Cerulean City: Pokemon Gym

A large, swimming-pool type Arena expands before you as you enter through the doors. The domed roof above seems to echo every sound as you enter the building, and find yourself looking at what is, most undoubtably, one of the largest swimming pool/arena/aquariums in the land. The pool arena is built for both swimming shows, and for pokemon matches. To the left a doorway leads towards what looks like a huge aquarium area, that wraps around all the outer walls of the roundish building. This building, with its high stadium-like seating (obviously for shows) is, without a doubt, built for an event in this water town.

Contents:
Misty
Zeph
Obvious exits:
Out leads to Cerulean City: Outside Gym Area.

It is 12:33 PM on Saturday, May 26th, 2001. The sun is high overhead. The moon's phase is waxing gibbous, but it hasn't risen yet. At the coast, the tide is low and rising. Fair weather clouds sail across the blue sky, propelled by light breezes from the west. It's warm in the sun, cool in the shade, and the air is clear and dry. In the forest, the wind rustles the bright green leaves of trees and bushes and carries Oddish pollen, downy seeds, and the fragrance of wildflowers along with it. While at the coast, the ocean is a deep cool blue today, the waves lapping at the coast gently under the pleasant spring sky.

It's a great day outside. The sun is high and bright in the sky, the sky is a deep azure blue, and the fragrance of spring flowers wafts in the cool breeze. On this fine day, Zeph gently opens the glass doors of the Cerulean Gym. The door makes little noise - obviously the gym receives plenty of maintenance from the ones who use it. "Hello? Is anyone here?" The trainer asks as he steps inside, holding the door to his back. He won't trespass with out the permission of the ones who own the water Pokemon gym.

Well, if the gym doors are open, that means the aquairium is open. Which means there are likely a few people already here, gazing at the fish. One of those people is one of the people who own one fourth the gym--Misty. The orange-haired girl seems to be cleaning the glass of the aquairium, although it's not very hard work and she's spending more time looking at the fish than doing actual cleaning.

As he sees others walking about through the aquariums, Zeph closes the door behind him quietly and begins to walk down the path flanked by aquariums to the left and right. "Oh..." He mumbles as he suddenly sees a fish he has never seen before. A few seconds pass, as he sticks his face really close to the glass to see all of the 'normal' fish, fogging up the glass a little.

Misty glances over and notices the kid (Well, he's a kid, even if he's a lot older than Misty) looking at the fish. "Heya," she greets with a smile. Her eyes glance over the kid, trying to place him. She takes a few steps towards Zeph and glances at the fish he's watching. And her face drops. "Y'know, I just windexed that part of the glass," she mutters lowly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Miss..." Zeph says as he looks over in Misty's direction, turning a little red from embarassment. He then glances at the fogged up glass and bites his lip. "I'm sorry, I guess I was a little too interested from watching the fish that I accidentally did that. If you want, I'll clean it..." He says, his voice trailing slightly as he seems completely sincere in his feeling bad about it. "Are you one of the owners of this gym?" He adds as he turns around to face Misty again.

Misty giggles lightly, her droopy eyes lighting up again. "Well, if you want to clean..." she zings out a bottle of glass cleaner, paper towels, and anything else you might possibly need for cleaning glass. "Be my guest." She giggles again, and then straightens up a bit. "Anyway, I know what you mean. I love the fish.. so many different kinds." She then gives a quick nod to Zeph. "I'm Misty, the Sensational Sister! Yep, I run the place." (Well, she thinks she does, anyway.)

Zeph smiles sheepishly as Misty hands him the glass cleaner and paper towel. "Thanks, I'll clean it up right away..." He says as he takes the glass cleaner and sprays a little on the glass. "Wow, that's so cool! I think I've met you before, you seem familiar. Well anyways, my name is Zeph, and I'm very fond of water Pokemon." He mentions as he takes a paper towel and begins to rub the glass with it, using a circular motion of his hand while he rubs it off. Soon, this section of glass will be as good as new.

Misty blinks. "Do you train a Staryu?" the girl asks, tapping her finger against her chin, staring at Zeph for a moment. She's definitly not shy, that's for certain. A slow amount of recognition creeps across her face, however.

Zeph's face suddenly lights up as Misty asks the question. "Oh yes, I train a Staryu along with many other great water Pokemon!" He says with a smile, patting the Pokeballs on his belt with one hand. "And I love each and every one of them so much." He adds. The trainer soon finishes cleaning the glass, leaving it sparkling and crystal clean. Why, you can't even tell that there is a pane of glass there! "All done." He says as he hands the glass cleaner to Misty.

Misty grins. "I knew I saw you before," she says, accepting the glass cleaner and putting it back behind her back.. wherever she got it from. "Water Pokemon... they're my favourite," she says, smiling dreamily and looking back into the now-clean glass. "So what brought you here, Zeph? Just looking at the fish?"

Zeph glances at the aquarium and then at Misty. "Not really... I was looking at the fish to relax a bit, but I wouldn't mind seeing some water Pokemon or battling them, in any case. My water Pokemon need a little training for a big, future battle I'm going to have in a few months." He says with a bit of a smile at the fourth Sensational sister.

A sly look crosses Misty's face as she narrows her eyes and grins again. "A big, future battle?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. She crosses her arms behind her back and walks casually around Zeph so she's at the other side of him. "What kind of battle?" she asks curiously.

"Oh, um, a gym leader battle, and I plan to use water Pokemon for that match..." Zeph says glancing at Misty as she begins to circle him. "I still need seven badges to get in to the Pokemon League, and I'm hoping my water Pokemon will be able to handle it. Do you think you could train my water Pokemon with me?" He asks, his voice trailing a bit and very hesitant.

Misty nods a little bit. "Well," the girl says. "You've got a badge already? Wow... anyway, you've come to the right place if you want good water-type training." The girl winks and grins broadly. "'Cause you can't get a better water trainer than Misty Waterflower!" She crosses her arms and stands there as if she was more than an eleven-year old window washer with a Starmie. The effect is complete when a flurry of little fish swim behind her in the aquarium, creating a dazzling display as Misty flashes a 'v' sign with her fingers.

"Oh, wow. Thank you so much!" Zeph says with a light chuckle and a big smile, as Misty makes a big pose. He starts to concentrate a few moments, taking four Pokeballs from his belt but keeping them small in his hand. "What do you think we should do first, Misty? Should we go over to the pool and begin training or start discussing strategy first right here?" He asks the girl.

Misty's face drops and the girl sweatdrops. "Well, actually, I gotta finish cleaning the glass," she mutters lowly. Ah, the World's finest water-type trainer hasn't finished her chores. The girl then tosses a smile as she begins walking to the place she left off. "Are you gonna be in Cerulean often, Zeph?" the girl asks curiously.

Zeph frowns slightly and sighs. "Well, I'll be staying in Cerulean for a long time while I train my water Pokemon. There is plenty of water here, so that I can train them, so I'll be in town for about a month or so." The trainer explains to Misty. "That will give me plenty of time to prepare for the battle, and I can still come by here at the gym when its open." He adds.

Misty smiles brightly. "Great!" she says, beginning to clean the glass where she's at. "I'll be out of town for a while, but when I get back, I'll be sure to be around here!" The girl hmms. "Oh, yeah, my sisters hang around here, but I don't think you'd want to train with /them./" She gives an exasperated sigh. "Unless you're training for a water pageant." She hmms as she works. "Well, I remember the Staryu... what other kind of Pokemon do you have?" Is Misty preparing her lessons? Or is she just curious? Likely the latter.

Zeph bites his lip for a few moments as the girl mentions her sisters. "Actually, I met your sister once. Isn't her name Daisy?" He asks with a bit of curiosity himself. The trainer watches as Misty starts to clean the glass of the aquarium as he starts to recall all the Pokemon he has. He may be older, but he's still rather naive so he doesn't notice that Misty is just curious. "I have a Staryu, Squirtle, Lapras, Goldeen, Shellder, Horsea, Seel, Krabby..." He begins to say as he looks up at the roof with starry eyes. He really likes his water Pokemon.

Misty slows to a stop, and her eyebrow twitches. This kid... knows Daisy? She says, "That's one of my sisters, yes..." lightly and tentativly. She begins cleaning again, blinking several times at that list. She wows silently, barely able to keep cleaning. She decides not to tell him her rather non-impressive list of the three Pokemon she has. The girl's saved anyways, as a voice calls from down the hall. "Misty? Like, you know you've got to have that totally clean by dinnertime?" It's one of her non-Daisy sisters, either Lily or Violet. The redheadedest and youngest of the sisters mutters under her breath as she hears the voice.

Zeph watches as Misty reacts to the voice that came from down the hall and from his mentioning Daisy. "Is there something wrong?" He asks caringly. "Oh, and I remember that you had a Staryu and Starmie. I wish I had a Starmie..." He mentions all of a sudden, swiftly changing the subject to something less touchy and upsetting. "I remember how your Starmie battled against my Staryu. It was great!" He exclaims to Misty.

The redhead grins. "Yeah. That was a pretty impressive battle," she recalls. Again, the voice calls, "Misty!!!" and the girl frowns again and yells back, "I'm working as fast as I can, so hold your horseas!!" Whoa, sudden mood changes. The girl sighs and apologizes to Zeph, "Sorry... I really gotta finish this. I'll talk to ya later." She smiles and waves once, and then zips off to another area to clean.