Welcome to Gaia! ::

Her shoulders weren't slumped for long. Chili clasped hands either side, lifting them up while he yelled excitedly, "You did it! All right! That's what I'm talking about, fighting spirit!"

He let go, grinning, as his hands went to his hips, "You can do it, Henrietta, it's all about belief. Your pokémon will believe in you, so you just gotta believe in the you that they believe in. Once you've managed that, everything else is a piece of cake."

Chili gestured to Henrietta's pokémon, "Go on, tell 'em to use their fire attacks, shout it, like you're in the battle of your life! Everything's riding on this! You can do it! I believe in you too!"

"Awesome!" Chili raced forward, grinning, "That's Melty's Flash Fire powering it up. See it, Henriet- huh? Henrietta?" He spotted her on the ground, "Err. You should really pay attention! This is important stuff!"

He looked from fire type to fire type and nodded his head, "Darumi and Melty could be a perfect training duo! If they help each other out like just now, they could make short work of wild pokémon and get stronger than ever!"

"Oh, you don't know?" Chili turned around and cracked a smile, "All pokémon have what are called 'Abilities'. They're like shared techniques and all pokémon of a species have them! So Melty's a Litwick, right? That means he has the Flash Fire and Flame Body abilities!"

He watched as the little candle cackled while laying waste to the wilds. It was both heartwarming and chilling.

"Looks like Melty is better at using Flash Fire, though! Still, you wouldn't want to touch his Flame Body! Rule 2 and all. You'd get burned! Darumi has Hustle, which makes his physical attacks much more powerful but inaccurate!"

"Alright, Darumi," Chili said, kneeling down, "your fire comes from inside," he poked the pokémon's stomach when he said it, "so that means you control it with your breathing! So in other words you have to take lots of deep breaths and use them to power up your fire! With the right breathing techniques, you can reach incredible temperature!"

He stood up, balling his fist, "First you breathe in, hold it in your chest and let it slide down to your belly! Then you breathe out, letting all that air out of your mouth! Feel how hot it is?! Use Incinerate just as you start to breathe out! That's the way to do it, right Henrietta?!"

Chili looked over his shoulder with a grin. This was time for the trainer to show some hustle of her own.

"Waaaaaahahahaha!" Chili laughed with both surprise and excitement, orange light from the Incinerate swamping over him. Henrietta had finally made the leap and Darumi's Incinerate had bolstered in power. It could still go stronger but this was a start. Definitely a start. "Nice work! You're lighting up, Darumi!"

He grinned over to Henrietta, "Awesome, well done. Master this and you're well on your way to becoming a great pokémon trainer! Now we- err-" he paused. Chili's stomach grumbled loudly. So loud that it could even be heard over Melty's cackles. "Umm. You ready for something to eat? My brothers and I own a restaurant, best fine spices in all the world!"

"Huh, really?" Chili said with a odd expression as he translated Henrietta's stammering. "Well, I've taught you everything I can. All you need to do now is practice! So long, see you around!"

He began to run off towards the city proper. Chili waved as he ran, hollering, "Don't forget to challenge the gym leader before you leave town!"

{Route 2}

Kijin continues to head down the path from Accumula town, his Tropius not too far behind him but a bit further up in the air a little out of sight but for him this was fine since she never goes that far from him. As he continues down the path he pulls his map out making sure he is still on track."Hmm I should be coming up on Striation City soon and then I can see what makes this gym different then the others." He says to himself before putting map back into the bag.

As he starts to move closer to Striation City he spots someone training in the grass nearby he blinks a little before walking up behind her and giving her shoulder a soft tap. "Hey there.", he says in a soft tone of voice.

“The important thing to remember is that a type weakness means your pokemon take double damage. Every hit they make counts for more, so you just can’t take them,” Cilan explained as he paced back and forth on the grassy hillside, overlooking a small bank of sand.

Salieri sat on a tree stump besides Chen Zhen, her legs folded together in a meditative way and her head resting in her hands in a ‘This is a waste of time’ way. “Uh huh. So we just have to dodge them and strike, right?”

“It’s not that simple. Fire types resist Steel and Grass, so you need something else to teach them in order to strike effectively. What I’m going to teach you is a very useful move for many purposes. It’s called Dig.”

Cilan pointed to the sand bank down the hill. “This area is perfect for your pokemon to learn the technique. Go ahead, why don’t you release them all.”

Salieri shrugged and pulled out her second pokeball, releasing Liuye Dao. Then she pulled out a third. She hesitated, looking at the dense red top. Cilan raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just that…I don’t know who’s in here.” She grinned sheepishly. “I was just gonna find out during the gym battle.”

Cilan grabbed his head in frustration and shock. “You were going to battle him completely blind!? You don’t even know what kind of pokemon is in there!”

“I guess you have a point,” Salieri answered nonchalantly. She turned the top of the pokeball to see through, and then smiled when she saw what was inside. “Ohhhh, I know what this is. C’mon out, little guy!”

She stood up and hurled the pokeball up into the air. The light came down to earth, shaping itself into a small brown dig like animal that smiled up at Cilan cutely. “This guy’s from Kanto. It’s called an Eevee.”

Cilan cooed, clapping his hands together at the sight of the foreign pokemon. “Wow, what a rare find! May I check it’s stats?”

“Huh?”

Cilan smiled, and then suddenly spun around on his heel, flourishing his arms up into the sky. “It’s TASTIIIIIING TIIIIIIIME!!!!!” he announced as he hoisted up Eevee to his face. The Normal type looked confused as Cilan inspected it’s body.

“Your Eevee has an excellent flavor! Oh yes, just a match for you! It’s texture makes yours compatible in every way!” He sniffed the small pokemon’s head. “A very good speed stat as well….it seems that this Eevee is also a girl! But what’s it’s potential?”

The waiter gently stuck the tip of his tongue onto Eevee’s nose, who wrinkled it in recoil. “Wow, this pokemon has an excellent taste! I’m sure you’ll raise her up to be a fine battler!”

After Salieri had managed to pick her jaw up from the floor, she looked down at Chen Zhen and Liuye Dao. “Well, what do you guys think? We’ve got a new member of our team.”

Liuye nodded briskly, indicating his acceptance of Eevee onto the team. Chen Zhen, however, did not reply. Instead, he was silently staring at Eevee intently since she was released from her pokeball, with his mouth hanging open stupidly. Salieri wondered why Chen Zhen was so silent, and what was going on through his head.

Eevee quickly scrambled away form the weirdo back to her trainer’s arms. Salieri hoisted up Eevee and smiled. “Well, if you’re going to be on the team, you gotta have a name. Let’s see here,” she contemplated, setting Eevee down on the stump and rubbing her chin in thought. “Hmmm….oh, I know! How about Salem?”

“Salem?” Cilan asked. Salieri nodded.
“Yeah, cause Eevee’s are like magic. They can evolve into so many different types. Oh, I wonder if there’s a Fighting type Eevee!” Salieri cooed excitedly as the Eevee cocked her head. “Alright then. Salem, welcome to Team Del Forrest.”

Salem happily jumped up on her perch. “An interesting name choice. I’m not sure if I see all the ingredients that got you there, but as this team’s head chef, I’ll trust your taste.” Cilan once again pointed to the sand bank. “Now are you ready to learn Dig?”

Salieri nodded, now far more receptive to the training. Cilan's methods were strange, but she trusted what he was saying. It was time to get this technique down pat. “You bet.”