Chapter Three


"Come on, girl..." Tracey whispered to the Growlithe, holding a bowl of Pokemon food to her. "You've gotta eat something. You're going to get sick if you don't develop a healthy appetite," he kept the food out to Growlithe, who still refused to eat, pretending to be interested in the wall. After kneeling before the Pokemon for an even five minutes, he finally decided to give up. "Fine, have it your way. But if you don't eat soon, the Professor's not gonna let you get away with it like I do," he chuckled, patting the dog's head and recalling her to her Pokeball. He set the ball down in its appropriate spot on the shelf of Pokeballs and dumped the food back in its bin. Just as he left the vault and finished locking the heavy steel door, he heard Professor Oak screaming to him.

"Tracey! Come here quick!"

He immediately ran up the stairs and darted his view around the room, looking for the Professor. He saw him staring out the window in the main room. He came to his side, panting. "What is it?"

Samuel pointed across the fields towards Delia Ketchum's backyard, which they had a good view of from the West side of the house. It didn't take Tracey long to figure out what he was pointing to; he easily spotted the giant blue Pokemon banging on the side of the house. "What the hell is that?"

"I don't know, but we'd better do something about it!" his voice had a slight shake in it.

Tracey knew Delia was a good friend of the Professor's, and he knew as well as anyone that she wasn't the bravest of people. He brought his hand to his side, making sure he had all of his Pokeballs with him, then began to run out of the room. "Right. Let's go."

It didn't take the two long to make it across the field connecting the two properties, despite the dim light left from the sunset. They headed to the front of the house so the Pokemon couldn't see them. As soon as the front door was in view, Samuel and Tracey could see Delia on the other side of the screen door. Professor Oak ran up to her.

"What's going on?" he anxiously questioned.

"I... I don't know, I just heard this noise from the side of the house and I saw this..." she trailed off, quavering. "What is that thing?"

Tracey peered down the side of the house, getting a better view of the animal. He could identify the species, but it was much larger than average; maybe nine feet tall. "It's a Feraligatr... It's huge."

Samuel turned to the teenager with an assertive look in his eyes. "Tracey, find some way to distract him. I don't care how you do it, you need to keep it occupied while I go back to the lab."

"Why are you going back?" Delia asked.

"Something's wrong with that Pokemon. I won't be able to get it easily. I have two Master Balls in the vault, it's the only way I can capture it," he looked back to his assistant. "Keep it busy so it doesn't destroy the house."

Tracey nodded once and headed to the backyard while Samuel ran back to the laboratory. Once he reached a spot that he could safely go after Feraligatr from, he pulled a Pokeball from his belt. "Vaporeon, go!" he hurled the Pokeball as far as he could get it. The blue dog materialized three yards away from Feraligatr. Vaporeon knew the situation, gathering what she could hear from inside her Pokeball. She knew to keep her distance.

Feraligatr turned around to see the finned Pokemon letting out a battle cry. It seemed absurd that an average Vaporeon would take on a Feraligatr who possessed unnatural strength. She fired an Aurora Beam at the huge Pokemon, then quickly jumped backwards to avoid retaliation. But Feraligatr wasn't interested in that sort of combat. He charged straight to Vaporeon with enough force to take down a Rhydon. The slick dog leapt across Feraligatr's back as it crashed into the ground, executing a Bubblebeam in midair.

Tracey watched attentively from the brush along the side of the yard. Most people would feel guilty putting their Pokemon in such a dangerous situation, but he got that Vaporeon when it was a pup from one of the most reputable Water Pokemon breeders in all of Kanto. It was still very young, but it had great stamina and agility. He had faith in her. He knew she could do it without getting hurt.

Minutes passed, and Feraligatr still hadn't touched Vaporeon. She sent many attacks his way to keep him interested, and dodged every charge that he tried. But Vaporeon was starting to slow down. She was getting exhausted and Tracey could see that. He prayed that she had enough energy left in her to keep him.

Just as Feraligatr was in the middle of a Skull Bash attack which Vaporeon barely avoided, a purple Pokeball flew across the open yard, finally capturing the Pokemon. Tracey and Vaporeon both turned their attention to Professor Oak standing along the side of the grass, holding the Master Ball in his right hand. Within seconds Delia was running towards him, while Tracey went to Vaporeon's side.

"That was wonderful, Vaporeon," he stroked the Pokemon's amazingly smooth fur. "Thanks for your help. You can rest now," he smiled and returned her to her Pokeball.

He returned to his feet to see Delia standing next to him. "Thank you too, Tracey. That was very brave," she gave him a small kiss on the cheek and smiled at the boy, which he answered with a grin.

"You're welcome," he responded politely before following Samuel back to the lab.


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He had been sitting on that same rock for almost an hour, trying to drown out Ash and his friends chattering away. The two parties had agreed to camp out together since they were both stopping. Gary sat on a large rock along the side of the cliff that Route Forty stood under. He was trying to remain out of the way. He just wanted to sleep through the night and head out on Dewgong first thing in the morning. Agreeing to camp with Ash and his friends was simply an act of respect. A little more than a year along the road, Gary told himself to try and be the better man; to stop giving Ash a hard time for reasons the other trainer didn't even know.

"So, Gary..." Ash strode up to the boy on his perch. "How many badges do you have?"

"Hm?" he mumbled. He heard him perfectly, he just hoped Ash would leave if he pretended he didn't.

"I said, how many badges do you have? I guess you didn't hear me talking with Misty about getting my Hive badge recently. I've lost track of how many I have now," he laughed in a somewhat obliviously ignorant way.

"I have twenty," although he was proud of his accomplishments, he kept the dreary edge in his voice.

"I probably have more than that," the boy gloated. "I'd have even more, but I've been pretty busy. Have you ever heard of Spencer Hale? He's a famous Pokemon researcher that lives in Greenfield."

Greenfield. That's the place Tracey was talking about. That's where his Grandfather had gone to support Ash and forget him. "I know. I heard," he lied. He didn't know what actually happened, but he didn't really care to hear it from Ash.

"Oh. I'm not really surprised. It was pretty big news--"

"Don't you ever shut up?" he couldn't help himself anymore.

"Huh?"

"If I wanted to hear all of this, I'd ask! But frankly, I don't care what you've been wasting your time with or what badges you won with your half-trained Pokemon. It's really no concern of mine what you choose to do with your life, no matter how earth-shattering you think it is!" Gary stared down at Ash with condemning eyes. Well, I guess being the better man didn't work.

For a while, Ash just stood there, taking in the other trainer's words. After a few seconds, he finally found retaliation. "You know what your problem is? You can't live and let live. I was telling you about what I've been doing, trainer-to-trainer. I wasn't trying to impress you! I don't honestly care enough to impress you; it's not worth my time," Ash walked to the other side of the rock, an heir of confidence surrounding him. "But you just can't seem to look at it that way. You seem to be jealous of me. Maybe that's why you're not telling me about anything you've been doing."

"No, I'm not telling you because I know you don't care anyway. Why should it mean anything to you what I've done? All you care about is what you accomplish and how great everything thinks you are."

"Excuse me, but you're the one who said what I choose to do with my life is no concern of yours. You're just a walking contradiction, aren't you? Do you even know what the hell you're talking about?"

Gary knew. He knew what he was talking about, and he also knew that he couldn't tell Ash. Instead he covered his bitter feelings for him with harsh words; words that said everything he wanted to say and nothing he felt all at the same time.

He told himself to let it go--he left the message, his Grandfather probably already got it. It was said and done and he could move on by himself. But something wouldn't let him. Something inside of him still held the loathing to this boy, it still wanted the approval that was stolen from him so often.

But he couldn't let it get the best of him. He had already said too much, and maybe it was time to find another secluded spot... No! I'm not going to hide again. I'm not going to run off and cry; I'm above that! I have to be the better man. Why should I care what he thinks? He means nothing to me--Nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.

He decided that enough was enough; he'd just get his stuff together and leave, maybe even apologize to Ash for tearing into him. He was going to be the better man and let it go.

"What's your problem now?" but maybe it wasn't going to work that way in Ash's eyes. "Don't have a comeback now? Well, well, well, maybe you've finally accepted that I know what I'm doing more than you do. It's true, isn't it?" he was starting to cross the line. "You can't handle someone being better than you. You can't handle someone having a better grip on things than you--all sorts of things! Social situations, letting go of things of the past... Pokemon training."

Gary tried to keep his temper as best as he could and jumped down from his pedestal. He turned away from Ash, not even making eye contact, and went to gather his things.

"Oh, we're still speechless," Ash persisted. "I guess I've finally gotten through to you. You never did come off as the type to admit when they're wrong."

He really didn't get it. He was trying to do him a favor and that was how he took it? If he walked away then, he would be admitting defeat in Ash's eyes. That wasn't the kind of person he was. Gary Oak never quit, under any circumstances. If Ash was going to talk big, he'd have to pay for his words.

"Is that what you think?" Gary finally answered Ash after involuntarily giving him an ego boost. He stopped in his tracks, still not turning to face him. "You think I'm forfeiting to you? Don't flatter yourself."

Ash chuckled. "Well, if you're not backing down, what the hell are you doing? Let me guess, I'm, 'not worth your time.' Well, I've got news for you, Mr. hotshot trainer. A true Pokemon Master would never turn and walk away. Only a coward would."

"I am not a coward," he growled, turning around. "What do you want from me? What do you want me to prove to you?"

"A battle. If you're not quitting and you're not a coward, then there's no reason that you shouldn't take me on," Ash explained. "One on one. Do you have the balls?"

Gary narrowed his eyes and stared Ash straight in the eye. "You're on."