A/N

Here's another chapter.

Onward and upward, until we can't go upward anymore. The moon's in the way.

Cobalt knew how to fight. He had taken karate lessons back in his old world, and kicked someone in the dick, once. A true, verifiable pro.

Well, OK. Maybe not, but he did spend a good bit of time with his father's Machamp over the past couple years. He ran laps around the Kent Orchard, studied footwork and form, and sparred every so often with a wild tyrogue that had somehow made it into Kanto.

He was still only ten years-old, though, and was currently blaming that fact for why he was sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain. The mankey also hit harder and faster than the tyrogue, and Cobalt wasn't sure if that was a good thing, just yet.

"Key. Man-mankey."

"Screw you, too." He grumbled, face down in the grass.

His father had headed back inside roughly five minutes prior, laughing himself silly. He had left his Machamp to make sure Cobalt and his new partner didn't kill each other, but the man had left them to their devices, otherwise.

Cobalt pushed himself into a splayed sitting position, and glared at the puffball. "You're not supposed to hit me, you jackass. Save that crap for our enemies."

"Mankey." The 'mon gave him a half-lidded, blank-face stare.

If the boy had to guess, the angry ball of lint was either disbelieving of his ability to train him properly, or just insulting him.

Coin toss.

Cobalt went with the first option out of some misplaced hope that they could hold a dialogue without punching each other. "Look, like it or not, you're stuck with me for the time being, and I'm stuck with you. Regardless, I plan on turning you into an absolute powerhouse that can steamroll everyone and everything." He pushed himself into a better sitting position. "I've got plans, and it doesn't matter who I drag along with me. My whole team will be sitting on top of the world when I'm done."

He paused, putting as much seriousness into his glare as his ten year-old face would allow. "I would have been happy with a caterpie, or a meowth," he continued, "but you wanna know why I'm happy I got you? Despite how much of a bastard you are?"

Mankey's whole body rotated slightly in simulation of a head-tilt - lacking a neck made the motion kind of hilarious. The dissatisfaction, and general anger were still there, written on the pokemon's face, but Cobalt had his attention.

"It's because I know something the rest of the world doesn't." He got up slowly, eyes never leaving his prospective teammate, and walked over to him. "I know how to evolve you past a primeape." He whispered that last, and stuck out his hand. "So come with me if you want to become an Annihilape, and bulldoze through every obstacle in our path."

When Cobalt mentioned the evolution, the mankey's eyes widened, but then immediately looked at him like he had lost his marbles.

In the end, he was just interested enough to punch Cobalt in the stomach again.

"Fuckin'-" The boy wheezed, bent over and coughing out a lung.

His father's machamp huffed in amusement from where he watched over them, fully content to watch his leader's child get the snot beat out of him.

"Okay." His eye twitched as he regained himself. "Pep talks and dramatics are entirely out of your wheelhouse, aren't they? I wanted us to have a full-blown anime moment, but that's apparently too much to ask for." The boy tensed slightly, getting ready to move at a moment's notice. "You're just a tumbleweed with fists, though, what did I expect?"

Cobalt saw it coming this time. The mankey's form shifted downward like a cocked spring, betraying no further motion, before appearing directly in Cobalt's face in a flawless quick attack. A move he had been positive the mankey line couldn't learn - according to the games. That wasn't a particularly new revelation, however. Moves in this world were a bit more fluid than he had expected at first.

He had gotten a look at the mankey's blitz a few times now, wondering just how the puffball managed to get to him so fast, and was now one-hundred percent positive at what he was seeing. His father really did find a gem.

This little guy was definitely too strong for a beginner trainer, though.

Regardless, Cobalt sidestepped the attack - only able to do so because he expected it - and grabbed the round rage monkey by its tail. Then, with an over-head, full bodied swing, he slammed the pokemon into the ground.

It didn't do a lot of damage - hardly any, really, despite its pained yelp - but it got both of the pokemon in the vicinity to blink at him dumbfoundedly. His father's machamp seemed a bit surprised, but the grin on his face denoted some amount of pride.

That same pride seemed to have just been squashed in the mankey, though. So, before the little guy's surprise could turn back into anger, Cobalt started talking again.

"I'm not going to just let you wallop on me forever, you know." He glared. "I've trained for years with Machamp, over there." He pointed at said pokemon, who just waved back. "I'm not nearly as much of a pushover as you seem to think. Now while I'm not as strong as you, and probably never will be, I am confident that I can make you a whole lot stronger."

"Mankey-Man. ~Key Mankey." The 'mon pointed at himself, then swiped his arm in a clear 'no' fashion.

"Champ. Ma-Machamp." His father's four-armed titan spoke out for the first time, and the mankey turned to him in anger.

"Mankey. Key-man ~key. Mankey key?" Whatever he said, it sounded like a challenge to Cobalt's ears.

"Champ." Machamp responded succinctly, and the mankey seemed to deflate slightly.

"Makney?" Now that sounded like an 'are you sure?'

This language barrier was the most annoying freaking thing. Whatever gift other protagonists had with understanding pokemon, Cobalt did not have it. Simple ideas, and body language? Sure. Further than that was damn near impossible, as far as he was concerned. He had long since decided that he would need a psychic on his team, or possibly (definitely) learn how to use aura - if only to communicate properly.

Cobalt sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, getting both of their attention. "We're supposed to be partners, here." He assured. "I want us to work together, and take the world by storm. I'm not Team Rocket, for fuck's sake."

"~Key man?"

The boy blinked, completely not understanding whatever question was just asked. "Look, my job here is to supply the food, give you direction on how to get stronger, and work with you in battle. You're not my possession, you're my partner." He reiterated.

He must have said something right, though. The mankey's eyes trailed over his face, looking for any deception, before relaxing. "Mankey." He said, nodding in clear - if hesitant - acceptance.

A pokeball bounced off of Cobalts head, and fell to the ground.

"Gah!" The boy grunted and turned to the machamp that threw it - utterly done with getting hit, today. "Come on, you four-armed fuck! You wanna go?!"

Machamp just pointed at the ball, then at Mankey expectantly.

Cobalt glared at him for another second before picking up the ball and placing it on a magnetic clip on his belt.

"Come on Mankey." He waved at the 'mon before walking towards Route 5. "Let's go beat up the locals."

Machamp waved at him in goodbye.

So despite what he said, the pair did not immediately go out and start fights with random wild pokemon.

Instead, Cobalt led them to the edge of the Kent property where a large boulder sat on the side of the path, and laid out a handful of different berries on the ground in front of Mankey.

If you're wondering, no. Cobalt didn't bother saying goodbye to his parents. He would be back before dinner, anyway. Today was all about getting to know his new teammate, and testing a few things out. The gym circuit wasn't set to start for another two weeks, but even if it had already began, completing the circuit wasn't the goal.

Fighting God was the goal. The gyms, the champions, and whatever else got in his way were just hurdles along the path.

He would be leaving the next morning, like a sensible person. Though with a Pokémon of his own, and his license on hand, he did plan to walk about Route 5 for an hour or two. Ten year-olds leaving home the instant they received a super powered mouse, or a small dinosaur with elemental proficiencies, was a recipe for disaster.

It boggled Cobalt's mind that the death tolls of children weren't through the roof. Though, if the stories from his past life were true, it all might just work out in the end? He had looked it up once. Ash had reportedly died six times, only to be brought back by some deus ex machina, or benevolent magical demigod creature. All before he canonically turned eleven.

Cobalt doubted that that was the usual experience of an average newbie trainer, but it really showcased just how dangerous this world was. If he had to guess, it was probably the collective efforts of the older generations that kept everything somewhat safe. Rangers, gym leaders, Ace Trainers, and the like were all out in force during the gym circuit. Routes were kept orderly, and most overly hostile Pokémon were captured, put down, or relocated before any situation could get out of hand.

That still didn't make a trainer's life safe, though. If one strayed off the beaten path, the risk of territorial infractions, or some truly wild encounters were still there. The law of the jungle did, in fact, exist here - even if the average experience reminded Cobalt of Simba, singing about his want for a crown.

"Oh I just can't wait to be king." Cobalt grinned down at Mankey, who looked at him like he was crazy.

"You ever eat another Pokémon, before?" He asked, disregarding the look, and was met with a disgusted glare. "What? You're definitely an omnivore."

Mankey were the pig-monkey Pokémon. Both of which were omnivores, and like mentioned previously - law of the jungle.

The boy shook his head. "Well anyway, even if you have, you definitely won't have to if you don't want to, now. Just trying to plan for your diet. Hence the berries." He gestured at the line of them on the ground. "Pick out your favorites, and point at the ones that you don't like, would you?"

Berries were weirdly nutritious. Rather rare in the wild unless one happened across the territory of a powerful grass type, but Cobalt was one-hundred percent confident that the only reason humans continued to survive was because they could farm the damn things. That didn't stop the more carnivorous Pokémon from preferring meat, though. Dragons in particular were almost all like that.

Humanity was also omnivorous, obviously, like the pig-monkey in front of him. Though thankfully for Cobalt's inner child, they could safely consume berries as well. The people of the pokemon world were mostly vegetarian in that regard. Mostly.

Mankey looked down at the berries and started moving them around. Interestingly, Cobalt noted, he separated them into five piles - which took a while, because Cobalt literally put down one of each berry that his family had grown. Which was every single known species.

The first pile was simply made up of all the spicy ones. The second was most of the sour ones. The third and fourth consisted of the Pecha, Persim, Oran, and Custap berries, and the Sitrus, and Iapapa berries, respectively. And the fifth was everything else. The only exception was the Rowap, which Mankey had kicked into the surrounding woods.

Cobalt looked at the piles in utter confusion. "OK, I have no idea what to take away from this. You're a picky bastard, aren't you?"

"Key." Mankey deadpanned.

"Okay, okay. Let's work through it." He pointed at the spicy pile. "You like these ones?"

Mankey nodded.

"Nice. Alright, that bodes well for our future. Now what about this pile?" He gestured at the sour pile. "These are all sour, but notably not all of them."

Mankey made a face at them, like he had eaten a lemon - which fit for the sour bit, funnily enough.

"Don't like those, then." Cobalt noted. "Then what about these two?" He pointed at the Sitrus, and Iapapa berries that were off on their own - which made up the rest of the sour variety, discounting the Rowap.

The pokemon made a so-so hand motion, then punched the air.

"The fuck does that mean?"

Mankey growled, then after a moment, picked up the Sitrus berry and ate it. He then grimaced slightly as if it was uncomfortable, but not as disturbed as he had been by the other sour berries.

"Okay?" Cobalt blinked, and a lightbulb went off in the far reaches of his noggin. "So you don't really care for these, but they're useful?" Both berries were genuine healing items, to be fair. Magical, nutritious fruit was weird as all hell.

"Huh. Practical. I like it. Anyway, then we have the other weird pile." He pointed at the Pecha, Persim, Custap, and Oran. Three sweet, and one dry - though Cobalt had never met a pokemon that actually disliked the Oran berry. So he suspected that this was another 'like' pile.

That was proven correct when Mankey just nodded at him, and ate the Pecha.

"So you like sweet berries as well?" The boy tilted his head. "Then what about the others?"

Mankey tilted, matching Cobalt's confusion.

After a moment of rummaging, Cobalt held out three berries that were in the 'everything else' pile. "These are Mango, Bluk, and Kasib. All sweet. You had these before?"

The pokemon shook his head, but looked at them in interest. "Mankey ~Key."

"Well, try 'em out, then." The boy handed them over, only for the all three to go down Mankey's gullet in one, blank-eyed bite.

Eyes that immediately widened, and looked back at him. "Man! Mankey Man." His head nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay." Cobalt frowned. "So you like spicy and sweet, but dislike sour - is what I'm getting?"

Mankey nodded after considering that for a second. "~Key. Mankey."

"Two natures, then?" He asked himself, scratching his forehead. Cobalt couldn't remember the complete charts. He knew the flavors and what they meant for it, but not the 'personalities' that came with them. Oak, nor any of the other professors in the known regions had put out a paper on them - he checked. So this was either a bullshit game mechanic, or something undiscovered.

Cobalt was leaning towards 'undiscovered,' as he had done a bit of testing with the pokemon around him, growing up. For example, he found that those of his father's team that liked spicy food, hit a bit harder.

"Alright, whatever. We'll roll with it." Cobalt shook it off, and turned to his starter. "Two things. First, your diet is now going to be mostly spicy and sweet. We'll add some Oran, and Sitrus whenever it makes sense, but we shouldn't have to rely on those outside of healing. We'll stay away from the Iapapa, since I don't think you'll actually get anything from those, compared to the other two. My mom's got a good mix of poke-chow that we can mix the berries into. I've got the recipe for the road, already. Sound good?"

Mankey blinked at him, and nodded.

"Awesome." Cobalt started picking up the berries. "Second, I'm pretty sure you're a glass cannon. Meaning you'll hit hard and fast, but - and this is a heavy 'but' - you won't be able to take a hit as well as others of your species."

"Mankey." The 'mon said warningly.

"That's not an insult, you doofus." He insulted. "It's an educated guess, based on your favorite foods."

Mankey just stared at him as if he was an alien. "Man-key?"

Even Cobalt understood that.

"Nothing's wrong with me, you ass." He shot back, plopping the last berry back into his bag. "Now go punch that boulder as hard as you can. Let's see about your move set."

A/N

I'm having a lot of fun with this. Hope you guys are too, so far.

Anyway, the pay tre on has chapter 3 up. Browse if you so choose.

Review. Now. Your words fuel me.