They exited the Viridian Gym through the main entrance.
From the outside, it was big. A serious building. The kind you didn't mistake for a local arena. One of the eight institutions that mattered in Kanto.
Then they looked past it.
Viridian City wasn't six houses and a Pokécenter.
Viridian had thousands of people living in it. Maybe more. And you could see it the moment you faced the streets.
Buildings stacked into blocks. Rows of apartments above shops. Side streets branching into neighborhoods. Roads wide enough for constant traffic. Vendors shouting from stalls. Couriers pushing carts. Security patrols moving in pairs. A crowd that never fully stopped flowing, like the city had its own heartbeat.
There were markets too. Not just the clean ones.
Enzo caught the signs without even trying: back alleys with too many men standing still, doors with no labels, whispers traded faster than money. Black markets existed in every city, and Viridian was no exception. Maybe it was the rule.
And Pokémon were everywhere.
Not in cages. Not as props. As neighbors.
A Machoke carried crates into a warehouse while the owner argued with a customer. A Growlithe lay outside a bakery, head on its paws, watching people pass. Pidgey clustered on wires above the street. A woman walked with a Paras at her feet like it belonged there, because it did.
People and Pokémon moved together in the same space like community, not spectacle.
Proton's eyes were already scanning routes, exits, cameras, patterns.
They started walking.
They didn't go far before Enzo saw it, a smaller arena wedged between normal businesses, loud and alive in a way the Gym behind them wasn't.
VIRIDIAN SUB-GYM
RANK B
A long line of trainers stretched outside. Teenagers, adults, people with cheap gear and hungry eyes. A digital board by the entrance flashed rules and numbers.
Ronnie slowed. "Hold on. Rank B? What is that?"
He looked back over his shoulder at the massive Gym, confused. "Isn't the Gym… the Gym?"
Enzo let Ronnie look for a second longer, then answered.
"That's the mistake most people make," Enzo said. "They think badges are the start. They're the end."
Ronnie frowned. "So what's this place for?"
Enzo pointed toward the line. "To filter people."
Ronnie's eyes narrowed at the screen. "Entry fee? You have to pay?"
"Yes," Enzo said. "Rank B gyms are trials. You pay to enter. You fight. If you lose, you lose your money. If you win, you get two things back."
Ronnie leaned closer. "Two things?"
"A Rank B license," Enzo said. "And your entry money returned."
Ronnie blinked. "So if you win, you don't lose anything?"
"You lose time," Enzo said. "And you risk your team. But yes. The money is a test. The system rewards competence and punishes hope."
Ronnie looked at the line again, quieter. "Okay… so why do it?"
"Because you need it to climb," Enzo said.
Ronnie turned to him fast. "Climb to what?"
Enzo kept walking and nodded for them to follow.
"Rank A," he said.
A few blocks later, the next layer appeared. Cleaner. Better maintained. Fewer people. More cameras. No price on the entrance board, only requirements.
RANK A QUALIFIER ARENA
ENTRY: TWO VERIFIED RANK B LICENSES
Ronnie read it twice. "Two licenses?"
"The League wants proof you can win more than once," Enzo said. "Usually from two different Rank B gyms. Different refs, different opponents, different rules. Consistency."
Ronnie's mouth opened, then closed. "And Rank A doesn't cost money?"
"No betting," Enzo said. "You show your two Rank B licenses and your League card. You get admitted."
"And if you win?" Ronnie asked.
"You earn a Rank A license," Enzo said. "And a TM."
Ronnie's eyes lit up. "A real TM."
"A real one," Enzo confirmed.
Ronnie looked back toward the direction of the main Gym, the big one. "So Rank S is…"
"The Gym everyone knows," Enzo said. "The one that gives a badge."
Ronnie exhaled slowly as it clicked into place. "So you can't even challenge the badge Gym unless you've done all this."
Enzo nodded. "Exactly."
He didn't soften it. There was no point.
"That's why so few people ever reach the League," Enzo said. "The badge isn't a souvenir. It's a reward for surviving the ladder."
Ronnie stared at the crowds again, seeing the city differently now. Seeing the system underneath it.
They kept walking until the streets began to thin and the city started to loosen its grip. The air changed. Less noise. More wind. The road out of Viridian waited ahead like a long promise.
Ronnie moved a little ahead, still digesting everything.
Proton fell into step beside Enzo.
He didn't look at him at first. He didn't need to.
"You told Giovanni you have a plan for Hoenn," Proton said quietly. "Are you going to tell us anything about it?"
Enzo kept his eyes forward.
He could have lied. He could have dodged. But Proton wasn't Ronnie. Proton would feel the dodge like blood in water.
"I can tell you one part," Enzo said.
Proton's gaze sharpened.
Enzo's voice stayed flat, practical.
"We're going to need money," Enzo said. "A lot of money."
Proton didn't react like Ronnie would have. No shock. No jokes. Just a small tightening around the eyes, as if he was already calculating what "a lot" meant.
Enzo didn't give him the satisfaction of a number.
Not yet.
Then the System flickered.
A thin blue line crawled across Enzo's vision, quiet and persistent, like a reminder that something was still unfinished.
REWARDS LOADING… 61%
Enzo didn't slow down.
But inside, his body remembered what a delayed reward could mean.
And the number didn't move.