Chapter 19

After an amount of time that Bob couldn't count, his eyes burned at the sight of light.

"Finally," Bob let out, jogging forward.

It was the exit. When Bob walked out of the cave, he blinked a few times, adjusting to the sunlight again.

However, the sun was in a low position of the day.

'How long was I in those caves?' He thought rubbing his eyes with his arm, 'Perhaps I can reach Azalea Town before the sun sets?'

With time passing and walking commencing, Bob stopped.

He wouldn't make it.

So, with the camp set up, Bob released all his pokémon.

"Oh yeah," Bob stared at a fainted Wooper, and his other pokémon stared at Hoothoot.

Bob looked at the Pokédex, "Hoothoot is a friend, make him feel welcomed, guys,"

Which they did.

Hoothoot seemed pretty nice himself, but Bob was not focused on that.

He returned Wooper inside the pokéball and then sprayed it with a revive without thinking.

'Will that actually work?' Bob thought, now realising, 'I guess I'll see,'

Soon, he had given them their food.

'So that's food sorted,' He looked at them.

Dio the Pidgeotto was pecking at his food and chewing with care, Geodude was munching through it as if he was in a competition, Spinarak was eating at a fast pace, Hoothoot ate at a normal pace, and Guts the Quilava was chewing slowly, keeping his eyes closed.

'This is peaceful,' Bob thought, munching into a stored sandwich, 'seeing all of them eat together, even though Hoothoot is new and Wooper is left to rest, it's nice,'

'Wait a minute!'

At this revelation, Bob nearly choked.

"I'm an idiot!" He shouted, which got the attention of all his pokémon.

"It's nothing, keep eating," Bob spoke, eating again, 'I could've used all of them for that fight against that Onix,'

'Guess nothing would've changed if Guts did go down,' He thought, looking up at the orange sky, 'maybe I should use more than one pokémon during a wild encounter if I need to catch it but let it be one-on-one for training,'

A few minutes later, Bob was ready for the training.

He returned the now asleep Hoothoot, who slept with his head in his food and spoke to the rest.

"Alright, time for some sparring," Bob ordered, pointing, "Geodude, Spinarak, go that side. Guts, Dio, go that side,"

The orders were clear and seen through.

Bob walked to Guts and Dio.

"Don't hold back you two," Bob said, "also, don't expect any actions from me, this is on your own accord,"

Guts looked eager to battle, though had some doubt as he won't hear Bob's orders.

Dio, however, had a sinister grin. Although he did respect Guts, that did not stop him from wanting to beat his rival.

After that, Bob went to Geodude and Spinarak.

"Don't hold back on Spinarak, okay Geodude?" He said, to which a reluctant rock-type responded with a nod.

Spinarak froze at this.

"Remember what I said, Spinarak," Bob spoke.

"Spin," The bug-type took a second, then focused on Geodude with a lacklustre glare.

"Geodude?" Geodude wanted to make sure if it was okay, but after seeing how focused Spinarak was, he understood.

"I won't be giving orders," Bob said, "so go off on your own,"

"Geo!"

"Spin!"

He then smiled, 'Why do I feel so-'

BOOM!

An explosion alerted Bob. He turned around and saw a cloud of smoke in the air.

He left the two to duel and watched as Guts launched out of the cloud and into the ground.

"Quil," He groaned, lifting himself and locking eyes with the smoke cloud.

'It's normal seeing Guts get his butt beat,' Bob thought.

When the cloud disappeared, Bob thought it was nothing, but it was his pokémon, Dio.

Dio had a smirk on his beak, his left wing was against his side, and his right wing swinging forward and back.

He walked slowly forward in this pose towards his opponent.

'It is not even surprising anymore,' Bob thought, placing his hands in his pockets, 'it is entertaining, though,'

"Pidgeotto," Dio said, dashing forward with his right wing glowing.

Luckily, Guts dived into the ground before the wing could nick him.

The flying-type hovered in the air, squinting at the ground.

Once a crack came into view, Dio unleashed a gust of wind at it.

BOOM!

However, only black smoke erupted from it.

The flying-type sent another blast of wind to clear the smoke but reacted with speed when a blast of flames shot at him.

With a fast movement, Dio smashed into Guts, sending him back.

The fire-type recovered and vanished.

Dio did the same.

An exchange occurred, with both pokémon briefly appearing as their attacks collided.

However, that ended with a deadlock as the two were now on the ground.

Guts had his body on fire, and his head was blaring.

Dio kept this arsonist back with his shining wings, trying to overpower him.

'Good thing I let those two fight,' Bob thought yawning, 'this will make them stronger,'

As he spoke, Guts released an ember, which pushed Dio back, sending the flying-type screeching across the ground. Even a few traces of air followed him.

This caused Dio to spin viciously and a notification to go off from the Pokédex.

Bob kept it on him as this was for them to learn new moves.

'Pidgeotto has learned Twister,'

Dio now sent the lumbering revolution of wind towards Guts, who couldn't escape.

"Pidgeotto!" Dio called out as if knowing he would win.

He looked down at the fire-type, who was cut up by the strong wind in the middle of it.

The flying-type froze once Guts let off a glare.

Although, Dio thought it was useless, as there was nothing he could do.

Soon, Bob heard another vibration from the Pokédex.

'Quilava has learned Swift,'

At that, a star smashed into Dio's face, which caught him off guard.

Then, he saw two more stars fly out of the tornado, aiming for him.

"Pidgeo!" He tried to do everything in his power to dodge or block the attack but to no avail.

The stars struck Dio with a powerful force, sending him to the ground.

It wasn't a problem, as the flying-type could recuperate once he landed.

As he controlled his fall, he was not prepared to see a fireball crash into him, ploughing Dio faster into the ground.

With the tornado gone, Guts breathed a sigh of relief from his victory.

"Nice work, the two of you," Bob said, "I did say I would reward you, Guts,"

"Quilava," He replied, looking pleased, "Lava!"

He then looked at Dio, who was out for the day.

"Dio's fine," Bob spoke, returning him, "It will be dark soon,"

With that, he checked on the other match.

Spinarak was also down, sleeping peacefully and Geodude was taking a break.

'Rather let him fall now than during a trainer match,' Bob thought, spraying a revive on the pokéball containing Dio, "Time for you guys to rest,"

Returning Geodude and Guts, the sun had taken a little dip below land, with half of its body remaining visible.

Bob had his sleeping bag out and decided to just relax for a bit, the rustle of trees accompanying him.

'After this, it's Azalea Town, with their bug-type gym leader,' He thought, throwing a pokéball in the air and catching it as it fell, 'I can also change a few of my pokémon,'

He thought of Larvitar.

'Perhaps I can replace Geodude with Larvitar,' He sat down, leaning on his hands, 'If I'm worried about their feelings, let me not forget about that Caterpie, Weedle and Rattata that have not even seen the light of day,'

'I'll decide that when I reach Azalea Town,' Bob stood up, ready to collect sticks and branches when a non-nature sound caught him off guard.

It was a bicycle. Someone was riding through here.

That did not tick Bob off but what did was a shout.

"Stop right there!"

It was a boy, around the same age as Bob, now off his parked bicycle with a pokéball in hand.

What caught his eye was the black hoodie the kid wore with black pants and red shoes.

"I am part of the Houndoom gang!" The boy shouted, turning around and revealing the picture of a Houndoom on the hoodie, "you are on our territory, so you must pay a fee for access,"

'Interesting,' Bob thought, gripping the pokéball in his hand.

"You leave me no choice!" The kid exclaimed, creating space, "Now I'll beat you, and take all your money!"

'...' Bob could only ready himself for battle.