[2]
~~~~~~~~~The Tides of Destiny~~~~~~~~~
About twenty minutes later they arrived to see that the outside of the gym was about the same, though it had been painted black and the lightning bolts tearing their way across it had been painted a dark purple. The dark, now black, tower stood blocking the sun in front of them and there was now a mansion like addition extending from the side of the gym. There seemed to be an almost mystical feel around it that only increased as the group got closer.
The gym was a dark palace against the sunny day, but somehow it was welcoming.
The doors swung open in a slow creaking movement. Fog crept its way out as they walked in. The gym was darker inside than it used to be, but a few more lights flickered on as they approached. The blue mats had been replaced with black ones, and the windows were now semi tinted.
"Hello and welcome to my gym," a voice like echoing velvet radiated to them, it sounded almost like a piano being played.
Misty's breath caught in her chest and she looked around for the source of the beautiful sound.
A tall man stepped forward into the light and smirked at them.
He appeared to be about six feet tall. He wore a black silky dress shirt that fit just right, and a flowing black trench coat with silver buckles. His cascading black hair fell far past his shoulders in choppy layers; it had reflections of blue when the light hit it.
A silver chain looped from his waist, down to his right knee, and back up again, it swung across his black slacks as he walked over to greet them.
He grinned at them from behind his dark chocolate eyes, "Welcome, I am Matthias, the new gym leader." He explained in a soft and deep voice.
Misty took a sharp intake of breath as the handsome gym leader approached. He strolled over gracefully, his boots making soft and relaxing clunking noises. Brock and Ash took a step forward. There was something out of the ordinary about him, yet his mannerisms were oddly calming.
Misty couldn't help but notice his eyes, even though they were dark they burned with passion and life; there was a small sparkle of excitement that dwelled in them as well. They were soft, yet held so much strength and experience; it was as if he had lived a thousand lives. She found herself fixed by his gaze as it shifted over to her. As his eyes met hers, Misty could feel something spark and a tugging feeling gently pulled on her stomach.
Ash didn't know why, but the way Matthias looked at Misty made him feel uneasy, the need to protect her rose in him, he took a couple steps and stopped in front of her.
"We heard that you were giving away techniques as a prize for winning" Ash questioned suspiciously, he had no idea why he felt so strange about the man standing before him.
"Indeed, most of the techniques are very rare as well" Matthias stated still staring at Misty; he did not turn his attention away from her until a second or so later.
Now that he was closer Misty could see that he was fairly taller than both Ash and Brock, and that Ash seemed to be uncomfortable with having to look up to address him.
The tension they had felt in the woods returned now that they stood before this unfamiliar individual. Though Matthias' demeanor seemed kind and calming, they were intimidated by him and almost afraid of him. Then without warning Togepi wiggled out of Misty's arms, as she often did, and pranced over to him.
Matthias looked down smirking, and knelt to pick the small pokemon up.
"Hello there" he mused in a musical voice, "Are you always this much of a trouble maker?" he asked tickling Togepi's chin. She trilled and Matthias handed her back to Misty. The tension lifted as the group sighed; after experiencing the soft encounter they began to feel a little bit better about the gym leader.
"I also heard your strong enough to be one of the Elite Four" Brock said out of nowhere.
Both his companions looked at him in shock, "Huh?"
Matthias nodded slightly, "Yes that is indeed also true, I am impressed by your knowledge".
"I did some research on my electronic database on the way here," Brock explained showing them the small screen that read "Matthias Volt, Vermillion City Gym Leader" and gave a small description of his accomplishments and statistics, which included that he was next in line to be an Elite Four member.
"So how do you fight with inexperienced trainers who come here for the first time?" Brock inquired.
"I have a few different sets of pokemon, at different levels and types, but my main ones are up to the standards of the Elite Four" Matthias answered nonchalantly.
"That's good, cause I just came from beating them" Ash said he was starting to regain his boyish confidence, but still seemed to be taken aback by the looming gym leader's presence.
The gym leader grinned, "So who's up first?" he challenged.
"I'll go first, I'm Brock Shale, leader of the Pewter Gym".
"Sounds good Brock, the rules are two pokemon, one at a time. Although if none of you here object, to be fair to my pokemon, I will switch the two choices between trainers"
"Agreed!" the group nodded.
"Very good, than let us begin" Matthias stated and strolled to the other side of the arena.
He took off his trench coat and rolled up the sleeves to his dress shirt.
Misty found herself wondering if that was muscle straining against the fabric of the shirt as he moved, but quickly scolded herself in embarrassment. It wasn't at all like her to have such thoughts, especially about someone she just met.
"Are you prepared Brock Shale?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, go Graveler!" Brock shouted as he threw the pokeball.
"Come on out now, Lapras" Matthias spoke, and with a flick of his wrist the pokeball arched into the center of the field.
Misty excitedly gazed at the magnificent pokemon; Lapras was so majestic and best of all a legendary water pokemon.
"Graveler rock throw now!" Brock fired.
A swarm of boulders bombarded down onto Lapras. She was knocked backward, but otherwise appeared fine.
"Lapras, water gun" Matthias commanded softly.
A stream of water rocketed from Lapras' mouth.
"Dodge it!" Brock yelled, and Graveler dived to the ground just in time as the stream missed it by mere inches.
"Now, Hydro pump" the gym leader said quickly.
An enormous tornado of water barreled toward Graveler and struck, sending it flying back to Brocks feet, unconscious.
'What graceful water attacks!' Misty thought in awe.
"Return" Brock said gruffly. He took another pokeball off his belt and let it fly.
"Now go Onix!" he shouted as the giant rock creature burst from the light.
Onix gave an enormous roar and took a battle position.
"Bubblebeam." Matthias requested calmly.
The attack missed as Onix slithered to the left and dove for Lapras.
"Lapras, teleport" and with that the pokemon disappeared.
Onix looked around confused, Lapras appeared a few feet from where it had departed.
"Surf, Lapras." Matthias gave the command.
A gigantic wave materialized behind Lapras, and she sent it crashing into Onix, who gave a roar of defeat and collapsed to the floor.
Brock reluctantly called Onix back.
"You fought quite well Brock, it was just a lucky match up for me" Matthias said. "Now, who will be going next?" his eyes were glowing with adrenaline, though his voice and movements did not convey it.
"I will!" Ash said confidentially, watching Matthias battle Brock had convinced him that he didn't have to worry about the guy, and got him pumped for a battle. "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town".
"I have heard much about you Ash, it would be dreadful for you to let me down" Matthias replied.
"Go Bulbasaur!" Ash commanded as he tossed the pokeball.
"Join us, Haunter" Matthias called out.
Ash told Bulbasaur to use vine whip, but the green whips only passed through Haunter.
"Haunter, night shade" A blast of purple and black engulfed the entire arena.
"Bulbasaur!" Ash yelled, but the grass pokemon was still standing when the darkness ceased.
"Solarbeam!" Ash said as a huge blast of yellow light pierced through Haunter.
The ghost staggered and almost went down, but it steadied itself and was ready to counter as Matthias told it to use psychic. Bulbasaur was thrown down and rolled over unconscious.
Ash called it back, and sent out Charizard.
"Flamethrower now!" he yelled.
A wall of flame tore through the ghost and Haunter fainted as Matthias recalled it.
"Let us end this old friend" Matthias said to the ball, and sent it soaring.
Appearing from the pokeball in a storm of electricity was a Raichu.
"Raichu!" it sounded as it leaped into a battle stance, it looked a lot stronger than any Raichu they had seen.
Misty's heart sank, 'If he uses Raichu against me, I might as well just give up'
A fierce battle commenced, punches and attacks blasted everywhere.
Until finally…
"FIREBLAST GO!"
"Raichu, thunder quickly, give it your all!"
Flames and lighting exploded everywhere. The sound was deafening.
One of the flames licked out at Matthias' shirt, causing it to ignite.
He immediately tore it off, throwing it to the ground.
Misty quickly put it out by calling out Staryu, and using water gun.
"Clever girl" He commented, flashing her a devilishly handsome smile as he turned to grab a shirt out of a shelf in the wall behind him. There seemed to be a spark in his smile that caught her in its wake.
Misty felt the same small tug and a whirling of butterflies in her stomach as she noticed how extremely muscular and defined his entire upper body was. He wasn't bulky like Surge, but his muscles stretched across his body in sculpted beauty and looked as if they could bend steel without a flinch. She had been right when she wondered what his tailored shirt hid.
"You keep shirts in your arena?" she heard Ash question from miles away, but all her eyes saw was how his muscles rippled as he chuckled.
"Yes, but it is usually my pokemon that get carried away" he answered.
It took Misty a second to comprehend it when her sight of the pale sloping rock that was Matthias' muscles had been replaced with an enveloping dark chocolate. Matthias had caught her eyes with his as he pulled a tight black t-shirt over his tone body. He merely chuckled softly, and what sounded almost poetically to Misty.
She gasped and quickly looked down, the familiar red line appearing across her face.
Charizard lay unconscious in the middle of the arena.
"That was an amiable attempt Ash, I have not had such an intense battle in awhile, Raichu and I thank you." He finished and looked directly at Misty.
"I believe it is just you and I now", his chocolate eyes flashed, there was something in the way he said it that excluded the two boys in the gym.
Her breath threatened to fail her, but she composed herself and nodded.
"And what is your name?" he inquired seeming quite curious to find out.
"I'm Misty Waterflower, gym leader of Cerulean City." She stammered out a bit less powerful than she wanted.
"Well it is a delight to meet you Misty" Matthias replied his words dancing to her like a bow descending on a cello.
She sent out Staryu, and breathed a sigh of relief when Matthias called out Rhydon.
"Rhydon use earthquake" he requested.
"Staryu, jump into the air!" Misty yelled.
The seismic waves passed under Staryu, as it shot a beam of water at Rhydon.
The beam landed a direct hit, and Rhydon staggered back, but was only weakened.
"Rock throw"
"Surf, Staryu!"
Both moves collided with their intended targets simultaneously. Rhydon and Staryu collapsed at the feet of their trainers.
"Go, Starmie!" Misty called out confidant now. But as Starmie poised itself for its opponent Misty heard the name of the next pokemon Matthias was going to use and her heart fell once again.
"Zapdos, come on out".
Starmie was able to dodge the first couple of electric attacks.
Zapdos was injured fairly bad by the physical attacks Starmie was able to inflict.
Though the battle took a devastating turn when Matthias threw his arm up commanding Zapdos to use thunderbolt. As he did that Misty had a vivid vision of running her delicate hand up his washboard of a stomach, feeling the naked flesh and rock tight muscle. Starmie hesitated for a second, not sure to whether dodge or not and was captured by the bolt of electricity. The sound blasted Misty out of her fog.
Starmie was writhing around under the stream of lightings power, and it was apparent it was in real pain. Misty gasped and almost cried as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop it.
All of a sudden the deep velvet voice rang out, almost in rage "ZAPDOS ENOUGH!"
It seemed to Misty that time itself stopped for that voice and the words that reverberated through the gym as if it were an endless cathedral.
"What have I told you about respect and restraint!" he scolded the bird.
Zapdos bowed its head and nodded once before Matthias called it back.
He jogged forward to meet Misty over by Starmie, a hyper potion already in hand.
Misty was in awe of his actions, and the fact that he was so close to her she could see herself in his eyes.
"I deeply apologize," he said earnestly.
"It's…fine" Misty breathed out as his indescribable scent hit her. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, it made her heart flutter madly and her head as light as a feather.
He gave Starmie the potion, and stood.
"You should get Starmie to the pokemon center immediately" he instructed.
"Right, come on guys lets go" Brock said.
"Just let me close the doors up, I wish to accompany you all to the center" Matthias said softly.
'He's going to come with us?" Misty's mind reeled.
But just as they made their way out the door, some new trainers were walking up the path.
"It's fine, thank you for everything, it was a pleasure to meet you" Misty chocked out.
"The pleasure was all mine" Matthias returned soft enough that only she could hear. He seemed troubled that he could not go and make sure Starmie would be alright, though there was curiousness in his voice that didn't seem to pertain to her pokemon.
And with that they left; a wary gym leader waving slightly behind them.