After passing the billboard, the two arrived at the entrance to the sports arena.
It was called a sports arena, but it was really a square set of stands built on the sea, with room for four or five hundred people and an extremely deep swimming pool in the center.
Apart from the stone steps and a few large floodlights, the stands were empty. Judging by the arena's height and the position of its entrance, however, there were probably underwater structures as well.
A boy who looked seventeen or eighteen, dressed in a red-and-white T-shirt and wearing a straw hat, was sitting behind a table, bored out of his mind.
Seeing Xia You and Sabrina approach, he hurriedly changed his expression, replacing his drowsy look with a faint smile at the two of them.
"Judging by your clothes, you must be Pokémon Trainers, right? Are you here to watch the Water Ballet performance, or to challenge the Gym?"
Xia You raised his eyebrows and took a careful look at him and the so-called "Gym" behind him. "We were just passing by. We saw a building here and were curious, so we stopped by to take a look. But... this is actually a Pokémon Gym?"
"Of course!" The boy nodded. "This is both a ballet stage and a battle Gym, and I'm Ryūji, the Gym Leader of this Dragon Palace Gym!"
Ryūji? Dragon Palace Gym?
Xia You and Sabrina exchanged a glance, each seeing a trace of bewilderment in the other's eyes. Clearly, neither of them had ever heard of such a Gym in the Johto Region!
Seeing their expressions, Ryūji had already guessed what they were thinking and hurried to explain, "It's perfectly normal that you haven't heard of it. This is just my privately established Gym!"
Xia You gave