This time, it was definite.

Maylene had said her goodbyes and seen all the places she wanted to remember. She got her closure, and there could be no more excuses to go back to Sinnoh, or to ever have it disturb her training. Whatever Chuck demanded, she had no excuse not to do it. Maylene knew that for most of her training here, she had it easy. As a newcomer, she didn’t work as hard as Brawly, Nob, or any of the other Gym Trainers, and she had to avoid any rough activities after she had her accident.

With her mind completely focused on anticipating the rough training she was going to have to go through, Chuck revealing that he intended on sending her away once more was more than a shock to her.

‘A guy named Bruno will be of help,’ Chuck said as he moved wooden craters and lifted steel, assisted by his Primeape. ‘He’s part of the Elite 4, so he knows much more than I do. Brawly already went to train there, so you can just join them.’

Maylene’s eyes followed the rushing Primeape and his Trainer; they were so busy doing whatever it is that they needed to do. Chuck must have learned to control his Pokémon sometime while she was gone, as her last memory of the Primeape involved herself falling into a large body of water, an occurrence that was often followed by hazy memories.

She slowly backed out of the Gym, and went to join her waiting Pokémon. Riolu was resting against the warm sands that he had never experienced in any place but Cianwood, and Machop seemed to be confused by, yet ecstatic at, the change in the weather. He often ran off and challenged other Trainers’ Pokémon, but they were also too busy to pay attention to him.

Riolu looked up at his Trainer expectedly, waiting for any response from her. They had never seen Chuck and his Trainers so absorbed in their work before, and amidst all the building and the running around, Maylene knew that, as Chuck had told her, she had to go.

‘Apparently we have to go to a place in Kanto,’ Maylene said with a sigh. ‘The Sevii Islands. We can train there with a guy named Bruno if we want, and Brawly is already there.’

Riolu’s head almost fell in disappoint; they had come all this way to finish their training, and they were more excited than ever, and more determined, yet another trip was in order. Machop turned to the pair not long afterwards, and joined them in their disappointment; he wanted to fight as soon as possible, and fight anything he can fight.

He immediately went for Riolu, jumping at him fist first, and throwing the smaller Pokémon to the ground. Machop started jumping in his place, his fists in front of him, and shouting at Riolu to get up for a fight.

‘Not now, Machop,’ Maylene said. ‘There will be a time for that, but not now.’

Riolu lifted himself up from the sands; Machop had just joined them and he was already annoying. He walked behind Maylene, who started for the sea, talking about whether they should swim or wait for a boat, but all Riolu could concetrate on was Machop’s unnecessary taunts.

The Superpower Pokémon kept on jumping in his place, diving higher into the air with each leap. He was eager to battle, as he always was, and joining sides with a human didn’t change that; any moment that he was able to spend out of the Poké Ball was an opportunity for a fight. His jumps slowly brought his forward towards Riolu, who was staring with disregard, unable to fathom this obsession, even though it was in him as well.

Maylene had been lucky in capturing a Pokémon that was as enthusiastic about becoming stronger as she and Riolu were, but it was evident that the way with which Machop tried to achieve his goal was vastly different; while Maylene and Riolu turned to those stronger than themselves for guidance, Machop seemed to not only crave battles at any given moment, but unable to accept loss.

To Maylene, it was her new Pokémon’s strength; the fact that he would stop at nothing to become stronger. But to Riolu, it was Machop’s weakness; the Pokémon lacked the doubt that drove Maylene and Riolu to Cianwood, and the fear of not achieving their dreams.

‘We’ll just wait for a boat,’ Maylene announced as she turned around to face her still Riolu and jumping Machop. ‘I told you, Machop, not now. We can’t fight.’

Machop looked at his owner defiantly before walking off towards the approaching Chuck and his Primeape. The large Pokémon was carrying numerous boxes above his shoulders, while Chuck was holding a large metal beam; Maylene still had no idea why everyone seemed to gather building supplies in the cave.

With a jump, Machop managed to kick the top box to the sand, brining it down with a crash, sending screws and scrap metal digging into the sand, and lifting a considerable amount of weight off of Primeape’s left arm. He toppled to the ground at the sudden shift, and all of the boxes followed the example of the first, sending iron rods, chains, bags of sharp steel, and various other interpretations of metal into the sand. Machop landed on the ground safely, returning to his challenging, taunting style of jumping, looking Primeape directly in the eye, and waiting for the inevitable fight to start.

Primeape let out a shrill shriek before running towards the Machop. He drove his fur-covered body into the smaller Pokémon, and fired him to the side of the Gym. Machop’s body left a dent, and he fell to the ground with a gasp, but Primeape didn’t stop; he ran forward once more, picking Machop up by his leg, and smashing him like a rag doll against the corner of the Gym. The building suffered another dent, a dent that got deeper with every hit.

‘Stop that!’ Maylene shouting and ran forward. ‘You’ll kill him!’

Riolu followed his Trainer, as did Chuck. Each time their feet met the ground, Machop’s head collided against the Gym, and as they got closer and closer, the corner eventually came apart, and Machop was thrown into the Gym. Primeape jumped in after his victim, landing knee first on the unsuspecting Pokémon. The floor beneath them cracked as Primeape drove his knee into his prey once more.

Maylene was the first to jump through the hole in the Gym, sending her body flying towards the Primeape who had been in that same situation not too long ago; he grabbed Maylene by her leg again, and flung her out of the hole, and towards the ocean. Riolu jumped up, catching his Trainer before she fell headfirst into the waters of Johto for the third time, and fell back from the force as Chuck passed him.

He went into the Gym, and with one forceful grip, lifted the flailing Primeape off of the unconscious Machop. ‘Come get your Pokémon,’ Chuck said to Maylene, the Primeape still struggling in his hand. ‘And make sure he doesn’t act like a petulant child again.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Maylene said as she produced a Poké Ball. ‘I don’t know why he did that.’

‘It’s evident why he did that,’ Chuck said, dropping Primeape now that Machop was no longer in the area close to them. ‘You were not ready for a second Pokémon, Maylene, and you should not have caught that Machop.’