Sableye and Woobat both appeared on the field. It wasn’t every day they saw a different Pokemon, so the crowd responded in kind, growing even more excited.

‘A Woobat, didn't know they were in the area…’ Lilith analyzed her opponent.

The only awareness of Pokemon in the area was from looking for dark types in the area. It was a bad habit, and she would have to start looking into the route more thoroughly before moving in the future.

‘Middle star as well, so an even match…’

Sableye jumped forward and caught everyone off guard. Fake Out smacked the small bat aside, almost knocking it out of the air completely. It was only some chip damage, but rattled their opponent in a psychological sense. Despite the sudden shock, they had faced off against Purrloin who had similar strategies before. It took only a moment for Woobat to reorient himself.

“Up high!” The boy cheered.

Woobat gained altitude by flapping his wings as fast as he could. From their coordination, anyone could tell it was a well practiced maneuver. You couldn’t beat what you couldn’t touch. That was true for many Pokemon and Sableye would be tested against his new opponent.

‘This really is shaping up to be good practice… I should battle strangers more often.’ She thought with glee.

Her mindset was slowly changing about random trainer battles. She expected to walk in and decimate any joe schmo they wanted, but found that it was good practice in the end. Flying Pokemon were a weak spot, in that they almost never faced such opponents. They were in the minority but not as much as Lilith initially thought.

‘Not just experience then…’

Pink pulses shot out towards Sableye as their opponent had yet to understand his typing. The energy washed over him and he didn’t bother to acknowledge it. The Trainer cried out in surprise. It was too late to understand his type when Confuse Ray had already taken hold.

“Ahh, it's Dark type! Switch it up to Gust!” He called out.

Lilith let out a slight smile. If that was his only other attacking move, then it would be a quick victory. The wind swirled together, crashing into Sableye who couldn’t quite jump away in time. He was knocked backwards and tried his best to shake it off.

The next move was one his Trainer preached about. It was practiced so often he started to dream of the gray beam of light that shot from his hands. Disable cut the move from the equation entirely. It proved to be such a defining move in reality that the games couldn’t quite identify. They could learn and utilize more than just four moves, allowing for more variation. At the lower levels, losing a move was a much greater fraction of their power than later on in life.

“Once more!” The boy cheered.

Woobat shook in the air slightly as he tried activating Gust. Instead, his wings froze and altitude was lost. Despite the split second, he was on a collision course for the ground.

“Confusion too?! Snap out of it buddy!” The Trainer yelled.

Woobat hobbled through the air but his wings unfurled right before the ground and he remained stable. Sableye disappeared from view when everyone’s attention was on the poor bat. Without realizing it, everyone turned back towards his initial location only to appear right behind his foe. Shadow Sneak was incredibly effective, and with Fake Out and Confusion chip damage already laid out, it was enough to finish him off.

Woobat fell to the ground from the super effective hit.

“Ah darn! You are good!” The boy tried to hide his disappointment as he recalled his first Pokemon.

Sableye was in good shape to continue battling, having been untouched thus far. A flash of light filled the area as his final challenger appeared. The Pokemon was one they had seen relatively recently, but under much different circumstances. The small Venipede rolled up into a ball, ready for battle. She was in the lower-first star, but still ready to give it her all.

Defense Curl set up her already high natural bulk. Sableye would have a hard time laying out any damage with Fake Out being unable to stop her. Instead, he went to plan B. His flames appeared in a flash, already closing the distance as she curled up into a ball.

Protect’s white barrier formed a protective sphere around her body. The purple orb bounced harmlessly off the shield in a comical manner.

‘Protect is so good…’ Lilith thought.

“Again!” She shouted.

Despite being such a good move, it couldn’t be used in succession with accuracy. The more Protect was used, the harder it became to activate until cooldown. Sableye cast his move once more as his opponent didn’t have 100% nullification.

“Protect!” The Trainer shouted.

The small bug attempted to shield herself once more, until a shattering of light cascaded around her. The move had failed. With the sudden sense of vulnerability, Venipede tried getting out of the way before it was too late.

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The Burn set fast before anything could be done. Now, time was their only enemy. During their practice sessions, it took upwards of ten minutes before a wild Pokemon succumbed to their Status Condition alone. It was a long time that could only be sped up by the minimal support Shadow Sneak could provide. He tried the same jump, but found Venipeede all curled up. Protect neutralized his hit once more.

Sableye let out a yelp as he tried backing off.

His opponent was too quick, however, as her tiny body spun around to create more power. Rollout smacked into Sableye.

“Shut that down!” Lilith called out.

She knew all too well the power of the Defence Curl-Rollout combination. Under the right conditions it swept even the strongest of teams. Sableye could only disable one Pokemon at a time, and with Woobat being defeated, it left an opening to do just that.

The beam of gray hit her tumbling body as she came around for another hit. With the move now disabled, Venipede sputtered out and skated across the ground.

“Ahh, you guys are good!” He sighed.

The young boy threw up his arms in recognition.

The battle dragged out with Sableye mostly dodging and not even trying to attack. Some attacks met their mark, but even Poison Tail’s effect was minimal as Sableye resisted anything thrown at him. Rollout came off cooldown just long enough to get smacked in the face by a Shadow Sneak, as Sableye barely pulled off his two to one victory.

The crowd hooped and hollered as everyone returned to their Pokeballs. The attention span was incredibly short with all the little kids running off to the next match. Lilith and her opponent converged and shook hands.

“You were so strong!” He shook up and down vigorously.

“Keep training to get stronger.”

Unable to think of anything else to say, she spat out some generic encouragement before going about her day.

The walk back to the entrance was short, dwarfed by the trek all the way back to a Pokemon Center. The city was bustling with energy similar yet different to its close counterpart.

They arrived at the Central most Pokemon center as it was the closest to the Complex’s entrance. The building was busy as Lilith walked in. She still hated the similar design that brought forth bad memories, casting occasional glances into the dark corners of the room. Nothing jumped out at her as she got into a line similar to an HR equivalent.

It took some time, but the information she was looking for was worth the wait.

“I want to know if Sam and Levy are still in the city, can you do that for me?” She asked the receptionist.

Scrutinizing eyes ran over her small frame.

“I’m sorry, but for privacy reasons we are unable to disclose the information of others.” He gave a sad smile.

The corners of his mouth tightened as he leaned in.

“If you know them, then just message them with the Holo Castor.” He whispered before returning to his upright position.

“Duhh!” She practically shouted while slapping her forehead in shame.

The small plastic device was fished out and the equivalent of a text was sent to both. She didn’t expect anything immediate, but after some time nothing happened.

“What to do now…” She hummed.

The Castor was great with its map feature, listing interesting places to visit in each city. The list was relatively short, but one jumped out at her.

“Pokestar Studios.”

In the games, she had rarely, if ever gone to the location. With little rewards to be had, it was ignored. Now that it was real life, however, it might be interesting.

Lilith grabbed her keycard before heading out once more. The city was smaller than her old world, but still gave reminders of their similarity. People in business suits walked the streets while entering and exiting buildings. Elderly sat on benches and fed wild Pidove.

‘No water.’

The city was built right on the coast, but she had yet to see any signs. The smell was pervasive and the layout was rather surprising, having buildings built over underwater canals. Small holes in places opened up to flowing water below, giving off the feeling they were standing on a bridge when in fact they were on solid ground.

Some areas were even accessible to the public and acted as mini tourist spots to see the wild Pokemon. Concrete steps led down to sea level where some Water-type Pokemon resided. Qwilfish were the most dominant species, liking the proximity to the poison type gym. They swam in front of the drop off, sometimes poking their pointy heads out of the water.

‘Should I sign up with the Gym first?’ An idle thought popped into her head.

The sooner she could complete the challenge the better. Something was off about the city and its surroundings.

Her map showed its location but acted vague in its directions. The building was underground so she stood right on top of it without spotting its entrance.

“The entrance should be down a set of stairs right at the water.” She mumbled to herself.

Lilith had to circle multiple times with her map before finding her destination. She walked down the steps, finding that the flat concrete was much larger than other sites at water level. The only indication was an old sign sporting the classic Pokeball, but in purple and two points sticking out of the right and bottom sides.

‘That really should have been a giveaway…’ She thought.

Lilith made her way down the steps, right onto the landing where the next gym resided.

The gym was an old hollowed out nightclub. The way was lit by strobe lights, leading further down until the passageway opened up into a large open space. Trash was littered around and gave an unclean feel to the space. A strange smell wafted through the air while lights assaulted the senses.

Lilith held her hand to her head, trying to take in the surrounding building. Small stages held Trainer battles like the spaces that Asperita had provided. The one difference was that they were out in the open. People watched from a second story balcony and cheered along.

‘Are they placing bets?’

The thought was quickly struck down, not wanting to get involved in anything too shady just yet.

People wore punk outfits, and Lilith saw the occasional mohawk. Some people dyed their hair, while others also dyed their clothes. Pinks and Neon greens looked to be the favorites.

‘This place is atrocious…’ She thought as the loud music threatened to jumble her thoughts.