Chapter 701: Whitney's gym
He looked at the passive move.
---
Divine teeth (Stage I): The teeth of the user are sharper, sturdier, and deadly than before. The teeth would not break easily like before and its crushing power has increased.
---
The details were normal but Axel knew that Aerodactyl had only completed the first phase of teeth breaking. 9 more phases were left and yes, it might take a long time, but he believed that the passive move would also improve.
After Togeitc, Aerodactyl was the closest one to reach the elemental rank. It had not received its rank-up condition yet but it was very close to it.
Slowemperor had also started to train with Xatu. Axel was also in the lecture, so he got to know a lot about illusion. Just like with Charizard, the training began with lectures on theories and the importance of illusion and how it should be done.
Axel had never thought that in the Pokemon world, the subject of illusions would be detailed. Reaching champion rank and master rank really was very different.
Axel wondered who came up with these ideas on how to evolve to champion rank and master rank. The process was going slowly but it had begun.
After a few days, Axel was ready for this second illusion experience. By this time, Axel seemed to have a good amount of experience on how to pass this requirement.
After hearing Red's story, he was very serious about his training and also proceeded to hurt himself to train. He wanted to go to the illusion world but Red had denied saying that going there often would lead him to confuse between illusion and reality.
###
The illusion world was the same as before and Xatu started to attack with psychic powers. Axel had already sat in a meditative position and he was ready for the pain.
After doing a lot of training on enhanced stamina, sleeping less, and many other things, Axel had come to realize that aura could literally do anything. One must have the proper techniques to do it and the will to make it possible.
The first few wounds were just simple flesh wounds. It did hurt but Axel was not feeling much pain as he had expected. His concentration was also very high and he could be sure that he could carry on tasks even though he had these wounds.
Then the degree of the wounds started to increase and the pain too. It was still not unbearable and he could still concentrate on other things while being wounded. Suddenly the attacks stopped. Axel didn't know why that happened but he knew that it must be one of those tests.
It must have been 5 minutes when the attack started again the speed and the power of the attack was almost double. Axel had not opened his eyes but he knew that a pool of red blood was already around him. At first, he felt that he could do it but the pain increased a lot and then he blacked out.
###
Axel woke up after who knows how long. Even though there were no wounds and he was perfectly okay, he could still feel the pain somehow.
"You did well this time. It was better than before.", said
Red with a smile.
It was still progress but Axel knew that he needed to progress a lot. When he was being attacked at regular intervals, he was okay as he expected the attack but when it stopped and then the attack came again at double the pace, Axel could not handle it.
This was purely testing his willpower.
"By the way Red, how is your training going on?", asked
Axel.
Red had also been training his aura when Axel received the golden stone tablet. Red didn't go to the same route as Axel and he had chosen a different route.
"It is a very new experience for me. It is interesting to review the basics and learn about new things. But it still takes time to accomplish it.", said Red.
Red knew that Axel was progressing very fast compared to him. This surprised him as he knew that he was very talented in training in aura.
Red felt a wave of hope from Axel. He could remember his young days when he was also so hyped up in training himself and his Pokemon. It was just that Axel was a lot better than him in this regard.
"So, which gym are you targeting next?", asked Red.
Now Axel had been doing his research on the gyms of the Johto region. Blue had once said that he should not challenge Whitney's gym right now as his Pokemons were too weak. But that was a couple of months ago and he believed that now he was ready.
His new Pokemons were now very close to reaching elemental rank. Even though reaching elemental rank was not a problem for Axel's Pokemons, it was a bit more difficult than other normal ranks.
"Red, I want to challenge Whitney's gym now. Do you think that it would be okay to do it?"
"Haha, Why are you asking me this?"
"Because Goldenrod city gym is the second strongest gym in the Johto region."
"Axel, if you want to challenge the gym, then do it. Yes, since the media in involved, you are not allowed to lose any of those gym battles in the Johto region. You have been a trainer for 3 years now and you already have the experience to deal with rare-rank Pokemon battles.
So, I say go for it."
"Blue once told me that I am not ready for it and I should not challenge Goldenrod City Gym and Blackthorn City Gym as my last gyms."
"He is right about it. Unlike Kent, they could not hold back since you have done a good job in ruining their reputation. But if you want to become the Pokemon master in the future, you cannot let yourself be bound by such things. They are humans with limited potential. If you become afraid of them, then you will never become the Pokemon master in the future.", said Red.
Red was absolutely right about all this. He could not be afraid of it. He would have to fight them someday, so he better get ready. After getting confidence from Red, Axel decided that he would be battling Clair, Lance's sister at last. He just wanted to see how powerful a dragon-type gym leader would be when she was battling with a pseudo-king rank dragon-type Pokemon. He was excited.
###
After thinking for some time, Axel decided that he would be going to Whitney's gym next. He immediately called Clair. Clair Whitney was someone who he had met while he was visiting the Johto region to train Charizard.
They had become good friends in just an hour of meeting and had also exchanged numbers but Axel had never called her back. He had almost forgotten about her.
Tring.. Tring.. Tring.. Tring.. Katchak.
"Hello, who is this?", came a sweet voice from the phone.
Axel felt a bit sad that Clair had also not saved his number in her phone. But he didn't think much about it as he had also not remembered her.
"Hey Clair, it is me."
"I cannot recognize you until you say your name. Is your name 'Me'?", asked Clair. It was clear that she was irritated for some reason. She must be having a very bad day.
"I mean, It is me, Axel Blaze."
Axel could hear something falling from her side. Maybe some plates or glass as he could clearly hear some clattering sounds of those breaking.
"Oh, Sorry Axel. I was not expecting your call, all of a
sudden.", apologized Clair.
"It is okay but are you okay? I heard some breaking sounds."
"Ah... Yes, perfectly okay. Just give me 2 minutes.", said
Clair and put Axel on hold, and came back after a minute.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure of receiving the call?",
asked Clair.
"Well, I am going to challenge your city's gym in 3-4 weeks. So, I just thought to give you a call and see if we can meet.", said Axel.
"Really? You are challenging our gym so early?", asked
Clair Whitney.
"Yes, and why are you so surprised about it?", asked Axel. "Well, normally trainers challenge our gym at first or
second and only when they have elemental rank Pokemons.",
said Clair.
That spooked him a bit.
"So you mean to say that a trainer would train their Pokemons till elemental rank and challenge the gym leader when the gym leader could only use rare rank Pokemons?", asked Axel.
"Yes, our gym is very strong, and since my cousin took over she has been very strict about it. She had increased the difficulty for some reason. You must be careful since you are quite famous now.", said Clair with a hint of sarcasm.
"Don't worry, I am not going to lose a simple gym battle.", said Axel.
"Are you sure cause I don't think that you have a full team of elemental rank Pokemon right now? You do have that unique Pokemon but I don't think that your pride would let you use it.", said Clair.
"Have some faith in me. I will surely win this battle."
But for some reason, Clair didn't believe that Axel could
win it. This made him interesting.
Axel had played Pokemon games and from the games he knew that Goldenrod City Gym might be the most difficult gym in all of the Pokemons games there was.
Miltank was a beast. It was very powerful with a high base stat at that point of the game and it had some frustrating moves. Axel could vaguely remember that it had 4 moves.
Attract- This would attract the target and make them unable to use any moves.
Stomp- A powerful which has the chance to flinch the
Rollout- This was just insane as its attack power would increase at every turn.
Milk drink- Even if you decrease its health enough, it would then use this move to increase its health.
Without a good number of potions or fighting-type Pokemon, it was almost impossible to win this gym. He knew how hard it really was but this was the real world and he could say for sure that Miltank would not be so scary.
He had already done some research on normal-type Pokemons that Johto Pokedex.
Furret, Noctowl, Igglybuff, Aipom, Girafarig, Dunsparce, Ursaring, Porygon 2, Stantler, Smeargle, Miltank, Blissey
After deciding to challenge Whitney's gym, Red and Axel started to do their research. It was actually Axel doing the research and Red giving some helpful tips.
Axel could tell that Red knew a lot of things about Whitney's gym but he was not telling him anything. Axel didn't mind it as he would have to go through on his own.
Red did give some helpful tips. Like,
"You can cross out Porygon 2 and Blissey. Porygon 2 is impossible for them to have and Blissey too as they are monopolized by Pokemon Center.
I am sure that she would be using Miltank and Ursaring. They are the only strong ones on the list. I cannot say anything about the third Pokemon.
I will give you some tips since you are one of us. I heard that the gym leader had found some unusual evolution of some Pokemon and it had not been made public. It is just a rumor and even I don't know if that is true"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheSilverPrince
TheSilverPrince Join the pat-reon channel for advanced chapters.
https://www.--patreon.com/TheSilverPrince1
delete the '--' after 'www.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone