The next morning, Nils, Tana, Ren, Firenze and Rex all woke up, thanked Delia for the hospitality, and left Pallet Town.
"According to my dad," said Rex, "Dekabu Cave is to the east and Gruse Town is of course in the west."
"I guess we'll split up now," said Firenze.
"See you all at Pewter City," said Ren and the group split up with Tana, Ren and Firenze going to Dekabu Cave while Nils and Rex went for Gruse Town.
After walking for a few miles, Nils and Rex arrived in Gruse Town which was a lot like Pallet Town except Gruse Town had a beach.
"Welcome to my hometown Nils," said Rex.
"It's nice to be here but we should continue our way to Pewter City," said Nils.
"Agreed," said Rex and the two trainers walked through the town until they heard a battle from the beach.
Out of curiosity, Nils and Rex went to the beach and found a bunch of people watching a battle and when they saw who was battling Nils recognized one of the trainers as the teenager he battled back at the cruise.
"Earth Power Sandslash," said the teenager and Sandslash used the selected move on a Maril that the other trainer was using.
"Bubble Beam," said Maril's trainer but when Maril used the chosen move, Sandslash dodged.
"Now Poison Jab," said the teenager and Sandslash used the move that was chosen which knocked out Maril.
"Return Maril," said Marlil's trainer as he returned Maril, "I'll admit it Steve, you're very strong." "I'm sure you'll succeed at reviving the Viridian Gym and redeeming it."
"Thanks," said Steve, "I still need more practice though," and Steve left.
After the crowd left, Nils and Rex decided to follow Steve because they were curious about the revival and redemption of the Viridian Gym. After catching up to Steve, Steve noticed the trainers and immediately recognized Nils.
"If it isn't that strong trainer from the cruise," said Steve, "Are you interested in a rematch?"
"Actually," said Nils, "We watched the last part of your battle and heard your opponent say something about the Viridian Gym." "What did he mean?"
"Well," explained Steve, "I come from Viridian City which as you might know once had a Gym that had an evil man as its Gym Leader." "After that man was arrested along with the Team Rocket members who worked for him, the Gym was shut down and destroyed because it was a symbol of evil." "However, over the years people in Viridian City started to believe that we didn't need to shut down the Gym but give it a better Gym Leader instead. "So, I obtained the goal of reviving the Gym and redeeming it." "In order to do that, I first traveled all over the Kanto Region to train my Pokemon and become as strong as possible." "After that, I went to the Pokemon League and asked them to reopen and repair the Gym and have me as the new Gym Leader." "After I asked, the Pokemon League decided to test me." "So I'm now on my way home while training for my test along the way."
"That's an interesting story Steve," said Nils after hearing Steve's story, "If you want I can battle you to help you get ready for the test."
"That would be nice," said Steve, "Let's have a one on one battle just like last time," and Nils and Steve prepared for the battle.
"Go Froslass," said Nils and Froslass was sent out.
"Go Krokorok," said Steve and a Krokorok appeared.
"A Krokorok," asked Rex.
"I got him as a Sandile Egg at the Unova Festival," answered Steve.
"Use Attract," said Nils and Froslass used the move of choice.
"Use Dig to dodge," said Steve and Krokorok dodged Attract by using Dig and then gave damage to Froslass.
"Use Ice Beam," said Nils who knew Attract wasn't going to work and Froslass hit Krokorok with the selected move.
"Use Crunch," said Steve and Krokorok hit Froslass with Crunch which lowered Froslass' defense.
"Ice Fang," said Nils and Froslass attacked Krokorok with the move of choice.
"Crunch again," said Steve and Krokorok used Crunch again which gave Froslass even more damage and lowered her defense again.
"Try Ice Beam again," said Nils and Froslass started to use Ice Beam.
"Dodge with Dig," said Steve and Krokorok used Dig which made the Ice Beam miss and then Froslass took damage.
"Try Shadow Ball," said Nils who wanted to try to lower Krokorok's special defense so the next Ice Beam could do more damage but when Froslass used Shadow Ball, Krokorok dodged.
"Finish with Crunch," said Steve and Krokorok used Crunch yet again which knocked out Froslass. "Thanks for the battle Nils, it was good."
"I'd like to battle you now," said Rex.
"Ok then" said Steve and Rex took Nils' place.
"Go Vileplume," said Rex and a Vileplume was sent out.
"Go Nincada," said Steve and a Nincada appeared.
"Use Petal Blizzard," said Rex and Vileplume used the move of choice.
"Use Dig to dodge," said Steve and like Krokorok earlier, Nincada dodged and attacked with Dig.
"Use Petal Dance," said Rex and Vileplume used Petal Dance which gave Nincada a bunch of damage and then confused Vileplume.
"Metal Claw until it snaps out of confusion," said Steve and Nincada used Metal Claw over and over again while Vileplume couldn't attack back because of the confusion.
"Use Toxic," said Rex once the confusion wore off and Vileplume used Toxic which poisoned Nincada.
"Use Aerial Ace," said Steve and Nincada hit Vileplume with Aerial Ace which was super effective and extremely powerful because some of the earlier Metal Claws increased Nincada's attack.
"Venoshock," said Rex and Vileplume prepared to use the selected attack which would be extra strong because Nincada was poisoned.
"X-Scissor," said Steve and Nincada attacked Vileplume with X-Scissor while getting hit by Venoshock at the same time.
After getting hit by the attacks, Vileplume was knocked out.
"You're really strong Steve," said Rex as he returned Vileplume.
"Thanks," said Steve, "Now if you excuse me, I should go home to Viridian City and prepare for my test," and with that Steve left.
"He's a lot stronger than when I battled him at the cruise," said Nils, "I have confidence that he'll revive and redeem the Viridian Gym."
"Perhaps," said Rex, "Anyway, after all that walking and those battles, I think we should stay at my house and then head for Ongo Falls tomorrow."
After Rex's suggestion, he and Nils went for Rex's house where Nils met Rex's mom and then that night, they went to bed ready for the next day.
