A/N: Well, like, I just wanted to keep them, like, in character, you know?  ^_~  Well, if you say Ash makes so many mistakes because he's just a kid… what about Gary?  They're the same age, you know.  And also, under those circumstances, wouldn't Gourry be just a few watts dumber as a kid rather than a young adult?  ^_^  Some mental candy for yee readers – don't chew it too fast!  Let's see….We've covered Pallet Town…past Viridian...the badge at Pewter City…Mt. Moon.. Cerulean City… *Looks at map*  Either we're headed for Saffron or Viridian next!  Land ahoy!  Please Review!

Ch. 6 – Riding the Waves of Passion

All Aboard the St. Anne!

            "Oi…Lina?  Where-"

            "Stop asking already!  We're headed for Vermillion City!"

            "Where's-"

            "It's a bit of a ways south of here, past Saffron City (I'm referring to the game map)."
            "Then why don't we-"

            "Because there's a special cruise that visits Vermillion once a year, and I'm not going to miss it."

            "Uh…You want it to leave?"

            "With me on it."

            "Then how-"

            "We'll come back in about three days to the same port."

            "Wait, I thought you-"

            "I don't mind it if I can mooch off a couple of tickets for free."

            Gourry was silent as he had run out of questions to ask.  Considering he had been asking the exact same things in that exact order for at least three days of traveling, it wasn't all that hard to figure out.

            During their travels, they had come across Pokemon Tech, like Ash and co. had.  Having heard of their reputation, Lina wanted to see what it was like.  Once in there, she was immediately asked if she was a visitor, which should have been pretty obvious considering her clothes.  When Lina pointed this out, the student got angry and challenged her to a battle.  The student used a Tangela, so Lina chose Charmander.  Needless to say, with Lina's training and Charmander's obvious advantage, Lina won.  Feeling confident, Lina looked all around the school and challenged everyone she saw, and didn't lose a single battle.  Finally, Lina went up against Giselle and her Cubone.  Lina grimaced but chose Charmander.  Giselle and her backup laughed at her for making such a dangerous choice, but Lina had trust in her Charmander, and she would see it to the end.  Besides…according to her statidex…Charmander might be evolving soon…

            In the end result, with a combination of Mega Brand, Flare Arrow, and a version of Flame Wheel, Charmander and Lina won.  As they cheered their victory, Charmander began to glow white…  Lina cheered more when Charmander evolved to Charmeleon.  She hugged her new Charmeleon until Giselle congratulated her.  Lina in turn muttered a short "thanks" for all of them leveling up her pokemon and then having Charmander evolve.  They continued along their travels soon thereafter.

            Later on, as they near their goal, they also come by the lighthouse.  Deciding to take a break, Lina sits on the edge of the cliff, and Gourry worriedly follows her.  As it was nearing sunset, they saw the shadow of a pokemon that Bill was interested in.  After Lina identified it with her statidex as a Dragonite, she desperately wanted to catch it.  However, knowing the strength of her current pokemon, she knew it'd be a hard battle to win.  So…

            She released Pyro and had him translate, "I want to be your friend.  Please join me in my battles.  I know that together, we can both be great."

            It also happened that this was around the time Bill tried to talk to Dragonite, but it shook its head at both of them.  Lina was surprised when little explosions bombarded the Dragonite's skin.  Lina sighed.  She wanted to put it out of its misery… but how?  Lina's mind snapped at the answer.  She fished through her cape for a special little pouch.  Lina pulled out a black and white pokeball from it, but saw that Dragonite was moving away.  At Lina's insistence, Gourry let her borrow his Pidgeot (She hadn't even realized that he had one) and flew off after Dragonite.  When they were both surrounded by fog, Lina threw the pokeball, and Dragonite was instantly captured.  How, you ask, did Lina catch the Dragonite by simply throwing a pokeball?  Simple.  It was a master ball.  Lina returned to land, Pidgeot to Gourry and Pyro to his pokeball.  After a good rest, they were on their way again.

            Finally, Lina and Gourry reached Vermillion City.  Their first stop was the Pokecenter, to heal their pokemon.  They noted that a lot of pokemon were there with badly injured pokemon, mentioning something about the gym leader Lt. Surge.  After getting her pokemon healed, Lina was prepped and ready for battle.  Just as she was leaving the center, she eyed someone familiar in the shadows.  She backtracked a few steps and walked toward the figure to verify her suspicions.  She was right – It was Zel.

            "Hey Zel!  What are you doing all the way over here?  Shouldn't you be in Pewter City?"

            He acknowledged the two of them, but looked away when he muttered, "I left."

            Lina put a hand around her ear and said a bit louder, "Eh?  What was that?  You left?"

            He simply nodded.

            Gourry asked, "Why?"

            "I'm searching for my cure."  Zel emphasized this by pulling his hood more over his face. 

Lina shrugged.  "Whatever.  Wanna come see my gym match?  Afterwards, I plan to go on the St. Anne.  Maybe someone there will have a 'clue' for you."

            At this, Zel looked up at her.  He immediately stood up and said rather /too/ unenthusiastically, "Lead the way."  Lina smirked, but did just that.

            At the gym, she was "greeted" by Lt. Surge himself (I didn't watch this episode, so forgive me if I don't get his speech or accent right).

            "Are yeh wanting to challenge me to a gym battle?"

            Lina grinned with confidence.  "You bet I am."

            The referee told the trainers to go the trainer's boxes before starting the match.  A one-on-one pokemon battle; Lt. Surge chooses Raichu.  Checking her statidex, it was a level 28 – very high experience level.  Lina had a plan in mind though.

            "Sandslash!  I choose you!"

            Yes, Lina's Sandshrew had evolved.

            Raichu started with Body Slam.  Sandslash dodged out of the way easily, and countered with Earthquake.  As he was belly-down on the ground, he was hurt badly by it.  As Raichu tried to stand up, Sandslash attacked again with Fissure.  It was a dead-on hit – Raichu fainted.  Lina had won the match.  Lina put up a peace sign and grinned as she fed Sandslash a treat before returning it to its pokeball.  After receiving her new badge, the trio walked out.  Zel commented that that was a rather short battle.  Lina responded by saying that even though his pokemon was more leveled up, hers still had the advantage.

            Lina headed to the docks, and saw the St. Anne moored by a large pier.  Lina looked around and wondered how to get a free pass…  Suddenly, Team Rocket members Jessie and James appeared in their strange getups and asked if she was a pokemon trainer.  She nodded, a bit bewildered.  Then they did the same thing they did with Ash and co. which also resulted in them giving the travelers three free tickets.  Lina cheered and said thanks.  Handing one to Zel and Gourry, she headed up the pier, skipping like a little kid – which was exactly what she was.  Shrugging, Zel and Gourry followed her.

            Once aboard, and as soon as they saw the piles of luscious food on several tables, Lina and Gourry worked to "clean it all up."  Zel, seeing all those people, quickly went to hide in the corner, while using his keen hearing to pick up any possible leads.  Of course, there wouldn't be, but he could hope, right?

            Sometime later, Lina heard something about a pokemon battle and went to go check it out, drumstick in hand.  Gourry hadn't noticed that she left the table, so he continued to chow down.  Lina watched a middle-aged man that resembled a high-class magician of some sort, battle with other trainers.  She was about to challenge his Ratticate, when Ash challenged him.  With mild interest, Lina watched their battle as she noted that he had two people with him this time.  She scoffed in disbelief when the magician person basically forfeited, though he waved it off as a tie.

            Noting the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, she thought, for a moment, that she had seen it somewhere before (before she started her journey I mean).  She also noticed that his Pikachu was considerably thinner.  Heh, go figure.

            Her interest piqued, she decided to go and challenge Ash as soon as she could.  Unfortunately, for the strangest reason, Ash decided to trade pokemon with the magician man.  Not wanting to battle a Ratticate under Ash's control, Lina suddenly lost interest and went to go find some more food.  Soon afterwards, however, her meal was interrupted when Team Rocket or something attacked them.  People in black clothes with portable leaf-blower machines on their backs jumped onto the tables, effectively ruining the food, which in turn made Lina mad.  How dare they ruin perfectly delicious food!  And for what?  To show how utterly pointless their purpose was?  At least someone else caught on – and informed the rest.  You can't go into a ship full of pokemon trainers and expect them to give up their pokemon without a fight.

            Lina decided to lend her help.  As much as she could, anyway.  The battle was short, and soon they had "blasted off" so to speak.  It was then that the ship began to rock dangerously, and the captain "informed" them that they should abandon ship.  Naturally, Lina and Gourry made sure to be one of the first people off, but Zel rejected the offer when they told him to come aboard the lifeboat.  His reasoning was just – with his chimeric parts, he would only serve to sink the lifeboat, thus ending other people's lives as well as his own.  Having said this, he released a fine Pidgeot and flew towards Vermillion City.  His Pidgeot was extremely well-trained, because even in the stormy weather, it didn't falter once as it headed for land.

            In the end, everyone eventually made it to land safely.  They found Zel having a nice cup of cappuccino in a restaurant in Vermillion.  From there, Lina set her sights on Saffron, and they headed towards it.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short.  I'll make the next one longer, I promise!  Well, I'll try anyway.  Let's see…according to the show, everyone has five badges by the time Ash has four right?  So, Lina has to pick up the speed… Happy? Zel's joined their crew!  I wonder how he'll feel when he see's that Cinnabar has turned…well…you know.  -_- poor Zelly.  Please Review!