Alan easily made it to Oldale Town after a few hours of walking. There weren’t many pokemon near the road since it was a protected path. A few Zigzagoons wandered near the path but fled as soon as they saw him. Before his plans were changed he was only going to travel on safe Routes but after his forced detour to Oldale Town, that plan was thrown out the window.

  Oldale Town itself was a tiny town, not much bigger than Littleroot Town. Its only attraction was Odale Ruins. But there was still a Pokemon Center and Poke Mart. Its main purpose was just as a way-stop for traveling pokemon trainers.

  Alan’s only plans were to get some lunch at the Pokemon Center and explore the ruins to see if he could find some cool pokemon. Although he would probably have to stay the night here if he spent any real time in the ruins.

  Alan, upon entering the town quickly found the Pokemon Center. It was the biggest building in town and was painted in bright red and white paint. All Pokemon Centers looked exactly the same or at least tried to be, in some parts they had to conform to the city around them. Alan had never been in a Pokemon Center before, they didn’t need to have one in Littleroot because of the pokemon lab.

  Alan stepped through the sliding doors and scanned the room. It was a simple square with an elevator on the right and some computers on the left. Benches were set on the sides in neat squares. In the center was the front desk that the classically styled Nurse Joy stood behind. Alan strode over to Nurse Joy.

  “Is there a place I could get food here?”

  “Yes, of course. Upstairs, on the second floor, on the right, as soon as you exit the elevator. Do you want to book a night?”

  “Uh, sure I will. Also is it possible that I could get a map?”

  “Yep,” after rummaging in a cabinet for a second, she pulled out a map and handed it to Alan. “Here you go, have a nice stay!”

  “Thanks, I will.”

  Alan headed over to the elevator. It was a shiny metal contraption with lots of buttons. He knew how to operate one, but he had never been in one himself so it was a novel experience to go in on one floor and go out on another.

  The second floor of all Pokemon Centers was reserved for pokemon trainers and guests staying at the center. They usually had a big common room and food hall, and obviously had a wing for guest rooms. Some had game centers or the like, but all had the basic necessities.

  Alan stepped out of the elevator and made a beeline to the smell of food. There wasn’t a line for food and soon Alan was looking around for an available table to sit at. Alan was surprised to see two of his friends sitting at a table animatedly talking and looking at something on their phones. He walked over.

  “Hey, Oliver, Clemence, what are you guys looking at?

  “Oh, you're here too? Didn’t you hear, they unlocked a new part of the Oldale Ruins?” Alan’s eyes widened when he heard that. Since the ruins were opened there hadn’t been any new discoveries in the ruins. “And the best part is that they’re recruiting any trainers in the area to help explore.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “That’s awesome, are you two joining the expedition?”

  “Of course!” They said in unison.

  “Well then, let’s make it a challenge. Whoever makes the best discovery wins.”

  “Alright, I’ll destroy both of you!” Clemence crowed.

  Alan sat and started discussing possibilities with the others over his lunch.

  “When is the expedition?” Alan asked worried that this might offset his timing.

  “It’s tomorrow at 6:30 AM, they didn’t want trainers passing them by in favor of getting to the Gym quickly.” Alan sighed in relief. He continued to talk with Oliver and Clemence for while now that he didn’t have to hurry to the ruins. Oliver and Clemence were his rivals, but they were also some of his best friends that he had known for years.

  They talked for a while before splitting up to explore and train. Alan wanted to train with Trapinch a bit before delving into potentially dangerous ruins. Oliver wanted to train his mudkip’s ability to sense airwaves and vibrations in the town. Finally, Clemence just wanted to rest after training all the way to Oldale Town from Littleroot.

  Alan searched for wild pokemon to battle along the edges of town. He searched, but all of the pokemon they found just ran away. After the tenth pokemon fled, Alan gave up and started training with Trapinch. Their exercises were a little different with Trapinch doing biting and dodging training while Alan just did basic strengthening. Normally Trapinch could just dig, but in the ruins, he wouldn’t want to destabilize the ruins or the caves surrounding them. Plus, practicing dodging was strengthening Trapinch’s normally weak legs.

  They were just finishing up their physical training when a Loudred crashed out from the forest and let out a roar. Alan fell over in surprise before scrabbling to his feet. He looked around searching for Trapinch, he saw a hole in the ground where Trapinch had likely escaped.

  The Loudred started advancing towards Alan and he started running, desperately calling for Trapinch, Loudred roared again and Alan thought he was dead. He looked back to see Loudred on the ground clutching its foot. Then Trapinch surfaced in front of Alan.

  “Thanks so much, Trapinch, do you think you can beat it?” In response, Trapinch confidently responded with a “Tra”.

  “Okay then, let’s go, use Mud-Slap”

  Trapinch spat mud from his mouth into Loudred’s eyes, blinding it. Loudred let out a furious roar and stood, blindly charged at Trapinch.

  “Alright, Trapinch use Dig then Bite.”

  Trapinch burrowed underground, vanishing from the still mostly blinded Loudred furthering its rage. It started charging towards the only thing that moved, Alan. Only to fall on its face as Trapinch bit down on Loudred’s foot.

  “Trapinch, go to town with Bite.”

  Trapinch just crawled all over Loudred chomping down, until Loudred hit it with Pound and sent Trapinch flying.

  “Trapinch, are you alright?” Alan called out, worried.

  Trapinch struggled to it’s feet and nodded.

  “Alright, let’s wear them down, Diglet style.” Diglet style was something Alan had created after his battle with Gabe. Trapinch would burrow around popping up and then disappearing each time hitting them with a Mud-Slap.

  It worked amazingly well, Trapinch would pop up get Loudred attention and blast it in the face with Mud-Slap. It probably wouldn't work against a trained opponent, but against an enraged loudred it was perfect. Soon, Loudred was covered in mud and almost fainted.

  “Let’s finish this, Trapinch use Bite.”

  Trapinch ran and jumped into a Bite on Loudred’s head, fainting it. Trapinch almost skipped over to Alan, proud of its victory.

  “You did great Trapinch, good job. How about we head over to the Pokemon Center to get you healed up?” Trapinch cried out in agreement.

  After Trapinch was healed up by Nurse Joy’s Chansey, we headed out to explore the town since we both believed our fight with Loudred was the training they needed. They found a bakery and both were feasting upon bread rolls when Oliver found them.

  “I thought you and Trapinch were going to train by the forest?” Oliver said suspiciously.

  “Well, we were doing some training until we were attacked by enraged wild Loudred.”

  “Seriously. That’s so cool, are you guys alright?”

  “Yeah, we’re okay. Trapinch here was able to beat Loudred.”

  “Awesome, dude, your Trapinch is so cool."

  When Alan and Trapinch finished their meal Alan returned Trapinch to its Pokeball and walked back to the Pokemon Center to get an early night's rest. The Pokemon Center rooms were basic but Alan didn’t mind. He looked at himself in the mirror of his bathroom. Turns out that traveling on the road for hours and getting attacked by wild pokemon messes up your hair. His normally straight brown hair was now a knot of brown, sticking up in all directions.