On our trip to the gym, I had to pay for fried Pidove wings that Fly took from a kid after paralyzing them. The kid cried due to the uncomfortable feeling it gave him but brightened up when I got him a new one. His father was this close to calling the cops for theft by Pokémon but I was able to get him to not by having Puff calm the kid down with her halfway put together sing and let the kid swing Ian around a couple times.

  Fly had run off to gobble up the food somewhere and we got sidetracked looking for her. Eventually we found her in an alley howling at a Purrlion on a windowsill. I lightly pressed her nose a couple of times until she whined at the treatment and recalled her to think about what she had done. The alley I was in was void of people with only a few alon Rattata scavenging around. An alon Raticate gave me a warning look as I went by it and I have to admit I got kind of lost. Puff had to fly up and look for the gym by guiding me through the maze that we had gotten ourselves into.

  I ran into a gang of kids who tried to rob me with their untrained Pokémon. Youngsters were allowed to have them but usually only py with small ones until they are old and responsible enough to be trainers. Responsible like me, since I only left them with mild bruises and one broken nose from a punch to the face (by someone who will not be named.)

  As Puff guided me further, she started calling for me to hurry and I was alerted that a swarm of alon Rattata had narrowly missed us. We got most of the way there through these weird side streets before Puff once again rushed me. This time it was because someone was getting robbed.

  Puff flew lower and led me to peek around a corner. In the next alley there was a man, a Pokémon, and a teenage girl. The girl was wearing trainer's clothes and a facemask looked through some papers and maps.

  The Zweilous had gnawed at the guy's hands, taking a finger while the girl reviewed the contents of the case. I was trying to measure if we could help the screaming guy, it was an evolved Pokémon doing this after all. She had a full team of six on her belt, customary for most trainers as it hit a sweet spot of being manageable for trainers (plus it was the legal carry limit up to the 5th badge). My chances weren't looking good so I decided to just wait for them to leave before helping the man.

  "WATCHOG!" On the other side of the girl and pointing me out, I had missed a Watchog that stood up straight with huge red eyes. The girl cursed and started running two steps before she started leaping forward, boosted by rocks that pushed out of the ground below her feet.

  "Meet me at the spot Zi!" she called over her shoulder to the dragon, which turned towards me and growled. It guarded the girl's escape menacingly and made itself bigger as Watchog was recalled with a red beam. I could now see that Zweilous had some sort of item on a neckce that looked like an amber/gold orb. Puff tried going after the girl but a dark pulse prevented it, clipping her wing a bit and causing her to spiral a bit.

  "ZWWWEEEEIII" it roared.

  "GET BACK" I shouted to her. Crap, we were in over our heads, the old guy was crying while holding his hand and Sin was bulking up as he moved closer to the dragon. Why was he moving TOWARDS it? I repeated my order to everyone but only Ian listened to me, dancing in front of me as a precaution. Puff had already applying her buffs as well, fpping to buildup speed for a good dragon rush.

  It hissed at Sin who had gotten too close and its right mouth swirled with dark TE as a maw of darkness formed over its teeth. The other head decided to eat the gold orb. Sin was readying a focus punch as he inched forward as fast as the move allowed but the start signal had already started and Puff dove forwards with a dragon rush, ruffling its shaggy fur a bit when she smacked into it. I hoped they would at least bruise but then the thing started emitting a golden aura. The crunch snapped at Sin with a speed faster than it looked capable of and bit into Sin's defensive shoulder. He endured the hit but it had broken his focus with its speed and attack. He fainted as it let go and very bloody teeth marks appeared as the Zweilous let go.

  I quickly recalled him "RUN!"

  It started growing in size too, the golden aura making it swell and its heads became big enough to swallow half my body whole by the time the light disappeared. Following the movement through some 6th sense it started chasing us one step at a time as dragon energy encased it and it sped up. Each thunderous step shook the ground a little and I was surprised the ground wasn't breaking under its feet. I had no time to wonder about this as I picked Ian out of the air, using him like a ski pole to swing my momentum around a corner.

  A crash was heard and an intimidating roar followed as the monster refocused on us. I felt an invisible pressure ordering me to stop but I pushed through it. Puff sent hyper voices its way but it just took it without a scratch and returned a dark pulse with huge interlocking rings at her. She got hit and I recalled her as she was also knocked out and injured beyond fainting for sure. We were getting one shotted out here and the dark type gave no quarter. It activated dragon rush again and this time also send ahead a floating jaw of darkness that barely missed me.

  The modified bite hit the wall and made it crumble, bricks caving in. Wind started collecting in its wings as it started gliding after me in mad pursuit, the twists and its slow acceleration the only thing saving me. A bigger flying crunch was thrown after me and colpsed a building and I was starting to wonder if it would give up.

  I needed to find a strong Pokémon pronto. I took a chance on a smaller alleyway with some bck Rattata that skittered away from me. A leading alon Raticate snarled at me with a eerie scary face that was better than the Scream Tail's. I shook in my boots but I had a bigger and scarier monster after me as I just ran around it. The Raticate wasn't looking for a fight but it got whacked with a double hit that fainted it instantly. The smaller alley made it unable to glide correctly but it still enhanced itself and a pure bck beam at me. I fttened on the ground to dodge the attack before rolling to the side as a gargantuan foot stomped where my head had been.

  I rolled behind it and started running again as it shed its tail, trying to turn around knocking down concrete and walls as it did. It was unable to turn before I rounded my second alley. I kept running, I needed to get out of here and away from that thing. I could hear it roaring and saw a form rise up in the air, one head rapidly sniffing around in anger but then some darkness spread over it from the head that ate the gold orb. The darkness calmed it down and it began breathing easier. The Zweilous looked around couple different ways but couldn't find me in five minutes of me dodging its scanning. Finally, it drew upon some flying TE and headed off in a direction, guided by a current of the energy.

  Only then did I stop, coughing as I recovered enough to puke out this morning's breakfast. Ian looked towards the direction it left but it didn't return. I look around, having no idea where I am. There are buildings clumped together everywhere in this massive city and surely someone has got to live here right? I knock on a nearby door and get no answer. I try again for 6 more doors before someone answers. A timid man opens it with a gun and an Inkay at the ready.

  "Who are you, what do you want?" he asks quickly, not rexing the slightest at the sight of a kid.

  "Max, can you tell me how to get to a Pokémon center, my team is hurt" he looks at Ian and back to me.

  "Go that way and take the third left, then the second right before following the Revavroom stop signs. Don't scare anybody like that again" he closes the door quickly and I lean away from the noise. Scare anybody? What's with this pce?

  I start following his directions, the buildings start looking nicer, more spread out and appear brighter from the dull grey tone from before. A couple people are now walking around, opening their blinds to peek out a little. Then as if a valve had been unleashed a whole crowd appears at the final turn, gathering around a Pokémon center. I sigh in relief and hurry towards it.

  I get the two injured fully checked in for the excess damage they received when their natural barriers broke. I sat in the center lobby wondering about some things more out of curiosity more than anxiety. Who was that girl? Who was that man? What were those papers and that orb? Was that Zweilous a beta or alpha somehow? Too many questions flush my mind as I start to understand why no one was around that area. When that building colpsed from one attack it shouldn't have. The Zweilous was strong but power like for modern cement, chemically reinforced stuff that resists damage, would not have been destroyed.

  My grandpa was interested in the stuff 50 years back when he was figuring out a custom move for his Rockruff and told me about it. Invented long ago by Natheniel Townsend it was able to handle enhanced Pokemon such that a ck of control didn't put a hole in someone's floor. That building looked old, maybe more than a century but having been well maintained or fixed by ground types. The only thing I could think of was that they were slums or at least an abandoned neighborhood. No police officers even flew over to check on the noise that that monster was making either, making me think that the neighborhood was something like that but even worse.

  If that happened all the time there, then that wouldn't be that different from the forest surrounding my hometown. I offered a prayer in hopes that no one was in those buildings and that if they were then they made it out ok. But I had to offer some more for me and mine. Puff was the worst off, having not been hit by much to reinforce her natural defense during recovery and knowing absolutely zero defense moves. I'd look into cotton guard next and then a healing move. I released Fly, realizing I still had her. Ian was mostly silent, gncing around as if worried about another attack.

  Fly picked up on his mood despite my babyified voice towards her and calmed her tail wagging as she plopped down on my p. She needs a defense too I realize. I pull out a notebook and pen and start marking out some drawings and notes. For 5 pokedolrs the thing is a steal and I make detailed drawings of some formations, mainly ones for Puff and Fly but also one for Ian. I finish adding four fully upgraded moves and a couple unfinished ones before a Joy taps me on the shoulder.

  "Your Machop and Swablu were pretty beat up but they are fine now. But no battling for today or tomorrow, Chansey's orders" she handed me the two pokeballs which I rubbed a thumb over.

  "Thank you" I say, putting my notebook away and look at the time. It's already midday and I am hungry. Thomas's challenge is long over so I ask for directions and head back to the outskirts. I don't see him anywhere so I pull up to the same spot as yesterday to train. No battling doesn't mean no training and the Zweilous is gone so we have nothing to fear.

  "Wait wait wait, where is Spritzee?" Puff asks. She's right, the little pink guy is nowhere to be found.

  "He's fine, he flew away when Sin went down" Ian replied, waving it off causally. Little coward.

  "That was crazy, one second I was dodging and the next I feel this huge force hit me from below. Are you sure that we should be training Max? We could search for Spritzee and take a break to recover" Puff is looking worse for wear but still healthy now that she has been healed.

  "That's why your working on cotton guard instead of sing now. It's a shame that that happened but we just need to get over it" I replied. Fly gave an affirmative yep and started looking at me for directions. Puff had a worried look on her face but everyone else was taking it well. I was from Forestree, Ian had his experience with death, Fly didn't see anything, and Sin didn't care about injuries at this point. I'm pretty sure that he had endure working along with that focus punch despite that being difficult at his level. He stayed conscious until the thing released the pressure and that was amazing.

  "We need to get stronger, then things like that won't happen. WE will be able to protect each other. Now, let's get to work, Sin work on what I showed you earlier, the rest of you check this out" I opened my backpack before hearing a voice.

  "I challenge you to a rematch vilin!"