Chapter 10: In the Cave 

Inside the cave, by two small campfires.

Ryu exclaimed, "A Pokémon battle?"

As a Trainer, Ryu would naturally agree to such a request, but when the handsome young man stood up, he noticed that all the Pokémon around him took a step back simultaneously.

Turning to glance at his old rival, Tora, he couldn't help but find his expression incredibly strange. It was a mix of four parts fear, three parts concern, two parts frustration, and one part schadenfreude. Ryu's heart raced; when did the recklessly daring Tora become so expressive? When did he, who was usually careless, start paying attention to such details?

Something was amiss.

After some thought, Ryu nervously said, "We just got caught in the rain, and both my Charmeleon and I are in bad shape. How about we battle another day?"

Saying that, he released his starter Pokémon, Charmeleon, and saw its tail flame dim and its expression droop, clearly indicating it was in low spirits and poor condition.

"That's reasonable," said the handsome young man with a nod, pausing before adding, "If your conditions improve, can we battle immediately?"

"Of course!" Ryu replied loudly, wanting to make it clear that he wasn't afraid of failure.

"Very well," the handsome young man suddenly placed his hand on Ryu and Charmeleon's heads, and a faint white light enveloped them. Ryu felt his fatigue dissipate, and he felt as fresh as he did that morning.

"Roar!" Charmeleon puffed up its chest, signaling that it was in excellent shape.

"So, are we ready to battle now?"

"Yes, we are..."

This handsome young man was none other than Aomori, who had come to this cave with Absol to escape the storm. He had first given the Pokémon in the cave a good beating, then encountered Tora and challenged him to complete a mission by taking on three battles but only received one mission completion point.

More importantly, Aomori had learned quite a bit about this world from Tora.

Tora, hailing from the legendary Pallet Town, knew Red and Blue personally. This place was the Kantō region's Viridian Forest, and the Indigo Plateau Championship would take place on the Quartz Plateau in three months.

Finding out that this world was without Red, and that he couldn't witness Red's legendary presence, left Aomori feeling a bit disappointed.

Back to the point, the Pokémon in the cave cleared a space for Aomori and Ryu to battle, showing great cooperation.

"Let the one-on-one Pokémon battle begin. Both sides, send out your Pokémon," Tora officiated the battle.

"Wait a moment, before we start the battle, should we establish the stakes?" Aomori politely raised his hand.

In this world, the Pokémon League encouraged adding stakes to wild battles, but it had to be agreed upon by both sides. Aomori didn't know about this until Tora proposed it and lost two months' worth of living expenses to Aomori.

"Oh, well, I don't have much money," Ryu stammered.

"No problem, if I win, you can lend me your Pokédex to take a look," Aomori kindly offered.

"Sure!" Ryu readily agreed, thinking that Aomori was indeed a good person, and he had misunderstood him earlier.

"Hmm, why didn't Aomori mention what would happen if he lost? He must have forgotten," Ryu thought but didn't voice his concern.

In the preparation phase of the match, Aomori sent out Absol, while Ryu released Charmeleon.

"Absol?" Ryu curiously checked his Pokédex, only to receive the response, "Unknown Pokémon."

It was indeed a rare Pokémon, and upon seeing Absol's handsome appearance, Ryu developed a strong desire to catch one himself. "Once I win, I'll ask Aomori to tell me where I can find Absol. Hehe."

"The battle begins. Challenger Ryu has the first move."

"Charmeleon, use Ember!" Ryu issued his standard opening command.

"...," Aomori folded his arms, not saying a word. Absol had already moved on its own, weaving left and right in a serpentine pattern and charging towards Charmeleon.

As a matured Pokémon, Absol was capable of independent battle.

"Uh, what is this?" Ryu had never seen a battle like this before. Wasn't a normal battle supposed to involve exchanging commands turn by turn? How could he know when it was his turn if Aomori didn't speak?

Ryu was bewildered, and Charmeleon, not receiving any Trainer commands, anxiously spun in place, allowing Absol to seize the opportunity to charge head-on, sending Charmeleon crashing into the cave wall and falling down with spirals in its eyes.

"Charmeleon is unable to battle. The winner is Aomori!" declared Tora. He sighed inwardly; he had lost his first match like this, not knowing when to issue commands. Although he eventually caught on in the next two battles, he still struggled with the orders.

"I lost," Ryu put away Charmeleon with a somewhat forlorn expression.

"But how did you do it, Aomori?"

"In a Pokémon battle, it ultimately comes down to the Pokémon themselves. Trainer commands should be used only when Pokémon are confused. Pokémon should also have their own thoughts; we shouldn't rely solely on Trainer commands. It's the result of my usual training with Absol," Aomori explained, making a rare effort to share his insights, perhaps because he was dealing with a child.

"No, that's not right!" Ryu objected. "Trainer commands are more important; otherwise, what's the point of us Trainers? In the traditional view, the Trainer is the core of Pokémon battles, and people respect Trainers, not an individual Pokémon."

Tora contemplated this quietly.

'Just hang on the wall.' Aomori didn't bother arguing further and extended his right hand toward Ryu.

"What's this?" Ryu took a step back in surprise.

"Your Pokédex."

"Oh, right." Ryu recalled the stakes they had agreed upon and hurriedly handed over his Pokédex to Aomori.

After Aomori asked for instructions on how to use the Pokédex, he returned to a corner with Absol and began to study it with great enthusiasm.

Ryu and Tora remained immersed in their previous battle experiences, each finding a place to sit down and losing interest in chatting.

The cave grew quiet, with only the howling wind at the entrance.

After a while, Ryu grew more and more restless. He stood up, went to the cave entrance, and looked at the white horizon. Raindrops drifting in made him gradually calm down.

"Hey, what's that?"

Ryu suddenly noticed something in the sky not far away. It was a suspicious object that appeared to be rising and falling, moving left and right amidst the storm.

"No, that's not a cloth."

A cloth wouldn't move against the wind like that.

It was a Pokémon, a Pokémon flying freely in the storm, yet also seemingly unable to escape it.

Ryu's heart skipped a beat, and he became alert once more.

He turned back, ran to Aomori, and urgently said, "Aomori, there's a Pokémon outside, caught in the storm! Quick, we need to save it!"

Ryu knew he couldn't rescue the Pokémon from the storm himself, so he relied on Aomori, who possessed mysterious healing abilities.

Aomori frowned slightly and returned the Pokédex to Ryu.

Lacking tools, he had only studied the surface of the Pokédex and made a mental note of the map of the Viridian Forest nearby.

Aomori walked to the cave entrance, and the Pokémon moved aside, making way for him. Ryu and Tora quickly followed.

"There!" Ryu pointed to the sky.

Unlike ordinary people, Aomori, with his unique constitution, had better eyesight and saw it more clearly.

"Don't worry; it's enjoying itself, reveling in the storm."

A Pokémon version of Swellow?

….

Note:

To this day, we still don't know the names of the other two people from Pallet Town, so I just took the liberty of naming them Ryu and Tora (￣▽￣)

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