Chapter 21 : The First Battle!

Rhyhorn's past was interesting, to say the least. He grew up in a colony having several hundred Rhyhorn and Rhydon. Unfortunately, his colony was attacked by the nearby Golem colony and they lost. Rhyhorn escaped when they had nearly lost the war and wandered around.

Since the colony was close to Saffron City, he unknowingly travelled towards it. En route, he ran into a Beedrill hive and smashed into a tree, causing the Beedrills to consider him a threat. As a result, he was brutally attacked. It was during this fight that he learnt Bulldoze as well as Dig, the latter helped him escape from the relentless attack.

While he was escaping through the underground, he hit something extremely solid and hurt his hind leg. Since he was scared, he didn't investigate and continued running. Thanks to his luck, he avoided running into any Trainers and only ran into some weak wild Pokemons which kept draining his energy until he was finally caught by Orion.

Orion thought, 'Hmm, a fight among different Pokemon species in the wild… If I can plunder the Golem colony, I will gain a lot of resources to help Rhyhorn grow properly. Unfortunately, that is impossible right now.

Hmm, it's time to head out again. I need to level Rhyhorn up. The only way to do so is by fighting. And, I also need some live practice on how to fight with Rhyhorn. I also need to make some money. If I can earn up to 10-15 thousand Pokecoins every month, I could afford to catch another Pokemon. That should be my goal for the time being.'

Having made up his mind, Orion left the city once again after nearly a month! Orion didn't want to take too much risk. So, to start with, he decided to just do what he was doing earlier and fight with the Pokemons he usually encountered.

On the fourth day after he began leaving the city, Orion finally heard a noise. He immediately faced in that direction and called Rhyhorn out. Seconds later, two Rattata appeared in front of him. They became alert on seeing the Rhyhorn

Orion smiled and thought, 'My first Pokemon battle…'

Orion immediately commanded, "Rhyhorn, use Bulldoze!"

Rhyhorn lifted his front legs and stomped on the ground with a lot of force. It created a shockwave that moved towards the two Rattata. In an instant, both Rattata were hit and their legs were hurt. They lost a good chunk of their HP as well.

Immediately, one of the Rattata began charging towards Rhyhorn while the other ran to its left. Orion instructed, "Rhyhorn, use Smack Down on the one in front of you."

Rhyhorn opened his mouth and fired a golden orb at the incoming Rattata. At the same time, Orion kept his eye on the Rattata who escaped in a different direction. The Rattata tried dodging the attack and moved to its right. It barely managed to dodge the attack and continued running towards Rhyhorn. Orion commanded, "Rhyhorn, use Tackle! Don't let him dodge this time!"

Rhyhorn immediately began charging. As soon as the Rhyhorn began charging, the other Rattata turned around and began charging towards Orion. Orion noticed it and cursed, 'Shit!'

He immediately grabbed a couple of needles and threw them at the Rattata. At the same time, he began moving towards his Rhyhorn and shouted once again, "It will try to avoid you. Ensure that you hit, Rhyhorn!"

As Orion expected, Rattata tried to get out of the way by jumping above Rhyhorn, but Rhyhorn jumped up slightly as well and hit Rattata, sending it flying away for some distance.

At that time, Orion was using his psychic powers to target the Rattata heading towards him with needles. Unfortunately, the Rattata was too fast. It dodged all the needles with ease. Thankfully, it wasn't very close to Orion as it was initially pretending to run away from Orion and Rhyhorn. Orion's needles further slowed it down as Orion didn't allow it to run straight towards him. In addition, Orion was already moving towards Rhyhorn.

Orion shouted, "Rhyhorn, turn around and attack this Rattata with Smack Down."

Smack Down was the only ranged attack Rhyhorn had apart from Bulldoze. In this situation, Smack Down was much better as Orion would be hit by Bulldoze as well.

Rhyhorn immediately turned around and began preparing Smack Down. He looked at the other Rattata and fired it at the Rattata. By now, Orion was only a couple of meters from Rhyhorn. As a result, the Rattata was very close to Rhyhorn as well. It tried jumping out of the way, however, it didn't have enough time. The attack hit it and the orb engulfed the Rattata.

Immediately, Rattata felt a massive force pull him downwards. Rattata, who was just a few inches above the ground, slammed down into the ground. The impact was so brutal that dust arose from the ground.

Blood began spurting out from Rattata in all directions as its tiny stomach was blown and its insides burst out! Some of the blood sprayed on Orion, leaving some blood on his clothes and face. Rattata died on the spot! The ground below was dyed red and Orion could see several of its internal organs.

Orion, who had never entered into a fight that resulted in so much blood flowing and ended in death, was stunned for a moment. Though he could endure the sight of blood, the sight of organs spilling on the ground made him feel nauseated, momentarily distracting him. Unfortunately for him, distractions while being in the wild were fatal! It was the major cause of death among new trainers.

Orion heard Rhyhorn's roar and was snapped out of his distraction. He turned to his left. His eyes widened as he saw that the other Rattata had passed Rhyhorn. Unlike Orion, Rhyhorn noticed it and tried attacking it. However, he had just attacked and had to turn around once again to attack the Rattata that was heading towards Orion. As a result, he was slightly slow and the Rattata jumped over him and towards Orion.

Reacting on instinct, Orion jumped backwards. Rattata had jumped in the air and couldn't change directions. As long as he avoided the attack, he could hide behind Rhyhorn and win the battle.

Slight relief appeared on Orion's face as he got out of Rattata's path. However, his eyes widened as he noticed Rattata's tail moving like a whip. He immediately raised his left arm. As Rattata passed by him, its tail slashed towards him like a whip! Its target was Orion's neck. Thankfully, Orion raised his left arm in time and Rattata's tail whipped the back of his forearm instead.

The tail had whipped him with such strength that his skin was cut open in an instant. A bloody cut appeared on Orion's left forearm. He felt pain like never before. After all, though he had died in his previous life, his death was instant and without any pain. Under normal circumstances, he would have screamed in pain. However, if he did that there, he would only attract more wild Pokemons.

Orion gritted his teeth and endured the pain. Without a moment's hesitation, he retreated behind Rhyhorn while saying, "Smack Down once again!"

Rhyhorn didn't need to be told again. He immediately fired it on the Rattata that had just landed on the ground. Just like the other Rattata, it couldn't dodge this time and met the same fate. Both Rattata were killed!

However, there was no joy on Orion's face. Instead, his expression was grim. He had nearly died while facing two low level Rattatas! Despite spending more than 2 and a half years in this world, he still thought that it would be an extremely easy battle. Unfortunately, reality hit him hard. The pain in his left arm reminded him of it constantly.

Orion cursed internally, 'Almost killed by two Rattatas. I wonder if I should commit Seppuku out of shame. In my first encounter with a wild Pokemon, I ran away from a Pidgey and in my first Pokemon battle, I was nearly killed by a Rattata.

If I had been a second slower in raising my left arm, Rattata's tail would have slashed my throat. What an embarrassing way that would be to go. Killed by a low level Rattata! Maybe I really should commit Seppuku.'

Orion looked at Rhyhorn. He smiled and stroked his head while saying, "Great job, buddy. We have won our first Pokemon Battle!"

Even though he was hurt, Orion knew that this was a great opportunity to bond with Rhyhorn. He wouldn't miss it. As he expected, Rhyhorn liked it. However, he quickly looked towards the blood on his arm and said softly, "Rhy…"

Orion said, "It's fine. It'll be healed in no time. But we should go for now. It'll be troublesome if the scent of blood attracts more wild Pokemons."

Orion climbed on his back and said, "Let's go back to the city."

[A/N: Oof! That was harder to write than I thought. Had to rewrite once because I wasn't too satisfied with the initial draft. Anyways, would love your feedback and criticism regarding this fight. Hopefully, I'll be able to improve more as the story goes ahead.]