When I had entered the cave, I hadn't walked a minute in before a jolly fat man gave me a present. It was a very generous one, too: a HM. Number 6, to be exact, the one that teaches the technique Rock Smash. They're called hidden machines for an old reason, but I'll get to that in a little bit. I still have thirty minutes until my team finishes resting.

Traveling through the cave wasn't difficult at all. It was only a thirty-minute walk, maybe not even that long, but the trainers and wild Pokemon along the way made it seem a bit longer. There were plenty of Geodude around, which made me itch to teach Rock Smash to Sarah, but seeing how my Piplup admirably (and somewhat arrogantly) dispatched the living stones with Bubble attacks reassured me that, in a pinch, I can release him. After all, I can't focus on raising just one of them, right?

Sarah continued to use Charge throughout the cave, providing some light, though I didn't really need it. The exit to this cave faces East, and the rising sun did wonders to guide my path. It also lit the place wonderfully, giving a very haunting appearance to the whole scene that I took my time to admire. If I could have sketched it, I would.

Near the end of the cave, though, I met a trainer with a Psyduck. My Shinx, though her type was effective against the duck, was still frustrated at her lack of electrical attacks. She did take home another move, though: Bite. I didn't think she'd ever let go of that Psyduck's tail. At least she didn't aim for the head; I heard that those aquatic birds may seem goofy at first, but a headache sparks some sort of psychic reaction in them.

Besides, I doubt her fangs could have latched so well onto that round skull.

When we left the cave, a guy called me a noob for not having any gym badges, and offered to show me to the Gym. I had just gotten out of the cave and my Pokemon were tired, but it was on the way, and I got to meet Bitch again, who had already received his badge.

Badges... this whole tradition of traveling the continent and defeating Gym Leaders was based off of ancient times, where humans, seeking to prove that their style was the greatest, would go to the dojos of great masters and humble them and their students, taking the sign off their front porch as a trophy of their superiority over that style, eventually taking the signs of all the dojos in the land and becoming the true master. Signs were a bit heavy, though, and every Gym had its own thing to teach, so no one style could ever really be considered better than another after all. Maybe it took the partnership with Pokemon to understand that?

When Gyms were substituted, the leaders started taking in trainers, providing a unique way of training in each establishment and daring all to pass their tests and prove themselves worthy of taking their 'sign,' or in this case, a small, case-friendly badge. I had eight to defeat, eight empty slots on the small tin my mother gave me. I'm not sure that I would use it, though; I might just wear them on my jacket! They're badges, after all.

This Gym, I learned from the jolly man, taught the effective use of the Rock Smash move. It is considered a Hidden Move because of another throwback to old days. Dojos would normally have a signature style or technique, one that you couldn't use correctly without proper training in that place. Now, though, it wasn't just 'something to do' to learn a Gym's technique. It was law. Using Rock Smash outside of battle is dangerous, and it is very possible for me to cause great distress to the environment and the Pokemon who live in it. Sure, I could teach Sarah the move and use it against another Pokemon, but if I use it to clear a path for myself without knowing exactly what I was doing, I could create a cave in, or worse.

The point is that I need to get this badge and learn about the Rock Smash technique in order to continue my journey. There were places I couldn't explore inside that cave because boulders of impassable magnitude blocked my way.

Another obstacle stood before me now. The Gym Leader was out, gone to the local coal mines, according to Tyson. I decided to kill time before his return, so I treated my Pokemon to the local cuisine. Everything was grilled with coal, giving it a nice, smoky flavor. My Piplup grudgingly ate the food that he didn't catch, sneaking bites when he thought I wasn't looking. Sarah had no shame in showing off her new attack, though, using Bite to completely demolish the meal before turning her attention to her male's plate, giving him little cute noises that I could only assume meant "Are you going to finish that?"

After that, I looked around and noticed that there weren't many exciting attractions around here. There was the museum, and, though it was nice seeing the tools we used in the past, I was far more interested in what one of the receptionists had to say. He was using information he garnered from Kanto and Hoenn to research reconstituting fossilized DNA. He had already turned a lump of coal back to the plant it had been in prehistoric times, and it was alive. He even just recently revived a Pokemon, one currently in the Gym Leader's care! Sorry, but this kind of stuff intrigues me.

I left that with interest in what that Pokemon was, and it had me returning to the gym with a smile. It had been hours since I left, and he still wasn't back, so, borrowing a bit of impatience from Bitch and Royal, I went into this Pokemon Center to put my team in top form. I'm going into that mine to find the Leader.