Pokémon Mars

Chapter 19: Negligence

The group gathered around the screen that showed the camera on their dead Ferroseed in Delta Lab 1. From what they could see, the Ferroseed wilted because they couldn't get enough oxygen from the rocks before the supply ran out. Jin rewound the footage. He couldn't imagine that they all died at once. He was correct. One dropped off the wall days before its friends, when the team was in the canyon. Then two more died. It was a gradual process. Jin looked like he was ready to slap someone when his eyes turned to the tense Team Magma Grunts who were supposed to watch the Pokémon.

'So... you have to know I'm gonna ask how you let this happen.'

'I... we...'

It wasn't Team Aqua's fault. All of the members stationed in Ironville were busy tending to the water supply, but Joshua and his team assumed that didn't matter because Team Magma had thousands more members. They said nothing more, so Jin continued.

'You had days to notice that first little guy dropped dead. The others could've been saved.'

Joshua nodded. 'We gladly would've paid you to go out and rescue them.'

'I... we're really sorry... we... we couldn't be here... we had orders from... from...'

'From?' Jin demanded, 'From who? Let me guess – from Courtney? Who's so busy stalking Firmino and my uncle that she isn't doing her work?'

'I... we... it's... it's...'

'And she couldn't spare a single one of you to watch the Pokémon we spent years on? The Pokémon that four members of our team can speak to like you speak to each other? This is Tauros shit! Ugh!'

'Sir!' the other Grunt blurted out, 'We're sorry! We're really sorry! We did have other orders from...'

'From Courtney. I know.'

'We're not as experienced as her... it takes us much longer to get her work done...'

'We don't care!' Callerya snapped, 'You let some Pokémon die just to do Courtney's work for her?! Because she's so busy stalking?'

'M-Miss Courtney is... she's trying to unravel the truth behind what goes on up here...'

'No!' Thalassa shouted in an uncharacteristic burst of rage that shocked everyone, 'She is not! She's trying to frame Damson – a man who's suffering – as something he's not, just to protect a man she's dangerously obsessed with! And those Pokémon have died for it!'

'B-but we can't refute Courtney's orders...'

'No, you just didn't want to! You're more interested in her approval then the lives of our Pokémon! Call me what you will – I'm reporting the lot of you to Kazuki!'

'M-M-Miss Thalassa! Please!'

Their eyes implored Joshua to stop her. He shook his head.

'Not gonna happen, bro. This is disgusting. You're not doing us a favour. We're paying you to watch our Pokémon. Not to do Courtney's work for her. What about the Pokémon we left here at the lab? Have they been fed?'

'Don't even think about lying,' Thalassa said, 'We'll just ask them. And Pokémon don't tell lies.'

She called Azrael, who promised he was on the way. One of the Grunts tried to bolt. Nyx seized him. Her grip was far too strong to escape. Joshua knelt to speak to the first Pokémon to approach the edge of their pen, a Mudkip and Corphish. They said they were fed, but not by Team Magma. Firmino noticed they were hungry when he rushed in to grab some equipment. He asked his overworked Grunts to drop in just in case it wasn't a one-off and clearly, it wasn't.