Author's Notes: Yay, Olivine, and I get to introduce Jasmine, one of my favorite Gym Leaders. But I'm not putting in the Miltank Farm because it seemed kinda pointless. And as to why Silver's here, well… There's a reason. Multiple reasons, actually, but they're kinda weak…

And wait, another new Pokémon? Two captures in a row? Yeah, yeah, I thought about moving it… But then I realized that now would really be the best time for Shellder. (Parrot-san made quite a clever observation, by the way. I didn't notice that Gin and Silver both had Sneasel and Magneton until she pointed it out.)

Chapter Twenty Four: Vs Shellder!

"…What the heck?"

Gin rested her forehead in her palm, grumbling under her breath. She'd taken the west exit out of Ecruteak City, and had since been wandering around on Route 39. Normally, Gin had a pretty decent sense of direction—but like Ecruteak, the route had narrow, winding dirt paths and scattered trees. The whole place was starting to look rather circular.

Deciding to double-check her Pokégear one last time, Gin reached into her pocket for the device. She sighed as she selected the map feature, but then blinked. Apparently, she was much closer to Olivine than she'd thought; the town's marking blinked up at her from just below her own estimated location indicator.

"That's better," Gin grinned, sliding the Pokégear back into her pocket.

As Gin took several steps forward, a small, fence-lined, paved pathway merged from the dirt road she'd been on. The sidewalk then turned, and Gin blinked as she entered what had to be Olivine City.

Like the path she'd just entered, Olivine City seemed to be lined by a short, white-washed fence. It couldn't be that much bigger than New Bark Town, but there was a gym near the town's entrance and a large lighthouse in the distance. Several apartments also decorated the city's skyline, and when Gin squinted, she could also see a bit of the ocean in the distance.

"Might as well start with the gym," Gin sighed.

The gym was a small, square, stone building with a flat roof and high windows. Snorting, Gin thought the gym looked a bit like a prison cell of some sort as she rested her hand on the doorknob. Before she could open the door, however, it flew open for her.

I just had a spacey Gym Leader, and now—what?

Gin blinked as a wave of red hair darted out from the building. As the door slammed shut, Gin frowned and rather unceremoniously grabbed the boy by the wrist.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing here?" she frowned.

"L-Let me go, jerk!"

The redhead struggled out of Gin's grip and turned around, glaring at her with slanted silver eyes. Gin glared back as she got a better look at him. His hair definitely lacked Suishou's highlights, and it fell all the way past his waist. Furthermore, he was far too lanky—he was almost as tall as Gin—and his black jacket contrasted too sharply with Suishou's normal bright sweater. Despite his more angular features, Gin got the impression that he was a year or two younger than Suishou as well…

"Oh. Random punk. Sorry about that."

Gin apologized rather sarcastically as she turned away. However, the redhead grabbed her shoulder, scowling.

"Who's the punk here?"

"You, punk. Now, I assume that as you just left the gym, you'd know if the Leader's in, yes?"

"Stop calling me punk! My name is Silver! And the little girl's out."

Gin blinked. "Okay… And by little girl I assume you mean the Leader."

"Duh. Heard she's playing nurse at the Lighthouse. I ain't wastin' my time going out there, though. Better things to do."

Silver then pushed past Gin, straightening the collar of his jacket. Gin growled slightly as she watched him leave, and then placed her hand on her hip and sighed. Cracking the door and peering into the gym, she saw the kid was right—all she could see was a darkened room.

"Guess I can't start at the gym after all. Might as well try the Lighthouse…"

Gin started striding away from the gym, but froze after a few steps. A thought had suddenly occurred to her, and she shook her head.

"I… I don't sound like that, do I?"

Shaking her head in consolation, Gin took a turn to the right when the sidewalk forked. She till scowled slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to cast Silver out of her mind. Really, she thought, she had to be going crazy if she mistook someone like that for Suishou…

Fortunately, Olivine was small enough that although the sidewalk was winding, Gin still arrived at the lighthouse in just a few minutes. The pathway sloped upwards as she walked towards it, and the building overlooked a shallow gulf that lead out to the ocean. From there, the rest of Olivine's eastern and southern edges were bordered by the ocean.

Turning the small doorknob, Gin easily opened the lighthouse's loose wooden door and ducked through the doorframe to get inside. A large, spiraling staircase lay in front of her, and small torches were set up in intervals around the stone wall.

Sighing, Gin tried to avoid touching the musty-looking banister as she started walking up the stairs. Perhaps it was due to their spiral pattern, but Gin felt like she was going a short distance in a long time. She impatiently started walking a bit faster, not bothering to stop and catch her breath.

Gin sighed in relief as she reached the end of the staircase. She arrived in a small, circular room with slits cut through the sides of the walls, and a conical roof rose over her head. In the middle of the room, a large Ampharos was curled up under a blanket, and a short girl with long brown hair was anxiously kneeling next to it.

"Amphy? C-Can you hear me?"

"Pha…" Amphy groaned.

"Hey there."

Gin folded her hands behind her head as the Ampharos and the girl looked over at her in surprised. Amphy weakly laid its head back down, but the other girl blinked in surprise.

"Um… hello?" she said nervously. "Who are you?"

"The name's Gin Shinu. I heard the Gym Leader was up here, but I guess I'll just be on my way again—"

"Wait! I'm the Gym Leader," the brunette called as Gin started to turn away. "M-My name is Jasmine… I also look after the lighthouse… But Amphy is very sick."

"Huh. So… What exactly does that mean?" Gin quirked an eyebrow.

"Well… I know of a place to get a special kind of medicine… But I can't just leave Amphy here either. Could you maybe go?"

"Depends. Where is this place?"

"Um, it's in Cianwood…"

"That's across the ocean," Gin frowned. "You sure about this?"

"Yes, I've heard about a special pharmacy there. I think maybe you might be able to catch a boat, but only a small one… None of the big boats want to sail when Amphy is sick… Amphy is the reason why the lighthouse stays lit. But just to be safe… You should have a Water-Type."

…What? When was it decided that I'm going? Gin mentally growled.

"All right," Gin sighed. "I suppose it'd be easy to catch a Water Pokémon around here… And I would like to be able to challenge you as soon as possible anyway. I'll go."

Gin waved over her shoulder as Jasmine cheered. The Gym Leader hugged Amphy around the neck, and Gin rolled her eyes as she started walking back down the stairs. Once again, she tried to avoid holding onto the banister, and fortunately, going down seemed to take quicker than going up.

Soon, Gin was leaning against the small wooden door again as she closed it. She frowned as she looked out at the small nearby gulf. How was she supposed to catch anything in such shallow water? Besides, she didn't even have a fishing rod…

"Shell!"

A high-pitched cry suddenly rang out as a small wave ran into the shore. As the wave pulled back, a small purple bivalve shell rolled a few times on the sand, and stopped a few feet from Gin. The two edges of the shell slowly opened, revealing a large tongue and a pair of round eyes. Gin blinked at the thing for a few seconds, and its eyes narrowed mischievously.

"Shell… der!"

The Shellder suddenly lashed out with its tongue, licking Gin's shoe. Crying out in disgust, Gin quickly reached for Magnesia's Pokéball.

"Magnesia, come on!"

Magnesia materialized next to Gin, buzzing curiously for a few seconds as it looked around. Then, however, it noticed the giggling Shellder a few feet away.

"Use… Thunderbolt, or something," Gin grumbled.

"Mag… ne… mite…"

Beeping slightly, sparks discharged from Magnesia's screws, and the magnet Pokémon launched a Thunderbolt at the Shellder. Literally and figuratively shocked, Shellder was thrown into the air as the attack hit. It crashed back down to the beach, tongue lolling out weakly.

"Hah! Take that!"

On impulse, Gin grabbed a Pokéball off of her belt and threw it at the Water-Type. The ball barely twitched before locking shut, and Gin abruptly blinked. Then, she realized that she had indeed caught the Pokémon, and screamed in frustration as she put her head in her hands.

"No! I didn't really want it…!"

"Mag?"

Magnesia blinked as it watched Gin kick up a stream of sand and pick up the Pokéball…