Queen of the Darkness

Disclaimer: I don't own it. Here's a quarter, call someone who cares. A/N: I realize I may be getting the genders of Karen's Pokemon wrong, or the moves they have. I say "Four moves my rear!" (can't say it right because I don't want to swear too much) ________________________---------------------------__________________--

Karen is sitting on a bench near the well in the center of town. Umbreon is lying next to her with her head on Karen's lap. Sneasel is happy napping on her other side. Gastly hovers around trying to get Karen to smile. For two days Karen has been trying to figure out how to beat Andrea with her dark pokemon. So far, nothing has come up.

"There has to be a way, I just know it..." She mumbles. Gastly starts going around her in a circle. Karen watches a moment, then starts to get dizzy. She closes her eyes for a moment, then bolts up startling Umbreon and Sneasel awake. Gastly notices and stops circling, choosing to hover in front of her.

"Gast?" he asks. Karen gets a really evil grin.

"Hey Gastly, how fast can you do that?" she asks. Gastly looks at her a moment, then soon becomes a blur. Umbreon and Sneasel try to watch him, but are soon lost.

"Umbre!" Umbreon yells. She tries to tackle Gastly, but whether she missed or not no one is sure. Sneasel tries a Faint Attack, but totally misses. Both pokemon sit on the ground as Gastly stops in front of them. Karen yelps for joy, startling a few other people in the park.

"Come on guys, we have a Gym Leader to fry!" she shouts. She recalls them to their pokeballs and races to the gym.

**At the Pokemon Gym**

"Come for another try have we?" Andrea says smiling. Karen gives her the sweetest smile she can.

"My turn now." She says.

"Sorry, doesn't work that way." Andrea replies. Bugsy is watching them from a tree.

"I told ya my mamma could beat you up." He says. Karen glares at him, but doesn't comment. Andrea waves to him, then leads Karen to the arena. Karen gives her pokedex to the official and goes to her side.

Andrea has reached her own side. "Pinsir! She wants another beating!" she calls releasing the pokemon. Pinsir stands on the battleground and stretches.

"[Here goes nothing]" Karen mumbles. "Gastly! Go!" she releases the ghost pokemon. Andrea shrugs.

"Fine. Fury Cutter!"

"Gastly, spin it!"

Gastly once again turns into a moving blur. Pinsir tries in vain to swipe at it.

"Gastly," Karen calls, "Start mixing in Tackle!" Gastly is still swinging around Pinsir, but every once in a while (usually on Pinsir's back) he drills a Tackle attack. It takes about three minutes, but Pinsir finally faints. Gastly stops the wheel routine and floats in front of Karen. Andrea recalls Pinsir. Karen readies herself for the next pokemon. But she is caught off guard when Andrea.............bows?

"Congratulations. You have earned a badge." She says. Karen and Gastly are both confused. Andrea notices and laughs. "After that performance, you definitely earned it." She goes over to the official and gets Karen's pokedex, then comes over to Karen. Karen stares wide-eyed as she gets her pokedex and the Hive Badge.

"Thank you..." she says breathless. She recalls Gastly and, after waving to Bugsy (and of course flashing the badge to him ^_^) she heads to the pokemon center.

**Next day**

Karen starts out for the next gym. She looks at the gate leading to the forest.

"I have to go through that?!" she says. "Oh man........"

"You probably won't get far either." A voice says behind her. She whirls quickly to face her attacker. What she finds is......WILL!

"What the heck are you doing here?!" Karen yells. Will backs up a bit.

"You were there, remember? Gym challenge?" Karen turns red.

"Oh yeah...." Will smirks. Karen resists the urge to deck him.

"So did ya get it?" Will asks. Karen shows him the Hive badge. "Not bad."

"Took me two tries though." Will shrugs.

"Took me three. One before I met you, and two yesterday. I was wondering if you had gotten in there before me." When Karen gives him a strange look, he continues. "She said a young girl with a Gastly beat her Pinsir. So I got to deal with Scyther." Karen puts her hand over her mouth and starts shaking. "So it was you huh?" Karen nods, still trying not to laugh.

"I made her switch pokemon?" she finally gets out.

"She said something about getting dizzy, whatever that means." Karen finally gets control of herself.

"OK smartalek, how do we get through the forest?" She asks. Will hands her what looks like a small golden plate. "What the heck?"

"This is an HM." Will says. "This particular one is Cut. The only one I have that can use it isn't old enough, but your Sneasel should be able to." Karen thinks a moment. Then she releases Sneasel.

"Want another new move?" Karen asks Sneasel. Sneasel lights up and holds out her paw. Karen takes the disk from Will and gives it to Sneasel. There is a golden glow for a moment, then it dies down. Sneasel looks at it again, then hands it back to Karen, looking a bit scared of Will. Will notices.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Sneasel, sneas." She says, looking down. Karen looks at Will.

"She's scared because I yelled at her last time she got a new move." Will explains. Karen smirks. Then she turns to Sneasel.

"Let him yell, he's just jealous." Karen tells her. Sneasel lights up and gives Will a raspberry. Will just shakes his head.

"OK you two, how about we head for Goldenrod." He says. They nod and enter the woods.

To be continued.........