Summary of previous chapter: Misty tricks Ash to return to Pallet Town for his birthday as a favor to Delia. Hoping that Ash's attitude would change towards her, Misty tries to recover Ash's trust and care by dressing up as pretty as she can. However, tired of being with her, Ash breaks up with Misty at the top of his favorite hill in his hometown. Brock and Ash leave without the Misty and she returns to Ash's home alone by herself. Delia tells Misty her sisters called and left a message with Ash, message that she never received. Misty calls the Cerulean Gym Leaders to find out they are not Leaders anymore. Misty is asked to cover for them for six months to be able to recover the Gym and their Leader status. Misty agrees and parts to Cerulean City.

Chapter 2 – Unwell

The Gym was a complete mess. The Waterflower sisters were right: the Cerulean Gym was complete and absolute chaos. Misty was utterly surprised they were given so many opportunities to remain as Gym Leaders, as she had never seen their job –their home, in such an awful condition. The walls needed major repairing and repainting, if at the least. There were some holes on the floor, cracks in the walls and ceilings, and the pool needed cleaning. There were leaks on the tanks used to keep their Pokemon, and some windows were boarded shut because they were broken or were just not there anymore. The training room smelled bad and the carpet was stained and completely missing on some spots. The glass around the Gym was dirty and had fingerprints all over, as well as scratches and duct tape on some of the less broken spots. The Gym looked like a joke of what it had been 10 years ago when she left. "I have lots to do, I guess," Misty thought.

Misty kept walking and feeling more and more regret of coming back to her home. It was not that she hated the fact she would had to be one to fix it, but the thought of how similar the appearance of her home matched her current life situation: on the outside she looked ok, on the inside she was a mess. She had not left Pallet as quickly as she had wanted. After her shower and after getting herself ready to leave, Delia informed her that she had made breakfast just for Misty. Honestly, Misty just wanted to leave the place that reeked of her former boyfriend, as she had been spending the past hour trying to avoid any thoughts of how it used to be.

She could not refuse to eat what Delia had prepared for her so she reluctantly accepted and ate as fast as she possibly could. Delia had made conversation by talking about how much time had passed since Ash was that little boy when he left Pallet, to how much Gary had changed and how much they had all grown. Misty would nod and smile occasionally, attempting to ignore every time Ash's name was said. Selective hearing was not a quality she had developed throughout the years that she now wished she had. "So, Misty, what are your plans?" Delia had asked her. "Plans?" Misty asked in return. What were her plans, anyway? She wanted to reply that she would mop around and cry herself to sleep because her sorry excuse for a son had broken up with her after everything they had been through, not only as lovers but as friends as well. "I am gonna baby-sit the Gym for my sisters. I will get tons of training," Misty said attempting to hide her sorrow and fake a smile.

Delia smiled back and looked at her watch. "Misty, if you wish to be at Cerulean before tomorrow night, you should leave now. I am sorry I kept you here longer that necessary, I just enjoy talking to you very much." Misty smiled, this time genuinely. "Thank you, Delia"

"I am sure going to miss you around here."

Misty held a gasp.

"I don't mean to excuse him but he is only a child, despite his age. He made a big mistake and he won't see it until it is too late. I am sorry for what he did to you, Misty."

Misty fell tears coming back to her eyes but took a deep breath to calm down. "I will be fine but thanks. You know you can still call me if you need me, right?"

Delia nodded. "Likewise, Misty! You are always welcomed in this home."

Misty sighed at the memory. So much had happened to her in the past 48 hours she was exhausted and only wanted a nice bed and comfy clothes to pass out for the night. She carried her belongings to what used to be her room, only to find it now as a storage place for anything her sisters did not want to clean or repair. She pushed the door to make her way into the room and she swore something on the back of the room moved. She tried to go in a few more times but she was not able to succeed in her task. She sighed and decided to give it a rest until she knew the extent of the damage to her home. "I won't be able to use my room for a while, that's for sure."

She pulled the door to close it but it would not budge. "Great! Just great!" Somewhere along the way of getting it open, it had gotten stuck with something she could not see nor reach. For all she knew, the Gym could be infested with bugs and rats for the lack of maintenance, and she did not want to risk her stay by letting a rat-infested room door open. She annoyingly dropped her luggage to the side of the door and pulled it as hard as she could. "Damn door, close!" She tried again, this time putting more force but the door did not move an inch. She mumbled something about stupid doors that do not know when to be open or close and made some quick exercise movements to warm up for the next try. She placed her left foot on the wall to gain strength and pull harder. She could have left the door open but with more noise coming from the back she did not want to let whatever was inside her room loose to invade the rest of place. "I am sure those ain't no Rattatas playing!"

She was getting tired of pulling as her efforts seemed useless but decided to give it one last try. She raised her other foot and rested it on the wall so that she was now standing on the wall and grabbed a hold of the doorknob. She took a deep breath and began giving it one last pull. She felt the door slowly budge and beginning to close when suddenly Misty found herself falling back with a very rusty doorknob in her hands. She squeaked as loud as the door in front of her while she let lose of the doorknob that did not have much use now. Regardless of her efforts, her fall seemed a sure thing and she prepared for it. She closed her eyes and held her breath for the hit that she knew was coming her way and would knock the sense out of her. Her fists trembled at the idea of getting hurt five minutes after she had made it home but she could not stop it anymore.

Her back finally reached and hit a soft, flexible floor. In fact, the floor had grown strong but gentle arms that surrounded her and cushioned her fall. The arms carefully embraced her, allowing her to regain her balance and relax her back against the warm wall behind her. Misty's head was spinning and took a few seconds to return to her normal self. She realized she was not on the floor and had never truly hit it after all or any wall for that matter. She looked up and saw the door almost but not completely closed, and the obsolete doorknob a few feet away from her. She sighed deeply.

"That was a close call wasn't it, Misty? Good thing you weren't this clumsy near the stairs."

Misty held her breath. She did not recognize the voice right away, but she knew it did not belong to a stranger to her. She slowly turned around and her face found his chest. Her eyes looked up; a movement soon followed by her head, and saw his face smirking down at her. That same smirk he made when he knew he had saved the day. "How is it going down there? Be careful, Mist! You don't want to go around breaking a leg on me. This place has lots of work to get done."

Misty blinked several times in a rapid motion. She raised her arm and used her index finger to poke him on his chest, making sure he was truly there.

"How…did you…get in?"

"A thank you would suffice."

Misty blushed and scratched her head, giving him an apologetic big smile. She had been so confused by his sudden appearance she had forgotten to thank him for not allowing her rear end to hit the cold, hard ground. "Thanks, Gary."

"Oh, it was nothing for a strong, handsome man like me," he said while polishing his nails against his chest on his shirt.

Misty jokingly growled. "Haven't changed, have we?"

Gary smiled, winking at her. "Why should I? The girls like me the way I am."

"What girls? Last time we met, your cheerleaders had abandoned you."

Gary scratched his nose. "On the contrary, Gym Leader in need, I abandoned them."

"Gym Leader in need? I am not a Gym Leader."

"I know, that is why I am here for."

Misty's mouth fell open. Her sisters never mentioned Gary was there to visit, or that he was the actual auditor she was waiting for. "You are the Pokemon League Representative?!"

"In the flesh."

Misty took a step back and looked at Gary up and down. Since Ash had defeated Gary and Gary had left Pokemon training to become a researcher like his grandfather, they had stayed in close contact with the young Oak. They had gone out to eat when they were in Pallet Town, and had seen each other in Pokemon Tournaments and Trainers' get-togethers. He had never mentioned his new job as a League Representative. It was a great deal to be left untold. "Since when did you become part of the League?"

"A month after I lost touch with you and Ash before his party two days ago."

The last time he and Misty had crossed paths before getting together for Ash's party was when Ash had again attempted to win the Pokemon League to gain the chance to battle against the Elite Four a year ago. Unfortunately, Ash had gotten 6th place and was not considered to fight Lance and his gang. He had missed the opportunity by one place. "Perhaps he will do better this time that I am not there to distract him," Misty whispered.

"Excuse me?"

Misty shook her head. "Nothing. So, what do you have for me, Oak?"

"The key to keeping this deteriorated Gym for years to come."

Misty sighed. He was absolutely right. It was painful to see how her home –her world, was crumbling down, literally and figuratively. She had to fix that door, among other things, before she could even think about fixing up her life. Even though Ash and Gary had become friends again, and she and him had become good acquaintances, that was pretty much all she could expect to be with him; not that she wanted anything else with him or anything. She had not talked to him enough to consider him her friend, and now he had been sent to act as her supervisor. She was hoping she would walk this painful path alone, but she now had someone that knew her very little watching every move. "It's the curse of the shoes, isn't?"

"What?"

"Nothing. Where do we start, Mr. Oak?"

Gary smiled. "Please, call me Gary."

"Gary, where do we start?"

"First, we must close that door to the past, right there."

"Door to the past?" Misty asked, obviously confused by his choice of words. "Yeah, the past lives of god-knows-what lives inside that storage room! I am staying here for the next 6 months and don't want to sleep where new Pokemon are mutated."

"Wait, what? You are staying here?"

"That is my end of the bargain, yes."

"Bargain?"

"Indeed. How and why do you think you guys got a chance to keep your Gym?"

Misty was speechless. "The League did not want to deal with the bad reputation your easy badge was giving them, but I talked to Maya and she allowed the extension and probation to take place."

"Who is Maya?"

"Maya is the new appointed President of the Pokemon League."

"New? Appointed? What about Lance?"

Gary sighed. "Look, Misty, you make lots of questions to a guy who just got here five minutes ago. Let's get to work and I will answer those questions in time, ok?"

Misty apologized and nodded. Before she could react, she jumped towards Gary and gave him a big hug. It was Gary's time to blush. "Misty, you…are…hugging…me…"

She hugged him harder, mumbling on his shirt. "I know."

"W-why?"

Gary felt the warmth of her breath and arms around him. It was a nice feeling, especially coming from a girl who did not do this as often or just because, making him feel that whatever the reason was she was doing this to him, it was a genuine, if not honest, reason. "Misty?"

"Thank you, Gary. Thank you so very much."

Misty let go of Gary and looked up to him, her eyes filled with tears. Gary's face saddened at the scene. "Why are you crying?"

Misty held a sob and used the back of her hand to dry her tears. "It's a long story, Gary. But all you need to know is that this is the best thing that anyone has done for me in a very, very, very long time. This is my home. Thank you for saving it."

Gary smiled and nodded. "It's nothing. The only thing you need to do is be my slave for ten years." Gary joked and Misty bowed to him in a mocking matter. "As you wish, master."

Gary stuck out his chest, placed his hands on his waist and lifted her chin up into the air. "Misty, better yet, call me Master."

Misty rolled her eyes. "Where to Master?"

"Do you have an office around here? We need to talk about this place."

"We had one downstairs last time I was here. Follow me."

Misty carried her luggage and looked at the door in front of her. "Gary, can you close that door?"

Gary nodded and proceeded to do so. "Done! We will probably need a Gyrados to protect us when cleaning that room!"

Misty chuckled. "I don't have one, if you don't have one, we are out of luck."

"You will get one…soon."

"What?!"

"Nothing, let's get this started ok? We have much to do and six months is not enough time."

"Ok."

Gary followed Misty downstairs to the Waterflowers' office. She opened the door and dropped her luggage next to the door, then made her way to the desk. She sat on the back side of the desk while Gary sat on the front side of it, pulling out some papers from his backpack as he did. "Look, Misty, there are lots of things that need to get done, please don't shoot the messenger; my job is to enforce them as ridiculous as some may sound." Misty nodded and feared what he meant by the word ridiculous. She understood his fear of informing her, a person he knew, of what needed to be done in her own place. However, Misty was ready to take on anything he was about to ask for both of their sakes. Her sisters were counting on her to keep their home. He had his word on the line for her and her sisters. She was not going to let him down. "Alright."

Gary looked at the papers and sighed. The new President of the League was very strict and had wanted to close the Gym in Cerulean definitely. Gary had pulled some strings and had managed to make an arrangement with her that allowed Misty and her sisters to keep the Gym. Even when young, he knew the Gym was in violations of several League rules but he had kept quiet. It would have been a slap to the Waterflower sisters if he had not even attempted to help them out. "I owe them that much, at least."

Gary placed the papers in order and began skimming through it quickly, knowing exactly what to look for on it. "Ha! Found it!"

"Shoot me, Gary."

"Alright. First of all, it is obvious that the Gym is no condition to remain open to the public. The new regulations allow and force the Gyms to be closed for an entire week every year for maintenance. The Gym has to be closed this week for you to make the battle ground presentable and adequate for Pokemon battles."

"I can do that, yes."

"There is a catch, though."

"What is it?"

"Well, your Gym badge is very…uhm…you sisters were very…lenient when it came to giving badges. The new rules have changed the training process. Every Gym Leader in the world has been in the need to adjust their battling styles to a more difficult one, and to a style that resembles their element of choosing. In your case, you are a Water Pokemon Trainer, which means you must fight your battles…in water."

"We do! We have the pool for that reason!"

Gary shook his head. "No, Misty, IN water."

Misty furrowed showing her lack of understanding in his words. "What do you mean IN water?"

"Inside water, as in inside the pool."

"Do you mean we will have to guide our Pokemon while they are underwater?"

"No, the trainers have to be underwater with them."

"Oh."

Ridiculous, indeed.

"I must look stupid for pointing this out but, how are we to survive an entire battle underwater?"

"Maya was informed that when you performed in that show where you were a mermaid, you used some sort of devices that helped you breathe underwater. You are to provide sterilized underwater breathers for yourself and the trainers that challenge you."

"Ok, but, doesn't this limit the trainers to have water Pokemon?"

"Not necessarily, but it forces the trainers to have very strong water Pokemon, or teach a Pikachu to swim and hope for it to develop gills at some point in its life."

"Wow!"

"Yes, I know. Also, you have 3 months to repair the Gym: walls, floors, rooms, windows, doors, everything. Gyms now have a set schedule. You may be open from Monday to Friday from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, and your fights must be scheduled a week in advance. No person may battle you without an appointment. You are to close the Gym during the weekend, which means no more shows."

"My sisters won't like that."

"Your sisters don't have an option. You are also to have a wide variety of water Pokemon at your hands. You must have at least 25 different Pokemon and must include a Seadra, Starmie, Golduck, Gyrados, Seaking, Dewgong, Blastoise, Lapras and Cloyster. You must rotate your Pokemon and not use the same exact team for each battle."

"I don't have most of those Pokemon! I will have to capture them and intensely train them all!"

"I am afraid so. The worst hasn't been said yet, though."

"There is worse than that?"

"Usually, you must win 80-87 of your battles with first-time challengers to your Gym, 70 of second-time challengers, and 50 of your third-time challengers per year. However, since you are on probation, you must win 95 of your battles, regardless of their challenging status in the following six months. If you win less than that, your probation will be worth nothing and you will be shut down forever."

Misty covered her face with her hands and rubbed her head with her fingers. Gary knew how difficult this was going to be to her, and how much was at stake. She had worried her life would be boring and pointless when she was given the boot from Ash's team, and now she had preferred to be bored and depressed as opposed to having all these responsibilities on her shoulders.

"Misty, I am sorry about all this, but it has to be done."

"I know; I just wished I didn't have to do this alone."

Gary raised his arm and placed it on Misty's shoulder. She uncovered her face and looked at him pleadingly, asking for any good news that would set the rest of the bad news to shame. Gary smile sadly at the realization that he had nothing else to offer to her. "For what is worth, I will be here with you. You won't be alone."

"As my auditor."

"And as your friend. I might not know you as much as I know Ash, and we didn't exactly began our relationship with the right foot but I want to help you get over this. I owe it to this Gym, to your sisters, to Daisy."

Daisy?

Misty tilted her head at the sound of her sister's name coming from Gary. What connection could he have with Daisy? What could had Daisy possibly done that Gary Oak thought he had a favor to repay?

"I don't know why you do it, but thank you for this, all of it. At the moment, I have no one else."

Gary smiled. "I don't either. I guess it's just you and me, ain't it?"

Liar! He had Professor Oak, and his sister May.

"I guess so!" They both smiled.

"So, my suggestion is that we begin an estimate of what needs to be done first and when. This Gym needs to be reopened for business in 7 days."

"Let's go look at the battle ground then. I know that pool has to be fixed for sure if we are to have the battles in it."

"Yeah, and…forgot to tell you this but, you are allowed and it's encouraged to have an audience in the Gym when battles take place. You are to have a list of battles taking place on each week and update it weekly for people to know when and who you are battling. Apparently, having an audience brings more fame to the Gym and more people get encouraged to become trainers."

"Alright, so the place needs to be ready for trainers and an audience. Checked!"

"And a wall must be dedicated to trainers who have earned the badge beginning on next week."

"Hall of fame, checked!"

"And you must get up early and make your auditor breakfast everyday."

"And I must get up early every day to make…what?"

Gary chuckled. "Just kidding, Misty."

"I thought so."

"Only every other day or so."

"Gary!"

"Just kidding, Misty. Just kidding."

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A penny for your thoughts! See you soon and thanks for reading, especially you skatoula for being my first review, and you and sportiegrl for adding the story to your favs. Thanks bunch!