As his cabover truck idled on Route 52 driver Ken Worth could only look ahead at the sleeping Rhyhorn blocking its path and sigh. He'd made the gung-ho decision to take this little trafficked gravel road to get it to Pewter City on time this afternoon and had been paying for it all afternoon. Did not delivering a load late on his first day justify all this? Well obliviously the answer must be yes, he didn't spend three years driving a purple minivan just to come up short.
He looked over to his "co-driver" and only Pokémon, Fennekin. This is a Pokémon problem so it's only natural to use a Pokémon to try fix it. He then looked up at the chord on the cab's ceiling for the truck's horn, if it was loud enough to snap Saffron City commuters out of their little bubbles and remind them to stay in their lane it was likely usable here too. As the Rhyhorn snored Ken formulated a plan.
"Alright, you're on fire type," Ken told Fennekin. "I want you to get out of the truck and stay in front of it. I'm going to blow the horn a few times and see if shakes Sleeping Beauty here from its slumber. If it gets aggressive and makes a move toward the truck give it an ember and let's see if we can run it off. Sound like a good plan?"
"Kin, kin ne fen," Fennekin responded.
"Well then do you have a better one you'd like to contribute?" Ken asked.
"Kin," Fennekin said. "Kin fen ne."
"Well, let's give a shot then," Ken said. "What do we have to lose other than time…and possibly both the truck and all those Poké Balls in the back."
Fennekin seemed a little iffy and looked nervous for a moment, he seemed to love a battle but a Rhyhorn was a bit much for him to handle. Ken thought about what his sister Sandra, professional trainer in every sense of the word would do in this situation. What had he seen his sister do in a situation like this? Of course, the way to a Pokémon's heart often ran through its stomach.
"How about you pull this off and we'll get you a few more twigs once we get to Pewter City," Ken suggested.
"Fen, Fennekin fen ne," Fennekin said, steadying up like he was ready for action.
"Let's rock and roll," Ken said as he swung the driver's door of the truck open.
Fennekin yipped with joy and leaped out of the truck only to immediately land in a mud puddle with a splash after neither he nor Ken had noticed before the door was opened. Ken couldn't help but laugh as his fox pulled itself covered in mud.
Fennekin quickly got back to his feet. His fur was filthy but he just shrugged it off. Ken quickly closed the door to avoid being splashed as the fire type shook the mud off. Fennekin moved in front of the truck and struck his best battle pose. He barked to signal Ken he was ready. The Rhyhorn continued to snooze.
"Ok, let's do this," Ken said to himself. "Wakey wakey."
The truck driver pulled the chord and the truck's horn blared. The Rhyhorn started to wake up. Ken pulled the chord again to give it another blast. The Rhyhorn's red eyes were now wide open as the big Spikes Pokémon got to its feet. Fennekin stood at the ready to try and run the massive creature off if it tried to attack the truck but instead the rock type just groggily looked at him and the truck before walking off the road. It went only about 100 feet before it just rolled back on its side and went back to sleep off the road. Ken smiled while Fennekin's jaw dropped in disappointment at this challenge's anti-climax. The truck's door opened.
"Alright Fennekin, let's roll," Ken said. "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there."
Fennekin could barely hold back his disappointment. He knew he couldn't fight that Rhyhorn with any chance at success but he was hoping he could have at least gotten to scare it and look good for his trainer. Ken was smiling at this crisis being resolved easily and began checking the gauges in the truck instead of watching his Pokémon.
The fire fox dejectedly starting walking back to the truck but as he did a Spearow landed in front of the truck for a quick preen. Fennekin thought for a moment and, absent of any other challenges, deemed this bird to be a risky threat blocking their way that he needed to scare it off. He deployed his claws and launched a scratch attack at the Tiny Bird Pokémon. Everything that followed was chaos.
Ken was pleased with how Truck #2,013 was running. They had plenty of fuel, the batteries were charging as needing, tire temperatures were normal, and the brake system had plenty of air. He was smiling when he heard two loud Pokémon cries and the sound of thrashing.
"What is that?" Ken said, thinking aloud.
Ken climbed out of the cab, almost dreading what the source of that ruckus was. He walked toward the front of the truck to find Fennekin had started a battle with some bird Pokémon and he was losing it. The bird's beak glowed as it launched a peck attack. Fennekin whimpered as the avian attack connected. The fox had some visible signs of bruising indicting it wasn't the first attack he in this battle where he was on the receiving end. The speed at which this happened hinted at just how much this bird wasn't messing around. The battle damage on the avian hinted Fennekin hadn't been either.
"Fennekin, get up," Ken shouted. "Ember!"
The fox started spraying sparks which got the bird off him for a moment while Ken deployed his phone and its PokéScan.
"SCANNING: Spearow, normal and flying type. Spearows have a bad attitude and a strong beak for peck attacks."
Ken looked at Fennekin as the fox pulled himself back up. This was nothing like the battle in Vermilion City, with a wild Pokémon instead of one belonging to a trainer there was no telling how far the other creature was going to push this. Turning to the Spearow he noticed it had a glowing outline around it. He'd seen one of Sandra's Pokemon do that attack once, it was called focus energy and usually it meant the combatant was setting up for something. The bird dove, beak again aglow, as it went for another attack.
"Fennekin, ember!" Ken shouted before he hurriedly ran back to the cab to get some supplies. "Dodge the dive if you can."
Fennekin again launched his sparks but while it did some damage Spearow flew through the shower anyway to connect on its attack. The hit sent the fire type rolling backward from the impact. Fennekin hadn't taken a licking like this since his original trainer Camille sent him out against that Tyrunt at the Cyllage City Gym; his last battle with her before she largely banished him to his ball and sold him. He couldn't lose again like that. Spearow was now on the ground and slowly began walking toward Fennekin. It was setting the little fox up for a coup de grace courtesy of another peck attack.
"Fennekin, scratch!," shouted Ken, looking on from inside the cab as he grabbed a few potions and other items.
Just as Spearow pulled back for its peck Fennekin slashed it with its claws. The bird let out a large cry of anguish before cutting loose with its peck attack on the fox. This time it was too much for a wounded Fennekin to handle, the little fire type passed out unable to battle further. Still battered and bruised Spearow slowly started walking up to his unconscious foe ready to enjoy the fresh taste of victory but before it could it suddenly felt a hard item slam into the back of its neck. The bird turned around to find out what that was only to see a Poké Ball clicking open. It could do nothing more as it was turned into red energy and sucked into the ball. Ken stood over the ball with an angry look on his face.
"Rule of the road bird, watch out for tailgaters," Ken said coldly.
The ball jerked back and forth on the ground but while Spearow had won the battle the victory quickly turned Pyrrhic. There was no stopping it now. The ball gave off its signature ding as Spearow was caught.
Ken walked right past the Poké Ball to check on Fennekin, nervously noting his fox had been knocked out during the battle. Ken thought to himself how bad this situation could get, that Rhyhorn was still nearby and with Fennekin incapacitated that technically left the Spearow as the only conscious Pokémon on his side. He pulled out the revive from the starter kit and a bottle of super potion. He used the former to wake his partner back up before giving him a heavy spray of the latter. The fox winched from the potion's initial sting but started perking back up to close to his normal self. Ken used the whole bottle.
"Oh thank goodness," Ken said. "You've got to be more careful buddy. I almost lost you there. We're just getting started, it would be a shame to break up the band this quick. Any idea what happened to provoke that Spearow into a battle?"
Fennekin had a sad, guilty look on his muzzle. He knew what he had done. Ken picked up on it immediately.
"Did…did you pick that fight yourself?" he asked.
"Fen," the little fox replied.
"What were you thinking?" Ken asked. "You don't go around picking fights with random wild Pokémon without both of us in it together. I'm new to the trainer thing but even I know that's a real good way to get your tail kicked in, as you just have here. Thank goodness we had the revive or…"
Ken noticed the sad look on Fennekin's face. He thought back to how stoked his Pokémon had been for the Vermilion City battle and how Mack mentioned it had a prior trainer who ditched it after some losses.
"You don't have to impress me by constantly getting into or winning fights Fennekin," Ken said. "We have to be a team. You'll be there to protect our loads and I'll be there to guide you when the need to throw down arises. We've got to be in this together if we're going to get through it. We're partners now and that isn't going to change if I have any say in it."
"Fen," said the little fox.
Ken gave Fennekin a much-needed hug before turning his attention to the ball.
"And now there's the matter of smoothing things over with our new teammate," Ken said.
He walked over and picked up Spearow's Poké Ball before silently calling out the bird. Spearow let out a large caw before Ken pulled out another bottle of super potion.
"Hold on," Ken said. "This may sting but it will heal most of your wounds."
Spearow looked up at Ken as he sprayed him, indeed its wounds did start to heal. Ken smiled but the bird still didn't exactly look comfortable yet. Ken held out its Poké Ball.
"Spearow?" it said in a questioning tone.
"I'm sorry about what happened with my Fennekin," Ken said. "It never should have attacked you...and I should have been watching it closer to prevent things like that from happening. If you want out for good, I'll be glad to release you. But if you want to come along with us I can promise you I'll get you healed fully at a Pokémon Center and a big dinner to eat once we reach Pewter City tonight. My name's Ken, I drive this truck, and I'm new to this whole Pokémon trainer thing. We'll get there though. I could use a team to help keep this truck safe and if you're game I'd like you to be a part of it."
Spearow looked back toward the sky then toward the truck. The offer did sound tempting.
"No one will be trying to eat you if that's a perk," Ken said.
Spearow smiled as best as the beaky bird could.
"Spearow," it said happily, pointing a wing toward its ball. "Spear spear Spearow."
Ken picked up on what the bird was trying to say. It was game and it wanted back in its ball.
"Welcome aboard compadre," Ken said. "Spearow return."
The bird was pulled back into its Poké Ball. Quietly Ken and Fennekin loaded up and departed from the scene, hoping that the dramas of Route 52 would finally be behind them. Ken placed Spearow's ball in the cup holder right above Fennekin's. If their new travelling companion wanted to spend more time inside it Ken was fully ready to let it, no doubt the bird had been through a lot today.
Ken had learned a lot on this run. Being resourceful is a great thing but if one is to be a good trainer they have to keep an eye on their Pokémon. If he'd have been watching Fennekin closer, and Fennekin hadn't been pushing itself too hard to impress him, they could have avoided this drama. Both of them would have take the lessons they learned here to heart if they were to succeed on the road together.
It was with much relief that about an hour later that Truck #2,013 finally reached the end of Route 52 and turned back onto a paved road. It was now 6 p.m. and with Pewter City coming into view it looked like despite all the chaos Ken and Fennekin would make their delivery on time. A smile started to cross Ken's face as he started to accelerate his truck down Slate Street toward Pewter City's downtown area. While there were some storm clouds gathering above the city soon they would be out of the proverbial woods.