After receiving his first Badge, David headed to the Gym's medical center to have Lucario's injuries treated before leaving.
Lucario's strength before evolving had been somewhat limited, and Houndoom was his opponent's most synchronized starter Pokémon, so some injuries were unavoidable during the battle.
Before departing, David glanced back at the fiery red building behind him. He figured that if he had the opportunity to return here again with his current strength, he would likely be taking on a formal challenge against the Gym Leader himself.
Gym challenges are divided into several levels: typically junior, intermediate, and senior.
For example, David had chosen an intermediate challenge, which meant his opponent was a Professional-level Trainer.
The strength of challenge opponents at the three levels isn't fixed—it depends on the Gym's ranking.
As a Tier-1 Gym of the Alliance, Blazing Gym has ample staff and strong Trainers, so even an intermediate challenge involves facing a Professional-level Trainer.
Blazing Gym's lowest-level junior challenge is at the Superior level, with three Superior-level Pokémon considered the minimum threshold for a Tier-1 Gym.
The message is clear: if you're too weak, don't waste your time.
In contrast, for some Tier-3 Gyms, many Gym Leaders are only Professional-level themselves, so they naturally can't maintain such high standards.
Generally speaking, every Tier-1 Gym Leader in the Cloudspire Alliance is a well-known master, with the weakest being at the Quasi-Elite level—meaning they have Elite-level Pokémon, but not enough for a complete team.
Everyone has their own responsibilities. They're either busy with their careers or handling tasks assigned by the Alliance, so they can't possibly stay in the Gym all day waiting for challenges.
Battles with the Gym Leader themselves require advance application and appointment scheduling.
Generally, when a Tier-1 Gym Leader is required to personally take action, it's for important situations—such as when someone is attempting to qualify for the Elite Challenge.
The Cloudspire Alliance's Elite Challenge requires participants to obtain eight official Badges from Tier-1 Gyms as an entry requirement.
As for Special-tier Gyms, this isn't mandatory—it's simply too difficult.
For example, as far as David knows, his family's Ascending Dragon Dojo hasn't issued an official Badge in nearly fifteen to twenty years. Junior, intermediate, and senior Badges are still awarded, of course, but the official ones have proven elusive. The situation in other Special-tier Gyms is much the same.
Since his father took over the Ascending Dragon Dojo, their Gym became known as the most difficult Gym in the Cloudspire Alliance. It was like facing a real-life Sabrina!
Maybe he could try to break this record in the future—taking his little fox and the others back to raid his old man's collection.
David's thoughts wandered as he pondered the possibility.
Forget it. It's best not to think about these things for now. David checked the time. After a morning of battles and Lucario's treatment, it was already almost eleven o'clock.
Having only had a bowl of tofu pudding and a cup of soy milk in the morning, and after using Aura Link once, David's stomach was already rumbling with hunger.
The most important thing right now was to find a place to eat!
"Well, since I'm in Sol Province, I naturally have to try the local specialties," David muttered to himself, looking at the card in his hand.
The red card he held was a two-star VIP card for the famous Charizard Hotpot chain in Sol Province.
It was a complimentary gift given to him by the Gym staff after he had received the Blazing Badge.
Using this VIP card, he could enjoy a thirty percent discount at any of their stores in any city and had permission to use a reserved private room.
"It seems the news on that forum was right. This hotpot restaurant should indeed be an industry of Blazing Gym," David thought, examining the VIP card in his hand.
He didn't particularly care about the discount, but the ability to use a reserved private room was quite convenient.
Since the VIP card was already in his hand, there was no need to choose a different restaurant—he would just go to this one.
Soon after, the Corviknight taxi David called arrived at the Gym's entrance. He got in and headed straight for the nearest hotpot restaurant.
He quickly arrived at his destination, and as soon as he entered, the rising steam and the enticing aroma in the air confirmed that David had come to the right place.
When he was in Imperial City, he had visited the Imperial branch of this hotpot restaurant, and the taste had been good, but after eating, he'd always felt something was missing.
Sure enough, hotpot tastes best from its place of origin!
"Hello, welcome! How many are in your party? Do you have a reservation, or would you like me to arrange a table for you now?" As soon as he entered, a waiter immediately came forward and asked enthusiastically.
"One person, plus three Pokémon—no large Pokémon. Please arrange a private room for me." Handing over the VIP card, David clarified his needs.
Since this hotpot restaurant is named after Charizard, it naturally allows Pokémon to dine together with their Trainers.
As for large Pokémon, these refer to Pokémon with large bodies like Rhyperior, Aggron, Gyarados, and Onix.
Even some places that allow Pokémon to dine together don't permit these types of Pokémon to be released inside.
Even if they do allow it, it must be in a special private room, which is why David mentioned it in passing.
"Okay, congratulations on successfully challenging the Gym. Please follow me this way."
Including the waiting time for the car and the travel time, it was already dinner time, and the restaurant was quite lively!
Following the waiter, David walked toward his private room, looking around as he went.
"It really is something..." he murmured.
In the center of the dining area in the main hall, led by a chef, a Charizard wearing a chef's hat was spewing flames, continuously grilling skewers as a special snack for guests.
Not far away, a Medicham was performing what looked like acrobatics, diligently making a special snack from its homeland—the Bharat Alliance's signature flying bread.
David wondered curiously whether all hotpot restaurants had this as an appetizer.
Not only these, but there were also Alcremie and Slurpuff making desserts, and Cryogonal and Shuckle making iced drinks.
Looking at the scene before him all the way to his private room, it was indeed quite interesting. David also mused that it was no wonder they could become number one in the country—their popularity was well-deserved.
Then, led by the staff, he entered his private room.