Chapter 4

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, just a simple pokemon battle."

"And if I win you'll leave me to get through Viridian Forest on my own?"

"You have my word of honour", he held up his right hand, as if making an oath.

I leered at him suspiciously. "What happens if you win?"

A wicked grin spread across his face, "Sex slave?" Face paling I shook my head, not immediately realising he was joking (though he seemed like the type of creep to have sex with younger kids). He cackled at my reaction (perhaps a tad too animatedly to seem natural) and continued, "Well in that case I'll just make do with following you through the Forest, making your time in one of the most dangerous places in Kanto feel like a holiday." Two red pokeballs appeared in each of his hands, "So let's begin."

A red flash of light followed by another announced the arrival of his pokemon; A brown spiked armadillo with massive claws on each hand materialised next to a tubby yellow duck, with a blank unthinking stare (though to me it seemed to be pondering the reasons of the universe). Sandslash and Psyduck. "How does a two on two sound? I want to make it to the Forest by sunset."

My days in pokemon class told me that his pokemon were ground and water, but not much else (curse you Mr Jennings and your distracting ties!). In any case, I knew I wasn't at any sort of type disadvantage; I was more worried about how Artemis and Felicity would react to one another. Felicity would have no problems so long as Artemis didn't get in her personal space but Artemis was a bit of a wildcard. Persistently aggressive and not prone to taking orders, I worried how she would go in a team environment. I shrugged my shoulders then released them both; After all they would have to learn to get along eventually.

Felicity yawned then began licking her paws, cool as a cucumber, meanwhile Artemis, ever alert, stiffened and took in the pokemon across from her and Felicity, then Felicity herself, before turning to me and giving me the closest thing to an 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me' face, I'd ever seen on an insect. It would actually have been pretty humorous if there wasn't so much riding on this battle.

I stared her down, "Deal with it," then looked up to Cooper who was rattling off some rules. Rules are for suckers. "Artemis use Confusion!" I ordered, surprising Cooper. And Artemis surprising me more by actually listening!

Waves of psychic energy rippled out across the battlefield putting his Sandslash, Psyduck and Machoke, along with Cooper himself and Felicity all in painful positions. "Focus yourself!" I ordered, but Artemis either didn't listen or didn't care, and it wasn't until Felicity raked her across the side with a vindictive Scratch attack that she finally let up.

Cooper shook his head and returned his Machoke, who was on the verge of charging me down, before shouting "Interesting strategy." I grumbled something in response. "Now Sonic, use dig!" His Sandslash leant down, then immediately tunnelled underground, whilst his Psyduck stood back collecting itself from the psychic onslaught.

I tried ordering my pokemon to move, to about as much effect as a Magikarp's Tackle. Artemis had not taken to Felicity's intervention well, and rounded on the white cat, using her disable to pin the far nimbler pokemon down before coming in for a full bodied tackle. Felicity to her own credit had taken note of the bug's strategy, and proceeded to fake immobilisation in order to get in close enough range to unleash the full damage of her teeth and claws.

After a few seconds of me screaming for them to break it up Artemis twitched and leapt as far back as her little feet would take her, no doubt sensing Sonic on her radar. Felicity unfortunately, due to a succession of disable attacks had far less mobility than usual, and as the ground started cracking beneath her, barely had enough time to hiss before being launched backwards by the brunt of Sonic's dig attack, who then proceeded to lunge on her with a series of fury swipes.

"Artemis help her!" I screeched, regretting it instantly as a barrage of confusion blasted both pokemon apart, doing more damage to the exhausted Meowth then her much fresher adversary.

Fortunately, Sonic rounded on Artemis instead of the much weaker Meowth who prowled around the sidelines equally wary of both pokemon. "Get back underground," I heard Cooper order, Sonic however stayed focused on his fuzzy enemy, and it wasn't until he lunged into a fury swipes about 2 feet from where Artemis was standing, that I realised he had been afflicted with confusion, warping his senses.

"It's confused, go in now! Tackle attack!" Artemis needing no encouragement charged forward, landing a direct hit and sending the Sandslash tumbling backwards. She rushed in for another attack when a jet of water smashed into her from the side, taking her by surprise. Psyduck must have recovered from its headache, which meant bad news for me!

"Keep it up Homer! Don't give the Venonat a chance to breath!" More and more water jets smashed into Artemis, sending her further and further back with each strike, and giving Cooper's Sandslash ample time to dive back to the relative safety of underground.

"Felicity, you need to get that Psyduck's attention off of Artemis!" I motioned to the yellow blob attacking my starter. Felicity didn't even dignify me with a response. I knew she must've seen my frantic waving, however the proud little shit just kept prowling around the battlefield, occasionally stopping to lick her paw. She even looked like she was about to pounce on Artemis after a particularly rough water jet, when the ground beneath her erupted and Sandslash came lunging out like before, sending Felicity hissing across the battlefield.

When she failed to rise I knew it was over, and clenching my jaw, I returned her to her pokeball.

Another particularly powerful water gun hit Artemis square in the face, when she must've cracked, and all else seemed to black out in a blanket of noise and pain. Waves danced before my vision, and the battlefield started tipping, originating from the direction of Artemis who stood in the epicenter of a massive confusion attack. I barely managed to take out my pokeball and return her before my head split open!

It took me a few seconds to realise I'd lost the battle.

And then another few seconds to realise that I'd be spending the next month with Cooper.

I almost wish my head had exploded.

Cooper sauntered up to me after returning and thanking his pokemon, the most infuriatingly genuine grin on his face (that smug son of a bitch). "Good fight, though you might want to work on introducing your pokemon to one another before making them battle together," he paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, "actually it might be best to let this blow over a bit before letting them out at the same time. That Venonat of yours is a real piece of work too, maybe you could consider conditioning her."

"Artemis is fine just the way she is." I deadpanned.

Cooper grimaced, "Ah, yes, sometimes people have trouble finding fault with their starter." He shrugged, and then headed off.

The seriousness of his tone caught me completely off guard, and running a bit to catch up I argued, "I know exactly what Artemis's faults are. She's a cranky, antisocial little ball of purple fuzz with a mean streak longer than a Rapidash cock. And that's exactly how I like her if I'm going to make a living from her beating up other pokemon."

Without turning around Cooper replied, "But those aren't traits of a trained pokemon. If you're commissioned as a bodyguard what do you expect to do with a pokemon more likely to attack people than to guard them? There's more to pokemon training than just all out slugfests."

I had to power walk to keep up with Cooper's larger strides, "if I wanted to be a bodyguard I wouldn't have become a trainer." And to make my point clear I sped up to walk in front of Cooper.

Amused by my response, Cooper retorted, "Did you even want to become a pokemon trainer?" I said nothing, indicating my willingness to talk about the subject. Cooper oblivious as always just chatted away, "I wanted to be a trainer for years before I started, the way they command respect from everyone, and walk the line between wild and tame. To live like a human and a pokemon at the same time. That and all the girls of course."

"Just how old are you?"

"Not a day over Fifty."

I stopped to look at him, saw he was smiling like a Gengar, and pointedly rolled my eyes slowly enough for him to see. "And where do you get off telling me what's wrong with my starter?"

Somehow his grinned widened still, "If you want my advice then I'd work on getting her to listen to your orders. She already trusts you, that much is obvious," I hadn't even realised it myself, "Just do some actual training. Instead of letting her wander off to hunt weaker pokemon, work with her, just, like, attacking a tree or something."

I hated to admit that I was seeing a new side to Cooper, a more thoughtful and experienced side. Not that he wasn't any less annoying; He just annoyed me with good advice. Besides, it's not as if I was actually going to try his suggestions. It was just interesting, that's all. Keeping with my tone of nothing but intellectual interest I asked him, "And… what about Felicity? What's your expert opinion on her?" I added. Sarcastically. Of course.

He stopped walking for a moment to beam at me, which I returned with a scowl, before informing me, "She seems to be well trained, though somewhat stuck up, then again I suppose I've never met a Meowth who isn't. She still sees herself as better than you though, so work on putting her in her place on the pecking order. Her attacks are strong enough," he mused to himself, "you mentioned you got her as a gift? That's probably why she doesn't see you as her master just yet."

I repressed a shudder, "Yeah, I suppose that makes sense," before catching myself and adding, "Probably all wrong though. Just how long have you been training that you think you know my pokemon better than me?"

For a moment his smile faltered, but it was back in a moment, so fast I doubted I'd even seen anything. "I turned eighteen about two months ago, but I've been around pokemon all my life. My mum worked for a breeding business, so I saw her with all different types of pokemon. I suppose after a while you just learn to pick things up." He shrugged then walked ahead, lost in his own thoughts and seemingly ending the conversation.

Fine by me, like I needed help from a guy who looked like he had a wet Jigglypuff on his head anyway. Unconsciously, I patted Artemis's pokeball, eyeing off the odd tree as I walked.

We made good time after that, hitting the Rangers' cabin at the edge of the forest just before sunset. Cooper went off to talk to some old friend of his after we set up our camp around a fire pit. I picked up Artemis's pokeball and pondered what Cooper had told me earlier. It's true that she was unusually aggressive for a trained pokemon (probably another little gift from Professor Oak), and often had trouble focusing her confusion and supersonic attacks, I'd also never guessed that she trusted me like he'd said. I contemplated what would happen if she stayed that way for my whole training career, I mean, sure, she'd be a good battler, but I wouldn't be able to let her out of her ball for anything else. I'd never be able to take up any side jobs available to trainers, but perhaps most worrisome of all, I'd never be able to trust her to have my back.

I made a decision that night, and released my Venonat. She looked around, and then up at me before the light of the fire drew all her attention and she hopped over to it transfixed. I sighed then pulled up the rock I was sitting on beside her, and though she didn't make any indication of it, I knew she was listening to me. "So that wasn't a very good battle today hunh?" She remained silent. "I'm sorry for throwing you into the situation like that, before introducing you to Felicity," at the Meowth's name Artemis turned to me and made an angry screeching sound, before returning her attention to the fire.

"Yeah, you don't really like her I suppose. But you're going to have to work out whatever problem is between you two out, because I am your trainer and you are my pokemon. Both of you. That means we're all a team." If Artemis agreed or disagreed with me was a mystery, not even the Oracle of Delphi would have been able to read my pokemon. Cooper maybe, that smug, ridiculous looking bastard. "What I really wanted to talk to you about was your confusion and supersonic attacks. We need to work on fine tuning your aim a bit. Together. That means no more going off alone to hunt, and no more picking fights with pokemon unless I tell you to."

I knew she couldn't have been happy with this, so with just a touch of manipulation, I finished with, "I know you probably don't trust me right now, and I haven't really done anything to earn it, but I will. We're partners, and if you need me I'll do anything for you, I just hope someday you'll come to trust me the same way." She turned to me, meeting my eyes with the direct middle of her compound eyes, and chirruped. Before head-butting me in the face and hopping around to the other side of the fire, chirruping the whole way, no doubt along the lines of 'manipulative son of a bitch, thinks he can fool me, stupid annoying trainer, try that again and i'll show him what's up!' or something like that. Perhaps my manipulation skills needed a little work, but still, the message got through and she agreed. That much I had figured out.

A few metres back, a pink haired attention whore watched with a broad smile on his face. "There may be hope for you yet Nat." He muttered, before turning towards the forest and skulking off to do his own business.