Power of A Gym Leader
I Choose You| 03. Power of a gym leader |  |
Written by Blu3Wind
“Hello Elements, I’ll be performing at Pyxidis City tonight as a part of my Element Tour. I hope to see you there!”
They watched as the handsome boy on TV winked and blew them a kiss. Over half of the girls at the cafe all squealed, swooning over the kiss. This included Seulyi.
“That’s your childhood friend?” Hyunmi asked, eyeing Woohyun as she took a sip from her blueberry smoothie.
“Hey, don’t judge. Last time I saw him, he didn’t wink or blow kisses,” Woohyun defended himself. He stared at the TV screen again where they now played one of Myungsoo’s music videos. He looked so different from the boy wearing shorts, practicing his singing with a Kricketot in Woohyun’s memories. Then again, that was ten years ago. They were barely even six.
“I got the front seat tickets. Hopefully, he’ll be able to notice me,” Seulyi spoke dreamily, eyes fixed on the guy on the TV.
“You know how he will notice you? Get a Magikarp.” Chanyeol was as persistent as ever.
“He’s actually right,” Woohyun agreed, much to everyone’s surprise. “Wear a onesie like that and he’ll notice you for sure.”
Seulyi threw a glance at Chanyeol, scanning the orange Magikarp onesie from top to bottom. Her face wrinkled with great reluctance, seeming almost disgusted at the idea. But the power of love was truly admirable, for Seulyi shut her eyes and asked “W-Where can I get one?”
“I made it myself. But if you join the Magikarp fanclub, I’ll make you one for free,” Chanyeol made an irresistible offer. He stretched his hand out to her. “Deal?”
Seulyi’s mouth twitched, as did her eyes. She was internally battling herself, hesitating how far she should go to attract Myungsoo’s attention. Her entire arm trembled with great reluctance as she stuck it out to Chanyeol, ready to shake his hand to seal the deal. Then she started making weird squealing noises on the same frequency as a Pokemon. Some immediately turned to look at her.
“Or you can take Woohyun with you,” Hyunmi suggested, and Seulyi immediately retracted her hand back to her side.
“What?” Woohyun gave her a horrid look.
“Since you’re Myungsoo’s childhood friend, he is sure to recognize you. Then you can introduce Seulyi as your friend and bam! They fall in love.” She continued drinking her smoothie like a boss.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Seulyi gasped, blushing even more. To her, this was a brilliant plan.
“Even if it doesn’t involve any Magikarps, I think it’s a great idea too,” Chanyeol added, wiping a non existent tear from his eye. He was probably touched by the romantic love story.
“Are you guys serious?” Woohyun asked, staring at the other three with disbelief. The first time the others finally found agreement with Chanyeol, it was for something as nonsensical as this. “Do you guys even know how love works? It’s not that easy to fall in love.”
Growlithe barked, sensing Woohyun’s fluctuating emotions. Whatever his trainer just said, he’d agree with it.
“Sure it is. It’s just like when a Pokemon uses attract. They wink, and the other Pokemon falls in love with them,” Hyunmi said, referring to a Pokemon move.
“Ah, so I have to wink!” Seulyi said, immediately putting it into practice. But it looked more like a twitch, as if a bug had flown into her eye and she was desperately blinking to get it out.
“Pokemons and humans are different. You can’t expect—” He paused, completely caught off guard when Hyunmi suddenly winked at him. “Did you just… Did you just try to make me fall in love with you?”
“Did it work?”
“No!” He denied. “That’s not how it works!”
“Hm, I guess not then. Seulyi, abort mission. Woohyun's right, it only works on Pokemons.”
“Aw, I was starting to get the hang of it,” Seulyi said, rubbing her eyes.
At this time, Swablu tried out the move and winked at Growlithe. A splash of pink hearts appeared, dispersing against Growlithe who stared at Swablu with heart eyes.
“But minus the whole falling in love part,” Woohyun avoided looking at Hyunmi, his heart still drumming against his chest, “The idea is doable. If Myungsoo allows me to visit him, I could put in a good word for you. Maybe we could all go see him.”
“I think it’d be offensive to my Magikarps if they knew I was meeting another idol,” Chanyeol said, chunking down his fake beer like a stressed out adult. “I can’t do that to them.”
“Think of it as a display of your loyalty,” Hyunmi coaxed him. “If you meet another idol and you manage to stay loyal to your Magikarps, it will show how much you love them because you endured the temptation.”
“I’ve never thought of it that way before. All right! I’m in!” Chanyeol cheered.
Woohyun looked impressed and confused at the same time. For someone who was gullible enough to fall for Minhyuk’s scam, she seemed to have a way of swaying people as well.
“Do you practice Pokemon moves in your spare time or something? Pretty sure that was hypnosis just now,” he teased.
“It’s called persuasion,” she said, smiling in a way that made Woohyun expect another wink. But he must’ve been a guinea pig she just wanted to try her theory on, cause she was back to focusing on her smoothie.
“Alright, so all we gotta do is get Woohyun a concert ticket!” Seulyi cheered, and the others cheered along, ready to initiate the plan.
Right then, a man with a grey trench coat appeared from the side. He wore large sunglasses, a golf hat, and a bush of dark brown moustache that covered his entire mouth which strangely enough, didn’t match the color of his dirty blond hair. “I heard you’re looking for L’s concert ticket.”
An Aipom dressed in similar fashion climbed up his shoulder, holding in its tail, three concert tickets.
“Those are the ticket! And there are exactly three of them!” Seulyi shouted, clapping her hands like a Seel.
“Yes, it must be fate. Therefore I will sell it to you for the price of two tickets. It’s a limited time offer ending in ten, nine, eight—”
“I’m not interested,” Hyunmi said.
“But you have to come with me!”
“Six, five—”
“Don’t you think this guy looks a bit familiar?” Woohyun remarked.
“Three, two—”
“We’ll take it!” Seulyi said, slapping a hundred Pokedollar bill on the table.
“Silly, that’s the price of one ticket,” the blond haired guy spoke, and his Aipom swayed one ticket in front of them with its tail, keeping the other two in his hands.
“Oh, right.” So Seulyi added another hundred Pokedollar bill on the table.
The guy smiled, a curve that was on the borderline of being a smirk. He shuffled the money closer to himself and cued Aipom to hand them their tickets. “Pleasure doing business with you, miss. Enjoy your concert.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I’m not a fan of L,” Hyunmi said, playing with the straw absentmindedly. She was probably the only girl in the Cafe who wasn’t squealing over the idol.
“That’s okay. I’m paying in exchange for a lesson about Pokemon. I need to learn more about my Chicocacola.” Seulyi smiled, distributing the tickets to each of them. Chikorita tilted her head sideways in confusion, having gained yet another new nickname.
“Now, come, we have to get ready for the concert.”
There was a long line queueing to get into the concert hall. They could hear loud drum beat and bass drops even from outside.
“Join the Magikarp fanclub and get a free Magikarp keychain for free!” Chanyeol grasped the opportunity, seeing potential targets cluttered in one space as they waited for the bouncer to validate their tickets.
As always, the more he promoted, the more he repelled people. His friends asked him to stay in line, but he insisted on approaching every single person present. Most people ignored him, but some were some cruel enough to push him to ground. These guys laughed and stomped on his fallen keychain.
“Growlithe,” Woohyun whispered, gritting his teeth at the sight, “Set their ticket on fire, but make it subtle.”
The Pokemon obeyed, spitting an ember of fire aimed directly at the tickets in the guy’s hand. Woohyun and Growlithe then turned around, whistling an innocent tune as chaos erupted from behind them.
“My ticket! Who did this?” The guy yelled. He turned to the crowd, fire gleaming in his eyes for revenge, but not knowing whom to blame. But as he spotted a certain someone approaching, the fury was tamed, becoming dormant.
“Whoever it was, he or she spared you some mercy,” the girl spoke, the single red highlight in her black hair blazing as fiery as the manes of her Rapidash.
“It’s Hwang Yerin, Pyxidis City’s gym leader,” murmurs began to sound all over the crowd.
Yerin grinned, cracking her knuckles as she eyed the group of guys. “If it were up to me, I’d burn you all.”
Rapidash stomped forward, adding a threatening glare to the guys who were now closely hugging each other.
“Leave my city now.”
“This isn’t you—”
“Rapidash, flame thrower.”
As Rapidash neighed, and tilted its head to release a fiery attack, the three guys all yelled, running away to save their dear life.
Yerin watched them go and sighed, blowing the red streak away from her face. She bend down to pick up the fallen Magikarp keychain and held it in front of Chanyeol.
“Since you’re the only person in a Magikarp onesie, I assume this is yours,” she said. And as Chanyeol pathetically held his hand out like a beggar asking for food, she dropped it into his palms.
“T-Thank you,” he stammered, not knowing whether he should be intimidated or amazed by her performance.
“Mmhm.” Yerin smirked, eyeing his odd choice of fashion. “Cute outfit.”
Chanyeol gasped silently, not expecting someone to ever compliment his handmaid Magikarp onesie. Most people would walk away at all cost, but she had just called his outfit cute, returned his keychain, and chased away the guys bullying him. Chanyeol felt a warm spark in his heart. He was in love.
“Chanyeol!” Hyunmi called, waving him over without losing the place in their queue. “Are you okay?”
Yerin turned around, seeing the other three. She squinted her eyes at the guy with them, quickly recognizing it as the challenger who bore two losses.
“I suppose that ember was yours.” Yerin taunted Woohyun who seemed less than pleased to meet her. Both he and Growlithe immediately stiffened like fragile twigs, and she laughed at that. “This is why you never win. Your attacks are too safe.”
“Safe?” Woohyun repeated, clenching his fists. He had given everything he had during their battle, and now she had the audacity to call him out for not trying enough? Growlithe barked a protest too.
“Who is she?” Seulyi asked. Seeing Woohyun still whirling in self defeat, she turned to the stranger instead. “Who are you?”
“I’m Hwang Yerin, the gym leader of Pyxidis City,” Yerin said, striking a cool pose with Rapidash behind her. They could vision a graphic explosion appearing in her background, adding on to her bombastic introduction.
“Hwang Yerin,” Chanyeol repeated the name to himself, his cheek taking on a red blush. He decided, he’d name his next Magikarp after her, his future girlfriend.
Hyunmi stared at Woohyun for the longest time, reading the fury in his frowned eyebrows, and the shame in his hollow gaze. She remembered what he had told her before, figuring that Yerin was the gym leader he was planning to defeat by coming to this city.
“You’re a fire and fighting based gym, right?” Hyunmi asked.
Yerin eyed her, seeing the Swablu settled on her head, and smirked. “Yes. And who may you be?”
“A friend of Woohyun. You shouldn’t underestimate your opponents like that. He recently got a Pokemon that could defeat you,” Hyunmi spoke daringly, referring to the tiny little Wooper. The surprise on Yerin’s expression triggered her to continue her bluffing. “He’s training them to learn the best water type moves to put out your Rapidash’s flames—no offense, Rapidash.”
The horse neighed, as if to say “none taken.”
But before she could continue, Woohyun quickly grabbed her by the hand and whispered closely to her ear. “What are you doing?”
“Intimidating Yerin.”
The idea so was hilarious and adorning at the same time that he laughed. “Says the person who got scammed before?”
“Hey, I can be intimidating,” she insisted, looking at all the more like a yapping Skitty.
“And that’s how you win your Contests? By intimidating the opponents?” He grinned.
“Well, uhm… Sort of.”
Her reply wasn’t as confident as he had expected, and Woohyun made a mental note to ask her about it later. For someone who wanted to be a Top Coordinator, she seemed really uncomfortable with the topic of Pokemon Contests.
Their conversation was interrupted by Yerin’s sudden laughter, a hint of pride and amusement in every note. “Good. I’m looking forward to it, Woohyun. Your previous two performances did bore me.”
Apparently, none of Hyunmi’s theories applied to Yerin. The supposed intimidation translated into anticipation and thrill.
“Wow, I guess you must be pretty bad if you bore her,” Seulyi said bluntly, stabbing more daggers to Woohyun’s already wounded chest. “I hope you won’t lose again. Losing for a third time would be really embarrassing.”
Yerin stifled her laugh. “Embarrassing, but it would set a new record.”
“What? The only record he’ll set is by—” The rest of Hyunmi’s words were muffled as Woohyun quickly placed a hand to cover again.
“Your help is much appreciated, but I can handle it,” he said sternly. If it weren’t for Swablu happily chirping and patting Hyunmi’s head using her fluffy wings, someone might have contacted Officer Jenny for what seemed to be an attempted kidnapping scene.
Yerin laughed in amusement and walked to the security guard of the concert hall, handing him a ticket.
“Wow, she likes L too? If someone as cool as her likes L, my chances of being noticed is completely gone!” Seulyi cried.
“And my chances of being noticed by her is gone too,” Chanyeol also cried.
“You don’t need her, Chanyeol. She’s too full of herself,” Hyunmi muttered, glaring as Yerin talked to one of the guards, probably using her status as the gym leader to get VVIP treatment.
“That’s what makes her cool,” Seulyi said dreamily, but her admiration soon shattered. She showed her ticket to the guard and entered the venue with less excitement. “If L likes her, I guess I’ll tolerate it. My new aspiration is to become like her.”
“What? I thought you wanted to learn from Woohyun or me.”
“Yeah, I changed my mind. Woohyun did lose three times to her.”
“Two times!” Woohyun corrected. “I won’t lose the third time, just wait and see.”
“That's the spirit! You’re gonna be the very best like no one ever was,” Hyunmi said confidently, handing the guard her ticket, ready to walk in when the guard coughed.
“Don’t think you can enter, you little rascal,” the guard said, roughly pulling her back by her shirt before pushing her against Woohyun who stood right behind her.
“Hey! Back off!” Woohyun slapped the man’s hand away as he carefully held unto her. Both Growlithe and Swablu took on a fighting stance, ready to attack the guard.
“You back off,” he said, and a Weezing appeared from behind him. Of course the security guard had a Pokemon too, ready to counterattack.
“What’s wrong?” Seulyi asked worriedly, and even Yerin stopped, her attention caught.
“These three are trying to get in using fake tickets.”
“That can’t be. I paid two hundred Pokedollars for those tickets,” Seulyi argued.
“Well, then I’m afraid you got scammed, miss.”
“Scammed?” Woohyun and Hyunmi both muttered, exchanging a look as a bad feeling crept in the pit of their stomach. “Minhyuk.”
“Oh, no wonder he looked familiar!” Chanyeol laughed. “I barely recognized him because of the fake moustache and all, but that was Minhyuk alright.”
Hyunmi let out a frustrated yelp, sending Swablu to softly peck Chanyeol in the head. “You should’ve told us. Now we can’t watch the concert, and we’ll have to find Minhyuk again to get Seulyi’s money back.”
“I didn’t think he’d scammed us again after we caught him once,” Chanyeol said wisely.
Woohyun shook his head, wondering why the people he encountered were so incredibly naive. Their innocence would become a favorite target of Minhyuk now.
“So you can’t watch the concert with me?” Seulyi pouted, feeling the entire plan fail. Myungsoo will never notice her at this rate.
“Yes, they can,” Yerin interrupted, returning to them in her cool and composed sway. She cocked her head at the guard. “They’re with me.”
“But—”
“I said, they’re with me.”
Yerin had an authoritative force in her voice, and no one dared to protest against the gym leader. So when the guards let all of them in, the gym leader grinned, especially at Hyunmi.
“How’s that for someone who’s full of herself?” She asked.
“If you could help us find Minhyuk and retrieve our stolen money as well, I’ll take my words back,” she said.
“Huh. I help you once and you ask for more,” Yerin hummed, intrigued by this challenge. “ I’m bored anyway, so why not?”
Chanyeol couldn’t help but overhear—well, he did stand purposely close to Yerin so it was only natural that he’d overheard—and a wide grin spread over his face. He’d thank Hyunmi for giving him more opportunities to spend time with Yerin.
“We can talk about that later. First, we need to meet L,” Seulyi said, urging them to pass another entrance, the blinding concert stage finally appearing before their eyes.
who is that pokemon?
 Kricketot |
 Chikorita |
 Magikarp |
 Rapidash |
 Growlithe |
 Wooper |
 Swablu |
 Skitty |
 Aipom |
 Weezing |
 Seel |
I don't know why Ash & co never notice that it's Team Rocket in disguise even after so many years. So, guess Minhyuk's gonna get the advantage here. Thank you for reading more of this randomness! I hope you still enjoy it XD
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