Misstep

-- Day 10 | Cragspur Wilderness --

Deimos felt like the days went by slowly as he walked through the Cragspur Wilderness. He was on autopilot at this point in his journey. Wake up, travel, train, sleep. Roggenrola and himself hadn't battled another Pokemon since the 7th day of the trip. He was primarily focused on training Roggenrola and reaching the southeastern battlefield.

Training Roggenrole was pretty easy. For Tackle, he had it circle the normal-type energy it used throughout its body before having it slam into a tree. Harden was even more straightforward; he told Roggenrola to perform it as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, training Roggenrola wouldn't be as easy as it was now in the future, but Deimos would take it while it lasted. Roggenrola could now perform Tackle in 4.6 seconds and Harden in 1.7. Small gains, but he'd take what he could get.

The issue they had right now was finding Pokemon to battle against to increase Roggenrola's experience with battling. So far, the only Pokemon they had fought was Ekans—an Ekans they had laid waste to with a single move.

Hopefully, they could fight against another Pokemon before they reached the military camp on the southeastern battlefield. If not, he would have to wait until the battlefield to fight. There was no way any soldier within the camp would do a practice battle. An injury to their Pokemon could mean life or death while on the battlefield.

-- Day 13 | Cragspur Wilderness --

Deimos predicted they would reach the Cragspur military camp on the southeastern battlefield in the next day or two. They had reached the last mountain range's peak before the forest separating the Cragspur Kingdom and the Viperia Kingdom. All they had to do now was climb down, which was easier said than done.

Climbing up had been pretty physically demanding for Deimos. He wished that Cragspur used a blimp to shuttle him to the camp, but the cost of transporting a single soldier to the battlefield wasn't worth it. Even he could understand that blimps were rarely used unless they were transporting a company of soldiers.

Slowly climbing down the mountain, Deimos ensured that each place he put a hand or a foot was well secured and wouldn't result in him falling. Continuing at a slow pace, Deimos continued to trek down the mountain, slowly increasing his speed until he was walking down at an average rate.

"Son of a bitch," Deimos cried as his foot caught on an elevated rock, sending him tumbling to the ground. As he stood, he quickly brushed the dirt and gravel off and inspected the shallow scrapes he had received.

He quickly froze while doing that as a shadow loomed over him, blocking the sun shining in the cloudless sky. Slowly lifting his head, Deimos glanced at what was blocking the sun before sprinting down the road.

'I'm such a clutz,' Deimos cursed in his mind as he sprinted down the path.

'It could've been any other Pokemon, but no, it has to be a FUCKING ONIX sleeping in the ground; curse my luck,' he continued to curse in his mind. The only thing on his mind at the moment was running.

That quickly changed as rock impacted a tree to his right, bowling it over from the force of the impact.

'Shit, the Onix knows Rock Throw, not good!' Deimos screamed in his mind as he zigzagged all over the path in evasive maneuvers.

Deimos was chased by the Onix for fifteen minutes down the path before his mind realized he wouldn't be escaping. To the Onix, he was a tasty meal—a free meal at that.

Slinging his bag off his back, Deimos started to dig through it while sprinting,

"Where the hell is my Pokeball," Deimos yelled while struggling to find the Pokeball inside his bag.

"FINALLY!" Deimos yelled while pulling out the Pokeball.

While Deimos was busy sprinting and digging through his bag for the Pokeball, the Onix wasn't. A Rock Throw landed to the immediate right of Deimos, sending him flying through the air with rock shrapnel digging into his arms and back as he tried to protect himself.

Blurrily opening his eyes, Deimos could barely lift his arm, holding the pokeball and tossing it to the side to release Roggenrola. Glancing at his right arm, Deimos could tell that it was broken.

Using his non-broken arm to help himself stand up, Deimos squinted in the direction the Onix was coming from before telling Roggenrola, "Use Harden as many times as you can before Onix attacks."

Roggenrola, upon hearing that, started to spam Harden as fast as it could in preparation for the hits it would take. Onix kept using Rock Throw in attempts to hit both Deimos and Roggenself; Deimos called out to the Onix, snickering to himself, "You aim like a stormtrooper, shorty!"

The Onix, which may or may not be a smaller specimen of its species, was instantly enraged by the taunt at its height. Stopping in its tracks, it reared back as a purple glow flickered in the back of its throat.

"Oh fuck." Deimos cursed as he realized what was about to happen.

"TAKE COVER ROGGENROLA!" Deimos roared as he raced for the trees to avoid the attack the Onix was preparing to use.

Roggenrola, upon hearing Deimos's scream, began running as fast as possible toward the forest. Conveniently in the same direction, Deimos was running. Glancing back, Deimos watched as the Onix leaned forward and breathed. A purple beam of fire roared toward the dynamic duo.

"Shit, shit, shit, FUCKING DUCK!" Cried Deimos as he dove to the floor. Roggenrola, instead of ducking, looked back to see what was the cause of its trainer's panic. The Dragon Breath that the Onix had unleashed at them scorched over the top of Roggenrola, barely missing it.

As soon as the attack was over, the Onix took deep breaths as if tired from releasing such a powerful attack.

Seeing an opportunity to counterattack, Deimos quickly told Roggenrola, "Tackle, quick!"

Roggenrola began powering up Tackle as soon as it heard the command and started to close the distance to Onix. Onix, upon seeing this, did the same. Both Pokemon glared at each other in a race to be the first to complete it. Roggenrola finished charging up the Tackle before the Onix and instantly shot off like a missile at the Onix.

Onix, unable to charge up its Tackle in time, attempted to meet the attack with a desperate swing of its tail. Onix's tail and Roggenrola's Tackle collided with each other, sending up a cloud of dust. Onix came stumbling out of the dust with a few cracks on the rock of its tail, while Roggenrola looked perfectly fine.

"Again!" Deimos called out in excitement.

In that moment of excitement, Deimos forgot that Onix could still fight and move. As Roggenrola began to charge up another Tackle, Onix sprang forward and started to coil around Roggenrola using the move Bind.

The only thing Deimos could think of Roggenrola doing to get out of its predicament was to finish charging Tackle. If it could finish charging Tackle before Onix choked it out in its Bind, it could create space to escape from its clutch.

"Hang in there and finish charging Tackle, then use it, Roggenrola! Escape when its grip loosens!" Deimos called out, praying that Roggenrola heard him.

The seconds seemed to tick by as Deimos waited for something to happen. Finally, when Deimos was about to lose all hope, Onix gave a great shudder and loosened its grip by a tiny bit, allowing a small three-foot rock to slip out. Roggenrola instantly created more space between itself and Onix, now cautious of its physicality.

The two Pokemon stared at each other, neither making a move for over a minute. Finally, Onix snorted, turned, and drifted away back up the path.

"Roggenrola, stay alert," Deimos said, unwilling to believe that the Onix would leave them alone like that. His luck was good, but he didn't think the Onix wasn't still hungry. Yes, he had Roggenrola for protection, but at the same time, the damage they had done to the Onix was superficial.

The Onix had taken one momentum-boosted Tackle and one without momentum. It had also spent energy using Dragon Breath, which drained it. Roggenrola was squeezed tight, but that was honestly about it. If anything, the battle could've gone either way still.

After waiting five minutes to see if the Onix would return, Deimos continued to walk down the path with Roggenrola. A few hours later, once it was dark out, Deimos called Roggenrola over to test a theory that he had. Pokemon grow faster after battling.

Before the battle against Onix, Roggenrola could use Harden in 1.4 seconds and Takle in 3.5 seconds.

"Roggenrola, the great battle against the Onix earlier. Proud of you, buddy. Now let's see if you've improved your moves at all." Deimos spoke, excited to see if his theory was correct.

"Rola," Roggenrola said in agreement. Roggenrola then proceeded to use Tackle and then Harden.

Deimos had a grin after timing both moves. "Great work Roggenrola. You've decreased Harden to 1.2 seconds and Tackle to 2.7!" He spoke.

"Rola!" Roggenrola cheered, excited that it had improved its capabilities once more.

After jotting down the updated times for the moves, Deimos proceeded to set up camp and prepare for the night. Hopefully, they could reach the southeastern battlefield the next day and see the mission that Captain Ujiteru had sent them on.