Chapter 7 – Too Young To Be A Trainer? A New Companion!

"Is that all, sir?"

"Yeah, I think that'll be enough for the trip to Cerulean City. What do you think, Chris?"

Chris nods. "Probably, yeah."

The clerk rings up the items. "That'll be 60,000 zenny." Zac gives a low whistle. "Wow, that's a chunk out of our budget... Whatever! We'll just win it all back, and then some, by beatin' the shit out of every Trainer we can on the road to Mt. Moon!" Chris shook his head. "Remember, we can't go crazy there. We'll use up all our healing items and stuff by the time we reach Mt. Moon... Brock said there will be a Pokémon Center there, but he didn't say anything about a Mart..."

"Yeah, yeah," says Zac, waving it off. "Look how much I care. Oh, wait... I don't!" They take their merchandise and leave the Mart. Chris sighs. "You are truly hopeless, Zac... Carefree is one thing; freakin' completely reckless to the point of endangering our lives is another!" "Endangering our lives?" Zac snickers. "I don't think so, dough boy. You're overreactin' a bit." Chris sighs again. "You're gonna get us killed one day... you freak."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" Zac chases Chris down the road. Chris sprints as fast as he can with tears in his eyes, Zac right behind him growling angrily. Squirtle and Bulbasaur keep up with them while laughing. People stare at them as the pass.

Zac hits Chris on the head. They stop running and continue on at a normal pace. Chris rubs his head. "Ow. Why did you have to hit so hard?" Zac pushes up his right sleeve and flexes his arm dangerously. "You wanna know what getting hit hard really feels like?" "Uh, heh heh, no thanks."

They reach the gate leading out of Pewter City. A sign tells them the Route they're about to follow will lead them to Mt. Moon. Zac takes a deep breath and releases it. "You ready, guys?" Chris and the Pokémon nod, and they all walk out of Pewter.

There are fences around the paths on the Route to Mt. Moon. The group reaches a corner. They can't see what's beyond the corner because of a fence there. As soon as they turn the corner, something very fast collides into Zac... hard.

Zac yells out in pain as he and the kid who just ran into him go flying and hit the ground. Chris and the Pokémon whirl around and run to Zac and the kid.

"Are you two all right?" Chris asks uncertainly. A Pikachu also comes running around the corner. It sees the kid on the ground and stops dead in its tracks. It cocks its head curiously as it looks at the kid's face.

"Pika?"

Zac slowly gets up, rubbing his head. "Ow, the ground sure is a painful thing to hit your head on..." He looks down at the kid. He has curly blond hair, a blue puffy jacket, and blue jeans. His eyes are still closed.

Chris raises an eyebrow. "Do you think he's o-"

He's interrupted by the boy suddenly opening his hazel eyes and yelling incoherently. He springs up and looks around him. Then he looks at Zac. He freezes and stares. Pikachu looks at Squirtle and does the same.

"Do I know you?" Zac asks in an annoyed tone of voice. (Wait... he seems familiar...) "No, really, do I know you?" he repeats in a truly curious tone of voice.

"Uhh... Hi! I'm Andrew, and I'm 6 years old!"

"Andrew...?" Zac says slowly. He suddenly remembers. "Oh, Andrew! Andrew Homlish! Chris, this kid lives down the street from me! Or least, he did when we were still in the reality..." Chris chuckles. "Hee hee... Homlish. That sounds like a breakfast food of some sort."

"Breakfast?" Andrew says, confused. "No thanks. I would love some chicken nuggets, though." Zac looks at him like he's weird... which he is. "Uh, Andrew, do you remember who I am?" Andrew grins. "You must be the ice cream man!" Zac shakes his head. "No. I'm Zac."

Andrew positively squeals with delight. "Oh, Zac!" He runs up and hugs him. He only just reaches Zac's chest. He is only six, after all. Zac gently pushes him off. "Andrew, please... Someone might see that and think strange things." "Ooookay," Andrew says happily and lets go.

The Pikachu is still staring at Squirtle. Squirtle waves a very small arm right in front of Pikachu's face. It doesn't respond; it just keeps staring in the same spot Squirtle was standing just a few seconds ago. Squirtle gives Zac a confused look. Zac shrugs in response.

"So, uh, Andrew, two questions: how did you get here, and is that Pikachu yours?"

"Well, I think this Pikachu is mine," Andrew responds thoughtfully. "I went into this really big forest, with lots of trees and stuff, and this Pikachu just started followin' me. And I dunno how I got here. Everything was all swirly, then all black, then all... cartoony."

"Same with us," says Chris. "What town were you teleported to?" "That one," Andrew answers, pointing behind him toward Pewter City.

"Okay, that's great," says Zac. "Now, why the hell did you run into me?" Andrew shrugs. "I really like running. Ridiculously fast is the best kind of running, too!" Everyone (except Pikachu) falls down anime-style.

"I fought Brock," Andrew says out of the blue. Chris raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit young?" "That's what he told me, but I didn't shut up until he let me battle him." Andrew giggles. "Anyway... I lost. The ref said it was 45 seconds. Is that fast?"

Everyone except Pikachu falls down anime-style again.

"He told me to get a Mankey or something like that." Zac raises his eyebrows. "Did he, now? Why would he want to help you?" Andrew shrugs. "Beats me. Ooh, I know! Why don't you guys help me catch a Mankey? Brock said I can get one in that big forest with lots of trees and stuff."

Zac sighs. "It's called the Viridian Forest, and just so you know, all forests have lots of trees. At least, all healthy forest have lots of trees. Anyway, that's beside point." He looks at Chris. "You wanna help him?" "It's up to you," Chris sighs. (Like he cares about my opinion, anyway...)

Zac grins. "All right, let's go!"

Andrew cheers happily. Pikachu snaps out of its reverie and cheers along with its Trainer.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER…

"Hey, I think I found one!" Zac yells excitedly.

"G-g-good," Chris says through chattering teeth. "I'm s-s-so c-c-cold."

"Oh, get over it," says Zac. Although, he has to admit it IS pretty damn cold. It is near the end of January, and the wind is blowing pretty hard. Andrew, however, seems completely unfazed by the brutal weather. He suddenly appears at Zac's side. He was completely out of sight just a second ago.

"Where did you-! How did you-! ... Never mind." Zac points up to a nearby tree. "I saw one moving around in the branches up there."

Andrew rubs his chin thoughtfully, nods in understanding, and throws a rock at the branches.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Zac yells. "Mankey are easy to piss off! It's gonna attack us now! Viciously attack us!"

Nothing happens.

Andrew picks up a handful of rocks and throws them at the branches.

This time something happens. The Mankey Zac spotted a few minutes ago jumps out of the tree, yelling incoherently. It lands on Squirtle, pinning him to the ground. The Mankey then proceeds to punch Squirtle in the face over and over again.

"Here's my chance!" Andrew says excitedly as Zac watches in utter horror. "Pikachu, go do something that'll cause pain to the Mankey!"

Pikachu nods. Zac screams. "NO! Don't do it! My Squir-"

It's too late. "Piiii-kaaa-CHUUU!" The electric mouse uses Thundershock on the Mankey... and Squirtle.

Mankey stops pummeling the now-charred Squirtle and turns its head to glare angrily at Pikachu. The little mouse glares right back and snarls at the savage monkey thing. Chris raises an eyebrow. (Cheeky little thing. Now it's gonna get its ass kicked. I can't let that happen; it's just too damn cute!) "Go, Pidgey!" Chris throws the Pokéball and his Pidgey comes out. "See that Mankey? Use Gust on it!"

It is lucky coincidence that Pikachu decides to use Thundershock at the same time. The Gust, which is super effective against Mankey, and the Thundershock are enough to finish Mankey. Mankey still hasn't "fainted" though.

Andrew runs up to it really close, drops an empty Pokéball on its head, and runs away from it as the Ball opens up and captures it.

Zac looks at Andrew questioningly. "Um, two things: one, where the hell did you get Pokéballs, and two, why the hell did you catch it like that?"

"Brock gave me 5 Pokéballs, and I can't throw very well. I did not want to miss."

Chris returns his Pidgey with a "Good job" and shakes his head. "You are one weird kid."

"Yeah, but I have a Mankey now! Now I'm gonna go beat Brock for sure!" He starts marching away. Zac grabs him by the back of his shirt and pulls him back.

"Not yet. You gotta bring it to a Center, then train it. It needs to learn at least one Fighting-type move before you challenge Brock again. I think the first Fighting thing it learns is... Low Kick. I'll help you train."

"Yay! Let's go to McDonalds now!" Andrew cries cheerfully. "Um, there are no McDonalds places here..." Zac says slowly.

Andrew takes his Mankey to the Pewter Pokémon Center. Zac's Squirtle accompanies Mankey for treatment.

After they do that, they leave Pewter City and walk to an open area where they can train.

"Okay, Andrew, are you ready?" says Zac, afraid of what he is subjecting himself to. "Release your Mankey. No, Mankey is not in that rock. N-no, he's definitely not in that orange... There you go! Now, push the little button on the front to bring it to its full size. No, there's no button the top of it. I said the fr- No! Slamming it on the ground isn't gonna- STEPPING ON IT ISN'T HELPING EITHER! Good, you pressed the button. It's big now, see? Now throw it to release it. ... Are you kidding me? You threw an empty one? Grrr... now pick it up and put it back in your bag. Good. Now take out the Ball with the Mankey in it. Are you sure that's the one? Good. Now push the button and throw it. ... Okay, Andrew, I'm not even gonna ask how you got my Spearow's Ball. Return my Spearow by pressing the button. Good. Now GIVE IT BACK!"

So, yeah. Andrew is not a quick learner.

They struggle on through the basics. Eventually, they have a decent battle going on between Kakuna and Mankey. Kakuna defeated it the first three times, but Mankey was brought back with Potions each time and he kept coming for more. The fourth time, it got used to Kakuna'a fighting style and it defeated the Bug.

"Good! Chris, come here. This is a good opportunity to train your Caterpie and get it to evolve." Zac returns his Kakuna and steps away. Chris takes his place and sends out Caterpie.

Caterpie gets its ass handed to it twice. The third battle, it evolves and immediately uses Harden. Mankey hurts its hand. Metapod then proceeded to Tackle its opponent to death.

Now Mankey has had at least one round against every Pokémon (except Squirtle and Bulbasaur). It finally learns Low Kick. It also knows Scratch, Focus Energy, and Fury Swipes.

Zac looks at his Pokédex. It's already 6:00 PM. "All right," he sighs. "Let's go take a break, and at 7:00 you'll have your rematch."

"Yay!" Andrew cheers. "I have a craving for jelly beans! Let's get some!"

Everyone falls down anime-style.

"Well, well, well, I didn't expect to see you guys again so soon."

Zac and Chris shrug. "Well, we didn't expect to run into this one," Zac replies, pointing at Andrew. "He, too, is from that other world we were telling you about."

Brock is very surprised to hear this. "Oh, wow! No wonder he looked so confused when I first met him."

Zac sighs. "No, he's just like that all the time." Andrew starts to repeatedly walk into a wall and call out "Strudel!" every time he hits the wall. Zac scratches his head. "Although, he wasn't really that strange in our home world. I mean, he was hyperactive and all, but he wasn't nuts like this. The trip here must have screwed up his brain somehow..."

So, after Andrew finishes the muffin Chris gave him to distract him from the wall, the battle starts. Brock throws off his trench coat and releases Geodude. Andrew releases Mankey.

"Challenger Andrew Homlish from an alternate universe versus Pewter Gym Leader Brock," the ref calls out. "Begin the match!"

The battle that Zac and Chris proceed to witness is jaw-droppingly short.

Mankey comes in on Geodude like a rabid possum and uses Fury Swipes again and again on its face. Geodude is finally able to push Mankey off. Mankey then hits him with a Low Kick.

"Geodude is no longer able to battle! Mankey wins!"

Mankey attacks the ref and bites his arm.

After Mankey is forcibly pulled off the ref, the match continues.

Brock releases Onix.

"Use... uh... Focus... Energy! Yeah, that one!" Andrew calls. "Use Rock Throw, Onix!" The lithe and agile Mankey easily dodges the rocks. The Focus Energy has Mankey all riled up. It starts screeching. "Low Kick!" Mankey starts charging before Andrew could even finish yelling the attack name. It kicks Onix exceptionally hard in the lower body region. This causes Onix to fall down. Mankey then follows up with another powerful Low Kick right to the face. Onix's head slides a few feet back from the impact. It doesn't move again.

Since Mankey knocked the ref out earlier, no one announces Andrew's victory. However, it's pretty damn obvious to everyone that he has won.

Andrew and Brock return their Pokémon, and Brock gives him a Boulderbadge. He wipes a tear out of his eye. "I had to give three of those in one day... I don't normally lose like this..." He smiles. "You guys are exceptionally strong. Keep up the good work."

The group eats dinner with Brock and his family again. They had to tie Andrew to his chair to keep him from starting a heavy, ceramic plate fight, but besides that, the dinner goes very well. Brock insists that they sleep there again, so they do.

Andrew is bouncing all over his bed. "I wanna play, let's play, let's eat CANDY, sugar is good, we can play all night, we can never go to sleep, we can stay up forever and live on jelly beans, we can-" He falls asleep in midair and falls back down onto his bed, snoring.

Chris is staring at Andrew in horror. "If he's gonna travel with us, we have to do something about the craziness..."

Zac chuckles. "I guess. I'm sure we'll learn to live with it."

They turn out the lights and crawl sleepily into bed.

"You know, Chris," Zac says after a while, "Andrew has serious potential."

"For being the most insane person in the world? This world and our world?"

"No, for being a great Trainer. It took us a while to get him started, but look at how well he and Mankey did against Brock today. He didn't have any troubles at all! And we did."

Chris sighs. "Whatever. Great Trainer or not, he needs to learn how to calm down..." Chris starts snoring.

Zac looks up at the ceiling. (I can't wait to go against all those Trainers tomorrow. Brock said there'll be tons of 'em on the way to Mt. Moon! I can't wait...)

Zac finally joins the others and falls fast asleep.

I am warning you now: Andrew is gonna be crazy like this throughout the whole story. However, I think he is very funny. He says and does the most random shit, and I find that kind of humor very funny. So if you don't like Andrew... get over it:) Hope you like it so far!