When the shroomish got out of his poké ball, he first saw a paved road, going out into the wilderness. Looking around him, he noticed that they were still near the pokémon center. He felt a warm sensation of the breeze pushing him aside. He gazed at the clouds following their own paths calmly in the sky. Guts was also there, waiting for Matt to give him some food. As soon as he gave him the berry, the hungry krokorok swallowed it whole and ate it with delight. After Guts finished it, Matt motioned them to follow him into the forest. On the way, the krokorok kept kicking a rock forward with an unsatisfied look on his face.
Maybe he's still hungry, the shroomish wondered. Or maybe he's just bored. I could see why. Walking for several hours with Matt isn't the most entertaining thing ever. I guess his job in the explorers' guild was much more exciting than that.
“Hey you, stop right there.”
The source of this warning was a human who stood on the edge of the forest. As he walked towards Matt, his t-shirt flickered in the wind. He was followed by two other guys that Chen had seen mocking them earlier.
“Get out of my way, kiddo,” Matt said in a cold tone.
“Look who's talking!” he replied jokingly. “You shouldn't go out there, newbie. Let the rangers and the real trainers do the hard work.”
“I won't repeat myself; get out of my way.”
“Very well, then.” He took a poké ball out of his holster. “Would you like to settle this in a pokémon battle? If I win, you stay here. If I lose, I won't try to stop you.”
Matt turned his head, looking at Guts. The krokorok nodded in agreement. He turned back to the challenger. “'Kay.”
They grinned. “This'll be a one on one. The first pokémon to faint will make his trainer lose the battle. You okay with that?”
“Yeah.”
This trainer clearly knows he'll win, Chen thought. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a bet. I wonder why Matt accepted such an offer. Me and Guts have never fought for him and that other trainer seems rather confident.
Matt walked at a good distance from his opponent to have a clear battlefield and waited for him to choose his own pokémon. He threw his poké ball and a mighty gyrados erupted from it. The pokémon floated in front of them with majesty, considering the man in front of him. The gyrados roared, which made the shroomish tremble in fear. Matt walked to Guts and whispered something in his ear. The krokorok nodded to the human and walked in the battlefield with newfound confidence.
“I feel merciful today, so feel free to make the first move,” he said with a smug smile on his face.
With a smirk on his face, the krokorok started the battle by giving a middle finger to the gyrados. Insulted by Guts' arrogance, the gyrados fell for the taunt and retaliated with an murderous look, showing him his razor-sharp fangs on the same occasion. The gyrados charged at the krokorok without holding back. The pokémon fell hard on the ground, lifting the dirt off the ground. Chen closed his eyes and Matt quickly raised his arms to protect his eyes from the dirt.
As the cloud disappeared, Chen saw that a hole had been dug in the ground. Motivated by his own fury, the gyrados slammed it again with his whole body. After doing so, he tried to fly again, but he staggered and crashed to the ground. His body stood there, incapable to getting up up again due to the gyrados' confusion.
“What the hell are you doing, Gyrados? Pull yourself together!”
Quickly, Guts reappeared from the ground a few meters behind the gyrados. He rushed to him with assurance, knowing he now had the edge. All of a sudden, Guts stumbled on a rock and fell to the ground. Matt hid his face at the embarrassing mistake his pokémon had made. The krokorok soon stood back up and kept going, keeping his previous assurance. At this point, it was clear to the shroomish that he was an experimented fighter; he was nimble-footed, like most of the predators Chen had seen in his short life. The confused pokémon tried to fly to dodge the incoming attack, but all he did was slam his body on the ground another time. The trainer stood there, powerless to save his pokémon. Guts leaped on the gyrados and punched him right in the face. The gyrados' blood spilled on the ground, mixing with the dirt of the battlefield. The pokémon that once stood was now on the ground, defeated by the krokorok whose right hand was stained with blood.
“Gyrados, come back,” the man said, his voice hardly hiding his resent.
Their adversary put the gyrados' poké ball back in the holster. The krokorok went to Matt with a satisfied look on his face. Despite his victory, the human kept his emotionless face. Looking at the battle that had been waged, the shroomish stood there, confused by what just happened.
“That idea of yours was a good one,” Guts admitted.
“What happened?” Chen asked, confused by what he saw.
“The gyrados thrashed himself onto the ground while Guts was underground,” Matt explained. “Then, he got out and punched him while he was confused.”
Their eyes turned to the man who had been defeated. “A deal is a deal,” the man declared with a bitter tone. “Go ahead and die, fool.”
He hurried back to the pokémon center with his two friends. Chen watched them go with a sadness that slowly turned into a feeling of indignation for his fellow pokémon.
We've hurt this pokémon, he thought. The gyrados' blood is still there, on the battlefield, for everyone to see. How can these humans do such things to us? They're asking us to battle one another until one of them cannot fight anymore. And the only reason they're doing it is to get what they want. They've never asked us what we wanted. All they care about is themselves.
“Let's get going,” Matt simply said.
As they followed Matt, Chen noticed that the krokorok still seemed unsatisfied by his breakfast. After a few minutes, Guts' stomach growled, confirming the shroomish's guess.
“I'm still hungry,” he complained.
“Huh?” Matt replied, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. “Oh. You'll have to wait.”
“Why?” the krokorok asked with an irritated tone.
“We haven't got that much food. It would be better if we both waited two hours before eating, unless you're okay with being hungrier tonight.”
“Fine, then.” While they were still walking, he slowly approached the shroomish.
He yawned before looking at him. “Walking all day gets boring really fast,” Guts whispered to Chen.
“I thought that's what you explorers do.” He raised his eyebrow.
“Well, when I was an explorer, we didn't have that much walking to do. We found ways to travel around the region, and we always had something to talk about.” He pointed at Matt who was ahead of them. “Don't get me wrong, but his mere presence kinda make me uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right,” the shroomish conceded. “But I still feel that he's a good person on the inside.”
“That doesn't make him any less of a freak. It seems as if he's physically here with us, but not mentally.”
The shroomish remained silent, processing what Guts just said. Suddenly, an idea struck the shroomish's mind.
“You don't seem surprised by the fact that he's able to understand us. Why's that?.”
“I've already seen another human capable of such a feat,” he explained.
“Oh.” The shroomish remembered something he forgot to tell the krokorok about right after the match. “By the way, you were impressive in that fight.”
The krokorok blushed, embarrassed at the compliment. He put on his hands behind his head and smiled. “Oh, that was nothing. That's what I was trained to do as an explorer, and I'm sure you'll be able to such things, one day.”
“But... I'm not sure if I want to be a fighter,” he mumbled.
“Don't worry, you'll want to become one soon enough. We pokémon were always born to fight. It's our way to celebrate our-”
Guts stopped, looking at something in front of him. Curious, Chen noticed that Matt had stopped walking. He turned around and glared at the krokorok with his brown eyes.
“What's wrong?” Guts enquired.
“How dare you say what this shroomish will become?”
“That's a fact; pokémon are made to fight. Are you denying the truth?”
“What I'm denying is your opinion.”
“How is it an opinion?” Guts asked.
“Unless you have something to back that up, that's nothing more than your opinion to me.”
“Fine,” Guts said, crossing his arms. “Believe what you want.”
Sighing, the krokorok continued ahead of them. Matt decided to go back to his walking and they continued on their journey in silence. The tension went up a notch between Guts and the human. It took them ten more minutes before Matt decided to sit down against a tree and take a break.
We should leave, Chen thought. Guts was right; this man is selfish and arrogant. How can my heart be such a fool? How could I have believed that he would help me? However, where am I gonna go? We've travelled so much and my uncle is nowhere to be seen. I would want to help Guts with his revenge, but all I'm gonna be for him is a burden. He's right. If I cannot fight, I won't be able to do anything.
The shroomish looked at Matt, who was on his device, his two legs folded in front of him. He still had this detached look on his face, as if he weren't there with them. He continued eating his meal, considering his trainer who remained concentrated on what his device was showing him.
There is still something that doesn't make sense about him, he wondered. Why would he take my defense? So that I would become dependent on him? Why would he do that?
Suddenly, they heard a bush near them rustle. The shroomish snapped out of his reverie. Matt stood up, pulling his knife out of his pocket. He walked towards the bush with vigilance. The bush stirred and shroomish saw a pokémon moving so quickly its body blurred. The pokémon swiftly stabbed him in the back. Chen recognized the pokémon as a croagunk. The human groaned, falling abruptly to the ground.
Guts quickly reacted and rushed to the croagunk. The pokémon turned back and smiled at the krokorok. Guts prepared to punch the croagunk. He grabbed the krokorok's arm with his right hand and he grinned. The krokorok's eyes widened as the croagunk stabbed him in the stomach with his other hand. Guts coughed up blood, and he fell on his knees. The croagunk glanced at the shroomish and walked towards the helpless pokémon with a smile on his face. Chen's heart pumped faster and faster and his eye's widened. He was overwhelmed with fear and was immobilized by his despair. He was done for. As the the croagunk arrived before him, he put a hand on the shroomish's head and smiled to him.
“Don't worry, kid. I'll save you.”
“Stop...Please...Stop...”
“You'll be alright,” he said. “I promise.”
Out of fear, the shroomish sprayed some stun spore on him. The croagunk sniffed it and tried to cough the spores out of his lungs. He fell down and shuddered uncontrollably. His trembling slowly stopped and he looked at the shroomish with his shaking pupils. Chen turned away, horrified by what he just did. Hearing sounds of beating, Chen looked again and saw that krokorok was there, punching the croagunk with rage.
What have I done? I never knew I have such power. I didn't want to do that. I'm sorry... I'm sorry...
“Bastard!” the krokorok bellowed.
The croagunk's blood was spilled on the ground and he groaned in pain. Matt walked toward the croagunk with a hand applied on his bruise and a poké ball in his other hand. He threw it on the croagunk and the poké ball trembled for a second before stopping.
Matt grabbed the poké ball and looked back at Guts.
“I'll let him come back out of the poké ball. Ready?”
The krokorok nodded to Matt. The human threw the poké ball and a wounded croagunk came out of it, panting heavily. He looked at the shroomish with fear in his eyes. The krokorok stood by the croagunk's side, forcing himself not to punch him in the face for what he's done to him.
“Damn. Those stun spores were quite potent”, he commented, glancing at Chen.
“Why have you attacked us?” Matt asked their aggressor.
The croagunk looked at the human and took a step back. “I'm...I'm sorry. All I wanted to do... was to protect my family...Please, show mercy.” He knelt, begging for mercy. The human thought about what he just said for a second.
“Guts, knock him out,” Matt said without emotion.
“No-”
His voice was cut down by krokorok's punch. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The shroomish was shocked by the human's ruthlessness.
“What was that for?” the shroomish exclaimed.
“Put him in the bushes,” Matt instructed the krokorok, ignoring Chen's words.
Guts grabbed the croagunk and threw him in the bushes.
“Let's get going. We'll eat in thirty minutes,” he told them.
“What was that for?” Chen repeated. “He was only protecting his family.”
“Or maybe he was just lying,” Matt hypothesized. “What if he was one of those terrorist? I couldn't just let him get away. If he did not lie to us, he'll wake up tomorrow and go back to his family.”
“Maybe he could've stayed with us,” the shroomish proposed.
“I respect his will to stay with his family,” the human simply replied.
Matt motioned the krokorok and the shroomish to follow him. Chen was about to respond, but he decided not to. They walked away from the croagunk's unconscious body. The shroomish was still torn apart by Matt's decision to leave him there. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that an innocent body such as his held that sort of potential for combat. Chen saw his trainer limp, a hand on the bruise he had on the back of his pelvis.
Maybe I'll be able to protect the ones that are dear to me, after all.
“Honey, who did this to you?”
The leavanny brought the croagunk out of the bushes. She laid him on the ground and examined his wounds. Despite her worrying for the injured pokémon, she still smiled.
“Oh, you're unconscious. You'll be too easy to kill that way. Don't worry. I'll stay by your side until you wake up,” she told him cheerfully.
“Sorry, Diana, but we'll have to get going.”
She looked at her partner. The zoroark was leaning on a tree, watching her every movement attentively. The leavanny stood up and walked to him, keeping her smile. As Diana approached him, he tensed up, seemingly afraid of her.
“Why do we have to, sweetheart?”
“Boss just called me. Wants us to come for a meeting.”
“Oh.” She glimpsed at the wounded croagunk for the more time. “Well, good night, honey~”
She turned back to the zoroark, smelling the blood on her hand. Her expression of delight slowly turned into an expression of satisfaction.
“Guess what, Cicero?”
The zoroark glanced at her. “What is it?”
“Our lovely krokorok survived.”