The Grey Journey
Chapter Two
"Power is more important than type, technique or anything else. A highly trained Pokémon will always win, no matter the deck stacked against it. This is why before we can proceed, I demand you to defeat this Onyx with your Rattata."
Giovanni, First Lesson.
The weather held its cloudiness for a good half an hour, before finally caving in under the pressure of water. The droplets rained down the size of massive fists, ricocheting against his grey rain cape and his umbrella. Norman was within his pokéball —no need to get him wet and maybe sick for nothing.
The wind, slightly chilly, made his nose twitch. He grumbled. His gaze glazed over. There was a strong gust of wind then, forcing him to clasp on the umbrella with all his might. The piece of wood and cloth —not one of those cheap plastic renditions— held.
From further ahead came a light scream.
He carefully walked forward, narrowing his eyes to see better in the dim light and beneath the heavy rain. There was a bright green splotch of plastic in the mud, and an equally bright green rain cape fluttering under the wind.
"Aw! Now what!?" Leaf's familiar voice reached his ears as he neared. He tensed for a moment —beneath his rain cape was the grey trench coat, with emblazoned on the back the bright red R of team Rocket. Still, as it was the girl didn't know of his 'occupation'.
He could help her.
"Leaf!" he exclaimed, catching the teenager's attention. "What are you doing? Playing umbrella in the mud?"
"That's not funny, Grey!" the girl yelled back, before staring at him with an indignant huffing face. "My umbrella snapped in half!"
"Yes," he drawled out. "I can see that Karma is at work here," he acquiesced. "This will teach you not to meddle with my sleep hours."
"Come on!" Leaf's lips trembled, "Help a fellow trainer out here!"
"Right," his lips twitched into a smile. "You got your Squirtle?"
"Yep!" she grinned happily, grabbing her Pokéball. "Want to fight?"
"Nope," Grey shrugged, "There is a time and a place for everything, but fighting Water types in the rain? I'll pass thanks."
"W-What! Why? I'm a Pokémon trainer and I'm challenging you! You can't refuse, you big meanie!"
He chuckled good-naturedly, shaking his head.
"You're going to get your Pokémon hurt," he said, his tone slowly losing his mirth.
"I'm still challenging you!" Leaf exclaimed, throwing her Pokémon. "Squirtle! Come on out!"
He lost his smile. He gripped on Norman's Pokéball and then clenched it slightly, to enlarge the sphere before throwing it.
The bright ray of red escaped the ball, and Norman was out with its teeth bared.
"Tackle him Squirtle!" Leaf said, pointing her finger against Norman.
"Norman," he said sharply, "Crunch."
Norman's eyes narrowed as its jaws opened up. Its paws gripped on the muddied terrain as it launched itself forward, a light dark sheen covering its fangs. Squirtle pushed itself forward to tackle the Rattata with its strong carapace, but the mouse-like Pokémon swiftly evaded the Turtle-like one and pounced on its hind right leg. The bite made the Squirtle cry out in pain as Norman snapped the jaws shut and pulled, pushing the Squirtle on the ground.
"Call your Squirtle back," Grey said snapping his fingers to recall Norman. "He is too wounded to be able to continue fighting," he deadpanned.
Leaf looked at him for a moment, with her face pale. She meekly pushed forth her Pokéball and reabsorbed her fainted Squirtle.
"You must think me an idiot," she muttered, her head low.
"Nah," he shrugged, a smile forming on his face. "You just need to know who you can battle and who you can't. You could have probably won in this setting even against a Bulbasaur, and in a water type setting like this you'd have made short work of a Charmander."
"So…uhm…" she fumbled for the potion in her jacket. "You're going to Viridian city, Grey?"
"Yes," he said. His hand went down to scratch Norman's neck, before sending the purring-in-pleasure Rattata back in his pokéball.
"Can we go together?" she pushed the tip of the potion's bottle over the pokéball's button, as the pokéball's internal system began to heal Squirtle.
"Until Viridian city? Sure," he replied.
"There's a Gym there too, right?" Leaf said then excitedly. "You think I can—"
"No," he said sharply. "That is the last Gym. You've got a long way to go before that," he added.
Leaf's shoulders slumped. "You know so many things…"
"I'm an adult," Grey replied, "I already did my great adventure," he chuckled as he moved his umbrella towards the girl. "Let's get going, or we will never reach the city in time."
Leaf nodded, and brightened up considerably after that. He sighed. He remembered the times when he too had been like that. They hadn't lasted, but they were his fondest memories.
"Ehi," Leaf whispered. "Look at that," her finger went to a group of Pidgey resting beneath the covers of a tree's branches. "I'm going to get me a Pidgey."
"You have empty Pokéballs?"
Leaf stuttered at that. "You have one to loan me?"
He sighed and fumbled through his pockets. "Here," he then stood back and watched.
"Go, Squirtle!" Leaf flung the pokéball with grace and a little back-kick, while closing one of her eyes and putting up a bright smile.
Was she trying to impress someone?
"Squirtle!"
The Pidgey family of course woke up. "Go Squirtle! Tackle!"
The turtle-like Pokémon jumped and slid through the light sheen of water that covered the ground, before jumping head first against…the tree bark.
The Pidgey good-naturedly watched the scene with curiosity. Grey could actually imagine them going on a little theatrical production…'Darling, look, a stupid trainer!' 'Mom, the girl's stupid, right?' 'Now, no making fun of her! She's trying her hardest!'
Somehow, the image of a Pidgey with a monocle and a fedora reading the newspaper and smoking a pipe entered his mind.
"Squirtle! Use a water move!"
Squirtle remained unfazed. He just stared blandly at Leaf as if she were extremely dumb.
"Ah…ah…" Leaf exhaled, her shoulders visibly trembling.
"Bubbles," Grey whispered beneath the downpour. "Tell him to use bubbles."
"Right! Bubbles, Squirtle! Use Bubbles!"
"Squirtle!" the Pokémon exclaimed, promptly opening its mouth and…doing nothing.
"You taught him Bubbles, didn't you?"
"I…" Leaf began to hiccup. "I didn't."
"Now, now," he patted her awkwardly on the head. "It's all right," he said. "He just needs to train more. Everyone has bumps along their road…"
"Mine's a frigging mountain pass," Leaf muttered back.
"Possible," he nodded seriously. "Still, instead of talking under the rain let's find someplace warm for the time being…I'll teach you a few things I picked up along the way."
"Thanks Grey," Leaf muttered half-heartedly, as she brought Squirtle back in the Pokéball. "Think—"
"GET OUT OF THE WAYYYYY…" Ash Ketchum dashed past them in that instant, running on a bike and pursued by a Spearow…flock.
Grey sweat dropped, chuckling nervously.
Leaf swallowed heavily, before moving closer to him and making a light bowing gesture. "Please teach me everything."
"Will…do."
Author's notes
…I never got into the 'last gens' stuff past the mechanics. The only pokémons to me are the 151 of Gen 1.