Water pokemon with sufficiently low internal temperatures represent an unusual variant from their aquatic counterparts; they need no longer fear grass or electric pokemon, and they attack with snow or solid ice. While water evaporates at high temperatures just as it freezes at low ones, anyone looking for a steam counterpart to the ice variant of water pokemon will find them absent in nature – but plentiful at the Cinnabar City Gym.
The Cinnabar City Gym's name has always been something of a misnomer; an enthusiastic Blaine chose it in emulation of the Indigo League's other gyms, but Cinnabar Island's population never grew large enough to be called a true city, even before the eruption. But the volcano who kept settlers away from Cinnabar also gave its gym its unique character; a platform inside suspended over lava, in heat so intense any water attack would swiftly turn into steam.
One should not mistake this heat for a shield; the attacks of battles in the Cinnabar Gym were as fierce as they were unorthodox. Water pokemon quickly adapted to the inferno's conditions and began to spit their steam like the fire pokemon they fought there, although once their waves turned into a vapor, they no longer had any special ability to douse their enemies' flames. The Volcano Badge would not be easy for water pokemon trainers to win, but nor would it be easy for anyone else; the old hermit of the volcano is an elite pokemon trainer whose spirit burns hotter than his pokemon!