The first gym

The first gym battle

(Woohoo!)

Attention! Before you move on and read the actual chapter, just so this is going to be the last chapter in which the story will be in 1st POV, From this chapter forward it will be 3rd person POV. I personally don't really like writing in 1st person

I slapped on my jacket, finishing up my morning routine.

"Sven, Bellator…"

"Today is the day that we challenge our first-ever gym battle, you two better be ready!" I told Sven and Bellator who was waiting near the door.

The building of the gym was dark brown with a big Pokeball on the top, compared to other gyms. Oreburgh city's funding is almost exclusively targeted toward the mines. Which caused regular buildings and even the gym to be lackluster compared to cities like Jubilife, Sunyshore, and Eterna city.

I entered the Gym, the Oreburgh gym…as expected specializes in rock types. This puts Sven in a favorable position with force palm, and alongside the other training we've gone through it shouldn't be too difficult.

"Welcome, you must be a trainer, I presume!" an elderly man in a suit said, "Our gym might be a bit er-Lackluster, but it's not too shabby."

"It is gym protocol to test a trainer's power by fighting 2 gym trainers, We also have to see your trainer's license to know how many gym badges you have." The elderly man said.

I showed him my trainer license on my Pokedex, "Thank you, Kind sir." He said, "I will be getting the gym trainers right this second."

After a minute or two, I saw two relatively young trainers approach me.

"My name is Jeremy, Let's have a great fight, Shall we?" He said, shaking my hand. We then entered the battle stadium which had several rocks placed.

The gym trainer, Jeremy pulled out a Pokeball from a bag he wore and threw it in the air, In a flash of brilliant red light a Roggenrola appeared.

"Interesting, Roggenrola is not naturally found in Sinnoh."

"Bellator, Go!" I called out as in a brilliant red light, Bellator appeared.

"Oho, that's pretty uncommon!" He yelled out, "Rocky, Use Headbutt!"

The Roggenrola hardened its head before charging Bellator, "Bellator, Double team, and Psybeam!"

Bellator leaped into the air and 4 mirror images of him suddenly appeared, the Roggenrola panicked in confusion before getting blasted with a Psybeam.

"Bellator, Confusion!" I yelled as Bellator instantly released it at the still-dazed Roggenrola got knocked back even further, "Rock blast!"

The Roggenrola quickly recovered before releasing a flurry of rocks, "Double team and psybeam!"

Mirror images of Bellator appeared once again which messed up Roggenrola's aim, Bellator's eyes glowed a light blue before a ray of psychic energy pierced Roggenrola.

The Roggenrola, dazed, fell to the ground.

"Roggenrola is very susceptible to mental damage and very weak special defense, but I still didn't expect it to back down so easily."

"Ah~Rocky got completely destroyed, welp he was a pretty new member." Jeremy said, "I guess I gotta take this a bit seriously."

I felt the sudden change in the atmosphere as Jeremy released his next pokemon, "Lida, it's time to fight!"

In a flash of brilliant red light, A Rockruff appeared.

"Interesting!!!"

"Lida, Bite!"

"Bellator, double team!"

Mirror images appeared once again as the Rockruff ran at impressive speeds, "rock throw!"

Rocks appeared around the Rockruff who leaped into the air and released them at the mirror images and when there was only one left, it leaped at Bellator with a bite attack.

"Psybeam!"

Bellator launched a beam of psychic energy at the Rockruff who narrowly dodged the attack, "Bite into rock throw!"

The Rockruff dashed at even faster speeds than before, "Confusion!"

The Rockruff dashed to the side before flinging rocks at Bellator.

Bellator groaned before launching another psybeam which finally connected, The Rockruff almost instantly recovered and went for a bite. Bellator used confusion to knock him away before launching a flurry of confusion and Psybeams.

The Rockruff still recovered, albeit bruised and injured.

"Psybeam!" I shouted as Bellator launched another psychic beam which Rockruff dodged, "Double team and confusion!"

Rockruff tried to identify which was the real one, but was quickly hit by a confusion from behind, Then hit by a Psybeam and sent flying.

"Ah man, Even Rockruff lost…tch." Jeremy sighed, "fine you win…next, ya gotta fight that bi- I mean, ya gotta fight Kris."

"Bellator, you can rest for a bit, you did great out there." I praised him before letting him back into the Pokeball.

Another gym trainer emerged, She had long brown hair and seemed to be quite haughty, she oozed arrogance from the way she stood, the way she positioned herself, and the clothes she wore.

"It seems ya beat that pussy, well ya gotta get past me now!" She declared, a malicious grin spreading across her face.

"I have a bad feeling this fight is gonna be more difficult than the last one…"

"Sven, time to fight!" I yelled as Sven appeared on the battlefield in a flash of brilliant red light, ready to face whatever comes his way.

"Go Archen!" She shouted, then after a flash of red light the prehistoric bird soared through the skies, ready to fight.

"This isn't the best matchup for me…"

"Sven, hump into the air and use force palm!"

Sven then jumped high into the air near the bird who seemed to be caught off guard, "Wing attack!"

The two attacks clashed, "More!"

Sven poured, even more, fighting energy into the force palm, finally winning the standoff and knocking Archen to the ground.

"Chain-strike!"

Once Sven fell to the ground, he didn't give Archen the time to recover and fly away before slamming him with a barrage of strikes, "Wing attack and rock throw!"

Archen used its powerful wings to launch a powerful attack at Sven who was knocked backward, then Archen threw a boulder at Sven, "Dodge it and Force palm!"

Sven dodged to the right before lunging at Archen, the two were relatively even in speed…

Unless Sven is using quick attack, Sven used a force palm mixed with a quick attack to slam Archen onto the floor.

"Archen…Wing attack!"

Archen recovered from the attack and soared through the sky at impressive speeds before diving down with a wing attack.

"Dodging is useless, I have to fight back!"

"But charging him head-on would be stupid…" I murmured, "Sven…you know what to do!"

When Archen got close, Sven used quick attack to allow him to bounce behind Archen, "Force palm!"

The Archen got knocked out of the air, and bruised up but still managed to fly back up with a wing attack.

"Tch…"

"Force palm!" I yelled.

"This play is extraordinarily risky, I have to bet on Sven's control over force palm and fighting energy!"

Sven charged the force palm. Archen flew at Sven charging up a wing attack, "Use your aerial maneuverability, Archen!"

The pre-historic bird expertly navigated the sky, "There's no way you can hit Archen, Dumbass!"

"We'll see about that…Sven, you know what to do!" I said, secretly giving him a signal in the form of certain hand gestures. "Leap into the air…when I give the queue."

Sven simply nodded, still pouring in fighting energy into the force palm, "Finish it with Wing attack!"

"Now, use fighting energy!"

The speeding Archen expertly maneuvered through the sky, but suddenly Sven leaped into the air and onto one of the stadium walls.

"Here it goes!"

Sven transferred some of the fighting energy and even poured in even more fighting energy onto his hind legs before releasing it all, He moved at incredible speeds and bounced off the walls from every direction, Archen attempted to maneuver around him but failed and was met with a clean force palm to the face which knocked the wind out of it, but it still somehow managed to stay flying.

"Chain-strike!"

Sven bounced off of the walls, striking the pre-historic bird repeatedly from multiple directions, the opposing trainer stood there, jaw dropped.

Finally, Archen dropped to the floor, defeated as Sven also dropped to the floor, relatively tired from the usage of fighting energy.

"W-what the hell was that!" the girl screamed, "h-how…"

"How…could I lose to a rookie trainer, even if I was holding back!" she yelled, confused and panicking.

"How did you do that!" she yelled, "H-how!"

I suddenly remember a pleasant memory of a certain somebody I met during my training at the ranger camps.

"Simply, get good," I said, a wide grin spreading across my face.

"Finally, I can use that line, darn that bastard!"

"Alright, Shirley, stop whining."I heard a man's voice say, I turned to look at a rather scuffed up man. He wore a red helmet and seemed to be relatively young.

"That battle…was quite flashy, I am sure you know me as Roark, Sinnoh's weakest gym leader and leader of the Oreburgh city gym." Roark said, "that fight…you demonstrated near unparalleled combat ability for someone your status."

"That's why I am not going to use my first gym battle team," Roark said, I can't say I wasn't expecting this to happen. "That means I will go harder on you, I will use pokemon I think will give a challenge to someone of your caliber."

After that, a deep silence fell upon us, "Why are you just staring at me?" Roark asked, "oh…nothing it's just that…most trainers describe you as an unenthusiastic man most of the time."

"I very vividly remember my first gym battle with him, although I won he seemed to be bored every second through."

"That's because the majority of people who fight me…"

"Are untalented."

"But, it seems there seems to finally be a challenger that is interesting." He said, "Nick devolver…"

"Are you ready to fight?"

"Before you do, is it possible to record this gym battle."I asked, "sure, is it for a family member?" He asked.

"I…guess you can call them that."

He smiled solemnly, "sounds nice."

"Libert, record this gym battle!" He ordered as the elderly man searched through his pockets to find a remote controller.

"Alright, now I am ready to fight," I said, Roark simply nodded, pulling out a Pokeball.

"3v2, the challenger is allowed to switch!!" He yelled, "go, Onix!"

The giant snake Pokémon emerged, it is highly like this isn't the same Onix he uses in his usual first gym fights.

"Just what are you planning…"

"Bellator, go!" I shouted as memories of my first-ever gym battle flooded my body.

"This adrenaline!"

"Onix, stealth rock!"

"Tch, how annoying!" I yelled in annoyance, "Bellator, Psybeam!"

Bellator shot a psychic beam at the rock snake who threw concealed rocks at the ground, it roared in pain, "Rock tomb into tail slam!"

The giant rock snake shot boulders at Bellator, "Bellator can't dodge these nearly as well as Sven would…"

"Bellator, use confusion on the rocks!" I yelled, it was a risky plan and relied entirely on Bellator's ability to rapid fire confusion.

Bellator's eyes turned a bright blue as he shot confusion at the boulders, it narrowly managing to hit them all.

"You could've used confusion or Psybeam as a means to escape through bouncing from the recoil!" Roark shouted, " stop taking unnecessary risks that are stupid, you were simply lucky your Ralts had enough mental power to pull that off!"

"Tch, I don't want to admit it…"

"But he is right."

"Bellator, Psybeam!" I ordered, but then the Onix reared its body and slammed full force into the ground, the sheer size of the giant snake smacking the ground shook the battleground.

"Bind!"

"Psychic volt!"

Psychic volt is a technique I developed. It's not very powerful but it is a mix of electricity and psychic energy, and it greatly enhances the projectile speed of Psybeam.

The psychic volt struck the Onix, who due to its frail special defense got knocked backward.

"Onix, you did your job….

"Now, use dig!"

My eyes widened in shock as the Onix burrowed underneath, ready to strike Bellator at a moment's notice.

"You've got to be kidding me!?"

"Psybeam on the ground!" I shouted, "Time it correctly!"

Bellator readied a psybeam, and as the ground erupted with Onix charging out of it, Bellator instantly released the Psybeam which hit the Onix right in the face, it let out a roar of pain before slamming Bellator onto the ground.

The Onix collapsed onto the ground after doing so, defeated.

"You accomplished your job, Onix, Good job!" Roark shouted, "Now, Shieldon!"

"It's your time to shine!"

"Bellator, Shock wave!" I commanded, The lighting quick move instantly hit Shieldon, "Take down!"

The Shieldon recovered from the attack as white energy surrounded him, then he charged at Bellator.

"Propel yourself with confusion!" I ordered as Ralts propelled himself into the air with confusion to dodge the takedown, "Shock wave and Psybeam!"

Bellator released a wave of electricity which stunned the Shieldon who then got knocked back by the Psybeam.

"Protect." Roark calmly ordered, Shieldon created a shield around him.

Bellator's follow-up shock wave got blocked, "Take down!"

Shieldon charged straight at Bellator, who got knocked quite a hefty distance.

"Bellator!" I shouted I didn't hear a response as I saw a collapsed Ralts, Unconscious

"Tch, fucking hell…"

"Return, Bellator!" I said as I withdrew him to the Pokeball. "You did great."

"Sven, it's your time to shine!" I shouted as I released Sven, who was still a bit tired from the previous fight.

"Shieldon, Protect and takedown!" Roark commanded.

The Shieldon readied a protective shield around itself, "Sven, Chain-strike!" I commanded, Sven leaped at incredible speeds before launching a flurry of attacks.

The protect eventually broke, but the Shieldon still shook off the attacks from Sven, "Force palm!" I yelled as Sven readied the move up, Shieldon charged at him with incredible power and the two clashed with power.

Eventually, Sven's force palm overpowered Shieldon's takedown and knocked Shieldon into one of the boulders placed around.

The Shieldon was bruised and had marks all over it, "Rock throw!"

A boulder was hurled at Sven, who easily dodged the attack. "Force palm!"

"Protect!"

The Shieldon activated the shield at impressive speeds, the shield nullifying Sven's attack.

"Chain-strike!"

Sven released another flurry of attack in all directions, finishing it off with a kick infused with fighting energy.

"Take down!"

The Shieldon recovered and retaliated with a takedown which hit Sven hard, "Force palm!"

Sven slammed the Shieldon onto the ground, "Smackdown!"

The Shieldon leaped into the air, somehow, and then slammed Sven onto the ground with its legs.

"Force palm!"

Sven knocked the Shieldon away with one swift force palm.

Finally, after that slugfest of a battle, Shieldon collapsed, unconscious.

Sven was visibly tired, bruised all over, and panting uncontrollably.

"You could've handled that battle way better, use your brain more and think logically, you could've used your Riolu and my Shieldon's massive gap in speed and agility to your advantage, you play too recklessly and it results in unnecessary risk and injuries." Roark said harshly, voice loud and firm "You make bad decisions too quickly, you rarely ever think things through and that causes bad results."

My eyes widened, "Loki…"

"Yes…that time…"

"I chose the wrong choice, maybe if I had mega-evolved a different Pokemon…things would be different…"

"Think more, and I am not telling you to flicker around in contemplation, I want you to think both more about your actions and also process and think quickly." Roark said, "if you can't do that…"

"Then it seems that my interest in you was misplaced." Roark said, "prove to me that you can become one of the best!"

"Go, Pyrite!" Roark yelled, A Cranidos emerged onto the battlefield in a flash of brilliant red light.

"This Cranidos is different from the one I usually use in first gym battles." Roark said, "this one is the offspring of my main Rampardos, Havoc."

I was at a loss for words, Roark's Rampardos is known for its legendary level of power, its attacks were vicious and easily tore through opponents.

"I think you know what that implies, judging by your shocked face." Roark said, "give me all you got, Brat!"

"Pyrite, Headbutt into take down!"

"Sven, Force palm!"

Pyrite the Cranidos was terrifyingly quick, which seemed to be a trait it inherited from its mother. It could keep up with Sven, which was something only Archen could do until now.

The Crandios slammed its head into Sven, who groaned before releasing the force palm, but then Cranidos used takedown and the two clashed.

"In an all-out battle of power, there is no way that Sven will win!"

"Chain strike!"

Sven expertly maneuvered himself to be behind the Cranidos before releasing a flurry of attacks, "Now, Distance yourself!"

"Finally, a good decision!" Roark commended, "but…"

"The previous mistakes you made have caused your Riolu to be tired out and injured…"

"Basically, there is no way for him to outrun Pyrite!"

The Cranidos dashed at Sven with incredible speed, "Headbutt!"

The Cranidos leaped in front of Sven, "Sky-strike!"

Sven leaped into the air, infusing fighting energy into the following kick, "Take down!"

The two clashed, but Cranidos instantly overpowered Sven and rammed into him, knocking him away.

"Double team!" I shouted, Mirror images of Sven appeared, "Quick attack!"

"Pyrite, Rock tomb!"

Boulders poured down and surrounded the clones, "Take down!"

Cranidos charged at all of them with incredible speeds and momentum, "Bite!"

All of the clones dispersed and Sven was hit by a powerful charge and then bitten, Yet even after all of this he was still standing.

"That's quite the determined Riolu you got there!"

Sven stood there…

Bruised, bite marks, and barely standing.

"Sven…"

"I need to make the right decision…"

"I need to give this fucking fight my best shot!"

"Force palm!" I shouted, "Twist to the right and jump onto him!"

Sven weaved the headbutt from the Cranidos and jumped onto it, slamming the Cranidos down with power.

"Fighting overflow!"

Sven's entire body overflowed with an orange aura" Twist to the right, jump to the left, and then finish it with an uppercut!"

Sven dodged another attack before going to the right and sending a powerful strike, when the Cranidos tried to counterattack Sven swapped to the left and released another powerful punch and finishing it with an uppercut to the jaw.

"Slam 'em down!" I shouted, "then distance yourself and when he recovers pummel 'em back with 3 strikes and switch to the left and kick it!"

Sven slammed the Cranidos back down with another punch, before leaping backward. Eventually, the Cranidos recovered but Sven dashed at it with incredible speed and released incredibly powerful punches.

"Take down!"

Sven swiftly dodged the attack and dashed to its left before finishing it with one smooth kick, fighting energy all flowing to one singular kick.

After the attack was finished, Sven nearly collapsed to the ground, Exhausted.

"You did great…Sven."

"It seems…I couldn't win, after all."

"Heh, I overestimated myself…"

Sven collapsed onto the floor, the Cranidos barely standing.

"Brat, thank you for giving me a refreshing fight."

"I guess I've become like my father, Byron…"

"Well, Either way, I think you deserve this badge, for obvious reasons," Roark said, handing over the coal badge.

"Thank you…"

"No need to sound so down, I am sure the people you care about will be proud of you." He said calmly, "you did great at the end there, your decisions were fairly good and you did them quite quickly too."

"But you still need to improve a lot, boy."

"Now, Scram!" He said, "I spent way too much time there…"

I solemnly left the gym, not knowing what to feel.

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Janice, Nick is calling!" I heard Ren say over the phone, "So, How did you do!"

"I…lost."

"O-oh…"

"YOU…WHAT!!!" I heard Janice yell, "LISTEN HERE BRA-"

"Well…I still got the badge…"I said, "The gym leader, Roark, also said he went a lot harder on me than he did with most challengers, And even then I nearly defeated him…"

"So, why do you sound so gloomy?" Ren said, "you aren't a child anymore, the fact you almost won against him under those conditions is impressive!"

"Well…Sven pushed himself so far, we would've won…if I didn't make such poor choices." I said, "Roark called me out on my poor choices and how I don't think through things properly."

"Then, learn and get better at it." Ren said calmly, "that's how trainers are, they learn and they get better."

"Now, stop being so gloomy when you've accomplished something great!"

"Thanks, Ren…I can always count on you for advice, which I can't say the same about Janice…"

"OI, I HEARD THAT YOU BRA-"

Ren simply laughed, "well…Be sure to notify us if something interesting happens, Oh yeah please send the video, I am quite interested."

"Okay, I will send it when this call is done."

"Alright, what do you plan on doing next?"

"I plan on resting and then continuing adventuring, alongside training up my team and hopefully adding new members," I said.

"What did I expect, well…if you have time, please do come visit, Janice has been getting a bit cranky," Ren said with a slight chuckle, followed by inaudible raging.

"Okay, I will." I replied, "thank you…I will call when I arrive at the next city!"

______________________________________________________________________________________

The sun had set, I lay in my bed, Bellator next to me, and Sven had just recovered enough to be able to walk.

"Sven, I am sorry we couldn't win today." I said, "I know we will get stronger, and I will become a better trainer."

"I won't let any one of you guys go…no matter what, I don't want anybody to leave me…"

Sven, nodded solemnly, ".We will train more, and I will become a better trainer…I will guide you guys, We will push each other to greater lengths and reach a new height of power!"

"I promise that on my pride as a trainer."

"Bellator, I am sure you feel as if you didn't do enough, correct?"

Bellator simply nodded, eyes closed.

"Just know, you too will also become stronger…"

"We will all grow and become better than we were before, we will add new members and we will rise to even higher lengths."

"I will learn from the mistakes I made today so that I can be a proper trainer and guide you all to the light of success."

"So please, place your trust in me, so that I can also place my trust in you."

"I don't want to witness any of y'all perish…"

"I want you guys to be by my side at all times, no matter how selfish it may be…"

"I don't want to lose you guys Like I did with my previous team…"

"No matter how selfish it may be…I want to succeed in my dreams and savor all of you."

"Please, be with me…"

______________________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to the author's notes, Ever since I thought of this main character I didn't want him to be a self-insert. I just don't roll that way. As I said, I will be switching from 1st POV to 3rd POV, I have my own personal reasons as to do this, but I think this will affect the story for the better.

I highly appreciate the amount of support, reviews, favorites, and followers this story has been gaining. It may not seem like much to write a review, but it really boosts my motivation and always brightens up my day.

Thank you Exotic4MC3 for reviewing my fic, same with Kwoah.

Thank you to all of my followers, as of right now:

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Thank you to all of the people that favorited my story:

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Have a great day, I truly hope you enjoy this chapter!