The next morning, I am awoken to the sound of my clip playing a rather annoying alert tone. I scrunch up my nose in disgust at having to wake up so early, but then again, I did promise Erika that we would be there before the Gym opened today. I tilt my head to the side and see Flannery still sleeping with her head resting on my chest, right above my heart. I smile softly at her relaxed and defenseless state before I give her a gentle hug and a soft shake to wake her up. On the floor beside the bed, Skadi lifts her head to look at me, her nine fluffy tails dancing slightly as she does. I reach out my free hand and softly scratch behind one of her ears.
"Huh?" A sleepy voice asks intelligently from my chest. "'s too early…" I have to stop a giggle as she can be too cute in the morning.
"I know love, but we need to get up," I tell her as I give her another hug, a little tighter this time. She lets out a protesting groan and buries her face into my tit. I just shake my head at her antics and start sitting up. My core screams in protest at my action, but I push through until I am upright, which causes Flannery's head to fall into my lap.
"Fiiine." She whines at me from my lap. I ruffle her hair lovingly as she starts to sit up under her own power. I take a moment to enjoy the view of her naked body that is covered in fading marks from last night. It was her own fault for getting my motor going, but I do enjoy looking at the aftermath.
"I'm going to hit the showers quick before we head down and meet the others in the lobby for breakfast."
"I'll join you in j-" She lets out a jaw-cracking yawn before continuing "-ust a moment. I am still waking up." I give her a small nod as I slip out of bed, dodging Skadi, and head out into the communal showers.
It is only about thirty minutes later before the four of us head towards the Gym. The sky is just starting to lighten, giving it the color of steel in the predawn. Despite eating breakfast, all of us are quiet as we walk along the grassy paths. I made sure to grab myself a cup of coffee before we left the Pokecenter and have been sipping on it the entire time. The smell alone helps to clear up the early morning fog, but I will never turn away caffeine.
As we get closer to the gym, I see that it is still dark and only the outside lights are on. My eyes drift towards the base of the building, trying to find where we are supposed to go, when I spot Erika standing under a light in front of the main entrance. I notice that she isn't in her kimono, which I was starting to think was the only thing she wore, but instead she is wearing a fairly puffy and frilly dress in a leaf-green color with goldenrod accents over a white blouse. Her hair looks like it is being pulled back with an Alice band, the same color as her dress.
[See picture on discord]
She spots us a few seconds later, and I see her face light up as she raises her hand to wave politely. The difference between her face and her actions causes me to snort suddenly as I was taking a sip of my coffee, which sends me into a slight coughing fit. Luckily, I clear up the mishap in a few seconds, and then I notice that my friends are looking at me with varying expressions. Flannery looks concerned, Green looks like she is holding back a laugh with her smirk that is twitching, and Bea just raises an eyebrow at me.
"I'm fine, just saw something, and my coffee went down the wrong tube," I tell them as my cheeks pink out of embarrassment. Luckily, Erika comes up to us before anyone can ask.
"Thank you all for coming this morning." Erika greets us with a small bow. "For those of you who don't know, I am Erika, the Gym Leader here in Celadon City. I know that you would prefer to be sleeping, however I am afraid that with my normal schedule, I would not be able to do proper testing at any other time."
"It's no big deal. I know how hectic a leader's schedule can be." Bea says as she waves off Erika's concern. "So what are we testing? Frost was a little light on the details and only said that you wanted to test something."
"I will get to that in a bit, but please, if you would please follow me, I'll bring you down to the lab." Erika says as she makes a gesture for us to follow and starts walking towards the corner of the building. As we come around the corner, I find that we are at a spot of the building where there is no light, and a quick glance around shows that, through some clever landscaping, it is actually hidden from view completely. I look back towards Erika, who has stopped next to an unassuming wall. "Please do not tell anyone about the location of this door, as we keep it hidden from the criminal elements." After seeing that the four of us nod in agreement, she presses her hand to the wall. At first, nothing happens, but then I notice that Erika's hand is starting to glow with a molted green color.
After just a moment, I realize that she is using Aura to access something. This is actually the first time I have seen Aura being used by someone other than me. It didn't occur to me that you could use Aura to manipulate a mechanism, let alone through a wall or door. Though it seems that Erika is a novice with Aura, as it nearly takes her another minute before a section of the seamless wall soundlessly swings open. I glance at Erika and see a small sheen of sweat on her face from the effort. I'm not sure if it is caused by poor training or if the process was actually difficult.
Erika gave us a small smile before passing through the door. I took a quick look at the others and just shrugged before following her. Past the doorway is a long set of steps that head down below the Gym. After the last of us enters, the door automatically closes, and the lights turn on a split second later. At the bottom of the stairs sits a heavy steel door that wouldn't look out of place at a bank, though once we passed through that doorway, I had to pause. I had been expecting a lab, much like Grandpa's, filled with a mix of different things and feeling almost mad science-like. Instead, this lab feels almost medical with how sterile and white everything is.
[Picture on discord]
I can see a couple of rooms that look like they might be clean rooms, or maybe it was just a glass separator. Erika leads us deeper into this weird sci-fi-like room until we stop before a table with a number of jars that seem to glow despite the bright lights in the room. Each one has a label on it, but the notation on them is cryptic at best, and I have no idea how I would even start to decipher them.
"I am deeply sorry about all the secrecy I have pushed onto all of you," Erika says to us as she bows slightly while we gather near the work table. I give her a smile as I raise my shoulders in a shrug, showing that I don't really care. Everyone else gives her friendly sounds of dismissal, which prompts her to stand back up straight and give us a beautiful smile. "Thank you for your kindness. It all has to do with what we are going to be testing, as well as a major secret about this city. I am sure that all of you have noticed that Celadon City is quite different from anywhere else in Kanto, yet no one says anything about it. Normally, a place like this would be overrun by tourists, causing the population, and in turn the city, to grow. The reason why it is not like that is actually due to these jars in front of you as well as our protector, who graciously supplied the contents."
[Image on Discord]
"Are we going to meet this protector?" I ask her as I raise an eyebrow at her statement. From what she is saying, it almost sounds like a super-powerful Pokemon is in the city, or at least nearby. I haven't seen any signs of a powerful Pokemon though. Grandpa had told me about some of his experiences from when he was younger and how he had met Pokemon that were impossible to explain, either due to size or their unfathomable strength. His experiences led him to study Pokemon and get to where he is today. I know that he is currently researching whether age matters to a Pokemon, but I don't know any more than that.
"You will not. I am only able to tell you of their existence, but not allow you to actually meet them." Erika replies as she shakes her head, causing her bobbed hair to fluff slightly from the movement.
"It's cool, I can understand the secrecy." Bea says from behind me. I can swear I hear her shrug.
"Thank you for understanding. Now let's get down to what we are here for! Each of these jars produces a different effect. I would like to test all of you at varying rates of exposure to each one. It would start weak, but gradually get stronger."
"What kind of effects can we expect?" Flannery asks as she leans against my arm slightly. I smile as I feel her comfortable heat embrace me.
"Well, there is… a bunch of secret stuff inside jars! I won't tell you what effects each one should have, so that there is a better result." Erika says as she sticks her tongue out in a cheeky manner.
"Be careful with that, or else I might find a use for it." I tease her before I can stop myself. Erika blinks for a moment as she tries to figure out what I am talking about, before Flannery decides to join in with the teasing and puts two fingers in front of her lips. The resulting blush from Erika causes all of us to break out in a fit of giggles.
"I, ah, um, well, oh…" She flounders a bit as she tries to get her composure back from my playful tease. "Just for that, you are going first!" Erika humpfs at me as she crosses her arms with a pout. It looks completely adorable on her.
"Alright, alright. I guess I went too far."
"I didn't say that…" She mumbles under her breath before turning to me and pointing at a small sealed room near the table. "In there. Most of these are meant to be inhaled at lower doses. At the maximum dose, it will be placed on your tongue. Any questions?"
"What does the first one do?" I ask her with a smile. The look she gave me was worth it as I just laugh and enter the room. There isn't a chair in here, so I guess I will just stand for whatever happens.
"Ready?" Erika's voice comes over a hidden speaker. When I get her a nod, she presses a button. A few seconds later, a flowery smell that is similar to an Iris or Bluebell hits my nose.
Unsure of what I should be experiencing, I just breathe in comfortably. It is a rather pleasant scent overall, but I don't feel any different. I look out of the room and wave to everyone as I am rather lost at the moment.
"Alright Frost, do you notice anything?" Her voice comes through the speaker a few seconds later.
"Besides a flowery scent? Nothing at all." I tell her and shake my head. At least I don't have to stand here in boredom.
"Is that so… Alright, I am going to ask you a few questions. It is mainly to see if anything has changed." I just give her a thumbs up as I wait for her questions.
"Who is your grandfather?"
"Professor Oak."
"How many badges do you have?"
"Three, and hopefully four soon," I tell her with a smirk. She just smiles at my response before continuing.
"What type of energy is Fairy immune to?"
"Dragon." She continues to ask me a variety of different questions that I answer for her without an issue until she gets to her last question.
"Do you know why your Fletchinder evolved into a never seen before type?"
"...No." This time, I don't answer right away, as I debate about just telling the truth, but instead I decide to lie. My pause must have been telling as she quirks an eyebrow at me, but says nothing about my answer.
"Alright, so nothing so far. Let's up the dosage to see if there is any difference." We spend the next five minutes repeating the process with the concentration of the smell growing by the second. After about three minutes, and three more rounds of questions, I am finally prompted to open my mouth, which I do as a droplet of liquid flower essence instantly fills my body as I swallow. I go through the question gauntlet once more, with stranger and more personal questions that I answer easily. From the way she is asking, I get a feeling that this is supposed to be some sort of truth serum. I feel bad about this, but I really don't have much to hide as I am a pretty open person. I tell her this, which causes her to sigh in defeat.