24 Battle Against Gym Leader, Brock(1)

Cinder Lark was now inside the Pewter City Gym.

It was even more overwhelming on the inside than on the outside.

It was no longer an intimidating building to stare at from afar.

He was here.

Surprisingly, the Gym looked a lot different on the interior than he had pictured.

Rather than simply being the typical stone that he was expecting, he was greeted with a more varied sight. The walls and floor were marble, which wasn't too surprising, but there was more to the inside of the building than just rock. Surprisingly, the lobby had what resembled a miniature garden in the middle. Little sprouts poked out from the soil, and Cinder could see that the soil looked somewhat wet, indicating that they had probably been watered recently. Most surprisingly, there was a small waterfall on the far side of the room, surrounded by more vegetation.

The air was cool, and air conditioned, reminding Cinder of what it felt like back at Professor Oak's Lab. The interior of the Gym had a very sophisticated feel to it, and the professional aura only heightened Cinder's nerves.

It felt comfortable in here, but the amount of effort that was clearly put into just the presentation of the Gym alone… Cinder couldn't help but be reminded of just how important that these places were. Just how much of a big deal that they were.

Towards the other end of the room was a counter with a teenage boy sitting in a cushioned chair. He was reading a magazine, although Cinder couldn't tell what it was from where he was standing.

Curiously, he also spotted a young boy standing by the large double door on the far end of the room. The doors were likely what led to the battlefield.

He made his way over to the counter. The small boy standing by the door eyed him carefully.

Perking up from his magazine which Cinder could now see was an issue of Inside Silph.co's tech, which had apparently printed its latest installment just a few days ago, the teenage boy eyed Cinder carefully. He seemed to frown for a moment. "Oh… another rookie?" He almost sounded sympathetic. This was worrying.

Trying his best to calm his nerves himself Cinder cleared his throat, and, in an effort to forgo his slightly nervous nerves, spoke in the most professional voice he could muster.

"Hi, I'm here for a Gym Battle." Cinder clearly spoke. He did a good job at this, which slightly surprised the boy.

The boy nodded, straightening himself out subconsciously and turning to his keyboard. "Alright, can I see your Pokedex?"

Reaching back towards his backpack's back pocket, Cinder pulled out the gray device and handed it to the boy. Inserting it into a nearby slot, he began typing.

"Okay… Cinder Lark… from Pallet Town… no badges yet, four Pokemon…"

From the corner of his eye, Cinder could spot the younger boy muttering his name and hometown over and over again, as if trying to memorize it for some reason.

He tilted his head towards the younger boy out of curiosity, but his attention was quickly pulled away when the teen at the counter turned to him and spoke again. "

Alright, I have you registered. I'll contact the Gym Leader and you can get started right away, Mr. Lark." Cinder gave him a nod, which he returned, before the older boy turned to the younger boy. "Hey, Forrest, you still want to do referee duty like I suggested, right?"

The boy nodded, a nervous but determined expression on his face. It almost reminded Cinder of Diana…

"Yes, I'm ready. Thank you." He sounded even more confident than Diana though, and seemed like he wasn't putting nearly as much effort into it. It felt natural, not forced, like how the latter was at times when she tried to act tough.

"Great, just hold on a second then. I'll get things started." He pressed an intercom button, and Cinder could hear a beeping sound.

/

Brock sat back in his steel chair, eyes fixated on the latest issue of Pokemon Breeding World, having immediately turned to a collaboration column written by famous professional breeders. He was about halfway done when the intercom beeped.

Groaning, he quickly placed a bookmark in his magazine before setting it down on his desk for later. His office was pretty spacious, but he hadn't put too much in it apart from the essentials. He liked the extra room.

Pushing the intercom button, he spoke in response to the call, already knowing what it was for.

"Challenger?" his facade was immediately put on, almost like a reflex action. His own personal interests could wait. Now it was time for his priorities. It was time for business.

"Yes, his information has been sent to you and is in the Gym's database. He's ready when you are."

"Got it, just hold on a second while I look it over real quick…" Bringing up his latest challenger's information, Brock started speed just as he had done so many times in the past. A picture of the new challenger, and also that of each of his individual team members, showed up on the screen as he quickly went through it. It didn't take long for him to turn back to the intercom. "Alright, send him in. I'll be there. Thanks for the call."

"Alright, I'll let him know you're ready, then."

As the intercom beeped and his caller hung up, Brock rose to his feet and stole a quick glance at the clock. 9:15 AM and a challenger was already here at the Gym. The Gym had just opened fifteen minutes ago. Stereotypically, yet backed up by the young Gym Leader's own experience, challengers who arrived this early were either full of themselves or truly meant business. Time to see which category that this next one fell under.

'Alright Brock,' He thought to himself sternly. 'It's time to put on your mask again.'

It was automatic. Whenever a Gym Battle began, the real Brock took a brief break from existing, and the facade that he had built up as a Gym Leader took hold of the wheel. A stone cold man meant to strike fear into the hearts of every single trainer who challenged him. The rock-type specialist who led the esteemed Gym of Pewter.

/

Forrest led Cinder through the double doors and down a dark, dimly lit hallway. Cinder was in the middle of returning his Pokedex, which he had been given back by the teenage boy at the counter after it was time to head on into the battlefield, to his backpack pocket, when the young boy spoke to him.

"Your name is Cinder Lark, and you're from Pallet Town, correct?" His tone of voice was stern as he spoke. For somebody even younger than him, Cinder found this boy to be very professional. Not even Korrina had been this formal with him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." He said with a nod, trying to ignore the hammering heartbeat in his chest as the double door that most likely led out of the hallway and into the battlefield continuously drew closer, and closer.

"Cinder Lark, from Pallet Town. Cinder Lark, from Pallet Town…" Forrest was muttering to himself now, saying the same thing over and over again. It was a bit unnerving.

The boy pushed the doors open, and led Cinder into a massive room.

There it was. The battlefield that they had been training for all week long. Cinder's involuntary gulp immediately returned to his throat as he took in the sheer size of the arena. It was easily large enough to be used in a stadium, and the room kind of felt like one.

Both sides of the room were occupied by a tall series of bleachers, where Cinder could see a few people gathered on the side where the referee stood. Most Gym's often offered spectator stands akin to that of stadiums, so that the employees working at the Gym could sometimes watch the Gym battles in person, typically when they were on their break. Apparently, there were also cameras broadcasting the battle to the Gym's employees throughout the Gym as well. Gym Trainers would often have some of the Gym Trainers observe the battles in order to get full context of what a Gym Leader was like in action. To his knowledge, the Pewter City Gym had no Gym Trainers, but plenty of people still worked there nonetheless.

The ceiling was raised high above his head. Cinder was caught off guard by just how much higher than it was in the lobby or the hallway, both of which were fairly average in terms of how high their ceilings were. This room seemed to have the ceiling fifty feet high in the air.

But the main event, of course, was the battlefield itself. Exactly as Cinder had expected it, and constantly envisioned it, it was a long, seemingly endless series of rocks and jutted out boulders. Exactly what they had trained for.

Storm's mobility training was just about to pay off.

Hercule's improvised technique would also too, which would help them in the battle.

Cinder and Forrest's heads turned to the direction of the approaching footsteps that had just entered their ears. A tall man approached them, wearing a special uniform. This must have been the Gym Leader.

The Gym Leader stopped just in front of him, his arms crossed as he eyed Cinder carefully. At least a head taller than the young boy, he looked down on him with a scrutinizing look that would make even some of the strictest of teachers squirm in their seats.

Cinder briefly made eye contact, trying to steady himself amidst this man's gaze.

The man seemed to be somewhat amused by that, his lips tugging upwards for the very briefest of seconds, before returning to the position that matched the stern scowl on his face. After a few more seconds of him staring at the boy, Cinder suddenly felt grateful as he was given a very brief moment of reprieve, as the man's gaze turned to Forrest, his face suddenly becoming neutral.

"So, you're on referee duty for this one?"

Forrest nodded and bowed quickly. "Yes, Timothy suggested that it would be beneficial for me to start watching the Gym battles occasionally, while also practicing my demeanor for challengers. He's working at the reception desk for now."

The man nodded in understanding. "Very well, assume your position. We will begin in a moment."

Nodding, Forrest hurriedly made his way to the referee stand, which was located at the side of the battlefield, in front of the stands, and roughly in the middle of the battlefield's perimeter. He stood there confidently, straightening himself up with his hands at his sides. His face straightened out into an even more determined look as he gazed on ahead, steadfast and forward.

Cinder tried his best not to be intimidated at the gym leader's rough expression. The scowl was back again, piercing through his face like Beedrill's sharp needles.

"So, you're my latest challenger. How much arrogance do you have to think you're ready to hold a Gym badge in your palm?" His voice carried a judgmental aura to it, and Cinder could almost feel the derision hammering down onto him.

If all of the Gym Leaders were this intimidating, then he definitely had some work to do.

Cinder straightened himself up, not at all nervous when he thought of how hard they had trained for this moment, and met the Gym Leader's gaze with his own steadfast look.

"Yes, sir. I've come to win your Gym badge." He responded confidently as if it was a matter of fact.

The morbid side of him thought about Bruno in wonder, and how he would react to him, and how he seemed to steel himself relatively well against Team Rocket, so…

The man tilted his head downwards, just enough for Cinder to feel him draw closer. The boy followed his gaze thag never left his face, following Cinder's every move. Evidently, trying to intimidate him.

"And this is your first Gym match, correct?" at Cinder's casual nod, he continued. "A Gym battle is very different from other battles. This match is going to be a test for qualification to the Indigo League's Annual Conference. This is not some playground battle held in your backyard for fun and games." He almost spat out those words, as if he was trying to get Cinder uncomfortable.

"Yes, I know." Cinder casually answered back. The rock-type specialist was surprised at his unusually calm demeanor, it wasn't the first, so it seems he was the latter, who was here for real business, nonetheless, he did continue his stare on Cinder.

"My name is Brock. I run this Gym. And I will be the opponent that you will face today. Take your position, Cinder. And be prepared for defeat." The tone of his voice was final, as though the outcome of the battle had already been decided. Cinder couldn't get another word out as Brock turned around and made his way to the other side of the battlefield. Cinder watched for a few seconds as the intimidating Gym Leader walked on over to the stand where the Gym Leader stood, releasing a ready breath as he made his way to the challenger's stand.

Brock had certainly made a first impression. Cinder's first impression, on the Gym leader had also been one.

After both Cinder and Brock had positioned themselves, Forrest's voice echoed across the room for all to hear.

"This Gym Battle, between challenger Cinder Lark of Pallet Town, and Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, will now commence." The boy sounded almost as authoritative as Brock himself, but with his frame, he looked adorable instead. "Both parties will use two pokemon, as accordance with the League's rules, this will be a two on two battle as the trainer's first challenge of a gym. Substitutions are allowed on both sides, and the victor will be decided either when all pokemon on either side have been defeated, or one of the parties surrenders." His arms now spread out, he turned his head over to Cinder. "Any questions from the challenger?"

Cinder shook his head. Suddenly, the floor in front of him opened up, just for a stand with a screen to rise in front of him.

"Very well, both parties, please direct your attention to the screen and select the pokemon that will be used in this battle. The pokeballs for those that you do not select will be locked until the battle is over."

Pictures of Storm, Fafnir, Hercule and his Starly's image flashed on the touchscreen. The screen read clearly.

[Select two pokemon.]

Already having two pokemon to select that he had decided prior to this, not that he had much of a choice anyway, after all Fafnir still wasn't eligible for training and Starly was still inside his pokemon, Cinder decided that after the gym challenge he would meet with the avian officially. Back to business, Cinder quickly tapped each of the two pokemon he will use and the stand returned into the floor, which closed back up immediately.

Forrest placed his hand on a nearby button. "Please wait for the 'protection fields' complete activation."

The 'protection fields' were special machines designed by Professor Oak to be installed underneath the battlefield. They cast special barriers that rose from the perimeter of the battlefield, boxing it in and shielding both the Trainers and the audience from attacks. They were a necessity for safety, especially in the higher level battles.

Cinder didn't know the full science behind it, but they apparently utilized energy from every Pokemon Typing to nullify any stray attacks that struck the barriers. In the past, pokemon, typically of the psychic or ghost-typings, would be the ones to cast the barriers manually. It had been Professor Oak's idea to mechanize this, both so that the pokemon would no longer have to exhaust themselves, and for extra safety by including all typings to make it easier to nullify the many attacks that would inevitably strike the barriers. It was an innovation that was initially strictly exclusive to that of the Indigo Plateau, but once testing was complete, Professor Oak had immediately received permission to send the means to build these machines to both the Ever Grande and Lily of the Valley Conference, both of which the Indigo League had friendly relations to. Other regions had since begun to replicate this themselves, the Kalos Region being the first one to do so.

All Gyms used some form of barriers for protection purposes. So did every professional tournament. Pokemon Centers also typically had a private battlefield of their own, that utilized these barriers. They were widespread throughout both Indigo, and, in various forms, the rest of the world as well.

Once the barriers are activated, they would prevent all pokemon and attacks from entering or leaving the arena during battle. In between bouts, the barriers will go down so that trainers may release their Pokemon onto the battlefield.

Normally, the barriers were borderline invisible, but Cinder could see the faint shimmering as the machines began to turn on.

After a few moments that just served nothing more but to continue to pile down on Cinder's breathing with the growing anticipation, Forrest spoke up again.

"Okay, begin!"

This was it. His first ever Gym Battle. Their ever Gym Battle. They had trained for this. Prepared for this. Vowed to win this, both for themselves, and each other.

And Cinder was all ready for it, they are prepared.

Brock had already taken out his pokeball, and was currently waiting for Cinder to do the same. In official battles, Pokemon trainers always selected their pokemon at the same time, not releasing their pokemon until their opponent had made their choice as well. That way, trainer's wouldn't have an advantage by being able to start out the battle by picking their first pokemon based on what they believed would fare best against their opponent's first pokemon, if their opponent were to send out their pokemon first, however, in a few battles there were situations where it wasn't like this, due to a trainer's confidence or foolishness, like how Ossas was. Cinder thought, he couldn't help himself but remember the second trainer he fought, the dude sure left a laughable impact on his journey, he wouldn't be forgetting him for a while, that's for sure.

Steeling himself, Cinder brought his hand to his belt. Carefully unclipping a pokeball, he brought it out in front of him, holding it out over the battlefield as steadily as possible.

Brock was significantly more confident as he chucked his pokeball into the air.

"I'll start with... Geodude, go!"

"Hercule! It's time to win this!!"

A bright flash of light from Brock's side of the rocky battlefield formed into a pokemon that essentially looked like a large rock with a face and giant arms. Cinder wasn't too surprised by this, however. According to experts, Geodude were the most commonly used rock-type pokemon around the world, native to multiple regions and often found in the various mountains and caves of nature. Although strong, they were also considered to be fairly predictable, as just about any pokemon trainer who favored rock-types had at least one of them.

Predictable didn't mean easy, however, and Cinder would never allow himself to assume such, either. Common pokemon or not, Brock was a Gym Leader.

Hercule appeared in front of him in a flash of light. Immediately realizing where he was, he frantically steadied himself and took on a battle stance.

"This is it, Hercule. That Geodude is your opponent. Watch out for its fists."

At Hercule's affirmative chirp, Cinder briefly locked eyes with Brock. From across the battlefield, he found it much easier to maintain eye contact with the Gym Leader's merciless gaze.

"The battle starts… NOW!" Forrest's voice echoed more loudly than ever, and then it began.

"A Poliwag, huh." Brock observed. "You came prepared I see."

"We are more than prepared to defeat you." Cinder spoke with utmost confidence, boosting his ego, which would help with his composure in battle. He grinned "Use it, Hercule! Icy Terrain!"

A terrain of ice...

**Alrighty! will drop the next chapter of dragon bal- ehem, pokemon in the next few hours.**