A/N Hey guys, school finally started for me today (yaaaay... :P). I should still be able to continue with my weekly updates, that's mostly why they're so short. Also, somehow this fic was put on Pokémon's Best of the Best, which is awesome considering I started seriously writing less than two months ago. Thanks to Wyldclaw (I'm pretty sure) for that. Anyways, here's the chapter!

Kat's POV

I'm back in dreamland again. Arceus's figure appears out of the nothingness with a grim look on his face. Something's not right.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

He looks… almost sad. He somberly replies, "The world is about to face a grave danger. And you're the only one that can stop it."

What? What danger? Why am I the only one that can stop it? Isn't that the job of the champion or something?

Arceus's expression doesn't change, but his eyes turn glassy. He ominously says,

Beware the space plane

In the home of the bat

Embrace the hermit

Save the second cat

What!? As the world starts to fade, I desperately cry out, "What does that mean? What does any of this mean?"

I open my eyes and find myself lying comfortably somewhere in the forest. There was somebody holding a canteen to my mouth. "Drink."

I croak out, "Who are-"

"There will be time for introductions later. For now, you're really dehydrated. Drink."

I take long gulps of the refreshing water, and my throat feels better immediately. Sitting up, I see Eevee and Pikachu snoozing together a little ways away. At least they're okay. Turning to my mystery rescuer, I see a young man maybe a year or two older than I am with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"So who are you? What happened? The last thing I remember was walking on the path to Cerulean City."

He replies, "My name's Jake, and I'm training to be a pokémon ranger with my friend Wooper." I can see Wooper, calmly resting by a tree. "I was just about to head through Mount Moon when I saw you collapse."

Oh. So he was the mystery voice I heard right before I blacked out. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? I healed up your pokémon, but it seemed like you were in worse shape than they were."

I don't know why, but I feel really comfortable talking to him. I tell him everything, from the graveler, to the Rockets, to Dratini leaving with his family. When I finish, he just sits there wide-eyed for a second, then finds his voice.

"Wow. You have had quite a day, haven't you. You should probably get some rest, we can get to Cerulean tomorrow."

I yawn, realizing that it's the middle of the night. No wonder why the pokémon were sleeping. Too tired to pull out my sleeping bag, I simply fall asleep on the soft grass.

I'm woken up by something jumping on me. "Ooph!' Groggily, I open my eyes. Oh, it's just Eevee. I smile and tell her, "Good morning." She just cheekily jumps off and starts running around with Pikachu and Wooper. I smell a delicious aroma, and my mouth waters. Oh yeah, I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. Sitting up and looking to where the smell is coming from, I see Jake cooking pancakes over a campfire. Well, now I feel bad. I tell him,

"You don't need to do that, you already have done enough for me, taking care of me all night." Of course right then my stomach rumbles.

He laughs. "Well, your stomach seems to disagree with you. Don't worry, there's enough for us and the pokémon."

"Okay, okay, if you insist." I take a few and hand them out to Eevee and Pikachu, while Jake gives one to Wooper. Taking one myself, I start eating and find out that they taste as good as they smell.

"These are delicious! Where did you learn how to cook like that?"

He blushes a bit and tells me, "Well, I'm not that good, but I learned as part of my training to become a ranger."

"That's really cool! What else do you have to learn?"

This time, he smiles. "You have to learn how to survive practically anywhere and how to befriend wild pokémon to help. We don't have our own pokémon, we ask the wild ones to help out from time to time."

A thought crossed my mind. "So, how did you get Wooper? Is he just a wild pokémon willing to help?"

"I, uh, actually found Wooper while visiting the safari zone and he's never left my side since. I have a pokéball for him, but I don't use it."

We fall into a comfortable silence while we and the pokémon finish the pancakes. After we finish, I exclaim, "Alright, let's go to Cerulean!" I stand up and immediately fall over because of my sprained ankle. Crap, how could I have forgot about that? Surprisingly, I don't hit the ground; Jake catches me first.

He calmly says, "Yeah, we should probably get to Cerulean to get your ankle healed. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall."

Blushing, my throat tightens up again. I manage to sputter out, "Th… thanks." Why am I feeling this way? I mean, he's helped me out a lot and handsome and… Oh my goodness what am I thinking? Leaning on Jake, I hobble along the rest of the way to Cerulean, with the pokémon running around us.

We finally get to the pokémon center after what seems like forever with my sprained ankle. Although, I didn't mind it much… What am I doing? Now's not the time to be thinking about boys.

As soon as we walk in, Nurse Joy gasps, saying, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

Now that I think about it, I must look pretty terrible. I haven't showered in a day or so, leaning on somebody because I have a sprained ankle, and I'm still covered in dust from when the floor caved in on us. I tell her, "I'm fine, Mount Moon was a bit of trouble but I only have a sprained ankle."

Jake turns to me. "Well, it seems like you're in good hands. I think I'll hang out by the beach if you need me. See ya!" WIth that Jake leaves with Wooper behind him.

While the pokémon center's chansey uses heal pulse on my ankle, Nurse Joy quietly asks, "It must really be nice to have such a caring boyfriend like that."

What?! Blushing, I tell her, "Ja… Jake's not my boyfriend. He… he just helped me out a bit."

She smiles. "Ah, young love. You'll figure it out eventually." Before she could say any more, Chansey stops using heal pulse, saying, "Chan, Chansey!"

"Well it seems like your ankle's okay. You can walk, but don't strain it too much. If you're here for a gym battle, I would go now; she's pretty busy tomorrow."

Calling over Eevee and Pikachu who were waiting patiently, I tell her, "Thanks for the advice, and for healing my sprained ankle. Bye!"

As we leave, she calls out, "Good bye and good luck!"

Looking up at the sky, I see there's still probably an hour or two before noon. Should be enough time for a gym battle. I walk to the gym, which isn't very hard to find considering it's the biggest building in the city. Walking in, I see the gym leader relaxing in the pool with a few water pokémon. Okay, definitely a water-type gym leader. Pikachu should be able to handle it.

I call out to the gym leader, "Uh, hi. Is now a good time for a gym battle, or should I-"

"No, don't worry. Now's fine. Just gimme a sec to dry off." She quickly gets out of the pool and disappears into a back room for a minute, then comes back out wearing a T-shirt and shorts. She asks me, "What's your name?"

"Kat. And yours?"

"Misty. Nice to meet you Kat. As you probably have guessed, I'm a water-type gym leader. What you probably did not guess is that we use the pool is the battlefield." She pulls a lever on the wall, and platforms float up scattered across the pool. This is actually really good. Pikachu can just shock the whole pool.

Misty tells me, "This will be a regulation gym battle, and each trainer gets to use two pokémon. Only you can substitute. With that said, go Staryu!"

A starfish with a gem on it appeared on one of the platforms, gem blinking with confidence. I grin, saying, "You got this Pikachu!" He jumps on one of the platforms, which wobbles back and forth a bit. Pikachu stumbles but manages to find his balance.

Misty calls out, "Alright, you can have the first move."

"Thanks! Pikachu, thundershock!" Pikachu looks at me, then shoots a Thunderbolt at Staryu. He must have learned Thunderbolt in Mount Moon to destroy the ice gun.

Misty calls out, "Staryu, Rapid Spin!" Staryu spins around, nimbly dodging the Thunderbolt. Great, it'll be hard to hit it directly. If I could get Staryu into the water… I have an idea. "Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

Pikachu hops across the floating platforms, headed straight for Staryu. Right before the attack connects, Misty calls out, "Water Gun!"

The blast of water shoots Pikachu backwards into the water. "Pikachu!" I exclaim. After a few seconds of trying to get out, he does, dripping wet and shivering.

Darn, I need to wrap this up quick. Pikachu can't last much longer when he's cold and wet. Well, what do I know. Water conducts electricity, but the platforms aren't wet. Maybe I can change that.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on your own platform." He looks at me confused. "Just trust me. I have a plan." He jumps up, tail turning a steel-gray. He lands, forcing the platform down and creating a wave that soaks Staryu and the other platforms.

Misty's eyes widen. "Oh no! Starmie, Rapid Spin! Get the water off!" The starfish does so, but there's still enough lingering water for this to work.

I grin, saying, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt again!" At this point Pikachu catches onto my plan, and shoots a Thunderbolt not at Staryu, but the platform. With a much bigger target to hit, Pikachu's Thunderbolt hits dead on, the electricity conducting to the wet Staryu.

When the Thunderbolt dies down, Staryu is clearly unconscious while Pikachu is a bit winded, but still able to battle. Misty sighs while returning Staryu, saying, "You did your best. We need to find a better way to counter electric types." Turning to me, she says, "That was a pretty nice plan to shock Staryu, although you'll have a harder time dealing with this. Go-"

A loud BANG behind me throws me into the pool, into watery blackness.

A/N Dun Dun DUUUUN! More cliffhangers for you guys, sorry but that's how it is. See ya next week!