Pokémon: Wings Of Shadow

Shiro slept soundly until the next 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 morning light touched the face of Rookidee nestled in its small bed. It groggily opened its eyes and met 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 splashing his face with some water. He then headed out with Gastly and Rookidee.

The streets had already been cleaned by the employees of Macro Cosmos. The cobblestone road, dark and smooth, carried the faint scent 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 Pokédollars 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 large bronze doors standing tall, with the Pokémon Center operating 24/7 right beside it.

This was the entrance to the Hammerlocke Stadium.

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

After a quick glance around, Shiro stepped inside. The entrance led into a towering, 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 lay the entrance to the Hammerlocke Gym—accessible only to trainers participating in the Gym challenge.

On either side of the corridor, deep blue, semi-transparent automatic doors lined the walls. Each door led to an elevator, and every elevator had a registration desk manned by an attendant who checked trainers' ID cards before granting 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 computer.

"Training."

"There are three levels of training rooms—basic, intermediate, and advanced. The basic room is shared, while the intermediate and advanced rooms are private. Prices are 100, 300, and 500 Pokédollars per hour, respectively. Pick a level and duration, then pay up. We take cards."

The man rattled off the details with practiced efficiency 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 wasn't entirely sure about the differences between the training 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. On the other, rows of training room doors lined the wall, each accessible by swiping an ID card.

If a room was occupied, a red indicator light would flash outside, preventing access. But at this early hour, most rooms were empty. Shiro picked one at random and entered.

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

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

At the center 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 corners. There were also free water and rations stored in the refrigerator and cabinets, available for trainers to take as needed.

"Come out, Rookidee, Gastly!"

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

"Rooki!"

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

"Gaaas!"

Gastly, on the other hand, was visibly excited. It wobbled forward and crashed into the metallic Pokémon target in the center 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 conjure two wind blades simultaneously within two seconds."

"Rooki-dee!"

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

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

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

To Gastly, this all felt like just another game.

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

"Gastly, your goal is to fully form a Shadow Ball. Ideally, you should be able to release one within three seconds."

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

But a quick glance at Shiro's firm gaze and another at Rookidee, diligently practicing, made it reconsider. Without further hesitation, Gastly began trying.

Shadow Ball was a high-level Ghost-type move with significant power. However, for the Novice-level Gastly, it was incredibly difficult to execute. Forget launching 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 become more familiar with the move and its energy flow, building experience and strength over time. Failure was inevitable, but without failure, how could it ever become stronger?

With his Pokémon set on their respective tasks, Shiro strapped on a 20-kilogram weight and began doing push-ups and squat jumps within the training room.

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

Some individuals possessed special abilities, while others had undergone extreme 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 or go head-to-head with a Machamp, effortlessly shrugging off their attacks.

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

**

**

**

Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:

P@treon/SilverShark769

Your support means a lot, thank you!