Climbing Towards the Awaited Battle

The day had finally come. This was one of the moments Jane had been waiting for since the day she decided to become a Mathemon master. She felt the rush of adrenaline through her system as she got up from the bed of the inn she was staying at, only to see that Derivee was already ready to go as it stood beside the door. Jane smiled and got herself ready for the challenging battle that was to come. "Alright! Let's do this!" She exclaimed aloud as she and Derivee left the inn.

It was a good thing that they had explored the city the night before as they would've probably gotten lost on their way there. If that had happened, they would probably have been wandering around till the afternoon or later, meaning they'd have to stay overnight again. They continued to make their way through the city streets, stopping to take a look at the various vendors now and then. The merchandise that was sold in the city was certainly something else compared to Kuro Town and Yohgert Nom Nom. There was a big difference in quality and price.

"Ah...," Jane muttered as she saw something she liked. It was an oddly, yet cute shaped charm.

"I see you've got good taste young lady! That there is a lucky rabbit's foot! Not a real one though because that's CRUEL! Ahah!" The street vendor told Jane cheerfully, clearly proud of his wares.

"Rabbit? What's that? I've never heard of that before. Is that some rare Mathemon or something?"

"That's a trade secret! All you have to know is that its cheap! ONLY 19 MATHEPESOS!"

"Wow! 19?! That's a steal! I'll take it....whatever it was again!" Jane told the vendor excitedly.

"Alright! Thanks young lady, let me wrap this up for you!" He said as he began to wrap up the rabbit's foot in a cute purple wrapping, dropping it into a small baggy afterwards. Jane handed over the money and took her newly purchased merchandise, giving the vendor a quick thank you nod as she left and made her way to the gym with Derivee.

Surprisingly, the time it took for them to reach the gym wasn't as long as Jane had expected. They had only been walking for about thirty minutes, including the short stop at the vendor, and they were already at the steps going up towards the hill top gym. Again, it was probably thanks to the late night exploration they did. Jane was glad that it didn't take too much time but the hardest part was just about to begin. She stared up the long stairway of destiny and hope, finally getting a small feeling of butterflies in her stomach. "Let's think positive!" Jane told herself, quickly shaking off her nervousness.

"Deriv?" Her small companion muttered out, confused at Jane's sudden strange behavior.

"Okay! My first obstacle are these stairs! Let's go~!" Jane yelled out, then taking her first step onto the first level of stairs. It felt like she was about to climb the stairway to heaven at this point. Now that they were closer to the actual gym itself, Jane was able to see the intricate architecture that went into the gym itself. It was like a giant Greek sanctuary at the top with the six pillars at the front and such. The roof of the building was dome shaped and had a giant "6" propped on top of it. "Whoever designed this place, along with the city, surely must love the number six." Jane thought as she continued to climb the stairs.

As they continued to make their way up the stairs, it finally dawned upon Jane that their were many others who were climbing up with them. She had been too deep in thought about her battle that she had not taken notice of the others who were also going to challenge the fearsome Pat Wa. The rumors about many people going in and out of his gym at a time were true. Taking a look up the stairs, Jane also saw that there were a bunch of people coming down, a look of utter defeat on their faces. No one who was coming down had a look of victory on their face, all of them resembling something close to the boy she had met the day before.

"Hey, did you hear? I heard that there are only one or two trainers per week who win against Pat Wa! Can you believe it? Look at how many of us there are here!" Jane heard someone say from close behind. It was certainly outrageous to even consider the rumor to be factual, but at this point, it wasn't hard to believe. She looked up again to see the crowd of defeat and despair, feeling a bit of her determination wavering at the sight of it all.

"Derivee! Deriv! Deriv!" Cried the Derivee, trying to console its master.

"Hehe..Thanks Derivee. I can't believe I almost let the rumors and that crowd let me down. There's no way I'm going to lose after coming this far!"

"Vee!"

It only took a few more minutes to reach the top of the hill. Jane, thanks to Derivee's support, was able to keep her inner flame burning so bright that she appeared to be letting out a brilliant aura of determination. Seeing the gym up front was better than seeing it from afar. The huge doors leading into the gym itself were intimidating enough to scare some trainers and their Mathemon away. There was a sudden silence from those who reached the top as they beheld the doors itself. Jane even heard some trainers behind her hyperventilating. There was even someone who started crying!

Jane took a look around her and saw that no one seemed to be taking the first step towards opening the giant gym doors. She was about to make her move and push them open herself, but was abruptly stopped as more trainers from inside came out, their faces were exactly that of defeat. Not even this batch appeared to have victors amongst them. After waiting for the crowd to make their exit, Jane finally went inside, leaving the remaining trainers outside with a feeling of reluctance.

As soon as she and Derivee got inside, they were greeted by a large eliptical shaped hallway that brought a feeling of peace as soon as Jane took her first few steps inside, it was almost sanctuary like. Jane thought that she heard someone talking into her ear but shook off the feeling as no one was even near her. She had left the other trainers outside, as they were too afraid to come in with her, leaving her alone with Derivee in the empty hallway. They walked together through the hallway, noticing that there were indeed other trainers within the hall. Jane hadn't been hearing things when she thought she heard someone whispering into her ear, realizing that the shape of the hallway must be responsible for her hearing the others whispers.

At the end of the hallway awaited a double doored entrance to what Jane believed to be the entrance to Pat Wa's lair. Although these doors were not quite as grand as the ones at the entrance, not to say that these doors weren't something to oggle at either. They were large marble doors, with engravings of a "6" on the center of each door. Jane took in a deep breath and took a look at Derivee, "Well, here we are. Let's give it our best, okay?"

"Vee!"

Taking one final deep breath of air to try and psyche up herself, Jane pushed open the doors. It was finally time to fight.