Chapter 4: Training and Arguments
"We're on our way~! To the first Po~ké~mon Gym~!" Darren sang happily.
"Will he ever stop singing?" Smugleaf growled, hands clapped over his ear slits as he tried to drown out the annoying noise.
"I think it's nice," Charcoal commented.
The Snivy growled even louder when Charcoal began to hum along to Darren's made-up song. He was tempted to knock them both into next week. Instead, he pressed his hands tighter against his ear slits and kept walking.
"First Po~ké~mo…?" Darren stopped singing, coming to a stop. "Finally! Hey, guys! Heads up! It's time to train!"
"Oh no! Not again!" Seashell whimpered.
"What's wrong?" Charcoal asked, turning to face the Water-type. "Is training bad?"
"There's tall grass ahead. See it?" Seashell indicated the longer grass in front of Darren. "Anytime you go into tall grass like that, wild Pokémon will jump out and attack you."
"No duh," Smugleaf said. "You're trampling through their territories, maybe even their homes. Of course they'll attack you. Are you that dumb?"
"I'm n-n-not d-d-dumb!" Seashell stuttered, trembling.
"You must be if you don't know that," Smugleaf shrugged. "All you human-raised Pokémon are like that. You're all hopeless."
"But…I was raised by humans, Smugleaf," Charcoal whimpered. "Does that mean I'm *sniff*… That I'm useless, too?"
"You're not useless, Charcoal," the Grass-type replied. "There's still hope for you. You haven't been trained by a human to fight, unlike a certain someone."
"D-Darren t-t-taught me how t-t-to fight r-r-really well!" Seashell argued weakly.
"Oh, really?" Smugleaf asked, sarcasm dripping from his words.
"W-w-well…" The Oshawott suddenly giggled. "I kicked your butt, after all."
"You were lucky!" Smugleaf snarled, glaring at her. "I thought you were beaten! My guard was down! It won't happen ever again! Got it?"
Seashell simply giggled in response. Smugleaf growled and turned his back on her, crossing his arms angrily. Charcoal looked between the two in confusion, unsure of what to do.
Darren solved the problem by picking up all three Pokémon and dropping them into the long grass. "There! Now let's train, you guys!" he cried.
"But I don't want to!" Seashell wailed.
"I'm scared, Smugleaf," Charcoal whimpered, edging closer to the Grass-type.
"Don't be," the Snivy advised. "Wild Pokémon can smell your fear."
"What? No way!" Seashell shrieked, terrified.
"Really?" Charcoal asked, a mixture of fear and curiosity crossing his childish face.
"Depends on the Pokémon," Smugleaf replied, smirking at the Oshawott's reaction. That was too good to pass up, he thought. I'm definitely going to have fun torturing you, Seashell.
As if trying to prove Smugleaf's words correct, a tan puppy jumped out at them. It had large eyes and a red nose. Its face was covered in lots of cream fur. Small spiky extensions were near the lower edges of its ears. Fur puffs were above its paws and a spiky black stripe was on its back. Its tail was spiky and looked similar to its ears.
"WAAAH!" Seashell screamed, diving behind Smugleaf.
"HELP!" Charcoal wailed, joining the Water-type in hiding behind Smugleaf.
"What am I to you guys? A shield?" Smugleaf asked, frowning. "Pitiful…"
"Sweet! A Lillipup!" Darren cried. "Smugleaf, use Vine Whip on it! Go easy, okay? I want to catch it!"
Oh, really? Catch it, eh? The Snivy smirked. Since when do I take orders from you?
The Lillipup lunged in order to use Tackle, only to be tossed far into the grass by Smugleaf's tail. Darren gaped when the puppy fainted. The boy quickly regained his grin when another Lillipup appeared to challenge the Snivy.
"Another one? Geez!" Smugleaf grumbled. "Go away!"
Another smack of his tail sent the puppy flying into the grass, never to return. The Snivy grinned at seeing Darren's defeated expression. With a heavy sigh, Darren led the way to the next patch of long grass.
"Seashell, try to show Smugleaf what I mean," Darren pleaded.
"B-but I don't w-want to," the Oshawott whimpered.
"Then you must be weaker than I thought," Smugleaf taunted.
"I-I'm not w-w-weak!" Seashell argued. "And I-I'll p-p-prove it!"
The Water-type bravely stepped forward, only to jump in fright as another Lillipup jumped out at her. Seashell forced herself to stand her ground, however. She slammed into the puppy's side with Tackle and then shot a Water Gun in its face. The puppy yelped, backing up in confusion and fear.
"One more Tackle, Seashell! Then it's ours!" Darren cheered from behind her.
The Oshawott did as she was ordered, ramming into the Lillipup once more. The puppy struggled to stay standing, only to fall flat on its face in the grass. Seashell stepped aside as Darren tossed a Poké Ball at it.
Smugleaf gasped, lunging forward in an attempt to intercept the red and white sphere. He ended up crashing into Seashell, sending them both falling to the ground. The Snivy threw her off, only to gasp as the Lillipup was engulfed in white light. He dashed toward it, tail raised in order to smash the sphere.
"Smugleaf, what are you doing?"
Darren quickly snatched up the Grass-type just as the Poké Ball pinged. Smugleaf's struggles ceased instantly at the ominous noise. Charcoal and Seashell watched the Snivy, confused by his actions. A grin slowly crossed Darren's face as he realized what had just happened.
"I caught it," he whispered. "I caught it. I caught a Lillipup! Sweet!"
Putting Smugleaf down, the boy proceeded to scoop up the Poké Ball containing his newly caught Lillipup and dance through the grass patch in joy. Smugleaf fell to his hands and knees in shock. Charcoal cautiously approached him. Seashell stayed back, suddenly afraid.
"Smugleaf?" the Tepig said softly. "Are you okay?"
"Do I look okay?" Smugleaf growled. "I couldn't stop it."
"Stop what?" Charcoal asked.
"The human! I couldn't stop him! Him and his stupid capture sphere!" the Snivy shouted, slamming a fist into the dirt. "I couldn't stop them!"
"Stop them?" Charcoal repeated. "Why did you need to stop them, Smugleaf? Did they do something bad?"
"Something horrible," Smugleaf hissed.
"What horrible thing?' Seashell dared to ask.
"You should know! You just helped!" Smugleaf shouted, glaring at her.
"H-huh?" the Oshawott yelped.
"That human… He's so stupid!" Smugleaf got to his feet shakily, breathing harshly in anger. "But you know what?"
"W…what?" Seashell squeaked.
"You are even stupider for obeying him, Seashell," the Snivy said, lifting his head to glare at her. "You just stole another innocent Pokémon from their home, just like you did to me. And he was just a kid, too. You probably don't care, though. You sure didn't care when you guys stole me from my territory."
"I-I was j-j-just obeying o-orders!" the Oshawott argued.
"And that's what makes you human-raised Pokémon so stupid! You blindly listen to humans without any thought about what exactly you're doing!" Smugleaf snarled. "You make me sick."
"I-I…" Seashell tried her hardest to hold back the tears that threatened to flow.
"I hope you're happy to be tearing families apart, Seashell," Smugleaf turned his back on the Water-type, walking away.
"Uh… Wait up, Smugleaf!" Charcoal dashed after the Snivy.
Seashell fell back onto her bottom and buried her face into her paws. She let herself cry for the third time that day.
.o.o.o.o.
Smugleaf sat down on the edge of the grass patch, frowning. He could hear Seashell crying in the grass behind him. He didn't care, though. Why should he? This was her fault. She deserved it.
"Smugleaf?"
"Yeah, Charcoal?" the Snivy replied, staring straight ahead.
The Tepig sat beside him, swallowing back his fear. "Why did you yell at Seashell? She's crying…"
"She deserves it," the Grass-type replied. "She and that human boy, Darren, stole me from the forest I lived in. I couldn't go back because we were too far away by the time the human let me out of my capture sphere. I was going to destroy it and escape, but I'm still here because I don't want to leave you alone with him."
"Maybe you could destroy both of our captu…? Captoor…?" Charcoal shook his head. "The red and white balls!"
"You wouldn't last a day in the wild, even with me around," Smugleaf replied. "If you were stronger, I definitely would."
"Awww!" the Fire-type groaned. "But…did you have to make her cry?"
"No," the Snivy replied. "She cries a lot. I don't care. Let her cry. It's her fault, stealing that kid away from his home like that simply so the human can have a new Pokémon on the team."
"Oh…" Charcoal lowered his head sadly. I don't like it. Why does she have to cry? Can't we all get along?
"Hey, guys! Let's keep going!" Darren cried, ending his victory dance.
Seashell rubbed her eyes and slowly got to her feet. Smugleaf got up, frowning as he approached Darren. As he passed Seashell, the Oshawott flinched away. Charcoal gave a quiet whimper as he trotted behind the Grass-type, sending Seashell a sympathetic look. The Water-type sniffled, slowly trailing behind them as they headed toward the last patch of grass.
The moment they stepped into the grass, a chipmunk jumped out at them. It was mostly brown with a tan stomach and face. It had a long and straight tail with a scruffy white tip. A large pointed tooth stuck out of its mouth. It had a flat face and round cheeks. Its ears were small and pointed. Its head had a black band that covered its eyes, which had red irises with a yellow ring and black pupils. Its feet were small and black with three toes on each foot.
"Whoa! A Patrat!" Darren cried. "Charcoal, you're up! Time to battle!"
"Me?" the Tepig yelped. "B-but I…"
"Just do your best," Smugleaf said, eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. "Try to faint it if at all possible. If it gets too hard, run away. I'll deal with it then, okay?"
"O…okay!" Charcoal nodded, smiling. "I'm going!"
The Fire-type bounded forward. The Patrat snorted upon seeing him, shaking its head. Charcoal gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to growl at it.
"Hit it with Ember, Charcoal!" Darren ordered.
"Take this!" Charcoal cried.
The Tepig took a deep breath and shot a cloud of red-hot embers from his snout. The Patrat yelped, scrambling to dodge the attack. A few embers hit it, singeing the chipmunk's fur. The Patrat was quick to retaliate, ramming into Charcoal with Tackle.
"Now use Tackle!" Darren yelled.
"Right! Here I come!" Charcoal announced.
He lunged, slamming into the Patrat's chest. The chipmunk stumbled back, shaking its head to clear its vision. The Tepig grinned triumphantly, readying to attack once again.
Then he saw Darren pull out a Poké Ball. Smugleaf's words toward Seashell came back to him.
"You just stole another innocent Pokémon from their home, just like you did to me. And he was just a kid, too. You probably don't care, though. You sure didn't care when you guys stole me from my territory."
Then he remembered what Smugleaf said to him.
"She and that human boy, Darren, stole me from the forest I lived in. I couldn't go back because we were too far away by the time the human let me out of my capture sphere."
The last bit of that conversation also returned to him.
"It's her fault, stealing that kid away from his home like that simply so the human can have a new Pokémon on the team."
Just as Darren tossed the Poké Ball, Charcoal lunged with Tackle. The Tepig pushed his speed to its maximum limit, trying desperately to beat the sphere to the unsuspecting Patrat. He and the sphere were practically neck-in-neck now. Charcoal lunged with a final burst of speed…
The Patrat vanished in a beam of white light. Charcoal couldn't stop himself as he hit the ground face-first, dirt and grass going up his snout as he slowly slid to a stop. Opening his eyes, he suddenly realized what had happened.
I failed, he thought, tears welling up in his eyes. I couldn't save that Patrat! I couldn't stop that ball! I failed Smugleaf!
Darren repeated his victory dance when the Poké Ball pinged, signaling another successful capture. Smugleaf glared at the boy before approaching Charcoal. He could see the Fire-type shuddering as sobs wracked his tiny body.
"You did your best," he said, resting a hand on Charcoal's back.
That only caused the piglet to cry harder. Smugleaf sat beside him, waiting patiently for the crying to end. Seashell didn't dare approach, afraid of getting chewed out by the Snivy again. Instead, she watched Darren's dance.
It didn't make her feel better…about anything.