A big thanks to Subieko for all the reviews! I really thought that no one was actually reading this story. Oo Your comments were really helpful, both in pointing out things I hadn't noticed (like how I wrote that ice was super-effective against Chazz when really it should be regular effectiveness, because the not-very-effective against fire cancels out the super-effective against flying . . .), and also in inspiring me to actually update the thing. I have a few more chapters after this written, and most of the rest of Part One and Part Two figured out (just not actually written), so hopefully I'll update more regularly from now on. Since the chapters in TYM are quite short and sometimes not much even happens in them, I really should update it more regularly, eh?

Part One, Chapter Six

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Jason

I bit my lip, reaching into my backpack. This guy was obviously better than the first two, so I needed a strong pokémon to beat him with. But who? Potow? No, it was too tired after flying all the way over here. Come on Janet, there's gotta be someone who's perfect for this. What is it about these guys that you can use to your advantage? I thought for a moment. Staryu and Krabby . . . they were both water-types. Would Jason use a water-type too? They did live by the sea . . . water pokémon would be the most accessible to them. I should use a grass-type. But . . . what if it was a trick, and Jason had a fire-type waiting for me? Would they think ahead like that? I had no idea. I could send out a water-type in hope of defeating the fire-type . . . but what if he was also going to use a water-type after all? Or even worse, what if he knew that I was going to send out a water-type to defeat the fire-type that I'd expected him to send out against the grass-type that I'd send out against his water-type, so he'd actually use a grass-type!? OK, this was too much. I just had to risk it. No matter what type he was going to use, I had a grass-type who I knew would put up a good fight.

'Raus!' I said, tossing a pokéball. 'I choose you!'

My venusaur appeared, letting out a battle cry as it did so. It eyed Jason and took a battle-ready stance, ready to fight already.

'Interesting choice,' said Jason. He took out his own pokéball. 'I choose you . . . Gary!'

With a flash of light, a small bird pokémon appeared. Its body was a white ball, with two long wings sticking out at the sides, and a long yellow beak at the front. I blinked. I had never seen this pokémon before. What had he called it? "Gary"? That didn't sound much like a pokémon name to me.

'Hey, this isn't fair,' I said, looking over at Jason. 'I'm from Mildew, we don't have those pokémon there.'

'You're not in Mildew,' said Jason. 'You're in Aureate, so you battle with Aureatean pokémon.'

I sighed. This was going to be hard. Potow hadn't managed to beat that skarmory it had battled, so how was Raus going to beat this "Gary" thing?

'Let's get started,' said Jason. 'Gary, use Supersonic!'

'Gull!' chirped his pokémon, and began to screech out a high-pitched sound. Raus cringed and tried to cover its ears with its short stumpy legs, but it was no use.

'Raus!' I said. 'Use Razor Leaf!'

'Venu!' nodded Raus. It shuffled the flower on its back, and a gust of leaves blew out, heading straight for Gary . . . but just as they were about to hit, they turned around and slammed straight back into Raus.

'No!' I exclaimed. Gary's supersonic had made Raus too confused to control its own attack, and it had only succeeded in attacking itself.

'Now Gary, use Growl!' said Jason.

'Wingull!' his pokémon narrowed its eyes and growled at Raus. My venusaur shook its head in an attempt to ignore the attack, but I could tell that the technique had lowered its confidence. I thought for a moment. Growl was a move that lowered a pokémon's Attack stat . . . but pokémon had two offensive values: regular Attack and Special Attack. As long as I told Raus to use a Special attack, Gary's Growl would have no effect!

'OK Raus, use another Razor Leaf!' I said. My venusaur launched its flurry of leaves again, and this time the attack hit. Gary was thrown back, but it got straight back up, shaking off the assault.

'What!?' I exclaimed. 'But Growl only lowered Raus's regular Attack, not its Special Attack! Surely it should've done more damage than that!'

'Janet, you idiot!' Sand-Cloud called. 'That pokémon is obviously a flying-type!'

I gasped. After all that thought about type advantages, I'd completely forgotten to try to find out what type Gary was! The shock of seeing Jason send out a pokémon I'd never seen before had thrown my concentration. Now I was no better than Sean forgetting that he needed the Speed advantage to win. Great, so now I was faced with a type disadvantage. But there had to be some way to win. Chazz had pulled through, surely Raus could too. I thought through its attacks. Razor Leaf wasn't going to do much damage against a flying-type. Body Slam's power had been lowered by Gary's Growl. Leech Seed . . . Leech Seed! That could help!

'Gary, Wing Attack!' Jason ordered.

'Gull!' said his pokémon, flying down to Raus and slapping it with its wings. I cringed as Raus shook its head, trying to shake away the pain, but the super-effective attack had done a lot of damage. Leech Seed could be my only hope now.

'OK Raus,' I said. 'Use Leech Seed!'

'Saur!' Raus nodded, bending forward and shooting a seed out of the flower on its back. The seed planted itself on Gary's back and sprouted, wrapping the small bird pokémon in its vines. It sapped Gary's energy and sent it back to Raus, healing a little of my venusaur's lost hit points.

'That won't do you any good,' said Jason. 'Gary, Growl!'

His pokémon narrowed its eyes and snarled at Raus, and I watched with worry as my venusaur's Attack power continued to drop.

Now what? I could keep using Razor Leaf but it wouldn't do much damage against a flying-type. I could use Solar Beam but to do that I'd have to wait for Raus to build up enough solar energy. I could use Body Slam but Raus's Attack power had been lowered, so it wouldn't do much good. But would it have been lowered enough to make it weaker than a grass-type attack? I wouldn't know unless I tried.

'Raus, Body Slam!' I called. Raus nodded and charged forward, but it was headed in completely the wrong direction! 'Raus, what're you doing!?'

I watched in shock as Raus then performed its Body Slam on nothing but the ground, only succeeding in hurting itself.

'The confusion from Supersonic is still there, Janet!' Sand-Cloud called. 'You've gotta be more careful!'

I sighed. Surely there had to be some way of ridding Raus of confusion. If it couldn't even attack Gary, how was I ever going to win?

'Now Gary, another Growl!' Jason called. 'Make that Body Slam useless!'

'Oh no . . .' I breathed as Gary growled at Raus. My venusaur's Attack stat would be hopeless by now . . . even if it managed to attack Gary, it would hardly get any damage in.

'Well?' Jason asked impatiently. 'Are you gonna attack, or should I just knock your pokémon out right now?'

I bit my lip. I could tell Raus to attack, but what if its confusion made it hurt itself again? I couldn't afford to let Raus lose any more health . . . maybe I should put off attacking until I was sure its head was clear.

'Janet, hurry up and attack!' Gelby called.

'But what if it hurts itself?' I asked worriedly.

'You don't need to worry, Janet!' said Gelby. 'Trust me!'

Was she just being optimistic, or could I really do this? After all those Growls, Raus's Attack stat was in tatters, and if it hurt itself in confusion . . . hold on! If its Attack stat had been weakened, that meant that even hurting itself wouldn't do as much damage! And with Leech Seed still active, wouldn't it recover any health it lost by hurting itself anyway? I smiled. Raus could get through this. I could risk it.

'OK Raus,' I said. 'Time for Solar Beam!'

Raus nodded and began gathering light energy into the flower on its back.

'Solar Beam?' Jason asked. 'Don't you know you shouldn't use a two-turn attack when your pokémon's confused?'

I smiled. 'Don't you know Supersonic and Growl are a stupid combination?'

'What!?' he exclaimed. 'You don't know what you're talking about! Gary, Wing Attack!'

Gary flew down and slapped Raus with its wings, and I could tell just by the look on my venusaur's face that it had done a lot of damage. The Leech Seed recovered a little health for it, but not much. I took a deep breath. This Solar Beam had to work.

'Raus,' I said. 'Now, fire the Solar Beam!'

Gary cried out as a beam of light shot out from Raus's back, slamming into the little bird and sending it flying back until it crashed down to the ground . . . defeated. I stared at it for a moment, then broke into a smile.

'Well done Raus!' I cheered. 'You're the best!'

'Saur,' smiled Raus.

Jason stared at his pokémon, before sighing heavily and returning it to its pokéball. He looked over at me, then took a deep breath.

'Well done,' he said. 'You've beaten us. And as the rules of Aureatean street battles state . . .' He held the pokéball out to me. 'Gary is yours.'

I swallowed, staring at the pokéball. If I had lost, Jason would have taken Raus . . . I would have lost my venusaur, one of my best battlers and one of my best friends. I don't know how I would ever have handled it. So how, how could I ever take Gary away from Jason?

'No,' I shook my head. 'I can't take your pokémon.'

'You're a better trainer than we are,' said Jason. 'You taught us a lot today, but we've still got so much to learn. Gary's better off with you. I'd be happy seeing it with an experienced trainer like you. Please, just take it.'

I sighed, eyeing the ball uncertainly.

'Take it Janet,' said Sand-Cloud. 'Sure you couldn't have done it without our help, but you still won. Just take it.'

I took a deep breath and nodded, taking the pokéball from Jason's hand.

'Thank you,' I said.

'Hold out your Pokédex,' said Jason, taking his own out of his pocket and holding it out to me. I opened my backpack and took out my Pokédex, connecting it to his to allow the transfer of Gary. Just as the transfer was about to begin, my Pokédex beeped and the word "Error" came up on the screen. I blinked.

'Your Pokédex doesn't recognise Wingull,' said Jason. 'Um, you're gonna have to get a new one before Gary can officially be yours.'

'Wingull?' I asked, confused.

'Uh, yeah,' said Jason. 'That's what Gary is.'

'You didn't honestly think "Gary" was the name of the species, did you?' Sand-Cloud asked with a laugh.

'Er . . . no,' I said. 'Duh.'

'Well, you're gonna need a Pokédex that recognises Wingull,' said Jason. He took the pokéball back off me and released Gary. The wingull looked up at us, confused. 'Take it with you, but you won't be able to keep it in a pokéball or use it in any gym battles or tournaments until you get a new Pokédex.'

'Oh,' I said. 'OK.'

'This is my trainer number,' said Jason, handing me a small piece of paper. 'When you get a new 'dex, take it to a Pokémon Centre and give them this number and they'll send a message to my Pokédex asking permission to transfer Gary to you.'

'Oh OK, cool,' I said. 'Thanks a lot.'

Jason bent down and patted the wingull on the head.

'Well Gary, this is it,' he said with a sigh. 'You go with Janet now. I'm sure I'll see you again one day, and until then I want you to grow big and strong, OK?'

'Gull,' Gary nodded, but it looked so sad. It sighed as Jason picked it up. I still didn't feel right about taking it. Jason had said I was a better trainer, but was that really true? I may have won that battle, but surely Jason's own ideals, the fact that he was emotionally strong enough to hand his pokémon over to another trainer . . . didn't that make him the better trainer?

Whichever way it was, I now had a new pokémon and a new companion. And I owed it to Jason to train Gary well and make it stronger.

- Janet -