Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own the Pokemon franchise.

Claim: I do own my characters however.

Chapter 5-Cerulean City

Arietta's POV

"Well, well, if it isn't 'Little Miss Taramel'."

I stopped in my tracks and cringed inwardly while trying to stifle my groan. Charmander and I had been exploring Cerulean for a couple of days just to get the feel of it and we had managed to just make it to Nugget Bridge when I thought I had spied my rival. I tried to turn around and walk off but from the sound of the voice and the giggle from Charmander, I knew I had been spotted.

I wiped off my reluctance, plastered a smile on my face and turned around. My suspicions were confirmed as Gary Oak began walking towards me with seven of his cheerleaders behind him. Which meant that I was getting seven times as many jealous gazes directed at me than what I usually got at home; I sighed, Why does Gary have to be here? Why couldn't he have moved on like the other one did? I thought as I watched him approach.

Gary looked good since the last time I saw him, he still had the same old purple shirt, same old jeans, same weird hairstyle as well as the same green and yellow yin-yang necklace that he normally wore. In fact, the only thing different about him was a large bruise that had formed on the bottom of his jaw, I smiled at that. Apparently my punch had actually connected more that I thought it had.

"Gary, nice to see you again. What brings you to Cerulean City?" I asked trying to be friendly. I cautiously looked down at Charmander to see what it was doing. He was still trying to stop laughing and was actually holding both of his paws over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. I sighed inwardly, Great, one of my biggest rivals shows up and my Charmander decides to laugh itself to death! What on earth does it have to laugh about? I thought as I turned back to Gary.

He smirked at my question, "I decided to take a bit of a break from training and hang around. Actually, I was hoping to see some of the laggers. Never expected the youngest of the Champion family to be one of the losers. Ash yes, but you never."

I glared at him from that statement, "So basically, you decided to be a braggart and a show-off to the ones who are just a little bit farther behind than you. If you call being a Badge behind farther than you, or maybe you just decided to brag because you're too scared to face the Cerulean City Gym; What's the matter Gary? Afraid that someone might actually beat you?" I asked calmly. I heard a growl and looked down, Charmander was no longer laughing. He looked extremely angry, and there was a bright fire in his eyes as if he wanted to unleash an Ember attack right at Gary's head but was holding back because I hadn't given the word yet.

Gary's face grew bright red with anger and I knew that I had hit a nerve somewhere. See, Gary's parents had been great Pokemon trainers in their day and Gary's dad had taught him everything there was to know about battling. When they died in a car crash a few years ago, Gary had told Ash and me as kids that it meant that he was destined to follow in his dad's footsteps and become the next great Pokemon Master. That was right about the same time that Gary had gotten his superiority complex and drove Ash and me away.

He growled in anger and I knew I was in for a battle before he even managed to spit out the words, "If you think that you can beat me then you're dead wrong! I challenge you to a battle!" I smiled and nodded, "Ready when you are, name the rules!"

"Two against two!"

"Fine by me!"

"Go Pidgeotto!"

"Go Charmander!"

Gary threw a Poke ball and a large bird creature came out. It had dark brown feathers on its head, back, and wings and light brown feathers on its legs, face, chest, and the tips of its wings. Its beak was a bright pink as well as the three huge feathers on its crest.

I took out my Pokedex:

Pidgeotto-The bird Pokemon, the evolved form of Pidgey:

Very protective of its sprawling territorial area, this Pokemon will fiercely peck at any intruder.

I looked from my Pokedex to the Pokemon, it certainly looked fierce.

Gary didn't give me time to react, "Pidgeotto, use Gust!"

Pidgeotto nodded and began to flap its wings extremely hard causing huge winds to stir up all around Charmander. I looked at Charmander trying to keep its footing out there, "Charmander, use Smokescreen!"

My Pokemon nodded and unleashed a thick cloud of black smoke, the winds stopped moving as Pidgeotto lost sight of my Pokemon. I smiled, "Now use Ember!" A fireball came barreling out of the smoke and straight at Pidgeotto, Gary attempted to call it to dodge but the Ember was going too fast and hit right into Pidgeotto's chest.

I was amazed; Charmander had never unleashed an Ember attack like that before. Gary called to his Pokemon, it was burned pretty badly but still had enough strength left to continue fighting. He smirked, "Alright Pidgeotto, Sand Attack!"

As the smokescreen cleared, Charmander stood in the middle of the field. Sand flew as Pidgeotto began to scratch at the ground quickly. "Charmander dodge!" I yelled but it was too late. The sand attack hit him spot on and knocked him back flat.

I ran over to my Pokemon to make sure he was alright and he struggled but got back to his feet pretty quickly. I looked him over, he looked pretty bruised and beaten up from the sand attack but he gave me a claw up to show me that he could continue. I nodded, "Alright Charmander, let's keep this going. Scratch attack!"

"Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

The two Pokemon headed straight for each other and collided, each Pokemon faced each other trying to force the other to lose its footing and back down. I smiled, "Charmander, send Pidgeotto for a ride!" I yelled. He lifted his head and tossed Pidgeotto to the ground by grabbing its feet as he sent it soaring to the sky. Pidgeotto slammed down hard on the ground stirring up a lot of dust. When it cleared, Pidgeotto was unconscious.

I cheered and hugged my Charmander, "One down and one to go!" I said. Charmander gave me a weary smile and a peace sign. I could tell he wanted to continue battling but the battle with Pidgeotto really took a lot out of him.

Before I was about to speak to Charmander about switching though, Gary summoned another Pokemon. "I choose you Squirtle!" I nodded as I saw the familiar turtle Pokemon come out of its ball. It hadn't evolved just yet but from the way it looked it was close. I looked at Charmander concerned, we were at a disadvantage and he was really worn out from that last battle. I grabbed his Poke ball, "Charmander come back and rest." I said as I shot the beam at him. He jumped out of the way and shook his head.

I looked at him confused, "Huh? Charmander, come on. You're exhausted; let another Pokemon take its turn." I said. He shook his head again, "Ari, I want to beat Gary for you. Not just once but the whole thing. He insulted you and your family and you are my trainer. Your honor means more to me than anything else. I may be tired but I won't rest until after he is beaten." He said as he dodged the beam again. Gary smirked, "Humph, some Trainer you are Ari if your Pokemon won't even listen to you."

Charmander growled and turned around to look at the Trainer angrily instead he looked at Gary's Squirtle who was looking back at him with the same expression on his face as Gary's. Charmander smiled, and looked at me as if for permission, I sighed; if Charmander wasn't going to rest then I might as well let it continue the fight.

"Charmander, Scratch attack!"

"Squirtle, Water Gun!"

Charmander unleashed its claws and ran straight for Squirtle who took a deep breath and began to shoot bolts of water straight at him. Charmander dodged quickly without having to be told and scratched Squirtle's face twice before being knocked back by a Water Gun. I ran over to him and even though I knew he was about to collapse, my Pokemon struggled to its feet and faced Squirtle again.

I looked at Gary's face. He and I both knew that Charmander was exhausted and I'm sure he thought that Charmander was beaten after that last attack so it was awesome to see the shock and surprise on his face as he saw my Pokemon stand up. I then looked back at Charmander; it ran at Squirtle and began attacking without me having to tell him what to do. I then noticed the flame on its tail, it had gotten larger, Charmander had used Rage and was beating Squirtle pretty badly.

When Squirtle finally managed to struggle away from Charmander it was bruised and singed all over. It looked helplessly at Gary for a command as Charmander ran at it again. I smiled, "Charmander use Ember!"

"Squirtle use Water Gun!"

Both attacks collided causing a large boom and dust to go everywhere. When the dust cleared both Pokemon were unconscious. Gary and I both ran to the Pokemon to check them over, I hugged Charmander while he looked over his Squirtle then recalled it. He then walked over to me where I was sitting in the dirt checking over Charmander and held out his hand looking expectant. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Where's my money?"

"What money?"

"You know the money that the losing Trainer gives to the winning one after every battle. You lost, I won so give me the money so that we can go the Pokemon Center to rest our Pokemon then be on our separate ways."

I glared at him, my brown eyes were filled with hatred and I knew that's what made him step back from me as I recalled Charmander. I stood up, dusted myself off then faced him angrily. "First of all, I won, and you lost, second, keep your money I don't want it, third, learn to be a better sport after battles it makes them more fun. Now if you will excuse me, Mr. Oak, I'm going to rest my Charmander before continuing to my original destination. Good day to you."

I turned around and left him standing there and yelling at empty air as I headed for the Pokemon Center.

Gary's POV

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON? My Squirtle CLEARLY beat your Charmander now pay me my money!" I yelled. I opened my eyes and felt a hand on my shoulder, Charlene, my head cheerleader, looked at me with confusion in her bright blue eyes. "Uh, Gary, she left a few minutes ago. Why are you yelling at empty air?"

I stared at her then looked at the spot that Ari had been standing in. It was true; my rival had walked away calmly without hearing a word I had said. I growled in anger, Beat me did she? Well we'll see about that. I'm going to make sure she pays me for that battle that I certainly won. I doubt I lost, I was doing it for Dad's sake, I mean, I'm supposed to be his successor not Ari or Ash. I'll wait till she comes out of the Pokemon Center then follow her to make sure she pays me before moving on to Vermillion. I thought as I began walking towards the Pokemon Center. I stopped just outside the door then turned around to see my cheerleaders standing right behind me looking very confused and a bit dazed.

I groaned inwardly, Ari isn't gonna want to talk to me with them around. I need to talk to her without them. This is gonna cost me big time. I thought as I turned to them. "Hey girls, I was thinking that since we're gonna stay the rest of the day here. Why don't you all go do something for yourselves for a change? It's gotta be tiresome standing around and cheering me on all day. Here, take some money and go have fun. Meet ya back at the Center tonight." I said as I reached into my pocket and handed them each a few dollar bills.

They giggled and nodded then wandered off. As they disappeared, I spotted Ari come out of the Pokemon Center and begin walking right back towards Nugget Bridge. Her Charmander was with her and it looked like they were talking to each other, I shook my head, I had heard that if you were with a Pokemon for awhile then you would start to understand it but Ari and Charmander couldn't really talk to each other. I began following them up the Nugget Bridge and watched as they battled their way through to the top.

When they got to the top, however, there appeared to be a bit of trouble…

Arietta's POV

"I said No, thank you. I'd rather not join a team that does ridiculous poses and spout off silly poems all while attempting to steal other people's Pokemon."

The man standing before me seemed to be angry at my answer but he also didn't seem to be understanding that I had already had a run-in with Team Rocket and was already not interested.

"You obviously don't understand, joining Team Rocket means riches beyond your wildest dreams!"

"Yeah, riches such as jail time, learning to run away and losing all the time. My final answer is no." I said as I turned to walk away. I felt a hard grip grab my arm, "No one walks away from Team Rocket!" the man growled as he pulled me back. The man looked in my eyes and gasped, "You! You're that girl that the boss wants. You're really coming with me now!" he growled as he began trying to pull me with him. I dug in my feet and punched him in the jaw with my other fist while Charmander threw an Ember at him. The man screamed in agony as the fireball turned into a fire stream that chased him as he ran off the Nugget Bridge and into the river. Charmander had just learned Flamethrower.

I looked at Charmander and smiled, "Thanks buddy, now let's keep going. I want to see Bill before we head back to the Center tonight. I need some advice on the Gym Leader here if I'm going to battle her tomorrow." He looked at me and nodded, "Certainly, I can fight water Pokemon, I'm just not that strong against them." He said as we began to walk into a grassy meadow.

I had learned from my brothers and sisters that this was a good spot to meet other trainers for battles, mostly couples came here to show-off how strong they were in front of their boyfriend or girlfriend. I sighed as we battled these, mostly using Nidoran against them as I realized that she needed some more training as well since Charmander had gained quite a bit of experience from the Bridge.

As we walked I thought I felt eyes on the back of my head. As if someone was following me, I looked at Charmander, "Do you see anyone following us?" I asked. He looked around casually then giggled a bit before looking at me, "No, no one around but other trainers who we've already beaten." I looked at him trying to hide his giggling and looked around for myself, I heard some bushes rustling and thought I saw some brown hair disappearing into the bushes to my right.

I looked at Charmander stunned; there was no way on earth that Gary Oak had enough brains to actually follow me after our battle. I sighed and decided to ignore him and hoped that he would go away. If he didn't well then I planned on handling that my own way.

We continued to walk for a bit and finally began nearing a large cliff with a lighthouse overlooking it. Bill's lighthouse. I smiled excitedly and looked at Charmander, "Let's go before it gets dark." I said as I began to race him up the hill.

"Stop! Don't let it get away!"

Charmander and I stopped dead in our tracks at the shout. We looked around and noticed a bunch of people chasing after something way down on the beach; it looked to be a Pikachu only it seemed to be a little different.

"Stop thief! Come back here! Catch that Pikachu!" The mob yelled as it continued to chase it down the beach and back into the meadow where Charmander and I had just come from. I looked at my Pokemon, "Come on Charmander, let's see if we can help that Pikachu." I said as we both began running back towards the meadow and towards the mob…

Gary's POV

I followed Ari back as quickly as I could without trying to make a whole lot of noise so she wouldn't know that I was following her. But it wasn't easy. After she spotted that Pikachu running away from that mob of people, it was like something inside Ari made her want to help the Pokemon and she knew that she had to get there fast. So she and her Charmander ran like crazy trying to find the spot where the mob had cornered that Pikachu.

I ended up losing her after a few minutes, that's how fast she ran, and catching up to see her standing in front of the angry mob of people with her arms outstretched to keep them from hurting the Pikachu. She was talking to them and trying to calm them down enough to find out the situation, once she had done so she looked at them all exasperated.

"That's why you're chasing this Pokemon? Because it happened to be at the wrong place when your things went missing? You just don't think that you could have maybe misplaced a lot of those items or something else might have taken them and then you see this Pikachu and decide that just because it's a little different then you're going to blame it for your missing items? That's not right at all." The mob began to quiet down more and look a bit ashamed by the fact that they had blamed a Pikachu for their misfortune.

I smiled at Ari's bravery, it was one of the things that made me fall in love with her while we were growing up. Of course, I'd never tell her that. And even if I did have the guts to tell her one day, the way she'd seen me act, I'm surprised she hasn't given me more than a bruised jaw and ego. Ari would never like someone who acted like me and I highly doubt that would ever change.

I shook myself from my thoughts and realized that Ari had already captured the Pikachu and was headed back towards Bill's Lighthouse. I ran back through the bushes trying to be as quiet as I could, only to see her disappear into the lighthouse a few minutes after getting there…

Arietta's POV

I looked at the Clefairy before me in disbelief, when I had knocked on the door earlier a voice told me to go ahead and enter since I knew Prof. Oak. Apparently this Bill person and the Prof. were very good friends and Bill wanted to be able to pass on some knowledge to me because of it. But after coming in I was greeted by none other than a Clefairy telling me that he was Bill!

"Your Bill? But why are you a Pokemon?" I asked confused.

Bill smiled at me, "I'm not really a Pokemon, I was doing an experiment to try and get inside the Clefairy's head and understand how it thinks and acts. But something screwed up and I was turned into a Clefairy instead of having one come out so I could ask it some questions and I have no one to help me out. Do you think you could go to my computer and press the ENTER key while I step into the machine?" he asked.

I nodded, "Sure I can do that, just tell me when."

He nodded relieved that someone had decided to help him out at least, "Thanks, let me get into the machine and then you hit the button." He said as he stepped into a large vertical cylinder attached to the far wall.

After the doors closed I went over to the computer and hit the key that Bill had asked me to. I listened as the sounds of gears grinding and a machine powering up echoed throughout the lighthouse then the door opened and out stepped a boy a year older than me with dark green curly hair and dark eyes.

He smiled at me and shook my hand, "Thanks so much for helping me, I've been that way for three days now. I didn't think anyone was going help me out there. Here, take this as a reward. It's a ticket for a party on a ship, they invited me to go but I can stand parties like this and I hear that there will be a teacher on board to help your Pokemon learn a new move."

I nodded and took the ticket from him, "Thanks, I appreciate it. Now do you think you could help me?" He nodded, "Certainly, the Prof. mentioned something about you needing information about the Cerulean City Gym leaders Pokemon. Well, water types are weak against grass, and electric type attacks. I suggest you either take an electric Pokemon like Pikachu or a grass type like Bulbasaur. Then you ought to beat them no problem." He explained.

I smiled excitedly, "Well, that solved my problem. Thanks so much Bill for the information and good luck with your research." I said as we left the building. "Bye and good luck with your Gym battle tomorrow!" I heard him say.

We walked a little ways away from the lighthouse before stopping at a pond with a bridge over it. I held a finger up to my mouth to Charmander then reached into the bushes and dragged a body out over the bushes and into the pond with a loud splash.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" Gary Oak sputtered as he sat in the middle of the pond. I looked at him and tried not to laugh, the water had made his hair go flat and his clothes tighten on him, he literally looked like a sopping drowned rat. Charmander hid his smile behind his claws.

"Wondering why you've been following me since I left the Nugget Bridge, surely you're still not sore about losing that battle and wanting your money?" I accused him. He glared at me angrily, "I did NOT LOSE! I won that battle and I DEMAND my money!" he yelled as he stood up.

"You did so lose! I beat your first Pokemon!"

"Only to lose to my second one!"

"Lose? It was a draw! Both of our Pokemon were knocked out! Which makes me the winner since I beat your first Pokemon and you didn't beat either of mine!"

He glared at me angrily for a few minutes and I waited for him to continue shouting at me, then he growled and dug into his back pocket for his wallet and began pulling out bills. I blushed and glared at him, "No, I told you earlier, keep your money. I don't want it."

"No, you were right. I did lose that battle, so it's only fair that I pay you for it." He insisted as he tried to shove a hundred dollars into my hands.

I growled, "You are so stubborn, keep it. You can pay me back some other time. I don't need your money." I said as I shoved it back into his wallet and handed it to him.

He looked at me stunned, "But you have to be rewarded some way." He insisted. I shook my head, "As long as you learned something from the battle then I don't need to be rewarded." I replied, "Also, don't try to follow me anymore, you might end up getting hurt even more than just being tossed into a pond of water." I added as I turned and began to walk back to the Center.

"Ari, hold up, I need to give ya something."

I turned around, "Wha-mmph!" Gary grabbed my arm and kissed me straight on the lips. I was surprised and shocked for a few seconds, then I realized what he was doing and pushed him away. "IDIOT!" I yelled as I slapped him across the face then stomped back to the Pokemon Center trying to keep from blushing hard as I heard Charmander's giggles in my ears.

Author's Note: Hey guys, here is your update! In fact there is going to be another one as well. But you probably won't get it until later on tomorrow. Until then, enjoy and please review!