The threat of the other trainers were gone. Jake had hidden within the trees of Route Four until they gave up and returned to the city. Inside, Jake was being assailed by a horrible mixture of guilt and sympathy; guilt because he had done something wrong, and sympathy because the trainer he had stolen from had cried that his pokemon journey was over.
Jake slowly strolled down the exquisitely designed garden path, Route 4. It was evening when he had stolen the frogadier, and now it was night. The greens and pinks of the bushes of the flowers brightened up the darkness, and elevated Jake's crestfallen mood.
Jake still felt inferior and illegitimate as a trainer. He was a bad trainer and a thief. However, he had to suppress these feelings so he could think about his journey. Since he now had an actual start to his journey, getting a starter pokemon, he could now battle other trainers and strengthen his pokemon. He could train his scatterbug in double battles with his frogadier.
Maybe if he had gotten a starter pokemon when he began, he wouldn't have had to steal, Jake thought. He could be one of those trainers that only raise a single pokemon with a super powerful bond. But he wasn't fortunate enough to live near a lab to get a starter (to get his scatterbug, he saved his allowance to buy pokeballs then threw them at a scatterbug in his yard), and even if he did he knew he would have still stolen because of his fear.
Jake stopped to admire the nearby fountain. The water gleamed in the moonlight as it streamed down. He stood there, and lost himself in thought.
"Hey, you! Wanna pokemon battle?" A trainer ran up to him.
"Er, no, sorry." Jake didn't stop looking at the fountain.
"Aw, come on! You're not doing anything!"
"I'm... thinking."
"That's not doing anything! Let's go!"
Jake then said nothing, and tried to ignore them. However, the trainer was not content. They kept on pestering and insisting on a pokemon battle. So finally, Jake agreed, just to use his new frogadier. The two distanced themselves apart. Both trainers reached into their bags and grabbed one of their Pokéballs. Jake made sure to grab his frogadier. Then each trainer hurled their pokeball to ground, and they opened with flashes of light. The other trainer's pokemon was an absol.
The trainer wasted no time. "Absol, use Night Slash!"
"Dodge it, Frogadier!" Jake ordered on reaction.
However, the frogadier didn't even attempt to avoid the move. It got hit by Night Slash and was sent sliding back.
"Frogadier, get up!" Jake called, "Use Water Gun!"
The frogadier didn't obey Jake, and instead used Leer. Leer was useless and not the move that needed to be used in that situation, so the other trainer quickly told his absol to attack. The absol tackled frogadier to the ground.
"Frogadier, get up with Agility!"
The frogadier responded with a defiant noise, and didn't use agility.
"Absol, finish him off with Crunch!"
The absol bit into Frogadier, and the battle was over; Frogadier had fainted. Jake was completely mortified. The frogadier hadn't obeyed him! The other trainer called his absol off with a smug smirk on his face.
"Dang. Your frogadier really sucks," the trainer remarked.
"You have nothing good to say; stop talking," Jake retorted.
"Nevermind, I take that back; it's the trainers fault. You suck." He put his hands on his hips.
"Just... shut up." Jake returned his frogadier to its pokeball.
"You're just a bad trainer with a good pokemon." The trainer raised his chin. "Your frogadier would be much better off with me."
"Would it, now?" Jake crossed his arms and neared him. "Why don't you do something about it?"
"Hah! What do you mean? I'm not some pokemon thief."
"Well, guess what?" Jake thrusted a pointing finger at the trainer. "I am, and your absol would be better off with me."
Before the trainer even comprehended what Jake was implying, Jake had grasped a pokeball in his hand and slammed it on the absol to absorb it. Since the pokeball was in his hand, Jake didn't have to take all the time picking it up the floor like last time. So he escaped with the absol with little resistance from the other trainer.
"Get back, loser! Get back!" the trainer called, "You're going to get caught!"
Jake paid the foreboding statement no mind as he ran off into the night. This time, he didn't even feel guilty about stealing; the trainer was a pest. He hadn't planned to steal another pokemon until his journey called for it, but the kid forced his hand. It was quite easy for Jake to steal pokemon (he had been surprised by the simplicity the first time), and he didn't want to get addicted to it or something like that.
Pokeball wiggling in his hands, Jake hid within some bushes. Jake thought that it would be impossible to see him in the middle of night. He would just stay there until the trainer gave up. And so he waited.