Single post in Life of a trainer

Chapter 9 – Encounter with a Mankey After a trip to Lavender Town, Andy was walking in the forest again, whistling a happy tune. Benny was flying around him, enjoying the walk in the forest. When Andy heard some leaves rustle, he looked up to see where it came from and noticed a white Pokémon with brown hands and feet, hanging by it’s tail in the tree. He watched the Pokémon as it released, grabbed another branch and played around in the tree like that. Benny flew towards Andy and held on to his shoulder, also looking at the Pokémon. “It seems like a cheerful fellow,” Andy said, taking his Pokédex. “Let’s see what this little device has to say about it.” He aimed the red device at the Pokémon and soon a voice told Andy what he needed to know. “Mankey, a Pig Monkey Pokémon of the Fighting-type. An agile Pokémon that lives in trees. Known for its superior footwork, it packs a powerful punch.” “That doesn’t sound to bad.” “Although Mankey is usually calm, it does have a bad temper. It angers easily and will not hesitate to attack anything,” the device continued. “Oh…that doesn’t sound to friendly. Maybe we should back away and leave it at peace.” Benny nodded and just as Andy wanted to turn around, the Mankey looked up. For a moment, the two stared at each other. As the Mankey started shaking a bit and his nasal breath turned rough, Andy swallowed and cleared his throat. “What did the Pokédex say about his temper again?” Andy whispered to Benny, who was hanging on his shoulder and lowered himself until just his eyes peeked over Andy’s shoulder. “Free,” Benny said softly, clearly uncomfortable with this Pokémon as well. “Mankey,” the Pokémon growled. “Right! I have an idea!” Andy said, raising his finger into the air. “Free?” “Let’s run.” Putting action to his words, Andy turned around and started running. The Mankey took of and chased him. “Benny! Don’t just sit there! Use your sleeping powder!” Benny let go of Andy’s shoulder, flapped a few times with his wings to stay in the air and turn around and faced the incoming Mankey. As he flew backwards, he released the sleeping powder from his wings. After two steps, the Mankey was blinking and slowed down. Two steps more and the Mankey fell on the ground, fast asleep. “Well done! I don’t know what I would do without you,” Andy complimented his Butterfree and he walked back to the Mankey. “It’s an interesting Pokémon.” Again Andy took his Pokédex and started to look up the information about the species. As he was doing so, he didn’t notice, the arms of the Mankey started to move again. Suddenly he heard the Pokémon speak and he looked up, right in his eyes. “Ah crap,” was all Andy had time for to say as the Mankey jumped forwards and on Andy, who fell back and used his feet to kick it off again, but the Mankey quickly turned around and jumped on Andy again. Benny was getting ready to use sleeping powder again, but Andy stopped him. “No. If you do that, I’ll fall asleep as well.” He wrestled with the Mankey a bit. “Speaking of which, we need to talk about your quality of powder, Benny.” The Butterfree sighed when hearing that remark, but kept flying circles over the wrestling pair, looking worried at the struggle between Andy and the Mankey. They wrestled until Andy was able to pin the Mankey to the ground, keeping him there with his body and keeping his arms pressed against the ground with his hands. “It seems I win,” Andy said, panting. The Mankey was wriggling to get free, glaring angrily at Andy. “Don’t give me that look, if you don’t like to lose, you just have to get stronger. And I can help.” The Mankey stopped moving and looked up, silently. “I think you’re strong, but you can get stronger. I can help with that. Why don’t you come with me? I can help you train, and offer food, shelter and good company, with both the stunning Benny and the to-awesome-for-words myself.” He offered the Mankey one of his disarming smiles. “What do you think?” Benny came down as well, holding onto Andy’s shoulder and started to speak to the Mankey, who looked at the Butterfree and replied to it. When their conversation was over, he looked at Andy and nodded. “Great, that’s what I wanted to hear.” Andy got up, releasing the Mankey again and dug in his pockets to look for a Pokéball. When he finally found one, he took the small ball out and enlarged it with a simple tap of his finger. “This is a Pokéball. It allows you to travel with me, without having to walk with me through wind, rain, blazing heat, snow… why can’t I have a Pokéball?” Benny chuckled, but the Mankey looked at him, not understanding. “Well, maybe Benny can explain it better.” Again, Benny talked with Mankey and Andy patiently waited for them to finish. When they were done, the Mankey looked at Andy and nodded. “Fantastic. Well, before we do that, I would like to give you a name.” Andy fell silent as he thought about it. “Bear. I think I’ll name you Bear. What do you think?” The Mankey nodded again, more cheerful now. “Alright, let’s move on to the next part.” Andy gently threw the Pokéball at the Mankey from where he was standing. The Pokéball hit the Mankey and as it opened a red light appeared, surrounding the Mankey and pulling it in. The ball fell on the ground, shaking as the red light on the button flashed. After a few seconds, it stopped shaking and the light went away. “I think that qualifies as a successful catch,” Andy said, picking the Pokéball up. “Welcome to the team, Bear.” He looked at his Butterfree. “In the Pokédex there was a mention about Mankey living in a colony. Do you know why this one was alone?” Benny had a bit of a sad look and nodded. “Left behind?” Andy guessed and he received a confirming nod from the Butterfree. “Why?” Benny looked at Andy, trying to think of a way to tell him. Then he turned around and flapped with his wings to produce a powerful gust. He then pointed to the Pokéball and made a second gust, a weaker one. Andy frowned and looked at the Pokéball. “Was he deemed too weak?” Again he got a confirming nod and Andy nodded as well. “It explains why he liked the idea of getting stronger. I’m glad we found him then.” Benny nodded to agree.