Chapter 15 Conflict? And You Are Not the Father

Leaving Pewter City I made my way to the entrance of Mt. Moon, it took me about 30 minutes with a light jog. Zorua has been resting on my head the whole time since I left the pokemon center. I know she's rested enough already, even though the conflict with Team Rocket tested her stamina in continuous battles. She's still a very strong pokemon, in fact she's my strongest pokemon. The only quirky thing is that she's very lazy in nature, which is ironic because she's a speedy little fox.

Making my way towards the entrance I see a pokemon center next to it. If I remember correctly there is a guy who sells Magikarp inside. This is interesting because the selling of pokemon requires a special license. This is a special measure created by the league to control pokemon poaching, otherwise everyone would go out trying to capture pokemon in their habitats, disrupting the peace. In fact buying pokemon is incredibly frowned upon, it's kind of an unspoken rule that capturing pokemon is a rite of passage. This isn't applicable to pokemon that are gifted or obtained from registered breeding businesses.

I'm not interested in trying to buy a Magikarp because they're easily caught in the water, it's a very common pokemon. What really catches my attention is a young boy wearing a backwards blue cap. He's currently blocking the entrance to Mt. Moon, scanning the area like he's looking for something. I have a foreboding feeling that I should ignore him. Using Fortune eyes I can tell that he isn't a threat, but he just has an annoying face.

Unfortunately for me, when I took that moment to check him with fortune eyes he made eye contact with me. Looking like he was filled with his life purpose, he sped at me with speed that was simply inhuman and stopped in front of me with a pokeball in hand. "Hey you! You're a pokemon trainer and we made eye contact according to the pokemon trainer guide vol.1 we must do battle. My name is Joey, me and my six Rattatas will defeat you!" He sends out a rattata, the purple rat pokemon and it's only Lvl.10.

(A/N: Rattata)

I closed my eyes and sigh as I thought to myself. I had thought I avoided this annoying troupe of the youngster with 6 rattatas. In fact most trainers on the way to Mt. Moon have avoided me after my battle hit trending on the Pewter Trainer News site. Each city has a site where you can view clips and information of what's going on in each city. While I don't mind battling traveling trainers I come across I don't particularly, battles like these will only waste my time. But it looks like he doesn't plan to let me pass without a battle. So I accepted his challenge request sent to my phone. As his senior in pokemon I should teach him not to challenge people willy nilly. That some battles have consequences greater than they know. It's totally not because I want to use my new skill.

(Who Will Know (24_Bigslow), Shiro Sagisu [Found it on Spotify])

Out of nowhere foreboding music starts to play in the background, successfully intimidating Joey and his Rattata as they look around in confusion. Finally building the resolve I needed, I stared at my opponent making him visibly flinch. Then I spoke to no one in particular, "Please give this trainer your mercy Arceus, for I'm all out of mercy. Zorua, let's show them." Jumping from my head she gets battle ready and faces our foe copying my morose resolve.

Trying not to be intimidated he shakily voices his commands, "R-rattata s-s-stay strong, use fury swipes!" Quickly taking to his commands it approaches Zorua with glowing claws.

"Zorua do nothing." My response to his attack visibly unnerves him, and his nervousness continually increases by the dramatic music in the background. Reaching Zorua, Rattata tries to unleash an onslaught of fury swipes. But to their surprise the attack keeps phasing through Zorua, in desperation it increases in ferocity to no avail.

"Zorua, slash." With a swipe of her paw she strikes Rattata instantly knocking it unconscious.

"R-r-ratta! No!"

"Next pokemon." I call to him to continue the battle, hesitantly he returns Rattata sending out the next one, also Lvl.10. I quickly dispatched it with a quick attack, it was so over so quickly Joey didn't have any time to react.

"Next."

"Wait, ple-"

"Next Pokemon." I gave no room for argument, for peace was never an option. This one sided battle continued until he was down to his last Rattata. Holding onto his last pokeball with despair on his face. I ignore his admittance of defeat only telling him to send his next pokemon. In the short moments that the battle took place, 1 minute. We gained a crowd of people from the pokemon center. My presence intimidated the crowd from making any complaints, this wasn't anything personal. It was about sending a message.

I wasn't trying to torture him by dragging the fight, I let him know he never had a chance from the start. So I finally ended it, knocking out his 6th Ratatta. With all his pokemon wiped out the background music fades, and I got the 120 pokedollars routed to my account as prize money. All challenge battles have prize pools, which is usually money, the amount is chosen by the challenger but can be lowered if the opponent can't pay. Trainers are given a device that can accept and send challenges when they register for a trainer id, but I've got mine linked with my phone.

Walking up to Joey who has collapsed on the ground he looks at me with fear in his eyes. I walk past him moving on to the cave entrance, leaving him with some parting words. "Next time be careful who you challenge to a battle. It brought me no joy to beat six Rattata, in fact it was a waste of my time." Some might say I was too cruel to the kid, but I honestly hated when I had to waste my time fighting 6 low leveled pokemon that gave me little to no exp.

-Somewhere inside Mt. Moon Cave-

Okay, I'm officially lost and probably going in circles. I should've checked the pokemon center for a map. Instead I let Zorua point in the direction she thought it was, but I won't take out my frustration by yelling at her. Instead, I'm holding her in my arms. Something she doesn't like unless we're stationary. Is that petty? I don't know but I should really focus on getting out of here, because the Zubat in the cave are going to be more active in the evening. Which is in… yup 20 minutes till I lose it.

Looking around for my next direction there are four different tunnels in the circle I've been walking around. I choose a random one and hope for the best, and my hopes are answered because in front of me is a cute little Cleffa. It's a small pink star-ish shaped pokemon, with brown ears, stubby little arms and legs, and a small curl on its head. It looks like it's crying while running towards me. Behind it are 3 zubats in pursuit. Clumsily running it spots me and jumps at me with a teary look, truly an adorable baby pokemon. Out of instinct I let go of Zorua and caught the little Cleffa. Meanwhile Zorua is looking at me like she experienced one of the top 10 anime betrayals.

"Sorry Zorua it was an accident, but could you take care of the Zubats?" Huffing in annoyance she hits the Zubats with a Snarl, for a pokemon that uses sound to see it was surely not a fun time for them. They ended up crashing into each other and knocked out. Having finished her job Zorua then jumps on my head and starts messing with my hair as revenge.

Ignoring the mess that will be my hair, I look at Cleffa who is staring at me like someone watching their hero. "Hey there Cleffa, are you alright now? Those mean Zubat won't bother you anymore." I'm still not entirely sure if pokemon can understand people, but it seems my concern was understood. Cleffa started giggling and waving its stubby little arms in happiness. "Cleffa! Cleffa!"

Since I didn't have any bright ideas I decided to ask Cleffa if it knew how to get out of the cave. To my surprise it happily pointed in the opposite direction I came from. On the way I found out Cleffa was Lvl.5 and female. This probably meant that she was just a newborn, and the curious little Cleffa probably decided to explore and that's how she ended up being chased by Zubat. She ended up leading me to a colony of Clefairy deeper inside the cave. There I witnessed a heartwarming reunion as Cleffa rejoined her family. A Clefable who I assumed was the leader then approached me, it could probably tell that I didn't have any bad intentions. I'm not entirely sure, but I know it's a big deal because its pokedex entry states that they're incredibly wary of others.

(A/N: Cleffa, Clefairy, Clefable)

"Nice to meet you Clefable I'm Rian, I got lost and found Cleffa being attacked by Zubat. I asked if it knew how to leave the cave and led me here. Do you think you could help me?" Nodding its head it went to discuss something with the Clefairy. Eventually returning with a Clefairy in tow who did a little spin to introduce itself.

Having everything set to go I'm about to leave the little family behind, but the little Cleffa starts crying while trying to catch up with me. I pick up the little cutie and calm her down, white Zorua starts lightly biting my head in jealousy. I ignore the pain on my head and talk to the ball of cuteness that doesn't want me to go. "Hey Cleffa you can't come with me, my journey is going to be filled with danger and your family will be sad if you leave. You don't want to make them sad right? I promise I'll visit you again so stay here with your family where it's safe, alright?" She nods her little head but her teary face contradicts her resolve. She gives me one last hug before she sadly walks back to her family. Ugh! Cleffa you're breaking my poor heart.

Making my way out of the cave with my Clefairy guide bouncing along the way. I was sad about leaving Cleffa, but she had a family that was waiting for her. I couldn't just take her away, they also didn't want her to leave because she's too young. Oh well, I can finally see the exit up ahead. Now that we've arrived, my guide did a little dance before bouncing away. I'm just glad that I'm out of that cave, they're just not my scene. So I just gloomily make my way to Cerulean City which is now in the distance.

-Cerulean City-

Making my way through the city, I get odd stares because my hair looks like I just came back from skydiving through the sky. The culprit of this public humiliation is currently in my arms, refusing to leave. As my first pokemon I might've spoiled her a bit too much, and because of this she typically doesn't like to stay in their pokeball. Being so friendly with Cleffa might've made her a little more clingy. Whatever, Zorua's fur is soft and I don't mind holding her like this. So, ignoring the odd stares I make my way to the local pokemon center. The pokemon center in Cerulean is a triangular shaped building with a big dome at the top with a big 'P'. Entering inside I quickly get a room for myself like I usually do, but first I go to a field behind the pokemon center to feed Milotic and Pidgeotto. Unfortunately they're too big to let out in the small pokemon center room.

(A/N: Pokemon Center)

Since I'm here I should train my pokemon a bit before my next gym battle. I can't do any move training here because I don't want others to learn my training methods, and I don't want to destroy the field. I should have them work on their stamina, it's not something that's quantified in the scan so I can't tell how much a pokemon has. Stamina is also important in high-level battling, where big moves that can drain a lot of stamina are used often. Not to mention keeping up with high-speed combat that can last a while.

The only way I know of to increase stamina is high intensity activity for long durations of time. So with this in mind I send out all my pokemon, I have Zorua run with me, Milotic will slither to keep pace, and Pidgeotto will follow in the sky. Boosting my legs with aura so I can run faster we begin our training. At their top speeds they can obviously outpace me, but this is meant to challenge their endurance with constant activity. It's currently 8pm, so we'll keep running for 3 hours before calling it a night. Training together will help increase our bond, and also help me get back in shape. This peaceful life has made me complacent with my training, I don't want to go soft in the future. I try to increase the intensity with different maneuvers like moving in a zig-zag pattern and jumping imaginary hurdles.

By the time we're done it's already late at night and we're all quite tired. I'm especially drained, trying to keep up with pokemon is pretty difficult. I decided to end the session by washing Milotic and Pidgeotto, I can give Zorua a bath in the room. So I have Milotic shoot a water gun in the sky to create a temporary rain. Grabbing a sponge I start to wash Milotics scales, she gives a content cry once I'm finished. Meanwhile Pidgeotto dries itself by flying in the air, shaking off the water. Finally I give them their food before letting them rest in their pokeballs, while me and Zorua go to the room.

-Later-

With everything done I'm in my bed thinking about who to choose for the gym battle. While I want Zorua to have her first gym battle, this is also the only time where there is a water battlefield in the gym battles. So, it makes more sense to choose Milotic and let her have her fun in what is essentially her home turf. In the end it doesn't really matter because the gym leaders of Cerulean Gym are notoriously known for not being strong. The sensational sisters, this is how they're known because of their water show they host often. It's a pretty popular attraction in Cerulean, but I don't have much interest in scantily clad women doing water performances. Overall my trip here kinda seems like a waste, but maybe I can awaken their drive to be a better gym leader somehow?

Anyway, the main reason I'm here is because there's a jewel smith here in the city. I'm hoping he can set the keystone I got into the necklace I'm always wearing. I fondly hold my necklace in my hand. It was something my mother gave me before we separated, my chaotic mind at the time didn't even register that I had it. I'm glad I have a memento of hers, cause even though she's gone I always feel like she's with me.

It's getting late so I should head to bed soon. I give Zorua a goodnight snuggle who gives me snuggles in return. Then I say goodnight to the two eggs in their incubators that I set on the nightstand next to the bed. According to the incubators they'll hatch in 8 days, I can't wait to see what will hatch out the one I received from the quest. Lastly I say goodnight to Pidgeotto and Milotic who're inside their pokeballs. With my night routine done it's time to catch up on my Z's.

-Somewhere in Kanto-

People have started going crazy over a new trendy video someone posted on TrainerTube, a website where people share video contents. Ranging from funny videos, battles, baby pokemon, and occasional rants. The video that has started to accumulate a lot of views is a young man destroying another trainer who has only Rattatas. The reason why people are going crazy over it is because dramatic music starts playing out of nowhere as the trainer demolishes the other. With various discussions going on online, there is an important meeting going on between executives of the famous Silph Co. company. The topic of said discussion is the idea of promoting the trainer in the video. With the majority in agreement they now look for a way to contact the promising trainer.

Meanwhile elsewhere, there is a youngster who retired his blue hat. While huddling up in his bed he questions his life choices. By his side is a singular Rattata looking at him with concern. After shaking off his depressed mood he turns to face his Rattata, with a new fire in his eyes he seems to have come to some sort of goal. What that goal is, well that's for him to know.