I'm Misty Waterflower, leader of Cerulean Gym. I specialize in Water types. Right now I was lounging on the bleachers beside my pool, waiting for my next opponent. What can I say; things have been going pretty slow around here lately. My sisters have gone off on what is another tour, leaving me stuck here tending to the gym and battling trainers. At least the Pokémon kept me company.

Being a gym leader was a pretty high position, and seemed like a pretty big job to most, but really, it was kind of, what can I say- it was boring. I lived here at the gym by myself doing normal things, like eating, sleeping, and battling.

My gym was pretty big. The battlefield was a pool with a few platforms that floated on the water. After all, water Pokémon fair best in the water! Around the pool were bleachers, where people could sit and watch. I remembered the days when the bleachers would be full, people beaming to see my sisters perform in their fantastic shows.

Of course, as gym leaders, my sisters Daisy, Lily and Violet were jokes. When they were in charge, the Cerulean gym's reputation was going downhill. However eventually they left to preform across the region and had put me in charge. I was the best battler out of the four of us; even they had admitted it eventually.

Yes, it was true. I was one of the top gym leaders in Kanto even, but it still haunted me that I wasn't the best. That was what I had strived for my entire life, especially growing up with three gorgeous older sisters who were constantly stealing the spotlight. To be an awesome gym leader, number one in Kanto was my ambition. Not to be number two. Truth was I didn't even know the top gym leader in Kanto. He didn't associate with me. I had even forgotten his name…. in fact, I didn't even think I knew it to begin with.

You see, I was close with a lot the gym leaders. Erika, Lt. Surge, Blaine, Brock, you name them. Even if we weren't best friends we still saw each other often. Especially at meetings hosted by the elite four to discuss the Pokémon league standings, what we could improve, which trainers were at the top of their game and all that. It was just that though. The top gym leader in Kanto never showed up to those meetings. I'm surprised they haven't kicked them out yet, for missing all those important gatherings.

That reminded me. Lorelei, a member of the lite four had contacted every gym leader and told us about a mandatory, no exception meeting that was going to be held tomorrow at the Celadon City Gym. All gyms were to be closed and all leaders were to be present. I wondered what the big deal was. I had discussed the case with Brock, leader of Pewter City gym, but neither of us had a clue.

Well, it was the next day, and I had gotten up early to make sure I arrived in Celadon City for the meeting at 10:00 a.m. I was biking, so I figured it take about two hours to reach there. No worries though, I was up for it.

At 9:55 I pulled up to the Celadon City Gym, but the only person I could see was Bruno, of the elite four standing outside the gym doors. I greeted him and he let me through the doors. He said it was some sort of security measure, which I found odd. We had never needed security before. Bruno shut the door behind me. I continued walking to see that a long rectangular table which could seat four people on two sides and one person at each head had been placed in the middle of the gym battlefield, which was dimly lit. I made way over to the table, where four other gym leaders were sitting all at one side of the table, the side that seated four. I saw Lorelei, another member of the elite four. She was standing at the other side of the table that seated four so she could address everyone. I sat myself down at one of the heads of the table.

The truth was I was most excited about this meeting because the evasive Viridian City gym leader would have to be here. I scanned the four other gym leaders that were here, but they were all familiar faces. I couldn't believe it. Had he skipped this meeting too?

Then I overheard Lorelei talking to Agatha, another member of the elite four. I guessed Lance must be here too.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Agatha asked.

"I don't know, do you think something could have happened?" Lorelei responded.

"I doubt it." Agatha said. Who were they talking about? Oh right, probably the Viridian City Gym Leader.

"Uh- Lorelei," I interrupted her from something she was writing on a clip board. Agatha had left to go off somewhere. "I thought this was supposed to be a no exception meeting. So where's the Viridian City Gym leader?"

"Uh," Lorelei looked towards the entrance. "He'll probably be here shortly." She went back to what she was doing.

I sighed. It angered me how the one meeting he had to come to he ended up being late for. But Erika and Blaine weren't here either, so I guess I couldn't be mad. Wait a minute. This was Erika's gym. How could she not be here?

"Lorelei." I interrupted her again.

"Yes?" she responded, a bit impatiently this time.

"Where's Erika? Isn't this her gym?" I asked. Lorelei checked her watch.

"I suppose we should get this meeting under way." she announced.

"But Blaine and Erika-" I tried to point out that they weren't here.

"This meeting is about those two." Lorelei put down her clip board and turned towards me, silencing me.

"Two gym leaders have gone missing in the past month alone. We have not heard from or been able to contact them. We had sent Lance to check out the scene, but he found both gyms in a mess. It looked like there had been a battle at each one. Since two gym leaders have already gone missing, we fear that they may be targeting all gym leaders, which puts you all in great danger." She said in a serious tone.

I was shocked. I couldn't believe Erika and Blaine had gone missing, or worse, been kidnapped.

"We've cleaned up this gym, but Blaine's is still in bad shape. We can't afford to have more people go missing." Lorelei stated.

"We have to do something about this! I say we track down the sucker that took Erika and beat him to a pulp!" Lt. Surge announced. The other gym leaders agreed.

"We were thinking about closing down the gyms so we can figure out what happened." Lorelei continued. I heard a few gasps and murmurs of disapproval from my fellow leaders.

"But," Lorelei continued, "as gym leaders you cannot abandon your jobs, for whatever reason. After much consideration we have decided to close half of the still open gyms. We will have the gym leaders from the closed gyms each stay with one of the gym leaders of the other gyms in pairs-"

Suddenly the door to the gym opened and light from outside poured into the dimly lit room.

"Get down!" Lorelei shouted. Everyone ducked under the table only to hear a voice say,

"No need to get jumpy, it's just me."

I saw Lorelei sigh, then before getting up fix her hair in a pocket mirror she had.

"It's about time you got here." She said, standing up.

I saw the shadow of the person shrug their shoulders. Could it be? Could this be the Viridian City gym leader?

A young man about my age, seventeen, emerged from the shadows. He had spiky hair that drooped over his face. He wore a purple t-shirt and blue jeans. He also sported brown boots with black bands around the front and the top. Around his neck was an oddly coloured yin-yang necklace, which reflected in the light.

The guy walked towards the end of the table and sat down. He had one arm hanging off the back of the chair and was leaning a bit to one side; he was also just glancing out into space, oblivious to the rest of us. Then he shifted his gaze towards the four gym leaders that were sitting in a row along the long of the table. I could see from his expression that he was a bit surprised that they were staring at him. Then he broke into a smirk, and nodded his head down as he crossed his arms.

"Gary?" it suddenly came back to me. "Gary Oak?" I asked again, standing up, my eyes narrowed. He looked up questioningly, noticing I was there for the first time. Then the smirk returned.

"Fancy seeing you here, Waterflower." He said.

"You arrogant jerk face, Gary Oak! You're the Viridian gym leader?" I said in shock and anger, as all the memories of him trashing Ash came flooding back. Even though it was an insanely long time ago, I knew I couldn't forgive him for all the mean things he'd said and done. While he had gotten a bit better near the end of my journey with Ash and Brock, it still wasn't good enough in my eyes.

Lorelei gave me a look that told me to sit down and settle this later because quite frankly, she was going to continue, and going to look the other way at my angry outburst.

"The gyms that will be closed are as follows;" She announced. I crossed my arms and sat down, still angry that Gary Oak was the one who was in my way of becoming the best gym leader in all of Kanto.

"the Fuchsia City gym, the Pewter City gym, and the Cerulean City gym."

After an awkward pause the information sunk in.

"WHAT?" I felt myself shouting. "How could you close down the Cerulean Gym? It's one of the strongest in Kanto!"

Lorelei continued, again ignoring me.

"We have matched each pair of gym leaders on based on types, so that there are no weak spots for any enemy to take advantage of, although take note that not all pairs are matched directly based on type advantages. We also looked over strength and skill. So the partners go as follows. Koga will stay at the Saffron City gym with Sabrina, Misty will stay at Lieutenants Surge's gym, and Brock will stay at the Viridian gym with Gary."

I moped. I did not want to stay at an electric type gym, and I couldn't believe the Cerulean Gym had been closed.

"Correction." A voice came from the side of the room. "The water type gym leader will be staying with the Viridian Gym leader."

"WHAT." I felt myself exclaim. I looked at Gary. His eyes were wide; he was fully alert to what was going on now.

A lady came out from the shadows in which the direction of the voice came from, behind Lorelei. Everyone was looking at Agatha, who had spoken, except for Lorelei. She had her fists closed on the table and was clenching her teeth as well.

"Agatha, I don't see why we have to change the set up. The switch you've suggested isn't necessary." Lorelei said, turning to face Agatha.

"In fact it is. Since Gary is the strongest gym leader in the Kanto region, if he were to be targeted by our enemy, they would launch a full scale attack knowing of his widely reputed skill. However Misty, being the next strongest, would be able to supply the backup necessary in such an event. Don't take it personally Brock, it is just the way it is."

I had just sat there listening to all the information, soaking it all up. I couldn't believe it. I would be stuck with Arrogant Jerk-face Oak for who knows how long. Oh yeah, and Erika and Blaine were missing due to an unidentified possible threat, too.

"You will be staying with your assigned partner until we can figure out what happened to Erika and Blaine and destroy any possible danger. Dismissed."

The other gym leaders got up and talked amongst themselves. I still sat at the table, my mouth open in shock. I did definitely not want to reside at the Viridian City gym with Arrogant Jerk-face over there. But what could I do? The elite four knew what they were doing. I should go along with it, I guess. I slumped further down my seat and slid my hand up my face, covering half of it with my fingers spread out slightly. I didn't want to even look at him. But I did, regardless. As I brought my head up to see if he was in the same state as me, I noticed that his chair was empty.

I looked to my right and saw him talking to Lorelei. I took this time to take in his features. The past years had done him good! His hair was tamer, but still spiked out. He was definitely taller, and had the best green eyes. Although he still exuded arrogance and cockiness, in the one phrase he had said to me so far, I couldn't be sure.

I shook my head and focused on what was going on. Gary was still talking to Lorelei, although it seemed as if now Lorelei was doing most of the talking now, which sure looked like it was boring Gary. As I looked around me, I noticed that the other leaders had already taken off.

I got up and headed towards the door.

"Hey, Misty! Wait up!" Gary appeared beside me.

"What do you want?" I said, becoming angry the second I saw his face.

"Woah, woah, cool down! I just wanted to know how you're getting to the gym!"

"Oh-oh right." I said, remembering the arrangement. "Well I need to pick up my stuff and my Pokémon first."

"Right, now are you going to bike home or are going to need a ride?" He said with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

I remembered my bike. Then I remembered the distance to Cerulean City, and then to Viridian City. Then I remembered Gary. Then I remembered all my stuff.

"Uh, well-" I stammered, not knowing what to say.

"I'll take that as a yes." said Gary, smirking, twirling his keys around his fingers.

As I defeatedly followed behind him to his car with my bike, I couldn't help but ask,

"What? No cheerleaders?"

"Nope."

"No fan club?"

"Nope."

"No shiny new corvette?" For whatever reason, this caused him to turn around, stopping me in my tracks.

"Look Misty, I'm not as cocky or arrogant as I was before. I've grown-up. Although I regret acting the way I did, you've got to believe me when I tell you that I've changed." He said with sincere emerald eyes, green as Viridian forest.

"Well that was out of character." I said nonchalantly. He looked at me with pleading eyes for a second, but then turned back around, continuing towards his car.

"Is all this really necessary?" Gary Oak asked as we stood outside the Cerulean Gym, which now had a temporary CLOSED sign taped over the door, telling any battler that for a match they would have to make their way to the Viridian Gym. Gary was currently tackling my suitcase in an effort to get it to fit inside the trunk of his car.

"Yes. Yes it is." I said, without hesitation, hopefully giving him the message that as of now, I was all business, as I watched him from the side.

After a bit of rearranging, Gary finally managed to fit the three of my suitcases in the back of his car.

"Thanks for all your help." He said sarcastically as he pulled down the door to the car's trunk.

"Hmm?" I managed, not quite hearing him, since as of that moment I had been lost in some thoughts.

"Are you coming?" I heard his voice again, and this time it snapped me out of my daydreams. He was sitting at the driver's wheel, turned around and raising an eyebrow at me from the seat of his convertible, which just so happened to have its top down.

I shook my head and made my way to the passenger's seat.

After leaving Celadon City in Gary's car, sadly, he had driven my bike and I to the Cerulean Gym, where he had oh-so patiently waited for me outside so I could gather my things. He started the car from Cerulean City, and we drove in silence.