ACT III: PARTNERS.
Sandgem Town.
"Welcome to Sandgem Town's Pokémon Centre!" the boisterous nurse with bright pink hair greeted, warmth and cheer practically oozing off her jumpy countenance. "May I help you, dear?"
"Yes, you can," the scowling boy replied and held up a bundle wrapped in his purple jacket. Curiously enough, the bundle was moving. "I think my Chimchar is broken."
5 minutes later…
"She kicked me out!" an annoyed Piff screeched in anguish as he trudged down Route 202.
"With an ugly mug like that, go figure," Johnny scoffed.
"And would you stop talking?!" Piff barked, rounding on the monkey dangling from his outstretched arm. "I swear the Pokédex didn't say anything on you being psychic and I doubt you'd be smart enough to speak!"
"Hey! Fuck you, pineapple-head!" the Chimchar jabbered, flexing his calloused middle fingers. "It ain't my fault you hear Poké-speak! And put my fucking ass down or else my head's gonna explode!"
Remembering the strict warning given to him by the outraged nurse on time-wastage and Pokémon-manhandling, Piff dropped his starter abruptly on the ground. Right on his butt.
"Ow!" Johnny rubbed his rear and straightened up as his trainer crouched down to his level. "The fuck you want now?"
"I was told in Trainer School that trainers can understand their Pokémon if they're close enough. This, however, is ridiculous."
"No shit, Sherlock. If anything, you're the freak here."
Purple eyes narrowing, Piff raised a hand threateningly before sighing and lowering it to his own black locks. "Unreal. I'd have been fine with something like this if I got a water-type. Instead, all I get is a talking monkey who really needs a mouthful of soap."
"Does it look like I got a fucking toothbrush, Einstein?"
"That!" Piff roared, grabbing Johnny by the sides of his head and lifting him high. "That's what I mean! You swear too much, dammit!"
"Actually, 'Dammit' is also a swear word-"
"And I can't believe Nurse Joy didn't hear you! You even called her a…a…"
"A what? Ho I'd love to fu-"
"Yes, that," Piff cut-in and sighed again before closing his eyes. Opening them again, he locked eyes with Johnny and said, "Okay, I can make this work. I wanted this, right? So what if it comes with an annoying Chimchar?"
"I know, right?" Johnny replied in mock-agreement. "Why don't we start over?"
Surprised, Piff nodded reluctantly and set him down. Extending a hand, his Pokémon smiled and tilted his head. "I'm Johnny Firebottoms and I apologise for the crappy intro earlier. No hard feelings, eh?"
The boy cast him a wary glance before shrugging and encasing the hand in his. "Okay…I'm Coliot Piff Rosewood and I guess we can work something out. Sorry for the screaming too. I tend to stress out easily."
"Oh?" Johnny's smile turned coy. "Then this should be fun."
It took Piff three seconds to recall that fire-type Pokémon had high body temperatures. This increased greatly when they were agitated. On some occasions, however, the mischievous ones could raise their body temperatures at will to torture their unlucky victims.
In that space of time, Johnny had somehow managed to bake Piff's palm raw.
Screaming, the trainer fell back, rolled across the ground, blew on his smoking palm and dash off to the nearest water-body, all to Johnny's greater amusement. Cackling, he watched his trainer jump into a mud-hole, scattering dozens of Burmy, Bidoof and the odd Wooper.
"That's it!" Piff screamed, fed up. "I'm taking you back to Sandgem NOW!"
"That'd leave you without a partner, mate," Johnny stated, casually blowing his nails. "Not that I mind or anything. You're incompetent anyway."
His supply of oxygen was promptly cut off as a hand grabbed his neck and drew him towards Piff's face. Given that mud was smeared across his angry brows, Piff didn't look all that intimidating. It was the smile that put Johnny off.
"That's where you're wrong, mate," he spat and pointed in the direction of a Wooper mindlessly waddling away. "I'm gonna catch that one. And then I can start this journey for real."
"Good luck to ya," Johnny wheezed, managing a smile of his own. "How're you gonna catch it since I sure as hell ain't wasting my time battling a Wooper."
"You wanna stay with me or not?" Piff asked impatiently, releasing him. "Have it your way. The sooner I get that water-type, the better for both of us."
With another amused smirk, Johnny plopped down on the grass, watching as Piff popped his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. "You're not…actually gonna beat that thing into submission, are you?"
The ravenette replied with a mocking smile and stomped his way after the scurrying (and admittedly slow) Wooper. Raising a fist, the Chimchar's eyes widened as Piff brought it down on the dumb Wooper's shiny head, knocking it out instantly. Confidently, the boy chucked an empty Pokéball at it, crossing his fingers stupidly as the Pokémon was enveloped in a bright white light.
Without so much as a roll, the ball dinged and Piff raised his new catch high. "I just caught a Wooper!"
His victorious cry echoed through the relatively empty plains, making the event all the more awkward.
Far above them, a Starly cawed.
"Wow," Johnny remarked, bored. "That was the most anticlimactic capture I'd ever seen. In some countries, I believe that's called abuse."
"In others, it's called initiative. In the meantime, you're going back."
"Whatever," the fire-type shrugged, turning his back on the trainer as the latter pocketed the ball. "It was fun while it lasted."
Behind him, Piff raised a brow. "You seriously don't care?"
Johnny shrugged again. "What's there to care about? It's not like I'm actually free travelling with some city-slicker brat. I've had far too many of those lately and you know how they end up? Dead in a ditch." It was minute but Piff was sure the Pokémon's shoulders sagged. "I'm not free. I never will be."
"Tried running away?"
"Ha! Yeah, I tried once or twice. Gave up because the outside world's not as simple as you think it is. In the end, I always come back to that exact same corner in Sandgem."
Johnny gave him a side glance and grinned. "But hey, at least I get free food at the lab."
Another wind blew over them as they remained in that spot, staring at each other. Eventually, Johnny scratched the back of his head and crossed his arms with a huff.
"Are we going back or what? Any more time with you and I think I'll catch cancer."
Piff watched the Pokémon start off and suddenly felt the urge to stop him. "H-hey…"
His words caught in his throat as the ground underneath his feet trembled slightly. His ears caught the numerous caws of Starly and Staravia as well as the sudden stillness in the air.
"Johnny," he called, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper as he lowered his fingertips to the ground. Ahead, the Chimchar gave an irritated sigh and spun around with an annoyed look.
"What now? Change of heart?"
Piff's fingertips tingled. "Ssh."
"Don't shush me!" Johnny hissed back acerbically and continued walking. "If you ain't got anything great to say then-"
"Johnny, stop!" Piff whisper-barked. The rumbling was getting louder.
"I ain't taking orders from you!" Johnny snapped harshly. "All you trainers ever do is expect guys like me to bend over backwards like mindless slaves! I ain't no one's lackey, got it! It's just not my definition of fucking freedom-"
A deep, ferocious roar ripped his sentence in half, prompting the Chimchar to freeze in shock. Both boy and Pokémon looked from each other to the ground where the terrifying roar had come from before looking back at each other again.
"Not a step," Piff mouthed, pointing at the ground. Johnny could only nod in reply as the trembling grew louder and harder till the very ground below them was rocking violently. Fortunately the trembling began to lessen after a moment as whatever the cause was moved away from the duo. Both would've heaved sighs of relief had it not been for one little thing.
The Wooper's ball had been rocked right out of Piff's pocket and was currently rolling across the vibrating floor.
To their horror, the release button hit a rock and exploded in a bright and, unfortunately, loud flash, releasing the now conscious Wooper who proceeded to hop about in fright and cry loudly.
The trembling stopped.
Piff tensed.
Johnny cursed.
And the ground below them erupted in a blast of soil and stone, sending all three of them flying into the air.
"What the fuck!" Johnny yelled and gasped as a massive shape hurled itself out of the dense dust clouds below, jaws wide and rocky fists clenched. It sported rock-like hide with a tail thick enough to break a human in half and eyes so fierce that fire might've been flashing from them. On first sight, it looked like a rhino. However, Piff's Pokédex had its own definition.
"Rhydon, the Drill Pokémon. Rhydon's horn can crush even uncut diamonds. One sweeping blow of its tail can topple a building. This Pokémon's hide is extremely tough. Even direct cannon hits don't leave a scratch. Rhydon has a horn that serves as a drill. It is used for destroying rocks and boulders. This Pokémon occasionally rams into streams of magma, but the armour-like hide prevents it from feeling the heat."
"H-holy shit!" Johnny screamed as the airborne Rhydon swung its heavy tail at him. Using his size, the fire monkey evaded the attack by twisting his body against the coming tail and using his hands to grab hold of it. All of them came down hard on the ground though Johnny merely bounced off the Rhydon as it landed on its sturdy feet with a loud smash that cratered the ground around it. Piff wasn't so lucky as he landed on his shoulder, crying out as an audible crack indicated a dislocated joint. Wooper landed a good distance away and squealed in fright before taking off into the bushes.
"Fucking coward!" Johnny hissed at it, scurrying up to Piff who, at the moment was struggling to his feet. Before them, the Rhydon growled and stomped hard on the ground again before lowering its horn and charging.
"Shit! That's a Take Down!" Johnny hissed and both leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the devastating attack. The wild Pokémon crashed into the tree behind them, splitting it down in a single hit, a fact that made Piff involuntarily swallow.
"What's a Rhydon doing here?" he asked, grabbing the dislocated arm and, to Johnny's slight surprise, pushing it back into its socket. "I mean, this is Route 202. There aren't any mountains in sight."
"The freak must've travelled here underground," Johnny remarked, winding his arms as the Rhydon reappeared from the splinters, unscratched and not the least bit dizzy from the collision. "Hey, kid! Stand back, will ya?"
"You're going to fight it?" Piff gasped, shocked as Johnny took a fighting stance and glared at the beast twelve times his size. "But you're at a disadvantage. That's a rock-type and you're just a fire-type."
"I have a few fighting tricks up my sleeve," the monkey replied and leapt into action before Piff could stop him, running up to the Rhydon as it raised a glowing fist, readying a Mega Punch to squash him flat. Johnny was far agiler though and from the acrobatic way he dodged each blow, Piff was tempted to believe that his starter was far more experienced than he looked.
With a well-timed jump, Johnny avoided another swing of the Rhydon's tail and finally raised a fist, now coated in flames.
"Fire won't work, remember!" Piff barked.
"I know what I'm doing!" Johnny barked back, punching the Rhydon right in the back. At first, Piff expected Johnny's hand to shatter on its tough-looking hide. However, the fire monkey's fist bounced off the armour which spontaneously exploded upon impact.
A gawking Piff saw the heavy-set Rhydon fly forward and land on its face with thick black smoke streaming from its back.
"Ha! How d'you like me now, bitch!" the Pokémon jeered, raising his middle fingers at the Rhydon and turning to Piff. "Told ya so. BTW, your arm okay?"
"It's fine," Piff replied dismissively and gave the still Rhydon a furtive glance. "Let's get out of here. If what they taught at Trainer Scholl's correct then that Rhydon didn't travel alone. Plus, it won't be down for long."
"Yeah, yeah," Johnny waved off and blew his smoking fist.
"By the way, what was that move?"
"An explosive fire punch. Something I invented to get rid of my excess fire power," he replied proudly. "Unlike all 'em weak-ass Chimchar out there, I can make my flames explode. Took me a hell of a while to master it but hey, that's what I get for living in a forest full of fighting-types."
The boy nodded as they continued running down the forest. "Back there, that was pretty cool."
"Oh, so now you've got a change of heart?" Johnny sneered, head growing bigger with pride. "Well too bad. I'm still heading back to the lab so-"
A loud crash cut him short and Piff immediately grabbed the Pokémon before diving forward as a Rhydon bulldozed its way out the bushes and into their way. Roaring, it changed course and barrelled after them.
"That thing's pretty stubborn," Johnny hissed.
"No," Piff replied as it picked up speed. Just before it had changed course, he had gotten a good look at its back. "It's a different Rhydon!"
"Eh?!"
"And this is where a water-type would've been useful!" he whined, earning a sour look from his Pokémon.
"I admit that if the fucking Wooper hadn't run away then we'd have been outta this mess. But don't put the blame on my typing. Besides-" He leapt out of Piff's hold and raised his flaming fist. "I can take this pussy!"
What they didn't know was that Rhydon were much smarter than they looked.
Faster too.
The Drill Pokémon stopped its charge just as Johnny flew straight towards it, making a very swift turn. To the latter's shock, Johnny realised that he was on a collision course with the Rhydon's tail and though he angled himself away from the center of the attacking appendage, he still suffered a hard and gritty smack as the tail's surface scraped across the entire length of his frame.
Johnny was sent spinning away from the Rhydon like a hairy tennis ball and would've surely splattered against a tree had Piff not caught him in his chest and hit his own back on the tree.
"A-are you okay?" the dazed and winded Piff wheezed in concern as Johnny moaned.
"I'm good," he said, voice tightening as he held his head. "I just have the biggest headache right now."
"Your side's scraped too," Piff observed, drawing back his blood-stained hand. "Dammit, I need to get you to a PC."
"No way!" Johnny snapped, standing up again and facing the Rhydon. "I can beat this guy." Glancing over his shoulder, he jerked his head in the direction of the Rhydon. "I'll keep it busy while you go on ahead."
Piff's jaw tightened as his brows creased. "I can't do that. What if you get hurt or killed?"
Johnny scoffed. "I appreciate the worry but I don't exactly need it. Unlike me, you humans are frail as glass. Between you and me, I think I've got the better chances here." He quickly jumped over a swinging fist and latched onto the Rhydon's head. "Go, kid!"
"But-"
Another roar caught Piff's ears and his feet unwillingly stumbled forward. Johnny watched the boy disappear through the bushes and nodded to himself before returning to the matter at hand.
"With any luck, you won't end up dead like the last trainer," he murmured, pounding his fists against the Rhydon's eyes. "If I can at least do this much then I'll be able to sleep better at night."
With that, he placed both palms on the Rhydon's eyes and concentrated very hard. The forest floor rocked as an explosion was set off on the latter's head, earning an agonised scream from the Drill Pokémon. Falling to its knees, the opponent landed flat against the floor and Johnny dusted his hot palms before prodding at the injury on his side.
"Ouch," he hissed as it stung angrily. "I'll probably pass out if I cauterize it here. Better make sure the kid is safe."
He was just about turning around when a force as hard as a brick smacked the back of his head, carrying him into the air.
"What?!" he snapped, looking down to face the angriest eyes he had ever seen. They justifiably belonged to the first Rhydon he had earlier beaten down and before he knew it, the Pokémon scooped a large boulder from the ground and chucked it right at him. Unable to react fast enough, Johnny was literally bowled out of the air and right into a tree.
Biting back a pained cry, Johnny shook the dizziness from his eyes and rolled away just in time to avoid another powerful punch that felled the tree behind him. Things began to go uphill from there though as each move he made sent waves of pain up and down his entire body.
"F-fuck!" he spluttered upon realising that he couldn't feel his left arm after some time. Above him, the Rhydon's ugly expression seemed to mirror a deathly sneer as it realised its tiny opponent's predicament. Johnny held the limp arm in one hand and cursed as he snapped his fingers which produce little more than tiny, useless sparks now. "What? I'm out of gas already?! Gimme a fucking break, dammit! I didn't use that much fire, did I?!"
He had to stop his rant as the Rhydon's heavy foot came crashing down just an inch away from his head, startling him. Before he could even turn around, he was swept forward by another hard swing of its tail, launching him once more into the air.
To make matters worse, the second Rhydon he just felled had woken up and was currently charging something multi-coloured and bright.
"Shit!" he cried as the Hyper Beam enveloped his entire frame, resulting in an explosion so loud, the forest might as well have jumped. Covered in various burns, bruises and aches, a limp Johnny crash-landed against the dirt, skidding roughly on his back before coming to a painful halt.
Right before a steep cliff. With a 90m drop.
Half-conscious, Johnny considered the possibility of running for his life. Given the heavy stomps he was hearing however, that now seemed impossible. So what then? Die? And finally end the somewhat boring life he had led up until now?
That…actually sounded pretty nice at this point. After all, Johnny realised long ago that he never fit in with anything of this world. Born a lonely and destructive Pokémon in a jungle brimming with harsh fighting-types, it was no surprise that he became what he was now. Yes, he had the power to best most of them, going so far as to spitefully burn their homes down but now that he realised it, he didn't exactly feel all that proud of himself. In fact, he just found himself lonelier than before. Becoming a starter at the Rowan Labs didn't help as he either destroyed things, set the odd colleague alight or caused trouble for his trainers, most of which wound up dead in situations where he wasn't responsible enough to help them.
He even remembered the scathing words a rather proud Piplup had once told him when he almost burned her beak off.
"You're just a retarded cretin," she had scoffed, gazing down on him after she had beaten the daylights out of him. "A worthlessly incorrigible ape who has no destiny whatsoever and can pride himself only in destruction. Those dead trainers attest to that. Die horribly and alone, fool."
Ouch.
Truthfully, Johnny knew that he needed that. That's why he had earlier doubled his efforts to have Piff return him by being as difficult as possible. It wasn't that he was particularly stubborn (okay, maybe a little). He just didn't trust himself to protect the boy should the time actually come.
Now, as the two Rhydon stomped closer and closer to him with jaws barred and horn drills primed, he felt the least bit proud of something at least.
"I'm actually sacrificing myself to help that idiot," he murmured and raised himself up on a knee before raising his good arm. "And if I'm going down here then I might as well look cool while I'm at it."
If death was the "freedom" that he needed then so be it. With a hard snap, his fist ignited and he stared defiantly at the charging Rhydon. "Come at me, fuckers!"
And they did, stomping the ground flat as they edged closer and closer to bulldoze him off the cliff.
Then they stopped. And, to Johnny's surprise, began sliding backwards.
All three Pokémon looked to the rear and Johnny suppressed a gasp as Piff, the human, was holding tightly to their heavy tails and actually dragging them backwards.
"What…" The Chimchar's brows creased in frustration. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, KID?"
Piff spared Johnny a glance before lowering his own angry brows further. "I'd say the same for you, punk!" He heaved again and the Rhydon actually fell forward on their faces. "Whatever happened to you having the better chances of survival, huh?! 'Go on without me' my foot!" He ground his teeth as sweat poured down his pinched face. "There's no way I'm letting two brainless Rhydon kill my starter!"
With a loud cry, he flung the first Rhydon over his shoulder and right through two trees before sharply yanking the second one towards his raised elbow, bashing it straight in the jaw.
The Rhydon staggered backwards and collided with its kin and Piff heaved several gasps again before turning to Johnny, the latter noting the rawness of his palms and the blood dotting his elbow.
"Hey!" he barked, pointing to Piff. "How'd you do that?"
"I'm stronger than most," Piff replied, thumbing his chest and smirking. "So you don't have to worry about protecting me."
"But-"
"You wanna be free, right?" the ravenette snapped, cutting Johnny short as he dropped on one knee to glare right into the fire monkey's eyes. "We're the same. I realised that when you said those things earlier. Remember the part where you said you'll never be free, right?"
"Yeah," Johnny replied, cocking a brow. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I used to think like that too, at a point. Up until I was twelve, I was pretty destructive, accidentally breaking stuff and beating people up when I got mad. People even called me a monster and I didn't belong anywhere. It was suffocating."
He thumped his chest again. "To me, freedom meant moving past those things and becoming a better person, starting over in a sense. I wanted people to see me for me, not some strong and hot-tempered jerk. That's why I'm going on this journey. To let people see the good stuff that even I can do. That's my freedom and my mom helped me realise that when I was at the end of my rope."
Wow, what a coincidence. "So…you didn't fit in too?" Johnny murmured in disbelief. "And you're not giving up on that freedom?"
"Why the hell should I?" Piff barked defiantly. "I'll be no better than I was before!"
Johnny's eyes widened. "Oh…I didn't look at it that way."
Piff thumped him gently on the head and grinned. "You said you'll never be free, right? Well come with me, Johnny and I'll prove just how wrong you are."
He held out a scraped palm and Johnny paused, contemplating the offer. "Can you gimme a sec to think about this?"
"Take your freaking time," the boy bit out sarcastically as the Rhydon finally ambled to their sturdy feet and growled at them. Without a second to lose, Johnny grabbed the hand and gave it a firm shake.
To Piff's relief, his palm wasn't burning.
"Let's get that freedom then, kid-I mean, Piff!" Johnny said, fresh determination in his eyes.
"Great!" Piff flung him onto his shoulder and turned to the Rhydon, cracking his knuckles. "Got any fight left in ya?"
"Shut up and throw me as hard as you can," the Chimchar replied, jumping into the air. A moment later, Piff caught him in one hand and wound it back, aiming straight for the first Rhydon.
"He's all yours!" the boy roared, pitching Johnny at the charging Pokémon. Clenching his good fist, Johnny concentrated all his fire power into his tail and with a boom, his tail flames increased in intensity, sending him right into the Rhydon's skull with the speed of a rocket.
The makeshift Mach Punch connected so hard that the Rhydon was knocked flying backwards with a sizeable crack in its rock-hard hide. Still whizzing forward, Johnny's flaming fist raked the second Rhydon across the cheek, leaving a hot scratch that earned an angry roar from the target. Before it could actually fight back, Piff was already under it with a fist drawn back.
"If your skin can withstand cannon fire then I'll just have to punch harder than that!" he roared, shooting the fist forward and delivering a devastating blow to both the Rhydon's chin and his own knuckles as both cracked audibly. The punch was still enough to carry the Rhydon upwards and right into Johnny's attack. A searing palm to the belly and an ensuing explosion was all it took to fell the Rhydon and its fall even left a wide crater around it once it landed on the ground.
"Phew," Johnny gasped, totally satisfied and waving the smoke from his fist. "That…felt pretty good, actually. Scratch that; we were fucking awesome!"
"I know, right?" Piff boasted and both high-fived each other before howling in pain as their broken hands finally gave. Falling flat on their backs as exhaustion seeped in, the world fell silent as they took the time to regain their breaths, panting loudly and giving strangled laughs over their somewhat dishevelled appearances.
"You alright, kid?" Johnny wheezed, rolling to his belly and watching as whitish vapour began to waft from Piff's raw palms. A little while later, the vapour was gone and his palms looked almost as fresh as a baby's. "I'll take that as a yes, then."
"You say it like I'm some kind of freak," Piff joked though his smile waned as he shook his resetting hand. "Though you'd be right in a sense. I haven't exactly seen humans do what I can do. You're…not scared of me already, are you?"
The Chimchar clambered onto his thick black hair and stretched languidly. "Nah. If anything, I'm sorta relieved. Now I know I won't have to do wild battles anymore."
"Wrong, mate," Piff deadpanned, getting up and dusting his jacket. "I only joined in because you were in danger and these guys are way above your level. Speaking of which…"
They turned to the unconscious Rhydon.
"Why did those guys come all the way to the boonies?" he remarked, puzzled. "Mt Coronet is miles away from here."
"They moved, I guess," Johnny offered with a pained shrug. "Pokémon do that."
"But Rhydon are territorial," Piff said and put a hand to his chin. "Unless they were forced out of the mountain, I doubt they'd travel here."
He gestured to the area beyond the cliff where the Twinleaf Ruins lay and the sea even beyond that.
"Water," Johnny stated dryly.
"You know how much they hate that. Yet they came here. And then attacked us for seemingly no reason."
"I sure as hell don't wanna stick around to find out," Johnny said cautiously and Piff backed off towards the woods. Eight minutes in, they found Piff's Wooper happily munching on mud, right next to its dropped Pokéball.
It might have been abuse but Piff was perfectly justified when he kicked it clear over the horizon. Once the dazed Pokémon was back in its ball, nameless and properly scolded, Piff and Johnny found their way out of the rough woods of Route 202 and heaved sighs of relief as Jubilife City stood before them.
"We made it," Piff sighed, sitting on the grassy hill overlooking the city. "First stop, a Pokémon Centre. Then, Oreburgh City."
"What's at Oreburgh?"
Piff arched a brow. "The gym. You honestly never heard about that?"
"I honestly never made it that far before getting returned, ass-hat."
"Whatever. Once we're done at the PC, you and Wooper are training right away."
"Why do I need to train?" Johnny flexed his thin arms. "You saw what I did with the Rhydon back there, remember?"
"Did you get amnesia or did you just completely ignore the fact that I saved your flaming butt?"
"Hey! You can insult me but this ass had nothing to do with it." He smacked his bum for emphasis.
"That was totally random and completely irrelevant!"
"Your face is irrelevant!"
"Go suck on a banana, jerk-wad," Piff hissed, earning a gasp from his Pokémon.
"That is a very vicious stereotype, you dick!" he barked.
"So…you hate bananas?"
"Of course not! I'm a monkey for fuck's sake!"
"You swear too much!"
"Can't help it since I'm travelling with an idiot!"
"Wooper!" the Wooper cried, strangely out of its ball.
"Shut the hell up!" they barked in unison, successfully scaring it back into its ball.
The two glared at each other hatefully before sighing and falling back into the grass.
"I don't know why I even took you in," Piff mock-lamented, closing his eyes.
"Get used to it, pal," Johnny replied before softening his scowl and looking to the side. "Thanks for the help, by the way. Not that I needed it…"
"Aaww, you're the tsundere-type," Piff remarked sarcastically before smirking back. "Anytime, dude. Just remember that we're partners from now on so I've got your back."
"Partners…" Johnny grinned back. "I like the sound of that."
A good distance away from the duo, a shape swathed in deep black put down his binoculars and tapped twice on the ground before stepping back as a Rhydon burst out in a flurry of soil.
"That strong, eh?" he asked as the Rhydon stroked the crack on its chin. His electric blue eyes narrowed as a small smile broke out across his face. "It's official then."
He pressed a receiver to his ear and said, "Saturn, we found him."