A Ponyta's Tale

by mazinkaiser

It is written in the book of legends that heroes are given guides full of wisdom and knowledge to achieve their respective goals. What is not written is that a certain guide should come from another universe and that he too needs some guidance as well.

4. Chapter 3

Welcome to the third chapter of A Ponyta's Tale. When we left Ash Ketchum and his friends, they were biking on their way towards Cerulean City. This time, they had succeded in getting to Cerulean and thus Ash and Misty's second gym battle.

Also, the trio would be making two detours in which they would make new freinds and learn new things in the process.

And with that said, please read and enjoy the third chapter of A Ponyta's Tale lovingly titled...

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Chapter 3 – Bells and Belles

Our heroes had reached the midway point of Route 4 towards Cerulean City when Ashton Ketchum had to stop from biking due to tiredness. The rest of the group had caught up with the tired trainer after half an hour as they had gone on a more leisurely pace.

"What took you guys so long?" Ash was telling his friends who had looked less tired than he was. Even William Zapanta's tongue was not hanging out of his mouth as it usually did if he was tired of running.

"Well, if you had biked less hard then you won't be as tired as you are now." Brock Harrison answered in matter-of-fact tone of voice.

While the Pewter City native was following Ash along with the others, he had realized that William and Misty were not enough to corral Ash's headstrong personality. Still, it was kind of expected for a boy whose only role model for the past ten years was his mother and it was not exactly a bad thing either.

"Yeah, so why the rush to Cerulean City anyway?" Misty Waterflower had chimed in as she had Dyna give William and the pikachus some water through his low powered Water Gun attack before being recalled.

"Well, you heard me earlier." Ash said with groan as he had tried to get out of his bike to stretch his legs more. "I wanted to prove that I'm no loser and to do that I need to beat the Cerulean City Gym leader."

"You could always choose Saffron City," the human rose among the thorns added. "Cerulean City has ghost pokemon, like so."

Misty then made a scary face that only worked on Chu-Chu who had hugged her fellow pokemon more tightly to Pika's discomfort and displeasure.

Ash had responded with bouts of laughter as the girl was apologizing to her shivering pokemon before he had to run to the nearby trees in order to escape Misty's wrath and mallet. Everyone else only shook their heads in dismay at the childish display in front of them.

As Ash had lied down on a wide tree branch while waiting for the girl below him to calm down, he then said. "Nice try, but I researched Cerulean City yesterday remember. The gym's a water type pokemon gym so no ghosts."

"Well, there's Viridian City where you can see yachts of different makes and sizes," Misty was getting to be a bit desperate now as it could be heard in her tone. "We'll come back to Cerulean after getting our sixth badge."

"Again, it was a nice try." Ash was saying as he had plucked an apple from the said tree and polished it with his jacket's left sleeve. "But I'm not exactly a yachts person now, am I?"

"I give up," Misty said loudly and forcefully as she had turned around, tears trying to break through her eyes. "Just go and don't come crying to me when you lose."

With that said the girl ran back towards her bike and rode away with Chu-Chu who was in the said bike's basket. Tears could now be seen falling from Misty's eyes as she had passed both Brock and William by.

"Now that was just plain stupid, Ash." William then said as he had looked up at the boy who had looked back at him with a bit of guilt shown in his features. "You just hurt Misty's feelings."

"Yeah, but why doesn't she want me to beat her hometown's gym?" The boy then asked his older companions as he still could not figure out why Misty had acted as she was. "I don't think anyone could be that attached to the gym leader, right?"

Given that Ash was looking at Brock while speaking, the older boy then nodded his head before saying. "You may have a good point, Ash but arguing with her was not the best way to resolve that situation."

"Look, I've felt bad for her when I saw her tears but I'm sure that she's hiding something from us and until I've figure that out or Misty's chosen to come clean than we may have to leave her alone." Ash was saying as he had jumped down from his perch.

"Alright, let's just go to Cerulean City as the pokemon and I need being taken care of by Nurse Joy." William said to remind the others that they too needed to head into town. "Pika, I'm afraid that you'll be riding with Ash this time."

"Pika-pikachu." (I understand)

The boys then also left the rest stop as they needed to get to the city before noon.

-oOo-

By nine in the morning, the guys had arrived at the Cerulean City limits and like before were met by a female police officer who had asked them why they had pokemon outside of their pokeballs.

Ash then explained why with part of the explanation already given to him by Professor Oak himself. After the lengthy explanation, the officer finally gave the boys her permission to enter the city while she heads to the nearest drugstore for some Advil.

After biking a few blocks further in the city, the three males had come across a crowd in a certain city block.

Seeing that they could not go around the huge crowd, Brock then led the other males through the crowd to see what was going on.

After getting to the middle of the crowd, they had seen a large picture window broken through. Pieces of glass was still littered on the sidewalk as a yellow caution tape was being pulled in front of the crowd, the policeman who was pulling it had nudged both Ash and Brock out of the way.

The newly arrived Officer Jenny had seen both boys and immediately had called them. After going under the now stretched yellow tape with the ponyta also doing the same as he could, they were now standing in front of a very distrustful police officer.

"So, what are you two doing here?" The blue haired officer had told the young men who were surprised that they were the ones interrogated. "It's obvious that you're not from around here."

"You're right," Brock said with strange tone of voice. "I'm Brock Harrison of the Pewter City Gym and this here is a friend of mine – Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

"Uh, are you related to the Officer Jenny in Viridian City?" Ash then added as he was beginning to notice something.

"Show me some proof or I'll run you both in the system for robbery," Jenny replied, her green eyes still narrowed at the newcomers.

The veteran female police officer then pointed an accusing finger at Ash as she added. "I've heard about you - a wet behind the ears kid that my sister-in-law had met a few weeks earlier in Viridian."

"Considering that you have met a Jenny before, was it because that you were asking her for directions, helping her takedown some muggers or other low lives, or are you arrested for a crime?" Jenny was getting more and more agitated with each word spoken.

"Wait, I met her since I was trying to get to the Pokemon Center so Nurse Joy could heal my pokemon." Ash said with his fingerless gloved hands up. "She had even helped us get to the Pokemon Center."

"Alright, if you're telling the truth, then what are their first names?"

Ash had sat down for a minute, his chin supported by his left hand before he suddenly stood up. "I remember now, Nurse Joy's first name was Agatha and the Officer Jenny's name is also Jenny."

"Very good," the blue haired officer said to hide her astonishment. "I believe you now. Sorry for being harsh back there so please don't tell Jen that I've been rough on you two for no reason. Name's Jessica by the way."

"That's alright," Ash said with a small relieved smile, ignoring the fact that even if they were sisters in law, both Jennies look almost identical. "She did the same thing to me too."

"Since we've gotten those things out of the way," Brock then said with a wider smile. "How about we eat dinner at a diner of your choice?"

"Well, I'll be off duty way past your bed time." Jessica said rather airily with a dismissive wave while sneakily showing her wedding band underneath her white glove. "Try again when you're older."

Brock had made a good impression of a guy who had lost the lottery by only one digit. As some pokemon fans would put it, the Pokemon breeder was severely burned.

Ash and William had to look away, mostly to hide their grins at the crestfallen older friend with Jessica telling the people to be on the lookout for thieves who took some industrial equipment.

"You two are clear so you can leave now," Jessica said to the visitors before shooing the crowd away. "Break it up, break it up. Police investigation is still ongoing."

William had to pull the Breeder by the collar of his shirt so they could finally leave the crime scene. Ash had helped as much as he could before Brock had regained his senses.

-oOo-

Both boys and pokemon then stopped for a while on a park bench with the ponyta lying beside it. Ash then crossed his legs and asked the older boy if he could give him some tips with Pika sitting beside him.

"Ash, you know I can't tell you anything about the gym since I myself am a gym leader." Brock said in reply to the younger boy. "We gym leaders stick together, you know."

"Yeah, yeah." Ash said with his head down. "So would you escort me there?"

"I would like to but…" Brock's face had scrunched up in concentration. "I've gotta do some stuff."

"What stuff?"

"You know…stuff," Brock said with a shrug. "Oh yeah, can I borrow William for a sec? He can't fight in the gym anyway."

"Oh alright," Ash answered as he had handed over William's pokeball to the said ponyta's irritation. "Let's just meet in front of the gym later."

"Thanks dude," Brock said as he took the pokeball happily. "You just need to bike a good two blocks before turning right. You can't miss it."

"Thanks, Brock." Ash said as he stood up and rode on his bike. "See ya later."

After Ash had left, Brock then turned to the puzzled ponyta. "Let's go get some chicks."

'I was afraid of that,' William was thinking as he was led away by the Pokemon breeder to another part of the park, nearer to its amphitheater in fact.

-oOo-

Ash had biked semi-leisurely to the Cerulean Gym, his head calculating on which pokemon would be best to fight in a water environment.

Ash himself was not that affected as he always wanted to face Misty in a real pokemon match and he was sure that Misty had felt the same. Pika was the best choice, but with Chu-Chu on Misty's side, it may affect his judgment.

Then again, Misty was not the Cerulean Gym Leader or so he thought.

Before long, the trainer from Pallet has seen the domed building with a large Dewgong at the front with the words – "Cerulean Gym" in large red letters.

"Well, this is it." Ash said as he had locked his bike in the bike rack. "Let's go Pika. This'll be a cakewalk."

"Pika," (Right) Pika answered with a bit of stuttering as he had remembered that Chu-Chu and her trainer was still out there.

Ash then pushed the glass and wood double doors leading inside the building, his mind ready for his second gym battle.

Confusion had reigned in the trainer's mind when instead of a battlefield; he was seeing a lot of people watching something. Ash then made his way through an open aisle only to see…

-oOo-

We now go to where Brock and William were trying to pick up some chicks. The Pokemon breeder was sitting on the concrete bench as he had watched the ponyta being poked and petted by girls with ages ranging from five years to twenty-two.

Brock was also busy answering questions if the ponyta was his, the questions were answered by him saying – "No, I'm just looking after him for a friend of mine as he's in the middle of a gym battle right now."

"Oh, that's too bad." One girl who just turned fifteen yesterday said with obvious disappointment. "I thought I could ask him on where he had gotten such a beautiful creature. I'm sure that ponytas aren't included in the starters given to newbies nor are found in these parts of the region."

"Good point," Brock was saying in a softer voice as the aspiring Breeder had realized that he was not getting as much attention as he should have. "My friend told me that Professor Oak had given William to him as a sort of transportation whenever he's too tired to ride a bike."

"That's nice," the girl said before giving the ponyta one last hug and leaving with her friends. "Your friend is really lucky."

After the girl had gone far enough, Brock had said under his breath. "Yeah, real lucky."

The Pokemon Breeder then thought about his younger friend and his own trials in the Cerulean Gym while William had done some grooming of his own.

-oOo-

… A water show being performed by three teenaged girls, the oldest being about sixteen or seventeen. Ash had started thinking about mistaking a local water show venue for the Cerulean Gym battlefield and as such was forced to watch the show while standing on an aisle.

Pika was much more interested in the show as his eyes had grown bigger and his heartbeat had shifted gears. He had never seen such beautiful humans before in their element.

After watching for the next twenty minutes, Pika then felt as if he was being watched and shivered. Ash did the same and neither of them even knew why they felt it, all they knew was the pairs of eyes were watching them from somewhere and the owners of both pairs were very upset at them for some reason.

After the show had finished, Ash and Pika had followed the maze of hallways to a larger room where both walls had alternated plexiglass panels and concrete painted light blue.

Behind the five-inch-thick plexiglass screens, schools of fishes were seen along with a lot of water pokemon. Some of the pokemon were unknown to the Pallet trainer before realizing that it was probably captured from other regions.

Hearing high pitched voices from the other end of the pool deck where the pair had entered, Ash had stopped looking at the creatures on the other side of the glass and looked at the direction of where he had heard the voices.

The tallest of the older girls, one whose blonde hair had nearly reached her shapely backside had suddenly stopped as if she had seen the newcomer and told her companions that Ash had realized to be her younger sisters to do the same.

Now that they had stopped, Ash could now see that all three girls were wearing specialized swimsuits complete with various designs that made their wearers stand out from the background.

The second tallest girl had looked at him and even pointed while whispering something to the shortest that was still taller than he was. Ash could guess that the pink haired teen was the youngest of the three thus making the blue haired one the middle sister.

The oldest one had reprimanded her younger sisters for being rude and slowly walked to the boy who was still studying them in wonder along with his pikachu.

"Take a picture," the blonde said with an impish smile with her left hand on her hip. "It'll last longer."

"Uh…"

"I was like only joking, kid." The older girl said while ruffling with his hair after taking his hat. "Ok, girls. Cut it out with teasing the boy as like we need not lose any more fans."

"Wait a minute?!" Ash had removed the manicured fingers that continued to play with his black hair before stepping back a few steps, Pika still on his left shoulder. "I'm not a fan. I'm here to challenge the Cerulean Gym."

This time all three girls had ran to our poor protagonist with the oldest one getting Ash under her left arm and rubbing her smooth knuckles on the top of his head and still holding his league cap on her other hand. The other girls had cooed and awed at the petrified pikachu who has even lesser experience with girls than his trainer did.

"You can't be a trainer, you're much too cute." The oldest girl was telling Ash as she had continued to give him a noogie. "I'm Daisy Waterflower, like the oldest and most beautiful Sensational Sister."

"Like no fair, Sis." The pink haired girl had called out while cuddling Pika on the chest portion of her orange swimsuit. "Call me Lily Waterflower, kid 'cause that's the name of most beautiful Sensational Sister."

"Maybe like in your dreams, lil' sis." The blue haired girl had teased her younger sister, her shoulder length hair swishing just across the middle of her back as she had snatched a knocked-out Pika from Lily's death hugs and giving him her own version of said hug while jumping slightly.

After a few small hops, the teenaged girl then looked Ash in the eye before saying. "Don't listen to what these two pretenders tell you. I, Violet Waterflower, am like the most beautiful Sensational Sister."

Ash was partially aware of what was going on as he was suddenly reminded of something as the teens had laughed at their private joke. He had heard the surname – Williams before but could not remember where.

Only a shrill voice from above had startled Ash enough to forget what he was trying to figure out at the moment, the said voice saying something about letting him go or something similar.

Daisy had already let the male trainer go as she and her sisters had looked up at a dark figure with a side pony tail that was standing in front of a window leading outside.

"Oh, like hi baby sis." Daisy said happily with a wave of her right hand. "Thank you for coming back."

Ash's brain had suffered a temporary breakdown as the trainer finally realized where he had heard the surname before.

The youngest Williams sister had leapt from the top rafter and landed gingerly on the concrete deck, her pikachu still within her arms.

Pika's jaw had dropped and his eyes had gone wide at the sight of the female pikachu in the girl's arms now glaring at him for some reason.

"I was not planning on coming back until I become a Water Pokemon Master," the fiery red head had answered her oldest sister as she slowly stood up from her crouching position. "Then he had to come along and ruin it."

Having regained his bearings, Ash had glared at the red head who only glared back.

"Like, he's cute and all but not yet boyfriend material, Misty." Daisy said with a chuckle that she had tried to suppress with her left hand while returning Ash's cap with her other hand. "Still, you're not much of a prize yourself either."

"What are you talking about, Dais?" Misty's face had gotten redder than her hair as she spoke with Ash's face making an impression on the floor, his hat now on. "He's not my boyfriend. I'm only here because he got me to challenge the gyms including this one."

"Uh, like how could you challenge your own family's gym?" Lily had spoken up while her older sister had let go of a shivering Pika to the floor just beside her bare feet. "Isn't that like kinda redundant or something?"

Both girls were half-watching how the male pikachu was trying to persuade the female pikachu that he was not at fault… and getting partially successful too.

Misty was about to answer when she and the others had also seen how Chu-Chu had her little arms crossed, her chin raised, and her eyes closed while Pika was literally on his knees behind her.

The female pikachu did sneak a peek at the petulant pikachu, who was still on his knees with front paws clasped to each other, and smiled a bit. Misty could only shake her head and smile at the antics of her own pokemon.

'It's either that she really acts like Mom's Chu-Chu or I guess all female pikachus do this to their favored future mate,' Misty had thought with a smile as she had kept half an eye on the shocked trainer from Pallet town who looked like he was about to faint himself. 'She's got a good idea though; I wonder if this works with certain dense human boys too.'

"So why are you really here, little sis?" Violet said with a smirk. "I know that you'll eventually challenge gyms to make your dream come true."

"Well, I'll prove to everyone that there are four Sensational Sisters of Cerulean and the last one would be the most famous and beautiful of them all."

"Last time I checked, there are three Sensational Sisters and one star-struck runt." Lily then added with a smirk.

Misty would have punched her older sister in the face if not for Daisy and Violet having kept them separated. Ash and Pika were too petrified to move with Chu-Chu actually cheering her trainer on.

The second oldest sister had also added as she had looked at both of her younger sisters. "If you want to settle things, do it with a battle."

She then looked back at Misty before saying. "Mist, I've heard about your exploits with Ash from Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny from Pewter and we're actually impressed. But you of all people should know that to be the best, one has to go beyond his or her limitations and not hesitate to take the next step."

Seeing the confused looks from the children, Daisy then took over. "What Vi meant is that like you and Ash had gotten better but it is still not enough to be Masters. We could say the same about ourselves as like we still need to get better in our water shows to become the best and we still have to contend with like keeping this place running as well."

"Alright, but since I'm the only one who still has fresh pokemon, I'll take Ash on." Misty said a little softer. "Don't worry."

"But before you do, you'll both have to like wear swimsuits." Violet said with a sly grin.

"Why?" Both trainers said with a shout.

"Well, like the rules say that anyone in the pool should wear proper swimming clothes." Lily answered with nary a change in expression. "We've made a deal with the Pearly Shells Department Store's swimsuit department so any trainer would buy from them before competing here unless like they have their own."

Both children had hung their heads as the older girl with the shoulder length pink hair had a point. Misty then led Ash to the changing rooms before entering the girl's side.

A minute later, Misty was wearing a different red bikini while Ash was wearing blue board shorts. Both of them had blushed at how their new suits had fit them before being called by Daisy to get on the circular trainer platforms.

Misty had chosen Red as it was the leader's platform while Ash chose Blue as it was the challenger's platform.

"Daisy, please tell Ash the rules of this gym as well as introducing us." Misty had shouted to her oldest sister – Daisy who was standing in yet another platform, this time it was rectangular and placed in the middle right of the battlefield.

The oldest Waterflower sister did so and thus the battle had begun. Ash then held up his left hand as he said before Misty could throw her pokeball.

"Before we begin, I'd like to say that Pika would not be battling for me."

Everyone else in the gym was surprised when the announcement was made especially Chu-Chu, who was looking at the other pikachu standing in the platform along with his trainer in shock.

"Why?" was the only thing that Misty was able to utter in shock.

"Well, he's kind of…depressed right now thus he could not give it his all."

"Well then, change of rules, the battle would now be two on two." Daisy said after she too had shaken off her shock. "Is that alright with either of you?"

"Yes."

"Trainers, begin the match."

-oOo-

"Gym Leader Misty calls Dyna," the girl had shouted with glee as she threw a pokeball into the air. "How's that, Country Boy?"

"Well then, Challenger Ash calls Ace." The boy had said in return as he threw a pokeball as well. "Seriously, why talk in the third person?"

"It's for the cameras that record the battle, Ash." Daisy replied as she had the blue flags up with both hands. "League rules state that all gym battles have to be recorded for posterity and possible review whenever a trainer or a gym leader files for a violation."

"Ah, now I understand." Ash said while rubbing the back of his head. "Well then, ladies first."

"Thank you," Misty said with a large smile. "Rapid Spin up in the air, dear."

"Counter that with Wing Attack, buddy."

"Dodge it and use Bubble Beam on the way down," Misty said to keep her Strayu from getting hit up close. Dyna did change direction as it rose up thus missing the sudden movement from Ace's left wing at the apex of its rise.

"Oh great," Ash said to himself as his Pidgeotto was repeatedly pelted by orange bubbles after Dyna's center jewel had flashed orange before it had released the said bubbles and the bird had even flinched a few times because of it. "Drop out before tackling that starfish on your way up."

Misty was surprised at how fast Ace had done the aerial maneuver similar to a low-speed yo-yo thus Dyna was tackled in mid-air and it was only through another Rapid Spin that it was able to land on a floating platform, just in front of the blue one.

"Dyna, jump in the water before Ace comes back."

"Ace, dive fast and don't worry about me and Pika."

It was too late though as Dyna had already dived to the waiting pool before Ace could catch it.

Ash himself along with Pika had quickly hit the deck to avoid getting tackled themselves with Ace climbing back to his previous altitude after nearly hitting his trainer in the dive.

After a minute, Dyna was seen standing in the smaller platform in front of Misty while Ace was flapping his wings just in front of Ash.

"Ok, I kind of expected that." Ash was saying to himself as he had brought out the Pidgeotto's pokeball. "Ace, return for now."

"Kato, I choose you." The Pallet trainer added as he threw another pokeball in the air. "Use Sleep Powder on the double."

Kato had complied as he quickly glided to the other platform where Dyna was waiting for him. He then used his wings to stop himself over the opposing platform and spread his wings to spray blue powder over Staryu.

"Dyna, dive in the water to wash it off." Misty called from her position, the paintings of water pokemon seen behind her looking as if they had supported the water trainer. "How'd you like them apples, Ash?"

The star shaped pokemon did as he was ordered, but Ash had another trick off his sleeve as he then ordered. "Tackle Dyna as soon as it gets back up."

"As if I'd let you get your way," Misty scoffed at the given order. "Surprise that Butterfree, dear."

Both Ash and Kato had looked at the water around them in order to see any change in the surface like bubbles forming and popping overhead, slight waves, or anything of the sort.

There was none as Dyna did not even breathe (at least not in the normal way) and that it could move seamlessly through the liquid so as not to make any waves at its wake, the slightly murky water being used to its advantage.

It was only when trainer and butterfly pokemon had heard a loud splash from Ash's right that they realized where Staryu had chosen to reveal itself.

"Kato, dodge it before using Whirlwind on Dyna." Ash said as he too quickly got down into a crouch.

"Oh no," Misty said behind her hands as Dyna was sent to the wall behind Ash by Kato's Whirlwind attack, the starfish pokemon's jewel blinking quickly. "Dyna, return."

"Misty calls Twinkle," the temporary gym leader called as she threw a second pokeball. The second pokeball had opened to reveal Misty's Starmie – her ace in the hole.

"I knew that Twinkle would be your second pokemon," Ash was saying with a roguish grin. "Heh, let's see whose got the type advantage now, Water Girl."

Misty then realized that Butterfree is a bug pokemon and thus immune to psychic attacks. That did not mean that Twinkle has a few tricks of its own. "You're only half right, Country Boy and I'll even prove it."

"Talk is cheap, Water Girl."

"Grr…Twinkle, let's cool them off." The red headed girl said with a growl as she had seen her competitor give her the 'come hither' hand gesture with his left hand.

Twinkle then used Rapid Spin both to get close to the boys on the other side and to use itself like an open centrifugal type impeller on the water surface splashing a continuous wave of chlorinated water at the males. In short, the mysterious pokemon did get to cool off the guys.

At least, it was before the Butterfree had too much water in its chitonous layered wings and fell into the pool surface.

Ash had quickly recalled his drowning pokemon (Butterflies and by extension Butterfrees breathed through their wings) before sighing at the huge mistake that he made by underestimating his opponent.

Ash had shaken off the water off his body along with Pika, the pokeballs making a rattling sound as their owner shook himself vigorously.

"I'm sorry, Misty." Ash said as he brought out Ace's pokeball once again. "I really am."

"Good," the water trainer replied with an annoyed sigh. "Since we're both down to just one pokemon each, let's put on a real show."

"You heard the lady, Ace." Ash said with a wide grin as he had thrown his pokeball. "It's show time."

"Twinkle dear, let's do our best." Misty said to her pokemon that was standing on the platform in front of her. "We'll show this bumpkin and his pidgeotto who's the better team."

"Ace, use Tackle."

"Twinkle, stop him with your Water Gun."

Ace then glided left and right as he dove down in an angle of thirty degrees for ease of maneuver to avoid the sprays of water fired upon him.

Twinkle, on the other hand, was doing its best to knock out the diving bird before being hit hard by the aforementioned bird to a wall or worse, its trainer.

Just as Ace was about to collide with the mysterious pokemon, Misty had added a last-minute order. "Twinkle dear, use Psychic."

"Uh oh," Ash said to himself, loud enough for Pika to hear. The pikachu, who was standing by his master's bare feet, had heard the expression and could not but feel sorry for his flyboy friend.

Speaking of Ace, he was surrounded by a blue aura that had kept him paralyzed a good foot above and away from Twinkle before being flung towards the farthest wall on Ash's left.

Fortunately for Ace, the psychic field had winked out as soon as he was flung over the pool and thus had used his Quick Attack to once again hit the now slumped Starmie at close quarters.

Twinkle had used Harden to lessen the blows on its trainer's orders, but it was too little too late. Ace then used a Wing Attack as his finale on his trainer's orders, and thus ending the battle.

Misty had recalled her fainted pokemon after it had hit the wall on her left with some words of praise. She then looked up at the worried bird pokemon hovering in front of her and showed him a thumbs up with her right hand for a good battle.

Ace then happily returned to his trainer and was willingly brought back to his pokeball while being praised for his quick thinking and recovery.

Both trainers had just gone down their respective platforms when a loud rumbling was heard from somewhere the ground shook as if there was a localized earthquake.

Misty had to use her arms to keep from falling flat on the concrete deck with Ash and Pika being not as lucky and fell in anyway.

A cloud of smoke had shown up from the oft-center of the battle field and even collided with the official's platform. Thankfully, Daisy had already left it to join her younger sisters who sat in a pair of benches near the blue platform on the other side of the pool.

After the smoke had cleared, a large box-like machine, with a large plastic hose attached on top of it, had appeared from the rubble it just created.

The said bulky machine has four automobile sized wheels attached to its chassis with a brown wedged snowplow in front of it; the hose was connected at the top with a part of it hanging at the left side (right side from the assembled trainers' collective view from the other side of the pool).

As none of them were technical people (bawls at being the only technical minded person in this chapter), it was not the machine that had caught the humans' and pokemon's attention. Rather it was the three figures standing on top of it that had gotten their full attention.

"Team Rocket!" both Ash and Misty yelled as they had quickly recognized the duo of humans and one talking Meowth with them. "What are you doing here?"

"You know us," James answered with a smirk as he held up his purple rose with his right hand. "We've heard that this gym is filled with pokemon from other regions and it has caught our attention, is all."

"That's like our pokemon and you'll like go through us to get them," Lily shouted at the top of her voice. "Dewford, like kindly show this metrosexual thief and his snake haired companion what an Aurora Beam looks and feels like."

A seel had emerged from the water and fired an Aurora Beam before the trio would have started their motto. All three Rocket members had jumped in separate directions; thus, the attack had only hit the wall behind them, making a splay of ice an inch thick and a foot wide as well as tall.

Jessie had also raised a gloved fist and shook it threateningly for both the attack and the insult to her hair, the motto was already a source of embarrassment for them.

Meowth, who had landed on the platform where the control system of the machine was found, had pulled down a lever. The machine was heard to crick and clank a little before its diesel engines finally settled down to a low hum.

James had gotten around the back to help Jessie move the hose's open end into the pool as a whooshing sound was heard from it.

The hose then started to pull into itself the water from the pool at a very rapid rate, effectively draining the pool and the aquarium that was connected to it. Jessie had broken into the control room prior to their entrance and opened the doors leading from the aquarium to the pool.

"Ash, let's double team these rotten Rockets." Misty said while getting Chu-Chu to stand near her bare feet.

"Right," Ash responded as he had Pika ready a Thunderbolt.

This time, it was Violet who had given the commands to Seel who had smartly jumped onto the tiled coping in front of the trainers. "Freeze them with your Blizzard, Dewford."

"Not today," Meowth answered as the other two Rockets had aimed the hose at them with the Potluck Pokemon raising the lever he was holding. The water flow had reversed thus a wave of chlorinated water had hit the trainers and their pokemon.

This time, Dewford was washed off to the pool along with the pikachus as they were separated from their trainers.

"Now where were we?" Meowth said with a snicker as he and his human cohorts had sucked the water once again. This time, the seel was pulled in with some water pokemon and other aquatic life starting to emerge from the ends of the pool just under the coping.

Pika and Chu-Chu swam against the waves as they too were slowly being sucked in. Misty was beginning to panic when Ash had an idea and like his other ideas in battle, it was risky.

"Pika and Chu-Chu, use Thundershock on the water in front of you." He yelled above the din of the diesel engine running on full speed.

"Are you nuts?" Misty was now glaring at the black-haired trainer about a meter away from her as she spoke. "That would shock everything else in the water."

"So, freeze the water in between," Ash hotly argued back.

"Ariel, use Aurora Beam on the water between the pikachus and the other water pokemon." Misty said as she threw a pokeball. Immediately, the Vaporeon had fired its attack at the water, freezing it.

"Now," Ash added as the other people and pokemon were too surprised to react. Both pikachus then fired their attacks in the water, shocking Team Rocket and the machine itself. You could actually guess which one has voltage regulation and fuse boxes that were prepared just for this specific situation.

"There are times when I wish I were straight," James was saying after winning the 1,000 volts booby prize. "Crime sucks sometimes."

"We're all washed up," Jessie added as the three thieves had fallen into the pool. "Our criminal careers are down the drain."

"Can it wit' the puns," Meowth added before closing his mouth as they were being sucked in the vacuum.

Outside, Dewford had changed the direction of the exit pipe and sent Team Rocket flying. Back inside, Ash and Misty had raced across the wet deck to turn the machine off.

Both pikachus were glad that they had missed the now dissipating whirlpool before their trainers had dived in the pool to pick them up.

As for the Sensational Sisters, they had gotten busy getting the other aquatic animals and pokemon back to the aquariums with Daisy getting the pool heater back on to melt the ice.

-oOo-

Since we have not heard anything from Brock and William, let us go back to the park and see how they were doing.

The aspiring breeder was able to score with a few girls around his age so his black book was partly filled with phone numbers and maybe a few addresses. Even then, the women that he was trying to woo tended to ignore him or politely brush him off.

As for the ponyta, he was poked, patted, ridden, and even hugged by eager girls and even some boys, mostly those who were too young to begin their journeys.

The worst one was a young woman who had tried to pull him away for a tryst in her apartment. Never was the former human more disgusted with a person than at that very moment. Until then, he never knew that humans would have such depraved sexual needs.

Only through Jessica's interference and the woman's arrest, did William finally let out a neigh full of relief. The police officer then pulled the now tired ponyta to a tree and fed him some berries while telling him some of her own problems as they sat down.

William had played sounding board as he should not answer back being a pokemon. He had learned a lot more about the young woman beside him and had learned something more when her blue haired husband had arrived.

"So, you're the ponyta who made quite a splash in Pewter that Angie had told me, "The young man – Andrew Jenny told the puzzled ponyta before turning to his wife. "Dear, you remember the memorable battle that Alyssa was talking about. This is the same ponyta from her story."

"Wow," Jessica cooed at the memory of the exciting chat she had with her older sister-in-law. "No wonder, the gym leader over there had gone with this guy's trainer. He could learn a lot from him."

"Yeah," Andrew said as he stroked the now calm ponyta, happy that his hands were not burned. "This guy and his trainer would certainly be legends later."

William had tried not to blush at the given praise and thus settled for a playful click of his teeth. A quick look behind him, the ponyta could see that Brock was nearly everywhere as he had walked away from people he did not like and chased after those that he did.

The ponyta did think about his trainer and friend as he remained lying down beside the police officer and her husband and hoped that he could get to the Cerulean gym before sundown.

-oOo-

Back at the aforementioned gym, a flurry of activities was being done in the battlefield itself. Wheelbarrows were entering and exiting the hole made by Team Rocket as they carried the rubble out for pick up.

Men in orange overalls, safety shoes, and white helmets were seen digging through the rubble before putting them on the waiting wheelbarrows. Outside, a small flatbed truck has its rear door open with a cantilever lift that was tilted to permit the wheelbarrows to enter the truck and dispose of its dirty cargo.

Violet was adding the water to the pool by means of a ball valve that she had gotten Ash to turn (You're such a strong boy, aren't you). Ash had never felt as embarrassed by a single compliment before as his face was beet red, but only mumbled a "You're welcome" before scampering with Pika towards the pool area.

The contraption that the group of thieves had taken was returned by the store's own employee with said employee giddy at the chance to drive the motorized industrial vacuum through the city streets.

The carpenters there had also placed a four meter by four-meter steel plate with some help from a hastily installed chain block that was used to carry the plate to its spot in the wall and lift it high enough to get in position. The various rivets and flat beams that were put up by the burly men were enough to keep the plate over the hole and keep it there until it was time to fix it.

The youngsters were given the tasks to sweep up the mess and even mop it clean by their elders. By noon, all tasks were finished and Daisy had invited the young trainer for lunch.

The meal was not as delicious as the ones made by either his mother or Brock, but it was still leagues away from the ones in the pokemon center.

Their meal consisted of braised beef and some vegetables that were cooked really well. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash could spot that Misty was having mixed feelings about the food.

He and Brock had learned the reason the hard way though as Misty was not that great a cook as she tended to mix ingredients either in wrong amounts or in actual ingredients themselves.

It did frustrate youngest Waterflower sister to no end that some people that she knew could cook well (well in Daisy's case, almost well as it does taste good) and she herself could not.

But hey, in the multiple anime or game universes, there are always examples of bad cooks that should be arrested for bad taste. I should be arrested too for making a joke in bad taste, but enough of that.

-oOo-

My apologies for my going off-topic and past the storyline but most people would say that the Sensational Sisters were complete airheads with Daisy as a good example being blonde, yet only a select group of people would know the real persons beneath their outward appearances and actions.

A lot of guys had thought that the elder Waterflower sisters were easy pickings after their parents' death. There were even a group of teenaged boys who had thought that they could rob the Waterflower house and maybe have some fun with the girls. Boy, were they wrong.

As soon as Daisy had heard strange noises in the living room, she had Lily look after the red headed toddler while she and her other sister – Violet had armed themselves with baseball bats.

I think it would be best if I omit the fight scene as it would be pretty gory. Let's just say that two pre-teen girls had gotten a gang of older thieves running for their lives with two of their number suffering from broken bones, lost teeth, and maybe a concussion or two.

Now you see how the fight or flight response could help in a dangerous situation, not to mention that father – Ernst Waterflower had gotten all of his budding beauties to enroll in a self-defense class along with their enrollment in Trainer School and his teaching them on how to swim had helped in a dangerous situation.

As for their mother – Yolanda Waterflower, she had taught them on how to train and take care of pokemon. In addition, they also inherited her unique ability to push a pokemon's strength further than even possible by means of bonding alone rather than training them to their maximum potential and able to heal them as well.

The inheritance was not that equally divided between the four girls sadly. This was because of each of the girls' own peculiarities and likes. For example, Lily was the least able to utilize this specific ability as she would rather play with dolls (and later with boys) than pokemon.

Even then, Lily was still a good trainer but not the type to collect badges to join the Pokemon League even if she could.

We then go to Violet Waterflower, second older sister of the Waterflower sisters. She was a better trainer than Lily was but still not as good as the other two were.

She did win against Brock once, but that was because he was distracted and another against Jasmine, an exchange student from Johto as well as her long-time pen pal. Jasmine did visit Cerulean City a few times before sometime after the annual Johto League was finished, mostly to ditch paperwork and meetings.

Through the years, both Brock and Jasmine had improved since their times as Gym Leaders with Vi being a bit envious of their growing skills. Thanks to Lily, Violet had gotten rid of her funk by doing girly activities like dating boys or shopping.

We now turn our attention to the eldest of the siblings – Daisy Waterflower. Unlike the other two, she had changed the most as she was forced to take care of her younger siblings at an early age with some help from other adults.

Even then, the oldest Waterflower sister did love the opposite sex like her two younger sisters but she also loved pokemon as much as her parents and youngest sister do. So much so that she did not entertain dates until a few months ago.

Daisy was not as skilled in battling as most of the other Gym Leaders, but it did not mean that she was a full slacker, no siree.

Daisy had gotten a good forty out of a hundred trainers crying home to their mamas in last year's league. Not as good as Sabrina's record of eighty-seven trainers beaten out of a hundred (the remaining trainers were smart enough to use Ghost, Bug and Dark type pokemon to battle with), but good enough for the league to keep the Gym open and in the Waterflower's control. Not bad with a Gym whose main pokemon type is weak to Ice, Grass, and Electric if I do say so myself.

Finally, we now go into the youngest Waterflower sister and the only one who could go head-to-head with almost any trainer and win easily. Unlike her older sisters, Misty was more into pokemon training than boys, make up, and other girly things.

She had trained her team – Twinkle (Starmie), Dyna (Staryu), and Slipsteam (Goldeen) hard against other pokemon even those who had type advantages against her own.

Then again, fighting Bug type pokemon was a real hassle to her due to her fear so one could not fault her for going all out in periodic battles against these types in Viridian Forest.

Out of all of them it was Misty who had gotten the lion share of their mother's abilities with Daisy a close second. Even then, none of the Waterflower sisters knew that they actually had such abilities as Yolanda had kept it to herself for unknown reasons.

Of course, I kind of doubt Ash would know his hidden abilities (that he got from his father - Ryder) either…even if it was slowly manifesting in his battling style.

Team Rocket had taken close surveillance on the Waterflower family and the Ketchum family, either for fear of the young children suddenly knowing of their hidden abilities or the G-Men being able to recruit them to their fold or both.

For now, time will tell on what would happen with two ten-year-old children who possess the key to defeat Team Rocket and maybe even win the League.

With that said, let us get back to our regularly scheduled fan fiction.

-oOo-

That afternoon, it was Misty's turn to battle with Lily partly to settle their argument earlier as well as for Misty to get her second badge.

The younger sister then took Ash's place in the Blue trainer platform as it was her turn to challenge the Gym that she had defended before.

This time, it was Violet's turn to referee as Daisy had refereed earlier and was now supervising the addition of water in the aquarium.

"You ready, Squirt?" Lily was saying as she had sized up her little sister in her red bikini while holding a pokeball in her right hand.

"You bet I am," Misty replied as she too had sized up her older sister that was wearing an orange one-piece swimsuit. "And I'll even beat you too."

'We'll see, Squirt." Lily retorted with a smirk as she threw her pokeball into the air. "We'll see. Gym Leader Lily calls Lapras."

A lapras like shape had formed on the water in front of Lily's platform, her mouth letting out a low bray as she was excited at the fact that she would earn her tasty treats after battle.

"How cuuuute," Misty was now in what I would call as - "I so love water pokemon" mode. Ash and Pika had to snicker as the red headed trainer was actually hugging herself in joy at how cute, majestic, etc the Lapras in front of her was. Chu-Chu was about to shock the laughing duo into being serious when the corners of her own mouth began to twitch.

A little later, Lily and Violet had to laugh at the rolling in laughter female pikachu just beside her youngest sister and had to coo at how cute it looked. Soon, both Misty and Chu-Chu had gotten their bearings back and for the former, it was back in the business of battling.

"Well then, Ariel, show them your stuff." The youngest Waterflower sister yelled as she threw her own pokeball. "I mean, Challenger Misty calls Ariel."

"A vaporeon, eh." Lily said with a small smile. 'This would be interesting.'

"Well then, after you." Misty said as she wanted to see what her older sister's moves would be. She never did spar with Lily before as the latter would often turn her down thus, she was more used to battle with Daisy and Violet.

"Thanks, Squirt." Lily said with a smile big enough to be seen across the pool. "Lapras, Ice Beam please."

Lapras had slightly bowed her head to say that she understood before unleashing an ice beam all over the pool itself, freezing its surface.

'Smart move, Sis.' Misty had thought at the sudden change in the battlefield. 'Not only did you render the water useless for fighting under the surface, but you used one of Lapras' strengths as well, it's time to get really serious.'

"Ariel, launch a Shadow Ball at Lapras and try to dodge anything else as you jump around." Misty ordered her pokemon with Ariel complying.

Ariel then jumped swiftly at the pillars that were raised before the battle for her non-flying/swimming pokemon while shooting what seemed to be balls of black energy at Lapras.

The larger water pokemon had to use its increased speed while gliding over the ice in order to avoid getting hit, but a few balls still had gotten direct hits on her.

Lapras was forced to slow down and Lily had told her to counter attack with her own Aurora Beam, it being faster to charge than Ice Beam.

With the offensive now switched to the larger pokemon, Misty then told her pokemon to use Double Team while dodging before continuing her own hit and run attacks.

Lapras was firing Aurora Beams left and right while trying to slide away from the fired Shadow Balls from its multiple opponents.

Lily then thought of something to bring the odds into her favor. "Lapras sweetie, use Mist."

Lapras' mouth had curved into a smile as she had realized what her trainer was telling her. After a moment, her mouth had spewed a thick and transparent white cloud that slowly covered the battlefield.

With reduced visibility, the battle was now more dependent on seeing the enemy first along with whose trainer had trusted her pokemon more.

The pokemons' silhouettes were still visible part of the time to their trainers with black spheres of ghostly power criss-crossing with blue beams of Aurora Beams.

After a minute, Lily had an idea to end the battle. She then called to her pokemon and ordered her to use Sing.

Upon hearing the given order, Misty knew the battle was lost as even Acid Armor (once Ariel had learned it) would not work as long as Ariel could still hear the notes that would put her to sleep.

Sure enough, the siren calls of Lapras had pierced the mist and a soft thump had heralded the end of the battle as Ariel, who had tried to keep herself awake, had lost and thus fell in mid-jump to the ice below her.

Lily had seen the small nod from her sister to finish the latter's pokemon off and thus called for a Blizzard.

The icy winds had blown away the whitish mist and froze Ariel, who was only a meter away from her trainer and fast asleep.

Lapras then slid to where her opponent was frozen before using a gentle Tail Whip to free the latter. Misty then recalled her fainted pokemon and apologized for her carelessness.

The red headed challenger then unhooked a second pokeball from her belt and threw it. The pokeball then opened widely, releasing a red flash of light that formed into the shape of a clefairy.

The clefairy (Tinkerbell) then looked back at her trainer with a confused face, her head tilted to accentuate her confusion. Lily herself was jumping up and down at the sight of the cute creature at the other end of the pool while Lapras had only rolled her eyes at her trainer's antics.

Misty then answered. "Well, Tink, Ariel had been beaten and I need your help to avenge her."

"Clefairy." (Ok, I'm in.)

Violet had commented the change of pokemon for the challenger before resuming the match.

"Ok, Tinkerbell." Misty said with a sinister smile. "Sing us a lullaby."

"Oh no, Lapras." Lily said in worry upon hearing the command. "Fire off an Aurora Beam quick."

It was too late as Lapras was a bit winded in her first battle and thus had fired off the blue beam a little too late. The fired beam was sent upwards before freezing a part of the ceiling.

Lapras then slumped down to the ice beneath her and snored lightly. Lily's calls for it to awaken had fallen on deaf ears as Tinkerbell's Sing was much stronger in comparison to Lapras' and that the Transport pokemon could not last another battle.

"Now that Lapras is asleep, let's wake her up with Thunder." Misty said gleefully as she had Lily's pokemon right where she wanted it – in the firing line.

The powerful electric attack was devastating to the already tired Lapras and she had once again fallen on the ice with her eyes now closed.

"You've like surprised me there, Sis." Lily said with cheerful voice, her heart pumping in excitement as a result of the warming up battle instead of making a tantrum like she did years ago when she lost to a trainer while throwing a second pokeball with Lapras also recalled. "You're up, Corsola."

"Cor." (Yeah)

Again, Misty was distracted at the cuteness of the pink water hybrid in front of her before Ash had managed to pull her out of it with only a whisper in her left ear before leaving the platform. Corsola himself was confused and later angry as he was not cute but tough.

"It's your move again, Sis." Misty said as she had Tinkerbell ready for anything. "Make it good."

"Corsola honey, like get that pink and cute fluffball with your Spike Cannon."

"Tink, use Iron Tail to slap the spikes back."

Corsola had nodded before firing his spikes at the waiting Tinkerbell who then leapt up as the spikes were nearing her before using her newly transformed tail to bat the spikes back at Corsola who had jumped to the water.

"Now, get close and use Double Slap, dear." Misty added seeing that her plan was working.

"Toxic, honey." Lily said to her pokemon in order to keep Tink away. "Hurry up."

"Tink, better use Detect and follow it up with your secret weapon."

"Clefay." (OK)

A stream of purple liquid had flowed out of Corsola's mouth that was evaded by Tinkerbell whose eyes had flashed briefly as she leapt over the platforms.

Now that Tinkerbell had finally closed the gap, she then let loose with low right hook that hit her opponent squarely in between his two frontal horns that sent him to the drink. A second Dynamic Punch was added as Corsola had remained conscious before Clefairy leapt her way back to Misty.

"Corsola, get back to your platform and use Recover."

The pink coral pokemon did and his body had glowed in a rainbow of colors, his health almost fully recovered.

"So Misty, how'd you like them apples?" Lily said with a wide grin.

Misty had only sighed as she answered. "Ok, Tink. It's time to use Metronome."

Tinkerbell then nodded before waving her extended index fingers until they glowed white. In the meantime, Lily had her corsola use recover once again and told him to brace himself for anything.

I guess Lily's luck had run out as the move that Tink had summoned was none other than Solar Beam. Tink had opened her mouth where a sphere of energy was formed before it was fired as a white beam at the surprised Corsola.

Two opponents had now gone down and with only one more to go.

Rather than let a now tired Clefairy sweep the battle, Misty had recalled her after congratulating her along with Chu-Chu. The female pikachu then took her friend's place with a confident stance and an aura to match.

On the other side of the field, Lily had thrown her last pokeball. The pokeball then released an octopus looking pokemon – Octillary.

Both pokemon were ready as seen in their stances and the fact that they had sized up each other as well. Octillary knew that he was in a disadvantage against the electric mouse unless he could disable Chu-Chu somehow.

Chu-Chu was thinking almost along the same lines as she had learned from her earlier encounters to not underestimate her opponents even if she did have the type-advantage. She was also thinking of using other moves rather than her electric ones to surprise her foe.

Lily was trying not to panic as Misty's Clefairy was surprisingly strong in knocking out not one but two of her pokemon, the last one by pure luck and this time, her pokemon has the obvious type advantage beside her.

As for Misty, she was awed that the gym pokemon could be this diverse and even powerful. In her mind, she wished that she could go to other regions to capture these pokemon or something similarly powerful.

"Octillary, use Toxic." Lily said, both to disable the pikachu and to test its defenses. The jet pokemon had smiled as he obliged.

"Chu-Chu, block it with Thundershock." Misty replied in panic as she had remembered how her pikachu was sickly when they first met due to that very attack. "After that, use Quick Attack."

The female pikachu had nodded stiffly before firing off the electric attack right at the stream of purple fluid that had caught fire and exploded.

The sudden explosion had startled the combatants slightly before Chu-Chu had bent her knees and ran.

Octillary had used Mist before his trainer had spoken an order, its white mist covering the battlefield.

Chu-Chu still managed to navigate through the mist before she nailed the jet pokemon with a Dynamic Punch.

Octillary, who was surprised to see a glowing yellow paw emerge from the mist right in front of it, had caught the blow with two of its tentacles. The pain was still enough for it to make the octopus pokemon cry out and one of its tentacles to suffer a bruise.

"Chu-Chu, add a Thunder Shock before coming back." Misty called out upon hearing the cry of pain from the jet pokemon.

Chu-Chu did and a louder cry of pain was heard before a series of soft footsteps was also heard nearing Misty's platform. Octillary had used Endure on his trainer's orders and used Rest afterwards.

The white mist was still visible for a few more minutes before it dissipated, revealing a sleeping Octillary and similarly asleep Chu-Chu.

It was Octillary who had woken up first with Lily releasing a sigh of relief.

"Ok, Octillary." Lily told her pokemon. "Use your own special move - Octopalooza."

The red cephalopod-like pokemon then fired an orange blast of light at the still sleeping Chu-Chu. The pikachu had woken up too late and got hit badly, pushing her to the edge of the platform.

"Chu-Chu!" Misty had yelled in panic as Chu-Chu had groggily got up. "Do you still want to fight?"

Chu-Chu had looked back at her trainer and smiled slightly before looking back at her opponent. Octillary was feeling anxious at the sickeningly sweet smile the pikachu gave it before she charged at full speed.

Lily had ordered Octillary to use Protect in order to shield himself from the incoming physical attack. In retaliation, Misty had ordered a Thunder Wave while Chu-Chu was still jumping from one platform to another.

The tactic had worked as Protect was overwhelmed trying to contain Thunder Wave with the pikachu not even stopping. Chu-Chu then landed on Octillary's platform before unleashing her third Dynamic Punch in Octillary's face, with a power boost from Bide that Chu-Chu had used along with Rest in case of getting attacked first.

Octillary had wobbled at the end of the platform before splashing in the water, his eyes closed in pain as he fainted.

Lily was completely shocked at the turn of events as she tried to figure out where the female pikachu got the sudden burst of strength from.

Misty had realized the Chu-Chu and by extension, Pika was given Bide as their egg moves while they were still Pichu and it carried over to their present evolution.

Chu-Chu had smiled at her triumph before fainting as well, just as Daisy had announced that she and her trainer had won the match as well as the Cascade Badge.

She was later picked up and hugged by a wet Misty before recalled to her pokeball to be carried to the Pokecenter later along with the others.

As promised, Lily gave the Cascade Badge to her youngest sister and even hugged her for making the older Waterflower realize how much fun a pokemon battle could be.

-oOo-

While Misty was winning the gym battle against her sister, Brock and William were having a good time socializing with people and their pokemon. William was actually having a great conversation with an old Rapidash who was a veteran of the Pokemon War.

The ponyta was actually a history buff and learning about the history of the world he resided was something he could not get tired of.

William had listened intently as the old rapidash whose name escaped him were telling the younger horse pokemon stories about his buddies and their trainers who had gotten behind the lines to deal some heavy damage to the surprised enemy.

The rapidash had even asked William to do some things, which the ponyta did do.

"Young 'un, you're quite talented for someone your age." The rapidash said after William had run around the whole park in only ten minutes at full gallop. "That speed and control in avoiding the humans along the way had suggested that you had training of some sort."

"You could say that, Sir." William responded in the ponyta language that to ordinary people consisted of neighs and nicks. "Even then, it is still not comparable to those that you had experienced."

"Yes, yes, it may not." The rapidash said after a pause. "Even then, you still have potential to be a true warrior."

There was silence as William had only looked back at his friend who had now cornered a pretty lady of about eighteen years of age. The former human could not believe that he, an ordinary boy in his own world, would be considered akin to a well decorated soldier.

It was something out of his boyish dreams of years past that he had purposely forgotten to pursue a more practical goal in his life.

"Child, is there something wrong?" The rapidash said with an undertone of worry. "I hope it is not my breath."

"No, Sir." William said quickly to hide his embarrassment. "I'm just not used to taking compliments like that."

"You may have to get used to compliments like this, child." Rapidash said with nary a chuckle, but with an understanding look in his eyes. "You and your trainer, whoever he is, would become legends without even meaning to. You could say that it's your shared destiny."

"Yeah, I guess so." The ponyta replied with a soft tone. "Thank you, Sir."

"Well then, cheerio." Rapidash said with swish of his tail as he trotted towards his waiting trainer. "Nicholas and I still have to get home to Saffron before it gets dark."

"Goodbye," William replied with a swish of his own fiery tail. "I hope to meet you once again."

"Likewise."

William then watched his new acquaintance meet his trainer who was standing by the lamppost in the parking lot and be recalled to his pokeball before the man boarded his car and left, the setting sun illuminating them and the other people in the park in orange light.

After seeing the car leave, William then stood up and stretched his legs to keep them from falling asleep. He then saw Brock running towards him with his eyes wide open, quite a rarity for the ponyta to see.

"William, we have to go as in right now." Brock said as he had grabbed the ponyta's neck and nearly burned his hand in the process. "Don't ask, just move."

Both human and pokemon then sprinted away from the amphitheater as fast as they could with Brock managing to ride the horse pokemon during the sprint to William's dismay.

-oOo-

The pair had ducked into a narrow dead-end alley with three dumpsters at the end itself. Their pursuers – a bunch of old women that wanted to feel young again by dating a certain dark-skinned breeder, had passed them by panting before both teen and pokemon had gotten the courage to leave the area and take a quick bath in the Pokemon Center.

"Seriously, Brock." William was saying after ensuring that they were alone in a bench near the Cerulean Gym. "Those ladies are old enough to be our grandmothers."

"And you think I don't know that," The tan breeder nearly shouted back but held himself in order to keep attention away from them. "It wasn't my fault that they came to me; I'm just simply that handsome."

Brock then ducked from the ponyta's raised hooves almost colliding with his head before adding. "Just kidding, but seriously, what's the story with that woman who was arrested?"

"She wanted to have…sex with me."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah, but don't tell Ash or Misty that." William then added in a whisper. "They're much too young to know about the birds and the bees along with the nutcases that knows too much of it."

"I won't, but we'll still have to tell them sometime." Brock said with a hardened expression on his face. "As soon as news of this breaks out, they're bound to know about it."

"I will," the ponyta replied. "But only when they're old enough to understand."

"Speaking of which, we've got to head to the gym pronto." Brock said as he had looked at his watch. "I'm sure they've finished their battles already."

"Let's go." William answered before trotting away.

-oOo-

The pair had arrived at the Cerulean Gym entrance and waited for their friends. It did not take them long to hear the creaking of the double door leading to the gym itself. Both human and pokemon had stood up from their seat or ground and greeted their friends in their own ways.

"Hey guys, I suggest we spend the night in the Pokemon Center before leaving the city tomorrow." Brock said as he had briefly looked at the sky, noticing that the normal bluish tint was slowly disappearing and being replaced by splashes of orange and red.

"How about you all stay for the night?" Daisy said in response. "I'm sure you've all had quite a hectic day and the Pokemon Center is full for the night."

Brock was about to go into his "lovesick" mode when he was stopped by a furious glare and something holding him by his brown shirt's collar.

"Wow, Ash." Violet quipped in surprise at the scene before her. "Did you teach your ponyta to hold down people?"

"Actually…" Ash was putting his hand behind his head when Misty answered for him.

"William is much smarter than his own trainer," the red head said with a sly grin. "He'll probably teach Country Boy some new tricks soon."

"Very funny," Ash said hotly at the dig, his arms crossed as he had glanced at the pink haired teen on his right trying to cover her laughter.

"Sorry, sorry." Misty then stepped closer to the boy from her place beside Violet and bowed slightly in apology. It was done mostly to keep Ash from plotting revenge on her as he knew her fear of bug pokemon and was more than willing to use it.

While Misty was playing tour guide with the guys and Chu-Chu, the other Sensational Sisters had started cooking their dinner.

After an hour had passed, dinner was ready and the group had enjoyed Waterflower's fried fish and other seafood. The group then exchanged stories before turning in for the night.

William had slept with Daisy as she always did wish to have a ponyta when she was little.

The teen then pretended that she had a conversation with the ponyta about one of her dreams of becoming a famous star and later director of motion pictures.

She had also dreamed of meeting a handsome young man and having a family while living in a house near to the Cerulean Gym.

William, on his part, had listened intently to the girl pouring her heart to him and only nodded at times. He was careful on not saying anything in his native language or else be kicked out of the room and gym by a furious blonde with a baseball bat.

Daisy then gave the ponyta one last hug before going to sleep.

-oOo-

The next morning, the group had breakfast before the tearful goodbyes were given. Misty had even told her friends that Twinkle would be exchanged for Dewford the Seel for the latter to gain some more experience and maybe evolve to his final form.

In turn, Dyna would take its sister's place in Misty's team as it was evolved to Starmie as well via Daisy's moonstone.

"Take good care of our baby sister and her pokemon or you'll answer to us," Daisy was saying in half-threatening tone to the two boys and the pokemon. "I mean it."

"Yes, Ma'am." The males, both pokemon and human responded in their own ways.

"Good," the blonde said with a relieved smile as she and her sisters had hugged the youngest one. "I trust that you'll keep your promise."

"Sure, Sis." Misty answered with a smile as she had gotten on her bike. "Let's go, guys."

The boys had followed the red head's example and also had gotten on their bikes with William trotting after them.

"Misty sure grew up fast, ain't she?" Violet said after the group had disappeared from sight.

"She's not the only one, Vi." Daisy said with a grin.

"True, true." Lily added with a nod, remembering Ash from years before. "We all did."

-oOo-

The trio of trainers and their pokemon had made two stops in Cerulean before moving on to the south. The first was in the Pokemart where they had replenished their supplies and bought some new ones.

The second was at the Chains and Brakes bike shop where the trio would receive their prizes for giving out all of the calling cards along the way to Pewter City and even before leaving the said city.

They had met the store's owner – Edward Elric, a blonde man in his mid-thirties and a genius to anything mechanical and made of metal. He was even rumored to conjure parts from nothing and thus his nickname – "The Full-Metal Alchemist".

Edward had met the group at the door, while testing his newest invention – a bike with improved suspensions in the wheels and in the seats for riding in rough paths to provide comfort. This and its gears and various accessories like mudguards, a basket, luggage carrier, lights, reflectors, and a cycle-computer would make it a perfect bike to use in mountain paths and other uneven surfaces even at night.

"Are you the kids that my wife - Winry had given Laurie's bike to?" The blonde mechanic and store owner said as he had seen the kids come up from the road.

"Yes, Sir." Ash said in reply. "That's us."

"Good, good." Edward said as he had wiped the grease of his hands after he had put down his new prototype to the grass below. "Come with me, I've got your prizes here."

The group had followed the muscular man as they had brought their bikes with them, marveling at the metallic creations of the storeowner created from junk and useless spare parts that he had collected through the years.

There were garden structures made of bicycle parts, hangers, old refrigerators, pots, pans, and even old TV sets.

"That's just a few of my creations, kids." Edward said with a hearty laugh as he had seen his visitors admire his structures. "A lot of 'em was already sold to some high falutin' art collectors and I think one of 'em is in the Indigo Plateau with a few others in Johto, Sinnoh, Hoenn, Unova, and even Kalos."

After a few more minutes, Elric had led them to his store. The store was wide enough to have shelves for bicycle spare parts and accessories and even a large display stands with even more parts and accessories to see.

Edward had led the group to the back of the store through a door at the side of the counter. As soon as they had entered the door, the younger set was surprised to see the three specially designed Mach bikes made just for them and like the Mach Bikes; they were also light, tough, and foldable.

In fact, they were also similar to Edward's new invention except the new invention was much more specialized than theirs especially in its onboard computer, but all of them could also climb very rocky mountain paths with ease even in lower gears thus making them a cross between a Mach bike and a mountain bike.

The colors of the bikes were red, blue, and green respectively. Misty had chosen the blue one to fit her water motif. Brock had taken the green bike as he loved the color and he felt like that bike felt right for him. Ash had gotten the red one, which was equally sophisticated as the other two.

They had given their own bikes to trade with the new ones for the former to be customized as well.

"Well, they're yours." Edward said while crossing his arms and smiling as he had leaned on the light green wall. "Oh, and Brock, your dad had called me up so you could have a bike of your own. Call it…an apologetic gift for leaving you in charge for the past few years."

"Alright and I'll call Dad when I get the chance." The tan breeder said while looking away to hide his tears. "Thanks, Mr. Elric."

"You're welcome, Brock."

The travelers then left for Vermillion City.

-oOo-

After biking south for a kilometer from Cerulean, Ash and company had come across an unofficial gym. The gym itself had wooden walls with a large wooden gate as its entrance. Above the said gate was a wooden sign – "AJ's Gym, 99 victories and counting". Note: Gym is not sanctioned by the Pokemon League.

"Gee, this guy sure spent a lot in advertising." Ash was saying with a teasing grin at his friends.

"Funny."

"C'mon guys," the Pallet native said as he had his bike coast to a gentle sliding stop that kicked up some dust in the process. "At least laugh at my jokes."

"We will only if it is actually funny," Misty answered as she had her bike coasting to a stop near Ash, with some more dirt kicked up from the sliding stop.

"I'm with Misty in this," Brock added as he too had stopped his bike in the same manner as the others. "So shall we continue on our way?"

"I think I'll have a practice match here," the Pallet native replied with a familiar grin. "You guys could join in if you want. We haven't had a trainer battle since we left Cerulean."

"That's true," the red head said with a small smile seen on her face. "I think the trainers had already left for Viridian or Saffron City so we don't have a lot of trainers to do battle with."

"Well, let's see if anyone's home so we could leave while there is still light."

"Good point," the younger trainers answered as they had kicked the center stands of their bikes.

Ash then rang the doorbell once, then twice, then thrice before they heard a yelling from the trees to their right.

"Hey, what're you three doing here?" A young man of about fourteen with dark greenish hair was seen walking from the woods. "I just left for an hour and now you'se here."

"Hi, we're just about to ask you for a battle." Ash said without even hesitating. "I'm Ash Ketchum, by the way."

"Name's AJ," the newcomer said with a raised open hand. "Nice ta meetcha."

"I'm Misty Waterflower," the soon to be Water Master added as she and AJ shook hands. "So why didn't you challenge the gyms if you're that strong?"

"Well, you see the sign over there." AJ said as he had pointed at the scoreboard above them. "If me and my team win a hundred battles, then we could challenge the gyms. Plus, you haven't given me your name, big guy."

"Brock Harrison, former Gym Leader of Pewter City and future Pokemon Breeder."

"Ah, not much of those people passing by here." AJ noted as he nodded his head in understanding. "Sure, I'm up for a quick battle as well. Plus, you must be the youngest of the Waterflowers, eh Misty."

"Yeah," Misty answered with a slight blush. "But unlike my sisters, I'm going to make a name for myself in training pokemon."

"Good to hear, birds of a feather tend to flock together." AJ said with a nod. "I'm sure Ash here dreams of being a Pokemon Master."

"I don't get it."

AJ's near landing on the ground with his face was more than enough to push the wooden gate open wide as it was already unlocked when his hands collided with it.

"Ash?!"

"What?!"

A loud whump was heard a kilometer away as Ash was taken down by Misty's mysterious mallet strike. Ash had hit the dirt so fast his lips had literally kissed the ground.

Misty had quickly hidden her weapon of choice while the other boys were just staring in disbelief. Ash had recovered his senses about a minute later before quickly standing up and spitting up a storm to get rid of the dirt on his mouth before rubbing his lips on his left sleeve.

"What was that for?!" Ash was saying as he stomped towards the girl whose own hands were clenched into small fists. "I just don't get what AJ was trying to say, not something that would involve getting malleted at."

"He meant that all four of us are similar in having dreams of becoming famous," Brock was massaging the bridge of his nose to somewhat relieve the headache he was feeling. "He did not mean it literally."

"Oh," Ash said as he had looked down. "But still, it is not a malletable offense."

This time, it was Misty who had looked down in shame. She then said even with her head down. "I'm sorry if over-acted, Ash. Could you forgive me?"

"Well, I will if you-" Ash was cut off when Pika had used a soft Tail Whip on the back of his legs as he could guess that his trainer was up to no good.

Friend or not, a little lesson in treating a girl right was still required…especially if the teacher himself was trying to score brownie points with a member of the opposite sex that is the pokemon of the girl in question.

"Alright, alright." Ash said with a yelp as he realized that his own pokemon had seen through his deception and quickly changed his mind. "Let's get to the battlefield before I'll need medical attention."

Everyone had laughed at that as they continued onto the raised battlefield just before a circus tent at the back of the fenced property that is AJ's gym.

There were open spaces complete with tires being laid out in pairs, a wooden wall with a rope hanging from it, and two towers connected by a single rope.

The four humans then got up the battlefield and got in the ropes forming the walls of the said battlefield. AJ then released his sandslash and challenged Ash for his 100th victory; he never knew that things would not go as planned.

Dewford and Ariel had gone out to watch the battle and maybe have a battle of their own with the sandslash when the aforementioned sandslash had seen the seel standing next to his trainer and growled loudly.

The seel responded by clapping its paws and grunting something akin to "Bring it on".

The humans had noticed the animosity between two of the pokemon present and gave them the floor so to speak. The battle was changed to just two pokemon with no trainers involved and no time limit.

Both Sandslash and Dewford had gotten to their positions on both ends of the battlefield and were now studying each other's expressions to base their next moves.

Sandslash had gone in first by jumping up and rolled into a ball. He then launched quills from the spines at its back to the sea lion pokemon who had dodged the venomous projectiles by jumping to the right just in time. Luckily, the humans had already gone down the battlefield and watched the fight from afar.

After dodging the projectiles that had continued on towards the wall, Dewford then fired an Aurora Beam at the Mouse pokemon who also dodged it quickly.

Sandslash then brought its claws into play in order to slash his opponent to submission before using a stronger move to finish him. Dewford was ready for him though as he had used Blizzard instead.

Suffice to say, Sandslash was defeated as he could still attack when his body was covered with frost but not before a second Aurora beam was fired immediately right after Blizzard was used.

AJ had recalled his fainted pokemon with an expression that was a mix of disappointment and pity. He had even whispered to his pokeball – "You'll win against him someday. You just need to work on not flinching in the cold."

To the other humans, he added. "Sorry about this, Dune Buster is still sore about facing Dewford in the Cerulean Gym in an exhibition match about a few months ago. He's just like me, loud and proud in our quest to become one of the best trainers of the region."

"That's alight," Misty said with a slight smile as Ariel leaned on her leg with Dewford making a high five with Pika and a low five with Ash and Brock. "Ariel here also needs a victory to pump her up as she lost against a Lapras. I'm sure she would have wanted to fight against Dune Buster."

"Ariel?" AJ was confused on who did the red head meant.

"My vaporeon," Misty responded while patting said vaporeon's head. "She's just evolved recently and needs a victory or at least a good battle to raise her spirits up."

"I hear you," the green haired teen said before turning around. "Well, I've got to put DB under the healing machine for now so why don't you guys just hang around or if you like do some training to while the time."

The visitors then chose to join AJ further inside before checking out various things inside. William had gone out of his pokeball and started to run on the treadmill and operated it with his nuzzle.

Pika and Chu-Chu then examined the strange rope like things before getting caught in it. Their trainers had managed to pull the said things before AJ had explained what the items were.

"They're harnesses and I used them to help my team get stronger," the green haired trainer was saying after putting his best fighter into the healing unit. "It restricts their body movement thus forcing them to make themselves stronger in order to move."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Ash was asking as he noticed that other pokemon were also wearing harnesses as they went through various routines. "Wouldn't there be a better way to train pokemon?"

"Yes, I may have to admit it is a bit harsh." AJ then said while cupping his chin in between his right forefinger and thumb. "Still, as long as the pokemon themselves allow it, it's not much trouble at all."

"Yeah, you're right." Ash was saying before his own team had released themselves before doing their own training, some of them even putting on harnesses with some help. "Huh?"

"I guess they thought it was a good idea on using a different technique to train," Brock was saying before his and Misty's team had joined the others. "AJ, I hope we won't be a bother but, could we stay for a few days while our pokemon do some training on their own?"

"No problem," AJ said while looking at the teams of pokemon dedicated to make themselves even stronger without a prompt from their trainers. "I'm just surprised your pokemon did it without asking for permission."

"So did we," the Pallet trainer said as he had lifted some weights along with Brock. "But then again, just battling each other and doing some basic exercises do get to be boring after a while."

"Yeah, I sure wanted to know if you gave them good food to be this well fed even with hard training." Brock had added as he did some push-ups. "I'll admit I'm impressed."

"Well, I'll show you." AJ replied as he had given his new friend a hand to stand up before leading him to the storage room in the back.

While the other two boys were in the storage room, Misty had shown up in her bathing suit with our dark-haired hero nearly losing his grip on the ten-pound barbells he was lifting with his hands.

Within the midst of chitters and giggling, Ash had recovered his composure and put the exercising equipment down on the ground before talking to the newcomer whose slippers had made clapping sounds as their owner made her way to the pool in the middle of the whole tent like structure.

"Nice recovery there, Country Boy." Misty was saying as she had brought a chair near the pool where she had put down her backpack and red towel. "I actually thought that you'd get hurt with those heavy barbells."

"Nah, I've carried boxes heavier than this whenever Mom has to work in her little restaurant." Ash answered as he had shaken his hand in an effort to remove the pain caused by trying to regain his grip on the barbells earlier. "So, are you training or swimming, Water Girl?"

"Both," the red headed trainer answered as she had splashed down into the water with both feet first.

After a few seconds, Misty's head had broken the water surface and she shook the excess water away. In return, Ash had flinched from getting hit by droplets and thus moved even further away from the pool.

"What's the matter, Ash?" The Cerulean native said with a wide grin. "Afraid of getting wet?"

"You'll be eating your words once I finish this work out of mine."

"Oh, I'm so scared." Misty replied with her blue eyes rolling in their sockets. "Not."

"Just you wait, Waterflower." Ash said as he had finished his right arm flexes and was now working on his left. Misty had ignored the threat and began swimming as well as instructing her pokemon.

The fiery haired and similarly spirited girl was so busy with training herself and her pokemon that she had missed the shadow that flashed briefly in front of her before she felt a large weight behind her back and was swallowing water not soon after.

Her instincts kicking in, Misty had pushed with all of her might the added weight off of her while her feet were flailing in two directions to propel herself up to the surface to cough some water out of her lungs and replace it with air.

Up the water surface, the red head's face had turned as red as her hair upon seeing a half-laughing and half-coughing Ash Ketchum who was now pushing himself out of the pool itself.

Misty had tried to swim towards the edge where Ash's right foot was still standing, but failed to do so as the Pallet native already slipped on his green slippers and backtracked as far away from the pool as possible.

"You're dead meat, Ashton." The girl was shouting at the top of her lungs after inhaling enough air while being half-in and half-out of the pool. "You hear me, Ketchum."

'What's going on?" AJ was saying as he and Brock had exited the storeroom after hearing the commotion.

"Jerk Boy over there tried to drown me," Misty said while pointing at the Pallet native who was hiding behind a stack of boxes. "And all I did was just teasing him about a little water."

"You do know that you don't just get people wet after they get sweaty right?" Ash reminded her from the safety of his chosen cover.

"No, I don't."

"Enough," Brock had finally lost his temper. "I want you two to kiss and make up as we are still guests of AJ here."

"What did you say?!" Both Ash and Misty said in unison as they faced the prospective breeder, surprising him.

"What he meant is fer ya to apologize," AJ said with his arms crossed. "You do know that as the owner of this property, I coulda have you kicked out if I deemed it necessary."

With this fact now out in the open, both younger children had shut up. Ash then left his cover and started to walk towards the girl with Misty also slowly walking towards the boy.

Both kids were looking away with disgust evident in their features, but they both know that they were only being stubborn as they were both at fault.

After stopping at arm's length away from each other, the trainers had rocked on the balls of their feet while stammering without even saying anything.

The teens were waiting for the younger trainers to start apologizing and thus stood near the said trainers with their arms crossed and their looks serious.

"I…" both Ash and Misty were saying as they were both twiddling with their thumbs as they once again faced away from each other and was looking at the ground.

"Go on," AJ was saying in a threatening tone. "We're not leaving this spot until you apologize."

"I-I'm sorry," both younger trainers finally said with a shout.

"Good, now shake hands so we could get back to what we are doing." Brock then added as he and AJ had relaxed their stances.

The younger trainers did so before running away in different directions.

"Does this happen often?" AJ had asked his friend as they had watched their younger friends' antics.

"Nope, but they still need to rein in their tempers every once in a while." The chocolate skinned teen answered. "I'll give them a few days to cool off while we work out the kinks in our training."

"I hear you."

-oOo-

The three trainers had stayed for two more days in the gym and was about to leave on the third day when rain had marred their schedule. It did bring them yet another person to befriend or in Ash's case, catch up with.

The day had started with the rising sun illuminating low lying nimbus clouds that seemed to be fully laden with raindrops.

AJ had noticed it first and thus had thrown tarps over the battlefield and other items that could not be brought inside. As for those items that could, he and Brock had carried most of the heavier items with Ash and Misty along with the pokemon carrying the rest.

The trainers had also kept their specialized bikes inside the tent to keep it from getting wet. Rather than waste time doing nothing, the trainers thought of just using the equipment to build their strength and endurance.

A loud banging on the gate was heard and had even competed with the loud banging with the bell that AJ had added to the gate just hours earlier.

Thus, both AJ and Brock had run into the rain and opened the wooden gate before used their umbrellas to cover the girl with shoulder length brown hair with a blue sleeveless shirt, a red skirt, now dirty white socks, and now muddy white with red trim middle saddle shoes.

As soon as the girl had come in, her brown eyes had spotted the male with the wild hair and ran to him while she dropped her yellow bag, her own wet white sun hat with half a pokeball on its front and a red hatband falling at the sudden burst of speed.

Ash was caught by surprise when he was hugged from behind, his sneakers were scuffling the soil in front of him with his rubber soles as the newcomer's hug had pushed him slightly to the front. The Pallet trainer had already returned his dumbbells and was doing stretching exercises when he was hugged.

Misty was also surprised and something within her had flared at the sight of the wet girl suddenly glomping her Ash. It was only when Chu-Chu had tugged her right leg slightly that the red head had gotten out of her stupor.

"Leona, where have you been?" The Pallet native said in surprise as he was released by the girl in question. "I arrived in Vermillion the same day we left and I didn't see you or Gary in the pokemon center."

"That's because I slept in Raine's house that day," Leona Greene answered her childhood friend as she had grabbed a towel that was on the treadmill beside her and used it to dry herself.

Then seeing a twitching girl who was still holding her barbells at the other side of the makeshift gym, Leona added. "So Ashy Boy finally netted a girl. Nice going there."

"Now wait a cotton-picking minute," Ash said while ignoring that his face suddenly getting warm. "Misty is a good friend of mine and it's not polite to just assume that she and I are going out."

"You're not?" AJ added as he and Brock had returned to the tent. "I could've sworn that you do."

"Enough!" Misty shouted as she could not hold her temper in check along with the slight disappointment that came with her friend's words. "Look, Miss. Ash and I are good friends just like he said and I would appreciate it if we would not be badgered about it."

After putting in her two cents about her and Ash, Misty then stomped her way to her room with Chu-Chu right behind her. William, who had just finished sparring with Pika, had only shaken his head in dismay with Pika following his example.

"I've got her," Leona said before following the now crying girl. "Oh, and Ash, please be a dear and send us some water. Thanks."

After Leona was out of hearing range, Ash then spoke up. "Did she just tell me to bring her and Misty two glasses of water?"

Brock only shrugged as he answered. "Yeah, she just did."

The Pallet native then headed for the small kitchen on the other side of the tent without a word.

-oOo-

Leona had stopped in front of the white door that her quarry had slammed upon entering. She then stood there in thought before finally knocking on the door.

The only answer was a garbled "Go away" as it was interspersed with sobs. The brunette only let out a sigh as she had turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open.

Leona had to duck at the flying pillow that passed her head by before landing on the dirt outside of the room.

"Cool it, girl." The brunette was saying with her arms covering her face. "I know I goofed earlier and I want to say I'm sorry."

"Alright," Misty answered her face still buried in the remaining pillow. "Just close the door."

"Sure," Leona said as she had retrieved the pillow and closed the door. "Just to be sure, I don't like Ash more than a friend."

"I didn't say that," Misty then spoke up as she had wiped her tears away once she had dropped her pillow. "I just told you that I agree with Ash."

"Yet, you acted like you were hurt."

"Alright, I'll admit that I do have a little crush on Country Boy." Misty said while hiding her cheeks behind her hands. "But he's so dense I don't think he would feel the same or even realize what I feel for him."

"Just give him time," Leona said while putting an arm around the red head. "We're only ten, you know. Besides, from what I could see, he may have liked you the same way."

"You're pulling my leg," Misty was trying to hide a grin as she said that.

"No joke," Leona's face showed no smile or twinkling eyes unlike earlier. "Ashy Boy barely interacts with girls even me. The fact that he stood up for you even if you guys only knew each other recently is enough proof that he cares about you a great deal."

"You're not jealous?" the red head then added with wide green eyes. "I mean, we're both his friends who just happen to be female."

"Maybe, I'm a bit jealous but please keep this a secret-" The second Pallet trainer was forced to stop as Ash had gotten in the door, glasses in hand. "Ash, thank you but get out."

"Eh?!" Ash was scratching his head at the glares leveled at him by the other occupants in the room after putting the glasses on the wooden table near him.

"Out!" both girls now yelled at the poor male trainer.

"Ok, ok." Ash answered as he ran out of the room and even slammed the door on his way out.

"Honestly," both girls were saying in stereo before laughing out loud.

"Misty, you rock girl." Leona said as she gave her new friend a high five.

"You too, Leona." Misty said while giggling at the sight of the male trainer running like that. "I guess you don't see him the same way I do."

"Nope."

"So, who do you like?"

"I'll answer that question when we meet in the Pokemon League."

"Alright, but pinky promise that you will tell me when we do." The Cerulean native said with said digit up.

"Pinky promise," Leona had repeated as her little pinky had encircled Misty's and vice versa. "Just keep Ashy boy in line for me. He's quite a handful."

"He sure is," Misty had answered before the girls laughed once again. "While we're here, how about we exchange stories about our lives?"

"You just read my mind."

-oOo-

After having lunch and a quick cleaning of the battlefield, AJ finally got his chance to battle someone. This time, it was Leona who was standing at the other end of the battlefield instead of Ash.

Ash would have wanted to battle AJ if not for the combined stare that the girls had given him so being the gentleman that he was, he let Leona go first.

The unofficial gym leader had asked his opponent what battle style would be used. Leaf answered – three on three with no time limit.

AJ then agreed before sending out one of his raticates to fight. Leona responded by releasing her beedrill.

The green haired teen was confused on why a bug pokemon was released to fight his normal type. Thus, he had gotten Lenore to start the battle.

The girl did so by ordering Sweet Scent. AJ had panicked upon seeing the pink mist and told his pokemon to evade it via Dig, the green haired teen mentally kicking himself for not scanning his opponent's pokemon first.

"Barbara, keep your compound eyes peeled." Leona said while looking for any movement in the ground. "That raticate has to come out somewhere."

AJ and the others were puzzled at the female trainer's words and thus an impatient raticate had come out rather early to attack early.

Leona had spotted the slight bulge on the ground behind her beedrill and gave her orders accordingly. "Twin Needle, Barb as he's behind you."

Barbara had turned around and below to see the rising mound of dirt. She then powered up her needle like arms and dove just as Ratty had emerged from the mound of dirt.

"Ratty, watch out." AJ shouted he saw the beedrill dive on his pokemon. "Roll outta there and send that bug a Shadow Ball."

It was still too late for the rattata because the added speed of the beedril as it dove was enough for the Twin Needle to strike while the normal type was still halfway out of his hole.

"Sorry, Buddy." AJ said in a whisper as his fainted Ratata was recalled. "I never should've underestimated that Beedrill."

"I guess we'll fight fire with fire." AJ then threw his pokeball, releasing another female beedril. "Since Honey's female, Sweet Scent won't work here."

"Good point," Leona then studied the newcomer. "Barbara, return."

The rest of the audience was a bit confused until they realized that Leona had made a smart move in getting her first pokemon some rest.

The brunette then snapped off a second pokeball and threw it, releasing a raticate instead. Unlike before, this one is a male.

"Ok, now this is odd." Ash was telling his companions in the log where they sat on. "So why did Leona let out her raticate now?"

"Why are you asking me?" Brock answered in a near whisper. "I thought you're a genius at battles."

"Maybe her raticate has a special move that would give her the edge in this fight," Misty had whispered as she leaned to Ash's side. "I mean, didn't we do the same thing before?"

"Yeah, I understand now." Ash said while keeping himself from blushing at the sudden intrusion to his personal space by the girl. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Misty was proven correct as Leona did plan her pokemon's moves and even order of battle before meeting AJ. So how did she do it? Leona's cousin - Seth had fought AJ a week before and he told her the three pokemon AJ had used but not their order as AJ loved to switch around his team to surprise his opponents.

From there, Leona had studied the said pokemon's moves along with her own. She, unlike her three fellow starters wanted to be well prepared for any gym battle, whether they may be sanctioned or not as it is her nature.

Besides, she was (and still is) also a fan girl of Mrs. Kristina "Crystal" Masters, an upcoming scientist under the tutelage of Professor Samuel Oak but now juggling field research with being a mother of a cute but rambunctious girl.

Then again, the kid's father is the current Pokemon Master Gold (real name: Gregory Masters) so to most people; six-year-old Natalia "Naty" Masters just proved that apples don't fall far from trees to her mother's chagrin.

Once again, we return to the story where Leona's Raticate was facing off with AJ's Beedril. It was considered as a reverse of the first battle with both final evolutions of the normal and bug type respectively eying each other while awaiting orders.

"Ratty, use Jump Kick followed by Toxic."

"Oh no, you don't." AJ said as he had seen what would happen. "Honey, dodge it and use Swift."

Raticate was hit thrice by the star like projectiles from above as he leapt but had gotten a hit as he had twisted in the air to avoid the attack. On his way down, he had spat a purplish glop on the slightly dazed opponent before landing on his stomach.

Honey had shaken off the goop that had covered her like mud, but still found herself growing weaker with each second.

The beedril then fired a Giga Drain in response to regain some lost energy and succeeded in doing so as Raticate could not evade such an attack, the fired beam making contact and doing some damage that Honey had also used to heal herself.

"Let's finish this, Ratty." The brunette said with a big smile. "Jump and hit Honey with your special attack."

Ratty had chittered happily before leaping high into the air and curling into a ball. AJ was panicking as the raticate would then use Rollout on the way down, thus ordering his already weakened beedril to evade the incoming spiked ball.

Honey had used part of her remaining energy to move to the side but it was too late as the ball like raticate suddenly formed flames all over his body's fur, burning the poor bug type.

The raticate then unfurled itself before landing on the ground on all four feet; the flames around its body having died down as well.

As for the female beedrill, its burnt exo-skeleton had hit the ground with a thud and her eyes were closed. It was clearly fainted as AJ had recalled it and shook hands with the female trainer for giving him a good battle.

"I guess we're left to our last pokemon," the tall green haired teen said with sigh. "So, let's just put on a good show as it's obvious who will win here."

"Agree," the smaller brunette said with a nod. "Let's get this show on the road, Hyacinth."

The boys had responded by tilting their heads at the given name, causing the girls to slap their faces with their palms or paws in some cases.

Misty had spoken up for the females by saying. "Don't you three know anything about plants?"

"Well, I know that Mom grows some flowers and vegetables in our backyard." Ash had answered rather meekly with his forefinger touching.

"Living here makes me learn a bit of the local fauna," AJ replied with aplomb.

"My mom had made a little garden near our house too," Brock had added.

"But we never knew that there is a plant named Hyacinth." All three males said together.

"That's because it is a flower that grows from bulbs thus it is a perfect name for my starter that is an Ivysaur." Leona then explained to the puzzled young men.

"Ah…"

"Now stop gawking and let's battle." Leona then added to her opponent.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Ok, DB." AJ said as he threw the red and white metal ball. "Show your stuff."

With a flash, AJ's pokemon partner had manifested himself in front of the green haired trainer.

Hyacinth had studied her foe much like her trainer had done earlier; this had gotten the sandslash to jitter nervously at the sight of the grass/poison type.

Truth to tell, Dune Buster could resist poison type moves, but was really weak against grass-type moves due to its being a ground type. In his mind, this would be a tactician's battle as he and most of his moves would only be mostly effective but not overly so.

"I'll go first," AJ said before adding. "Use Sand Attack now and follow it up with Slash."

"Oh no you don't." Leona replied quickly. "Hyacinth, use Razor Leaf to keep him away and if you can't, you know what to do."

Dune Buster then turned around and dug in the dirt, throwing bits of dirt at his opponent. The thrown dirt had formed a sort of barrier that the spinning leaves had hit and some of the dirt had gotten into the bulbasaur's eyes.

Seeing his opponent partially blinded, the sandslash again had turned around and charged at the ivysaur that was still trying to rub the dirt out of its eyes to slash it with both of his claws.

Hearing the soft thumps of the approaching ground type, Hyacinth had fired "by god or by guess" two seeds that were unnoticed by her opponent in his rush.

Both Dune Buster and his trainer were surprised when vines suddenly grew around the former and immobilized it and making it fall to the ground.

"DB, Rapid Spin now." AJ roared as the sandslash had squealed in pain as Leech Seed had started to suck in its life energy. "Get outta there."

"Hyacinth, Giga Drain while he's still trapped."

Dune Buster then spun rapidly with the edges of his claws shredding the vines surrounding him until he was free; he then fell on one knee as a wave of green energy had surrounded him before returning to Hyacinth.

"Ok, girl." Leona was smiling widely at her choice of moves. "Sunny Day."

"DB, dig while you still can."

Hyacinth's bulb on its back had released a bright orb that rose up before making the sun much brighter. Dune Buster had realized the same predicament as his trainer and started digging as fast as he could.

"Now, Solar Beam." The hat wearing girl said with a wide grin.

AJ could only shake his head as the Solar Beam hit his partner, thus making him faint midway towards the ground. He then recalled the unconscious sandslash and watched his opponent hug her starter pokemon tightly.

Ash and the others had stood up from the makeshift stands that they had sat on to watch the battle, all of them were suitably impressed with their new friend's tactics.

The green haired teen had shaken his head as if to clear it and slowly walked to the victor, his hands still shaking at the defeat he had suffered.

At least, it was until three interlopers suddenly surprised them with a Smokescreen attack and was gone as the black smoke cleared.

"Hey, where's Dune Buster?" AJ had called out after coughing up a storm.

"Hyacinth's gone too!" Leona had cried out after removing the handkerchief from her nose and mouth.

I guess the three I said earlier were not the only ones who were missing after all. I'll give you guys three guesses on who the three interlopers were…make that one as it is quite obvious by now on whom I was referring to anyway.

-oOo-

Speaking of which, let us follow our mysterious trio and see what they were up to.

"I knew that using the smokescreen and not announcing our presence would net us a pokemon," the light blue haired fruit (he is gay, right?) was telling his companions while holding a large leather sack over his left shoulder.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but James is right," the red-haired young woman who was walking in front of our fruity friend who we will now call James.

"I dink youse is right, Jessie." The potluck pokemon who was walking just beside James then added.

The conversation between the Rocket Trio was interrupted by sounds of fabric being rustled from inside.

"Hey, did you hear that, Meowth?" Jessie said as she suddenly stopped in her tracks and almost collided with her partner in crime from behind. "I think a certain pokemon is trying to get out."

"Well, put the sack down, Jimbo and I'll give 'em a taste of my Fury Swipes." Meowth said as he too had stopped and let out the claws on his left paw. "After that, get them back in the sack."

"Alright," James answered as he had put the sack down on the ground. "Do it quick as we still need to get back to the balloon before someone steals it."

As soon as the bag was put on the ground, a rip was heard as a part of the leather bag was torn by two large claws. A hiss was then heard as Sleep Powder was also released from the bag.

Meowth had instinctively leapt to his right in order to avoid the incoming attack and jumped towards Hyacinth. As for Jessie and James, they were too slow to avoid the status attack and thus fell asleep immediately.

Dune Buster had reacted quickly and used his tail to swat the pot-luck pokemon away. Meowth could not stop himself and thus bit the sandslash's tail instead.

In his pain, Dune Buster had burrowed into the ground and used his instincts to lead him back home with Meowth still literally on his tail and Hyacinth following them.

-oOo-

Back in AJ's gym, the unofficial gym leader himself had let three of his beedril out of their pokemon to find the missing pokemon with Ace, Kato, and Honey joining them in the air.

The flying types had not left long when the ground shook slightly as a small mound of dirt was formed near them. It was from this mound that three pokemon had emerged, two of them still conscious.

Dune Buster had finally shaken his unconscious passenger off him before running towards the heal device inside the tent with the ivysaur still following him after accepting a quick hug from her trainer.

Meowth had finally woken up via Dyna's weak Water Gun with Ash being held by Dyna's trainer in an attempt to keep him from studying the potluck pokemon up close.

"You guys tink that ol' Meowth would just stand with his paws up," Meowth said as he did stand up with his claws out. "Well, you're wrong. I ain't giv'n up the fight yet."

Meowth then realized that he was facing an angry set of trainers with their pokemon ranging from ratatas to a ponyta who were also angry. "Uh oh."

"Prepare for Trouble."

"And make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evil of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off with the speed of light." The pair was now standing almost back-to-back with the respective pokemon now beside them.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

Meowth had suddenly jumped over Ash's head to land at the wall of the unofficial gym before adding. "Meowth, that's right."

"Who're these dopes?" AJ was asking his new friends. Lenore had also wondered about it but kept silent as both Dune Buster and Hyacinth had returned.

"They're just Team Rocket," Brock said with annoyance as he had remembered his own encounter with the said thieves before. "A tough bunch, but still beatable."

"Oh really," Jessie replied, incensed at the reminder of their past failures. "We're not the ones that were solidly beaten in a three-on-three pokemon match."

"You should put your money where yer mouth is," AJ retorted to the insult. "I challenge all three of you yahoos to a battle."

"If we win, your pokemon are ours." James said with sneer, confident that they would not lose to a chump that lost thrice in a row.

"And if I win, you three would stop stealing pokemon and learn to battle right."

"As if youse win against us," Meowth said as Dune Buster had gotten to his master's side.

"With my pal DB here, I'll win."

"Enough talk, let's battle." Jessie had shrieked as she threw a pokeball, closely followed by the others.

Three pokemon had burst out of their pokeballs in flashes of light, forming into a sandslash, an ekans, and a koffing.

"Kaa, use Leer." Jessie quickly commanded to ensure that the sandslash would be stopped in his tracks early in the battle. "Follow it up with Wrap."

"Gas Bag, follow it up with Haze." James then added.

"Well, I'll show dis bozo how my Fury Strikes work." Meowth had also spoken up as he charged at the standing sandslash.

"DB, use Dig and get your favorite attack in right after." AJ said in reply to the given commands of his three opponents.

"Kaa, change in plans." Jessie said with a smirk. "Earthquake, go."

"Now, DB." AJ said as DB had dug quickly to avoid the other pokemon attacks. "Hit the snake first, followed by that cat, and the gas bag."

Both Meowth and GB had stopped just above the hole where DB had gotten himself into while the ekans was about to slam his head on the ground to initiate his new command, all of them confused on where their opponent had gone to as they could not see much due to the foggy atmosphere.

Their unspoken queries were answered just a moment later as a spinning spiked ball had emerged underneath Kaa with dirt flying everywhere and knocked him out with a precise hit on its lower jaw.

The spiked ball then bounced on the ground before nailing the confused and surprised koffing out of the ring as well as out of his consciousness.

Meowth had sensed the attack as he had used Detect prior to the surprise attack and countered it with an Iron Tail of his own.

Dune Buster had bounced once on the dirt ring before AJ had ordered him to use Dynamic Punch followed by his own Iron Tail.

Meowth had evaded the first strike by the charging mouse pokemon but was caught unawares by the direction of the second. This had gotten the pot luck to collide with his reptilian companion straight to the third member of their party, bumping their human companions as well.

As a finale, Dune Buster had jumped out towards the now assembled group of baddies and struck his right claw on the ground. The ground had broken into two with Team Rocket falling into the large crack that formed only stopping at the wooden wall behind them.

A few minutes after, Team Rocket had emerged from the fissure that formed and ran away with their tails in between their legs. The fog had already lifted by that time.

-oOo-

AJ had waved goodbye to his new friends as he would leave for Pallet in a week after he would get some friends (pokemon and human) to fix the damage to the ring as well as the ground where Fissure was used. Leona had left an hour earlier, heading towards Cerulean City for a bike before heading towards Vermillion City.

"You know, I still would have wanted to battle you if not for the continuous interruptions." Ash was telling AJ as they shook hands. "Oh well, maybe we'll have that if we meet again someday."

"I'm sure we will," AJ replied with a small smile. "Still, from what Brock and Misty told me, I'm sure you'll give me one heck of a battle."

"Now that's a promise."

The trainers then went their separate ways with the travelling trio riding their bikes southwards with AJ and his sandshrew waving them goodbye.

"Next stop, Vermillion." Ash said with gusto as he had led the group down the dirt road with Misty and Brock right behind him and William trotting on his right.

The three had continued on until they had to take a break for lunch.

-oOo-

After a brief break for lunch, the trio had continued on to the road before realizing that the fog was too thick to use a bicycle. Thus, the three bicycles were just pushed while the three tried to just walk their way through the fog.

Ash had thought he was going the right way before Misty told him that he did not know which way was up. This in turn had opened up yet another argument between the two about directions as there was no path for them to follow and the road was also too foggy to even follow with its curves and sudden turns.

In truth, the trio had managed to go east before heading back north to a certain institute near Cerulean City.

"Why don't you trust me, Misty?" Ash was saying as he had led the group with Pika on his shoulder.

"I trust you, Ash." Misty replied from the back with William. "It's your sense of direction that I don't trust."

"Now that makes a lot of sense," Ash said with a grimace.

"Hey. My name is Misty, but what I say is as clear as day."

"Why don't you both calm down over a cup of tea?" Brock was saying as he had placed himself in between the quarreling duo. "I'll even prepare the tea set now."

As the other three had stopped in puzzlement, Brock had gotten off to one side of the path and began to set up a tea set – table, pitcher, cups, plates and all.

"Well, I sure could use the break." William suddenly spoke up. "How about you guys?"

"Yeah." Both Ash and Misty answered as they had gone to their respective seats followed by the others.

"Pika," The pikachus added as they had leapt towards the table where their treats were waiting.

"Oh, I need someone to find some firewood to heat the tea." The tan teen said as he had readied the tea leaves and kettle.

"I got it," Ash said as he had gotten out of his seat. "Pika, William, let's go."

"Pika." (OK) Pika said before jumping from the table and running after his master.

"Sure." William added after Misty and Brock had gotten his back pack down to the ground before he trotted away and even said his thanks to the duo.

After the trio had left, Brock then told Misty that he would be preparing his special pick-me-upper snack – "Brioche a la Brock".

"Wow, I love Kalosian dishes." The red head exclaimed while shaking in delight. "There's a restaurant near the gym that serves 'em and serves 'em good at a fair price."

"Really?" Brock replied in shock. "If we ever get back in Cerulean in the near future, lead me to it."

"Sure," Misty said with a bit of drool forming on the corner of her lips. "Those dishes from Kalos must have come straight from heaven."

"As does Ash?" the older teen said with a lopsided grin.

"No, he doesn't." the girl had responded with a frown. "And if I'm just here to be teased then, I'd rather gather some firewood too before Country Boy would mess it up."

Misty then slid down her own seat and walked towards the direction where Ash and his pokemon had gone before with Chu-Chu right behind her.

Neither of the girls had seen the older teen shaking his head like he did not believe one word of Misty's excuse.

-oOo-

A few meters ahead and nearer to the clumps of trees, Ash and Pikachu had gathered various sizes of twigs and branches and placed them in a pile.

After the pile was big enough, Ash had put some of the larger branches on the ponyta's back while he carried the rest. Pikachu had done his part by carrying a few of the small ones himself.

In the fog, the boy did not see Misty coming but both Pika and William could smell her approaching.

The two groups had met midway and brought the firewood to a grateful Brock. Ash then led the group back to the pile as there were a few more left.

After getting the last of the pile, Ash had given his share to Misty before running off as he had heard something with Pika hot on his heels.

Ash's footsteps were heard above the din by Brock who was patiently waiting for his friends to have some tea with him.

Brock still could not see much farther than three feet in front of himself because of the fog and was thus puzzled on where Ash was when both Misty and William had emerged from the fog, both of whom were glancing at their backs.

"Where's Ash?"

"Country Boy said that he heard something and ran off," Misty was saying as she had laid the firewood in the sack near the fireplace that Brock had made. "We'll search for him. Let's go, William."

The ponyta had only neighed in reply as he and Misty quickly returned to the mist, with the girl getting herself on the pokemon's back. The ponyta's hooves hitting the slightly damp ground at a trot was heard a little later.

Brock was about to follow, but he could not leave the tea set and table behind thus he sat down and waited.

-oOo-

At about the same time, Ash and Pika had arrived at the spot where they had heard voices. A circle of little balls of light was seen nearby. Ash then signaled his pokemon to be on the ready while fingering another pokeball from his belt.

"What is this pokemon?" was heard from the circle.

"Uh, a beedrill?" was also heard a little later.

"Nope, try again." The first voice added, his voice betraying his impatience.

"Oh, it's a pidgy."

"Finally, so what are its attacks then?"

"I forgot."

It was by this time that Ash had gotten close enough to see who was talking. A brown-haired boy in a blue blazer with a certain school's crest and matching pants was surrounded by taller boys with different shades of hair, the red one asking the questions.

"Joe, we know that you're better than this so don't hold back." The red headed boy told his companion that was running on a treadmill. "Our weekly exam is coming up and if you couldn't even answer any of our questions then how could you answer one of the written ones."

"Ves, you know as well as I do that, I tend to forget things whenever I get too excited." Joe was answering slowly, panting a little at the run as seen in the wet spots in his white shirt and tie. "I promise that I'll do well on the exam tomorrow."

"You'd better," Sylvester (Ves) said with a grunt. "The guys and I are getting tired of tutoring you."

"I say that we let Joe study by himself," another kid, with green hair, said with a sneer. "He's pulling us down."

"I agree with Greg here," yet another voice had spoken up. "Joe doesn't need tutoring; he needs to learn through his own time. Giselle just wants someone to keep him up to speed."

"Hey," Ash said as he slid to a stop a few feet from the group. "That was rude, leaving your friend alone when he needs help."

"Scram, kid." The last voice said with his fists clenched. "Don't get involved with things that aren't even your concern."

"Well, I'm not exactly a fan of bullying and thus I have to get involved." A female voice seemed to boom out from behind Ash. A neighing soon followed as William had emerged from the fog with Misty and Chu-Chu on his back.

"I like your spirit, beautiful." The third male voice said with a wolf whistle. "My name's Thomas Mason and I would like your name and number."

"Hey!" Ash said while Pika and Chu-Chu had bristled at the words spoken, the latter two's cheeks showing little sparks. "Leave her alone, you…you trash."

"You know what, guys." Thomas answered while tilting his head in Ash's direction. "Let's get back to class while Genius here thinks of a better insult."

The other older boys had laughed at the joke, which made the Pallet native even angrier. Thus, Ash then said as he had pulled out a pokeball. "I challenge you to a battle. If I win, you'll stop bullying that boy and everyone else."

"And if we win?" Sylvester Smith replied with his arms crossed.

"If you win then, Ash here will serve you hand and foot for the rest of the day." Misty answered as she had dismounted from William.

"So, your name's Ash, eh?" Greg Morrison then entered the conversation. "I think I've heard about you. Oh yeah, your mom's the hot woman that runs that little restaurant in Pallet Town. I never knew that she'd have such a stupid son."

"That's it," Ash roared as he had released Ace. The pidgeotto then looked at his companions as he had hovered near his trainer, confused at Ash's actions.

"Pika-kachu-chu-kapi," (I'll tell you later) Pika replied quickly, his cheeks forming even more sparks. William himself had sized up the situation and slowly built up a flame in his throat.

"Hold it," Sylvester told everyone as he had stepped in between the trainers and his friends. "Battling outside of the arena is for cavemen. So, let's get to our next class."

Turning to Ash, he then added. "I'll see you in the League, Ash. That is provided that you'll even be there."

Ash had to be held back by his pokemon as well as Misty and Chu-Chu in order to keep him from throwing a punch at the arrogant preppie.

Most of the students had also left, with Joe staying to apologize for his fellow students' behavior. The brown-haired freshman did admire the flying pokemon that Ace obviously enjoyed.

"Your ponyta looks really strong for some reason, yet I can't put a finger on it." Joseph Manchester was saying as he had caressed William's nape without being burned.

"Thank you," the ponyta replied before both Ash and Misty had shushed him.

Ash then added. "Sorry, another friend of ours is training to be a ventriloquist."

"Thanks for sticking your neck out for me," the boy said while shaking hands with the slightly older trainers. "I thought they'd never leave."

"So why did you let them bully you," the black-haired trainer then asked as Brock had arrived. "You could have reported them to the authorities."

"I think this pamphlet would explain it much more than I do," the brown-haired student said before introducing himself to the newly arrived breeder.

Joe then left quickly and disappeared in the mist, making the trainers wonder how was he able to know his way around that easily.

"Hey guys, check this out." Ash then called to his friends while William had used the thread mill. "This piece of paper says that after you graduate from this school; you can enter the Pokemon League and win."

"Give me that," Misty said while grabbing the pamphlet that Ash was holding. "Hey, I have one just like this and it's a pamphlet. Thankfully, both Mom and Dad rejected this for all us siblings but they still kept coming through the mail."

After seeing what was written and talked about it, Brock then gave his own two cents about the matter as he had accidentally touched the speed button of the treadmill once Pikachu had followed his ponyta friend in the treadmill. "Pokemon Technical? I've heard that rich kids go there to learn on how to become trainers. None of their 'graduates' even get through the bottom selection though."

"Well, let's tell Joe about it so he'd go on a journey of his own." Ash said as he began to turn on his heel. He had to jump towards the ground once his peripheral vision had seen the obvious light show going on beside him with the others following suit.

"Now what was that about Pika?" the trainer from Pallet said as he later stood up and dusted himself off as did everyone else.

Pika had only hung his head as he stood next to a burned hulk that was just minutes earlier a working treadmill. Chu-Chu did pat him on his left shoulder to show that she understood his reasons for nuking the poor exercise machine.

Actually, after the ponyta had his fun on the treadmill; Pika had wanted to try his luck on the said machine. Too bad, Brock had fiddled around with the speed button of the aforementioned machine with his right elbow without knowing it.

To make a long story short, Pika was unable to keep up with the threads underneath his feet and fell on his back.

The pikachu then kicked the machine's side only to hop away in pain. His cheeks then sparked as he had enough of the infernal machine and thus was able to unleash his new move - Thunder on it.

Everyone had quickly left the smoldering ruins before someone would catch them near it and call for the local police.

The group then headed north thinking that they could return to the road that way. It was only a while later that they had blundered into an iron gate that was placed in between a brick wall with barbed wire on top of it.

From the gate, four men with blue uniforms had come out to meet with the confused trainers just as the easterly wind had blown the fog away.

From behind the wall, a large building was standing majestically as if it was telling the trainers to come to her arms.

"Excuse me, kids." The first guard to arrive – a portly middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache said. "I may have to ask you to leave this place unless you want to enroll. We've already had beaten off a few trainers who had picked fights with our students."

"We're not here to pick a fight," Brock replied while telling his companions to keep quiet. "You see, we're lost due to the fog earlier and we need to get back to the main road to Vermillion."

"Oh," the guard said while scratching the back of his head beneath his cap. "Well, this here path could lead you back to Route 6 but we've been told that Saffron City had closed its gates for its annual festival."

"Boss, there's the Rock Tunnel in Route 9 where most trainers pass through." The second guard said as he stopped beside his superior. "It's still open but kind of dark in places so a pokemon with Flash would be required there."

"Thanks, Kyle." The older guard said with a large smile. "So, are you Misty Waterflower of the Cerulean Gym?"

"Yes, I am." Misty answered while looking at the guard in puzzlement. "How did you know who I am?"

"Sorry, but my name's – Frederick Stone and I was one of your father's travelling companions."

"Oh, now I remember." The Cerulean trainer said as she had hit her fist with her palm. "You're the boy that likes to keep the group safe and even takes the graveyard shift because of Team Rocket right."

"That's me, kiddo." Frederick replied with an even bigger smile. "I never realized that I wanted to be a security guard even back then and now I'm keepin' Poketech safe from Rocket and other bad trainers. We also escort students that break the rules back to their parents without fear as our pokemon is more than enough to deal with all of them."

"So, you're the youngest Waterflower sister," the second guard – Kyle then added. "If it's ok with you, we'll give you and your friends a quick tour in the school."

"Thank you, but I think we'll reserve it for another time." Misty said with her hands raised in alarm. "It's not that we don't like the offer, but we need to get back on the road so our friend Ash here and I could beat all the gyms to enter the League."

"Oh, that's too bad," Frederick answered with a frown. "But hey, you guys could still enter as the school still gives scholarships every year."

He then stepped closer to the trainers and added in a low voice. "Besides, it'll be a boon to us to have kids from the middle level incomes too. These rich brats don't know shit about battling, coordinating, or even breeding outside of their virtual worlds if you know what I mean."

The children had only nodded with both Ash finally realizing why their new acquaintance was being prepared for a test about pokemon rather than actually battling with them.

Speaking of which, the aforementioned acquaintance was already on his way back to the gate. He had seen his new friends approaching the gate and was about to let them access to the school in the guise of giving them a quick tour before letting them out to travel.

Joe was not able to recognize Misty as the youngest Waterflower sister as he actually came from Hoenn and only transferred her by his wealthy parents to graduate from the school and maybe become Champion.

By the time that Joe was able to reach the gates, he had breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that none of his friends were held by the guards.

Joe then called up to Ash and the others before telling them that he would be willing to give them a quick tour of the school.

"Well, let's not look at a gift rapidash in the mouth." Brock was saying before raising his hands in the direction of the glaring ponyta. "Present company excluded of course."

Misty and Ash could only shake their heads as Fred had borrowed their trainer IDs before letting them and Brock join Joe inside the school gate.

As for the pokemon, only Pika and Chu-Chu were allowed as William was too big to be allowed to roam around in the premises.

Joe then showed the visitors the various rooms and facilities of the school with a bit of pride as he had learned that both Misty was related to the Waterflower Sisters and that Brock was once the Gym Leader of Pewter City.

Ash, as he later found out, was actually the son of the semi-retired Pokemon Master Red and like the others had promised to keep it a secret.

The freshman student had gotten the group to pass the football field, baseball diamond, and the raised competition pools.

After a half hour of baking under the sunlight, Joe then led them to the basketball and volleyball courts, the wooden halls where kendo competitions were held, squash courts, and lockers.

After showing the awed visitors the sports facilities, Joe then followed it up by brief visits in classrooms, libraries, the cafeteria where they ate some more and chatted, and finally, the room that Ash had been waiting for…the pokemon battle room.

Well, there were two rooms built for pokemon virtual battling room where students fight virtual trainers/coordinators/gym leaders/Elite Four to get the hang of type advantages and how to maximize or avoid it.

"Uh, this is how you guys fight trainers?" Misty finally spoke up after entering the room.

"Well, this one is for warm ups as we have a second room for real battles." Joe answered as he had led the group including Ash who was playing a quick match with Misty in the virtual arena and winning.

"Oh yeah, well I'm gonna wipe the virtual floor with you later." Misty said as she had pulled the ear of the ecstatic trainer who had won all of his matches with the temporary gym leader.

"Let's see you try," Ash said as he had gotten Misty to let him go before walking behind Brock.

The group finally had gotten to the battle arena and it was just a floor that was marked much like a pokemon battlefield.

Misty had taken the challenge first with Dyna being her battling pokemon. On the other end, Joe had thrown a pokeball that released a weepingbell.

Ash had quickly scanned it before his eyes had bulged. Misty having seen the look on Ash's face had quickly run to the male trainer's side and looked at the pokedex in his hand.

The water trainer then returned to her place and recalled Dyna with a promise to explain later. Misty then reached out to her belt for another pokeball and threw it.

The pokeball then released a red light that formed into a vaporeon. Ariel had purred at the fact that she could now avenge her earlier loss at the Cerulean Gym.

"Why did you switch pokemon?" Joe was obviously confused at the change in pokemon.

"Let's just say that I want Ariel to fight some more to get her spirits up," Misty replied simply. "She's still a water type anyway."

"Ok then," Joe said after shaking his head to get rid of the cobwebs that formed earlier. "Weepingbell, use Wrap."

"Ariel, dodge it and use Aurora Beam." The water trainer answered the given command.

"Yikes," the student said while wincing. "Weepingbell dodge that quickly and use Vine Whip."

The fired beam had missed and thus hit the wall instead, but Misty had her pokemon use Quick Attack to get her close to another surprise while evading the extended vines.

"Now, Bite."

Weepingbell was still in the process of retrieving his vines when he was bitten in the side. His cries of agony had echoed in the room.

"Now, Ice Beam." Misty had shouted over the din of the cries of agony.

Ariel did so while still near the fallen opponent who was still lying on its side. All Joe had to do was return his fainted pokemon.

"What a poor showing," a soprano and angelic voice was heard from the doorway leading outside. "No wonder that you've barely passing your tests."

Immediately, Brock had gone to love sick mode and running in place. This was mostly due to William quickly coming out of his pokeball and with his jaws, was able to hold the breeder by the collar of his shirt along with Misty's hand on his right ear.

-oOo-

Outside of the school, a newly arrived Team Rocket was scouting out the school by means of binoculars with microphones.

They had seen the scene earlier and had to admit that the student was pathetic in using a type advantage against a pokemon with a level advantage and that the new girl was much vainer than they themselves were.

"Those were good times," Jessie said as she let go of the branch, she was sitting on to clasp them in front of her face. "Right, James."

"Yes, we were acing quizzes after quizzes to the point that we would have graduated with top honors." James replied as he had leaned on the tree trunk on his right. "Our fellow alumni had looked up to us like we were rock idols."

"And dis is da part that I wanted ta hear," Meowth said softly half to himself. In a louder voice, he added. "So, what happened?"

"Well, we celebrated the night before the final exam with wine, food, and song." Jessie was in tears when she said this.

"And then we flunked the test the next day," James had continued the sad tale. "Mostly because we came in late and forgot to even study for it."

"And dis is why I'm da brains of this group," Meowth said proudly as he stood over his fellow group members who were having a good cry.

"Buzz off/Not amused." Jessie and James said as they had given Meowth a plane ticket to Saffron City sans plane.

Both Team Rocket agents then looked back at the wide oriel window to see the battle that was about to start soon.

-oOo-

Back in the battle room, it was the girl who the visitors had learned to be Giselle Moneypenny, the junior student that Joe was talking about.

Off-screen, the girl's rather angelic voice was heard saying some very un-angelic words at the love-struck breeder before it had changed to cooing at the panicking ponyta who had briefly crossed our field of vision with the love-struck girl right behind him.

"The flames that surround you are so majestic; much like my long violet hair." The girl was saying as she and William had continued to run around the battle room.

Misty then whispered to Ash after leaving a catatonic Brock near the door. "William sure is a hit with the ladies."

Ash had answered in the same way by saying. "Yeah, but I think he doesn't feel the same way. Too bad though; she's kinda cute."

"Oh really," Misty said with a harrumph. "She's cute, huh."

"Of course, you're cute too Misty." The Pallet trainer said in panic as he had remembered a similar situation with his mother years ago. "Besides, she's too old for me."

"Glad to hear it," Misty said with a chirp that had gotten both Pika and Chu-Chu shaking their heads at Misty's sudden change in demeanor.

The water trainer then walked back towards the still unconscious breeder in training that the ponyta had mistakenly head-butted with in his panic and slapped him awake. Joe was sitting nearby, confused and a little heartbroken while watching the chase around the room.

Soon after Brock had awoken and William was recalled by his trainer, Giselle had sat on a bench and rested for half an hour.

After taking the needed break, Misty then challenged Giselle to a pokemon battle. Misty was incensed at Giselle's treatment of their new friend and was more than willing to take the "Star of the PokeTech Academy" down a peg or two.

"So, this is a two-on-two battle, agree?" Giselle told her opponent before throwing a pokeball. "I'll go first. Go Graveler."

"I'm counting on you, Dyna." Misty replied as she threw a pokeball as well.

"A Starmie, nice choice." The school lass said while nodding as her pokemon was intently studying his opponent.

Misty did not reply this time as she had brought out her pokedex instead to scan her opponent's pokemon. What she saw did not even surprise or faze her at this point. 'A high leveled Graveler capable of Rollout and Dynamic Punch; this would be tough.'

"As a challenger, I suggest you go first." Giselle said with an arrogant smirk.

Misty had weighed her options for a minute before saying. "Dyna, use Psychic."

Most of the students were surprised at the said psychic move used at the very start of the battle. What they were not surprised of was the fact that the Starmie had thrown the rocky pokemon out the window and into the Olympic pool just beyond it.

Everyone had run out of the building into the pool with Dyna using Rapid Spin to get there first. By the time everyone had arrived at the pool deck, Graveler had sunk due to his weight and was later seen above the water with swirly eyes.

"Well, that escalated quickly," Ash said under his breath. "So much for the battle."

Giselle was shocked at the result of her opponent's command. It was the same thing the junior student would have done if she had not given the water trainer the bye.

"I had forgotten that Starmie could learn Psychic," the junior said while regaining her composure. "But that would not be the case from here on. Go Frillish."

A pink jellyfish like pokemon that looked like royalty had appeared from the thrown pokeball after Graveller was returned. Its round head was topped off by a round crown and its five appendages were frilly. Unlike Graveller, this pokemon is much cuter and thus more fitting for a lass type trainer like Giselle.

Again, Misty had scanned the pokemon and had found out that it was about the same level as Dyna but with a secondary type – Ghost.

'This would be a much harder pokemon to match up with, but win or lose I've already done what I came here for.'

"Well, I guess it's your turn now." Misty then said as it would be better to be on the defensive with a pokemon whose secondary type trumps her own pokemon's secondary type.

At the very least, she could have Slipstream have a shot as her speed would be an asset against a slightly slower opponent like Frillish.

"Gladly," Giselle smiled as she then commanded Frillish. "Frillish, use Night Shade."

Almost immediately, the floating pokemon's eyes were surrounded by a purple aura. The said aura had change color to pink and Frillish's whole body had also glowed pale pink.

Frillish then held out its tentacles and waved them up and down in fast paced hypnotic pattern. Multiple pink rings were released from the outline of its body towards Dyna.

Starmie had seen the attack and even without its trainer's orders had jumped towards the water, the pink rings missing their target and dissipating.

"Dyna, get near and use Confuse Ray." Misty said quickly after remembering that Starmie had recently learned the new move.

"Frillish, watch out for that starfish and use Shadow Ball."

Like the battle with Ash days before, Dyna had slipped underwater using the noon sun's reflection to camouflage itself from its opponent. Thus, when the starmie suddenly surfaced in the water near Frillish, its jewel had turned purple and shot a similarly colored ray towards the jellyfish pokemon.

Frillish was too surprised to react and thus had seen illusions of her opponent forming in her vision. In her panic, the said pokemon had suddenly fired Ice Beams all over the place.

Everyone had to duck or be frozen by the dazzling display of blue beams that had already frozen part of the pool, the wall and even some chairs.

Dyna then fired a Thunder at the confused Frillish, frying it to a crisp before it fell to the water already unconscious.

Giselle had dropped Frillish's pokeball that she was supposed to use to return her fainted pokemon. Joe had done the honors for her before catching her with his arms while throwing the pokeball to a surprised Sylvester.

Dyna had gotten back to its trainer who had hugged it, not minding that her clothes and she would be wet. Misty was just happy that she actually won the battle since she had luck on her side with Confuse Ray now added to Dyna's arsenal to counter Ghost or Psychic pokemon.

The starmie was then returned to its pokeball with Giselle finally woken by a gentle slap by Joe himself. The older student's cheeks had flushed slightly before elegantly standing up and dusting herself off.

"I can't believe that I lost," the junior student was saying as she stood up with her head slightly lifted and her right hand over her eyes. "I did not even see that Starmie emerge from the water. I demand a rematch."

"Hey," Ash then spoke up as stepped forward from where he sat behind Misty. "That battle was won fair and square so if you want a rematch, that'll be with me."

"So, you're that slut's boyfriend?" Giselle was already in a rage after being humiliated by (in her eyes) a younger girl with lesser clothes than she did. "Get your pokemon out so I can teach both of you what it means to cross a diva like myself."

Misty had to be held back by Brock while Ash was held back by his pokemon, and William had told him in a whisper to keep calm. Joe had stood up himself and gave his crush a withering glare for saying such hurtful words before helping Pika and the others hold Ash down.

As the crowd had exchanged words and accusations with the visitors, only Brock had seen a single tear escape Giselle's brown eye after Joe had glared at her before it was quickly wiped away.

'I guess beneath the diva's outer shell lies a sensitive girl that has only a handful of friends,' the tan Breeder in training had thought. 'I think I'll have a quick talk with Joe later; even if Giselle's vainer than some people I know, she still needs a wind beneath her wings.'

"Challenge accepted," Ash roared as his pokemon had let him go. "Pika, let's teach this 'diva' a lesson in fair play.

"Pika," (Yeah) the male pikachu answered with his cheeks sparking with electricity. Pika then looked at Misty and Chu-Chu before adding. "Pika-pi-ka." (We've got this.)

"Ka-chu," (Good luck) Chu-Chu replied before once again comforting her trainer who had sat down on the fiberglass seat that Ash had vacated.

"Go, Marowak." Giselle shouted as she had thrown her pokeball. The pokemon that emerged from the said ball looked like a two-legged lizard with two small claws on its hands (serving as its thumbs) and two large nails at its feet (its toes).

Its brown body was only contrasted by its lighter shaded stomach and its head was fully covered by a skull with an opening for its nose. Its main weapon was the bone club it held, a short range and long-range type depending on its exclusive moves that would be shown later.

Ash and Misty had quickly pulled out their pokedexes and pointed it at the puzzled predator. The male trainer then looked at his partner and nodded. Pika had also nodded and glared back at his opponent.

"I'll go first," Giselle stated before Ash could say anything. "Marowak, Bone Club now."

While Marowak was running towards Pika, Ash then commanded. "Pika, move to the right and nail him with Tail Whip."

Pika did so and Marowak was slapped back to his trainer. Giselle was even more incensed at the fact that the pikachu was strong enough to knock back her favorite pokemon with such a lame move.

"Use Leer."

"Pika, close your eyes and use that secret move when I say so." Ash said after briefly looking away at the Marowak as Pika had followed his trainer's orders. "Now."

The male pikachu then opened his eyes and ran fast towards its opponent. Marowak had tried to slam him with the club again but Pika had again evaded the overhead blow while lifting his opponent up with some difficulty.

As soon as struggling Marowak's kicking feet were off the ground, Pika then threw him back to the concrete deck. The bone keeper's cry of pain at the unorthodox move just sent Giselle into near panic.

Slam was a move that was rarely used by pikachus as their other attacks were usually more effective. It would seem that Ash was a much more unpredictable and smarter battler than Giselle or her fellow schoolmates had given him credit for.

The girl was caught in a conundrum as letting the pikachu attack her pokemon or having him attack the mouse pokemon at close range was dangerous to Marowak's health. 'Close range, that's it.'

"Marowak, keep your distance and tag that rat with Bonemerang."

"Pika, go random."

Everyone was surprised at Ash's command thus they had nearly missed the spinning bone miss the ducking pikachu before realizing that Pika had once again gotten close to his opponent using Quick Attack.

He then bit, scratched, and even tackled the unaware marowak before running back and ducking from the returning bone. The confused Marowak had attacked himself with Bonemarang and thus was knocked out.

The students were eerily quiet before a clap was heard from somewhere and they too started clapping. Ash had hugged his starter before letting him down to embrace his fellow pikachu.

Misty was gently pushed towards Ash by Brock and the two kids embraced lightly. The water trainer then said in a near whisper to Ash's right ear. "Thank you."

Ash had simply replied in the same way. "You're welcome."

Turning to his opponent, Ash's own eyes had bulged upon seeing Giselle faint for the second time after losing a battle for the third straight time.

This time, it was Greg who had caught Giselle from hitting the deck and his face could not help but be a depository of blood seeing how red it was.

Brock had left the swimming pool area with Joe for a little talk. Everyone else had murmured about the awesome battle in the pool area during recess and that trainers were not just push overs.

Through the din, there was a rather cute yawn as someone had just woken up from a bad dream. It was only when the said individual had opened her eyes, did she realize that it was a not a dream at all.

Giselle had used her left hand to shield her eyes from the noon sun in order to see her opponents sitting on the pool coping side by side with their arms draped on each other's shoulders.

Inwardly, she was jealous of the trainers' relationship even if it was not the romantic type as she had accused them of.

Without meaning to, tears had gone out of the girl's eyes and she hurriedly wiped them off. A light blue handkerchief being offered to Giselle was surprisingly swatted away as she had stood up abruptly.

Giselle then ran towards the gardens nearby for some time alone with gasps of shock emanating from everyone else. Some of Giselle's fan boys were about to bring out their pokemon when the rest of the crowd had stopped them.

Both visitors were rather confused just as Frederick and a few guards along with some teachers had arrived. Seeing them in the scene had most of the students coming back to their classrooms in a flash.

An older woman with a kind face and her graying hair in a bun had escorted the visitors to the healing room of the school where their pokemon would be healed for the next five hours.

To while away the time, both Ash and Misty were led to the library to study some more about their region's history, towns, people, and pokemon.

Both Brock and Joe had joined them later and a study group was formed. It was after four in the afternoon that the group was called back to the pool side. Upon arriving, they saw the older girl sitting on the leftmost starting platform with her violet eyes focused on the setting sun.

"I know what you're thinking," Giselle's soft voice was surprisingly heard above the faint din of shouts from the courts or the fields on the other side of the school despite her head not turning around. "Why did I call for you here when it's obvious that I had called you names before?"

"Well, the first reason is that I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier." There was a slight pause where the girl had sighed before continuing. "It's not becoming of a proper girl to call others names or just being a bitch. I realized that now."

"Hey, as long as you've changed, it's fine with us." Surprisingly, it was Misty who said this not Ash. "Besides, it's obvious that you have potential as a trainer or as a coordinator."

"It must be nice to have someone's shoulder to lean with," Giselle then said to change the topic. "Am I right, Misty?"

"Yes…it is," the orange haired girl answered in a quivering voice as she had finally realized what had happened to her opponent. "But it's not too late to gain a real friend though, as you're beginning to see your own faults and are ready to fix them."

"Am I?"

"Giselle, you're being too hard on yourself." Joe then interjected. "You can get through this easily. You're smart, beautiful, a little mean, but able to carry yourself no matter what the odds."

"Joe, is that how you and the other students see me?" A sob was heard while Giselle was speaking.

"Yes."

"Then you need to see beyond the mask I'm wearing," the older girl added before her whole body had shaken with some more sobs being much more audible. "Out of the students here, you're the only one who could do it."

"Why me?"

"Because unlike the others, you like for me." Giselle was positively sobbing now as her face was covered with her hands. "I thought that you liked me for being beautiful, smart, and all that but I once caught you staring at me with understanding even when I made a mistake that I realized I was wrong."

"I understand," Joe replied as he had walked towards the older girl and gave her a hug. Giselle in turn had turned around and buried her head in the smaller boy's shoulders, sobbing all the time.

The others were also affected at the sight of a very confident girl hours before now reduced to this sorrowful state.

After what seemed like hours, Giselle then stood up with Joe's help. She then approached the others who were themselves trying not to cry with her right arm over Joe's shoulders.

"Thank you for showing how vain I was," the girl said with a slight smile. "After graduating from this institute, I think I'll take a sabbatical and use it to bond with my pokemon while challenging gyms."

"It's good to know that sometimes being knowledgeable and being practical is taking the best path towards the Pokemon League," Brock finally said after being silent for a time. "I'm sure that you'll do fine against the gyms."

"Thank you." Giselle answered with a nod of her head. She then turned to Joe and added. "I hope that you'll join me even if it means not going to the Academy for a year or so."

"Of course, I'll need a practical course before I graduate and with you, I'll learn something new too." Joe said with a dazzling smile that the older girl could not help but blush to.

"Hey, how come you don't tell me any of those things?" Misty said jokingly at her fellow trainer.

"Why say anything when I'll just pull you to my side anyway." Ash said before looking at the ground. Misty had done the same but looking at the other direction.

"Well, I guess we need to get back to Cerulean for the night before tackling Route 9." Brock then said as he had looked at his digital watch. "I guess it's goodbye for now."

The rest of the group had given their good byes before following the road back to Cerulean City where they had once again slept in the Cerulean Gym.

-oOo-

In the meantime, a certain middle-aged man in a light brown three-piece suit was looking at a monitor where a slightly younger man was seen.

"Petrel, report."

"Good news, Sir." Petrel said in reply. "The latent abilities of our targets are beginning to be utilized even if the subjects did not know about it. We still need some time before we could make our move."

"Hmm," Giovanni said with a slight nod. "See to it that they will be recruited as soon as their abilities are fully realized. The last thing I need is two more kids joining that blasted G-Men."

"Yes, Sir."

---

Well that was fun, fleshing out side characters and even adding yet another OC to the mix. Next time would get the gang into an even bigger detour on their way to Vermillion as they have things to do, pokemon to catch, and Team Rocket schemes to stop.

But before that, Ooarai-Bellwall would now not only have to battle the enemy, but the elements as well.

See you next chapter.