After returning to Pallet Town time flew by quickly and in just one year Jake had scanned all of his parents Pokemon (except for the legendary birds) into his Pokedex and fully understand how to operate his system and complete missions more efficiently.
** Jake's POV **
Carefully peaking my head around the corner of the house I saw her. Once again Daisy was making her way over. Slowly backing away I ducked as low as I could and made my way through the tall grass to the treeline which would act as my sanctuary.
Daisy didn't have a Pokemon of her own yet so she was forbidden to head into the forest alone. If she caught up to me I would have to take her with me but if I made it there alone I would be free for the day. Just as I made it into the shadows of the tree canopy I heard her call out.
"Jake! Where are you?!"
'Nope. Not falling for that one again.'
Darting farther into the trees I started running faster. Leaping over tree roots, swinging on vines, and splashing through puddles. I made it. I was free for the day.
I didn't mind spending time with Daisy but sometimes I just wanted to be by myself. Well not entirely by myself. Heading deeper into the woods I approached my base cautiously.
I had managed to strike a deal with the Mankey that lived in this area to leave one tree to me and in exchange I would bring them berries. Of course striking a deal with them was harder than it sounds, I first had to beat them into submission a couple of times until they figured out that they couldn't win against me.
Then came the negotiation I didn't want them to think the berries were some form of tribute to them so I had to get creative. Putting one in the tree I selected as mine and one in each tree surrounding it I them chased away the one in my tree and then gave a berry to the ones in the other trees. After I repeated this with each one they got the idea one berry for each of them everyday I came to stay out of my tree.
It was an agreement that worked well, until they started evolving. Every single time one of them evolved they would try to beat me up so I would have to lay down the law again. Which is why I have to approach cautiously to avoid being ambushed by a surprise attack from a newly evolved Primeape. Once inside I set down my backpack and just sat listening to the wind through the leaves and the occasional sound of a Mankey swinging by.
I had been building my base for over a month and it was almost done. Pulling the homemade rope from my backpack I started tying branches in place to make the ceiling a bit more waterproof. The walls were good enough, three of them had a single window frame and the last had a doorway. Tying the last branch to the ceiling I pulled out the door and shutters dad helped me make out of my Item Box.
Carefully sliding the sides into place I now had a way to moderately secure my base. All that was left was to place my desk and a chair, which I pulled from my Item Box and carefully set right if front of a window.
Sitting in my chair I took a schoolbook from my bag and started reading it carefully. Some things didn't add up with my memories such as the different types of Pokemon such as Fairy and Metal. Not a single mention of them anywhere and then there is Ditto, they didn't seem to exist in this world. There were several other differences but they didn't affect me as much.
Sometimes it was hard have more knowledge than others. Even when I tried talking to mom and dad it was like they were having trouble believing me. So I started keeping my thoughts to myself and studying on my own.
As I was lost in thought there was a sudden cacophony of sound all around me, the Mankey were going nuts. At first I thought another one had evolved and was about to challenge me but this was different. The cries were more shrill, scared even. Focusing on my minimap I saw over 40 green dots loosely surrounding my tree as well as about a dozen red dots moving quickly among the green ones.
Looking out the window I saw a large bird flash into the trees and then out again holding a Mankey in its talons. It was a Pidgeotto one of the main predators in this forest. Turning back to my book I decided to ignore what was happening outside, it wouldn't do these Mankey any good to start relying on my protection. That was the plan anyway.
Right after I picked up my book a Mankey came flying in through my window followed by another and another. Before I knew it there were 10 Mankey packed like sardines in a corner of my little tree house. I turned to look at them and saw that they were all terrified, also these were all the really young ones. Glancing back at my minimap I saw that all of the green dots were now forming a tight circle around my tree house. Once again I wasn't going to do anything but then the Pidgeottos did something that I wouldn't let go.
They started tossing wind blades at the walls of my newly finished base. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor started shaking and I knew it wouldn't be long until the whole thing collapsed. Stepping out of my base I jumped lightly and easily cleared the side of my little fort and landed softly on the roof. Seeing a human come out must have surprised the Pidgeottos because they stopped attacking for a few seconds. That was all the time I needed. Taking a few fist sized stones from my Item Box I started throwing them as hard as I could. The first Pidgeotto didn't react in time and took a rock to the head before dropping like a rock.
The second managed to dodge to the side but I still clipped it's wing and it fled flying awkwardly. The third and fourth dodged completely and the fifth was struck in the chest, it squawked in pain and glided away flapping it's wings only occasionally. The rest of the Pidgeottos seemed to decide that these Mankey weren't worth the trouble and flew away.
As I watched the flock of Pokemon fly away I didn't realize that the Mankey's had all surrounded me. When I did notice I was a little worried because if they all attacked together I would not get out of this unharmed. What they did next left me baffled, they all bowed. And not little bows either they were on their knees with their heads touching whatever they were standing on.
When they finally got up I saw that many of them were injured so I bought enough oran berries for all of them and started treating them one at a time. At first they didn't understand why I was giving them berries but when I pulled out a knife and gave myself a very small cut to demonstrate they all started screeching as if begging me to stop.
Using hand signs I pointed to the berry and then the cut. Eating the berry I pointed back at my cut palm and they all gazed in wonder as the cut healed instantly. That was enough of a demonstration and all the injured Pokemon accepted a berry and ate it quickly. It wasn't enough to heal some of them completely but it was enough that I didn't feel bad about leaving them as is.
After climbing down I approached the first Pidgeotto I hit cautiously. Poking it with a stick it's head flopped around, dead. It must have broken it's neck when it hit the ground. I was going to leave it for the Mankey to eat when I remembered that they usually only ate berries, nuts, and bugs. So I put it in my Item Box to bring home for mom, I knew I had eaten pidgey before but didn't think I had ever eaten a Pidgeotto.
I returned to my reading only to be interrupted again by even harsher screeches of fear. I didn't wait this time, I moved to the roof and followed the gazes of the terrified Pokemon around me. There was a flock of Pokemon rapidly approaching and even I was a bit scared. The Pidgeottos had returned and judging by the size of the Pokemon leading them, they had brought a Pidgeot as well.
** Wild Pideot's POV **
The cries of my children woke my from my slumber, looking at them as they landed I saw that they had returned with nothing. Where was our prey? With a flap of my wings I blew wind past them silencing the noise. Looking again I saw one of my eldest couldn't fold a wing and another was flopped onto it's nest with wings spread wide. Injured? From our weak prey?
"How injured?"
They all started talking at once but I silenced them again with a flap of my wings. Looking to the one who led the hunt I spoke.
"Speak."
It hopped forward on the tree limb and bobbed a quick bow.
"Prey strong. Threw rock. One dead."
Her words had me speechless. Our weak prey had fought back hard enough to kill one of my children and injure two others?
"How?! Prey weak!"
She shook her feathers in disagreement.
"Prey weak. One strong. Throw rocks."
I tilted my head in confusion.
"Elder prey?" (Primeape.)
She ruffled her feathers again.
"No. Strange prey. Weak prey."
This didn't make sense I would have to go myself if I wanted answers. Feeling the eggs under me I looked to my mate.
"Guard nest. Protect eggs."
Without a second look I spread my wings and took to the sky. I would find out what this strange prey was myself. It didn't take long to hear the cries of fear from our prey but when I saw what was with them I was taken aback. A human? Feeling the metal band around my leg I felt many emotions joy, sadness, and anger.
"We land."
With a dive I approached the ground swiftly and with a few swift beats of my wings I landed softly a short way from the strange tree the human was in. I gazed at this young human and he gazed back before he quickly decended the tree and stood before me. Looking at him I saw him smile at me and memories from my past came back in a rush.
The young human female who caught and trained me, traveling with and protecting her, her growing up and having children. Then her taking me into the woods and 'releasing me' as she called it. Watching her walk away was heartbreaking and I didn't even notice the tear that slipped from my eye.
** Jake's POV **
Looking at the flock of Pokemon rapidly approaching I didn't know what to do. Growlithe might have been able to take on one Pidgeotto if it didn't start flying but a Pidgeot was a whole different story not to mention that they would all attack together, there was no such thing as battle etiquette out here in the wilds. I was about to run away when the Pidgeot gave a cry and dove for the ground a short ways away from my tree house.
Looking down at it it just met my eye and did nothing else. The Pidgeottos landed one after the other and formed a group behind the Pidgeot as is waiting for orders. Taking in the sight of this amazing Pokemon I saw a glint of metal, a loop of metal was wrapped around one of it's legs. Realization dawned on me almost instantly, we had covered this in Trainer School.
When a Pokemon was released it was tagged for two reasons the first is that if a Pokemon has already been trained once it is more difficult to train it in a different way so if you see a tagged Pokemon it may not be worth catching it. The second is that some Pokemon are angry about being abandoned and will fight even harder than wild Pokemon so they are considered more dangerous.
Looking into the eyes of this Pidgeot I did see a bit of anger but there was an even stronger feeling I got from it, longing. Like all it wanted was to return to it's trainer's side. Climbing down I walked towards it and I smiled at it, a shudder passed through it and a tear slid from it's eye.
Taking a risk I walked up to it and wrapped my arms around it in a hug. There was a chorus of angry squawks from behind it but I ignored them and I just stayed like that until I felt it lower it's head returning the hug in it's own way.
We stayed like that for a bit until I felt it raise it's head and I let go taking a small step back. It looked at me and it's eye's sparkled just a bit before it turned its back to me and lowered itself a bit. When I didn't do anything it turned it's neck so it could see me and gave a small chirp.
"You want me to get on?"
It chirped again and nodded. I carefully got onto it's back like my mom had shown me and wrapped my arms lightly around it's neck. With a few flaps of its wings we were airborne, while looking down my mom's reminder to never fly without a harness passed through my head but there wasn't much she could do about it if she didn't know about it.
The first and only time I had ever been flying was so uncomfortable I couldn't really enjoy it but this, this was amazing. No tight harness pinching me in uncomfortable places no jangling of metal fasteners, just the Pokemon under me and the wind in my face. It was indescribable. The flight was to short in my opinion but with a loud cry from the Pidgeot we decended onto the limb of a huge tree.
Sliding off it's back there was dead silence as the wild bird Pokemon just stared at me. The Pidgeot nudged me gently and we walked into a hollow in the tree where another Pidgeot was laying atop a number of eggs. It glared at me but seeing the Pidgeot beside me it didn't move or even make a sound.
The Pidgeot nudged me again and then used a wing to gesture off to one side where I saw a number of small Pidgeys playing together. They were much small than the ones I had seen around Pallet Town so they couldn't have been very old. I walked over slowly and stopped when the Pidgeot on the nest ruffled it's feathers and made a soft sound. The Pidgeot that brought me here nudged me again and used its beak to peck Growlithe's Pokemon on my belt and then gestured with its wing towards the Pidgeys.