Friday. Again. Because I am the dumb. Fire has been pretty unsubstantial lately. I want to try to change that, but I'm also having this dumb time issue. I've had this next part planned out for a while though, so I won't be grasping at straws at least. Nothing else to do but to try to get it down.

With Geovanni gone, Red and Green recalled their Pokémon. Since Red hadn't technically caught Dratini yet, Red had to "catch" it there, though Dratini didn't struggle against the Pokéball. They were about to leave when Red spotted something on the ground by the couch Giovanni had occupied. They walked over to investigate and found a dropped item.

"I guess even the boss of the Rockets has a bad habit of dropping stuff…" Green noted as she picked up the item.

At first glance, it seemed like an odd, bulky pair of binoculars. Out of curiosity, Green took a look through them. They had a strange tint to them, but didn't seem to magnify what they looked at like a normal pair of binoculars would. They seemed useless until Green turned Red's way. A display lit up, highlighting Red and identifying him as "human".

"Oh, neat," Green said, "It's kind of like the Pokédex, but it tells you stuff right away."

Red nodded as he walked toward the door to the elevator, "You should keep it then. It might come in handy." Green agreed, storing it in her bag.

With the help of the Lift Key, Red and Green were able to get out of the Rocket base with ease. Not having to go through the spinner maze made the place infinitely easier to navigate. The casino seemed to run on with no changes or any sign of the Rockets clearing out. Time would tell if the business would stay open without the support of their secret backers.

Not wanting to spend any more time in the establishment than they had to, Red and Green jogged as quickly for the exit as they could without drawing any suspicious eyes. Finally outside, the pair decided to make a quick stopover at the Pokémon Center to give their Pokémon a rest after running the Rockets' gauntlet.

After that they still had that afternoon and a Gym to challenge, so they headed for the Gym right on the south border between the bustling city and the dense forest beyond. When Red and Green arrived, they found Blue outside the Gym. He was angrily pacing back and forth in front of the door grumbling to himself.

"Blue?" Green asked when he didn't notice their approach, "What are you doing out here? You didn't lose, did you?"

"What?!" he roared, turning to his two friends, "NO! Of course I didn't lose to this Gym full of sissies! They didn't even let me see the Gym Leader! They said 'no boys allowed' and literally threw me out!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have abandoned us before!" Green returned, "I was right, by the way. It was the Rockets running the Game Corner and they were abusing the Pokémon they were using as prizes."

"R-really?" Blue took a second before shaking his head, "That doesn't matter anymore. The problem now is they won't let me challenge the Gym! And they're not gonna let Red do it either!"

"Well, like I said, this wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't run off!" Green scolded. "In case you hadn't noticed, between the three of us, there's someone who's not a boy! If you had just stayed with us, you wouldn't have wasted a whole day!"

Blue didn't have an answer for that, so Green just brushed past him. Blue just stood there grumbling for a second before he turned to Red. "Well, technically you went off without her too. Shouldn't she yell at you too?" Red just shrugged and headed for the door after Green. Blue grumbled a bit more before doing the same.

Inside the Gym didn't look like "inside" at all. The floor looked and felt like turf and there were trees growing everywhere. They weren't much bigger than a potted house tree, but their number gave the Gym the feel of a forest. Near the back of the Gym there was a thick wall of trees that were impossible to see through.

As soon as they stepped inside, they were approached by a fairly large group of girls, the oldest among them not much older than Red and his friends. "We told you," one of the girls said, pointing an accusatory finger at Blue, "You're not allowed to come here!"

"Yeah, you have to leave," another agreed and then turned to Red, "You too. Get out!"

"Oh, come on," Green said, "They're with me. They just want to battle the leader here and then we'll all go."

"No way!" another girl growled at the two boys, "You can stay, but they have to go. They probably have a bunch of nasty Bug-type Pokémon!"

"If you don't let them battle, they won't be able to get the badge here and they can't challenge the Pokémon League," Green countered. "You must know how unfair that is."

"Who cares?"

"That doesn't matter to us!"

"Too bad for them!"

"So what?"

The chores continued, awakening the ire in Red and Blue both. They were about to act when Green crossed her arms and spoke up. "Fine. If you're going to be that way, I have no choice. I'll have to kick all your butts and make you let them through."

"Why would we agree to that?"

"Wait," one of the Gym Trainers said, "Do you have any Grass-type Pokémon?"

"I have a Venusaur with me. And a few others stored with Bill," Green answered.

"Venusaur?!"

"That's really rare!"

"And it has a huge, pink flower on its back!"

"Okay, than if you battle all of us and lose, you have to join this Gym as one of the Gym Trainers."

"Hold on a minute," Blue spoke up, "You can't expect her to…"

"Don't worry about it," Green said, cutting Blue off. "They could tell me that I had to quit training Pokémon if I lost and it wouldn't matter. I'm not going to lose, so that part of the bet doesn't mean a thing to me."

Blue looked unsure for a moment, but then smiled, "Sorry. I should have known better. After all, it wouldn't do for me to have a rival weak enough to lose to them." Red rolled his eyes at the last part, but nodded in agreement all the same.

"You're gonna regret that overconfidence. Also, your friends will have to wait outside."

"That's fine." Green looked over her shoulder to address her friends, "I'll get you once I've dealt with them." Red and Blue both nodded and headed out. With them through the door, Green turned back to the Gym Trainers and smiled. "Let's get this over with."

Red and Blue had all the confidence in the world of their friend, but they still wanted to see how things turned out. The Gym had a lot of windows, so they peeked in to watch Green battle. The noticed someone else, an old man, doing the same. He glanced at them with curiosity, "Aren't you a little young for this?" he asked. Blue decided to watch from a window further away from him.

It turned out it wasn't much of a show, for all the effort it took to peek through the window. Green took down each and every one of the Gym Trainers with just one Pokémon; her Ninetales. "What?" she asked triumphantly, "It's not like I have only Grass Pokémon. Now are you going to let my friends in?"

"N-no way!"

"What happened to our deal?"

"There's still one more Trainer here. You have to beat our leader!"

Green shrugged, "Fine, I planned on it anyway."

"Erika!"

One of the girls ran past the wall of trees and returned a moment later. With her was a lovely, raven-haired young woman in an elegant kimono. The lady yawned daintily as she approached Green. "I'm sorry, it seems I dozed off. Lovely weather we're having isn't it?" Green wrapped her foot impatiently. "Oh, you want to challenge me, don't you? Very well. But I shall not lose!"

This isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, but it's close. I'm a little happier with this than the last few chapters, but I wish I had time to do the Gym battle too. Oh well, it means I can devote a whole chapter to it next time. I also almost forgot the stupid Sliph Scope too. I like how I ended up working it in, so that's good. I think that's it. See you next time.