"So this is the Cinnabar island Gym." I said while looking at the building cut from the same volcanic rock that made up the entire mountain before us, even as sweat poured down my face from how hot it was here at the base of the volcano.
"How can anyone stand this heat?" May asked as she wiped the sweat from her own brow. Even now she was dressed scantily in a sports bra and loose pair of short shorts, as anything too tight on her butt was a little painful for her at the moment. But I guess that was the natural result of sleeping while pointing a full moon at the rising sun.
Thankfully I hadn't been burned on my nether regions myself, despite my fairly pale complexion. Something I was sure I could attribute to whatever entity made this body for me when I was brought here, which I was incredibly thankful for given how miserable May was this morning.
"Good thing Vulpix isn't here right now, and that I sent Celebi back to the professor's. I don't think either of them would be able to survive more than a minute or two here." I said while approaching the Gym doors. The sooner I got this battle over with, the sooner May and I could start heading back down the mountain where it was cooler.
"Blaziken and Camerupt would be right at home here though." May said, even calling the two of them out of their pokeballs.
"Blaze~!"
"Camerupt~!"
The two immediately let out of cries of happiness at the extreme temperatures around us, with Camerupt immediately sprawling out on the ground as it got comfortable so close to the volcano.
"Camerupt looks comfty. Though I'm sure you originally caught it near Mt. Chimney to begin with." I said while looking at it.
"AHAHAHA! It's been a while since I've seen a Camerupt!"
May and I looked up to see a figure approaching us from the Gym, an old man who was bald with a white bushy mustache, dressed in a red dress shirt with a white vest and matching dress pants. And most frustrating of all, he appeared completely unfazed by the extreme heat.
"Welcome young ones! Are you here to challenge the Cinnabar island Gym Leader?" He asked curiously while walking right up to Camerupt, before he began to rub the large pokemon's side.
"Ruuuuuupt...." Camerupt lowed contently in response.
"You must be Blaine." I said while approaching him.
"That I am!" The old man declared boisterously. "Blaine's the name, and trivia's the game!"
"Nice to meet you." I said while offering my hand. "I'm Noah, and I'm here for a Gym battle."
"Oho~?" He said while accepting my hand and shaking it. "A challenger is it? Been a while since I had one of those. Most people don't like coming this close to the mountain, and my pokemon are due for some exercise. I hope you're up for the task!"
"We'll just have to see." I replied, following him as Blaine led the way into the Gym properly.
As we stepped through the doors the heat increased significantly, and I quickly learned why as he led us further in. The arena for our battle was a slab of stone set in the middle of the volcano itself, above a massive lake of magma.
"Woah... This is incredible!" I exclaimed, despite how uncomfortably hot it was.
"Not even Flannery has a Gym like this!" May declared as she looked over the edge to see the pool of magma below.
"HA! That brat who's still wet behind the ears can't even hope to compete with me! Even my grandaughter can beat her with breaking a single sweat!" Blaine bragged boisterously.
"Grandaughter?" I asked curiously.
"Her name's Liza. She runs a sanctuary for a certain fire type pokemon in the Johto region." Blaine answered vaguely, before turning and looking at me intensely. "Now then, before we begin I have a rule that all trainers who challenge me have to pass a trivia test first. Are you confident enough that you'll pass?"
"Of course!" I declared firmly, a smirk on my face as confidence filled me. Even professor Oak was impressed with my level of pokemon knowledge.
"Excellent! I'll ask you three questions, and you'll have to get them all right. I will however give you one mercy if you answer one wrong. And for your first question, which pokemon is a ground type here in Kanto, but in Alola is a fire type instead?"
"Marowak." I immediately answered.
"HAHA! Well done kid! You are correct!" Blaine declared. "Marowak in Alola start off as a regular ground type Cubone, but when they evolve they change into a fire/ghost type instead!
"Second question! How many different forms of Charizard are there?"
"Four." I immediately answered yet again. "First you have a regular Charizard, then you have Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, and finally Gmax Charizard in the Galar region. Though I guess if you want to include the shiny forms, then you'll have eight."
"Ohoho~! Correct again!" Blaine said, obviously getting more excited with each right answer I gave. "Usually people forget that Charizard have TWO mega evolutions, and a lot of those in Kanto don't watch the League matches from Galar either, so many of them don't even know about Gmax to begin with.
"Now then, final question. And this one will be extra difficult since I have such a scholar on my hands! Which pokemon is known as the Sun pokemon?"
"Volcarona." I answered without any hesitation. "One of the only two pokemon to be both bug and fire types, they are primarily found in the Unova region."
"OUTSTANDING!" Blaine practically yelled with a massive smile on his face, while even May looked at me in awe.
"That was amazing Noah. I'm even the daughter of a professor, and I wouldn't have been able to answer each of those so quickly or easily." She said.
"Really? They were all pretty easy to me." I said with a shrug.
"I love it! Now let's see if your battling skills are as good as your trivia skills!" Blaine stated before making his way to his side of the arena. I took his cue and did the same as I moved to the opposite side, while May stayed back where the ground was more solid to watch.
"Unfortunately, I've yet to find a proper aide that can tolerate a little bit of heat." Blaine said as a drone appeared and set itself up on the midway point between us. "So this drone will be our referee for this match. And Since you answered each of my questions so well, I'll give you a bit of a handicap. This match will be a three on six with usual League rules, meaning that you can change out your pokemon as much as you want while I can't at all. Any problems?"
"None whatsoever!" I declared while reaching for the six balls on my belt. I had already decided which ones I was going to use before we got here.
"Alright! Now start us off, Magmar!"
"MAGMAR!" Roared the pokemon that appeared across from me, the second form of the Magby I caught yesterday.
"If this is what he's starting with, then I can tell why he gave me a handicap of using my whole team while he's only using half." I muttered to myself, wondering what else Blaine had in store if he was using Magmar right away.
"I choose you, Diglett!"
"Diglett dig~!" Diglett called as he appeared, popping up out of the ground repeatedly excitedly as he did so.
"A Diglett huh? Haven't seen one of those in quite a while either. So how about you start us off with a Flamethrower Magmar?" Blaine said slyly.
"Use Dig!" I quickly told Diglett, right as Magmar unleashed a torrent of flames right at the arena floor where Diglett had been a second previously.
The stone, which had already been incredibly hot, turned bright red from Magmar's flames while Diglett tunneled underground. If I left him in, then Diglett would be taken out without even being hit by a single direct attack.
"Stay underground, and use Magnitude!" I ordered him, trying to inflict as much damage as possible before he was unable to stay in.
Atr first nothing happened, but then the entire arena began to shake before numerous cracks began to form in the stone as Diglett triggered what was basically a minor earthquake.
"Nice one~!" Blaine said, sounding completely unconcerned as the edge of the arena began to crumble away. "Now let's just hope the arena doesn't plunge our pokemon into the volcano itself."
I scowled at the casualness that he'd said such a thing, before Blaine gave his Magmar an order that surprised even me.
"Magmar, use Smog in the hole that Diglett made."
"MAGMAR!"
I could only watch as Magmar shoved his bill-like mouth into the hole, and breathed out a plume of toxic smoke to completely fill the tunnels that Diglett had been digging. Now he was being subjected not only to the heat of the rock, but also the toxins filling the tunnels.
"Diglett, come up." I ordered, and his brown head popped up out of the ground. "Return."
"Diglett dig..." He said dejectedly as I recalled him to his pokeball, but even that brief second was enough for me to see that he already had several burns on what little of his body was even exposed.
"Now it's your turn, Politoed!" I yelled while throwing out my next pokeball.
"Politoed~! Politoed~!" She declared as she danced in place while clapping her hands happily.
"Oho~ A Politoed eh? Well, let's see how flame resistant that skin is! Flamethrower!" Blaine commanded his Magmar.
"Start with Rain Dance!" I yelled, and Politoed began to dance around as Magmar tried to blast her with fire.
"Toed, toed, Poitoed~! Toed, toed, Politoed~!"
Politoed sang excitedly as she hopped about the arena to perform her dance, producing thick clouds above us that began dropping big fat rain drops.
"Nice~! Turn the arena to your advantage! Battling 101." Blaine stated as the arena was quickly submerged in a deluge, producing rivers of water that ran off into the volcano below, which then evaporated to fill the air with steam on top of the rain.
"Now Politoed, use Bubble Beam!"
"Poli....TOOOOOOOOED!"
Politoed sprayed a powerful blast of cooncentrated bubbles through the steam at where Magmar had been standing prior, taking advantage of the fact that Magmar in general weren't very quick on their feet.
Apparently they had a plan for that though, as Magmar appeared through the steam while using the move Flame Wheel to bear down on Politoed.
"Dodge it, and keep using Bubble Beam." I ordered her, and Politoed began to alternate leaping around and spraying her opponent with bubbles.
To it's credit, Magmar was able to take a decent chunk of the power of Bubble Beam away through the power of Flame Wheel, which was popping most of the bubbles before they could hit it. But still, the rain, steam and bubbles were all working against it by now. Just like how the terrain had been when Diglett had been out.
"It's slowing! Keep this up!" I told Politoed as Magmar began slowing down, it's fire losing intensity the longer it tried to keep the flames going. "Finish it with everything you've got!"
"POLITOED!" She cried in affirmation as she stopped using Bubble Beam, and took a stance.
I wondered what Politoed was doing as she just stood there, despite the fact that her mobility was one of her greatest strengths. But what she did next shocked me as Magmar immediately went in.
Despite how tired it was, apparently there was a plan behind the Flame Wheel as Magmar launched itself at Politoed one last time, it's claws curled into fists that crackled with electricity.
Thunder Punch.
Of course, Blaine would have made sure at least one of his pokemon would have an answer for water types in his arsenal. But I wasn't expecting Politoed to do what she did next, which was open her mouth after a couple seconds of concentration.
"TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOED!"
Politoed roared as, right before Magmar could hit her with a dual Thunder Punch, she expelled a powerful torrent of water from her mouth right in it's face.
"Hydro Pump!" I yelled, realizing what move it was as Magmar was completely doussed by a water stream so powerful, it launched the fire type across the arena and into the wall on the other side.
"Magmar, return!" Blaine quickly said as he recalled his pokemon before it could fall into the magma below.
"Magmar has been knocked out of bounds and recalled, it is unable to continue battling." The drone overseeing the match declared, signaling the defeat of Blaine's first pokemon.
"Well well well, that is quite the Politoed you have there." He said as the steam started clearing up, a little.
"Yeah, she's something alright." I replied, even as I recalled her to her pokeball. "Get some rest." I told her, before grabbing my next pokeball in anticipation for what he'd use next.
"Well, try this one on for size~! Arcanine!"
I grimaced as Blaine sent out the evolved form of Growlithe, Arcanine. Also known as the Legendary pokemon.
"You'll have to work quick on this one, Gyarados!" I yelled as I sent out my next pokemon.
"GYAAAAAAAAAA!"
Gyarados roared as she appeared in the arena, glaring at Arcanine across from her as they both tried to Intimidate the other, but neither woked.
"You want quick? I'll give you quick. Extreme Speed!" Blaine immediately ordered his pokemon.
"Arca....." Arcanine began before vanishing and reappearing right in front of me in an instant. "NINE!"
At the same time, Gyarados was suddenly reacting to several blows that she seemingly received in that instant, like an anime where one of the characters took several hits in an instant.
"Damn... Gyarados, use Whirlpool!"
"GYAAA!"
Gyarados's furious roar seemingly shook the entire cave as she produced a swirling vortex of water above her, which she then threw at Arcanine as the fire type prepared to make another attack. At it's speed though, Arcanine was able to easily dodge the attack even as the Whirlpool persisted where it hit.
"Nice try. But an attack's no good if it doesn't hit." Blaine said plainly on the other side of the arena. "Arcanine, use Extreme Speed."
I couldn't even watch as Arcanine vanished from where it was standing before reappearing once more on the other side of the arena like before, having landed several hits on Gyarados once again. But this time I noticed something. Arcanine had only moved in a straight line.
"That might be it..." I murmured as Arcanine turned around once more to attack.
"Extreme-"
"Aqua Tail!"
"-Speed"
I quickly cut Blaine off as he gave his next order to Arcanine, who moved right as Gyarados swung her massive tail forward with a torrent of water covering it. And just as I thought, even if it was moving faster than her, Arcanine was moving so fast that it was unable to change direction so that it ran right into her Aqua Tail attack.
"Oho~?"
"So I was right!" I smirked victoriously as Arcanine reeled from the super effective attack, which was made even stronger by it's own speed against her tail. "Keep it up with another Whirlpool!"
Gyarados quicky created another swirling vortex of water before launching it at Arcanine, who was still dazed from the previous hit to avoid it. Now it was trapped as the Whirlpool continued swirling around the fire type to continuously damage it.
"Not bad boyo." Blaine said with a smirk I could see from here. "But moves like Whirlpool aren't infallible. Arcanine, use Burn Up!"
My eyes widened as the entire Whirlpool suddenly exploded outwards in a blast of flames and steam as Arcanine expelled all of the fire in it's body at once.
On one hand this helped it escape from the Whirlpool. On the other though, it used up the majority of the energy in it's body, and could no longer use fire type moves.
"Now while it's tired, use Bite!" I immediately ordered Gyarados, who lunged at her opponent with her mouth open to show her massive fangs.
Arcanine however still had enough energy to move though as it deftly leapt out of the way, before lunging in to sink it's fangs into Gyarados instead.
"Slam it into the ground to shake it loose, and then hit it with an Aqua Tail!" I commanded, and Gyarados complied as she arched and slammed Arcanine down into the ground with enough force that the arena actually started to tremble. Then, she quickly spun around and slammed her water covered tail into Arcanine with as much force as she could muster.
I watched Arcanine fell to the ground from the force of the attack, and did not get back up.
"Arcanine is unable to battle!" The drone declared, and I let out a sigh of relief as Blaine recalled his pokemon.
"Two down boyo. It almost looks like I'm in a pickle here, doesn't it?" Blaine said cockily as he held up his third and final pokeball. "But that's fine. My last one is quite a dozy, aren't you, Charizard!"
"CHAAAAAAAAAAR!"
I blinked as Blaine's Charizard appeared in the arena, standing several feet taller than their usual height, and covered in scars to show it's age and battle experience.
"Gyarados, return." I said, recalling her for the time being to rest and recouperate from that last battle. Even though she won, she still took quite a bit of damage from Arcanine. "Cloyster, I choose you!"
"Cloyster~!" She declared as she appeared, her shell opening and closing just ever so slightly.
"Hm? Did you go and catch a bunch of water type pokemon before coming here or something? Or are you a specialist?" Blaine asked curiously.
"I've been training Politoed and Gyarados ever since I caught both of them in Viridian forest, Cloyster I caught on the ferry before we got here." I told him.
"Ah, so it hasn't been trained very well yet." Blaine said with a smirk.
"Perhaps. Cloyster, use Toxic Spikes!"
"Cloy~!"
At my command Cloyster showered the entire arena with razor sharp barbs that dripped with vicious toxins. Even brushing one was enough to break the skin and inject the poison into the victim.
"Interesting approach to battling a flying type. Charizard, fly up and use Flamethrower!" Blaine commanded, and Charizard did just that as it flew above the arena before breathing an intense flame across the entire surface.
"Protect!" I ordered Cloyster, who produced a shimmering barrier around her body to keep the flames out. "And then Chilling Water!"
"Cloyster!" She cried as she sprayed freezing cold water at Charizard, who flapped it's wings to avoid it, only for her to spray another blast at it. Then another.
"You aren't going to win if you fly around like that." I told Blaine cockily, trying to goad him into something other than dodging.
"Guess we'll just need to take your Cloyster out then." He said with a smirk, right as Charizard opened it's mouth.
"Protect!" I yelled right before Charizard attack, and Cloyster hurriedly put up another wall around herself right as Charizard unleashed a powerful beam of green light at her.
The attack slammed into her wall of light, which held for a second, before cracks began to form in it. Then, it shattered.
"CLOYSTEEEEEEEEER!"
I heard Cloyster cry out as the attack blasted her, carving a trench through the stone arena with her body as she was blasted backwards to the very edge of the arena. And there she laid unmoving.
"Cloyster is unable to battle." The drone declared, and I had to clench my teeth as I recalled her.
"You did really well." I said to her pokeball comfortingly, before returning it to my belt.
"So, how'd you like our Solar Beam?" Blaine asked from the other side while Charizard continued flying. Now I knew why he was doing nothing but dodging earlier, he was building up the energy for his next attack. Solar beam was also probably why Blaine was so confident against water types, qlong with the dual Thunder Punch from earlier.
"It's a pain in the ass." I replied, doing a mental head count. Diglett and Gyarados were both injured, but still usable if I needed them. Politoed was still good though, and Cloyster was down for the count. I still had two more pokemon I could use. And one of them was a true powerhouse.
"Maybe you'll be able to deal with it, SLOWKING!" I yelled while throwing out my next pokeball.
"Slowking? Another water type...then..." Blaine began saying, before my Slowking appeared in the arena. All twelve feet of him. "Holy hell!"
I smirked at Blaine's reaction to my alpha water type, who towered over even his large Charizard. And then, he opened his mouth.
"Master." Slowking said in a slow voice, as he was still obviously learning to speak. "My feeeeeeeet hurt."
I blinked, before looking down and seeing that the arena was still covered in the Toxic Spikes from Cloyster.
"Sorry about that. We'll just need to finish this as soon as possible." I told him, and Slowking became completely serious. "Start with Power Gem."
Slowking looked right at Charizard as the gem embedded in his shell began to glow, before firing a concentrated beam of rock type energy at his opponent.
"Move Charizard, and use Air Slash!" Blaine quickly ordered, actually sounding serious for once.
"Disable." I said next as Charizard began raining blades of air down on Slowking. Only for them to stop as Charizard became temorarily unable to even use the move. And when the fire/flying type stalled for a second in confusion, Slowking immediately hit it with another Power Gem attack.
"Nice~!" I whistled happily as Charizard fell to the arena from the attack, which was extra dangerous to it due to the fact that both of it's typings were weak to rock type attacks. "Now hit it with a Water Pulse."
"Water..... PUUUUUUUUULSE!" Slowking declared as he produced a veritable tidal wave of water that flooded the entire arena, washing over the Charizard to keep it from recovering.
"Now finish it with one more Power Gem." I told him, and Slowking blasted the Charizard with the rock type attack one more time until Charizard fell and didn't get back up.
"Charizard is unable to battle! Blaine is out of usable pokemon, and Noah wins!" The drone declared, signaling the end of the battle as Blaine recalled his Charizard.
"Well well well, that was quite the interesting finale. I never expected you to have an alpha in your back pocket. A Slowking at that." He said while shaking his head.
"Believe it or not, I just got him yesterday." I told the Gym Leader with a smirk, who just stared at me slack-jawed.
"Some people."
We both made our way out of the arena while I recalled Slowking, telling him he did excellently out there. And as soon as we made our way into the main building once more, I felt a noticeable drop in temperature that felt amazing. And I was sure it would feel even better once May and I started making our way back down the mountain.
"The result aside, that was fun." Blaine said as the doors closed behind us. "And now I'm required to hand this over to you as proof of my defeat." He said while pulling out a Badge, the Volcano Badge.
"Thank you." I said while accepting it, adding to the other two I had. Only five more to go for Kanto.
"I'll also give you this. A little extra, from me." Blaine said as he passed me a disc. "It's a TM, Fire Blast. It's also one of the good ones that can be reused, unlike those crappy one use TMs."
"Thank you... I can use this for all of the fire types I caught yesterday." I said with sincere gratitude.
"What fire types?"
"Well, I have a Charmeleon for my Starter, and yesterday I caught a Houndour, Growlithe, Cyndaquil, Magby, and a Flareon." I said, counting all of my newer pokemon on my fingers.
"What's this? A boy after my own heart!" Blaine said with exaggerated emotion, even pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
"Well, I do plan to catch one of every single pokemon. Plus I'm kinda a sucker for fire types." I told him.
"Well well, you'll have to come back here one day so we can have a proper fire type battle!" Blaine declared.
"Sounds like a plan." I said while offering my hand, and we shook on it.
"Man, am I glad to be out of there..." May said as soon as we left the Gym, pulling at the sports bra to let her skin breathe. The two of us were both very obviously covered in sweat from being inside that Gym. Even more so thanks to all of the moisture from Rain Dance and all of the water type moves.
"I think I saw a stream on our way up here. Want to rinse off a little before we really start heading back down the mountain?" I asked her, and May's eyes lit up.
"You don't need to ask me twice!" She stated, and the two of us began to eagerly make our way back towards the stream I'd seen earlier. Even the sting of burned cheeks seemed to have faded at the promise of a dip in the hopefully cool waters.
May was so excited, that she readily stripped off her shorts and sports bra the second we saw the water before diving in.
"Ahhhh... This feels amazing..." She sighed in contention while drifting lazily around the small pool.
"It looks like it." I joked while also stripping down, before joining her in the water. It wasn't as cool as I'd hoped, but it wasn't uncomfortably hot either.
"Mmm.... Sexy." May joked while leering at me as I got in.
"Keep up that kind of talk, and I might have to give you some spankings." I quipped back, and May visibly paled while moving her hands to cover her cheeks.
"You wouldn't dare..." She uttered in a deathly serious tone.
"Try me." I grinned maliciously at her, before diving in after her.
"NOOOOO!" May screamed as I came up and grabbed her. Then while she was kicking and screaming I flung myself backwards, submerging both of us in the water once more.
"You JERK!" May shrieked once we surfaced, before she promptly went on the attack this time. By throwing her breasts right into my face as she tackled me back into the water.
The two of us quickly devolved into naked wrestling after that, with splashing, dunking and tickling until we were both out of breath as cuddled together at the side of the pool. Well, May was out of breath at least.
"Have I ever told you, that you have stupid stamina?" She asked between breaths as she snuggled up to my side.
"Only about every other time we have sex, or pretty much every day we spend walking." I replied with a smirk, earning me a playful slap on my arm.
"Well it's true! You have no idea how much I want to file a formal complaint with who, or what, made your body!" May declared dramatically.
"Tell you what, next time we meet a god I'll ask if they can do you a solid." I told her before planting a kiss on her lips.
"I'll hold you to that buster." She replied playfully, before kissing me back.
We laid there like that, soaking in the water while also just soaking up each other's presence. Neither one of us doing anything more intense than some groping or heavy petting.
"Huff. Huff."
"..."
Both May and I stilled as I felt something breathing on me, literally as it's breath ruffled my hair with what I was sure was curiosity. So I slowly tilted my head back to look up, and saw a brown nose connected to a tan head with a matching body on four legs. And a pair of magnificent antlers.
"Stantler?" It lowed curiously at May and I.
"Well hello." May said softly while I slowly sat up in the water.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him curiously. Stantler usually traveled in herds after all.
"Stantler. Stant stant Stantler." He said before leaning down and getting a drink of water.
"Really? You sound like a brave one." I told him with a smile.
"What did he say?" May asked me curiously.
"He said that his herd was attacked by a pack of Houndour earlier today. He acted as bait to draw the Houdour away from the rest of them, then ended up giving them the slip." I explained while swimming to the other side of the pond to where my bag was with my clothes.
"What are doing?"
"Grabbing a pokeball." I told her, pulling one out of my bag and offering it to the Stantler. "How about it? Since you're separated from your herd, wanna come with me and get even stronger? I can even help you evolve if you want."
"Stantler?"
"Evolve? But Noah, Stantler don't evolve." May said with a confused tone.
"Really? I'm pretty sure they can, if you know the right way." I told her, and Stantler looked even more intrigued.
"Stantler stant!" He declared, and tapped his nose against the pokeball to activate it before being sucked inside. The ball gave a couple small jerks in my hand, before falling still as the capture was complete.
"Nice~! I got a Stantler!" I whistled happily, before swimming back to grab my phone to scan it.
~~~
Stantler- the Big Horn pokemon
This pokemon was once hunted nearly to extinction for their horns, which sell as works of great art.
~~~
"See? No evolution line." May said as I scanned him, now climbing out of the water before fishing a towel out of her bag to dry off with.
"You prepared to bet on it?" I asked her cockily.
"Mmm... A bet sounds interesting." May said coyly. "We'll have to decide what we're betting though."
"I'm sure we can think of something." I said with a grin, sending one of my other pokemon to professor Oak's so I can begin training him after drying off and getting dressed. I had a bet to win after all.