Chapter 9

Well, uhm, hi. I haven't got anything to say so let's get on with the new chapter. Oh, and I hope that freakin huge dialogue glossary list isn't too confusing. Not too much was changed here.

"Normal Talk"

'Thinking'

"Psychic Talk"

(Translated Pokémon talk that Bill doesn't understand)

Again, I hope it's not confusing! Thank you.

"A once in a lifetime opportunity and I wasted it!" – Jonathan Huntley

"Pre-Gym Battle in Pewter"

Jonathan and Bill emerged from the forest and were heading towards Pewter City, Bill's wound in his leg had stopped bleeding a little, even though the bandages had gone loose some minutes ago. Jonathan held Bill's arm over his shoulder, supporting Bill while they were walking.

"Damn, it hurts like hell! I… I don't think I'm going to make it, Jon," Bill groaned, fighting the pain in his leg.

"C'mon, Bill, keep fighting! It's not far now, just hold out a little longer!"

"Okay, let's see how you feel… when you get stabbed… through your leg! Damn, I hope my wound hasn't… been infected. Stupid Scyther, one day… I'll kill that sucker!" he growled.

"No, no, no. Don't even think of planning any revenge now, Scythers are strong warriors, you'd only get killed," said Jonathan.

"Yeah, what…ever," Bill snapped, "I'm done for anyway," he whined.

"Don't worry, I can see it from here, I know where the PokéCentre is located there!" Jonathan pointed towards Pewter City, which was located a distance away. Bill's leg suddenly gave away from the pain; Jonathan couldn't hold him up so Bill fell down on the ground.

"No… I can't… continue, Jon, the pain… it hurts… too much for me to handle," he managed to wheeze out, fearing that his Pokémon powers would expose him. He clutched his leg and gritted his teeth.

"Bill, please. Don't give up on me now! If you managed to get this far you could make it just a little more! Come on! I saved you back there in the forest!"

"Yeah… I know that… but you also caused it… to stab me. Of course it did that… only to… make sure I… didn't run away… while you… were battling it," Bill said as he was struggling to breathe normally.

"Bill, you can't give up, as you said to me: if you were to give up, the Scyther would have gotten you the first time!" Jonathan tried to get Bill back to his feet.

"Yeah, but then… it hadn't… stabbed me! I only had some… cuts here," he groaned as Jon had gotten him back to his feet, continuing to proceed towards Pewter.

"You're suffering from blood loss again this time, I think, and you'll faint very soon if you don't get there in time, let's go!" Jon dragged Bill to Pewter while Bill tried to walk, he had lost a great deal of blood, and suffering blood loss twice in three days might have been too much for him.

"Jon, I… I think I'm going to… throw up… right NOW!" Bill screamed as he suddenly tore loose of his friend's grip, turning around, throwing up. A red-greenish liquid came out from his mouth and he felt sore in his throat because of the gastric juice which had exited through his mouth. Jonathan began to feel nauseous when he saw Bill throw up. "I don't remember… eating that. It could… be the cucumber… or the lettuce… mixed with blood or tomatoes…"

"Ugh! Bill, please, I'm getting' sick too! Damn!" he complained as he looked away, disgusted, holding his nose. "Ready yet?"

"Yeah…" They continued to walk towards Pewter, Bill didn't know if he would make it; the pain kept getting worse and he felt dizzy. When they finally arrived to Pewter Jonathan sighed in relief, at last!

"Bill, we're here now! Let's find the PokéCentre so you can… Bill? BILL? What happened? WAKE UP!" While Jonathan talked before, Bill had suddenly fainted of blood loss, he didn't respond and Jonathan was getting worried a lot. "Come on! DON'T DIE ON ME NOW, BILL!" People began to gather where Jonathan were standing, they had noticed the blood trail from the entrance of the city which led to the boy who lay down on the ground.

"Don't just stand there like some bunch of schmucks! Please help me get him to the PokéCentre! Quick!" he shouted, astonished by the people's inactivity. Some of them however, ran up to him and picked Bill up and took him to the PokéCentre. Jonathan ran along them to make sure Bill was okay, when they arrived to the centre the nurse got a shock seeing the boy who was totally out cold.

"What have you done with him?" She asked, still shocked. The ones who held Bill put him down on a stretcher as a pair of Chanseys came and ran away with it. They then pointed at Jonathan, who felt a little exposed.

"Hey, don't ask us, ask him!" one of them protested.

"Erhm, it's a long story, nurse, can we talk about it later, when it's emptier?" he requested, he turned around to the ones who'd helped him. "Thanks, guys, I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't…"

"No sweat, dude! Since the Scythers formed their territory, there have been a lot of these cases!" one of them said as he, and the others walked out. "Later, dude!" he said as he exited the building.

"Thank you very much!" Jonathan thanked them again, he then turned to the nurse, who had the same pink hair and looks as the one in Viridian.

"So what happened to him?" she asked, wanting to know what had happened to Bill.

"Well, as we walked in the forest, we were attacked by a Scyther. No, we weren't in its territory, we weren't even close! It was after him… it wanted to kill him," he almost spluttered out.

"That can't be true! I've heard that the Scythers have been rough against trainer's Pokémon but…humans?" the nurse couldn't believe what Jonathan said, the Scythers were territorial, that's right, but they wouldn't try to kill a human. Most of the cases have been that all of the trainer's Pokémon have been injured or that they had been scared away!

"But it is true! How else can you explain a wound like that in his leg? It frickin' stabbed him, without any hesitation!"

"But what did you do when it happened? Did you just stand there watching it?"

"No, it stabbed him almost directly after I had paralyzed it with the help of my Pokémon!" he argued.

"Well then, as I see it, you have been walking around and suddenly this Scyther appeared, trying to kill this friend of yours?" she stated, still suspicious of what had happened.

"Actually, Bill and the Scyther have had problems before and it wanted revenge on him!"

"Bill?" the nurse asked. "Is that his name?"

"Yes it is! Please, can you help him? I think it's just blood loss, it could be an infection too," he pleaded. After all, he was responsible of Bill's current condition.

"We'll see what we can do!" she assured.

"Thank you, nurse, could you heal my Pokémon too? They were pretty beat up during the battle!" Jonathan said as he handed over his pokéballs and sat down on the bench. 'Man, I really saved him today! The Scythers haven't killed any humans, but this one was… no, that's not possible, I got to ask Bill after he gets out of here, what was his problem anyway, teasing the Scyther like that?' he thought, waiting to get some information about Bill's condition. After a while he knew that it wasn't worth waiting here all day! Bill had to be in care for days, or even weeks before he can walk again after a cut like that.

He walked outside the PokéCentre to get some fresh air only to meet a female police officer with blue hair looking at him sternly. The Officer Jenny in Pewter, great.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't a trainer we have here? How come you're involved in this crime?" she asked in her usual interrogative tone.

"Uh… what crime, officer?" he asked, he hadn't committed any crime, or was this cop a little over suspicious?

"A boy has recently been assaulted and you seem to be highly suspected for it."

This threw Jonathan into a fit. "Heyheyhey! He's my friend! Why do you think I would do such a thing to him? If it wasn't for me, Bill would be dead by now!" he protested.

"Bill? Are you talking about Bill Anderson?" she asked him, wanting to know if this was the boy she'd been warned of.

"Yes, I think it is," he answered, still curious about whom Bill really was.

"So, my sister got to know about his encounter with Scyther from dr. Greenwood, he should've been aware not to go back, but yet he did," she mumbled to herself.

"Is there a problem, officer?" inquired Jonathan.

"I think so… he might be the one who partly stopped two crimes in Viridian and-"

"Two? One of them was a robbery attempt in the PokéMart but which was the other one?" interjected Jonathan.

"It was a robbery attempt in the PokéCentre, now there must be a connection with these two crimes… you can go now, boy, I need to do some thinking."

'Man, Bill's really in for it now, but he didn't tell me about the robbery in the PokéCentre… gotta ask him when he's cured,' he thought, walking around Pewter, exploring it. Eventually, he found the gym.

'Hmm, it might be rude to have my first gym battle without Bill, but what the heck!' he thought as he walked in, when he entered the gym he noticed that it was all rocky, it was a rock gym after all. As he walked inside the building, watching some newbie trainers train their Pokémon, mostly rock, a boy came up to him, he was younger than him, he could tell that by his length and looks.

"Do you wish to fight the gym leader, Greg?" He asked, his voice sounding like a typical 10/11 year old, looking at Jonathan eager to battle.

"Yes, I do, do I have to fight you first?" he inquired.

"Of course! Greg doesn't have time with any rookies! Shall we?"

"You're on! Ivysaur, GOoo… ops," Jonathan reached for his ball only to find himself grabbing nothing, he had forgotten that his Pokémon were at the PokéCentre.

The other trainer scoffed at him. "Pathetic… you challenge me, yet you don't have any Pokémon?"

"Err… I… erhm, forgot that my Pokémon were at the PokéCentre… hehe, bye!" he said as he ran out of the building, feeling very embarrassed. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid me! How could I be so rash? What? Is it closing in to night already? Gotta hurry back to the PokéCentre.' He ran back to the centre to ask if he could sleep there, of course he knew that he could, but it was always important to be polite. When he arrived to the centre he asked the nurse if he could sleep there overnight.

"But of course you can!" she said, smiling happily as usual.

"Thanks, nurse! And by the way, how's Bill's condition?"

"He's recovering, however he has been recovering unusually fast, almost inhumanly fast…it's like someone is healing him. I think he'll be able to walk tomorrow already, surprisingly, with a wound like that."

"I see… well, thanks for the information, nurse, I'm going to bed now!" He walked to his room and entered it, it was the usual rooms in PokéCentres, small, and yet so nice. He dressed to his PJ's and jumped into the bed, falling a sleep immediately.

In Bill's room everything was quiet, he had regained consciousness and he was awake, he was happy that he had survived and he lay in the bed thinking. 'Man, am I lucky that I survived! I really owe one to Jon now… some chosen one I am… almost getting killed like that… what am I thinking? When I'm out of here I will go and teach that Scyther a lesson! I have to do it in the night when everyone sleeps, so I can transform without anyone seeing it,' he planned.

When he thought of transforming, he realized that he had recovered way to fast from that wound; this could raise suspicion around Pewter. 'Oh, man, my Pokémon powers must've been awakened while I was out cold… dammit! How will I explain this?' He began to feel tired because of all the pain he endured earlier this day and he slowly drifted into sleep.

He had been running away from it too long and he was exhausted, he knew that there was no escape anyway; the way he came from had been sealed somehow. Why did he enter the canyons in the first place? It was restricted area, it was dangerous they said, but he had entered it anyway without being seen. The beast he was running from was stronger than he was, he had been fighting it using his powers but he had gotten tired because of previous battles.

He ran into a dead end, he was trapped; well, he knew he was going to die anyway since there was no exit from here. He looked at the beast, it was a flying type and grey coloured but it was hard to see what it really was because of the dark, it landed a short distance away from him. His body was shaking in fear, what would this beast do to him? E... eat him?

He just couldn't accept that, he let out another Flamethrower towards the beast, who barely flinched by the attack. It laughed a high pitched laugh at his worthless effort to stop it, he saw in its eyes that it had had enough 'playing around' with him, he slowly sat down on the rock surface still looking at it. It then licked its lips on its long beak-like mouth, preparing to devour him any second now, it had been a long time since it had been eating human flesh, and this one seemed special.

He looked at it in horror when it had licked its lips; he had noticed that this birdlike beast, unlike other birds, had teeth. It had saw-shaped teeth! He closed his eyes, he couldn't look at it anymore, he was too scared. He curled into a little ball and waited for it to do it; the last thing he heard was a loud, high pitched screech…

"AAaaah!" he screamed as he woke up. It was just a nightmare… again. However, some Chanseys had been there while he'd had the nightmare, they were very startled when he shot up from his sleep like that. He had been sweating in the bed so much so it was almost wet, yet it wasn't that warm in there. The nurse had been there too, one of the Chanseys had been worried when it saw Bill squirming and whining in the bed, thinking that he must be suffering of something. Fortunately it was 'just' a nightmare.

"Are you alright?" she asked, worried.

"Yeah… I'm okay; it was just a nightmare so... What? You again?" Bill was surprised that the nurse he was looking at was the same one was here. "How did you get here so fast?" He couldn't believe that it was the same nurse he had seen in Viridian.

"Me again? I don't understand… Ah! You've met my sister in Viridian, haven't you?" she said, not knowing that Bill hadn't a clue about what she had said.

"So you're… twins?" he asked.

The nurse shook her head. "No, she's older than me, how are you feeling by the way?"

"I'm feeling great! Apart from the nightmare I feel recovered!" he said, more calmly, he had gotten over the nightmare. 'But then, it felt so real. Is that my destiny, to end up eaten? I've had this one at home too, just because the Scyther dream was coincidental doesn't mean this will be too, or?' he thought, still the nightmare was in his head.

"What are you thinking about?" the nurse inquired, she noticed that Bill stared into nothing for a while. He snapped out from his daydream, coming back to reality.

"What? Nothing! When can I leave? I feel like I'm bursting with energy!" Bill was very eager to get out; it was easily heard on the pace of his voice. He wondered where Jonathan was, and if he was lucky the gym in this city wouldn't be closed.

"I really recommend that you should sleep some more, young man, your wound has probably not…" she said to him but she stopped when she turned to look at the wound, it had almost healed completely, and the minor wounds he had on the chest were completely gone!

"Something's wrong, nurse?" Bill asked, noticing that she was staring at his now healed wounds.

"I really don't know… it's just that you have recovered very fast… if not a little too fast."

"Uhh, I think that's because my friend gave me a potion, I think," he made up. But the nurse eyed him suspiciously.

"But potions usually don't affect humans very much, but I think I need to do some tests to see if you're of lightly affected group," she said, walking away to fetch a syringe.

"Tests?" Bill asked suspiciously, shaking a little, "a-a-and what d-do you m-mean with t-tests, nurse?" He was afraid of getting exposed of what he really was. And it would make him feel very bad for Blackout Blasting a nurse who'd helped him.

"No, not that kind of tests! It's more like a medicinal test to see if you're a part-Pokémon or not." This made Bill's heart jump.

'Man, why do everything go to hell? I really don't want to be known as a Pokémon and be caught,' he thought frantically. "Why would that be necessary? Are there a lot of part-Pokémon here in Kanto?" he said trying not to sound suspicious.

"No, there aren't, but there have been sightings of a female Pokémon who's not registered in any Pokédex in both Kanto and Johto," she informed.

'Could it be her? It had to be her,' he thought. "So, how many have seen her? And how do they know it's a female?" He asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"Well, she looks like a human girl so that must be one of the reasons they think it's female and… hey, wait a minute! This is top secret information I'm just revealing!" she exclaimed stupidly, then she gave him a stern look for his curiosity.

"Ops, sorry for being curious, I didn't mean to be. Anyway, no one knows where she is and I don't know what she looks like so that was pretty useless information to me anyway…"

"Yes, if you just keep quiet about this no one will notice. Oh, I almost forgot! Can I have a sample of blood from you?" she requested.

'Okay, I really hope my blood won't reveal me, I'm in human status, so I hope the odds are with me. I better not decline, it will raise suspicion,' he thought. "Yes, that's okay, I don't mind. But when I was taken here, I did suffer from blood loss, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did, but we only knew what type of blood you had. I am going to use the sample to do another test. Can I begin now?"

"Yeah, but don't take too much."

"Don't worry; your blood flow has already been stabilized," she said as she took her syringe and stung it into his arm, extracting some blood from it.

"Nurse, what time is it?" he asked through the temporary stinging.

"It's about 11:40 am, why do you ask?"

"Oh man… my friend is probably waiting for me outside. Please, nurse can I leave now? He has this gym battle and I promised him to be there and watch."

"I really don't know if…"

"Please? Pretty please? I'm totally recovered as you can see."

"If you insist, but you're taking your own risks."

"Oh yeah!" he shouted as he jumped up from the bed, standing up and stretching out. Then he felt dizzy and sat down on the bed. "Blood rush… I hate it! Don't worry," he assured as he stood up again. "So where are my clothes? These aren't mine!"

"Oh, they're in the wardrobe, and they're washed too."

"Why, thank you very much, nurse!" he said as he got his clothes from the wardrobe looking for a room to change.

"You can change over there, in that room," she said, still holding and examining the syringe containing his sample of blood.

"Thanks again, nurse!" he said as he entered the changing room. He couldn't get that nightmare out of his head while he was changing clothes. 'What if that dream comes true? Bah, get it together, birds with teeth don't exist!' he thought, but shudder at another fact. 'But then, yet there exist fire breathing dogs, huge insects with blades, telepathetic, uh, telepathic cats. So why shouldn't there exist huge ancient birds with teeth?' When he had dressed he thought about his equipment, where were they stashed? "Uhm, excuse me, nurse, but do you know where my stuff is?"

"I think the boy who brought you here must have them…" She told him, putting the syringe in a little plastic bag.

"Thanks for everything then!" He thanked as he walked out of the ward, hoping that Jonathan was somewhere in the PokéCentre, when he came to the lobby he saw Jonathan waiting, some of his Pokémon where sitting with him, not noticing that he was there. "Jon!" he greeted cheerfully! Jonathan jerked his heads upwards, looking at his friend. All of his Pokémon, except for Ivysaur and Caterpie who were talking, lit up in happiness.

"Bill! You're alright! Man, I was so worried; I never thought you'd recover from that and…" Jon was happy to see Bill, even though it only was a day last time he saw him. Growlithe and Rattata pounced on him, making him hit the floor hard.

"Ow, that hurt! Was that necessary?" he grunted, trying to push away the playful Growlithe and the curious Rattata, who was sniffing in his pockets. "Hey, don't steal anything, haha, it tickles! Jon, HELP!" Jonathan laughed slightly at the small show but he decided it was best if he helped his friend out of it.

Ivysaur glanced at Bill scornfully and scoffed, Caterpie did so too, but smiled slightly when it saw Bill being licked by the orange dog. They resumed to their conversation, which mostly revolved of the incident at the forest.

After having gotten the two Pokémon off him, Bill stood up. "Whoa, they're pretty happy to see me," he stated.

"Heh, yeah, they seem to like you already. But Ivysaur," he cast a glance at the bud Pokémon, "well, he's a little hard headed as I told you before," he whispered, not wanting to suffer the wrath of the Vine Whip. "And just in case you wondered, Caterpie is male."

"Really? How did you figure that out?" asked Bill.

"I asked the nurse, they're very good at telling which gender a Pokémon are, but there are a few ones that are genderless."

"Uh-huh, well, are you itching to have your first gym battle?" inquired Bill.

"Yeah, but are you alright? You were stabbed yesterday so," Jonathan looked at the part of Bill's jeans were they were ripped up. "Whoa, whoa, how come it's almost gone?" he asked.

"Oh, I knew you were going to get surprised by that, you know, they used some kind of medicine, I don't know what, but it sure damn helped the healing process," lied Bill, he really started to feel guilty after all this lying. If he got exposed, he would never be able to talk to anyone.

"I see. But in case you wonder, I paid the bill up front, seeing that it actually was my fault that Scyther attacked you." He looked down, "I didn't believe you," he said quietly, swallowing once.

"So you didn't," said Bill lowly. The atmosphere in the lobby had already changed dramatically. "You didn't believe me?" he asked, wanting a confirmed answer, Jonathan shook his head, looking down.

"I-I thought you just made that up… too sound like some cool guy… you know," Jonathan said, feeling very guilty.

"To sound like some cool guy, thank you, Jon, thank you so fucking much! Gosh, I'm suffering from a frickin' amnesia and you say you don't believe me?"

"Hey! I did save you back there!"

"Yeah, but still it almost cost my life! I told so many times it wanted to kill me, but no, no, you just said it weren't' going to!"

"You provoked it!"

"You made it fall asleep on top of me!"

The argument went more and more savage, people started to gather around the two teens. Acting fast Jonathan hushed Bill.

"Bill, let's just get out of here, let's go to the gym," he requested. Bill nodded, still upset over that his 'friend' didn't believe him.

"Alright, alright, just so we get this over with." They both headed out from the PokéCentre, Jonathan had recalled his Pokémon and they went out.

While they walked towards the Pokémon Gym of Pewter Bill still sulked.

"Bill, quit the sulking! You're behaving like a eight year old!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" he snapped back. It was quiet for a while when he broke the silence. "Thanks for saving me, it's just that I get upset easily. But I did notice your Ivysaur doesn't like me," he said, much more calm than he was before.

"Yeah, he really seems to dislike you, he even tried to aid that Scyther to kill you, but something must've upset him. It's all about respect."

Bill stopped walking, Jonathan looked at him, puzzled. "Respect, you say? You know, respect comes from within," Bill said, thumping his chest lightly. "It's here where the power flows."

"What are you trying to get to now, Bill?" Jonathan inquired.

"What I'm trying to say, Jon," he made a pause, suddenly shooting both his hands up in the air, "is that I'm hungry!" he finally exclaimed.

"What? Bill, please can I fight first and then eat?" protested Jonathan, slightly taken aback of that statement.

"No, when I'm hungry, I AM hungry! Now take me to the closest eating place here!" demanded a very hungry Bill.

Jonathan sighed. "Aw, man. Travelling with you takes forever, Bill! You just keep stalling me!"

"Telling bad jokes, being stupid and stalling people is my forte, Jon! I'm so hungry that I could eat a… a… an entire gondola fruitcake whole!" Jonathan looked at him very strange.

"A WHAT? You're sure you don't need another days rest at the PokéCentre?" he said as Bill chuckled lightly.

"Let's just say I'm really hungry, aren't you hungry too?" When Bill said that, Jon's stomach began to growl.

"Now that you say it… let's eat!" he agreed.

"That's the spirit, Jon!" he said as they headed for the nearest café. When they came to the café, which seemed more like a fast food joint, they entered it and sat down by a table. They looked through the menu and decided to choose something simple, they both ordered one big hamburger.

"Seems we like the same type of food," Jonathan stated.

"Hey, who does not like hamburgers?" interjected Bill.

"Okay, okay, I get it! By the way, Bill, Officer Jenny wants to speak with you."

"What? She's here too? Or is it her sister too? Jon, how come that there's two Nurse Joys and two Officer Jennies?" Bill asked, still very confused of the oddities of this dimension.

"There aren't just two of them! There are many of them! And they all look the same and got the same names!" Bill lightly shook his head, this illogical fact was too much for him to handle.

"Uhh, WEIRD! Anyway, why does she want to talk with me about? About the Scyther attack?"

"Uh-huh, I think so. She said that Jenny in Viridian had warned her about you, and that she knows about your encounter with the Scyther."

"She did? Oh man, am I gonna get it now." Bill looked down.

"Hey, Bill, don't worry, I got you covered if she claims that you returned to the forest only to confront the Scyther on purpose again, if it's that she wanted to speak about."

"Thanks, Jon, you're a real friend… and yet we've only known each other for a couple of days! But I think I got over the fact that you didn't believe me before."

"Yeah, you know, I was shocked when it turned out to be true when it came from nowhere, threatening you like that and stabbing you in the leg, which was wicked I tell you!"

"I couldn't believe it would do that, even though I knew I was done for." He sighed, thinking of what it might have done if Jonathan had been attacked, or even killed by the Scyther after it was done with Bill.

"Speaking of that Scyther, there was something unusual about it." Jonathan put his hands on his chin, rubbing it. Bill rolled his eyes.

"No shit! It was homicidal!" he exclaimed.

"Not that! It was the colour of it… Scythers usually are light-green or lime green, but that one was more like… dark green, and its joints were more redder…" he grumbled.

"So you're saying that it was… evil?" Bill asked, he wondered if that Scyther was one of the evil one's assistants. The waiter then came with the food. "Thanks!" he said as he began to eat his burger.

"No, Bill, Pokémon aren't evil," he stated, continuing before Bill interjected, "they only live up to their nature, that's all. What I was going to say, Bill, that it must have been shiny!" he said as he took a bite of his burger.

"Shiny?" wondered a confused Bill.

"Yes! In both Kanto and Johto, there exist shiny Pokémon! A shiny Pokémon is a Pokémon with a different colour, and they're usually much stronger than the usual of that species!" explained Jonathan, but then started to think more. "But that means… I just missed the chance of catching a shiny Scyther! A once in a lifetime opportunity and I wasted it! Noooo!" he howled in disappointment.

"So, shiny Pokémon are rare, aren't they?" Bill asked, noticing a great disappointment flood over his friend's face.

"Of course they are! Do you know how rare they are?" Bill shook his head. "It's probably the reason that Scyther was so fierce, and what's worse, it could've been the leader of the swarm."

"So, if you had defeated it, chances would be that they wouldn't have come back for their leader, right?" Bill concluded. 'But then, this is perfect! Now I can tell them apart thanks to its colour! But the fact that it's stronger too, it might get me even if I'm in Pokémon status,' he thought then, still eager to get back on that Scyther.

"No, what I'm trying to say is that the leader will probably try to influence the other ones to hunt you down, and probably me too," Jonathan stated, obviously worried, "And if I had caught it, it would probably use its first opportunity to kill you."

But you kicked its ass, didn't you? Well, you at least paralyzed it with the help of Ivysaur," said Bill.

"But, hello? Aren't you wondering about something?"

"About what?"

"The attack Rattata did, that Flame Wheel attack!" Jonathan exclaimed impatiently, wanting to show off.

"Oh yeah, but what's so special about that?" asked Bill.

"Give me a break! Rattatas usually don't know that attack! She inherited from her father, who was an Arcanine!" he lightly shouted. Bill already knew what an Arcanine was so he was very disgusted by that thought.

"What? A dog and a rat? That's disturbing!" he exclaimed, "what on earth makes you think that I'll believe that?"

"Oh, it seems you're not used to the breeding system, are you?" Bill shook his head. "Figures, you see, when two Pokémon care a lot of each other, their genes are mixed and produced into an egg. The egg always contains the species of the female, but in some cases it has been known only one of the Pokémon liking the other," he lectured.

"Raping, in other words, or what?" Bill wondered.

"Eh, not really, since no, um, sex is involved, heh. I told you before that the DNA are mixed together which creates an egg," explained Jonathan.

"Oh really, so are there some kind of limitations?" asked Bill.

"Yes, there are several egg groups, as they're called, but I don't know all of them. I think it's best if you read about that if you want to know more about that."

"Um, no thanks, I'm about to lose my appetite," Bill said, a little paler than usual. "How did you figure this out?" he then asked.

"Oh yeah, when Rattata and Bulbasaur sparred, she used that move when she was told to fight freely. Of course I was dumbfounded by that so I took off to Prof. Oak."

"Doctor Doak?" Bill asked, after playing too much Goldeneye back home with his friends it was no doubt he'd think the name was Dr. Doak, but of course this was another world.

"Doak? Really, that amnesia of yours really have gotten into you, it's Professor Oak! Professor Oak is one of the greatest Pokémon researchers in Kanto and it is he who gives out the Pokédex to new trainers! And he is also the one who gives out the three starters for new trainers; I got Bulbasaur, I was lucky to be there in time, unlike those pansyass trainers who always have to be late for some reason!"

"I see, so this Prof. Oak is the one who researches new Pokémon?" Bill said a little confused, Jonathan slapped his forehead in stupidity.

"No, no, no! Dummy! He's the one who discovered most, if not all, of the Pokémon in Kanto! And some from Johto too!"

"Oops, my bad!" Bill said, chuckling. 'Hmm, this is a toughie; I might have to avoid him,' he then thought.

"What's on your mind now, Bill?" Jonathan asked, he had noticed that Bill was thinking for himself again.

"Uhm, nothing! Let's finish eating so you can get your first badge, don't ya think?" he said while he and Jonathan started to eat faster.

"Another thing, though, you saw that Ivysaur used Stun spores on that Scyther, didn't you?" he then said.

"Yeah, is Ivysaur not supposed to know how to do that too?" Bill questioned nonchalantly.

"No, actually not! As a Bulbasaur, when I was having a battle against a trainer who had a Vileplume, another Grass Pokémon, and she ordered it to use Stun Spore on him. Well, it had a grave effect on him, but he was kind of absorbing it too," he explained, "Of course he was defeated, but I was surprised when he used it when I trained him."

"Gee, it seems most of your Pokémon are unique in some way… can your Growlithe use an ice attack?" Bill asked jokingly.

"No, you idiot! I don't want to hear your witty comments! Let's go to the gym, so I get this over with!" yelled Jonathan. They finished, paid their checks and left the café, heading for the gym.

"I hope I'll do well," he said, very nervous, he had his Pokémon with him this time.

"Hey, don't worry; I'll be there to cheer you up!" They were outside the gym and went inside only to find the same guy Jonathan had 'challenged' yesterday.

"Oh, if it isn't the one who challenged me without his Pokémon?" He chuckled, "if you're that forgetful, you really shouldn't bother challenging me…" he mocked Jonathan, while enlarging a pokéball and tossed it in his hand.

"I brought them now, and I still want to challenge gym leader Greg," Jonathan said as he clenched his fists.

"Hmm, guess I should give you a chance, a one on one battle, okay?" he said, knowing that this would be fun.

"That's okay. By the way, what's your name?"

"If that would matter, the name's Dean," the trainer revealed. "Okay then, let's battle! I choose you Sandshrew!" Dean shouted as he threw the pokéball.

A bipedal, yellow like crossbreed of a mouse and an armadillo appeared. It had thick yellow scales that served as armour, and its eyes were completely black. It was pretty short, though, but it sure would pack a punch.

Jonathan wondered if he should use his Pidgey or Growlithe for this battle, he decided to use Pidgey even though he was weak, but he had the type immunity.

"Okay, let's kick some ass, no not you!" He had taken his pokéball containing Pidgey and prepared to throw it but another one of his pokéballs had opened revealing his Caterpie.

"And both of the contestant's Pokémon are chosen!" someone from above shouted, it was the referee.

"Oh no! Caterpie, why did you come out for?" Jonathan whined when he noticed that Caterpie had exited his own pokéball so it could battle.

"I think his wanted to battle, Jon, judging from his temper last time," Bill said, figuring out why it happened. Jonathan looked down in disbelief.

"Oh, man, Caterpie, thank you, I really needed this," he muttered in irony, only to receive a yelling from the caterpillar Pokémon.

"Okay Sandshrew, use Scratch on that Caterpie!" Dean ordered, knowing that this was going to be an easy victory. His Pokémon darted towards the bug Pokémon ready to slash at him with its claws. But it was pretty slow.

"Caterpie, try to bind it to the ground!" Jonathan commanded his Caterpie, he knew it was a risky shot but it was his only chance since if Caterpie missed, Sandshrew would knock him out in one hit. The little Pokémon didn't shot out its silk-like liquid Jonathan commanded him to; he just looked calmly at the Sandshrew as it approached him.

"Caterpie, what are you waiting for! Use the String Shot!" Jonathan was sweating; he couldn't afford to lose now, especially not to this jerk. Caterpie didn't seem to respond, he just waited for the Sandshrew to attack. When the Sandshrew raised its clawed hand to strike, Caterpie finally shot out its sticky liquid at the ground Pokémon's hand halting its attack.

Sandshrew didn't like having the sticky substance around its hand, it tried to get rid of it with its other hand but that resulted only in getting its both hands stuck in the substance. It looked quite comical to Bill when he watched the armadillo like Pokémon furiously thrashing about its claws trying to get the stuff from its paws.

"Sandshrew, try to get it off from you!" shouted Dean, surprised by Jonathan's counter.

"Caterpie! That was a close call! Now, tackle it while it's busy!" Jonathan ordered, knowing that he now had the upper hand in this battle as long as Sandshrew's hands were stuck in the silk-like liquid which began to harden. Caterpie launched himself towards the mole Pokémon and head butted it right on its head.

Sandshrew got hit and fell backwards, it wasn't knocked out however but it had taken some damage and it had gotten angrier after the attack, it started to shake its hands more violently in order to get rid of the stuff holding its hands together.

"Damn! This isn't fair, you're cheating, you big meanie!" Dean shouted at Jonathan, hating the fact that Jonathan is winning.

"What do you mean cheating? It's not my fault that your Sandshrew got its hands all tied up!" he retorted while ordering his Caterpie to do another Tackle. The bug launched itself towards Sandshrew yet again and hit its head, making it angrier than before, it started to pull its hands away from each other trying to get free from the sticky grip. Finally, the hardened substance shattered and Sandshrew's hands were free, and it was furious.

"Yes! Who's laughing now eh? Sandshrew, show that pesky Caterpie your Fury Swipes!" Dean ordered. Sandshrew looked at Caterpie as if smiling; suddenly it darted towards the bug at a high speed which weren't that fast.

"Caterpie jump out of the way!" Jonathan started to sweat again in anxiety; Sandshrew had freed itself from the String Shot and was now attacking Caterpie. As Caterpie jumped out of the way from the swipe, Sandshrew turned around quickly to slash at him again. Caterpie kept dodging and Sandshrew kept attacking. Jonathan knew that Sandshrew's and Dean's goal was to tire out Caterpie so he couldn't dodge anymore, then Caterpie got hit in his midsection, he was thrown several metres away but he wasn't knocked out yet.

"Sandshrew, keep attacking! Don't let it get up!" Dean once again commanded, he knew that if he took that bug out now, he would win and that would teach that cheating teen a lesson. Okay, he didn't cheat but he was just using cheap tactics!

"Caterpie are you okay?" Jonathan asked his Pokémon, he got up immediately ready to jump out of the way yet again from the armadillo like Pokémon's attack.

"Your bug won't last any longer, loser, why don't you call it back to save it from defeat?" Dean tauntingly said to Jonathan.

"Grr, shut up, brat! I don't wanna take any advice from you!" he snapped back, coming up with an idea. "Caterpie! Next time it charges you try to trip it using your, uh, tail and use String Shot while it's down!" He knew it was a very risky move. Caterpie waited for the Sandshrew to swipe at it again and once again moved a little to the left, but this time Sandshrew accidentally stepped on the bug causing it to lose its balance and it fell face first on the rock surface.

"What? That couldn't have happened! Sandshrew, get up and continue to attack it!" Dean shouted, being caught off-guard by Jonathan's quick order. The mole Pokémon, however, didn't have the time to get up before it found itself being sprayed yet again with the same white, sticky liquid. This time it was all over its body, but nothing hit its face though, and it was tied to the ground in a standing position.

"Okay, Caterpie, finish it off with a Tackle! Full power!" Jonathan knew that this was it, Sandshrew was incapable of moving and his Caterpie had a free shot, but it looked a little hurt from the impact from the other Pokémon's foot when it stomped on it and therefore, it hesitated a little.

"Oh no! Sandshrew, try to get it off from you!" Dean panicked; he didn't want to lose against this brat! Sandshrew, however, couldn't move, it was completely still.

"Hmm, Caterpie, I don't think you need to Tackle it… it is completely still anyway." Then, Caterpie began to glow white. "What's happening? Are you evolving?" Jonathan was astonished, "Wohoo! You evolved into a Metapod!" he cheered.

"Uh, Caterpie is one of the quickest Pokémon to evolve, on par with Weedle," Bill said matter of factly. Jonathan sighed at that; his friend was such a killjoy.

"Let me have some happy moments, Bill!" he whined.

"Sandshrew is loses the battle due to incapability to fight! The challenger wins!" the judge said, raising one of his flags indicating that Jonathan had won, Dean however, was fuming over his loss. He had called his wrapped up Sandshrew back into its pokéball.

"Don't get too overjoyed, you big meanie! I'm just a kid! And you only used the same two attacks!" he said, hating the fact that he had lost. Bill however heard what he had said.

"You know, Dean, Caterpie only knows those two attacks AND Jon used them well." He looked over to his friend. "Right, Jon?"

"So right, Bill!" He said, while he was petting his newly evolved Metapod. "I wonder how long it'll take you to become a Butterfree."

"Hey, you shut up! No one told you be a wise ass!" shouted Dean, pointing his index finger at Bill.

"And yet no one told me not to be a wise ass! HA!" Bill countered, amused by the sight of an angry, red faced Dean. "You did a mistake, Deanie-boy, you underestimated Jon's skills and that led you to your defeat!"

"Shut up! Stupid big guy! I'm gonna tell mommy!" he wailed, running off to the exit. Before he ran through the door he turned to Bill. "You Asshole!" he yelled before slamming the door shut with a bang.

"Was that necessary, Bill?" Jonathan asked his friend.

"I don't know, really," he answered. They both proceeded further into the gym, seeing some train their Pokémon. A tall boy, at the age of Jonathan probably, stepped up to face Jonathan. He had raven black hair that was down to his shoulders, he had yellow t-shirt with a red waistcoat over it and he had, like most of the boys Bill had seen, blue jeans.

"I guess you're willing to challenge the gym leader, aren't you?" he inquired. Not wanting the blonde teen to answer he continued, "Well, you'll have to battle me first, 'cause I'm not sure if Greg wants to fight such weaklings!"

"Hey!" Bill stepped in, "He already beat that Dean brat, does he need to fight everybody in here?"

"Heh, no, not really. If your friend beats me he may battle the Gym Leader. Dean you say? Are you that boy who pissed him off?" Bill nodded. "Not very nice you know, considering that I saved you yesterday," he said lowly.

"Oh really, thanks for that then," Bill thanked.

"But what happened in that forest? Scythers?" he questioned. Bill remained silent.

"He doesn't want to talk about it!" Jonathan interjected, "Let's have this battle!"

"Okay, then. After I'm done with you, I'll show you the meaning of losing, dude! For humiliating my little brother!" the black haired trainer said.

"I'm not a trainer, so there's nothing you could do about it… dude!" Bill snapped back.

"Cut it, Bill!" Jonathan ordered, Bill scoffed and folded his arms. "What's your name by the way, I'm Jonathan."

"Well, if that would matter, I'm Hugh, and I'm not some pushover like my li'l brother! Let's get to the rules first."

"Wow, this is gonna rock so much! NOO! Bill, your bad humour is taking effect on me too!" Jonathan said as he realized he had cracked an own pun because Pewter City was known for its rocks and that the gym was rock/ground based.

To be continued…

A/N

So, now some things were cleared up, the use of Flame Wheel and Stun Spore. I think that was it, to you who re-read the story, there weren't any major changes though.