Chapter 30: An important lesson

[Note: this part is written from Jess' perspective]

No! Nick, you can't...I don't want to fight you! I said with fear in my voice.

'What if I get hurt? What if I hurt others? Doesn't he understand what I'm feeling?'

Aren't you going a little too far here Nick? Silver objected.

Nick gave him a sharp look, I couldn't really tell what it meant but Silver stopped arguing.

Jess, don't get me wrong here, you need to learn to defend yourself, or else you won't survive long here. Nick stated.

But I don't want to hurt anybody! I shouted at him.

You made me hurt other Pokémon as well when you trained me, so you've done it before multiple times, and also I don't mind getting hurt, so don't hold back.

Look, I'm sorry that I made you do that, can't we settle this with anything else?

You don't get it, I'm not mad at you for making me hurt others, I'm actually happy about it, because there's nothing like a fight to make a Pokémon happy. So come on, make your first move or I'll make mine.

'I guess it's no use talking to him, should I run away? But where do I go? And Silver is fast enough to catch up on me in a few seconds, especially because I'm still not used to run on four feet. Why is he so persistent on this fight? Maybe I can end this quickly, he said I need to get one hit on him to win, but he's way more experienced in battles than I am, so that won't be easy. I don't even know how to use moves. Should I just let him attack me and pretend that I fainted?'

Alright, so you don't want to make the first move... He said, before he shot a Water Gun at me. I was still on my mind so his move hit me and pushed me back a few inches before I tripped over my own feet and fell down. The move soaked my fur so my body felt heavier than before. I got back up on my feet and shook the water out of my fur. It worked a little at least. Nick was still standing there, obviously holding back. If he wanted to finish me off he yould have just done it While I was getting back on my feet. I've seen him fighting often enough now.

I'm still waiting for your move Jess, and next time I won't hold back with my move.

'Why is he doing this? Doesn't he understand that I don't want this? I'm not supposed to fight others. I'm not even supposed to be a Pokémon. Is he really expecting me to fight him? Why can't I just wake up from this nightmare? Why is this world so unjust?'

I suddenly felt angry. I was angry at my destiny, but also angry at Nick because he doesn't understand me. I eventually lost track of what I was doing, I gave in to that anger as it was the only thing I had left right now. The last thing I saw was that I charged at Nick and hit him with a Quick Attack.

[Note: Perspective change to Nick]

'Have I gone too far?' I've been asking that myself ever after Jess snapped in our training battle. 'Maybe I should have waited longer before I forced her to fight. I didn't expect her to snap like this. Well, she took me by surprise but even when I told her that the battle was over she kept attacking me, not listenig to anything, so I had to knock her out. She hasn't woken up yet. I'll have to apologize to her.' All I wanted was to awaken her natural battle instincts, but it had gone wrong. I'm still not sure what even happened there. It was some kind of instinct I woke up in her, but not the one that I wanted...That looked more like some panic instinct or something like that. Her body is still a hatchlings, so maybe that's why...but why did I never experience this back when I fought the first time after I hatched? I've gotta ask Travis about this...maybe he knows more...

Still feeling sorry for yourself?

I turned around and saw that Silver had come over to me.

I don't know...

Let me tell you something. You've made a mistake. Fine. Everyone makes mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. But those experiences make us who we are. Just don't let yourself get destroyed by them. You have to live with them and grow beyond them.

I guess you're right, I just hope that Jess can forgive me.

She will. More important is what we're going to do now, how long will we stay here? What are we going to do with Gavin? I mean we can't just leave him here, no matter what he did to us, he doesnt deserve to die here. Can we set him free?

I thought about that, too. I already have a plan though.

Really?

You're right, we can't let him die here. That'd be cruel, but we can't risk letting him run free. What he needs is someone to watch over him.

You mean...one of us -

No, let me finish. I thought we'd catch him with a Pokéball and then wait until a Trainer passes by.

Good Idea but wouldn't it be a little akward for a trainer to get a Pokéball handed out from a Pokémon?

We don't even need to make direct contact. We could just scout the road and then place the Pokéball there as soon as someone passes by.

Alright, that sounds like a plan to get rid of him, even though it's far more than he deserves.

After that little discussion, we picked up an empty Pokéball from Jess' backpack and went over to Gavin's tree.

What do you want this time, I've already told you everything I know. he said when he saw us coming.

We're just here to free you from this tree.

Oh that's unexpected, I guess there's something I need to do in return, am I right?

Just one thing. I said while I pulled the Pokéball from behind my back and tipped it so it grew to its normal size.

You've got to be kidding me.

You can thank us later. That's far more than you deserve. Silver said.

Just get in there and don't even try to break free, or we'll knock you unconcious before we try again.

Gavin didn't seem happy about this at all, but he couldn't do anything about it. I threw the Pokéball at him and we watched him getting sucked in, leaving the rope loose around the tree. The Pokéball fell on the ground and after some shaking it gave a clicking noise which meant that he was caught sucessfully.