Backisland Beach - Afternoon - Sunny
Melody Rheinallt
Mel stretched her arms above her head, feeling the familiar pull of warm muscles, then bent to touch her toes. She, Una, and Pyrrha had just been for a run along the Backisland beach, and she had to admit it was a nice one. This was so much better than visiting Kas in Mahogany Town or Cerulean City had been, back when he worked at either of those places. Not that she was here just to see him, of course; but as a place to get in some training before the last stretch of her gym run, it was hard to imagine better.
No doubt the rainy season would be along soon, but the truth was, Mel loved that part of the island climate just as much as the long, hot summers. There was something powerful about the storms in a place like this, or like Tangelo. She'd missed it badly since the divorce and her mom's move to Saffron.
Figuring she'd hang around on the beach for a while, she tossed another two pokéballs, letting Gemma and Argent out as well. The starmie made immediately for the water, and she couldn't blame her, honestly. It looked amazing. She might swim herself in a few minutes—she was wearing a suit under her white shorts and mint-green tank. For the moment, she contented herself with removing her running shoes, pulling a towel out of her small bag and laying it down on the sand. Argent and Pyrrha went to wander; Una curled up near her, though, the liepard much preferring to lay in the sun than risk the water, no doubt.
Reclining on the towel, Mel pulled her hair loose and then away from her neck, sighing in contentment at the feel of the warm sunshine on her skin. Man, this was really nice. If she didn't watch it she was going to fall right asleep.
Before she even had a chance to consider falling asleep, there was movement to her right side. It was a pokémon from the looks of it, and turning gave her a better view of the deino that seemed to be sniffing at Una. It turned its attention to Mel, though, and tilted its head at her. It made a soft snort, before its mouth opened, its tongue lolling to the side.
A deino? Those were definitely not native to this region.
Sitting up, Mel took a quick look around, but other than the appearance of the new pokémon, she didn't seem to have any company. There were a few people much further down the beach, but that was the wrong way—the deino had come from the other side. Brows furrowing, she turned to the pokémon. He looked friendly enough, and was clearly trained—there was just an obvious difference between wild pokémon and those who were accustomed to human company.
"Hi there," she said, rising onto her knees and reaching over to give the creature a pat on the head. She was careful, of course, not to move so fast as to startle him, or anything like that, but honestly he didn't seem like the type to be easily startled by anything. She rubbed the fur on his head, still looking around for anyone he might be with. "Did you wander away from your trainer, little dude?"
He made a grunting sound, seemingly pleased with the fact that he had wandered away from his trainer. He bumped his head gently against Mel's hand, though, seemingly wanting more head pats. He moved away when a voice could be heard, though, and turned his attention in the direction of the voice.
“Oh... for the love of, Deino you idiot! You're not supposed to wander away like that!" the voice belonged to a young man, perhaps a couple of years older than Mel, herself, was. He had pale blue hair and matching eyes, and seemed to be wearing a pair of khaki shorts that fell to his knees. The shirt, though, looked like it could have belonged to Kas's wardrobe; it was a salmon pink, with an image of a munchlax on it.
“I'm so sorry for this idiot. I hope he didn't bother you too much," the man spoke, offering Mel an apologetic smile as the deino wandered over towards him. He snorted at the blue-haired man, bumping his head against the man's legs.
Mel's eyes rounded slightly; amusing wardrobe choices aside, the pro-battling wonk in her recognized the person she was talking to immediately: this was Drake, Cinnabar Island gym leader. His official pictures didn't really do him justice, she thought—he was a lot cuter in person.
And she was kneeling in the sand like an idiot.
Suppressing a grimace at the less than awesome circumstances—she was kind of sweaty from her run and totally still wearing her unimpressive workout clothes—she stood nonetheless, flashing a bright smile. She knew she had a good one, and took a little comfort from the fact that this at least wasn't affected by her present state of not-very-impressive.
Running a hand back through her hair mostly to make sure it was laying decently instead of sticking up at a weird angle, she shook her head. "Not at all. Just wandered by and wanted some pats on the head." Sticking out her free hand, she offered it for a shake. "Mel Rheinallt. You must be Drake Bellamy."
“I am. It's nice to meet you, Mel," he stated, offering her a wider smile and taking her hand into his. He glanced down at the deino, though, and shook his head. “At least it was just head pats. The doofus likes to bug people for frozen yoghurt chips. A friend of mine got him addicted to them, and now he just thinks everyone walks around carrying them," Drake stated, shaking his head lightly. He seemed to have thought of something, though, and he tilted his head in her direction.
“Are you new to the island? I haven't seen you around before," he asked, blinking curiously at Mel. “I mean, I haven't really been out as much as I should, so it's possible I might have missed meeting you," he added with a light shrug of his shoulders.
Her grin was a little more mischievous this time, as she regained her metaphorical footing to go along with the physical kind. "I'd like to think you would've noticed me if I lived here," she joked, winking a little. Fake it till you make it, right? "But no. I'm just a visitor. My brother lives on island right now, though—he and a bunch of his coworkers just moved into the Old Mansion facility?"
She was sure he had to know about it. NTR setting up a major base of operations in your town was kind of big news, especially when the town wasn't itself all that large. Cinnabar probably counted as a small city, but it was definitely on that borderline.
Drake huffed a little laugh as he shook his head. “I'm sure I would have remembered someone like you, but I do know what you're referring to. I met a couple of the grunts that work there; some of them are pretty nice," he stated, his grin turning a little sheepish. There was a faint color to his cheeks, but he cleared his throat and it was gone.
“You said visitor, right? Are you just here to visit your brother? Cinnabar is a hotspot for tourists, so... I mean not that you're a tourist! Visitor and tourist are completely different... I'm just going to stop talking now," he stated, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Oh arceus, he was adorable.
She hadn't really expected that—most gym leaders were a little more brusque, probably something that happened when they had to deal with fans and suchlike. But here he was rambling a little like she'd genuinely caught him off-guard or something, and damn her if she wasn't just a little bit chuffed about it.
Mel's eyes narrowed with amusement; her smile turned the faintest bit coy. "Well not just to visit him, no. I'm also actually here to meet you." She put it in the most flirtatious way she could, because why not? She was having fun, and didn't seem to be making him uncomfortable, exactly. She did kind of want to fluster him, though. Setting a hand on Una's head, she let that set in for just a beat before she shrugged and elaborated.
"I sort of thought I'd be training for a while longer before that happened, though. I take my gym challenges very seriously, after all."
“Oh, um, well..." he stated, clearly caught off-guard, it seemed, by her statement. He cleared his throat awkwardly before offering her a small smile. “Ah, so that means you're a trainer, and you're here to challenge me. Well," he stated, glancing down at Deino before rolling his eyes.
“I guess I'll just have to make sure I'm ready when you come challenge me. Oh, uh, obviously the gym is closed today," he began, pointing to himself as if saying that his being out was giveaway, “but it's mostly open at the beginning of the week, and during the weekends unless otherwise stated."
Deino nudged Drake's hand a bit before turning his attention towards Mel, and making another grunting noise. “I think that's his way of saying he's looking forward to your challenge," Drake stated.
Her eyes softened as she regarded Deino. "Aww, but I'm going to feel a little bad, battling such a cutie," she said, reaching a little forward to give his head another pat. "His handsome trainer, on the other hand, looks like a lot of fun."
Mel arched an eyebrow as she straightened back up, knowing that the polite thing to do here was probably to back off and let the guy have his space. It sounded like his gym was open a lot, which meant his days off were probably completely necessary recharge time. He didn't need to be harassed by some random girl.
"Before you go, though, can I ask you for your lunch recommendation? I'm looking for somewhere close, and preferably cheap." It didn't bother her to say that; it was a generally well-understood truth that most trainers were on a budget, and she was no exception. Her family might be reasonably well-off, but she'd wanted to earn her own way through this, and so far, she had.
“Oh, sure," he replied, contemplating something, it seemed. “Hm, how about this, since you're here visiting your brother and to challenge me," he began, glancing at the deino for a moment, “how about you come with me? I'm on my way to the Magikarp. They make the best burgers on the island and they're relatively cheap. That is, of course, if you'd like to come. I wouldn't mind the company and it gives me the opportunity to meet new people. Er, well in this case to meet you."
He grinned a little sheepishly, but it was obvious he wasn't asking her to a date or anything. It was as if he was genuinely offering to take her to lunch as, maybe, a friend, or to show her around.
“Oh, and they have the best malts and onion rings."
Mel laughed. There was just something disarming about him, about this kind of easy kindness. Part of her knew she shouldn't trust it, because that was exactly the kind of thing that got her into trouble, but at the same time she knew somehow that this was just genuine generosity. He had no designs or intentions, and honestly it seemed like a great opportunity. Not just to pick a gym leader's brain, though that would be cool if he let her, but to just kind of... enjoy the afternoon in good company.
So she switched off the part of her that looked for opportunities to flirt or make entendres, and decided to just take things at face value for once. Her smile was a free, uncomplicated thing, and she nodded slightly. "I'd love to. Let me just get the team gathered up." Efficiently, she unclipped the three necessary pokémalls from her belt, leaving Argent out. The sylveon knew what to do anyway, approching and leaping up into Mel's arms so they could arrange her over her shoulders.
Pulling her her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, Mel nodded at Drake. "Ready when you are, leader-man. Let's go."
He smiled brightly and nodded his head. “Great, it's this way!" he stated happily enough. He turned towards the direction they needed to go, it seemed, and Deino trailed along happily beside Mel. He'd occasionally grunt, but it was more as if he was just greeting the people they passed by.
“So, what made you decide to become a trainer?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pocket as he glanced towards Mel. “From your sylveon, it's obvious that you've taken really good care of her, and she looks fairly strong, too. I'm sure half of my team is going to have a tough time against her," he stated, grinning just a little bit.
Argent puffed herself up a little under the praise, and Mel laughed softly. "Careful; you'll give her an ego if you talk like that." She supposed it was technically bad strategy in a certain sense, making him aware of the pokémon that was probably her best shot against his anchor. But if surprise was the only thing that won her the badge, she wouldn't feel like she'd earned it anyway.
Rubbing the sylveon's ear, she shrugged a little. "I think I kind of always wanted to be one," she admitted. "You know how the age limits only went into effect recently, right? Well I'd actually started before then, but... some stuff happened and I had to go back home partway through. Then the laws were passed and I had to wait to restart anyway. So I gave myself some time to get my head on straight, then started all over again. Argent's been with me since the first time, and Una, my liepard, was the first pokémon I ever actually caught, but the rest are from this time around." She'd in fact only completed her team a sort while ago.
"I've been at it for about a year and a half now, and I'm really hoping to make a shot at the league eventually. I'd like to maybe get into pro-battling, too, but that's mostly all a pipe dream at this point. If I even manage to collect eight badges I'll have done so much more than most people, and I should probably be satisfied with that, but... I dunno. I kind of just want to see how far I can get. I've got something to prove, I guess."
More like someone to prove wrong, but she tried not to think about that too often.
"What about you? How'd you get into gym leading? Just a family thing, or...?"
He'd been listening intently, it seemed, as she explained her reasoning before rubbing the back of his neck. “You could say that, yeah," he spoke with a light shrug of his shoulders. “Honestly I think it was more that I wanted to be part of the reason so many people kept pushing themselves, y'know? Like, if they could get to me, then they were already proving themselves and one step closer to achieving their dreams. Sounds weird when I say it out loud like that, but meh," he continued, grinning a little sheepishly.
“I mean, Cinnabar Gym was always renowned when gramps had it as one of the best fire-type gym leaders. When I took over it, I kind of wanted to be the first dragon gym leader since it runs in the family, too. I don't have anything to prove, really, but... well, I suppose the one thing I do want to prove is that even though we're just gym leaders, we can still be just as tough as the elite four. That probably doesn't even make a lot of sense, does it?"
He seemed to roll his eyes at himself, before he smiled in a good natured way. “And I may not have battled you, yet, but I think you have what it takes. I think you could definitely make it to the Elite Four and battle the current champion. And it's not a pipe dream! A dream is a dream no matter what, so you should keep following it. You're still young, you can still do a lot of things that you want. Battle the Elite Four and Champion; go partake in the pro-battling world. You seem like you have the right kind of spunk and energy for it!"
Mel wasn't sure if it showed through on her face or not, but she was half-incredulous. She honestly didn't think they made people this nice. She'd used to think so, once, but she'd been very, very wrong about that. Releasing a soft breath, she shook her head. "I think it's gonna take a little more than energy, but... thanks." Her smile softened a little.
"And I mean, I'm not sure about anyone else but... I think the job of being a gym leader must be even harder in some ways than being a member of the elite four, or the champion. You have to make sure to present the level of challenge your gym is certified for, no more and no less, so that you can accurately test trainers against those benchmarks. It's got to be hard not going all out all the time—and hard to train your pokémon not to. I think that takes a lot more finesse and skill than just giving it everything you've got at all times."
“Well still, you got this!" he stated, giving her a bright grin as he blinked. “And yeah, that is true, but sometimes we get to partake in the tournaments they have for scouting potential pro-battlers so we get to go all-out, then. It doesn't happen very often, mind you, but it's fun when they come around. I think there's a tournament coming up, actually, pretty soon. Next month, or the month after; I have to look and see," he stated.
“Oh, look, there it is!" he spoke suddenly, pointing forward. Ahead there was a small building with a few tables outside with umbrellas to keep the shade. It didn't look like a diner or restaurant of any kind, but more of those old outdoor type places. There was the window to order, and that was it. It had a magikarp roof, though, which was probably why they named it as such.
“This place might not be anything fancy or upscale, but trust me when I say they have the best food around. Well, at least in my opinion. A friend of mine says that Jo's place has the best food, but I beg to differ," he stated with a grin.
"Guess I'll have to try both and see what I think," Mel replied with a smile. "You should order for me, though. I'm not picky, but I want to try what you think is the best stuff here."
No doubt the rainy season would be along soon, but the truth was, Mel loved that part of the island climate just as much as the long, hot summers. There was something powerful about the storms in a place like this, or like Tangelo. She'd missed it badly since the divorce and her mom's move to Saffron.
Figuring she'd hang around on the beach for a while, she tossed another two pokéballs, letting Gemma and Argent out as well. The starmie made immediately for the water, and she couldn't blame her, honestly. It looked amazing. She might swim herself in a few minutes—she was wearing a suit under her white shorts and mint-green tank. For the moment, she contented herself with removing her running shoes, pulling a towel out of her small bag and laying it down on the sand. Argent and Pyrrha went to wander; Una curled up near her, though, the liepard much preferring to lay in the sun than risk the water, no doubt.
Reclining on the towel, Mel pulled her hair loose and then away from her neck, sighing in contentment at the feel of the warm sunshine on her skin. Man, this was really nice. If she didn't watch it she was going to fall right asleep.
Before she even had a chance to consider falling asleep, there was movement to her right side. It was a pokémon from the looks of it, and turning gave her a better view of the deino that seemed to be sniffing at Una. It turned its attention to Mel, though, and tilted its head at her. It made a soft snort, before its mouth opened, its tongue lolling to the side.
A deino? Those were definitely not native to this region.
Sitting up, Mel took a quick look around, but other than the appearance of the new pokémon, she didn't seem to have any company. There were a few people much further down the beach, but that was the wrong way—the deino had come from the other side. Brows furrowing, she turned to the pokémon. He looked friendly enough, and was clearly trained—there was just an obvious difference between wild pokémon and those who were accustomed to human company.
"Hi there," she said, rising onto her knees and reaching over to give the creature a pat on the head. She was careful, of course, not to move so fast as to startle him, or anything like that, but honestly he didn't seem like the type to be easily startled by anything. She rubbed the fur on his head, still looking around for anyone he might be with. "Did you wander away from your trainer, little dude?"
He made a grunting sound, seemingly pleased with the fact that he had wandered away from his trainer. He bumped his head gently against Mel's hand, though, seemingly wanting more head pats. He moved away when a voice could be heard, though, and turned his attention in the direction of the voice.
“Oh... for the love of, Deino you idiot! You're not supposed to wander away like that!" the voice belonged to a young man, perhaps a couple of years older than Mel, herself, was. He had pale blue hair and matching eyes, and seemed to be wearing a pair of khaki shorts that fell to his knees. The shirt, though, looked like it could have belonged to Kas's wardrobe; it was a salmon pink, with an image of a munchlax on it.
“I'm so sorry for this idiot. I hope he didn't bother you too much," the man spoke, offering Mel an apologetic smile as the deino wandered over towards him. He snorted at the blue-haired man, bumping his head against the man's legs.
Mel's eyes rounded slightly; amusing wardrobe choices aside, the pro-battling wonk in her recognized the person she was talking to immediately: this was Drake, Cinnabar Island gym leader. His official pictures didn't really do him justice, she thought—he was a lot cuter in person.
And she was kneeling in the sand like an idiot.
Suppressing a grimace at the less than awesome circumstances—she was kind of sweaty from her run and totally still wearing her unimpressive workout clothes—she stood nonetheless, flashing a bright smile. She knew she had a good one, and took a little comfort from the fact that this at least wasn't affected by her present state of not-very-impressive.
Running a hand back through her hair mostly to make sure it was laying decently instead of sticking up at a weird angle, she shook her head. "Not at all. Just wandered by and wanted some pats on the head." Sticking out her free hand, she offered it for a shake. "Mel Rheinallt. You must be Drake Bellamy."
“I am. It's nice to meet you, Mel," he stated, offering her a wider smile and taking her hand into his. He glanced down at the deino, though, and shook his head. “At least it was just head pats. The doofus likes to bug people for frozen yoghurt chips. A friend of mine got him addicted to them, and now he just thinks everyone walks around carrying them," Drake stated, shaking his head lightly. He seemed to have thought of something, though, and he tilted his head in her direction.
“Are you new to the island? I haven't seen you around before," he asked, blinking curiously at Mel. “I mean, I haven't really been out as much as I should, so it's possible I might have missed meeting you," he added with a light shrug of his shoulders.
Her grin was a little more mischievous this time, as she regained her metaphorical footing to go along with the physical kind. "I'd like to think you would've noticed me if I lived here," she joked, winking a little. Fake it till you make it, right? "But no. I'm just a visitor. My brother lives on island right now, though—he and a bunch of his coworkers just moved into the Old Mansion facility?"
She was sure he had to know about it. NTR setting up a major base of operations in your town was kind of big news, especially when the town wasn't itself all that large. Cinnabar probably counted as a small city, but it was definitely on that borderline.
Drake huffed a little laugh as he shook his head. “I'm sure I would have remembered someone like you, but I do know what you're referring to. I met a couple of the grunts that work there; some of them are pretty nice," he stated, his grin turning a little sheepish. There was a faint color to his cheeks, but he cleared his throat and it was gone.
“You said visitor, right? Are you just here to visit your brother? Cinnabar is a hotspot for tourists, so... I mean not that you're a tourist! Visitor and tourist are completely different... I'm just going to stop talking now," he stated, chuckling nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Oh arceus, he was adorable.
She hadn't really expected that—most gym leaders were a little more brusque, probably something that happened when they had to deal with fans and suchlike. But here he was rambling a little like she'd genuinely caught him off-guard or something, and damn her if she wasn't just a little bit chuffed about it.
Mel's eyes narrowed with amusement; her smile turned the faintest bit coy. "Well not just to visit him, no. I'm also actually here to meet you." She put it in the most flirtatious way she could, because why not? She was having fun, and didn't seem to be making him uncomfortable, exactly. She did kind of want to fluster him, though. Setting a hand on Una's head, she let that set in for just a beat before she shrugged and elaborated.
"I sort of thought I'd be training for a while longer before that happened, though. I take my gym challenges very seriously, after all."
“Oh, um, well..." he stated, clearly caught off-guard, it seemed, by her statement. He cleared his throat awkwardly before offering her a small smile. “Ah, so that means you're a trainer, and you're here to challenge me. Well," he stated, glancing down at Deino before rolling his eyes.
“I guess I'll just have to make sure I'm ready when you come challenge me. Oh, uh, obviously the gym is closed today," he began, pointing to himself as if saying that his being out was giveaway, “but it's mostly open at the beginning of the week, and during the weekends unless otherwise stated."
Deino nudged Drake's hand a bit before turning his attention towards Mel, and making another grunting noise. “I think that's his way of saying he's looking forward to your challenge," Drake stated.
Her eyes softened as she regarded Deino. "Aww, but I'm going to feel a little bad, battling such a cutie," she said, reaching a little forward to give his head another pat. "His handsome trainer, on the other hand, looks like a lot of fun."
Mel arched an eyebrow as she straightened back up, knowing that the polite thing to do here was probably to back off and let the guy have his space. It sounded like his gym was open a lot, which meant his days off were probably completely necessary recharge time. He didn't need to be harassed by some random girl.
"Before you go, though, can I ask you for your lunch recommendation? I'm looking for somewhere close, and preferably cheap." It didn't bother her to say that; it was a generally well-understood truth that most trainers were on a budget, and she was no exception. Her family might be reasonably well-off, but she'd wanted to earn her own way through this, and so far, she had.
“Oh, sure," he replied, contemplating something, it seemed. “Hm, how about this, since you're here visiting your brother and to challenge me," he began, glancing at the deino for a moment, “how about you come with me? I'm on my way to the Magikarp. They make the best burgers on the island and they're relatively cheap. That is, of course, if you'd like to come. I wouldn't mind the company and it gives me the opportunity to meet new people. Er, well in this case to meet you."
He grinned a little sheepishly, but it was obvious he wasn't asking her to a date or anything. It was as if he was genuinely offering to take her to lunch as, maybe, a friend, or to show her around.
“Oh, and they have the best malts and onion rings."
Mel laughed. There was just something disarming about him, about this kind of easy kindness. Part of her knew she shouldn't trust it, because that was exactly the kind of thing that got her into trouble, but at the same time she knew somehow that this was just genuine generosity. He had no designs or intentions, and honestly it seemed like a great opportunity. Not just to pick a gym leader's brain, though that would be cool if he let her, but to just kind of... enjoy the afternoon in good company.
So she switched off the part of her that looked for opportunities to flirt or make entendres, and decided to just take things at face value for once. Her smile was a free, uncomplicated thing, and she nodded slightly. "I'd love to. Let me just get the team gathered up." Efficiently, she unclipped the three necessary pokémalls from her belt, leaving Argent out. The sylveon knew what to do anyway, approching and leaping up into Mel's arms so they could arrange her over her shoulders.
Pulling her her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, Mel nodded at Drake. "Ready when you are, leader-man. Let's go."
He smiled brightly and nodded his head. “Great, it's this way!" he stated happily enough. He turned towards the direction they needed to go, it seemed, and Deino trailed along happily beside Mel. He'd occasionally grunt, but it was more as if he was just greeting the people they passed by.
“So, what made you decide to become a trainer?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pocket as he glanced towards Mel. “From your sylveon, it's obvious that you've taken really good care of her, and she looks fairly strong, too. I'm sure half of my team is going to have a tough time against her," he stated, grinning just a little bit.
Argent puffed herself up a little under the praise, and Mel laughed softly. "Careful; you'll give her an ego if you talk like that." She supposed it was technically bad strategy in a certain sense, making him aware of the pokémon that was probably her best shot against his anchor. But if surprise was the only thing that won her the badge, she wouldn't feel like she'd earned it anyway.
Rubbing the sylveon's ear, she shrugged a little. "I think I kind of always wanted to be one," she admitted. "You know how the age limits only went into effect recently, right? Well I'd actually started before then, but... some stuff happened and I had to go back home partway through. Then the laws were passed and I had to wait to restart anyway. So I gave myself some time to get my head on straight, then started all over again. Argent's been with me since the first time, and Una, my liepard, was the first pokémon I ever actually caught, but the rest are from this time around." She'd in fact only completed her team a sort while ago.
"I've been at it for about a year and a half now, and I'm really hoping to make a shot at the league eventually. I'd like to maybe get into pro-battling, too, but that's mostly all a pipe dream at this point. If I even manage to collect eight badges I'll have done so much more than most people, and I should probably be satisfied with that, but... I dunno. I kind of just want to see how far I can get. I've got something to prove, I guess."
More like someone to prove wrong, but she tried not to think about that too often.
"What about you? How'd you get into gym leading? Just a family thing, or...?"
He'd been listening intently, it seemed, as she explained her reasoning before rubbing the back of his neck. “You could say that, yeah," he spoke with a light shrug of his shoulders. “Honestly I think it was more that I wanted to be part of the reason so many people kept pushing themselves, y'know? Like, if they could get to me, then they were already proving themselves and one step closer to achieving their dreams. Sounds weird when I say it out loud like that, but meh," he continued, grinning a little sheepishly.
“I mean, Cinnabar Gym was always renowned when gramps had it as one of the best fire-type gym leaders. When I took over it, I kind of wanted to be the first dragon gym leader since it runs in the family, too. I don't have anything to prove, really, but... well, I suppose the one thing I do want to prove is that even though we're just gym leaders, we can still be just as tough as the elite four. That probably doesn't even make a lot of sense, does it?"
He seemed to roll his eyes at himself, before he smiled in a good natured way. “And I may not have battled you, yet, but I think you have what it takes. I think you could definitely make it to the Elite Four and battle the current champion. And it's not a pipe dream! A dream is a dream no matter what, so you should keep following it. You're still young, you can still do a lot of things that you want. Battle the Elite Four and Champion; go partake in the pro-battling world. You seem like you have the right kind of spunk and energy for it!"
Mel wasn't sure if it showed through on her face or not, but she was half-incredulous. She honestly didn't think they made people this nice. She'd used to think so, once, but she'd been very, very wrong about that. Releasing a soft breath, she shook her head. "I think it's gonna take a little more than energy, but... thanks." Her smile softened a little.
"And I mean, I'm not sure about anyone else but... I think the job of being a gym leader must be even harder in some ways than being a member of the elite four, or the champion. You have to make sure to present the level of challenge your gym is certified for, no more and no less, so that you can accurately test trainers against those benchmarks. It's got to be hard not going all out all the time—and hard to train your pokémon not to. I think that takes a lot more finesse and skill than just giving it everything you've got at all times."
“Well still, you got this!" he stated, giving her a bright grin as he blinked. “And yeah, that is true, but sometimes we get to partake in the tournaments they have for scouting potential pro-battlers so we get to go all-out, then. It doesn't happen very often, mind you, but it's fun when they come around. I think there's a tournament coming up, actually, pretty soon. Next month, or the month after; I have to look and see," he stated.
“Oh, look, there it is!" he spoke suddenly, pointing forward. Ahead there was a small building with a few tables outside with umbrellas to keep the shade. It didn't look like a diner or restaurant of any kind, but more of those old outdoor type places. There was the window to order, and that was it. It had a magikarp roof, though, which was probably why they named it as such.
“This place might not be anything fancy or upscale, but trust me when I say they have the best food around. Well, at least in my opinion. A friend of mine says that Jo's place has the best food, but I beg to differ," he stated with a grin.
"Guess I'll have to try both and see what I think," Mel replied with a smile. "You should order for me, though. I'm not picky, but I want to try what you think is the best stuff here."