Chapter 12

It had been three days since I beat Brock. I was still in shock.

Cooper had obviously been more vocal in his revelry than I, charging out of the stands to tackle me around the waist in an Ursaring hug. Even going so far as to pick me up and spin me around (not the brightest idea to do to someone just finished with vomiting his guts out. He learnt that the hard way).

Brock returned Orman and strode over to us, Cooper wiping his shirt down and myself keeling over in an attempt to keep what little remained of my breakfast.

Brock stopped a meter away, folding his arms. He looked like he was both pleased and irritated, but not quite sure which. "I normally congratulate trainers who win their first badge from me. Especially the ones who do it on their first attempt..." He left the sentence open.

I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you for a sore loser Brock."

I would have sworn it impossible, but somehow those eyes of his squinted even more. I really needed to stop insulting people who could kill me on a whim.

The silence lingered. Eventually Cooper interjected, "What I think he's getting at are the less than… conventional tactics you used Natty Boy." He gave me an uncomfortable grin. It only served to piss me off. I didn't like it that Brock had made Cooper uncomfortable. Especially in my moment of triumph. "Right Brock?"

His eyes shifted to Cooper then back to me. Or at least I think they did. It was really hard to tell. "You won this battle Nathaniel, and you did it by battling smart," I might have preened a bit at that. He continued, "I'm going to warn you now though; Keep battling like that, keep using pokemon as bloodthirsty pawns to be placed in the right place at the right time, and they're going to bite you when you least expect it. And I can guarantee that your Pinsir's jaws will be the first to snap."

I scowled at that. What was it with these people and ripping on my Beelzebub? With Cooper there was reason to dislike him, but Brock as a gym leader should have been better than this.

I've been known to be slightly stubborn at times. Some have called it petulance, others disrespect, all I know is what I felt, and right now I was feeling irked. People tended not to enjoy my company when I was irked. "I didn't come here today to be lectured Brock. I came here to win a badge. If I didn't have Beelzebub with me then I wouldn't have." I brushed Cooper's steadying grip off my arm as I stepped closer up to Brock, "You lost to me and Beelzebub. Now give me my damned badge."

He reached into a pocket, pulling out what I was after; A small gray octagon set on top of a pin. Such an ugly looking trinket to place such significance upon. He held it aloft in an open palm, daring me to take it. I don't care for dares.

I reached over and swiped it, but not fast enough as Brock's fingers engulfing my hand in a painful grip. "Listen to me right now Nathaniel. I don't say this because I care, or because it means anything to me; I'm telling you because if you pay attention, you might just survive out there. Get rid of that Pinsir. It's too powerful for you to control, even if you do have my badge to show off to the world." The offending object cut into my palm and fingers under the pressure of Brock's grip. Blood started to run down my knuckles. Brock didn't ease up. "Right now you have two options. You can listen to the advice given to you, and learn to become a truly great trainer, or you can continue down the path you're walking and end up with someone else's blood on your hands next time."

He finally let go, and I retracted my hand swiftly. It stung painfully as blood continued to drip down my knuckles. Bumble buzzed over weakly, hovering around my bleeding hand. I glanced down as he moved from my hand to Brock's, smelling it there too. "I'd worry about the blood on your own hands Brock." I muttered. Then I left. Turned around and stormed out the door, Cooper and Bumble hurrying to catch up.

I've been known to be stubborn, petulant and disrespectful. More than anything I'm contrary. Tell me to go left and my feet take me right. Warn me not to touch the Poochyena and my fingers go wandering. My family pressured me into becoming a trainer, so I stayed home, then when they died I left to become one.

It's not a good quality, but right then in that gym. Having cried, sweat, vomited and cheered, it was the last shred of pride I had left. The final thing tethering me to who I was. And so I embraced it.

I had liked Brock too, so I felt compelled to rebuke him. I'm just lucky Cooper didn't feel it necessary to comment, or I'd have have shunned him too.

Three days later I was still in shock.

I found myself in some diner with Cooper, him chatting away whilst munching on some burger, not even stopping to swallow between thoughts. I looked down at what he'd ordered me venomously. Parasect Mushroom Delicacy. Apparently much cheaper here in Pewter, but still just as unappetizing. I'd been informed that the trick was to shave flakes off from the giant shroom engulfing the Parasect's back, immediately after the pokemon had performed the Spore attack. It was one of the favoured dishes during the prohibition, where eating any type of food that had come from a living pokemon had been outlawed. Personally I didn't care if they had to slice the whole damn shroom off, this thing was foul and no amount of humane harvesting was going to change that.

A break in the stream coming from across the table grabbed my attention. Cooper was staring expectantly at me; I had zoned out again. "Yes?" I guessed. His grin grew wide and I wondered briefly what I had just agreed to. Knowing Cooper it was probably a handjob from 'Krystal' who worked the corner near the gambling district. I suppressed a shudder.

He reached across to me, "Hand it over then, I'll put mine in."

"Excuse me?" I blanched.

"Your phone Nat, how else are we going to stay in contact? Unless if you suddenly decide to get on social media." He huffed and leapt across the table, spilling food and drinks everywhere as he patted me down for my phone. I had to grab him by the wrists to keep his hands from wandering further south (the sick bastard), before pointedly glancing down at my phone sitting in plain site on the table.

He grinned mareepishly, "Whoops. Honest mistake." Somehow I found that hard to believe. He pulled back, collecting the phone and typing away for a few seconds. He then stopped to take a selfie of himself with Psyduckface, before handing it back to me. He had input his name as "Baeeee333\^_^/".

I scowled down at it, then back up at him, finally registering his words, "Stay in contact when?"

He beamed back at me, "Uh, like forever? You don't think I'd leave without making sure I had some way of contacting my little grumpy bug?"

I took another moment to register. "But where are you going?" It's not like I was upset that he was leaving, I just didn't like surprises.

Cooper seemed to know what I was thinking, in that annoying way of his, "This was always a temporary arrangement Nat. We were both headed the same way and now we're not. I beat Misty ages ago, plus I've never really been welcomed back to Cerulean since my, uh… Unfortunate accident at her gym." I pushed aside the faint memory of Cooper telling me what happened. I was too busy glaring at him.

His grin faltered slightly, "Besides you didn't even want to travel with me at first, remember?" His voice became increasingly more shrill as he swooned dramatically, "I know I'm, like, the mysterious older, more experienced trainer, and you the young, innocent newbie waiting for me to sweep you away. We both know in our hearts what we feel is wrong, but then so why does it feel so good?! But I'm sorry Nat, I cannot do this any longer! I cannot be your Senpai!"

I ignored him, pushing my plate aside and getting up to leave. With a muted sigh, Cooper got up and followed me out. He grabbed my arm at the door, serious now, "I'm just going to be a phone call away." I shrugged his arm off, but he grabbed it again, pulling me into a hug now despite my protests. We held for a little bit, and perhaps I didn't struggle as hard as I might've. Then again perhaps it was the sun in my eyes or some other lame excuse.

He eventually let me push him away. "So I'll see you down the road my little bratty Nat. I bought myself a Teleport to Saffron, which means I need to be off."

"You paid for a Teleport?" I asked despite myself. Teleporting was the modern day equivalent to flying everywhere. Used to be that trainers would catch flying type pokemon and train them specifically with the purpose of transporting people from place to place, but nowadays most people just used the Silph Private Teleport Hub, which worked effectively in the same way as a taxi; You request a TP and (for a hefty fee) they send a Psychic type pokemon to take you to any pokemon centre registered with them. I say 'most people' but in reality the steep cost had only really unlocked it for the elites of society. Plus 1 in 3 people suffered from nausea whenever they teleported, like they'd been spun around on the spot. A few unlucky folk even vomited. It was rare for a trainer to pay for such a service, in part because we were usually a broke bunch, and also because it cut down on travel (and therefore training) time. Most trainers still flew if they needed to get somewhere fast.

Cooper watched me grinning softly, and I returned with a scowl. He always wore the same grin whenever I drifted off into my own thoughts.

"Yeah, I know it was expensive," He began, "But what's the alternative? Viridian forest?" I saw him shudder as gooseflesh spread down my back. No, I don't think either of us would be taking that route ever again.

I didn't mention the other way out of Pewter. The one that I would be taking. I think he was grateful. The way his cheek kept twitching, I could tell this was hard for him.

I crossed my arms, "Whatever. Good riddance." He flashed me an amused smile, a genuine one. And then he was gone. Just as swiftly as he had entered my life, he left. It's not like I would have come with him to Saffron if he'd bothered asking. Nope. They had a gym there so I would be going eventually, but whatever.

Now I was really in a shitty mood, I wandered down the street for a little while, ending up at the Museum. I remembered having spent my first week here hiding out from Cooper, and now here I was annoyed that he was leaving. Pathetic.

I released Artemis, I'm not sure why. I had some lame excuse about showing her the moon rocks, on my mind as I paid for my entry, but I didn't really believe it. Plus she really didn't give two fucks about the various assortment of space rocks. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the moon which she stared at each night was just a big version of them.

An hour into exploring the Museum together, my phone buzzed. One message from BaeeeeXDXDXD\^_^/. I frowned again at the name, but soon enough a grin broke out over my face, which turned into a chuckle, and then a laugh. And then before I knew it I was resting on my knees, gasping for air with hysterics, while Artemis chirruped annoyed.

Cooper had sent me a picture of himself at Saffron.

There was puke all down the front of his shirt.

I think the greatest adjustment to travelling without Cooper was the silence.

It was my first day on the road, the flat brown skidmark of Pewter city behind me, and the looming giant of Mt Moon in front of me. And to the left of me. And the right of me. It was actually a little difficult to distinguish one mountain from the next, they all sort of loomed.

I was travelling along the only pathway available: A grassy road settled on the bottom of a valley floor. It ran parallel to a shallow river which eventually made its way down to Pewter. The same river that I took no small amount of pleasure in using to relieve myself as often as possible.

The river also served as my only means of direction, though really there was only one direction to go. Green valley walls rose around me in a gentle gradient with only a few breaks in between, most of which were impassable due smaller rocks and boulders. I shuddered at imagined rockslides gushing down like blood from a fresh wound.

And so I was left with the only option to continue with the river as it led me higher and higher. I knew that the river flowed from Mt Moon so I had to be going in the right direction, I just hadn't realised how much of an incline the trek would be. Don't get me wrong it was pleasant enough, the green fields dotted with the occasional tree or flower patch were quite pretty, and it was comfortably cool despite the sun shining down. I imagine it was the altitude which stopped things from overheating. But with altitude came silence apparently.

The river made barely a sound, the valley walls protected me from wind, and the only thing piercing the curtain of silence was the occasional rock that came tumbling and echoing around the valley walls. Funny how echoes seem to make silence all the more jarring; It was literally just a sound repeating over and over and yet they, more than anything else on that path, made the silence stand out.

Okay, so maybe I had become accustomed to hearing him go on.

I decided to let Bumble out of his ball, partly because I still needed to get to know him in his new form, and partly because I found the slight buzzing of his wings a little comforting.

He appeared with a red flash but didn't instantly head over to the flowers like I'd thought he would. I guess that was just a Butterfree thing. In fact he didn't really show much animation at all, deciding to just hover about a meter away from me.

I waited for him to do something, scowling when nothing happened. That got a response. Bumble made a sharp buzzing noise hovering a little lower to the ground and a bit further away. He also started doing this thing with his stingers, rubbing them together, almost nervously.

"Holy Mew", I mused. "You're actually a timid little thing aren't you?" Bumble made what I could only describe as a buzzing whine, rubbing his stingers together more animatedly.

Well this was new!

I had experience dealing with psychotic gnats, arrogant felines and bloodthirsty demons, but a timid little wasp? For all the near death experiences, at least this trainer thing always managed to keep me guessing.

I returned my focus to the flustered little thing in front of me, trying my best to sound… I don't know, sympathetic? "Hey there, uh… little guy. You're okay, I'm not mad at you." Bumble didn't seem sold on my sympathy. I huffed. Whatever. His loss.

I trudged forward, Bumble following behind me nervously.

As we passed by a particularly vibrant group of mountain flowers, I glanced sidelong at my shy little wasp, "So you're not big on flowers and honey then are you?" Bumble glanced at the flowers then back to me blankly. "It's just strange is all. Back in school we were taught that your species was very similar to Combee in Sinnoh. Collecting honey and bringing it back to the hive. Do you even eat honey?"

Bumble laughed (I think, it was difficult to tell). "I'll take that as no then." I finished amused. This was interesting, it seemed the Kanto schooling system left a lot to be desired, then again we didn't really have a local population of Beedrill near my hometown.

I had managed to break the ice at least, Bumble hovered around closer to me now, even occasionally stopping to investigate something nearby. It was actually quite adorable, seeing this deadly looking creature tentatively sniffing trees and occasionally lunging backwards in perceived fear of something.

We kept up our pace, stopping when Bumble got particularly curious about something, sometimes he even managed to spot a Geodude among the rocks. He would always rush back to my side when this happened, nervously keeping me between him and the grumbling rock pokemon.

I had to admit the little guy was growing on me, it was nice to have a pokemon that didn't treat me with contempt or outright hatred. I even shared some of the meat from my prepackaged sandwich with him, which he took to happily. He was by far the clumsiest eater I had even seen, unable to pick the meat up with his stingers without dropping it. He eventually just ended stabbing it like a shish kebab and munching around from the outside.

We made it to the cave entrance pretty soon after that. It stood at the top of a cleft, a precarious pathway winding down to the bottom of the valley which had widened out to provide a fairly wide space. It was this wide space which housed the few sparse buildings where the original Pewter settlers had arrived.

A Ranger's cabin sat closest to the crack in the wall that was Mt Moon, the second story had been turned into a watch tower, giving complete vision of anything coming down from the cave. To the left of the cabin, separated by a bed of neatly cultivated flowers stood the Pokemon centre, single story and smaller than city centres. It also had a waterwheel attached to it's side, pumped by the river next to it. Aside from that there wasn't much else here, a couple of tents set up. I frowned at that, it meant there probably weren't lodging facilities inside the centre. And finally at the far edge of the valley floor stood an orchard of trees and flowers with some long grass nearby. It was pretty. Prettier than Pewter at least.

I sent Cooper a quick snapshot of the Ranger's cabin with the caption "Think they can see your ego from all the way in Saffron?", I then went searching for a good place to set up camp. I had bought myself a nice new tent with some of the money I won off Brock, deciding that I would need it with Winter coming imminently.

I found a flat patch of grass not too close to any of the other trainers and was just finishing up with my tent when my phone buzzed. Cooper had sent me a picture of himself sitting at a park somewhere. He looked like he was concentrating on something, and the caption read "No but I can hear ur grumbling from dwn here. LMFAO!" I snorted at that, and considered replying with some snarky comment about his face but decided not to give him the satisfaction of a response. He would be far more annoyed by my dismissal. The resulting stream of texts that came within the next two hours proved me right.

I wandered down to a grassy area to release my team for some training, letting Beelzebub run loose against the wild pokemon he found, and telling Artemis to keep an eye on him while she practiced her Confusion attacks. Felicity gave me a flat look, daring me to order her to do some mundane task as well. I returned her unimpressed look and ordered Artemis to practice her Confusion attacks on the rebellious feline instead. That got the little brat moving.

Finally I turned to Bumble who watched the spectacle silently. I reassessed his moves: Harden, Fury Attack, Poison Sting and String Shot. Not great but not the worst either, already my head was spinning with unique ways I could work his String Shot into some combinations.

"Bumble, see that apple hanging up there?" I motioned to a nearby tree. Bumble followed my gaze and nodded. "I want you to work on your aim, try and spear the apple directly with a Poison Sting attack." Bumble just glanced between me and the apple nervously, buzzing weakly before hovering over towards the apple and poking it weakly with a stinger.

Not a great start. "Uh, that was okay, but try and shoot it from down here I mean. And try to actually… stab it." I motioned a stabbing movement with my hands to emphasise. I thought the message had been clear enough, but after a further blank look from my little wasp I decided to change tactics. "Why don't you try hitting it with a String Shot instead?" I suggested.

That seemed to resonate, Bumble buzzed animatedly, aiming up towards the undamaged apple before firing off a small stream of web. It flew low, landing a near foot below the target. I had to suppress a sigh. The universe really didn't like to make things easier for me.

A yowl to my right took my immediate attention and I had to tell Bumble to just keep trying to hit the apple while I rushed off to separate my fighting pokemon. I came back bloody and cringed to find the apple still pristine. The surrounding branches and trees were covered in so much string you could make a hammock out of it, but the damned apple was still untouched. Artemis hopped up and blasted the apple to chunks with a Confusion, having grown tired of Bumble's attempts. I shot her a quick thankful look that I was sure to hide from my dejected looking wasp.

Further efforts taught me that Bumble had no idea how to use his Fury Attack along with his Poison Sting, and that on top of having terrible aim with his String Shot, he also became unable to use his wings properly whenever he used Harden. It really was not promising.

I texted Cooper about it, completely ignoring whatever rant he had sent me prior, and asking whether he had any experience with something similar. It took him a couple of minutes to respond, which I read as I munched on apple chunks.

'Bruno was 2 scared 2 use any attck mves when i 1st got him. I jst had 2 be patient with him and he turnd out 2 b rlly strong after a lil tlc'

I rolled my eyes, figuring that only Cooper would be just as irritating texting as he would speaking. He probably only did it because he knew it was bugging me. That's something he would do. I texted back 'What good is a fully evolved pokemon that has to start from square one? I should release him.' I smirked, imagining the scandalized look on Cooper's face.

His following stream of messages definitely confirmed it. "Wat? Noooooo!1! Jst b patient wit him. U cnt just toss him aside lyk a used condom! Hes a living creature nattty! OMG no! Hnestly jst w8 ok? He will end up bein ur strongest lyk bruno is 4 me so jst dont do that!'

I side eyed Bumble, who had fixated on Artemis as she continued practicing. Somehow I really doubted he would wind up being my strongest. "Mmhmm. In this hypothetical situation where I listen to what you have to say, (which absolutely is not the current situation we are in right now, for the record) How do you suggest one goes about training such an incompetent pokemon?'

';D'

I rolled my eyes, and may or may not have been suppressing a grin.

'ok nat, this is w0t u do in ur "hyopthetcl situatuin" jst train on the ez stuff he can do that will hlp him 2 particpate in battles, strng shot and harden, thn slowly build up 2 the offnsve moves ok?'

I scrunched my nose up considering. What Cooper was saying made sense but it meant I would have to take extra care and time to get Bumble on par with my other pokemon, and there was still no assurance that he would end up being able to battle, some pokemon just couldn't do it. I also considered the fact that I already had two bug pokemon on my team, and that Beedrill weren't exactly the most versatile pokemon overall. Truthfully I would be better off just releasing him despite initially suggesting it facetiously.

As if he sensed my mutinous thoughts, Bumble hovered over and started nuzzling my hand with his little head, making faint buzzing sounds. I glanced back up at the tree covered in string and sighed. "Mew-fucking-dammit," I muttered to myself, getting up and returning back to the tree to continue training my timid little wasp.

My trip through Mt Moon, was about as uneventful as to be expected by such a well travelled route.

I had stayed outside training for a couple of days, not too happy with my progress on Bumble. He was semi-accurate at least?

Felicity had a nasty habit of swiping at him when I wasn't paying attention, which I hadn't picked up on until Artemis seemed to have enough of it, using Disable on her and chirping angrily at Bumble until he reluctantly shot the disabled feline with a String Shot. The resulting yowl was enough to draw my attention, but I honestly think Felicity was more annoyed to have that shit all in her beautiful fur than she was injured. Needless to say she haughtily ignored both Bumble and Artemis after that.

Sometimes I wondered if my little twilight huntress really did care about this team after all.

Beelzebub almost got killed, unsurprisingly, when he picked a fight with another trainer's Arcanine as it was snoozing on some rocks. The trainer had needed to pull on it's tail to keep it from killing Beelzebub after he was almost immediately knocked out. I small part of me wondered if perhaps she should have, but I quickly banished the thought away, remembering Brock telling me to get rid of Beelzebub. Fuck that shit, he was mine and I was keeping him.

Regardless, I'd been forced to shell out half my fucking money afterwards, and shot Beelzebub's pokeball filthy looks for the rest of the day.

When I went to get him healed in the pokemon centre, I glared at the seedy old bastard in the corner suckering newbies. He was selling overpriced Magikarp to people heading for Pewter, claiming it to be a powerful water type. Asshole. I was even tempted to warn the people falling for his stupid little con, but apathy won out in the end. There was one born every minute anyway.

Compared to my time spent outside Mt Moon, the cave itself turned out to be quite uneventful. It was dark, but not too dark to see. The worst part were the annoying freaking Zubat! By themselves they were no hassle, I was able to just bat them aside myself with a well placed swat. It was the groups of them swarming together which hampered progress. Artemis was the best at dealing with them, able to blast super effective Confusion attacks at them all in one go. She even managed to disable one, glancing back at me and chirping until I realised she was asking me if I wanted to capture it. I may have choked up a bit with pride, but I also didn't want any of these annoying little fuckers on my team so I let her blast it to oblivion.

There weren't really that many pokemon worth capturing at all to be honest. Except for one.

It had been reaching the end of my third or fourth day, and I had just backtracked from yet another dead end populated solely by Paras, when I saw it. A gap in the cave roof, let in enough light for me to make out a pink form in the distance.

Mother-fucking Clefairy!

Now those were rare pokemon if ever I knew. Artemis was too worn out from a full day of blasting those fucking Zubat, plus I couldn't afford to have her knocked out for the rest of the trip, so I returned her and released Felicity. It was going to be my Meowth vs the Clefairy. The cutest fucking showdown of the century.

I began the offensive ordering a bite attack, and Felicity pounced forward obediently. Maybe she felt threatened by the Clefairy's adorable plush cheeks, because Felicity was actually listening!

The wild Clefairy let out a sweet high pitched whine, as it turned to find a Meowth clamped down on its tail. She pouted at it and my heart melted at how freaking cute this thing was, before slapping my Meowth square across the nose, like it was disciplining a disobedient pet. She then twirled around gracefully, squaring up against my recovering feline, and pouted again.

I almost lost it when she began wiggling her finger, like she was telling my Meowth off. The resulting blast of heat which slammed into Felicity and knocked her against the opposite wall was a little bit less cute.

Doy, I berated myself. It was a Metronome attack, which Clefairy were famous for!

Felicity was out for the count, and I unhappily returned her as I weighed my options. Fuck it, I figured, releasing Bumble.

The Clefairy looked up at her new opponent, as she recovered from her attack.

"Bumble go, String Shot!" Luck swung back in my favour as my wasp squirted sticky webbing all over the Clefairy, coating her hands and preventing her from wiggling her fingers again! I made a mental note to give Bumble a fucking treat later.

Unable to attack, panic took the Clefairy and she jumped off to the right, attempting to abscond, but she wasn't getting away from me that easily. Bumble and I chased her down the corridor, herding her towards the dead end we had just discovered, by cutting her off from any side tunnels she tried to escape down. Eventually we had her cornered, and with a bit more animation than necessary, I ordered Bumble to snare her where she was with a String Shot, and followed up by hurling a pokeball with as much force as I could muster.

Somehow however, the Clefairy had managed to get one of her fingers free enough to wiggle, as a blinding flash of light seared my retinas just as I released my grip on the pokeball. I had to look away and let my vision clear for a few seconds, but still managed to hear the audible ding, proclaiming my pokeball had captured.

Eventually my vision returned, and I grinned at the pokeball sitting in front of me.

I Beedrill-fucking did it!

I whooped and hooted in success, chorused by a sing-song, higher whoop behind me. Glancing back in confusion, my jaw fell open. The Clefairy was bouncing around whooping and hooting in a mimicry of me!

If she was there, then what the fuck had I just caught?!

I swivelled back to my pokeball lying on the ground, rushing forward to pick it up and learn whatever I had just inadvertently captured.

A red flash of light revealed my prize; A scowling little Paras.

Another fucking Bug Pokemon?!

Cooper was going to fucking lose it.

I heard a sweet sounding teehee from behind me before another flash of light and the Clefairy was gone, leaving me behind with an irate little Paras and a nervously buzzing Bumble, who I grudgingly thanked and returned.

I let Artemis out to meet the newest member of our party.

She took one look at it, then turned back to me unimpressed.

"Well would you prefer another Felicity?" I shot back.

"Brriipprprpiriiiriiiii", she muttered in reply, which I took to be some sort of sass.

Something twitched in my eye. Oh that Paras was definitely staying now.

I never realised how much I would later come to regret adding Yum Yum the Paras to my team.