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

Claim: I do own my characters.

Chapter 8-New Paths

Gary's POV

"No! Absolutely not!"

I winced at the sound of the voices coming from down the hall, I had stepped out of Ari's room in the hospital for some food and to sneak her something better than what they were serving when I heard the conversation. Ari's parents and her older brother Seth were arguing with each other over whether Ari should continue her journey or not, well more like the parents were convincing Seth that this was not open for discussion.

Mr. and Mrs. Taramel had seemed to me to like the fact that Ari was able to continue her journey. Both she and I had sighed in relief when Dr. Johnson had said that all she needed was a few days rest to get over her beating at the hands of some Team Rocket thugs. In fact, as soon as Ari had awoken Seth and I had both asked her who it was who had done it to her. I hadn't been there when it happened, I just found her with her Pokemon heading towards Vermillion, her Arcanine, Midnight and her Charmander were taking care of her as they tried to get her to the hospital.

When she described the people to us, Seth had immediately gone to Officer Jenny then disappeared himself for a few days; when he actually returned he said nothing of the people just that he hadn't found them yet. I had sighed in frustration but there had been nothing I could do. There was no news from the police either.

I walked down the hall back towards Ari's room, when I closed the door she was sitting up and looking out the window. I couldn't help but stare at her; she looked beautiful even though her hair was mussed from lying on the bed all day. I smiled at her as I handed her the chocolate bar I had been able to get at the Pokemart down the street. She took it and smiled, "Thanks, I haven't had chocolate since my birthday." She said as she tore into the bar.

"No problem." I replied as I sat down and began eating the burger and fries I had gotten from the cafeteria. She looked at me worriedly, "How bad are they?"

I smirked, "If your Mom wasn't making sure that they kept their voices low, the whole hospital would be aware of the argument."

She winced visibly, "Seth's not too happy about the fact that I've been attacked again."

I sputtered as I tried not to choke on a fry, she looked at me concerned and I sat up, "Again?" I coughed. She nodded, "This hasn't been the first time. Another team's after me too." I looked at her in shock, she shrugged, "Mom and Dad are sure I'll be safe and I have been. Seth's the only one who has been after me about not doing this journey thing, I don't know why but he has. Mom's straightened him out a few times already but I think I'm gonna have to wrestle him again to show him that I can take care of myself." She explained.

I shook my head, "This is the third time you've been attacked on your journey? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. Ari looked at me confused, "Why would I tell you? You're my rival and lately, you haven't been the friendly kind." I stuttered, "Uh…I don't know. Nevermind." I shook my head at myself, I knew I wasn't ready just yet to tell her how I felt.

She continued to look suspicious but shrugged it off and stared out the window some more. The door opened behind us and Mrs. Taramel peeked her head in the room, "Ari honey, would you mind terribly if we borrowed Gary for a minute? It's important." Ari and I looked at each other and she shook her head, "Its fine Mom. Go ahead." She said and I followed Mrs. Taramel out of the room.

Mrs. Taramel led me over to the room where she and the two men had been arguing, I could feel the tension sparking in the room. Seth looked like he wanted to run straight into Ari's room and take her home and Mr. Taramel looked ready to restrain him.

I sat down when they did and Mrs. Taramel sighed, "I'm sorry to have to ask you this Gary, but we're worried about Ari. She's told you about the other attacks she's had since her journey began?" she asked. I nodded, "She's told me a bit but not a lot about them." I said. Mrs. Taramel sighed, "Well, long story short, Ari's very special and there are several people out there who want to take her and use her for their own reasons. Now, Ari's done great at keeping herself safe and we're very proud of her for that, but in light of recent events and the fact that some people," she looked directly at Seth, "Feel that Ari needs more protection, we'd like to ask if you would consider traveling with Ari and looking out for her."

I stared at them, I had been dreaming of traveling with Ari since our journeys began but I knew that she didn't want me to go with her. None of her other siblings had had their rivals traveling with them on their journeys and Ari had wanted to show the world that she could handle it on her own. This was taking a big step but I had no problem with it, "I don't see a problem with that Mrs. Taramel. But I'm not sure that Ari would be interested in my traveling with her." I began.

"She won't have a choice in the matter, she'll either travel with you or she'll go straight home and forget this dream of hers." Seth broke in grimly. Mrs. Taramel glared at her son, "You tell her that and you'll be the one who ends up having to stay here rather than her." She said. Seth sighed and didn't say another word.

Mrs. Taramel turned back to me, "We'll talk to Ari about it and if she's adamant about staying alone then we'll compromise. But I think Ari will be fine with traveling with you Gary." She said. I nodded but didn't say anything more because I knew Ari and she was going to put up a fight rather than be made to travel with me.

We walked back to Ari's room and she sat up and looked at us curiously, "What's going on?" she asked. Mrs. Taramel explained what they had talked about, "Now honey, we've talked to Gary and he's fine with traveling with you during the rest of your journey—"

"Whoa, hold it. You want me to travel with Gary? Why?"

"Because of you being attacked and hurt again and we're worried about you being safe—"

"Mom, I've been safe through the time I've been traveling. Why want me to travel with someone now?" Ari asked. Then her eyes widened and she turned them accusingly on Seth. "This was your idea wasn't it? Can't handle the fact that your baby sister's been hurt or just don't want me to succeed? Seth, you are not Dad and you may worry more about me than anyone else but that doesn't mean I'm gonna listen to you all the time! If I wasn't in this cast, then you'd be across the room!" she growled.

Seth stepped back sheepishly, I stared at Ari knowingly. Being the baby of the family didn't mean she was spoiled, it meant she turned tough and was able to handle herself as well as her brother's paranoia. Mrs. Taramel sat on the bed beside Ari, "Honey calm down, yes, it was Seth's idea that you go with someone. But you have to admit he does have a point. This has been the third attack since you started and you've been lucky that this has been the only time you've been hurt. Having an extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt now would it?" she asked.

Ari snorted and looked out the window again then sighed, "I suppose it wouldn't. Gary, you agreed to this nonsense?" I shrugged, "It sounds ok to me. Better to be there when something happens than be around by chance." I said. She nodded then looked back at Seth, "Fine, I'll do it. But if you try to put anything else on me, Seth, then cast or not you'll end up in this bed." She growled. He nodded happily then hugged her. I stared at her shocked, I didn't think she'd give in so easily then masked it before she noticed. Mrs. Taramel stood up and headed over to the door, "I'm gonna go see when the doctor's gonna let you out of here so that you can find out when you can go and battle for your Gym Badge." She said.

Seth got up and followed after, not wanting to stay with Ari alone but Ari glared at him on the way out. I sighed and shook my head, having siblings can be a real drag when you want to be independent and Ari was as independent as they came. She looked at me after they left, "I can't believe that Seth wants us to travel together." She said grimly. I looked at her suspiciously, she was clearly still angry at her brother for suggesting the idea but I couldn't tell who she was more angry at, him or me for going along with it.

"Why? You can obviously see his point—"

"No I can't." she interrupted. I looked at her confused, she sighed and looked out the window some more. "He's always been like this, always looking after all of us as if when we leave the house it'll be the last time he sees us. I've been feeling the brunt of it lately, Gary, you should have seen him the day he was offered the job in Orre. He was so happy and yet so scared that if he left me for a second then he wouldn't see me again. It came down to an argument that we had to take outside, and me and him ended up wrestling on the ground and me pinning him on his back. I told him he was a scaredy cat and a coward for not jumping at the opportunity presented to him and that he oughta thank his lucky stars that he was offered the job. When he still had doubts I pinned him to the ground to show him that I could take care of myself while he was gone."

She smiled at the memory, "He left that night with a huge smile on his face, happy to know that I was there to take care of things. But, ever since I started my journey, it's been the same old thing. Are you safe? Have you seen Team Dark Moon? Any more attacks? And now he seems to think that I should forget following in their footsteps at all." She explained sadly. I nodded remembering what Daisy had told me years before I decided to go on my own journey, 'Gary, make your own decisions just don't do what Mom and Dad did. I'd rather not lose you too.'

Ari shook her head and looked at me, "Why did you agree to that? You've known that I can take care of myself." I shrugged as I looked at her, "It came as a surprise, plus I figure that I can keep an eye on my rival far better by traveling with her than by getting ahead of her so much." I replied. She glared at me again, that rivalry deep in her brown eyes, "You haven't gotten your third badge yet Gary, so don't talk to me about falling behind. If you were so worried about that then you would've gotten your badge already." She growled.

I stiffened and looked back at her, "I wanted to make sure that my Rival was alright. It wouldn't be worth bragging that I became the Champ if my Rival hadn't been able to compete." I said icily. I hadn't told Ari, nor had her parents that I was the one who had found her and brought her here. With all the excitement over catching the creeps who had done it, we had forgotten to tell her.

Ari glared back at me and I knew that if I didn't leave, then there were going to be more problems and I didn't want to start our Journey together that way. I stood up and headed towards the door, "I'm gonna go and see what I can find out about Lt. Surge. Take it easy and I'll be back soon." I said as I opened the door and left without waiting for a reply.

I walked outside of the hospital and around Vermillion, mentally kicking myself for acting the way I had. *What's wrong with you? Can't even keep a normal conversation with the girl for ten minutes without sounding like a dork, you're even worse than Ari thinks.* I thought as I walked.

"You're not her father so stop acting like you are!"

"At least I act like she needs to be watched, what's your excuse?"

I stopped as I heard the shouting coming from around the corner, I peeked around it and saw Seth and Mrs. Taramel in a clearing near the forest but far enough away from the town that the rest of Vermillion couldn't hear them arguing. *What's going on here?* I thought as I watched.

"Seth, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with Them on your Journey and I appreciate the fact that you feel you must worry for Arietta but seriously, you need to back off. You are smothering so much that even she's noticing! Do you want her to start avoiding you?" Mrs. Taramel asked bluntly.

Seth glared at his mother, "No, I don't but Mom, I heard about the prophecy and if Ari's the one it's talking about then she could end up dying anyway! I don't want to lose my youngest sister!" he yelled.

Mrs. Taramel shook her head exasperatedly, "We don't know who the prophecy is talking about, it says the last Gem Warrior will have to sacrifice but it doesn't say who the 'last Gem Warrior' is or what they have to sacrifice! It could be their family, friends, the person they love, their dream—"

"Or their life. I will not allow that to happen to Ari. End of story."

"So you think that by making Ari have to give up her dream will stop her from being special? Seth, you know as well as I that she is going to have those powers no matter what we try to do. And if it does mean her life then it does, I've worked with more prophecies that you could have ever hoped to think of son and in doing so, I've found out one thing. Nothing is certain when it comes to the future."

"But Mom—"

"Don't 'But Mom' me, you will not make Ari give up the dream she has had since you left for your journey all those years ago. You know how important this is to her and by golly if you try and mess this up, she won't be the only one mad at you. You may be her older brother but I am still her mother and will remain as such until the end of time! Now do not try and overcome my authority again or I will bring down my regal authority on you next time."

I heard silence then looked around the corner again, shocked by what I had heard. Ari was special? She had powers? And what on earth was a Gem Warrior? I wanted to walk over there and ask but knew that Mrs. Taramel and Seth would not like to know that I had been listening on their conversation. Knowing how Ari reacted when she caught me in the bushes a few days ago, I knew that Mrs. Taramel and Seth would do even worse than toss me in a pond…

I walked back towards the hospital thinking quietly on what I had learned, I was scared for Ari after hearing about how many times she had been attacked and also determined to keep her safe. I may not be ready to tell her my feelings just yet but she was definitely going to be my friend…

Arietta's POV

"I got it!"

I winced slightly at the sound of Gary's voice as he came into the room. Midnight growled at him a bit but I petted my Arcanine and he calmed down. Gary looked at me sheepishly, "Sorry Ari, I didn't realize you were sleeping still." He said. I shrugged at him as I sat up from the bunk bed that we were sharing in the Pokemon Center. I had been discharged from the hospital a few days ago and while I still needed to wear my cast for a few more weeks, I was given the okay from Dr. Johnson to continue my training. Gary had decided that since he hadn't gotten his Badge yet for this Gym, then this was the perfect time to do so.

We had set up a plan that we would take turns going first for the Badge and since I was still recuperating then I decided to allow Gary to go first.

I looked at him, "So you got the Badge? How did the battle with Surge go?" I asked anxiously. Gary just shook his head and showed me the Badge "Wouldn't be fair if I just told you how it went. You'll have to see for yourself, though I can tell you that he uses electric-type Pokemon." He said. I nodded; I could respect him for that. The Badge looked cool, like the sun with a red center and yellow spikes on the outside for the sun's rays.

I smiled at him as he put the Badge in his case then climbed to the top of the bunk bed; he had given me the bottom so I wouldn't fall out and hurt my arm anymore than it already was. "Did you look through your stuff and make sure that everything was there?" he asked. I looked at him and nodded, "Yeah, I did that before I went to sleep. They didn't take anything, didn't manage to from what I hear as Midnight burst out of his ball a few minutes after they left me in the cave." I said.

Gary shook his head, "Team Rocket, I can't believe that they would stoop to something like that. I mean I've heard of them attempting to dig fossils out of the cave and try to steal other Trainer's Pokemon but I've never heard of them pretending to be stranded then leading someone off who wants to help them and beat them up then take their Pokemon. That's just low, even for them." He said. I didn't say anything, I already remembered what had happened with the Team members I ran into and I certainly did not want to repeat the situation, though if I did run into them again, I certainly would make sure that I didn't lose.

"Ari, are you ok down there?"

I looked up at Gary and realized that I had clenched my fist in anger, I shook my head and smiled, "I'm fine Gary, just preparing myself for those creeps again." I said. He chuckled, "Now that's the Ari I grew up with. So, think you're ready for your Gym match with Surge tomorrow?" he asked. I looked down at Midnight who barked at me and I smiled, "Yep, all my Pokemon are pumped for battle. Bring Surge on, I'll beat him to a pulp."

Gary chuckled again and lay on his bed, I turned and laid down myself, preparing myself to sleep again. I thought for a bit on how changed Gary had been.

When my parents and Seth first suggested that Gary and I travel together, well, Mom and Dad suggested, Seth insisted and I was still angry at him for it, I sorta figured that Gary would go on about how weak I was to lose a battle against Team Rocket goons and almost lose my stuff to them. But after I got out of the hospital and began to train with my Pokemon, he didn't say a word about my attack, he just helped me to battle with one arm and showed me ways that I could train my Pokemon better.

It was kind of nice to know that he had changed somewhat but it also made me wonder why, did he think that I was more vulnerable since he had found me on the side of the road and drove me to the hospital, was he trying to get me to lower my guard around him so he could make his ego bigger than it already was? Or did he somehow, in finding me on the side of the road and driving me to the hospital, miraculously change himself when he saw me lying in that hospital bed.

I wasn't sure about any of these things but I was kind of liking the new Gary better than the old one, but if he completely changed then I was gonna get creeped out by it.

Midnight growled by the door again and I sat up and looked at him, he was laying beside my backpack and sniffing it. I smiled at him as I heard his stomach growl and got up, I let the rest of my Pokemon out and fed them all, apologizing for not feeding them earlier before I got them recharged from the training session we had had earlier that morning.

"What's that you're feeding them?"

I sighed and turned towards Gary, "The Pokemon food that Marie gave me before I headed out on my journey. Why what did you give your Pokemon for food?" I asked him. He looked at me confused, "I don't feed them, I let the Center do that when they recharge them." I rolled my eyes, "You know that costs money to do right? What happens when you run out of money?"

"Then I guess they'll eat berries and stuff when I camp out at night, normally I drive to the nearest town and get to the Center before dark comes around."

"Gary, you can't always do that. What will you do if there is no Center close by and you have to camp out? If your Pokemon eat food that is around, it could be harmful to them. Didn't Professor Oak teach you this?" I asked him exasperated.

He smiled at me winningly, "I guess I wasn't listening to him when he mentioned that part." He then ducked his head as I threw a pillow at him. "You're the grandson of the 'famous' Professor Oak and you don't know about feeding your Pokemon food? I'd hate to have you as my trainer." I said exasperated as I took my pillow from him then grabbed another can from my backpack and handed it to him.

Gary looked at me suspiciously as he took the can, "This doesn't have fake Ekans in it does it?" he asked as he opened it. I chuckled, "No it's Pokemon food. I know how to make most of this stuff so this is for you in case you need it." I said. He nodded, "Oh, well thanks, I guess." He said as he got down from the bed and put it in his bag.

I nodded to him and recalled my Pokemon except for Midnight and put them into my backpack. I looked at the clock and noticed the time, it was around ten and I needed more sleep if I was going to have a major battle with the Gym Leader tomorrow. I sighed and tried not to groan as I laid back on my bed, the cast on my arm was good for keeping the bones set so they could heal but not good on keeping the pain from them. Dr. Johnson gave me some medication but I didn't want to take it unless I seriously needed it because it was bound to make me delirious and I needed a clear head for battling.

"Ari, are you ok?" Gary had heard me groaning despite how quiet I had tried to be. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to keep my arm from jostling too much." I said as I turned over to go to sleep. "Is it hurting? Do you need something?"

"No Gary, I'm fine. Trust me. I'll be ok."

"Are you sure."

"Yes Gary I'm sure. I have enough worriers in my family, please don't become one."

"Sorry, I just want to make sure you aren't hurt."

"I'm fine."

"Ok then, good night."

"Night."

I turned over and looked out at the window, I could hear Midnight snoring softly by the door and I smiled as I heard Gary's breathing slow above me. He actually cares about me as more than a Rival. Well, that's nice to know at least. Maybe we can be friends after all.

I'm sorry, again for the lateness of the update! School started back and I've had a million things to do since. Hopefully things will clear up soon and I'll be able to get started back on my writing but who knows. Once again, did you like it? Hate it? Let me know in a review! Will update again soon!