"They say no one has ever beat her in a match." Misty said as they walked through the forest. "There's no way you can win."
"That's not true! She can't be that hard, or her badge wouldn't be so important." Ash snapped back. He knew that if he tried hard enough he'd win with no issues at all.
"That is if we can find the place." Brock said looking around. "Honestly I can't find the gym anywhere. Are you sure its even here anymore?"
"Its got to be here somewhere! Officer Jenny said it was somewhere in the woods." Ash fought back. Its called the 'Sky Badge' so it must be up high." The three all looked up.
"All I see is a little shack in that tree." Misty said pointing up at a shabby apartment 10 feet of the ground in an old tree. "That can't be a league approved gym." She sighed. "We've been looking all afternoon. Maybe if we came back tomorrow we won't be as tired and we could find it."
Brock looked at Ash, then Misty. "Misty's right." He pat Ash on the shoulder and started to walk back to the road to Sienna City. "Besides, don't you think your Pokemon would enjoy a break?" Ash knew they did. Going through the forest, he ran into more challengers than usual. Pikachu and the others will need their rest before facing Vineasah for the SkyBadge.
Ash sighed. "I guess so. You'd like that hu Pikachu?" he said smiling. The Pikachu on his shoulder smiled and chirped "Pika pika." Ash laughed. "Okay Pikachu." The four of them made their way to the road. All the while, Ash thought to himself, "I wonder if we'll ever find that gym."
~ Meanwhile:
"My name is Gary Oak. I'm from Pallet. I challenge your gym leader to a match!"
"A challenger who found my gym. Splendid. One pokemon, no time limit."
"Perfect."
"Then, let's begin."
~ "Ah, hello Ash." Nurse Joy said as Ash, Brock and Misty walked into the Pokemon Center in Sienna City. Immediately, Brock blushed and held her hands. "Hey Nurse Joy." he said smiling. Ash, Misty, and Pikachu rolled their eyes in unison.
"Why, hello Brock." Nurse Joy said smiling. "Are you guys staying the night tonight? If so, I only have one two-bed room left. So many trainers stay here at night to rest up before searching for Vineasah's gym." She looked down and sighed.
Brock held her hands tighter. "If we're too much of a hassle, my friends and I would be more than happy to camp out tonight."
"I wanted to stay in a bed." Misty quietly whispered to Ash.
"So did I." Ash whispered back.
"Oh, Misty, I have an idea." Nurse Joy chirped with her eyes wide. "You can stay in my room. There's two beds and I really only need one." She said smiling. "Brock and Ash can have the last room."
"Only if its okay with you, I don't mind." Misty sang. Nurse Joy nodded her head when a boy with chocolate-brown hair burst through the door, running up to the counter next to Brock.
"Oh, Gary. Are you okay?" Nurse Joy asked with wide eyes.
"M-my N-ni-Nidoking..." he began, holding out a pokeball.
Nurse Joy took the pokeball from the boy and called a Chansey. "Chansey, take this pokeball to the healing room."
"Chansey." the Chansey said as it took the pokeball and trotted into the darkness.
"What happened?" Nurse Joy said as she turned back to Gary, Ash, Brock, Misty, and Pikachu. "Your Nidoking seems really hurt?"
"I found the gym. Vi-Vineasah's gym. She, she's tough." Gary studdered. He sighed. "She even went easy on me, she saw my Nidoking and suggested she use one of mine, my choice. So I gave her my weakest Pokemon. Somehow, she destoryed us." He looked down.
Ash looked at Gary with wide eyes. The last time he saw him so depressed and confused was when he lost his chance at an EarthBadge. Ash thought to himself, 'This trainer must be really tough. As much as I hate to admit it, Gary's a solid trainer. If he lost that badly against his own Pokemon, it'll be very hard to beat her.' Ash looked up at Gary and said, trying to cheer him up. "Well, at least you found the place. We couldn't find it anywhere." To this, Misty and Brock looked at each other and, Misty, thought, 'Wow. Ash and Gary are hardcore rivals. Why is Ash being so nice to him?'
"I guess your right." Gary said sighing. "I could have never found it." He gave a little smile. "Well, I'm gonna go get a bowl of soup and go to sleep." he said as he began to walk away.
Without thinking, Brock looked up and said to Misty and Ash, "Maybe we should go with him. You both look starving and I don't know about you guys" he looked back at Gary "but I hate being alone when I'm upset."
"But Brock..." Misty began.
"He's right." Ash said looking at Brock. "Its not that bad." Misty just nodded. "Gary, wait up!" Ash yelled and the three walked towards the cafeteria with Gary.
~

After a bowl of soup and small talk, the four, accompannied by Pikachu, walked back into the lobby as Officer Jenny walked in. "Officer Jenny." Brock said walking towards her.
"Ah, hi..." she said slightly worried.
"What's the matter?" Brock said slinking towards her. "I'd hate to see a girl as beautiful as you look so upset." Apart from usual, she ignored the last part completely.
"There has been cases lately about possesions." she said looking at the group. "Random people all over Sienna are being possesed by an evil, thing. Every time I think I'm close to catching it, it disappears." She looked down. "Its hopeless looking..."
Ash, always trying to be a hero, spoke up first. "Don't say that. I'm positive you'll catch it soon." He got nothing but a small sigh. "If you say so. If you'll excuse me, I need to warn Nurse Joy that the last possesion was very close to here." She walked towards the counter, where Nurse Joy was polishing Gary's empty pokeball. When the blue haired officer finished her story, the nurse's humble smile turned to a worried expression. She set down the pokeball and glided towards the doors and locked them from the outside.
"I hope everythings okay..." Ash said, attempting to break the awkward silence.
"Well, I'm off to bed. Goodnight boys." Misty said as she walked towards the corridoors.
Brock looked at Ash. "We should too."
Ash nodded his head and looked towards Gary. "Well, see ya later then." Gary looked up and nodded.
Together, Ash and Brock walked down the hall towards their room. Gary sighed and desended into the nearest chair.
~ Meanwhile:
"Another win." sigh. "If only people weren't such sore losers, maybe they would see my plan..."
"I wish I can help you miss..."
"Who's there..?" She let out a muffled scream.
~ Gary sat miserably in his bed. He looked down to his clock. 1:28. "Damn..." he thought. "I just can't sleep. Not after what happened..."
Flashback:
"I'll battle with whatever pokemon of yours you chose to give me."
"Fine, then you'll use my Eevee." Then, he tossed her the pokeball.
She opened the pokeball and called Eevee over. She whispered somethig to it and it turned back at me slightly uncomfortable to battle against me.
"Nidoking, Megahorn!"
"Block him with Sandattack."
"Nidoking, Poison Sting!"
"Eevee, endure it!" Endure? Eevee didn't know that move, but it still did it.
"Nidoking, blind it with sun!"
"Eevee, bite him." Bite? It'll never work.
"Nidoking, Thrash him!"
"Eevee, Last Resort!" What was that move? Eevee ran at full speed towards Nidoking. Then, everything was dark. When the light came back, Nidoking was out cold. "Eevee, return." Eevee disappeared into the pokeball and she tossed the ball back to me.
"Nidoking! How did you do this! Why? How did you do moves eevee didn't know? How did you cheat like that?"
:End of flashback Gary stood up. Aloud, he said, "I have to walk around. Maybe a walk can get me to sleep, hu Eevee?" His Eevee ran up to him, jumped into his arm's and licked his face. "Veeeeee." he said with a sad expression on its face. "It's not your fault. She's just a good trainer and temporarily taught you a couple tricks. You were good. I should have worked harder..." His eevee responded with "Eeeeee."
Together, they walked towards the door.
~ Meanwhile:
Ash woke up to the sound of his own breath. He sat up and looked around his room. To his left, Brock was sleeping, Vulpix snuggled under his arm. Next to him on the little table was an alarm clock. It read 1:25. He sighed, waking up Pikachu. "Pik-a-chu?" Pikachu said looking up at Ash, who was obviously distraught. "Hey Pikachu." Ash said with a little smile. "I kinda want to look for the gym now, while its still dark. I know it sounds like a bad idea, but I'd rather go there alone, you know. Find the place on my own like those other trainers." Pikachu looked back, smiled, and replied "Pika." "You wanna go?" Pikachu nodded. Ash grabbed his vest with Pigeotto, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charizard and snuck out of the room. On his walk down, he saw someone sitting on the chair near the door. Then, he heard "Eeeee."
"Who's there?" the all too familar voiced shaddow said. "Oh, it's just you." "Veeeee"
"What are you doing out here?" Ash said as he got closer to Gary.
"I should ask you. You look ready to lea-" Gary said before realizing what Ash was doing. "No. No no no no no no you are NOT going out there this late, especially alone. Are you crazy?" He shot up and quickly made his way to Ash. When he got close enough, he put his hands on Ash's shoulders. "It's dangerous out there with that ghost thing attacking people. Please don't go out there!"
"Shhhhh." Ash whispered. "You'll wake someone else up." He said covering Gary's mouth. "I'm going..." He said as he retreated and walked towards the door. "At least let me come with you." To this, Ash stopped walking and turned around. His eyes were wide. "Ash, please. I can't see you get hurt by whatever's out there. Let me come with you. Please!" Tears started to form around Gary's eyes. Gary thought to himself, "Fight it. Don't show him. Not now. Just fight it..."
He turned to see a sad, bittersweet expression on Gary's face. Before he could be talked out of leaving, he opened the door and ran out into the darkness.
"Eevee, stay here to open the door for us." Gary said as he ran after Ash. Eevee smiled and replied "Veee". Gary ran blindly through the darkness. "Ash! Ash where are you?" But it was too late. Ash disappeared into the woods. But Gary stayed to keep searching, his Exeggcute using Flash to give him light.
~ Meanwhile:
Ash and Pikachu ran around 3 miles in the darkness before Pikachu used his Flash to determine where they were. Ash looked up to see the shack he saw earlier. He looked at his watch and saw it was almost 3 am. Tired, he and Pikachu climbed the tree up to the little shelter for the night. When they finally made it inside, they lay down and fall into a deep, much needed sleep.
Quietly, the shaddow of a girl drifted over the two sleeping. "Perfect." the girl said in a deep, less than fitting voice. The shaddow disappeared. Ash and Pikachu decsended, almost as if they were being dragged further into the deep, dark shack, diappearing...
~