24 Heading to Pallet Town

Cerulean Forest

Sounds of clashing metal followed by occasional sound of electricity could be heard within the southern region of the forest, scaring off nearby Pidgeys into flying away.

Clank! Clank!

Zap!

Three figures of Pokemon appeared to be having a three way battle.

One Pokemon appeared to be a small blue canine Pokemon with a black mask and red eyes. It let out a sharp cry and whirled its fists as round blue light suddenly appeared in between its fists and launched it towards another figure of Pokemon

"Riolu!"

The figure of a bipedal insectoid Pokemon with red, metallic exoskeleton suddenly approached another figure with a seemingly robotic appearance that has a gray, spherical metal body with blue-and-red tipped horseshoe magnets on each side and a single, large eye.

The red insectoid Pokemon let out a sharp cry and launched a tough punch as fast as a bullet, [Bullet Punch]! It used the Steel type energy from the move to dodge the incoming [Vacuum Wave] from Riolu.

"Scizor!"

Suddenly, sparks of electricity came out from the spherical robotic Pokemon as it levitated from the ground. It used electric type energy to dodge Scizor's incoming Bullet Punch by generating magnetism to levitate, [Magnet Rise]. It then let out a robotic cry.

"Magnemite"

Scizor's [Bullet Punch] missed. However, it executed another [Bullet Punch], but this time, it jumped upwards to the direction of Magnemite. With no way to dodge, Magnemite could only gather electricity within its body and launched [Thundershock] towards the approaching figure of Scizor.

However, another [Vacuum wave] approached Scizor, coming from the direction of Riolu.

Scizor could only use the steel type energy from the move to dodge the attack by changing its directory, intentionally causing its attack to miss. [Thundershock], however, couldn't be dodged and hit Scizor successfully.

At this time, while the three Pokemon fought each other in a three way battle, a young man with black wavy hair stood upside down on the sidelines as he slowly executed handstand push ups. He wore a white tattered trousers with a black belt and appeared to be shirtless.

Sweats covered his body as a result of his training. He then stopped and sat below a nearby tree. He grabbed a water bottle from his backpack and drank the water inside it.

While his Pokemon are training, Folker would also train with them. After all, a good leader leads by example.

Folker divided his Pokemon's training into exercises, move mastery, battle experience, and special training methods.

Exercises correspond to physical and mental exercises such as running, push ups, meditation, and etc.

In addition, move mastery training corresponds to training specific moves like [Bullet Punch] for flexibility that would allow it to use the move for purposes other than just straight up punching its opponent.

Battle experience training, on the other hand, as the name implies, is training through battle.

When he only had Scizor and Riolu, he would usually just let them fight each other. When he caught Magnemite, he decided to just let them have a battle royale in order to train their reflexes and ability to react to all sorts of situations.

The more Pokemon he adds to his team, the more interesting this training would be.

Lastly, there's the special training method wherein Folker would adjust his Pokemon's training depending on the environment as well as his Pokemon.

Suppose that they're in a place with a strong magnetic field, it would be perfect for Magnemite to train its electric type attacks. Riolu, on the other hand, can have aura training in just about anywhere.

Currently, his Pokemon are doing battle experience training where they would hone their instincts and reflexes.

Sometimes, they would either use all sorts of moves just to stay in the battle. Some other time, they would add move mastery training and just straight up abuse a single move like Scizor did with [Bullet Punch].

In this kind of battle, Scizor has the advantage since it has decent defenses and with a priority move like [Bullet Punch], it would allow it to utilize its steel type energy to move so fast.

Scizor is just too strong for it to team up with another to take out the other.

It's Magnemite and Riolu that would usually team up with each other, only to end up betraying each other when an opportunity comes. Magnemite is usually a victim when it comes to betrayal since Riolu is rather prepared for such outcomes through its Aura.

Afterwards, he looked at his Pokemon fighting each other in a three way battle as training. His lips curled up as he stood up and said "Alright, that's enough. Let's head back to the city before it gets dark"

Scizor, Riolu, and Magnemite then stopped their battle and followed Folker's figure as they headed back to the city.

...

At this time, on the northern gate of Saffron City, Folker just walked alone through the entrance. He already called his Pokemon back to their Pokeball.

While it's allowed to walk with Pokemon on the streets, trainers would usually walk alone in order to avoid all sorts of troubles such as Pokemon getting lost or attracting trouble.

Ring! Ring!

Suddenly, his mobile phone rang in his pocket. He hurriedly reached for his pocket and grabbed his phone.

He looked at the screen and saw that it's Corin calling him. He then picked up the call.

"Corin, my man, what's up?" Folker asked.

"Have you heard of the Kanto Rookie Tournament?" Corin said.

"Oooh, the Kanto Rookie Tournament. Nope, never heard of it" Folker replied.

"Anyway, let's head together to Pallet Town. Now's our chance to meet the legendary Professor Oak" Corin replied.

"Really? Where are you now? I'm currently at the north gate of Saffron City" Folker replied with enthusiasm.

"Just stay there for a few minutes. I'm on the way. See you" Corin replied and ended the call.

A few minutes later, Corin arrived at the northern gate and met with Folker.