If You Can't Stand the Heat...

Dark walked quietly into the fiery red doors at the entrance of the Cinnabar Gym. Once the door closed, a severe heat lingered around in the room. She shuffled to the front desk.

"Excuse me, but have you heard of air conditioning?"

A man looked up to her. "Young lady, this is the Fire-type pokemon environment, and a tradition for Master Dante�s family. You�ll have to bear it."

"Master Dante?"

"That�s right. He�s hired four assistants like myself to maintain the gym when he can�t himself. We refer to him with high respect."

"If ya can�t stand the heat, get outta the kitchen," a slick voice sounded from the other side of Dark. She turned her head to see Dante Blazer, quite like his past relative (most likely grandfather), Blaine. He wore orange-lensed thin-rimmed glasses and stood boastfully in the entrance to the arena. "Well, you scared? Can�t handle the power of flame?"

Her eyes narrowed at him and her mouth turned to a scowl. "Oh, I can handle it, kid."

He looked a little flattened by the name. "Yeah, that�s right. My reading tells me you�re only fourteen, and lacking knowledge of a pokemon journey."

"Huh?"

"�And that out of your total of 378 battles in your 4 years here, you�ve only won 68."

His jaw dropped. "Those statistics are bogus! I�ve won many more than that! ...and I'm not fourteen!"

"Just playing with you, feh." Dark grinned.

"I�ll have you know that I�ve beaten Misty Ketchum with just my Arcanine!"

"�and that your Ho-Ho�s Fire Blast can take out a city, right?"

Dante�s face grew hot from the teasing. Dark knew she could crack him. "Fine! A challenge, to you! Now!" He briskly spun around and strode into his arena. Dark shrugged and casually followed him.

If she had thought it was hot in the lobby, that had been nothing. This room was scorching. She hiked up her pant legs and wiped several sweat beads off her forehead.

"The match will use three pokemon each. You know the rules."

Dark viewed the arena. There were dozens of heat lamps on the ceiling. "Blazer, wasn�t Blaine just a little more original with his lava pit? I mean, heat lamps�?"

He ignored the jeer and held out his hand. In a beam of red light, a Charmeleon stood on the floor.

She thumbed for her pokeballs. "Graveler!" The stone pokemon also materialized and faced the fire one with laughter in its eyes.

"Flame Thrower!" On command, a flurry of flame leaped at Graveler, who lounged in it and sighed. He took the liberty of attacking on his own with a Rock Throw, heaving large summoned stones at Charmeleon. It frantically dodged, and gasped for breath.

"Earthquake." The attack that could do so much damage pounded the lizard. As soon as Graveler�s foot hit the floor, it collapsed. Dante sneered.

"Maybe it�s too hot for your pokemon in here, kid. Maybe you should think about them for once."

Again, the remark was thrown aside, and another pokemon entered the ring. "Arcanine! Agility!" The big dog dashed around the room, baffling Graveler. When it was commanded to perform Defense Curl, it couldn�t even pull that off. "Dig!" Arcanine, to Dark�s surprise, pulled off a perfect attack. It burrowed under the arena faster than she had ever seen, and rose up underneath the rock pokemon, hurling it to the side.

Dark called him back. She should�ve saved her best for last, and that would cost her. "Drowzee." The pokemon appeared before it was even called. She stood before her trainer, smiling as usual. It was a good thing that she could read Dark�s mind; Dante would never pick up on their strategy.

�Alright. Hypnosis.� Drowzee waved a hand and sent strong psychic waves at Arcanine. He leapt out of the way. Dark was baffled. This kid was no rookie; he had skill�at least with this pokemon. If she could take it out on a total offensive, then she could win. �Head Butt. Let�s do this.� Before the attack could be performed, Arcanine blasted Drowzee with a Fire Blast. She fell over in a crisp. �Well that would put her out��

"Now, Clefable!" This was her best chance to hit the offensive. "Metronome!"

"Fa---bull!" Her eyes glowed yellow and her arms swayed, catching Arcanine�s curious gaze. Clefable then used her random attack; she began to glow with a bright light.

"Oh no," Dark moaned.

The light grew and grew until�BOOM! The attack sent Arcanine sprawling into its trainer, and left Dark with another crispy pokemon. "Explosion�Damn it�"

Dante stood. "I win. Nice try, but I don�t think you�ll stand any better against Misty. You�ll never make it to the Dream League."

"You�watch it!" She pointed a harsh finger at him. Her cold tone told him to back off. As she left, he smiled and waved mockingly.

Everyone arrived at the kiosk at the same time. Dark was disappointed, Kaumi nervous, and Cass, looking very pleased. Hayami was with her.

Kaumi studied him. "Cass, who�s this guy?"

"This is Hayami Kusa, a pro mountain climber. He�s gonna help us climb Kamisama."

Dark was too furious with her loss to speak clearly. "That�kid, I�ll kill�kill him�what a�fool!"

Cass backed away from her cousin. She bumped Hayami. "Oh, I�m sorry." He nodded an OK. "I�d rather feel that mountain�s power over Dark�s angry wrath any day!"

Hayami finally stepped forward to speak. "Hey. I�m willing to help, but when I go in a party, there are usually five people. It makes the whole trip easier. That way, everyone has a partner and I stay in the back to make sure everyone does things right."

Kaumi looked around. "Who�s the fifth?"

"I was thinking my little brother, Kasaragi. He�s 16, and pretty experienced with climbing like me." Cass got an immediate mental picture of a guy as handsome as Hayami helping her up the mountain. "I can run and get him. Meet me at Kamisama Park at the foot of the mountain. I won�t be long." With that, he jogged away.

The others soon arrived at the park, and had shared all their findings with each other. Dark joked placidly with Cass about swooning over Hayami, and could tell she wanted to meet Kasaragi.

The two showed up not long later. Kasaragi was a tall young man. He had wild carrot-orange hair done in a loose ponytail. He had dangerous brown eyes and a silver earring on his right ear. He wore interesting apparel; a shabby navy blue shirt and matching pants with a white belt around his waist.

Cass turned to Hayami. "Hey, he looks to be quite the daredevil."

"Yeah, some say even more than me, too." Hayami smiled at his brother.

Kasaragi got a smooth grin on his face; a wild one unlike most people Cass had met.

Dark spoke finally. "He looks nothing like you, Hayami."

"I know," Kasaragi replied. "Good thing. I can�t be a pretty-boy and expect to bike. None of �em like it when someone looks like that. Nah, gotta be rough and sporty."

Hayami clarified, "He loves to dirt-bike. That�s his thing, but he�s a great climber too. He competes in big tournaments in Johto and wins most of the time. He�s actually number three here on Dream Island."

Kaumi whistled and held out a hand. "Nice. I�m Kaumi Subarashi. This is Shiki Dark and Cass Silvers." They shook.

Kasaragi questioned him, "What are you into? With biceps like that, there�s gotta be something."

"Er well�" He sweatdropped. "I took care of Rhyhorns and Tauros for a few years."

The brothers nodded as if it were another sport or profession that was just as cool as any.

"Well," Hayami began, "we�d better gear up and move out if we wanna get up there before sunset. I�ll get you�two thirds before we have to camp. Deal?"

Everyone agreed. The gear was divided, everyone got ready, and then the party stood to face the great mountain.