"Gah, I got sand in my nose! Blech, now it's in my mouth!"

Ty trudged through the sandstorm, covering his face to keep sand from getting in his eyes and other orifices. So far, to no avail. He moved a bit farther to get in a small hole in a large rock, using it as cover from the sand flying around. The trainer spat out the granules. "Blech, I hate the desert. I hate sand. I hate Route 4."

"Tell me about it, bro."

He jumped up from the sudden response. The others were in their poke balls, so that meant….

Ty looked down and saw a Darumaka, huddled in the cave as well. "Man, I hate it here. I can't believe some of the ones here like the sand. Granted, great heat. I like the heat. But it could do without the sand."

The trainer shrugged, settling down next to him. "Yeah, I know." He looked down to him, grinning. "Hey, wanna come with me? I can get you out of this place."

The fire type looked up. "Really bro? You're gonna get me out of here?"

"Yeah man."

He grinned, taking Ty's hand.

-Forty-five minutes later-

After taking a quick stop at the Desert Resort and catching a new Sandile, Ty finally made it out of Route 4 and into Nimbasa city. The place was shiny, literally. Attractions, vendors, rides, flashing lights, so much going on. With as much going on here, you'd expect it to be in Castelia with all the room it had.

Before the gym battle ahead of them, Ty decided to train up the team. Starting with Manny, the Darumaka. So, heading to Route 16, Ty started with grinding against trainers. Facing against a Herdier, Manny was pumped up to be out of the sand. He landed a couple Headbutts, the dog Pokemon pumping up with Work Up. But before he could land a finishing Fire Fang, the Herdier charged Manny and smacked a super powered Take Down.

In one hit, Manny flew and hit a tree, falling to the ground. The recoil knocked the Herdier out, but Manny wasn't so lucky. Ty ran over to him, unbelieving. How could this happen again?

"Manny, come on. Hang on dude."

"Heh….sorry bro. But I…..want to thank…..you…"

"For what? I just killed you…"

"No, man. For keeping your promise…..of getting me out…..of that stupid route…" He patted Ty on the arm, smiling. "This is….what I've always wanted….to see the sun without….all that sand…"

Ty buried Manny along the side of the road, putting a marker up for people to know to leave the grave alone. He tucked a tuft of red fur into his wallet, a new keepsake to carry on his journey.

Continuing with the leveling for the gym, Ty didn't let the loss stop him. He had to keep going. After evolving Reggie into a bulky Boldore and Cobbler into a happier (thank god) Leavanny, he caught a Solosis to add to the slightly opened team.

The team reentered Nimbasa City, going for the gym now. Stepping inside, he saw that it was….a roller coaster track all along the inside of it. Cool.

But for Ty, it wouldn't be all that cool…