Chapter 53: Toxic Gym Battle

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In a certain island...

Goh ran through the grass, the earth shaking behind him.

"Come on, let's go!" he frantically said to his Pokemon. "Cinderace, I need you to distract it."

His partner, Cinderace, grimaced, and he leapt up into the air. He formed a ball of flames and kicked it at the giant Pokemon above him.

 He formed a ball of flames and kicked it at the giant Pokemon above him

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Obviously, when it hit Groudon, it did not even flinch. But its attention lapsed for a moment, allowing Goh and his Pokemon to hide behind a massive protrusion of rock in a craggy area of Faraway Island.

Goh peaked out, seeing Groudon scan the area, obviously trying to find them. It growled and, suddenly, giant pillars of rock jutted out of the ground, ravaging through the area like clay. Earthquakes spawned from each pillar, splintering everything in its wake. Fortunately, the pillars all went around the rock they were cowering behind.

When everything went silent, Goh sighed with relief, easing into a sitting position, leaning his back against the rock.

The team he had on him, Cinderace, Inteleon, Rillaboom (who had evolved due to the stress they were experiencing), Absol, Tailow, and Heracross, all huddled around him. Since the island disabled use of Poke Balls, Goh could not conveniently keep them in theirs.

Goh was exhausted. His hair was longer than usual, reaching past his shoulders. He was gaunt and much thinner than before. His clothes were ragged from extensive use.

It had been six months since Mew teleported him to Faraway Island. At first, he thought that it was because it wanted him to capture it.

But then it transformed into Kyogre and tried to kill him.

For months he had been running from it, trying to keep his Pokemon safe in the process. It had hunted him down since then.

What did it want? Was it testing him.

No—he shook his head—that didn't matter.

No matter what, he'd get him and his Pokemon out alive. That was his priority.

Months ago, his solution would be to throw a Poke Ball. But even if he could, he wouldn't even try.

He doesn't care about catching Mew anymore. That was a foolish ambition. Now he was going to keep his Pokemon safe. They mattered more than Mew.

If this was a test, he would fail it if it meant that his Pokemon were safe, and even if he would lose his opportunity to catch Mew, he wouldn't care.

Clearly he wasn't strong enough to catch it; he didn't deserve it, either.

He has caught so many Pokemon he didn't deserve to. Faraway Island was a wakeup call.

Goh crossed his arms, sighing wearily. His cheerful and optimistic demeanor was gone, replaced by grim determination.

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