Chapter 77: Professor Cerise

Release 3/3.

Don't forget those power stones!

More to come.

*

"That was a splendid battle, Itsuki.", An aged voice said as we saw a figure approach us. This figure clapped along the way.

He wore a lab coat, and the way he looked, it was obvious that he was a Pokemon Professor. Sporting maroon hair and green eyes, he wore a plain light blue shirt and dark gray pants.

"Is that you, Professor Cerise?", I asked with a surprised voice.

"Sorry to drop in unannounced like this. I know you guys won't come till tomorrow, but since you said you'd have your match today, I had a desire to see it. Mega Evolution really is something, isn't it?", Professor Cerise said with a smile.

"Ya come here every so often, Professor.", Lieutenant Surge also said. He took this time to spray an Antidote onto his Raichu to get rid of its poisoned status. After doing so, he recalled Raichu to give it a nice, long rest.

Lieutenant Surge then approached us from the other end. With a big smile on his face, he placed his large hand on my shoulder.

"Haha! Still, I lost fair and square, Itsuki.", He spoke with a laugh. We then saw him reach into his pocket, to bring out a badge of sorts. It was like looking at a miniature sun.

"I present you this Thunder Badge. You've earned it.", Lieutenant Surge said, placing the badge in my hand.

"Thank you.", I answered, accepting it. Getting out my badge case, I opened it up. I placed the Thunder Badge in the third slot, which fitted perfectly. One more badge, and we would half earned half in Kanto.

Placing my case away again, there was another round of applause.

"Now then. I still have two challengers today. Which one of ya is going next?", Lieutenant Surge asked, looking at Serena and Lillie.

"That would be me!", Serena said as she lifted her hand up. "But don't you need to let your Raichu rest some?", She asked.

"Raichu will likely be out the test day little lady. But that ain't a problem for me. I got plenty of other Pokemon I can use against the two of you.", Lieutenant Surge answered.

"Sure enough, since the other two matches will be held today, do you mind if we stay and watch for the rest?", Professor Cerise asked, which caused me to raise my eyebrows.

"Wait, did you just say 'We'?", I asked back, which only earned a smile from Professor Cerise.

Before we knew it we saw two more figures stand up from the bleachers they were sitting on, and approached us. Weird, I don't remember any spectators arrive, but maybe I was too absorbed in my battle just now, haha!

But that thought quickly vanished as Serena, Lillie and I became surprised once more.

One of the two figures was about six feet tall, with black hair. He still had that red clip in his hair, but his hair was somewhat longer now, more grown out. With light blue eyes, he currently wore gray pants and with a black buttoned shirt that wasn't buttoned. This revealed a plain red shirt underneath. He also wore red and black sneakers.

But most importantly, I could no longer feel an air of innocence around this man. He felt more mature now as well. Don't tell me among the group of us, he jumped the gun, already experiencing the pleasure of 'becoming an adult'?, I asked myself.

Of course, this man was obviously Goh, one of our childhood friends from the summer camp we had ten years ago. We've had a few video calls over the years, but something must've happened recently. Even after my last call with them, something has changed.

Maybe it was due to the figure next to Goh. It was a pretty maroon haired girl a bit shorter than him. They didn't change as much as Goh did, but she was still very pretty. She had her hair tied up into her long braided ponytail as well. This girl was Chloe, Goh's childhood friend, as well as the rest of us.

"Man, that was a fun battle to watch. It's really good to see you again dude.", Goh said with a smile.

"Likewise. I'm guessing you two came with Professor Cerise to watch?"

"Of course. This idiot is spouting crap about wanting to go on an adventure, and that he wanted to make it to your battle no matter what before his journey starts.", Chloe answered nonchalantly.

"H-Hey! You know you're coming with me, right?"

"So?", Chloe asked back at Goh, staring at him. This earned a laugh from us, before Lieutenant Surge spoke out again.

"Having spectators does liven gym battles, and I'm used to having them. Ya can go sit down if ya guys are ready for the next battle.", Lieutenant Surge said.

After that quick chat, Professor Cerise, Goh, Chloe, Lillie and I made it back to the seats. As for Serena, she made her way to where I originally was, the challengers aide.

Her match was also going to be a one on one. The ref proceeded to announce the details, letting each side take out their Pokemon.

Lieutenant Surge ended up bringing out a Voltorb. But we immediately became surprised as this Voltorb was completely blue, not your normal red one. It was shiny!

As for Serena, looks like she decided on using Sapphire. The battle started after the ref declared it.

Much like how Visquez used her Electrode in Journeys, Lieutenant Surge made use of electromagnetism with Magnet Rise, letting his Voltorb bounce of the walls further up over the bleachers. If one looked closely, circular indents could be seen.

But Serena remained calm, and revealed one of her recently learned moves, Fire Spin. After a few carefully placed Fire Spins, she trapped Voltorb successfully, and finished it off with a Flamethrower.

She's had this Vulpix since we started dating a couple years back through long distance, so it's no surprise Sapphire knows a strong fire move or two by now.

She was able to earn her Thunder Badge.

We didn't need to rest at all while Lillie went up to the field. As she did, Serena immediately started chatting up a storm with Chloe, and Goh and I could only let out a sigh.

The third and final match started, letting the ref call out each side to bring our their Pokemon. For this last match, Lieutenant Surge brought out a Magnemite for his third Pokemon.

This brought a light smile to Lillie's face the moment she saw a Magnemite appear. She decided use her Nidoran this battle.

With the battle underway, Lieutenant Surge tried to disrupt Nidoran's stats a lot, but she was able to counter with several super-effective moves, and made quick work of his Magnemite. Lieutenant Surge was satisfied with this battle, as he was with mine and Serena's, presenting Lillie with her Thunder Badge too.

Also surprisingly, her Nidoran glowed a white light after the battle was over, which resulted in her Nidoran evolving into a Nidorina!

We have some Moon Stones kept safe in our supplies so when Lillie thinks it's time to evolve her Nidorina, it will be up to her. We congratulated Lillie and with that, we had each successfully earned ourselves a Thunder Badge!

We chatted with the Cerise Lab trio for a bit longer as we said our goodbyes to Lieutenant Surge and his gym. He was actually a pretty nice fella after all, despite what his outward appearance made him to be.

Once we arrived back at the Pokemon Center, we reassured the trio we would arrive at the lab tomorrow for a tour and to hang out with them. We would then enjoy a homemade dinner at Chloe's place.

The rest of the day blew by before we knew it. As a result of us getting our third badge, after we got cleaned up in the shower to cuddle for the night, Serena let me rub one out with her butt. She said she wasn't ready for me to insert it yet, but we were steadily approaching that goal. Perhaps it would really happen when we do our next gym in Celadon City. To say the least, it felt great.

The next day arrived not long after, and after getting ready, we decided it was time to head to Professor Cerise's Lab!