Ch.14

Once we agreed to that deal, I stood inside the battlefield for the Dojo, where I would have one versus one Pokémon battles. I would have to fight three Trainers a part of the Dojo, with each trainer getting harder. This means the first trainer would be using Rookie Ranked Pokémon, then Commoner Rank Pokémon, and finally a Baron/Baroness. 

Mankey should be able to fly through the first two battles easily, with the third one being the hardest. Luckily I can heal up Mankey between fights if needed. This was considered the basic challenge, with a harder one for more experienced trainers. 

The real challenge of the Dojo was three versus three, with Five back-to-back battles. No healing between fights with it ending with a battle against the Dojo Master Cheng. Master Cheng seems to have a Duke Ranked Machamp, the same rank as my Dad's Magmar. 

As the first trainer came out it appeared to be someone in their mid-twenties. They had a black belt around their waist, as it must be one of the many Sensei here at the Dojo. Master Cheng was acting as the Referee and began the match as Mankey jumped onto the battlefield with the Man I was facing sending out a Machop. 

"Mankey use our intro!" I say with Mankey immediately using Leer and Focus Energy. 

"Machop use Leer!" the Man says since Machop is only a Rookie Rank Pokémon, meaning it can't due to back-to-back moves. 

Even with Mankey's slightly lowered defense that did nothing, much as Mankey's attack now skyrocketed. 

"Mankey, use Low Kick!" I say since Mankey will be able to end this in one hit guaranteed. 

"Machop dodge and then use Low Sweep!" the Man says but Mankey is much faster than Machop and kicked the leg of Machop. 

The force of the blow broke Machop's leg, as the small Pokémon didn't even cry in pain, as it was knocked out in just one hit. I panicked slightly as I thought maybe Mankey went too far, but it seemed no one here cared much. Most likely having seen this many times and having expected it, considering Mankey is a much higher Ranked compared to Machop. 

"Need a minute before the next battle?" Master Cheng asks me even though knowing I don't. 

"No," I say as Mankey is excitedly waiting for the next battle. 

"Next!" Master Cheng says as the Man I just faced removed Machop and left taking him to the Pokémon Center.

A young woman around the same age as the man I just faced entered the battlefield. This time the Pokémon sent out is a Mankey too, the two monkey Pokémon stare at one another with very challenging gazes. My Mankey should still have an easy battle considering the level and Rank difference between them. 

"Mankey, use Cross Chop!" I say with Mankey's Focus Energy and spiked attack stat are still in effect. 

"Mankey dodge and use Swagger!" the woman says trying to at least give her Mankey a chance. 

However, like the last battle, my Mankey is strong for the opponent's Pokémon. My Mankey reaches the other Mankey before it can react and hits it very hard with a Cross Chop. The opposing Mankey doesn't even cry as it too is instantly KO'd by the attack face planting into the ground with a loud bang. 

"Mankey! Don't become overconfident! Remember the gym battle! The next battle will be against an equally strengthened opponent!" I say seeing Mankey jumping around excited at his two wins with one hit. 

Mankey calms down a bit nodding his head, before looking at the place the next opponent should be coming from. Another minute later, the next opponent comes, though now Mankey's stats have reset too. 

This time it is a man in his mid-thirties it appears and the Pokémon he sends out is a Tyrogue, the main Pokémon of this Dojo. Mankey looks at Tyrogue with a serious face and punches his fists together, as Tyrogue gets into a boxing stance. 

"Begin!" Master Cheng says seeing we are both ready. 

"Mankey use our intro again!" I say with Mankey once again using Leer and Focus Energy.

"Tyrogue, use Focus Energy and Work Up!" the man says as Tyrogue finishes its moves at the same time as Mankey finishes his. 

"Mankey, use Acrobatics!" I say wanting to finish this as soon as possible with a super effective move. 

"Tyrogue, use Endure and then Mega Punch!" the man says Mankey reaches Tyrogue and lands his attack making Tyrogue grunt in pain tanking the hit before Punching Mankey back. 

Mankey grunts in pain too, being punched very hard and sent back a few feet from Tyrogue who is staring at Mankey with anger. 

"Mankey finish it with another Acrobatics!" I say as Mankey jumps in the air doing a twirl to hit Tyrogue. 

"Tyrogue, use Substitute and then Focus Punch!" the man says as Tyrogue disappears in a puff of smoke. With a fake copy of itself in its last place. 

Mankey lands his hit at the fake one passing through it while looking around for the real one to show itself. 

"Mankey back into a corner and counter with a Focus Punch of your own!" I say as Mankey puts his back to the invisible wall of the battlefield while preparing his Focus Punch. 

Tyrogue then appears in front of Mankey sending out its punch, with Mankey responding a second later. Both Pokémon land their hits as a loud bang erupts with Tyrogue being sent flying back a few feet from the hit and Mankey grunting in pain from the hit. 

Mankey was still standing but with a few bruises on his body now, while looking over to the collapsed Tyrogue. Tyrogue didn't get back up showing it was knocked out. 

"Trainer Lucas has won the match again and the normal Challenge of our Dojo!" Master Cheng says seeing us win, with Mankey now celebrating his third victory. Leo congratulated Mankey too, as I gave Mankey his favorite food, dried bananas. 

"Trainer Lucas, I have several things you can choose from," Master Cheng says motioning for me to come over. 

I walk over to a table in another room, with Leo and Mankey following me. Mankey is happily eating his dried bananas, while I look at the items. The three items appear to be from the three different evolutions of Tyrogue. 

"The first one is a claw from a Duke Ranked Hitmonlee, this would help greatly increase the attack and special attack stats of your Mankey if he absorbs it. The second is a piece of a Duke Ranked Hitmonchan's Crown, which would greatly increase Mankey's defense and special defense stats. The last item is a claw from a Duke Ranked Hitmontop, which would slightly increase the four stats I just mentioned," Master Cheng says to me as I look at the three items considering what style I am going with for Mankey.

I've been treating Mankey as more of a glass cannon, using his superior speed and strength to deal with opponents. So far that has been working well, as Leo is more of an all-rounder, but still specializing in attack too. 

"I would like the claw from Hitmonlee, please, and thanks," I say as I double down on Mankey's glass cannon build. 

"Though I am curious… could I buy the other two items?" I say as Master Cheng hands me the Claw from a Hitmonlee. 

"I could sell them to you, but it would cost quite a sum," Master Cheng says to me as I nod my head. 

"How much?" I ask him since currently I have a little over a million Pokédollars to my name. 

"Five hundred thousand each," Master Cheng says to me, as I think since that would leave me with little to no money. 

"Hmm… I'll take them," I say while I send the money to the Dojo with Master Cheng handing the items over once the money goes through. 

"Good luck Lucas and I look forward to your future gym battles," Master Cheng says to me as we leave, with me handing Mankey the Hitmonlee Claw. 

"Mankey, I want you to absorb this item until there is nothing left to absorb. Once you finish let me know, as I have two more for you to absorb too," I say to Mankey who takes the item with a very excited face and nods his head. 

"Leo… I'll ask my Dad if he can get me another fire-type item for you. Though first, we need to make more money, as I don't want to mooch off him," I say patting Leo's head who looks happy at the affection. 

"I have enough for us to spend a few more days here, but then we are gonna need to head to the next city and spend more time in the wilderness collecting some things. So I hope you guys are ready for a hunting spree later," I say to them as they both nod their heads excited at the idea. 

Once the next few days are up, I decided we are going to make our way to Silver Town. The only place in the Kanto Region that holds a Pokémon Contest Hall and a Pokémon Battle Arena, I won't be taking part in the Contest Hall as I have no interest, but maybe the Battle Arena. Then we would be heading to Lavender Town which is overcrowded with Ghost Type Pokémon. 

I wanted to visit these places after seeing them in the games and anime. Plus it would give us a break from gym challenges for a while, allow us to train more, and possibly find things to make more money again. It would also give Mankey the ability to possibly finally evolve. 

I wanted to see if Mankey could evolve into Annihilape and if so, find a Ghost-type item to help him later on. For half a year or so, we would be trying to complete these tasks before coming back to Saffron City to head to the next gym I would want to challenge. 

"Are you guys ready?" I ask my team as we stand outside the city and look to the Silver Road, which was named because it connects to Silver Town. Though we'd be going through the wilderness to slowly reach Silver Town. 

"Growlithe! Mankey!" they both say nodding their heads as we walk into the woods. 

It took us almost nine hours of traveling to reach the part of the woods that was recommended for Proficient Trainers and Higher-ranked ones. There we set up camp to spend the night, before finally starting to search for Pokémon to battle and possibly catch to sell to the league.

As the morning sun rose and we all completed our morning ritual, I packed up our things before we picked a direction to start our search. Leo would be using his extremely good hearing and smell to look for Pokémon, while Mankey would be scouting ahead for any dangers. 

After an hour or so we came across an open field in the woods where we saw a herd of Rapidash and a handle full of Ponyta. As I told them we'd try to catch any that would sell well. We then made a plan to try to separate the Ponyta from the herd to catch them.

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AN: I know I said the Pokédex can't scan Pokémon's potential, which I will keep, and let's pretend he didn't know Mankey's potential before catching him. That never happened and I will gaslight the shit out of you all!