A New Beginning

Dean stood a few feet away from Sophie for this battle, as was a custom with trainer battles. Piplup stood but a few mere centimeters away from Dean while Turtwig stood the same distance from her owner.

Dean looked down at Piplup with a grin and asked, "So, you gonna win this for me?" as the penguin nodded, a look of confidence on his face. Sophie simply smiled at her Turtwig and said, "You do your absolute best out there, got it?"

With that, Sophie pointed toward Piplup, her smile turning a much more serious look as she shouted, "Turtwig, start things off with Tackle!"

The turtle nodded and charged towards her opponent. Dean simply smiled proudly, his arms folded as if he knew Piplup wouldn't allow this to hit him. However, Piplup just stood there, blinking as if he had no idea what to do.

Before Dean could even realize what was going on, the penguin was hit hard in the chest by Turtwig's skull, skidding across the ground and doing his best to stay up. Dean looked down at the penguin and blinked. Why hadn't Piplup dodged it?

"Hey, what kinda game are you playing at!?" he snapped as Piplup turned to him, a look of shame in his eyes as the boy glared and said, "Look, it's not hard. Just do to her what you did to those wolf-like things earlier, okay?"

Piplup nodded as Sophie simply looked at the two, shaking her head. It seemed Dean just didn't understand.

Piplup tried his best to land a blow against Turtwig, but once again the turtle's head rammed into the penguin's chest. Piplup tried all he could to maintain his footing as Dean gritted his teeth, a vein forming on his head while Sophie said, "Maybe you should try telling him to do something instead of expecting him to do all the work."

"Hey, I did tell him to do something!" Dean retorted, "I told him to do what he did to those wolf guys! He acted on his own then, right?"

Sophie simply closed her eyes and shook her head once more. Dean still didn't understand.

As Piplup took in another blow, once again clueless of what he should be doing, Dean took a deep breath and thought, 'What was that move he used on them called?'

The boy then remembered something very important. The professor had given him a Pokedex. The boy didn't hesitate in pulling the small device out as he shouted, "PIPLUP, STALL HER WHILE I LOOK UP SOME INFO!!!!"

The penguin nodded as he leapt to the side, dodging Turtwig's next tackle. Sophie smiled at the sight of this. It did her heart good to see the boy cooperating with his partner this time. Piplup continued to dodge each Tackle with perfect timing. Luckily for the penguin, Turtwig wasn't exactly the fastest Pokemon around.

He then found a section on Piplup that told of each and every one of the penguin's moves. Then he saw it: The move Piplup had used on the Poochyena pack was Pound.

"PIPLUP, HIT HER WITH POUND!!!!" the boy snapped as the penguin nodded and rammed his short wing hard into Turtwig's face.

The turtle skidded across the ground, groaning in pain before shaking it off. Sophie smiled at the sight of this. It seemed as if Dean was starting to understand what being a trainer was all about.

Dean grinned at the sight of this and said, "Way to go, Piplup. Keep that up and we can win this! Just hit that Turtwig a few more times!"

Piplup nodded and charged towards the turtle, however, Dean had failed to realize how bad of a strategy this was. Piplup had only heard the command to use the attack. Dean hadn't told him to dodge anything the turtle could dish out. As such, Turtwig simply ran towards the penguin, ramming her skull into the penguin's chest seconds before he could lower his wing.

Piplup let out a light gasp as he fell over on his back, Dean's eyes wide open. Turtwig ran over to Sophie who petted the turtle before returning her to her ball.

Dean gritted his teeth, his body shaking with anger as Sophie calmly explained, "You didn't use teamwork to its full extent. Had you given Piplup the right directions instead of expecting him to read your mind, you would have won easily. The only reason he won against those Poochyena was because you were in danger and he felt the need to help you."

However, these words didn't seem to reach the boy's ears. Dean glared at Piplup and returned the Pokemon to his ball, then he shouted, "YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH!!!!!!!!?? YOU PLANNED THAT, DIDN'T YOU!!!!!?? YOU JUST WANTED ME TO THINK SHE WAS RIGHT ABOUT US, IS THAT IT!!!!!!??"

Sophie started to tremble, a tear rolling down her face as the boy ran past her. This particular direction led to the forest's river. But why was he going that way?

Sophie wanted to know this very much, so she followed the boy and gasped when she saw him standing in front of the river while holding the ball in his grasp. The boy glared at the ball saying, "You have disobeyed me and gotten in my way for the last time!"

"DON'T DO IT!!!!!!" Sophie cried, but it was too late. Dean hurled the ball into the river as it floated down the current, quickly vanishing from sight as the boy shouted, "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, YOU HEAR!!!!!!??"

With the ball that held Piplup gone, Dean placed his hands in his pocket angrily and turned around, but couldn't go anywhere from here as Sophie was blocking his path. The girl stared at the boy, tears forming in her eyes.

"How could you?" she asked as Dean's eyes narrowed, the boy saying, "That Pokemon was nothing more than a pain in my side. Now move so I can go back home and forget this day never happened."

Sophie couldn't believe this boy. How could Dean feel so heartless towards Pokemon? Such a person didn't deserve to be a trainer.

"I can't respect a man like you," she said through tears, "Anyone who treats Pokemon like that is just despicable."

With that, she turned toward the dark part of the forest and walked towards it. After a few seconds, she was gone from sight and Dean sighed with relief, glad to be rid of her. The boy simply shrugged and headed the other way, back to the path leading to his home. He'd simply tell his mom that something bad happened and that he couldn't continue his Pokemon journey.

While he walked along the path, he sighed, looking up towards the sky and thought, 'It feels kinda lonely now...' then he shook his head and shouted, "No! I don't miss him at all! If he dies out on his own, it's not my problem!"

Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes as the five wolf-like creatures from earlier emerged from behind one. The boy lowered his eyelids and said, "Oh goody, it's you again. Look, I don't have time to deal with you."

However, the boy's tune changed when following the Poochyena pack was an even larger wolf with a straighter face and sharper fangs and longer legs. This was Mightyena, the evolved form of Poochyena.

The wolf glared at the boy, eyes blood red as Dean rolled his eyes saying, "Let me guess, their mother, right?"

The wolf continued to snarl as the boy held up his fists and said, "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you get!"

It was only a matter of seconds until Dean found himself defeated. He simply lay on the ground, covered in cuts and bruises as Mightyena walked off with her Poochyena pups. This day was just getting worse and worse, but on the plus side, the wolves had spared him.

Dean sighed as he simply lay there muttering, "You know, if Piplup was here, he could have helped me..." then he shook his head, slowly climbing up to his feet, pain entering his body with each second he spent trying. The boy gritted his teeth and said to himself, "I don't need that stupid penguin. Once I go home, I can leave all of this Pokemon nonsense behind me."

The boy managed to take five steps forward before falling down, supporting himself with his knees as he slammed his fist into the ground, letting down tears. He bit his lip, trying his best to keep his cool but just couldn't. Soon, those tears became waterworks as he started to cry.

"What have I done!?" he spat, ramming his fist into the ground once more, "Piplup's probably danger out there on his own!"

The boy climbed back to his feet, wiping his tears. A few were leftover as he sniffed, "He's probably scared all on his own like that. Piplup's not used to being alone. And besides, it's not like he'll ever forgive me. Hell, I can't even forgive myself for doing such a stupid thing."

The boy then looked up towards the sky and shouted, "I'M SORRY, PIPLUP!!!!! I WAS STUPID!!!!!"

Now Dean didn't know what he wanted to do. He could try to capture a Pokemon, but what was the point? He knew he couldn't beat a Pokemon without another one to help him out. Besides, it wouldn't help him forget about his Piplup. He didn't even feel like showing his face back at home. It would only bring shame to his mother at some point or another.

He just wished he had his Piplup back. He wanted so badly to be able to reverse time and stop himself from throwing the Pokeball into the river. He knew that it was too late to get the penguin back. He was long gone now and Dean was once again on his own in life.

Feeling helpless as ever, the boy sat on a stump. He was lost now. Where was he to go? There was no place for a guy like him in the world.

Some nearby Pokemon approached him as he looked over at them, blinking his eyes. Each did whatever it could to cheer the boy up. However, Dean just sighed. He couldn't feel happy no matter what anyone else did. Besides, he'd never liked others trying to cheer him up, even when he was a child. He always found it more irritating than amusing.

After a while, the Pokemon gave up and left him to mourn. One offered him an exotic fruit as he simply turned his back to it, the Pokemon slowly walking away from the boy and leaving the fruit there just in case. Dean really didn't feel like eating. In fact, hunger seemed unknown to him now.

The boy sat there for another five minutes when he heard a young male voice say, "Hey, you! Is this Piplup yours?"

The boy's eyes went wide as he turned around to see a young fisherman with his pole humped over his shoulder. Standing right next to the boy was a small blue penguin who chirped happily and ran over to Dean, embracing him.

Dean let down tears and asked, "Piplup... how can you forgive me after the way I treated you?"

The penguin simply held onto his master as the boy sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter as long as you're back," petting the penguin's head.

The fisherman then threw Dean Piplup's Pokeball and said, "If I were you, I'd take better care of my Pokemon. You're lucky I happened to snag that little guy's ball on my pole when I did."

"Thank you," Dean said, bowing his head to the man before asking, "How did you find me?"

"I didn't," the fisherman replied, "That Piplup of yours led me here. I only accompanied him to give him guidance in case we were attacked."

The boy looked at the penguin and sighed with relief. Today had been a long day and he just wanted to find a town to rest in. As such, he held the penguin over his shoulders and said, "I promise I'll never do anything that stupid again, Piplup. You and I are partners."

And from that moment on, their friendship was stronger than ever. Together, the two managed to capture a new ally, a small caterpillar-like creature known as Weedle.

Sure, Dean now had respect for Pokemon, but he still kept up his tough guy act when in battle. There was no way he'd let another living soul see his soft side. However, he was no longer cold toward Pokemon and treated them like his friends.

He never did see that Sophie girl again, but if she could see him now she would have been proud. A beautiful friendship had been born and nothing was going to ruin that.