Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Hey, what's that over there?" A young girl asked her friend as they walked along together.

It was a warm day in the middle of autumn and the sun was shinning down brightly. Two teen aged Pokemon trainers were heading down the bottom of Route 217 from Snowpoint City, having each just earned an Icicle badge. One was a red headed girl from Veilstone, named Laura. The other girl named Leslie had a long brown ponytail and was visiting the area from Goldenrod City in the Johto region.

"What?" Laura said confused.

Leslie let out a sigh and tugged her friend by the arm to the side of the road that dropped down like a little hill top. Pointing way off into the distance there seemed to be a large dark building standing off in the middle of no where. "That! What is that over there? I don't see it on the map."

"Oh that..." Laura giggled. "Well that's Rayne Reserve, the megalopolis."

"The mega-wha?" Leslie said confused. "How can that be a megalopolis? I don't even see how it could be a city... or even a town for that matter. Where are all the other buildings?"

"No no no. You've got it all wrong. This is a megalopolis for Pokemon, not people. This whole area north of Eterna City, from there to where route 217 meets 216, is private land owned by the Gym Leader Almus Rayne. He had the landscape of this whole region altered to make it a perfect place to live for his Pokemon. This is a resort sanctuary for all his Pokemon. Think of it like big safari zone but you aren't allowed to catch Pokemon here. All of the Pokemon here are already caught and owned. He keeps his Pokemon out in the open here instead of at the Professor's lab."

Leslie was looking at her friend in bewilderment, trying to take all that information in. "Oh wow. But wait... if he keeps all his Pokemon here instead of safe at the Professor's lab then doesn't he have to worry about poachers or Pokemon thieves?"

Laura chuckled, "Nope, not at all. Not in this place. His Pokemon might actually be even safer here. You see, the entire property is filled under the ground with a large cybertronic network of sensors. That network takes surveillance over every square inch of ground level, underground, and in the air. The whole thing runs on solar power, dozens of windmills and geothermal energy so it never goes down. Also, there isn't just some some geeky tech nerd watching over it, who could fall asleep on the job. The entire system is maintained and run by Porygon. No one knows exactly how many he has but each one is specifically programed to maintain the security network and signal an alert if there is ever a problem. Then I think he has a psychic Pokemon teleport whatever he needs to deal with the situation."

Leslie stood there for a moment thinking about it. "Hey didn't you say that this guy is another gym leader?" Excitedly she started pulling her friend off the road and towards the direction of the large building.

"Hey!" Laura shouted. "Now hold on a minute. This gym leader is supposed to be really really tough." She said struggling. Leslie however, would hear none of it. They had just gotten one badge and she was pumped up to get another. Laura eventually gave up and followed along as they made their way to the building.

After a very long walk, they found themselves standing at the entry doors to a very large citadel. "The Asylum..." Laura said. "That is what the gym leader calls it. Inside is a huge Colosseum. This citadel that looks out over the whole property was built to house the Colosseum. Most Colosseum houses open up during tournaments or battles but this one never does."

Leslie looked as if she had lost her nerve. "It's not... like a real asylum inside, is it?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"I don't know. I've never been inside. I do know though that at night or on a stormy day when it gets really dark, this whole area is supposed to be covered in ghost Pokemon. This gym leader loves them."

Suddenly Leslie shrieked back away from the doors. "Oh ew, I hate ghost Pokemon!"

Laura turned to her and frowned. "Oh come on. You were the one who dragged me all the way out here when I wanted to just walk by. You aren't going to chicken out now. We already took down Fantina, the ghost gym leader and survived so this shouldn't be a problem either. Besides, just because he owns lots of ghost Pokemon doesn't mean he is going to use one on us. This gym leader is supposed to be like an all-star fighter. He doesn't choose his team by their type. He battles in his gym matches with the same team of Pokemon that he used back when he was just a Pokemon trainer like us."

Nodding softly they both walked through the doors together. Once inside, they both stopped to look around at the room they just entered. It was a large room made almost completely out of a very dark marble. On both sides of the room there were a series of matching doors with a complex locking mechanism branded across each of them. In front of them was a double staircase that led to an upstairs floor but the staircases were closed off with a velvet rope. In the center between the staircases were a pair of very large oak wood doors that had the word 'Welcome' engraved across them. Last, there was a plaque engraved into the floor in the center of the room for all who enter to read.

Laura walked over to it and reading it aloud said, "Welcome one and all to the Asylum of Rayne Reserve. If you are an invited guest then please make your way up the stairs as Rayne's Haunt awaits you. If you are a Pokemon trainer seeking a gym battle for my badge then please proceed through the large oak welcome doors. Rest assured that the gym leader is already aware of your presence and waiting for you."

Meanwhile ~

In a dark room all alone a man sat comfortably by a fire place. Suddenly a shadowy figure phased partially out of the wall, beside the man's ear. "What? Trainers? Two girls you say? They each have six badges?"

A moment later ~

"Well let's do this." Leslie said to Laura as they pushed the large welcome doors open. Before them was a very long hallway with a light at the end. The two girls looked at each other in confusion. Laura took a step forward and said, "Maybe this is the entry hall to the Colosseum? You know, like the tunnel at stadiums that athletes run out of?" Leslie nodded and they started their walk down the surprisingly long tunnel. However, the closer they got to the end of the tunnel the more eerie the destination ahead began to appear.

"Oh I should probably tell you." Laura said as they continued their long walk. "I called this place a Colosseum for a reason. I've read about this gym before but I've never actually seen it. This is a dome shaped area, not rectangular like most gyms. I don't know how big this building is but I have read that the Colosseum itself is supposed to be 200 feet high at the center point of the dome's ceiling and the battle floor is 300 feet around." She said excitedly.

"Whoa." Her wide eyed friend exclaimed. "Why does it have to be so big?"

"The gym leader wanted an enclosed gym but he didn't want a place that would limit a Pokemon's potential attacks. He measured the height and destructive range of attacks like Tornado and Hyper Beam from the Pokemon of previous League Champions when he designed this gym. Pretty much any move you can think of you are free to use in here just like as if you were outside." Laura however, was cut short from her descriptive tale as they suddenly stopped wide eyed at the end of the hallway.

The two girls entered the Colosseum and were overtaken by the sight of its interior. The space was massive. It was a large dome designed just for battling only and didn't even have any stands anywhere for spectators to watch in safety. There were 'blacklights' covering nearly the entire ceiling, casting the gigantic room in a purple illumination. The girls were somewhat unnerved realizing that the gym was lit with black lights instead of regular lighting. Their skin glowed brightly in the luminance, as did the battle field displayed before them.

As they stepped onto the arena grounds, soft sand crunched underneath their feet. The entire field could be seen clearly from eye level but there were different heights and thicknesses of long grass all around. The grass however, glowed a frightening red from the UV-reflection of the black lights. Amongst the grass there were many large rocks scattered around in a good number of places. Even the stones were glowing an odd yellow color that seemed intensified by the black lights.

"What kind of place is this?!" A very astonished Leslie asked.

"This is my Pokemon Gym!" A male's proud voice announced. The two girls jumped in shock as the man walked toward them from out of the long grass. He was tall, with broad shoulders, had long dark hair that flowed gracefully down his chest and back, and he seemed young for a typical gym leader. He dressed all in black, had a very worn looking black trench coat draped over his shoulders and his eye color was unidentifiable in the lighting. "I am Gym Leader Almus Rayne, and I welcome you to the Assylum."

The two girls jumped in surprise but then looked back and forth from each other in confusion. Almost in unison they both stammered out, "But, but.... what kind of gym is this? It looks bigger than the Pokemon League arena. What's with these lights? This place can't be legit. This place is insane!"

"Insane? Well... this place IS called the 'Assylum' after all." Almus chuckled. "I do assure you though, that this gym is sanctioned by the Pokemon League. Please allow me to explain the details of this arena." He said calmly.

"The first detail that you have no doubt noticed, is that this is an indoor gym lit with black lights instead of normal lights. The ceiling does not open up but is constructed large enough to suit most any flying needs." He stepped toward them and turned so that he was facing the gym in the same direction they were. "As for the black lights, you might be thinking that it makes this gym unproperly lit because the light isn't white, but take a closer look around. ... Are there any areas that are difficult to see?" Laura and Leslie frowned, but then did as asked. Suddenly their expressions softened as they realized the man was right. Even though the gym was lit with a dark light, there was a lot of it. There were so many black lights that every portion of the gym glowed brightly. There was no problem at all regarding lack of illumination.

"As you can see," Almus continued, "this gym is probably the most well lit gym you will ever battle in. These aren't just normal black lights either. They are UV-lights. They supply all grass type Pokemon with the effect of a Sunny Day. If you will look at these glowing stones around you, this is brimstone or as otherwise known as sulfur in its raw crystal form. They are very flammable so if a fire Pokemon ignites these, then fire Pokemon will benefit from the Sunny Day as well."

Almus began walking away from the girls as he continued to speak. "There is a small amount of atmosphere held within the dome so a Rain Dance or even a Twister can effectively be created inside of here as well. You might also notice that the ground on which you stand is very soft. If you have any Pokemon that know how to Dig, they will not have a difficult time doing so here. Likewise of course, this ground makes it very easy to create a Sandstorm if desired."

Stopping some distance away from them now, he turned around and saw the overwhelmed looks on their faces. "To simplify things: grass, fire, ground, rock, flying, ghost, and weather effected Pokemon all have different advantages on this field. While that is the case though, no Pokemon types are at a disadvantage on this field compared to any other regular gym." The girls nodded, seemingly able to understand that version better.

"Um sir?" Leslie rose her hand tentatively as her little voice spoke up. "I have a question... um, where are we supposed to battle?" But the gym leader and her friend Laura looked at her confused for a moment. She then realized the ridiculousness of her question and waving her arms said, "Oh no, I know we battle here but what I meant was... where are we as the trainers supposed to stand? I don't see any boxes marked out on the floor." Laura mouthed a little 'Oh' and then both the girls looked to Almus Rayne.

He chuckled a bit as he wore a comfortable looking grin. He smiled as he replied, as if this were something he greatly enjoyed explaining. "When you are traveling out in the wild... do you need a box marked on the floor to tell you where to stand when you catch a wild Pokemon?" The girls bit their lip as his words smacked them right in the face. "You stand anywhere you like, but you do it on the battlefield you share with your Pokemon."

"Right then!" Laura suddenly shouted out. "Let's do this then! Did we come here for a talk or did we come here for a Pokemon Battle?" She said with a look of fire burning in her eyes. Leslie picked up on her friend's energy and rose her fist in front of her dramatically.

Clapping his hands together Almus responded by saying, "Excellent, excellent. That's the spirit that I like to see in my opponents. I wish you both the best of luck against me. Now, which one of you would like to battle me first? Unless of course... I normally hold one on one matches with six Pokemon each, but I would be willing to accept a double battle with you two if you would like. Three of your Pokemon each against my six, a two on two match. What would you like?" He said with a hopeful grin.

"A double battle suits us just fine!" The girls said together in perfect unison. They grinned both thinking, "He has no idea what he is in for."

"These girls have no idea what is in store for them." Almus thought silently, his emotions unreadable. The two girls took a few steps apart to give each other room and stared defiantly towards their opponent. Still thinking to himself, "They look confident. That's good. They've double battled before, I can tell."

Suddenly a new voice broke out over the field as a woman's laughter could be heard. Laura and Leslie looked over to the side of the field to see a woman standing there with a hand raised over her smiling lips. She had long beautiful hair, she too was dressed in black, wearing a long elegant dress. Her skin seemed very pale by how well see glowed in the black light compared to anyone else. "This ladies, is my beautiful wife." Almus announced.

Leslie looked at him in shock. "You're married!?"

Almus frowned. "Do you find that so hard to believe? You don't think that I live all the way out here by myself do you? Furthermore, she is not just my wife but she is also the official judge for this gym's Pokemon matches."

Suddenly Mrs. Rayne spoke up. "Oh hush you, these girls didn't come hear to listen to you talk all day. Now is everyone ready?" She asked, getting to the point. The gym leader and both challengers nodded. Mrs. Rayne continued, "Alright then. This is to be a two on two match, consisting of six Pokemon on the gym leaders side and six Pokemon on the challenger's side. Each of the two challengers are allowed the use of only three Pokemon. The match is decided when either the gym leader or the dual challengers have lost six Pokemon each. The challengers are allowed to make substitutions but the gym leader is not." Again both sides nodded. "Begin!" She yelled, stepping back to watch.


Almus stood up straight but was grinning sinisterly as he spoke. "You look like two very capable little trainers." He said, lowing his arms down to his belt and pulling out two pokeballs. "It's a shame that I am going to have to cut you down to size. Scyther, Kabutops, here we go!"

As the smoke from the two exploding Aura Spheres settled, Almus looked at the confused face of Leslie and spoke to explain Haunter's moves. "Haunter is a ghost type and has the unique ability to phase himself out and become invisible. Furthermore, his hands are not attached to his body which means he can fly them around to attack with his head and both hands separately. Fighting my Haunter is like fighting three Pokemon at once."

"That's..." Leslie stammered. "And just what am I supposed to do against that?!" She yelled.

Almus stared sternly back against her. "This is your gym challenge! You can rise to meet your challenge or you can give up and go home! Haunter, let's take that Empoleon down. Use Shadow Ball!"

"Quick Empo, dodge to the side and jump into Lucario!" Leslie screamed to Almus' surprise. A ball of dark energy formed and shot down from straight above Empoleon but the water Pokemon dodged the attack just in time, evading swiping claws coming from in front and behind as well.

Laura didn't miss a beat screaming out as the large penguin came crashing to her fighting Pokemon, "Lucario, grab that penguin and hurl it back up into the air with Force Palm right where Haunter was when he shot of his Shadow Ball!"

Before Laura even finished her sentence Leslie screamed, "Aqua Jet!" The result was that Lucario caught Empoleon when he crashed down and then hurled the water Pokemon around in a circle for momentum before tossing Empoleon with a palm slam on the back, right into where Haunter shot off the Shadow Ball. Empoleon swirled itself in a water ball and successfully slammed Haunter right out of the sky. The ghost Pokemon fell out of his invisibility and crashed to the dirt.

"Ah! Haunter no!" Almus screamed. He looked back and yelled, "Ditto, ExtremeSpeed now!" Suddenly his Lucario shot forward and slammed right into the unprepared other Lucario. Laura's Pokemon went toppling to the ground just like Haunter did. Afterwards, they both struggled a bit managed to rise up from the sand.

"That was a very clever move. I was completely unprepared for such a tactic." His grin had returned though and he suddenly snapped his fingers in the air before saying, "But how well can you battle if neither of your Pokemon can leave the ground?" Haunter suddenly grinned just like Almus was and disappeared again. What happened next though neither of the girls were expecting.

Green and oozy zombie like hands shot up from the soft sand. They grabbed around the legs of both Lucario and Empoleon. Then suddenly the walls looked like they were shifting and swaying while terrible sights of ghosts and banshees seemed to fly through the air.

Leslie let out the first shriek screaming, "Wah! What is going on!?" Laura stood there silently and well composed but Almus could see that she was more paralyzed in fear than standing brave.

Suddenly there were crashing sounds as full zombies seemed to spring up from the ground behind the girls and all around their Pokemon. Suddenly a deep frightening voice broke out as a shadowy demon could be see where Almus had been standing. "Feel the Dark Pulse of my fiendish nightmares! Your participation in this gym battle has come to an end!" The girls looked up seeing no Pokemon in front of theirs. Instead they saw a large demon in the sky and another on the ground next to it. As soon as the words finished, both of the monsters sent off a Dark Pulse that blasted into the two trainer's Pokemon.

The room was dark but full of energy. The fireplace burning quietly blossomed streams of light all dancing elegantly along the walls and furniture with their soft orange glow. The subtle sound of ice swirling in a glass could be heard as the man in the reclining chair brought his drink to his lips and drank deeply from it. The only other sound in the room was a gentle background music coming from an antique record player further back in the room. The vinyl record emitted a cascade of classical music to softly bond off the walls and into the man's ears. There in the tranquility of his dark room the man was in complete bliss from the serenity of his solace. However, spending the day with such moments placidity were not the only joys of this man's life.

"Ah I see." Almus chuckled. "You want to talk about employees eating you alive? Go try being the one to feed my dragon Pokemon, haha. I've almost lost a hand more than once."

Almus leaned down and took a seat on one of the steps to his staircase. He lifted an eyebrow curiously as the Weavile was released by itself but then he looked back up to Cerebus.

"Nah, nothing too exciting has been going on around here. I mean taking care of all my Pokemon on a daily basis never stops being exciting for me, but I am sure you meant if anything out of the ordinary has happened." He gracefully lifted an arm to brush his long hair out of his eyes. "Just the usual challengers ever couple of weeks or so. Nothing special. I haven't had to give out one of my badges in awhile if that is what you mean."

Almus looked back down to the Weavile who appeared to be looking at something. "So what about you? Anything new going on for you? How's work?"

Almus ran his fingers through his long hair. "Yeah, I know what you mean. My gym is pretty far out there too because I needed the land but at least the Citadel can vaguely be seen from the road. I do miss having our adventures after everything that we had been through together. Man... we had some WILD times, didn't we?"

Almus then stood to his feet and proceeded to walk up the stairs saying, "Well come on then. If you just came over to sit and chat, we might as well do it in my chairs instead of my staircase. You can tell me all about this little lady of yours. Engaged huh? Well congratulations my friend."

Almus suddenly stops his accent on the stairs and looks back over his shoulder grinning. "Well that's more like it. To the Asylum then."

~ ~ ~

The two combatants stood staring at each other from opposite sides of the enormous field. The black lights shown down above them blanketing the field in its eerie glow. The tall grass looking red waved in the artificial atmosphere that was built for the gym. The sulfer stones glowed brightly across the field. Yelling out Almus called, "This will be a six on six match with no time limit. Whoever defeats all six of the other's Pokemon first will be called the winner."

(I don't mind you making my Ditto transform for me, but you never finished through with an attack. You only launch what you are planning to do and your opponent is the one who tells you how it works out. Also, that wasn't an Earthquake attack you used, it was a Seismic Toss which Flygon isn't capable of learning.)

"Manectric huh? Looks like this is going to be a shocking beginning. Ditto do your thing." Almus said casually. But no longer than after Ditto had transformed did Cerebus suddenly recall his Manectric. Almus watched curiously as suddenly he came out with a Flygon. "Hmmm very good strategy. Turn my Ditto into an Electric type and then use a Ground type against it, a Flygon of all ground types. He said chuckling. "But as you should know, I am no novice Ditto trainer Cerebus. Ditto, Transform!" He called out. Suddenly Almus' Manectric started glowing as it had before and then changed into a Flygon, diving just out of the way before Cerebus' Pokemon could reach it.

(Cerebus... there is no such attack as Dragon Wing. Now because Flygon doesn't learn any Wing attacks I am going to assume you meant Dragon Claw from your Pokemon's claws turning purple. Look here here for what Flygon CAN do.)

Almus was completely caught off guard when Cerebus had his Flygon use Dig. The Supersonic no doubt failing completely. Almus had to think fast. "Ditto forget trying to find it! Ready a Dragonbreath! If Flygon gets anywhere close to you, burn it down right in its face! Make sure the paralysis gets through!" Almus hadn't finished yelling out to his Ditto yet by the time Flygon flew up out of the sand. Both trainers finished their command at the same time, neither having enough time anymore to call out anything else.

They both watched as Cerebus' Flygon landed a Dragon Claw attack right to Ditto's chest and Ditto breathed a heavy Dragonbreath right down over Flygon's face targeting his eyes and mouth as he was trained to do so.