Human shield

I was taking Becky with me up north this morning to see what we could see, I knew that not many trainers actually came out that way because it's mainly only the butterfree line that hangs out in the small forest, and trainers were only ever looking for the biggest baddest Pokémon….not butterfree..

I had a good amount of money for now so i decided to just let her get a Pokémon of her own, hopefully something not to expensive maintenance wise but something that could help round her self out as a trainer in the future..

Butterfree while not known to be absolute powerhouses are pretty handy to have as a utility Pokémon and having one as he starter could get her a leg up..

It's not that I was interested in Becky in any way, shape or form. it's just that I would eventually have to leave for decent periods of time and it would be kinda dangerous to leave her in a Pokémon wild zone alone, and I wasn't leaving one of mine as protection.

I never understood why they don't let people train Pokémon for a few years before they start their "journey"..

I mean…I reckon a lot actually do let their kids raise Pokémon early out of public view if they were pretty well off, just to give them a boost over the competition, but in general sending out teenagers into the wild with borderline baby Pokémon seems like an incredibly stupid idea to me…

But that's not my problem now I guess, I'll have a crew put together before I ever get my hands on my "official" trainers license

But I digress

Me and Becky were fed and watered at the crack of dawn and on the road, packed and ready to see what the north held…

I had the pull cart with me with some food and supplies just incase….I also had Becky pulling it instead of me….if the girl wants a Pokémon, then she's going to have to earn it..

Slowpoke seemed to agree as he made her job many times harder by flopping his fat body into the cart instead of walking along side us..

Ferroseed was also in the cart, mainly due to not being very mobile outside of rollout, and as we were heading into "uncharted" territory I decided I should have everyone out..

I was a little worried about showing Ferroseed off but decided to anyway because Becky would potentially be staying with me for years and Ferroseed had enough confidence issues without me having to hide her at home.

But in the end, Becky didn't even know what a Ferroseed was due to her being an uneducated orphan and it being a non kanto Pokemon…. She let it go easy enough thinking it was a rare find.

I told her never to let anyone know I had her mainly because if people found out I had a rare Pokémon I might be targeted to which she whole heartedly agreed….not that I trust her word 100% but it was enough for now..

It was a rough treck north having to constantly stop and move debris out of the way for the cart and eventually we made it out of the "ruined city" and made it the forest..

On the way we saw the odd Rattata, pidgey and a even a zigzagoon or 2 but Pokémon seemed to leave us alone..

While walking through the forest I noticed I couldn't see any Pokémon for awhile, and that was ringing alarm bells in my head, I was pretty sure butterfree territory would normally have all kinds of non aggressive Pokémon under their protection as long as they could feed themselves without butterfree input

But eventually we started to see caterpie in the trees surrounding us all around and I started to get a little nervous, but held off on anything drastic because my Pokémon didn't seem to bothered by it….

But also eventually we started seeing large bushes covered in variety's of golf ball sized berries as well…

The bushes were littered with caterpie munching away on the over 80$ a kilo wonder fruits nearly causing me to have a fit at just how much money those bushes would be worth…

But as soon as I had the thought, there were multiple cries of "freeeeee" as the wind picked up a bit, and very quickly we found ourself surrounded by a good 40 plus butterfree hovering over and around us..

My Pokémon made small defensive perimeter around me as Becky let go of the cart and stood behind me with a very clear nervousness on her face..

The butterfree weren't aggressive per se, but they were hovering pretty tightly around the berry bushes that the caterpie were munching on.

Not that I blame em though, I would be pretty defensive too if some randoms rocked up to my place and started looking through my fridge… with my kids right next to the fridge no less

From what I know the butterfree line was one of, if not the most peaceful Pokémon line in the kanto region and more often than not if you weren't fucking with em they would just leave you alone, and even if something happened, if you weren't actively trying to harm them or their line or anyone under their "protection" you were pretty safe.

So I put my hand up in a show of surrender before speaking as calmly as my voice would allow in the situation…

"Hey fellas, we aren't here to cause trouble. We were just exploring a bit since we live fairly close and wanted to see what was down this way….."

The tension in the air cleared a little….not totally, but a little..

My Pokémon didn't let up though, meowth was I front of me in a pouncing position with small yellow sparks of electricity arcing off his fur, ready to strike should the need arise, machop to my left with his hands in a boxing stance ice slowly forming on his knuckles , Slowpoke to my right looking as dumb as he normally does….but Don't that that fool you, he was ready for a scrap if shit went sideways…and finally there was Ferroseed who was still sitting in the cart with a blank look on her face, but she had a bullet seed ready to fire if the need arose..

And Becky was just a big ol pile of anxiety, but that I could blame her…I was pretty nervous as well but things were slowly calming down as the butterfree watched us, silence filled the forest with out the sounds of their wings fluttering breaking the monotony..

We had a bit of a standoff for a few minutes before the butterfree who were cutting off our escape slowly gained altitude to hover over us to line up beside the ones guarding their food source..

I grabbed the pull cart to slowly back away until we were at a pretty good distance and I felt safe enough to try and have a conversation with the Pokémon who surrounded us not a few minutes before.

"Alright, now things have settled down a bit, i was wondering if you had any caterpie who would be willing to become a trainers Pokemon?…..not for me mind you, but for this heap of cowering, sweaty fear and stress standing behind me, using me like a human shield…."

"Freeeee??"

The biggest butterfree who I'm imagining is the boss of the place tilts it's head in questioning silence after a brief cry…

Becky is now having a full blown panic attack being thrown into the spotlight, hyperventilating and everything behind me. She's doing everything in her power not to pass out…..she said she wanted to be a trainer so….yeah..

While I'm still a very paranoid person and we are outnumbered 10 to 1, I'm fairly confident we can bail even if they took offence to the question….it's the only reason I asked…

All of the overgrown butterflies start to chatter amongst themselves for a few minutes while I keep Becky from bolting into the scrub in an attempt to leave the area..

My mons have calmed down a bit, but still havnt lowered their guards fully as they still have a loose circle around Becky and myself…

"What the fuck are you doing Gideon!? You're going to get us killed!! You said we were just exploring!!"

Becky whisper shouts at me after realising we won't be immediately set upon by the butterfly gang..

" we are exploring, and we found a nest of butterfree who don't seem to take to kindly to strangers invading in on their food source…but everything worked out ok so far, so chill the fuck out….you said you wanted to be a trainer…."

She blanks for a second before responding less hostile but still wary..

"Yes I do want to be a trainer but I'm not allowed to own a Pokémon until I can get my license…it's illegal!!.."

"Dude, fuck the legalities, we are two homeless kids living in an abandoned gyarados rampaged city district in an unfinished office building trying to survive the fucking winter, and you're complaining about having a Pokémon is illegal?….fuck that…..I'm doing this for YOU, in 3 years when you actually get that shiny piece of plastic they call a license, you'll have a well trained butterfree ready to hit the ground running…..You remember just having a license doesn't entitle you to a Pokémon yeah? You still need to catch one yourself, or if you can afford it, pay someone else to catch it for you which we both know you couldn't afford…so grow some lady balls and women up….a thank you would be far more appropriate in this situation instead of your little hissy fit"

I did not appreciate being hissed at like that while I'm trying to do someone a favour….someone I hopefully don't owe anything to anymore.

If it weren't for the fact that she literally saved my life, I would have left her dumpster diving in the alley that day instead of bringing her into my home, feeding and clothing her..

And if I manage to get a caterpie into that pokeball she holds onto for dear life I will consider us very much even, she won't be leaving for awhile yet, not until I'm strong enough to fight off packs of goons coming after me for whatever reason…

As me and Becky had our little spat, the butterfree seemed to beckon over a few of the smaller caterpie and start conversing with with them.

Most didn't seem interested, but all it took was one, and that one seemed to shine with curiosity as it slowly crawled our way…

Meowth was sparking a little bit still but didn't stop it from approaching, same with the rest of the crew

The caterpie made its way in front of us, and after Becky realised she was being ridiculous, she noticed the little green worm arched up at her feet looking at her with expectation in its beady eyes..

Becky was hesitant with a bit of fear plastering her face but still kneeled down anyway to speak almost at eye level with caterpie..

"Did…..did you want to come with me caterpie?….I can't promise much, but I promise to do my best"

She spoke in an unsure voice that seemingly didn't dissuade the little green bug

It groaned and moaned in approval while keeping eye contact with Becky as she slowly took out her pokeball, enlarging it and holding it out for caterpie to make its final decision…

Without thinking much about it caterpie "bopped" the center button the the red and white sphere and disappeared in a flash of red light…

Becky couldn't hold her joy in and with hands in the air she jumped off the ground with a "WOOOHOOOO I GOT A CATERPIE!!!"

I made sure to watch the butterfree as Becky made an ass of herself basically screaming loud noises in front of a group of pokemon who were borderline hostile toward us, barely even a few minutes ago….

They seemed fine with is as the caterpie made the choice it's self and we weren't here looking for trouble….they still hovered protectively around their berry bushes but made no moves otherwise…

I grabbed Becky on the shoulder to bring her down from her first Pokémon high she was feeling and gently and calmly told her to "shut the fuck up before you draw more attention to us"

And sobered how a bit after that….

We ended up backing away from the flock of butterfree still facing them before heading back south toward home. Becky still in a daze from the fact she actually now had a Pokémon of her own…

It took us awhile to get home as her hooting and hollering seemed to draw a few mons to the edge of the butterfree forest, one's that my mons were all to happy to forcefully remove…

We ended up taking awhile to get home…it was late afternoon and I really didn't feel like training the crew after that shit show, so we just chilled…

I knew I would have to provide food for that thing for at least 6 months, but they were small and didn't each much so it was fine…

I have just under 150k left which should sound like a lot of money, but in reality it's chump change when raising Pokémon….and I'm not looking to get involved in the black market until my mons were evolved and ready to beat down thugs by the dozen….so I'm probably gonna have to pull a few more heists before that happens…

But as I'm lost in my thoughts the night ebbs ever closer….Starting tomorrow that grind begins anew..