Author's Notes: I can't believe it's chapter 7 already. I have a question. Why is it, that when you heal your pokemon at a center in the game, the nurses say, "please come again?" Do they want my pokemon to get hurt so I come back to heal my pokemon? (XD) Anyway. I don't own Pokemon, blah blah, Gamefreak, blah blah. I do own Ray, Aura, Shadow, and Ruby. Enjoy! And again, I send thanks to Dracoshi for his awesome reviews. Thanks!

"May I heal your pokemon?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yes please," I said, handing her my pokeballs with my pokemon in them. We had just arrived in Pewter City, and I headed straight for the pokemon center.

"Here are your pokemon, please come again." The nurse said, handing my pokeballs back to me and bowing.

"Yeah..." I said, walking away and releasing my pokemon from their pokeballs.

"Alright," I said, "Now who's up for a gym battle?"

"Yeah!" They all yelled.

"Good," I said, "Let's go."

So we headed out of the pokecenter, after asking the nurse where the gym was, and headed toward the gym. When we got there, I opened the door, and Shadow groaned. Inside the gym, trees were growing everywhere, Kakuna and Metapod were on the trees, some Butterfree and Beedrill were flying around, and in one corner, there was a giant web with two Ariados and some Spinarak. I chuckled. A man spotted us from where he was studying a Kakuna, and headed over.

"Ah," he said, "Are you a challenger?"

"Yes," I answered, "Is the gym leader here.

The man smiled. "You're looking at him. The name's Zach." He extended his hand

I nodded and shook his hand. "Ray," I said.

"Good to meetcha," He said, leading us over to the middle of the gym, where a big Pokemon battle field was. "I just gotta call my pokemon." He pulled out a weird looking whistle and blew it. In a moment, three pokemon came out of the trees. One was a giant blue beetle, walking on two legs, one was a giant mantis, with scythes instead of its front two arms, and one was a giant stag beetle, with pinsirs on its head. They walked over, and I looked at them. The first was a Heracross, the second was a Scyther, and the third was a Pinsir.

"I'll be using these three," Zach said.

"And I," I answered, "will be using these three."

"All right. Let's do this!"

We took our places on each side of the field.

"This will be a three-on-three battle, Challenger Ray vs. Gym Leader Zach. Only the challenger may switch out pokemon. Are you ready?" The judge said. "BEGIN!"

"Go Heracross!"

"Go Aura!"

We yelled, and the battle began.

"Heracross, use Aerial Ace!"

"Crap! Aura, use Counter!"

Heracross sped toward Aura, hitting her with the super effective attack, upon which she used Counter, dealing massive damage to both.

"Heracross, Horn Attack!"

"Aura, Quick Attack!"

Heracross' horn glowed, then he charged. Aura sped around him and hit him from behind.

"Grrr. Heracross, Aerial Ace!"

"Aura! No!"

Heracross hit Aura with the move, and Aura was knocked into a tree, where she fainted.

"Riolu is unable to battle! Heracross wins!" The judge said.

"Shadow! Go!" Shadow took Aura's place on the field, while I returned Aura to her pokeball.

"Begin!"

"Shadow! Shadow Ball!"

"Heracross! Horn Attack!"

Shadow charged up the ball, then shot it at the beetle. Heracross used its horn to knock the ball back to Shadow.

"Shadow! Use scratch!"

It became a sort of game. Shadow knocked it back, then it was knocked back and forth(like Link and Shadow Ganon on WindWaker) until Heracross missed the Shadow ball, and it exploded on him, knocking him into a tree. He slid to the ground fainted.

"Heracross is unable to battle! Zorua wins!" The judge announced.

"Heracross return! Go Scythe!" Zach called, returning Heracross and sending Scyther in.

"Shadow! Take a break! Go Ruby!" I called.

"Begin!"

"Scythe! Use Quick Attack!"

"Ruby! Smoke Screen!"

Smoke burst from Ruby's mouth, hiding her from Scyther's sight.

"Grrr... Scythe! Use Focus Energy!"

"Ruby! Ember!" Flames burst from the smoke, hitting Scythe and knocking it back.

"Quick Attack!" Scythe sped through the fog, missing Ruby and coming out on my side.

"Ember!"

More flames came from the smoke, hitting Scythe again.

"Scythe! Quick Attack through the smoke again and again!"

Scythe sped through the smoke, making it disapate slowly.

"Ruby! End this with Ember!"

Scythe sped through the smoke, a blaze of fire hot(haha. Get it?XD) on his trail. He wasn't quick enough, however, as the flames caught up and hit him, sending him tumbling to a stop, fainted.

"Scyther is unable to battle! Charmander wins!" The judge announced.

"Return Scythe! Go Pinsir!" Zach said, sending in the stag beetle.

"Ruby! Keep it up! You can do it!"

"Begin!"

"Pinsir! Vice Grip!"

"Ruby! Scratch!"

Both pokemon clashed, sending sparks flying, literally.

"Seismic Toss Pinsir!"

"Ruby!"

Pinsir grabbed Ruby and threw her into the ground.

"Ember!"

The flames hit Pinsir, knocking him back enough for Ruby to get up.

"Vice Grip!"

Pinsir shot toward Ruby, who was too late to react, getting hit by the move, and sent to the ground, fainted.

"Charmander is unable to battle! Pinsir wins!" The judge calls.

"Ruby, return! Go Shadow!"

"Begin!"

"Vice Grip!"

"Shadow Ball!"

The ball hit Pinsir, but it kept charging, hitting Shadow.

"Seismic Toss!"

Pinsir grabbed Shadow and threw it to the ground right under itii

"Shadow Ball!"

Shadow shot the ball, hitting Pinsir point blank, knocking it back to the ground, fainted.

"Pinsir is unable to battle! Zorua wins! And the victory goes to Ray from Pallet Town!" The judge yelled.

"Way to go Shadow!" I yelled, grabbing Shadow in my arms and hugging her.

"Well done," Zach said, walking over, "In celebration of your victory, the Bug badge!" He handed me a badge that looked like a Scyther. I put it in my badge case.

"Thanks!" I said.

And so I headed out of the gym.

"Why, why did it have to be bugs!" Shadow groaned from on my shoulder. "Of all the types he could choose from, he had to choose bugs!"

"Well," I said, "There is a forest right there full of bugs. So why not?"

"Shut up," she said. I smiled. We went into the pokecenter, I healed my pokemon, then we went for supplies, for we knew we would have to trek through Mt. Moon to get to Cerulean City. We decided to spend the night at the pokemon center for the night, seeing as it was already late. And so we bedded down, each of us falling asleep instantly from fatigue, unaware that we were being watched.

Location: Unknown

"I don't want excuses! I want results!" A man yelled, throwing the cup he was holding at the wall.

"Yes sir!" A younger man said, bowing. "It will be done as you command."

"It had better be," the first man said, "Or it will be your head."

"Yes sir!" The second man said, bowing again, and walking out of the room.

"Ray, you have evaded my grasp so far, but I will get you!" The man said, grinning, "With the power you possess, the world will be mine!" He began to laugh, a cruel, evil laugh, the sound bouncing of the walls, and echoing even further out.