Rock tunnel.

Lily saw the result of the last hit and went pale with fright. She returned the unconscious Seel back to his Pokeball and looked at Gyarados in terror. How was such power even possible. She was disappointed in herself for not putting up a better fight.

Rex looked at her and walked up before patting her on the shoulder.

Rex " It was a good fight. My pokemon are just too strong for this gym. But don't let that stop you, for every loss you take, something is gained. Learn from this experience, and make sure not to repeat it again, I see a lot of potential in you three. There will be strong trainers coming to test their metal for this years League tournament, I suggest you work hard." he said before looking at Violet.

Rex "The badge please," he said extending his hand out. Violet snapped out of her daze and walked towards Rex before handing him the Cascade badge.

Violet "did you mean what you said just now?" she asked seriously

Rex " yes, I wouldn't lie," he said before walking away. Naturally, it was a half-truth. They had potential in them, just not for gym battles, they were very good at being performers. He just never specified what he meant. With a smile, he walked out of the gym and looked up at the cloudless sky before heading towards Cerulean cities exit.

back in the gym While the three beauties were contemplating his words, a smaller girl on the second floor was pale as she continued to look at where Gyarados was. She overheard what Rex said and became determined to be a better gym leader than her sisters when she was older.

Rex was thinking about going to Vermilion city but stopped himself since he wanted to go to rock tunnel and train a bit before heading to Lavender Town.

He decided to look around the city before going to the poke mart to buy the food he needed for Onix. When he arrived at the food section he saw tons of different metals up for sale. The system did a quick scan and Identified the best one for maximum growth.

What surprised Rex was that it wasn't one of the most expensive. he asked the system and was informed that this specific brand had extra minerals that would allow for boosted growth compared to the more expensive ones that were simply a scam.

After buying all that was needed he went to his hotel and took a shower before hopping on his bike and riding off onto route 9 where he would spend the next two days.

He camped with his pokemon, ate, slept and trained. Rex and Machoke would sit on the ground facing each other cross-legged and meditate while practising aura.

They could vaguely sense each other but it was too unclear. and the only reason they were even able to achieve this much was because they were so close to each other. Naturally, there was an upside to this. The training was speeding up with the help of the system.

Machoke had grown to 1.9 meters which never ceased to amaze Rex. Gyarados and scyther had stayed the same in terms of height but they still got stronger. Weepinbell reached 1.5 meters tall and was much stronger than before.

Rex was happy with the progress his pokemon were making. He spent the next three days like this which was one more than expected but it was due to wanting to extend their training for a bit.

Rex soon got back on his bike the next morning and rode off to Rock tunnel where he would train his pokemon even further against stronger opponents before heading to Lavender Town. He was thinking of facing off against Zapdos but it was far too early to do that even with Onix on his team.

He would face the legendary birds after he had collected all the badges in order to train his pokemon. When he finally arrived at Rock tunnel he was met with a bunch of trainers that were excavating for fossils just like in Mt Moon. although there were many of them there didn't seem to be any results.

Rex walked towards one of them and asked why they were here instead of Mt Moon.

Miner "it simple lad, there will probably be too many people there at Mt Moon now that team rocket is gone and since there were some in Mt Moon some guessed that there must be some here as well." he said confidently before leaving not wasting any more time talking to Rex since it might cost him a fossil.

Rex could only sigh and keep walking. He heard some trainers that came here to try out their luck that Lavender town was attacked by team rocket and that the pokemon tower which served as a gravesite was turned into their hideout. Rex would take a look when he went over but just as he was thinking the ground beneath him began to shake.

Rex turned around to see dozens of wild pokemon rushing towards the miners and trainers. He figured that it was probably due to them suddenly intruding on the habitat of many pokemon making them upset.

Rex sighed as he was once again caught in the middle. He pulled out a Pokeball and threw it out. A massive 15 meter tall Onix came out and roared loudly. The Miners and trainers freaked out when they saw him. They thought that another one was behind them startling them into fleeing in different directions.