WaitImGoated

Beneath the shining city of Rustboro lies a shadowy slum so deep it knows no light, no hope—only survival. Luka was abandoned there, cast aside by parents blinded by their own ambition. He doesn’t dream of wealth or approval. He climbs not to be accepted but out of pure spite, determined to defy the cruel hand he’s been dealt. His only path upward is the Dust Circuit, a brutal underground ring where trainers pit weak, discarded Pokémon against each other in high-stakes battles. Armed with the unorthodox techniques taught by his caretaker—a blind prodigy from the cursed Quaker family—and the loyalty of a humble Trubbish, Luka fights to rise above the filth. But the higher he climbs, the more the Circuit demands: gambling, fame, power. Can Luka keep his resolve and carve a path to the top, or will he lose himself like so many before him, swallowed by the shadows he seeks to escape?