Chapter 10: One Sided Rival
Mark slumped down, "We have to go back to eating pokemon I guess"
Through the days of Continued hunting, they stayed closer to the surrounding lake because they found many more pokemon would come by for a drink.
With water and food secured, they set up a permanent camp.
Top had reached level five and was slowing down in his progress, so Noah decided to change their strategy, and instead of hunting three versus one, they would try to limit it to one versus one.
However, Noah made certain that his opponents weren't out of the ordinary like the Wild Ratatta that caused Top such huge injuries, and when they were a higher level, he either gave up when he was alone, or he would have Mark or Ashley help him out, while Ashley and Mark had each gifted him one of their potions, he didn't want to use them easily on fights he wasn't very sure about winning.
On one day Noah had a few pokemon battles with Mark, and he found that the experience was decent during the first fight, but after that, he found the experience gain had dropped sharply. It seemed that only through new challenges would a pokemon gain experience rapidly.
Because of Mark and Ashley taking more and more breaks, Noah often went out by himself to train Top.
Infrequently, Noah would come across some other kids walking up the shore, but they never exchanged more than greetings, that was until Noah met a strange boy.
Walking straight up to Noah, the short brown-haired boy and his Rattata confidently declared "You! My name is Joey!" then he pointed to himself, "Shall we have a pokemon battle!"
Noah responded deadpanned, "No."
Seemingly unsure of what to do next, Joey just stood there, so Noah walked away.
.
Due to the influx of pokemon that came to drink at the shore, there was no shortage of fights if you only walked a little while.
Spending so much time moving day after day had taken a toll on Noah, and he had developed bags under his eyes from continuous overexertion, and a full-body tan, repeated sunburns included.
When he found his appearance in the water he wanted to laugh, he thought he had starting looking similar to his past life.
On the other hand, Top was full of energy, no matter the challenge, it seemed as long as he had enough food and water, he could go on forever.
.
"This is the final day" Noah murmured, "Better make the most of it"
Strolling to the rocky shore, Noah's eyes began scanning for unsuspecting prey.
From the water, something surprising caught his attention, " What the?"
All the pokemon he had seen were Rattatas, Pidgeys, and Spearow, so it was hard to miss anything that was not one of those.
At the shore were five blue pokemon with swirls on their bellies and a long tadpole-like tail.
"PAAA"
Noah looked at the creature's levels and he was surprised, they were all above level twenty!!
As far as he knew poliwags were somewhat rare, but as he was not allowed to catch one, he instead only wondered about what they would taste like. He had grown tired of eating Pidgeys, Rattatas, and Spearows.
He wasn't going to try anything funny, so he simply watched them for a few minutes admiring them, he knew Top had become level ten from all the hours of constant combat, and the pokemon around here were no longer a challenge for it, but even if one of those poliwag split off from the pack, and he could fight it one versus one, he didn't want to risk it. Level twenty was too huge of a gap.
"Come Top"
Turning back, Noah began walking the way he came, he thought it prudent to warn Mark and Ashley from taking on something too much for them to chew, and he didn't know when they would begin heading out to train today.
.
Back at camp, Mark asked Noah while munching on some leftover food, "How do you always know how strong they are if you never fought them?"
"Just a fee-" - Mark cut him off, " Yeah, just a feeling got it."
Noah had noticed Mark had become more irritable as the days passed, but he knew today would mark the last day of the three-week-long test.
Before heading to the shore, Noah reminded Ashley and Mark to train as much as they can, but they seemed mentally worn down.
Noah mused to himself as he walked back into the fray, "It's only been two weeks, but they seem exhausted, is it weird that I still feel normal? am I the weird one?"
Top looked up at him as they walked, seeming to listen, but seeming to not, Noah wasn't sure.
Noah had thought about having Top go train on his own, but he was concerned. Pokemon were smart, but they weren't as smart as humans, at least Top wasn't. He was sure Top would have charged those poliwag and ended up dead in a ditch somewhere if he wasn't around. Trainers aren't completely useless in battle either, the pokeball is also an amazing get-out-of-jail-free card.
When Top gets himself in a bad situation, simply returning him to his pokeball to reposition him somewhere else, or retreat altogether was an invaluable tool, at least in Noah's opinion. He chastised himself repeatedly for not doing so when Top had gotten himself badly injured back then.
.
With time passing quickly, Noah looked up at the setting sun feeling tired as he thinks about his progress, 'Top continues to lose exp every day... when he was level four, it was only a few experience, but now that he is level nine, he's losing quite a bit more. It seemed to reach the top and stay there is going to be a constant uphill battle, especially for the untalented Top… I wonder if things will change with proper food or supplements.'
Noah found that while in the pokeball, the exp loss would be ten times slower, so he made it a habit of keeping Top in his pokeball most of the time.
Looking down at his spirited Rattata Noah slapped his own cheeks in an attempt to perk up, "I said we were going to make the most of today, so we will, we aren't going back until level ten!"
Noah knew it would be tough to navigate at night, and worse due to no flashlight being provided, but Noah found the moon was out, and it was bright enough that he could see somewhat.
Scanning for prey, as usual, Noah was greeted to a surprise, the short brown-haired kid was back!
"Hey there, you were Joey, right? "
Joey turned away and turned up his nose, "Oh it's you, hrmph, I don't have any desire to face cowards!"
Noah tilted his head, "Huh? What are you talking about, and can you not shout, I'm standing right next to you."
However, Joey didn't lower his volume, " Hmph! I'm calling you a coward for not facing me in an honorable battle that day!"
Looking around, Noah found no wild pokemon to battle, so he relented, "You wanted a battle didn't you? Well, it just so happens I'm looking for one."
With eyes lighting up, Joey turned around, " Really? That's great!"
.
Standing across from Joey, he scanned his Rattata, and he found him to be level nine, and the potential being 1.3x
"Your Rattata looks strong, I can see you two have been working hard."
Joey blushed, "D-don't try to distract me, hurry up and send out your pokemon, this battles victory will be mine!"
While Mark's Rattata had already reached level ten, that was due mostly to the potential difference, Ashley's Rattata was only level six after all.
Noah thought that being level nine with that potential was already impressive for a kid, while he didn't put in the same hours as him, he still put in many.
Cracking his neck, Noah tossed out a pokeball.
Joey smiled confidently, "My Rattata might look the same as the ones you've fought, but don't underestimate him!"
Meanwhile, Noah looked deadpanned as the bright-eyed and confident Top charged in without hesitation, his many victories and countless horus of training had removed all hesitation from his steps.
Before Joey could say anything, his Rattata was slammed into and knocked back.
"Wait, I wasn't ready damn it, and you were supposed to call out the attack!"
Noah ignored the complaints and watched Top continue to bum rush his foe like a bull on steroids.
"Ratatta, dodge and use quick attack!"
In response, Noah smiled wryly, 'he's already too close to dodge though...'
Getting rammed in his side, a similar event played out to when Noah had lost to that level six Rattata all those days ago.
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Noah mumbled while returning Top to his pokeball, "Not bad actually, two more victories against another level nine Rattata should be enough, although I won't encounter any wild ones with that strength… and repeated victories against the same foe in a short time won't be worth it."
Meanwhile, Joey was tearfully giving his Rattata a potion when he found his opponent walking off, so he shouted, causing Noah to turn around, " What's your name?!"
"Noah."
"You haven't seen the last of me, I'll defeat you the next time we meet!"
"Mm, train hard." then Noah began walking away, searching for more prey.
With determination, Joey watched until Noah was out of sight, if looks could kill, Noah would be dead.
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Lordcanute
Lordcanute We have finally reached chapter ten! If you have a moment, then please leave a review, once we have ten, it will be more visible, it's time we put this novel on the pokemap! woo!
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