As they left the Gym, Dawn glanced back at the stone twin dragons growing ever more distant and couldn't help marveling, "I never thought the Gym Leader here would also be the mayor! But isn't a mayor's job really busy? How does he still have time to be a Gym Leader?"
"Maybe he's capable enough to handle both jobs," Cheryl said with a gentle smile.
"But I heard this Gym might be closing temporarily," Makomo suddenly said.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Makomo adjusted her glasses, recalling the information she had looked up earlier. "Apparently, he has limited energy, and he's getting older, so he wants to leave the opportunity to younger people. They say the Opelucid Gym will close sometime soon and won't reopen until the new Gym Leader takes over."
"Then aren't we lucky?!" Dawn's eyes lit up, and she completely forgot her earlier displeasure over having to make an appointment. "Didn't Xia You just say Drayden was the strongest Gym Leader in the Unova Region? Getting to battle him has to be much better than battling those newly appointed Gym Leaders!"
"That's certainly true." Xia You smiled too. "It's a good thing we came now and only had to deal with an appointment. By next month, or even next week, this Gym might be closed. Then we really would have missed out."
Since they couldn't challenge the Gym today, they would naturally have to stay here overnight.
Chatting and laughing, they headed back toward the Pokémon Center along the way they had come.
But they had only made it halfway when the sky suddenly darkened visibly.
Dawn looked up at the sky. "Huh? It was sunny just now. Why did it suddenly-"
Before she could finish, fat raindrops came pelting down on their heads and faces.