I woke up the next morning to an alert on my pokedex and I realized that I'd fucked up. I totally forgot about the requirements the league had for getting a trainer's license. You see, passing the examinations got you a provisional license, but you had to either get your first badge in one month or three badges in three months after you got the provisional license in order to have it upgraded to a permanent license. This was bad. This was very bad. Donell spent two weeks at home after getting his license and then got to viridian in his third week. I was comatose in the hospital for about two weeks, and I'd spent another three weeks here training. That added up to about two months of time gone. Getting three badges in one month was going to be insanely difficult.

At least, with Quicksilver fully evolved, travel time was less of a consideration. However, I still only had two pokemon. After Flint, every leader insists on three-on-three battles. I'd be fighting with a notable handicap. I couldn't just catch another pokemon and train it up in time to be a significant factor in a gym battle.

I gave myself a quick slap to the face. No use overthinking this. It's just a challenge. Three gyms in a month? I'd do it in two weeks. Because I'm Donell fucking Oak. Future Champion of the whole fucking world.

I got out of the room, packed up my stuff and checked out of the centre. I got to the outskirts of town and released both my pokemon.

'Hey guys, turns out I forgot something pretty important. If we want to make to the pokemon league conference next year, we've got to defeat three gyms in the next month. So that means I'll be doing a lot of flying with Quicksilver and we won't get as much time as usual to train. It's going to be tough, but I believe in the both of you.' They seemed excited at the challenge. I'd explained the concept of gyms and the pokemon league to the bot of them, so they knew how important this was.

I wasted no time from there in returning Broly to his ball and attaching the saddle I'd bought for Quicksilver a few days earlier when he started showing signs of evolution. I had to adjust it a bit for his large size, but it still fit quite comfortably. I climbed up on the saddle. Checked the GPS to make sure we'd be heading in the right direction. Then I communicated my intentions to Quicksilver in a way that went beyond words without even opening my mouth.

Yesterday, I got the idea that pokemon couldn't really understand English, but they could understand everything we said to them either way. They could understand everything- from the incredibly complex scientific jargon the professor was using to the barely intelligible garble Gary unleashed at every moment in his younger years. My answer was Aura. I felt that we imprinted some of our aura into our words when we spoke and what I just did was found a way to talk with my aura without actually talking. This didn't mean I could suddenly understand poke-speak or that I could communicate silently with every pokemon.

I suspect the only reason this was possible was because I had been soaking Quicksilver with my aura, so he was particularly sensitive to it. This was all a theory, but it worked so that's all that matters. For some reason, I could broadcast my intentions to my pokemon, and they could understand and act on these intentions.

Quicksilver took off and all those thoughts suddenly became much less important. His name was incredibly fitting because my bird was fast. Ridiculously so. If I hadn't but goggles for this exact reason, then I wouldn't be able to see the GPS on my pokedex, and if I couldn't communicate with him silently, then there's no way he'd have been able to hear me at this speed.

Flight was exhilarating. Quicksilver just ruined any other form of transport for me. The wind in my hair, the views from up here. It was incredible. To think that this wasn't even Quicksilver's top speed. I knew he was holding back quite a bit for my sake and even this was amazing.

We got over the forest and arrived at Pewter in barely 30 minutes. With these kinds of transport speeds, my goal of completing all three gyms in two weeks was seeming more and more possible. I got off the saddle and had to lean on Quicksilver for a few minutes to get feeling back in my legs so I could walk. I still had a noticeable wobble, but it was well worth it. I returned Quicksilver to his ball and headed straight to the gym.

I got there and scheduled my challenge with the receptionist. Luckily, there was no one challenging the gym at this moment, so she let me move on straight to Flint. I had to remember to schedule my other appointments to avoid having to wait on getting to the gym.

I strolled into the arena with a confident strut to hide the nerves I felt. Logically, I knew this would be a walkover. My feelings didn't seem to care much for logic at this moment. I got in and was momentarily blinded by the lights on the arena. I blinked out the spots in my vision and looked around the arena. If it could even be called that.

It was a bit small for a pokemon arena. Don't get me wrong, it was plenty large. The battlefield itself was as large as any other Gym arena. It's just that there wasn't as much space for viewers as I would have expected. The seats, even as few as they were, weren't anything close to being filled. There were a few kids here and there but apart from them the stadium was empty.

I ceased my examination of the arena and focused on the man himself. Flint, gym leader of pewter. The unbreakable rock (that was a legit nickname for him on Pokenet, I swear). He looked just like Brock did in the anime, if aged up quite a bit. He then spoke out,

'Welcome to the Pewter City Gym, home of the rock types. What is your name, challenger and how many badges do you have?' This was all a formality. The receptionist took all this information from me when I registered my challenge.

I gave him an answer though, there was no need to piss off a gym leader so early into my journey, 'Donell Oak. I'm here for my first badge'. I speak out calmly and clearly.

'Hahahaha. So much confidence. I like you, kid. Let's begin. This will be a two-on-two battle. You can swap your pokemon as you wish. Since you seem so confident, I'll be using some of my more advanced pokemon. I hope you don't disappoint me, Little Oak'. The laughter didn't quite reach his eyes and from the way he said the Oak, I could tell that dear old pops had done something to him. That was Samuel Oak for you, he offended people everywhere he went. I'm sure if he didn't end up retiring, someone would have eventually assassinated him. The man was a genius, but not a likeable one.

The referee asked if I was ready, I said yes and then he asked Flint to release his pokemon. The man smirked and then released a bloody Onix on the field. This was nothing like the Onix Brock had used against Ash. This one had a very smooth body that spoke of years of training. With rock types, the smoother their body, the stronger they tended to be. This one was also fucking huge. The stands for trainers to stand at were at least 30 feet above the ground and the Onix was at eye level with me when it reared up.

The referee asked me if I was alright, and I realized that I'd zoned out. The laughter I could see in Flint's eyes told me exactly what he thought. I calmed myself down and released Broly on the field. We were going to demolish this beast. The referee started the battle, and I wasted no time in twisting my aura in a way that told Broly to use swords dance and stay the fuck away from this beast.

'Headbutt' Flint commanded his pokemon and the beast dived right at Broly. Too slow. Much too slow. Broly ran circles around it while using swords dance to buff up his attack power. After Broly had used the move three times, I asked him to wait for an opportunity and bash this Onix's head with a steel wing.

The next time the beast crashed down to the ground in an attempt to catch Broly, my warrior didn't dodge to the side. He jumped up, used his wings to get more elevation and then flew straight down at the Onix's head with two wings of steel.

The collision caused an eruption of smoke and when it all cleared, I saw my warrior sitting on the head of the beast like he was some sort of gladiator that just slew the bull. He looked DOPE. Yes, all caps. He was just that cool.

Flint's anger was a thing to behold. He didn't show it on his face. In fact, he didn't show it anywhere. No change in his body language, no strain in his easy-going smile. But there was just something in his eyes that showed how pissed off he was. He was infuriated.

He released his next pokemon without saying a word. It was a Rhydon. Exactly the pokemon I was planning on catching right after this. I returned Broly after conveying exactly how proud I was.

I released Quicksilver and my bird of prey took a lap around the field to show off his radiance. The referee started the match and Flint gave out his orders immediately. 'Stone edge. Bring that bird down'. The rocks were impressive, and they flew at a good speed. It was all too slow for the bird I'd named after Marvel's fastest speedster though.

Quicksilver dodged around the rocks, and I told him to use hypervoice. It worked perfectly. The Rhydon was disorientated. Next, I asked him to look for the perfect moment and end it with brave bird. I would have asked for aerial ace instead, but that Rhydon looked sturdy. I didn't want to take the risk of aerial ace not having the stopping power to put it down. A red aura overtook my bird once he saw a good enough opportunity. He dove down in an absolutely beautiful display. All Flint's commands to dodge were ignored by his dazed pokemon and it was put out of its misery when Quicksilver's attack hit.

It was a one-hit knock out. The referee declared the match in my favor. I had done it. I had my first badge.

AN; Seems like a good place to stop. Feel free to head over to my pa-atreon to read the next two chapters.