Primeape was a Mankey when he first hatched from an egg, and Mankey’s memories of back then were blurry. However, he knew he had a mother even though he couldn’t remember anything about what she was like. Primarily, he knew that he hatched into a “tribe” of wild Mankey, and just as much as his mother was family, the tribe was his family. But more so than anything else, his family was his brother, and that made everything that happened to him so much worse.

  Mankey’s tribe lived off-route, which came with its costs and benefits. No one in the tribe would be captured and they had the freedom to do and take what they wanted, but they didn’t have the protection or relative safety of an area regularly patrolled by humans. The tribe existed because there was safety in numbers, but they had no singular leader. Everyone was unevolved and on their own, but they traveled and stuck together because that was what let them succeed.

  They lived in the mountains, in which they roamed through a few specific valleys. When individual Mankey set off to wander, they made sure to never wander too far away from everyone else. There was no set pattern or schedule they followed, they simply moved according to the tribe’s whims. Often, they would be motivated by discoveries found by wandering members, bathing in and drinking from discovered hot springs and briefly settling into caves that were unoccupied enough for them to temporarily claim.

  But the biggest reason they wandered, however, was to find food. Mankey were omnivorous, which meant they ate nuts, berries, and bugs—specifically, the small ones that could be found under rocks, not the much larger and more dangerous Bug Types.

  Chestnuts were by far the tribe’s favorite food due to the nutty flavour perfectly appealing to a Mankey’s palette. Unfortunately, chestnuts were never easy to eat due to the nut’s spiked exterior. The most common way a member of the tribe would open the nut was to give it to someone else. That Mankey would try to peel it, get pricked, and then undoubtedly thrash about in anger, breaking the nut open in the resulting rampage and allowing the “gifter” to eat it.

  Unfortunately, that didn’t always work because sometimes the target Mankey were able to peel nut with minimal pain and consume it themselves. The problem was that while the tribe was a tribe with many Mankey part of it, the Mankey didn’t exactly help each other. Everyone was on their own, but they were at least on their own together.

  That was why Mankey himself lived so well at the start of it all. He and his brother stuck together, and having someone to rely on was critical to all of their success.

  Two Mankey working together were more powerful than two Mankey working on their own. Relying on one another, they were able to do things other Mankey couldn’t do. They could go out and forage while watching one another’s back. They could rely on one another’s eyes while searching for areas to claim for a rest. Other tribe members were more reluctant to try to steal their stuff when the two of them shared and protected their belongings. They could take turns sleeping without needing to worry about anyone eating their food.

  Between the two of them, it was Mankey’s brother who was stronger. He was the one to fight, and Mankey was the one to come up with their plans. While the tribe often traveled, they didn’t lack food due to the sheer number of chestnut trees that existed in the mountain range. While difficult to open, the only other Pokémon that ate those chestnuts were Flying Types, who could painlessly pick them up with their beaks and drop them from a great height to break them open and easily peel away the spikes.

  Yet, also extremely common in the mountains were Rock Types, and as Fighting Type Pokémon, Mankey and his brother had little to worry about thanks to their inherent sturdiness and Type advantage. So, it was Mankey who came up with a foolproof plan to use those Rock Types to let them eat as many chestnuts as they desired.

  Instead of tricking another Mankey into peeling the nuts for them, they simply went out and found a Rock Type Pokémon. Mankey’s brother would distract it, usually by taking it on in a fight, and then Mankey would go up and take advantage of the chaos by tossing in chestnuts to be broken open by the Rock Type attacks.

  His fondest memory was of when they found an Onix. Looking back on it, it had been a foolish plan, but it had earned them so much. The large Pokémon had been coiled, deep asleep, and Mankey had found a leaf large enough to carry many chestnuts at once. His brother enraged the Onix by waking it up, and while his brother fled and ran away, Mankey tossed the bundle of chestnuts into a gap between the Onix’s ever-churning stones. The grinding motion meant that every nut within broke enough to be easily peeled.

  They feasted that night.

  Because they worked so well together, Mankey and his brother started to gain more and more respect in their group. They ate more food, so they were healthier and had more energy than the average member of the tribe. His brother fought in more battles too, so his energy was used to increase his strength. Mankey himself, meanwhile, used his energy to scout and make plans. As he was the brains between them, he had to always make sure he had a plan.

  Soon enough, it became the case that when a problem started up in the tribe, the other Mankey would go to them for a resolution. And, if one of them had something to say, more often than not, the other Pokémon would stop and listen.

  But that didn’t last forever. The turning point came when Mankey went out to scout and found something incredibly valuable—a lone berry tree. It was one just undefended enough that the tribe had a good chance to claim it for themselves.

  See, Primeape’s experiences were so focused on food because food was the motivating factor out in the wild. The tribe might have had many sources of it, but accessing those sources required frequent travel. Staying in one place tended to exhaust the local area of meals while also carrying the risk of angering any strong, singular Pokémon that had “ownership” over the area they were in.

  But berry trees were special. Not only did they grow food, but berries were inherently more nutritious than anything else. It took only a handful of berries to feel absolutely stuffed, and berry trees tended to grow fast.

  Claiming a tree would allow the tribe to settle permanently, with them no longer needing to worry about obtaining their next meal. By claiming the one Mankey had found, the tribe would be set for—well, they’d essentially be set forever.

  Immediately upon his discovery, Mankey clamored back over the valley’s rocks to return to his brother, sharing the discovery and then telling the entire tribe exactly what he had found. The berry tree was owned by a flock of Spearow, and the Flying Type Pokémon hadn’t exactly looked that wary. Most likely, he guessed, they were a subset of a larger flock, and that larger flock had so many trees that they wouldn’t get too ticked off by the loss of just one.

  The Spearow could be fought back. The Spearow could be scared off. With a single battle, the Spearow could be pushed away so that the tribe could take over the berry tree.

  However, the tree wasn’t exactly something just Mankey and his brother could take alone. No, Spearow were Flying Types, and every Mankey here knew just how difficult it was to punch a bird. They needed a plan, but Mankey already had the perfect solution:

  Their chestnuts. They didn’t need their usual attacks. They could throw those spike-covered balls at the birds, and the birds would undoubtedly be pushed back.

  (When Primeape described his plan through a series of grunts and gestures, Sam stayed silent—more silent than he’d been so far. Somehow, before ever being captured, his Pokémon had already figured out the basics of Fling. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought to bring Dark Type energy into it, so it had remained a simple technique rather than a full-fledged attacking move.)

  With that plan made, the resulting battle was epic, but Primeape didn’t exactly describe it. The initial assault was overwhelming, but more Spearow flew in to make it more difficult than they had ever thought. Yet, they still won in the end, and that was because of one reason:

  So hindered by the onslaught of spiked projectiles, the Spearow fled, deciding that a single tree wasn’t worth the effort once Mankey’s brother unexpectedly evolved.

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  Evolution in the wild was different than evolution with a trainer. It was never a guarantee, and only Pokémon that truly pushed themselves could reach their evolved form. Sure, it’d eventually happen over time, but Mankey’s brother was young. Evolving in that battle demonstrated just how tough he was, and no Spearow wanted to risk taking him on.

  Their victory after the fight was supposed to be a celebration. The tribe claimed a berry tree for themselves, and for the first time, the tribe truly worked together to earn something that belonged to them instead of just individuals.

  That wasn’t what happened.

  Something about that evolution changed Mankey’s brother. Despite everything they worked for, despite everything they had done together, that tree did not belong to the tribe—the tree belonged to Mankey’s brother.

  If someone wanted a berry, they couldn’t just go up and grab one. No, if they wanted a fruit, they had to convince that Primeape to allow them to get it.

  He enjoyed the attention. Practically relished in the attention. There was something about having the power of an evolved Pokémon that immediately went to his head.

  To get their food, the tribe had to do as he wished. They had to put on shows, gather neat items as gifts, and generally do as he bid. The thing was, however, none of the other Mankey saw anything wrong with that. Mankey’s brother was the strongest among them, so of course he was their leader. Why wouldn’t they do what he said if it meant they got to keep a reliable source of food?

  But for Mankey himself? But for who Primeape was back then? Nothing that he had done mattered. After that horrible evolution, his brother treated him as if he were any other member of the tribe, nothing more than a lesser being required to do his bidding.

  Their shared history meant nothing. The shared efforts of the tribe meant nothing. Mankey believed that the tree should belong to everyone, not just the single strongest Pokémon among them. The fact that he was the one to find the tree and the fact that he was one to make the plan to capture it meant absolutely nothing in the face of the sheer, overwhelming might of his species’s evolved form.

  That Primeape was a Primeape, and Mankey was just a Mankey. There was a gap between them that was impossible to cross as mere wild Pokémon. They might have worked together in the past, but so what? That Primeape now had everything he ever wanted.

  And Mankey had nothing. More than that—since his brother had been the one to do all the fighting, he had less battle experience than anyone else in the tribe.

  He.

  Was.

  Weak.

  No matter what Mankey did, he was brushed off. No matter what fellow tribe member he approached, he was ignored. The small advantage he had gained from better nutrition disappeared with everyone having access to what little berries that Primeape let them gather. Mankey couldn’t exactly stand up for himself, which meant he was an easy target to be bullied and laughed at.

  He went to his brother for help, of course, begging the Pokémon for assistance. Since they had done so much together, he felt he deserved at least some sympathy. Yet, when that Primeape looked down at him, when the two of them locked eyes...

  There was nothing.

  That Primeape did nothing.

  There was a reason he grew so angry that he challenged his brother to a fight.

  Of course, while Mankey was “great” at coming up with plans, all of his plans had been simple. He wasn’t educated and he lacked the focus a Pokémon trainer could bring. Everything he came up with was based on things he’d already seen. The plan with the chestnuts? That was based on how he’d seen Flying Types drop the nuts out of the sky. The plan with the Rock Types? That was based on how he’d seen them accidentally crush fallen chestnuts while traveling.

  So, when he threw himself at that Primeape, he truly expected to win. That Primeape had the strength, but Mankey was clever. He could use Low Kick to win, because the bigger they were, the harder they fell, right?

  ...Right?

  That Primeape beat him in a show of force to remind the rest of the tribe just why he was in charge. He had more than enough strength to protect their tree and keep their primary food source safe. He, of course, showed just how “kind” he was by tossing a half-eaten berry to the defeated Mankey. The fact that the berry was stolen later didn’t mean anything—after all, it was another tribe member who stole it, not that Primeape.

  Mankey was the only one who saw a problem with how everything was set up. But no one listened to him. His brother might not have told him to leave, but he could tell he was no longer welcome.

  Once he recovered, cold and bruised, he simply got up and left.

  He left the mountains, trudged through a forest, and walked south through the vast plains of Route 39.

  When he stumbled onto a strange, rumbling box filled to the brim with berries, he was far too hungry to question why it was undefended or why it was making that noise. Too busy stuffing his face, he missed how the delivery truck started to move. It brought him to Olivine City, where he then found a place to hunker down as well as an easy source from which to gather food.

  Primeape finished his story by gesturing toward Sam, as Sam knew how things concluded from there. Mankey’s source had been a berry vendor, and Sam went after Mankey, caught him, and then promised the Pokémon that he could become strong.

  It was deep into the night when Primeape stopped speaking. Above him, the stars were pinpricks of light next to the moon’s bright glow. Everyone in the camp had gone silent, watching Primeape as he stared into the fire. The flickering flames before him cast shadows onto his face.

  He had said everything that he needed to say.

  Truthfully, understanding the story hadn’t been easy for Sam. Primeape didn’t exactly speak a human language, but his grunts and gestures carried enough meaning and his expressions helped display how he was feeling. Also, Sam always had the option to glance over to Typhlosion for a translation. He couldn’t say he understood every detail, but he understood more than enough.

  So with the story ended, he stared at his Pokémon who was unable to do anything but stare back into the fire.

  “Primeape...” Sam said softly.

  The Pokémon grunted, rolling his shoulders, and tried to break out of his self-inflicted trance. He stretched out his hands to his sides, and Sam could see the muscles flex in his arms.

  “So all this time, you’ve been down because you’ve been waiting for this. You’ve been so focused on getting stronger because you want to beat your brother in a fight?”

  Primeape’s fists clenched. His arms went tense with his hard-earned strength.

  Speaking that goal had been a reminder of Primeape’s purpose. He would defeat his brother. He would prove his strength.

  Just like how a flame burned in the center of their campsite, a flame burned in Primeape’s chest. Sam couldn’t tell if it was hatred or rage or just a deep-seated grudge, but everything he’d been doing was for the sole purpose of this upcoming fight.

  Primeape couldn’t focus his thoughts if his mind always fell back to his past. He needed to work through what had happened to him, and to do that, he needed to defeat his brother in a proper match.

  Sam could remember how he first found him. Primeape—Mankey at the time—had been living alone in an abandoned house’s attic. He’d been surviving off of stolen fruit, living in a dirty nest of scavenged cloth. But rotting food and gathered scraps wasn’t everything up there. Mankey might have been on his own, but also collected in the room was something else:

  Scattered Pokédolls.

  Even back then, Primeape had just wanted friends.

  But even though Sam had caught Mankey, it was only when he had told him of Annihilape that he’d truly become motivated. He’d laughed and trained alongside all of them, but there was always that desire to become something more than just a Primeape.

  He knew Rage Fist, but he was yet to master it. His species was one that could never give up a grudge, and he was far too consumed by it to ever evolve as he was now.

  In a way, he needed to overcome this to reach his next form, but this wasn’t something he needed to do just to become strong. With how much this had been affecting him all this time, Sam knew that Primeape needed to do this if he ever wanted to be happy.

  So Sam breathed out, still trying to gather his thoughts about everything he had just heard, and another noise finally echoed out. Haunter let out an echoing sob, and all the Gastly around him began to wail and cry Primeape’s story.

  They empathized with Primeape. His story was sad. Even though their reaction was one of tears, it was kind of ridiculous. Sam could have sworn he saw Primeape smile, as small as that reaction was.

  But in the end, it wasn’t anyone Sam expected who approached Primeape. It wasn’t Typhlosion or Misdreavus or even Sam himself. No, from where he had been listening in the back of their group, Trevenant stepped closer to the fire. He moved up to the very thing that had once destroyed his home despite the tense wariness he still felt toward it.

  Trevenant’s red eye met Primeape’s expression. After a long period of silence, Trevenant nodded once.

  Though he said nothing, the action was a promise. Just like how everyone had once helped him, Trevenant promised they’d help Primeape.

  Sam smiled at that, but it was Misdreavus who pointed out that Trevenant had just spoken on behalf of their entire group.

  In response, Trevenant almost immediately looked away and awkwardly coughed into his hand. His embarrassment came out like the sound of two pieces of bark rubbing against one another.

  But he was right. Everyone here was willing to help Primeape. Misdreavus just thought it was funny that Trevenant had been the one to speak what was on all of their minds. She promised, too, that she’d help Primeape. After her, Typhlosion promised. And then Haunter. And then all of the Gastly here as well.

  Sam was the last to speak. He met his Pokémon in the eyes.

  “We’ll help you,” he said.

  Primeape had to rub away the rain that had mysteriously fallen onto his face from the clear, night sky.

  As cheers and cries of support filled the camp, Sam stood up and looked around. The moon was high above their heads, and the stars somehow felt even brighter than before.

  But more than anything, that night, each and every Pokémon here were up and raring to go.

  “Change of plans!” Sam shouted, the start of his announcement echoing over their campsite. “We’ll be taking a detour! Instead of continuing west, we’re heading north into the mountains! We’ll be going off-route to find Primeape’s old tribe, and there...”

  Primeape looked up at Sam.

  “And there...” Sam continued. “You’ll be defeating your brother. Primeape, I promise you that you will win.”

  Sam’s Team:

  Badges Earned: 7 (Mineral, Fog, Plain, Hive, Zephyr, Rising, Glacier)

  Approximate Team Strength: 7 Stars

  (Fire / Ghost Type, Female, Timid Nature +Spe/-Atk)

  Abilities: Blaze

  Held Item: Charcoal

  Moves: Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember, Flame Wheel, Curse, Will-O-Wisp, Incinerate, Detect, Quick Attack, Swift, Flame Charge, Flamethrower, Double Team, Infernal Parade, Confuse Ray, Hex, Shadow Ball, Night Shade, Shadow Claw

  (Fighting Type, Male, Impish Nature +Def/-SpA)

  Abilities: Anger Point, Vital Spirit

  Moves: Scratch, Leer, Low Kick, Karate Chop, Fury Swipes, Assurance, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Cross Chop, Curse, Brick Break, Rock Smash, Rock Slide, Bulk Up, Rage, Rage Fist

  Haunter (Ghost / Poison Type, Male, Naive Nature +Spe/-SpD)

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Confuse Ray, Spite, Mean Look, Hex, Shadow Punch, Night Shade, Acid Spray, Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Nightmare

  (Ghost Type, Female, Hasty Nature +Spe/-Def)

  Pokéball: Friend Ball

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Growl, Psywave, Astonish, Confusion, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Night Shade, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, Psybeam, Will-O-Wisp, Psychic, Hex

  Trevenant (Ghost / Grass Type, Male, Quiet Nature +SpA/-Spe)

  Pokéball: Moon Ball

  Abilities: Harvest, Frisk (Developing)

  Moves: Horn Leech, Tackle, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Growth, Ingrain, Leech Seed, Forest’s Curse

  Redi’s Team (at last sighting):

  Badges Earned: 7 (Mineral, Plain, Hive, Zephyr, Rising, Glacier, Fog)

  Approximate Team Strength: 6 Stars

  (Normal Type, Male, Adamant Nature +Atk/-SpA)

  Abilities: Guts, Quick Feet

  Moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Fire Punch, Baby-Doll Eyes, Slash, Ice Punch, Focus Energy, Thunder Punch, Hyper Beam, Rock Slide, Swords Dance, Giga Impact, Shadow Claw, Sleep Talk

  Porygon (Normal Type, Genderless, Quirky Nature +-n/a)

  Abilities: n/a

  Moves: Tackle, Sharpen, Conversion, Psybeam, Thunder Shock, Charge Beam, Discharge, Tri-Attack, Charge, Teleport, Recover, Thunder Wave, Magnet Rise, Lock-On, Zap Cannon

  (Dragon Type, Female, Rash Nature +SpA/-SpD)

  Abilities: Shed Skin

  Moves: Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, Twister, Slam, Agility, Aqua Tail, Dragon Rush

  Auxiliary Pokémon: x2 (Tibia and Fibula), a decent number of wild (variable)

  At Home (non-battlers): ,

  Pokémon included in this chapter:

  Mankey / /

  huge thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.