After their battle, the two pre-teens had planned to continue their journey. But there was a hold up, Misty had been asked to battle another trainer. And yes, it was definitely her who was asked. Apparently, despite the short time span, the male trainer had discovered about Misty's Gyarados and wanted to battle it desperately. He didn't leave until Misty agreed to, which put their plans on hold. Ash didn't mind though, he couldn't wait to watch the battle as Gyarados had been stated as a powerful water/flying type that knew Flamethrower of all things.

Signing, Misty walked up to the giant Pokemon. He was resting within the pool, allowing her to scan him with her pokedex. Waiting, she gently reached up to see if the Pokemon would allow her to pet his crest. It didn't seem to work though. Yeah, he trusted her enough to be his trainer but it wouldn't be enough just yet to allow her to pet him. Finally, the poke dex clicked and she listened calmly.

Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokemon. There are people who swear that any place Gyarados appears is fated for destruction. This particular Gyarados is male with the ability Intimidate. He knows the moves Flamethrower, Scald, Bite, Thrash, Leer, Twister, Ice Fang, Aqua Tail and Bounce.

"Intimidate, huh...as expected from you, Gyarados," Misty whispered, filled with mix of hope and worry. She was taking a huge risk by using Gyarados so soon, he wasn't trained and could react violently without warning. "'Fated for destruction', you wouldn't destroy the gym, would you?" she was so worried, literally anything could happen in the battle and that left her more then frightened. The Pokemon roared, seemingly saying that he would never do that. But when a Pokemon has this much strength without the training to control them, it couldn't work to just make promises. "Oh well, lets just do our best. It's a one on one, he's using a Vileplume if I remember correctly."

The battle started, poetically enough, with the simple exchanges of victory from the two trainers. The Vileplume's trainer's name was Steven, he was a determined young man with huge wishes and had trouble controlling himself. After the exchange, Misty felt even more unsure as she stood before her Gyarados. But putting on a brave face, she began the match with the loud scream. "Gyarados, Flamethrower!"

Gyarados' mouth burst open, flames jetted out in all directions. Caught in the crossfire a bit, Misty's arm got a little burnt. Yet, she hid the limp arm behind her back despite the minor pain. She knew some pain was to be expected, Gyarados couldn't control himself. "Vileplume, Sleep Powder!" she could hear Steven yell above the noise of Gyarados' roars and the flicking flames. It didn't take long before the powder covered the water field and put Gyarados to nearly fall asleep, she hadn't expected something like this.

"Gyarados? Gyarados, please. Wake up!" she yelled, more frightened then before. Would the battle end, just like that? But then she noticed, Gyarados was fighting to stay awake. How to snap him out of drowsiness?...How...how how! Of course, an idea burst into her head and she yelled. "Use Scald on yourself, Gyarados!" The blue serpent looked back at her with shock and a face that screamed 'are you insane, woman', but did as he was told. The boiling water burnt his scales a bit and gave the wake-up call that was desperately wanted."Now, use Ice Fang!"

"Vileplume, Giga Drain!" Steven called at the same time, the Pokemon collided with another. As Gyarados bite harshly with icy fangs, he could feel his energy being drained faster and faster. He could nearly see the green energy being drained from his body and he sent him angry. Very angry!

He roared louder then before, enough to cause Misty to near jump out of her bikini and skin. "Gyarados?" she whispered, unsure. But then...he used a move without the command, Twister. A mediumly-sized cyclone filled the pool, water being pulled into it due to the heavy force. Misty, herself, was being pulled into the attack and Vileplume got dragged into the water. With a quick movement, Gyarados' large jaws were biting down on the poor grass type. "Gyarados!" Misty screamed, trying to get control of her Pokemon. It had been too soon...

Nothing seemed to work and it became worse...when the Pokemon decided that using Flamethrower again would be a good idea in his agitated state. Flames burst around, burning everything to a crisp. Even the pool was a-light with flames, the water evaporating in the hot heat and forming stream that brought the atmosphere to a boil. Misty was absolutely shocked, she then yelled. "Steven, get out of there!"

Her yelling was in time too, as Gyarados' thrashing broke out the diving board and sent it flying...landing straight when the boy had once been. Misty didn't want to, but with a loud scream. "Gyarados, return!" the poke ball flashed as Gyarados was pulled into it, but that wouldn't fix the state of the gym. The pool had been evaporated and flames dispersed across the floor. Her burns had even gotten worse due to the extra flames, and she still needed to get rid of them. She could hear Ash's cries of worry but paid no mind. She quickly grabbed the extinguisher and got rid of the flames, before collapsing to the ground. Steven had been lucky, having been down-wind of the flames and thus less smoke and heat effected him. But Misty was up-wind...receiving all the frightening effects and some serious burns on her left arm.

Ash ran over to her, taking ahold of her arm. "This is serious, Misty...you need to get this check-out," he helped her back up as she tried to breathe as the smoke dispersed. She looked rather faint, leading him to help her stay standing and walk away from the smoking. "Come on, we should have you lay down for a bit after we get back to the Pokemon center. Sorry, Steven but the match is called off. We can't have the gym leader feeling ill and becoming injured due to her Pokemon going out of the control.

Steven nodded, and allowed the two to leave the smoke-filled room. The last thing he said was that he would come back in a couple of days to receive the gym badge, hoping that Gyarados would be under control then. They arrived downstairs, lucky that the fire and evaporation hadn't effected the aquarium much. Cold air brushed across Misty's face and made her feel quite a bit better already, she sat down next to the cold wall and sighed. "I can't travel with a untamed Pokemon like that, Ash..." she whispered, worried.

"Sure you can, isn't that the whole point of training? To make a untamed Pokemon tamed and powerful. Able to control their powers and help their trainers battle, all Gyarados needs is some good training. It was risky to use him this early anyway," the boy responded with a smile, Togepi was giving her little cries of support during the all statement. Even bouncing out of her daddy's arms at one point to sit on Misty's shoulder and pat her head with a giant, toothy - wait what? - smile. As Misty's brain tried to catch up with a single tooth sticking up from Togepi's bottom lip, Ash continued. "How about we began our training after fixing up the gym and your arm up, take a long break of fresh air and just train our Pokemon."

A small smile broke onto Misty's lips, as she whispered. "Thank you, Ash. Now...I need to question something..." he prompted her to continue, which lead her to lift up Togepi and point to the little tooth. "Did you know about this?"

"Huh? She's teething, already? She's only a few weeks old...I suppose Pokemon babies develop faster then human ones..." Ash muttered with intrigue, taking Togepi into his hands to take a closer look at the pristine white tooth.

"Your telling me..." came the reply, Misty's expression was still trying to get used to the fact Togepi's teeth were coming in. "Maybe it's a sign that she'll evolve soon, she's one of those Pokemon that evolve through friendship after all. And all you've given her since her birth has been friendship, well parental friendship anyway. I'm sure it won't be too much longer."

A small chuckle left Ash's lips, as he reached over to hold her hand in his own. He was smiling brightly, as he held Togepi in his other hand. "Well, we'll just have to wait to see that happen. Come on, we should get to fixing the gym back up."

"Uh huh..." Misty's soft voice left her lips, as she got back up. Her arms still ached, but what could she really do about a couple of burns. Lucky for her, Ash dipped a piece of cloth into a nearby small tank before wrapping it around her arm. It soothed her arm quite a bit, as she looked back up at the raven haired boy with a bright smile adorn her lips. "Thanks..."

They arrived back upstairs, most of the smoke had dispersed. But many of the surfaces were covered in ash and the pool still needed to be refilled. "Alright," she picked up a brush and threw it towards Ash, who caught it with some struggle. "Clean up some of the ashes...I'll handle refilling the pool," she was already at the end of the pool when he looked up at her once more, though his eyes still wandered away from her eyes as she looked stunning in the light of the gym.

The boy nodded and began work on clearing away the ashes. Misty smiled, calling out her beloved Staryu. "Alright, Staryu. Use Water Gun, help me refill the pool," the progression of refilling the pool was quite slow though, she had to come up with another option. "Alright, come on out, my steadies!" she threw out Pikachu, Tentacool and Buizel. "Alright, Pikachu. Use Surf, I know you can summon water when required. Tentacool, use Water Pulse. And Buizel, Waterfall!"

The combo power of the four water type moves filled the pool up in no time, allowing Misty to smile. Ash had also finished the clean-up work of the floor, so the gym looked more or less clean once more. Walking over, Ash had an intrigued expression as Buizel's last drops of Waterfall splattered into the pool. The other three's moves had already headed. Togepi was at his feet, an adorable smile on her face as she looked like she wanted to play in the water again. "To think your Buizel has Waterfall, quite a powerful move, Mist."

"Well, I did some training before our battle...but Buizel was just not used in the match, still taught him Waterfall though. I'm the substitute gym leader, I need powerful moves on my Pokemon. Besides, it wasn't too hard to get him to turn Water Gun into Waterfall."

"I guess that's true, well. How about we get to training. Gyarados needs to learn to tame his Flamethrower, but it's not safe to attempt to indoors. Lets go back over to Mt Moon, the rocky interior should block any overspread of fire."

They soon arrived within the large caverns of Mt Moon, Misty was holding Gyarados' poke ball close to her chest, as she looked over to Ash and Togepi. "Ash...who are you gonna use?"

"Oh, that's simple. Ponyta, she's a fire type and wouldn't get super effective damage from a fire type attack," came his reply, with a grin on his face. He threw out his Ponyta and waited patiently for Misty to do the same.

"Alright..." throwing out Gyarados, Misty was still really nervous. Gyarados' power was so untamed, it could be dangerous even within a place like Mt Moon. But, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Ash back as far away from Ponyta. 'Good thinking...' she thought, smiling. "Alright, Gyarados. We're training now, so can we try to tame your flames?"

A roar erupted from his lips, he was in agreement. Soon a burst of fire left the same mouth, hitting Ponyta. Though a lot of the flames were absorbed into her mane -despite her ability being Flame Body, she still had the ability to absorb the majority of flames. Not all, but most - she still felt a little bit of damage though. Having Ponyta battle Gyarados' Flamethrower was the best option, indeed. It was working out perfectly, nearly causing Misty to jump in joy as she called out. "Alright, keep it up!"

Soon enough, Gyarados' flames came less and less dispersed. They were controlled, aiming straight for the opponent like how Misty wanted them to be. She ran over to hug the scaly side of the water/flying type with a bright, cute smile adorn on her lips. All Ash could do was think of how adorable she was, he certainly loved the way she was. An adorable tomboy with a aura of beauty, it was all he could want her to be. Any different and she'd feel out of place. But he couldn't let his crush effect the training, he could tell her much later how he felt. "Looking good, Mist. Flamethrower has been tamed from the looks of it."

"Yeah. Thanks, Ash," she gave a soft smile, before noticing his slightly confused expression. Chuckling, she continued to explain what she meant by her 'thanks'. "For helping me with my Pokemon and my gym, dummy."

"Oh right,...I'm suppose I am a bit of a 'dummy'..."

Togepi, who had been sitting on the floor nearby, began to laugh at her daddy. She seemed to understand what was going on for a change, she even began to give out little cries. "Toge-toge-toge. Toge-to!" she got up and ran over to Ash, hugging his leg adorably. Misty smiled, going over after recalling Gyarados. Upon seeing the tangerine haired girl, the little Spike Ball gave an another cry. "Toto!"

Misty reached down and picked up Togepi, ruffling the little spikes on the Pokemon's head. "Good girl, Togepi. Calling her daddy a 'dummy'," a squeal of delight left the young Pokemon's mouth, she liked being praised. "Good girl, good girl."

"Don't call her a 'good girl' for that," Ash sulked, only eliciting a chuckle from both Misty and Togepi. Suddenly, said Pokemon's eyes began to glow and Ash became rather frightened. "Did...she..." he began to glow himself and float into the air. "She did."

"Ash!" Misty cried out, nervously. She looked down at Togepi, was the Spike Ball using Psychic? "Put him down, Togepi. Carefully..."

"Ge toto!" she seemed to be complaining, but she did as she was told after she received a stern look from Misty. She wasn't going to disobey her mommy at the end of the day. Ash landed back on the ground with a frown on his face, even though he was happy that his Pokemon had learnt a move like Psychic on her own. How, he wanted to know however.

"How did she learn that?...I didn't intend to teach her own to use 'Psychic'?"

A nod came from Misty, but then a look of realization hit her. She soon explained why she looked like that, with a apologetic look on her face. "My...Staryu has Psychic and during the time before you arrived, Togepi was around Staryu a lot. Do you think that Staryu may have taught her how to use the move?"

"Quite possibly, but you don't need to look sorry for it. I mean, I probably would have taught her how to use moves like Psychic and maybe Shadow Ball when she evolved into Togetic anyway. Wait...does your Staryu know Shad-" his question was answered before he could finish, as a shadowy ball was summoned between Togepi's tiny arms. "Never mind, she answered for you..."

"To think she has both Shadow Ball and Psychic, if she evolves before you reach Saffron City...then you could..."

"Use her to battle Sabrina's Kadabra and Alakazam, they're very powerful and without a effective dark type or ghost type...Yes, it could potentially work. I'm hoping Luxio will have either Bite or Crunch by then and using Shadow Ball as well..."

"You could win without much hassle!" Misty finished for him, handing him the baby Pokemon with a bright smile on her face. "Sounds like a plan to me. Though, from what I know. Sabrina also uses a Venomoth and a Mr Mime, you may need different Pokemon for those two. Lucky the battle is a four-v-four or you may have a struggle with just two Pokemon."

"Don't you worry, Ponyta can handle Venomoth and I'm sure Iron Tail can handle the Mr Mime."

"Good point, though you gotta get through at least Lt Surge first."

"Yeah, Lt Surge. I'm hoping to use Luxio for that, he can learn Double Team which could help me quite a bit. That and Flash. Plus, Lt Surge's Raichu has Static. But electric types can't be paralyzed so I'll have the benefit of not activating the Pokemon's ability. Breloom can also help out, using his ability Poison Heal to help out. All I gotta do is poison himself.."

"Good plans, well. I believe we should head back to the gym, Steven said he'll be back in a few days after all."

And that day came soon enough, his and Misty's rematch began. She felt she could control Gyarados now, they can continued training and Flamethrower had gotten to the point where they were control how much fire would be sent out. "Alright, Steven. Your gym badge is on the line here, so you have to beat my Gyarados' Flamethrower!"

"I know, I heard that you've been taming him so you can rematch me safely," the boy said, sending out his Vileplume. "So, do we begin?" once the nod began, he called out. "Sleep Powder!"

Misty knew this trick and how to fix it, though she knew Gyarados didn't really like the scalds. "Use Scald on yourself, Gyarados!" she called out, as Sleep Powder hit him and made him drowsy. With a slash of boiling water, he was awake again and ready to battle. "A medium Flamethrower!"

A controlled and tamed amount of fire left the Gyarados' mouth, aiming straight for the Vileplume. It wasn't quick enough to dodge, something that it's species wasn't known for doing anyway. Burns rippled across it's giant poisonous petals, charring them a raven black. "Don't mind, don't mind, Vileplume!" Steven's voice came with a confident aura. "Use Giga Drain!"

"Use Ice Fang!" this was the exact same situation as before, would the match end the same way? No, she mentally shook her head, it won't! Gyarados' jaw tightened and ice coated his teeth, as he lunged forward. As a large splash of water covered the room, he bit down on Vileplume's petals as Giga Drain began to sap away his energy. But he held on. "Gyarados, Flamethrower!" Misty suddenly yelled, the icy fangs melted away as fire burst from his lips. At the close range, there was almost nothing that the Vileplume could do.

Somehow though, it held on through the attack. It looked weak, but it continued to give off a happy smile. "Alright, Vileplume. Use Energy Ball!" a ball of green light was summoned, shooting towards the Gyarados. Misty gasped, she hadn't even thought of a counter plan for this happening when the grassy ball hit her Atrocious Pokemon dead on. With his weakened energy, it was all that the Vileplume needed to knock out Gyarados and win the match.

Misty sighed, recalling Gyarados to his poke ball with a luminescent smile. "Good work, Gyara. Take a good rest," she seemed to have a nickname for the giant Pokemon now, granted it wasn't a thrilling nickname but it was something. She dived into the pool and swam over to the other side, not seeing the point in walking around the side. She rested her arms on the side of the pool, before reaching up to present the Cascade Badge to the boy. "Good work, Steven. You have earned this, to think your Vileplume didn't faint after that second Flamethrower is astounding. You should be really be proud of it."

"I am," the boy smiled, holding up the teardrop shaped badge. "I'll treasure this," he then turned to Ash, who had walked over. "I'll see you in the Pokemon League, Ash. I won't lose."

"Neither will I, so bring it on."

A chuckle left Misty's lips, smiling at the two lads. That would be a battle that she wanted to see. She got out of the pool and smiled, ushering Steven. "You should go and heal Vileplume, it gotta be weak now."

The young boy nodded, running out of the gym. Ash smiled. "That was a good battle, Misty. Looks like you've tamed Gyara now."

"Wait, you heard that nickname?..."

"Of course, Mist. It's cute that you nicknamed him," he chuckled, helping out of the pool. "I think it's a sweet nickname, despite how powerful and fierce Gyarados are usually seen."

Giving a small smile, Misty nodded. Well, now that the gym battle was out of the way, she and Ash could return to their journey. Ah, she couldn't wait! She loved traveling with Ash, even though it had only been a few weeks right now. She wanted to be with him forever.

Alright, I bet the source of Gyarados' nickname is quite obvious. But oh well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was in the making for a long time, I just didn't know what to write for it...

Ash

Togepi (Female)(Starter)

Luxio (Male)

Ponyta (Female)

Breloom (Male)(Shiny)

Crobat (Nickname: Zuzu)(Female)*Deaf*

Misty

Staryu (No-gender - could be considered female)(Starter)

Tentacool (Male)

Buizel (Male)

Pikachu (Female)

Gyarados (Nickname: Gyara)(Male)

Cerulean gym

Luvdisc (Nickname: Caserin)(Male)