Sorry it's been awhile. Vacation and writer's block don't mix, and I've been working on my Harvest Moon story, so I got a bit distracted.

Reviews and stuff:

I absolutely ADORE Elesa. She's the cutest little Blitzle I've ever read

How many Blitzle have you read about? lol, thanks.

continuing from my last review and your response. a training trip can be

anything, not just training, for example it can be a holiday at a lake where

the pokemon relax and you get some training in when storms bored, instead of

walking most of the day. if u need someone to help with idea's in full of them, an overactive imagination.

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

Really enjoying it (even though i dont like the idea of killing pokemon)... Looking forward to more chapters! BTW your awesome story convinced me to make a fanfiction account to better follow it. : )

I didn't like killing pokemon either, but it only makes sense. I gotta get my rare steak somewhere. But that's awesome that you made an account just for this. Now I HAVE to keep up the progress, lol.

Thanks to my broski MagikarpMaster for editing. Woo Woo Woo! You know it!

Cody: Bastion(Squirtle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Larvitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Elesa (Blitzle)

Heather: Somnos (Poliwag), Feathers (Pidgey), Nadine (Nidoran [F]), Oddish (Bella)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Croconaw, Nidorino, Onix, Jolteon

Chapter 14: The Truce

"So let me get this straight," Laurence said to Cody over the phone, "this cute girl flirts with you, leaves her number on your cast, and you don't even call her?"

"I didn't remember her name. That would have been so awkward. Besides, I was leaving the next day anyway." Cody replied. Laurence had called him while Heather was in a battle, so he and Antonia had walked into the thicket where he could talk on the phone without a lot of noise. Bastion was sitting on his backpack. The little turtle had ace bandages wrapped around his arms, since he had a rough battle with a Bellsprout earlier that day.

"Dude," Laurence sighed, "just come out of the freaking closet already."

"Har har, very cute," Cody groaned. "I need to stay focus-"
"You could have had a one night stand, and that's all it would have been. One night. Don't give me this shit about 'staying focused' or whatever."
"Need I remind you, I'm not out here to get laid. I'm out here to become a champion."

"And you're missing out on all that extra fun," Laurence pointed out.

"Yeah, well…" Cody couldn't find the words to say after that. He was distracted by Antonia, who was jabbing at his knee with her sharp beak. He gave her a light kick, and she grudgingly stopped.

"Is this about Heather and what's his face?" Laurence asked.

"Nah, I'm used to them. I'm just lucky they don't show a lot of PDA, or that would be annoying."

"Well, if it is Heather that's bothering you, finding another woman, or man in your case, would help."

"Thanks, I'll remember that," Cody sighed. "Look, I'm gonna get back to watching Heather battle. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay then… Oh, by the way, if you pass through Hattenburgh, there's this great little Mexican restaurant called Taco Taco. The prices are kinda steep, but you won't regret it."

"Okay, thanks," Cody replied. "See you around." He hung up and slipped his cell phone back into his pocket. "Let's go," he said to Antonia, who was now pecking at a nearby tree. She gave a resentful squawk before following her trainer. As the two walked together, Cody considered Jared's words. Maybe he was acting too seriously.

"Am I being too uptight?" he asked his pokemon. Antonia ignored him, but Bastion gave a small grunt. "Thanks, but was that a yes or a no?" he asked the Squirtle. He really wished he could speak turtle.

Cody arrived back at the scene of the battle to catch the conclusion of the match. Somnos fought very differently now that he was a Poliwhirl. Instead of running around and shooting bursts of water like he did when he was a Poliwag, he had become more of a physical fighter because he had steadier legs and two large fists. To protect his hands, Heather had bought him two fingerless black leather gloves, which he wore during battle since they were "league approved." Despite the transformation, Somnos still spent all of his spare time sleeping.

"Tackle it!" the opposing trainer shouted to her Azumarill. The plump aqua rabbit sprinted towards the Poliwhirl, but Somnos cleverly sidestepped the charge.

"Punch it!" Heather yelled. Somnos followed up his dodge with several well placed punches to the Azumarill's face as it turned around to face him again. The rabbit tried to slap the frog with its hands and tail, but Somnos gracefully dodged each appendage like a boxer dodges blows in a match, delivering punches of its own in between dodging. "Now Low Sweep!" Bending one knee, Somnos performed a circular leg sweep, knocking the Azumarill off balance. Before the rabbit could regain its footing, the frog sprang into the air above it and delivered a Body Slam to the prone pokemon. The assault had been too much for the opponent to bear.

"Alright Somnos!" Heather cheered as her Poliwhirl struck a pose, flexing his muscles. His new body had made him a little bit arrogant.

"He's gotten a lot better, hasn't he," Cody commented. Jared replied with a disinterested nod. The two of them were still having issues with each other. Cody understood that some of this tension was his fault, since antagonizing Jared was fun; but even so, Jared could be a real ass from time to time.

After collecting her winnings, Heather rejoined the boys with a proud Poliwhirl by her side. "Did I clean house or what? Somnos is so much better at fighting now. It's like he's a completely different pokemon." The frog croaked in agreement.

"I wouldn't get your hopes too high just yet," Jared stated. "Kito Grove gym is an electric gym, and you have two pokemon that are vulnerable to that element."

"Wow, thanks for killing my buzz right there," Heather chuckled.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Cody reassured. "I'm not so worried though. I have two ground pokemon and an electric pokemon that fuels herself on electricity. The way I see it, that badge is as good as mine."

"Don't let it get to your head," Jared said in an annoyed voice. "Gym leaders always have ways to counter their weaknesses. Just because you have ground pokemon doesn't assure you a victory."

"Whatever," Cody said, ignoring him. "We'll rock the house. My boys and I will win for sure, and you can take that to the bank."

"Why, because you beat some easy trainers in the last few weeks and you caught a Skarmory you can't even use yet?"
"No, because all I do is win, win, win, no matter what," Cody replied with a smirk. He was acting extra cocky on purpose now just to irk Jared, but he was feeling on top of his game at the moment. He hadn't lost a battle in weeks, and his pokemon seemed to getting stronger and smarter every day.

"Oh, that's cute, quoting a song. Don't say I didn't warn-"
"Hey, can you two of you guys battle us?" The teens were distracted from their discussion to see two younger boys standing near them. They both looked about thirteen, but what really stood out about their appearance was how raggedy they looked. They both were exceedingly thin and wear wearing dirty, ripped, clothing.

"Sure, how many badges do you guys have?" Jared asked.

"Um, we each have one," one of the boys asked. "Look, we just want to do a double battle, so does it matter?"
"I think it would," Jared said. "I have five badges. These two," he said, referring to Heather and Cody, "have one each, but she just got out of a batt-"
"We're not beginners," the other boy snapped. "We've been trainers for seven months. We just can't…" he blushed, "win anymore badges at the moment."
"Well, okay, if you really insist." Jared turned to Cody. "You want to help me out on this one?"
"Sure," Cody grunted. He had never battled on a team with Jared before, but given Jared's experience, he wasn't so worried. But he felt worry for the two boys. "What's your wager?"

"Each man throws in one hundred."

"One hundred? That sounds like an awful lot," Cody said in concern.

"What, you scared?" the other trainer taunted.

"No," Cody replied. I'm just scared for you.

"One hundred is fine," Jared said. "Let's throw down."

"Jared, maybe this is isn't such a good ide-"

"Cody, they want to battle, so let's give them a battle," Jared said sternly.

"Okay then," he shrugged. The two teams walked to opposite sides of the large clearing. Heather sat near some trees with the camcorder, ready to film, and Antonia sat a few feet off. She was tame enough to watch battles now without running into the fray.

"Let's make this battle a two pokemon per person fight. Does that sound cool?" one of the boys asked.

"Fine by me," Jared answered. "Let's roll." Each trainer grabbed a pokeball and tossed it onto the field. Elesa came out with a whinny, and Jared's Nidorino stood beside her. He scraped his feet against the ground, itching to fight. Facing them was a Trubbish and a Duskull. "Hey Cody, can your Blitzle handle the ghost? Nidorino isn't the best choice for fighting ghost types."
"I'll see what I can do. Elesa, Charge!" The little Blitzle let out a cry and began running around the clearing, building her electrical energy. Because of her speed, the Duskull and Trubbish didn't bother focusing their attacks on her, but went after the slower Nidorino instead. The one eyed ghost shot out a wave of darkness at the rabbit while the stinky Trubbish breathed out a purple mist of poison gas. The Nidorino easily dodged the Night Shade and ran straight through the poison gas to tackle the garbage bag pokemon. Jared's pokemon didn't seem phased at all by the gaseous cloud since he was a poisonous pokemon himself. He was hurt however by the Duskull's Shadow Sneak, but as the hit connected, the Nidorano gave a strike of retaliation via a Counter.

"Hey Cody?" Jared asked in concern.

"I'm on it. Elesa, Spark!" The juiced up Blitzle ran her electrified body into the side of the distracted Duskull, giving Nidorino the opportunity to strike the Trubbish again. The garbage pokemon fought back by spraying the Nidorano with acid, but Jared's pokemon was as tough as they come, and seemed nowhere near ready to quit. During this time, Duskull and Elesa were trading blasts of energy with each other, both taking loads of damage, but Elesa seemed to be taking these blows better.

"They're too strong. We need to blow stuff up," one of the opposing trainers said. "Let's go."

"Duskull, Will-o-wisp!" The skull ghost seemed to recite a deep voiced chant as it produced a ball of blue flame in front of it. It shot the flame at Elesa, who let out a shriek and ran away from the flame that chased her.

"Poison Gas!" the other trainer commanded. With a loud belch, the Trubbish released another poisonous gas cloud near Nidorino.

Wouldn't he realize by now that Nidorino is immune to poison? Cody thought to himself. There must be a method to the madness.

"Now!" Duskull's trainer shouted. The Duskull's blue flame suddenly stopped pursuing the Blitzle and flew straight towards the poisonous cloud. Cody then saw what the two were planning.

"Oh lor- Jared! Tell Nido-" It was too late. The blue flame touched the poison gas, and the mixture created an explosion. The Trubbish had gotten out of the way in time, but Nidorino wasn't so lucky. He took a direct hit from the explosion and was knocked over, his skin giving off a light smoke from the burns he had taken. Nevertheless, he managed to get to his feet, and he let out a small roar.

"Holy shit!" Cody shouted. Meanwhile, as Elesa was trying to attack the Duskull to prevent such attacks from reoccurring, the Trubbish began to run around the battle ground, burping up poisonous clouds every few steps. The grassy knoll was being turned into a minefield.

"Elesa, get out of there!" Cody commanded, but there was no good place to run with all the gas clouds around. She began to weave her way through the foggy field as Duskull sent out another Will-o-wisp. The fire started a chain reaction of small explosions, which Elesa tried to avoid, though she was hit by the last one.

"Okay Duskull, hit her directly with a Will-o-wisp!" the ghost's trainer shouted. The Duskull sent out another blue flame out towards the little horse, and it began to close in on the wounded steed.

"Head Smash!" Jared shouted. The purple pokemon smashed it's skull into the unaware Duskull. Jared's pokemon had made it over there during all the commotion and landed a powerful attack on the ghost, though it hurt himself in the process. As the ghost was knocked over, the blue flame it had shot out dissipated. Elesa stood up and began to charge the lone Trubbish, who shot a stream of sludge at the filly.

"Dodge it and use Spark!" Cody shouted.

"Take Down!" Jared ordered. Both Elesa and Nidorino circled the lone Trubbish and struck him in unison, sandwiching the pokemon between their bodies. The garbage pokemon let out one last burp and fell over. The Duskull tried to aid his companion, but Elesa and Nidorino shot a Shock Wave and a Poison Sting at the same time, overwhelming the ghost and causing him to faint. The opposing trainers returned their two fainted pokemon.

"Not bad, Storm," Jared said. "I can see why they wanted to go for a double battle. They got a nice combination."
"You're right. We better be ready for what they got next." No sooner than Cody said that then the opponents sent out their next pokemon. The first one was an Abra, but Cody had difficulty recognizing the second pokemon at first. It was a tiny little thing, even smaller than Mars. It body was covered in a fluffy yellow coat and it had four blue eyes. After a few more seconds, Cody recognized it as a Joltlik. "Aww, it's kind of cute," he said.

"Don't let your guard down, those things are tougher than they look," Jared said. "Nidorino, Take Down!" Jared's pokemon charged the Abra, but before he made contact, the psi-fox glowed with a purple light and disappeared. He reappeared several feet away and shot a blast of psychic energy at the bewildered Nidorino, who barely dodged it. At the same time, Cody ordered Elesa to stomp the little electric spider, but the tiny arachnid rolled out of the way and jumped onto the Blitzle's side, latching itself to the horse's skin. It dug its fangs into the filly's side, causing Elesa to screech in pain.

"Get it off, Elesa!" The horse began to run around and electrify her body in an attempt to shock the spider off, but the Joltik wouldn't let go. Cody realized that the spider's Leech Life was not only hurting Elesa, but it was also draining her of her electricity.

"Hey Jared, get Nidorino to get that bug off of Elesa's side. She's getting drained."

"Sure, Nidorino, get the Joltlik!" Nidorino left his fight with the Abra and charged toward Elesa and Joltik, but before he even got close, the Abra teleported onto Elesa's back, grabbed the Joltik, and teleported away. But Nidorino had no time to change his course of action, and he ended up tackling Elesa instead. Once Cody and Jared's pokemon recovered from the accidental strike, they both looked around. Where had the enemies gone?

Suddenly, the Abra reappeared with the Joltik sitting on his head. The two shot waves of psychic and electric energy at Cody's and Jared's pokemon, which they narrowly dodged. Nidorino tried to tackle the two opponents, but the Abra teleported the Joltik and itself out of the way in time. They reappeared a few feet away, except this time, the spider shot a sticky web at Nidorino, trapping him in place. Before teleporting again, the Abra hit Elesa with a Confusion attack. The psychic blast knocked her over filly. She struggled to her feet this time, but letting out a whinny, she barreled towards the two opponents and managed to strike them with an electrical charge, knocking Abra to the ground and Joltik off of his head. But suddenly, her body flashed into a beam of light and she returned to her pokeball. Cody just gaped.

"Jared, what the hell just happened? Elesa just-"

"It's called a Volt Switch," Jared answered between the orders he barked out Nidorino, who had managed to wriggle his way out of the spider web. Between the explosions caused earlier and the attacks he had endured now, the rabbit was beginning to fade, but he continued dodging the attacks of the enemies. "It works like Baton Pass or U-Turn. Only trainer owned pokemon can use these moves, since it involves switching back to the pokeball, but usually the technique has to be taught, since opening the pokeball by willpower is hard work. It's also a legal method in standard battles for switching pokemon when you normally can't do so. You can use her again later if you want."
"But I never taught her how to do a Volt Switch. How does she even kno-"
"Jesus, Cody! I have no clue! Just send out another pokemon already and help me!"
"Fine, fine," Cody grunted back. "Come on Mars!" The mole emerged with a burst and immediately burrowed to Nidorino's aid. The Abra sent a Psybeam at Diglett, but he avoided it and immediately shot a clot of mud into the Abra's face. The beam of energy did hit Nidorino though, and Jared's pokemon fell into a slump. He had taken quite a beating.

"Good work Nidorino!" Jared said as he recalled the rabbit. He picked another pokeball off of his belt. "You guys are going to want to back up," he announced to all the trainers.

"What, why?" One of the opponents asked, but Cody was already taking several steps backwards with Jared. He already knew that his partner was sending in the big guns. Jared threw a second pokeball and from the light emerged his largest pokemon: Onix. The rock snake let out a loud roar. It was still a young pokemon, being only twenty-five feet long and all, but it was still pretty ferocious in battle.

"Screech!"
"Mars, dig!" Cody shouted. The mole got underground just in time to avoid the piercing scream that Jared's Onix released. But the Abra and Joltik weren't so lucky. They both covered their ears with their forelimbs, giving Onix the opportune moment to slap at both of them with his tail. As both pokemon hit the ground, Mars popped up on cue to smash them with a Dig. The flustered Abra teleported away by himself while the stranded Joltik avoided Mars's Bulldoze and climbed up Onix's body before latching itself to the snake's head. It began to use Leech Life, which wouldn't take a large pokemon like Onix down, but could definitely affect his mental processes.

"Hey Cody?" Jared asked.

"I'm on it. Mars! Get the spider off of Onix's head!" With a squeak, Mars popped all the way out of the ground, and scurried all the way up the snake's body to swipe at the Joltik with his claws. The spider released its bite and began to fight back with its own claws. While the two tiny pokemon dueled on the behemoth's head, Onix was swinging his tail around, trying to hit the psi-fox as he continued to teleport and strike the snake with psychic energy.

Mars seemed really out of his element, fighting in such a high place outside of the ground in which he was so comfortable battling in. The mole suddenly lost his footing and fell off the Onix's head. Jared saw an opportunity.

"Onix, Rock Throw with the Diglett!" he shouted. Before Diglett hit the ground, Onix slapped him with his tail, and by lady luck's blessing, the mole was shot like a torpedo into Abra's torso. Both pokemon landed with a thud, though only Mars stood up, wobbling a little bit. But the mole took aim and shot a ball of mud at the miniscule Joltik that was still latched to Onix's head. The arachnid made a squeaking noise and fell off. The blow of hitting the ground finished him.

"Alright, that's a wrap!" Jared said. "Good work Onix!" The snake growled in approval. Cody walked over to where Mars was sitting. The mole looked happy, but sort of out of it. Cody sprayed his body down with a potion.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the Rock Throw thing. It was sort of spur of the moment," Jared apologized. "Is he okay?"
"I think so. I better keep him awake though. I think he might have a concussion. I really don't want him to get a brain hemorrhage." Cody picked up the Diglett and walked over to the two other trainers who looked extremely troubled that they lost.

"Well, I guess you guys win," one of them muttered. "Even if it was by dumb luck."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Jared answered. He almost sounded offended. "Granted, you guys were really intelligent double battlers. You had nice combo strategies and everything. But at the end of the day, Cody and I were better."

"Whatever," the other trainer said. The two boys began digging through their wallets for the money. As the two of them counted out their losings, Cody noticed that they had run out of big bills, and had begun to use ones and change. It was apparent that they would have little money after this, if any at all. Cody felt immensely bad.

"You know what," Cody began, "the battle was its own reward. You guys don't have to pay me my share."

The two boys gave Cody an astonished look. Jared just glared at him. Why is he mad? I didn't say they didn't have to pay him too.

"Are… are you serious?" one of the boys asked. He looked dumbfounded.

"Completely. Just pay Jared what you owe him, but you can keep my share." There was another awkward silence. The boys looked absolutely stunned, but finally, one of them nodded. With that, they paid Jared what they owed him and left.

"Well, that was nice of you," Heather commented as she rejoined the boys.

"Yeah, a bit too nice," Jared added. Cody rolled his eyes and looked down at Mars, who was beginning to doze off. He touched the mole's bulbous nose, waking the Diglett up again.

Jared… It's always one thing or another with that guy…

Cody and Antonia found their way back to camp in the darkness.

"About damn time!" Cody stuttered to himself as he and the chick reached the fire. It was now guarded by a small wall of large boulders which Cody realized was actually Jared's Onix. The rock snake pokemon proved to be a good mobile wall. Cody and his young Skarmory hoisted themselves over the Onix's body and found Jared and his Charmeleon sitting next to the fire, cooking a can of beans. Three small tents were set up behind him. Heather and Cody finally had to buy collapsible tent sets since the harsh winter would soon set in. It was more equipment to carry, but Cody did feel safer sleeping in a tent than he did out in the cold.

"Where's my pack?" Cody asked in a slurred voice as he approached the fire. "I need an antidote now."

"Over there," Jared said, pointing to the tents. "What's with your voice? You sound weird."

"I got poisoned," Cody answered. He staggered over to the tents, grabbed his pack, and dragged it over to the fire.

"What? How did that happen?" Jared asked. He actually sounded concerned.

"Well, Antonia and I were hunting and she decided she wanted to eat a Kakuna tonight. Of course, I had to take the first few bites for dominance reasons, and this happened." He finally found an antidote in his pack, and sprayed it on his tongue. It tasted like cough syrup. "I know these are meant for pokemon, but they work on us too, right?"

"Antidotes should, I believe. Does your Skarmory need one too?"

"No, steel type pokemon are pretty resilient to poison, you know. She seems okay." Cody noticed his voice was already turning back to normal. Feeling more relaxed, he stretched his arms and placed a hand on Antonia's back. She gave a small squawk, and cautiously laid her head on Cody's knee. She still didn't like him all that much, but the two hadn't fought once in the past two weeks and she seemed to be getting more comfortable with her trainer. Cody also noticed that she was getting bigger, that her skin was becoming tougher, and she was growing a light coat of tiny feathers all over her body. He was glad she no longer got into skirmishes with him, because she could probably kill him now.

Bastion, who was sleeping in his shell over near the tents, also joined his trainer by the fire, laying out in front of him. "So where's Heather?" Cody finally asked.

"Her Nidoran is hungry. They went out looking for food."

"Looks like it's just you and me then," Cody announced.

"Oh goodie…" Jared replied unenthusiastically. Cody felt the same way. Hanging out with Jared wasn't a very appealing thing to do, but it looked like it was inevitable now.

"So… what's up?" Cody asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Nothing has been up since the last time we spoke," Jared answered flatly. He was still staring at the beans he was cooking.

"Okay… That was a nice double battle we had earlier, huh?"

"We won, so yeah," Jared replied. Cody put his head in his hand. Conversing with Jared was proving impossible.

"So… tell me about yourself. We've been traveling together for about two months, and I barely know-"
"Cody, please, just cut the crap," Jared sighed, cutting Cody off. "I know you don't like me and I'm not particularly fond of you either, so quit pretending to be interested in my existence, okay?"

"Who says I don't like you? I'm okay with you. You're a good trainer and watching you batt-"

"That's a god awful reason to like somebody," Jared snapped as he turned his head to face Cody. He looked incredibly pissed off. "And quit lying to me. Even a retarded Zubat could see that we don't like each other. I know you think I'm pushy and annoying, but you're such a narcissist. You think you're hot shit just because you've won a few battles, but that's nothing in the grand scheme of things."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be friendly to you," Cody shot back. "I was just trying to be a decent person."

"More like fake, considering you dislike me."
"Fine! You're right!" Cody shouted while throwing his hands up in the air. "To be honest, I can't stand you. But I'm doing this for Heather's sake. She's my friend, and she really likes you, so I'm trying to find a good reason to like you too. So if you aren't cool with me for being an arrogant bastard, how about you try to be cool with me for her sake."

Jared didn't respond for a few seconds, but just stared with a stunned look at Cody. But after a minute, his face returned to its normal bored look.

"Come on, do it for her," Cody urged. "If you score points with me, you'll double that with her."

After a few seconds, Jared let out a long sigh. "You really want to know about me, Storm?" he asked. "Well fine. I'm from Lockwood Heights. My father is dead, my mother is an alcoholic in rehab, and my little sister is in foster care. Knowing how much I wanted to be a trainer, my mother bought me a Charmander for my fifteenth birthday. I told her that it was a frivolous thing to do, given that our family is in shambles, but seeing that she's probably never going to regain custody of my little sister again, I decided that if I managed to become a professional trainer, I could become an emancipated adult and gain custody of Dina myself. It's a risk, but I could potentially reach professional trainer status faster than I could get a job straight out of high school. That job could also be a lot more stable career if I'm good. But in order to get sponsorships and big name tourney invites, I have to get recognition from the panel for Skitrexian trainers. Unfortunately, they're very picky, so I have to keep winning badges and participating in tourneys when I can. Winning the Diamond Beach Tournament would be my ace in the hole, but I'm nowhere near ready. The way I see it, traveling with you guys may put me behind schedule, but it gives me more time for my pokemon and I to perfect our craft." He breathed in deeply. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

"Wow, I had no idea," Cody whispered. Jared's life story not only stunned him, but put his own story of family issues to shame.

"I didn't expect you to. I don't like to talk about my crap. I just pray to God that I can make it as a pro, so my sister doesn't continue to bounce between foster families forever." He took another breath. "So, what's your story, Storm?"
Cody told Jared about his upbringing and his brother's abandonment. Jared listened patiently, but didn't seem to stir him at all, probably because Cody's story paled in comparison.

"That's harsh," he stated after Cody finished his story.

"You think so? I mean, it's not as bad as your- I mean, it's not as… crap." Cody put his head in his hand.

"No, no, don't worry about it," Jared said. "I guess we're more alike than I thought. Two misfits trying to prove something to the world."
"Yeah… But hey, we're misfits who win, right?" Cody joked. He ran his hand over Antonia's back. Touching the feathers felt like rubbing a fish's scales backwards, since they were firm and jagged.

"Yeah, about that, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," Jared began, "when we beat those trainers today in that double battle, why did you not take the money that you won?"

"Because they looked like they needed it more than I did," Cody answered truthfully. "They didn't even have potions for their pokemon. Taking their money just seemed… well… wrong. I mean, we got experience from the match, and-"
"Cody," Jared interrupted, "I know you meant well by doing that, but you also humiliated them. No trainer wants to be pitied."

"It wasn't pity, it was just the right thing to do. I remember meeting this guy near Kindle City who was talking about how there are a lot of trainers out there who can't get a good start and so they fall into poverty and crime," Cody explained, remembering Frank's words. "If I took that money, they may not of had enough to get their next meal or get supplies for their pokemon's health."

"All that may be true, but that's the risk you take in this business," Jared reminded him. "If it bothers you so much, don't go asking poor trainers for battles, but if they ask you, give them what they want and accept your winnings if you're victorious." He sighed. "It's a sink or swim world out there. Lucky for you, Heather, and I, we're all swimming pretty well right about now. If you're too soft about accepting winnings, you could end up like them. Imagine it Cody: having no money to buy food for yourself or medical supplies for your pokemon. What would happen then?"
Cody was silent for a few seconds. He looked at Antonia, who had been staring at him for quite awhile now. What if Cody didn't have the potions to heal her after all of the scraps the two of them had been in?

"I guess you're right," he admitted. Suddenly, a smile sprung onto his face. "You sly dog, you're giving me this advice and all like I'm your buddy or something. You actually care about me!"

"Don't let it get to your head, I'm worried about your pokemon, not you," Jared clarified. "No matter what I think about you, it would be a shame if anything were to happen to your pokemon."

"Aw, you hear that?" Cody asked his Skarmory. "Somebody loves you." Antonia let out a small uncaring squawk.

"Your bird takes after you, you know," Jared commented, looking at Cody's Skarmory.

"Really? How do you figure?"
"Well, you both are vain in thinking that you're the very best that no one ever was, but admittedly, you both have a lot of potential."
"You really mean that? No bull shitting?" Cody asked. He truly felt flattered. Despite his dislike for Jared, he appreciated receiving a compliment from a much more experienced trainer.

"Yes, you've been getting better every day," Jared answered sincerely. "Even though you can come off as an arrogant douche at times, I guess you have every right to do so. Not only are your pokemon winning, but they seem to be… well… getting smarter. I mean, you can have a strong pokemon with a great battle sense, but they can still be at the mercy of their trainer's commands as far as what they believe they should do next. The way you train your pokemon I noticed, you seem to be teaching them how to think for themselves and how to solve problems on their own in a creative way. That will pay off in the future if you keep it up."

"Wow, that means a lot to me," Cody replied. "Thanks Jared. And you're not so bad yourself."
"Thanks Cody. Maybe you'll be at my level in a year or so."

"Oh, it won't be that long," Cody chuckled. "Try six months."

"There's that arrogance again."
"Hey, don't be sipping on that haterade," Cody laughed. It was weird. The conversation had taken a good turn. "What do you say, Jared? Should we come to a truce? Put all this stupidity behind us?"

"Sure," Jared answered simply. Both trainers extended their hands in an offering of peace, but Cody's was in the form of a fist. He opened his hand so he could shake Jared's, but Jared had switched his hand to a fist at the same moment. The two then laughed and gave up on trying to shake hands or pound fists. Cody realized that he must have done something right, since Jared rarely ever seemed to laugh.

"So," Jared said as he pulled the pot of beans out of the fire, "want some?"

"Ah, what the hell, sure." A truce over food was better than a fist bump any day.

Kind of off-topic, but who saw the last Harry Potter movie? I liked it, though it was kind of ridiculous how unintentionally funny Voldemort was. Every time he cast a spell, his voice was all "NYAAAH!" and I was all "wut?" Still, I'm glad it's over. It is kind of sad, but now I can move on with my life XD.

So review if you have the urge. Next chapter should be up in a week, but no promises. Peace out trainers.