Gary, June, and Tyrogue stared silently at the newest arrival.

In his puffy though tight, black coat, a gray knit hat atop his head, in fit black jeans and dark gray boots, a tall guy stared at everyone while holding a clear capsule that was closed at the top and bottom with yellow caps.

Inside was a beige blanket and a giant brown egg on it with a yellow spot.

On the kid’s back was a large, gray camping backpack.

Something creepy slithered from behind him and crawled around his ankles, circling his body once and ending at his knees.

“Whoa! Dude!” Gary backed up and pointed at the creature. “There’s something on you!”

June was also staring at it, though with interest and not panic. “It’s a Pokemon!”

The kid looked down. “You mean my man, here? This mah nigga Salandit. You never seen one before?”

There was silence again, the three kids staring at each other, June and Gary’s eyes wide now.

“They’re from Alola,” the kid continued.

Nobody spoke again.

“Well, I see y’all don’t talk much. See y’all.” The tall stranger turned his back on them.

“Where did you say?” Gary questioned.

The guy stopped and turned around. “Salandit? Alola. It’s real far from here.”

The thing on the kid’s pants was fairly large and had a bulky build.

Gary took out his Pokedex.

Salandit. The Toxic Lizard Pokemon. It burns its body fluids to release a dizzying gas or flame from its body that also has a hypnotizing effect on bugs. Only females can also release an alluring pheromone that makes males of any species susceptible.

Gary’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the revolving, 3D image of Salandit from his Pokedex. He then squinted at the Salandit on the legs of the stranger. His eyes then went back to his Pokedex before again returning to the kid’s Pokemon. “Your Salandit! Why is it so big?”

Whereas Gary’s Pokedex displayed a slim lizard, the one the kid had had muscles! It was also larger and longer.

“‘Cause fuck these hoes, ya heard?” the kid smiled with his bruised face, one eye surrounded in a black circle, small scars and scratches spread about. “This my partner for a reason. We both been heartbroken by these hoes out here, giving our all to make sure these bitches are taken care of, and all we get is taken advantage of in return.”

Gary and June had wide eyes again as they listened to him, unable to respond.

“I found this guy delivering a bunch of food, bugs and shit, through a volcano. But he was skinny as fuck and looked half dead, so I followed him, wondering how could a Pokemon with so much food be looking so unhealthy,” the young guy told Gary and June. “Turns out he was taking the food over to a Salazzle, the evolved form only the female Salandit reaches. And she was surrounded by a bunch of male Salandit, all looking sick as fuck and starving. This bitch Salazzle was already eating from a mountain of food, not sharing one bit! Then, this Salandit gave her all his food, and she just ate in front of them all as they watched, smiling like they was hypnotized! Suddenly, for no reason, she just starts beatin’ down this Salandit with her tail! My man was helpless! I had to do something. I jumped in with my Elekid to stop them, but we were outnumbered by the other hypnotized Salandit controlled by Salazzle. The good news is, we got this Salandit out of there and took off. That bitch even tried to spray me and Elekid with her poison and control us. Fuck outta here.”

June and Gary were silent, not believing their ears, the story, and the brashness of this kid. They certainly weren’t used to such constant, strong language.

“Um, that’s really great of you,” Gary stated.

“Yeah,” the new guy nodded. “Well, he was pretty heartbroken about it once we got out of the area and got him out of his possession. We healed him at a Pokemon Center and I suggested he roll with us. I can relate to his pain. I’m on a journey myself. Just tryin’ to see what I can do for this world. How I can help people and Pokemon. I had a bad breakup with this one girl, and since then, I’ve changed, and I know it. We’re not gonna be taken advantage of again. We’re gonna be stronger than ever. That’s why, instead of being malnourished and not eating, we both eat everyday, all day. We work out. We stay healthy. We keep moving forward and leave the past behind us. We pray. We battle. You ain’t never seen a male Salandit in proper shape. They aren’t normally able to access their proper nutrients and grow. But not this nigga. This is definitely the strongest Salandit on Earth. We represetin’ out here. Hard On Thots movement. Fuck all these hoes.” He nodded confidently, yet awkwardly.

June and Gary had no words for him.

“Y’all don’t talk a lot, huh?” the guy mentioned.

Gary’s mouth hung open to say something, but no sound came out.

June was just as silent, mouth closed.

Ish looked Gary over, and then June, and then Tyrogue. He nudged his head at him. “Lemme guess, y’all are Pokemon Trainers?”

The two young Trainers nodded.

“You have other Pokemon, too, you said,” Gary spoke up. “So I guess you’re one, too.”

“I’m in school right now.”

“Oh. So, what’s your name?”

“Yishmael, but everyone just calls me Ish. Who are you two?”

“Gary.”

“June.”

“Nice to meet y’all. Y’all must have been training.” He turned to June. “I guess you have a disobedient Pokemon.”

June lowered her head and sighed. “I d-do,” she flinched, her body sparking once.

“Your Pokemon is type impressive, Gary. A Baby holding it down against a fully evolved Pokemon like that? That’s gangsta.”

Gary couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks,” he nodded.

“Like I was saying, if you act soft in front of your Pokemon and start crying, you can’t expect it to listen to you,” Ish told June. “You gotta show him you’re tough. He’s fully evolved. He wants a fully evolved Trainer.”

June’s eyes widened at this.

Gary’s did as well. That does make some sense... he thought.

“If you act like a hoe, he jus’ gon’ treat you like a hoe,” Ish went on.

“Excuse me??” June gasped.

Gary’s mouth hung open in disbelief. This guy sure has no filter, he thought.

Ish shrugged. “I’m just being honest. If you wanna be a Pokemon Master, you gotta be just as hard as any Pokemon is gonna be. You gotta toughen up. How many Badges do you have?”

“I’m not competing in the League,” June huffed. “And you have some-”

“Oh, good,” Ish interrupted. “So you just raise Pokemon. I was gonna say you need to toughen up or don’t even bother collecting Badges. You’ll only get swept in the League.”

“HEY!” June was furious now. “I’m a previous Gym Leader, thank you very much!!”

“Lemme guess: you got fired.”

June’s face was raging red, looking ready to eat Ish’s sore looking face off! “I QUIT ON MY OWN TERMS!!”

“Then why are you yelling at me? Why are you so mad?”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE JUST BEING RUDE!!”

“I’m just being honest. I don’t like lying.”

“There’s honesty and there’s rude!”’

“Hey, come on now, guys.” Gary stepped between them. “Let’s all just chill.” He turned to Ish. “Come on, man. There’s no need to talk to someone like that that you don’t even know. You don’t know her backstory. There’s a lot going on with them two, okay?”

Ish nodded. “Aight, my bad. You’re right. I don’t really know enough to be talking. But it’s just my point of view. My perspective.”

“Well, from my perspective, I’m saying you should chill. That’s all, dude.”

Ish nodded. “I respect that.” He turned to June. “Hey, I’m sorry June.” He shifted his capsule into one arm and held out his free hand.

June was still red and livid, leering at his hand as if lasers would shoot out and burn it. Eventually, she did reach out and shake it for a second before pulling away sharply and crossing her arms over her chest.

“So, where are you two headed from here?” Ish asked.

“We were on our way to Dark City to face Cleopatra, the Dark type Gym Leader,” Gary responded to him.

“So y’all were practicing beforehand,” Ish assumed.

“Not quite. The last time our Pokemon ate, a fight broke out with those two, so this time, we fed the other guys first, and those two separately.”

Ish nodded. “Smart.”

Everyone turned to Tyrogue.

Tyrogue’s bulged muscles from the Bulk Ups were gone, the battle over. He stood looking fairly well, though a bit dirty and scuffed.

“I’m on my way there, too, since it’s the closest town.”

When Ish didn’t explain further, Gary questioned, “Why?”

“I’ve got this injured Metapod and I need to make sure he’s okay.” He held out a Poke Ball. “I found it yesterday being Pecked on by a bunch of Spearow. I think he’s been injured real bad, so I want to be sure he’ll make it through.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you, Ish,” June said softly. “Metapod shells are supposed to be really hard, though.”

“And so are the beaks of a vicious Pokemon like Spearow. You’d be surprised how much damage could be done to a Pokemon like Metapod, even inside of that hard shell they’ve got.”

“Well, then I guess we can all travel together there,” Gary offered.

“Fine by me,” Ish shrugged. “How many Badges do you have?”

“Five.”

“Oh, not bad, not bad,” Ish nodded with approval.

Gary’s eyes suddenly widened. He turned and saw June staring at him, confirming what he had just said. He turned back to Ish. “I mean four...”

“So it’s four?”

“Long story, but yeah, I only have four Badges... But I’ll get my fifth at Dark City.”

“What happened? Did you get robbed for a Badge?”

“Not at all. I just thought I had one, but I didn’t,” Gary spoke quickly, impatiently. “Again, long story. I’m at four Badges.”

“Aight. Well, I know the League is coming in like four months or something so you should hurry up if you only have four Badges.”

“I know, I know. Dark City is still about a day away from here.” Gary looked up into the sky and took a deep breath. A day away, he thought. A day before I continue on this journey. One more day until I proceed where Melissa left off before being murdered in front of me while I did absolutely nothing to stop it.

The hair atop the creature reached out on its own, coated in sparking, blue electricity, and connected with Melissa’s face.

She screamed at the top of her lungs as her body was lit by the blue lightning, and her body jumped.

He let out his breath. What am I doing...? Can I really just continue on? I can never speak to my mom again. It’s over.

“What’s in the Egg?”

Gary turned to see June eyeing the object in Ish’s hands.

Salandit looked up at the object in the capsule.

“It’s a Bonsly Egg,” Ish answered. “I’m taking care of it.”

“How kind of you,” June smiled.

“Yeah, that’s cool,” Gary added. “You’re lucky to have a Pokemon Egg. How’d you get it?”

“I work-”

A familiar sound cut off Ish and the three kids turned.

“Electivire!!”

“Tyrogue!”

Electivire and Tyrogue were facing each other, looking raring to go!

“Hey, that’s about enough, you two!” Gary ran up to Tyrogue.

“Tyrogue Tyrogue!” Tyrogue said sharply to Electivire.

“Electiviiiirrrre...” Electivire growled, a sneer on his face.

“HEY! I said to stop!” Gary reached out to grab Tyrogue.

Tyrogue’s arm swung back and he knocked Gary in the face.

Gary screamed out and dropped, half of his entire face throbbing. His hearing was muffled one moment, cleared for only a second, and then muffled some more. His eyes closed tight in pain and he was unable to see a thing. Voices surrounded him. When he was finally able to open his eyes, Tyrogue, June, and Ish were above him.

June and Tyrogue looked most concerned.

Ish seemed vaguely intrigued.

Gary squinted at Tyrogue, blinking until his vision was finally clear. He kept his right eye closed. “Yo, what the hell, man?” he groaned angrily. “That’s both my eyes in a day!”

Tyrogue lowered his head and backed up. “Tyrogue, Tyrogue...” he muttered.

Gary sat up, his right cheek burning. “Damnit! Return!” He recalled Tyrogue.

“Gary, I know you’re pretty ticked, but just for the sake of honesty, that was truly an accident...” June told him. “I could see it.”

“Yeah, he ain’t mean to do that,” Ish added.

Gary and June turned to Ish.

“What?” Gary asked.

“Huh?” June asked.

“What? It wasn’t on purpose. He was just surprised. You could tell.” He stared back and forth at June and Gary.

“Yeah...” June nodded at him. “You could just see it, right...?”

“Well, yeah. How else?”

“Well, I just mean, for me, I can read Pokemon. So I can hear what they say and communicate back with them.”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa.” Ish closed his eyes, his eyebrows raising, and lowered his head slightly, raising both hands. His head raised and eyes opened. “What did you just say?”

“It sounds a little crazy, but I have an ability to speak to Pokemon,” June informed Ish. “And I can understand them, as well.”

“You’re saying you can hear Pokemon speak to you? And that you can speak to Pokemon, and they’ll understand you back perfectly?”

“That’s right!” June beamed.

“I know Pokemon and humans can speak to each other, like, to give orders in battles. And I know humans and Pokemon can get the gist of each other’s words with the proper built up time and trust. Are you saying you have something deeper?”

“It’s exactly what she has, Ish,” Gary defended her. “I’ve seen it a ton of times already. There’s no doubt in me about her claim.”

“Hey, I’ve heard about this kind of thing actually.”

“You have??” June gasped.

Ish nodded. “It’s just rumors, but yeah. There’s talk of this kind of thing happening forever. But if you’re legit, then it’s the first concrete bit of proof I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, I’m the real deal.” June’s hands went to her hips.

“That’s really cool if so.”

All five of them stared at each other...

It took a while, but suddenly, June, Ish with Salandit on his jeans, and Gary all leaped back and turned to Electivire!

Electivire leered at all of them.

Nobody moved.

Electivire grinned.

June extended a hand with Electivire’s Poke Ball in it.

Electivire’s horns sparked.

Electivire’s entire body followed.

The group of new friends were hit by the powerful Thunder, wailing out together. They all hit the ground and twitched uncontrollably, their bodies sparking.

“ELECTIVIRE!!!” Electivire flexed his arms and sent electricity out everywhere. From his body, to the skies, to streaks across the ground.

“B-BAAAAA-AAAAAACK!!!” June managed to recall Electivire. She then dropped willingly to her face and didn’t move, breathing out a sigh of relief.

“W-w-wh-what’s up with that thing?” Ish stammered, gripping his Egg’s capsule in his arms while laying on his back.

“N-n-n-n-no-no-no-not explaining it again,” June stuttered. “We’ll get over it.”

“Y-y’all sure l-l-l-l-l-like y-y-your s-s-secrets,” Ish replied.

*

Gary ate at the remainder of corn kernels left on the cob he had heated up in front of the fire.

June sipped from a cup nearly emptied of tea.

Ish ate a Fire bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a roll that he had delivered from an app on his phone and prayed over before eating.

Gary and June shot him dirty looks the entire dinner.

Gary thought it was absolutely stupid to order food when you’re on a journey, living outdoors, and having some random man on a bike track you down with GPS to deliver you a meal. He found it outright unnecessary and excessive.

June had found it pretty intelligent but too bourgeois.

Ish was unconcerned with what any of them thought and openly enjoyed his meal.

Tyrogue, Charmeleon, Primeape, Weepinbell, and Kingdra were eating.

After greeting all of Ish’s Pokemon by spinning rapidly in enclosing circles around them together, Baltoy had spun off by itself through the trees.

June’s Pokemon had all eaten earlier and were returned before Gary’s came out.

Eating with them all was Ish’s Elekid, Salandit, and Clefairy.

Sitting away from everyone was Ish’s Metapod. There was a dent in the head by its bruised right eye which was covered completely by swollen skin, another dent right in its middle.

Ish swallowed and greedily dove into another bite of his food.

Gary tossed the cob of his food into a paper bag and stuffed the trash into his backpack.

June, her eyes closed, finished her tea and let out a pleased sigh. Then, she looked to Ish’s and Gary’s Pokemon.

They were still munching away, filling themselves up.

All except for Clefairy. This one was eating a lot more slowly and kept its eyes on the starry sky above that twinkled around the brightly shining moon.

The air was very cool, but also comfortable. Not too bad at all for this time of year.

Four Badges to go, Gary thought amongst the noise of the Pokemon. My sister is dead. I can’t just not call my mommy. But how can I defend this journey any longer? What in Hell was that thing that took my sister? I can’t even explain what happened to her. Not really. I couldn’t even properly explain to the police what I saw. They looked at me as if I were crazy. Gary could still see that horrible, terrible face of hers. The face of what? Gary wondered.

“Ish, is there something wrong with your Clefairy?” June asked.

Ish dusted his hands and crumbled up his foil, tossing it into his bag. He turned to June, along with Clefairy. “Nah, she’s alright. She is sad, but she’s okay. She just misses home.”

“Home?” Gary asked.

“Clefairy...” Clefairy remained with a mournful face.

“Yeah, she’s from space. The moon.”

June and Gary stared at Ish with wide eyes.

Ish stared right back at them. “She misses her home and wants to return there. I hope one day I can help her get back. I’d love to even see the moon. Finally meet aliens and stuff.”

“Aliens...” Gary muttered.

“Yup, that’d be dope.”

“Uh huh...” Gary nodded slowly.

“It’s crazy how people don’t think aliens exist. You’ve gotta be fucking stupid to think that in this big universe of ours, we’re the only ones who exist.”

“Yeah, well, I mean, it is just a theory that Clefairy may come from the moon. It’s certainly not proven,” Gary retorted.

“You can’t look at my Clefairy and tell me she don’t wanna go back to the moon,” Ish shook his head.

Everyone turned to the Pokemon who kept eyes on the sky with such a sad, forlorn face.

“Fairy...” Clefairy spoke softly.

“Maybe she just wants to visit the moon, Ish,” Gary tried. “There’s no telling she’s from the moon. And as for aliens, I personally will say I absolutely do not believe in them!” Gary’s heart was basically stuttering in its rapid beating as he defended himself against Ish’s earlier comment. “The universe being so big, if anything, only confirms our being the only species in the universe. It shows our uniqueness, our special place and purpose, as I see it.”

Ish looked at Gary thoughtfully. “Hm, interesting. Well, I definitely believe in aliens, and that Clefairy is from the moon, and it’s our goal to get her back there.”

“Ish, you know, your Clefairy is a boy, not a girl,” June informed him.

Ish raised one eyebrow at June. “Naaaah. Ain’t no way. How do you know?”

“Well, remember how I said I can read Pokemon? Their genders are also an easy spot for me, too! This one is a boy.”

Ish’s eyes could have popped as big as they got. “Wwwhhaaaaaaaaat?? Noooooooo!” He cocked his head to the side and laughed wildly.

Gary smirked, looking at Ish as if he were crazy for erupting into such a loud, disruptive laugh.

The Pokemon all were also staring at Ish in surprise.

June’s mouth was open in a small, awkward smile.

“Yyyoooooo! I’m weak! I can’t believe this! Say it ain’t so!” He went right back to laughing, tilting his head back.

“Guess you’re really surprised, huh?” Gary asked, chuckling very lightly.

“But, how can you tell? What is it you can see that tells you she’s a boy? Can you see his dick?”

“NO!!” June screamed, startling everyone, a horrified look on her red face.

Baltoy tilted hard, nearly falling over, but it maintained its balance.

“It’s just something I can see that tells me! But it’s nothing like that!”

“Just asking, ha ha ha ha! I just always called her a girl ‘cause she’s pink! And she just looks like a girl. I woulda never thought she was a boy! Man, that’s gay!” He went back to laughing heavily.

Clefairy’s attention was grabbed and his cheeks puffed out as he frowned and crossed his arms.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” June snapped.

Ish shrugged. “I’m just saying, like, look at it! Pink, cute, round, fluffy. Like, this is a girl!”

Clefairy stuck out his tongue at Ish and turned his back on him. “Fairy!”

“Hey, that’s not nice at all! What is your problem, guy?” June sat up a lot more straight, hardened eyes and a cold sneer on Ish.

“And his name is Cle-fairy?! Gaayyyyyyyy!” Ish laughed some more.

“Well!” June stood up and walked over to her bag, shoving her cup inside. She grabbed the large strap and hoisted the bag up. “I’m not going to sit through your disgusting language! Gary, let’s go!”

“I don’t think it was all that serious, June...” Gary spoke hesitantly.

“Yeah, chill. I’m just speaking how I feel. Clefairy knows I was only kidding.”

“No, Clefairy is hurt by your words!” June argued.

Everyone turned to Clefairy.

“Clefairy! Fairy!” Clefairy was smiling! He stood up and took a leap. At once, sparkles fell down like glitter from beneath his motionless wings and he continued to float gently.

Ish reached out with one long arm and pulled in his Pokemon. They both hugged. “See? This mah nigga. He ain’t no bitch. We all survivors on my team.”

“Clefairy, Fairy!” Clefairy nodded.

“Huh? But...” June’s mouth hung open a bit, staring sadly at Clefairy.

“You girls take everything too serious,” Ish told June simply. “Us guys, we talk differently than y’all do. Shit ain’t that serious for us.”

Gary’s head went both from side to side as he also nodded in agreement. Yeah... Gary thought to himself. It is harder to talk in front of June the same as I do with Robin... Sometimes even Kiwi and Aly, as close as I am with them. It’s not the same as Rob.

“Hmph!” June crossed her arms and turned her back on Ish.

Gary lowered his head, snickering to himself.

“Aight, so you’re a guy. Fine,” Ish told Clefairy. “You still my son.”

Clefairy and Ish laughed together.

The Pokemon had gone back to eating, Baltoy twirling while making a small circle, but its body was tilted.

June tried to look back slowly, without drawing any attention.

Gary was watching her.

June had turned around completely. Confusion came over her face. She mouthed something Gary couldn’t read.

June? Gary questioned silently. He could see that something was wrong.

She was squinting and blinking really hard, as if she couldn’t see something in the distance.

Gary looked at Ish and Clefairy, Ish telling him something while Clefairy nodded. He looked beyond the two, into the trees, the grass, the sky. There was nothing to see besides nature.

Ish set Clefairy down.

Clefairy took a huge leap, landed, and then leaped again, repeating this a couple more times, each jump a good few feet high, until he landed at his bowl of food and began to eat. Chewing his food, he raised his eyes again to the sky. After swallowing, his saddened look returned and he stopped eating.

Gary looked back to June, who had a worried look on her face, and she finally noticed Gary staring at her. She blinked a couple of times and looked away.

Ish had turned to her for only a second before turning to his Pokemon, and then to Gary. “Well, I’m gonna go study and then go to sleep.” He got to his feet and grunted, lifting his large backpack that also held his Egg’s capsule.

“Salandit,” Salandit hissed and rushed forward, crawling around Ish’s legs.

“Oh, what are you studying?” Gary asked.

“About as much Pokemon information as I can.” Ish was moving along, collecting Elekid and Salandit’s empty bowls and putting them in his bag. “School is tough. I like to study by myself, no offense. I’ll see you in the morning.” He pulled out his phone, a Pineapple brand device, with headphones, also by Pineapple. He handed them to his Elekid.

Elekid let out a delighted sound and took them, placing the headphones, which were shaped like the Pokemon Unown which Gary recognized but couldn’t quite get the letter or punctuation mark it was in this case, in its ears.

Ish then turned to June and smiled. “Goodnight, June.”

June sucked her teeth but didn’t say a word.

Ish shrugged. “Peace, my nigga.” He reached out a hand.

Gary got up and took Ish’s hand.

They shook strongly, pulling away in a manner Gary wasn’t familiar with. Like a secret handshake among a certain group of friends.

Ish then returned Metapod to its Poke Ball and walked off, Clefairy, glittery as ever, floating beside him holding his bowl of food, Elekid walking behind them, and Salandit hanging on to his Trainer.

“Hey, Ish! I didn’t know Clefairy could... float like that!” Gary called out.

“It’s only because the moon is out.” Ish stopped and looked back. “I told you they’re from there. Why else would they evolve with the Moon Stone?” He turned away and kept moving forward, disappearing into the trees.

“I don’t feel well. I’m taking a walk,” June said grumpily and stomped off into the trees on her own path.

Gary turned to his Pokemon, their bowls empty.

Baltoy spun over to Gary and spun in place, faster than ever.

Weepinbell hopped over and laid up against a tree trunk.

Kingdra bounced over to Gary and shoved her head under his left arm, making him hold her.

Charmeleon came over to Gary and sat at his right side, watching the Pokemon.

Tyrogue got up and stretched, one hand on his hip, the other arm over his head, leaning side to side, switching arms depending on which side he leaned to.

Primeape was watching Tyrogue eagerly, grunting impatiently.

Tyrogue turned to Primeape and smiled. “Tyrogue! Tyrogue! Tyrogue!” He continued stretching.

“Prime??” Primeape seemed confused by something Tyrogue had said. After a while of watching, he began to awkwardly mimic Tyrogue’s stretching, extending his legs out with him, doing squats and other warmups. Primeape began to growl and stood up straight. “PrrrrrrimeAPEAPEAPE!!” He lunged forward and swung on Tyrogue.

“PRIMEAPE!!” Gary shouted.

Kingdra and Charmeleon were up again.

Weepinbell was up, too, Baltoy staying still to look.

Tyrogue grabbed his yellow scarf with both hands, giving it a quick tug before Primeape’s fist reached out for him. Tyrogue raised his arm, pushing out against Primeape’s arm, holding back the punch. The Pig Monkey’s next blow was instant, and Tyrogue’s reaction was just as quick, raising a leg to counter the punch sent to him. Neither Pokemon missed a beat nor slowed down, swing after swing, kick after kick, in all kinds of patterns, Tyrogue either reflecting them back with his own punches or kicks, or ducking and swiveling out of the way. The hits Tyrogue did take didn’t seem to faze him much.

One thing Gary noticed was that Tyrogue wasn’t striking back. “Primeape, I said to cut it out!! What do you think you’re doing??”

Primeape’s eyes suddenly were lit red. He continued his onslaught of attacks.

His Thrash attack is up, Gary realized. He’s Confused.

Tyrogue’s eyes then closed, but he kept on blocking and dodging Primeape’s fury!

Primeape swung, missing Tyrogue completely, and stumbled over his own feet, slamming hard into the ground, and whined out in pain.

Tyrogue’s eyes opened in that very instant and he took advantage of the moment, delivering a High Jump Kick into Primeape’s face.

Primeape wailed out as he slid backwards on his back. He leaped up with his red eyes and ran forward.

Right into a tree.

He hadn’t even been facing Tyrogue! Primeape fell to his back, unconscious.

“Tyrogue,” Tyrogue sighed, lowering his head solemnly.

Gary just shook his head and recalled Primeape. “That’s enough out of you.” He turned to Tyrogue.

Tyrogue stared back at him.

Charmeleon eyed Tyrogue with a moody look.

Weepinbell also had his eyes on Tyrogue.

Baltoy began to twirl ever so slowly in place, almost nervously, perhaps?

Kingdra bounced over to Gary and began rubbing against his leg. “Dooo...”

Gary raised an arm to pet her head, not taking his eyes off of Tyrogue.

Tyrogue staring right back.