do is thin out their ranks?
"As you know, the humans are also equipped with aerial troops. The majority of you capable of flight should remain on standby on the mountain to the north of town. Once the enemy is engaged in battle with our ground forces, you will take flight and provide the finishing blow."
As Shoten ran the plan through his head, he saw its practicality but noticed one important thing. The entire plan hinged on the fact that the ground forces would be able to hang on long enough to weaken the enemy troops so that the final push by aerial forces would be successful.
After rambling for 20 minutes about contingency options should things go wrong, Reuniclus announced "All troops are dismissed to remain on standby for the upcoming attack. Those who were approached before the meeting by my defense expert, Honchkrow , please report to him at this time. That is all."
As he was departing from the meeting, Shoten ran into both Bruiser and Flamerunner who were both overjoyed to have him back.
"Shoteneko, glad to see you back!!" Bruiser greeted cheerfully. "You were hurt pretty badly after that battle but don't worry about it, me and Flamerunner beat 'em down 10x worse they got you."
"Yes we were able to exact revenge for you before we retreated." Flamerunner confirmed. "What did you think of the battle plan?"
"It's got a solid base to it but I think it'll be a lot harder to pull off than it sounds."
"You two are always so serious." Bruiser cut in. "Analyzing battle plans an' trying to stay three steps ahead. Can't you just trust our commanders for once?"
"I agree Shoten." Flamerunner replied, ignoring Bruiser. "The amount of endurance needed by the lead forces for this next battle is going to be tremendous. Hopefully you prepared for something like this."
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Shoten replied. "While I was back at Mt. Coronet I started learning some new moves."
"New moves huh?" Bruiser said, always intrigued by training. "What kinds?"
"Maybe it would be best if he showed us his new moves." Flamerunner said, just as curious.
"OK then how about a little practice match to see if you're battle ready?"
"I wouldn't be back if I weren't ready for combat." Shoten shot back. "Bring it on!!"
"Let's not be too hasty here." Flamerunner said. "You just returned to camp Shoten and it's getting late. Both of you get some rest and you can spar first thing in the morning."
"OK!" Both Shoten and Bruiser replied without breaking each other's gaze.