Team Bistro
A young Croconaw spent his days in Isshu Region by a large pond that was his and his alone. Part of the reason for this was because trainers had become more and more frequent in the area. Pokémon had begun to decrease as of late, though none of the remaining Pokémon knew they just left for a more secluded area or if a trainer had caught them. Either way, Snap, as the Croconaw was nicknamed by his friends for his habit of eating entire helpings of food in one bite was ignorant of the increased disappearance of the neighboring Pokémon. He, instead, found this quite a benefit for himself, as it meant more food for him, leading to his normally chubby frame to plump out a bit more.
Still, his blissful existence didn’t last long as trainers eventually found his home and he faced battle after battle. At first they were the occasional average trainer who happened to find his pond and tried to capture him, but as word spread of how his strength and how he continued to fend off so many trainers, more and more arrived, making his life one big tense fight. Even he couldn’t remain in his home anymore and began to make his leave, but as he soon discovered, running was no longer an option for him.
All over the forest, trainers had spread like a dandelion’s seeds. Having to constantly avoid being caught took all his time away and left him hungry to the point of simply giving up and getting caught. He walked out into the open his only hope of getting a trainer who knew what kind of food he liked and closed his eyes. He could hear the footsteps coming closer, but then came an unexpected series of explosions. Snap opened his eyes and saw that the forest was covered in smoke. His first thought was fire and he made he ran in a frenzy to escape. He could hear a series of trainers coughing, as they also attempted to get out, but there was also other people running about too who didn’t seem at all hindered by the smoke. Things grew more unusual as the trainers began screaming in protest.
“Hey give me back my Pokémon!”
“Who are you?”
“Get back here!”
Their shouts were ignored by the mysterious thieves, but Snap took this as a warning that he might be next, but he couldn’t find an end to the smoke, though he did soon realize it was more like a group of Pokémon using smoke screen instead of an actual fire. Almost out of hope, he spotted a tiny gap in the smoke that contained sunlight and took down towards it. He thought he was in the clear, but his clouded judgment left him pray to the trap that was set before him. A burlap sack scooped him up once he wasn’t hidden under the smoke and he struggled to break free. He tried, but he couldn’t get himself in a position to resist beyond a Magikarp’s splash attack. Snap was put into a human device before long. He couldn’t tell what it was at first, but he soon discovered it was a flying machine as evidence by a loud engine sound, followed by the sensation of increased elevation.
As time passed the Croconaw didn’t know if and when he fell asleep. It was too dark to see any different between his eyes opened and closed and sounds kept fading in and out all the time. There were some humans talking, but he didn’t find their conversation too interesting, save for when he noticed their conversation changed to relate to him. It was a deep male’s voice and a female’s voice with an odd snicker that crept out from time to time. The man started first.
“The attack went without fail.”
“Yeah, serves those trainers right for mindlessly wandering around a forest with all those Pokémon, kukuku.”
“It made it so easy to catch them all. So, did you grab that Croconaw right out from the middle of a battle?”
“No. He ran into one of the openings in the smoke screen we set up as a trap. I believe he’s one of the wild Pokémon from the area, but we’ll confirm it when we get back to our base.”
“Then he’ll get his just desserts with the rest of them.”
“Kukuku. And breakfast lunch and dinner too!”
Croconaw wasn’t too adept at human phrases, but hearing that woman laugh made him nervous and uncomfortable. He would’ve been interested to hear more, but their voices soon faded once again.
When sound returned again, he could tell the flying machine was off so he was on the ground again. He could also feel a man was fumbling with the sack he was in trying to get the rope untied. Snap saw this as his only chance to escape. He remained as still as he could so as not to alert the person outside that he was awake and the moment he saw daylight forced his way out with all his might. The man gasped with surprise seeing him leap out, his unusual tall white hat slipped off of his head as he fell backwards. Snap used the man’s head as a platform to jump off of and made a good distance from the copter. He took in his new environment and saw that he was now in a human compound of some sort. The flying machine dropped down an opening in the ceiling that now appeared to have been sealed. Snap didn’t doubt he’d have a difficult time escaping, but the difficulty didn’t stop him; at least not as much as his stomach was. He didn’t know how long it had been since he ate, but it was longer than any time before in his life.
Doing his best to ignore it for the time being, Snap found him fortunate as the humans he passed in the halls were busy with their own tasks to go after him. It gave him the time to actually take notice of his surroundings. There was a black and white mark on all the doors and walls of the building he was in. He had also taken notice that the people wore the same mark on at least one article of clothing. Snap also noticed that all the people had hats similar to the first man he saw, tall and white, though they came in a variety of shapes.
Snap took another random turn down a hallway inevitably spotting a long line of Pokémon carrying trays and waiting in line. He thought of getting their help at first before noticing they all wore the same insignia somewhere on their bodies as well. This only made Croconaw worry all the more. So much so he didn’t notice a good deal of the Pokémon in that line were fat. Some hardly heavier than normal to some that looked like they were easily twice the weight of a Pokémon of their kind should be. Snap kept running, but he never did find an exit and all the fatigue he amassed was finally taking its toll on him.
When he awoke he found himself in a soft human bed. It was quite large compared to his size, but he didn’t bother thinking about that or who brought him there. He was too focused on the smell of food at the side of his bed. With a single bite he munched down the entire stack of pancakes into him mouth. He never had such things before, but they smelled good and the even balance of butter and maple syrup only enhanced the taste. He could even tell there were blueberries in some and chocolate chips in others. He then drank down a glass of juice by where the pancakes once were and guzzled them all down.
“It seems you were really hungry.”
Snap looked up to see it was one of those humans from that complex. He could only guess he was still there. With some food in his stomach, the Croconaw could now defend himself, but the human brought out another stack of pancakes and put it over the plate of the previous stack. Croconaw couldn’t resist them and ate them down just as quickly. The human served him several more stacks that he couldn’t help but binge on them all. With a plump and stuffed belly, Croconaw was effectively fed into defeat. Unable to eat anymore that human carried him into another room where groups of Pokémon were seated. Some were nervous as he had been while others looked like they had the same fulfilling treatment he got and were as intrigued as he was in where these people were taking them. A woman’s face appeared on a large screen in front of them. She wore the same insignia as the rest of the people along with her own white had, though all the humans in the room bowed in respect to her. Snap could only assume she was the one in charge here.
“Greetings, to all the Pokémon who have been retrieved from their oppressive trainers. I am Neon and I am the leader of Team Bistro. For too long have I witnessed the cruelties of Pokémon trainers. They lack the respect their Pokémon deserve from them and I have decided to do something about it. Behold, this is Eden, a sanctuary for Pokémon who have been rescued. We take in both poorly treated Pokémon along with wild Pokémon whose lives have been disturbed by humans and offer them a safe haven. Pokémon are even allowed to come here of their free will and leave if they desire to do so, but it is my dream that all Pokémon need not be suffer for the meddling of people.
Snap listened to Neon’s words and though he didn’t understand most of it he did agree how terrible it was that his home had been ruined with the presence of all those trainers. Even if he ever did manage to get back there it wasn’t going to be the same and he never wanted to be that hungry again. When the screen returned to black the humans in the room explained how things were going to work. If the Pokémon wished to stay they just need to take one of these tags with the group’s insignia on them. They would allow them all to gain access to all the facilities in the complex. If they chose to leave, they were free to take the exit.
Snap thought about that choice for a few minutes. He saw most of the Pokémon got in line to stay while the rest chose to leave. He could see reasons for both, but he didn’t know what he should do. Sure they saved him and offered him sanctuary from the trainers who ruined his home, but they did forcibly kidnap him. Before he knew it he was the last Pokémon left. One of the humans there picked him up.
“I see you’re still undecided,” she said. “Maybe a tour of our place will help ease your doubts.”
As they went from facility to facility Snap noticed unusual changes in the Pokémon that were here the longest. The ones that were in the buffet and other eating areas had grown a considerable amount of fat on their frames. Even more so than the ones who were in line with trays. They were virtually immobile and had to have others bring the food over to them. In some cases even feed them as they were much too fat to move anything below their necks. Some of the smaller Pokémon were larger than some Pokémon when they were normal or even a good deal obese themselves. In the fitness areas there were Pokémon who were built quite in the opposite direction. Snap was surprised to see some Pokémon were about as ripped as one could get. He guessed that while there were some Pokémon who liked to make pigs out of themselves there were also the jocks among Pokémon. Looking down at his larger than normal gut, Snap figured he was in the first of those two categories.
At the end of their tour, the human brought Snap to his dormitory room where the Pokémon would sleep. The beds were all about as big as the one he had recently slept in. The rooms were also designed for different Pokémon in mind to make them feel more at home like being filled with water to having a hatch for a flying type to stretch its wings outside. But the most surprising thing he was the largest Dragonite he had ever saw in his life. It wasn’t just in its room, it was the room. There was hardly any space for much else, though it did appear that food was able to be brought in and out for its consumption. It was eating and partway through its meal it fell over backwards. Snap freaked out thinking the dragon just ate himself into an early grave, but a loud belch and then it was back up and eating like nothing had even happened.
“Don’t worry,” explained the human. “We monitor the Pokémon’s health here to ensure everything is fine. You’d be surprised, but that Dragonite was once as undernourished as anyone could get. We managed to rescue him and after he recovered he’s been eating ever since. We estimate he’s about three tons now, but we can’t get a scale to him to get an actual weighing.”
The tour quickly concluded and he was brought back to make his decision. He still wasn’t clear what he wanted to do, but since he was free to leave whenever he wanted and he had managed to work up an appetite he chose to join and took a bandana that he put it around his neck. After which, he made his way to the cafeteria he saw earlier. He grabbed a tray and waited in line as he entered the cafeteria. He saw what it looked like on the tour, but merely being here was a wonder in itself. Countless varieties of food were displayed for all to choose from. It ranged from normal Pokémon food to a variety of different kinds of human food normally to cover each meal of the day, not to mention snacks ranging from fruity to sweet to sour and many more varieties Snap had yet to experience. He didn’t know for sure if all this food was exactly good for his diet, but looking at the Pokémon who were already eating were proof enough. He also took notice that the ones who were particularly fat were the ones who had a larger portion of human food compared to Pokémon food. Snap also recalled seeing the fat Dragonite’s meal didn’t include any Pokémon food at all. Not wanting to turn into a mass of blubber, the blue crocodile Pokémon made himself as sensible a plate of food as he could. He mainly got some Pokémon food, but allowed himself a little human food since he had to admit those pancakes he had earlier were perhaps the most delicious thing he ever had and eating it in small portions wouldn’t be bad for him. He thought that would be the smart thing to do, but he was in for a surprise in the days to come. With each meal he subconsciously was shifting the balance of how much human food he took in proportion to ordinary Pokémon food and he wasn’t the only one. All the other Pokémon who had wanted to avoid the flab that was spreading on the already obese Pokémon were eating more and more human food by the day and gaining weight as a result. Their portions were also increasing to match their growing girth. Though they considered the fattening properties of the food they didn’t consider the addictive qualities that their trainers would normally help them avoid. Team Bistro on the other hand left them to do as they pleased, if nothing else, they spent more time refilling the fattening foods than any of the other kinds of food to encourage them into obesity. Those who stayed at Eden all fell prey to this and those who already started were too far gone to recover on their own.
One morning when Snap woke up for another meal tried to get out of bed when he noticed his body reached from one end to the other. He removed the covers and saw how huge and blubbery he had become. His stomach was as large as a Snorlax’s and rumbled just as loud as one who had been on a diet for a day. His arms were thickened too; though they were useless now as they couldn’t do the one thing he used them for anymore, bringing food to him mouth. His legs, if they weren’t buried under fat at this point were blocked form view thanks to his gut.
This would’ve normally would’ve freaked anyone out to suddenly become so obese, but the only fear he had was that he couldn’t get out of bed to get something to eat. He turned and struggled, but it was useless. He was just like the Dragonite from before who was stuck in his room too fat to do anything but eat and get fatter. It was then that Snap saw the other rooms were also filled with Pokémon who had become far too fat to move. To add to his horror he recognized some of the Pokémon who had spent their days exercising were lost in their own blubber as well. Snap never did go to the gym to exercise since he arrived, but he was sure it was them. He didn’t think it was possible for them to have gotten so fat after being so bulky, but now he was seeing this place was hardly the sanctuary it was made out to be. He wanted to get out, scream, and warn those who still could to escape while they could. He wanted to do something, but then a human arrived in his room or rather his cell now with a cart full of fattening human food. He saw other humans doing the same with the other Pokémon. He wanted to fight and resist their continued fattening, but it was useless. Without the slightest resistance he opened his mouth for the food and greedily ate it up.
Cameras in each room monitored the Pokémon as they continued to eat and grow ever fatter. Neon watched it all, a devilish smile spread across her face.
“Give a Pokémon a bone and they'll eat the enough meal.”
She then walked over to a map of the Isshu Region. There were marks all over it, the most being “X” marks. She added another one over the small forest area that Snap was from then capped her black marker.
“All according to plan…”
