Oreburgh City

After that first trainer battle, I had a good idea of what my new pokemon could do. Joltik had slight moments of hesitation when it came to the battle, which made them act slow enough to get countered. She had a good amount of potential, but we would have to work on increasing her confidence. For the moment, she would be great utility as she could slow down enemy pokemon with her webs.

Starly was prideful, so thanks to that, he wouldn't back down from the fight. It was a good nature for a pokemon to have that was going to be a combatant. It was a shame the closest gym to me was Rock-type, so he wouldn't be able to help much until the next one. But he would be good to have in case of emergency. I knew there were a lot of Machop nearby, so I should probably catch one before heading to the gym. It would be good to have a Fighting-type as a backup.

I was confident in my Kirlia and Dreepy, but I knew that gym leaders tend to be more serious when it comes to trainers that got a letter of recommendation. I wasn't going to risk losing a battle because I became overconfident.

After I finished healing our pokemon I made my way through the cave before officially stepping into Oreburgh City.

As the sun dipped low on the horizon, casting a warm glow across the rugged landscape, my heart quickened with anticipation as I took my first steps into Oreburgh City. Towering cliffs and jagged rocks surrounded me, a testament to the city's mining legacy. The air carried a faint scent of minerals and adventure.

As I walked deeper into the city, the lively hum of activity greeted me. Miners clad in rugged gear bustled about, their faces smudged with determination and purpose. The clinking of pickaxes and the echo of metal on rock resonated through the air, a symphony of hard work and perseverance. Their pokemon following right behind them with mining gear. Amidst the city's bustling activity, there was a sense of camaraderie and warmth. The residents greeted me with friendly smiles as they passed by.

Taking in a deep breath, I smiled.

"Yup, this is a mining city, alright."

After this gym, I would have to make sure to seriously train my new pokemon on the way to the next gym. From the research I had done, I knew that the gym challenges became progressively more and more challenging. Depending on how you did on your last challenge, the difficulty might change. Another big use for the trainer id was to make sure that the trainers were getting a proper challenge and were not underprepared to fight against someone going all out.

Weaving through the city, I arrived at Route 207. A small little corner on the outskirts of the city. There was a giant field of grass around the size of a football field that some wild pokemon were using as cover, but just outside of the grass was one singular Machop that was punching a big rock repeatedly with a determined face.

As I focused, I could actually sense that the grass had some small groups of pokemon here and there, but most of them were hiding as opposed to this Machop that was training.

Dropping my bag on the floor, I took out some hand wraps before getting ready. I threw my jacket on the floor too and began to approach the Machop.

As he heard my steps, he simply ignored me and continued to punch at the rock repeatedly, some small cracks forming on the surface.

"Hey there." I said, but the Machop simply gave me a glance before returning to his training.

"Do you want to join me? I could use someone like you on my team. You know, I am also a fighter. I have a big event coming up in the future, so we could practice together."

Machop simply gave me a look of annoyance.

"Machop!"

Ah, well, he just told me to fuck off.

"How about this? You are quite strong, how about we have a fight? If you win, I'll leave you alone, I could even treat the wounds in your hands before I go. I can see that you have been at this for a long time, and if you don't make sure the bones in your hands heal properly, you might not be able to punch at all in the future."

These words caught his attention as he stopped punching the rock before turning to me.

"Machop?"

"What do I get if I win? Simple, you join me. I know a bit about fighting myself, so if we work together, I am sure we both can get stronger."

The Machop looked at me up and down before nodding his head and putting his body in a fighting position.

I took a deep breath before relaxing my body for a second and then tightening my muscles.

With a deep breath, I stepped forward, my body swaying gracefully to a rhythm only I could feel, imitating the fighting style of my teacher Medicham. My dance-like movements seemed to captivate the Machop, who watched with curiosity and caution.

As the Machop lunged forward with a Low Kick, I effortlessly evaded, moving just out of its reach. My foresight allowed me to see the trajectory of the attack before it happened, leaving the Machop momentarily bewildered.

Seizing the opportunity, I responded with a burst of agility, channeling my vision into a dance of speed and finesse. I circled behind the Machop, my movements like a waltz. In one fluid motion, I gently punched the Pokémon's back, it wouldn't do any real damge, but it was a gesture of trust and understanding.

The Machop's eyes widened before he tried to do a kick to my location, but compared to the pokemon I had fought in Georges' gym, his movements were relatively slow.

There was a strange thing I noticed while reading about fighting-type pokemon. Fighting was instinctual to them, so you could find pokemon in the wild that were capable of using basic forms of martial arts. They obviously needed a lot of training to improve, but it was interesting to see how their bodies were practically made for fighting.

Even though his attacks were missing me, I could tell that his body was moving in the most efficient way to deliver a punch. But he was clearly getting frustrated by his inability to land a punch.

'Time to earn me some street cred' I thought to myself before stopping my movements and planting my feet firmly on the ground.

Seeing this as his opportunity, he launched the strongest punch he could muster, hitting me directly in the stomach.

I am not gonna lie. It hurt. But I didn't let it show on my face. I grabbed his arm and used the move that had been ingrained into my psyche from all of my battles with Maylene. Grappling him, I threw him into the ground before locking his arms so that he couldn't move. The pokemon struggled for a few seconds before giving up.

"So, what do you think?" I asked the fallen Machop

He simply nodded his head in determination before answering.

"Machop!"

"Of course!" I said as I stood up and helped him stand up. Taking out a pokeball I pointed it toward him before he closed his eyes in preparation.

"Let's go out there and kick some ass!" I said as the pokeball registered him as mine before letting him out.

I turned to look at my other pokemon, who were watching the battle intently. At least most of them were, Kirlia was trying to do a cheer dance. As I paid attention to them, I noticed there was a young man in a miner's outfit looking at the fight too. He had red hair and a pair of glasses on his face, an appearance I recognized. In his arms, he was holding a metal sign with some writing on it.

I heard some slow claps coming from him before he spoke.

"I was just about to come by to put a warning about Machop. But it looks like you have it figured out. A lot of people new to the city have tried to catch him in the past, only to get slightly beat up. Since he never seriously hurt anyone, we leave him to train here, but who would have thought that there would come a day when he would let himself be caught."

Judging by his appearance, he was the Gym leader of Oreburgh City, Roark.

"I thought gym leaders and officers were supposed to capture or relocate any pokemon that attacked humans in the area?" I asked.

To watch over the city was one of the responsibilities you got once you became a gym leader. Though honestly, the main reason I asked was to see his reaction.

Roark gave a few fake coughs before answering.

"Usually, the citizens give new trainers a warning when they are headed in this direction. I think they thought I had already put up the sign so they probably didn't warn you. The Machop you just caught just wanted to be left alone, so I didn't feel it was necessary to relocate him. Plus, he never really hurt anyone that badly, just enough to scare them away."

I looked at the sign before reading it.

[Please do not approach this Machop. As long as he is left alone, he will not approach you. There are plenty more pokemon in the area if you want to catch another Machop. -Gym Leader Roark]

Noticing me getting distracted he took a chance to change the subject.

"I'm assuming you came by this city to challenge me, right? I was about to close the gym for the day since it was about to get dark, but if you want, we can head back over there to battle."

I shook my head.

"No, I think I will take the challenge tomorrow. I am going to spend the night treating Machop's wounds."

Roark nodded in approval.

"How many Gyms have you challenged so far? I can get my team ready for tomorrow."

"You would be the first gym I challenge."

He gave a big smile as he answered.

"Ah, a newbie? Another kid who just passed by the other day had also started his journey by challenging me. He was pretty energetic, I think his name was Barry. He gave me a pretty good battle, so I can't wait to see how you fight tomorrow."

The name rang a bell. To be honest, I had just assumed that Barry didn't exist in this world since he didn't show up to live in the house next to mine. But maybe that was because there was no longer a pokemon Professor living in the town. I didn't really know what the real reason might be, but I was interested in meeting him in the future.

Since the day was drawing to an end, I said my goodbyes to the gym leader before heading over to the pokemon center.

One of the gifts Nurse Joy had given me was a place to stay in. If there was a pokemon center in the area, all I had to do was talk to the local nurse in order to get a room in the center. They usually had a couple of extra bedrooms in cases of emergencies where a trainer was injured, though they were rarely used for long as the trainers would be transferred to a human hospital as soon as possible.

It was also nice because I would be able to stock back up on supplies to treat my pokemon in the wild for what was basically free. She had told me that it was my payment for all the time I had volunteered to help the pokemon that showed up. If I had to be honest, the Legion of Joys were quite a friendly group of people, so I was glad I had befriended them. I knew that if I ever needed help or I was injured, I could contact them. And though I was hoping it would never come to that, it was reassuring to know there was someone who would watch your back.

~Author's Note~

We just found out that we are having twins. So please send me your power stones so that we can buy double the gifts for the babies.