Day finally came and after a hearty breakfast, Krystal, Jacen and Bram headed off towards the Coral City Gym towards the center of the underwater town. The sun shown through the crystal-clear dome making the coral-colored sidewalks shine in ripples like the bottom of a pool on a sunny day. Buddy trotted behind Krystal and the gang, staring at the light on the ground.

They turned the corner and came face to face with a tall building. On the outside it wasn't different than any of the other buildings around it. It was a light aqua color and had many windows on the sides. The sign above the doors read: CORAL CITY GYM.

"It doesn't look like anything special..." Krystal commented.

"From the outside," Bram smiled, "Wait til you see the inside. That's what everyone talks about."

"So, are you ready?" Jacen asked.

"You bet!" she answered. She sprinted to the doors and gripped the handles more tightly than needed. She then threw her head back and smiled proudly, "But are YOU ready? HE-HE!"

Before he could answer, she flung open the doors and then stood in awe, with her mouth hanging half-open. Jacen, Bram and Buddy followed her, and also looked on. The inside definately lived up to the expectations. The colors ranged in all the colors of the ocean, mostly in coral pinks and reds. There were four major pillars made entirely out of natural coral and the floor was smoothed pebble walkways that twisted in pathways all around.

They walked down the major path further into the gym and the doors shut. They turned and saw two beautiful carvings of goldeens that seemed to leap out of the doors. At the sides of the gym stood two tall platforms. Each had a marble statue of a vaporeon that spouted water down a spiraling crystal chute. The clear water streamed into the main pool of the gym. It was Official Pokémon League Size and had two floating lily-pad-shaped platforms on which battling took place.

After Krystal recovered from her shock, she wandered towards the edge of the pool. At the four corners of the pool lay statues of various water pokémon, including Cloyster, Seadra, Dewgong, and Wartortle. The Wartortle was the most impressive of the four.

"I told you it was beautiful," whispered Bram.

Krystal nodded and whispered back, "It's even prettier than one my aunts run in Cerulean," Suddenly she once again snapped back to reality and barked out, making everyone flinch, "DOSA, leader of this gym...I, Krystal Ketchum, declare a BATTLE!"

"You don't have to yell," a voice came from behind them, "I'm right here!"

They turned around and found Dosa. It surprised them to the point where they couldn't put two and two together to get four! Dosa stood a bit taller than them and waved sweetly with one hand, twirling her purple Gengar-colored hair which was done up in the back into two braids which looped and two smaller braids dangled down slightly over her shoulders. Her coral colored tanktop matched the colors of the gym and had a purple plaid skirt to go with it. Only someone like her could make such an interesting fashion statement and get away with it.

She smiled, "Sorry I wasn't around. I just ran into these two..." she paused searching for the right word, "...weirdos, who were trying to convince me to join Neo Team Rocket or something like that. I had already met them yesterday too! They were dressed like rich people... the little boy had a nasty orange suit and the girl... well, I've heard of Rockets somewhere before, I thought they were evil and so I naturally refused."

"Good choice," said Jacen. Thoughts of his sister wearing that ridiculously tight dress floated into his head, and he shook them out. Not a pretty thought.

"Well that little creep threatened me again, and they disappeared in a puff of smoke when they heard you coming in. Do you know those people?"

"Unfortunately..." Jacen replied, "The girl was... is my sister."

"I'm so sorry!" Dosa cried.

"AHEM!" Krystal interrupted, "Can I have my match now?"

Dosa suddenly noticed Bram, "Hey! What are you doing here Mister? I thought you had places to go, and signatures to collect?"

"Well," Bram smiled with his magical smile that drives the ladies crazy, "I just had to come back and see my favorite gym leader one last time."

"PLEASE!!" Krystal cried.

"Oh!" Dosa broke away from Bram's hypnotic stare and looked for the first time at Krystal, "Sure, it'd give me a break from all these bozos I've seen today. Follow me." She started towards the main pool.

They all followed obediantly. A wartortle, that strangely resembled the statue, hopped onto the Lily-pad platform and it floated towards the center. After a collective "awe" from the visiting group, Buddy elected himself to battle and leaped to another platform across from the wartortle.

"This is Sprinkles, my Wartortle! We'll use two pokémon each and the battle will stay within the area of the pool, marked by the water chutes," she pointed, "Alright?"

Krystal nodded.

"Then let the battle begin!" she cried as a buzzer sounded.

Krystal twisted her hat around. "Buddy, use Razor Leaf to cut it down to size!!"

"Sprinkles, Withdraw!" she called.

Sprinkles ducked into its shell just before the attack hit, and the leaves bounced off of it. "Okay, Sprinkles, Headbutt!"

The wartortle stuck out it's head and it speeded over the water towards Buddy, who flinched. Sprinkles struck hard and Buddy flew backwards and the platform followed him, moving under him just in time.

"Buddy Look OUT!!" she started to reach out into the pool but Jacen grabbed her by the shirt before she fell in, "LET GO JACEN!!!! Or I'll have your brains for breakfast!"

"Bram, a little help!" Jacen called. Bram grabbed her arms and together they pulled her slowly back.

"Make that order with a side of BRAM!!!" she cried, "I gotta help BUDDY!" she cried, and, regaining her composure, added, "Hey, guys, I need to instruct him in his battling..." They released her, and she calmly walked back to her first position and continued in the battle.

"Why again do you like her?" Bram asked Jacen.

"Her explosive personality... I think...Sometimes I wonder..." he answered thoughtfully.

Back at the battle, Buddy shook off the shock of not landing in the water and used his vine whips to smack Sprinkles on the ears. This futile move only served to infuriate it. It Water-gunned Buddy, stunning him further.

"This is it," Dosa exclaimed. "Now use Surf and take him down!"

"NOOOO!!!" Krystal screamed, "Buddy!!!!"

Sprinkles turned the platform towards the column of water pouring from the crystal chute. The clever Wartortle surfed high up the spout,then used it to gather enough momentum to wham into Buddy with the force of a moving truck.

Buddy flew through the air and luckily landed in Krystal's arms. He was badly injured and could barely stay awake. He looked up at her with defeat in his big friendly red eyes. "Bulba," he whispered.

Tears welled up in Krystal's eyes. "You don't need to appologize to me Buddy. I know you did your best. You should rest now." She hugged him tightly.

"Bulba," he smiled.

"I love you too, Buddy. Go to sleep now."

"Bulba," Buddy repeated as he closed his weary eyes.

Krystal hugged him again, then turned to Jacen with tears running down her face. "Could you take Buddy to the Pokémon Center and see that...that he's well taken care of?"

Jacen blinked. He had no idea that Krystal was that caring towards her Pokémon. He took Buddy gently out of her arms. "Will you be alright?" he asked quietly.

Krystal sniffed and whiped her eyes. She took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "He's never lost before."

"Sorry," said Jacen, for lack of something better to say.

Krystal smiled, then turned away from him. After all, she still had a battle to finish.

"Give up?" Dosa called.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no. Krystal Ketchum dosen't give up." She reached for another Pokémon. Silently she sized up the situation. Baby hadn't let her down before, but she had a new friend to fight with. Starmie, Dosa's other pokémon, whom she read about on Dexter3000, was a Psychic type as well as a water type and Brooke would be good against it, but she had never used Brooke before and didn't know how she could do in battle. Finally she decided to just go with it and see what happened.

"I choose you, Brooke!" she yelled, throwing Brook's Pokéball. The cute little purple puff popped out with a little cry of joy. Krystal pointed, "Hey Brooke, put that Wartortle to sleep!"

Brooke hopped onto the platform. *SLEEPY!* she cried and did a little shimmy. Blue hypnosis waves verberated off of her. Sprinkles realized what she was attempting and tried to run away from the sleep waves. Unfortunately, it had already been affected by them. It slowed to a walk, then a crawl, then it flopped down.

"No! Sprinkles, don't go to sleep! Come on, wake up!" Dosa shrieked.

Sprinkles helplessly closed it's eyes. "Tortle..." Then it too was gone.

Dosa wrinkled up her nose. "That's never happened before. Okay, that was the last straw. This means war, Krystal Ketchum. Not quite up to your FATHER'S standards, but I'm sure I can handle you." She knew that would infuriate Krystal. "Starla, I choose you!"

The pool bubbled and from it's depths rose a rather beautiful Starmie. It's jewel sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow at once.

"Body Slam!"

Starla spun at Brooke and slammed into her with incredible force. She flew through the air with a telepathic cry that made Krystal flinch. Never before had any of her Pokémon sounded so...human.

"Uh...Oh no! What kind of attacks can you do?" Krystal asked with panic starting to edge into her voice.

Brooke landed face-first on her platform and staggered to her feet. *Uh, how about this, Krystal?* She shimmied again and psy-waves struck Starla. It lost its balance, toppled over, spun around on its jewel, and skidded off the platform. Everyone looked over the edge of the pool to watch it sink back into the depths.

After a few long moments, Dosa clenched her fists, and gritted her teeth. "Alright, Ketchum, you win. Just let me go into my office to get your badge. I'll be right back." She stormed off.

Krystal blinked. "I...I did it! I just wish Jacen coulda seen me!"

"I did! Good job." Jacen said from behind her.

She turned around in surprise. He grinned at her, happy for his friend. She jumped into his arms. "OH, Jacen, I'm sooo happy. I did it! Thank you for...WAIT A MINUTE! YOU'RE SUPPOSTA BE WITH MY BUDDY!" She jumped back and whacked him with her hat. "WHAT if he WAKES UP ALL ALONE!" She whacked him again, and once again for good measure, before returning it to its normal position.

Dosa returned with the badge. She slapped on an extremely fake smile and said, "I, Dosa, present you with the Coralreefbadge! Congratulations!"

"Yeah, great job!" Bram agreed.

"Yeah, Krystal." Jacen said weakly and then flinched, expecting her to hit him again.

"Thanks guys. You're a great help. Now, come on, let's go see how Buddy is."

"Oh, and Krystal," Dosa started.

She turned.

"Nice battle," she smiled genuinely this time.

"Thanks, Dosa. You were great too!"

End of Chapter Five
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