Soon the night finally reached its peak and we decided to stop for some rest. Just now the genius idea came to my head to stay at Bill`s house for a night. But it was too late to turn back, also I`m used to sleep under the open sky sometimes. Misty didn`t mind that too.
With a help of Dumpling I made a bonfire and let Misty cook some of her special travelling can food. This was quite delicious, to my surprise. I sent out my pokemon to have a rest on fresh air and have some eat.
When I sent out my third pokemon Golbat he just flew away to the nearest tree and hang on it.
"I need to deal with this guy." I stated looking at Golbat. "During the challenge he showed himself quite a battler, but he didn`t obey my orders. Actually he didn`t even let me to order anything."
"How did you catch it?" Misty asked poking the bonfire with a stick.
"I was in mount Moon. The flock of Zubats attacked me from the darkness and I had to run away. Dumpling tried to keep them away, but this one… This one Zubat was too fast and agile for us to run away from. In a moment he reached us… and forced to fall down the hole in floor. Well, so happened that Dumpling grabbed him so we took him with us. Down there I found him in the ground, heavily damaged, and caught."
"So… You caught him without an actual battle? Didn`t even tried to?" Misty asked raising here eyebrow.
"Seems so… But does it matter?"
"Sometimes it is." She petted my Dumpling and he quietly rumbled in return. "Pokemon like to battle. They like to show their strength. And they like no one else know what an honor in battle is." She stopped for a second and then turned her head to me with a serious look. "Catch without battle doesn`t honor the trainer much."
That looked a bit intimidating from her side, but she has a point. I never imagined pokemon to worry about their honor, but… Just some time ago I didn`t know almost anything at all about them. The time goes and I learn.
"Does that mean… He doesn`t respect me?"
"I guess so. Would you in his place?"
"Maybe not… But what should I do? Battle him?"
"You haven`t proved yourself to be stronger than him. Only then he will respect you as you deserve. This is the common way to do it."
"But this is not going to be easy. He`s so fast… We need to think about the strategy."
I stood up and looked around. First, I need to find a good place to battle my opponent. A field nearby looks good, and we could use high grass to hide from his sight, but rustle can do the opposite – attract his attention and reveal us. The whole Zubat evolution line is known for its excellent sound perception – this fact knows everyone, not just trainers.
So we need to think about something else… What moves can we also expect? I know about Astonish. Maybe, Leech life too. Confuse Ray? Possible. In the battle with Quartz he used Bite on him – this is definitely his known move. Maybe he even knows Wing Attack – and that is not very good for my Reaper. Damn, I should have checked his move set in PokeCenter…
I walked around the place thinking about the battle with Golbat. He is fast and agile, he can dodge pretty much of attacks that he`s aware of. That means we need to strike suddenly and from behind. Like in Iron Rogue maneuver, but do it as quiet as we can so he can`t hear us approaching from behind.
"Dumpling, Reaper, follow me. We need to do some training."
My statement surprised everyone. And I could understand them – training in the midnight isn`t usual thing to see. But I wanted to deal with Golbat right here and right now. Well, with a delay of some time, of course.
"Are you sure that you want to go training now?" Misty asked. "You need to have some rest."
"It doesn`t care if I need rest. It`s not about me, it`s about my crew. They are rested and ready to have some training, and we`re good to go. Also, I need to do some training before challenging Cerulean City gym on my way back."
"Really? Are you going to challenge our gym?" She asked with smile like she`s into something.
"Yeah, I do. It`s Water-type, am I right?"
"Yes, it is…"
"Then I definitely have to use any spare moment to train. I`m gonna beat that gym leader!"
"I wouldn`t be so sure it will be that easy…" She said turning back to bonfire.
"Why would you know?" I said already leaving the place. She didn`t have time to reply, but I didn`t need her to.
Nearly an hour passed after that, while I was training my Dumpling for the upcoming battle. Reaper was just the spectator for this one, but I think he got some useful experience here too. We trained with our Ember and Metal Claw moves, trying to make them stronger. We experimented with some my new maneuvers that can be useful in the future and even had to fight some wild pokemon to fix our skills.
I noticed Misty watching over us for the last few minutes. She was near the tree, observing our training and proudly smiling for some reason.
"I guess we`re done here. Nice job, Dumpling." I sprayed a potion on him and we headed back to the camp. Misty snorted and followed us.
Golbat was still there on tree when we returned and looked back at me when I approached him.
"So, you`re too proud to fight under my flag, I get it. But listen here, big guy… I need you. My mission is very important and thus I need to gather a strong team. And you`re a strong battler."
Golbat turned completely to me and stared into my eyes. That felt uncomfortable but I continued my speech.
"The rules state that I have to catch you correctly. I don`t care about the rules, but if I need to show you who is the boss here, so I will."
He understood me perfectly and took battle stance.
"I challenge you to a battle!"
He jumped off the tree to the ground and spread his wings. Dumpling jumped in front of him even before my command – he was for long ready for this. Misty sat comfortably on the trunk nearby and watched for the battle.
"Let`s start with Ember!"
Dumpling jumped closer to Golbat and directed a good pack of embers into him, but opponent easily dodged that and counterattacked with his favorite move – Astonish. That struck my pokemon pretty good, but not physically – much more psychologically. Golbat in a moment retreated back and rushed back to attack once more.
"Dumpling, Shadow Retreat maneuver!"
Charmeleon quickly recovered after the last attack and faced Golbat quickly approaching to him. At the last second to collision my pokemon exhaled a huge cloud of dark smoke right into opponent`s face and jumped back covering himself in the veil of smoke. Golbat was blinded for a moment, missed the target and crushed into the ground instead.
The smoke was so thick I could barely see the silhouettes of battlers and orient just by sound. The crashing sound was pretty loud.
"Continue with Metal Claw!"
Dumpling used the moment of Golbat`s weakness to attack him from the cloud, and that attack was pretty successful. But our opponent wasn`t going to surrender now as he threw Charmeleon away and tried to fly higher. We have already faced flying types that try to escape us in the air, but this time we need to be more careful.
"Nice one, give him another Smokescreen higher and continue with Trick Away maneuver!"
I hope this will work as we trained. Dumpling exhaled another cloud of smoke raising its level even higher. The column of smoke became so huge it even covered the moon in the sky. Now we got Golbat caught inside it, completely deprived of his vision. He still has great hearing, but this is the thing our new maneuver should handle.
Dumpling ran to the tree and jumped on it. Golbat definitely could hear the sound of it so immediately faced him to attack. But in the next second Dumpling threw a small stone into the opposite tree, causing another sound to attract Golbat`s attention from the other side. Opponent prepared to attack the new location and gave us the chance. When he was distracted, our time to strike has come.
"Finish him with Metal Claw!"
The attack was quick and merciless. Golbat was confused in sounds coming from different sides and couldn`t realize Dumpling`s real location and that`s why he couldn`t even try to dodge it. After a second he was hit by strong and hard claw of Charmeleon, causing both of them to fall on ground. Dumpling landed right on Golbat, but the second one was already unable to battle.
I came closer to fainted Golbat and used the prepared Revive in my hand on him. Very soon he came to senses and looked at me with suspicion.
"So, big guy... I proved that I`m strong enough to have you in my team, did I?"
Golbat just looked away resentfully. But he didn`t resist me anymore. He didn`t try to attack me in return or do something nasty like this.
I got him now. I`ve won not just that battle, but also the whole war. This small war…
"So, we`re partners now, right?" I stood up and looked at Golbat with a serous smile. He stood up from the ground too and took wing to height of my eyes. Just now I realized how contradictory this pokemon is. Small angry eyes, huge jaw that is always opened, veiny wings… Somebody could say this pokemon to be horrifying, and I heard a lot that no one likes Zubats and Golbats. But right now… I think began to do so.
"That was an interesting battle so see." Misty came closer to us applauding. "Did you really created and honed this strategy just in one hour?"
"Yeah. It wasn`t that hard, right, Dumpling?" I petted my Charmeleon nearby and gave him a chocolate bar from my pocket. He already learned to open it so I didn`t worry about him eating the wrapping. Judging by his looks he really like that.
Suddenly a light poke of something sharp in my back made me turn back. The Reaper was behind me staring in my eyes. I instantly realized that he wants it too.
"I`ve got one for you too."
I unwrapped the chocolate bar and handed it over to Reaper. He took it with his stings and started to eat slowly.
"So… Free chocolate today?" Misty said looking at me shyly and clapping her eyes.
"Well, you didn`t battle in the name of me… But I like your cute face, so you've earned it too." I handed over another chocolate bar to Misty and noticed how happy she became from it. Looks like they say the truth about happiness hormones in chocolate.
I looked at Golbat hovering in front of me. I could never imagine to see a jealousy on a face like Golbat`s but that was definitely it.
"Nah, take this too. I`m too kind today." I took another chocolate bar from my pocket, unwrapped it and threw right into Golbat`s huge mouth. He started to chew this thing intensely and, I guess, he liked it too. "Nice thing, yeah? I knew you will like it. Welcome to the team!"
Golbat returned to his point on tree and stared at the moon. I hope now everything is okay between us. I could really use the skills of flying-type pokemon in my quest for Bellsprout.
"You didn`t give him a nickname yet, do you?" Misty asked with her mouth full of chocolate. I found this funny and replied reflectively.
"No, I didn`t." I got to think about it. The name could really help in building stronger bonds between me and my pokemon. "For some reason even couldn`t think about it earlier."
"What is his strongest part? What is the most remarkable thing about him?"
"The most remarkable thing? Speed, I guess. He is very fast."
"You could think about the name connected to it. Because this is the thing to be proud of." Misty finished her chocolate bar and laid on her sleeping bag.
"Good thinking. From the first meet he surprised me with this. He chased us in mount Moon and got us just in a blink of eye… He easily dodges almost any attack when he wants too and strikes back. He is there… Just blink – and he is gone, he is behind you, already rushing to attack once more. And you even do not have time to blink an eye as he will hit you again and again..."
"I think I know what name you should give him."
"I know too. Moment. Moment the Golbat." I said raising my sight to my pokemon on tree.
"Actually I wanted you to call him Blinky, but this will do too. Sounds cooler."
"Yeah, maybe." I came to the tree and quickly climbed up to the branch where Moment was sitting. He noticed me and watched me climbing the whole way up but didn`t move at all.
"So… Your name will be Moment. Do you like it?"
He didn`t reply – just turned away from me and continued staring at the moon. Quite strange behavior for a Golbat, I should say. But for now I`m used to strange things.
I sat comfortably on the branch and looked at the moon too. There was definitely something attractive in it, so I couldn`t look away anymore. But I didn`t wanted to. Soon the fatigue of recent days reminded me about itself and I fall asleep right on this branch.