After a nice night, Fly not waking me up this time, we continued on route 9 early. Fly was just as energetic in the mornings as ever. Weird how none of my Pokémon were te risers. We fought off more packs of wilds and even saw trainers. I make sure to jog by them to not get held back by their slow lumber. In another day and a half we see the top of a gargantuan sand colored structure. The ground is cracked in pces and I have to be careful not to trip in some pces.

  Fighting rings of different martial arts litter the area and we see random fighting types and trainers wandering. My grandmother told me the wilds training outside the main structure were stronger and unwilling to get caught without being defeated. The more willing and weaker were pced on dispy in the main arena as their teachers trained them. A flexing bug thing with four legs and red carapace scared me off my chosen path before I reached the main Colosseum. Within those pilrs I saw stairs up and down, dark types wandered in here, the secondary typing of the area because of the leading pokemon. I'm not sure if he counted as an alpha but if he isn't then I hope to Arceus he's higher ranked. Records say he is close to two thousand years old and destroyed a mountain where the Colosseum now rests with one punch.

  A Zorua makes me flinch with an illusion of a Gengar before scampering off. My team keeps close to me, nervous from all the strong Pokémon around as we enter the Colosseum's main building and follow the maze of signs through. I've seen a Greninja with a fancy knife made of ice, a Mienshao pying with a pair of unstable and pulsing aura spheres, and even an Emboar wearing robes on the way as some of the most impressive looking. They walk around and monitor the area, mean looking super beings that serve as the ckeys for their boss.

  I follow a carved sign with an arrow and make a left, seeing the exit into the pit itself. I hurry up and start to smile. Finally escaping the darkness I breathe a slight sigh of relief. Inside I see people selling food and various other things in small pop-up booths in the stands. Fighting types are showing off their practiced art and fighting style to spectating trainers, some even dueling for extra fir. "Remember, do not try to fight any of them without making it a duel. Otherwise you will be tossed out, over the walls and through the sky."

  This warning is mainly for Fly despite her name. The others seem like they’re chuckling and look around, leaving me to wander. I keep looking around, searching for the right Pokémon. I start seeing people in gis with belts of various colors leading csses and practicing in tandem with one another. The csses are lead by Pokémon. I might sign up for a css, to see if what my grandmother taught me works.

  Scouting around farther I see a group of young pokemon being led by one I don't recognize. I ask one of people in gis what it is "That is miss Kubfu."

  "Oh a Kubfu, wait what?"

  The answer is a quick nod and a warning "She is usually pretty nice but she is a legendary like her father so be careful. You see that Machop over there?"

  I look over to see a lean Machop practicing on its own nearer to the center with a boulder that is crumbling to strikes that are slow to come but powerful as the boulder shakes and breaks with each hit "Yeah, what about it?"

  "Look at its left hand" I look in the correct spot, mistaking left for right for a second before righting(or lefting?) myself. It's gone. Part of the reason for the slow strikes is that it only has one fist to throw. I see a string hanging on its neck and attached to it I see the missing hand as it sets up for another punch.

  "That Machop lost an arm-wrestling match to miss Kubfu and had his own hand off when he lost. That shit can't even be healed or fixed until he evolves at this point. Unfortunately, after 10 years of trying, we don't have a lot of hope for him. Remember to be respectful towards the miss. Now, I have somewhere to be, have a nice day" the man walked off and I continued to watch the Machop. It keeps practicing the same motion over and over. A simple right punch. It practices all the various punching moves like bullet punch, ice punch, focus punch, and even sucker punch. There is one I don't get though, there is a move that looks like a normal punch but it has fighting and dark energy mixing together. The fighting energy overtakes the dark each time and the punch seemingly loses power as it is thrown.

  Remembering my grandpa's advice about willpower and having a strong mindset, I stand there to see how long it will keep going.

  I watch it, occasionally stopping to go check on my team, all of whom have picked fights with something at some point. Ian actually got the most damage dealt to him with his bde being bent sideways even though he is a ghost type in a pce full of fighting types(the dark types appear to be underneath ground level from what the signs said). "I don't want to talk about it" is all he says.

  Puff and Fly ugh at him but Fly coughs, a hit to her chest making her lungs hurt a bit. The Joys are very understanding and fix them right up although Ian isn't allowed to fight anymore until tomorrow as a precaution.

  When I return the Kubfu and her students are gone and the lean Machop is still there although now with a couple other Machops next to it practicing themselves. Their punches are faster but filled with less pure power than the one with one hand. They also seem to be mixing kicks into their attacks as well. They don't look at the one missing its hand, totally ignoring it as they chat. Or as I look closer still it is the one handed that is ignoring the others as he focuses on his craft.

  The one with one hand keeps practicing until dark as do all the others. What makes him different is that when they head off to sleep he grabs some water from a water station and ys down on the ground. It doesn't close its eyes just yet, moving its TE around for 10 minutes in what now looks to me as an awkward movement before stopping to truly rest. I approach "My name is Max Bo, grandson of Patty Bo."

  He tilts his head and rises to look up at me face to face. He gives me a curious look before returning to his grim face.

  "Tomorrow I want to have a duel with you. Me against you. If I win then I want you to come with me" I give it a bow that I have seen done between the martial artists "What do you say?"

  Rising back up I look it in the eyes. I see no emotion in them, they are dark, the pupils bigger and the red part a darker shade than normal. His face turns into a frown, holding up his hand.

  "I know and that can be fixed. I'll help you evolve" he doesn't like that but he agrees to the duel, bowing to me.

  "Then I will see you tomorrow" I turn to see a couple people watching me.

  I hear some whispering "Is he crazy? I mean he is only up against a one armed Machop but he'll get more than just beaten up for sure with how scrawny he is." "That's just cruel, picking on the disabled is just wrong." "What if he wins? Is he really going to take that one?"

  I just walk off, smiling at anyone brave enough to look me in the eye. Yeah, I'm crazy. I survived for years in a deathtrap, who wouldn't be.

  I call my team over to find them beaten up again so I bring them to a night shift Joy. Private lessons between master and student take pce at night when sheets of darkness separate the various groups, courtesy of the more powerful dark types.

  A rge Mienfoo(I assume to be a beta) wanders by that is almost as tall as I am. This one must be talented enough in the martial arts to get recognition from the inhabitants.

  I followed some more arrows pointing to the exit. I didn't use a fire tonight, there being little reason to with how warm it was and it being safe here under the legendary. I propped myself up on my bnket as a pillow tonight, the ground more brittle and the grass drier. I cleaned up Ian who was too mentally tired from the day to say anything tonight and just started practicing with ghost energy.

  Puff perched herself on a nearby pilr that stood alone. Here I couldn't see the stars, the darkness too thick. Tomorrow would be interesting, to say the least.