Chapter Twenty
Hot battles and New Ideas

Previously:
Lloyd readied the Escape rope that they would use to get out, and he looked up at the ceiling, "What…next…" He said slowly to himself.

They approached the Gym, and Johnny walked up to the door with a grin on his face. He confidently put the key into the gyms lock and pushed the door open. Only to have it swing back with a loud smash, causing Lloyd to laugh. Johnny scowled and slowly pushed the door open this time. Our heroes entered the small room, and upon speaking to the man at the beginning of the gym, found out they were supposed to take a quiz to get through without a fight.

"A quiz?" Johnny exclaimed, "We aren't still in freaking school." He grumbled.

Surprisingly enough, the questions were very easy, and they passed by with no problems…until.

"Does Caterpie Evolve into Butterfree?" The question was asked, and Johnny scoffed, about to say his answer. Lloyd suddenly grabbed his shoulder "Say yes!" Lloyd whispered, and Johnny turned, "What? No! Caterpie evolves into Metapod!"

"Yeah, but it evolves into Butterfree in the long run!" Lloyd insisted, and Johnny shook his head, "I'm saying No."

"Don't!" Lloyd urged.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YES!" Johnny yelled angrily, and the machine gave a beep, "Processing answer…"

Johnny slowly turned to look at the machine, eyes wide, "No! No! No! The answer is No!" Johnny wailed, hitting the machine, and quickly pulling his hand back in pain.

"Correct. You may proceed unmolested." The computer voice said, and Johnny looked up, before glaring at Lloyd, "We shall never speak of this again." Johnny said simply, walking forwards.

After one more easily conquered question, Johnny, Tony and Lloyd approached an aging man in a white lab coat, he stood with his hands crossed behind his back and looking away from them.

"So…you got the key, hmm?" He said, and Johnny nodded.

"And you passed my quizzes, hmm?" He asked again, and Johnny nodded again.

"Well, assuming your not here to chat, let's begin this RED-HOT battle!" Blaine yelled, turning around with a pokeball in his hand, his lab coat fluttering as he spun. He grinned as he released his first pokemon, the small red dog that stood proudly.

Johnny nodded for a third time and pulled his own pokeball from his belt, releasing the Purple bivalve, which landed facing the Growlithe. The dog barked, rushing forwards biting down on the hard shell of the clam, who flapped noisily to get it off. The Growlithe landed on its feet unharmed and leapt up again, spinning in the air, smashing down on the Shellder with a loud smash. The Bivalve jetted backwards, skidding across the ground, sending a blast of water as it did so.

The water struck the Growlithe who whimpered in pain, but shook it off and charged again, performing another take down that knocked out the under experienced Shellder.

Johnny recalled the Shellder, smiling. "Why's Johnny happy? His Shellder just got beaten!" Lloyd asked Tony, who quickly replied, "Lloyd…It's the thrill of battling, that's all. That's why he's better then me and you…He embraces the Thrill."

Johnny's Snorlax was out, and it had picked up the small dog and mercilessly tossed it across the room, knocking it out.

The Snorlax boomed with laughter and sat down as Blaine recalled his Growlithe, sending out a Ponyta. The Ponyta took a deep breath, and it sent out a giant fire blast. The Fire flew wildly, as the Ponyta stamped backwards. The Fire hit next to the Snorlax, who had rolled out of the way and stood up. It inhaled a great, massive, mouthful of air and expelled it. Instead of the Snorlax's breath, a gush of water flooded out, and the fire horse neighed in response, frightfully trotting backwards, but to no avail. The water washed over the horse and sent it spiraling through the water. When the wave died down, an inch high pool had formed in the room, and the Ponyta was unconscious.

Grimacing at the water on the floor, Blaine released his Rapidash, who snorted in anger.

The Snorlax yawned, before staring wearily at the furious Fire unicorn. It suddenly turned trotting quickly around the Snorlax, who tried to keep up with its eyes, but it couldn't. The Rapidash was running so fast around the Snorlax, water was splashing everywhere, and the unicorn had become a comet, streaking around the Snorlax. Suddenly the flames on the Rapidash blazed up, surrounding the Snorlax, ripping into the Fat pokemon.

The flames also heated the room, and in no time the water had evaporated, leaving the air humid like a sauna. The Rapidash was still running as the Snorlax slowly got up, wincing in pain from the Fiery Tornado it was in, and Quickly moved it's hand into the flames. The Tornado suddenly stopped, as the Rapidash was unexpectedly clothes lined, sending it speeding like a comet into the wall, literally leaving a horse-shaped indent. The Snorlax stood panting heavily, a few flames lingering on it as Blaine recalled his Rapidash.

Blaine sent out his final pokemon, his Arcanine, who roared, sending the temperature in the room up. The already sweating Snorlax fell down again, exhausted. The Arcanine released a spinning circle of flames, burning into the Snorlax, who fell over, defeated by not the fire, but the heat in the room.

Sighing, Johnny recalled his Snorlax and let out his Electrode. The ball rolled forwards, but the Arcanine gave it no time to do anything, quickly rushing in and smashing the Electrode against the wall. The ball hit the wall and was quickly assaulted by a duo of Flame wheels. When the Ball sped out of the flames, heading straight towards the Canine, it leapt over the Orb, which hit the wall. Hard.

The Electrode rolled backwards, dazed, and had no time to stop as the Arcanine rammed the Ball, pinning it against the wall. The Arcanine lifted its head up, and the Dense Ball was flung into the air, and hit with a Fire Blast in mid-flight. The ball fell from the cloud of smoke and hit the ground with a dull thud, unconscious. The Arcanine gave a snort, flames blazing out and dissipating quickly.

Johnny recalled his orb and released his Gengar, who hopped around the room, watching the Arcanine. Seeing this new, seemingly cheerful foe, The Arcanine charged in, rushing straight at the ghost with its broad shoulders. The Ghost's large grin never faltered, and the Arcanine ran right through the Ghost, skidding to avoid crashing into the wall. The Gengar Laughed loudly at the dog, who roared and sent a Fire Blast at the Ghost. The Gengar slid out of the way in mid-air, and Phased out. It appeared in front of the large dog and Grinned.

The Dog looked surprised, and blinked. The blink was all the Gengar needed before it launched a Shadow ball into the Dog point-blank. The Arcanine yelped, and jumped away from the ghost, its Fur smoking. It shook its mane and unleashed a spinning ring of fire, which spun through the Gengar. While no physical damage was visible, the Gengar's grin faded and was replaced by pain. It jumped backwards, phasing out as it did.

It reappeared behind the Arcanine, and leapt up above the dogs back, driving it's glowing fist right through the Arcanine, who yelped in pain. The Gengar flew straight through, entering the ground and popping out a few feet away, facing the Arcanine, who was now knocked out on the ground.

Johnny recalled his Gengar, who was grinning again, and walked up to Blaine. With a firm handshake and a friendly goodbye, Johnny accepted the badge and Customary TM.

They left the gym, Johnny talking about how he won the battle without breaking a sweat, which Tony pointed out was impossible seeing as though, by the end of the match the room had become a sauna. Lloyd also mentioned the fact that all three of their shirts were soaked with sweat as well.

As Johnny tried to redeem himself from his mistake, a speedboat suddenly docked at the edge of the island in front of them, and a familiar brown-haired man walked out.

"Well I'll be!" The man said, as he walked up to our heroes, "If it isn't you fellers!"

"Bill?" Tony asked, and they all shook his hand, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just stopping off here…ya know what?" Bill asked, There's a new area we found, we named it Sevii islands, and if you guys want…" Bill trailed off, holding out three tickets.

"Why?" Tony asked as Johnny quickly grabbed the three tickets from Bills hands.

"Well, your all experience with battling, I was wondering if you could help me." Bill asked, "If you want to know more, visit me at Knot Island in the Pokecenter. If you do help me, call it thanks for giving you these tickets, aye?"

"Wait, Bill, we'll go, just can you wait a day?" Tony said, and Johnny angrily looked over at Tony.

"Well, no, I've got to go, but I'll ask the captain to bring the boat back over here." Bill said, waving to them as he boarded the boat.

"What are you doing?" Johnny broke out as soon as Bill was gone, "I only have one gym left! Can't we just sell these tickets like I was planning to?"

"Johnny!" Lloyd said form behind them, "Come here."

"Ugh." Johnny growled, walking off a few feet with Lloyd. They stood huddled up talking, before Johnny nodded curtly and walked over to Tony, "Do you have a room at the center?"

Tony pulled out his key and handed it to Johnny, "There's only one bed though."

"Meh, I'll use it now, wake me up when you want it."

Lloyd walked over to Tony and smiled, "What did you say to him?" Tony asked.

"Well, two things. One, that we should help Bill, he is famous and Johnny has to have a good image if he's gonna be a loved Champion. Two, that if there are some newly discovered islands, then they might have rare treasure or pokemon." Lloyd explained, "I just really wanted to go to these Islands. An island sounds nice to relax on."

Tony quirked an eyebrow at Lloyd, and surveyed his surroundings, "Um…this is called Cinnabar Island for a reason you know…"

Lloyd looked surprised, but crossed his arms across his chest, "I mean a real island, and this is a crappy tiny rock." With that said, Lloyd walked over to the shore and sat down, releasing his pokemon out to play. Tony walked up behind Lloyd and tapped him on the shoulder, "I'm gonna go take care of something, Can you watch my pokemon while I'm gone? Thanks." Tony said without waiting for a response, releasing his pokemon and walking away.

Johnny was lying on the bed in his room, in the dark, staring at the ceiling, and arms behind his head. He was thinking about what he could do to boost his reputation on these islands he'd be visiting soon.

"Hmm…I could probably knock out a few big scary pokemon and gain some recognition that way. Or I could, um…Damn I'm out of ideas, what do you think?" Johnny asked, turning to his Gengar, who sat on the chair, with a serious look on his normally grinning face. The Gengar looked up at him, before breaking out into laughter again, pointing at Johnny and slapping his knees, even to the point of falling off if his chair. Of course that only fueled his cackling.

"Ugh, your no help unless you're battling." Johnny growled, recalling the Shadow pokemon and slumping back on the bed. Suddenly the door opened and bathed half the room in light, before closing again.

"Tony?" Johnny called sitting up, but a female's voice in front of him wiped that thought from his head, "Not quite."

Lloyd had sat in quite glumness after Tony left, watching over the pokemon just in time to see Primape get angry at Seel for splashing Tony's Gyarados. Almost directly after the Primape switched anger to Tony's Persian for sleeping to close to Lloyd. When Lloyd tried to calm the Pig monkey down it only gave a sharp snarl and leapt up onto the gyarados, sitting on its head, pouting.

Looking over to his left he spotted the pokemon who didn't like the water, Charizard and Marowak, who were apparently having fun knocking Tony's Grimer back and forth like a sludgy ball. Suddenly a splash brought Lloyd's head back to the water, where his Dragonair slithered over to him, pushing its head into Lloyd's shoulder for food.

Lloyd sighed and nodded, telling Blastoise and Raichu to watch over the pokemon while he went to the center to get some Pokesnacks. As he walked he thought he saw Valarie walked into center, but dismissed it as some other person, since the girls were back in Saffron.

Walking into the center he decided to see if Johnny wanted to let his pokemon out for a bit too, and walked up to Tony's room where Johnny was sleeping. He was just about to open the Door to the room, as he spotted the small sign on the door reading "DO NOT DISTURB!"

Quickly withdrawing his hand from the doorknob, Lloyd didn't want to think about what Johnny might have been doing in there. He instead decided to content himself with buying the Pokesnacks and feeding all of the pokemon. The day had turned to early night when Lloyd left and he sat down to watch the pokemon entertain themselves.

Tony had finished talking with Professor Oak about the Cinnabar Mansion and thanked him before hanging up. He was about to head up to his room to tell Johnny that he wanted to rest, but he turned and spotted Lloyd leave the center, arms full of Pokesnacks.

Following Lloyd he stood behind him as he fed the pokemon and laid back.

"Hey." Tony said and Lloyd shot up, looking around, "I was watching them I wasn't sleeping you cant prove anything!"

"Anyways…" Tony trailed off when Lloyd looked over at him, "I'm just gonna grab my pokemon and head to my room, so thanks for watching them." Lloyd quickly stood up, waving his hands as Tony recalled his pokemon. "Hey! No, you can't…um…go to the room, Johnny's…busy?" Lloyd tried but ended up having his arms flop at his sides, dejected, "Well…if you do go, just…try to listen to the sign."

Shaking his head, Tony walked back to the center. He entered the building and started to head to his room. He spotted his room a few doors down and started towards it, but the door to his left opened, and a purple haired girl walked out, in front of Tony.

"Oh? Tony! Hello!" The girl said, and Tony looked at her more carefully to see Kat. "Oh, Kat, hey."

"Um, do you know where Lloyd is?" Kat asked, and Tony looked over his shoulder, "Yeah, he was over watching his pokemon at the shore last time I saw him, I gotta head to my room so…"

Kat looked quickly at her watch, jumped, and looked over towards Tony's room, "Um, I wouldn't go there if I were you, but I do think Tiffany wanted to talk to you." Kat said giving a tiny wave and walking past Tony. Looking towards Kat's room he spotted Tiffany standing in the doorway.

"Oh. Hi." Tony said, and Tiffany rolled her eyes, before quickly looking down both ends of the hallway. Tony watched as she waited for a man to enter his room, and seemingly satisfied, she grabbed Tony by his shirt collar, "Arg! What are you doing?" Tony gasped, and Tiffany replied smoothly, "Repaying you for the dinner."

With that she pulled Tony into the room, the lasts coherent words out of Tony's mouth being, "Oh."

Lloyd had recalled his pokemon shortly after Tony did and moved to the other side of the beach, on the dock. It was now nighttime and Lloyd could clearly see thousands of stars, as opposed to the bigger cities they were in earlier where the night's stars were barely visible. He was sitting on the edge of the dock, with his feet hanging over the edge, and he heard the docks boards creaking as someone walked over to him. The smell of the perfume and small sigh as the person sat down next to him was all he needed to know who it was. He leaned back, hands behind him and looked up at the stars.

"So what are you three doing here?" He asked quietly, and felt Kat shrug. She leaned her head onto Lloyd's shoulder with a small sigh, and Lloyd wrapped his arm around her.

…The Next Morning…
Tony woke up slowly, and yawned, stretching. He pulled the covers back carefully and slid out of the bed. He got dressed quietly, but he couldn't find his sock. He finally spotted it hanging from the ceiling fan and snagged it without falling. Walking over to the bed he gave Tiffany a kiss to the forwards before leaving the room. He spotted Johnny in the hallway, stretching as well, looking like he just woke up despite all his gear on his backpack. He waved towards Tony as he approached, and quickly shut the door behind him.

"Let's go." Johnny said, pointing away from the room, "Yeah, but all my stuffs in there!" Tony protested as Johnny pushed him away from the door, "Nope, had them move it down to the lobby, we want to get to those Islands soon, right?"

"Sure, I guess."

In the lobby Tony grabbed his backpack and left the center with Johnny, they found Lloyd already waiting for them at the boat.

"It's about time you guys made it, I had to convince the captain that you were all coming. He's been wanting to leave since daybreak." Lloyd called as they approached, "What!" Johnny cried when they reached Lloyd, "Dawn? It's like 6 in the morning! He can wait." Johnny growled.

Lloyd checked his watch, and looked back at the captain and gave him a thumbs up, "By the way, it's 7, not 6."

"I don't really care."

"Hey, lets not fight this early guys." Tony said as they walked up the boarding ramp to the ship.

"Oh, you'll never believe who else is here Tony." Lloyd said excitedly as they walked towards the back of the boat where the seats were.

"Who?" Tony began before he walked into the small seating area where two people were sitting."

"Oh. My. God. It's Tony and Johnny too!" the girl screamed as Tony and Johnny entered the seating area.

Tony sat across from Jess and Andrew while Johnny and Lloyd sat on both sides of him. The boat was speeding across the water and Tony was holding his drink to keep it from spilling everywhere.

"So…" Tony started, but Andrew just shook his head and waved Lloyd over to him. Lloyd sat across from Andrew, and they quickly began talking.

"Oh that Andy." Jess sighed, before turning towards Tony and Johnny, "So what's new with you boys?"

"Boy?" Johnny said indignantly, "Lady, I'm no boy." He corrected, and Jess's eyes flashed, "I'm no lady." She said cheerfully, but it didn't seem like it. Lloyd scooted next to Tony out of nowhere and poked him in the shoulder.

"Man, you should here some of Andrew's philosophies. He's got all kinds of theories about how water is better for Pokemon and Humans alike. It's actually making sense." Lloyd said, and Tony looked over at Andrew, who glared back.

"What about the benefits of land?" Johnny piped in, leaning towards Tony. Jess and Andrew glanced at each other quickly, before Andrew stood up suddenly, "I will be back." He said bluntly and Tony got that same wave of Déjà vu as when he first met Jess.

He turned towards Jess, who was Biting her lip and thinking, "Are you sure we haven't met earlier?" Tony asked, and Jess shook her head, "Besides in Celadon, no."

"Oh, ok." Tony said and Jess stood up, excusing herself and following Andrew.

"Pssh, that Andrew guy sounds like he's selling some kind of Propaganda with all that Water nonsense." Johnny scoffed, and Tony shook his head, "Hey, I happen to love water."

Johnny rose his hands in defense, "Hey, I'm just saying, you wouldn't want there to be no land either, would you?"

Tony looked up thoughtfully, "Yeah…I guess not." Suddenly the Captain leaned his head out the window, "Oy! LAND HO!" He shouted to them, and they grabbed their stuff, disembarking off the ship. As it was about to pull away, they saw Jess and Andrew at the end of the boat, and Andrew turned to them, "Remember what I told you!" He called towards Lloyd, and the boats engine started up, moving the boat away.

"Guys!" A voice yelled behind them, and they turned to find Bill walking up to them, "You guy's did come! Excellent, come with me!" Bill laughed, pointing towards an extremely large Pokecenter.

"Whoa…looks like the guy who built this was compensating for something, eh?" Johnny whispered to Tony as they approached the large building.

Tony chuckled as the automatic doors clicked open revealing to them the insides of the oversized Pokecenter.

YES.
Once again I ask that you tell me your favorite characters, because if you like them, then I will try my best to have them have more and more parts. Of course, I can't be too unbiased. Feel free to give suggestions too.
THANKS...
...For reading this, those that do.