After staying in Petalburg for a day, I went out of the PokéCentre, ready to challenge the gym leader, Norman.

However, before I entered the gym, some other trainer got out of the gym with an upset expression on his face. Out of curiosity, I asked, "Is the gym leader that strong?"

"I wish I could say that. Truth is, the gym leader wouldn't even accept my challenge!"

"Huh? Why is that?"

"Apparently, I wasn't qualified for a gym battle yet. I gotta keep training harder before challenging Norman again!"

After the trainer left, I started getting nervous. What if I don't get accepted...?

I took a deep breath, and went into the gym anyway. Immediately, I found myself face to face with a man wearing a gym outfit.

"Are you Leader Norman?" I politely asked.

"That would be me. If you don't mind, I would like to check your gym case."

"G-Gym case? Well, sure... but for now, it's an empty shell without any badges." I said as I started looking through my backpack. However, the Petalburg Gym Leader gestured to me to stop.

He shook his head, "I don't think you're qualified for a gym battle yet. I'd have to reject your challenge for now."

"O-Oh." I was disappointed.

"Don't worry, take this as an opportunity to train up and gain experiences. Travel around different cities and battle the gym leaders there. I'm sure they would help you get stronger. Once you accomplish that, come back and you shall be more than ready to battle me."

"Alright then... Thank you, Norman." I bowed and left the gym.

If Norman was talking about this kind of experience, I would rather not battle him...

I thought as I looked at the sign located in front the entrance of a forest:

Petalburg Woods

Enter at your own risk.

Besides, that forest gave me a sense of déjà vu, like something bad was about to happen. Due to the past incident happening in a forest, I was still hesitant to enter Petalburg Woods.

My Pokémon was beside me as I struggled to gain the courage to enter the area. Grace tried comforting me, "You don't have to be afraid, Lows. No matter what happens, we will do our best to help you."

Surfer agreed, "Yeah, Lows. There's nothing to be scared of!"

I nodded. Well, I suppose with my Pokémon, I would have some confidence to go through this forest.

Thinking that, I entered Petalburg Woods, while my Pokémon slowly followed me.

It's okay, Lows.

You're not doing this alone this time.

Meanwhile, in a secret hideout, there were a few men watching the computer screens located in front of them. The letter "W" was enmarked in their clothing followed by striking red colours. The condition of Petalburg Woods was shown on the computer screens.

"Oh, another trainer's entering the forest!" One of them exclaimed.

"Time for our plan to start again." Another one smirked.

"We'll strike him when he expects it the least."

"Then, we'll grab his Pokémon and make them join us!"

One of the more serious grunts tried bringing their attention back, "Come on, everyone. We gotta look tight on this trainer, before he left this area!"

The grunts groaned, and went back to their boring work as they continued staring at the screens, waiting for the perfect time to begin their surprise attack.

The sense of déjà vu just got stronger and stronger as I kept travelling around the forest. It felt certain that I'd been in this place before.

I wanted to get out of Petalburg Forest and reach the next city for the gym battle. However, it felt like fate was pulling off a joke on me, as I struggled to find the exit. I did have a horrible sense of direction, after all.

"You know... Lows. I retract what I said. This place seemed to be a little scarier than I thought." Surfer said.

"What about there being nothing to be scared of again, Surfer?" Ziggs teased, which Surfer reacted by lightly punching his buddy.

"We should get out of here as soon as possible." Grace suddenly said.

"Hm?" I was confused.

"I sensed hostility. And it was stronger than anything I've ever seen in the route I used to live in."

"Yeah, I assume there would be tons of wild Pokémon around this place."

"The aura felt different compared to wild Pokémon, though." Grace replied, which confused me. Before I was able to ask further, the cries of Pokémon caught my attention.

I looked towards the direction of the cries. The forest was dark, but pairs of eyes were visible in front of me, making the atmosphere creepier than it already was.

I-I've seen these eyes before...

Just as I thought, when my vision became clearer, the Pokémon that haunted me in my dreams appeared right before my very eyes. They were the Bug type Pokémon around the woods, Dustox and Beautifly. They had sinister smiles as they slowly surrounded us in a circle.

The time felt like it went ten times slower. I was panicking, mind filled with the past incident I had before.

Finally, a Dustox decided to launch its attack as it dashed towards me. When I thought everything was over, an unknown energy controlled the Dustox, moving it away from its target by a few meters back. I looked at my side and saw the red glow subsiding in Grace's eyes as she gave me a slight smile.

That's right... the situation is different now. I gotta do this with my Pokémon.

"Ready to fight back, everyone?" My team members nodded, as I started commanding them to use attacks on the hoard of Bug type Pokémon. Surfer used his strongest attack, Water Gun, spirals of water releasing from his mouth and hitting his opponents. Ziggs was able to deal damage with his powerful Headbutt attacks, sometimes even flinching them from making another move. Grace on the other hand, was always ready to use Confusion to launch the Bug type Pokémon away from her two teammates when things got slightly out of hand for the other two.

After what felt like forever, most of the Dustox and Beautifly were defeated as they collapsed on the ground. The rest that were still standing started falling back, knowing that their numbers were not enough to take us down. I was proud of my Pokémon, and was relieved that it was over.

...At least that was what I thought, until I saw a gigantic shadow approaching us from far away.

A gigantic bee-like Pokémon slowly approached us at our sights. It looked much stronger than the other Pokémon that we fought just a few moments ago.

I scanned it with my Pokédex, [Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon. May appear in a swarm. Flies at violent speeds, all the while stabbing with the toxic stinger on its rear.]

I wasn't sure whether my Pokémon would be able to defeat the Beedrill after using most of their energy dealing with the other Bug types.

Still, we've come so far in this battle. We can't back off now! I thought, and it seemed like my Pokémon thought the same too.

I nodded and issued my command, "Go all out of that Beedrill, team!"

They started attacking Beedrill and tried damaging it as much as possible. However, the attacks felt like nothing on the Poison Bee Pokémon. When it was finally its time to fight back, it released three poisonous needles towards them. My Pokémon took one needle each, unable to endure the impact and collapsed on the ground.

The Beedrill was apparently not satisfied, as it released more needles towards their directions.

N-No... don't hurt them!

I immediately ran in front of my Pokémon as an attempt to block the needles. I closed my eyes, ready to feel the pain of the deadly needles.

However, I felt nothing.

Confused, I opened my eyes and looked around. The needles that were supposed to hit me were now on the ground, with a few small rocks beside them.

"Norton, use Rock Slide on Beedrill!"

A female trainer wearing a grey school sleeveless uniform skirt issued another command at her Pokémon. While I had the chance, I scanned it with my Pokédex, [Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon. Its body emits a powerful magnetism. It feeds on prey that is pulled in by the force. Its magnetism is stronger in cold seasons.]

The Beedrill did not hesitate to fight back. However, the impact was slowly becoming too much for the Bug and Poison type to handle. After a while, the Beedrill was finally down after a few super-effective attacks from the Rock type.

The trainer heaved in relief and walked towards me, "Are you alright, trainer?"

"I-I'm okay." I replied, still slightly traumatized from the close call.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me. Let's get out of here." She said as I followed her out of the woods.

"Darnit, the plan would've worked if that trainer didn't show up!" One of the grunts yelled in anger. The others groaned in dissatisfaction as well.

"He got lucky this time. Next time, it would definitely work for sure!"

"I don't think we'll be able to continue our plans anymore, unfortunately," One of the rational grunts said, "That trainer... was one of the gym leaders in the region. She would definitely notice the strange occurrence and report the incident to the authorities. To avoid getting caught, we should halt our plans and just report our results to the leader for now." Although disappointed, the other nodded, agreeing to the grunt's plan.

"At least we knew how strong these Bug type Pokémon were. They would definitely be useful for our team's future plans."

"And there would be more coming soon!" The team cheered.

"Settle down, y'all. Before anyone finds us here, we gotta retreat."

With that, the grunts took no time to pack up everything and left the area.

On the way to Rustboro City, she used her Pokégear to contact someone, talking about something related to the incident and making an alternative path through Petalburg Woods. I wasn't paying much attention, still trying to recover from the incident and wanting to heal my Pokémon.

At long last, we reached Rustboro City.

Rustboro City

"The city probing the integration of nature and science."

We immediately headed towards the PokéCentre to heal my Pokémon. I was lucky to have the female trainer with me because she seemed to know where we were going in this busy, modern city.

After giving the nurse my Pokéballs for her to heal my Pokémon, I took the opportunity to thank the trainer, "Thank you so much for your help!"

"No worries. I'm just glad that you're safe." She smiled.

"Also, Rustboro is such a busy city!"

"Yeah, it could get a little tedious sometimes. I lived here for quite a while now, so I got used to the lifestyle here."

"Ah, that's great then." I asked, "After my Pokémon is healed, can you take me to the Rustboro Gym? I would like to schedule a battle with the gym leader."

The trainer slightly giggled before replying, "Sure thing."

After my Pokémon were fully healed, I followed the trainer to the gym. Rustboro Gym was a simple field full of rocky walls. I liked the ancient vibes it gave me, though.

"Where is the gym leader?" I looked around for an answer.

The female trainer' giggles became more audible. Finally, she revealed, "I'm the Rustboro Gym Leader, Roxanne, the Rock type specialist. Glad to meet you, trainer!"

...Well, that was awkward.

"I-I'm sorry for not recognizing you!" I apologized.

"Don't worry, I understand. Besides, it's pretty funny seeing you have no clue about me being the gym leader." She giggled.

"I suppose I can schedule a gym battle then?"

"Absolutely! Let me check..." She looked at her Pokégear for a moment before deciding, "Why not tomorrow at ten in the morning?"

"Sounds good! Thank you, Roxanne."

"I'll be seeing you then. I look forward to battling you tomorrow."

As I was about to leave the gym, she stopped me once again, "By the way... about the incident, the wild Pokémon there could get aggressive sometimes, but it was still strange to say the least. It didn't help that Beedrill was a Pokémon commonly found in the Kanto region, not Hoenn."

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, it was really strange!" I agreed.

"I already informed the authorities about this and they shall look into it. There will be another alternative path opened soon for trainers to go through Petalburg Woods safely."

"Ah, that would be convenient, yeah."

"But that wasn't my main point," She continued, "I saw what you did there for your Pokémon. It was pretty brave of you. It excites me about how our battle would go. Good luck for tomorrow!" She encouraged me, which I gratefully thanked her once again before leaving the gym.

I went back to the PokéCentre and did my research using the PC provided there.

Roxanne, the Rustboro Gym Leader, believes Rock type Pokémon to be rock-solid, and her strategy is to use Rock-type power attacks. Roxanne is a top graduate of the Rustboro City Pokémon Trainers' School, and now teaches the academy's beginner class. She was granted the position of Rustboro Gym Leader because of her excellent record at the academy. Battles with her are always 3 on 3 singles battles, and her most commonly used Pokémon in gym battles is Nosepass.

Maybe I can go to the Pokémon Trainers' School and learn about something. She did graduate from the academy, after all.

Thinking that, I left the PokéCentre and found my way to the Pokémon Trainers' School.

...At least it wasn't the same situation as the last time I was somewhere like this.

I slowly entered the building. I saw students working hard in the academy, writing down what their teacher said in their personal notebooks. Many notes were also scribbled on the blackboard, which I took the opportunity to look at and learned about the type advantages and disadvantages in battles. It seemed like only Surfer had the type advantage against Rock type Pokémon, making me more nervous.

However, I knew I had to do my best for my first ever gym battle to mark the first official victory in our journey in the Ever Grande League. We went to the routes near Rustboro to train for a few hours before going back to our room in the PokéCentre to have a good rest.

That night, I wasn't really able to fall asleep, thinking about what would happen in the gym battle.

It felt like I hadn't been this nervous in such a long time. However, I tried calming myself down.

I took a deep breath.

It's just another obstacle I have to go through.

I'd already made my first step here. No point being afraid of the gym battle, right?

I nodded, and took a deep breath.

It's time to show off what we got.

We can do this.

Lows' Pokémon Team:

Surfer (Squirtle, Male) Jolly Nature, Moves: Tackle, Growl, Bubble, Water Gun

Ziggs (Zigzagoon, Male) Naive Nature, Moves: Tackle, Growl, Headbutt

Grace (Ralts, Female) Calm Nature, Moves: Growl, Confusion