23. The Time for Sleep is Over

"Well, it is certainly good to hear from you." Jack said over the phone. Danny had decided to call his dad when they saw a Pokémon centre appear along the road.

"I already captured seven Pokémon!" Danny said enthusiastic.

"Wow, that is impressive. I did see your Grimer already. Professor Oak is taking good care of it." Jack smiled. "It is now the friendliest inhabitant of Pallet Town."

"Yeah, professor Oak told me. It was the strangest thing dad, the Grimer was really aggressive at first."

Jack thought about it for a second before he answered.

"Sounds familiar. My Rhydon used to be really aggressive as a Rhyhorn, even after I captured it."

"Even then!?" Danny was confused. How could a Pokémon be angry after a trainer had caught him, especially a great trainer as his dad.

"Some Pokémon don't respect their trainer, so they won't listen or are angry all the time. You will probably see it yourself." Jack told his son. "In my case, I captured Rhyhorn by accident, so it didn't think I was worthy of training him."

"But it did warm up to you, didn't it?" Danny remembered his dad's Rhydon and it didn't seem angry with its trainer.

"Yeah it did. It was in a battle against some girl with a Dewgong. Rhyhorn slipped and fell into the water. He can't swim so he was about to drown, at that moment I jumped in to try and get it to the surface again." Jack's face got serious as he thought back.

"Rhyhorn was way too heavy for me to lift up, so he just kept sinking."

"How did you save it?" Danny asked, completely intrigued by his father's story.

"The girl send out her Gyarados and it could lift Rhyhorn up easily. Rhyhorn did need some time to recover but it had seen I jumped after it and started to respect me. Not long after it evolved as well." Jack scratched his chin. "Where has the time go…"

"Danny, you want to get some dinner?" Richard yelled.

"I hear you are needed over there. Have fun and don't forget to call again." His dad winked as he shut down the pc.

As Danny walked over to his friends he couldn't stop thinking about his dad's story.

"Hey Janine, how many Pokémon have you owned so far?" Danny asked.

"Koffing and Venonat only, why?" Janine answered.

"My dad just told me about one of his Pokémon being disobedient. I wondered if you had that as well."

Meanwhile, Richard had ordered the usual: A tomato salad with beef for him and Danny, for Janine a pasta with all kinds of fruits. The beef Richard and Danny usually eat is comparable to vegetarian meat.

"Well, I guess some Pokémon don't respect their trainer until they show themselves worthy." Janine explained.

"I guess so. I hope I never experience that." Danny sighed.

"Well, you don't directly experience it, but you also can't say that Abra is really a big help." Richard said.

Danny immediately looked up.

"He just sleeps a lot." Danny said defensively.

"Sleeping is good, to a certain degree. Abra just sleeps too much." Janine agreed with Richard. "Anyway, I thought you wanted to work on that."

Danny's eyes lightened up. "You are right, I did say that. Let's go!"

Richard sighed. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What is that?"

At that moment Nurse Joy came back with their food.

"We were about to go eating." Richard pointed at the plates.

"Ehm, food can wait?" Danny tried, but Richard was unpersuadable.

"Food is always a priority." Richard said seriously, which made Janine laugh. "Got his priorities straight"

Even Danny couldn't beat a two versus one situation so they ate first, after that Richard and Janine convinced him to enjoy his night and go to sleep first.

The next day

"Okay Abra, we have to try and keep you awake." Danny said.

Abra looked completely bored and not interested. He even yawned.

"This is off to a great start." Richard laughed.

"Stop it." Danny said.

"Abra, let's prove them wro-…. What! How can you already have fallen asleep?!" Abra had indeed fallen asleep again.

Richard and Janine couldn't stop laughing.

"Abra, wake up." The Psychic Pokémon looked up but then shook his head and fell back to sleep.

"Haha, seems like your Abra isn't too interested in training." A man, probably around the age of 40, walked towards them. His trousers reached to his ankles and he also wore a black t-shirt. Following him was an Alakazam.

"Wow, that must be an Alakazam." Danny was directly interested and took his Pokédex.

Alakazam, a Psi Pokémon. This Pokémon uses Psychic attacks to overcome its opponents.

"You know, my Alakazam had the same issues when she was an Abra." The man told them.

"How did you get him to wake up?" Danny asked.

The man started to laugh. "Mine didn't stop sleeping that much when she evolved. And now she barely sleeps. By the way, my name is Bertram."

"I'm Danny, these two with the strange feeling of humor are Janine and Richard."

Bertram nodded as a greeting and turned back to Danny.

"I don't think you can have Abra completely quit sleeping, they need that sleep. All the sleep they now store gives them the ability to sleep less when they are Alakazam."

Danny scratched his chin. "So what you are saying is that I should let Abra sleep a lot?" Bertram nodded. "But then I can't use him to battle for me."

The next few things Bertram said shocked Danny more than anything the past few weeks.

"If he respects you, your voice will reach him, even if he sleeps and he will directly wake up to help you. Does yours get up when you need him?"

Danny didn't know what to say. Yesterday he thought he would never have a disobedient Pokémon, but now it seemed he might have one: Abra.

" I-I can't remember." Danny stuttered.

"Well, you can try it now. Call it and see if he reacts." Bertram suggested.

"Okay. Abra, wake up. We need to battle." Nothing.

"Come on, I need your help." Still nothing.

Bertram laid his hand on Danny's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but it seems it doesn't respect you enough to wake up."

Danny felt a tear coming up. Since they had been on a journey they had always had fun, but now it seemed that Abra didn't had that much fun.

"They can work on that, right?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, sure they can. You will need to earn Abra's respect." Bertram explained. "Show me your other Pokémon, I would like to see how they react."

Danny let out his other four Pokémon, Charmander still resisted outside of his Pokéball.

"Okay, let's start with Charmander. Alakazam, Mind Reader!"

Alakazam crossed her spoons and her eyes started to glow, just for a few seconds, then she stopped.

"And?" Bertram asked. Alakazam seemed to communicate through telepathy which only Bertram could hear, because Bertram started to smile.

"Charmander sees you as his best friend and will do anything for you." Bertram explained.

Danny smiled, kneeled down and hugged with Charmander. He had never doubted his starter, but he was happy Charmander thought the same about him as he thought about the Pokémon.

"Now, let's go on to Beedrill." Bertram said and Alakazam did the same thing.

"Beedrill respects you as his boss and friend but does want to battle more."

"That can be arranged." Danny said with a more widened smile.

Bertram and Alakazam did the same thing for Bellsprout, Krabby and Pidgey.

"Bellsprout wants to battle way more." Danny looked awaiting but was relieved when Bertram smiled. "But he doesn't want to battle for anyone except you. He sees you as his master."

"Krabby is afraid he will make a mistake and you will be mad at him. He thinks you are a great trainer and he doesn't deserve a place on that team."

Danny directly kneeled down next to the crab Pokémon.

"You are worthy of this team, never forget that." Danny hugged with Krabby. "You are really strong."

Krabby couldn't be more happier.

"Pidgey thinks you act funny a lot but does owe you, because you treated him so well before you captured him. He respects you and wants to repay you."

Richard petted Danny on the shoulder.

"So apparently only Abra is disobedient, that's not that bad." He tried, but Danny still didn't like it.

"Alakazam could try to read the mind of Abra as well, but as he is asleep it will be harder, if not impossible." Bertram said, but seeing the look in Danny's face, he looked at Alakazam and nodded.

Alakazam used Mind Reader again, but she couldn't get through Abra's dreams.

"I'm sorry Danny, Alakazam can't get through." Bertram said.

"Well, thanks for the others. At least I know for sure 5 of the 6 respect me." Danny tried to say it as happy as he could, but the disappointment was hearable.

"Well, I'll be in the Pokémon centre if you need any help." Bertram said and walked inside, followed by his Alakazam.

"Well, what now?" Danny asked his friends desperately.

"Maybe you can talk with Abra when he wakes up?" Janine tried, but Danny shook his head.

"I don't think he will listen."

Their thoughts were interrupted by someone calling them.

"Hey!" two men and a woman ran towards them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you're discussion, but I think I have a way to get your Abra happy again." The front guy said.

"Tell us, please." Danny said.

"We will take your Pokémon." The guy said with a false grin. He pulled off his sweater and revealed a New Team Rocket shirt.

"Crap, those guys again." Richard said.

"Now, I'm sure you guys have some nice Pokémon. Hand them over and you can go." The first guy said.

"Ha, you guys must be real jokers. If you want them so bad you'll have to fight them first. Weezing, come on out."

"Sandshrew, Voltorb, help us out here to."

"Krabby, you can lead. Bellsprout, back him up."

Krabby, happy to be able to battle walked forward. For once Bellsprout didn't mind being backup, knowing that Krabby needed the realization that there would be help if he would go down.

"Well, I guess we will have to fight them. Zoey, get the girl. Beck, you get the one with the Sandshrew. I'll go for mister Abra."

Zoey nodded enthusiastic and let out a Golbat.

Beck said nothing and released his Ekans.

The front man, still with the grin on his face, let out an Arbok.

"Weezing, use Double Hit!" Weezing started to glow white and bashed into Zoey's Golbat, the first time it seemed to hurt, but the second time it really did some damage. Golbat barely keeps flying.

"Golbat, use Confuse Ray!" Zoey called out. The bat-like Pokémon's eyes started to swirl as it released a yellow/orange colored ball, which hit Weezing.

"Weezing?" Janine slowly asked, but the Poison Gas Pokémon didn't react. What he did do, was swirling around in the air.

Meanwhile, Richard was having an easy time battling Beck: Sandshrew had taken care of the Ekans already, two Scratches and a Slash did the trick.

Now Voltorb was having its very first battle for Richard, not that it had any trouble: Beck had send in a Zubat next.

"Voltorb, use Sonic boom." Voltorb just looked at Richard like he had no idea how to use that move.

"Wait, you don't know Sonic Boom?" Voltorb shook its head, which basically was rolling around horizontally.

Beck still didn't react. He just nodded and Zubat went forward and used Tackle, pushing Voltorb back.

"Okay Voltorb, just use a move you know."

Suddenly, Voltorb started to grin. Richard looked at Sandshrew, but neither seemed to understand what was that funny.

They would soon found out.

The giant blow stopped every battle and made all participants look towards Richard, who was now deaf. Same goes for Beck.

Voltorb was lying unconscious on the ground, still with the big grin on its face. Zubat was knocked out and laid in a nearby tree.

"Did it just…." Beck said, speaking for the first time.

"I think that was Explosion." Richard reacted. He didn't hear Beck, he just assumed he must have asked that.

"Well, I'm out. See ya boss." Beck just wandered away.

"Sandshrew, Voltorb, return." Richard returned his Pokémon. "I'm just gonna take a sleep, good luck with the battle guys." Richard also walked away towards the Pokémon centre.

"Well, that was weird." Danny said.

"Now, Arbok, use Crunch!" The NTR leader commanded. Arbok shot forward and bit Krabby. The last one cried out in pain but wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Krabby, use Bubble."

Arbok was barely impressed. The bubbles did hit, even from a close range, but they seemed to do no damage.

"Another Crunch." Arbok's second attack was too much for the crab Pokémon and he fainted.

"Now Bellsprout, it's up to you."

"Arbok, I'm sick of this, use Bind on the trainer." Danny looked shocked when he heard it, but Arbok was moving in and before anyone could do anything, Arbok had Danny in a tight grip.

"Now, if you would like to hand over your Pokémon." The NTR chief said with a grin.

"Never. Janine, help!" Danny screamed.

Janine, however, was unconscious. Weezing had been drifting off and had hit her head. Weezing couldn't fight without an owner so Golbat had easily knocked it out.

"It seems that you are outmatched here." The leader grinned. "Now, are you going to give us your Pokémon now or what?"

Danny looked around him. Richard was gone, Janine knocked out, just as her Weezing. Beedrill and Pidgey where in their Pokéballs, which he couldn't reach due to Arbok being wrapped around him. Krabby was knocked out and Bellsprout and Charmander where trying to fight Arbok, but the Cobra Pokémon proofed to be too strong.

Then there was Abra.

"Abra, that's it. But he doesn't respects me, so calling him won't help."

"You really outdid yourself this time boss." Zoey praised. "With a little bit of training these might become some powerful assets to our teams."

But the boss began to laugh. "You think I'm going to add these to my team? No, I'm going to sell them on the black market."

"Hell no, I need to find a way to get through to Abra."

"Abra! Help us, please!" Danny tried, but Abra kept on sleeping.

"Yeah, you can keep that one." The chief laughed "We don't need it."

"Abra, come on! We need you." Danny had given up all hope but just kept screaming. Too bad the Pokémon Centre was too far off to hear him, otherwise Bertram could have helped.

All of a sudden, Arbok's tight grip started to loosen up. Danny was completely freed and Arbok was floating in the air.

Walking towards them was an angry Abra, who had used Psychic on Arbok and was now in control.

"What!?" The chief was confused but also interested. "This might be better then expected."

"Abra, you came through!" Danny said overexcited.

Abra didn't respond, he just smacked the Arbok in a nearby tree.

"Arbok, use Crunch!" the NTR boss commanded.

"Abra, another Psychic. Charmander, go with Ember. Bellsprout, Vine Whip!"

Abra had Arbok back in the air in no time and with the joined forces of Charmander and Bellsprout the Psy Pokémon had an easy task.

For Arbok all the attacks where too much and after Abra had let go it fell defeated to the ground.

"Don't think this is over. Arbok return." The chief growled in anger. "Go Graveler." But before he could let out his second Pokémon, the Pokéball floated away.

"What?"

Abra had now used Psychic on the Pokéball so there wouldn't be a second Pokémon to deal with.

All of a sudden, police sirens where heard.

"Damn it. I'll get you next time." The chief said. He jumped in the air, grabbed Graveler's Pokéball and ran into the forest.

"But boss, what about me?" Zoey asked nervously. She started to run but realized someone stood in front of her.

"You are not going anywhere." Janine said. She felt ashamed she had passed out but was now back, just as her Weezing. Together they kept Zoey in place until Officer Jenny arrived.

At the same time Bertram came running out of the Pokémon Centre.

"What happened here." He asked.

Officer Jenny was about to ask the same question.

"That's a good story." Danny grinned, as he explained how Arbok proofed too strong for all of his Pokémon, except for Abra.

"So you did get through his dreams." Bertram smiled. "Do you want Alakazam to read his mind?"

"No, I'm sure Abra and I are okay. And besides, it already fell asleep again." Danny said while pointing towards an unconscious Abra.

"Like I said, Aba need a lot of sleep, it will make them stronger once they are Alakazam's" Bertram laughed.

"How did you found out something happened her." Janine asked in the meantime to Jenny, while the last one was handcuffing Zoey.

"A shocked and apparently deaf member of the NTR came walking into my office, asking if I could help him out. He told me everything."

Later

"I'm sorry I couldn't help out." Richard said sadly. He was laying on his bed. The Explosion attack from Voltorb hadn't done any damage to his hearing system, but he did get a pretty big headache.

"Don't mention it. Thanks to Abra whe are all okay." Danny said, petting Abra on his head.

"Yeah but still, that guy with the Arbok was pretty strong. Stronger than of the NTR members we encountered so far." Janine thought out loud.

"Yeah, that's true. But he's gone now and two more are imprisoned." Danny said happily, but also a little too loud.

"Danny…. Please." Richard moaned.

"Sorry Richard." Danny said, now extremely softly.

"We should give you some rest." Janine suggested and Danny nodded.

"See you tomorrow Richard." They waved him goodbye and walked into the main lobby.

"I'm gonna call my dad, tell him that all my Pokémon are respecting me and are happy with me as their trainer." Danny said overjoyed. Janine nodded and walked towards the window.

"You are out there, watching me, aren't you?" Janine said to no-one in particular. "I hope you are at least a little proud of me…"

I'm back. I wanted to get this one out for quite some time, but now the time is there. The last sentence is something I do almost every night. I watch out of the window and hope that whatever I did this day made my grandpa at least a little bit proud.

So, there are two things that will change: Firstly, after the upcoming three weeks, in which I will be too busy for school to update, I want to update weekly again. Writing this again feels good so I will start continue it.

Secondly, and this one is mostly for myself, I always cared so much about the views and what people thought about my story. I will be honest, I was kinda sad when this story got so little response and not that many views. I talked to other Pokémon fans online and the changes I should make to this story according to them are pretty big and I wanted to keep it more like I had it in mind. I also decided to stop caring about what other people think of my story. If you want to read it, I'm glad you do. If you like it, I'm happy I could provide it for you. If you respond or give a like I highly appreciate it. But if you don't care about it, want it to be completely different, I don't care anymore. It is my story, something I started and which I'm proud off, so I decide the big lines. This sounds cruel, even when I wrote it down, but it is something I just wanted to point out. I still take suggestions for filler chapters, one-time characters and their Pokémon or even a small-time rival, but things like 'Danny getting fat' I won't add, because the story is serious and not a joke.

That being said, I hope there are still people who follow and like my story, if you do, please leave a comment so I can react and tell you how much I appreciate it. And like I said, the suggestions are welcome, as long as they are not major plot points, as I like to think of those myself.

I wish you all the best,

Danny Williams