Union City was much bigger then I expected. Hundreds of buildings as well as some that stood high above the clouds just about. I wouldn't have expected to ever see this in our little hometown. I wasn't the only one surprised either. Mystic and Flanite were stunned at all the different shops, buildings and the large neon billboards that flashed and sparkled.

Ruka on the other hand didn't seem too impressed. She told me I should see the cities in other regions and this was nothing. I didn't really let her words affect me. I'm just glad to be able to see such a bright and colorful city. Yeah, it was way too crowded with what felt like thousands of people and Pokemon on the same pathway as me.

"Were you here before, Ruka?" I asked, turning to face her.

She simply nodded.

"Yeah… It is quite an impressive place. But like I said, this is nothing compared to other regions. But still… This place contains so much to do." She said.

"Like?" I asked once more.

"Hell, all kinds. Arcades, restaurants, game shops… And of course the massive super mall in the middle of the city. If you ever want care for yourself or your Pokemon like a barber or such, that's all found in the same super mall." She explained.

"Jeez… This place feels like it has everything." I said.

She just shrugged and somewhat agreed.

I turned to face forward once again as I picked up Mystic and Flanite.

"Lets try and find somewhere less crowded. Maybe that super mall." I said to them.

Both agreed as we made our way through the massive sea of people. It was quite hard not to get lost and after 20 minutes of getting turned around multiple times, we finally reached the mall and Ruka wasn't joking. It was massive with at least six floors and branched out for what looked like miles. Ruka walked next to me and gave a slight scoff.

"Well, it was certainly not this many floors the last time I was here." She spoke.

"It was smaller then this? Jeez… They've been busy then." I said.

"Yep… Well, lets go in." Ruka told me.

Nodding, I followed her inside.

"Okay… Wanna split up or something? Could be faster getting supplies and all." Ruka said.

"Oh, sure. I guess I'll check around and see if we need anything." I told her.

Ruka nodded and she was soon off, vanishing within the crowd of people. I then looked down at the two and smiled gently.

"Make sure not to leave the bag, alright? Don't want to get lost in such a place." I told them.

They simply nodded and buried themselves within my bag. I smiled and looked around. There were so much to this place that I didn't know where to begin. So I just began wandering to hopefully find a store that would be useful to me. Lets just say that I found many shops over the hour I was there and before I knew it, I had a few bags of goods. I had messaged Ruka while finishing my shopping and now I was sitting near a large fountain.

After sitting there for a bit, Ruka walked up with a few stuff of her own.

"Guess you found quite a lot of stuff. How'd you get the money?" She asked.

"It was all cheap stuff." I said.

"Thought you didn't have much… But whatever. What are we going to do now?" She asked.

I shrugged and got up.

"Explore some more?" I asked.

She agreed and started walking towards the entrance. I followed her and once we were outside, we started to walk around. More buildings, lights, people. It kinda blended together after a while and it was getting harder to not get lost.

Once we were completely lost, we visited a park and just sat there. I sat on a bench and let out a sigh from all the walking.

"Damn… It's tough getting by all those people…" I told Ruka.

"Hmh." She just scoffed.

Looking around, I just shrugged.

"So busy… Hmm. Not used to so many people in one area. Do you know where the gym is?" I asked.

"I think so. It's actually near here I think. Um… Follow me." She said, getting up.

Getting up, I started to follow her. She lead me through the crowd of people again and after pushing through multiple people for a solid five or so minutes, we were there. The building was massive but it was clearly advertised that it was a gym.

"Um… Very large then other gyms." I said.

"Eh, if I remember correctly… This place is a gym along with some other businesses. Lets go." She said.

Nodding, I walked into the building and was instantly hit by a blast of AC. It sent a chill down my spine but felt very nice since outside was quite hot.

"J- jeez…" I said softly and started looking around.

The first floor was just a simple lobby it appeared. We walked up to the front desk where someone sat there. We asked about the gym and they told us it was underground. I didn't expect there to be a basement level.

"W- well. Lets get going, shall we?" I said.

Ruka agreed as we walked to an elevator that was to the side. We entered and pressed the basement level and once it stopped and opened the doors, we were greeted by a large open area behind a great big glass pane. The battlefield was right behind that piece of glass.

"Huh… Got quite a nice spectator view." I said.

"Yeah." Ruka simply said.

Walking out of the elevator, we walked around for a bit and noticed someone signing people up for the challenge.

This city was a little too crazy for me honestly, so I just wanted to earn the badge and get out of this place. So I quickly ran up to them and signed myself up.

Once I was ready, I was told that a free slot will be soon. So I nodded and sat down. I stared out to the battlefield and saw a few battles. However, as I sat there, I heard someone.

"Ah, there you are." It said.

I didn't think it was directed to me, so I just watched the battles still. But I was proven wrong as they soon tapped my shoulder. I looked at whoever tapped me and noticed it was Zach. I looked a bit surprised and got up.

"Zach? Jeez… It's been a bit. Where did you go?" I asked.

"Um… I've been traveling around quite a lot. Um… Yeah… It was a little difficult to find you again. But then I remembered you should be around a gym. So I checked like 4 different gyms until I reached here and asked around. Luckily someone knew where you were and I came right here." He said.

"Huh. Well then. Yeah, it was an odd week… We were all separated and I was alone for a bit. It kinda sucked… But I managed to find Ruka not long ago. And now you. Guess we're all back together." I said.

Zach smiled and nodded.

"Um… Where is Electric and Spike?" I asked.

"Oh, I left them at a daycare since I didn't want to drag them around while looking for you. Such an odd but interesting daycare too. It's like… Completely ran by Lycanroc's. Didn't know Lycanroc's can be trained like that." He said.

I tilted my head for a moment.

"Um… Okay… When did you arrive there?" I asked again.

"Like a few hours ago. I know this city was going to be flooded with people, so I didn't want to bring them here since they don't do well with loads of people." He said.

"Uh… Kinda funny. I was actually there last night. I stood the night and all." I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"Seriously? Jeez… At least I was right on track. Just glad we're finally together again." He said.

Ruka was missing while we were talking and I didn't realize this until she walked out of the elevator. This confused me as she looked quite annoyed.

"Um… You good?" I asked her.

She shook her head and sighed with a slight groan.

"We should clear out." She said.

"Why? The battles are nearly done." I said.

"The police is in the lobby and told everyone to leave." She said.

This confused me further.

"Seems like this 'criminal group' is causing trouble nearby and it will most likely involve this place. So the police is telling people to leave." She said.

I groaned and looked down.

"F- fine… Was ready to earn my next badge…" I said.

"Eh, you can earn the Sky Badge later. But for now, lets do something else." She said.

I was quite annoyed, but I agreed since the police is getting involved and all that. So I grabbed my bag and the person running the front counter walked up to me.

"Don't worry, this thing happens often. Can't even get more then 20 battles in a week due to this unknown group. If you are nearby tomorrow, then you can skip the line to have the battle since you are up next." They told me.

"O- okay, thanks." I said.

Looking at the two, I told them we should go. So we entered the elevator and went to the ground level. We exited it then walked out into the packed street.

"Okay! We should actually head back to the daycare. I want to make sure the two are okay there." Zach said.

"That's quite a distance. We, uh… Had Dusk drive us here." I said.

"Wait… You mean that dusk Lycanroc? He knows how to drive? Jeez… That's very impressive." Zach said, looking surprised.

"Eh, I saw Lucario's and some others that can learn how to do that." Ruka said, shrugging gently.

"Where do you go to see all this? Actually… Never mind. Lets just take a bus since I took a bus transit here." Zach said.

Nodding, we walked to a bus stop and waited in the heat for a bit. Once the bus arrived, we got on and sat down and after twenty or so minutes, we arrived at the daycare. We walked off as I stretched.

"Okay… Didn't really see myself coming back here." I said.

"It's a nice little place honestly. So lets go!" Zach said.

Ruka was already walking towards the daycare's door as we soon followed. She walked into the building as both of us followed.

Kane was working the front desk and looked up.

"Oh… Didn't expect to see you again. What happened?" He asked.

"Some issues…" I plainly replied.

"Well, glad to see you back." He said.

Nodding, I sat down and placed my bag down as Mystic walked around and found Kun. They began to play or something while I relaxed. This is when Zach walked up and sat down.

"Hey, so on my journey… I found a lot of cool stuff." He said.

"Hmm?" I looked at him.

"There was a lot of cool stuff honestly. Hmm… I do think I found something for you too." He said.

I looked interested.

"Yeah, in Silver City… There appears to be a big upcoming event. It's about that whole Spectacular TV Show. It's suppose to start in like a week and last for another week. Looking at how you dress Mystic sometimes… I thought you were a fan of that show. So yeah, I wanted to just tell you." He said.

"Is that so? Huh. I really did enjoy Spectacular when I was younger, even when I was older. Still watched it right before leaving to take on the gyms." I said.

"Huh, interesting. Well, yeah. I'm sure it'd be the perfect time to shine." He said.

Nodding slowly, I looked at Mystic who continued playing with Kun.

"I'm sure it'd be a good time…" I said.

For the next few hours, I relaxed and tried making a plan for the Sky Gym...