Shiro slept soundly until the day.

  As the sun began to rise, casting a red glow over Hammerlocke City, the Corviknights flying overhead started calling out.

  The beige curtains in the bedroom glowed faintly, the light spilling onto Shiro’s face. He instinctively opened his eyes, feeling more refreshed than ever before.

  Swoosh!

  The curtains were drawn open, and the soft m light touched the face of Rookidee led in its small bed. It groggily opes eyes a Shiro’s gaze.

  "Time to get up and train!" Shiro said, lifting the drowsy Rookidee and pulling Gastly out of its cozy spot.

  “Gaassss~”

  Gastly yawned widely, revealing its small fangs.

  After a while, Shiro had finished washing up, shaving off the newly grown stubble and spshing his face with some water. He then headed out with Gastly and Rookidee.

  The streets had already been ed by the employees of Macro os. The cobblestone road, dark and smooth, carried the faint st of damp earth.

  Shiro jogged all the way from the west side of Hammerlocke to main street, entering a restaurant that opened early.

  By now, he was sweating and hungry.

  After spending a little over a hundred Pokédolrs on a simple meal, both Rookidee and Gastly were fed with Pokéblocks.

  Shiro was now ready to head to the Hammerlocke Stadium and train in the professional training facility inside.

  Taking the elevator to the upper level of Hammerlocke, he walked straight ahead and saw the rge bronze doors standing tall, with the Pokémoer operating 24/7 right beside it.

  This was the entrao the Hammerlocke Stadium.

  It was only a little past six in the m, but the area was already bustling with trainers.

  After a quice around, Shiro stepped ihe entrance led into a t, arched corridor. At the far end, two trainers in white uniforms stood like security guards—which, in fact, they were.

  A bronze-colored barrier stretched across the end of the corridor, positioned just behind the two security guards. Beyond it y the entrao the Hammerlocke Gym—accessible only to trainers participating in the Gym challenge.

  Oher side of the corridor, deep blue, semi-transparent automatic doors lihe walls. Each door led to aor, and every elevator had a registration desk manned by an attendant who checked trainers’ ID cards befranting access.

  Shiro casually approached one of the elevators on the left and handed his card to a burly man in a white uniform.

  “Training or looking for a sparring partner?” The man swiped the card and began typing on a nearby puter.

  “Training.”

  “There are three levels of training rooms—basitermediate, and advahe basi is shared, while the intermediate and advanced rooms are private. Prices are 100, 300, and 500 Pokédolrs per hour, respectively. Pick a level and duration, then pay up. We take cards.”

  The man rattled off the details with practiced efficy before pausing to await Shiro’s response.

  “Intermediate. Five hours.”

  After processing the payment, the man tapped a few keys before waving Shiro forward.

  Shiro wasirely sure about the differences betweeraining levels, but he preferred privacy over sharing space with others. Five hours would also align well with his schedule—just in time for a meal afterward.

  Taking the elevator to the designated floor, he stepped into a long hallway.

  On one side, old-fashioned bronze-framed windows offered a sweeping view of half of Hammerlocke. Oher, rows of training room doors lihe wall, each accessible by swiping an ID card.

  If a room was occupied, a red indicatht would fsh outside, preventing access. But at this early hour, most rooms were empty. Shiro picked o random aered.

  Inside, he asded a short flight of stairs before stepping into the main training area.

  The space was uedly rge—five meters high and spanning over a hundred square meters, far more spacious than it seemed from the outside.

  At the ter stood several movable alloy Pokémon dummies, meant for target practice.

  A horizontal bar was fixed three meters up, providing a perch for Flying-type Pokémon. Various weight-training equipment filled the ers. There were also free water and rations stored in the refrigerator and ets, avaible for traio take as needed

  "e out, Rookidee, Gastly!"

  After surveying the room, Shiro retrieved the Poké Balls and released his Pokémon.

  "Rooki!"

  Rookidee, feeling stifled ihe Poké Ball, immediately fpped up to the horizontal beam on the wall, curiously sing its surroundings. As a young Pokémon that had yet to plete any of its two evolutionary stages, it naturally preferred to be outside.

  "Gaaas!"

  Gastly, oher hand, was visibly excited. It wobbled forward and crashed into the metallion target in the ter of the room, only to bounce right off.

  The alloy models were designed with Advanced-level Pokémon in mind, sturdy enough to withstand multiple attacks from even Gym-level Pokémon. Given Gastly's current strength, even if it attacked all day, it might not even scratch the metal.

  "Rookidee, Gastly!" Shiro called them over.

  "Rookidee, your training will focus on Flying-type moves—Air Cutter. The goal is to be able to jure two wind bdes simultaneously within two seds."

  "Rooki-dee!"

  Rookidee nodded and took to the air, beginning its move practice.

  Right now, it took over three seds just to form a single Air Cutter, so before attempting to release two at o first o reduce that charge time as much as possible.

  "Gastly!" Shiro barely finished speaking befastly excitedly floated in front of him, grinning widely.

  To Gastly, this all felt like just aname.

  Shiro paused for a moment, then gave it a nearly impossible task.

  "Gastly, yoal is to fully form a Shadow Ball. Ideally, you should be able to release ohin three seds."

  "Gas...?" Gastly's mouth fell open, and its purple ghostly mist briefly receded inward. Hearing such a difficult challe became a little relut to train.

  But a quice at Shiro's firm gaze and a Rookidee, diligently practig, made it resider. Without further hesitation, Gastly began trying.

  Shadow Ball was a high-level Ghost-type move with signifit power. However, for the Novice-level Gastly, it was incredibly difficult to execute. Fet ung it—just managing to barely form a Shadow Ball would already drain all its energy.

  This was a matter of raw strength, not something Gastly could achieve just by sheer effort alone.

  Still, training would allow it to beore familiar with the move and its energy flow, building experiend strength over time. Failure was iable, but without failure, how could it ever bee stronger?

  With his Pokémo on their respective tasks, Shiro strapped on a 20-kilogram weight and began doing push-ups and squat jumps withiraining room.

  In the Pokémon world, the greatest threats were often other humans.

  Some individuals possessed special abilities, while others had undergoreme training, developing physical prowess on par with high-level Pokémon.

  Strength was the foundation of survival.

  Shiro aspired to one day single-handedly take down an Onix o head-to-head with a Machamp, effortlessly shrugging off their attacks.

  Even if he cked the talent to reach that level, improving his physical fitness beyond that of an ordinary person was still worthwhile.

  **

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