David packed up as the sun rose and set off.

He made good progress in the lull as day replaced with night. It was easy to divert away from the light Pokemon cries and he moved smoothly without Pidgey in his arms.

Pidgey had relented to being recalled last night. Only after a very funny attempt to rest on top of his tent though. As soon as she'd settled into a roosting position on the fabric she began to slide off and plopped to the ground with a high pitch shrill.

David had burst out laughing at the sight. His laughter was cut off when Pidgey straightened from her tumble and fixed him with her gaze but after letting him squirm for a minute she looked away and made her 'ball' chirps. In hindsight, he should have been glad she didn't slice the fabric to pieces on her way down.

The whole thing did leave him thinking about her gaze. It was too strong. The way he reacted to it wasn't quite right either. It could be the start of a Move.

Pidgey's ball rested lightly against his chest as he walked. He doubted that she would be waking up any time soon but it was something new to try at their next training session.

-.-

David had built the Pokeball sling yesterday and had grown used to the weight around his neck and against his chest. He barely noticed it anymore. But Pidgey hadn't been in her ball during that time. So when the ball suddenly began to violently twitch and bounce up and down, David jumped.

"Christ." David muttered and lifted one hand up to steady the pokeball and another to steady his heart.

It had been a peaceful morning and he'd fallen into a zen state as he walked. All his attention had been on his surroundings and steps.

David quickly clicked the button on the pokeball and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, Pidgey had her wings spread wide. Her head was twisting back and forth searching the area as she hopped about. She wasn't squawking or making noise but her behaviour reminded him of the other night.

"Good morning, Pidgey." David called softly. He walked slowly up to the jittery bird.

Pidgey let out a low squawk on seeing him and began to hop around him. David held still as the Pokemon completed an inspection. Pidgey stopped in front of him and folded her wings back. David was pleasantly surprised to see her right wing moving smoothly.

Pidgey pecked forward to him.

"Huh? What's up?"

Pidgey pecked slightly to his right this time.

"Where have we gone? I left this morning. We need to go west, to Celadon."

Pidgey narrowed her eyes and hopped a little to the side. She pecked forward twice this time at David. No, she pecked behind him. At his backpack.

"Oh. You're just hungry." David said with a rueful smile. He looked around them. "Let's find a nice spot to stop."

He started walking and Pidgey hopped along beside him.

David took slow bites out of the Aspear berry as he counted their supplies.

Pidgey dug into a sachet beside him. They'd stopped to eat by a large patch of flowers. The bluey purple petals were a beautiful sight. They formed a small meadow between all the trees. It was a peaceful oasis of calm.

Pidgey didn't pay the flowers any attention. When they arrived, she had scanned the area before hopping forward as normal until she realised that David had stopped. It made him wonder if she had a sense of aesthetics. Did Pokemon see art or find things more pleasing to look at? Unlike all the humans he'd met recently, she had no reaction to his hat and scarf. The only time she'd shown a personal preference was over food.

After this meal, they would have 3 sachets left. 3 sachets and an Oran berry. It wasn't enough. He would need to start slowing down and searching for berry bushes.

"Sprout."

The call cut through the woods and both David and Pidgey turned to look at the new arrival to the small meadow.

A lurid yellow head swayed out from behind a tree. The cannon shaped head was blemish free aside from two small beady eyes. The Pokemon swayed again and a narrow stalk-like body with two thick leaf limbs followed the head out.

The Bellsprout was twice the size of the smaller ones he had seen before, easily taller than Pidgey and up to his mid thigh. It balanced on two of the larger roots extending from its body in an eerie take on how a human stood.

Pidgey hopped away from her sachet and raising her wings, gave a low squawk back.

"Bel." The Bellsprout swayed a little in place and replied.

Pidgey chirped and hopped away from the flowers and towards the Bellsprout.

"Pidgey!" David hissed, hand going towards her pokeball. It would take a few seconds to shove everything back into his bag. They could run. There was no need to fight the other Pokemon.

Pidgey ignored his cry and continued hopping towards the Bellsprout. The Bellsprout staggered away from the tree and out into an open area.

David's hand left the pokeball and he started to stuff everything back into his backpack, including Pidgey's sachet which he wrapped up as best he could. It was awkward to do when he couldn't take his eyes off the Pokemon.

The two Pokemon stopped and faced off against each other. With a loud chirp and a "Rout!" they began.

The air around both Pokemon began to turn beige. A familiar haze grew around Pidgey while slithers of beige crawled along the floor towards Bellsprout. The haze grew thick and a few seconds later the slithers stopped.

Neither Pokemon moved.

The Bellsprout lowered itself towards the ground, resting on its stem and slithers started to appear again. The haze around Pidgey was unchanged.

"Crap." David muttered as he realised what was happening.

Pidgey thought Tackle was a defensive move. She had started the battle following the plan he had set out against Fred and Machop. She was going to wait for the Bellsprout to come to her. But the Bellsprout was using Growth. It was happy to take the time and grow stronger.

"Peck Pidgey!" David yelled.

Pidgey moved. Flapping her wings she made large hops towards the Bellsprout. The haze around her noticeably dimmed and David winced. They were going to have to practise holding and forming Tackle while moving.

The Bellsprout shifted but didn't stand up or prepare to dodge as Pidgey approached. David frowned. Did Growth require it to stay still?

The final slithers of beige reached the Bellsprout as Pidgey did. Her last hop turned into a dive and she pounced on the prone Pokemon. The Bellsprout curled both of its leaves in front of itself, unable to dodge this late.

David's forming grin reversed as instead of spearing through the leaves with her beak, there was a pop. Pidgey awkwardly bounced off the other Pokemon and back onto the ground.

The Bellsprout also seemed surprised at the situation. It lowered its leaves an inch to peek out before dropping them fully.

As Pidgey righted herself the cause was made clear. The hazy beige shimmer around her was gone. The weak Tackle she had formed struck before her Peck could.

Bellsprout recovered from its surprise before Pidgey could move. It struck, revealing the logic behind its prone position. The strong roots it walked on earlier rose up and lashed down at Pidgey.

Pidgey shrieked as the two roots lashed out against the front of her left wing.

David's arm shot to Pidgey pokeball and he had it out of the sling and in front of him seconds later.

But he didn't press the button.

Pidgey hadn't darted away from the Bellsprout after the hit to recover. Instead she hopped closer to its head. The Bellsprout began to curl its body to get away from the threat but not fast enough. Pidgey lunged forward with her beak and it was the Bellsprout that made a huff of pain now.

"Tackle!" David shouted. From where he stood it was clear that the Bellsprout's curl, initially to try to move its head away, had changed. Its roots were now curling around behind Pidgey's back.

Pidgey lurched a bit as she halted mid movement while pulling her head back for another Peck. Light beige mist appeared just in time as the Bellsprout struck. The thick roots encircled Pidgey and as the Bellsprout pulled her closer, it began to tighten its grip.

Pidgey let out a light shrill as she began to struggle against the grasp. As the Tackle popped this was echoed in a gasp by the Bellsprout.

"Peck!" David all but screamed as the Bellsprout loosened its grip fractionally with the pop.

Pidgey nodded her head forward and struck the Bellsprouts stalk. It was a light blow that seemed to have little force behind it but the Bellsprout huffed again and went slack.

Pidgey flexed her wings to make space and hopped away from the Bellsprout.

For a moment David thought it was over but the Bellsprout stirred again and slowly pushed itself up onto its roots again.

"Peck." David instructed once more. The wild Pokemon looked like it was on its last legs. One more good hit should make it unconscious.

But Pidgey didn't move.

"Bells." The wild Pokemon uttered in a hoarse voice. It turned and began to sway away, its movements more erratic than before.

Pidgey watched it for a second before hopping back over to David. She chirped loudly the entire way, only stopping where she reached where they had been sitting before. There she hopped around a few times before turning a sharp gaze on David.

'Definitely a move.' David thought as he searched for her half eaten sachet with a chill down his spine.

-.-

David replayed and considered the battle as they walked. The rationale behind it made sense but confused him in another way. Why would wild Pokemon fight until they were unconscious or dead? It provided them no benefit to struggle to an end that left them easy prey or food for any other passing creature. Unless the fight was over them being prey or food of course.

But why had the Bellsprout approached them like it had? Unlike the wild Pidgey they had fought before, there were no berries in the clearing. It might have been the Pokemon's territory and they had wandered in like he had with the Growlithe but it just didn't seem like that. The Bellsprout had walked up in front of them and announced itself.

Had it been a challenge of some kind? Pidgey had reacted near instantly to the call but neither Pokemon had attacked the other until after they faced off against each other.

But why had this encounter been different to the sudden fights they had gotten into before?

A light shrill from Pidgey drew him out of his thoughts and he followed her head off to the left to see… a road?

Endnote:

With lots of time for thinking on the hike, David is starting to pick up on a few things..

I've gone back over all the previous chapters and added dividers in. The FF editor isn't great but I hope it works for ye.

Discord: discorddotgg/qJAhPZ7sXU for PokeWild, Pokemon and other talk.

Maxed959 - I just need to figure out how to get montage music onto the page :D

frankieu - This will be the tone for the next arc (with some sprinkles of other bits as this chapter shows...)