Jarel twisted his neck to the point that it popped and then his body relaxed. Terra knew that he was incredibly tense in actuality. She could see the reality in his muscles, but it was only because she was so close that she could see this.
The Gym Leader couldn't tell, and Terra was assuming that it was part of Jarel's plan. Acting really laid back would set off the Gym Leader while Jarel could execute a hidden plan. Yes, that was his idea. Jarel and The gym leader released the pokemon for the first round. A somewhat tired Charmeleon versus a Corsola.
A flag was dropped and the Charmeleon exploded into movement. It jumped from platform to platform coming dangerously close to the Corsola. "Spike Cannon!" called the Gym Leader. A moment or two later and the Charmeleon would have had it, but the Spikes flew quickly and impacted on the Charmeleon, which began to stumble back onto the platform. "Dang! I was hoping to push it into the water." Said the Gym Leader.
"Don't let that stop you, go offensive. Flamethrower!" and a burst of flames headed for the Corsola.
"Mirror Coat." Called the gym leader, and the pokemon obeyed, minimizing the damage and sending it back to its origin. Charmeleon was hit again, but being a fire type, the attack did little damage.
Terra looked away from the battle for a moment saw that Jarel looked like he was sweating it.
"Use Smokescreen!" Charmeleon fired a small puff at Corsola, which exploded lightly into a large cloud of obscurity. "Hit it with Firespin!" A this point, Terra noticed the smile on his face, he was acting again. Or was he? She couldn't tell, but she knew that fire attacks weren't great to smile about when facing a wter Pokemon trainer.
The Corsola was launched into the air.
Nobody knew what was going on, except apparently Jarel. The Corsola, obviously confounded over its new whereabouts.
To Terra, time stopped. Jarel had planned this. Terra was amazed at Jarel's inventiveness. He used the Fire Spin had increased the heat around Corsola to the point that the air and everything in it was shot up due to the low pressure of hot air compared to the air that was cooled by the water.
"Finish this with Metal Claw!" Jarel said when time continued in its normal fashion. The Charmeleon propelled itself into the air with a blast of fire and now was charging energy into its claw. The attack hit its mark with incredible accuracy. When the pokemon landed, it was clear that Jarel had won the first round.
The Gym Leader's face was a mix of shock and impress. Her next pokemon took the arena now. Starmie, a powerful, yet beautiful pokemon not terribly unlike its trainer.
Jarel now recalled the Charmeleon. It was clear that he was saving it in case of a small disaster with Kadabra.
The Kadabra was summoned and it looked directly at Jarel. The Psychic line was established, not that Terra could tell. Now there was no necessity for any attacks to be called out.
The flag dropped again. Starmie launched itself into the water and began speeding at the platform Kadabra was standing on.
"Water gun!" called Starmie's trainer. And it was a savage attack, but useless at the same time, for Kadabra teleported before the Starmie had exited the water. After launching the attack, the starmie didn't move. Terra then saw that it was due to Kadabra.
Kadabra flung the enemy at a wall, but Starmie broke free and was back on the offensive with a rapid spin that made contact, but did little damage. Kadabra hit ti with a psybeam, and was struck with a swift.
Kadabra teleported behind it and hit it with Confusion. Starmie whirled around and used surf, which created a giant wave out of the battle arena. Kadabra countered with a Psywave on the water, to create a larger more powerful wave that Kadabra rode toward Starmie. Just before colliding, Starmie used an Ice Beam on Kadabra's wave, freezing it in place, and causing Kadabra to fly forward uncontrollably. Starmie's wave crashed and both pokemon rammed into each other.
At the next moment, Starmie and Kadabra were deadlocked. Kadabra using Psybeam, and Starmie using Ice Beam. The intensity increased. Energy bombarded and was thrown into random directions. Terra ducked to keep from getting hit by an Ice Beam. Finally, the attacks ended in an explosion.
Both Pokemon were tired, but were glowing. Terra recognized this technique from a TV special on Psychic types: Recover. It was a race to heal and attack first. Kadabra was first, to Jarel's rather obvious relief.
It threw its most powerful Psychic attack at Starmie, which was still in mid-recover and therefore motionless. Using straight pressure, Kadabra held Starmie against the wall. The focus was strong, for even when Starmie tried to move, it was no use. Kadabra now launched it into the ice wall formed by the wave.
The damage was done, Jarel had won. A flag made this known to the spectators, which had been increasingly growing since the beginning. The gym leader had no hard feelings when she handed him the badge. It had been her best battle in a while.
Terra walked to his side as he turned to leave the gym. "That was incredible! I've never seen a battle like that! Did you plan that, or was it instinct?"
Jarel looked at her closely before answering. She now saw what a thoughtful person he was. "I'd like to say that it was all planned, but Kadabra did a lot of the work in round two. That thing with Charmeleon was my plan, but Kadabra deserves half the credit for his strategy."
"You're sure modest." Terra said, rather flirtingly.
"That's how I was raised."
"So, where to now?"
And there was another pause from Jarel. "I guess we go to the Pokemon Center and heal these guys. We could stay the night and work on your strategy for tomorrow's battle."
"Oh. Right! I almost forgot. Yeah." The two trainers headed into the Center and Jarel left Charmeleon and Kadabra with the lady in pink. Terra headed to the room registration. Jarel sat down and began to fiddle with his pokedex.
"I was wondering if we could get two rooms next to each other for the night." Terra said when it was her turn in line.
"I'm sorry, miss, but we have only one room left." The clerk told her. Terra was a little shocked to hear this, and she didn't know what to do. She fidgeted and thought about how weird it could be to spend the night in the same room as a boy. "Excuse me, but if you want this room, it has to be now. There are other trainer's here who would like to stay."
"Umm… yes, that's fine. We'll take the room." Terra managed to stutter out. She worried about how this would bother Jarel. Then she realized that she had only met him a few hours ago. She took the keys from the man and headed back to where Jarel was sitting.
"Okay, so they only had one room left, so we have to share. I hope that won't bother you too much." Terra said quickly as she turned to walk away, leaving Jarel with an outstretched, protesting hand a shocked expression.