Early in the morning, Alex started to book out of the hotel where he had stayed for the last few days.

After promising Steven that he would be there in a few days, he couldn't stay in town for much longer. ​ ​

After checking out of the hotel, he looked at the map on the TRH device. It's a very rough map, but for Alex, who wants to think about which route to take, it was enough.

After a few moments, Alex decided to take the safest way, where he will first go to Vermilion City to take a ship to Hoenn.

Although Crobat can fly him there, Alex doesn't think it's safe. As far as he goes away from the Mainland of the so powerful Pokémon he can hit in the unfamiliar area high in the air.

In the great ocean of the Pokémon world, there are lots of unexplored islands. So while flying near an island, he may meet a Flying-type Pokémon living on that island. And if the Pokémon who attacked is too strong, he and his Pokémon will be buried under the deep ocean.

Although Gardevoir can teleport, it cannot teleport an infinite range. The range often has to do with the level of the Psychic-Type Pokémon. And Gardevoir, who is not yet an Elite Pokémon, can not teleport a very long distance. Maybe only Champion-level Pokémon can teleport across continents.

With this knowledge, Alex has decided on this very safe path. As a rule, most Pokémon don't attack large ships, and only aggressive Pokémon like Gyarados would do that.

But even if such a Pokémon attacks, there are many Elite trainers on the ship (only in luxurious ships there is more than 1 Elite trainer), who can easily fight off them. While it is not impossible to meet a Champion level Pokémon, it is very, very rare. Alex read that something like this happens no more than once a year, which is surprisingly less considering that so many ships are dispatched every day.

Between Vermilion City and Celadon City is a forest that is not in the game. Thus Alex didn't know much about this forest.

This forest is called FireWood Forest and is a relatively dangerous area of Kanto. The Alliance does not recommend that trainers below the Elite rank enter this forest, indicating that this forest should only be entered by experienced trainers.

The FireWood Forest is like the name tells, a forest area where you can find many Fire-type Pokémon along with many Grass and Bug-type Pokémon.

Alex left the hotel and started to make his way to the Firewood forest.

On the way, he was stopped a couple of times and asked for an autograph which he naturally gave with a fake smile.

...

Alex, who was standing in front of the entrance of the FireWood forest, looked at a warning sign indicating the start of the forest.

He released all of his Pokémon and started walking into the forest with them.

At the beginning of the forest, there were hardly any strong Pokémon. But as Alex went deeper and deeper, he noticed that the attacking Pokémon were getting stronger.

After half an hour, he saw a relatively strong Pokémon say what would make a good training partner for Shieldon.

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Pokémon: Ponyta

LV: 36

Type: Fire

Abilities: Flash Fire

Gender: Female

Potential: Shallow Silver

Move:

- Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Wheel, Stomp, Flame Charge, Fire Spin, Take Down, Inferno

- (Innate Talent) Swift [E]

-------------------------------

"Shieldon, you will do this fight. Start with Rock Polish."

Ponyta, who didn't want to fight at first, showed signs of running away. But when she saw the cold expressions of Crobat and Scizor, she knew she had no choice but to become Shieldon's fighting partner.

Alex usually only attacks Pokémon that attacks him first. But in this case, he wanted to use Ponyta as a training partner. That's why he decided not to catch and even heal Ponyta after defeating her.

He would be a bit guilty of attacking this innocent Pokémon just like that and selling it to a cruel trainer. That little bit of money is not worth it. He would have probably changed his decision if Ponyta was a Gold Pokémon.

Alex knows he's a hypocrite but doesn't really care. He loves freedom and doesn't want to take his right to make decisions just because he doesn't treat all Pokémon equally.

Ponyta, who saw that Shieldon is her opponent, had a slight change in her expression as she prepared her move. Although she was not sure that she could win against Shieldon, it was better than fighting those two monsters.

Shieldon, who started earlier, used Rock Polish once and began to move quickly.

"Shieldon, use Rock Slide."

Ponyta coped with her move Growl to lower Shieldon's attack value.

Then she immediately started to prepare for the next move.

Shieldon used Rock Slide and let several large stones rain over Ponyta, who was preparing a move and therefore could not move.

Ponyta was hit and sustained severe damage. It looked like this attack caused her more than 35% HP damage. Even though it lowered Shieldon's attack rating, Ponyta's base stats are too bad to be exploited.

"Again, Shieldon."

Alex wanted to see if Ponyta had a trick to defeat Shieldon.

Ponyta's next move's preparation was done, and she used Fire Spin.

Alex, who saw this, quickly said, "Shieldon, run out quick!"

Fire spin, which puts a Pokémon in a fire ring, is a very straightforward move when a Pokémon is hit.

Shieldon tried to run out but failed and was hit by the Ponyta attack. He suffered only slight damage but was locked in a large ring of fire.

In this world, a Pokémon can escape this attack, especially if it is not yet on the Expert rank. But if a Pokémon wants to escape this move prematurely, it has to be ready to run through this fire. (Flying-type Pokémon can escape differently without taking harm)

Although this Shieldon was hit by this attack, Alex showed no expression as he gave no further orders.

Shieldon finished preparing his move and used Rock Slide again.

Ponyta did not try to prepare a move this time. But due to bad luck, she was hit on the head by a large rock while trying to avoid it.

Alex, who saw the bad luck of Ponyta, couldn't help but feel a little pity.

Ponyta screamed loudly and suffered severe damage. It looked like she couldn't take any further move.

But despite being badly injured, she started to prepare for the next move.

"End it with Flash Cannon."

Shieldon took a little more damage from Fire Spin but started preparing for the next move.

For the first time, Ponyta finished before Shieldon and used Inferno.

A large Fireball was flying relatively slowly towards Shieldon.

Normally, Shieldon would be able to avoid this move with improved agility. But because he was preparing a move that was not on the Expert level, Shieldon could not avoid it.

Alex thought about whether Shieldon should cancel his preparation and should use Protect, but it was decided. He wanted to see how well Shieldon can take this attack.

Shieldon, unable to move, was hit completely by this attack. He was engulfed in the fire and suffered severe damage. In addition, part of his body started to burn.

He only has around 40% of his HP left after those hard hits.

Alex, seeing how much damage Shieldon had taken, wasn't really surprised. Shieldon hasn't evolved yet and therefore is not a very good tank.

Shieldon endured the damage and used Flash Cannon to end the fight.

Ponyta was hit and fell unconscious to the ground.

Alex, who was slowly making his way to heal Ponyta and Shieldon, noticed that Shieldon suddenly began to glow.

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