Meeting an old acquaintance 

The Flanery city was not as large as the major cities like Cerulean or Pewter but not so small either.

Just like the previous cities, this city had a theme which was red color.

Aoki and Misty set out to explore the city after booking a hotel.

"It's my first time seeing so many tall buildings going through construction at the same time," said Misty as she clicked some photos.

"Give it another 3-4 years, this city will become a major city of Kanto. " said Aoki as he looked at the city map.

Everywhere his eyes went he could see tall buildings and constructions going on.

They visited the coast which has started to get busier than usual. As the vermillion port was still being repaired after the Gyarados incident, a lot of ships had to dock here.

"Where should we go ?" asked Misty as she began looking at the map Aoki was holding.

Aoki pointed to the location of a cafe and said " It says that this palace serves the best coffee in the entire city, lets go there"

On the way to the cafe, they saw a large number of people from the joy family with their signature pink hair and an almost similar face.

"Let's go to the academy next..the thing for which the city is famous " Aoki suggested.

The Medical Academy of Flannery city was the largest and best academy in all the regions for people aspiring to be a doctor.

Aoki had Misty have to get themselves registered for entering the area. They were not allowed to roam around freely as there was a guide with them.

The academy looked like a city of its own with every kind of facility available. The buildings looked like something out of the fables based on their size and appearance.

"Is this really an academy, isn't that too extravagant!" exclaimed Misty.

"The fees of the institute should be extraordinary too, " Aoki said.

The student mostly comprised rich families like Jenny and Joy with fair shares of people from other regions. The percentage of male student being very low was not a surprise to Aoki.

The academy took almost the entire day so they didn't do anything in the evening and decided to visit the other places the next day.

Like Vermillion City, this place also had a Pokemon fan club building along with a battle club.

Aoki had decided to participate in the battle club later on as who can say no to some extra cash?

The battle club was more like a gambling system where people put their bets on a match. If the trainer wins, 15% of the bet won goes to him.

One thing good about the battle club is that a trainer doesn't need to reveal his id to participate and create an ID with any name.

After looking at some more details, Aoki and Misty entered the famous cafe called Chansey cafe which the joy family runs.

The cafe was full of people with Chansey acting as a waitress wearing a maid dress.

After looking for a minute they found an empty spot.

As they took their seat they were surprised to see a familiar face slurping noodles.

She was Jill, the girl Misty and Aoki fought in the junior cup a few months ago.

"Jill? " Misty asked the blue-haired girl who looked towards the source of the voice.

"Umm…Misty and Aoki ?! pleasant meeting you here ."

"It's been a while. How have you been " Aoki asked.

"I am doing good," she said by showing her badge collection which had 5 badges including the Cascade and boulder badges.

"I have become a lot stronger and wouldn't lose to you anymore," she said with a smug face making Aoki and Misty chuckle.

Both of them showed their badge case, although had fewer badges than Jill but they had 3 alliance badges.

"You two won against that cruel monster !! " she exclaimed seeing the thunder badge as she remembers how her Pokemonss got thrashed by the Raichu of Lt. Surge.

"So are you here for the gym battle ?" asked Misty.

"This is my hometown. I am here to celebrate my 18th birthday with my family and boyfriend... Ah, here he comes"

"Aoki your birthday is in a few days, right? "Misty asked

"Yes " Aoki answered

Jill looked towards the entrance and waved at a pink-haired guy.

" Alex here!!"

Based on his facial features, he was someone from the joy family around the age of 21.

Alex gained a lot of attention as soon as he entered the cafe.

"Aoki isn't that …"

"Yes, he is the winner of last time's Indigo conference.

Alex joy "

Jill happily introduced Alex to Aoki and Misty.

Misty asked how did both of them meet to which Jill said that both of them were childhood friends and grew up in the same neighborhood.

From their initial talk, Aoki figured that Alex too had an easy-going but a bit arrogant guy.

Alex's mother owned the unofficial gym in this town which Alex wanted to inherit after becoming a good trainer.

It was very rare for a boy to be born in the Joy family so he was given a lot of resources to cultivate his Pokemon with which he fulfilled their expectation by becoming the league winner last year.

After he became the league winner, his gym became famous along with the developed teaching institute, this city went through massive development.

"Why didn't you challenge the Elite four ? " asked Aoki.

"My pokemon are strong but not strong enough to stand up to the elite four. " said Alex with a disappointed face.

"Since I had once beaten the Pokemon league, I am free to challenge the elite four anytime."

Elite Four and the champion are hailed as the official strongest trainers in a region.

Only a person who wins the league competition is given the qualification to challenge the elite four who are ice specialty Lorelei, Fighting-type specialist Bruno, Poison-type specialist Koga and finally Ghost-type specialist Agatha

The seat of the champion was empty for years before a few years ago Lance took the throne of the champion defeating all the elite 4

In case the seat of the Champion is empty, the final elite four have the right to act as the champion like Agatha did before Dragon master Lance came into the picture.

"That reminds me why don't you fight Aoki for your opening ceremony Alex ? " suggested Jill.

"Are you sure? I had planned to do that with you " said Alex.

"Yes, I am sure. I will be staying here for a month so we can battle as much as we want. I already have 5 badges and it should not take to collect three more"

To participate in the Kanto pokemon league, a person must have at least 8 badges of which 5 must be from the official gyms.

The total number of gyms in the Kanto region is around 16-18 so getting 4 unofficial badges is not that difficult but the difficulty lies in Official gym badges as they battle the challenger according to the number of badges they have.

If Aoki had challenged Brock after getting 1 or more official badges, he would have used a team of master-level Pokemons.

The same was with Misty's father.

Aoki and Misty were lucky that Surge didn't use his full master-level team as they were busy with the power plant.

Aoki was sure that if Surge brought out his elite Pokemon, the entire match would have ended in a few minutes.

Now that he has three official badges, gym leaders are going to use their strongest lineups against him.

After having a short discussion Jill dragged Misty to show the town while Alex and Aoki walked at a slow pace discussing various things.

From Alex, he got to know that due to him being from the Joy family there were some questions raised when he and Jill got into a relationship as he was required to pass on his gene to increase the chances of male members being born.

Therefore he must marry someone from the Joy family.

In this world, Polygamy was very common, especially in renowned families like Joy and Jenny.

Even incest is legal.

Alex was relieved to know that Jill was fine with him having more than one partner as he didn't want to leave Jill.

Alex had done a medical course too so he knew a lot about medicines and the health of both Pokemon and humans.

The more Aoki talked with him, the more he understood.

Alex maintained a noble outwardly appearance with an arrogant attitude but not too much to make him dislikable.

Having arrogance is common for someone who won the Pokemon league and became an official gym leader.

"In tomorrow's battle can I fight against your original team for the gym battle? It will make your gym inauguration more flashy" asked Aoki

"My original team ?!..you sure are confident for someone who started his journey a few months ago"

" You never know, I might surprise you "

"Sure then, if you are that confident.

Let's make it three on thee.

Don't worry even if you lose I will fight you with my gym pokemon the second time "