Before we left Lavender Town we found out the road to Saffron City was currently blocked. We didn't get the details of how, but it ended up sending us on a detour to Celadon City instead. Ben had been excited taking the route. Wild growlithes roamed it, and Ben was a big fan of the fire pokemon. He had run all of us practically ragged trying to keep up with him on his search. Eventually we found a half grown growlithe, just leaving the puppy stage, for Ben to catch. Wartortle weakened her easily, and Ben could now say he had a growlithe of his own.

I stuck close to Ben as we headed to the pokemon center, wishing we were still out on the road where I could just let my pokemon out with me. I felt so exposed out in the city, too many people crowded around and giant buildings turning the place into a maze. Ben glanced at me with some concern, keeping close to me. He knew I wasn't a big fan of cities. I could only hope they didn't get much bigger than this.

Checked into the safety of the pokemon center I let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Let's hurry and train so we can challenge the gym," I muttered. The faster we beat the gym the faster we could head back out of here.

"Relax," Ben said. He selected a couple pokeballs and we both headed out to a training field Nurse Joy had told us was available. Taking a side each we watched each other closely, trying to read our opponent. At the exact same time we released our pokeballs, revealing Wartortle and Hurrico. We burst into laughter.

"Copycat!" Ben shouted. I shrugged, unable to stop grinning.

"Watergun," Ben ordered.

"Withdraw!" I shouted. Both pokemon rapidly followed the orders. Wartortle charged forward and tackled Hurrico's shell, sending it sliding across the field. Dizzy Hurrico pushed himself back up shaking his head.

"Use your own watergun, then tackle!" I called.

"Dodge it!" Ben shouted. Wartortle nimbly dodged the weaker watergun and stood his ground. As Hurrico tried to tackle him Wartortle caught him with a headbutt. This wasn't going so well for me. Hurrico pushed himself up once more refusing to give in. Wartortle hit him again, but once more Hurrico rose up. This time a soft glow emanated around him.

I gasped as the light swelled and faded, revealing another wartortle. Hurrico had evolved! Determined to keep going Hurrico struck with a powered up watergun. Wartortle dodged it and hit Hurrico one more time. This time he fell and didn't get back up. I could care less that I'd lost the battle though. Hurrico had evolved! Ben grinned as he returned Wartortle.

"Congrats," he said. I nodded as I returned Hurrico and started walking back to the pokemon center. Hurrico needed some healing after that battle.

"Thanks, I can hardly believe he evolved!" Ben grinned.

"Course he did. You've done well training him." I blushed under his compliment. Back in the pokemon center we settled in for the evening, ready to challenge the gym the next day.

The Celadon Gym was quite different from the others we'd been to before. The inside was a complete jungle. We had to weave around tons of plants as we worked our way towards where we suspected the gym leader would be, and I was positive we got turned around more than once. It was beautiful, almost tropical, but I had to say I preferred the other gyms where it wasn't so easy to get lost.

We finally reached the center where the gym leader sat wearing a beautiful formal dress.

"Welcome," she said, "I am Erika, leader of this gym. Are you here to challenge me?" We nodded. I nudged Ben in the side.

"You can go first," I muttered. Ben nodded and stepped forward. Erika's eyes swept over us both.

"You have a choice of a two on two pokemon battle, or a simple one on one battle," Erika informed us.

"One on one please," Ben requested. Erika nodded her head and released his pidgey. Erika tossed her own pokeball out releasing a weepinbell. I swallowed. Hopefully the type advantage would let Ben win against an evolved pokemon.

"Bury everything in a sandstorm, Pidgey!" Ben called. His pidgey flew up and quickly began to whip up a storm, blinding everything. I had to squint my eyes against the sand. Nothing was visible. Just above I could make out the faint glow of an evolution. A pidgeotto's shriek pierced through the air as Ben's newly evolved pokemon dove into the sandstorm. I grinned. Looked like Ben would have a good chance after all. Surprisingly Erika was as calm as she had been in the start. She tossed her head lightly.

"Don't think," she said, "that just because you have a type advantage you'll win." The sand began to settle. Ben gasped seeing his pidgeotto fast asleep below the weepinbell. It looked like they had taken advantage of the sandstorm to keep the pidgeotto from seeing the sleeping powder cast into it. Ben had lost. Looking rather dejected he returned his pokemon. Feeling nervous after seeing Erika win against Ben so easily I stepped forward. I thought about what I could pick to try and combat the powders Erika would probably use.

"Polaris, go!" I called. Erika smiled and calmly threw her own pokeball releasing a gloom. I shuddered slightly. Glooms were well known for having a stench so powerful it could immobilize opponents. We'd have to keep our distance here.

"Stay back Polaris!" I called. Polaris tossed her head prancing a short distance back.

"Gloom, poison powder," Erika almost sang. Gloom shook herself sending poisonous spores into the air.

"Burn them out," I called. Polaris reared up and shot out fire, her flamethrower devastating the area. Gloom pressed against the wall trying to keep out of the way of the flames. As soon as it settled Gloom dove into some bushes.

"Burn the bushes to find Gloom Polaris!" I called. Erika smiled.

"You should take care to not shout out your commands to your opponents," Erika said cheerfully. I whipped my head back to where Polaris was burning the bushes. But there was something odd about the smoke...a shine that shouldn't have been there…

"Polaris, get out of there!" I shouted desperately. Polaris whinnied, but it was too late. The stun spore Gloom had hidden in the smoke had struck Polaris. I clenched my teeth.

"There's more to battling than brute strength," Erika said, "when your opponent relies on strength alone it leaves many openings for a pokemon with a type disadvantage to get in there and win." I lowered my head. I'd been overconfident. It would take a miracle to win now, and Erika had proven herself to be no pushover.

Suddenly a massive explosion cut the air shaking everything. I looked around in surprise.

"What was that?" Ben exclaimed. Erika quickly returned her Gloom.

"This match is postponed. As gym leader I must see to my town first." She quickly hurried out of the gym. I returned Polaris and followed behind, too curious to remain back.

"Wait!" Ben shouted, "This could be dangerous!" We rounded a corner to find a building on fire. Erika cursed. Specializing in grass pokemon she had no way to help control the flames. But we did. Grinning I quickly sent out Leviathan and Hurrico. Ben copied me sending out his wartortle.

"Water gun on the building!" I shouted. The water pokemon quickly complied, Leviathan's watergun outmatching the two wartortles. It didn't take long until the building was soaked, the flames put out. I returned my two pokemon and followed as Erika hurried into the building, too distracted to tell a couple of kids to stay back.

It looked like a casino. The inside was thoroughly destroyed. Strangely it was deserted, completely empty. A groan made me revise my opinion. We rushed over seeing a man barely moving underneath a large vending machine.

"You shouldn't be here," Erika warned finally noticing us. She ordered out a large venusaur who easily lifted the vending machine away. As soon as it was clear Erika knelt down, checking the man's pulse. He groaned faintly. My attention fell away from the man, staring at the strange passage most of the explosion had come from. A knocked out electrode laid in the center of it.

"What's that?" I asked. Erika glanced up from the injured man. I pointed to the strange corner. Her lips pursed.

"That isn't supposed to be there," Erika said. Drawn to the strange passageway I wandered down into it. Erika was too busy with the injured man to stop me from wandering further. Ben trailed behind nervously, a hand near his pokeballs in case we got into trouble. The tunnel widened after a short time, revealing cracked lab equipment and shattered computers.

"An underground lab?" I asked, puzzled. What would one be doing here? I looked at a screen, part of a document still visible on the flickering monitor. A picture of mew sat in the top left corner.

The p...ke…... is said to be the most powerful …... Rumored to be the a…...stor of all p…..mon Mew has the …. master every move kn….n by pokemon and tra…..orm into their …...uch lik…... ditt….. ….utstrips A….zam in psychic ...wer ….e to alter the ….. fa….c of ….al...y. ….id to be extinct th…... rumors of sca…...red sightings bely the fact …..t. Orders a….f the p...nt...m …. or it's DNA …...c….at….g a clone, …..Two, with s….erior c….abi….es to foll…...com…... of Team …...w's location remains ….nown.

-R

My grip tightened on the document. Team Rocket was doing research on Mew. I highly doubted whatever they were planning was going to be nice towards the cheerful legendary. Still, Mew should be able to avoid them. She was legendary after all, she could look after herself.

Still, as I left the room, I couldn't help worrying about what might happen in the future…