Was the walk through the forest tense? Absolutely. Are terrible thoughts that would get me arrested going through my head? Also yes, but I won't act on them. At least, not unless Vincent actually tries anything. Deep down, I am silently hoping he would so I could be justified. It'll give me justification for my overly friendly nature to finally come into proper question, and why I should drop it. Best to be safe than make friends who end up being part of a group trying to catch all Mythical and Legendary Pokémon! And by being safe, I of course mean being uncontrollably paranoid and watching every little move the guy makes.

While going through the woods, Vincent seemed a little distracted at something and clearly in thought. Probably trying to think of some way to get rid of me, knowing how absolutely horrible I think Vision is. How in the world did I not put it together? Vincent. Vision? They both start with V! That was an extremely weak comparison, but my main point still stands that I don't like how quiet Vince is being! It's making me paranoid.

A quick look down and I could easily see that Blue was on edge as well. His fur was completely on end, and his tail was puffed out to all hell! He was also flexing out his claws a bit as well, which caught me a little by surprise. He seemed ready to murder somebody. Wait a second… I flip open my dex and slide down to the Zangoose entree, giving it a read over to see if what I was thinking was right I saw that I was.

Seviper.

I look over to Blue and then glance around the forest. This would be a bad spot to get jumped. Already tense with the Vincent deal, and just knowing what's going on now. I lean down to talk to Blue, "Hey, you doing okay man? You're a little on edge."

The Zangoose almost instantaneously jumped at my voice, turning and glaring at me with his fangs blared. Naturally, I am taken back by this. It takes a second before Blue notices what he did and he finally calmed down, at least visually, and shakes his head slowly. "No. Not okay. I can smell one, one is near. Very near. I don't like it, damned serpents."

"Damned serpents? Huh, alright. Well, don't worry, we'll get out of these woods befo-" I am cut off after tripping over a root and falling through some of the brush with a loud grunt. I groan before looking up, a grin coming on my face seeing we were back on the main trail. "Oh, hey! Speak of the Gira and he will appear! We're on the actual road again," I speak back to the other two, standing back up and dusting myself off. "Alrighty, now head back to Striaton! Which is…" I looked down both sides of the road and realized something a little bit important. There was no telling which way was right.

Blue climbed over the brush and looked down the paths, sniffing at the air followed by a hiss. He looked down at the other side of the road, towards some rustling bushes, and slowly lowered himself onto all fours. "Walter," he said, "Remove the collar. I do not want PiT's work to be broken."

That concerned me, but who am I to keep this majesty of scientific creation from safety in a brawl like this? With haste I remove the collar, turning Blue to having to speak as a regular Zangoose again. "Zaaaang!" He growled out before instantly rushing across the path, diving towards it only to get caught midair by another pouncing 'Mon! The black scaled, natural enemy of Blue's species. A Seviper. This is probably not too good. Although, the in-air collision was pretty cool.

The two fighting Pokémon fell back to the ground with a loud slam, the Serviper getting spun and landed on by Blue. With a good opening, the tamed 'Mon flared out his claws and instantly went into a continuous flurry of Fury Swipes into the serpent's hide, slicing into it at a much more vicious nature than when I'm in control of the battle. Vicious to the point where I saw… blood.

Before I was able to react, the Serviper slammed its tail against Blue and knocked him off and to a tree. After finally collapsing down onto the ground again, Blue struggled to stand himself up again before getting Body Slammed by his opponent with a large Bite attached to it, thankfully at the side and not somewhere more dangerous. That was… deeper than they would usually go, followed by a cry from Blue.

"Blue!" I called out, instinctively reaching for his ball on my belt, but catching myself. It may be messed up, but he literally called for this almost knowing how the fight was going to go out and he… I trust him. "Blue, come on man, get back up! You're better than some damn Serviper! It isn't even shiny! Break outta that and hit him with that new move!"

Blue was quick to respond to this, busting free of the fangs in his body and doing a mildly anime-esque jump back to create distance. A bit of distance, however, that was quickly removed as Blue seemed to coat himself in a dark essence before slamming against the Serviper with a heavy Pursuit. Arceus, I love how he can learn out-of-Type moves. The attack landed with an audible plow, sending the Serviper more into the underbrush and out of sight.

With a moment of silence and unnerved calmness, my Zangoose companion rushed in and jumped to the foliage with the same dark essence. An uninvoked Pursuit, that made the loud sound of making contact with something again, although this time it was a good bit louder and made more of a thud upon impact, almost as if hitting something more solid.

"Blue! Blue, man, c'mon, you hear me? Are you good in there?" I call into the brush, taking a few quick steps towards only to be met with the Zangoose coming out slowly with a mild limp, both arms down and holding onto his Bite wound. "Oh, Arceus… Okay, we're going to the Center now," I tell him, holding out his Pokéball again.

"Za… Zaaan!" He hissed at me, clearly somewhat winded, and pointed down to the collar in my other hand, very hastily motioning for me to give it to him. Naturally, I do, to see him take it and slip it around his neck again. "Damn serpent," he said through the collar, "Slipped away, cowardly bitch. Get me to Center, please. Hurts. A lot."

I simply give a nod and bring Blue back into his Ball, hooking it onto my belt again and looking out into the forest. "That Serviper was… pretty vicious. That whole fight was. I don't think I should bring Blue out if we run into anymore."

Vincent, who I had almost completely forgotten was there for a moment, just nodded down the road towards the town. "I agree. Best the little guy not get anymore messed, let's get to that Pokémon Center." With that, he started walking back down again as I stood there, still trying to find a read on the guy. He was right, but I still do not care for him and being a damn Vision Grunt. Despite my dislike of his background I follow behind anyways, rushing to catch up to him.

The rest of the walk was fairly silent, neither of us wanting to talk after experiencing the out of nowhere aggressive battle. As soon as we stepped out of the forest back into Route 3, I smiled getting met by two friendly familiar faces waving me over. Glad to finally see two people that don't probably want to defeat me for hating their organizations.