The Training Center, much like the other buildings surrounding the Prism Tower, was an enclosed structure that resembled nothing more than a fancy excessively large building. Unlike the others, however, it dwarfed them in scale, spanning hundreds of city blocks and occupying a sizable portion of the city. This was because it was designed to host private Master ranked battles, each requiring enormous arenas and heavily reinforced walls to ensure complete privacy. After all, privacy was a luxury powerful people valued above almost everything else.

“Hello, welcome to the Training Center. How can I help you?” a pretty Champion ranked receptionist asked as Alex and Clarissa stepped inside.

“We just spent the past four months undergoing rehabilitation and augmentations,” Clarissa said. “We could use some space to get back into fighting shape. A Master ranked training ground large enough for one Master ranked Pokémon and about seventy Champion ranked Pokémon should be enough.”

“In that case, I highly recommend our post-rehabilitation training program,” the receptionist replied with a professional smile. “It's specifically designed for trainers and Pokémon recovering from major medical procedures. Through progressive conditioning, movement retraining, and supervised sparring, we'll rebuild your fundamentals. By the end of the month, we guarantee you'll be back in peak fighting condition, whether you're returning to the field or moving on to specialized training.”

“What do you think, Alex?”

“Sounds good. A well-designed general conditioning program is probably more valuable right now than jumping straight into our usual training routines.”

“Excellent choice. Please allow my Sawk to escort you to your private training grounds while I finalize your schedule,” the receptionist said, releasing a Champion ranked Sawk from its Poké Ball.

The Sawk led them through wide, carpeted hallways lined with polished stone and discreet doors that gave no indication of what lay beyond them. The air carried a faint, clean scent, while the thick carpeting and soundproofed walls absorbed nearly every footstep, leaving the facility almost unnaturally silent. It was clear the Training Center greatly ensured every client's privacy.

Eventually, the Sawk stopped before a set of reinforced doors that slid open to reveal their assigned training grounds. At the center lay a vast dirt sparring arena large enough to accommodate a Master ranked battle, its modular terrain and hidden environmental systems capable of recreating virtually any battlefield imaginable. Reinforced walls enclosed the entire space, their surfaces lined with recessed panels that presumably housed drones and automated training equipment ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

The Sawk gave a respectful bow before retreating into the hallway. The reinforced doors slid shut behind it, and a hologram sprang to life in front of Alex and Clarissa, displaying their schedule for the entire month.

Every day had been meticulously planned, from conditioning exercises, physical therapy, and mobility work to massages, hydrotherapy, sparring, scheduled rest, recovery potions, tailored nutrition, routine medical checkups, guided meditation, and dedicated time to unwind before bed. Each week built upon the last, with clearly defined milestones designed to restore them to peak fighting condition by the end.

It wasn't some arbitrary, one-size-fits-all routine either, Alex noted, but a program tailored to their individual needs and grounded in proven sports science and rehabilitation medicine. Every exercise, meal, treatment, and recovery period complemented the others to maximize progress while avoiding overtraining. From this schedule alone, he felt he could learn a great deal about physical therapy.

“This looks great!” Clarissa exclaimed after reading through the schedule. “There's a bunch of stuff I never even considered.”

“It won't replace good old-fashioned bone-breaking spars, but it'll get us back into fighting shape in no time,” Alex said.

The pair released their Pokémon, gave them a brief rundown of the month's program, and activated the first day's schedule. The room's gravity immediately intensified, climbing to 10 Gs before fluctuating as it calibrated to everyone present. It eventually settled at 15 Gs, the highest level every Pokémon in the room could comfortably endure.

They began with a series of stretches to acclimate to the increased gravity before easing into a steady run. As expected, the group quickly spread out according to their physical capabilities, with Charizard naturally taking the lead thanks to her newly attained rank. Alex, meanwhile, found himself running alongside the slower and physically weaker Pokémon, such as Alcremie. Even after his enhancements, his physical abilities were only around the peak of Elite rank by Pokémon standards.

As he ran, his gaze remained fixed on Charizard. More than anything, he wanted to understand what had allowed her to break through to Master rank when countless Champion ranked Pokémon had remained stagnant for centuries despite having every conceivable resource at their disposal. If he could uncover what set her apart, he might finally have a direction for raising his team.

Alex, Clarissa, and their Pokémon followed the schedule without complaint. Their muscles burned, their bones and joints groaned under the strain, but that was nothing new to any of them. They had spent most of their lives training every day, making the past 4 months little more than a change of pace. If anything, their stay at the Pokémon Center had been a nice long vacation.

Four hours of continuous training later, they completed their first session and were rewarded with an hour of recovery. Recovery potions accelerated the healing of microscopic damage, nutritious meals replenished what they had lost, and the remaining time was reserved for rest while everything took effect.

It was during this break that Alex finally asked the question that had been on his mind since training began.

“Can you tell me exactly how Charizard reached Master rank so quickly?” Alex asked as he relaxed beside Clarissa on a lounge chair after their lavish Master ranked meal.

“She reached the peak of Champion rank five years ago,” Clarissa said. “After that, she spent the next five years focusing almost exclusively on Flamethrower. She wanted to make its flames spread as far as possible.”

“Flamethrower?” Alex asked, raising a brow and earning a small smile from Clarissa.

“I never told you this, but during our first battle between Raticate and Charizard, she took that loss incredibly hard. She swore she'd never lose to him again. To make sure he could never escape her flames, she devoted every waking moment to expanding the reach of Flamethrower.”

“So she has a Master ranked Flamethrower with +200% Range?” Alex asked.

“Yes, but she wasn't satisfied with just that. She always believed her flames could spread even farther, so she never stopped pushing. She spent every waking moment pouring everything she had into that one stupid move, only stopping when I told her to focus on something else. I was worried about it at first, but Mom told me it was ultimately a good thing, so long as she learned to direct her flames only at her enemies. With that promise in mind, Charizard focused her entire being into spreading her flames as far and wide as she could.”

“Why not learn Heat Wave instead? It's already an area-of-effect move. Wouldn't training its Range produce an even wider field of fire?”

“Because it had to be Flamethrower,” Clarissa said, letting out an exasperated sigh. “It couldn't be any other move. Otherwise, in her mind, she would never be able to corner Raticate. At least, that's how she explained it to me. The important part is that her obsession drove her to train that move harder than I ever thought possible.”

“Honestly, I don't know whether to thank Raticate or punch him in the face for all the stress Charizard's trauma put us through,” Clarissa continued with a laugh. “Eventually, she became so proficient at controlling her flames that she could spread them far beyond Flamethrower's expanded limits. She thinks Flamethrower is what allowed her to reach Master rank, but I think it was actually her mastery over fire itself. She simply learned to spread her flames through her familiarity with the move.”

Alex fell silent in thought. Quite a few of his Pokémon had favorite moves they used out of passion rather than necessity. There was, of course, Raticate with Quick Attack, the foundation of his hit-and-run fighting style. Arcanine favored Heat Wave, defaulting to it whenever the opportunity arose despite using Extreme Speed more often. Clawitzer favored Water Pulse, Kommo-o preferred Close Combat, Dusknoir was particularly fond of Gravity, and the Crobat couple only ever used Quick Attack, Mean Look, and Hypnosis, just to name a few.

None of them were as obsessed as Charizard, but the passion was there. Perhaps all they needed was a reason to push those moves beyond their limits.

Over the course of the next month, Alex, Clarissa, and their Pokémon threw themselves into the program, gradually rebuilding their bodies to peak fighting condition. Clarissa's improvement was the most dramatic. Having only recently reached Master rank, she had never taken the time to fully grow into her newfound physical potential. Now, she was a bona fide Master ranked trainer who could give Alex a run for his money in close-quarters combat.

Alex's own physique improved significantly as well. Ever since inheriting his body, countless hidden injuries had gone untreated. On top of that, he had always believed that the only way to build a stronger body was through brutal sparring or live combat, enduring broken bones almost daily. Months of rehabilitation finally corrected the accumulated damage, leaving him far stronger than he could ever imagine despite the lack of a rank up.

Several of his Pokémon benefited just as much, chief among them Raticate, whose starting point had been every bit as poor as Alex's. After all, he had begun life as nothing more than a sewer Rattata. By the end of the program, it was clear the rehabilitation had been money well spent.

As for what came next, Alex's Pokémon had formation drills scheduled to test the results of their augmentations. In theory, they should shatter every record they had previously set. Alex, meanwhile, planned to browse the Training Center's catalogue for training programs he could both learn and teach to his Pokémon. His wallet was nearly empty, but he could still afford a few courses before running out of money.

After that, it would be back to work. He intended to resume hunting criminals throughout Kalos in hopes of earning enough to fund the rest of his team's enhancements. If that proved unprofitable, there was always Sinnoh.

Clarissa, on the other hand, planned to spend the next few weeks challenging local Masters in one-on-one battles to help Charizard acclimate to her new rank.

At least, that had been the plan.

“Alex, I have to leave,” Clarissa said as she hurriedly began packing her things in their hotel room.

“Your vacation's already over?” Alex asked.

“No. It's something else, and it sounds important. Mom said I'll be able to come back once it's done.”

“Alright. Take care.”

Alex leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before seeing her off, unaware of the secrets she would uncover behind the Master rank restrictions and just how intertwined he was with them.