Upon entering, Touya was able to appreciate a very luxurious place and what seemed to be furniture made of gold.
As always, the first thing he was greeted by was the presenter from the gym.
"Welcome young challenger, to the Driftveil's city gym specialized in earth type, as you should already know my name is Conse, a pleasure to meet you" Conse said with a calm and polite tone.
"Hey Conse, is that furniture made of gold?" Touya asked curiously pointing to the furniture.
"That's right, like you I still have a hard time getting used to so much luxury, but it's not so bad after all" Conse said with a smile.
Conse approached Touya and whispered.
"It's a lie, I've been exploited at work since I arrived, help me" Conse said in a low voice and begging for mercy.
Touya had a bead of sweat on the back of his neck from this, but he just ignored Conse and walked towards what seemed to be an elevator.
Touya looked closely at a large green arrow-shaped button pointing downward, then pressed it.
The elevator started down, taking Touya to a rather dark and humid mining area where it was too hot.
The elevator stopped next to another with a trainer in it.
"Nice to meet you challenger, I'll be your first challenge before reaching the gym leader, get ready for combat" said a man dressed as a miner seriously.
"Come out Palpitoad" said the miner throwing a pokeball from which a kind of blue toad came out.
"Come out Dewott" Touya said doing the same.
"Palpitoad use uproar" said the miner quickly.
"Dewott use scald" Touya said half a second later.
Palpitoad's rampage generated a great noise, doing some damage to Dewott, but he was stopped by receiving Dewott's hot water which did a lot of damage.
"Palpitoad use aqua ring" said the miner seriously.
"Dewott use water pulse" Touya said quickly.
Palpitoad was covered by a blue aura recovering his wounds slowly and received Dewott's water pulse directly which pushed him several meters and made him very weak.
"Palpitoad use mud shot and then uproar" said the miner making a plan.
"Dewott dodge it with water and finish him with razor shell" Touya said seriously.
Dewott dodged the mud shot and launched himself with a water gun to finally finish Palpitoad with razor shell.
"Good job buddy, you're still in great shape" Touya said giving thumbs up.
"De Dewott" Dewott said proudly.
The miner cured hid pokemon and then returned him to his pokeball and took out another one.
"Come out Drilbur" said the miner throwing a pokeball from which a small gray mole came out.
"Drilbur use metal claw" said the miner with determination.
"Dewott block it with razor shell" Touya said seeing Drilbur approaching.
Both attacks canceled each other but.
"Drilbur use mud slap and then use crush claw" said the miner quickly.
Drilbur blinded Dewott with a slap of mud which came out of his mouth and then stabbed him when he was unprotected, leaving him quite weak.
Before Touya could give an order, Dewott was enraged and surrounded by steam and then grabbed Drilbur and slammed him to the ground with great force, knocking him unconscious.
"Wow, what was that friend?" Touya asked in shock.
"De Dewott" said Dewott also confused.
Touya checked the Pokedex and it turned out to be the revenge attack, which gets stronger when the pokemon is hurt.
"A very good attack, it will be useful against the leader" Touya said in shock.
"De Dewott" Dewott said proudly.
"Congratulations, you passed your first challenge, you can continue on your way, but you should be careful walking around here" said the miner with a warning tone.
Touya seemed a bit confused by the warning, but just kept going.
After beating some trainers and going up and down elevators Touya couldn't find a way to go, so he asked one of the trainers.
"Hey, how am I supposed to keep going down?" Touya asked confused.
"You must go through the girders to go to the next elevator" said the miner calmly.
Touya looked at the miner in shock and then saw the girders, which were a very narrow path with a possible drop to the bottom of the mine.
"Are you kidding me? What's going to be in the last gym? An atomic bomb?!" Touya said suspiciously.
"Our gym leader believes that a man without courage does not deserve the badge, in addition there is a kind of cushion at the bottom that will stop you from dying so do not complain" said the miner as if it were normal.
'These people are crazy' Touya thought resignedly.
After going through that small path with complete caution, Touya reached the next elevator meeting another trainer.
"Welcome to your third challenge young trainer, get ready for combat" said a mining worker.
"Come out Krokorok" said the operator taking out the tall bipedal version of Sandile.
"Come out Sawk" Touya said pulling Sawk out.
Sawk was a bit intimidated by Krokorok's appearance, but still that intimidation quickly disappeared.
"Krokorok use sand tomb" said the operator quickly.
"Sawk use double kick and jump towards him" Touya said quickly.
Sawk did the request and jumped towards Krokorok avoiding the sand loop and being in front of him
"Use crunch Krokorok" said the operator when Sawk was near Krokorok.
Krokorok bit Sawk on his shoulder causing him to complain a bit in pain, but after that he smiled just like Touya.
"One little advice, grit your teeth" Touya said with a smile.
"Sawk use low sweep then karate chop!" Touya said excitedly.
"Sawk!" Sawk said excitedly too.
Sawk swept over Krokorok causing him to fall and release him, then hit him hard on the jaw knocking him unconscious.
"Wow, it really was a great blow" said the impressed operator.
After this Touya continued going down elevators and fighting with trainers, in addition to Sawk learning the brick break movement.
And after a few minutes and healing his pokemon Touya arrived in front of Yakon, who was surrounded by shining crystals and transporter machines around him.
"Quite a diamond in the rough if you got here so fast, time is money so let's see why Camila took such an interest in you" Yakon said with a challenging smile.
Touya smiled back and started the fifth gym match.