Chapter 17

Bob's fast pace came to a halt as he appeared in front of a cave.

"Oh crap," He said, annoyed, 'forgot about Union Cave,'

Bob sighed and took a few minutes healing his pokémon who needed it. Then he entered the mouth of the cave, straight into the gullet.

He didn't mind the fact that he could encounter more pokémon, but Azalea Town would've been better.

In the dim caves, Bob found it difficult to walk, but it was easy to spot a pokémon.

A few minutes later, he came across another kid in the cave.

The kid had that trainer glare.

"Just what I need for my break," He said, lobbing a pokéball forward, "hope this is not a waste of time,"

"Sandshrew!" The ground-type squealed.

'I see,' Bob thought, 'might as well use him,'

The opponent appeared.

"Wooper," He said, staring blankly at his enemy.

Sandshrew ignored the gaze as best it could.

Then, Bob looked at his Pokédex.

'So those are his moves,' He thought, "Wooper, Water Gun,"

"Woo-per!" Wooper shot an average volume of water at the ground-type, damaging it.

"Don't worry, Sandshrew, hit back with Poison Sting!"

"Shrew!" In a flash, Sandshrew ran forward and jabbed the water-type's stomach with a hand oozing a purple glow.

'That's fine, he is resistant,' Bob thought, "Wooper, Rain Dance,"

With a shake, the water-type showed moves reminiscent of break dancing.

But as he moved, Wooper shook for a moment and turned purple, then went back to normal.

With that, came the droplets, then the drizzle of rain.

Wooper was poisoned, but that did not make Bob worry at all. The enemy trainer caught sight of this, but he was more on the rain.

"I always found this weird," He spoke, "how it's raining in a cave, how does that work?"

"Oh right, use Sand Attack, Sandshrew,"

"Wooper, Water Gun,"

The almost damp sand flew, splattering on Wooper's face.

He never had a reaction, and only tried to fire his water blast.

It went but hit nothing. Wooper also flinched from the poison.

The size was a noticeable amount larger, this was acknowledged by Bob, and by a relieved trainer.

"Scratch, Quick!"

While the water-type's aim was off, Sandshrew sliced him with a claw.

"Woop!" He screamed in pain.

"Hmm," Bob watched the water-type, "Tail Whip, then Water Gun,"

Wooper then turned around and swung his tail.

Sandshrew looked on in confusion, staring at the almost cute tail.

"Huh," The enemy trainer shook his head, then frowned, "Don't be fooled. Use Scratch!"

This broke the ground-type out of the trance and it pounced forward, with murder on its mind.

Quickly, it found itself heading towards a large volume of water.

"Sand!"

It was blown back. After Wooper stopped, the ground-type was on its back, snoring.

"Nice work," Bob said to Wooper.

It looked back at him.

'Hope that's good,' He thought as the kid returned his Sandscrew.

"Oh Arceus," The kid said, looking up, "where the hell did the rain go?"

After that, he packed his things and left the opposite way.

Bob continued down the somewhat dark place. If he kept on, Azalea Town should be at the end of the tunnel.

Just then, Bob stopped.

A Rattata was not too far away, sniffing the ground and minding its own business.

'Don't have a Rattata on my repertoire,' With a slow throw, he brought out his fierce battler.

"Spin-"

Spinarak paused, his dark surroundings worrying him. He looked at the Rattata, the shadows playing with his mind, leading him to believe the normal-type was bigger.

"-arack?" He turned around, looking up at Bob with the biggest eyes he could muster.

"That won't work on me," Bob said, "you need experience,"

The bug-type buckled and reluctantly faced the Rattata again.

It faced him with a killer glare.

"Spinarak, Absorb,"

"Sp-Spin!" He launched his attack.

Green orbs floated by and then changed direction.

Rattata had used a Quick Attack and pulverised the bug, sending him off to the left.

Although the hit was good, the damage done was fixed once the orbs made contact.

"Spin..." He was half terrified that he took a fast hit he didn't see coming.

As the enemy Rattata jumped back to take a breather, Bob muttered orders.

"Spinarak, use Infestation,"

While the bug-type got ready to activate this move, Bob was again thinking.

'Wonder what he will do?' Bob thought, watching intently.

"Rattata!" The normal-type glared at the bug, who stared back intently.

A few seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

'Wait for it...' Bob blinked, and the Rattata disappeared.

Now that Spinarak saw this with his own eyes, with the darkness added in, his soul nearly left his body as the normal-type vanished into the darkness.

Then, he saw it.

Despite the move he used, Spinarack witnessed a healthy Rattata charging at him.

He reacted by turning his head, as to lower the damage received.

A few seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

Spinarak looked back, trembling, but looked surprised.

Bob, however, watched in fascination.

Rattata had halted its attack just moments before impact and both Bob and Spinarak knew why.

The fur on its body was moving.

There was no wind in the tunnel, and the fur moved in such a way, going in different directions at distinct times and in various spots.

On Rattata's face was anguish and irritation.

'So that's what it does,' Bob thought, 'interesting,'

"Spin?" The bug type asked, not looking away from the normal-type's eyes.

"Rattata!" It responded with a Tackle too quick for Bob to react to.

Spinarak was injured.

But Rattata had it worse.

'It's a move that damages over time,' Bob thought as the normal-type groaned, its fur moving around as if a blow drier was pushing it, 'This won't last long,'

He looked at Spinarak, who was groaning all the way, not trembling so much.

'Time to add to my collection,' Bob grabbed a pokéball from his bag, "Spinarak, String Shot,"

He responded by quickly spewing silk onto the Rattata.

It was already heaving from the Infestation, and it now was struggling to get out of the silk.

Bob could've thrown the ball, but the normal-type thrashing through the silk made him stop.

Rattata was done. It couldn't stand whatever was moving around its fur. It itched, yet when he tried to scratch, it never worked.

So, there was a last-ditch offensive that was a Tackle.

This brought the normal-type out of the silk and sent it barreling towards a scared bug.

Said scared bug was mortified. Spinarak thought Bob would catch Rattata, but that was for nought.

He was in a frozen state, it would lead to a collision.

As Rattata was a few feet away, its head was sent to the side.

A pokéball thrown ended Rattata's short spell.

Shake...

Shake...

Shake...

CLICK!

The pokéball lay silently in the cave.

"Spin," Spinarak unleashed a huge exhale as if he dodged a bullet.

"You felt that, right?"

To the left was Bob, now crouched down next to him, "that intense emotion, fear?"

"I know how scared you can get, Spinarak," He continued, looking at the pokéball, "it's normal to be frightened by a foe. However, once you start conquering those fears..."

He looked at the bug-type, "...you'll be the one in the dark that frightens all,"

"Spin," Spinarak replied, looking away.

Bob returned him, 'That was cringy, but I'm sure it will help. Actually, training Spinarak will help a lot more when I think about it,'

So with the cringe intensifying, Bob focused on the pokéball on the floor.

'At least I caught another pokémon,' He thought, picking it up, 'How long does this fricking cave go?'

He placed the two pokéballs in his bag when...

Rumble...

Far down the cave, Bob heard something.

'Screw it,'

With a breath, he walked at a fast speed towards the sound.