how spark founded team instinct

peradii:

• The first one is forgivable: it is so small that Zapdos barely notices it, tucked snug against Spark’s side of the nest, beneath a pink blanket with a teddy nestled at her side. “She was hungry,” Spark explains, scratching Zapdos’s neck feathers, “and alone, and I couldn’t just leave her.” And Zapdos understands for once Spark was little and hungry and alone. When the little one – Kayla, Spark calls her – wakes, she mewls with fear. Zapdos wraps a wing around her, tugs her close. Quiet yourself chick, he says. You are safe now.

• The second one is a little more vexing, for it is larger and makes more noise. It is a male human, red-cheeked and screaming. “I want my Daddy! I want my Mummy!” And Spark’s eyes are wet as he pulls the howling bundle close and murmurs comfort; for he and Zapdos both know that this little one was abandoned, and his parents will not return. After seven nights he realises this as well, and his outraged cries turn to snuffling, and Spark sings into his hair you’re here now, you’re my family now. Zapdos fusses about the nest, adding blankets here and stolen tarpaulins there, weatherproofing it. There’s enough space, he decides. They can take in another chick.

• The third, fourth, fifth and sixth humans are cumbersome. The eldest is as large as Spark and thinks that she should be in charge of their nest. You live in a fucking cave, she says, why should we trust you? We were managing fine on our own, why should I trust you with my siblings? And Spark said, calm as ever, winter’s coming, you’ll freeze; it’s safe here; I can help. And the human’s Persian spits and hisses in fury, arched-back pressing to her knees; the fifth human (the second littlest) cuddles his frightened Igglybuff closer.  Zapdos had been hiding, not wanting to scare the chicks; but at the threat to his trainer he emerges, flaring his yellow wings wide, allowing lightning to crackle in the air. The eldest human screams. Her voice is very shrill. “That’s – that’s a god,” and to Spark’s embarrassment she sinks to her knees Zapdos preens. He likes this human. The Igglybuff chirrups will you look after us and Zapdos sighs and says, there’s room in the nest for another.   

• Numbers six through thirty two come one after the other, every night, mostly alone but some in pairs or threes. Not all are little, but all are hungry. “You’re Spark, right?” says one, a woman of twenty seven – ten years Spark’s senior– with a child clinging to her skirts, another on her hip, another in her belly. Half her face is covered by a great black bruise. “You take in those that need it? Can you take care of my children? I’ve got to – I’ve got to go, and they can’t stay with him –” her voice snags. Breaks. Spark smiles his gentle, easy smile. “You can stay too, you know.” There’s barely any room left in the nest. Zapdos is scouting for another home. And he lowers his beak to her belly and says welcome home.

• After thirty eight, Zapdos stops counting. He finds an old, overgrown mill and sets about tearing off the vines and chasing away the infestation of Ghastlys and Haunters. Spark’s humans help. An electrician with a shattered femur, hobbling along on crutches, sets up the wiring; a former soldier who wakes screaming each night goes to get paint, bright yellow and gleaming. Everything smells fresh, new and sharp. The sun rises on a hub of activity.

• Some humans leave, after a while. Some stay. Pokemon come and go as well, and when they find out that the Zapdos that lives in the attic is not going to eat them, they start to nest. They stay. Soon there’s a nest of some kind in every corner, and you have to be very careful where you step, lest you trip over an egg – or anger an irate Electrabuzz mother by standing on her tail! Professor Willow stops by with some incubators. “Spark used to live with me,” he explains. “Not for long – he’s too feral to stay put! Always chasing after his instincts, always looking for adventure.”

• Spark says, “I think my instinct is telling me to stay.”

• The cellars are full of eggs, the rooms full of noise as the humans and Pokemon train. It is anything but peaceful. The nest is bursting at the seams. Soon, they’ll have to find another gym. Another nest. Challengers come, demanding to know who owns this gym – Mystic or Valor? It’s so makeshift, so tumbledown; the trainers aren’t exactly professionals; there’s so many electric Pokémon that the power is constantly out (when it’s not running so high you genuinely fear for your life when you turn on a lightbulb).  

• “This is Team Instinct,” says Spark, twenty four and proud. “Pokémon are creatures with excellent intuition! I reckon that’s due to the way they’re hatched. Besides. You never lose when you trust your instincts! What’ll it be? Want to join us? Or want to battle?”