Chapter 7:

Dunsparce and Dusted

Location: Route 20

It was time to head to Virbank City, the sight of the next Gym in the Unova region. It might not be the nicest place in Unova, but I was excited to see what the Gym Leader was like. After all, this is a Trainer that Hilbert hadn't took on! The surprises kept on coming.

I went down the stairs to the lower section of Route 20. I decided to just take my time; I had only been part of the Badge squad for two days. No rush to get my second one. Plus, I wanted to get some more training in for whatever tricks the Gym Leader had up his or her sleeve.

As I walked on, I saw a group of children with a Nursery Aide. I squinted. In her yellow apron and with her box of toys was a woman I had known very well during my own childhood.

"Kimya?" I asked.

She saw me; it was Kimya! "Rosa? Oh my goodness, nice to see you! Look how big you've grown!"

One of the children was tugging at Kimya's arm. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Lin. This is Rosa. I taught her when she was your age. She was bright and ambitious, just like all of you."

I scratched the back of my head, touched by the kind words. "Is Kimya taking you on one of her special trips?"

Lin nodded wildly. "Yeah! We're learning about battling Pokémon by battling a lot of these wild Pokémon!"

Something seemed familiar. Then, I remembered the Journal. It was the seventh day of my journey, and I was encountering my old Preschool Teacher. And on the seventh day of Hilbert's journey… he did the same thing! He taught children how to catch Pokémon, and I was going to teach them how to battle! Simple!

"I'll show you battling!" I said.

A bunch of children started cheering. "Pick me!" they all said.

I pointed at multiple students, deciding which one to battle. I wasn't going to pick a favourite, so I pointed to a random boy. "You first!" I said.

He ran to the front. "You're on! I'm strong, I swear!"

Rosa Vs. Preschooler Albert

"Snivy, I choose you!" I said.

"Go Psyduck!" Albert replied.

Before I could call Vine Whip, Snivy started spinning. Leaves started coming off of it in a spinning formation. "Snivy? Hey, that's Leaf Tornado! Alright! Okay, fire it at Psyduck!" Snivy fired the leaves at the Water Type, who barely hung on afterwards.

"Psyduck, Scratch!" Psyduck scratched at Snivy's face for not much.

"Now use Vine Whip!" Snivy whacked Psyduck with its vines, knocking it out.

"But I'm strong!" Albert whined.

"I guess I was a bit strong," I said. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Kimya said. "Hopefully you taught the kid about Type advantages. He thinks too much about strength and little about strategy. Okay Lin, would you like to go next?"

Lin nervously walked opposite me. I decided to switch things up for the next match. "I won't go easy. I promise."

Rosa Vs. Preschooler Lin

"I choose Lillipup!" shouted Lin.

"And I choose Azurill!" I replied.

"Lillipup, start with Tackle!" Lillipup charged into Azurill. It was quite strong, I had to admit.

"You okay Azurill?" I asked. Azurill gave me an assuring nod, before it shot a jet of bubbles at Lillipup. "Azurill, that's Bubble Beam! Hah! I'm on a roll today!" It was a strong Bubble Beam that also lowered Lillipup's Speed. "Want to do another one?" I asked. Azurill shot some more bubbles at Lillipup. It was finished.

"No fair! I only got one move in!"

I was a bit scared that I had gone a bit far with my battling, but Kimya didn't seem to mind.

"You are strong," she said. "But how would you like to see another battle kids? Between me and an old student of mine?"

The children cheered. I healed my Pokémon. I knew what she was going to use. It was a Pokémon that I use to play with back in the day. Everyone liked to play with it. But I had never seen it in battle, until then!

Rosa Vs. Nursery Aide Kimya

"Snivy, go!" I shouted.

"Go Dunsparce!" replied Kimya. She sent out a yellow Pokémon with blue stripes on its back and small wings.

Dunsparce (ノコッチ)

035

Normal Type

Land Snake Pokémon

4'11" (1.5 m)

30.9 lbs (14 kg)

It creates mazes in dark locations. When spotted, it flees into the ground by digging with its tail.

Dunsparce has no known evolutions.

"Snivy, Leaf Tornado!" Snivy span around, hitting Dunsparce with swirling leaves.

"Dunsparce, Screech!" Dunsparce started screaming very loudly. I had to cover my ears, and so did all the children. After it had finished, not only did I hear ringing in my ears, but Snivy's Defense had fallen by quite a bit.

"Snivy, Leaf Tornado again!" Snivy once again hit Dunsparce with swirling leaves. It was almost down.

"Use Pursuit!" Dunsparce rammed into Snivy. Being a Critical Hit mixed with a nasty Defense drop meant that Snivy was finished in one. At least Dunsparce was close to being knocked out.

"Azurill, go!" I said.

"Pursuit!" Dunsparce rammed into Azurill, almost dealing with it in one fell swoop. But I had it covered.

"Bubble Beam!" Azurill fired one last jet of bubbles at Dunsparce, knocking it out.

"Well, you have gotten strong! As I expected."

"Thanks everyone!" I said. "This was fun!"

"Bye!" Kimya shouted, waving her hand whilst her other arm was desperately clinging to the box of toys she had. "Good luck on your journey!"

Location: Virbank City

The concrete paths and rugged buildings of Virbank City welcomed me to the sight of my next Gym challenge. I knew the rules about Virbank City; don't talk to any gangs, don't enter unfamiliar buildings and, actually those are the rules. Virbank City is dangerous if you don't have any idea what you're doing.

"No!" Some shouting came from round the corner. Worried that it was someone in need of saving, I ran round the corner to find a woman with white-spiky hair, a purple and blue striped t-shirt and an electric guitar. She was arguing with a Sailor. "No Dad! I will not allow you! You're a Sailor, through and through. Not some A-list actor. Just stick with what you're good at!"

"And what's wrong with expanding out my horizons?" he asked. "They're in the planning stages on that movie, remember? Riolu Kid?"

I had multiple questions. Why would a Sailor want to play the Riolu Kid? I had heard about that movie though. I love superheroes and have read all the comics. So, when I heard that Riolu Kid was getting an adaptation as part of a new Cinematic Universe, with the once retired Brycen playing the villain, I was excited. But why would a man play the Riolu Kid?

"What's going on?" I asked. I had a rough idea of what, but I didn't want to sound like an eavesdropper.

"It's my Dad there. He wants to retire from being a Sailor to become a superstar at Pokéstar Studios. But we need him to ferry people between here and Castelia City." She pointed across the sea where the skyline of Castelia City's skyscrapers stood proud in the distance. "I'm not going to do take up his job. I have my duties on running my band and being a Gym Leader."

"You're the Gym Leader of Virbank?" I asked. "Nice! Mind if we battle tomorrow?"

"I can't, sorry," she said. "I have a small gig, but I can do the day after! If you need some preparation, why not trying catching and training in the Virbank Complex? Sorry if I'm coming off as rude."

She wasn't at all; I completely understood. What I did need though was a rest.

"I'm off for auditions!" Roxie's father said, walking north to the grand movie studio in the distance; Pokéstar Studios.

I have reached the sight of my next Gym battle; Virbank City. Sure, it's not the nicest city in the world, but I'd be lying when I said that my excitement could barely be contained. Afterwards, it's onto the road which Hilbert himself took!