Three hours later, Cain had been walking through Diglett Cave for exactly three hours, passing an underground market and countless unknown branching tunnels.
After buying a large amount of food at a restaurant specially built underground, Cain and Slowpoke ventured into one of those unknown tunnels for the first time.
Cain held a torch specially designed for cave exploration. This metal torch could burn indefinitely with just a little fuel added. Even a breeze couldn't extinguish it, making it an excellent outdoor lighting tool.
After walking for fifteen minutes in the tunnel's darkness, Cain released his Pokémon to enjoy lunch.
Skorupi, who had never spent so much time in a Poké Ball before, jumped onto Cain as soon as he was released, refusing to get off. If not for the lure of food, it would have been hard to convince him to climb down.
Lunch passed in a cheerful atmosphere.
Cain decided not to return his Pokémon to their Poké Balls and continued venturing deeper into the tunnel.
Earlier, he had Slowpoke mark a psychic coordinate at the entrance of the branching tunnel, which would allow them to return to the starting point in case of an emergency, either through the Teleport move or by simply following the signal.
So, Cain felt no pressure.
He wasn't sure if it was luck or something else, but the first branching tunnel Cain chose seemed endless, so he decided to keep walking.
As they advanced, they got further away from people, and wild Pokémon began to appear more frequently.
Most of them were Zubat and Rattata.
Due to the lack of natural light, Cain was the first to bring light to this place, which startled the wild Pokémon, causing them to attack.
The system detected that these Pokémon were not very high level, ranging between level 8 and 15, which made them perfect targets for Gastly and Skorupi to train.
Although Skorupi was only at level 5, his quality advantage exceeded that of the wild Pokémon, so the battle wasn't one-sided. Plus, Gastly assisted him, allowing Skorupi to hold his own quite well.
This was Skorupi's first battle, so sometimes he reacted slowly. After receiving an order from Cain, he would hesitate for a moment before executing the attack correctly.
Sometimes, his slow reaction caused the wild Pokémon to hit him. Fortunately, Cain had brought plenty of potions, along with Miltank's milk for energy replenishment. As long as he wasn't defeated in one hit, Skorupi could gradually wear down his opponents. If necessary, Gastly would step in, ensuring victory.
However, the first time Skorupi was attacked, he nearly cried from the pain, as he had been protected by Cain and the rest of the team since birth and had never been hurt.
But when he tried to seek comfort from Cain, he only saw his stern face, with no hint of consolation.
With comfort from Slowpoke and Miltank, Skorupi managed to hold back his frustration, channeling all his anger toward his opponent.
That's how Skorupi defeated his first Pokémon, a level 9, low-quality Rattata—a fairly weak rival, but the victory filled Skorupi with joy for a good while.
After the battle, Cain immediately treated him and praised him for his effort.
Skorupi, who had held back his tears, almost burst into tears again, but this time from happiness, feeling all his frustration melt away.
From that moment, Skorupi understood that during battles, his trainer Cain would show him no mercy or compassion, and only by fighting with all his effort would he receive Cain's approval and the comforting hands that healed and massaged him.
Skorupi, already a battle-loving Pokémon, showed an even greater desire to fight, knowing that if he defeated his opponents, he would gain Cain's recognition and could fight alongside the other Pokémon on the team, something he longed for.
Especially when, after defeating an opponent, he leveled up, Skorupi became even more addicted to battles, showing a passion for fighting even greater than Murkrow's, who had always been quite combative.
"Bite when you get close," ordered Cain, directing Skorupi's battle from the side.
In just one hour, Skorupi, who didn't have to worry about injuries or stamina, threw himself into battle frantically, defeating a level 13, yellow-quality Rattata with a strong, dark-energy-boosted bite until the opponent was completely incapacitated.
After defeating this Rattata, the system showed that Skorupi had leveled up again, reaching level 9, and learned his first Bug-type move: Pin Missile.
There's no denying that Skorupi's talent for battles, with his light blue quality, was incredible. In just one hour, he was able to react almost as quickly to Cain's orders as Sneasel, just a bit slower.
That's impressive for only one hour of combat. Given a whole day, he would probably surpass Sneasel, who would become the Pokémon with the slowest reaction time on the team.
Sneasel watched all this, and though he kept his typical cold expression, his eyes showed a bit of worry.
Unfortunately, the Pokémon they had encountered so far were too weak, not even strong enough for Sneasel to use for training.
Almost all of them fell to Skorupi's attacks, and very few made it to face Gastly, let alone Sneasel, who was stronger than Gastly.
He had no choice but to hold back his impatience and wait for a more powerful wild Pokémon to appear.
"Skorupi, that's enough, take a break; let Gastly handle the next ones." Cain called Skorupi over after defeating Rattata.
Gaining four levels in an hour was a huge advancement. Even his body, which initially was the size of a basketball, had grown to almost the size of two balls, marking significant progress.
However, such rapid advancement isn't always good, as it could lead to losing control over his own body, especially for a growing Pokémon like Skorupi.
The increase in size was already causing some lack of coordination in his body.
For example, during one of his attacks, Skorupi nearly failed to control the force of his bite. Had he not applied more pressure in time, Rattata might have escaped from his mouth.
(End of chapter)