First Battle

The sun was on the horizon, and so Gunne and Riolu set off, deciding to head east from their current location in hopes of finding a town—preferably before the fall of night.

It was just then that Gunne took notice of the many pokémon in his surroundings, all staring at him with pensive expressions. The system Pokédex named out several of their species, such as: pidgey, spearow, mankey, and poochyena.

But among those who only held pensive looks of curiosity, there were others with eyes burning with ferocity.

Looking at their reddened eyes, Gunne froze in fear only to snap back to reality by Riolu, his paws tugging at the hems of his pants to keep moving. It could sense the savagery of the wild pokémon, hoping to quickly get away from them.

The duo quickly resumed their path, only to hear the harsh cawing of pidgeys, the squeaking of mankeys, and the growls of poochyenas. Alongside their vicious cries, their footsteps followed heavily along the grassy ground.

The grass waved wildly under their intense speed and the noise from the rustling of bushes further irritated Gunne.

'This is bad!'

Gunne was feeling antsy. This was the turf of wild pokémon and they could traverse it with ease. Not to mention, he and Riolu were not only lacking in battle experience but were also outnumbered!

Thankfully, Gunne found that his and Riolu's speed were enough to maintain a distance from the wild pokémon. At the very least, being a ditto gave him increased abilities!

'They're tracking us and it's getting dark out! We need a place to take shelter and evade their tracking!'

Riolu was also looking around worriedly before suddenly barking, pointing past a couple trees at what appeared to be a stone tunnel.

The two ran for it, the cave only about twenty feet away!

Finally! A place to take shelter!

Right then, two shadows cast over their heads as two bird pokémon landed in front of the cave entrance.

"Craw! Pidge! Pidgey!"

Two pidgeys landed and one tilted its head almost mockingly as if challenging Riolu.

Riolu felt a burning anger as he stepped forward to accept the challenge. Even so, the two pidgeys had no plans on fighting a fair one-on-one with him.

Gunne gripped his hands into fists, knowing it was his job as Riolu's trainer to properly command the fight.

Before the fight began, he quickly opened up the system shop in hopes of finding something that would help him feel more at ease. After all, he was a pokémon too! He couldn't just stand on the sidelines and watch every fight!

[Shop]

• Current Balance: 500 Poké Points

• Only normal type TMs are currently unlocked. You must obtain "Genetic Typing Modifications" in order to purchase and use TMs of other types.

• Aside from TMs, various items are available to purchase. Just say what you're looking for and the shop will search to see if it's in stock.

Gunne read on in interest, seeing a wide selection of normal type moves he could purchase. There were five normal type moves he decided on, feeling his heart ache at their prices.

Each move had a differing price with 50 Poké Points being among the most common of set costs. Above that was 100, and there were even some with prices in the 300's!

• Helping Hand (Normal) - Boost the power of an ally's attack. • Price: 50 Poké Points

• Roar (Normal) - The foe is scared off. • Price: 50 Poké Points

• Double Slap (Normal) - The foe is slapped repeatedly, back and forth, two to five times in a row. • Price: 50

• Substitute (Normal) - The user makes a copy of itself using some of its own energy. The copy serves as the user's decoy. • Price: 50 Poké Points

• Double Team (Normal) - By moving rapidly, the user makes illusory copies of itself to raise its evasiveness. • Price: 100 Poké Points

[Purchase complete!]

• New Balance: 200 Poké Points

Gunne quickly opened his bag, finding five colorless orbs.

Despite sharing the same name as TMs, they were very different in appearance compared to the basic trainer's knowledge he was given!

As he willed it, the five orbs merged into his body and his mind flickered with a newfound knowledge. He felt like he was born with these five moves, knowing them instinctively regardless of only just learning them.

His eyes darted over to Riolu who was growling in anger at the two pidgeys and he quickly ran over to help.

"Riolu, let's do this!"

"Yarra!" Riolu cried out to the pidgeys' surprise.

The two pidgeys howled to each other as if asking, "Is this strange human going to fight as well?"

While Gunne and Riolu had yet to battle, they were confident in their abilities.

Riolu was born with stronger stats than the pidgeys with an overpowering strength and speed, while Gunne's species as a ditto was well-rounded with an advantage.

The two quickly stepped forward as the two pidgeys took to the sky, utilizing their advantage as a normal/flying dual type as they caught wind and flew down with exceptional speed!

Not wanting to be shown up, Riolu shot forward with the only move he knew—quick attack!

"Helping hand!" Gunne yelled aloud, boosting the powers of Riolu's quick attack as his canine-like claws struck against one of the pidgeys, sending it tumbling onto the ground, leaving it dazed.

The pidgey cawed in embarrassment, standing up as it felt its anger rising. It shot forward while kicking up a storm of sand and dirt to blind Riolu's vision.

Blinded, Riolu lost track of the pidgey until it was only three feet in front of him!

"Ar?" Riolu cried out in surprise, using its only other move, endure, as it managed to withstand the pidgey's attack after being shot backwards and onto the ground.

"Riolu!" Gunne shouted as he tried to run over and help, but his own hands were full at the moment!

The other pidgey was headed his way, and Gunne's reaction speed only made it in the nick of time.

'Substitute!'

Gunne experienced a strange sensation when using substitute as another human identical to him in appearance took form directly before him, only to be instantly shredded apart by the pidgey's talons.

And the pidgey kept going, slowed by a mere second, its talons nearing Gunne's face.

"Double team!" Gunne quickly called out, making two illusory images as he managed to dodge the pidgey's attack once again.

Now was his chance!

Before the pidgey could realize its attack had failed to hit an actual target, Gunne was already right behind it and readying a double slap!

Pcha! Pcha! Pcha!

The pidgey cried out in pain as Gunne managed to land three consecutive slaps onto its body, sending it flat on the ground and crying in a pitiful shape.

On the other side, Riolu weakly stood up.

Seeing how much effort Gunne was putting in, Riolu realized he needed to try even harder! There was no way he was losing to a random wild pidgey!

"Grrr!" Riolu growled out, charging forward as he leapt up high into the sky, launching a high jump kick with his foot and sending the pidgey crashing onto the ground unconsciously.

Riolu quickly realized that he had learned a new move in the heat of the moment, picking up the fighting type move known as high jump kick.

"Riolu!" Gunne rushed over with hurried steps, breathing a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you're okay! It looks like the two of us won our first battle, huh?"

"Ri! Rio!" Riolu cried out happily.

Gunne smiled, but this wasn't the place to celebrate victory and so the duo quickly entered into the cave's entrance.