Chapter Ten

SMACK!

An orange lizard was sent flying back into a tree a few meters away from him. The tree groaned along with the Fire Starter at the impact. Within moments however it was back on its feet running clumsily toward the yellow mouse that had hit it.

Satoshi watched with little interest as two of his Pokémon duked it out to decide the leader of the team, far more interested in the map in his hands. He'd been staring at it for more then five minutes, enough time for the Spearow he caught to be brutally decimated by his partner and starter as punishment.

As for why it was punishment, it was quite simple. The jerky little bird had chased them relentlessly with its flock of thirty after Loki zapped it with a Thunder Shock for randomly attacking them. They were lucky enough that in their desperation to survive Loki had somehow summoned a short passing storm, whose Thunder zapped Loki amplifying his own Thunderbolt, taking out the flock in one shot. He'd caught most of them, with Pokéballs Daisy had obviously stolen from her grandfather, mainly to turn over for money, but he was going to keep the jerky bird that had started it all.

However as a result of the chase, they were now completely lost in the woods surrounding Route One. The birds were lucky their meat didn't taste well. As for the storm his partner summoned, he didn't know how to do it again not that they needed it. However the randomness of it reminded him of the huge storm he had met the mouse in. Maybe he had been right in his theory that it was caused by a Pokémon.

Back to the map though as he stared at all the lines and different bits of green that represented the woods...

He didn't even know where to start. In the first place he had only learned how to read these confusing things enough that he could know which road was which.

SMACK!

He quickly dove out of the way as Ignis came flying toward the tree he was resting against. Standing up from the ground he glared at the pair of battling, if you could call Loki ruthlessly crushing the Fire Starter that, Pokémon.

"Char Char!" Ignis bowed its head in apology it seemed scared of him not that he understood why.

Loki merely gave him a look that he understood was a warning from his partner, he was being reminded to always be vigilant. He paused as he followed its eyes and immediately understood why.

A small purple rat, he recognized as a Rattata, was running from his open backpack with a Pecha berry in its mouth. Immediately he threw a Pokéball at the rat, watching as it dropped the Pecha Berry as it was sucked in.

The ball rattled as it blinked red lights. Brrvv. Brrvv. Brrvv. Ding! A click-like ding was heard signifying a successful capture. Walking over Satoshi picked up the ball staring it as his body tensed and he felt cold at his lack of vigilance especially as it combined with the slight feeling of burning unique to his 'attacks'.

If it had been a Ekans or a Nidoran, both Poison Types, he could be suffering greatly at the moment. He cast a look over at his partner giving him a grateful nod at the reminder.

A soft growl caught his attention as he felt claws grab onto his pants. With a glance down he saw the pleading eyes of Ignis. He stared in confusion, he didn't understand this Pokémon of his. The Charmander hadn't even been holding onto him for five seconds before he was sent flying by a yellow lightning shaped tail.

Loki crawled up him to his perch on his shoulder while he growled at the offending Fire Starter. Satoshi immediately ended this turn of events as he sent a stern glance at Loki, "Stop."

The mouse's ears dropped at the scolding. Slowly Satoshi walked up to the cowering starter kneeling down before it. With an extremely slow hand he reached out to rest it on the lizard's head. "Sorry." He whispered as he pet its head.

He still didn't understand the starter much but he was starting to. It was merely concerned for him, much like Loki was which was why the mouse had attacked the starter when he noticed how tense he became. They were both just reacting to his own feelings, or in Ignis' case his body language.

He needed to be more patient. He'd gotten to used to Loki knowing how he felt and what he wanted. He shouldn't have expected Ignis to be the exact same after he'd hadn't even had him for day. His annoyance towards the Fire Type had scared it, as it didn't know where it was coming from. He had forgotten how in tune most Pokémon were to their trainers emotions.

"Charmander!" Ignis looked up happily to him as if saying 'It'a Okay!' Obviously more than glad that he hadn't been mad at it, and thrilled at the attention it was getting.

Loki rubbed his electrical cheeks against his own demanding attention as well. Satoshi conceded bringing them over to the tree he had been resting on and grabbing his backpack. He sifted through it before grabbing the Pokémon brushes he'd gotten from someone on his tenth birthday. To this day he didn't know who had gotten them for him, in fact he had received a lot of mysterious things on his birthday since he was six. Even an old pendant that seemed to help with the pain of his 'attacks'.

He thought absently toward who they could be from, as he had Ignis lay on his lap taking the special brush made for the reptiles soft yet rough skin. Loki nibbling patiently on an Oran Berry from his shoulder.

Satoshi had long crossed Gary off the list, the boy had been far to prideful and never bothered to ask about his birthday though he did expect gifts himself. Leaf, though she had given him a gift this year, had also been crossed out as she had only arrived after Gary and him had fought. Damian had never even made the list with his mother, the kid hated his guts ever since he called the boy out for his rude attitude at the Professor's Camp. There was a girl named Serena he had helped one time during the Camps as well but she lived in Kalos, plus he'd never given her his name, she was just being loud and he wanted her to be quiet. The other kids his age or older were out as well they all hated his guts during the time he had been friends with Gary.

There were a few younger kids though that just went the route of ignoring him or following the older kids. He paused his thoughts as he set Ignis beside him and grabbed the brush for a Pikachu's short fur. Looking at the bright yellow coat a person suddenly came to mind; Yellow. Saying he didn't know her well would be an understatement. She was two years younger then her and he had meet her when she was about a year old thanks to his mother. She was a cute childish and naive little girl, and the only one he would have made an effort to be close to as a friend when younger if his mother hadn't destroyed those chances.

He'd watch her from a distance though, noticed how special she was, she was like him before he'd been rudely awakened to reality. He would've liked to have her for a younger sister. His mind settled on her, even if he didn't know why she gave him gifts, and who knows maybe her parents had told her about him meeting her as a baby. Professor Oak was another possibility but the man would even forget his grandson's birthday so why would he remember a strangers. Brushing Loki's fur listening to the mouse sigh in pleasure, he suddenly had a thought. Maybe he could get her a gift...

He decided on it silently, not knowing that it would be an event that would lift Yellow's and Daisy's hopes. As he finished grooming the two now sleeping Pokémon he looked over at the two Pokéballs beside him, ignoring the small gym bag that contained a little more then thirty Spearows. He should take the time to get to know his Pokémon, it was the only way he'd be able to understand them.

Picking up the ball of the small Rattata, he carefully took off his hat setting it on the ground beside him and settled Loki in it. With his lap free he pressed the release button. A flash of white light and there was now a little purple rat on his lap looking about in confusion.

Taking the time he observed the little rat. It was smaller then the others he had seen, and thin enough that it was obvious it was starving. From what he had observed from the other bold and quick Rattata roaming about this one was also timid and clumsy. Likely the runt of the litter. Beneath the panic though he could see a fierce curiosity, gentleness that made it cute, a female most likely as even the gentle males had an aggressiveness to them.

Still he didn't move to calm her down either, she was panicking and wouldn't hesitate to bite him even if she didn't mean to. He was going to be taking Loki's reminder seriously especially when his partner went through the trouble of giving it to him.

Wild Rattata weren't dangerous because they were strong not even when they had large numbers. Rather it was because of the bacteria in their overgrown front teeth, that could carry a number of diseases fatal to both Pokémon and Humans. So until he could get her teeth cleaned and had her checked up for any infectious problems, he couldn't risk him or one of his Pokémon getting bitten.

As for why he wasn't concerned toward airborne types of infections, it was because the Pokédex was programmed to test the air makeup around trainers and would warn them towards diseases that were airborne; Pokéballs had a similar feature even if they couldn't check the complete health of a Pokémon.

It didn't take long for the rat to notice him and he watched in slight amusement and confusion as she froze at the sight of him. They stared at each other for about two minutes before she seemed to have found something in his eyes that let her relax. Not that he'd know what, his eyes always seemed dead to him and frankly the abnormal ruby color of them, which shouldn't have been possible on a human, generally scared Pokémon and Human alike.

She walked up his lap slowly, to his chest. Her own soft red eyes looking cautiously into his own unhidden ones. He just as slowly moved his hands out of his front jacket pockets, leaving a small treat in one of them. She must have smelled it as she stepped towards that pocket and as he expected her to merely stick her head in and take it out he was startled when she crawled in herself.

He tensed as he could feel the small movements of her nibbling on the same soft pink heart-shaped berry she'd tried to steal before. He sat still, back rested against a tree Loki and Ignis at his side, for a long time as she apparently planned to savor every bite of what was probably the first meal she'd had in a while. When she finished she poked her head out of the pocket to give him what he guessed was a grateful chip sound nuzzling herself against his clothed stomach.

He looked at the little thing that was so small she fit in his pocket and immediately a name slipped from his mouth which seemed to already be claiming that she'd be staying in the team permanently, "Penny."

She paused in her nuzzling to look at him. She was radiating confusion but it seemed to click when he looked in her eyes and said it again, "Penny."

She gave an odd high pitched chattering sound before her meal caught up to her and she returned her head into the pocket, curling up to sleep.

Satoshi was feeling a bit tired as well, especially when next to the comfortable warmth that was radiating off of Ignis, but he'd keep watch until they woke up and sleep later that night. There was still half a day of sun left.