After his stay in the dojo, Andy had wandered around in the area of Kanto, sticking to the forest mostly as he just preferred the scenery. What he really liked were mountains, but he hadn't seen any of those yet. One of the trainers he had met during his travel had mentioned Mt. Moon, so he decided to definitely go there. And now with Mankey he had a fair chance in the gym there, if he would challenge the leader.
His journey had started in Vermillion City, then he had travelled to Saffron city, after that to Lavender Town and somewhere on his travel towards Fuchsia City he had come across the dojo.
As far as his travel concerned, Andy was planning to visit the Safari Zone. He was really curious about that. And a gym was located there, but it wasn't of much concern to Andy, who didn't feel like collecting badges, unless the master seemed like someone interesting to meet.
After that he was thinking about heading to Celedon City, followed by a travel through the forest straight to Mt. Moon.
Putting his map back in his backpack, Andy started whistling a happy tune, a tune he continued as he started walking again, with his hands casually behind his head. The sun shone down on him and even though it was a warm day, Andy was glad with the good weather he had so far. A journey like this would be a lot less fun in the pouring rain. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice someone had walked up to him.
"How about a battle?" a female voice from behind him suddenly asked and Andy turned around.
"Sure, why not?" Andy watched the girl and smiled friendly to her. "I'm Andy."
"Clair." She took out a Poké Ball and threw it in the air. "Psyduck! Come out and fight!"
The PokéBall opened and released the Pokémon inside, revealing the yellow duck-pokémon.
Andy also took a Poké Ball and he watched it for a moment. Bear was not the best decision in this fight, Psyduck was maybe a water type, but it could learn psychic attacks. He would use Benny, but Benny had been in a tough battle not to long ago and was not fit for a battle against a psyduck. That, and Bear seemed to enjoy the challenge.
So he called him to the field and judging by the smirk that appeared with Clair, she knew of the type disadvantage.
"Don't think I made a mistake here," Andy informed her. "This is a calculated move." Maybe she believed it, maybe she didn't, but Andy didn't care. A confident grin appeared on his face as he was looking forward to the battle.
The Mankey was doing some stretch exercises, barely giving the Psyduck any notice.
"Alright Bear." With these words the Mankey stopped and focussed his attention to the opponent. "Low kick."
The Mankey ran to the Psyduck, aimed for it's leg and tripped it, making it end up on it's back, but it quickly got up again.
"Use watergun!" Clair ordered and a beam of water hit the Mankey, who held his arms crossed before his face to block the force of water.
"Very nice Bear! Focus energy!"
Bear planted his feet firmly in the ground and a glow surrounded him for a moment.
"Now fury swipes!"
Bear ran to the Psyduck and hit it several times. The Psyduck was driven back by the attacks and seemed not able to defend itself against the fury swipes.
"Confusion!" Clair ordered and the eyes of the Psyduck started to glow blue. The same colour surrounded Bear, who was lifted from the ground. Bear struggled to break free, but it was useless, the confusion attack had him firmly in it's grasp. Bear was slammed into a nearby tree and sank on the ground.
"Bear?"
The Mankey got up again, glaring at the Psyduck.
"Use your karate chop."
Bear rushed to the Psyduck, raised his claw and hit it, but after Clairs order, a watergun hit him directly in the face and he stumbled back.
As he shook the water from his fur, Clair ordered another confusion and just like the last time, Bear was powerless as he rose above the ground.
"M-Mankey," the Pokémon growled.
"Hang in there, Bear!"
The Mankey glared at Andy.
"I mean, don't give up. Sorry."
The Mankey was slammed against a tree and then on the ground. With some effort, he got back up again, breathing heavily through his nose. Not as a sign of fatigue, but of anger.
"Use your Seismic toss."
Mankey nodded, run to his opponent, grabbed him by the arms and started spinning around. After a few spins, he let go of the Psyduck, which flew through the air, against a tree and dropped on the ground, fainted.
Clair called her Pokémon back, looking at Andy with a small frown, followed by a smile. Andy didn't notice, as his attention was on his Mankey and he slapped Bear on his shoulder.
"Nicely done!"
"How about a second match?" Clair asked, but Andy shook his head.
"No thanks, this was a though battle for Bear, he should..."
"Are you scared?" Clair interrupted him. "Are you afraid you'll lose? Are you weak?"
The Mankey started shouting and jumping up and down, agitated by her words.
"Calm down Bear, we've talked about this before. Don't let yourself be taunted like that."
"Mankey! Mankey, man, mankey!" Bear said, shaking his head and glaring at Clair.
"No Bear, you need your rest."
"Mankey," Bear growled as he glared at Andy.
Andy didn't back away and they stared at each other for a moment.
"Fine, if you don't want to listen to me then we'll fight. But if you end up in the Pokémon Center, I'm going to tell you I told you so."
The Mankey turned around and beckoned Clair to call her Pokémon. She had an Ivysaur this time and the battle began.
Just as Andy predicted, after the last battle Bear was in no shape to win this and even though he could land a few hits on the Ivysaur and take a few hits from it, a vine whip at the end ended the battle and Bear lay unconscious on the ground.
Andy sighed, took his Poké Ball and called him back.
"Clair, that was a good battle. I hope it knocked some sense into my Mankey."
"Why did you let hem fight if you were against it? You're the trainer."
Andy shrugged and offered her a smile. "I let my Pokémon have a say in the matter, they're the ones doing the fighting after all. And this was a good lesson for Bear, he hadn't really lost much battles. Excuse me now, I'll take him to nurse Joy now."
With this, Andy turned around and continued his walk over the path, leaving the female trainer behind. It had been a nice battle, sure, but that was it.
The trees on both sides cast their shadows on the path, giving a break from the sun that was shining relentless on the land. Andy looked at the Poké Ball in his hand as he walked, even though he wouldn't admit it, he was concerned about his stubborn Mankey. He sighed, putting the Poké Ball in his pocket, following the path until he found a Pokémon Center. The building looked like any other Pokémon Center, as did the nurse who run it. Walking up the counter he first gave a cheerful greeting and then handed in both his Poké Balls, while he told the nurse what had happened.
She promised to take care of them and Andy took place on one of the chairs, where he waited until nurse Joy was done.
As always, the waiting part was the most agonizing. Minutes seemed to pass like hours and there was little distraction for him.
Suddenly the door opened and Benny came flying to him, and landed on his lap. Nurse Joy said he was alright, but that his Mankey needed a bit more care. Andy nodded as he watched her retreat to the examination room and patted Benny on the head.
"Feeling better again?"
Benny nodded.
"Good, now we wait for Bear."
It took another hour before nurse Joy came forward with the Mankey next to her. She handed Andy his Poké Balls and told him everything was alright. Andy thanked her for her care, turned to his Mankey and looked at him as an eyebrow slowly rose.
"I told you so."
"Mankey," the Pokémon growled.
"I said I would say that, you deserved it. I'm not saying I'm the best trainer in the world. Well, I am, but the world doesn't know yet. But I know what I'm doing, Bear. You should listen to me. If I decide we're not accepting a challenge, it's not because I think you're weak, but because I see you're not going to make it through to the end. Sure, we can lose when we accept a challenge when you're in perfect shape, but to start a battle when you're clearly tired has little use. That girl knew she could get a victory now, that's why she tried to talk you into it. Well, tried, she succeeded."
Andy stroke the fur on top of his head. "An awesome Pokémon like you doesn't have to prove himself in battle. It's their loss that they don't know. Keep that in mind, ok?"
Bear nodded and Andy grinned. "Perfect. Now, let's eat."
"Mankey!" Bear said, jumping enthusiastically up and down and Benny also nodded eagerly.
The grinning Andy thanked nurse Joy again for her wonderful help and left the Center with his two Pokémon, to look for a decent thing to eat.