What's So Great About Being A Trainer Anyways?

Chapter 3 - Why Is All The Focus On Gym Badges?

Dedicated to -Asterisk- for the awesome (first) cover!

It was around the middle of the day the next day when we arrived in Fallarbor. The town and surrounding area were a sharp contrast to where I had been before: little vegetation and a lot of dirt. If it wasn't for the wind blowing dust in my eyes I don't think I would've minded it though.

My feet ache. Is travelling always going to be so tasking? Once I saw the pokemon center my eyes locked on and I raced towards the air conditioning.

"Hey, wait up!" Flora called, breaking out into a run to catch up with me.

Thunk! I fell back on the ground in pain. I looked up to see a rather irritated looking man staring down at me. He was standing in the doorway, and I could tell that I ran into the wrong person.

"Watch where ya' goin' kid!" The unhappy man stared into my eyes, as if expecting a response. I just stared back, and I suppose my lack of reaction let my disinterested face leak out. "What's that funny look for, eh? Ya' wanna' fight?!"

I stood up a brushed myself off. Flora caught up. "What did you do now?!"

Don't say it like I cause you problems often!

"Oh, what do we have here? A pretty girl with..." The man looked at her sash. "Only four badges?!" He burst out into laughter. "Ya' think ya' own the place or something just because ya' have four badges?" He opened up his vest to show us his five badges and pokeballs.

She didn't say anything, and I was the one who bumped into you.

The man pulled out a pokeball. "Teach them a lesson, Machamp!" Out of the capsule popped a four armed pokemon that looked like a pro wrestler, and certainly had the build to be one.

Flora grinned wickedly. "Have it your way! Come on out, Truffles! Let's show this guy some manners!" A few seconds later the Swinub was rolling across the ground from a punch. "Return!"

Of course it was going to lose, it's a stage one pokemon against a fully evolved one with a better type advantage. Didn't you learn anything in school? I saw a tear fall from Flora's eye. You're getting all worked up from a battle you gladly got into? That's when I came to the realization that I now had in it within my power to fight back. I felt my teeth grit into a smile. "Hey, you think you can stand between me and the great indoors?"

"Eh? What was that? Ya' think ya' can beat me?!"

"I don't need any badges to beat a punk like you!" I reached back into my backpack and felt around for my pokeballs. A steel and rock type like Aron doesn't stand a chance against a strong fighting type like that. "I guess it can't be helped, come on out, Salamence!"

"Wait, zero badges?! Salamence?!" The punk almost looked sorry to pick the fight for a second there.

However, what came out of my pokeball was not a Salamence. Instead, I found myself with a Bagon that looked almost as inexperienced as me. Ehhhhh?! This is what you left me with dad? Man, you're so useless!

"Hey! Ya' think ya' can mess with me kid?! No way, Machamp, use Mach Punch!"

Thankfully, I remembered a key piece of information about Bagon from my dad's many rants about pokemon. "Bagon, block with your head!" The little guy took the huge force straight to his head, making his feet dig into the dirt a little as he absorbed the impact. The little pokemon didn't faint, though, and just held his position.

A few people from around the town started peeking out of the houses and looking at us.

Machamp and his trainer looked shocked that the punch didn't immediately knock Bagon out. Quickly, I pulled out my pokedex and looked at Bagon's entry. "Keep using Mach Punch!" Four arms of fury started flying back and forth and Bagon, who took each hit straight to his steel-hard head.