The sudden turn of events caught everyone completely off guard.
Whoosh.
A burst of flame shot into the air. Before Kirlia and Primarina could react, Luke had already completed his transformation, raising his palm toward the petty thief daring to steal in midair.
[Rocket Trooper, Common Type. Uses rocket boosters to fly and fights with firearms mounted on both arms.]
"No, Lulu, this is really not the time to use the Human Dex!"
Just as Luke was about to attack, a slightly familiar mechanical voice mixed with Primarina's anxious shout reached his ears. There was no time to think about why an enemy that felt straight out of another game had appeared in this world. Seeing the pilot flying farther and farther away, Luke did not hesitate and launched a massive fireball straight at the airborne thief.
"Wait, Mr. Luke!"
Kirlia had just been robbed and was still calm enough to pull out her phone and open the Human Dex, but Luke was already moving past her. He appeared directly in Primarina's line of sight, attacking the Rocket Trooper without pause. Before Primarina could grab his raised arm, the fireball struck the Trooper's rocket booster with precise accuracy.
"My rocket is hit!"
Even though Luke had deliberately held back, the Rocket Trooper still let out a piercing scream.
"I can see him!"
"I can see him!"
"He has nowhere to hide!"
It was like kicking a hornet's nest. Along with the Trooper's scream, the roar of countless rocket boosters igniting echoed from all directions. In just a few seconds, dark clusters of Rocket Troopers filled the entire sky.
"Rocket Troopers prefer operating in groups. Even if one is alone, once attacked, nearby Troopers will rush over as fast as possible…"
Staring at the densely packed figures overhead, Primarina stiffly recited what she knew about their habits. Almost the moment she finished speaking, the Troopers raised their guns toward Luke and the others. The next instant, bullets filled the air.
"Leave it to me!"
Clang clang clang clang!
The moment the Troopers opened fire, Kirlia teleported in front of Luke. She raised her hand, and a purple wall of light formed out of thin air, stopping every incoming bullet.
"Lulu, there are too many of them! Your Reflect won't hold for long!" Primarina hopped to Kirlia's side, watching the barrier thin noticeably after just one volley. Worry crept onto her face. "Let's retreat first. They can't open the bag anyway. Once they get bored, they'll throw it away, and we can pick it up later."
Kirlia glanced at the thief hiding behind his companions in the sky. After hesitating for a few seconds, she nodded in agreement. But just as the two Pokémon were about to withdraw, an unexpected voice cut in beside them.
"Wait. Let me confirm something first. Kirlia, how many more attacks can your Reflect take?"
Seeing that the two Pokémon were actually preparing to flee, Luke spoke up, suddenly wondering if he had misunderstood how strong Pokémon really were.
"How many? If it's volleys like that one just now, at least three more," Kirlia answered honestly, turning toward him.
After confirming that Kirlia alone could block the Troopers' fire, Luke continued, "And after you set up Reflect, you can still move freely, right?"
"…Yes."
"Primarina, what about you? Are you comfortable with the moves you practiced last night?"
"Me? Bubble Beam should be fine."
Reassured that the two Pokémon were exactly as capable as he believed, Luke raised his head and stared at the Rocket Troopers hovering arrogantly above. Empowered by his transformation, he could clearly see their confidence and carelessness.
"Then why are we running? Why not just take the bag back from them?"
Setting aside Luke's personal irritation, the Poké Ball Kirlia cherished was still inside that bag. The Dex had classified the Troopers as a Common Type, and Kirlia had blocked a coordinated volley from over a hundred of them with a single Reflect. The advantage was clearly on their side.
Luke had only ever heard of retreating when at a disadvantage. He had never heard of backing down without a fight when holding the upper hand.
Even if these Troopers were as tough as they were in games, capable of taking multiple heavy hits and still fighting, with Kirlia and Primarina working together they could still deal serious damage. If Primarina knew Icy Wind, that would have been even more effective.
Besides, Luke did not believe these Troopers retained the absurd resilience of strategy games. The thief whose booster had been hit earlier was still wobbling in the air, unable to fly steadily.
Just as Luke's fighting spirit surged and flames threatened to spill out, one sentence from Primarina nearly made him choke.
"Huh? We can fight them?"
Covering his mouth and swallowing the rising fire, Luke stared at Primarina in shock. A bad feeling crept into his mind.
"You… never thought about fighting back?"
"Luke, you want to fight the Rocket Troopers?"
Kirlia casually reinforced the Reflect, no longer worried about defense for the moment. She tilted her head as she looked at Luke, trying to understand what he was thinking.
"I do, but wait. Let me sort this out."
Watching the two Pokémon, Luke rubbed his forehead, suddenly wondering if he was the strange one for not wanting to run.
He looked up to confirm that the Troopers were still mindlessly firing at the first layer of Reflect, then decided to talk things through.
"First, if we accidentally defeat them, will Psychic type Pokémon get notified and teleport in to arrest us?"
"I've never heard of that," Kirlia replied, shaking her head.
"Then are there laws that strictly forbid Pokémon from harming humans? Like some kind of crime for injuring humans?"
Luke chose not to factor in the Sneasel that had chased him relentlessly the day before, since that one clearly did not represent normal circumstances.
"A crime for injuring humans? Mr. Luke, your imagination is really something," Primarina said, barely holding back a laugh. She understood that someone new to this world might have odd assumptions, but this still went far beyond what she expected.
"…Then why can't we fight them?"
Luke's question left both Kirlia and Primarina speechless. When he had first suggested counterattacking, it had felt strange. But following his logic step by step, attacking Rocket Troopers really did not seem wrong at all.
"Well, um, we're Pokémon. Attacking humans just feels… wrong," Primarina said weakly, raising a flipper in protest.
"But they aren't ordinary people. Look at how brazen they are. They're clearly repeat offenders. If we don't teach them a lesson, how many more Pokémon will they steal from?"
So Pokémon making mistakes was unacceptable, but humans could brush theirs off as harmless trouble. That kind of logic made no sense to Luke.
"…Mm."
Still unable to fully accept it, Primarina shrank back slightly and turned to her friend, leaving the final decision to Kirlia. What she did not realize was that while she struggled with ingrained common sense, Kirlia had already been convinced the moment Luke asked why they should not fight back.
"How do we fight? How hard do we go? What moves do you want me to use?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Kirlia ended the debate with a single sentence. At that moment, she felt as if Luke's emotions had ignited something inside her.
Battle.