On the pro side, I had finally decided on a name for my Solosis. Meet Zev, my short-tempered blob of a partner. On the con side, my stomach was trying to eat me. It was day two, and I was tired, dirty, and hungry. I was hungry because of my lack of food, dirty due to trekking in the wild, and tired because Zev found sadistic pleasure in giving me migraines as I fell asleep. Needless to say, I was in a foul mood.
So when the Youngster came up to me and released his Starly, I showed no mercy. Zev had been training whenever possible, and was more than capable of taking out a runty bird. However, this Starly was obviously better trained than the others we had faced and the trainer was just a year or so younger than me. Together, they utilized hit-and-run strategy that Zev had quite a bit of trouble protecting himself against. Worst of all, Zev had stopped listening to me half-way through the battle, and kept flinching away from the attacking bird. We were going to lose. I tried again to coach him out of it, but my Solosis was floundering in mid-air. Finally, a well-timed attack made him fall to the ground, where he just laid there.
The Youngster held out his hand, and I gave him his reward money. He stowed it away into a pocket. "You know, you're going to have to help it battle," he said, "It's bad luck for a trainer to not help, and it's a great bonding experience."
I looked up at him and saw a genuine urge to help in his eyes, and smiled. Maybe I should work with Zev a bit more. "Well, good luck, rookie!" He walked away, his Starly flying after him.
I picked Zev up (he was rather light), and examined him. It didn't look like he was injured, but with a floating green blob, it was hard to tell. Solosis were supposed to be rather hardy, so I had no worries about his well-being.
X
"So. Here's a deal that will help both of us out. You listen to me in battles, and you get better. You win battles- with my help- and I get money for supplies. Understand?" Zev eyed me critically, and I grinned nervously. I had thought about it quite a bit while he was knocked out, and the pros far outweighed the cons. The Solosis floated into my hands, and I asked it if that was a yes. It flipped over and gave me a Purugly-worthy stink-eye. I supposed that that was the closest I would get to acceptance, and my smile broadened, "Wanna practice?"
"Lo!" Zev cheered, and I blinked. That was the first time that he had actually answered me. I looked around, and saw a Bidoof nibbling on a tree's bark. It was perfect. Zev had already beaten several Bidoof before and even if I messed up, he would know what to do.
"Go behind the Bidoof, and give it a headache," I whispered to my Pokemon. Zev's mouth curled up into a malicious smirk, and I felt a small kinship with my green blob. He obeyed my orders (yes!) and I saw the Bidoof start to pay less attention to its surroundings. "Now, attack it."
Zev zoomed forward and knocked the Bidoof off of its feet. It growled, but was quickly put into its place by further mental attacks. Finally, it scampered away into the bush. Zev and I cheered, and went to look for our next victim/opponent.
I spotted a sleeping Starly in a low tree branch. Its head was tucked firmly beneath its wing, and I could see its breast rise and fall with shallow breaths.
"This time, try to knock it off of the tree." Zev stared at me, and then floated out of my hands into the air. He flew behind the bird, and ambushed it from behind. The Starling Pokemon lashed out with its talons and I ordered Zev to float backwards. He obeyed and fired a Psybeam at the panicking Pokemon, pushing it off the branch that it had been roosting on. It fell onto the ground with an audible crack. I winced and rushed forwards, but Zev continued attacking it.
"Stop! Zev, Stop!" The Solosis ignored me and continued bombarding the injured Starly. As soon as I reached it, I grabbed Zev with one hand and picked up the Starly with the other. It scratched feebly at my hand, and then stilled as it slipped into unconsciousness. Zev was pulsing angrily in my hand, and I stuffed him into my bag and looked at the Starly. One of its wings was broken, and there was a trickle of blood coming out of its beak. I touched its breast and felt a slight fluttering, and I sighed in relief. It wasn't dead, but it needed medical attention. Cradling it in my hands, I picked up the pace, having seen a building in the distance.
X
I stumbled to a halt in front of the Pokemon Center. Zev had stopped struggling and was resting in my backpack (I was 99% sure that my headache was due to him and not dehydration). I took a deep breath and opened the doors. There was maybe two trainers, and my dramatic entrance had made everyone look up at me. The Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow, and I flushed. I walked up to the pinkish counter and shoved the Starly and my Trainer's ID at her, only for her Blissey to take the Starly and walk away into a room behind what I guessed to be the Healing Machine.
"Is that Starly yours?" Nurse Joy asked. I shook my head. "Whose is it?"
"It's wild. My Solosis and I were training and it fell off its branch."
"And it didn't fly away?" Nurse Joy sounded skeptical, and I didn't blame her. If one of my brothers had came home with a broken and bleeding Pokemon and tried to tell that to Mother, she would have made her Glaceon freeze the spit in their mouth.
"My Pokemon's a Psychic." The pink-haired nurse nodded and asked me if I planned on staying the night. I smiled and nodded. I was dead tired.
"Very well. May I recommend the Trainer's Library we have? There are several training guides, which may be of help to you. Also, Pokemon Centers have free lodging and food for trainers. Just go upstairs and show the receptionist your Trainer's ID to receive your room. We will call you when the Starly is healed."
I thanked her and walked up the stairs to get a room. Although I had never been to Jubilife before, food and sleep came first.
"May I help you?" the receptionist was a teen aged girl with blonde hair and over-sized glasses. She was popping gum loudly and was reading something.
"Yes please. I'm looking for a room?" I suppressed a yawn.
"Trainer's ID, please?" She asked, not looking up from her edition of Jynxed!.
"Name or number?" I asked.
She sighed and looked me in the eye, "Both. I input your number, and you write down the name on your wall."
I pulled out my ID, "Uh, S00135667."
"Great. Room 6A is available today. I hope you enjoy your stay," the receptionist said, obviously not meaning the last part. I walked away.
"Room 90A….Room 86A… Room 77A…...45A….23A….11A...2A- too far! Ah, 6A!" I scribbled my name onto the schedule next to the door, and entered. The room was small, cramped, and smelled like a Roserade in bloom (that is, sickeningly sweet). However, it had a fridge, a huge bed, a smaller desk, and a bathroom. It was the best sight that I had seen since I had started my journey. The covers were so fluffy and it all looked freshly washed. I shut the door and opened my backpack in order to let my Pokemon out. Zev flew out in a huff and gave me a splitting headache. But, I couldn't be bothered. I flopped onto the bed and even if I wasn't able to fall asleep, the feeling was amazing. Eventually, the headache stopped, and I didn't wake up until I heard the phone ringing.
X
I groaned and dragged myself out of my comfy bed to answer the infernal ringing, "Hello?"
"Hello. Is this ah, Alex Caldwell?"
"Yes. Pardon me, but who's calling?" I asked. My father had told me stories of Magikarp scammers calling you once, pulling you into a conversation, and then the next day you ended up with a Magikarp and a 500 Poke debt.
"This is Nurse Joy. The Starly is feeling better, but due to the nature of her injury, she has to be taken care of by a trainer. Are you able to care for her? Starly are very loyal, and their final evolutions are world-renowned for their intellect and ferocity." I blinked. This sounded too good to be true. According to Jeremiah, once a wild Pokemon was healed in a Pokemon center, it was immediately released. There had to be a catch.
"Why does she have to be with a trainer?" I asked.
Nurse Joy paused, "She's land-bound until evolution. Her left wing is completely mangled."
Dear Arceus. However, I supposed that I could still train it to fight on the ground, "I'll do it."
"Great! Do you want to pick it up today?" I smiled at the happiness in the Nurse's voice.
"Yeah, sure. I'll come down in an hour or so," Well, I was up. I staggered into the bathroom to take care of my needs and then I walked downstairs, better refreshed.
I showed Nurse Joy my Trainer's ID, and she handed me a sleeping Starly. I could see what she meant by "mangled wing". It was gauzed up, but the primary feathers that poked out were snapped and raggedy and the wing tip bent in. She recommended to me that I first catch the Starly, and then meet it in my room. Still holding the Starly, I walked over to the Pokemart, and purchased a Pokeball (200 Poke? Insanity!). Not quite sure on how to catch a Pokemon, I tapped the button against the Starly. The Pokeball opened, and the sleeping bird was swept inside. It rocked once, twice, three times, and ding!ed.
Copying what I had seen on the battling shows my family was obsessed with I clenched the Pokeball in my hands, grinning when the baseball-sized ball shrunk down into a pebble-sized one. My first official capture, done!
"I'm back," I called out to Zev as I walked into my room. I paused. The door to the fridge was open wide, and a wide range of foods were scattered across the bed. My Solosis was in the center of it all, levitating chips into his mouth.
"Sol?" Zev floated a MRE over to me. It didn't look particularly appetizing, but I was so hungry, I was almost shaking. I ripped it open and stuffed the meat into my mouth. It was delicious. No, more so. I could feel the pure deliciousness, and- "Sol!" I looked up. Zev didn't look too happy with my eating habits. And did I care? No.
"That… was good." My belly was pleasantly full, and Zev was still glaring at me. "I have a new Pokemon with us, the Starly that you tried to kill. It's on our team now. I'm going to release it, and you will be doing nothing to it." Having said that, I fumbled for his Pokeball. I returned him, and released my new team member.
It appeared in a burst of light, and stared at me with beady black eyes. A heartbeat passed, and then the bird tried to fly away. It failed. After realizing that it couldn't fly away, it started shrieking and clawing everything next to it. Being somewhat knowledgeable about flying-types, I picked up a blanket and hooded it. The Starly calmed down and I spoke to it in a low voice. "I'm sorry. We seem to have gotten off to a bad start. Your wing is broken, and I'm going to be your Trainer until you evolve. A Trainer is a person who…" I kept on talking to the bird, slowly releasing it from the impromptu hood.
Good. It was calm. The little bird sat on top of my bedding. While it was still relaxed, I sent out Zev, and the Starly went into hysterics again. Ugh.
End of Chapter Three
Um... So I'm trying to get my word count up to 5k a chapter. This one was about 1k more than the last ones so PROGRESS! Yay! If possible, please tell me what I can do better, ask questions, and point out anything you particularly liked.