I was in my hotel room, with Monotone and Grime released. I had told them everything that happened, and we were ready to greet the new member of our family.

I threw the pokeball of my Slowpoke, and out it came. It was sleeping. I walked closer to it. I thought back to what I had researched on Slowpoke when I was younger. They were known for notoriously dim intellect and a crappy response time. They usually didn't like doing anything, so they weren't advisable for battling with. Well. I was going to ignore that and see if something could work out.

"My lord, should we wake him up?" Grime asked.

I shrugged. "Sure... I guess."

Monotone floated over to the Slowpoke and pressed its mouth to the pink pokemon's ear. Then it used Growl.

I winced. "Monotone!"

"Trainer, I did you said. I woke it up."

I looked at the Slowpoke. Actually, it hadn't woken up. It was still sleeping.

"My lord... is this something to be concerned about? Even the alien pest's annoying voice couldn't wake it up."

"Trainer, he evil."

"Monotone, Grime is a she. And as for the Slowpo-" I started, but I stopped speaking when I noticed the Slowpoke jolt awake, as if it had just heard a loud noise. Slow reaction time indeed. At least it wasn't dead.

"Hi!" I said, trying my best to smile. I wanted to be strong! With a pokemon like this... would that really be possible?

The pink pokemon turned its head in my direction. "Hi?" It said in a blubbery voice. Its eyes were vacant and didn't seem like they were focused on anything.

"I'm a trainer, and you're my third pokemon!" I said in a fake cheerful voice. My other two pokemon got closer and observed the Slowpoke.

"No," the Slowpoke said in its blubbery voice, then it fell asleep again.

"Trainer, I scared."

"My lord, this blubberbutt doesn't deserve to be on this team. The alien pest... at least he pulls his weight. This blubberbutt doesn't stand a chance."

I frowned. "I don't know about that! I mean, I want to give it a chance... when it said 'no', did it mean it didn't want to be my pokemon?"

Monotone nodded. "That make sense."

"But... Aagh! Alright guys, I've got a plan. I will spend the next day working on this pokemon in the wild. You two can train there. If the Slowpoke fails, I will give him back to the trainer who originally caught him. If he succeeds in earning my appreciation, he will be accepted as the third pokemon of the team. Deal?"

"As you wish, my lord."

Monotone nodded.

I smiled. "Then for now, we let this pokemon sleep, and the rest of us can watch television until dawn."

My two pokemon agreed, and I clicked the on button on the remote. The fat television's screen flickered to life, set to the 'welcome to Accumula Town' screen. I picked up the screen guide and sat on the bed, where I stroked the head of Grime who was laying down next to me. Monotone was floating above the bed on the other side of me.

"Let's see... Pokemon League channel... there it is!" I switched to the Pokemon League channel.

The screen displayed a bird's eye view of a snowy field with trees. There was a reporter speaking quickly, talking about Red chasing a dangerous wild Mega Abomasnow near Snowpoint City.

It was live: Red had his Pikachu out, and was co-ordinating with it to defeat a Mega Abomasnow. His Pikachu unleashed a massive Thunderbolt that dealt the finishing blow right in front of my eyes.

"He's done it! The champion smoothly tracks down and defeats another monstrous wild pokemon!" The reporter says. Apparently the reporter was sitting on a helicopter that was flying above the scene. "We will now fly down and ask Red some questions!"

I eagerly watched as the camera got closer and closer to Red, until the cameraman was in position on the ground, and the reporter was on-screen. He was a thirty-ish year old man with a fancy brown mustache and styled hair. Standing next to him was Red. The Red. the champion Red.

I found myself drooling as the reporter asked his first question to Red. "What is your next job going to be?" the reporter asked.

Red wiped away some sweat from his forehead and said, "There are rumors of a powerful gang of criminals in Castelia City. Apparently they are led by someone influential here in the Pokemon League. Considering that, finding out everything about the gang will definitely be what I'll spend my time on."

I grinned. Red would be coming to Castelia City! I might be able to see him! However, if there really was a dangerous criminal gang in Castelia City, I had to hope Ray would be safe. I would need to be careful as well.

I turned off the television and laid down on my bed above the bed sheets. I stared at the ceiling. It was peaceful and quiet. Something I had really needed in a long time.

"My lord, might we one day go on those rectangular surfaces?"

I craned my head to look at Grime. "Of course! becoming champion wasn't my goal, but as a result of my wanting to be the strongest I can, I imagine we would inevitably become the champion team at some point."

"And I would be strongest on team," Monotone said.

I sighed, anticipating a snarky response from Grime. None came. I looked back at Grime to see her hop off the bed and start sniffing the Slowpoke sleeping on the ground.

"Trainer, he evi-"

"MONOTONE! Grime is a she!"

"Trainer, she evil. I afraid what he might do to that pokemon."

I didn't respond. Instead, I watched Grime sniff around.

"He will be worthy!" Grime declared. Then she hopped up onto the wooden table, curled up, and slept.

"Trainer, I would like be returned now."

I nodded and returned Monotone to his Beast Ball. Jet lag really was messing up my system, and I imagined that it would be the same for my pokemon.

I decided to plan out my future, try solving some of the mysteries... and basically sort out my life. The hours I spent in that room really cleared my head and helped me understand what was important and what wasn't. For example, the silver fang would forever stay on my body, and was only to be used if I was about to die. Those were hours I needed more than anything.

Dawn came, and I woke up Grime after eating breakfast. I released Monotone, then let him use Growl in the Slowpoke's ears.

Around half a minute later, the Slowpoke woke up. I lowered my head until it was almost touching the ground, and I stared the Slowpoke in its vacant eyes. "You will follow me. Is that understood? I have decided that I will openly treat you, and my other pokemon, as a parent. As my child, you will listen to me," I said, asserting control. I was proud of my strong tone. It was something I had actually worked on during my life-sort-out night.

"No," he said in his blubbery voice. The Slowpoke was about to close his eyes, but I yelled, "HEY!"

The Slowpoke actually responded to that within just a second, and stared at me with lidded eyes.

"Tell me. Do you want to train with me and become strong? Or do you want to waste away your life sleeping and-and... doing nothing!" I spat. If he said 'no' again, he would've failed, and I would give him back to his original trainer immediately.

He didn't say no. But he didn't say yes, either. He just closed his eyes.

"My lord, I will use Bite on him if you wa-"

"No, Grime. I have another idea." I told my two pokemon to stay in the room, and I walked down to the first floor of the pokemon center. Looking out the windows, it was strange to see autumn colors. It had been spring back in Hoenn.

I walked up to the nurse, who was typing away at her monitor. No one else was in the lobby.

I coughed twice before the nurse noticed me. "Sorry about that," she said. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm a trainer. Do you know how I can get a Slowpoke to want to get strong along with me?"

The nurse smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I haven't heard of any trainers catching Slowpoke. Slowpoke's two separate evolutions, Slowbro and Slowking, can be both powerful and co-operative, but trainers who have them usually caught them in their evolved forms. Sorry."

I sighed. "It's fine."

I went back upstairs and into my room. No trainer had ever trained a Slowpoke, eh? That only made me more eager to get my Slowpoke to cooperate with me.

And as I opened the door to my room, my jaw dropped. There the Slowpoke was, using Water Gun everywhere. The entire room was dripping wet, and my other two pokemon were scrambling around, dodging the increasingly rapid Water Guns spurting out of the pokemon. I ran to the Slowpoke's ball on the bed and returned him. I got hit by a Water Gun right before that, however.

I glared at Monotone and Grime. "How. Just... how."

Grime looked nervously at Monotone... who looked nervously at Grime. Monotone was expressing emotion on its face. Something was off. Not to mention my Slowpoke was actually strong. And not to mention I would have to pay off everything I owned because of all the damage in the room.

"How."

"My lord, we were only playing..." Grime started, her voice not deep, but high pitched. She trailed off quickly, and averted her gaze.

"Trainer, Grime said to sleeping Slowpoke that he going to be worst on the team. Then I said him I think he stupid. We kept insulting Slowpoke, until suddenly woke up and attacked."

It took me a few seconds to understand what Monotone said, and it wasn't just because of the grammar. "He doesn't like being insulted? That's..."

"My lord, there is actually more. I... I kind of... I... used Bite..."

I facepalmed. "We blasted off his ears more than once, and he didn't react to that! Maybe... where did you Bite him?"

"On top of head," Monotone answered.

I sat down on the bed, then got up almost immediately because of how drenched it was. "This is very useful. We will continue on with our plan of getting this Slowpoke to participate with us. If we can find what makes him tick, we can get him to train and battle for us. The speed at which he used Water Gun, and their size, was no laughing matter. I will settle the financial problems this has caused us, and we will move to the route to the north. According to the Gallade, that route will be the path to Striaton City; our destination after recruiting this Slowpoke."

My two pokemon nodded, and this time, I made sure they were all returned to their balls before leaving the room.

After half an hour, and all of the money Arice gave me gone (the nurse was kind enough to not ask for more than my cash), I was walking through Accumula Town with my three pokeballs clipped to my belt.

It was astoundingly beautiful. Accumula Town had a different style of quaintness, with the plentiful nature masterfully enveloping the wooden houses everywhere. There were a few people on the streets who seemed to avoid me. It took me some time before I realized it was because I looked like I had just walked out of Marine Cave.

I finally reached the route, which was labelled with a wooden sign: 'Route 2: A pastoral road where novice trainers challenge one another.' I remembered Unova sent all of their new pokemon trainers to Nuvema Town to start their journey, as the wild pokemon slowly grew stronger from there. The Unovan government numbered their routes to indicate where trainers would normally go.

I walked in a little, noting that it was basically just a large, curving pathway with trees on either side. Of course, that would mean there would many trainers in sight.

"Hey kid!" Someone yelled. I sighed and turned around to see a kid with orange clothes wearing an orange cap backwards. "I have three pokemon too! I challenge you to a three on three singles match!"

I laughed. "No thanks, kid." And I turned back around to walk away. However, I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt.

I turned around again and looked the excited kid in the eye. "I don't want to battle you. I need to train my third pokemon to get it up to speed," I said truthfully.

"I'll help you train it if I lose to you in the match!"

That caught my interest, and the boy seemed to notice it. "And If I win, you help me catch a fourth pokemon here instead."

I thought about it. This boy certainly was clever, I would have to give him that. Getting help would certainly be nice. "I'll agree if it is two on two, singles," I said.

The boy shrugged. "Alright. Fine by me. So we're actually doing a battle?"

"We're doing a battle, yes."

My first battle in Unova. I had to win. Once we had cleared a good space off to the side, we released our first pokemon simultaneously. I was using Grime first as I had used Monotone first against Gimp.

It was my Poochyena against his purple Nidoran.

I knew Nidoran as Poison type pokemon.

"That's a pokemon I haven't heard of! Are you even from Unova! The boy yelled as the two pokemon sized up their opponent. I shook my head. "Grime, Standard Attack!" I yelled. Standard Attack was spamming Howl to boost her attack higher and higher, using Sand Attack if the pokemon got near, and using Tackle whenever the opponent was clearly open. Grime followed through and started Howling.

My opponent gritted his teeth. "Nedo! Focus Energy!" the Nidoran was standing in place, and orange rings of light started floating around it.

Focus Energy was also a self-improvement move. It allowed the pokemon to get a higher chance of landing a critical hit; doing more damage. I didn't feel like changing the playing field. Both pokemon would become completely offense-oriented at the end of the session, but that was fine by me.

And for the next minute, neither of us told our pokemon to change what they were doing. Grime continued to Howl, and the Nidoran continued to surround itself with orange light.

Finally, the boy grew impatient. "Nidoran! Run in for the kill!"

That command was creepy. As the Nidoran ran towards my Poochyena, I didn't make any new commands. When the Nidoran was close enough, Grime used Sand Attack and ran around in a wide circle, then charged at the temporarily-blinded Nidoran from behind. She used Tackle.

And boom, just like that, the Nidoran fainted. Flawless execution on Grime's part. The trainer blushed and returned his Nidoran while I congratulated my Poochyena.

I had an empowered pokemon, along with an unused pokemon in reserve, against this trainer, who only had one pokemon left. What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter 12 MC/age/pokemon changes: NONE

.-.-.

From now on, I will also include the viewpoint character's pokemon below and what moves they knew at the end of each chapter (not necessarily changes). So here you go:

Monotone - Peck, Growl, Acid, Venoshock

Grime - Tackle, Howl, Sand Attack, Bite

Slowpoke (not yet nicknamed) - Yawn, Tackle, Growl, Water Gun