"Cubone, use Bonemerang!"
"Cuu–bone!"
Cubone let out a cry and hurled its bone club forward with all its might.
The bone spun through the air, struck the target with a thud, and then curved back, landing neatly in Cubone's hand again.
Clap clap clap clap!
Standing behind, Ethan couldn't help but applaud. Cubone's progress these past weeks had exceeded all of his expectations.
In particular, the successful mastery of Bonemerang gave Ethan the confidence to finally consider exploring Rocky Mountain.
"My Cubone is amazing!"
He walked up with no hesitation in praising it.
Cubone tried to appear indifferent, but beneath the skull covering its face, its cheeks flushed faintly red.
Ethan didn't mind. The longer they spent together, the better he understood Cubone's nature.
That "indifference" was already the best response it could give.
Pokémon grew quickly in their early stages. In just over a month and a half, Cubone had grown another ten centimeters in height and its battling ability had improved drastically.
Though it hadn't yet reached the "Excellent" tier of strength, at this rate, another month of steady progress might allow it to attempt a breakthrough.
By the time Ethan returned to the ramen shop, it was already midnight.
The customers and employees were gone, but faint training sounds could still be heard from the back courtyard.
Captain Yuzo might love making ramen, but his dedication to training was no weaker.
"You're back. Out this late—so Cubone mastered Bonemerang today, right?"
"Yeah, it worked hard," Ethan replied with a smile. Then he added, "Boss, I'd like to head out near Oreburgh tomorrow. Let Cubone try a real battle."
"Go if you want, but don't go too deep. Stay safe."
"Got it. Thanks, Boss!"
Ethan responded cheerfully, though his heart was a little conflicted.
After more than a month of working together, Yuzo had only occasionally checked Ethan's intel for errors. Beyond that, he never made other demands, letting Ethan do whatever he liked.
It was clear: Yuzo's heart wasn't really with Team Rocket. The ramen shop might well be his true calling.
The next morning, Ethan packed his gear and set off for Rocky Mountain.
Cubone trotted closely at his side. Despite its small frame, it gave Ethan a deep sense of security.
This Cubone was no longer the same as before.
They passed through a sparse patch of forest until the exposed rocky slopes came into view.
Just as its name implied, Rocky Mountain was a barren stretch of rugged stone.
Looking up, Ethan could see everything at a glance—yet he stayed alert.
Two "ordinary" rocks up ahead weren't rocks at all, but curled-up Geodude.
At a casual glance, they blended perfectly into the environment.
"Cubone, use Curse!"
When a non-Ghost-type Pokémon used Curse, the effect became a self-buff: raising Attack and Defense, but lowering Speed.
And with Cubone's already low Speed, the drop hardly mattered.
Cubone lowered its head, drawing circles on the ground with its bone while mumbling faintly beneath its skull mask.
A shimmer of red and blue light flickered across its body—Curse had taken effect.
"Good. Let's move in slowly."
Geodude weren't especially strong, and Cubone's Ground-type attacks had a natural advantage. This made them ideal opponents to build Cubone's battle confidence.
Sensing the faint tremor in the ground, the Geodude suddenly uncurled, spotting Cubone approaching.
The moment their eyes met—
Without a word, the hot-tempered Geodude tucked its arms and began rolling forward.
It used Rollout!
"Now, Cubone—Bone Club!"
The month of training showed its results. Even though they had never fought in a real battle before, both Ethan and Cubone stayed calm.
Cubone dashed in front of Ethan, stance steady, bone club held firm as it braced for impact.
Rollout gained power the longer it continued—after several turns, its strength could rival Hyper Beam.
But at the start, its power wasn't even stronger than a simple Tackle.
And Cubone's specialty was…
Defense!
The rolling Geodude crashed head-on into Cubone's bone club, forcing Cubone back just a couple of centimeters.
Then—it stopped.
With the defense boost from Curse, Cubone's natural type resistance, and the bone club absorbing part of the impact, the attack that looked so threatening had barely done any damage.
The next instant, Cubone swung its bone horizontally, knocking Geodude back slightly, and then followed through with a powerful downward strike.
Its most practiced move—Bone Club!
BANG!!!
A dull crack echoed. Visible fissures spread across Geodude's rocky body. Its craggy head was split open, and its eyes spun in circles—it was knocked out cold.
A one-hit KO!
Between Curse's attack boost, type advantage, and a fact many people overlooked—Cubone (and Marowak) holding a Thick Club have their Attack stat doubled—the triple effect made it unsurprising that a wild Geodude at the same starting level was instantly defeated.
"Cuu-bone!"
Victorious in its first real battle, even the normally aloof Cubone couldn't hold back a cry of excitement.
It didn't sound intimidating—in fact, it was kind of cute.
The other Geodude, panicked at the sight of its companion falling, immediately tried to flee.
Ethan, who had been watching the field intently, noticed its movements at once.
"Cubone, use Bonemerang—don't let it escape!"
Geodude were known for their group-living habits. If even one escaped, Ethan wouldn't dare return to Rocky Mountain for a while.
Buoyed by its first victory, Cubone obeyed instantly, hurling its bone without hesitation.
BANG!
Another solid crack. This second Geodude was struck down just as surely as the first.
Without giving the fallen Geodude any more attention, Ethan and Cubone pressed on further up the mountain.
Though their injuries looked frightening, Geodude could recover simply by consuming more rocks. As long as their core wasn't shattered, they were surprisingly resilient.
And once they woke up and saw that Ethan and Cubone were gone, their first thought wouldn't be revenge.
Healing themselves always came first.
Meanwhile, Ethan and Cubone continued climbing. Other Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon gradually appeared.
Most were Geodude, but each one fell with a single Bone Club—no real threat to Cubone.
Now and then, an Onix slithered by in the distance. Whenever that happened, Ethan immediately pulled Cubone into hiding.
For Cubone at this stage, an Onix was still too dangerous to confront directly.
Occasionally, a few Sandshrew popped out of the ground, but they quickly dug back down again—timid as ever.
As for other Rock- or Ground-types Ethan had expected, like Diglett, Gligar, or Phanpy, none appeared.
After all, Rocky Mountain was far too close to the town. The outer areas had likely been cleared countless times already. Anything rarer or more valuable had long since been captured.
It was only after coming here that Ethan truly understood why the Pokémon League encouraged Trainers to travel.
It was about preserving biodiversity across regions. Not overharvesting one area would, in turn, give the Pokémon world more possibilities.
But if things were like this… could there really still be a Shiny Metagross hidden somewhere in Rocky Mountain?
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