Later that night, Davin and Bark were training in the same spot where they had battled. They had spent the entire day doing that with almost little to no breaks.
"Come on, Bark! Put more power into it!" The Grovyle ran as fast as he could towards the dummy Davin had set up and he hit it with his Focus Punch. After that, he dropped to his knees.
"Bark, what are you doing? We can't stop now." Right then, Davin heard Bark's stomach growl. "Oh, yeah. I forgot you hadn't eaten since this morning." Davin took a can of Pokémon food from his bag and poured it into a bowl.
"Here." He said, giving it to Bark. It immediately started eating when he saw the food. "All right. Once your full, we're going right back to training."
Bark looked at Davin with disbelief with his mouth still stuffed with food.
"Well, come on, Bark. You can't expect to beat Xatu if you don't perfect your moves."
Bark swallowed and stood up. "Grovyle, Gro."
"I know it may seem like too much, but this is what you need if you want to win."
"Gro! Grovyle." He tried to reason.
"Bark, I don't want to hear it. As soon as your done, we're going back to it."
Bark shook his head. "Grovyle!"
"Bark! We need to keep this up if you want to become stronger! Don't you want to defeat Xatu as much as I do?"
Bark gave him a nasty look and, to Davin's shock, he used Pound on him, which made Davin fall and gave Bark the opportunity to run away into the woods.
"Wha-... what the?"
Bark jumped from tree to tree as fast as he could to get as far away from Davin as he could; as soon as he stepped on one of the branches, it broke off and he fell to the ground. He stood up and immediately went back to climbing from the trees.
Meanwhile, Davin was trying to catch up to him. "I don't understand. Why did Bark attack me like that? I was only trying to help."
About 10 to 15 minutes later, Bark had stopped to rest and was breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"Bark!" Davin shouted to him.
When Bark saw him, he wanted to run away, but he was too tired and just stayed where he was.
Davin knelt down to him. "Bark... what's wrong? All I was trying to do was to help you get stronger. Why'd you attack me?"
"Gro." He said, turning away his head.
"I don't get you. Why are you so angry?"
"Grovyle." He said in almost a whisper. "Grovyle, Gro."
Davin sighed. "What are you trying to say?"
"You clueless child." A gruff, old voice said. Both trainer and Pokemon recognized that voice. The same old man who had taught Bark how to use Focus Punch appeared from the bushes.
"Joshu! What are you doing here?" Davin exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm just out here to take a little break from my work. I've been busy for a long time." He turned his gaze towards Bark. "But it's a good thing I showed up at the right time." He petted Bark on the head.
"So, what do you mean by that I'm a clueless child?"
Joshu turned his gaze back to him. "I mean that you don't understand Bark's feelings."
"What are you talking about? Of course I understand Bark's feelings. I mean, he's my Pokémon."
"That may be true, but you are not understanding what Bark thinks."
"What do you mean?" He asked, tiliting his head a bit.
Joshu sighed. "It's obvious to anyone that Bark doesn't like you pushing it to train that hard."
Davin scoffed. "That's not it. Right, Bark?" It shook its head. "What?" He gasped.
"It's true that Bark is loyal to you, Davin, but sometimes it just doesn't feel that it needs to be pushed so hard."
"But-... but how could I have known?" He asked with sadness in his voice.
"Davin, as Bark's trainer, you should be able to know and understand Bark's personality and how it feels towards certain things. That's one of the most important things of being a trainer."
Davin shifted his gaze to the ground with tears forming in his eyes. "I... I never... thought about that before..." He said with his voice breaking. "I... don't... believe it..." His tears started falling to the ground. "Bark... I'm sorry... I didn't know... I... I must be... the worst trainer ever...!"
Seeing his trainer's tears, Bark put his hand on Davin's back and began to stroke it.
"Bark..." Davin whispered.
Joshu stood up and offered Davin a hand. When he was pulled up, Joshu put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Davin... you're not a bad trainer. You love and care about your Pokémon, but sometimes you just misunderstand the love and care your Pokémon give you." Davin sniffled. "You'll learn, Davin... You'll learn." With that said, Joshu walked away, leaving them alone.
Davin dried his tears. "Bark... I really am sorry."
"Grovyle." He shook his head, accepting the apology.
Davin faced Bark. "So... how about we get some sleep and be ready for our rematch tomorrow?"
Bark nodded. "Grovyle..."