"Woooaaah! This is the Gym you were talking about, Arelon!?"
"It's… HUGE!!!"
Arriving in Pewter City, Arelon and Luffy looked like two broke tourists who skipped all the sightseeing and headed straight for the city's largest landmark—second only to the Pokémon Center—
Pewter Gym.
Just as Viridian Forest had been transformed into a real forest, Pewter Gym was nothing like the tiny stone hut from the game.
Even before they got close, two enormous Onix statues towered on either side of the entrance, giving the entire Gym an imposing, majestic aura.
Just standing at the doorway, they could feel a heavy, rugged, rocky atmosphere washing over them.
Through the large doors, faint noises drifted out—proof of just how lively this Gym was.
"Let's go!"
Arelon stepped forward and pushed open the massive stone doors—which, despite their appearance, slid smoothly on electric rails.
Inside, the Gym's decor matched its theme perfectly.
Both the ground and walls were built from interlocking slabs of rock, forming a deep earthy brown, simple yet solemn.
The central battle arena was filled with jagged boulders and tall rock piles stacked from huge stone blocks.
Around each rock formation, one or two trainers in green uniforms were training their Rock-type Pokémon.
No need to guess…
These were obviously the "XP gifts" placed before the Gym Leader battle—the same as in the game.
On either side of the arena were huge spectator stands.
A few groups of spectators were scattered among the seats—not many, not few—watching the rocky battlefield below with full attention.
"Just a bunch of trainers practicing with their Pokémon. Why so many spectators?"
"This part of the game emulator feels kinda sloppy~"
Arelon commented like a critic reviewing set design.
But at his side, Luffy let out another impressed gasp:
"Waaah! There are so many people in here!"
Clearly, the system had put extra effort into optimizing the Gym, making it far more like a real Pokémon Gym—and not the simple little room from the games.
Hearing Luffy, Arelon turned to the trainers and smirked.
"Yeah. Quite a crowd."
After all, in the game, Gym Trainers gave better EXP and rewards than wild battles.
Maybe this Gym run would pay off even better than he expected.
Thinking this, Arelon suddenly shouted:
"Luffy!"
"See those guys dressed like green onions!?"
"Let's go!"
"We're gonna harvest them!"
"Another fight!? Leave it to me!"
Luffy stretched his shoulders eagerly, face full of excitement.
Even though the opponents along the way had been weak, fighting interesting creatures still thrilled him.
They headed straight toward a girl who was training a Geodude.
Before Arelon could speak, the girl spotted them and instantly assumed a stern expression, taking the initiative:
"Who are you two!?"
"This is Pewter Gym! Not a playground!"
"What? You want to challenge Gym Leader Brock? You're a million light-years too early!"
"Allow me to test your strength!"
"Go! Geodude!"
She didn't give them any chance to talk—speaking her own lines, throwing her Poké Ball, summoning her Pokémon.
A circular barrier expanded outward, enclosing Arelon and Luffy inside.
"As expected! People in this world really are weird!"
Luffy still couldn't figure out NPC logic and stared at the girl in confusion.
But Arelon only smirked—he'd long gotten used to this.
Playing along with the girl's script, he responded dramatically:
"Pewter Gym? You sure talk big!"
He stepped back, placing Luffy in front like a real Trainer.
"Let's go, Luffy! Show her your strength!"
"OOOHH!!"
Luffy, a seasoned fighter by now, jumped into the battlefield and faced off against the Geodude.
A status window popped up over its head: [LV: 7, HP: 28/28]
At that moment, the Gym fell silent.
Every NPC froze for a beat—then all slowly turned their heads toward the battle.
A heavy, intense BGM began playing overhead—deep drumbeats echoing like the heartbeat of the arena.
Spectators began cheering as if watching a real high-level Pokémon match.
"Hey, hey~ it's just a regular Gym Trainer. Isn't this a bit dramatic?"
Now understanding why the spectators existed, Arelon muttered internally.
But he had to admit…
Being the center of attention felt strangely exciting.
Even knowing they were just mindless NPCs, the atmosphere swept him up.
"The tension really shot up, huh~"
"Well then, guess I'll play along!"
He pointed dramatically and commanded:
"Luffy! Use Soru! Get behind the Geodude!"
"Eh?"
Luffy—who usually fought on instinct—froze for a moment.
But realizing it was Arelon's command, he stopped thinking, stomped the ground, and vanished with a Soru dash.
In a blink, he appeared behind the Geodude.
A low-level, clumsy Pokémon like Geodude had no chance of reacting.
Even the Gym Trainer stared blankly at Luffy's sudden high-speed movement.
Arelon's voice rang out:
"Now! Hit it from behind!"
Luffy stretched his arm back:
"Gomu Gomu no… PISTOL!!!"
"No! Dodge it, Geodude!"
The trainer spoke with unexpected flair—temporarily breaking free of her stiff script.
But—
Against absolute power, all commands are meaningless.
Even the sacred command: "Dodge it!"
BOOM!!!
Luffy's fist slammed into the Geodude like a bullet.
Even the rock-hard Pokémon let out a pained groan.
"Guehhh—"
Its HP bar instantly dropped to zero.
One hit. Battle over.
As the battlefield faded—
A flicker of surprise crossed Arelon's face.
Because under the EXP window, new text appeared:
[Command Completed. Evaluation: Average.]
[Bonus Reward: EXP +8]
"What's this? Bonus EXP!?"
Arelon froze the text with a thought and reread it carefully.
Then he understood.
"Come to think of it… this is my first time giving Luffy battle commands."
"Could it be…"
"Depending on how good my command is, we get extra EXP!?"
"I didn't expect the system to have this feature—not bad at all!"
"If that's the case…"
Arelon's eyes lit up as he looked toward another trainer near a rock pile.
"Let's test it."
Several Minutes Later…
[Monkey D. Luffy defeated the Gym Trainer's Geodude. Gained: EXP +38.]
[Command Evaluation: Useless.]
[No bonus reward.]
[Monkey D. Luffy defeated the Gym Trainer's Geodude. Gained: EXP +38.]
[Command Evaluation: Average.]
[Bonus Reward: EXP +8]
For the next two trainers, Arelon purposely gave different commands.
For one, he made Luffy perform a bunch of weird movements—getting hit twice before finishing the Geodude.
Evaluation: Useless.
For the other, he repeated the Soru + basic attack combo.
Evaluation: Average.
Result:
His theory was confirmed.
"Knew it! There's no way my role is just 'press start to boot the game'!"
"As a Trainer, of course I should be able to command my Pokémon!"
"Looks like I need to practice this more."
"Useless commands give nothing. Average gives one-fifth extra EXP."
"As for higher evaluations…"
Arelon paused.
He wanted to try, but with Luffy steamrolling everything, there wasn't much room for strategy.
Higher ratings would have to wait for future tougher battles.
After all—
they had more important things to do right now!