Rusty and Luke exited out from the clearing that led to the Dreamyard. The houses on the far edges of Striaton loomed closer and closer. As they stepped onto the streets, the streetlight turned on, indicating that night crept closer.

"Maybe we should call it a night and sleep at the Pokécenter tonight." Luke suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. It is pretty late and the gym won't open again before 10 o'clock tomorrow." Luke answered.

Rusty's Purrloin sat on his shoulder and yawned.
"Purrloin is getting pretty tired too, so I see no point in staying up." Rusty continued.

They turned around a corner and came onto Striaton main street. This was where both the gym and Pokécenter was located. The Pokécenter was on the far end of the street, just beside the Pokémon academy. They walked past several people, each one looking tired after a hard days work and each one turning at a diffrent street.

The Pokécenter was a few blocks away when a girl who looked to be a few years older than them approached them. She was wearing a red shirt, a black skirt and anklehigh boots. Her purple hair was bound in pigtails and she had a big smile on her face. Hot on her heels she had a small Pokémon. It was orange and black, with a yellow mark just above its snout. It had a curled tail with a little red ball at the tip. As usual Rusty pulled up his Pokédex to check this new Pokémon.

"Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokémon. Normally, fire shoots out of Tepig's snout, but it shoots out smoke instead when it is feeling ill."

"Excuse me. I'm new in town and I was wondering where the Pokécenter is." the girl said as she smiled and cocked her head to the side.
Luke shoved Rusty out of the way so that he stood infront of the girl instead of Rusty.
"Oh, we are going there ourselves, so you can just tag along." he said and scrathed the back of his head.
"Great! We should hurry before it closes for the night." the girl said. Then she turned to Rusty, who was lying on the ground because of Luke's shove. Purrloin stood beside him and looked angrily at Luke.
"Here, I'll help you up." she said and extended her hand to pull him to his legs. Rusty picked up Purrloin again and let her sit on his shoulder again.

"My name is Emily. What's yours?" she asked.
"I'm Rusty and my excited friend here is Luke." Rusty said and pointed at Luke with his thumb.
"Hi!" Luke said and waved his hand.
"This is my Tepig." Emily said and picked up the Pokémon.
"Tepig!" its said happily.

Purrloin leaned forward and sniffed at the air. She then sat up straight and looked at Tepig. When Emily put down Tepig again, Purrloin jumped down on the ground and ran to Tepig. She then sat next to it and rubbed her head at Tepig's head while purring.
"It looks like Purrloin likes your Tepig." Rusty said and laughed.
"Yeah, they became friend right away." Emily replied and smiled.

Luke, who was looking impatient, said:
"Maybe we should get going. It's getting kinda late and the Pokécenter isn't going to keep open forever you know."

Since they had wasted so much time talking, they had to run the last bit, in order to make it in time. The resident nurse was just about to lock the doors and wind down the protective gate for the doors when they reached the Pokécenter.

"Wait! Let us in before you close!" Rusty yelled. The nurse looked at them and opened the door.
"You're in luck. I was about to close for the night." she said and closed the door behind her. She proceeded to lock the doors and pressed the button to bring down the gates.

"How can I help you?" the nurse said when she had gone back behind the counter again.
"We would like to check in our Pokémon." Luke said and put his Pokéballs on the counter.
"Mine too!" Rusty said and put his Pokéballs along with Purrloin on the counter.

The nurse took their individual Pokéballs and put them into trays, one for Rusty and one for Luke. She carried Purrloin separately and put her along with the trays on a small wagon behind the counter.
"They will be ready in the morning." she said and wheeled the wagon into the treatment room in the back. Purrloin gave Rusty a look of abandonment, but he reassured her by saying:
"Don't worry Purrloin. She is going to make you feel better. You'll see me again before you know it!"

Purrloin looked a little calmer when the door closed behind the nurse, but Rusty still felt sorry for her. He turned around and went over to the sofas, where Luke and Emily had sat down. They were already talking when he sat down.
"So Emily, where are you from?" Luke asked.
"I'm fairly local. I was born and raised in Nuvema Town." she said. "How about you guys?" she continued.
"I'm from right here in Striaton. In fact, my house in right down the street." Rusty said and pointed in the direction of his house.
"Then I'm the only one here who isn't an Unovan. I'm from a region called Hoenn. My hometown is called Rustboro City." Luke said and leaned back in his seat.
"Wow! I've never met someone who wasn't from Unova!" Emily said with wide-eye amazement. "What's Hoenn like?" she asked.

They sat for hours and talked about eachother until Luke nodded of several times, which made them decide to go to bed. Rusty laid down and fell asleep right away.

When Rusty woke up, Luke was still sleeping and Emily was nowhere to be found. It didn't seem like the Pokécenter had opened yet, so she had to be in the building. Rusty checked his clock and saw the it was half past eight. He stood up from the sofa he had been sleeping on and stretched himself. He instantly felt more alert and lively. He sat back down, just as Emily exited from the communications room. She walked towards the sofas with firm steps.
"Sorry, but I just had to make a call." she said as she sat down.
"That's OK. I just woke up, so in my point of view, you haven't been gone long. And he will never know you were gone." Rusty said and nodded in the now snoring Luke's direction.

The doors to the treatment room opened and the nurse stepped out into the waiting room.
"Good morning!" she said with a smile. "I've just got to open the doors, then you can have your Pokémon back." she continued. She wind up the protective gates and unlocked the doors and went into the treatment room again. A few moments later she came back with the wagon, and on it she had the trays which contained their Pokéballs.

Purrloin sat next to the trays and when she saw Rusty, she leapt from the wagon, ran to Rusty and jumped into his arms.
"Did you miss me that much Purrloin?" Rusty asked with a smile.
"Purrloin!" she responded and curled up into a ball in his arms and started purring.

Rusty and Luke went up the counter to claim their Pokéballs.
"The treatment went very smoothly, even though your Purrloin was very restless at first. She must love you very much." the nurse said when she handed over the trays to them.
"She's my best friend." Rusty said and smiled.
"It really shows that you know how to take care of your Pokémon. You are going to be a great Trainer." the nurse said.

"Have a pleasant day!" the nurse said to them as they exited the Pokécenter. Once out, Emily asked:
"So, what's the plan? I've got nothing special to do, so maybe I can hang with you guys today?" she asked shyly.
"We are going to challenge to the Striaton gym!" Luke said and looked excited.
"Really? I was hoping to do that myself someday. But I don't think I'm strong enough to challange it yet." Emily said with a tone of sadness in her voice.
"I don't think so." Luke said reassuringly. "If you've made it all the way here from Nuvema Town, you are more than ready to challenge the gym."
"You think? Maybe I should give it a try. Then I'll come with you and challange the gym too!" she said with more confidence.

Walking down the street to the Gym, the three of them realized just how hungry they were. Even Purrloin's stomach was rumbling.
"Maybe we should grab a bite to eat before we take on the gym challange." Rusty said and rubbed his belly.
" Then we can kill two birds with one stone. Since the Gym is also a café, we can have a great breakfast and then face the gym leader with our stomachs full." Luke suggested.
"What a great idea. There is only one problem. The Striaton Gym Café is a luxury café. We probably won't be able to afford it." Rusty said.
"Don't worry. I've got a plan that just might work." Luke said with a devious smile on his face.

Rusty pulled open the door to the Striaton Gym and let his two friends in. Even this early in the day, there sat a great number of people at the tables. They made their way to the counter where a waitress as taking orders from customers.
"Welcome to the Striaton Gym Café! How can I help you?" the waitress said as they approached.
"Hi. We are three Pokémon Trainers who want to challange the Gym." Rusty said.
"Certainly. I will notify the gym leaders. Just a moment." she said and walked into the kitchen in the back.

After a while, the waitress returned with three men in tow. These men where the Striaton gym leaders; Cilan, Chili and Cress. They were all wearing the same kind of clothes. A pair of black suitpants, a white shirt, a black vest with two gilded buttons. The only thing diffrent about their clothes was the color of their bowties, which matched their haircolor. Cilan was was wearing a green bowtie, Chili a red one and Cress a blue one. Their hairstyles were all diffrent.

Cilan's tea green hair was shorter than those of his brothers, it was slicked back, save for his bangs, which stood straight up. Chili's red hair was the wildest of the trio. It was incredibly bushy and almost reminded Rusty of a fire. Cress' blue hair was the longset. It was well-groomed covered half of his face as it hung down. It was also very flowing almost resembling actual water.

"We understand that you want to take the Gym Challange." Cress said.
"Yes." was all Rusty could manage to answer.
"All three of you? Well then, we better get going. Who wants to start first?" Chili said and rubbed his hands together.
"Actually, we have a suggestion to make. We would like to battle all three at the same time. Against the three of you." Luke explained.
"Well, uhm, that is a very, er, radical request." Cilan said. "But I, eh, guess it will be all right. Unless, ehm, my brothers have any, er, ojections." he continued and turned to his brothers.
"I've nothing against." Chili said and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Neither have I." Cress said.

They were led into a large hall in the back of the café. There was a battling court outlined on the floor. A judge was standing at the centerline, obviously always at the ready, as a challenger could come through the door during any part of the day.
"This is our arena. Here you will try to earn your gym badge." Cress said. "By the way, what are your names?"
" My name is Rusty of Striaton City. This is Purrloin." Rusty said and scratched Purrloin behind the ear.
"I'm Emily of Nuvema Town!" Emily said and smiled.
"And you can call me Luke and I'm from Rustboro City!" Luke said and made a pose.

The three gym leaders bowed and went to their end of the court. Cress made a little detour to go have a word with the judge. He was quickly finished and he too went to join his brothers.

Rusty, Luke and Emily took their own place at the opposite end of the court. The trainer's box, which was mapped out for one trainer at a time, was a little cramped, now that three trainers inhabited it. It seemed like Cilan, Chili and Cress were experiencing the same problems of space as they were.

When they had figured out how to stand, the judge raised his voice, so that it was heard all over the arena:
"This is a triple match between Cilan, Chili and Cress, the gym leaders of the Striaton Gym and the challengers: Rusty of Striaton City, Emily of Nuvema Town and Luke of Rustboro City. Each trainer is permitted one Pokémon. The team to defeat all of the opposing team's Pokémon is the winner."

"I'll choose Panpour!" Cress said and threw a Pokéball into the air. A Panpour materialized on the field.
"My Pokémon is Pansear!" Chili said and summoned his Pokémon.
Pansage, I, uhm, choose you!" Cilan said and called forth his Pokémon.

As the three elemental monkyes stood in front of them, Rusty thought about which Pokémon to choose. Emily would most likely choose Tepig, so it would be redundant to use Pansear. Maybe he would use Purrloin again.

That's when he realized that he caught a Patrat yesterday, and he hadn't battled with it yet. He picked up Patrat's Pokéball and threw it into the air while saying:
"Patrat! I choose you!"

The Patrat materialized before him and looked at him.
"Patrat! This is our first battle together. Let's give it our all!"
"Patrat." it said and turned around.

As Rusty had predicted, Emily had chosen her Tepig to battle. Luke had chosen his Munna for this battle.
"Are you ready for this?" Rusty asked them. They both nodded. "Then let's go!"

"Begin!" the judge shouted.

"Pansear! Use Scratch on Patrat!" Chili shouted as soon as the match begun. Pansear ran up to Patrat and swiped at it.
"Patrat! Dodge it!" Rusty said, and just in time for Patrat to respond and dodge.
"Now it's my turn! Munna use Yawn on Panpour!" Luke called out to his Munna. Munna yawned at Panpour, which couldn't help but look at it. It started looking drowsy right away.

"Tepig! Use Ember on Pansage!" Emily said. Tepig took a deep breath and when it exhaled, a flurry of tiny balls of fire shot out from its mouth, covering Pansage.
"Pansage!" Cilan called out. He looked very distraught that he hadn't reacted more quickly. But he soon snapped out of it and said: "Pansage! Respond with Lick!" Pansage ran up to Tepig and licked it in the middle of the face. Tepig started shivering and laid down on the floor.
"Tepig!" Emily cried out.

Tepig struggled to get up. It put it all into getting back on its feet. Emily was cheering it on from the box:
"Go Tepig! Get up! You can do it, I know you can!" With one last effort, Tepig managed to stand up again.
"Good boy, Tepig!" Emily shouted happily. "Now, use Ember!" Once again Tepig took a deep breath and shot out small balls of flame, covering Pansage. Pansage cried out and fell onto its back, unable to get up.

"Pansage is unable to get up. It is no longer allowed to continue fighting." the judge said.
Cilan called back his Pansage, pocketed the Pokéball and went and stood on the sidelines until the match would finish.

Panpour fell asleep from the Yawn-attack from earlier. Luke took the opportunity and had Munna go in for the attack.
"Munna! Use your Psywave-attack!" he shouted. The purple wave crept towards the unsuspecting Panpour. It hit home and Panpour was knocked back. It still stood up, sleeping.
"Good one, Munna! Use Psywave again!" Luke said. Once more the purple wave crept closer its target. Just before it hit, Panpour opened its eyes, waking up.
"Panpour!" it cried, frightened, realizing that it didn't have time to get out of the way.

Panpour was knocked further back, onto its back. It tried to push itself up, but didn't have enough strength.
"Panpour is unable to continue. It is no longer allowed to continue fighting." the judge said.

Cress called back Panpour and joined his brother at the sidelines.

Now only Pansear remained. Chili looked really detemined about winning, even if he was outnumbered. In a fit of grandeur Rusty thought that he could handle Pansear on his own.
"Withdraw your Pokémon." he said to Luke and Emily.
"What? Why?" Emily hissed at him.
"Just do it! I can take him." Rusty said.
"I hope you know what you are doing. If you lose, we have to do this all over again." Luke said and picked up his Pokéball and called back Munna. Emily did the same with Tepig.

"Tepig and Munna have been called back. They are not allowed to be called back into the match." the judge said.

"I thought that we would do this one on one, Chili." Rusty shouted across the arena.
"Suit yourself. You would've had a bigger shot if your friends had kept their Pokémon in battle. My Pansear is pretty strong." Chili shouted back.
"Told you so!" Emily growled at Rusty. "If you lose, I'll make you sorry." Rusty was a little scared of Emily now, but he was sure that he could win. Patrat had showed it was strong-willed and persistent during this battle.

"Pansear! Use Incinerate!" Chili shouted. Pansear started to glow. Rusty was surprised, since his Pansear didn't started to glow whenever it used Incinerate. The glowing died down and Pansear shot a big fireball at Patrat.
"Patrat! Throw yourself on the ground." Rusty shouted. Patrat didn't have to be told twice, as it threw itself just in time for the fireball not to hit it.

When the fireball had passed, Patrat jumped to it's feet and awaited orders.
"Patrat! Bite!" Rusty said. Patrat ran as fast as it could to Pansear and sunk its teeth into Pansear's arm. Pansear cried out and wretched its arm free.
"Pansear! Use Scratch!" Chili said. Pansear raised its arm to deliver the blow.
"Patrat! Use Detect!" Rusty shouted before Pansear could bring its arm down. Patrat closed its eyes and cocked its ears. When Pansear brought its arm down, Patrat stepped out of the way just in time. Pansear was caught of balance and fell face-first on the floor.

Patrat retreated while Pansear got up on its feet again. Now Pansear was looking as determined as its trainer.
"Patrat! Use Bide!" Rusty called out. Patrat sat down on the floor where it had stood and closed its eyes.
"Now is our chance Pansear! Hit it with Incinerate." Chili said.
"Pansear!" it said determinedly. Once again, Pansear started to glow and when the glow had died away, the great fireball shot towards Patrat. It hit Patrat head on, but Patrat didn't show any signs of damage.
"Now, use Scratch!" Chili said. Pansear swung his arm at Patrat. Again, Patrat didn't even flinch when it was hit.
"Scratch again Pansear!" Chili shouted. The same thing happened again. Pansear swung and Patrat didn't move a muscle.

"You've got to do something! You're going to lose if you don't make a move." Emily said with anxiety in her voice.
"Just wait." Rusty said. "Watch."

Patrat opened its eyes and shot forward from its sitting position, getting to Pansear in an instant. Before Pansear or Chili could react, Patrat punched Pansear. The force of the punch was so massive, that it sent Pansear flying across the room. When it landed, Pansear was out cold.
"Pansear can no longer fight. The winning team is: Rusty, Luke and Emily! Congratulations!" the judge said and pointed to the winners.

Emily was jumping for joy.
"You did it! You did it!" she screamed and threw her arms around Rusty.
"I honestly thought that you had lost your mind when you told us to withdraw, but you really came through." Luke said and patted Rusty on the shoulder.
"It was a close call but my plan worked out in the end." Rusty said. "I thought that if I weakened Pansear first, it would give me an opportunity to use Bide."
"What was that attack?" Emily asked him.
"Bide lets a Pokémon endure attacks and then turns the damage it had taken back at the attacker twofold. It is a gamble to use, but if it succeeds, it is a potential game-ender." Rusty explained. "I knew that Patrat wouldn't let itself be defeated so easily. So using Bide was a safe bet."

Patrat had run up to Rusty, who picked it.
"You did really well Patrat! You deserve some rest." Rusty said and sent Patrat back into its Pokéball.

The three gym leaders approached them. Cress was carrying a small box in his hands.
"You did really well, all three of you. I'm very impressed." Cress said.
"You are a very skilled Trainer, Rusty. Not a lot of people have been able to defeat my Pansear so easily." Chili said and smiled.
"I am, ehm, very honored to have, er, battled you." Cilan said.

Cress held up the box.
"You have more than earned these." he said and opened the box. In the box lay three identical pins. They where shaped like a very angular bowtie. The top part was ocean blue, the middle was fire red and the bottom was tea green. These were official Pokémon League Gym Badges.
"Please accept these Trio Badges." Cress said as he handed them one each.

Rusty looked at the badge, unable to yet comprehend what had happened. He had gotten his first gym badge.
"Yes! I got the Trio Badge!" he shouted and held the badge aloft for all to see. He turned to his fellow trainers and celebrated for a little while. He then remembered about Luke's plan.
"Luke, don't you have something to ask the gym leaders?" he asked.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot." Luke said and turned to the brothers. "We were thinking that we don't have much money. And we haven't eaten today. So we were wondering, since we beat you, that you maybe you could treat us to breakfast?" Luke was a little uncomfortable about asking this to the gym leaders, but it had been his idea, so he couldn't just bail out now.

The brothers just gave eachother a look and Chili said:
"We would be delighted to treat you to breakfast."
"Just go out that door, sit down and we will be around shortly to take your orders." Cress said and pointed at the door in which they had entered.

The customer count had increased since they had entered. They almost had a hard time finding a seat. after a while of searching, they found a table for three. They flipped through the menu to see if they had something good to eat.

Cilan approached them after a while. He was holding a pen and a small note pad.
"What will you be having today?" he asked them, while having pen and paper at the ready.
"I'll have the vanilla tea and the broccolipie, please." Emily started.
"I will have some lemon tea and two ovenbaked sandwiches." Luke said.
"I'll go with the liquorice tea and a minced meat pie." Rusty ended.
"Excellent choices. Would you, uhm, like something for your, er, Pokémon?" Cilan asked.
"Yes please!" Rusty said and smiled.

Cilan returned after a while, with all the food on one tray and the tea on another. He even had foodbowls full of Pokéchow for their Pokémon to eat.

After finishing the incredibly delicious meal, they thanked the gym leaders and exited the café. Rusty was regarding the badge as they walked down the steps to the street.
"What's the plan now?" Emily asked.
"I guess we continue to the next town. That's Nacrene City and there is a Gym there. But it's a long way to get there, so we better get going right away." Rusty answered.

As they walked down the street to the far edge of town that led to the route to Nacrene City, they passed many people, as usual. However, there was one perticular person that caught Rusty's eye. He was wearing what appeared to be a knight's armor. On his chest there was an emblem resembling a shield, black on one half and white on the other. There was a blue lightning bolt stretching horizontally over the shield. Over the lightning bolt, was a capital P in the same blue color as the lightning bolt.

The knight was running in the same direction as them. Rusty thought that he looked really peculiar and wanted to investigate further. He urged Luke and Emily to follow him. They followed the knight onto Route 3; the route to Nacrene City.