Percy awoke to the sun peering through his tent. He had gotten a couple of hours of sleep at least. He picked up Cascoon and tucked him under his arm. As he left the tent he saw Aiden and Ellen standing next to the fire.
They immediately shot him hostile looks which Percy ignored. He readied himself and fed his Pokémon while talking to them. He introduced Noctowl to the team and they accepted him quickly. Noctowl had a distant, lone wolf personality type.
But he had an ego as well. He liked to silently watch out of sight. Percy noticed he liked to watch Crash the most. Percy scanned the Noctowl while they were all out.
Pokémon: Noctowl
Level: 27
Abilities: Insomnia, Keen Eye
Gender: Male
Potential: Red
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Foresight, Peck, Hypnosis, Confusion, Air Slash [E] Inherent Move, Double Team [E] Inherent Move
Suddenly Percy lurched forward as Aiden shoved him to the ground. The playful energy amongst the Pokemon quickly switched. Crash shot up from his lazy lounging as powerful legs propelled his open jaws toward Aiden.
Furia's whole body immediately turned red as she was filled with rage. She leaped forward her teeth bared. Jormun snaked between tents as she attempted to tie up Aiden's legs. Shroomish exploded in spores and rushed to Percys side. Cascoon bristled its purple spikes and began to glow blue.
Percy raised a hand and shouted, "Stop!" Crash came sliding to a stop his eyes wide and his mouth watering. His red eyes bore holes into Aiden's neck. Fúria landed a few feet to the side of Aiden and began slamming her fists into the ground to let out some anger. She hooted and banged her fists on her chest as she directed her anger to the ground. She would not violate her trainers command. Jormun curled up behind Aiden and stared at the boy through bright yellow eyes.
But Noctowl, who had been a little bit away from the group hadn't registered the order. It just needed to defend its new found trainer. He sped from his stalking branch and his claws were outstretched to tear Aiden's face apart. Crash hissed loudly as the speeding owl came, which registered in its head. Noctowl diverted itself slightly and only a talon was dragged through Aiden's cheek.
Noctowl went spinning out of control and crashed into the ground from the sudden diversion. Percy pushed himself up quickly and calmed his Pokémon more. Crash chased after the Noctowl as the rest of the Pokemon returned to Percy.
Crash hissed and snapped his teeth at Noctowl. Power radiated off the level 31 Pokemon and Crash was exercising it. Percy could get the general idea of what was happening between them. Crash was lecturing Noctowl on how he needed to listen to Percy.
Noctowl shrunk slightly as Crash pushed up against it. It screeched and began flapping backward. Crash grunted and turned back to Percy. Percy looked away from his Pokémon as actual anger rose in his chest. "What the fucks your problem?" He turned to Aiden who was holding his cheek in shock.
"You're Pokémon are wild! You don't deserve to be a part of this group!" Aiden said loudly. They were beginning to get the attention of the group.
"Your Pokémon attacked him!" Ellen shrieked. Her hands immediately started patting Aiden.
"He attacked me? You two are pissing me off." Percy said. His arms were starting to get twitchy. People were emerging from tents and coming from other parts of camp to see what was happening. Aiden started forward as if to swing on Percy but a large armored arm wrapped around his torso and held him back.
"You shouldn't attack fellow group members." Ezra said calmly.
"Why are you always on this pricks side? All those years of training together mean nothing now? I mean look, he's hogging all these red potential Pokémon. Hes a fucking foreigner!" Aiden was shouting now his face fully red. He turned to the rest of the camp which had gathered to watch. "Why do any of you accept him?" He hissed.
His eyes scanned the group and pointed to Alex. "Even this kid is closer to us then him. Why do you support him Alexander?" Aiden demanded.
Alex's eyes went wide as everyone turned to him. "Uhh I guess it's because he treated me like an equ-." Alex whispered.
Aiden quickly jumped to Zaria abruptly cutting Alex off. "What about us Zar? Remember when we would spar late at night? If none of us want him here we can kick him out." He said.
Zaria took a step back and moved her hair out of her face. Each of the members in the group had grown up together except for Alex and Percy. There were years of bonding before Percy that he wasn't sure he could break through. Yeah he tried to make friends amongst the group, but Percy knew that years of comradery was likely to win. There was no way he could expect everyone to like him more than Aiden from just a couple weeks of traveling.
Zaria stared silently at Aiden. They sat there silently for a moment. Percy could tell there was some communication through the eyes but couldn't figure it out. Aiden suddenly turned away from Zaria with a huff. Instead he turned to the rest of the kids that Percy hadn't developed any relationship with.
"Ben, Will, Billie, Elsa. What about yall. Me and Ellen knew something was off with him from the beginning. Look at his Pokémon! He's clearly hoarding all the wealth. He's a plant from the higher ups. I can smell it." Aiden said.
Percy raised an eyebrow, he had technically stumbled upon Percy's actual identity despite the only reason he got there was his hate for Percy. Percy had shown him up more than once, and that's all it took. "I'm a plant? Meant to do what. Help the group as much as I can? Cuz that's all I've been doing." Percy said simply.
"You're going to try and make a move on the leader of our group! Fay, we humbly advise you watch your back." Ellen shrilly said.
Percy rolled his eyes, "Is there a way I can prove my innocence or are you going to throw baseless accusations out." He said. But he saw the group of kids he wasn't friends with look at him differently. They were beginning to question it. Everyone turned to Fay to see what she would say. Theo and Fay had preferred to not step in whenever Percy and Aiden butted heads.
But when requested to speak a plan began to form in her head. All of these confusing feelings were distracting her. The feelings about Percy of course. Her crush had began developing to the point where Percy was on her mind often.
She handled it by being exceptionally distant with him at all times, which didn't help the rift forming between Percy and the group. If she could just get him out of the group she could get back to leading the group with her full attention. But the other half of her brain pushed back. Percy's capable, and a great addition to the group all things considered.
She didn't even consider him trying to take her position. It was easy enough to tell that he didn't truly give a damn about the group as a whole. She looked Percy up and down and turned to the group. "If there was a majority of people who wanted him out I'd have no option but to remove him from our group." She said.
Percys eyes narrowed. Was he really about to get kicked out of the group he was supposed to protect. And it was going to happen over a grudge that started the day Percy met Aiden. The group went quiet as everyone began thinking. Do they go against Aiden, who would hold a grudge till he died. Or they could vote out this borderline stranger they met only weeks ago and face no apparent future consequences. "Everyone who's for him staying?" Fay announced and everyone turned to look.
Percy raised his hand, Alex raised his hand, Ezra raised his hand, Zaria raised her hand, Elsa raised her hand. "Everyone for him leaving?" Fay said again her voice cracking. Aiden raised his hand, Ellen raised her hand, William raised his hand, Benjamin raised his hand, Billie raised her hand. There was a pause as the two people who hadn't voted considered the vote.
Theo looked to Fay. It became clear that he would vote with her. Fays chest shook as she looked at Percy. He watched her with a very neutral look. He was unaware of the crush she had on him. He just thought she was sour about their first spar still. Fay slowly raised her hand, "for him leaving." She whispered.
Her heart sunk a little but relief came through her head. Percy nodded slowly and processed what he would do next. This sucked but he still had a job to complete. "You've all came to a decision. I understand and hope the best for you all." He flashed a sarcastic smile and began to pack up his tent and grab his things.
Once he finished he called back all of his Pokémon but Jormun. She coiled around his neck and shoulder and stared at the group members with wide eyes. She didn't fully understand what was happening but her trainer was of the most importance. Percy said goodbye to each of them.
The people who voted for him had some words about how they'd miss him. Percy assured them he'd be fine and there was still time to see eachother in the future. Percy even forced himself to say bye to Aiden. He really wasn't all that sour about this. He doubted anyone but Ellen and Aiden actually had a problem with him being part of the group.
Everyone else had to weigh how much they liked Percy to how much they wanted to avoid Aiden's displeasure. Personally Percy would never roll over like them, but that was because he didn't have a dynamic to uphold. As he walked away from the camp he began to smile again. He was alone once more.