It's a long gym battle. Bare with me, here. Thanks to those that are reviewing and favoriting! Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think.

Chapter 4: Gym Battle Part 2

The fire-type glared at the enemy with a piercing gaze, daring him to move. Donphan continued to dig at the earth with his forefoot and waited for the referee's call. It was an intense stare-down, and neither was giving in.

Cathy took the other brunette's place and shouted, "Begin!"

Both trainers tensed, waiting for the other to make a move. The pokemon were still locked in their staring contest, and the trainers seemed to start one up as well.

"Go ahead," Cam told him, but Greg shook his head and smirked.

"Ladies first."

"Fine by me." She threw her hand forward and pointed at Donphan dramatically. "Jiles, fire blast!"

The typhlosion however did not move. He was too busy sizing up the three-foot elephant and he stood up straighter to show that he was taller and more powerful. Donphan blinked and lifted his trunk. To Cam, it almost seemed like he was smirking, just like his trainer…

"Do…Donphan." He spoke his name in a haunting tone: the pokemon language that only Jiles could understand. Whatever he had said ticked him off and Jiles roared, zipping forward in a quick attack.

Cam's jaw dropped at her borrowed pokemon before stomping her foot. "I didn't say that! I said fire blast!"

Nigel slapped a hand over his face and groaned. "I can't watch this."

"So…that's not her typhlosion?"

"No, Gary. That's my typhlosion. How she managed to snag his ball from right under my nose, I'll never know, but I'd have to say that Jiles was the worst pokemon she could ever choose to fight with."

The spiky-haired teen eyed the raging beast that charged after Donphan, completely ignoring orders. "They're out of sync, all right."

"Of course they are! They're always fighting, and Jiles isn't in a very good mood today. He's too strong for her to command, and he doesn't see her as a worthy master at all. She could have borrowed my absol if she wanted… At least Abigail would be willing to listen to her."

"Magnitude," Greg said coolly. Donphan jumped and landed, causing the ground to shake and Jiles to lose his footing. "Horn attack." The elephant lunged forward as his tusks glistened: no doubt they were getting sharper. Jiles barely missed the attack, but got the force of the side of a tusk. The fire-type was knocked back onto the ground while Cam gritted her teeth impatiently.

"You see? That'swhat happens when you don't listen to me. Do you want to lose?" She balled up her fists and the gym trainers heard panic in her voice. This wasn't good.

Jiles turned to Cam to send a glare, but his gaze shifted to the stands when he recognized a head of black tangled hair. It was his real trainer, watching him from afar. It was then that he realized where he was. This was a gym of some sorts. Was this the gym leader he was facing off against?

"Just wrap it up, Donphan. He's not even worth toying with." Greg waved a hand, signaling for his pokemon to do what he wanted. Donphan's eyes narrowed and his lips pulled into a maniac smile as his body charged with energy, enough to make his long ears vibrate.

"Don…phan!" He headed straight for the typhlosion and lifted his trunk to reveal lightning sparks flare from his teeth.

This was it. Everyone was watching him, even his trainer. Jiles was overcome with the urge to impress, and he knew even better than Nigel did: he could take this Donphan to Kanto and back.

"Rakaaaa!" was his battle cry as he leapt to the side, dodging his thunder fang.

Cam hummed to herself in thought, wondering what attacks would work against Donphan. She assumed that he was a ground-type from the moves he was using, which meant that he had the upper hand.

She nodded in certainty. Jiles was so powerful, she probably wouldn't need to come up with something tactical to beat the arrogant challenger, and she was perfectly fine with relying on firepower alone.

"Use flamethrower and retreat with quick attack."

His ears twitched, but his focus remained on Donphan, who was retreating to the other side of the field with his rollout. Donphan uncurled himself and stood his ground, and Jiles saw his chance. He dove forward as flames surrounded his body. He was moving as if it was a rollout attack, but the flames implied otherwise.

Cam wrinkled her small nose and let out a noise of frustration. She didn't say flame wheel!

Donphan easily dodged the attack with his infamous rollout and turned around. As soon as the flames dispersed from Jiles, he was on all fours, gathering his energy for more firepower. It wasn't until Donphan hit him in the side did he realize how close the elephant had gotten during his own attack. He was thrown into the air and he fell on his back, causing him to yelp in pain.

"If you'd listen to what I'm telling you, you wouldn't get hit!" Cam screamed at the pokemon, a vein in her head nearly exploding.

Greg crossed his arms with an air of vanity. "Real nice," he said sarcastically as he surveyed Jiles with a critical eye.

The creature in turn growled, but he made no move to stand up. He stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"Get up! He's coming back!"

Jiles came to attention and rolled over, sprinting out of the way just in time. He huffed angrily and faced his attacker to bare his fangs.

"Listen to me, Jiles. We need to work together as a team. That's what a battle is all about!"

He listened to Cam's words halfheartedly, but he knew she was right. He was never going to win this way, but was it really okay to rely on an airhead like Cam?

The typhlosion jumped over Donphan as he rolled passed.

"This guy is a nobody. He thinks he's so much better than us to the point where he's not even giving orders anymore!"

This did the trick. Jiles's dark eyes flashed to his opponent and finally took notice of his silent demeanor. Did he seriously think he could win that easily? Anger pulsed through his body as flames sprouted from his back. He turned around to eye Donphan dangerously. He wasn't going to lose to an elephant.

"So let's show him what a horrible mistake that was!"

"Kaaaaaaaaaaa!" he shrieked as he raced forward, even angrier than he was before.

"Flamethrower!"

Donphan rolled out of the way easily, bouncing off a few rocks every once in a while like he was in a pinball machine. Jiles shot long lines of fire, but missed every time. Cam blew a few strands of red hair out of her face and straightened up a bit, relieved that the typhlosion was having a change of heart. And now that she changed his mindset, she needed to change hers.

"I have to calm down…" Cam whispered, closing her eyes. "Come on, Camellia. Focus… What do you have to do to get at least one hit?"

Donphan's rolling form started to spark, indicating he was going in for another thunder fang. "I can't do much damage if he keeps using that damn attack…" Instead of instructing the fire-type, Cam just watched. Jiles turned around and looked at her in confusion, wondering why she wasn't using the privilege of ordering him after he clearly just gave it to her. Before he could get agitated, Donphan's sparking fangs were a little too close to Jiles' face for his own comfort, and his instincts kicked in. The flamethrower he shot from his mouth lit up the entire field as the pokemon was knocked back a safe distance.

Cam gasped when she was hit with an epiphany. "That's it. Your style of battling is different from mine." She didn't know why it took her this long to realize that she wasn't the one to train Jiles, her uncle was. And he trained each of his pokemon differently depending on its own strengths and weaknesses. Her eyes lit up with a newfound determination and a grin took over her face.

Greg obviously didn't hear her since he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you all smiley about? You hit him. Big deal."

In fact, Donphan had been hurt pretty badly from that attack. His leg was a tad charred, meaning he was burned. He limped slightly, but it was hard to see. Not only that, but Jabari's dragonbreath contributed to the overall damage.

A plan began to formulate in Cam's mind. She was pretty confident in what she was about to do. "Get ready. Power up!"

His body grew rigid and his fur bristled with the energy that coursed through his body. His eyes took on an even redder tint and his small claws dug into the ground.

Nigel visibly relaxed in his seat as the anxiety ebbed away and once again, not going unnoticed by Gary. For once, he chose not to ask. He knew he would find out soon enough.

Donphan, for the hundredth time, rolled in for a critical hit. Jiles stood his ground, unfazed by his supposed doom.

"A little bit closer…" Cam muttered. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face and her heart pounded so hard in her chest she could feel it in her feet.

Samantha and Victoria didn't appear to be breathing. Their hands were covering their mouths, unable to shield their eyes out of curiosity. Cathy and Carrie were as equally nervous – Cathy especially. The brunette leaned into Carrie and whispered frightfully, "If he doesn't move soon-"

Cam abruptly dipped her head and the strands that she repeatedly blew out of her face hung in front of her eyes once again. "Focus punch!"

He lunged forward and met his adversary head-on with his suddenly glowing fist. He hit him low enough to be lifted off of the ground.

"Quick attack." With lightning speed, he raced under Donphan's falling figure, the latter's soft belly exposed. The girl closed her eyes as her lips curved upward. "Eruption."

An army of flames shot from all around Jiles like he was a living volcano. The brightness caused everyone in the gym to shut their eyes and Greg stumbled back from the force of the heat waves. When the light finally faded, a few embers were weakly burning away at the ground, most of them surrounding Donphan's fallen form.

Carrie beamed and jumped up from her seat quickly. "Donphan is unable to battle! Typhlosion is the winner!"

Jiles followed up with a roar to reinforce the referee's judgment and Cam let a few laughs of relief escape from her lungs, feeling pretty darn proud of herself.

Greg wiped some sweat from his forehead with the back of his gloved hand and reluctantly grabbed another ball from one of his jacket pockets.

"Don't think you've won just yet. Return." Donphan disappeared in a red light and he threw out his new pokeball. "Go! Aggron!"

The monster that appeared on the field made Cam's eyes go wide. She knew that pokemon. Well, not that pokemon specifically, but she knew of the species. That was what her aron would have become.

The horns were much sharper than Donphan's tusks, and his entire body looked to be made of iron and steel. His piercing blue gaze was enraged and his gray tail was gliding from side to side in anticipation. It was apparent that he had tons of energy to expend and was mega powerful. Of course, she knew she would be a good enough trainer to get her aron to evolve into a lairon, but would it have been possible for her to reach this level?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the call to commence.

"Iron tail."

Greg sounded confident in that command and he had a right to be. With the little speed he had, Aggron moved as fast as his feet would allow as his tail started to glow white.

"Ra?" Jiles narrowed his eyes when he sensed that Cam wasn't paying attention, so he dodged the steel-type easily at his own will. He wondered what his temporary trainer was waiting for – for all he knew, she didn't want him to attack yet.

Oh well. She wasn't his master.

"Raka!" Black smoke climbed out of his mouth and spread through the air, blocking everyone's view of Aggron. Cam snapped out of her reverie when she could no longer see the hulking chunk of metal.

"Wait, what? Jiles, what did you do?" Irritation laced her words and Jiles rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see through the smokescreen.

"Wonder what her problem is now." The teen in the higher stands sighed at Cam and scratched his arm absentmindedly.

Nigel put a finger to his chin in thought. "Well, she did lose that aron… Maybe she's dwelling on what could have been."

"Huh?"

He turned to Gary and shook his head. "It's nothing. She's just getting distracted, that's all."

"Metal sound."

Greg's pokemon responded with an, "Agg…rooooon!" A high-pitched frequency wave pierced the air and everyone in the room threw their hands to their ears. Aggron jumped out of the smoke and charged at Jiles, whipping his glowing tail at the fire-type's back.

On impact, he was sent skidding painfully face first on the rugged field. The smoke began to clear at this point and Greg's expression reflected the truly despicable character held inside.

"You've got the advantage, Jiles…" Cam whispered. The cooperation between her and the fire-type was much better than earlier since she understood how he fought, so it wouldn't be much longer until she had won. For some reason or other, she found that she was hesitating. Had Leo not stolen her aron, she could throw him out of his ball and show him what he could be. She could have seen the eagerness and determination in his eyes to become better, to be fierce like her opponent. He would cutely practice his roars when no one was around, yet she would still hear him from the other room. He would do anything to protect his trainer. Anything.

Cam willed her voice to come to her. She couldn't think about these things now. Not in the middle of a match. The order came out hoarsely and unsure, but it was heard, "Flamethrower, full power!"

He grunted as if to say 'finally' and obeyed. The fire engulfed the aggron quickly and a roar of terrible pain was heard. She watched the pokemon suffer – that flamethrower had been going on for longer than a normal flamethrower should have, and Cam's eyebrows pulled together.

"That's enough." Nigel's starter closed his mouth to cease the flames and Aggron tipped forward and crashed to the ground. His shiny armor was now coated in ash. Greg was frozen to the spot, all traces of his mocking smiles gone. He was beyond stunned. Graveler and Donphan had put up some really good fights, and Aggron was the strongest…yet the ferocious beast was lying unmoving in front of this pathetic excuse of a fire pokemon, this being the quickest knockout he had ever witnessed in his life of a trainer.

Cathy bent down to try and get a better view of Aggron's facial features. She beamed when she saw that his eyes were closed. "Aggron's out! Victory is-"

The petite girl was cut short when Aggron's body shook with a loud growl. He slowly stood with half-lidded eyes and let his jaw slack. Clearly, Aggron was worn out. Jiles was having it rough as well, but his adversary looked almost dead.

Cam's eyes reflected both awe and pity. He had the guts to stand, even though he couldn't take anymore…

Once again, the redhead scolded herself under her breath. She straightened her back and puffed out her chest, hoping that everyone would believe the front she put up. "Jiles, ember."

Jiles stumbled from his epic fighting pose and nearly face planted. That move was weak; he could do so much better than that!

"Do as I say," she warned. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot expectantly, staring hard at Jiles.

He looked from Cam to the aggron. He guessed that she had the right thing going… Aggron couldn't take much more anyway. If he was going to fire off an ember attack though, he was going to make it deadly. He inhaled and shot violent darts of fire and his eyes showed everything far from mercy.

"Iron defense!" Aggron's body glowed while it gained some of its sheen back, but the efforts to protect himself went to waste. He remained standing for a moment shortly after, but his knees collapsed from under him and he fell to the ground once more.

Cathy stared intently at the fallen creature for several seconds, waiting for him to stand up as he had done before. There was no sign of any movement. The entire gym was silent, waiting for the final call.

Carrie nudged Cathy and the former nodded. They brought their hands together and held them up in the air. "Aggron can no longer battle! Victory goes to Cam!"

Samantha and Victoria leapt off the benches and high-fived one another with smiles that cracked their faces in half. Nigel breathed a sigh of relief and started to make his way down the steps to the floor, Gary in tow.

"What kind of trainer only trains one of his pokemon?" Greg had walked across the field and addressed Cam, who shrugged. If she told him the typhlosion wasn't actually her pokemon, he would probably throw a fit since it wouldn't have been fair.

"Let's just say…a friend gave him to me a while back." She stuffed Jiles in her jacket pocket, leaving her hand over the sphere as she was fascinated by the warmth that emitted from the creature inside.

In response, Greg grunted and he turned to Cathy and the others, who were rejoicing over his defeat. He took some money out of his pocket and handed it to Cam for her victory. "I'll be back later for my badge." He began to head for the door as everyone gave him disapproving glances. Apparently, he still thought he was all that.

"Oh, and by the way," the purple-haired man whispered nonchalantly as he locked Cam's wrist in a tight grip. "If we weren't in a gym…I would have let him kill you."

Her jaw slowly dropped at these cruel words, recalling the incident with Donphan. He released her with a satisfied smirk and continued on his way.

"You did it! You won!" Cathy jumped at her excitedly with Carrie at her side.

"That was a great battle."

Samantha nodded, but questioned, "That's totally awesome and all, but where did you get a typhlosion?"

"From me."

Cam's body went rigid at the voice. She knew she heard someone familiar in the stands. "Uncle Nigel~" she sang as she gave a small smile, putting her hands behind her back and crossing her fingers. She hoped she wouldn't get in too much trouble. "When did you get here?"

"When you were fighting that graveler. So, you cheat often?" He held out a hand with a raised brow and Cam smiled meekly, handing over Jiles.

"I couldn't let someone like that win! Besides," she leaned in and peered at the pokemon inside the ball, "I think we bonded." She smiled, but the mini Jiles just crossed his arms and looked the other way with a sound that clearly translated to a 'hmph.'

Nigel moved the ball away from her now agitated eyes and stuffed him in his pocket. "Those were some nice tricks you had there, but if you ever pull anything like you did with that donphan again and you're going straight back to Hoenn. Got it?" He swatted at Cam's head and she easily evaded his hand, giggling.

"It worked though, didn't it?" She ignored the nagging feeling that shadowed her heart, thinking back to what Greg had told her.

"Whether it worked or not, there were plenty of other ways to stop his rollout. You didn't have to resort to a near-death experience!"

Samantha nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it looked cool, but save that kind of stuff for the pokeathletes, okay?"

Cam sighed and twirled a stray strand of her hair with her finger. She was actually starting to get really hot wearing her jacket. It must've been because of Jiles' eruption: the temperature in the room still had to return back to normal.

"You could have kept dodging his attacks until he was worn out. Your dratini looked like he had the stamina for it."

Cam gave a start and snapped her head to the guy behind Nigel. She hadn't noticed that Gary followed her uncle. Actually, she had completely forgotten about him.

"No one asked you, Oak," she spat disdainfully.

Victoria gasped and a smile broke across her features and her blue eyes sparkled in recognition. "Oak? I thought you looked familiar just now! You're the famous Gary Oak, aren't you?"

He nodded and crossed his arms proudly with that uppity I'm-better-than-you grin which Cam grew to despise in mere seconds. "Yep, that's me."

"In all his prick-ish glory," Cam added, but Nigel nudged her arm with his elbow and uttered something about her being nice.

"Can I get a picture? Please?" The bluenette had hopeful eyes and her hands were brought in front of her in a pleading gesture.

Gary smirked. "Why not?"

She let out a high-pitched squeal and began digging in her purse for her camera.

Cam rolled her eyes at the fangirling and took off her jacket, hoping that it would help her cool off.

After a bright flash, Samantha gave the camera back to Victoria, who unwrapped her arms from Gary's torso to see the picture. She squealed a bit more and stuffed the camera back into her purse while Cam gave her an incredulous look.

"Hey, where'd you get that?" Gary asked the redhead. His eyes were zoned in on the yin-yang necklace and she answered in a wary tone.

"Found it yesterday outside the train station. Why?"

"I lost it a few days ago and I've been looking for it ever since. Mind giving it back?" Cam stared blankly at his outstretched hand. Her first instinct was to grab it for reasons she didn't know, but her features went askew at the thought and her hand paused in midair, mentally scolding herself for almost doing something strange. She covered it up by slapping his palm as if he had asked for a low-five and closed her fingers around the pendant protectively.

"How am I supposed to know it's really yours?" And from the way it was tied, the necklace couldn't have just casually fallen off somewhere, making her a little less than inclined to just hand it over.

He sighed and pulled out his trainer card that flashed his picture. Around his neck, although only half of it was seen due to the picture cut off, was the same yin-yang symbol.

Cam's eyes widened and she pointed at the teen. "So you're the girl this belongs to?"

"Girl? What?" His face fumed irritation and he double-checked his trainer card to see if there was a mistake, but when he found none, his eyes hardened into a glare. Part of him was preparing for an insult, but he was surprised when Cam just shook her head.

"Gah, never mind." She took it off and handed it to him. "It doesn't go with my outfit anyway." She was slightly disappointed at the loss of her newfound item and it was relatively obvious through her sad eyes and distasteful pout. She turned on her heel and stalked to the exit. One of these days, she'll have to get it back. "I'm going to the Pokemon Center, I'll see you guys later!" The other girls in the gym waved her off and Gary and Nigel followed. Victoria fluttered her eyelashes at Gary and instead of the latter flirting back like she expected, he pretended not to notice.

…

Once she, Nigel, and Gary had gotten back from the center, Cam fell into the couch with a huff. The loose springs implanted a feeling of discomfort, but when Gary walked through the kitchen and disappeared in the hallway acting like he owned the place, the feeling burned away to her indignation. Nigel poured some coffee and brought Cam a can of soda and he sat down in the armchair.

Cam lifted the tab as a popping sound rang through the room. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Look Cam, I know you're not happy with him being here, but I can't just leave Professor Oak hanging. I need to figure out the deal with this egg. You understand, right?"

"I know, I know. I get it. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." She gulped down her soda before she said something she would regret. Her uncle was a nice guy. After taking up the assignment of babysitting an arrogant little prick however she decided that he was perhaps being a bit too nice and she could think of a few words in her colorful vocabulary that would be fired off at the poor man had she not held her tongue.

"Just try to get along with him, okay? He's not that bad."

"He called me a razz head after I saved his egg. Can you say 'ungrateful'? And he flirts with every girl he sees, but not me! He chooses me of all people to pick on!"

Nigel tuned his smirk down as much as he could as he replied, "So you're saying you want him to flirt with you?"

"W-What? No!" She almost gagged at the horrid thought and a light tone of pink dusted her cheeks. "It just annoys me how he treats me worse than other people!"

"You know, you've only met him yesterday. Don't you think you're judging a bit too harshly?"

"No way! I've met people like him. I've had a Jerk Face Radar wedged in my brain all my life. I can call out people like him in a cinch."

Nigel let out a disheartened sigh and took a sip from his coffee mug. "Well, he's going to stay here for a few more days until I can figure out what to do next." Cam groaned at this, but he ignored her. "I'm the Kanto expert, and I don't recognize the patterns on the egg at all. I might have to give it to somebody else in another region."

Cam heard the reluctance in his tone. He never liked handing his projects over to other researchers. It was a pride thing.

"Another region! Another region! Chatot!" A bird splashed with an array of color flew into the room and landed on Nigel's shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Expert! Another region! Expert!" he squawked loudly.

"So, you think I should go to another region, huh?"

"Chatot!" The brightness and excitement in his eyes declared an affirmative.

"Let me guess, you'll want to come too?"

"Come too!"

Cam's eye twitched and she pursed her lips. That bird was just so loud and her head was already pounding.

She took a few more gulps of her soda to prevent from yelling at Chatot. The caffeine fed her headache and wouldn't help quell the frustrations building up inside her, but at least it kept her mouth busy. In between the flows of soda, she inquired, "So what are these abnormalities anyway?"

"It sparks from time to time."

"Sparks?"

"Yeah, like it's an electric-type. I've never heard of an egg sparking before, though. I've heard of off-the-wall temperatures for eggs but actually releasing power? That's new."

"So whatever's inside must be pretty strong, huh?"

Nigel shrugged with his free shoulder as he slid a finger down Chatot's beak. "Who knows? In a world full of pokemon, anything's possible." The parakeet beamed happily and spread his wings, flying off his shoulder and into another room. "Which reminds me… Now that I can actually talk to you, there's something Professor Oak told me that you might find rather interesting."

Cam cocked her head as a few strands of hair fell into her eyes. "Oh?"

"Gary's not just here to see me. In fact, the egg only started sparking recently and his grandfather had called me last minute to examine it since he just happened to be passing through. Originally, he was here on another assignment."

"Well, get on with it! What was the assignment?"

"Cool down, I'm getting there. He's here on an…investigation, we'll call it. All over the region, pokemon have been showing up in strange habitats, and there have been a few occasions where people have reported seeing pokemon from other regions out in the wild. You've heard of the lake in Celadon City that's infested with grimer, right?"

"Um, yeah. What of it?"

"It's like that. Some people are even spotting some luvdisc near Olivine, and they're only native in Hoenn."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah. I managed to get more information from Gary this morning. Apparently, the stantler that reside on Route 37 invade Ecruteak from time to time."

"Invade? Like…they're angry?"

"Well, maybe invade isn't the right word… Don't get me wrong, some stantler are rather vicious, but most just waltz into the city uninvited. You know, they say if you look at the balls on its antlers, you start to lose all of your senses and you're a sitting duck. It's only temporary, but it's still a hassle for the folks living there. Gary's basically traveling the whole region, and Ecruteak is his next stop."

Any more eye rolls from Cam would result in her amber orbs wiggling out of their sockets. Much to her annoyance, the conversation moved back to Gary. "How long has all this stuff been going on, Uncle?"

Nigel sipped his coffee and adjusted his position on the armchair to get more comfortable. "Only for a few months. It wasn't until recently that the word started to spread, what with all the cities and towns being intruded and weird things happening at fishing spots and in caves. What's interesting is that the pokemon don't seem to be disturbed in any way. They're just going through a movement or something. And because of this whole movement, trainers from all around are journeying and returning to Johto to see what all the fuss is about."

Cam set her soda on the coffee table. "That explains why the rooms in the Pokemon Center were full."

"It does." Nigel sipped some coffee and nearly spat it out distastefully. He downed the rest of the mug before it got too cold. "Hey, you wouldn't mind making dinner later on, would you? I'm tired of making myself ramen…"

His niece nodded nonchalantly. It was routine for her to cook when she visited since Nigel's wondrous experiments in the kitchen would result in melted plastic-ware and complete destruction to the microwave, not to mention a charred and unsatisfying dinner.

It didn't shock her to find no food in the fridge, but a quick trip to the department store could fix that. She walked through the hallway and passed the many spare rooms with the burning knowledge that Gary was in one of them, making himself right at home. She bore her glare into every closed door hoping her hate would seep through the cracks and into his subconscious. She wanted her dislike for the teen to be known to the world as much as the sun that shined in the sky. To be associated with the likes of him was rather mortifying to her.

When she had gotten to the back room, she turned the shiny knob on the dark wooden door and pulled it open, revealing a beautiful backyard. Rocks and trees lined the sides of the fence to give a certain variety to the atmosphere and a small pond reflected the bright blue sky near the back. Flowers of all different colors sprouted across the expanse of grass, making the scenery even more breathtaking. Cam had little time to admire it though due to the vines that were strewn across the bountiful area and snaked around the foot of a struggling hoothoot and the tail of a teary-eyed maril. A krabby was sliding back and forth indecisively, afraid to cut the lines for fear of pinching the entangled hostages.

In the middle of the field, Snubbull, Flaaffy, and Machop seemed to be in a heated argument with two mankeys. Cam grinded her teeth upon seeing the monkeys when her brain finally clicked.

"Noah! Fury!" she barked. Two pairs of red eyes met hers and the other pokemon were brought to attention as well. "What did you do?"

The mankeys looked at each other knowingly and stayed put. The lack of respect caused steam to spew from the redhead's ears as she marched forward. She didn't have a set plan in mind, but at least Machop backed her up. The muscled pokemon pushed the mankeys in Cam's direction with beady eyes and as soon as Cam arrived, he and the others left to help Krabby.

Cam held her intimidating posture as she hovered and glowered. Noah and Fury eyed her with disinterest. Upon closer inspection, one could see the only article that told them apart. Noah had a small blue bandana tied around his left ankle and Fury had a red bandana tied around the opposite ankle. They were the mischievous pair – the dynamic duo that frequently caused trouble and bullied the younger pokemon. Cam wasn't having any of that today.

"I can't believe you two. You know better! You've been around long enough to learn the rules: No bullying, no pranks, and keep your tempers in check!" Noah tried to stifle his laughter at the last rule and Fury's eyes narrowed at her hypocrisy. "So if you know what's good for you, go – HEY!"

Noah jumped at her face and Fury grabbed some nearby vines to loop around her calves. After a brief struggle, Cam threw Noah off of her shoulder and tipped backwards when Fury pulled on the vines.

The fight for freedom lasted several minutes. The mankeys screeched victoriously and danced a little monkey dance and the other pokemon in the yard clamped their ears or dove back into the pond to protect their eardrums from all the racket. Dealing with these two was a daily occurrence at the Redfern household, and none of the others cared to get involved. Sheer laziness and tiring continuity made them think it wasn't worth the effort to put a stop to the troublemakers because in all honesty, it wasn't really worth it.

"Wow, Nigel wasn't kidding. You really do have a way with pokemon."

Cam ceased pulling at the vines around her ankles when she sensed the sarcasm. And it came from the one person she loathed, making the new arrival all the more unwanted.

"Shut up, Gary! I've got this all under control!"

"Looks like it." He appeared in front of her with his usual smirk and kneeled down to her level. To her dismay, Noah and Fury hung from his back and neck respectively and they were both relatively calm. Her brow twitched at the sight. How in the name of Lugia did he manage to get on their good side, and in such a short period of time? The two were now doing everything in their power to pull the most dramatic faces they could with the minimal amount of facial features they possessed and Cam bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying something childish.

Amidst her inner turmoil, she didn't feel the vines slide around and off of her legs. Only when the guy in front of her stood did she realize his good deed.

There were several vines in his hands, and not just the ones that he freed Cam from. They were no longer scattered about while Maril and Hoothoot were bouncing around happily, enjoying the fresh air as if nothing had ever happened. Gary walked near the pond and Krabby followed while appearing very relieved that he didn't have to be the one to save the small pokemon. He kept pace with the teen, even when he stopped to let the mankeys climb onto a large maple tree.

Cam was sitting a ways away, but she could still see the soft smile that graced his lips. Her heart nearly stopped at the revelation that he was capable of smiling anything other than a smirk, but she was more fascinated with how much better it suit him. It made his dark eyes sparkle in a way that brought out the dim green that never seemed to show. Cam figured the endearing act was contagious since a warm smile of her own spread across her face. Of course, that could also be because of the foreign sensation of her heart melting in her chest.

Noah and Fury disappeared into the trees holding the ends of the green ropes after Gary said something that seemed to make their day. Vines and maple trees didn't mix, but if it kept them occupied then to hell with it: let vines be with maples. He pet Krabby affectionately before making his way back to Cam with his hands in his pockets.

Cam could only stare at him in awe. Her awe then transitioned quickly to envy. Not even Nigel had control over the nasty hellions. What made Gary so special? He was a jerk. As far as Cam knew, she wasn't a jerk. He was the bad guy and she was the good guy. So why would he have what her uncle called 'The Gift from Arceus'? These thoughts fueled the fire of resentment once more and the powerful feeling of jealousy rushed to her head.

He passed her without a word, ignorant to the little green monster that grew and raged inside Cam. Before he entered the house, he called back, "Pokemon can sense what people are feeling. If you're angry all the time, they lose respect for you and go against your orders."

She twisted around from her spot in the grass to look at him fully. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

His face was serious, as was his tone, "It means take a chill pill and breathe. Not everything will go your way and when it doesn't, you have to have a level head, otherwise you'll never accomplish anything." With that, he disappeared behind the door.

Cam didn't move for the longest time, getting lost in her thoughts.

This was mean-faced Gary, giving her of all people advice. She convinced herself that he was flaunting his knowledge to spite her instead of actually having compassion. But either way, did he have a point? Was she really that angry all the time? Is that why Nigel's pokemon never listened to her? All of a sudden, she felt very insecure. Most of her life was spent living with her parents, and thus, away from pokemon. Gary had probably grown up surrounded by the creatures since his grandfather was a famous researcher, strengthening the idea that he knew what he was talking about. But still…Cam couldn't help but to feel even more envious when dwelling on his living standards. Life really wasn't fair.

She stretched her now cramped legs and rose from the grass. She needed to get food for dinner later, and she was practically starving since she made the clever decision of skipping breakfast. She'd probably buy herself some lunch while out and about – Nigel had his ramen and Gary could go hungry.

Her gaze scanned the luscious green habitat until she caught sight of a ledian that was curled up in a huge leaf on a tree branch, enjoying the coolness of the shade in her deep slumber. "Hey, Rosamay!"

Cam headed out for the center of the city with Nigel's ledian at her side. No food in the fridge meant more things to buy and more bags to carry, and since Rosamay had four arms, two legs, and wings, she was the perfect shopping companion. The ladybug was also easily engrossed by everything (especially the glittering scarves in the clothing stores), so she gave less of a hassle than the other pokemon would have given in the overcrowded area.

The redhead kept her thoughts to herself during her quest for food, but Rosamay didn't seem to mind. The latter was entertaining herself by admiring nearby posters of famous trainers and their pokemon. She swooned occasionally when catching the sight of different bug pokemon and was overall distracted from her main goal.

Cam, oblivious to Rosamay's antics, was lost in her own little world.

She couldn't always be angry. Her stress levels would be through the roof, and it's not like Gary would know what she was like all the time anyway – they only met yesterday. Jabari and Syke listened to her perfectly well, but she never got angry at her own pokemon unless Syke decided to help the mankeys set up ridiculous traps as one of their cruel jokes. Aside from her own two pokemon, she had a short temper with all the others. So…could her short temper really drive them away? Were pokemon really that sensitive to the feelings of humans? She didn't understand much of it.

Her uncle always told her the same thing Gary had said, but now that she had a second opinion (from the grandson of a famous researcher at that) she was starting to question if it might be true. The anger that always welled up inside was never something she could fix easily. So…

"Will pokemon hate me forever?" she finished the thought out loud as worry creased her forehead. After returning to reality, she couldn't hear the buzzing of Rosamay's wings. All she heard were the usual snippets of the conversations from the people around her that didn't spark her interest in the slightest. With a whip of her head, she quickly spotted the ladybug glued to a window display with hearts in her eyes. Cam weaved through the crowd and finally broke out of the current as impatience picked at her nerves.

"Rosamay, we don't have time for-"

"Not everything will go your way and when it doesn't, you have to a level head, otherwise you'll never accomplish anything."

Cam stopped and thought about the words that have been haunting her for the past hour. Was this what he meant?

The ledian tilted her head but remained motionless, wondering what was wrong with Cam.

The trainer nodded her head in resolution. To get the respect of a pokemon, she would have to try to understand it. She didn't know how to connect with any creature other than a human, so she entered a trial-and-error mode.

Walking up to Rosamay while radiating determination, she brought her attention to the poster that the bug was ogling at. It was a beedrill in a fighting stance, but that's not what made Cam sweat-drop. Underneath the image were the words Pokemon Bug Repellent: Let your beedrill problems bee-gone! Sale 20% off!

She blinked and actually thought about buying some. After all, it was a pretty good deal. She'd have to come back later without Rosamay, though.

Bringing herself back to the situation at hand, she coughed awkwardly to clear her throat.

"Um…" Connect. That was her goal. What could she say to connect with this ledian? "Uh…so you have a thing for this beedrill?"

Rosamay wasted no time in responding with a quick enthusiastic nod, showing no signs of embarrassment. Cam would have smiled at her behavior, but she was too busy thinking of what else she could say.

"Well…I say he's a pretty hot bug. If I was pokemon, I would definitely date him." Cam nodded her head in approval and gave Rosamay a thumbs-up and a wink, in which the latter repeated her name in agreement.

A great deal of pride swelled up in her heart until it must've been four times the size it originally was. She was getting somewhere and the word 'connect' echoed through her brain, being the perfect motivation.

"I mean, look at those antennas! The way they hang in his huge red eyes in all of his sexiness. And those stingers~! Really sharp, aren't they?" She wasn't quite sure what she was hinting, but Rosamay seemed to get something out of it as she giggled cutely. "And his legs…don't you just want those legs? They're just so…uh…muscular in all the right places!" the ledian had hearts in her eyes once again as her face pressed against the glass longingly.

Underneath the fantastic feelings of accomplishment, Cam couldn't help but wonder if understanding a pokemon was supposed to make her feel uncomfortable and awkward. It wasn't every day she gushed about the sexiness of a beedrill with a bug-type and she felt like she was crossing some sort of line. But in Cam's world, the line was very blurred. Maybe Arceus could forgive her pokebestiality moment just this once since it was all in good nature.

She wasn't sure how to drift to another topic of discussion, so she talked a bit more in hopes that something else would come up.

"I think you two would be fabulous together. With your spots and his stripes, you'd be the perfect match. And just imagine how your kids would be! I mean, I know I'd lay his eggs in a heartbeat."

At the mention of eggs, Cam had lost her as quickly as she got her. Rosamay's facial features distorted in alarm as she whipped her head to Cam, looking somewhat shocked and slightly horrified. The girl realized she had said something strange (in the mind of a ledian, that is; everything she had just said would sound strange to the human race) and diverted her gaze, trying to think of a follow-up. Just as she did however she spotted a ten-year-old boy a few feet away from them staring at her dumbfounded. All the poor kid wanted to do was buy some potions to train his freshly-caught weedle. Needless to say, he was going to release it as soon as possible after what he just heard.

"N-No wait! It's not like that!" Cam stuttered as she threw up a hand and waved it frantically back and forth. "I swear, I was just-"

The boy raced away in the other direction without saying a word. Cam's face fell. She peeled Rosamay off of the display window as gravity weighed down on her shoulders depressingly. "Forget everything I just said. Let's get some food…"