After the live broadcast ended, the people around Kiyomi Tsugumi began cheering enthusiastically one after another. Every member of the audience shouted the name of their favorite performer, joining in the atmosphere of support.
On the tall, straight platform in the distance, three figures appeared.
Three sisters—with long orange, pink, and blue hair—stood side by side on the platform, each wearing different styles of swimsuits. After waving to the audience, they extended their arms gracefully and dove into the vast pool beneath the platform. As they jumped, lively music began to play, and the three sisters performed an elegant synchronized dance in the water to the rhythm.
Yes, you read that right—Kiyomi Tsugumi was watching their performance at the Cerulean Gym. Beside him, his Charmeleon (formerly Charmander) also sat, watching the show with interest. What's the first thing to do when arriving in Cerulean City? Naturally, it's to catch a performance. While the gym leaders may not be the most devoted to battling, their shows were undeniably entertaining.
When the performance ended, Kiyomi applauded without hesitation. Then, he stood and walked toward the lounge in the back, ready to discuss the gym challenge with them.
Kiyomi intercepted the three sisters as they were heading down the aisle to rest.
"What's the matter? Is this little guy one of our fans? Or maybe a reporter looking for an interview? If you're a reporter, you'll need to go through the proper channels," said the orange-haired sister, the most mature of the three. Her name was Sakura.
"No, I think there's a misunderstanding. Let me introduce myself—I'm Kiyomi Tsugumi from Pallet Town. I came here to challenge the gym," Kiyomi said with a friendly smile.
"Ugh, someone from Pallet Town again? The boy and girl who came before you beat us up pretty badly," groaned Mudan, clearly still traumatized by the past defeat.
"Too bad Misty's not around... It's such a hassle to deal with these gym battles," grumbled Acorus, clearly annoyed.
Kiyomi didn't say a word. He simply smiled at the three of them, calm and unwavering.
"Tell you what, kid—we'll just give you the badge. You'd get it anyway if you won the gym battle, so we'll just save everyone the trouble," Sakura said sweetly, trying to compromise.
"That won't do, Miss Sakura," Kiyomi responded firmly. "As gym leaders, you have a responsibility. Please have a proper battle with me."
In his heart, Kiyomi didn't care about the badge at all. What he wanted was the battle itself. No matter how he phrased it, his intent was clear—he was here to fight.
"Well, I guess we have no choice," the three sisters sighed together.
They led Kiyomi to the large pool where they had just performed. By now, the audience had left, and the venue was completely empty.
"Alright, kid, I'll be your opponent," said Mudan, stepping forward. "I'm one of the Cerulean City sisters. The rules are two-on-two, same as the first gym. Let's go—Goldeen, I choose you!"
She released a Pokémon that resembled a large goldfish, except it had a long, sharp horn protruding from its head.
Before the battle began, Kiyomi took a moment to assess Charmeleon's current abilities. The moves that had upgraded to Level 3 included Scratch, Ember, and Flame Control. Each had seen noticeable improvements.
Let's start with Scratch. Kiyomi had noticed something odd—even when Charmeleon wasn't using the move, its claws seemed sharper than usual. He guessed there was a passive enhancement at Level 3.
How did Kiyomi figure out that Charmeleon's claws had become sharper? Because ever since evolving, the fire-type Pokémon had become obsessed with sharpening its claws. Out in the wild, it would approach any rock it saw and start scratching it. As a result, most rocks around their training spots were covered in claw marks—some shallow, some deep.
Eventually, Kiyomi noticed that these marks were getting noticeably deeper. Curious and cautious, he brought Charmeleon back to inspect the same rocks and confirmed that the scratches were indeed deeper now. When he asked Charmeleon whether it was using more force, it simply shook its head.
This intrigued Kiyomi even more. He then tested Ember. Thanks to Flame Control, the move's power had increased by nearly 40%—its destructive power now exceeded that of a standard Ember attack. What surprised him further was that the attack range had expanded slightly, and the stamina cost had reduced.
These changes convinced him that reaching Level 3 brought substantial improvements to skills.
At Level 2, Charmeleon had learned Growl, Smokescreen, and Metal Claw. But since battles usually ended with a single Ember, he rarely needed to use support skills like Growl or Smokescreen. The system also only awarded experience through real battles—not regular training—so it was hard to level up unless they kept challenging new opponents.
Charmeleon leapt onto a floating platform in the middle of the pool, and the battle began.
Honestly, there wasn't much to say about the fight. The three sisters focused more on performing than training, so their Pokémon were underpowered and poorly commanded. The first opponent, Goldeen, relied solely on Water Gun, but it was quickly overwhelmed. Charmeleon boldly rushed in, crossing its arms to block the water attack, then knocked Goldeen out with a single Scratch.
The second Pokémon was just a Magikarp—clearly thrown in for laughs. It used nothing but Splash and Tackle throughout the entire battle.
Charmeleon was so relaxed, it almost didn't believe the fight could be this easy. Even Kiyomi was speechless. Compared to his battle with Brock, this felt like a joke.
"Oh, you think I beat Brock easily?" Kiyomi muttered to himself. "Don't be ridiculous. Brock used Tackle and Bind effectively the entire match. And just standing there, that Onix was already terrifying."
Kiyomi had a strong feeling that even now, in top form, he might still not be able to beat Brock. But that didn't matter. Sooner or later, he would face him again in another Pokémon battle.