Chapter 016

Clan shoved his hands in his pockets as he headed to the cafeteria. He was going to have some training done with Solaris to make them more well prepared when they would eventually challenge the Oreburgh City Gym Leader. He decided to not rush it and take his time, he will stay here in Jubilife City for two more days or so to get training done with Solaris.

But first, they had to go and meet their additional friend that would be with them in their venture.

Solaris seemed to be specially interested and concered of Axew as he gave him a searching look.

"Our new friend is going to be fine. He was abused and was a captured pokemon apparently, before we came across him." Clan assured his starter softly. "So I need your help with him if we wanted to keep him in our team, okay pal?"

Clan may not know if Axew was a great pokemon, he still would take care of him like how he would treat any of his current and future captures, he was responsible for him the moment he took him on his arms in the road of Route 202. Solaris would become a great help with convincing Axew that Clan would be trustworthy enough since they are both pokemon.

He got a quick bite to eat at the cafeteria. Nurse Joy had already fed Solaris so the chic pokemon wasn't hungry, but he would still buy something for him.

The burger and fries were very relishing, which pleased Clan so much. He wasn't quite sure if there were any rules to having your pokemon out of their pokeball while in the cafeteria. However, the cook doesn't seem to mind and other than him, other trainers were also having their pokemons eating beside them - so Clan figured it was fine. He loved having Solaris's company, so he also bought him some waffles to snack on and a bowl of pokemon food.

After Clan and Solaris were done eating, they headed towards the the west wing of the Pokemon Center and exited there. They came out to multiple rows of training fields located behind the Pokemon Center, the League had all the Pokemon Centers situate this facility purposely for Trainers to have friendly battles between themselves and a field that would allow them to train their pokemons, if accidents happen the Pokemon Center would without delay react to it.

Clan walked towards a field that wasn't occupied by any trainers. Before he released Axew from his pokeball, he first made sure that Solaris was in front of him so that the pokemon wouldn't be overwhelmed when he saw Clan.

Solaris chirpped, after a second, the chic pokemon also realized that being the same creature as Axew would at least endear them to the pokemon. He thrilled, staying as adorable as he could to not be seen as aggresive. Clan nodded at him, grinning a little nervously, before clicking the release.

Clan had a closer look towards the small reptilian dinosaur-like Pokémon that materialized in front of them. Its scales is mainly deep greenish in color, with a light green collar around its neck. Axew has flat pale green tusks protruding from either side of its mouth. It has large scarlet red eyes and a dark-green pointed horn atop its head. It is a bipedal Pokemon with stubby legs, small feet and claws, and a short pointed tail. It was still greatly malnuorished but it was evidently more healthy than when Clan first met it.

Axew stood at the middle of the training field they were standing on. It glared at them both with scarlet red eyes. Turning cautiosly, it scanned for any other threats around the vicinity, it noticed in wary that other humans and pokemon were also around but was further back than the ones in front of him, pre-occupied with doing something like battling and training with each other which his eyes last a second longer on, they were not paying attention to him. He soon returned his gazed on the human and pokemon in front of them, it took a few steps backwards while keeping them in his range of sight.

On taking a closer look at Clan's face, Axew remembered the hazy memory of the human and the fire chic pokemon who he had seen from the road he fainted upon. Why was this human here? What did he want? Does this human also wanted to beat and starve him to death like what that woman did to-?

"Axew." The gray-haired human addressed him. "I'm the one who saw you in the main road of Route 202... do you remember me? You had fainted in exhaustion, I was worried when I saw your state at that time, you were all bruised and your body was filled with scars, I immediately took you here in the Pokemon Center to heal your injuries. Nurse Joy, the pink-haired kind woman healed you, she said you're healed now. But, I want to hear it from you, how are you feeling?"

It took a minute but Axew eventually gave a grunt of agreement, Clan thought he could even hear a little bit of appreciation in it. He nodded, shifting his gaze towards Solaris. The chic hissed a greeting, earning a snarl in response. Despite such an aggresive sound, it didn't seem to be a threat by Solaris's reaction. Axew seemed to only growl, grunt and snarl.

After a moment, it looked back at Clan, fully focusing his narrowed eyes at him. He took the opportunity. "Are you hungry?"

Clan reached out towards his back, taking out a can from his sling bag. It was a can of pokemon food, and it was the last one he got. He would resupply after this. He opened the can easily and took a single piece of pokemon food contained inside. He held it out towards Axew, keeping his grip loose. Axew's nose twitched, but didn't came close. He relaxed his finger, allowing the cylindrical-shaped food roll off his fingers, heading towards Axew. He stopped it with a gently but firm stomp of his foot, giving a narrow glance around, still cautios, he sniffed the brown block of food and poke it with his tusks noticing the tenderness of the thing. He took a wary nimble with his sharp fangs, when he tasted the pokemon food, it's eyes lit up, and he growled almost happily and looked back at Clan, nose sniffing for more. He fed it numerous times before straightening his back.

Clan debated on what to do next. He was clueless, he didn't come across a pokemon that was captured from pokemon poachers before, so he didn't know what to do in this particular situation. When he saw that Axew seemed to have relaxed a bit after eating a few of those pokemon foods, he smiled as gently as he could, without showing his teeth lest Axew as a pokemon would think he was challenging him. "Axew... I wanted to ask, were you captured by pokemon poachers?"

Axew growled, much more deeply now. Clan could see Solaris tensing up also when he saw Axew getting angry, ready to battle the pokemon in case it decided to fight. Clan reached out his arm and gently petted the warm body of his starter. He smiled assuringly when Solaris turned towards him.

"I'm not here to fight you, Axew. I'm here to help." Axew didn't show any signs of trust, but his growl visibly toned down a bit when he heard Clan's words. It perked the dinasaurs attention. He was here to help him? What does the human mean by that?

"I wanted to clarify to you that I am not like the human who abused and mistreated you, Axew. I'm different from those people who treats pokemons like tools and objects." Clan's thoughts wondered to Paul's words that day, on the day he recieved Solaris. He clenched his teeth, took a hesitant step forward towards Axew. "I'm also... a human, but I'm different. I've treated Solaris, my only pokemon as a friend... and a family." Clan paused then he knelt down to pet Solaris on his feather with gentleness, the chic thrilled affectionately at his touch. He turned towards Axew who saw their interaction and smiled. "This is my Torchic... Solaris is a nickname I gave him, he is a pokemon just like you. A pokemon just as special as you are. He is my partner... I'm a Pokemon Trainer, a trainer who aimed to become stronger than anybody else alongside my pokemons... at least, strong enough to protect those who I held dear." Clan smiled and exchange glances with Axew. "Should you agree to it, I wish to have you as my pokemon and my friend, and become a part of my journey. I can promise I will treat you the best possible way I could, should you be agreeable to it."

The dinasaur-like pokemon looked up, his eyes flashing towards Clan and Solaris. His accusing gaze rested on the fire chic pokemon as if asking him if what Clan had said was true, he trusted a fellow pokemon more than a human, currently. Solaris readily agreed and through chirps and thrills, explaining to him how kind and especially dedicated Clan was as a trainer.

It was true, even though Clan and Solaris only had been with each other for a few days since being together, they had already became good friends. Solaris also mentioned to Axew how exciting pokemon battling was, which Axew was interested in as he asked all about it. Solaris also talked about a certain pillow the human gave him as a bed to sleep on.

Clan saw the interaction between Solaris and Axew. They were talking through their poketalks and Clan didn't have any idea what they were talking about. Sometimes, Solaris would jump and scratch as if performing a move, one time he would point at Clan with his beak and one time he would nestle on the ground as if he was planning on sleeping. One thing is for sure though, Solaris is helping in their process of convincing the Axew to come with them.

"So Axew, what do you think?" Clan asked uncertainly, although the hope in his eyes shone more brightly than ever.