Author's Notes:

The next few chapters may move a little fast, but that is only because I have a lot of time to cover. I think the main reason I don't like writing is because I'm such a slow typist and I have so much story to cover.

But anyways, time to get on with the show. Don't forget to review!

To Be a Trainer

Jet's mom was beside herself when she saw her baby's battle wounds. "I should go down there and give that Professor Oak a piece of my mind!"

"No mom," said Jet, "It's a hazard of the job. I knew what I was getting into when I accepted the position."

"He's right, hun," Jet's father said, "You know how dangerous it is raising Pokémon. Especially one you didn't capture yourself. They're just too aggressive to be locked in a small aquarium like that."

This intensified Mrs. Brown's anger, "They should not allow kids that young to be around Pokémon! It's just not safe! You always hear stories on the news about kids who end up injured or killed because they go out with dreams of being a Pokémon trainer.

"I didn't have my first Pokémon until I was twenty, and even than it was a handful, and it was only a wild Sentret! But I figured, 'Oh, it will be fine! He can work for Oak. After all, he's a fucking professional! There is no way he'd let my baby get hurt!' What the hell kind of operation are they running over there? Leaving a fourteen year old alone with twenty Pokémon? Twenty! One of whom is potentially homicidal!"

Jet's dad cut in, "Well Oak did fire the people who left Jet alone with the Pokémon. And gave Jet the next few days off with pay, that's pretty reasona-"

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STAND THERE AND PRETEND EVERYTHING'S FINE AND FUCKING DANDY, DAVID! LOOK AT YOUR SON'S BACK!" and with that, Mrs. Brown turn Jet around and pulled up his shirt. "You can't tell me that this is alright! It's not alright! He can't work there anymore!"

Jet turned around, "Wait, mom, no! I want to work there! It's fine, really! Professor Oak came as soon as he heard I was in trouble! Besides, I can't exactly go work at McDonald's now. Not after getting hired at the research center, do you know what kind of benefits I get for staying over there long term?"

Jet's mom didn't look convinced so he went on, "If I stay there, then I'll get to take all kinds of courses on Pokémon training for free that most trainers pay thousands to take! By the time I graduate high school, I can have my Class A trainer's license. That's the equivalent of having a college degree in Pokémon training!

"You have to take all kinds of courses in medicine and battle strategies to get one. Do you know how much money is in the Pokémon field? If I get my class A, I could end up making over seventy thousand a year just for traveling and doing field research! And that's fresh out of high school!"

Jet's dad said, "That's good and everything but I thought you wanted to be a doctor?"

Jet was about to answer when his mom cut in, "You don't make that much starting straight out of high school. Even with a class A you need experience in order to get a good job in that field, which puts you in the field of fire!"

"I know mom," Jet said, "but it's still something to fall back on. In case everything doesn't work out in med school, I could make a lot of money studying Pokémon."

Mrs. Brown put her hand on her forehead and sighed, "And you get all of this training for free?"

Jet nodded, "Well, it's not that easy. There are tests I have to take; a lot of them."

Mrs. Brown nodded and said, "If you come home with anymore injuries then I don't care if this job pays your way through medical school, you will quit. Am I clear?"

Jet nodded, "Yes, mom."

XXX

The next day Jet got a call from Brian.

"Jet, dude, everyone is watching the tape."

Jet was confused, "Umm, that's great! Exactly which tape are we talking about here?"

Brian laughed over the phone, "The security footage of you giving the Horsea a bath! Well actually, it's more like an all-out battle royal betw- holy shit dude that looked like it hurt!"

Jet felt a sense of embarrassment, "Wait Brian who's everyone? Are you guys watching it now?

He heard Brian wince through the phone, "I mean everyone as in everyone. Somehow the tape leaked on YouTube, and we're all on our break… hold on."

Jet was getting annoyed, YouTube? Are you fucking serious? Brian's voice came back over the phone, "Dude, are you there? We just watched the part with the net, Amy just said that was the coolest shit see ever seen in her life."

Then Jet heard Amy's voice through the phone, "You're awesome Jet!"

Brian spoke again, "Yeah, Amy says you're-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard her." Jet went from feeling annoyed, to feeling very pleased with himself for some reason. He sat down at his computer and went on YouTube.

"Brian, what's the name of the video?"

"Umm," Brian asked Jet's question, "It's kid gets pwned, that's p-w-n-e-d, by a Horsea."

Jet felt less pleased with himself after hearing the title. He found the video and pulled it up. From the outside looking in, it was a pretty awesome video.

"Damn! 249,342 hits? Already?"

Brian laughed, "Yeah dude, I know! Oh wait, hold on… I got to get back to work, break times over. Hope you feel better, man!"

"Alright, bye." Jet was pleased to see that an outsider couldn't tell he puked after getting tackled due to the camera angle. He was less pleased, however, that his yell from getting hit with the bubble attack was completely audible.

Jet read the comments for the video. Most of them were observations about exactly how painful those Water-Guns looked. There were some negative comments:

Wooow this guy cant even handle a horsea? And he works for a Pokémon lab?

Or:

Haha, 2:54 he yells like biotch

There were also some positive ones:

Damn, that kid can take a beating.

Or:

This guy doesn't need a pokeball or his own Pokémon, he just catches them with a fucking net! Badass

When Jet returned to work he found that everybody and their mothers had seen the footage of his battle with Horsea. Although he did have to endure some ridicule for getting his ass handed to him by a Pokémon one tenth his size, most of the people agreed that his efforts were nothing short of valiant; if not a bit stupid.

Those who had dealt with said Horsea in the past had hailed Jet as a hero. Even the Pokémon seemed to have gained a newfound respect for Jet. During his first time at the Aquatic Pokémon Daycare since the Horsea incident, every Pokémon in the room lined up to receive their bath without fuss. What surprised him most, however, was that the first Pokémon in line for a bath was Horsea.

"He must have gained some sense of respect for you since your last encounter." Professor Oak said. He was supervising the bathing of the aquatic Pokémon to prevent further incident, at least until he could find a replacement supervisor. Brian and Amy were with him this time as well.

"So," began Jet, "Horsea was just testing me the first time?"

Oak shrugged, "Perhaps. Most Pokémon tend to test new trainers to ascertain their worth. However, I don't ever remember a class C Pokémon giving such a rigorous test."

Jet, who was now rinsing Horsea off, said, "Well I'm glad we can get along now."

Professor Oak, however, said, "Enjoy it while it lasts. Ever since your little stunt got on the internet, I've been receiving offers all over the place for that Horsea. A young girl who works at the Cerulean City Pokémon Gym paid top dollar for it. I'm sending it to her tomorrow."

Jet nodded, albeit a little disappointed. He was starting to like that little guy. "Do you know what her name was?"

Professor Oak scratched his head, "I don't remember the last name but the first one was Rain, or Misty, or something like that."

Over the next few months, Jet had fell in love with his job. The Pokémon all had different personalities; different likes and dislikes, different ways of communicating, little quirks that made them unique. It was a difficult job, as Pokémon were constantly leaving and coming in. Jet had to find a way to make each Pokémon trust him in order to properly feed, bathe, or brush them without complaint.

Most would test him by trying to intimidate him with glares and growls. After a while, Jet became very good at standing his ground. Some attacked outright; these required a lot more patience to win over. Those that have been abused by their previous masters tended to be afraid of human contact. In these cases Jet's best weapon was compassion.

When school came around, Jet was saddened to cut his work hours. In school Amy would occasionally hang out with Jet and Brian. But for the most part the three of them spent a lot more time together at work.

Jet had been taking a lot of online courses that had to do with Pokémon training on top of work and school. This restricted his social life. But as Brian and Amy were taking the same courses, they would usually spend their free time comparing notes and testing each other.

By the time next summer rolled around all three of them got promoted from Jr. Pokémon Daycare Assistant to the position of Jr. Pokémon Trainer. Jet was now fifteen, and turning sixteen in November. Once he turned sixteen, he would be able to take the tests for his Class B.

Professor Oak had promised him that, as long as he got his class B by January of next year, he would get promoted with Brian and Amy to Sr. Pokémon trainer. This was not only a twenty percent pay raise, but it also allowed them to care for the more powerful Pokémon as well as start courses early for their Class A.

As a Jr. Pokémon trainer, he had many of his old responsibilities as a Daycare Assistant. The difference was not only higher pay and more seniority, but he would be able to teach Pokémon attacks and supervise the battles the more aggressive Pokémon had among themselves.

Jet even sometimes got to participate in mock battles; but these were strictly supervised and attacks weren't as powerful in order to prevent injury. There also was never actually a victor, the Pokémon would just take turns practicing attacking and dodging for a set time period.

During the month of July, the Research Center shut down operations for a day for the annual company picnic at Pallet Beach; just south of Pallet Town and not too far from the research center.

Jet got to invite his family, which they were surprisingly enthusiastic about.

"Aww, my baby is going to his first company picnic for work, how sweet!" Jet's mom seemed absolutely delighted.

"Sure," said Jet, "We can bring Samson too. Everyone else is bringing their own Pokémon."

And so they headed out to the beach, Samson and twins in tow. Jet's dad was looking forward to barbequing, as he hasn't had a chance to do so all summer. The twins were excited just to go swimming, Mrs. Brown just wanted to tan.

When they finally got there, Jet set off to find Brian, who was skulking by the showers under the boardwalk for some reason. "Dude, what are you doing over here, everyone else is chillin by the water."

Brian shook his head, "I can't go over there and face her."

Jet really wished Brian would explain himself more often, "Who?"

Brian looked up, mortified, "Amy! I asked her out!"

Jet really didn't know what to say, "Oh. So… I take it that didn't go as well as you thought?"

Brian laughed, "Apparently she just started going out with this dude Brett like two weeks ago! I should have asked her out a long time ago. Now it's going to be awkward between us!"

Once again Jet was at a loss at what to say. He himself had a little crush on Amy, but never tried anything because he knew that Brian was damn near in love with her. Seeing Brian hurt like this made him feel bad. But Brian was usually the happy one, so Jet had absolutely no clue on how to console him.

"Just come back with me. We'll get some food, shoot the breeze, go swimming, and we'll worry about Amy later."

Brian miserably nodded, and together they headed back to the barbeque. They were intercepted, however, by Amy herself.

"Hey Jet. Brian, can I speak to you alone for a minute?"

Brian shrugged and followed Amy elsewhere. Jet had just enough time to register that Amy looked amazing in a bikini before he heard a gurgling noise behind him.

He looked over and saw a Krabby underneath the Boardwalk. Jet watched with interest as the Krabby picked up something small and shiny from the sand. When he did, he clumsily dropped it with his claws. He tried to pick it up again but its spherical shape prevented the Krabby from getting a good hold on it.

After the Krabby's fourth attempt, Jet realized what the object was; an ultraball. Thinking fast, Jet had a little bag of Fritos in the pocket of his trunks. He pulled it out and cautiously approached the Krabby.

"Hey buddy, you want some Fritos? They're honey bbq! Mmm," Jet hummed eating a Frito, "that's good shit."

The Krabby made a sound that was like a cross between gurgling and a weird insect ticking noise. It then began to wobble toward Jet and the Fritos, the ultraball forgotten.

"That's it," said Jet as he was pouring out a Frito trail. He poured the rest of the bag out at the end of the trail, "There you go."

The Krabby seemed delighted with the Fritos. So delighted, in fact, that it didn't even notice when jet walked toward the ultraball and picked it up. It was enlarged and the button in the middle was white. That meant the ball was unoccupied; the button would have had a bluish hue had it have belonged to an actual Pokémon.

It wasn't exactly difficult to figure out how it got there. During the night time around summer, Kingler tend to procreate on this beach. It's the only time when powerful Pokémon are ever found near pallet town in the wild. A trainer must have spotted a Kingler, no doubt either on their way to the Research center or Cinnabar Island just across the sea.

If that Trainer would have thrown an ultraball at it, which would explain why it's enlarged, they probably would never find it again. During the night time this beach had little to no visibility. And as these ultraballs went for twelve hundred a pop, one trainer's loss was definitely another's gain.

Jet rinsed the sand off the ultraball in the shower and shrunk it. He then headed toward the barbeque. He knew Brian was going to be jealous as shit when he found out Jet had an ultraball. After all, they were very high performance balls.

Jet found Brian and Amy talking to Professor Oak. Brian no longer looked depressed. "Hey, guys, look what I found a Krabby playing with under the boardwalk!" He held out the ultraball.

"Are you fucking serious?" Brian said incredulously. He then grinned, "Dude, you could probably catch a wild Rattata now or something!"

Jet smiled to, "Nah, I'm saving this for something a little less common."

Professor Oak clapped Jet on the shoulder, "Actually this ties into today's lesson. I wanted to show you three how to catch a Pokémon today."

Brian, Jet, and Amy were all stunned. "What?" Amy said, "How?"

Oak gestured to some rocks down the far side of the beach, "This beach known for its overpopulation of Krabby. I would like to take you three over to their nest for a quick lesson. That is, unless you'd rather play volleyball."

There was a quick stammer of, "No, Sir!" and "We'll go with you!" Professor Oak looked please by their reactions. Together, the four of them headed toward the Krabby's nest.

"I know you've all seen trainer's catch Pokémon on TV," Oak said, "but I assure you; something definitely gets lost in translation."

They arrived at a spot with rocks and cesspools; the area was teeming with Krabby of all sizes. "So," began Oak, "which one, which one?"

Brian pointed to what looked like it was easily the biggest of the lot. "That one, sir, definitely."

"Indeed," Oak went into his fanny pack and pulled out what looked like a quickball. "Follow me." He led them around the nest until they were right in front of the chosen Krabby. When it noticed their presence, it turned around to face them and gurgled threateningly.

Professor Oak enlarged the quickball and pressed the button on it. It opened up and a white light burst out of it and took the form of an Emolga. Emolga flew around Oak's head, and then landed in the no man's land between Krabby and the Pokémon Professor.

"It's important to choose the right Pokémon for every fight," said Oak, "Emolga, an electric type, has a big advantage over Krabby."

The Krabby looked at the Emolga and angrily gurgled into the air. All of a sudden, Krabby began to glow brightly and started swelling and growing at an alarming rate; Krabby just evolved into a Kingler. A fucking Kingler.

Amy gasped, Brian let out a low whistle, and Professor Oak said, "That's- unexpected."

He then shook his head and yelled to his Emolga, "Use Quick Attack!"

The Emolga wasted no time at all, and shot at Kingler like a bullet. Kingler, however, caught Emolga in a vice grip before it could even make contact. It had surprisingly fast reflexes. It then used Vice Grip to squeeze Emolga until it screamed.

"Use Thundershock!" said Oak, alarmed by Kingler's unexpected power. Sparks appeared around Emolga's cheeks, and it shocked Kingler. Kingler was visibly hurt, but did not relent its hold on Emolga.

Oak held out the quick ball and pressed the button in the middle to recall Emolga.

Kingler growled triumphantly, and the horde of Krabby behind it gurgled appreciatively.

Professor Oak said, "This Kingler is at a very high level! My guess is it was ready to evolve a long time ago but wanted to stay a Krabby."

"That must be why it was so big!" Brian exclaimed.

Oak nodded, "Must be." He then pulled a great ball out of the fanny pack. He pressed the button and a Furret popped out. Kingler clapped his claws threateningly and made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

"Furret, use Dig!"

Furret jumped up and dove into the sand. When it was underground, Kingler pointed one of his claws at Oak and used Bubblebeam. Oak jumped out the way with surprising reflexes.

"Furret now!" Oak shouted from the ground. The ground behind Kingler burst, and Furret hit the shit out of Kingler. Kingler fell back, grabbing Furret's tail as he did.

Furret screeched and used Sand attack. As the beach was filled with nothing but sand, a huge sand cloud surrounded everybody making it difficult to tell what was going on.

Everyone coughed as the sound of Kingler's growls and Furret's screeches echoed. Jet was afraid for Furret; that Kingler made Horsea look like a stuffed animal. When the sand cleared, they saw Furret running around Kingler, making it difficult to catch.

Kingler kept shooting Bubblebeam at Furret and missing, so Jet, Brian, and Amy were scrambling around trying to avoid the attacks.

"Furret return!" Oak recalled his Pokémon. Just when Jet was thinking to himself that this was a horrible lesson, Oak through another pokeball out, yelling "Go Haunter!"

The Haunter burst forth, and let out a chilling laugh. Oak called, "Haunter use Shadow claw!"

Haunter flew toward Kingler. Kingler tried to grab Haunter, but his claw went straight threw him. Smart, Jet thought to himself. Haunter slashed Kingler with Shadow Claw, and Kingler let out a cry of pain. It tried to use Bubblebeam, but missed as Haunter disappeared behind it.

"Use Nightshade!"

Nightshade wasn't a visible attack, but Kingler was clearly in pain. Oak then said, "Now use Hypnosis!"

Haunters Eyes started to glow red and Oak shouted, "Look away!"

Jet quickly turned his head. After a few seconds he heard a loud thump. He looked back and saw the Kingler lying in the sand, clearly asleep. Haunter laughed his sick little laugh as Oak threw an enlarged netball at Kingler.

Kingler went into the ball, which remained stationary. "They can't escape if they're asleep, remember that." Oak said, out of breath.

He went over to the Net Ball and picked it up. Jet followed him with the others. He turned to face them, "Make sure you choose the right Pokeball for the job."

He then shrunk the Net Ball and pocketed it. Behind them, the Krabby were becoming restless and Oak said, "Uh Oh, I was afraid they'd be angry." He then threw another Pokeball and sent out a Butterfree.

"Use Sleep Powder!" He told the Butterfree. It nodded and flew over the Krabby, releasing a purple mist from its wings as it did so.

Once the Krabby were asleep, Professor Oak recalled both the Butterfree, and the Haunter. He then turned to his students and said, "Obviously our little lesson didn't go as planned. But there are key points to learn from this little fiasco.

"First and foremost, preparation. You must expect the unexpected. I didn't know I'd be facing a Kingler today, but I brought a high level Hunter with me in case things got messy. I also brought Butterfree because I figured catching a Krabby from its nest may provoke the other Krabby to retaliate.

"Make sure you bring the right Pokémon for the job, the right pokeballs for the job, and while we are on the subject bring more than one pokeball. And always, always, always, always have a backup plan."

Brian, Jet, and Amy all said "Yes, sir!" in unison.

Professor Oak nodded and said, "One thing the TV doesn't say about catching and raising Pokémon, is that it's a dangerous and nasty business."