The Great Gym Leader Meet and Greet!
Attention all gym leaders of
Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova!
Sinnoh's champion Cynthia would like to
Extend to you an invitation to
The first annual "Great Gym Leader Meet and Greet"
To be held on December 18, 2011
At Cynthia's villa in The Resort Area, Sinnoh region
Please, everyone is wanted in attendance!
At this gathering you will be able to meet gym leaders of your type
From other regions and get to know each other and
The other regions better. You could also exchange
Battle tactics if you wish.
The elite fours and champions are holding separate gatherings, so I
Regret to inform you that they will not be attending
I, however, will be hosting this Gym Leader Meet and Greet
So I will be looking forward to seeing each one of you,
Many of whom I've already met.
~Cynthia
Lance: Cynthia, are you sure you don't want to come to our annual meeting? Why don't you hold this gym leader thing at another time…?
Cynthia: Because I don't think it's fair that the gym leaders barely know each other when the elite fours and champions are already so familiar with one another. I've tried to suggest this Meet and Greet at previous meetings but nothing was ever done about it, so this time I'm taking matters into my own hands.
Lance: I'm sorry about that, truly, but please still come. Here, I'll even change the date of ours if you want.
Cynthia: [smiles] That won't be necessary, Lance. I want to prove to everyone that the gym leaders are just as important as we are, if not more. You know I've always wanted to be a gym leader…
Lance: Yes, yes, I know. [sighs] I guess I understand. We'll miss you, Cynthia.
Cynthia: Thanks, and don't worry, I promise I'll come to the next meeting.
-Dec 18, Cynthia's villa-
"Ah, hello again, Elesa, I'm glad you could make it!" Cynthia smiled warmly. "Right this way, please, I'd like all the same-type gym leaders to spend some time together first before I mix everyone together. Maybe you'll make a new friend!"
"Thanks, Cynthia. I've always wondered what the other electric-type gym leaders were like. I wonder if we run our gyms similarly."
"And that's the reason for this," Cynthia smiled again, but it seemed a sad smile this time. "Here we are, the Electric Room. I'll be back to check on you guys later. Have fun!" Cynthia left, closing the door behind her.
Elesa heard a whistle when she walked in. She was used to it, of course, being a model and all, but she had hoped gym leaders, electric types especially, had more class than that. Then she looked around and saw that there were three men in the room. Two were on the couch and likely chatting before she entered, as the oldest man, who had white hair and a beard, had a spark in his eyes and was grinning from ear to ear. The other man on the couch looked to be in his early thirties and was blond and muscular. He lowered his shades and winked at her when she looked at him, and Elesa was instantly repulsed. So he had whistled. The youngest, also blonde and about her age, was moping in the corner with a bored look on his face. His eyes lacked luster, and he seemed to be the opposite of the older man.
"Cynthia told us there was one left, but she never told us she was as pretty as you!" the muscular man said with a confident look on his face. "You ever think of modeling?"
"Uh, thanks, but, no, I…I don't model." Elesa hated lying, and surely Cynthia wouldn't like it when she was supposed to be making friends, but with this guy she knew it was better not to make him want her more. And besides, she didn't want any of them to assume that she was stuck up, like models were known for being. She wished Burgh, her best friend, were here, but he was a bug-type gym leader. Ah, well, she'd see him soon.
He tsked. "A shame. Such beauty should be shared with the world. Anyway, my name is Lieutenant Surge, I used to be in the army before becoming a gym leader. I'm from the Kanto region, and my partner is a Raichu."
"My name is Elesa, I'm from the Unova region, and my partner is Zebstrika."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Elesa," the white-haired man stood up, smiling excitedly. "My name is Wattson, and I'm from the Mauville City gym in the Hoenn region. My partner is Magnetric. Please excuse this guy, his overconfidence makes him oblivious." Wattson said, not seeming the least bit annoyed with the lieutenant. He must be so happy to be here, or maybe that was just his personality. Elesa liked that about him; electric type trainers should have that spark about them.
"It's very nice to meet you too, Wattson." Elesa replied. His smile was contagious. "And you are?" Elesa asked the mopey guy in the corner. She noticed he didn't even look up when she arrived.
"…Volkner."
"…Are you from Sinnoh?"
Volkner nodded, and everything was quiet for half a second before Wattson interjected. "Aw, cmon, Volkner, don't be like that! This gathering is fun, definitely a nice change. I've been a gym leader for twenty years, and I've never met anyone outside of Hoenn.."
"Really? Twenty years?" Elesa asked, impressed. "You must be quite talented."
Wattson winked. "What say you to a battle after this?"
"You're on." Elesa said, grinning. Now this is what she was talking about.
Wattson laughed heartily. "I like you. You've got spirit."
Elesa glanced warily at Volkner. She was sure Wattson didn't mean to offend him, he was such a loveable old guy, but Volkner didn't seem perturbed in the least. Wattson noticed Elesa's glance and whispered to her, "You know, Volkner was actually the first to arrive." Then he winked and went to sit back down on the couch. Hmm, maybe Volkner didn't hate to be here as much as he let on. Or, maybe, he just had nothing better to do. Elesa sat down on the chair across from the couch and the three began to chatter endlessly about Pokemon.
"Here you are Chuck, the Fighting Room. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take Jasmine to the Steel Room. Have fun!" Maylene saw the overweight bodybuilder enter the room. You'd think he'd wear a shirt, since his gut was exposed and this was a special event, but oh well. Maylene wasn't one to judge.
"Hey! I'm Maylene! Gym leader at the Veilstone Gym here in Sinnoh! This is Lucario, my special partner," she said, gesturing to the Pokemon. The invite hadn't said anything about bringing Pokemon, but she and Lucario did everything together, and of course she'd known Cynthia wouldn't mind. This event is a way for you guys to get to know each other better, she had said when Maylene arrived. How you do that is entirely up to you. Maylene smiled. She highly respected Cynthia, but then again, who didn't? Not only the best trainer in Sinnoh, she was kind and beautiful and independent and had travelled to many other regions.
"I'm Chuck, Cianwood City's fighting ace!" Chuck introduced himself, snapping Maylene out of her reverie. "But whoa—a girl? With pink hair at that! I thought my fellow Fighters would be a little tougher than that." Chuck laughed.
Lucario tensed, and Maylene lunged at Chuck, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over onto the floor. Meditating daily, Maylene was very in charge of her emotions and actions. She had flipped Chuck because she wanted to, wanted to prove herself to this guy. She wasn't enraged, she was smiling. Lucario also grinned when he saw Chuck's priceless expression.
"How's that for tough?" Maylene taunted, just as a tan surfer guy with blue hair entered.
"Whoa—dudes!" the surfer exclaimed. "I'm excited too, but wait till everyone gets here."
"Actually, you're the last one, Brawly." Cynthia told him, then gave Maylene a thumbs up while Chuck was pulling himself up off the floor. Maylene grinned. "See you guys later!" Cynthia waved and left down the hall. Must be tiring, greeting everyone practically one-by-one and personally escorting them to their rooms, but Cynthia was practically glowing with excitement.
"She just took me by surprise," Chuck defended himself, his face returning to a normal shade.
"Yeah, sure, dude. Ya still got your butt whooped by a girl." He high-fived Maylene. "Name's Brawly, I'm from the Dewford Gym in Hoenn."
Maylene and Chuck reintroduced themselves and Maylene introduced her Lucario. "Awesome pokemon, bra. I haven't seen a Lucario before, but I can tell you've raised it well."
"Thanks!" Maylene beamed.
Chuck then seemed to really notice Lucario for the first time. "Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry about before, Maylene. I was being narrow-minded."
"No sweat." Maylene grinned at the unintended pun. "There's more to fighting than just brute strength."
"Totes," Brawly agreed. Lucario nodded. "So anyway, sorry if I'm late," Brawly said. "I got here early to check out Sinnoh's waves. You guys've got a pretty gnarly beach down near Sunyshore."
"Yeah, that's just south of Veilstone. My pokemon and I train there sometimes for a change in scenery." Maylene replied.
Chuck cleared his throat. "You know, my gym is on a beach. There's a lot of whirlpools nearby, though, so we discourage swimming.
"Whirlpools? SWEET!" Brawly pumped his fist. "Looks like I'm going to Johto next!"
Maylene and Chuck laughed. Brawly sure was something.
"Here you are, Jasmine. The Steel Room. Sorry there's only two of you." Cynthia smiled apologetically.
"That's alright, Cynthia. It just means we'll get to know each other better. I've already met Volkner when I visited Sunyshore awhile ago, and I'm looking forward to meeting the other Sinnoh gym leaders."
"That's the spirit," Cynthia said as she left.
"Hey, you must be Byron! My name is Jasmine and I'm from Olivine City in Johto. It's nice to meet you."
"You too. Guess you've already heard of me, but I'm from the Canalave Gym here in Sinnoh."
"Cool, what's it like there?"
"It's a port city, there's some ships and bridges, and we've got the largest library in Sinnoh. I'm not much for readin' though. I prefer training on Iron Island nearby—I spend most of my time there. Challengers sometimes have to take a ship there looking for me." Byron laughed. "It's good for 'em though, they shouldn't pass up such a great opportunity for growing stronger."
"Sneaky," Jasmine remarked, grinning. Byron shrugged. "Olivine is a port city as well; my favorite place in world is the Olivine Lighthouse. Amphy—my Ampharos—uses her electricity to light the way for sailors. I wish I could have brought her, but she was needed more there…"
Byron interrupted before Jasmine could go on and on about her precious pokemon like she was starting to—he wasn't a bad guy, but he wasn't much for the sentimental stuff. "You know—we have a lighthouse here in Sinnoh, too. In Sunyshore City."
"I know!" Jasmine exclaimed excitedly. "It's beautiful too. I visited Sinnoh awhile ago and was drawn to it. It reminded me of home."
"Oh, so…does that mean you've met Volkner?" Byron asked.
"I have, he was really nice."
"He-he was?" Byron asked, confused.
"Yeah, why? Do you guys not get along?" Jasmine asked sadly. "Sorry if I'm being rude, you don't have to answer," she amended quickly.
"No, it's not that. He's just…eh he doesn't seem to care about anything. He's the strongest of us gym leaders in Sinnoh and nobody is enough of a challenge for him." He scoffed. "A bit ungrateful if ya ask me."
"No, I can understand that. Poor Volkner…" Jasmine was quiet for a minute. "I know! I'll just have to visit him more often and cheer him up! It's far but…I'll make it up to the trainers who miss me."
"Good luck with that." Byron said sarcastically.
"Oh come on now Byron. You should get to know him better. You live in the same region after all."
"I'm not much for socializin'." Byron explained.
"Oh." Was Jasmine's reply.
Three whole minutes went by before Byron realized what he'd said. He looked over to see Jasmine on the verge of tears. "Wait, no, I didn't mean it that way," Byron said, struggling. "I'm sorry, I'm just not good at this sort of thing. It's not like I…dislike you or anything."
Jasmine sniffled. "Aw, I'm sorry, Byron." Jasmine hugged him, adding to his confusion of this awkward situation. He was the one to make her cry, so wouldn't he be the one supposed to be doing the hugging? Not that he would ever do that. Real men didn't hug. Byron quickly suppressed an unpleasant thought.
"I don't dislike you, either," Jasmine added, ending the hug which Byron hadn't reciprocated.
After yet another awkward silence, Jasmine said, "So tell me about your Pokemon." And so the two Steel trainers finally found something in common, managing to fill the rest of the afternoon with chatter with only minimal awkwardness.
Cynthia showed Roxanne to the Rock room. "You guys have fun!" she called as she left. "Hey, guys, I'm Roxanne, from Rustboro City in Hoenn." The two guys who both looked about her age introduced themselves as Brock from Kanto and Roark from Sinnoh.
"Nice to meet you both. So what did I miss?" Roxanne asked them.
"Nothing, really, I just got here myself," Brock said.
"And you?" Roxanne asked Roark.
"I've been here awhile, but don't worry about it. I was thinking about something."
"What about?" Roxanne wondered aloud.
"Um, a new battle strategy I'm working on." Roark said. It wasn't a complete lie, as he had thought about that a little, but he was mostly worried about his dad.
"Hey, now, this is your vacation," Brock chastised lightly. "I don't know about you guys, but I had four challengers just last week!"
"Wow, were your pokemon able to recover enough in between?" Roxanne asked, concerned.
"Yeah, don't worry, they were fine. My pokemon are tough." Brock grinned. "So how about you?"
"Hm, last week I was busy with the school so I didn't have any gym battles."
"The school?" Roark asked.
"Oh, yeah—I'm also a teacher at the Pokemon School in Rustboro. We teach children about pokemon and about battles. I really love it." Roxanne said.
"Wow, a teacher. That's cool." Brock approved.
"Thanks…hey, are you alright?" Roxanne asked Roark, who was staring off into space.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm fine. A teacher, wow. We have a Pokemon School in Jubilife City as well."
"Roark, honey, tell me what's bothering you," Roxanne said compassionately.
"Well…" Roark began. Roxanne steered him to the couch, where they both sat down. Brock sat in the chair across from them. "It's nothing, really, I was just a little worried about my dad."
"Is he alright?!" Roxanne asked, alarmed. "If he's sick or something, you should be there instead. We'd understand."
"No, no, nothing like that." Roark reassured her. "My dad's also here, and I was just wondering how things were going for him. He's, well, let's just say he's not much of a people person."
"Your dad's a gym leader, too?" Brock asked, surprised.
"Yeah," Roark said, not looking away from the concerned teacher.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine," Roxanne attempted to reassure him.
"Yeah, he probably doesn't care if he makes any friends. And he doesn't get embarrassed easily so there's no worry there either. But I feel sorry for whoever he's with. You guys have any idea who that might be? He uses steel-types."
"No idea." Brock said. "No steel types in Kanto."
"No steel gym in Hoenn, either." Roxanne added.
"Oh…I hope he isn't alone." Roark hadn't thought of this possibility.
Roxanne looked at him, puzzled. "You feel sorry for whoever he may be with, yet you worry about how he's doing?"
"It's…complicated." Roark said.
"Go on," Roxanne urged.
"Well, basically my dad is an insensitive jerk who left Mom and I to become a gym leader in Canalave, and he's rarely showed me any affection whatsoever, no matter how hard I've tried. But he does try in his own way, and I still love him. We don't talk much though."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Roxanne was genuinely touched. "Are you going to see him when Cynthia lets everyone mingle together?"
"…Yeah, I think I am." Roark smiled.
"Then there's no point in worrying. You'll see him soon enough. And as long as he knows how you feel, well, then things will be ok." Roxanne said, stroking Roark's hair.
"Thanks Ms. Roxanne, you're right." Roark smiled.
"Anytime." Roxanne replied, then turned to look at Brock, who had a slightly annoyed look on his face. "What's the matter?"