Chapter 5

"Alright Rattata, use Shock Wave one more time!" Rattata did as told leaping into the air and unleashed a powerful Shock Wave across the field, frying several Pokémon, which consisted of Pidgey, male Nidoran and Rattata, they were hiding out in the grass near Route 2 "Way to go Rattata, great job!" Ryan turned his head in the direction of the mouse that was panting softly as she stood, they had been here on this route for about a couple hours now and have been doing nothing but attacking other Pokémon and getting attacked by irritated Pokémon, it was like a never-ending cycle for the Rattata, fight the Pokémon, defeat the Pokémon, get attacked by the Pokémon and then repeat. "We've been at this for practically two hours now Ryan." Rattata groaned falling to the ground on her stomach "Can we take a break?" Ryan crossed his arms and then frowned slightly before nodding "Yeah, sure. I'll give you 5 minutes and then you're going back to training." Rattata nodded with a smile and then rolled onto her back, sighing softly, she was going to enjoy the tiny break she was given. Rattata was curious though, what was he planning. Why was he having her fight all these Pokémon and in Beedrill and Bulbasaur's case, each other, to the point of exhaustion? Rattata just shook her head and decided not to think she needed to enjoy this little rest he gave her before they have to start again. Turning her head slightly, she saw Ryan standing a ways away from her, glancing around the area thoughtfully, probably trying to figure out where to attack next.

"I'm gonna have bruises in my bruises by the time this is over, I know it."

"Times up Rattata." Ryan chimed and the mouse rose to her feet "Times up? But that couldn't have been five minutes already!" She gazed up at him in confusion but then noticed his gaze wasn't directed at her, but a boy that had run up to him, turning around Rattata studied the young man, he had dark brown hair and equally brown eyes, which were covered by coke bottle framed glasses and he wore a knee length white lab coat with a neutral red shirt and blue jeans underneath. "Hey, you with the Rattata."

"Yes?" Ryan raised an eyebrow at the boy and he fiddled with his glasses momentarily before pulling out a Pokéball "I'll give you this Lickitung for it." Ryan blinked and Rattata gasped "um… what?"

"That Rattata, I'll trade you this rare Lickitung for that Rattata you got there."

"Why?"

"Because I want it!"

"Then go fishing through the grass and find your own, c'mon Rattata lets go." Ryan turned around and started to walk off, with Rattata nodding and following closely behind but they paused at the boys next words "I know she can talk, that's why I want it." Ryan turned his head slightly to gaze backwards at the boy from the corner of his eye, he fiddled with his glasses again, adjusting them on his face once more before speaking "I've never seen a Rattata that was capable of understanding human speech and could talk as naturally as a human." His glasses gleamed dangerously as he grinned "I want to. . . conduct an experiment."

Rattata's eyes widened as a sharp jolt ran through her.

Bright lights. There were bright lights that day. She was confused, why was she here? She didn't do anything wrong, did she? She was in a room, a large off colored grey room, she knew this place, they called it T-Zone. No one ever wanted to be sent here. "Old ll, this hurt, maybe shot do" Rattata could barely make out what the voice was saying and she could only see the blurry outline of something distinctly human shaped and in this human's hands was a weird device. It was pointed at her! But why wasn't she running? What was that device? It was glowing! She clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the light to die down, slowly opening her eyes, she felt nothing. . . seconds later there was pain, it felt like her insides were being fried then melted, but a soothing voice wafted through her ears in a reassuring manner "everything's fine. Don't worry, I'm just gonna do a little experiment."

Experiment…

Experiment.

Experata!

—Attata

Rattata!

"Hey Rattata, you alright?"

Snapping out of her odd trance, Rattata gasped fearfully and backed away slightly from him. "W-Where am I?" Holding out his arms in a defensive manner, Ryan responded "Hey, cool it Rattata, it's just me, Ryan" Rattata blinked slowly at Ryan before shaking her head "R-Ryan?" The brown haired boy nodded and Rattata shuddered before pitching forward and collapsing. Ryan was there to catch her "R-Rattata! Hey, wake up, what's wrong?" He gently shook her and she stirred in his arms.

"I. . . I don't feel so good" she mumbled weakly, slowly opening her eyes to look at him. She then focused on the other figure, the boy from before was still there. "So, what do you say, my rare Lickitung for that talking Rattata of yours?" Ryan glanced at the boy briefly before cradling said Rattata in his arms "I have to go. She's not feeling too good." The boy nodded, smirking slightly before putting his Pokéball away "alright, I'll let you go for now, but my offer still stands." Ryan just rolled his eyes before walking off, waiting until he was out of ear shot and sight of that boy before speaking "Hey Rattata, what was that all about?"

"I… I don't know, I was fine just a few minutes ago." She murmured looking up at him thoughtfully "I think it was something he said. I saw something just now." Ryan halted and stared at her questioningly "saw something? Like a vision?" Rattata shook her head "no, not a vision. . . I think it was a memory, because I felt like I've been there before."

"A memory? Well, what did you see?"

"It. . . it wasn't really clear, so I'm not sure." She lied averting her gaze "but I heard a voice, it told me, that it was doing a little experiment." She frowned thoughtfully "whatever that meant." Ryan shrugged as he followed the path back towards the Pokémon Center "well, it's not like I'd know. I guess we'll go check on Bulbasaur and Beedrill's progress, it's been about a couple hours, so they should be exhausted!" Rattata could only stare at the boy in confusion while he grinned excitedly.

"Hey Nina, we're back!"

"Bulba. Bulba. Bulba! Bulbasauuur!"

"Piikachu!"

"Drii. Drii!"

"Nice one Bulbasaur!"

Ryan stepped into the area where he had left his two Pokémon and was shocked to find that they weren't training, but having lunch! They were seated at one of the picnic tables nearby, there was a tray full of food sitting in front of Nina and beside her was one large bowl of Pokémon food, which Bulbasaur, Chewy and Beedrill shared. Ryan frowned as he watched Nina and the Pokémon giggle childishly as some trick Bulbasaur did with his vines, juggling about 4 pellets of Pokémon food, tossing them into the air and then proceeded to catch them all in his mouth. Ryan felt his eye twitch slightly as he watched them goof off instead of train, in his arms Rattata felt his body began to tremble and she blinked up questioningly at him "Ryan?"

"Grr. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING!" Nina and the Pokémon all froze and became silent, while the only noise emitted from them, was the sound of Bulbasaur harshly gulping down the food in its mouth. Nina whirled around to face Ryan, since her back was to him, and laughed nervously "Hehe Ryan! When did you and Rattata get back? Are you guys done training? How was it?" Ryan glared at the orange haired girl "Don't change the subject, what were you guys doing? I specifically told them to train, yet what do I find when I get here, you guys are goofing around with food!"

No longer feeling sheepish, Nina glared back at Ryan "Hey mister bossy pants, you need to watch your tone! And what's the big deal anyway, these guys were practically fainted from exhaustion a few minutes ago, I was doing them a favor and giving them a break! Why are you so serious about this anyway, their Pokémon with feelings, not machines!" Ryan just grit his teeth before looking away, moments later however he released a sigh "I just hate goofing off during training, alright, I believe it messes up the flow. My Dad used to goof off a lot when he would teach me stuff and I didn't it."

"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place instead of blowing up on us!" Nina rolled her eyes before shaking her head and turning around to grab a sandwich from the lunch tray, handing it to Ryan "Put Rattata down and come and eat, I'm sure you guys are hungry. . . or should I be giving this to Rattata, since all you did was run your mouth, while she did the hard work." Ryan just snatched the sandwich from her hand with a scowl and bit into it and Rattata jumped out of his arms, sidling up beside Beedrill, nibbling on the Pokémon food.

"After I'm finished eating" Ryan began slowly through a mouth full of food "we're going back to training." He swallowed "no ifs, ands, or buts about it either, got it?" The three Pokémon nodded their heads in unison before going back to chowing down "good." Nina just shook her head and sighed before grabbing herself a sandwich and biting into it as well, while Chewy made nice with the other Pokémon while he ate from the large shared bowl. About 30 minutes later, when everyone was finished eating and allowed their food to settle, Ryan got back to training. This time he'd have two of the Pokémon attack the lone one so after every 30 minutes, the duo would switch, from Rattata and Beedrill VS Bulbasaur, to Bulbasaur and Beedrill VS Rattata, to Bulbasaur and Rattata VS Beedrill, they continued to til it was late in the night and even til after Nina and Chewy had retired for the evening, Ryan had finally called it a night when it was nearing 1 in the morning and Nurse Joy suggested he called it quits and allow his Pokémon a nice long rest and allowed himself to get some sleep because he was over working himself and them. Ryan agreed and handed his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy and then stalked to the room he and Nina were to share, falling asleep instantly.

x-X-x

"RYAN SUMMERS!" Around 10 in the morning, the door to Ryan and Nina's room burst open and in marched an absolutely livid Nina, with Chewy on her shoulders and Bulbasaur, Beedrill and Rattata following closely behind her. Sleepily, Ryan sat up in his bed, still in his clothes from yesterday. His normally messy brown hair, looking messier than ever and flopping in his face, for his usually secured headband had loosened and fallen to his neck, his brown eyes still glazed over from his sleep as he warily tried to make out the green and orange blob in front of him "Nina?" He blinked slowly before rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and the drool off his chin "what…" he paused to release a huge yawn, arching his back and stretching his arms until he heard the satisfying crack of his stiff muscles "time is it?"

"What time is it? That's all you can ask after what you did!" Nina was glaring at him angrily, like he kicked Chewy or something. Ryan blinked in confusion "after what I did? What did I do?" Nina crossed her arms and leered accusingly at him "Nurse Joy told me you were up training til late last night and that you were training your Pokémon to the point of exhaustion and only stopped when she told you to."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? So? So, you're not supposed to do that when you train Pokémon!"

"Eh? It's cool Nina, they didn't mind." Ryan peered around her to glance at his Pokémon by her feet "Did you guys?" The irritated frown on Bulbasaur's face said otherwise. Ryan laughed sheepishly before shrugging "I honestly don't see what the deal is, so I trained them til they were tired, beaten and battered, what's the problem?" He trailed his eyes up to Nina's trembling form and she pointed a finger angrily at him "you slave driver! Pokémon are your friends, you should treat them like tools!"

"Tools?" Ryan blinked again and then scowled "Who said I was treating them like tools? So I went a little far on their training and they became exhausted. That just means their getting stronger, if they keep working til the point of exhaustion, they'll get used to it and won't faint as much. That's what happens when you train, duh."

"Well, that's not the way I see it. I think you should train your Pokémon with love and care and stop when they are ready, not until their ready to collapse!"

"Hn, well I think that's an easy way out for people who want Pokémon with mediocre skills." Nina bristled slightly at that "I was always taught to utilize a Pokémon's skill to your advantage and that's what I'm doing."

"Utilizing their skills to your advantage? But you haven't been doing any of that! You've been having them beat each other up until they collapse!" She exclaimed throwing her arms in the air angrily and Ryan just heaved an irritated sigh "what part of two part training plan do you not seem to understand? That was only the first half of training and besides, a little tough love never hurt anyone." Nina just leered angrily at him and Ryan rolled his eyes in response before grabbing his bag from off the floor and standing "I'm gonna go freshen up, Bulbasaur, Rattata and Beedrill I want you guys to meet me outside in about 20 minutes." He walked towards the door and then glanced back at the leering Nina "would you mind feeding them for me? Thanks." He then disappeared down the hall and towards the men's room.

Thirty minutes later, Ryan was standing outside at the training grounds they had claimed yesterday, a half eaten apple in his hand, he stared down at his three Pokémon thoughtfully while he chewed "Alright, Bulbasaur stay on the side, Beedrill and Rattata get into battle positions." Beedrill and Rattata did as told, standing opposite of each other on the training field "Alright, now start fighting you two!" Beedrill was the first to attack, charging at Rattata with Twineedle, the mouse dodged and retaliated with Shock Wave "Dodge Beedrill and use X-Scissor! Wait for the attack to land and then use Hyper Fang Rattata!" The two Pokémon did as told; Beedrill's stingers began to glow and he crossed them in an X formation while speeding towards Rattata, who allowed the attack to hit her squarely in the face, now instead of being blow back or flinching like Nina assumed, Rattata just stood there unmoving and then struck once the attack wore off, sinking her teeth into Beedrill on one of its stingers.

"Now stop both of you. How do you feel? Did getting struck by that X-Scissor hurt? Or what about when Rattata bit you Beedrill?" The two Pokémon slowly shook their heads "It's weird, I mean the attack hurt but it's like I hardly felt it, I mean it didn't hurt as much as before. . . I guess because I kept getting hit by it yesterday." Ryan shot a victorious grin at Nina "see, I know what I'm doing. That was a trick my Dad taught me when I was younger, he used to train his Pokémon just like this." Nina just rolled her eyes, regardless of if it worked or not, she didn't like the idea of beating a Pokémon to the point of exhaustion. Ryan turned to Bulbasaur, who was eying Beedrill and Rattata with wide eyes "Now you see what they did there Bulbasaur? Beedrill and Rattata utilized their speed during this battle right?" Bulbasaur nodded slowly "right, so everything they just did, I want you to do the exact opposite." Bulbasaur looked up at Ryan with a confused stare and he began to elaborate "Bulbasaur, your abilities are all well rounded, you're not too fast or too slow, you're just right and because of that Bulbasaur you can't move as fast as they can, I mean you can try, but why make you something you're not? You're specialties lie in your defense while Beedrill and Rattata rely on speed but that's alright, because if we keep this up, your guys will be like an army of tanks in no time!"

"B-Bulba?"

"Tanks? You want them to be like tanks?"

"What's a Tank?"

"Tanks are big metal cars made to take hits, their strong and can take all kinds of attacks, but they can still attack and hold their own if need be, they become their own devastating force, like a moving wall. Tanks are a force to be reckoned with." Ryan explained to the curious Rattata "So, you want us to be like that, like tanks?" Ryan nodded "Yep, I want you guys to be able to take blows, and hold your own but still be able to fight back and threaten your opponents offensively. And the first way to do that is to get you guys to withstand hits and then use strong moves to take down the enemy. That's why I was having you guys attack each other all yesterday." Nina gazed at Ryan thoughtfully; leer no longer on her face "I… I guess that makes sense when you think about it and it's your style I suppose, but don't think I'll agree with your training methods Ryan. I still find it cruel the way you make them fight til they drop."

"I don't think it's cruel, I think its fine. I mean that's the way I learned." He shrugged folding his arms behind his head. Nina blinked at his words and then narrowed her eyes curiously at him "that's how you learned what?" Ryan stiffened and then grinned nervously "Oh, nothing important, just stuff my Dad taught me as a kid." Nina just rolled her eyes before grumbling to Chewy "Jeeze, if he didn't want to talk about it, why bring it up in the first place." The yellow mouse just grinned reassuringly "Pi-kachu."

Ryan continued to grin, until his gaze landed on Rattata, who was staring blankly down at the ground below her feet "Oh yeah, that reminds me! Hey Rattata, come here for a second." He squatted down low and looked at her as she ran towards him, a questioning look on her face "well, I was just thinking. Since you've been hanging out with us for the past week and your gonna participate in my gym battle tomorrow, how would you like to join us on my journey?" Rattata's eyes widened when he pulled out an enlarged Pokéball from his belt and held it out to her "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I just thought I'd ask cause I find it a bit weird for you to be tagging along with us for no reason. . . but then again, that's what Nina's doing isn't it?" He grinned goofily, ignoring said artists indignant cries "plus earlier you had that weird spaced out look on your face and you know if you travel with someone, you might unlock your memories. . ."

"Memories? What memories?"

Ryan ignored Nina and continued to stare at Rattata "But only if you want to, it's okay if you refuse. No pressure at all." Rattata glanced at the Pokéball and then at Ryan thoughtfully as the events of earlier today and the days before flashed in her head, she blinked once before nodding slowly "okay, I'll join... but only cause now I can be your official bodyguard." Ryan grinned "bodyguard… right." Rattata just returned his smile and then tapped the middle of the Pokéball, she was sucked in instantly and captured with a light ding, once confirmed, Ryan let her out of the ball.

"Awesome! Glad to have you aboard Sawyer!"

"Sawyer? Is that my name now?"

"Why'd you call her that?"

"Cause, it's a play on of the attack Hyper Fang. She's Sawyer, because her teeth can saw through wood, get it? Teeth. Saw through wood. Sawyer. Funny right?" The group shared a collective moment of silence and stared blankly at Ryan, who laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head "hey, I thought it was funny!" Nina snorted "that joke was so corny. Let's go get some lunch before he tries to come up with another one" Chewy along with Bulbasaur, Beedrill and the newly nicknamed and captured Sawyer nodded in agreement before following the orange haired artist inside, leaving Ryan alone. He huffed and slowly followed after them, grumbling to himself "they wouldn't know a good joke if it bit them in the butt." After tomorrow, one more day for training, they'd be facing Forrest for a rematch and this time, he'd win.