Striaton City

By the time they had got to the next town, the sun had started to drop into the earth, lighting up the sky in a romantic red and orange color. Sophia had not seen a more beautiful sight ever before in her life, except the one time when she went to see Niagara Falls. The power that was caused by the water pumping down in the lake before like a heart beating when fear has struck, amazed Sophia to no end. What was even more astounding was seeing the Niagara Falls during the night time, with the falls lighted up with many colors. It was an astonishing, marvellous, and miraculous sight. But the current sight of the sunset was close.

Since it was too late to challenge the gym leader, they headed to the centre to rest. They handed their balls to the nurse to heal them. And then they went to bed. Like the previous centre there was a section in it to cater for travellers. That night, Sophia could not go to sleep. She was worrying about that battle with the gym leader the next day. She didn't want to fail since she was doing well already. She was on a winning streak and didn't want to things to pause simply because she had lost a single match.

"Are you still awake?" Landon yawned.

"Yes, regrettably," she said sadly. "I want to sleep but at the moment the stakes are too high. I need to win tomorrows battle. If I lose it will be disappointment to all the people that I know. I couldn't go back to my hometown with losing even a single match. My friends and family would ridicule me to all forms of extreme. I don't think I could live with myself if something like that happened. No! I will win. It is the only thing I am good at."

"I am sure you will win," said Landon. "You are clever and you are smart. You can do anything if you put your mind to it. You should learn from me. When I first came here I wasn't at all good at what I was going. Heck, I didn't even know what I was doing. But now I've done a few a few battles with other trainers and now I am getting better. I know I lost a few, but all you have to do is get back up and continue. If you decide not to battle someone just because you fear that you will lose that match then it is worse than actually battling and losing. You would be treated as a coward. Go and battle them and if you lose you can always come back and battle them again. No one would condemn you. Just keep training and you would do alright."

"Sure. I think you're right. I will battle them and if I lose I will take it gracefully. I will train harder and then I will return and defeat the gym leader. I am sure my friends and family would understand that. We are all improving. And no one is the vest at something," Sophia.

"It is great that you are looking at thing more positively. Just go at it and I am sure you will succeed," Landon concluded. After saying this, they went to bleed.

The next day, Sophia got up early. She looks around town. Most of the buildings were like the town she went to previously, with old-style block buildings. There was a school that looked pretty cool as well. There was a Pokémon academy there but she decided to go there later. She wanted to train up her Tepig and Roggenrola before they went into battle against the gym leader.

She ponder for a while wondering what type they would have and whether she would be able to defeat them. Pedro had said that the gym leader in Striaton City didn't deal with rock types. She remembered someone telling her that in the Johto region the first gym leader people faced was a flying type gym leader. They claimed that it didn't matter what type you choose as a starter since it would be really easy to defeat the gym leader. She was hoping that Unova had the same type as the Johto since she didn't know if she could defeat a rock type since she didn't have any water types, which are the best type to go against rock types. The worse is electric but only Pedro had one of that type - minimum, but since he had a Mudkip it would make up for that.

After battling a few wild Patrat and Purrloin – she wasn't in the mood to catching anything today – she returned back to the centre where she got her Tepig healed back to full health. She stopped for a moment just to think. She had to defeat this gym leader or else her family and friend will be very disappointed at her for losing.

"Are you read," asked Landon.

"Of course I am," Sophia replied, with a smile on her face. "It's time to teach this gym leader how we do things back in Kanto!"

"Make sure you're healed," said Pedro.

"Already done that," said Sophia.

"Cool, let's go!"

They walked swiftly to the gym, which was an old restaurant. As they entered, Sophia wondered if she had gone to the wrong place, and that the gym was in some other building. Even worse, this town might not even have a gym. A waitress walked up to her. He was wearing a red bow tie with bright red hair.

"What Pokemon was your starter? Was your starter?" he asked her as they entered.

"My first Pokemon was a Tepig which is a fire type," she answered.

"Then you will be facing my brother Cress," he replied.

"Wait a minute! What do you mean I have to face Cress?" she said with a sign of surprise.

"Here in this gym you have to face a trainer that specializes in the type of Pokémon you're starter is weaker against. It's to see if you know what you are doing," he replied.

"Ok, let's go," she said.

"Not so fast," he pause her. "I want to know what you're friend's starter Pokemon was." He pointed towards Pedro.

"Nah," he replied. "I'm not interested in gaining badges. I have already got some in another region." He showed of his badges and everyone was shocked.

"That looks like a cool collection," said the waitress. "What about you?" he pointed towards Landon.

"Mine was a Sandshrew, but I also have a Bulbasaur," Landon said.

"Then you will be facing me, Chili, the oldest brother of course," he said.

"I'll battle you first then," he said, bring out his Pokémon balls. "Sandshrew and Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

"Lillipup and Pansear, show them whose boss!" said Chilli.

Bulbasuar stood pause while Sandshrew rolled towards Pansear. The Pansear was able to dodge the oncoming Sandshrew, and then charged towards Bulbasuar. While it had the chance, Sandshrew swiped at Lillipup, knocking it out. Bulbasuar jumped out of the way from the Pansear's ember attack. Sandshrew tried to get there on time, but Pansear busted a huge flame from its mouth and hitting Bulbasuar, it knocked Sophia's Pokémon out. Sandshrew used its rolling ability to dodge the Pansear. It rolled around the other Pokemon with each circle around it coming close. Sandshrew was about to strike but Pansear jumped out from the circle and darted to the other side of the gym, Sandshrew chased after it and tackled it and then using its swipe attack knocked Pansear out.

"Weldon," said Chilli. "You have won a Trio Badge."

"Thank you," Landon said as he accepted they badge.

"Now it's my turn," said Chilli's brother Cress, pointing at Sophia. He was also wearing a waitress uniform, but unlike his brother he had a blue bowtie and blue spiky hair. "Out you come, Panpour and Lillipup!"

"Tepig and Roggenrola, do it your best!" Sophia said, thronging her balls into the arena.

The Lillipup charged right up at Tepig and Roggenrola, which gave them a chance to swipe at it. But it was able to dodge them. It then able to bite Roggenrola, but it didn't affect the other Pokémon since it was a rock type. Roggenrola countered with a rock smash, knocking the Lillipup out. By that point the Panpour and moved across the arena towards Sophia's Pokémon. It used its Water Gun on Roggenrola, knocking it out. Tepig started to charge away, but the other Pokémon was too quick. Panpour used Water Gun on that as well, knocking Tepig out as well.

Sophia had lost her first Pokemon battle.