So I decided to add one more chapter. After this, I will most likely be continuing this series in other one-shots. Keep an eye out for that, 'cause wow this pairing is really fun to write for. A big thank you to my reviewers from last chapter. Without further ado, let's hop right on in!

Of Ill Will Behaved Pokemon and Smitten Trainers- Chapter Two: The Ego Competition

The next morning, Misty was up before any of the typical bird pokemon you would hear squawking at this time. Heck, she could barely even make her way through the house without bumping into anything, it was so dark. Dear Arceus… if she wakes anyone up with her half-awake, half-asleep shenanigans, she would rather have the life drained from her by a Golbat. Okay- maybe that was just a bit extreme. She would wake up and move more fluidly after she had her morning coffee. Maybe that was why she was so cranky with the guys when they would go out on their adventures. Misty and her sisters were coffee drinking fools. You kind of had to be when you ran a Pokémon Gym, right? There was no telling how late you were going to be up. The nighttime stragglers were sure to approach, sooner or later. Not to mention the legal paperwork. That could take hours. The redhead groaned under her breath. Oh how she didn't miss that. While her sisters always took care of the legal stuff, Misty dealt with her fair share of trainers. And now that she was sixteen? She was sure that her sisters would dump literally everything on her. Maybe even go out on a cruise or something while she sat and suffered.

Why was she up so early you might ask? Well, for one, she could barely sleep last night. And two, she wanted to have herself well prepared for this drive back home. From Pallet to Cerulean took at least an hour and a half, sometimes two if there were enough people on the road. Not to mention the fact that Gary oh-so-willingly offered to take her in the first place. She felt like the least she could do was make him something to eat. And bring him coffee if she could find another coffee cup that Ms. Ketchum wouldn't miss for a day. So here we go again. Trying to be very quiet as she rummaged through the cabinets. Much to her delight, there was a stack of Styrofoam cups. She snagged two and shut the door. Now. breakfast. Misty wasn't much of a cook. It was always either Ash's mom, Brock, or one of her sisters who did all of the cooking prior to this. Maybe she could snag some granola bars and call it a day….

She groaned a bit. No, that wouldn't be right. For someone to go out of their way, especially considering Gary was planning on going to another region entirely today, she felt that it was only right if she put a little bit more effort into it. That was all this was, right? No alterative motive.

Okay, so she had a bit of a crush. But she also had a bit of a crush on Ash too, but you didn't see her going to all of this work for him! Misty wondered if maybe the reason why she put more work into doing things for Gary than she did for Ash was because—well, her best friend didn't show any interest in her. At least not like that. But she saw the way Gary was looking at her last night. It was plain as day to see. She pressed against the counters, lost in thought for a moment as she tried to put a plan into action. Then, another thought crossed her brain. What if the smell of food woke the whole house up…?

Suddenly, those granola bars were starting to look like a much better option. The redhead opted to make the coffee first, and then decide on what to do food-wise. She made enough for half a pot, not wanting to subject Ms. Ketchum to old coffee when she woke up later that morning—see, she was thoughtful to everyone—not just…

What if Gary didn't really like her? What if he was just using her? It didn't seem too far-fetched. He had a pretty colorful list of women already in his short life. Or at least that was how Ash explained it anyways. He could be over exaggerating, as he tended to do. Misty ran a hand across her face. She didn't need this stress on top of the stress she was under about going home. The sound of the coffee pot brought her out of her inner monologue, and she quickly filled up the two cups, cursing under her breath as she spilled some all over her shirt. Great.

"Mr. Mime!" Misty heard as Ms. Ketchum's precious Mimey poked his head around the corner.

Double great.

"Mr. Mime, go back to sleep. I'll be leaving soon. Just taking some things with me," she told the clown pokemon, not wanting him to get too overzealous and wake up the entire house with his loud voice.

All of a sudden, a flash of red light appeared right in front of her. She knew it only meant one thing. And this morning, she had half the mind to strangle that dumb duck.

"Psy?" He tipped his chin up to look at Misty, looking as clueless as ever.

Granola bars and coffee it is. It was going to be time consuming enough to rein Psyduck back into his pokeball. The redhead took a hearty gulp of her coffee before setting it back down, sending her psyduck a glare. That was all it took. The chase was on. Misty struggled to keep quiet as she ran down the halls, trying to grab that duck so much as by the tail and pull him over to her. If this was a precursor to how the rest of the day was going to go, all hell was surely going to break loose.

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Gary pulled up to the Ketchum residence at exactly seven o'clock. He tapped his steering wheel in slight annoyance, hoping that she was ready to go. Girls took forever to get ready, it seemed. If he and May were going anywhere, he might as well tell her four hours in advance, 'cause it would surely take her half of that time to get ready. "And I was always the bratty sibling," he thought to himself with a scoff escaping his lips. He sat there for a minute, not seeing any sign of Misty. There was no way that he was getting out of the car. For one, it's cold. And two, he was still rocking his sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt that he rolled out of bed in. Gary might be one for his appearance but honestly, no one could pull off that outfit and look as good as Gary Oak did right now. (Not that he was tooting his own horn or anything…)

Another few minutes past and Misty was still nowhere to be seen. He was just about to get out of the car, reaching to unbuckle his seatbelt when he saw the front door come flying open. But there was no sign of her. Just a flying psyduck. But wait. Gary paused, rubbing his eyes some. Was he really that tired? No sooner than he opened his eyes back up, he saw the girl in question come stomping closer, and snatch her psyduck up by the scruff of its neck. Fiddling around in her bag, she pulled out a pokeball and called it back, letting out a relieved sigh when it worked. Then the car door opened and she threw her bag in the passenger seat, but she didn't get in quite yet. She didn't even speak to Gary. She just spun around and stomped back towards the house. Now it was his turn to rub a hand across his face. Things could never just go smoothly, could they? Do one nice thing and receive nothing from it but hassle. The psyduck thing, he understood. He could see the annoyance on Misty's face to know that that wasn't a part of the plan. But this? Gary leaned down, resting his head against the steering wheel. He could probably get a little meowth nap in and she still wouldn't be back, but much to his surprise he was greeted with Misty climbing into the car, sporting two cups of coffee.

Her cheeks were puffed up, nothing but pent up rage wanting to come out of her mouth from her hectic morning. She sat the two cups of coffee down and slammed the car door shut, immediately noticing Gary flinch.

"She has feelings too y'know," he told her, flatly, referring to the car.

"Oh, just shut up and drive," Misty snapped, resisting the urge to smack him in the back of the head.

They rode in silence as Gary backed up, but there was still that cocky little smirk that he was sporting. And that did nothing but tick his passenger off.

"What's got your head big today, Gary?" She looked over at him, noting that he did look good in those sweats. They fit his legs perfectly. Her clothes never fit that good! "Better watch out, it might fly out into orbit next," she added, averting her gaze.

Another ten minutes went by and the two were still relatively quiet. Gary kept his eyes on the road for the most part, sneaking a glance at his favorite redhead now and again. She seemed to be calming down. From the corner of his eye, he caught Misty trying to change his radio station. A hand left the steering wheel, playfully snatching it away from it. The brunet could have sworn that he heard her growl under her breath, which amused him to no end.

"If I can't change the radio station, you can't have the coffee I made for you," she said, as if she were a defiant child trying to get her way. "Or the granola bar," she crossed her arms over her chest, absolutely fuming at the fact that Gary was now reaching for the untouched coffee and taking a swig of it.

"What kind of granola bar?" He asked, both hands now at the wheel again. He wasn't going to revel in the fact that Misty's hands felt incredibly soft in the short time he had it against his. And he certainly wasn't going to revel in the fact that she looked absolutely adorable pouting over there. He wanted to kiss that pout right off her. But not now, because you know; driving and all. In the meantime, he loved torturing her.

Dainty shoulders gave a rather heavy shrug. "I dunno. It was in a variety pack. If you didn't notice, I spent most of my morning chasing around a stupid psyduck," she grumbled something else under her breath that he couldn't hear, but he still just laughed at her.

Instead of whacking him with her mallet—like she would have loved to do right about now, she just started daydreaming of it. Ah, it was quiet therapeutic, if you asked her. She glanced out her window, planning to tune out whatever nonsense he had to say until she was satisfied with how many mallet smacks he got in that big fat head of his.

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"What changed, Gary?" Misty asked, peering over at his curiously. She had been wondering this ever since she and her friends ran into him at Professor Oak's. He surely wasn't the same person he was when they first met. Green eyes met with blue as he met with her gaze for a moment. She was taken aback every time he looked at her. His eyes were such a dark blue that you wouldn't even know it unless you were up close and personal. All this time and it wasn't until yesterday that she learned just how striking those eyes were. The redhead collected herself before elaborating further, "you used to never go out of your way for anyone. Not to mention, you were always terrible to Ash. I was just-"

"Remember the Viridian City Gym?" he cut her off, already knowing his answer to her question. Once she gave a nod, Gary continued, "I got creamed. For the first time, I was faced with a challenge that I couldn't win. And after that… I knew that I needed to better myself. I wasn't foolin' anyone, not even myself," he ran a hand through his hair, eyes glued on the road. It took a lot to admit that. He didn't even go into the full extent with his family. But they knew him well enough to fill in the blanks.

Wow, he really had changed, Misty considered, glancing down at Togepi, who had only recently woken up and hopped into her arms. He had been napping in her bag for most of the trip. "That takes a lot of guts, admitting your own faults. Believe me, I know," she paused, hearing him chuckle softly to himself. "When are you leaving for Johto?" the redhead broke the silence a moment later, her own curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well that all depends," he answered without a beat, that boyish grin gracing his features.

"On what?" Misty asked, fighting the urge to stare at anything but that annoyingly handsome grin on his face. She had to give it to him, he knew how to get under her skin. And, if she assumed right, he was quite proud of it too.

He licked his lips before continuing, all the while driving his passenger beyond crazy, "if you'll let me take you out on a date first," he sent her another grin, happy as he could be to see her cheeks redden in response.

Hold on just a second. The Gary Oak was asking her out on a date? She didn't answer him right away, instead she responded with another question, "is that why you offered to drive me, so you could ask me out?"

Gary just laughed again, gripping the steering wheel in his discomfort. She wasn't going to turn him down was she? 'Cause that would be awkward. "Guess you caught me," he said coolly, shrugging a broad shoulder.

Misty was trying to piece it all together. Why her? Maybe because she didn't throw herself at him like most girls did? Her arms gathered Togepi tighter and she tipped her chin up, doing her best to look smug while narrowing her gaze at the teen next to her. "Alright, I'll give you the chance. But it better be the best date you could give a girl. I'll settle for nothing less, mister."

A challenge made it all the more thrilling, in his eyes. "Think I can handle that, Red," he sent her another melt-worthy wink. Togepi started to chirp happily but the two trainers fell silent for a moment. Gary could tell that Misty was trying to gather her wits about her before replying, not giving him the benefit of the doubt by showing just the effect he had on her. It was… endearing, to say the least.

"Tomorrow night. Pick me up at the gym," she said, not even realizing that they were already in Cerulean City. It took Gary parking the car before she even noticed anything. In her defense, she was a little preoccupied in her own head.

"Cool. How does six sound?"

Misty was fathomed by the fact that nothing seemed to deter this guy. He was rarely ever caught off guard by anything she had to say, almost like she was an open book. It was irritating, to say the least. But she was determined to get the last jab in. To leave him as flustered as he left her. Instead of answering his question with words, she took her free hand off her baby pokemon and unbuckled her seatbelt. And, with that, her free hand gathered the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him closer to her. Careful not to squeeze Togepi between them, she craned her neck and caught his lips with her own. As expected, it took him a moment to recover, his hand cupping the nape of her neck not nearly as quick as he would have, had he saw this coming.

They pulled away after realizing that breathing was an essential for life and Gary found himself lost for words. Seeing this left Misty feeling pretty proud and she inwardly puffed her chest out in her moment of pride.

"See ya later, stud. Oh, and thanks for the ride," she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder, one hand on the doorknob. But before she could get the door open, Gary grabbed her by the arm and tugged her closer, their lips clashing against each other's once more. He wasn't going to let her win this one. Misty pulled away, completely breathless, settling back against her seat for a moment. Where did he learn to kiss like that? It should be illegal. Togepi felt rather violated, having being smashed between the pair not once, but twice.

"Pri!" The egg pokemon called out, peering up at his mother. Misty let out a rather musical laugh, ducking down to kiss her baby pokemon on top of his spiky head. Then her eyes met with Gary's again, "I better go. See you," she said as flirtatiously as she could muster.

He let her go with nothing but a half-hearted wave, his back colliding with the seat again. Though he didn't say anything, his trademark smirk said it all.

At this rate, Misty was in a run for her money. But as she headed back to the gym, she couldn't come up with a reason why she cared.

That about wraps it up. Be on the lookout for more fanfics in this universe. I'm sure that it'll be soon. My muses are driving me crazy. Until next time!