Pokémon : Black Rising

4. The Pokémon Gym

Three days have passed.

Riolu and I have been training a lot on the journey to Pewter City, the next destination for a Pokémon Badge. Well, the journey is supposed to take a day's time but on the way we took a whole lot of breaks.

The training mainly consisted of mind and strength training. I joined Riolu too. It felt weird to just watch and give orders.

The first thing we took care of was exercise. Basic push-ups, squats, crunches and battles with wild Pokémon. It didn't take much time for Riolu to learn a new move, Feint. Next was mind training. Long meditation sessions and breathing. This really had a great impact on Riolu.

The reason behind why we'd trained this much for three whole days was to challenge the Pewter City Gym. That's the first step to become the next Champion. The Gyms are way tougher than the average Pokémon battles trainers have. Many trainers come to challenge them, to win or to lose.

Once we were satisfied with the results, we headed to the Pewter Pokémon Centre. It's always best to rest before the test. (Never thought rhymes would happen.)

While Riolu was getting ready, I roamed around to get some peeks of Pewter City. It was rocky. Like literally rocky. The pavement was made up for broken boulders arranged neatly. Houses were oddly made of wood. People were few, mostly spending time in their homes or working in the nearby mines. The few who remained lived with their Pokémon in harmony. It was quite the beautiful sight.

Two minutes later, we set out for the gym. It was, not surprisingly, made of stone. The building was about the size of ten Onixes. Obviously, trainers are allowed to go haywire in the Gym. It's one of the places where there is no holding back. That's what makes me a bit nervous.

My first Pokémon Gym battle...

The doors opened with a huge screech. It was dark inside at first. Then the lights showed up on a boy of ten.

" You've come to challenge the Leader?" the boy asked.

" Yep. Where could I find him? "

" You have to go through me first! Go Sandshrew! "

When the boy threw his PokéBall, the yellow coloured armadrillo appeared. It was about the size of a full grown adult cat.

" Riolu! " I said. Riolu was ready to fight. "Sandshrew, use Sand-Attack!" the boy called out.

Perhaps a dirty move, Sandshrew kicked up a pile of dust (not sand) at Riolu. Some managed to get into his eyes.
"Why that!" I yelled. "Riolu can you see? "

Riolu's vision was only partially affected. He nodded. I commanded, "Then Tackle it!" Riolu dashed forward and attacked the foe. Sandshrew rolled back in recoil. "Now use Feint!" I said. Riolu lifted his left paw to attack. Sandshrew tried to defend against it but that's the point of Feint. Riolu attacked with full force with his right.

" Sandshrew! " the boy screamed. But the Pokémon was knocked out cold. "Sorry," I muttered.

After checking up with his Pokémon, the boy said, "You are strong! Maybe you can defeat brother!"

" Thanks. "

" Please go straight ahead. It won't be easy! "

I walked until the lights glared on a rather young man with spiky hair. He looked at me with blank slits for eyes.

" Welcome trainer, " his voice was bold, "I see you defeated my younger brother. Let me congratulate you while I still can.
Since you have come for the badge, will you fight me? "