It was certainly very dimly lit. He couldn't really make out any of the details around him, and for a moment was worried that the Champion wasn't even there and that he had spent all that time for nothing. The thought of a wasted trip bothered him a little. He turned his head as he heard something shuffle in the dim room. He peered around, trying to locate what had made the sound…
And there, at the top of a set of red velvet carpeted stairs, was the Grand Champion. She was perched casually in a gilded throne, with red velvet upholstery. She was leaning to the left (Jethro's right), with her elbow propped on one of the throne's arms. Her head rested on the back of her hand, her knuckles against her cheek and her fingers straightened to half follow the curve of her face. She had one leg resting normally, with her foot on the floor. The other was bent at the knee, with the gap between the heel of her boot and the sole wedged against the other gilded arm of the throne. Three Firestones were set in the top of it, one dead center and the others to the left and right of it at slight angles.
The room was very dim, and Jethro squinted to make out the figure before him. Everything behind her was veiled in shadows. He could quite clearly make out her brilliant green eyes, which seemed to glow in the dim light. "So, you finally made it. I was beginning to think my little Victory Bridge was too much for you."
Jethro frowned. "I know that voice," he said to himself. It was a little deeper than he remembered, but still the same voice.
The figure rose rather gracefully, and yet limply like a doll, until she was standing. Light glinted off something at her waist and Jethro's eyes widened as his attention turned to it. It was a golden belt buckle…shaped like a sun. "You're-!"
The woman before him held up a hand to stop him. "Ding ding! We have a winner." As she finished speaking, a brilliant and blazing wall of flame erupted behind her. There she was, in all her glory. Fri, her hair tied back to look like Ho-Oh's tail, and her shirt changed to a bandeau top of the same bright red hue her t-shirt had been. She had her hands in her coat pockets as she ambled down the stairs.
Jethro glanced around him as she approached. The room was filled with tapestries depicting powerful Fire Type Pokèmon. An Arcanine, a Chandelure, a Typhlosion, a Camerupt, a Rapidash, and the legendary bird of Kanto, Moltres. Behind the wall of flames was a massive statue of a Charizard, clearly carved from something dark like obsidian or onyx. The ceiling was covered in elaborate and shining tiles, and was supported by massive gilded columns. The walls were painted dark red and the floor was made of slabs of Cinnabar. Everything glinted in the light of the fire, including the gold ring holding Fri's hair up.
Overall, it was actually somewhat intimidating. Fri came to a stop in front of him. "My name is actually Frita."
"Frita," Jethro echoed, nodding as a grin spread across his face. "Of course it is."
"Yes. Frita Warmhart. Grand Champion of the Pokemon League and Regional Champion of Mara." She paused, grinning. The light reflected off her teeth in shades of red and gold and burned fiercely in her bright green eyes. "Would you care to challenge me?"
It was Jethro's turn to grin. He had no intentions of letting Frita intimidate him now. "Well, I came this far. Might as well go out in an all-or-nothing effort." From what he had seen of her Pokémon, he was confident in his ability to handle them. Don't underestimate her, he reminded himself. She earned her position in the League for good reason.
Frita took a few steps forward and snapped her fingers. The floor of the room lifted with a hydraulic whoosh and began to rotate. The bottom was set with a simple, standard Pokémon battling field.
Jethro raised an eyebrow. "All that show for a standard battlefield? A tad eccentric, is it n- well… then again, knowing you..," he muttered. Frita jumped back, so that she was standing in the trainer box on the opposite side, and Jethro followed suit on his side. As he was about to send out one of his Pokémon, the field lurched and he had to devote his attention to keeping his balance.
His heart caught in his throat as the field began to rise, and the ceiling tiles folded back. He looked around as the hydraulics slowly lifted them upward. The field locked into place and Jethro exclaimed in surprise as his momentum carried him a few inches into the air. They were on the roof of the Mara Pokémon League, surrounded on all sides by grassy hills and ocean water. The sky stretched as far as he could see in nearly every direction.
"Wow…" He wanted to say more, but that was all he could manage.
Railings came up around the trainer boxes as they lifted slightly up and back, extending the field even further. They locked into place with a shudder. Jethro watched Frita carefully. She was standing rather nonchalantly across from him. He jumped as a voice boomed from some unknown place.
"This will be-! Pfft! Hahaha!" The voice paused to laugh at his near heart-attack. "Man, I love it when they freak like that!" Jethro turned in every direction, trying to find the source of the sound, his hand ghosting to his sword reflexively.
"You're not gonna find me, genius. I don't have a body." Jethro's brow furrowed.
"Alright," he said slowly. "So I'm talking to a disembodied voice. Possibly not the first time, but one of the slightly less-appreciated." The voice laughed again, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the field. It was a man, about 20, in red clothing. He had glasses and bright red hair.
-
"And when I say red, I mean like apple red." Jethro interjected, emphasizing the point by waving his hands by his head.
"Groudon red?" Valin asked.
"Weeelllll, pretty close," Jethro said, waving his hand in a so-so manner.
-
He had brilliant blue eyes, and wore a gray undershirt beneath his red leather jacket. He wore black shoes, and had green gems set in his jacket as perfectly placed accents.
He pushed his glasses up his nose and smirked.
"Say hello to Dexter!" Frita called from across the field.
"Dexter?" Jethro called back. He smirked. The name was familiar enough to him. "Let me guess!"
"That's right, Einstein," Dexter mocked, crossing his arms. "I'm the AI program that runs Fri's Pokédex. I'll be the referee for this battle. It will be six on six, no time limits and no restrictions except that only the Challenger can substitute Pokémon. Sound fair?" Jethro nodded, the grin still plastered on his face. "Good. Then, battle begin!"