neogirl7900: Thanks! I tried my best to make my characters have realistic personalities, because, in my mind, there isn't enough of that in many of the fan fiction out there. Um, about the poke-speak, just read below and I hope that will clear up anything confusing. I think you'll get used to it though. Well hopefully. If not then… um… I'll give you a cake.

Zudinmulamshius: Glad you like Charmander. I think he's my favorite in this story. He's also the one who when crazy confusing stuff is happening he's like, "Um okay… what the heck's going on here!" And I use Gary quite a bit in my story. I miss Gary's bratty attitude on the show; he's all goody-goody now! I hate that! Oh, and I hope my grammar and spelling are pretty good seeing as I proofread every chapter about 5 times at least. (And I still find mistakes after I post them sometimes!)

Maia's Pen: Yes, as stated above, Gary is one of my favorites to play with as well! I gave Charmander to Gary first because I always thought that Gary would pick the most powerful of the three starters; and what pompous, arrogant kid wouldn't want a Charizard to whoop everyone's booty! But of course, as we all now, Gary got Squirtle in the show, so I gave it a personality that was kinda like Gary's (this will cause some trouble for Gary though much later on!). And thank you for the compliment on my writing skills; I try my best!

Kritika Kritik: Yes, I must admit, there are a lot of trainer fics out there. There are also a lot of Ash/Misty fics, a lot of 'Misty comes back' fics, a lot of fics with Eevee or Vulpix or Charmander sweatdrop as main pokemon in them, and a lot of Ryou/Bakura fics in the Yugioh section as well. O.O I tried to be original, but pokemon's been around for so long it seems that everything's already been done. Hopefully some of my characters aren't too stereotypical. And thanks for the well-written part!

Antithesis: Thank you! Yeah I get tired of seeing those perfect main characters that everyone loves, they always win their battles, and they catch like 20 pokemon within the first two chapters. Ugh… Plus, I think that trainer fics need another storyline besides the story of just traveling around. I mean, after a while they get kinda boring (like some of the Pokemon Johto episodes…). Anywhoo, I hope ya' like the rest of it as well.

blacklabel7066: Thanks! I'm glad you're still reading it! And I hope you like the rest!

Okay, first off, apologies for the confusion about pokemon speak. The pokemon in my story are too important to have little to no dialogue that the reader can understand, so you (the reader) are able to see what they're saying. Kayla, in the last chapter anyway, did NOT understand what Charmander said, he was just saying "Char…," or whatever. I won't use quotation marks anymore though, since it is rather confusing. How about using parentheses? Like…

Charmander rolled his eyes and mumbled, (Great….)

or I guess maybe these…

Charmander rolled his eyes and mumbled, Great….

I'm gonna let you guys decide. So when you review, tell me which style ya' like (or you could pick something else besides these two), and whichever one is the most popular will be it.

For this chapter though, I'll use parentheses. You know, these: (Great….)

Whew!

After such a long chapter, this one will probably seem like a breeze! Anyway, this is really more like a transition chapter into the next, which will have much more action. Though it does leave a bit of mystery at the end! And I promise I won't take as long to update as I did last time (my family was busy getting a new computer last week so I've been a bit enthralled by its metallic wonder lately, but the novelty has worn off a bit). Enjoy.

The Glass Half Full

Ch.3 Traveling Buddies Anyone?

"Beep! I am Dextra; the female PokeDex. Please enter your name using the keypad below…."

Kayla's fingers moved across the white keys until the five letters of her name were all lying upon the screen of the small, red device.

Mike leaned over. "Aww… how come you got the girl PokeDex?" he said, looking disappointed in the fact that his was only the usual, boring male one.

Kayla smiled, "Professor Oak said that it was a new invention of his…."

Mike still looked jealous.

The two of them were just about to enter the small wooded area north of Pallet Town. The trees still were nicely spaced out, and there was a clear road to walk on. The sun was now shinning high in the sky, and large white, cottony clouds were floating above. A noise could be heard coming up the road from Pallet…

"Do you hear that? Sounds like a car…," Mike trailed off, turning his head back to see if his assumption was right.

Which he was. A large apple red car was now coming up the road speeding up to where Kayla and Mike were walking. Its brand-new wheels came skidding to a stop as it neared the two pedestrians.

"Gary?" they both said in surprise as they looked to see who was in the car.

Gary sat in the passenger seat at the front of the car, while a woman in sunglasses and a hat drove. It looked like a huge lobster holding people on its back. In the back of the car, were a great number of… girls. They were dressed like cheerleaders, and looked as if they were ready for a big game to cheer on. One of the younger girls, who had auburn hair, sat up and smiled.

"Hi Mike! Look at me! I was chosen by Gary to be on his cheer squad! Can you believe it!" she said, tossing her pom-poms as she talked.

"Cheer Squad…?" said Kayla in quiet disbelief.

"Emily! What? But why…? How did?" stammered Mike, not really knowing how to approach the subject. His expression was a mix of anger and surprise; which made him look a little odd.

Emily smiled. "Oh silly, I only did it so that I could be nearby on your journey!" she said, winking to him.

Kayla raised an eyebrow; she wasn't too sure that Emily meant it…

"How would that be with me? You're driving a car. There's no way I can keep up with it. You guys'll be in Saffron before I even get to Cerulean!" scoffed Mike, apparently thinking the same thing Kayla was.

Emily's face saddened, "Mike. How could you even think that I was going just to be with Gary!"

"But I—."

"But nothing!" yelled Emily, "For your information, Gary wants to walk by himself when we get to places he can catch pokemon at. SO, we won't be driving all the time!"

Mike's expression softened. Kayla could tell that Emily had really hurt his feelings…

Gary took this short moment of silence to lean out over the side of the lobster.

"Heh, don't take it so hard Mikey! Besides, looks like you've got yourself a traveling buddy," he said smugly, pointing to Kayla.

Kayla blushed. She hadn't really thought about the idea of traveling with someone. That would make her journey much less lonely; and she already considered Mike as somewhat of a friend…

"Anyway," Gary said, his smug look continuing, "I'll get out here ladies. See you all in Viridian!" He waved to them and blew kisses, which the girls in the back returned. Even Emily. Then the lobster began to drive off, a plume of exhaust rising in its wake.

The three trainers all looked at each other for a moment. Mike wasn't even glaring at Gary this time. They just stood there, each waiting for the others to say something. Blushing still, Kayla raised up her hand timidly.

"Uh… may I… say something?" she asked quietly.

Gary let out one 'ha!' and then smiled, "No."

"Gary!" said Mike looking annoyed, "Go on Kayla; he's just being a jerk."

Kayla felt even more of her already low self-esteem trickle away; but knew she would never get another chance like this again, so she continued. "Well…" she started, her hand now clutching her sleeve nervously, "I was thinking that maybe we… uh, the three of us could… well, maybe um, t… travel um, together?"

Gary had that smug smile on his face again. "Oh," he said in a fake superior voice, "You two could travel together. But, well, I have a very different idea about pokemon training…."

There was a long pause while nobody spoke a word; then Mike rolled his eyes. "Okay Gary you've got us, what is your 'different idea'?" he sighed, his voice sounding very tired of Gary Oak.

The smug expression on Gary's face was quickly replaced by a business-like sternness, "You two really are new at this, aren't you? How do you ever expect to become great trainers if you're always relying on someone else?"

He looked at the two of them, knowing he would get no answer.

"I work alone. I may get driven around in a car; but I always walk the forests and mountains by myself. That way I learn about the wild pokemon and catch them without any support from anyone else. I don't depend on anyone but my pokemon and me. And it's always going to be that way. If you two were really serious about training, you'd do it the hard way… alone."

He stared at Kayla for a moment. Then continued.

"With people around you all the time for support, you'll never grow up; never be able to experience things by yourself. You won't know how to get out of any problem situations without help. That's why I go alone. And if you two losers want to be anything nearly as good as me… you'll do the same. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with destiny…."

He turned on his heel, brown hair bouncing as he did so, and walked briskly away.

Kayla half-expected Gary to say something to that effect. She had an idea that he was not exactly fond of her and Mike. However, Mike was still here; what was his answer going to be to all this…?

Mike took a moment to think about what Gary had said. After a long pause, he cleared his throat and looked at Kayla.

"Kayla, I was thinking about what Gary had said… And I think I'll travel alone too. Don't get me wrong; I think you're a really nice person. But I think Gary's right. If I'm really going to win Emily back…" he waved his arms as Kayla opened her mouth, "I know I know, but she might still have some feeling for me. Anyway, if I'm going to get her back, I'm going to need to be as strong as Gary. And to do that; I'll need some serious training." He paused as Kayla soaked in his words.

"We'll still see each other some times. We just won't be traveling together all the time. In fact, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other at the gyms and cities. They're not that big."

Kayla nodded silently. Then, attempting to look happy, said her goodbye, "Yeah… I guess you're right. Um, well, bye."

"Catch ya' later! See, you're smiling already!" said Mike, happily darting off into the forest, looking determined to capture some tough pokemon.

Kayla watched as he left. 'He couldn't even tell that I was really very sad to be alone…' she thought to herself, 'Well, since we just met, I guess he didn't know me well enough to tell….'

Now she was all alone for sure though. The woods that had looked warm and friendly a few minutes ago, now looked cold and uninviting. She stared around the underbrush of the woods as she slowly crept through them. Constantly looking behind her shoulder, and listening to every crack and whistle she heard she passed by a big oak tree. The tree looked old enough to have been around when the planet was made. Its leafless branches twirled and twisted into knobs and points.

Kayla gaped at it. "What a creepy tree…" she said quietly, as if afraid to startle it.

She shook her head; she didn't want to be alone… But no one was around to be a comforting sight anymore… She clutched her parents' large coin in her pocket…

Then it hit her. Charmander!

She grabbed her light blue backpack off her back and dug around for anything spherical. She pulled out Charmander's pokeball and tossed it as Professor Oak had before. The small, fiery lizard came out after the blast of white light.

His tail stood up erect, his eyes narrowed, and his arms were tensed. He leered around the area, scanning for his opponent. But the only things around him were Kayla and the huge tree…

(Huh?) he said, turning to Kayla. (I see no opponent. So what am I doing out?) he asked, staring up at her in a confused state.

Kayla smiled nervously. "Um, I thought maybe you could walk with me?"

(What! Walk with you? I thought that I was just supposed to battle, not be out with you doing… well doing… whatever it is trainers do besides catch pokemon,) he looked around helplessly, (I don't even know what to do… just, walk with you?)

Kayla nodded, "Well yes, uh, don't you think walking will be much better than being confined to your pokeball…? Now let's go this way and get away from this creepy tree."

Charmander began to follow her. (All right I guess so. I would like to walk a bit, and that tree was creep... Wait a minute! Did you just understand what I said!) he asked, leaping forward so that he could get Kayla's attention.

"What? What's wrong Charmander? Do you not want to go that way?" Kayla asked, confused and a bit scared of why Charmander was blocking her path.

Charmander sighed and scratched his head as he let Kayla pass, (…must be losing my mind….)

He looked back at the old oak tree as they both walked away. There was something about it that made him feel as if someone were watching them… and he didn't like it.

A/N: Not much to say here, just thanks for reading! Next chapter has more character development for Charmander, ice cream, and a mysterious pokemon. Stay tuned, and reviews would be nice! And don't forget to pick out a poke-speak quotation for me to use! Thanks for reading!