49 Korrina's Gym Battle

Which brought them to the fifth day of training.

The two trainers were planning to pay the Gym a visit following one more day of training (not including this one). Cinder's expression was a peculiar one for Korrina, the young teenage girl finding herself unable to place whether it was one of apprehension or excitement. However, she could relate, even though she was beginning to feel jittery for their upcoming gym battle.

Right now he and Korrina were sitting near the larger pond, watching Hercule and the newly evolved Lucario training, doing a mock battle against each other around the large body of water. Fafnir and Hercule sat beside Cinder, the baby dragon leaning against the boy a bit while eating some meat that Cinder had picked up from the Pokemon Center. The rest of Cinder and Korrina's teams were taking a break from their training, sharing snacks together a little ways off. Storm and Starly shared a bowl together, conversing happily in anticipation for their upcoming challenge at the Gym. Sitting by Storm's side, supposedly to get some more maneuverability tips. Her hostility towards the the team as a whole was beginning to die down, much to Cinder's relief, but the training obviously hadn't been a miracle cure.

Both Hercule and Lucario had been exercising constantly in order to break in their newfound Evolution, but often needed to take eating breaks. Between the recent evolution and the constant training, it was pretty easy for them to get hungry.

It was late in the afternoon. The sun would probably begin to set before too long.

Cinder grinned as the water rippled and churned in Hercule and Alpha's wake. The two Pokemon really were moving fast, and it left Cinder suddenly craving a fighting-type of his own… if the circumstances surrounding the upcoming Gym battle didn't already have him wishing for one on his team.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. Those two'll swim circles around whatever Water Types that gym throws at them. I just need to wait for Alpha to be more accustomed to his new form."

Cinder nodded in acknowledgement as he continued to follow the two newly evolved pokemon with his eyes. He didn't blame Korrina for her confidence. Watching those two must have been very empowering for her.

Of course, the Cerulean Gym undoubtedly had Pokemon just like those two, and unlike Cinder, she had no water-types that could compete with them in an aquatic battle.

But he tried not to let that discourage her too much. Her team had been working hard. Very hard. She'd just have to believe in them.

Looking down at Fafnir, the young boy patted the infant's head, prompting an affectionate noise to escape from the small dragon's throat. "You looking forward to the Gym battle, little buddy?" Cinder smiled.

Storm giggled in amusement at Fafnir's excited, responsive chatter. The Land Shark Pokemon really was taking an instinctively growing interest in the team's practices. It was as if, he was necessarily clamoring to get in on the action himself, and was developing a very clear intrigue towards it, moreover. Cinder noticed that Fafnir's interest had progressively grown over the past few days, especially as he cheered on Storm during Thunderbolt training.

It did make Cinder a little bit nervous that Fafnir would start asking to participate in the battles too soon. To jump into training before he was ready. He certainly seemed like he would want to eventually, but Cinder just hoped that he hadn't been overdoing it with giving the infant dragon this kind of exposure. He shook his head, he's thinking too much once again, of course Fafnir would be having those thoughts, he's a dragon, after all, not to mention a species that are classified as a 'S-Rank' threat by the League, as to caution trainers that they aren't pokemon that are to trifle with.

Nevertheless, Fafnir would develop rather quickly, as infant Pokemon grew a lot faster than humans did, and dragon-types were naturally strong, so it wasn't as risky as most cases, there was still most certainly a limit. Cinder knew that Fafnir would be ready before long, he was eager for that day, he was hoping he could use Fafnir on their third gym battle, ideally.

It was exciting to have a potential powerful dragon-type pokemon on his team, he would prolong Fafnir's participation in the group for now. Fafnir wouldn't become a member of the team until he wanted to be one, and until Cinder felt that he was in a comfortable position to be one.

However, Fafnir seemed to be having problems, Cinder needed to something sooth the dragon-type's incontinence for training, it was worse when the baby dragon could only watch everything play out.

Apart from the rapid splashing of the waters as Hercule and Alpha continuously fought by, it was a pretty quiet, tranquil moment. Korrina would occasionally exchange a few comments with him, and occasionally Storm and Fafnir would exchange a few noises that Cinder wished that he could understand, but apart from that, everybody was perfectly content with simply observing the show as Korrina and Cinder's two pokemon enjoyed themselves in their mock battle.

"So who gets to challenge them first?" Korrina asked as she devoured the her delicacy, crepes, which she brought from a vendor they had been brought earlier the day. All of them had abandoned any sense of propriety when they had seen the wonderful aroma and sight of the food after hours of training. Even Cinder couldn't stop himself eating his delicious, spicy, hot, and painfully ravishing Ghost Pepper Jalapenos Burger, which was a limited item on one of his go to fast food restaurant, Poke Burger Queen.

"Hmmm." Cinder mused as he stopped eating momentarily, although he didn't even bother looking up from his massive burger. "How about we settle it with a fair decisional way."

"That's fair." Korrina said as she nodded before asking. "How should we play it then?"

"Rock-paper-scissors?" Cinder asked confidently. Korrina mused back and nodded.

"Okay." "Wait, lemme get my burger down first."

"Heh, you and your taste buds, can you even taste the meat of the burger with all the spice in that pepper?" Korrina snidely commented with a side glance.

Cinder shook his head with a smile, whilst placing his burger down gently. "You wouldn't know until your try one."

"No thank you. I'm happy with my familiar Kalosian crepes."

"Heh, alright. In three, okay?" Cinder asked, as he put out his fist, placing it on hand, palm side up.

Korrina followed, as she seriously did the same. "Okay... One!"

"Two..."

"Three!"

"Aha!! Got'cha."

In the end, Korrina ended up becoming the one who battled the Sensational Sisters first. She seemed rather pleased about this for some reason that Cinder couldn't quite fathom and had a silly grin on her face as she blew on her index finger, like it was the tip on a barrel of a gun.

"You got lucky." Cinder grumbled grumpily.

Korrina laughed. "Oh yeah? Luck is also a form of skill, my friend. Don't be so grumpy, your gray hair would only make you look older than you look if you do that."

"Don't get cocky now! You blond Torchic!"

"At least I'm a Torchic, unlike you, you look more like a Muk too me, hahahaha."

....

Much like Pewter, the gym was only a few minutes away from the Center. Unlike Pewter, however, the gym was practically bursting with people – most of them teenage boys and young adults, Cinder noted. Very few seemed to be actual trainers, so Cinder assumed that they were just here for one of the sensational sisters' shows.

As they walked in a teenage girl in a gym trainer uniform walked up to them, pushing through the crowd with ease.

"Are you here for the show?" She shouted, breaking above the clamoring and cheers of the large crowd.

"Gym." Cinder and Korrina informed in unison. Cinder, however, seemed to be curious about the show, as he remembered clearly about how his childhood friend, Dom, speak so vehemently on the gym leaders' performances.

"Sorry." The girl said. "But the gym's closed right now. You can come back after the show. It's on until four."

Cinder and Korrina groaned in disappointment. That meant that they had to wait at least three hours before coming back. However, they were fine with it.

"How much is a ticket?" Cinder asked curiously, earning a mysterious look from the friend beside him. The gym trainer smiled at him.

"Just three hundred pokedollars." She replied. Cinder was startled and began to think she was jesting, but when he saw the serious look on her face, he thought otherwise. Three hundred pokedollars just for a show? That's daylight robbery! It's the same cost for a three day supply for Fafnir for goodness sake! Even Korrina was unbelievably astonished also by the price. "Uhmmm... Okay, thanks, we'll just come back after the sensational sisters are done with their show."

"Alright." Jonathan said as he was led away. "If you change your mind, come back early. The seats are still in abundance right now, but it would quickly be occupied, so reconsider it carefully."

'There's nothing to consider about.' Cinder and Korrina thought like one. And judging by the looks of each other's eyes, they laughed as they got to the same thought.

As she walked away and disappeared into the thick crowds Korrina turned her head to look at the dumbfounded Cinder.

"…What just happened? Was business so booming here?"

Cinder then just helplessly shook his head. "I guess we should come back later. We probably don't need to watch the show even if we did want to buy tickets."

Korrina shrugged, but if Cinder was being more focus, he would notice her shoulder's seemed to ease a bit unnaturally. "Let's get going then. Maybe we can find out where some good pokemon are. I hear Cerulean has some pretty powerful ones nearby."

...

They were rather tired by the time they returned to the gym. The duo had spent most of the day at a nearby café where trainers tended to congregate and learned a lot about the area around Cerulean. Both had already bought a small map and marked out likely areas for powerful pokemon to stay at and were eager to search around.

Cerulean City was the home of the water gym for a reason. It was surrounded by rivers, lakes, and ponds that held massive amounts of water pokemon. Most were weak – magikarp, golden, and krabby were the most common – but they were quite good for beginning trainers to raise. Aside from the legions of weaker pokemon that made the area their home, there were also formidably creatures such as kingler, seaking, staryu and even the monstrously powerful gyarados. Korrina just wanted one of them to diversify her team.

But now they were back at the gym. It was mostly empty, save for a few stragglers from the performance that were standing around and chatting to each other. They searched for a receptionist, but couldn't the same one that entertained them earlier. Cinder and Korrina assumed that they were cleaning up the aftershow, and then they had decided to go ahead and challenge the sensational sisters as they followed a few signs that brought them to a massive room dominated by a swimming pool that was probably larger than some villages. A few strips of land ran through it, allowing non-water pokemon to have a chance.

As they walked in, curiously glancing around and searching for any possible advantages in their upcoming gym battles, Ash spotted the girl who entertained the earling walking over to them with serviceable smile on her face. Three tall – and beautiful, Cindee noticed, causing him to blush in embarrassment – teenage girls in swimsuits were circling around the edge of the pool and going to the opposite side.

"You guys got here just in time." The girl informed she neared them. "You were here earlier, if my memory serves me right."

"Hmh." Cinder and Korrina nodded.

"Good luck." Cinder said before giving her a fist bumb. "Make sure to win."

Korrina gave a shaky grin and waved them away. After the she had taken her place in the observer's station – a raised platform with thick, clear walls that would protect them from most stray attacks – she took her place on the challenger's platform. The Sister that was facing hee – the only one with a natural hair color, a rich, golden blonde – took her position and waved for the referee to explain the rules.

Cinder didn't really pay attention to the referee. He knew it would just be the standard rules – as many pokemon as the challenger had against the same amount of gym pokemon, and they would go until one of the opponents' pokemon were all knocked out or one of them forfeited.

Korrina were tense as the Sister sent out a large seel. It didn't look like much of a battler, but all of them knew that appearances could be deceiving. Behind the happy grin on the seel's face could lay a hardened veteran of many battles. The seel happily leapt into the water and began swimming in a small circle to warm up.

Korrina didn't seem nervous at all, although Cinder knew she had to be. She released Alpha,, who immediately got onto one of the platforms and seeing the view around the fighting-type got on his battle stance.

When the referee finally called out for them to begin, the battle started.