It’s been a hectic time for Ash’s group lately. They failed to find Nina in the
days after she left. After that, Ash went on to receive an Earth badge from Team Rocket
in Viridian City. Now, Ash qualifies to be in the Pokemon league, but that is still three
months away. It is time to train like never before.
Train Your PoKeMoN Past Their Limits
	It is late afternoon as Nina comes walking into her hometown. 
	“Afternoon and it’s cold and cloudy,” the young trainer thinks to herself. “I guess
this town never changes.”
	The female trainer looks at all of the buildings around her and says, “I’m home.
Back home in the City of Souls.”
	Her Pokemon looks up to its trainer and goes, “mowr?”
	“Yeah, I’ve never known why it’s called that either.”
	Coming up to a large office building, Nina looks up and tells Katsumi, “Here it
is.”
	The two pass through some glass doors making their way into the lobby. Both
look around but cannot find anyone there.
	“That’s weird. I wonder where everyone is?” Nina asks while scratching the side
of her head.
	After giving up on finding anyone, Nina leads her Pokemon to the elevator and
says, “Okay. If I remember right, then it’s on the thirty-third floor.”
	Both trainer and Pokemon get off the elevator after a long ride, and cross a hall
to get to a pair of majestic wood doors. An inscription above the door reads “Shadow
Temple PoKeMoN Gym”.
	“Aw, nuts,” Nina exclaims putting her hands on her hips. She reads another sign
on the doors, “Shadow Temple, closed for remodeling?”
	She goes inside anyway telling Katsumi, “I’m sure nobody will mind if we make
ourselves at home for a while.” Nina pulls out her remaining three Pokeballs as she calls
out her Pokemon’s names. “Go Katsy, Prisma, and Birdy.” The three Eevee evolutions
appear lined up as Katsumi joins them.
	“All right you three. It’s been fun and games up until this point. Now it’s time we
strapped down and trained harder than ever!” Each Pokemon looks at one another
sighing.
	The female trainer digs through her bag as she tells her Pokemon, “Time to put
the weights on.” All of the Pokemon begin to protest, but Nina cuts in quickly, “Hey!
How do you expect to become the best team of Pokemon around with those attitudes?”
The four Pokemon go silent as their trainer goes on, “If it makes you feel any better then
I’m going to use the weights as well.”
	After putting the weights on, the group slowly goes from the arena area into the
next room. Red in the face, Nina explains, “This room is packed with Pokemon books.
You can find any technique you want to learn in here. This is where our training will
start.” She pulls out a book for each of her Pokemon and heads back into the arena.
	At the same time, Ash, Brock, and Misty are out training all around Pallet Town.
Ash looks for trainers or wild Pokemon to face, and when he cannot find any, Brock and
Misty are there to spar with him.

	“Nice job, Pikachu,” Ash tells his Pokemon as his fight ends. “Thanks, Brock!
Maybe next time Pikachu could fight one of your rock Pokemon for an even harder
challenge?”
	“No problem, Ash.”
	“C’mon you guys. We’ve been out here all morning. Lets head back in for a
break,” Misty tells the others while fanning her face.
	“Good thinking, Misty. It’s probably about lunch time now. By the time we’re
done, maybe some more trainers might have come out looking for battles.”
	“I swear, Ash. Sometimes I wonder if that’s all you ever think about.”
	About a month passes as each trainer pushes their Pokemon further and further.
In the Shadow Temple, Nina teaches her Pokemon the most unique techniques they can
learn to give her an edge over others with the same types. Ash continues training all over
Pallet and beyond, even spending some time on Sea Foam giving his Pokemon
experience against a variety of differing Pokemon. 
	“Okay, gang. We only have one more day before the Shadow Temple re-opens,
so this session will be your final exams. From here we’ll go back on the road looking for
trainer battles to increase your levels.” Lined up, the four Pokemon look up to their
trainer and nod all at once.
	“Birdy,” Nina calls out as her Pokemon faces a thick stone pillar. “Blizzard.”
	The Vaporeon blasts the target quickly freezing it in ice from top to bottom.
	“Nice. That was very quick. Now, your Substitute.” 
	Birdy flips back, no longer feeling the pull of the weights, leaving a shining ice
replica of itself.
	“Good likeness. Okay Katsy, you’re up,” the trainer tells her Pokemon as the
Flareon positions itself where Birdy was. “Show us your Body Slam.”
	The fire type flies at the ice covered pillar digging into it as the ice cracks to all
sides. Katsy jumps away as the wall of ice comes crashing down.
	“I’d hate to be the Pokemon that gets hit by that. Okay, Fire Blast.”
	In one fast motion, the Flareon lets out the attack, and the fire emblem hits the
pillar for a few seconds before it burns out.
	“Mm, toasty. Prisma, you’re next,” Nina beckons as her Jolteon steps forward.
“First use the Pin Missile.”
	The electric Pokemon fires a barrage of spines covering the scorched portion of
the pillar.
	“Very accurate. Now everyone, cover your eyes. Prisma, Thunder.”
	Jumping forward, the Jolteon lets out a huge bolt of electricity striking diagonally
across the stone pillar. The group looks up through the newly made smoke to see a
streak of the pillar had been cut away.
	“Good. This means that you can even fight off rock and ground type Pokemon.
And last, but certainly not least; Katsumi, you’re up.”