My Pokemon Nuzlocke, Chapter 2: A dickbag among the trees

>>continued from here.

Chapter 2: A dickbag among the trees

As I explored Viridian the next day with Goldie on my shoulder and Jade at my side, I ran into a kid talking to some rocks on the ground. I tried to tiptoe past him but his freak-sensors apparently activated, shouting “HEY YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATERPILLAR POKEMON?”

Stunned momentarily, I backed away slowly, shaking my head and whispering “No... no thanks. I'm.. I'm fine.”

He turned his head back to his rocks, saying “Oh, okay then,” more to himself than me.

Kanto is fucking weird.

After training some more on Route 1, I discovering Goldie is a pretty cool, down-to-earth Pokemon for looking like a miniature bird-shaped bowling trophy some geezer like Oak would hoard in his house. Also, being able to kick tons of sand in my opponent's faces until they can't see anymore makes my job a whole lot easier.

In my pursuit to train her some more, I traipsed over to Route 22. Route 22 connects Viridian with the Pokemon League. I knew I wasn't ready for the Pokemon League, of course, but I just wanted to look for some new Pokemon.

The path was pretty neat--lots of trees, the chirps of some kind of bird Pokemon as they flitted through the boughs.  I'd never had much of an eye for pretty things in the world.  The sun was out and  the sky was a bluish violet, poking through the holes between the canopy of the trees.

As I looked up at the trees in wonderment, a Mankey swung down from a branch, kicking Goldie off of my shoulder and screeching like something possessed.

“HEY WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE!” I shouted, tripping over Jade.

Goldie, more angry than hurt, puffed herself up and slammed her body into the crazed primate, knocking it into a tree. Without thinking, I threw a Pokeball at the little demon and caught it—despite its vigorous attempts to get out.

After healing the Mankey at the Pokecenter, I transferred her—at least I think it was a her—outside of her miniature prison, picked her up before she could zip away and shook her.

“What is your PROBLEM!?”

She glared at me with something in her eyes akin to the fire I had seen in Jade's earlier after her defeat by Blue's Charmander.

She then kicked me in the balls with her nastyass monkeyfeet and ran back into the forest.

As I booked it after her back to the entrance of Route 22, I got the uneasy feeling I was being watched. I slowed to a walk, and glanced upward. There were tens of tiny infant Mankey up in the tree that I had “found” the Mankey in before, some scrabbling to hide themselves, some peeking out from boughs in abject horror at me.

The female Mankey I had caught (I could tell by how angry she was) stood at the base of the tree, staring at me, fists up. Though she wasn't much bigger or older than the infants, she had the hardened look of something much, much older.

I sat down and watched her. Jade and Goldie did the same.

I looked into her hurt eyes and understood something. A dead mother, an abandoned family, a full year of teetering on the brink of survival, a courageous daughter. I understood. Somehow, and I really don't know how, I understood all of this, just by looking at her.

After a tense few minutes, she crawled back up the tree and tended to the infants, who began crying after they realized they weren't in complete danger.

I walked away after that, leaving her be. Who was I, some punk barely tended to by his own family, to take the sole thing keeping a family alive away from it? And for what, to make it battle agains--

“HEY DICK!”

A familiar cry broke me out of my reverie. I looked up from my solemn path and saw—who else? Blue, with his characteristic smirk that I was actually really starting to hate.

“I'm not waiting for you to throw the first cheap shot this time,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Goldie, use gust.”

“HAHA, what, did you spraypaint that Pidgey gold?”

As Goldie corkscrewed toward Blue he smirked again and tossed out a Spearow—shit, he must have just caught that.

“I won't need any cheap shots to beat you,” he said. “Spearow, use peck!”

The two collided, but Spearow went down, Goldie landing neatly on my shoulder, breathing hard.

“Whatever!” Blue said, unfazed by his downed Pokemon. “GO Charmander!”

Doubleshit... Charmander would definitely beat Jade if he knew a fire-type attack, and Goldie was tired from totally destroying Spearow...

Suddenly, a resounding screech and a blinding brown/white flash from the canopy above. The Mankey from earlier flew down onto one very terrified Charmander and kicked him straight into Blue, the two crumpling in a heap.

“Hey... HEY, that's not fair!” Blue screamed, returning Charmander to his ball. “You can't do that! That's against the rules Gramps taught me!”

I shrugged.

“Goddamnit, you don't get it, do you?”

“I think you're just mad I kicked your ass, especially since you didn't get the drop on me,” I said, in what I hoped sounded like an indifferent tone.

Blue shook his head vigorously, as if trying to dispel what I just said. His face was turning red as he did that—he looked kind of like a pissed-off fire hydrant.

“You had everything back at home that you could possibly want—a job, a friend who cared about you. We could have gone on our adventure TOGETHER. But what did you do? You ruined it by being a fucking child,” he was still shouting, spittle flying out of his mouth as he stomped his foot angrily.

“I stayed home, and I never trained my Charmander or anything like that because of YOU. Because I felt sorry for you. Because we were FRIENDS. And I wanted to surprise you with our first Pokemon battle together. But now I get it. You're just a selfish little prick who has to have everything YOUR WAY. Just like your fucking dad.”

Before I could punch his goddamn lights out he ran away, probably back to the Pokecenter in Viridian.

I was trying to control my anger. I really was. It'd always been a sore point for me, and Blue knew exactly how to make me mad. Jade nuzzled my shaking legs. Seriously, I was so angry I was fucking shaking all over.  I can't handle even the idea of being like my father.  I could never abandon somebody like he did, especially somebody you're... you're SUPPOSED to care about, right?  Even beginning to think about seeing things from Blue's angle... I just can't...

Then I sat down. And I cried.  I was frustrated.  I was angry.  I was confused.  I didn't know what I was doing with my life.  I missed my mom already.

And then I looked up and saw that the Mankey was still there.

“Please, come with me. I know you have your brothers and sisters to look after but... but... we really can't do this alone,” I pleaded, exhausted by the weight of it all. “Family is important, but I need to... prove something to... to myself. I need your insanity.”

I sat there for a while, tears staining the dust and staining the fabric of my pants. The Mankey still hadn't left, but was keeping its distance, watching me confusedly.

Then I had an idea. The Mankey couldn't leave her family alone. I guess... kind of like I did? I dunno, I didn't want to think about it.

I felt alone, too, but at least I had Jade and Goldie by my side. Everybody needs to rely on somebody.

More than that, there was no reason for me to let Blue get to me when I was finally given an opportunity to prove that I could actually do something with friends like them at my side.

Because of that, I knew what I had to do.

Around one hour and a ridiculously long time spent looking for a discarded Pokeball later, I left Route 22 for good with the Mankey in tow. I named her Gail.

I waved goodbye to Jerkoff, hanging out in the trees with the rest of the Mankey family. He was actually pretty sweet if a bit territorial—he got over that whole “abandonment thing” and seemed like he wanted to help protect the Mankeys.

As well as any Jerkoff could, I guess.

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Progress thus far:
Jade, level 13 Bulbasaur
Goldie, level 11 SHINY Pidgey.
Gail, level 10 mankey.

Graveyard: 
None.

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Welp, that's it for this week, folks!  Tune in next week for VIRIDIAN FOREST, an EPIC BATTLE WITH BROCK and a whole lotta caterpillars facts.  (also more actual screenshots, apologies for this week)