Chapter 20

Without thinking, Bob threw the pokéball he had in his hand.

"Pidgeotto!" Dio cried, looking at the kid curiously.

'So the revive does work if the pokémon is inside,' Dio then turned to look at Bob with confusion.

Then, Dio remembered the spar with Guts. This made him cross.

"No flying-type will protect you," The boy said, throwing his own pokéball.

It released the enemy.

"Golbat!" It spoke, which left Bob puzzled.

The boy said that belonged to a 'gang'. It was expected that he would have a certain pokémon, which is Houndoom in this case.

But now, Bob couldn't take it seriously as it was a Golbat and not the promised fire-type.

"This is false advertising," Bob muttered, looking away.

"Now be defeated," The kid, however, was still serious, "Golbat, use Astonish!"

'Whatever, he is still a threat,' Bob took a breath, "Dio, Gust,"

"Geotto," Dio sighed, and with a single flap, sent a gale of wind towards the poison-type.

Golbat was throttled and damaged by the wind but flew with its big mouth open towards Dio.

"Golbat!" The attack hit, and the flying-type was taken off guard as Golbat shouted during the action.

"Wing Attack,"

Dio was annoyed by the shout, so he blasted forward, bashing into the poison-type.

"Steel Wing, Golbat,"

The wing was blocked by Golbat's own wing, which looked as if it turned to steel.

'Fascinating,' Bob thought, "Wing Attack, Dio,"

"Pidgeo!" Creating space, Dio flew with his glowing wings towards the target.

"If it didn't work the first time, it won't work the second time!" The boy shouted, "Block again the Steel Wing, Golbat!"

Once again, the poison-type raised its metal wings, readying for the attack.

Dio bashed his wings into the solid guard, creating a metallic noise that rang across the field.

It ended with Golbat being flung to the right from the next attack.

'Good thing Dio knew about the Quick Attack," Bob thought as the enemy recovered.

"Use Absorb to regain energy," The boy ordered, which lead to a few green orbs seeping from Dio and floating to Golbat.

"Dio," Bob said, getting the flying-type's attention, "Twister,"

Dio couldn't help but smile as he began to rotate, turning a spinning set of wind into a raging tornado.

It caught Golbat, damaging it as it hovered.

"Nail that Pidgeotto with Poison Fang!" At the kid's order, Golbat's upper two fangs began to ooze a purple odour.

The poison-type flew forward, breaking out of the tornado with the objective to bite with its jaws.

"Sand Attack,"

Dio flung a dust cloud in front of himself and directly into the eyes of his foe.

"Gol!" Golbat attacked but bit nothing.

However, it was smashed by a wing with the strength of a hammer, sending it down.

"Golbat!" The boy exclaimed, but the poison-type was knocked out.

'Wonder if he has more pokémon?' Bob thought, looking at Dio, 'Maybe he actually has a Houndoom?'

"Damn it," The boy returned Golbat, "You'll pay for this! Our leader will hear about this interference!"

With that, the kid hopped on his bike and rode back the way he once came.

'Kinda disappointed that there was not Houndoom,' Bob thought, sighing, 'but this gang leader... Maybe he or she is to be taken seriously,'

An unpleasant groan from Dio pulled Bob from his thoughts.

"Still upset over that spar?" Bob asked.

The flying-type nodded, patting himself off.

"Alright," Bob scratched in his bag and pulled out a notebook, "Look here,"

After some scribbling, he showed Dio the records.

___

[Guts]Quilava: 5-2-0 (4W Streak)

[Dio]Pidgeotto: 8-1-0 (2W Streak)

Geodude: 3-0-1 (1A Streak)

Spinarak: 1-0-0 (1W Streak)

Wooper: 1-0-0 (1W Streak)

Hoothoot: 0-0-0

___

"Two more wins," Bob explained, lifting two fingers, "and you'll be my first pokémon to reach ten wins,"

"Geotto," Dio nodded, understanding some of it.

"Which, in your terms," He continued, "you'll make it before Guts,"

Hearing this, the flying-type jumped with joy.

Bob returned him inside his pokéball, 'Now, to collect some branches,'

After a while, he stacked them all in a small pile. By now, it was dark, but Bob was able to bring out Guts.

"Ember, Guts," Bob pointed at the branches.

"Quil," He understood, as a breath later, a crackling fire was ablaze.

Bob sighed, sitting at the fire, warming his hands.

'That kid said he would tell the leader,' He thought, taking out another stored sandwich to eat, 'Wonder if they would attack me,'

'Oh yeah,' Bob returned Guts and brought out Spinarak and Geodude.

He had a disk in his hand.

"Need to show you two something,"

---

The next day, Bob had a frown as he strolled down the trail.

'The disk broke,' He thought, 'so the limit is three, apparently,'

His mood changed once buildings came into view within the distance.

It was Azalea Town.

Average town, average size.

Some time passed as Bob walked down and explored the streets, even walking past a restaurant.

'Pretty neat,' He thought, finding the Pokécenter, 'now I can move my pokémon around,'

With a push, Bob entered the building, seeing a certain nurse at the round counter.

'Do I need to rest my pokémon?' He thought, 'Guess I'll better be safe than sorry,'

So with that, Bob walked up to the counter.

"Good morning, and welcome to the Pokécenter," This nurse Joy said, putting on a small smile, "how can I help you?"

"Can you heal my pokémon?" Bob asked, which received a nod from the nurse.

After giving her his six pokémon, he walked to the computer to the side.

A pause was unleashed.

'Maybe I should've done the switching first before going to heal,' Bob sat down on one of the benches, 'I'll wait then,'

A few minutes passed, and he was called to collect his pokémon.

When he did, he saw that Joy's demeanour was on the brink of disgust.

Though, she kept herself smiling.

"Here's a tip for next time," She said, adjusting her nurse hat, "Don't rely on potions,"

Bob was a little confused.

"I can see you're still young," Nurse Joy spoke, sighing, "remember, you may heal your pokémon's wounds, but it won't heal their fatigue,"

"Oh, okay," Bob nodded.

"It's a good thing you came now," She then narrowed her eyes, "or signs would've shown,"

A moment later, she was back to normal.

"Thanks for your patronage," she said, bowing, "hope to see you again,"

Soon, Bob finally was at the computer.

'That was weird,' He thought, pressing a button, 'but that explains why trainers use these establishments,'

With a flick of the screen, it was on.

After clicking on the storage, which housed his pokémon, something was off.

Two pokémon.

Weedle and Caterpie.

Were gone.

Only Rattata and Larvitar remained in the box.

Before Bon could enter a tirade, an icon appeared, flashing red.

So he clicked it.

[You have (2) unread messages]

'Message?' Bob thought, 'From who?'

Another click.

The message was from none other than Professor Elm.

'Oh, that guy. Must be important.'

So, Bob's eyes locked onto the screen.

[Greetings, Bob. I hope you are doing fine and that this message finds you well.

With the agreement of extensive research on pokémon, I can extract these captives from your storage to my lab here in New Bark Town. Do not fear if they are gone or lonely for they are safely here with me.

I only take the ones you may not be using at the moment. However, give me a heads-up if you require one.

No need to reply.

From: Professor Elm]

'Okay,' Bob didn't mind, 'As long as he does not take Larvitar,'

'Now, the second message,'

Bob moved the cursor over to the next one.

[P.S I spilt boiling coffee over my keyboard and monitor. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't the only computer in the lab with this program.

Repairs will take some time.

This was sent via the Pokécenter in Violet City.

From: Professor Elm]

'Why...am I not surprised?' Bob felt as if he was hit in the head with a hammer and lost brain cells, 'Whatever, I have something more important to do,'

He worked with the storage for a while.

A few minutes later, he was out of the Pokécenter.

'Time to train a pseudo,' He thought, walking forward.