A New Master (Jikumo Only)

Hamata Roshi sat on a nearby seat, occasionally shifting in it silently as he mindlessly played around with his walking stick. He had called his Snorlax back into his Pokeball after he had helped bring Jikumo and his Growlithe to the Pokemon Center. He was actually a little concerned for the boy and his young Pokemon, at least now he was after he saw the extent of the bond the Growlith and the boy had with each other.

Jikumo woke up on a medical bed, his back and head were pounding, each second he felt a fresh new wave of pain. When he tried to get up, he was quickly pushed back to the bed by the nurse, "You smashed into the side of a house! You need to be more careful! Reckless actions like that will get you nowhere..." Despite this, he pushed himself off the bed, wincing as his back felt like it was being ripped apart, "Alex...Alexander...where is he?" She pointed outside of the ward, where a small growlithe was sitting next to the door, glaring at the chansey trying to get inside to protect his partner.

"We've been trying to get you medicine for an hour now...but he won't let anyone in! He's still beat up, but he just doesn't want to be helped." Jikumo smiled at his partner, and limped over to him slowly. The growlithe stopped glaring at the chansey and ran up to his friend, jumping into his arms. Jikumo's eyes began to tear up as his growlithe's did, and then they both noticed the old man sitting in a chair nearby.

Jikumo huffed and said pointedly to the man, "What do you want? You've already won, I didn't need your help."

When Hamata heard Jikumo's response, he proceeded to let out a disgruntled 'hmph' grunt as he slowly got up out of his chair, groaning all the while as his old bones seemed to creak and crack a bit. The boy was so ungrateful, considering he was the one who helped him to the Pokemon Center in the first place. Just because Jikumo didn't like him, gave him no reason to be rude.

"Don't be rude now after my Snorlax and I helped you to the Pokemon Center. I've beaten a great deal of many trainers in my time, and you're the first one I helped after I did so. I have to say, I was impressed that you willingly jumped in front of my Snorlax's attack to protect your Growlithe. You reminded me of myself back in the day, believe it or not" the old hermit/sage said to Jikumo in a grump, irritable tone of voice, despite the fact he gave the young trainer a compliment.

Jikumo put down his growlithe, feeling just as old as the sage himself when his back suddenly flared up in pain, "You're impressed? You shouldn't be...true friends protect their friends, no matter what. I thank you for bringing me here. Is there anything I can repay you with?" To tell the truth it left a bad taste in his mouth to be thanking the old man, but he had saved his life pretty much. He felt a duty to the old man, but before he could listen to his answer, a large pill was shoved down his throat by the nurse. "GACK...AAAGH! Why?!" The nurse huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at the young trainer, "Your pokemon wouldn't let us get any medicine in you! That should help ease the pain, but nothing too dangerous for the day!"

Alexander was returned to his ball, and Jikumo took the day to rest his body. The next morning, they walked back to the lobby and looked around for the old man, hoping to get their favor out of the way.

Hamata opened his mouth to respond back to Jikumo when he asked what he could to repay the favor he owed him, when Nurse Joy suddenly interrupted them both via putting some medicine in the young trainer. While having never been to a Pokemon Center all these years, he knew how seriously doctors and nurses took their duties, so he quickly decided to hang back and wait until they were finished.

The next day, Hamata sat, a little impatiently, in fact, in a very comfortable recliner. He was waiting for the boy to come back so he could repay a favor he owed him. When he saw the boy, he slowly, with a slight groan of pain, stood up and headed over to the boy. He then proceeded to speak up to the boy, to let him know what it was he could do to repay him.

"You said you had a favor you wanted to repay me for. Well boy, I have an idea. How about you let me train you a bit? You're a little wet behind the ears, but you, at the very least, seem to have some level of knowledge on a true Pokemon bond. You let me help you to become a real Pokemon trainer, and you can consider the debt paid in full" Hamata offered the boy, though he spoke, and acted, in a manner that seemed as if he would rather not compliment him.

Jikumo raised an eyebrow at the old man's proposal, "You want me to do you a favor...by letting you train me? You're a strange old man, but I am in your debt so I guess you've got a deal." It was true that he'd been looking for a mentor, hopefully this could be the chance he'd been looking for! As he held out his hand to shake with the old man, he wondered at what their training would be like, and realized they hadn't even been introduced yet! "Oh, sorry! Where are my manners...I'm Jikumo Ken, and my growlithe here is Alexander!" He was starting to warm up to the old fool, even if he was a bit grumpy and rough around the edges.

(Officially leaving this thread. I've waited way too long for this.)