After ice cream Gray headed out on the path to the next city. Ninetails pranced next to Gray who looked off into the distance smiling. A few hours of walking sped by and soon Gray found herself sitting in a field surrounded by baby Pokemon. She laughed giving them a few of the treats Nurse Joy had given her the day before. She watched as Eevee and Ninetails played with them with a small smile on her face.

They reached Ecruteak just as the sun had set and headed straight for the PokeCenter that could be seen as soon as you entered the city. Her feet were sore and she probably smelled bad from being out in the sun all day.

Walking into the PokeCenter there was a dark haired boy waiting in line in front of her. She stood waiting noticing the boy had a Gengar. Ninetails yipped at the Gengar defensively only to make Gengar smirk, his eyes glowing red.

Eevee jumped down from Gray's arms to play with the boy's Poochyena standing close to his feet. The two immediately clicked and started rolling around playing on the floor.

Gray blushed embarrassed. "Boys! Stop messing with his Pokemon!" she hissed lowly. "Especially you, Ninetails! I raised you better." The Ninetails stared at his trainer shocked, never in his life had she ever raised her voice to him. How was he to blame for this damn Gengar messing with his head.

He lowered his head and sat down by Gray's side, making sure not to disappoint her again. She ran her hand over the top of his head soothingly.

"Good boy, Ninetails." She smiled softly down at him. She stood patiently as she waited for her turn at the counter.

As the tall dark haired boy left his Gengar's eyes glowed bright red once again as a shiver over took Ninetails. The Gengar chuckled as he disappeared through the wall to follow his trainer. Ninetails kept his head to the ground, trying not to upset Gray again.

"Ninetails, are you okay?" Gray asked worried as he shook under her hand. Then it clicked, a little too slowly, for her. She paid for her room then quickly ran off toward the boy and his Gengar. She saw him not too far down the hall and ran after him.

"Hey! Hey you!" Gray grabbed his backpack pulling him backwards. Gengar stared at her uneasily. It was then Gray noticed the large painful looking scar that adorned his face, it went deep over his eye.

The boy turned around annoyed and looked down at her, a very uncaring look plastered on his pale face. "Yeah?" he sneered.

"Tell your Gengar to stop messing with my Ninetails!" Gray hadn't noticed how much taller he had been then her in line, she had to actually crane her neck back to look at his face.

"Maybe your Ninetails should stop being such a pussy." With that he turned and disappeared into one of the rooms.

Gray stood there for a moment fuming. "That bastard." She huffed glaring at the door. Ninetails headbutted her side lightly making her look down at him. "Don't worry. We'll deal with it tomorrow." She smiled down at him.

The next morning at breakfast Gray sat at a table to herself. Her pokemon at the groomers having an hour relaxing before the next gym battle. She sat going through her mail on her pokegear and eating a small bowl of grapes and a bagel. She had just took a sip of the Moo Moo milk when she saw the letter. She almost choked when she saw the name. It was from Red. She clicked to open it as fast as the pokegear would open it.

Dear Gray,

I have been informed that I owe you a battle. I am truly sorry I wasn't around when you
beat the Kanto Elite Four. I am very proud and can't wait to challenge you myself. Just
keep your eyes open, I'll find you soon.

Red

She could have sworn her heart had fallen into her stomach. She was going to meet Red. The guy from all the stories, the guy she had a crush on. Gray was so caught up in her thoughts she didn't notice the boy from the night before had pulled out the seat next to her.

"You seem lost in thought..." He glanced over at her as he pulled wrapping off a blueberry muffin.

"Huh? Oh..oh yeah, I guess." She looked up at him, her jaw dropped. "WAIT! YOU!" she snapped back pointing at him, a glare on her face.

"Uh. About that." he paused scratching his nose awkwardly. "Sorry about that, I-uh-guess." he glanced at her for a moment before looking away again.

She sat silently, not really sure of what to say. Popping a grape into her mouth she looked at him then shrugged. "Want some milk?" She held the bottle of moo moo milk out for him. "I swear I don't have cooties." She gave him her usual awkward smile.

"What's with that face? Did you poison it?" He tried to hide the smile that now crept across his face with his hand.

She covered her mouth and blushed. "Shut up!"

"I'm joking, kinda." He took the bottle of milk from her hand. "I'd love some milk."

"My Ninetails loves this milk." She smiled, this time a genuine soft smile.

"See! That face is much better!" He smiled openly. "Before it looked like someone had stuck fish hooks in your cheeks and was forcing you to smile." He took a sip of the milk with a grin. She puffed out her cheeks at him and pouted.

"Wha-! Jerk!" She grumbled.

"Anyways, I'm Sebs." He stuck out his hand to her.

"Gray." She shook it earnestly.

The rest of breakfast they sat quietly eating their meals. Sebs put on a pair of headphones, music blaring out of them as Gray when back to reread her letter from Red. Sebs also began to check his mail before standing up and throwing his tray away.

Gray watched him leave then left not much longer after, stopping at the groomers to get her pokemon. Ninetails looked at depressed, they had tied a bright pink bow around his well groomed neck. She did her best to stifle her laugh.

"Oh, Ninetails." She untied the humiliating pink bow and tossed it in the nearest trash. "They never seem to understand you're a boy, do they?" She rubbed his head and giggled.

Ninetails looked around frantically before taking off in the opposite direction leaving Gray standing there yelling after him. She took off after him, Eevee running close behind. When she finally caught up with Ninetails he was in a death staring match with Seb's Gengar.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She huffed, leaning over supporting herself on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. When she could finally breathe again she glared at the fox Pokemon. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Ninetails broke his gaze and stared at Gray stunned. He saw her reach for his pokeball and automatically ran to her side before she could put him inside it. His head down towards the ground, his tails flicking slightly.

"Sebs! I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him!" Gray picked up Eevee and held him close, ignoring Ninetails as he rested his head on her side.

"I'm pretty sure it was Gengar's fault." He laughed looking over at Gengar who only cackled darkly.

Gray looked down at the crest fallen fox pokemon and smiled. "You big dumb butt." She leaned down and hugged him. "So, uh," she looked up at Sebs. "Where are you going now?"

"The next cities gym."

"Oh, I'm headed there tomorrow." Sebs came over to her, leaning down and petting Ninetails' head softly. "Want to travel together?"

"For how long?" He looked over at her, his pink-red eyes glinting in the sun.

"Until we're sick of each other?" she offered. She set down her now excited Eevee on the ground to play with the baby Poochyena.
"Good answer." he grinned. "I normally avoid people."

"Ah, so do I." She thought for a minute. "But I think we'll be able to do this." She grinned back.

"I think you may be right."