Not All Arrogance (A Gary Oak Love Story) Part 7~Swimming for Fun and Wartortles

((Joyful Note: Yeah... my episode titles sort of suck now that I'm looking at them. Anyway, as for the subject of pokemon contests that was brought up in a comment, I'm afraid it'll be a while before I can take any suggestions. This is because I've already written this entire fanfic and also half the sequel. The sequel is in Orre, so that puts a damper on the contest idea. But, then they go to Johto and Sinnoh, so there's a slight possibility of contests. But I honestly doubt it'll happen, even if I do magically get that far. If I magically do get that far and finish all 4 seasons of this story, I had another 4 season series thought of with Drew as the male lead, but that is even more likely to be written then a sequel to my Supernatural DeanXCas fic. And that's nearly impossible. I think I'm rambling again, so I'm going to stop and let you read the actual story now))

When Amy finally opened her eyes, the sun was already fairly high. Harmony was still dozing, and Amy put her in her ball so as not to disturb her sleep as she rose and stretched. She glanced over at Gary, still slumbering on. She smirked, so much for his big hurry. She began rolling up her sleeping bag and tidying up the camp, waiting for him to arise as well. Finally, she was laying on her stomach, her face about a foot from his, staring at him. She didn't want to wake him up, but she was starting to consider doing just that. Suddenly his eyes opened blearily.

"Wha-what? Amy? What time is it?" he mumbled, sitting up and stretched hard. "Geez I slept like a log." he groaned and rubbed his temples.

Amy checked her watch "About quarter after ten."

"WHAT?!"

"You do sleep like a log you know. Just grab something to eat and roll up your bag, I have the rest of the stuff packed up already." Amy said getting to her feet. Gary grumbled about not being notified or something, and complied with Amy's wishes. Soon, they were both heading again to Cerulean City.

*****

"So, do you know what kind of gym they have in Cerulean?" Gary asked an hour or so later as they approached a sign saying that they were entering Cerulean city limits.

"No idea, but I can check the guidebook." Amy said fishing out her book and leafing through it. Meanwhile Gary pulled out a black marker from his bag and wrote something on the sign, unnoticed by Amy who was engrossed in what she was reading.

"Its a water gym! Apparently they have three gym leaders, all sisters, and they give synchronised swimming shows on the weekends. And look here, just a 15 minute walk north of Cerulean is Cerulean Point, it says its a hot date spot," Amy made a scoffing sound, but Gary's head turned and he went to look over Amy's shoulder. "It's also where Bill lives, THE Bill! The one who created the Pokémon transfer system!" Amy gushed as they started walking again. Amy never did notice what Gary had written on the sign, though about a day later Ash, did, and he fumed about it for weeks after.

Gary's note read:
Gary was here with Amy
Ash is a loser

*****

So, they at last made it to Cerulean. Amy was thrilled with the change of scenery and had released all her Pokémon so they could enjoy the sights and fresh air as well. It was a quiet city, but it really looked beautiful. Almost every house had some sort of fountain in front, and there were some really interesting ones, many in the shapes of Pokémon. Harmony was in Amy's arms, while Isis trotted at her feet. Avion would fly off a few feet, wing around a bit, then land on Amy's shoulder. After a short while watching this, Gary relented to releasing his Pokémon as well, except Kakuna. But Slasher and Socrates walked on either side of Isis. They found the gym quickly enough. They headed for the front door when a security guard suddenly moved in front, blocking their way.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Gary fumed, trying to get past anyway.

"Show's sold out kids, come back next week okay?" the guard grunted.

"But we're here to battle, not watch the show." Amy said grabbing Gary's bag with one hand pulling him back while still holding Harmony in the other.

The guard's face relaxed "In that case, come back in an hour, the show audience should be gone by then, and the gym leaders should be showered and ready to battle." the guard explained. Gary let out a frustrated sound, but Amy simply nodded and the group headed away.

"Oh, I know! Let's go see Bill at the lighthouse!" Amy suggested after they had walked a short time rather aimlessly.

"We don't have that long before the gym's free again!" Gary said like he couldn't believe she would suggest such a thing. Amy put her hands on her hips.

"Fine. You stay here; you do your battle first chance you get. I'll go see Bill and come back later" Amy said carefully and then turned right up the next street and started walking of... all the Pokémon following her. Gary blinked, and then clenched his fists hard.

"HEY! SLASHER! SOCRATES! GET BACK HERE!" Gary yelled but they just laughed and kept following Amy. Amy giggled as well.

"Looks like they like my plan better Gary." Amy said as she continued on her way. Gary stood fuming for about 5 seconds before running after them.

*****

After walking for roughly half an hour, they found their way north to a long beach. At the far end was a big lighthouse, but that wasn't what caught their attention. What did catch their attention was a huge Wartortle in the water, getting pelted with water guns from a swarm of regular sized Wartortles surrounding it.

"Well, you don't see that every day." Amy said blinking in surprise.

"SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!!!!" the giant Wartortle yelled from the water.

"You don't hear that every day either." Gary said cocking his head and crossing his arms with a confused and slightly pissed off look on his face.

"Hey, is that a zipper?" Amy said squinting at the giant Wartortle.

"So... there's a guy in a Wartortle costume in the water..." Gary said raising an eyebrow. Then he sighed. "I suppose we should help him out..."

"Yeah, okay. Harmony use- oh hang on, Gary cover your ears." Amy said to Gary. Gary and Amy, along with their Pokémon, clamped their hands/paws/wings over their ears. "USE SING!" Harmony broke into song, and in moments the Wartortles had fallen into slumber, along with the guy in the Wartortle costume. Amy and Gary ran out into the water, luckily it wasn't too deep, and pushed the Wartortle man onto the shore. "Hey Gary, think we should catch some Wartortles? I mean, they are knocked out and everything..." Amy said and Gary shrugged.

"I guess so."

So, after each of them had a Wartortle safely in a ball in their pockets (named now Quasar for Amy and Lucian for Gary, after Amy turned down Splash Master as a good name. Both because it was silly and also because she felt he had quite enough "s" named Pokémon now) they unzipped the Wartortle costume and pulled out a man with dark green hair, and a purple and green outfit. The costume was waterproof, so he was quite dry, sleeping peacefully.

"Well, that was weird. Your Jigglypuff has a really powerful song." he paused to yawn "If she had kept on much longer I would have been out too." Gary yawned again.

"Hey Gary, I think this is Bill!" Amy said looking closely at the sleeping man.

"Seriously?" Gary said looking slightly disgusted at the costume.

"Yeah, he looks like the picture from the guild book, here," Amy said digging out the guidebook from her bag, which she had dropped on the sand before going out in the water. She turned to the page about Cerulean's famous persons and pointed to the picture of Bill. They compared, and decided this was probably him.

"But if this is Bill, the inventor of the Pokémon transport system, what the hell was he doing in a Wartortle costume getting pummelled?" Gary said as Amy stuffed the book away again. Their Pokémon were bouncing on the costume as Gary and Amy discussed this, it turned out that the shell part was inflated.

"Well, inventors are eccentric. Hey, excuse me, Bill? Bill?" Amy said shaking the man and snapping her fingers.

"Let me do it." Gary said pushing Amy out of the way.

"Hey!" Amy snapped.

"WAKE UP DAMNIT!!!!!" Gary screamed. Bill's eyes snapped open and he sat straight up, bashing heads with Gary.

"Ow!" The both said at the same time, rubbing their heads. Amy and the Pokémon were laughing so hard it was starting to hurt.

"QUIT IT ALREADY!" Gary yelled and stood up, whipping out and comb and started to run it through his hair.
'Who the heck carries a comb in their pocket?' Amy thought rolling her eyes as she approached Bill, who was by now standing as well. The Wartortles in the water had by now awoken as well and had swum away.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked Bill, who seemed to have regained his balance.

"Yes, I'm fine, I was trying to study the way Wartortles swim, and I think a lot of the balance comes from their ears!" Bill exclaimed happily.

"Yeah great. Okay Amy we met the guy, can we go now?" Gary said irritably. Amy glared at Gary. He glared back a moment, then crossed his arms and looked away.

"You can't leave already; I assume you helped me back there? Then you must join me for lunch at least!" Bill said cheerfully. Amy agreed before Gary could protest.

*****

After a delicious seafood lunch, followed by the Pokémon taking naps in their Pokeballs, Bill took them on a tour of his lab, and even Gary had to admit it was impressive. For Amy however, the most amazing room was a huge domed area covered with black tiles and on each tile was a white sketch picture of different Pokémon. It was creepy, and yet beautiful. Amy stared around in absolute wonder.

"This room represents my life's work. The Pokémon. Trying to learn about them. Although I know I'll never know all there is to learn, I intend to discover as much as possible in one lifetime. I'm famous for my transfer system, but I'm happy because of all I've managed to learn" Bill's eyes were shining, revelling in his glory to live in the world of Pokémon. Amy herself felt blown away by his passion and hung on his every word. Gary seemed to be thinking intensely as well, though Amy didn't notice. She also didn't notice Gary's face darken as Bill put his arm around her shoulders to point out a machine on the far wall. It had 2 glass cases on either side, with a metal contraption with lots of light bulbs and buttons in the middle, attached to both.

"That, over there, was my prototype transfer system. There was sort of a major bug in it though. Until it occurred to me to transfer them inside the Pokeballs I fiddled with this a lot, even though I knew it would be limited to smaller Pokémon. In the end, I wound up altering the Pokeball as well, although few people know that the new Pokeball design is my doing. In any case, that wasn't the bug that made me change my whole system."

"Well, what was then?" Amy asked drawing away from Bill and closer to the machine.

"I had already managed to transfer Pokémon from one end the other, but the problem was, after the first one, the next Pokémon to be transferred would have an alteration in DNA. It seemed that when a Pokémon was transferred, it left a DNA trail in the machine, picked up by the next Pokémon to pass through. It was completely random. My first experiment for example, sent a Caterpi. But my next try, with a Poliwag, came out with a green Poliwag! And, curious, I sent it back again. Its colour was now a bluish green, and its eyes resembled Caterpi's! I was, of course, shocked, and spent a great amount of time trying to fix this situation for the Poliwag, but it failed miserably. The Poliwag seemed not to mind though and liked its new alterations, but I knew that not all Pokémon would obviously, so I never used it again, although occasionally I've had Pokémon break into this room, and I've had a Wingull with a Poliwag tail and feelers, a Krabby with claws turned to wings, now I keep a much closer surveillance on this room though." Bill said and they moved on. Amy and Gary stared a moment at the machine, then hurried on as well.

*****

Almost an hour later they had ended their tour and were getting ready to go. "Thank you Bill, it's been a real honour meeting you." Amy said smiling and holding out her hand for Bill to shake.

"And it's been a pleasure for me." Bill said taking her hand, but instead of shaking it he bent and kissed the back of it. Amy smiled and blushed.

"Well, um," she giggled.

"Amy, let's go back to the gym BEFORE it gets dark?" Gary said with a scowl, grabbing Amy's shoulders and steering her away.

"Well, goodbye then, oh hang on just a moment!" Bill said suddenly and ran back inside. Gary started to leave but Amy smacked him on the arm, and he stayed, grudgingly. A few minutes later, Bill rushed back outside, holding two slips of paper in his hands "I almost forgot where I put these, these are tickets for a party on the SS Anne in Vermillion, but I can't go. It's in a week; plenty of time to finish your gym battle and get there, the ship is going to travel from port out to sea and then back around to just south of Lavender Town. It's supposed to be a really great party too, so I want you two to have the tickets, it's only fair payment for helping me out and all." Bill said handing the tickets to Amy. Gary promptly snatched them out of her hands and stared at them wide eyed.

"Wow, Amy there's going to be an exhibition, and battles, and trading, and, wow this is amazing!" Gary started going on as he read the back of the ticket, describing the party events, and after a final goodbye they headed off again.

"Not a bad trip, coming up to the cape was it?" Amy said with a smirk at Gary, who had at last put the tickets away.

Gary rolled his eyes "No Amy." he said with a hint of sarcasm, and then smirked back "But now we ARE going to get our gym badges. I can't wait to break in Lucian and see what he can do."

"You aren't going to use him for this battle are you?" Amy said looking concerned.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Well, you just caught him! Using a Pokémon you just caught in a gym battle isn't usually recommended, you need time to work with him, and you don't even know what attacks he can use yet!"

"Okay I won't! Geez" Gary said and sped up his pace slightly. Amy matched it, and they headed back. Time to win some badges.

*****

Another half an hour brought them to the Cerulean gym's door. Another 5 minutes brought them face to face with the 3 gym leaders of Cerulean, Lily, Daisy and Violet.

"Like, welcome to the Cerulean Gym! Like, I call being this cutie's opponent!" Lily said giggling and grabbing Gary's wrist. He blushed and ran after him with a goofy smile. Amy blinked and felt colour creep into her cheeks. No way was she jealous. No, not possible, not possible not possible...

"And I'll like, take his girlfriend!" Violet said facing Amy.

"I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!!!" Amy yelled. Much better.

"Like, whatever. Come on, we're battling after them." Violet said and they all headed for the battlefield.
The battlefield was a big swimming pool with mats in it. Gary and Lily stood at either end.

"Like, this battle is like, totally 2 on 2! Like, battle ends when both of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle! Challenger and can totally change Pokémon whenever he wants, but gym leader is like, not allowed, so, like, start!" Daisy said smiling.

"Go Poliwhirl!" Lily called, throwing a ball onto the mat. It released a rather odd looking Poliwhirl. Its skin was blue/green, and the eyes were like big black dots, kind of like a Caterpi's...

"Um, did she get her Poliwhirl from Bill? Up at the lighthouse?" Amy asked Violet.

"Like, totally! Bill is SUCH a gentlemen, and we were like, visiting him a while ago and he had that Poliwag there, and there had been an accident, but like, Lily though it was totally cute like that, and like, took it anyway. It was like, totally cool!" Violet explained and Amy nodded, smiling as well, and turned her attention to the battle at hand.

"Go, Lucian!" Gary called, releasing his new Wartortle. Amy's eyes widened.

"Gary I told you no..." Amy moaned under her breath.

Lily wasted no time "Like, Poliwhirl, Bubble beam!" Lily said pointing at Lucian.

"Dive!" Gary yelled, and Lucian turned around and stared at Gary in confusion. He still didn't quite get what had occurred yet. He had been attacking some trespasser, then he fell asleep, now he was in battle with some kid who was calling him Lucian? What the heck was this about? The Bubble beam slammed into his shell and he fell off the mat into the water. He swam to the surface and glared at Poliwhirl. "There, see? Now get back on the mat and use Water Gun! Quick!" Gary ordered. Lucian composed himself and then complied excitedly.

"Wartortle!" he said happily, crawling onto the mat and sending a foamy blast at Poliwhirl.

"Dive!" Lily yelled and Poliwhirl died a back flip into the water, evading the attack.

"Get in there too!" Gary called out, and Lucian dove after Poliwhirl. They slammed into each other underwater and started a wrestling match under there."RAPID SPIN!!!" Gary screamed, after checking his Pokedex for Wartortle attacks. Lucian withdrew and started spinning. He slammed Poliwhirl and he flew out a few feet. But he also started a whirlpool, which drew him straight in again, onto to be bounced back out. This happened several times before Lily cried out

"That's enough! Like, Poliwhirl, ice punch!" Poliwhirl's fist glowed ice blue and slammed the spinning shell, freezing it instantly in the water around it. He spun a couple more times, and then sank to the bottom.

"Lucian? LUCIAN!!" Gary yelled.

"Poliwhirl, bring Lucian back up please and thank you!" Lily said and her Pokémon dove down, grabbed the ice block with the Wartortle shell inside and swam to the surface, depositing it on the nearest mat. Gary stared at it in dismay.

"Lucian is unable to battle! Like, Poliwhirl wins! Bring on number two challenger!" Daisy announced. Gary returned the shell and the ice block from the mat. He would have to unfreeze his Pokémon later. "Fine then, Go! Slasher!" his Raticate appeared on the mat, snarling.

"Okay, Poliwhirl! Bubble beam!"

"Knock them away with your tail!" Gary yelled. Slasher's tail cracked like a whip and knocked the bubbles away, right back at Poliwhirl. They slammed the surprised Pokémon into the water.

"Like, oh no! Get over there and water gun him!" Lily shouted, and Poliwhirl jumped up and sent a jet of water at Slasher.

"Duck and use Swift!" Gary yelled. The rat Pokémon narrowly avoided the water blast and sent forth a stream of stars, hitting their target like heat seeking missiles. Poliwhirl slammed into the water yet again. Lily looked frustrated.

"Go in for it! Ice Punch!"

"JUMP UP!" Raticate flew above the Pokémon's attack. "NOW USE DOUBLE KICK!" The rat Pokémon slammed 2 powerful kicks into Poliwhirl's head. The ice punch faded, the Pokémon swayed, and then fell face first into the water.

"Like, Poliwhirl is unable to battle! Slasher wins!" Daisy said like she couldn't believe it.

"You fought well Poli! Really!" Lily said returning her Pokémon. "That was like, totally amazing, but now, go Kingler!" Lily said throwing her Pokeball. Out came a Kingler. With wings instead of claws.

"More from Bill?" Amy asked Violet.

"Yup. He can't fly though, don't worry too much"

"I won't"

"USE WHIRLWIND!" Lily yelled. Kingler started flapping hard, sending torrents of water flying at Slasher. The surprised rat Pokémon dug his claws hard into the mat, and managed to stay on as the water cleared.

"Okay, we weren't expecting that, but who cares? Swift!" Gary called.

"Do you have any of Bill's mutant Pokémon Violet?" Amy inquired.

"No, Lily took them all. She also has a Wingull with a Poliwag tail and feelers."

'Could have guessed that.' Amy thought smiling.

The two Pokémon clashed for another 5 minutes before a winner was finally decided. It was Slasher. Gary went into a frenzy of victory dancing. Soon after Gary had his badge in his badge case, Amy stood at the challenger's side of the field, Violet at the other.

"Ready? Like, go!" Daisy said and the battle commenced.

Two rounds later, Avion finished Violet's Seel, and though her Seaking knocked Avion out of the sky Harmony took the win. While Gary bragged about his 'greatness genes' to the sisters and turned Violet's hairdryer on Lucian, Amy took out the red velvet case from her bag. She opened it and looked closely at the Boulder Badge already pinned to the black silk interior. She pinned the Cascade badge beside it and closed the lid. She let out a small sigh and packed it away again.

*****

A few hours later, after checking into the Pokémon Center, Amy and Gary were in their room. Their Pokémon were eating on the ground, and Amy was once again on the top bunk. Gary had seemed to have given up fighting for it. Amy watched as the Pokémon ate below, Quasar and Lucian at one bowl, Avion eating from a small pile of bird seed. Socrates and Isis shared a bowl while Slasher and Harmony shared another, though Slasher keep giving Socrates ticked off looks. Sting wasn't eating, but that didn't surprise Amy, after all, cocoon Pokémon didn't need to eat.

"Hey Amy?" Gary asked from the bottom bunk.

"What?" Amy asked as she fixed her blanket on top of her. She was already in her pjs and as soon as the Pokémon were done eating Gary would turn off the light.

"When we were at Bill's, you didn't, you know, like him or anything did you?"

"Excuse me?!" Amy said in an annoyed tone "So what if I did? Because one, he's kinda too old for me, two, obviously he has something going on with Lily, and three, what the heck do you care anyway?"

"Well, you know, no reason..." Gary grumbled.

Amy suddenly blinked "Gary... YOU don't like me... do you?" she asked carefully, trying desperately to suppress a smile.

"What? No! I just, just, no!" Gary said jumping out of bed and looking up at Amy, who was sitting up now, looking panicky.

"Oh my gosh, you do!" Amy said in shock, putting her hand over her mouth.

"No! Well, maybe, but, well you don't like me so what the heck's the point?! Grr... you know what? Forget it. Just forget it. It doesn't matter."

"How long have you liked me for?" Amy said her mouth giving into a blushing smile.

Gary didn't look at her, but she could tell he was blushing too.

"Always..." he muttered "Oh geez, just, FORGET IT ALREADY!" Gary yelled and ran from the room. The Pokémon looked up as Gary left, and then turned to Amy.

"GARY!" Amy yelled and hurried down the ladder to the ground. She was about to tear after Gary, but first turned to the Pokémon.

"Um, you guys just stay here alright? And, and don't trash the place, I'll be right back okay?" Amy said and tore out after Gary.

*****

It took Amy about 10 minutes to find Gary, out on a bridge near the center. She snuck up on him and sat beside him, trailing her legs off the side like he was doing.

"Gary..." she whispered and he glanced at her, looking quickly away. he still answered though.

"I-I liked you for... a long time. But you were always with Ash, and well, I just sorta started teasing you, I don't know, and then you started yelling at me, and then now, years later, gramps sets me on my journey with you, just the two of us, and well..."

Amy placed her hand on Gary's, he turned towards her, blushing hard and looking stunned. "Gary, I-I'm not sure what to say. But, first off, I never liked Ash in that way. But... I don't know if I'm ready for that kind of relationship with you... or anyone for that matter. Still though we at least be friends right? Just so we can see how that works out." Amy said offering her other hand to Gary.

"Um, should I kiss it like Bill did?" Gary said looking at it. Amy gave a weirded out look.

"N-no, a handshake will quite suffice." Amy replied.

"Oh, sure" Gary said with a nervous laugh and shook it. Now they were friends.

((Joyful Note: Nope. No romance yet. It'll happen eventually... just stay tuned))