Zaria was an athlete. She was one of the clan members who had been trained to have a strong body. She specialized in speed and agility. Percy didn't think he could outrun her without a decent bit of luck.
First, he needed to get her as far from the Honey Clan camp as possible. The last thing he needed was to be chased by the whole camp. Zaria's daggers appeared in her hands as she acrobatically avoided obstacles like fallen logs and sunken pits. Percy threw a glance behind him and saw her flip over a bush.
They were far enough from camp now so Percy stopped and turned to meet Zaria. She came to a sliding stop in front of Percy. "Who are you? Why were you watching me?" She asked. Her daggers were twitching in her hands.
"I'm no one. Your loud practicing disturbed my sleep. No reason to be so hostile." Percy made his voice as distorted as he could.
Zaria narrowed her eyes and looked at the shiny Growlithe that stood silently at the masked man's feet. "Are you Team Rocket? The Koffing mask would explain that. I guess it's for the best for me to encounter you. I've got no Pokémon to steal." She seemed a little nervous and was running off of adrenaline.
Percy's head tilted slightly. Maybe he could have a little fun with the mask on. "How'd you guess? Now that you know, I'm afraid I have to handle this." Percy said. He rolled his shoulder as he stepped forward. Pharaoh watched his trainer and quickly understood what was happening.
Zaria's eyes narrowed as she stepped back. Thoughts raced through her head. She considered running away to camp. But there was no telling she could get away from the Growlithe. She would be among allies at camp if she got there.
But if she defeated him now, she would never have to expose her high value group to Team Rocket. There were many horror stories of high quality groups of trainers getting their Pokémon stolen by Team Rocket. Zaria flipped the daggers in her hand and smiled nervously.
She'll defeat this man now. Her feet exploded off the dirt as she approached Percy. Percy got into a combat stance and sharpened his focus. It had been a while since he had fought humans. His hands danced back and forth in front of him.
He'd have to take this fight unarmed. Zaria would know it's Percy from his hatchet. The sharp blade stabbed at his shoulder and glinted in the dark forested moonlight. Percy backpedaled and analyzed what he knew about Zaria. She was a proficient fighter. The techniques she learned from the Honey Clan were good.
They were at least better than what Percy did in fights. He ran off of instincts. He moved how he needed. There was no practice or training he did that fundamentally increased his fighting skill. The strength and speed training helped, but he didn't practice a singular strike hundreds of times like he had seen Zaria do.
Each programmed part of her martial arts had been practiced thousands of times. How could Percy bridge this gap? Use the unpredictability of his style and the ingenuity in it. Percy danced backward from the fast dagger strikes.
Zaria breathed steadily as she pushed Percy back. She saw an opening and stabbed at his bicep. Percy grinned slightly as he turned to avoid the attack. Suddenly he moved forward, allowing the blade to slice a centimeter into his tricep. His feet quickly shuffled around until he was standing within arms reach of Zara.
He reasoned that Zaria was not as good at grappling. His arms wrapped around hers and took control of her arms. Zaria was weaker than Percy by a little and was unable to stop Percy from twisting her arms outward. Her daggers were in no place to stab him and he was fully inside her space.
He pulled her toward him and used his leg to pull her legs from beneath her. She was able to keep one leg up but the loss of balance meant Percy could fully overpower her upper body. Her eyes widened as she was slammed into the ground by Percy's arms.
He got on top of her and pushed both of her arms behind her head. She struggled intensely and was almost able to throw Percy off, but her stamina didn't last. He held both her hands and tied them up with some nearby stringy vine. Once he finished he pushed himself up.
Her boot slammed into his thigh as he backed up. He cursed and stumbled away. He limped off into the forest leaving Zaria on the ground. She was very confused and slowly stood up. Her hands were tied together and her daggers had been flung into some bushes. The fight was over but her opponent was just leaving. She couldn't complain.
Percy arrived back at his camp with a small limp. The kick she landed on his thigh hurt a lot. He wasn't all that worried about her chasing him. He hadn't actually hurt her nor did he seem particularly hostile. She might tell the group, but there's wasn't much they would do.
They were already deathly scared of other humans so much so that they considered letting the Butterdrill clan member die. Percys camp was a good 15 minute walk from where they had fought anyway. Pharaoh walked next to his trainer and seemed quite happy.
He normally wasn't out for long periods of time. That was one of Percys big regrets. Pharaoh deserved better. Percy reached down and pet Pharaoh. His yellow fur was beautiful but a little dirty. In the time Percy was gone from camp, the fire had reached temperature.
He threw some more firewood under the large pot and began to create a stew. He wasn't a cook but he had learned a bit from Jason. He pulled out a bunch of meat from slain Pokemon and began to toss it in. He threw in a few berries for spice and flavor and grabbed a handful of spices that Jason had given to him before.
He used a large ladle to mix the ingredients and sat on a foldable chair. Once he had the pot simmering, he pulled some grooming tools from his Pokédex. He hadn't groomed his Pokemon in a while and they deserved it after everything they went through.
Since Percy was operating on a mostly night schedule, he had time. He pulled a comb and asked Pharaoh to hop on his lap. Percy grunted slightly as the large dog sat on him. Pharaoh was still getting larger as he gained levels and was nearly 70 pounds. That was significantly more than the average of about 40 pounds.
He was quite a beautiful specimen of the Growlithe line. His fur was luscious and his size was much larger than average. The second Percy was relieved from his duties of the Honey Clan, he would try to acquire the best Fire stone he could. He combed through his Pokémon's fur with a content smile on his face.
Pharaoh enjoyed the grooming session and fell asleep on Percys lap within minutes. Eventually Percy had to set Pharaoh on the ground and tend to the stew. The next Pokémon up in his grooming was Shroomish. Percy wanted to focus more on some of his other Pokemon in the near future.
Crash and Fúria had been getting a lot of attention and he realized his other pokemon need more engagement. Percy groomed Shroomish with a large brush that massaged its plant head.
Shroomish cooed as it leaned into the brush. "Do you remember where your family is in Viridian Forest?" Percy asked. He had to remember the deal he had made with Shroomish.
"Shroo Shroomish!" She said excitedly. She had grown up in Viridian Forest and would be able to point them in the right direction. Apparently she came from a clan of the Shroomish line. She explained how their clan was quite well established and controlled a small part of the forest.
As she got excited she started glowing bright blue. She was evolving! Percy freaked out and set her on the ground next to him. Unfortunately he never had time to get her an evolution item that would increase her potential greatly. So, he started pulling out corpses of grass Pokémon and put a few of them around her.
That would help but it wasn't what he wanted. Her transformation took only 20 seconds. As the light faded her new form was quite impressive. She was a beautiful specimen of Breloom. "Breloom!" She said excitedly. She immediately began running around the camp and explored the capabilities of her new body.
Percy smiled and began stirring the stew again and sensed it was ready. He released all of his Pokémon and began scooping the stew into their food bowls. He gave himself a bowl and they ate in peace.
It was nearly 2 in the morning now, and Percy still had to groom the rest of his Pokémon and head to bed by 3. An hour later, Percy sighed and crashed into a pile in his tent. He had done all the grooming and was ready to be welcomed into sleep.