Chapter 73: Giant

Had a busy work week, and spent the latter half recovering from getting my 3rd booster.

Start of new week, here is the next chapter!

Power stones please?

*

Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.

February 3rd, 2010, Vermillion City, 7AM.

The sound of an alarm clock buzzed in our room, which stirred the three of us awake.

Waking up, I woke up to Serena and Lillie sleeping beside me as usual. Today was a fateful day, and I felt invigorated.

"Time to get up you two. I'm going to go on ahead and let Professor Cerise know we'll drop by his place tomorrow. I'll see you two down in the lobby.", I said quietly.

"Okay...", Lillie said softly.

"Zzz...", Serena responded with a light snooze. She was still trying wake up.

Getting up, I lightly kiss the two. I shifted to the bedside, escaping their embrace. Once I got out, I saw Lillie shiver a bit, only to reach out with her hand, hugging Serena into a cuddle. In her other spare hand, she had her Clefairy plush she has had since she was a child.

No matter how many times she sleeps with that as she sleeps with us, I always find it very cute. She had this thing for years so its received plenty of wear and tear over the years. I've sewn in up a few times already.

And yes I learned how to sew. Sewing is one of the essentials to being a caretaker of a lady. Others mainly included household chores, such as cleaning, laundry, cooking and such. And since Lillie was a lady born into a high class society, fitting was another such example, getting her into any type of clothes she wants to wear.

Thinking that, I turned my head and saw the Clefairy she actually caught in Mount Moon sleeping in front of her. If one looked closely, an Eviolite could be seen worn around Clefairy's neck like a necklace. But since Clefairy was still asleep, I didn't disturb it, so I changed my sight again. This time I looked forward and saw three other figures sleeping peacefully on the floor beside our bed.

Snowy, Lillie's Alolan Vulpix, and Sapphire, Serena's Kantonian Vulpix currently had their tails wrapped around each other as they slept. Amber, my shiny Alolan Ninetales had the two sleeping within her fur.

Once I crept to the bedside I saw Amber's ears twitch. Her eyelids fluttered before she woke up.

"Nine.", Amber said, greeting me.

"Good morning to you too, Amber.", I said while getting off the bed. I approached her and she nuzzled her head against mine.

"We'll be going to the third gym today. Do you know who've I've decided to use today?", I asked her.

"Ninetales?", Amber asked back, confused.

"Haha.", I responded back with a laugh. I then looked at our bags and Pokeballs lying around near the table. I went to it and rummaged around for a bit, before retrieving a certain colored marble-like stone.

I know Professor Oak said gyms have varying degrees of difficulty depending on the Pokemon one uses, but according to him, this stone here is still a new concept to the public. Unless the Gym leader denies its usage, I think it's time to test this bad boy out.

We did a lot of training since we left Cerulean City since that stretch of land was quite long. I put my things down and hopped into the shower to get cleaned up.

Once I got cleaned up a few minutes later, I saw everyone still sleeping, so I got my things all ready and put my Pokeballs around my belt like usual. My left and right wrists had a black ring around them on each hand. On the left wrist, it had an empty socket to where a sphere could be placed. On the right wrist, it had a socket for a diamond.

Going throughout my bag, I took out a colored marble-like sphere, admiring it for a moment. I then placed it in my left ring socket and it fit inside perfectly.

I currently had only two of these stones. This specific one was colored yellow and black.

Finished, I made sure I got the rest of my things ready, and left the room.

A few moments after I left the room, Serena slowly lifted her eyes.

"So you were already awake huh?", Lillie asked softly, still clinging onto her.

"I didn't want to disturb his current mindset. And why is it that you're clinging onto me?", Serena asked back with a retort.

"I don't want to feel cold? You'd feel cold too right?", Lillie answered with a blink of her eyes.

"Haha, I was just kidding you. Still...", Serena began to say, slowly sitting up against the wall. She looked down and Lillie sat up in front of her. She also looked down, only to follow Serena's eyes. The two saw a string sticking out of her closed butt.

"Itsuki really isn't wasting his time down here, is he?", Serena asked with a light blush.

"Hehe, he must be really eager. I mean, I too want to see if you can accept his thing down there..", Lillie answered with a giggle.

"Can you help me pull it out while we get cleaned up? Today's battle may get serious, and having little to no distractions will be better.", Serena asked.

"Of course. We must not be distracted today. Like Nurse Joy, this is a big hurdle for all Trainers alike. I may need to go all out with Snowy.", Lillie responded.

"I know what you mean. I'm still thinking of who to use too. Maybe it's time to use Sapphire?", Serena asked.

The two then looked at the two Vulpix sleeping together on the floor. They saw that Itsuki already got ready and recalled Amber. Lillie also saw her Clefairy still sleeping too.

"We shouldn't let Itsuki wait too long. Let's call everyone back and get cleaned up.", Lillie said.

Serena nodded and the two woke up their Pokemon. After feeding them, they were recalled, and the two got cleaned up.

Meanwhile, I spent the next few moments down in the lobby at the PCs. My voice echoed as I spoke with Professor Cerise The call didn't last long, and he stated he was looking forward to us coming tomorrow.

Moreover it seems since their last call with us, something happened on their end, which he only stated that both Chloe's family and Goh's family will be there to meet us. Perhaps since that call, something did actually happen between the two? Professor Cerise did make it sound like it was good news, so we will see.

I wasn't by myself for too long either, I saw Serena and Lillie come down, all dressed and ready. I could see their Pokeballs around their waists as well.

"That didn't take long, you two ready?", I said as I took out my Pokedex.

"Yeah. We're good to go. Did you call Professor Cerise?", Serena asked.

"Sure did. He said there was something to look forward to.", I said.

"Is that so? We only got plans to challenge the gym today. Hopefully we won't get sent back here in under a minute...", Lillie responded, a bit worried.

"Then let us go.", I said, nodding my head.

.Turning on the map in my Pokedex, we quickly navigated Vermillion City, eventually reaching the left side of the city. The Pokemon Center was located on the north side, while the Vermillion Harbor was all the way south.

Even though we were still in the middle, we could still see the beaches and the vast sea beyond. it was quite beautiful.

After spending a couple hours reaching the west side of the city, it became noontime. It was then we finally reached the Gym.

It looks like it went through an overhaul, just like how the Cerulean City Gym was. Yet there was no water moat surrounding this Gym. Instead it was placed in the center of a giant grassy park. A line of shrubs stood on each side at the entrance.

As for the building, it wasn't as large either, but still pretty big. It had a singular slanted roof that descended left to right. Most of it was colored yellow, and a giant pane could be seen over the entrance which had a Thunder Badge colored in it.

Without hesitation, the three of us opened the front entrance and we went inside. Sure enough the battle field was quite large and we saw a few Trainer figures idling about. Most of the gym's lights were off, but I could see the spectator seats were a bunch of red bleachers.

It seems they didn't seem to notice our arrival, or that they didn't care. So instead, I decided to raise my voice.

"I've come here to challenge for the Thunder Badge!", I declared.

"Me too!", Serena also yelled out.

"And me.", Lillie responded.

As if on que, the lights of the gym lit up, and we saw what appeared to be a few figures dressed in military camo, or clothes of that of a punk. A typical black leather jacket.

One of the men dressed in black let out a rough chuckle. He then turned around, and we saw a shadowy figure further behind them. This man spoke out to this figure.

"Heh. Boss! It looks like we got three more victims ta send into da ER!", the rough man said.

"Didja say three this time?", the shadowy figure said. We then saw him stand up, and damn, his height soared.

He got closer and closer, and as he did, we had to lift our heads up. Even I had to. This man seemed about two feet taller than me. Almost two Lillie's composed of his height.

Serena and Lillie became shocked by how tall he was. He also wore a green military vest and pants.

"Wow, he is huge...", Serena uttered.

"And I thought Itsuki was tall...", Lillie also uttered.

Yup, this is definitely Lieutenant Surge alright. Though unlike his height, he actually was quick to put on a smile, and greeted us.

"So ya three are the challengers this time huh? Welcome to the Vermillion Gym! I'm Lieutenant Surge, and I run this here Gym in Vermillion City.", Lieutenant Surge said, introducing himself as he stretched out his arms.

Hearing that, Serena blinked for a moment as she wasn't expecting him to be friendly like this.

"Umm, it's nice you meet you?", Serena asked.

"I can see a couple of cute ones here. Don't think I'll go easy on ya though."

"We don't plan to underestimate you.", Lillie responded in confidence.

"Now dat is some confidence! Did ya guys already choose who is going first?", Lieutenant Surge asked.

"We did. I'll be the first to take you up on that.", I answered, walking up to him. Despite doing that, he was still about two feet taller than me. Such a giant.

"So this baby is the first one to receive a wallop today huh?", Lieutenant Surge asked as he shifted his eyes toward me.

"...Baby?", I couldn't help but retort back. This only earned a laugh from Lieutenant Surge.

"Haha! I call every loser a baby here.", he said with a smile.

"So you think I'll lose today eh? What do you think about this?", I asked.

"About what?", Lieutenant Surge tried to ask, but I went silent. I lifted my left arm at him, showing him my wrist. It took him a good moment to see what was special about my Mega Ring, but he was able to notice the stone inside of it.

"No way, that's a Mega Ring ain't it?", Lieutenant Surge asked in surprise. His voice carried to the trainers below him and they revealed shocked expressions too.

"You bet it is. From what I've been told, it's still new and regulations for this differ from gym to gym. I hadn't seen you place any yet. Do you have any rules for Mega Evolution?", I asked him.

"..To be honest, I hadn't put any 'cause I didn't think I'd see any Mega Evolution for a while, but color me impressed. To think I'd get a challenger so soon who has it. To answer ya question, no I have no restrictions. I'd love to test it out personally!", Lieutenant Surge answered, full of spirit.

And that answers that. Look like I'll be able to test Mega Evolution out this battle. But before we start the battle, I decided to ask him one more thing.

"Excellent. Though before we start our battle, I do have one question I'd like to ask.", I started to say.

"Ah? What would that be baby?", Lieutenant Surge asked. I felt my eye twitch a bit, but decided to ignore that last part, and proceeded with my question.

"Lieutenant Surge, you used to belong in a military, didn't you?", I asked him.