Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters

Chapter 6: Playing with Water

I woke up pretty early, and I got dressed quickly. After breakfast, we talked to Nurse Joy.

"Are you guys going to challenge the gym?" she asked

"We certainly are" I said. Aqua stayed quiet, probably still doubting herself.

"You might want to train a bit first, the leader can be tough sometimes" Joy said

"Thanks for the tip" I said, heading out with Aqua.

"It won't make a difference" she said "if my Pokémon won't listen to me then I'm obviously not ready"

"Maybe you just have to bond with them" I suggested. I saw a bicycle shop "ever ride a bike?"

"Well, enough to learn how. Why?" she replied, her gloominess turning to curiosity

"I think we should get a pair, don't you?" I said. She nodded and we went into the shop.

"Welcome to the bike shop" the shop keeper said "it will be 1 million pokes"

"1 million?" I asked in shock "you can't be serious!"

"1 million or nothing" he said

"Alex, let's just go. We don't need bikes" Aqua said. I was reluctant, but I left with her "we've gotten by so far without them, we can keep going"

"Your right, let out your Charmander so that it might start listening" I said. She obliged, and my Squirtle kept it from running off again.

We went towards the bridge, but as soon as we stepped onto it, we heard a familiar voice behind us "hey Alex!" Grey said, running up "ready for another battle?"

"Now's not really a good time grey" I said

"Still think you have a choice, huh?" he asked "go pidgeotto!" he said, throwing a poke ball.

"Pidgeotto!"

"Go Squirtle!" I said. Squirtle was already out, so he ran up

"Squirtle!"

"Pidgeotto, drill peck!" Grey said

"Counter with bubble!" I called

The pidgeotto was knocked back as Squirtle released a beam of bubbles, and the Pokémon was knocked out.

Grey went for another Poke ball "go Bulbasour!"

"Bulbasour!"

"Come back Squirtle!" I said, returning Squirtle "go, Zubat!" I said. Now would be a good time to mention something I had forgot to say. While in the cave, I had caught a Paras and a Zubat, while Aqua had caught a Clefairy. I threw the poke ball

"Zubat!"

In all honesty, I have NO idea what I was thinking, but it was better than nothing.

"Bulbasour, Vine whip!" Grey called

Bulbasour obliged, but Zubat got out of the way. Because Bulbasour missed Zubat, the Vine hit me instead, causing me to fall back in pain. Man those Vines stung! I accidentally returned Zubat as I fell. I rubbed my cheek, which still stung.

"Give up already?" Grey taunted

"Your Bulbasour just hit me!" I retorted

While Grey didn't seem to care, I could see that Bulbasour hadn't meant to hit me. I threw a poke ball that had fell out of my pocket, hoping it wasn't Squirtle…I got my wish.

"Pidgey!"

"I got up, the pain slowly going away "Pidgey, use peck!" I expected the Pidgey to oblige, but she started twisting, launching herself towards the opponent. I recognized the move as Drill peck…but Pidgey shouldn't have learned that. The Bulbasour was knocked out quickly.

"Go rattata!" Grey said, throwing another poke ball.

"Rattata!"

I reached for Pidgeys poke ball, but found it wasn't there "come back Pidgey!" I called. The Pidgey flew behind me, signifying it wasn't in the battle. I threw a poke ball "go, Squirtle!"

"Squirtle!"

"Rattata, use bite" grey called.

Rattata missed, and Squirtle tackled it, causing it to be knocked out.

"Man I need stronger Pokémon" Grey said, returning the rattata "oh well, see you later" he ran back towards the city, which was a bit odd. What happened next was even stranger.

Both the Squirtle AND the Pidgey started glowing, and when the light was gone, I had a Wartortle and a Pidgeotto. "Cool!" I said. I returned both and headed towards the gym, ready for misty.

We went in, and found it was pretty much a water park with a battle field at the end. Once again, there weren't any trainers, although I knew there should be. Misty was in the back.

"So, you two are my next challengers?" she asked. We nodded "you know one of you will have to battle me tomorrow, right?" she asked.

"Ok, I'll battle you first" I said

"That's the spirit!" she said excitedly. She threw a poke ball "go Staryu!"

"Staryu!"

"Go Wartortle!" I said, throwing a poke ball of my own.

"Wartortle!"

"Staryu, use swift!" she called. Staryu obliged, and Wartortle was knocked back. Thankfully it was controlled, so it didn't hit me or Aqua.

"Wartortle, Bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle obliged, and the Staryu fainted.

"Go Starmie!" she said, throwing another poke ball

"Starmie!"

"Wartortle, Bubble beam again!" I called. Wartortle obliged, but it missed

"Water pulse Starmie!" Misty said. Again, the attack missed

"Use Tackle!" I said.

"Counter with Scald!" Misty said.

Wait, Scald wasn't supposed to be useable! Wartortle rolled out of the way mid tackle, and hit the Starmie, knocking it out. Unfortunately, the boiling hot water kept going.

I dove aside, not wanting another battle related injury, but Aqua wasn't so lucky. She let out a cry of pain as the water hit her.

"I'm so sorry!" Misty said, running over to Aqua as I returned Wartortle. Aqua had started crying in pain. "You need to get her to the Pokémon center, they'll know what to do. I'll give you the badge tomorrow"

I picked Aqua up and took her to the Pokémon center. They told me the best they could do was ease the pain, but she wouldn't be ready for travel for a couple days. I sighed and went to the room they gave me. The good thing was I could rest for a while, and there was still route 24 and 25 to explore. I fell asleep thinking about what might be over there.

Another chapter done! I needed to split the city into two pieces because I hadn't realized how much you need to do to get through it…so, yea. Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Also remember that if you want a character to catch a Pokémon, name the character and the Pokémon. Bye for now!