This chapter's slightly longer than usual, as I spent a little time each day on it.

The next morning, Mira seemed distracted while eating her breakfast.

"Mira?" asked Mark. She was still in a trance.

"Mira? Are you okay?" he asked again, breaking her daze.

"Oh...um...sorry about that."

"Is...there anything wrong?"

"No...don't worry about me. I'm fine." I'm sort of worried about you...

They started going to look for the gym, but couldn't find it!

"Hello there," said an elderly man. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, summer shorts, pitch black sunglasses, and had a white beard. "May I be of assistance?"

"Yes," said Ryan, "Where's the gym?"

"Oh, it was closed."

"WHAT!?"

"Didn't you hear? Cinnibar Island's Volcano has been a tourist attraction for the past 25 years or so...the gym was closed down because of that."

Mira was thinking. My dad came here and got a badge within the past within the past 25 years... "Are you sure? What about the trainers who received badges during those past 25 years?"

The man smiled. "Very few did...answer my riddle then: What do you call a Pokemon that blends in with its surroundings?"

"A Kelceon?" asked Mira.

"No, this is a riddle."

"How about a Charmeleon?" asked Mark.

"Good, now it's up to you to find one if you expect to find the gym leader." With that final statement, the man left.

"So," said Ryan, "We need to find a Charmeleon?"

"Yeah," replied Mark, "but probably a statue or something, rather than the real thing."

The three trainers started looking, and did not find anything inside the city, and decided to look in the forests surrounding the volcano. Eventually, near its base, they found a stone Charmeleon statue.

"Great," said Ryan, "Now what do we do?"

"Wait," said Mira, "Isn't there something wrong with it?"

They were silent for a while, until Mark said, "The tail?"

"Yeah," said Ryan, "There's no flame."

"I'll light it," said Mira, already stepping in front of it, and somehow conjuring flames out of her mouth, onto the tail. She noticed that her friends seemed to be shock. "It takes practice; after all, I've been a Pokemon hybrid since I was born."

Suddenly, a nearby boulder started moving, revealing stone steps down into the ground. It was dimly lit by small wall torches, and appeared to be quite deep.

"Wanna go in?" asked Ryan.

"Of course!" replied Mira, "I need a badge from Cinnibar Island, if I want to participate in the Indigo League." With that statement, she marched down the stairs, and her friends followed. After what seemed to be an eternity, they reached the bottom of the steps, and a short hallway with a metal door at the end. Engraved on it was another riddle: "What did the Pokemon Magician say?"

They all thought for a while, until Ryan blurted out "Abra Kadabra Alakazam". The metal door slowly slid open. It revealed a large room containing a huge metal stadium suspended by chains above a pool of molten lava. Standing on the other end of the arena was the old man that gave them the riddle.

"Impressive; I was waiting for you to arrive, and never expected that you would come so quickly."

"Who are you ?" asked Ryan.

Mira yelled out to the old man, "You're Blaine, the Cinnibar Island gym leader."

"Correct. Now are you ready to battle inside my secret volcano gym."

"Isn't this sort of...dangerous?" asked Mark.

"Well, if you don't like my style, then get out of the gym."

"Fine. I'm not leaving!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am, and to prove it I'll battle you first!"

"Very well, go Rhydon!" He released the massive beast onto the field.

"Go Zane!" Of course, Mark released his most powerful Pokemon. The Mighteyana looked at his surroundings. "Great...you want me to fight over a pool of burning lava, with an opponent who's triple my size...why must you do this to me?"

The Rhydon then started charging forward, but Zane stepped to the side and used Bite on its arm. However, it was rock-hard, and the Mighteyana let go. "OW! My poor teeth...YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"

The Rhydon, also being as dumb as a rock, charged forward again, and the Mighteyana dodged again, but this time used Dark Pulse on it. The wave of negative thoughts formed into energy, ripping through the air, and knocking his opponent backwards onto the ground. Zane then slammed right into him with Faint Attack, and then used a Shadow Ball. At first, it seemed like the attacks did not have much effect, until they realized where the Rhydon actually was; it was just on the edge of the arena. Zane used one last Faint Attack, and it was falling towards the lava. Blaine, fortunately, returned his Pokemon before it was sent to its death.

"Great use of environment, now who's next?"

"I'll go," said Mira.

Blaine sent out his Magmar, and Mira sent out Lapras. Unfortunately, it used Hydro Pump right away, causing an automatic win. Fire and water do not mix well.

"I guess that just leaves you," said Blaine.

Ryan nodded, "I'm ready," and released his Snorlax.

"Where am I? Must...SLEEP!" It then fell asleep.

Blaine sent out his Ninetales, which used Flame Thrower on it. (Sound familiar?)

Snorlax woke up. "FEE FI FO FUM! ROASTING ME IS VERY DUMB!"

It then jumped and landed on top of the fox.

"Okay," said Blaine, "That was my quickest defeat ever that didn't involve a water-type..."

The three trainers went back to the Pokemon Center for some rest, but while the boys went back to the room, Mira got on the phone.

"Mom?...We're coming soon...alright...really? That's ummm...okay. Bye."

"One more gym!" cheered Ryan.

"Wait...Mira? Isn't that..."

"Yes, it's my father's gym...this will probably be our hardest battle yet..."

Well, my schedule is busy, leaving me with only 60 minutes of free time in the morning, 30 minutes of free time in the afternoon, and 30 minutes of free time at night...I guess that is good enough for now...Also, I changed the rating in preparation for the big event...though the gym is the big event, I meant the other one...Oh yeah, so the gym battle might be broken into different chapters, and it might take me a while to do all of them...I'll try to start this weekend. In the meantime, read and review! I'm still accepting any ideas you may have...also, does anyone want to watch videos made by my school? These are student-made videos take on campus, and they're all really good. p6-EzlxNds SIcIetz-o

Tell me what you think of those, but make sure you watch them to the end; ESPECIALLY the second one!