Not All Arrogance (A Gary Oak Love Story) Part 17~Out of Breath, But Ready To Fight
((Joyful Note: I am shocked I have actually received an 'Honest Review' of this story. I mean, I knew it deserved them, but I didn't expect to SEE one. And a nice, detailed one too. Huzzah! I like to see that people recognise crap when they see it. Yes, in truth this story is unoriginal and silly. Why do I keep posting it then? Sentimental reasons. And yes, Gary is out of character. My honest reviewer said he was like Paul. It took me a second to remember who he was. Just so it's clear, I've only seen maybe a dozen episodes of Diamond and Pearl, and 2 with Paul. So I really didn't intend for Gary to end up like him specifically. And really, Gary comes off like a serious jerk in the first season. Then he loses in Kanto League, starts to chill out during Johto and then is nice as pie from then onward. But anyway, yeah, sorry for the fact the writing sucks but at the time it was the best thing I'd written and if you'd read what had popped from my creative loins prior to this you'd agree with me.))
Amy, Duplica and Gary spent about four hours getting down Cycling Road, as the bike path was called. It took this long not because it was that long a bike ride, but because every biker they met wanted to have a Pokémon battle with them. By the time they reached Fuchsia the sun was setting and they were exhausted. The town was pretty small, so they quickly found the Pokémon center. While waiting for their Pokémon to be healed, they discussed where they would be going next.
"Okay, I guess we could go to the gym," Amy sighed, leaning back in her seat in the waiting room.
"I'm good with that," Duplica agreed, leaning back as well, thrilled to be sitting on a seat that wasn't moving.
"Well I'm not," Gary huffed. Amy and Duplica stared at him for this obviously out of character statement. Amy, who was sitting next to him, went so far as to put a hand to his forehead.
"Are you feeling alright Gary? Usually you're always up for gym battle, did you get too much sun out on the bike?" she asked concerned.
"No," Gary said shortly, pushing her hand away. "We're all exhausted and probably shouldn't even think about battling until tomorrow. Also, we should visit the Safari Zone to improve our teams. Fuchsia has a poison gym, and rock and ground types would be really useful."
"Okay, I'm fine with that," Amy said shrugging.
"Me too, I'm TOTALLY wiped out, could sleep for a year!" Duplica laughed.
Amy sighed. "Well I'm not sleepy, so what am I going to do while you take the nap of the decade?"
Gary smirked. "Well, I was going to go to the zoo in front of the Safari Zone, it's pretty famous. You said you wanted to see the sites and this could be educational too. So you could come with me and let Duplica stay here to sleep."
Amy blinked. "Are you trying to get me on a date with you?"
Gary's smirk widened into a grin. "Duh."
Duplica squealed. "That is so sweet! You should totally go!"
"W-ell.... okay," Amy agreed uneasily. Gary let out an 'alright' and threw his fist in the air to celebrate, which caused Amy to blush violently. He then jumped up, grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her up with him. He headed for the door, calling back to Duplica to ask that she take care of their Pokémon once Nurse Joy brought them back.
"No problem, you kids have fun!" Duplica giggled and waved.
*****
The zoo was a free attraction, so nearly everyone passing through Fuchsia stopped by. Therefore, it was extremely crowded. This was good in that it was noisy thereby eliminating awkward silences, but for Amy it was also a bit hair raising as it gave an excellent excuse for Gary to hold her hand the whole time so as not to get separated. Amy was certain that her hand was sweating so much that it would slip free anyway, but oddly enough it didn't.
Despite the fact that Gary kept reading the information cards as if he knew this information all along, Amy had a pretty good time. She found herself learning a bunch too. The zoo had for the most part Pokémon you could find in the Safari Zone, though it also had some rarer specimens from other regions such as a lazy looking Hippodon. Gary mostly jumped from exhibit to exhibit, apparently trying to get a quick glimpse of everything before the day was through. Amy did however force him to stop for a good 15 minutes as she watched the cage, mesmerized. A Dragonair, directed by a trainer, zoomed through hoops suspended by wires. It was so graceful, so fluid in motion, Amy couldn't look away. Gary was interested at first of course, but his attention drifted after a while.
By the time Dragonair finished its routine and the crowd dispersed, the sun was beginning to go down and the guards were coming around to kick everybody out. Gary and Amy headed for the gate, but Amy was now sure of one thing. Tomorrow in the Safari Zone, no matter what it took, she was going to catch a Dratini. On the way back to the Pokémon center, despite the fact they weren't in a crowd crush, Gary was still holding Amy's hand. She felt uncomfortable of course, but she didn't say anything because she didn't really want him to let go.
"So, erm, did you have a good time?" Gary asked awkwardly, noticing that she wasn't speaking or looking at him.
Amy was startled by the sudden question. "What? Oh, yeah I did," she looked down and blushed. He was still holding her hand, and she was VERY conscious of it. She did manage to comment after a minute though, with a soft smirk decorating her lips. "I suppose I shouldn't have to ask if you had a good time, our hands have been practically welded together it seems."
"Do you want me to let go?"
Amy shook her head. "No... it's okay" she laughed a little. They strode in silence, the sky darkening as they went. Eventually they reached the Pokémon center. Amy dropped Gary's hand on the way in, for some reason she was uncomfortable about Duplica seeing them holding hands like that. When she did see Duplica however, all thoughts of hand holding flew from her mind. Duplica was looking extremely apologetic... with a confused looking Wigglytuff beside her.
"I'm sorry Amy!" Duplica wailed, "Harmony started going through your stuff when I wasn't looking and found your moonstone and so now..." she trailed off and gestured to the Wigglytuff. Amy's jaw dropped.
"So... now I have a Wigglytuff," she mumbled.
"Apparently. She looks strong," Gary offered. Amy sighed, forced a smile, and told Duplica not to worry about it. She congratulated Harmony and assured her that she looked as cute as ever. The giant pink Pokémon squealed and danced in happiness, causing Amy to be reminded of Gary's victory dance and flushed maddeningly. At last Gary retreated to the bathroom down the hall with his pjs in order to change. Amy and Duplica changed in record time, because Duplica insisted that Amy divulge every detail of her date with Gary. It didn't take too long, but Duplica awed multiple times over the fact that they'd held hands the whole time.
"That's just so cute! Did you kiss?" she asked. Amy freaked out.
"NO!" she said defensively. Duplica seemed shocked.
"You do want to kiss him at some point... don't you?"
Amy blinked and shifted uncomfortably. "I guess I do... but... I'm also scared of it."
Duplica blinked, then smiled. "I'm sure you'll be a good kisser, don't worry!"
"It's not that!"
Duplica seemed confused. "Well... I'm sure Gary'll be a good kisser too..."
"Duplica! That's not it either!"
Duplica tilted her head. "Then what IS it?"
Amy sighed. "I'm... not actually that sure. I'm just afraid."
Duplica seemed to muse on this. "Maybe you're afraid of commitment."
Amy blinked. "What?"
Duplica explained, "Well, this would be your first kiss right? So for you, your first kiss will be something really special. Whoever you have it with, you'll remember them forever. So if it ends badly afterwards, like he dumps you, you'll be way more heartbroken then you'd be now. Also, if you want to dump him, you'll feel insanely guilty about it. You'll feel, well, committed to him. At least, that's what you'd think right now. Right now you feel like you can get out if you want to, but after you kiss, somehow the door will close. You just need to realise it's not like that."
Amy frowned. "I think... you might be right," she groaned. She felt Gary had been gone a long time and suddenly felt that he was probably listening right outside the door, probably in the same position she had taught him to take while eavesdropping. She decided if he was though, it hardly mattered if she continued at this point. "I don't know how you'd know my motives better than I do, but either way, I'm too scared to kiss him. I'm scared of him kissing me. I just want to take this really slow. That shouldn't be a problem right? Besides," she said looking closely at Duplica, "The first kiss is a commitment, it's... a rite of passage thing."
Duplica shrugged. "I guess."
"Have you had yours?"
Duplica nodded, smiling. "Yup, I was 10, it was an 11 year old boy who was always coming around my grandpa's flower shop in Goldenrod City."
Amy smiled. "Your grandpa owned a flower shop?"
Duplica laughed. "Yes, he stocked the perfume for the Goldenrod dept. store; why else would I like the stuff so much? I have a cultured nose for it."
Amy shook her head. "I guess that explains it then." They were silent for a while as Amy mused that it was more likely Duplica's nose had been desensitized to the smell of perfume rather than cultured for it. Then Gary knocked on the door, asking if it was safe to come in.
"We're decent!" Amy and Duplica replied in unison and he opened the door. As they made last preparations for bed Gary kept glancing awkwardly at Amy, making her very suspicious of him listening in. She decided to ignore it though, if she said nothing indicating she knew he was listening to her conversation, he couldn't comment about it.
*****
The next morning they woke bright and early, left some of their heavier stuff at the Pokémon center, and headed out towards the Safari Zone. They eagerly paid their way in and found each of themselves with a bucket of green Safari balls. Duplica told Gary and Amy that if they needed more balls they could use hers. She only wanted more Ditto so she didn't mind.
It was a fun day. Straight off they found a colony of Sandshrew and Gary made sure to catch one. He named it Lionel and the ball was sent to Prof. Oak. Amy was sure he'd be glad to get some Pokémon from them at last. She suddenly realised they had been out of contact for a while; they'd better call Pallet tonight. She mentioned this to Gary and he agreed.
By the time they stopped for lunch, Gary had caught the following: Sandshrew, Paras, Nidoran(male), Tauros, Krabby, Magikarp, Starly, Scyther and Rhyhorn(he was especially proud of this one since he ran out in front of it while it was stampeding to catch it, successfully making Amy feel like having a heart attack.)
Amy had caught a Feebas, Gloom, Venonat, Machop, Doduo, Ladyba, Numel and out of some strange bizarre twist of luck (Hopefully not all her luck for the day) a Chansey. She squealed over it, annoying Gary, worse so as Duplica had her own Pokémon to squeal over, a new Ditto she named MiniDit. She named it that because, as it became clear when they stopped for lunch and Harmony came out of her ball to eat, this Ditto could match a Pokémon's appearance, but not its size, creating something of a miniature version of the Pokemon being copied.
Therefore, they sat next to a miniature Wigglytuff for lunch. Amy felt wistful, remembering when Harmony was actually that size, but she had to move on. After all, she still hadn't captured a Dratini, and she was darn well going to! After lunch they tidied up and Amy headed for the lake, with Gary on her tail. As it turned out, Gary also wanted a dragon Pokemon. It wasn't that surprising.
The two trainers rented a row boat and if Amy didn't know better, she'd say Gary had somehow managed to sneak her into another romantic situation. They both took out their rented fishing rods and cast them into the water.
"So Amy," Gary smirked and Amy blanched.
"Wh-what?" she squeaked, suddenly aware of how isolated they seemed. There weren't many other boats in the lake, and Duplica had gone off... somewhere and left them apparently as Amy couldn't see her pigtailed friend on shore.
"Nothing, I was just sort of wondering if there was anything I could do to make you feel... more comfortable I guess?"
Amy tilted her head to one side. "Um, no I'm fine. The seat's a bit hard but-"
"No not like that," Gary rolled his eyes, "I mean with our relationship."
"Oh," Amy blinked and blushed. She'd been doing that an awful lot lately. "Um, I don't really know, I guess just..."
"Maybe," Gary took a breath before continuing, "Maybe it would be better if we just... kissed and got the first one over with."
"EXCUSE ME? N-NO!" Amy yelled and jumped back. The boat rocked.
"Hey! Okay, okay I'm sorry!" Gary gasped, grabbing Amy's arms and pulling her up so she wouldn't fall in. He pulled a bit hard though, so she tumbled forward into his chest. She looked at him with wide eyes and bit her lip.
"Um... thanks," she looked away, "So... how long does it take to catch a Dratini anyway?"
"A long time. I'm not even sure these rods are good enough to catch one to be honest with you," Gary sighed.
"Then... why did you have us come out here to fish for them?"
"To talk to you alone. Seriously, I know you're shy about kissing, but after you've done it once it shouldn't be hard anymore right?"
"I suppose so," Amy chewed her lip furiously. "L-look, maybe... maybe we could. Once, closed lips. And... and then we'll see."
"Okay," Gary grinned, "We'll go slow." He leaned forward and Amy forced her lips into an absurd pucker and squeezed her eyes shut. Gary chose not to let this deter him as he lightly pressed his lips against hers. She didn't move. As he drew back her lips lost some of the pucker and one of her eyes opened slightly. She looked kind of funny and Gary laughed a little.
"That's it then?" Amy managed to ask.
"See? No big deal."
"But we didn't really kiss for real, just sort of touched our lips together."
"Yeah, I guess," Gary looked away as his rod started tipping into the water. "Oh hey, a bite!" he grabbed his rod and started furiously trying to reel it in.
"Oh crap, watch it!" Amy clutched the side of the boat as whatever was on the lure pulled Gary's rod fiercely downward. Gary braced himself against the edge of the boat with his foot, but he was right when he cited the rods as not being very good as the line snapped and he went flying backwards, tipping the boat in the process. That would've been fine except just then a speed boat zoomed through the water at them, being driven by some crazy twenty somethings and being followed by Officer Jenny on a jetski. It was quite random and the waves they set off tipped the boat even further and sent Amy and Gary over into the water. Gary quickly kicked off his shoes and swam up to the surface, but realised that Amy hadn't and dove back down to find her. He saw her floating and grabbed her into his arms, yanking her to the surface with him. Then the speed boat made a turn and was heading straight for them, apparently not realising they were in the water. How they had gotten a speedboat into the park in the first place was anybody's guess, and Gary wasn't getting them out of the way fast enough.
Then he felt something large and slick appear beneath his feet and rise out of the water with him and Amy on its back. As they rose, Amy opened her eyes blearily.
"A-a Dragonair? What the-?"
"I have no idea," Gary said blankly.
"Sweet! I'm catching it!" Amy grinned as the Speedboat passed beneath them, crashing into the shore as the driver looked up to see the giant dragon pokemon rising from the deep.
"What? No don't-!" Gary gasped at Amy's stupidity as she took a Safari ball from her pocket and touched it to Dragonair's back. The red light flashed and their ride disappeared from beneath them. They plummeted back into the water. Perhaps the Dragonair was also shocked at Amy's stupid action, as somehow it remained inside the Safari ball. Either that or it was the unique design of the Safari ball that caught a pokemon not based on its level of health left in the Pokemon, but on a random chance depending on the Pokemon in question. In Safari Zone all pokemon are tagged with special tracers that the Safari Ball reads and then decides the probability of whether it will work or not. That was why only Safari balls could be used in the park, it was to make things fair. They weren't allowed to weaken pokemon in the park through battling after all.
Exposition aside, Amy caught Dragonair, and now they were stranded in the water again.
"What the heck were you thinking?" Gary glared as he treaded water. Amy had by this point also kicked off her shoes and was trying to side stroke to shore.
"Um... I wasn't?" Amy said sheepishly clutching the green ball. Gary groaned and joined her on the long swim to shore. They might not have made it if Officer Jenny hadn't noticed them and driven her jetski back to pick them up, telling them that they were very lucky and they should've been wearing life jackets for crying out loud! Gary pointed out that those weren't available for rental and Jenny made a note to inspect the water safety in this park much more thoroughly.
Duplica appeared again then, sipping a drink and asked why they decided to go for a swim in their clothes.
*****
At the Pokémon Center, Amy and Gary refined their Pokémon teams. Now Gary had Lucian, Socrates and Casper(who had recovered from his Sabrina gym battle incidentally), but had traded Slasher for Lionel the Sandshrew, Roger for Hercules (the Rhyhorn) and Sting for Reaper (the Scyther).
Amy now had Isis, Gabriel, Harmony and Avion, but had traded Opal for Hope (Chansey), and Quasar for the magnificent Dragonair that saved her life. She had named the creature Selene and couldn't express her gratitude. Deciding that they had time, they headed for the Fuchsia gym and Amy was pumped, excited to see Selene in battle. They reached the gym and walked inside, Duplica immediately running into an invisible wall.
"What the hell?" Duplica groaned, knocking on the barrier. Amy checked the guide book.
"It says here that in order to face the gym leader Koga you have to first pass his invisible maze," Amy read.
"Now you tell me," Duplica grumbled. It took about one and a half frustrating hours to work their way around the seemingly empty room, by then making it dark outside. Eventually though, they made it to the other side and went to open the door to the next room. They then fell through a trapdoor in the floor beneath them.
"AAAAAHHH!!!" They all screamed. Then they landed in a pile of cushions. It was a dark room, but soon a spotlight illuminated the gym leader Koga across the room.
"Which of you wishes to face me?" he whispered, but the sound carried.
Amy and Gary stood. "We do," they answered together, glancing at each other.
"I'm just watching!" Duplica said, snuggling down in the cushions. Koga viewed Gary and Amy carefully before he asked for someone named Janine. A girl came out of the dark before him.
"Yes master Koga?" she asked.
"I wish for you to fight this battle with me."
"Yes master!" she eagerly replied.
"What? But two against one isn't fair," Amy stated in confusion
"I think he means to battle us together, in a double battle," Gary explained, though himself bewildered.
"Indeed, 2 on 2, first team to lose a Pokémon loses the match" Koga announced. Amy was nervous, but it was gym leader's choice how he fights.
They faced off. The gym leader and his pupil showed their Pokémon first, two Venemoths. Amy had wanted to use Selene, but the room was confining. Besides, she knew what she and Gary would have to use if they were battling together.
"Socrates!"
"Isis!" The two Eevees faced the two Venemoths on the field, and the fight began. It was quite the show. Isis and Socrates jumped, bit and clawed. The Venemoths danced in the air, using powders and double team to confuse their opponents. There were several good hits, but the majority were on Isis and Socrates. It was looking bad. But then they started to glow.
"No way," Amy whispered in awe.
"I don't believe it," Gary said with a low whistle. Socrates stopped first. He was now black with yellow circles, an Umbreon.
Then Isis changed. She was blue with long black ears. A Glaceon.
"Woah, woah, woah," Gary stopped and shook his head. "How the heck is that possible? That's not how Eevee evolve! Either you use an elemental stone to get Jolteon, Flareon or Vaporeon, or else you train it during the day to get Espeon or night to get Umbreon. The other two... doesn't it have to level up in a specific environment?"
"I guess," Amy shrugged. "Do we really have to question it? Really? Because I really wanted a Glaceon."
"No! This doesn't make sense at all!" Gary snapped.
"Are you two still battling?" Janine asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes!" Amy nodded. "Come on Gary, please, please ignore it!"
"How am I supposed to ignore-" Gary's words were cut off as Amy flung herself at him and pressed a closed lipped kiss to his lips. That shut him up and Duplica squealed wildly. Amy even smiled a little, deciding that kissing perhaps wasn't so terrible a concept after all.
"So, what was your problem with Glaceon?"
"That it couldn't possibly have evolved like that," Gary said firmly, smirking, "But I guess I can ignore it until the battle is over anyway."
Therefore the battle raged on. Socrates now sent a few excellent Faint attacks and Isis unleashed a powerful blast of Blizzard once she figured out her new internal workings. Socrates knocked the Venemoths out of the air and Isis finished them off. Amy was so happy that she didn't even mind when Gary swept her into his victory dance. They were dancing very close though she noticed. Gary pulled her closer and kissed her again, a much more natural one then the first two. They were getting better at this, she noticed as Koga stood awkwardly with the badges in hand. Once they had grabbed them and had been shown the exit, Gary took Amy's hand and smiled before going on with his rant.
"No, seriously, the only documented cases of Eevees evolving into Leafeon or Glaceon are in the Sinnoh region in this one forest or up near Snowpoint City, how could-"
"Oh wait, I think that was me," Duplica said suddenly.
"...what," Gary said flatly as he turned to her.
"Well, yesterday when I was taking care of your Pokemon, this really cute boy from the Sinnoh region came by the center for a bit and we got to talking. He gave me this Pokemon food he said I should try out before he left. I gave it to Isis and she ate it, but it looked sort of dirty, maybe it had some Sinnoh soil and-"
"No," Gary shook his head.
"It could happen!" Amy gasped, eager to accept this deus ex machina.
"No it couldn't," Gary replied.
"Stop being so picky!" Amy snapped, starting to get annoyed.
"Stop trying to make your impossibility seem plausible then!" Gary glared.
"Guys, guys, calm down!" Duplica moaned, "You were just becoming like a real couple, don't screw it up!"
"... fine. Be unrealistic idiots then," Gary muttered, crossing his arms but consenting to this complete massacre of the laws of the universe this time at least.
*****
The group found that their level of fatigue had caught up with them by the time they reached the pokemon center and practically collapsed into their beds. They slept in so late the next day they had to run to catch the ferry to the Seafoam Islands, which was their next stop.
They stood on the deck looking out over the water, Duplica with her Ditto and MiniDit and Gary with his arm around a consenting Amy's waist. She was smiling and kept smiling as Gary freely leaning it to brush her cheek with his lips.
He then whispered in her ear, "Gramps sent us tickets to the Sand Stone five star hotel in Seafoam. Surprise!"
Amy's eyes flew open and she spun to face Gary. Sand Stone was the most famous luxury hotel in the Kanto region. "Seriously?
"Seriously."
"EEK! YES!" Amy screamed and threw her arms around Gary's neck, quickly babbling over his shoulder to Duplica over what he's just said. Duplica screamed as well and started doing a happy dance with her Dittos. Things were shaping up very well indeed.
((Joyful Note: Wow. I just rewrote the whole second half of this chapter in such a way as I'll have to rewrite a whole slew of things in future parts. Oh well, it probably sucks either way, so I don't see a problem. Remember, the original version is on Quizilla under the same name if you want to compare. If you've read it there before, sorry if you liked that version better for some reason. I was younger then, and I think I can stand some more kissing now then my younger self could.))