Jared slept an entire ten hours, and when he awoke, he discovered nothing hurt!

In fact, he was feeling better than ever!

Seeing his trainer in good spirits, Pidgey was happy too, as it hopped around the room with its little bird feet.

"Before we train, I need to see about getting you some proper food.

Pidgey raised its wings in agreement.

"Pii!"

On his way to town, he met the boy from a few days ago. The one that had run away from him.

"Hey, it's you!"

The freckled boy's eyes widened when he saw what was on Jareds shoulder.

"You're no longer cursed!"

"I was never cursed."

"Oh... ok, so where are you going? I'm going to go watch some battles at Pewter Gym."

The boy waved his hands, " Ah, you see, the yearly tournament starts in two weeks. I know I can't win so i wont sign up or anything, but lots of strong trainers are fighting now, and it's free to watch! Do you want to come with me... I'm Hendrik by the way."

Coughing, Jared shook his head.

"I'm Jared, but maybe another time, I'm heading down to the poke mart."

"Ohhh ok! but the next time we meet, we should battle!"

"...ok."

Watching the energetic boy run off, Jared sighed. 'Watching strong trainers do their thing really does sound interesting, but I'm still too weak. Even if there is some sort of safety measures, a stray attack from a strong trainer could probably finish me off before I even realize how I died.'

Finally locating the pokemart, Jared walked in, with the central air conditioning, the heat from the outside seemed far away now.

The mart was more or less as Jared expected. It was like a miniature Walmart, except it was focused on all things pokemon.

Asking one of the workers, Jared was led to what he was looking for. Before the man could leave, Jared asked some questions. "What is the difference between the C grade and A grade flying-type food?"

The man turned around to explain, "Besides the price... A grade contain higher levels of flying element."

Jared rubbed his chin, for a moment, 'So that's how it was.'

"Thank you."

.

Leaving the store having spent 150 'poke' on a single bag of C grade food, Jared thought out loud, "Do you think they are hiring?"

Pidgey chirped his confusion.

"Pii?"

Jared shook the bag.

"This bag of food is only going to last you a month at most, and it's the worst quality they had too. If I want to get more, I gotta get a job."

"piiddgey piid"

"I can't allow that, because it's going to affect your future growth if you keep eating crap. Regardless, I can't stay with Richard forever, so I will have to find a job eventually."

"Pii"

Back at home, Jared laid a bowl of the new flying-type food on the table. The food itself just looked like rice pellets, but they seemed irresistible to the small bird.

.

Jared spent the next three days in the backyard training with pidgey. To not be distracted by passers-by, he went further away from the road.

On the fourth day, Jared was training like usual.

"Pidgey, weak gust."

"PIII!"

with gusto, pidgey once more swung his mighty little wings and Jared endured the pain like usual.

While waiting for the pain to subside, Jared found the pain wasn't decreasing even after a minute.

"Damnit what's going on..."

Holding his head, Jared breathed heavily.

"Pidgey, something's wrong"

"piddgeey?"

"I don't know, maybe I overdid it, my head hurts all of a sudden. I'm going to go lie down for a while..."

After landing on Jared's shoulder, Pidgey continued to chirp his concern while Jared struggled back towards the house.

.

Flopping in bed, Jared tried to recover with some sleep, but he was unable to ignore the pain long enough to do so.

After half an hour of torture, the pain began to subside but didn't fully disappear.

With some struggle, Jared managed to fall asleep soon after.

.

Jared woke up a few hours later to Pidgeys annoying chirps from somewhere in the house.

Listening to what the bird was saying, he soon gleamed the bird's troubles. It was trying to get out the door, but couldn't figure out how.

"Enough, I'll open a window next time, stop freaking out."

Raising his wings with pomp, the bird landed back on Jared's shoulder.

Sighing, Jared made the two something to eat.

While Pidgey was pecking at the pellets, Jared asked.

"The pain is gone, but I don't think it's a good idea to keep training nonstop like that"

"piddgy?"

"Let's go to the empty fields where those farmers gather and watch them for a while. Maybe after we can go down to Pewter gym too."

Finding his way to the empty fields, Jared met Hendrik once more among a crowd of around thirty people.

"Hey Jared!"

Jogging over with the small Rattata at his side, Hendrik shook Jared's hand.

"Hello Hendrik, are you not watching battles today in Pewter Gym?"

Then, as if it explained everything, Hendrik said, "No! My brother wants to stay here. "

"... erm... ok."

"Want to have a battle!?"

Turning to Pidgey, Jared found the pokemon was staring at the Rattata, and vice versa.

Weighing the pros and cons, Jared decided that after his rest, a few gusts weren't going to cause a relapse.

"I suppose it can't hurt... and pidgey seems up for it. What do you say Pidgey, you want to have your first battle.?"

With his little eyes strained, Pidgey chirped.

"PII"

Jared pointed a little ways away.

"That field looks free, I'll meet you over there.

Seeing the boy not moving with him, Jared frowned and walked back to find him rummaging through his little bag.

"Everything alright?"

The boy paused, as he pulled a Pokeball out.

"Uhm, I just remembered, you just got a pokemon, and my uhhh Rattata has been battling with me since I turned ten. I don't think Uh, it will be fun for you"

"Fun?"

Raising his hands, Hendrik was flustered.

"Uh, I caught a Spearow a few days ago, and teamed up, we should battle them together."

Jared shrugged.

"Ok."

Standing off the road, the brown-haired boy returned Rattata and tossed out a Pokeball.

In a flash, a mean-spirited pokemon appeared.

With his red wings and perpetually short-tempered eyes, the bird shrieked angrily at Hendrik.

At this sight, Jared was a bit confused, 'This seems to be going a bit off-script...'

Suddenly the bird shrieked, lunging at Hendrik but was stopped by a word.

"Stop, you must obey me Spearow!"

Seeing the bird freeze, but continue to struggle, Jared and pidgey exchanged eyes.

"sorry Jared, he uh, hasn't been fully tamed yet, but he will be ready to go in a second."

"Spearow, stop struggling, and get ready to fight."

Seeing the bird visibly relaxed, Jared felt weirded out. Just what kind of contract was Spearow suffering under? Even when he told pidgey to do something, he wouldn't always do it, but Hendriks pokemon looked like they had literally no choice.

As if the angry pokemon had found a new target for its rage, it began squawking angrily at Jared's Pidgey.

Pidgey, not wishing to be outdone, screeched back in return.

Nodding, Hendrik regained his cheer.

"Ok, all set?"

Jared turned to pidgey, who was still spewing taunts. "Pidgey, I don't want to faint here, don't get carried away.. ok?"

The freckled boy seemed confused, "Faint? huh?"

Jared shook his head, then asked.

"Don't worry about it, and I'm ready when you are. Also, should you really be standing that close?"

Jared was standing at the edge of the field, but Hendrik was standing right behind his Spearow. Seeing the boy in a precarious position, he was naturally concerned. After all, Pidgeys wind blades could cut through a tree.

Hendrik seemed offended.

"You haven't battled before, so you don't know anything. I won't get hurt by a little gust! I'll uh... count down from three, then we will begin, ok?"

Jared wasn't too sure, but since this wasn't his world, perhaps this was really okay. These people were basically superhumans compared to him after all.

"Fine."

3

2

1

"Pidgey, gust!"

"Spearow, charge through, and spam "Pecks!" don't give him any time!"

However, Hendrik was shocked the next moment when he saw Pidgey was already finished casting.

Too late to change orders, he watched as four little blades of wind shot forth.

Spearow charged through and tanked a blade.

The boy smirked.

"That's not going to do anyth..."

However, the mean-spirited bird shrieked in agony as blood spewed forth.

Unable to continue flying, the little bird spiraled down and began crowing miserably in a puddle of blood.

Meanwhile, two of the three remaining wind blades struck the dirt, but one blade went a bit off course.