Chapter 4

"So now what?" I ask as I follow him out the door where he then moves to the side of the building.

Once safely out of the way of anyone that might be going in or out of the building his takes the bag off and then grabs the rectangular box and two of the balls that were put inside, one of which I can feel as being my own.

"Well, first I need to make sure we're registered as our own trainers. So what I'm doing is making sure that we're listed in this thing. If we are then we're going to go back to Pallet so that I can return his ring and then hopefully make it back up this way by sundown. If not then we're still going back to Pallet and maybe see if the old man will fix it so that it does list us. Ah, here we go."

I move over to try and see what it is that's so important but all I can see are a bunch of those strange little figures with a very small little picture of Allen next to it. Next to it are a bunch of other little empty slots that don't have anything there, just mainly empty.

"Okay, everything is all set up. Let's go," he states as he puts the box back into the bag then puts the bag back on and starts walking back towards where we entered the human infested area.

"I saw a little you on that box but no little me. Is that a bad thing?" I ask as we start to cross the hard, black thing; more than slightly relieved I no longer have to carry my ball around in my mouth everywhere anymore.

"A little what? Oh, that. Well there shouldn't be one of you in that right now," He responds.

"Why not?" I ask as we turn around a corner.

"Well one of us has to be the trainer at all times. The reason why there is no icon of a vulpix in the Dex is because you aren't listed as a pokemon right now. You're listed as the trainer."

"Why do I have to be the Trainer? Why can't you be the Trainer since you seem to know a lot more about the topic?" I ask as we start to come into view of the tall almost orange grass.

"For starters your weak, yellow, fluffy hide won't last nearly half the distance we need to cross before getting knocked out. Then you have the fact that I'm not going to be the one to be the trainer all the time and the best time to learn is when there are not any really challenging opponents. And the final reason is because I said so. You have a problem with that Sunshine?"

My face scrunches up a bit as if in deep thought and then after we start entering the tall grass I speak up a bit.

"Why do you keep calling me sunshine and stuff? I thought you already gave me a name. Why not call me by... um."

"Poune," he responds. "And that's partly why. You don't yet know it enough to recognize it and two because I couldn't care less what you think you're called, fuzzbutt. If you respond to Fluffy then that is as valid a name for you now than the one on the form. Now shut up while I teach you how to use this thing," he states as he stops and pulls out the tablet again before grabbing my head and dragging me close.

I duck my head down to pull myself out of his grip and move to the side so he can't try to grab my head again before moving closer to the tablet. I lean over and sniff it a moment but don't really get any new information on this. He responds by moving so that the side that was closest to him is facing me, showing the illuminated side of the object.

"This is important so see if you can manage to pay attention. When in battle you'll have two buttons to press. The top is for an attack and the bottom is if you want to swap to another pokémon. As I am the only one we have right now don't bother pressing it. Once you press the top one the screen will be separated into four parts." Allen pushes a few buttons and the screen changes so that there are four boxes on the screen created by two intersecting lines. On both of the squares on the left side are a bunch of characters, with one set having the first two things look like the second two. Both boxes also seem to be highlighted a light grey while the other two are dark grey and blank. "These are the attacks of the active Pokémon. Right now I only have these two. The top one is a Tackle attack, which is an okay starting attack. The other is Growl which makes the opponent not able to hit as hard."

"Why are they grey?"

"That's because both are normal based attacks. If you were an active Pokémon your ember attack box would be red."

"So you don't have any water attacks? Does that mean you were bluffing before?"

"No. I can still create water and attack you with it. Just that it wouldn't be something this device would register. Now one thing to keep in mind for battle is the type difference. In here you'll only have to deal with flying or normal Pokémon but-"

"Can we stop now," I moan while lowering my head so I can rub my forepaws over my head. "You're making my head hurt."

"Well it's designed to be easy enough a ten year-old human can learn it." Allen retorts.

"Well I'm not ten. I'm two, remember?"

"Fine. Then if we get into a battle just keep hitting this button," Allen points to a button on the top-left of the device, "whenever the screen brightens up a bit. That's the sign you can input a command again."

"Hit it with what?" I ask.

Allen looks like he's about to yell at me again but stops himself when he apparently remembers that I don't have any hands and the device is probably a little too delicate for me to use my paws to try and press the right button. He digs in the bag a bit and pulls out the stick thing from earlier.

"Use this. Just make sure the pointy side stays in your mouth so that you aren't wrecking it."

Allen then goes and puts both back in the bag before picking it up and beginning to move again. We don't get too much further into the tall grass when the little device starts beeping.

"What's that noise mean?" I ask, really not liking the sound one bit.

"It means that we are being engaged by a wild pokemon," Allen responds while digging out the stick thing and the device before placing them in front of me and turns around and starts to move forward.

"Shouldn't you take one of those ball thingies with you? That human earlier threw one at the other pokemon but I can't throw very well unless you want me to spit it at it."

Allen pauses as he considers this as a small little bird pokemon lands near the two of us, looking intent on fighting us.

"I guess you're right," he states as he moves back to the bag and pulls out one of those little ball things. "Odds are you wouldn't know when to throw it, either and end up just wasting it."

"So are you two cuties going to fight me or are we just going to talk all day?" the pidgey asks.

Allen turns around to face the pidgey and I notice that the screen lights up. Following Allen's instructions and push on the top left corner twice in a row. Right after hitting it for the second time Allen suddenly bursts into a run and rams his shoulder into the pidgey. The pidgey responds by flapping back a few feet into a rather low height before flying forwards and then slamming its own small body into Allen. The two begin to circle each other and we continue this game of pushing the other. What strikes me oddest is that while watching both continue this dance my mind starts to almost see the actions of both before they even make them. I'm not sure, though, if this is just a side-effect of being the active trainer or not. I get so distracted by this fact that I forget to push the buttons for one of the cycles. Thrown off the rhythm Allen turns towards me.

"Hey, pay attention!" he yells.

I'm snapped out of my daze and my mind can already see where the pidgey will strike even before it turns around.

"Jump back now!" I shout back to Allen.

I'm not sure if it is as involuntary as the attacks are but Allen jumps back just in time to avoid getting hit by the small bird. I quickly push the upper left button twice and Allen rams into the bird again before it can recover. He then pushes the button on his ball and then chucks it at the pidgey. Once it hits a reddish light shoots out and begins to suck in the pidgey, a look of utter panic on its face. After but a few seconds all that remains is the strong scent of fear and the now wiggling ball. The ball seems to rattle fairly violently for a few seconds before the shaking becomes weaker and weaker until a moment later when it stops completely. I feel a sort of sympathetic dread for the poor creature, knowing how terrifying an experience it is for me and I had been promised to be let go again. I had the opportunity to brace myself for it. And here's this little bird that didn't have a chance for that and probably has no clue when he might see freedom again, if ever. As the little box starts making some kind of sound I drop the pen and run over to the little prison and tap on the button to try and give him back the freedom that those things deny. Once pressed the light shoots out again and I jump back in shock, afraid that I made the wrong move and it's going to try and suck me in that thing as well. But it doesn't do that, instead out of the light the little Pidgey reforms and then he keeps his head close to the ground as he gasps at the now available air.

"I freed you from the scary place," I comment before he looks up, finally realizing that he's not the only one still here.

Allen on the other hand seems quite content to be perusing the little box thing and finally asks a question, "So what are you called?"

"Caleb," the pidgey responds while staring at me a little too intensely for my comfort which makes me turn around and move back towards Allen.

Allen seems to punch away at the little box for a few moments before picking it up and putting it back in the backpack.

"Are you okay?" I ask Caleb.

"Of course, my dear. I feel fabulous," Caleb chirps cheerfully while half dancing around me and almost looking as if trying to fly. "Well, almost fabulous. I think that last hit strained a wing. Probably won't be able to fly all that well for a little while. Ooh, now don't you have a cute butt."

Allen is facing towards us and much too far away for any possibility of anyone seeing behind him, not that his back is much different from his front. It takes me a second to realize that Caleb was talking about me. I quickly turn around and back away from the pidgey with my tails dragging against the ground as I'm only able to get one of them actually between my legs.

"I'm not a girl," I protest.

"I know, Cutey. I had gotten a pretty good look at your rear end that I could see which sex you are. I would not have said anything if you were a girl."

"Allen," I whine as I keep trying to keep as far away from him as possible.

Allen takes a moment before he can stop laughing. "Okay, knock it off. We still have a few miles to go and I don't want him whining all day."

"Let me guess, back in the ball where I'll never see the light of day again?" Caleb asks dejectedly. "Or are you going to get rid of me first chance I get?"

"I could care less either way," Allen shrugs while picking the big backpack up again and starting to continue our move to wherever. "I'll leave it to Fuzzbutt here to decide on that one."

I paw at the ground a moment while trying to decide. He seemed a nice enough pokemon and I wouldn't want him to have to endure that space within the ball anymore than he'd have to. I didn't exactly hate him, his advances just made me feel uncomfortable, especially when he admitted knowing that I was male as well. I didn't even know that guys could try and say things like that to other guys. From watching others when growing up such statements always seemed to go from one gender talking about the other. Saying it to the same gender confuses me and that makes me a little uneasy.

"I guess..." I begin, "I'm okay with you coming with us. Just so long as you know I don't think about other guys in that way."

Caleb seems to brighten up a bit and starts to hop forward in a rather amusing fashion that doesn't seem to be making much progress.

"I think I'm going to need someone to carry me, I can't fly right now and I'm not all that fast."

"Well I'm carrying the pack so you'll have to do it," Allen orders me.

I half shrug and reluctantly move closer to the small bird and crouch down a bit so he can get on my back. He chirps once or twice and then jumps onto my back. As he gets situated I can't help but twitch here and there. He doesn't weigh nearly enough to really be much a bother and with him on my back he can't be looking at my rear end all that much. Instead his little talons seem to get past the fur on my back just enough that I can feel the little points for each claw.

"Stop that," I complain as I continue to squirm under his motions. "That tickles."

He eventually settles down above my shoulders and sits down and I set off in a short run to catch up with Allen, paying attention to see how much difficulty Caleb seems to be having in staying on. I'm actually somewhat surprised that he doesn't even seem to budge the slightest bit during my short little run.

"Your fur is so soft. Yellow is such a good color on you," Caleb coos behind one of my ears.

"Allen, he's creeping me out again," I complain.

"Leave the kid alone for the time being. He is doing you a service after all. The alternative would be to stay in your ball until we get to somewhere where we can get you fixed up."

"Kid?" Caleb asks with a somewhat surprised tone to his voice.

"He's likely younger than you are. He's not even fully grown yet."

"And just how young is that?" Caleb continues as I start to sniff the air, trying to get my bearings and noticing quite a few nearby scents of other individuals paying rather close attention to us.

"I'm two. And please don't mess up my fur while you're up there."

"Well then my strapping and powerful blue friend, you were correct in that assumption. I am a year older than our cute little yellow companion. And don't worry about your fur, I can tell already just how well you care for it. Oh I would so love to be able to brush those tails of yours one day. They look like they must be almost as soft as anything I can imagine."

I don't pay attention as my eyes have started staring off into one part of the grassland in front of us. One of the many individuals watching us has taken to moving alongside us and from their scent I can detect quite a bit of anger and resentment.

"You know, I don't think you've yet given me your name my gallant and beautifully shining creature," Caleb begins after we had walked for another ten minutes in silence.

We continue for a few steps, my focus completely on the creature moving alongside us. Allen turns around to answer for me and starts to make a noise as if about to talk before he completely faces me and notices that I'm paying a lot of attention on a single point somewhere to our side.

"Poune, what is it?" Allen asks in a somewhat hushed tone.

"A Ratatta, female. She's been following us for a few miles and I don't think she's friendly," I respond in an equally hushed tone.

Allen nods as I keep my focus completely on our watcher. Allen then takes off his pack and after making some sounds pulls out the device and the pointy thing and places them right in front of me before doing something above me that must have told Caleb to get off because the pidgey hops off and moves a few feet away.

"Show yourself!" Allen shouts off into the grasses.

I move down and pick up the pointy thing into my mouth, ready to do my second battle. I see motion in front of us and the small purple rat rushes in and slams her body into Allen, initiating this little battle. The device makes my ears twitch a bit as it goes off after the first attack is done. Nonetheless I start going through the motions of making Allen attack through pushing the button. As I watch the exchange of pushing against each other again I find my eyes seem to be doing the same thing as when we were fighting Caleb, which is after only a moment or two I can begin to see every move either of them are going to make even before they make it. I start to take advantage of this and test the theory that I am actually able to predict what the ratatta is going to do before she does it by not just setting a rhythm in pressing the attacks but rather waiting until she looks just about to turn or otherwise slow down before pushing it, often catching her surprised. Eventually she must have figured out that she cannot win as she stops charging at Allen and starts panting.

"Well, go ahead and get it over with, I'm sure you feel so secure about yourselves knowing you can beat me up," She states dryly.

"Yeah, sure. Why not," Allen shrugs before throwing another of the ball things at her.

The ball hits the purple rodent and the red light shoots out and sucks her up without too much difficulty. I'm put down my stick and move a little closer to the ball that has just begun to wiggle. My head cocks slightly to the side as to why it was that she seemed so surprised that we threw the ball at her. The ball rattles for a moment and the thought that maybe she'll be able to get out starts to creep into my mind. What are we going to do about trying to catch her if we lose that ball since I don't know if I can hand Allen another one or if I need to figure out how to throw the little things. I suppose I could shoot it out using my flame to propel it and give it the speed necessary and just not use enough of my flame to do any damage to either the ball or the pokemon since I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to actually do anything to injure my opponent. I relax quite a bit as the ball stops shaking completely and the device starts to make a noise again which signifies that she's been caught. Without any hesitation I run over to the ball to let her out again and push the button to do so.

"Hi!" I cheerfully speak once she had returned to a more solid state.

"Get out of my sight," she growls as she swiped at me, causing me to jump back a few feet in reflex. "Why did you have to do a thing like that anyway? I was perfectly fine being on my own."

"Regardless," Allen comments, "you are still with us now. So do you have a name or should I just pick one for you for this thing."

"Sanaline. And you all are?"

Allen goes back to punching in something into the device so I take up the job and do our side of the introductions. "Well he's Allen. It was his idea to be our own trainer. The pidgey is Caleb and for some reason he likes to make me feel uneasy and has an odd fascination with my hindquarters. And I'm... um..."

"Poune," Allen adds while putting the device back into the pack.

"Great, so I've been paired up with a chrome dome, a moron who doesn't even know his own name and a queer. Could this day get any better?"

Since we're moving on again I lower down a bit and let Caleb hop back on and then spend a minute squirming around as he settles down. Sanaline huffs at me before moving closer to Allen, a look of disgust on her face. "Welcome to our team!" I add as we continue our walk.