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"H-hum, encourage, right.." Henrietta said.

Darumi tilted his head to the sky once more and he let loose the blast of Incinerate. Melty, meanwhile, focused on bringing its flame more to life. Which was a combination of trying harder to drain life force as well as utilizing the internal flame. Essentially he was eating and training.

"G-go, guys." she said timidly. She looked over to Chili and then back to her Pokemon. Even if he hadn't intended it, there was a sort of peer pressure present.

So, she knelt down before her Pokemon, staying far enough away to avoid getting burnt.

"G-go! Melty, Darumi!"

Darumi strained as he tried harder and harder to perfect the training. To make progress. Soon his flame would appear to grow stronger as he put in the effort(but the actual strength was more within than to do with the move).

"Y-yeah, like that!" Henrietta said, raising her hand slightly.

Darumi, proud of his effort, turned toward Henrietta to offer a high five.

And Henrietta screamed as she dodged out of the way of the Incinerate, which quickly died down as soon as Darumi realized what he had done.

"Maka!" he shouted and he hurried over to Henrietta to make sure she was okay.

Melty, meanwhile, casually rose his flame, the flames growing bigger as he absorbed more life force from those around.

Henrietta inspected her right arm. Red, her glove singed, but for the most part she was fine. It hurt, but not as bad as it should courtesy of the medicine she'd taken earlier.

Henrietta nervously took Chili's hand with her left hand.

"Maka!" Darumi cried and Henrietta looked down at him.

"It's fine!" she said as if she could understand it. She could see how worried he was, but that was all.

"Maka maka daru!" he shouted, waving his hands frantically.

"It's fine, I'm fine, it's okay," she said to try and reassure him.

"Daru!"

"I promise!" she said and she knelt down to try and scoop him up. However, Darumaka weigh an average of eighty-something pounds. So her one armed attempt failed. A two armed attempt caused her to wince and withdraw her right arm.

"Maka...."

"No, no, that was stupid of me, it's okay, I'm serious!" she said.

And then, her face as red as her arm, she looked back to Chili. "H-hum! Sorry! Melty, use ember!" she said.

[What?! No! I -just- ate, ******** that.] Melty protested.

Chili turned around, swinging his arm out to the side and beating his fist against his chest, "That I am! I'm Chili! I light things up with Fire-type Pokémon!"

He looked Salieri up and down and then smirked. New trainers were like this. They were either the Henrietta-type or the Salieri-type. No confidence or overconfidence. Still, you live, you battle and you learn.

"I'm supposed to be helping Henrietta here learn the power of the fire type," he said, gesturing to Henrietta, "but I guess being a Gym Leader does come first! Are you after a battle or what?!"

Salieri grinned, brimming with excitement. Finally, somebody who got straight to the point. “Damn straight!” she yelled as she clenched her fist tightly in front of her, her normally mellow eyes now blazing with passion. “My name is Salieri, and I'm on my way to being the greatest gym leader of all time! Beating you is just the first milestone in my saga! Gym Leader Chili, I challenge you-"

In their distraction, Henrietta had continued training, and the results looked a little less than cool (get it? Dahaha). She may not have known Henrietta, and she may have been getting into her big speech, but she still had a heart.

"Oy, you. You okay over there?" she asked with some concern as Henrietta fell over. Salieri promptly released Chen Zhen, who's leaves could help Henrietta to an extent if she was feeling stressed out or exhausted.

"Rule 2!" Chili shouted to Henrietta, "Remember Rule 2!"

He spotted the Pansage being released and realised why Salieri was after him specifically. That was her grass type, huh? Unfortunately for her, he'd grown up around that species of pokémon and his brother was a master at using it. Chili doubted he'd have that much trouble winning the battle.

But then again, gym matches weren't just about winning.

Chili took out a pokéball and released his Pansear. It was a different one from before; this one had pretty bright eyes and was eager to fight. It jumped up and down on the spot, screeching its name.

"Yeeeeooow!" Chili was getting fired up, balling his hands into fists, "You ready, Salieri?! Time to play with FIRE!! I'm the strongest of us brothers! Try to get the badge off me, if you can!"

"WHAT?!" Chili yelled around the same time as Salieri, but stayed quiet when his brother continued his explanation. He didn't like it at all. Cilan just wanted a protégée as well.

A bead of sweat began to drain down his temple and Chili said, "It's not up to me now, is it?!"

It was up to Salieri. Beating her in battle might send her right into Cilan's arms anyway. Or not. Depends on how proud she was. He broke into a grin.

"Alright," he said, standing up, "Salieri. Come back when you think you can beat this- Pansear, INCINERATE!"

He roared his command and the tiny monkey turned to the side, clasping his hands together across his chest and tipping his head back, drawing breath. When he launched the attack, it wasn't some tiny wisp of fire, it was a huge wave that swept across the open area, crashing down and incinerating the earth. The ground for a couple dozen feet in front of Pansear was caught in the train of flames. When the wave burned up, the ground was scarred with molten black earth.

Chili grinned, a little out of breath from exerting so much fighting spirit. He turned to the other trainers to see their response.

As the fire swept the field, Chen Zhen could feel the heat creep across the front of his body like someone put him into a microwave. A few stray flames remained at the end, which Chen Zhen eyed carefully.

"Ha!" Salieri scoffed, folding her arms. "Cilan, you really thought I would lose to an attack like that? I'll show you why you don't underestimate the name Salieri Del Forrest. Chen Zhen, get ready!"

The Pansage slowly turned his head back to look at Salieri, gazing intensely at her while holding up his hand. "Chen Zhen, I said get ready!" Still, the monkey did nothing but continue to stare a hole through her head while holding up his hand.

"Chen Zhen, what are you...are you trying to flip me off right now?" Chen Zhen nodded slowly, and Salieri grit her teeth. "You're such a b***h."

"It seems that not even your pokemon want to battle when they know they will lose," Cilan explained, shaking his head condescendingly like he was teaching a child. "You're like a tea that needs to settle before it can be consumed. Drink too quickly," he said as he gestured to the charred ground, "And you'll get burned."

Salieri clenched her fists. Cilan didn't look much older than she was. Who did he think he was? If she had her way, she'd be battling Cilan right now. "So what are you saying? That I need your training to beat Chili?"

Cilan calmly brought a full size pokebelt out from behind his apron, releasing his Pansage next to Salieri's. It wasn't large, but it was still bigger than the small Chen Zhen. To compensate, Chen Zhen stood on his tiptoes, bringing him just a little bit shorter than Cilan's Pansage.

"I too have a Pansage. When it comes to fighting Fire types, I have a trick that you'll probably need," he offered with a smile, extending his hand to the Battle Girl. Salieri looked away from everybody, rubbing the back of her head anxiously.

"...fine," she muttered, rambling to herself about how the situation was 'lame' and 'unfit for the heiress to the Saffron Dojo' as she accepted Cilan's handshake. Letting go, Cilan turned to his brother with a smile.

"Chili, the next time you see this girl, you better be prepared for a tough battle." And while this was being spoken, Salieri stuck out her tongue and gave Cilan bunny ears behind his head for Chili to see. Stupid Cilan and his stupid wisdom.

Henrietta stiffened up as soon as she heard Chili. Had he just heard her? Her face grew another shade of red. Her cheeks burned with humiliation and she refused to turn to face Chili.

"Daru!" Darumi shouted as he looked over at Chili and the Pansear. He had understood that Henrietta wanted to help make him feel better but now all of that was downward spiraling.

"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-melty!" Henrietta said as she let the Litwick out of his ball. "Y-y-you g-guys r-r-resume t-training."

Nervously, she turned toward Chili, her head tilted downward and to the side, giving the ground a sort of sideways glance.

"I-i-i-i..."

Is saying 'I did it' really that hard?

"I...I... H-hum.." Her shoulders slumped.