A/N: Had to edit last chapter because I skipped Chapter 8 by mistake, I've correctly loaded Chapter 8: Talk with Red. It's important so you have to go back by a chapter to read it.
...
Barry walked down the road back to the hotel while contemplating on what Red had told him. Along with his plans for crossing Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon, Rock Tunnel and any other ones like the Pokémon Tower.
The last one irked him badly, partly because this place was the home to Gastlys, Haunters and even Gengars! There were times a trainer would see other Ghost Pokémon of other regions though.
In Viridian Forest the chance of running into a King-rank Beedrill was never inspirational. In places like Mt. Moon and Rock Tunnel he didn't want to discover a new floor that would magically reveal a home of a legendary Pokémon!
Rock Tunnel was also home to some Charmanders, many Golems, a few Rhydons and other Rock types. Though this would be appealing to anybody who just heard the benefits and not the risks (Like Barry a day ago) would think that this was a very special haven.
In the last 14 years floors of Rock Tunnel had broken more than 9 times and the victims weren't known to be survivors.
Imagine tumbling down a long road through an unfamiliar place while the only thing you could think of was how to lessen the pain you were going to feel! It wasn't a pleasant experience.
But on the bright side passing those places meant that it would be legal for you to fly over them. In the Pokémon World, it was illegal to fly to a place you had not visited.
How it became criminal was when people started paying Pokémon Trainers to take them to other distant towns without using Ferries or Airplanes, the worst part of it was that the trainers hadn't even travelled to those places. The Pokémon League then made it mandatory for someone to at least gone there once while using the excuse that deaths weren't uncommon in that business as many had lost their way.
This of course wasn't nice news to Barry after he had learned of it. He had learned the hard way that just because he was him didn't mean that things that happened to other people wouldn't happen to him.
For example, if your friend was robbed you would think the reason was because he wasn't you as being robbed seemed to happen to someone that wasn't you, but when you are robbed you would start to doubt the thoughts that held your other thoughts in orbit.
For Barry this meant that "Because it happened to another person means it can happen to me."
...
The day after he had met up with Red, Barry could be seen running through the streets of the town of mostly humble beginnings.
This morning he awoke to find out that it was 7:10 in the morning. 20 minutes before Professor Oak's classes would begin. He quickly had his bath while brushing his teeth before briskly heading through the doors of the hotel and launching a full-power sprint.
"I must make it." He shouted to himself.
This, however, was just a waste of energy as he burned air while encouraging himself which would be more of a burden to him. He pushed through and arrived at the lab 10 minutes before time.
(Had to remove the 3 paragraphs thanks to some corrections.)
"Nah, I'm not going to think about it." He told himself, "that's the only solution."
With that, he called out his Nidoran so that he would play with it to pass the time. He played a game of fetch with the young Pokémon that was past infant stage but still considered a baby.
12 Minutes Later…
"Today, we won't dive into our usual courses of architecture and history." The professor announced.
What came after from the face of the youths was something not less than relief, the endless struggle to understand what the professor said about architecture always haunted them. At last, they were free from trying to learn how to properly excavate land or learning about the ancient Pokémolis and the others was greater than what they could hope for.
"Today, we will be delving into bonds." He allowed his words to settle before continuing. "As we all know the bonds between Pokémon and Trainers are special, not only do they strengthen the trust, happiness and lifespan of a normal Pokémon. But, the bonds also increase the power of a Pokémon.
At times when Pokémon and human beings alike dig deep into them, they find their partners close. The bond shared by a trainer and his Pokémon are special, this bond also allows humans to do things that were previously out of their reach. That is why the league makes it clear that one should have least have minimum education before owning a Pokémon."
The professor's lecture still seemed like some sort of haven to Barry. There were many things he didn't understand and what actually helped him was not any book that had the information inside, but the professor who taught them according of what he knew they would understand and didn't try to force anything on them.
Reading from a book just meant getting general knowledge that anyone can get. But being taught by someone is entirely different, that's why people opt more to enter university more than just reading from a book and getting general knowledge available to everyone.
This was the same reason why schools were always populated by people was because nobody knew how to do math by themselves, math had always been mysterious that way.
"Bonds also allow people to accomplish the impossible, even the faint ones you all share with your Pokémon. Keep in mind, you cannot, should not and will not and will never abuse the power of bonds. Even the universe made that impossible. There is a reason I gave you all baby Pokémon, some of you might think that it was because I wanted to see how hard you wanted to train, others might think it is because I want the odds at the indigo league stacked up against you.
However, what I want for all of you is to increase this bond, make the bond stronger than it will ever be if you caught an adult Pokémon in the wild. Whenever you are just hanging in the jaws of death, dig deep for the power that your bond will create!"
Barry's eyebrows furrowed, he spoke like he had much experience in that field, he knew that the life of a Pokémon trainer was hard and arduous with difficult time ahead. But for the famed professor Oak, who is still known as one of the strongest Pokémon trainers to speak of such incidents meant that even in the life of the greatest it was the same.
To Barry, what Professor Oak was saying was Ash level shit, except that he used it like second nature.
He would be damned if he ever once lost to Ash in all his career, Ash's winning streak was more unstable than Nigeria's economy (2024)! Lie it wasn't the main concern of the manga author.
"Anyone who doesn't treat their Pokémon right does not deserve a Pokémon. If they are unable to bring out their full potential, it would be foolish when they are expected to bring out a Pokémon's full potential! There is no excuse for losing, there are only reasons for winning!"
'Nice line, I'll steal that.' Barry thought after he had heard the line of the Pokémon professor.
"The journey of a Pokémon trainer is arduous with difficult times ahead every day of the week, but the people you look up to did not give up. If you truly admired them then you do not have an excuse for failing to live up to the expectation that you had for themselves…"
The professor was more of an effective motivational speaker than the person who lectured them history and architecture last week.
A/N: First Pokémon battle and timeskip is coming up on the next chapter. It will finally be what we came here for…
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