Pewter City

You have a few more uneventful battles with wild bug pokemon before the dense forest finally thins out, allowing the now setting sun to dimly light your path as you finally reach the gates of Pewter City. It feels amazing to be out in the air, and you feel more able to shove the memories of what happened in the woods to the back of your mind. You take a brief look around the city, taking in a few of the sights; there's a science museum that you might have found interesting if you weren't so exhausted, and a Poke Mart that thankfully seems to mainly employ women as opposed to pervy middle-aged men.

Of course, the main attraction is the gym, where you know Brock is awaiting your challenge. With a horrible sinking feeling you realise Blue has probably challenged the gym already; your rival had a headstart on you, after all, and also presumably hasn't had to deal with the amount of unwanted male attention that you have. You're feeling too exhausted to challenge the gym now, however, and just resign yourself to the fact that Blue is probably just always going to be one step ahead of you; at least that means you probably don't have to worry about running into him any time soon.

Sighing, you head to the Pokemon Center, looking forward to showering and then turning in for the night. When you get there and talk to Nurse Joy you find that this Center is significantly bigger than the one back in Viridian City, and even has a built-in laundry. You take full advantage of this once your pokemon are healed, washing your dirty, cum-stained clothes from the last couple of days, before heading to your room to shower and get some much-needed sleep, preparing yourself mentally for the gym battle tomorrow...