I put up a Forrest sprite I made from the Brock from HeartGold and SoulSilver. It's alright, but it looks too old. On another note, Zeta Rubii Naruto's Oc appears in this story. (And so you don't feel left out, from Chapter 8 and on, Serpent's Ballet's Oc appears too.) Also, I'm really excited to put this character in my story, but she's not an Oc, so I won't tell you, you have to find out for yourself! Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any of its characters. I do, however, own my Oc's, and the creator's of their Oc's own them.

Chapter 20

"Hello? Sunyshore Gym, Zachery speaking." the boy said, appearing on the telephone's screen. He had a book in his hand.

"What's up, Zachery?" Volkner said, smiling. Zachery smiled at the sight of his boss and teacher.

"Hey, I was wondering when you would call? I haven't heard from you in a while." Zachery said.

"Yeah, I've been a little busy lately." Volkner said, opening up his badge case and showing Zachery his four badges. The green-haired Trainer raised his eye brows.

"You haven't even been there a week." he replied.

"All the Gyms in this region are fairly close." Volkner said. "Have you been busy lately?" Zachery shrugged.

"Not really, just a couple Trainers here and there. I've beaten them all, and they haven't come back for a while."

"Great. Will you take Lanturn for a swim in the ocean whenever your not busy." Volkner said. Zachery nodded.

"I noticed that it was gone from the computer earlier today, so I thought that you might be using it for a Gym Battle. Sure, I'll go to the ocean, maybe Jasmine will be visiting…"

"Is there something going on between you two lately?" Volkner asked, sneering. Zachery blushed.

"No, sometimes we trade books, talk about some we're reading, things like that." he replied quietly, looking down.

"Volkner, are you almost done?" Alicia called, walking up to the screen. She looked at Zachery and Zachery looked at her, confused.

"Volkner, who is that?" Zachery asked.

"Zachery, this is Alicia, she travels around with me. Alicia, this is Zachery, my stand-in as Gym Leader until I get back." Zachery smiled at her and she waved. "I'm sending you Lanturn." Volkner said, placing the Luxury Ball on the teleport pad and pressing the button. White lasers shot down and covered the Poké Ball, then it disappeared. Zachery grabbed the Poké Ball and showed it to the screen.

"Got it." Zachery said.

"Alright, great." Volkner said. "Did you finish that book you were reading last time we talked." Zachery nodded.

"Yeah, I'm on another book called-" Zachery said, then the Gym door was heard opening and a couple voices were heard. "I'll be right with you! Sorry, Volkner, got to go."

"It's fine, next time." Volkner said. "Talk to you later." He cut the connection as Zachery said goodbye.

"So that's who's running your Gym, huh?" Alicia said. "He's wicked cute." Volkner rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, a lot of people tell me that." Volkner said. "Where are we going next?"

"Before I answer that, look who I found!" Alicia said, walking up to a boy with slicked back black hair, black sunglasses, and a blue shirt. "Christopher!" she called. The boy looked over at Alicia and smiled, recognizing the girl.

"Alicia, Volkner, how are you guys doing?" he responded, walking over to them.

"I'd figured I'd see you on the other side of Kanto, not here?" she said, high fiveing her friend.

"I thought so, too, but when I got to the end of Diglett's Cave, something huge and fuzzy was blocking the exit, so I was forced to come back here. Then I had to wait for the blockade in front of Mt. Moon to go away, since Officer Jenny thought I was too weak to go through by myself." he said, sighing. "I guess my journey isn't going as good as I thought it would. At least I managed to win a Boulder Badge." He took out a small, rectangular badge case that was silver with a red stripe across the front. When he opened it, the silver octagonal badge was gleaming in the afternoon sun. "How many badges do you have?"

"I have four right now." Volkner said, showing Christopher his badge case.

"Wow, you're already halfway there?" he said, sunglasses falling down the bridge of his nose. "Man, I really gotta get cracking if I wanna get up to where you are."

"So, you going to challenge Misty at the Gym?" Alicia asked. Christopher shook his head.

"Not yet, I wanna go visit Bill and get some experience from the Trainers there first." he replied. "I also want to take the Nugget Bridge challenge that my brother told me about."

"Hey, that sounds fun, you think we could do it, Volkner?" Alicia said. "It could give me some experience." Volkner nodded.

"Why not?" he said, smiling slightly.

"The Nugget Bridge Challenge!" a female voice said, coming from behind them. A girl with long brown hair that was covered by a white hat walked up to them. The girl, who looked to be about 14, wore a light blue tank top and a red skirt that only went past her wrists. A yellow bag was slung across her body. She also wore long baggy socks that were the same color as her shirt under her white and pink shoes. "I'm going there, too! I heard it's a lot of fun!" Everyone looked at her. "What? Do I something in between my teeth?"

"No, it's nothing." Alicia said.

"Hey, is it alright if we travel to Bill's house together?" the girl said. "I hear it's more fun to challenge the Nugget Bridge challenge in a group. By the way, my name's Leaf."

"Hi, I'm Alicia, this is Christopher, my friend, and Volkner, my traveling buddy." Alicia said.

"Oh, I saw your badges earlier, that's pretty cool, I've only got the Boulder Badge." she responded. Nurse Joy walked up to the front counter.

"Christopher, Leaf, I have your Pokémon ready." she said, handing Christopher a tray with 3 Poké Balls on there, two regular, and one a Heal ball, and handing Leaf a tray with four Poké Balls.

"Christopher and Alicia, right? You two were the ones I heard about from Prof. Oak!" she said, smiling at them. "I was a little late, and he said two other kids named Christopher and Alicia already left." Christopher looked at her strangely, then gasped.

"Hey, I remember you! You used to bully me in Kindergarten!" he said. Leaf thought for a moment, then laughed loudly.

"I don't remember that." she said. Christopher fell to the ground. "Anyways, let's go, I'm itching for a battle!"

"Alright!" Alicia said. "Me, too!" Christopher got up and took out a Poké Ball.

"Bulbasaur, go!" he said, opening it. The blue dinosaur Pokémon came out. "Bulbasaur." it said, sitting next to its Trainer. Leaf looked at Christopher weirdly.

"Isn't a Pokémon suppose to be in its Poké Ball?" Leaf asked.

"No, just check your Pokédex, it says that not all Pokémon have to be in a Poké Ball." he said.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." she responded, walking out of the Pokémon Center, with Volkner, Alicia, Christopher, and Bulbasaur following.

I know, I know, short chapter, but at least I introduced Leaf, one of the best characters in the game. Her Pokémon? I know them, and you'll find out next chapter when the group challenges the Nugget Bridge. I'm kinda making it into a little tournament to prepare for a big Tag battle in Saffron City (like the one in Hearthome City in the anime). Also, I might do a bonus chapter revolving around Leaf, I'm not sure yet.

Anyways, for a final note, if you have an Oc you want to see in the Tag battle in Saffron, send it in. You can do this even if you've already sent in an Oc, but I will only use him/her in the Tag Tourney, not in the story. Also, if you have a superpower trainer you want me to add to the Pokémon League Tournament, I'll enter them, too. Thanks for reading!