Chapter Six: A girls' day in Cerulean

It had been a long few days of traveling to Cerulean City. They had met a man called Scamure on Mt. Moon and chased away some bad people that were trying to steal the giant Moon Stone the Clefairy prayed to for money. New Pokemon were added to the group too.

Jessie caught a male Nidoran she nicknamed Nido, a male Jigglypuff, and a Zubat.

James caught a female Nidoran he nicknamed Rina and a Paras.

Brock caught a Zubat and Sandshrew.

Misty caught a male Clefairy. She was really happy.

Ashlyn spent most of the time foraging. She caught a Sandshrew as well and used Dexter to send it to Professor Oak right away as it was ill. After a bit of arguing, it was decided that Ash and Brock would cook for the group together. After that it was just training and gymnastics practice.

Once they arrived in Cerulean City they all settled into the Pokemon Center.

"Okay, I'm going out to the shopping center," Misty said with a grin. "And you're coming with me, Ms. Ketchum!"

Ashlyn looked over to Misty. She was bottle-feeding Ini while sitting on a bed. "Er… why?"

"Ashlyn, I know you're comfortable walking around looking like a guy, but you're a girl and need to show some feminine pride here!" Misty said in frustration.

Ashlyn blinked. "Er… well, I do have a dress. My mom must have put it in my bag when I wasn't looking. I don't wear it often because I feel weird in it."

"Great. After you feed Ini, you put that dress on and us girls will go out shopping!" Misty said happily.

"…Did she not hear me when I said I feel weird in it?" Ashlyn sighed.

…..

Ashlyn walked out of the bathroom with her dress on, and she felt more than a bit uncomfortable what with the stares the group was giving her. Brock's jaw was on the floor. James, Bolt, and Meowth gaped. Jessie and Misty looked shocked.

Ashlyn stood in a black turtle-neck dress that went to the floor and had long sleeves. Her (because of Misty) blond hair was hanging down and her bangs parted around her left eye, showing the left side of her face. All in all Ashlyn looked… adorably cute!

"You look so cute, Ashlyn!" Jessie said happily.

"Rosemary," Ashlyn whispered.

"Huh? Rosemary?" asked Misty, tilting her head.

"It's my middle name. My mom would always call me by my middle name when I wore a dress. It's a test, really. The people that know I'm a girl call me Rosemary when I wear a dress and Ash when I'm dressed normally. They keep waiting to see if the people who don't know it's me connect 'Ash' to 'Rosemary' and they have a really good laugh at the people that don't. The only person to figure out the connection so far is Zeke, an old friend of Gary's and mine who moved to Lavender Town two years ago."

"Oh, okay, so you want us to call you Rosemary while you wear a dress because you're used to it," James said in realization.

Ash smiled and nodded.

"Well, all right, now come on! It's time to go shopping!" Misty said before dragging Ashlyn and Jessie out the door.

…Restaurant, 2 hours later…

Misty and Jessie sat with six bags each, while Ashlyn only had two bags. Misty and Jessie bought a lot of clothes and had a good time… for the most part. Ashlyn had refused to buy more 'feminine' clothes no matter how hard they'd tried to persuade her. She said they really should only buy things they needed. In her first bag there were two Awakenings, six Potions, four Antidotes, two Paralyze Heals, some ingrediants for Pokefood, and a Moon Stone the cashier had found in the roots of a mushroom Ashlyn was selling to the store (they were hoping she would give it to one of them, but she said she would just put it in Storage for now). In her second bag she had two new first aid kits, (for James and Brock to carry, just in case) some traveling food, and some freebes the cashiers had tossed in because they'd thought she was cute: three bandanas in red, yellow, and purple, (she would give them to her Pokemon) some earings, (send those to her mom) and a necklace (it was the only thing they'd gotten her to keep).

They also noticed a lot about their (now blond) friend. Ashlyn seemed to be more… skittish when she was dressed as a girl while in public, more shy as well. She got a good amount of people that thought 'Rosemary' was cute. She seemed more relaxed now that they were in an uncrowded restaurant. Meowth seemed to be really happy sitting on her lap, being pet.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Jessie asked.

"Well, I'm going to the Cerulean Gym," Ashlyn said, a little tired and a bit annoyed.

"What's wrong?" asked Jessie.

"Nothing," said Ashlyn, "I'm just planning for my Gym battle in my head."

"Oh. Well, we'd better head back to the Pokemon Center now," Jessie said.

Yes, I'm sure Brock, Bolt, and James are tired of chibi-pokesitting Ini, Ashlyn thought as they got up and left the building.

"Hey! You three lovely gals!" a male voice called out to the three. They turned to see a big guy with spiky black hair. He was dressed in cargo pants and wore combat boots.

"Yes?" Misty asked.

"I'm Dustan, and I was wondering if one of you was a trainer that could have a battle with me."

"I'll battle with you," Jessie said. They all went to an area where they could battle.

"Go, Bellsprout!" Dustan said as he called out a plant-looking Pokemon.

"You go too, Wen!" Jessie said, releasing a Beedrill onto the field.

"Ack! When did it evolve into a Beedrill?" Misty shrieked. "Or a Kakuna for that matter?"

"She evolved into a Kakuna after we left Pewter, then evolved into a Beedrill in a training battle at Mt. Moon. You would know that if you'd gotten over your fear of bugs and stayed with us in the area where we trained them," Ashlyn deadpanned.

"Oh, be quiet As-er Rosemary!" Misty said angrily.

"Bellsprout, use Vine Whip!" Dustan called out. Two vines shot out toward Wen.

"Wen, dodge, and use Fury Attack!" Wen dodged and hit Bellsprout with a Fury Attack. Bellsprout cried out in pain.

Seeing that this battle would last for a bit, she pulled out Dexter.

'Bellsprout, the Flower Pokemon. Even though its body is extremely skinny, it is blindingly fast when catching its prey.'

'Beedrill, the Poison Pokemon. It has three poisonous barbs. The bart on its tail secretes the most powerful poison.'

Closing Dexter, she said, "Wen, Tackle the Bellsprout."

"Bellsprout, use Wrap!" Dustan called out. Soon after Bellsprout began to wrap around Wen and constrict her.

"Wen, Poison Sting!" Jessie called out. Wen released the attack on her opponent who was too close to dodge. The many purple needles were too much and the Bellsprout fainted.

"Darn… thanks for the battle, miss." Dustan handed Jessie the prize money after recalling his Bellsprout.

Jessie nodded and took the money. "Name's Jessie, and yes, that was a good battle."

"Yeah, I would feel better if the three gym leaders of this had the same will to battle as you. I heard the three lost three times in a row yesterday and now just plan to hand out the gym badges without battling."

"WHAT! Why those-!" whatever Misty said next was not heard as she walked away with murder in her eyes.

"Er… is she all right?" Dustan asked.

"Yes," Ash said, but thought, but her sisters won't be…

Dustan just nodded and left. Jessie looked at Ashlyn questioningly.

"I'll tell you later, but I think Misty will be staying at home tonight."

…Nighttime, Pokemon Center…

After telling Jessie and the guys about Misty's problem with her sisters, and a phone call from Misty who said she would indeed be staying at home, in between a lot of ranting, everyone went to bed… With Ash vowing to destroy her dress… somehow. She wanted to burn it after today's tor-… er… shopping trip. That dress will die.

…Next Day, Cerulean Gym…

Ash, Bolt, and James walked into the Gym (Brock decided to stay at the Center for a while and Jessie stayed at the Center to protect Nurse Joy from Brock's advances. They saw Misty waiting for them and went up to her.

"All right, Ash," Misty gave a twitch of annoyance at seeing Ash back in her black (er… blond) sheep boy get-up again, "You'll have to battle me to get your Cascade Badge as Violet, Lily, and Daisy over there can't be bothered with it." She said, motioning to her sisters standing a bit away from them. Ash walked up to them.

Standing in front of them, she said, "You call yourselves the Sensational Sisters, but your quick to give up after a few losses… That's shameful and a dishonor to not only challenging trainers, but to your Pokemon. You may be pretty on the outside, but inside you're very ugly." She walked away after that, leaving the three sisters looking like they'd been smacked.

Now it was time to face Misty…

Next Time: Ash battles with Scyther, Meowth, and… Ini?

Review please!

I (duckielover151) am sorry that it took so long for me to get this one typed up. I'll try to be a little faster next time.

We don't own Pokemon!