A Lesson From A Wise Old Man (Jikumo Only)

Hamata Roshi, an old man that was the oldest trainer alive. Walking with the help of his trusty cane, the scarred old man traveled through the city, occasionally sneering in disgust at the many young brats walking around with a Pokemon, acting as if they were so cool and better than others. The ancient, white-haired, bearded old man hated young punks and cocky brats amongst other things.

The people around him were wary of the scarred, battle-hardened old hermit and gave him a wide birth. Everyone around him noticed he only had one Pokeball strapped to his side, but it was of a really old make, ones they stopped making years ago.

Jikumo walked through the path back from Route 22, after having trained there to help improve his strategies, but he was sorely lacking in something. It was like he was at the peak of what he could do, but he had lost to a girl who had barely even tried. It was like he needed...a mentor? No, nobody was wise enough, or had the time to train someone like him. He just had to keep on trying to- "Ah-aah! S-sorry!!" He nearly fell over as he ran into an old man who had been walking along the same path as him.

Hamata glared down at the brat that ran into him with narrowed, nearly closed, eyes. His scarred lips were curled back in a snarl as he snapped at the inattentive brat. "Inattentive, empty-headed brat. It's bad enough I'm surrounded by worthless, incompetent trainers, but now I was nearly bowled over by a half-wit little moron. Watch where you're going next time" he said, snapping at the young boy that ran into him before continuing on his way.

Jikumo dusted himself off and glared at the old man, "I was just think about how maybe older people are wiser...but that's obviously not the case with you." It pained him to realize that he was heading in the same direction as the old man, but he was hoping they'd end up at the split to go to the market before too long. So, with a sulking expression, he walked, not quite next to the old man, but not too far away either to be able to ignore him if he kept talking.

Hamata looked at Jikumo and let out a barking laugh. Really, the fact that Jikumo believed he knew what qualified as wise, was far too amusing to him. He was a young brat, while Hamata was an old man that had experienced both great, and terrible things. No one alive knew more than him.

"You are a young, spry brat, and an obviously inexperienced trainer to boot. I, on the other hand, lived during a time where strife and war was common place. On top of that, it was a time where only adults could be trainers. I have seen, and experienced things, that you couldn't even fathom, so for you to dare assume that you know anything about wisdom just amuses me, as well as irritates me, because you suffer from the delusion of youth like most" he said to Jikumo with a disgusted scoff as he continued on his way.

Jikumo looked at the old man with disgust, "You may have experienced a lot, old man, but you obviously don't know anything about humility. I may have not lived as long as you, but that doesn't make my lesser, got it?" He crossed his arms and looked to the path with a look of anger on his face, wishing that the branching path would come up soon. It wasn't as though he wasn't impressed by the old man's accomplishments, but he was arrogant and bitter, which was extremely annoying to see in a man who had apparently experienced a lot. He must have had an extremely easy captain, as this kind of arrogance would have been stomped out of him otherwise.

Hamata let out a snort of derision. If Jikumo thought that he acted like this all throughout his life, than he was gravely mistaken. To be perfectly fair, he hadn't become like this until he was well into his elder years, and with good reason. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was arrogant, although he was definitely bitter.

"If you think I have no reason to act this way, you better think again. After all the things I've been through over the years, I feel it is a blessing that I have lived this long. If you get to be my age, then you tend to stop being polite or courteous, because you don't care what other people think" he said to the lad with narrowed eyes.

He felt that the lad needed a reality check. After all, with all he's been through, he feels that is only through the will of Arceus himself that he's even lived as long as he had. Was he bitter? Absolutely, because nothing disgusted him more than naivety and foolishness.

"Let me tell you a bit of a my history. I was born in a time of war. Pokemon Trainers were not naive children, but stone-cold military adults. We didn't have fancy technology and such that made things easier and safer. Back then, you had to be hard and remorseless, because if you went soft, then you would not live to see the next day. All you had back then, was yourself, your own abilities, and your one Pokemon. Surviving all that I had with naught by scars, well I think it's allowed me the pleasure of saying whatever I want, so don't backtalk me" he snapped at Jikumo.

Jikumo turned to the old man with an incredulous look, "Did I ever say you had no reason? I had no idea what you've been through, but that doesn't give you any reason for becoming so bitter. Kids are not naive, they're simply happy being with pokemon, which you helped allow for them by serving time in the army. You should be damned proud that they can be so naive because of your hard work!" He stopped talking as he old man began to tell his life's history, and thought to himself that the man must not be used to change.

"Tell you what, old man, I'm going to make you a deal. I only use one pokemon at the moment, so if you can prove to me that the training you went through is worse than what we can do now, then I will admit that I was wrong. Just remember, that if I can last through it without quitting, than you have to admit that not all kids are as naive and soft as you say." Jikumo pulled out his partner's pokeball and sent out Alexander, his growlithe. The fiery puppy puffed a bit of flame before going to sit by his friend's side, with a hardened look in its eyes, unlike its species' are known for. He was ready to give his life for his partner, and Jikumo was willing to do the same, looking at the old man with a look of determination.

Hamata raised his eyebrows at the boy's response. He was partially right, of course, when he said that he should be proud of the fact that children could be with Pokemon today due to the hard work he put into his time with the army. To be fair, he was proud of it, he was just upset that a rank that used to mean so much, and was so serious, was reduces to fun and games played by children.

However, the little deal that Jikumo had offered him was very interesting, and he wasn't one to back down. Considering this boy was so willing to fight him, despite not knowing the true difference between their abilities. If he wanted a battle so badly, than so be it, who was he to deny the young lad of a battle he really wanted?

Hamata looked down at the little Growlithe, and a smile slithered on his wrinkled, scarred face. "I can already see the bond your Growlithe has with you. Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong about you" he said with a grunt of acknowledgement, though he looked a little sour just from admitting it. He clearly wasn't used to giving other people respect.

He unclipped his one and only Pokeball, a ball that had some burns, claw marks, and was clearly suffering from a lot of other damage, and tossed it out in front of him. What came from the Pokeball, had to have been the most battle-hardened, and serious Pokemon that Jikumo and Alexander had ever seen.

What popped out was perhaps the largest Snorlax ever seen. Only it wasn't lazy and drowsy. It was alert, it was glaring, it was hulking, and it shared the battle-hardened expression of it's trainer. The thing about the Snorlax, is that was far from uninjured. It bore many hideous scars, burns and other old wounds that indicated it had seen many life and death situations.

The Snorlax let out a round, menacing roar of it's name that seemed to shake the very ground it was standing on, as it glared down at the tiny-in-comparison Growlithe. Hamata smiled up respectfully at it's old friend, and turned to look at Jikumo. "Are you sure you wish to continue with this?" he asked the young lad as he squinted his eyes a bit, his old eyes not used to the bright sunlight.

A normal person would have pissed their pants at the sheer sight of the battle-hardened Snorlax in front of him, and it looked like most of the people around the town had fled into their houses. Jikumo stood there, more curious than intimidated, wondering what kind of training those two must have gone through to get so beat up and burned, even the pokemon's ball was old and near-broken. He looked down to his growlithe and nodded seriously, signalling that they were going to do their best, not expecting to win, but make their bond known. Alexander walked in front of his partner and crouched low, keeping himself small in order to make himself less of a target.

Both the pokemon and trainer's looks were focused and determined, they didn't care how outclassed they were at the moment, they were going to give it their all, and that was all anyone could ask for. He waited for the old man to make his move, not saying a single word, he didn't have room to be cocky in any way. If they were going to at least stand a chance...no, they WEREN'T going to stand a chance whatsoever. It doesn't matter...as long as I can prove to this guy that I can take his training, I'll do whatever I can.

Hamata smiled up at his old friend, the expression on his face so bright that it seemed to deage him. It was obvious to those witnessing it that this seemingly bitter old man loved the battle-scarred Snorlax in a way that could not compare to most trainers nowadays Instead of starting right away, he placed a hand on the leg of his trusty Snorlax, and greeted his old friend.

"My old partner, we're back in the swing of things. Let's see if we have one more match in these old bones of ours" the old veteran said softly to his old friend, causing the Snorlax to temporarily lose it's battle-hardended glare, instead adopting a friendly, affectionate smile as it hugged it's trainer as softly as it could, before placing Hamata back on the ground. That one display said more about their bond, than words ever could.

With their sentimental moment over with, Hamata's battle-hardened expression came back to him. "Start things off by using Curse twice" Hamata ordered the Snorlax, causing it to let our an affirmative roar. As it used Curse twice, it's already impressive defenses had vastly increased, but it's rotund shape seemed to become more dense and profound, also indicating an increase in attack.

Jikumo lost his determined look for a second, and smiled at the old man as he shared a tender moment with his Snorlax. It really showed that he loved his pokemon above anything else, which meant that they must have been together since a really young age. It amazed him how strong their bond was, and it made him laugh a bit at the Snorlax's silly smile. It was a bit jarring, though, to see their looks go from soft and gentle to glaring and war-like again. Alexander was always serious and tough, ever since meeting Jikumo, and the young trainer had never seen another side to him during their adventures. It really made him rethink his bond with the little guy, even if they were ready to die for each other, were they really comfortable around each other?

His expression quickly changed back to a glare as the Snorlax roared loudly, its body becoming tougher with the Curse attack. That's Curse...I remember that move, but when a non-ghost type uses it, then their defense and attack go up... It looked like even though the old man was completely overpowering, he wasn't going to let up a bit, but it was a bit advantageous to him in a way. With that speed drop, he could have a chance of lasting for a bit longer than he had intended. "Alright, Alexander, let's start off with two Leers, then stand by for more orders!" The growlithe glared at the snorlax, probably not intimidating it psychologically in anyway, but the physical effects of his ability and leer attack should still work their way through.

"Ho? Hamata let out with a bit of a smirk on his face. So, it seemed the young lad didn't want him to bulk up. He had a feeling the boy knew that this was already going to be difficult, and he believed it would only be even harder for him if he allowed that. So the boy was able to recognize how big of a threat he was normally, and didn't want him to get anymore of an advantage than he already had.

Well, he had to give the boy credit for not allowing him to toughen up his Snorlax anymore than he already was. If he stood here and just kept ordering his precious friend to use Curse, the young lad would just keep using Leer. That meant he had to go on the offensive if he wanted to see just what this young punk was made of.

"Start things off with shattering Earthquake, then attempt to smash Growlithe into smithereens with a Brick Break" he ordered his trusty Snorlax, causing it to let a deep, bellowing roar as it smashed it's foot into the ground to create an Earthquake of extremely powerful proportions, then attempted to smash it's right arm into the small Growlithe with a devastating Brick Break.

Jikumo kept his glaring eyes and calm attitude, but his brain received a shot of adrenaline as the Snorlax did exactly what he thought it would. Alexander could tell how excited his trainer was as well, and prepared his body for what was about to happen next. "Alexander, jump onto his arm and use a Flame Wheel to knock him backwards!" The Growlithe jumped upwards, avoiding the rising chunks of earth, and landed on the Snorlax's arm. It would have been the end of the battle right there if the fist had connected with the ground while he was still on it, but the Growlithe started running across the arm, eventually bursting into flames and rolling towards the big brute's face. He then landed back on the ground, "Nice one, now use Leer once more!" The Growlithe again glared at the Snorlax, attempting to lower its defenses even further.

Jikumo flinched in slight annoyance as Alexander's attack did nothing more than to piss the Snorlax off even further. The Growlithe looked at the Snorlax with slight confusion as it slammed its palms against is stomach. But after doing so, its body became so buff that its fat version looked like a mere before picture and this was the after picture. It did seem to take quite a bit of damage from the move, though, but with all of its health, it wouldn't have done much.

Then the snorlax did something amazing for a pokemon of its species, it ran at the two with incredible speed even for the speed decrease, and attempted to smash into the ground with its full body weight. Under that kind of attack, almost any pokemon would be completely flattened. Jikumo didn't even have to give an order as the two ran away from the incoming move, which flattened the ground beneath where the two had been standing. After getting to a safer spot, Jikumo gasped through grit teeth, "A-alexander...use another Leer, then use Ember!" His plan wasn't completely perfect, lower the defense and attack from a distance until they could deliver a large hit towards the end. It probably would look like he was being an idiot and using Leer and they a special move.

Hamata didn't even bother registering the string of attacks Jikumo used. He had a feeling that Jikumo was waiting for his Snorlax to be weakened enough to do more damage, but the old war veteran didn't really care about that. Even with the halving of his health, and the multiple defense drops, Snorlax would still be able to stand up to practically anything the Growlithe was able to try against it.

"Snorlax, use Rest, then follow it up with a Sleep Talk" Hamata ordered his old friend, causing the Snorlax to plop down onto the ground and start snoozing away, causing all of it's health to be fully restored. Then, the Sleep Talk kicked in, causing Snorlax to open it's mouth and let out a Yawn, a sleep causing move.

Jikumo nearly yelled in anger when the Snorlax fell asleep, restoring all of the precious damage he had caused it. Each hit point got them closer and closer to...to what? Weren't they trying to prove a point, not win? Well, it was probably just his competitive attitude that made him angry at the fact that he was losing by a large margin. "Dammit...the difference in strength can't be this bad...can it?! Alexander, watch out for that Yawn, and use Roar!!" It was extremely tough, but the Growlithe managed to let loose a loud roar, which would have no affect on the Snorlax itself, as it was the only pokemon the old man had. But the Roar did dissipate the Yawn's effect, making the pokemon's attack useless.

"Alright, its now or never! Use Wild Charge!" Alexander bounced back and forth, getting up his static electricity to make his fur stand straight up, then ran towards the sleeping pokemon. As he ran, the electricity strengthened around his fur, making him look like a lightning bolt about to collide with a mountainside. Even though the mountain might be stronger and wouldn't move, it could be worn down with constant pressure.

The Snorlax didn't even seem to move, or indicate anything whatsoever, that it even felt the attack that came at it. It merely let out a particularly loud snore and scratched at it's side in it's sleep as it continued to slumber away, perfectly oblivious to the attack that had just hit it a bit ago. The fact that even after a Defense drop, the Snorlax STILL wasn't affected by anything the Growlithe was doing to it, indicated that it had to have went through incredible training.

"Snorlax, use Snore twice" Hamata ordered his Snorlax. In response, the Snorlax let out two massive shockwaves of Snores that were sent flying at the small Growlithe. That was one of the annoying things about a Snorlax. Even when it was asleep, it still had methods of attacks, which meant putting it to sleep wasn't doing a whole lot of good.

Jikumo had no way to protect his partner from the massive attacks, all he could do was hope that he could help him. "Ack...Alexander, use Roar twice to try and counter!!" The small puppy pokemon was barely a match for the Snorlax as it tried to roar the move away, but they did nothing to slow it down, smacking right into him and throwing him to the ground. The attack did massive damage, from the bonus it got from being a Normal type move and the fact that it was just so much more powerful, knocking out the poor pokemon in one shot. The second Snore was incoming, and Alexander was already down for the count, "ALEXANDER!!" Jikumo did something so unprofessional, it could be called downright suicidal. He jumped into the battlefield and grabbed onto his pokemon, shielding it from the attack but taking it on full-force. He was thrown back into a nearby house, cracking the brickwork a bit and knocking the brave trainer out cold.

Hamata's eyebrows rose up into his hairline when he saw the very brave, very suicidal move that Jikumo did. It highly impressed him, and reminded him of the all the times he had actually done the same thing to his own Pokemon. This young trainer had actually impressed him with that one maneuver, so much so that Hamata had actually chosen to take him to the Pokemon Center, at least, after his Snorlax woke up, which it just happened to do right now.

So, with his Snorlax's help, he got the two to the Pokemon Center, and then placed the Snorlax into it's Pokeball. Hamata made sure the young man was taken care of, and when that was done, he silently sat down and waited after making sure to hand in his one Pokeball into the Nurse.

(End Topic)