Charmander and Magmar

Chelsea the Charmander was all excited. She had been picked to become a part of the Fire Gym's roster! That meant that she would be trained by one of the masters of her type, and she'd fight in all sorts of challenging battles, and she could become famous, and… oh, it was even better than being picked to become a starter Pokemon!

When one was taken by a Professor to be a starter, one never knew what kind of Trainer one would get. Maybe it would be a future Champion, but maybe it was someone lazy. Or cruel. Or simply inept. But a Gym Leader was already a proven winner and excellent Trainer. A Gym Pokemon was most likely to become great.

This was her first day in the Gym, not counting the partial day yesterday when she had arrived. Chelsea woke up early, happy and ready to go. Of course, she wasn't going to be in Gym battles right away. No, she required extra training before she would truly see use here. She crawled out of her bed and wandered about the sleeping area while waiting on the day to begin.

It was a pretty nice place, she thought. Each Pokemon had their own spot to sleep and were well taken care of. There were a lot of others in the Gym and they were all owned by the Leader. Around her, mostly asleep or waking up, there were Ponytas, Vulpix, Ninetales, Rapidashes, a Flareon, Growlithes, Arcanines… but no others like her.

Then, the door opened, letting in an old but fit man. Blaine knocked on the door. "Rise and shine, everyone. We've got some early morning matches today." He came in, checking on all the Pokemon.

Chelsea hopped out of the way, then started walking after the Leader. He went around making sure that particular ones he'd be using early were up. Now that the door was opened, some others began leaving the room. What was she supposed to do?

Blaine knocked on one boxed off bed. "Morton, come out here. I've got some special work for you."

The door swung open, letting out a Magmar. The red and yellow Pokemon gave her a glance, then looked to Blaine. "What is it, boss?"

"This Charmander here is our newest member, Chelsea," Blaine said. "Chelsea, this is Morton the Magmar. Morton, I'd like you to watch out for Chelsea in her first days as her mentor. Will that work for you?"

Morton looked at her again, then nodded to the Leader. "Sure, I'll do that."

Chelsea smiled, letting her tail flame flicker happily. "Thanks!"

"Good. I've got other things to do this morning, so I'll work with you both in the afternoon. Help her practice until then." Blaine then walked off with his lab coat flapping near his legs.

"What do we do first?" the Charmander asked, rocking on her feet.

"Hmmm…" the Magmar stretched, then said, "Breakfast first. Come on."

She wasn't about to argue that, so she followed him out to where Blaine and one of the Gym Trainers were setting up feeding stations for the Pokemon. Some Pokemon were headed outside because they ate grass; others were getting meat and a few were taking bits of coal. Chelsea liked slugs and grubs, but took a bit of the meat and a bit of the coal. Morton waited until they got him some fish.

"So what moves do you know?" Morton asked

"Um, I know Growl, Scratch, and Smokescreen. My dad taught me that last one early." She brightened her tail flame proudly.

"Did he? You're pretty young, then."

"Yeah, but I'll try to get really good."

"You will make yourself get great," Morton chided. "Now if you're going to keep up around here, you have to work hard. Really hard. Most of us work out and practice every single day, so you have to do that too. And you will need to learn to make yourself do Blaine's orders immediately. Don't think about if it may or may not work; he's doing the thinking for you. And don't be afraid, even if your opponent has the advantage. Lots of Trainers bring in Pokemon that have advantages over us, like Rock types, Water types, and Ground types, so get used to it."

"Okay," Chelsea said, quieter. The thought made her nervous. But then, that tactic was to be expected.

After breakfast, Morton brought her to a practice area where other Pokemon had already gathered. He then had her follow her through an obstacle course not once, not twice, but three times. The first time wasn't too bad, but on the third time, she was starting to get tired and had a harder time keeping up with the Magmar. It was so bad that even her tail flame dimmed. On the other hand, Morton seemed just fine. In face, his brightly colored skin seemed to get even brighter, glowing and shimmering in a way that made him hard to look at, like the sun.

And that was just the first exercise. He had her practicing her moves repeatedly, dodging Ember balls he tossed at her, and running straight laps. During times when they were resting, he had her watch the other Gym Pokemon participate in mock battles. She wasn't ready to participate in those without Blaine's assistance, but she had to know how the others behaved.

Then Blaine finally came for them. He had them fight each other for a bit, having Morton hold back so he didn't overpower her right off. In the fight, Chelsea did her best to remember to do as ordered as soon as she heard it, but she wasn't used to the whole 'no thinking' idea. Once Blaine seemed to know how she was, he had her practice her moves repeatedly on a rock pillar. They had to stop twice as new challengers came in for Blaine; he let the two he was training watch.

When the Leader dismissed them to focus on the higher-ranked evening battles, Morton ran Chelsea back through the obstacle course again. At the end of the day, she was worn out and achy. But this was what she had to do.

She nearly overslept the next day, but Morton made sure she was up before Blaine came in.

The first three months were long and hard for Chelsea. She wanted to do well, so she put forth her best effort. And Morton was a big help. While he pushed her hard, he also encouraged her and helped her with things she was having trouble with. The Magmar was still an active battler for mid-ranked teams, so Chelsea often got to watch him in battle.

In battle, Morton was a fierce Pokemon. He reacted quickly to orders and opposing attacks. His internal fires would be going strong, so the air around him warped with the heat he put off. And with that wavy pattern of colors he had, it was hard on the eyes to watch him directly. He was good and won often, although Chelsea could see that some Trainers were very tough to deal with.

But he was much more mellow outside of battle and training. When they were taking a break, he liked to go outside and sit near the shore. He said that sitting in the cool damp breeze helped make him tougher. Chelsea wasn't sure about that, but it was fun to walk around the sand and hunt for things.

Last night, Blaine had done some moving around of his Pokemon roster, which put Chelsea into his beginning rank team. That made this another first day, her first day on active duty. She was excited again, but nervous too. The beginning ranks were done in the morning. This time, Morton stayed on the sidelines and watched her.

She had to be within her Pokeball at the start of the match, as that was the rule. It was a lot of waiting, uncertain of when she would get called out and what she would face. But her turn did come. Ignoring the Gym materializing around her, she focused on her opponent: a Geodude.

"Metal Claw," Blaine ordered.

Following her training, Chelsea ran over and imagined her claws to be like metal. She slashed the Geodude across its face with that. She got hit with a rocky fist for that, but did her best to stay her ground. When Blaine ordered a repeat attack, she struck with Metal Claw again. This knocked out the Geodude, so she retreated back to her original position in front of the Leader.

The challenging Trainer, a young boy, then brought out another Pokeball. "Go Squirtle, Water Gun!"

"Smokescreen," Blaine countered.

Her tail flame wavered in anxiety as she was facing a watery attack, but she followed her orders and produce a cloud of black smoke to hover around the Squirtle's face. But she didn't get it up in time to stop his Water Gun attack. Chelsea fainted.

Some time later, maybe just minutes, the Charmander was called back out over being revived and healed. Her tail flame was condensed as she brought her tail in front of her. "Aw, I lost my first match. I'm sorry."

But Blaine patted her head. "You're doing fine, don't worry. This isn't an easy job for any of us."

"Yeah, you didn't freak out in the face of a Water attack and you didn't get too proud in defeating the Geodude," Morton added. "That's the kind of stoic attitude that we all strive for."

Chelsea's flame wavered brighter. "Thanks. I'll keep working hard."

...

Emerald entry: The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is happy, and blazes when it is enraged.

Magmar Soul Silver entry: The fiery surface of its body gives off a wavering, rippling glare that is similar to the sun.