Chapter 9 Several minutes later, after everyone had made it up safely, they set up camp. After the tents had been pitched, firewood gathered, dinner started, etc, etc "Hmm+ICY- According to my map, the closest town is Cerulean. There is a Gym there, specializing in water-type pokemon. We could go there." "Does it have a chapel so Jack and Lauren can get married?" *Thud!* "Ow!" "Serves you right." Bob whispered to Jack, "You know, you would think he would learn to stop saying that." Jack whispered back. "Yeah, he's starting to get on my nerves. He does that again, I may have to do something." Bob cleared his throat, then said loudly, "If we could stop the fighting, maybe we could figure out what we want to do?" Lauren was willing to stop hurting David (though not very), so she came over and started looking at Bob's map over his shoulder. "Yes, Cerulean looks good. We can get our second badge there!" David backed away to what he thought was a safe distance. "And maybe a wedding ring!" He called. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about Lauren's vines. A mass of them shot out from her body, straight at David, they wrapped around him, and started pulling him back in. From inside the mass of plants came the occasional thud and "Ow!". Bob nudged Jack. "I think we should stop this, or David might get seriously hurt," he said, alarmed. Jack nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated. His wings shimmered into view, flapping. A orange powder drifted out of them, and landed on David and Lauren's vines. The vines went limp and fell of David, and David himself fell over, unable to move. "That's what stun spore does to you," Jack said apologetically. He then blew out a purple powder. "Here, I'll put you to sleep until it wears off." David's eyelids started to close. "Wait, was that poisonpowder or sleep powder?" Jack wondered aloud. David's eyes shot open in alarm, then slowly closed, even though he tried to keep them open. Jack chuckled. ""Well, that takes care of that. No one is dead, and David won't be bothering us for a while." Lauren pulled in her vines. "Ow. That tingles." She rubbed the part that the stun spore had landed on, trying to get feeling back into it. "Why'd you have to intercede?" "We may need David to contribute to where we want to go." "Then why did you put him to sleep?" Lauren smirked, thinking that she had caught Jack in a loophole. Jack thought about it for a minute. "Good point. Bob, could you wake him up?" Bob smiled evilly. "Ok." He concentrated. Electricity crackled out of his checks, melting the makeup on them, then shot over to David. David's eyes popped open. "Ahhh!!!!" He yelled, surprised, then collapsed (even though he was still laying down.) "Did you want him original, or extra crispy?" After this, (and various other vine whips, powders, shocks, etc.) everyone finally went to bed. The day dawned bright and clear, with a beautiful sunset on the horizon. The air was crisp and clear, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, no one was up to enjoy it. Many hours later, around noon, Jack finally stumbled out of bed. Everyone else was still asleep. I won't bore you with the details, but a few minutes later, everyone woke up to the smell of pancakes. After a leisurely breakfast, they set out for Cerulean. Everyone was walking happily along the path, (they had gotten down from Mount Moon a while ago), when they were suddenly engulfed in a large cloud of smoke. The smoke soon cleared, revealing three figures standing on a large piece of machinery. Prepare for trouble!" "Make it double!" "To protect the world from devastation!" "To unite all peoples within our nation!" "To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To extend our reach to the stars above!" "Jessie!" "James!" "Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" "Surrender now or prepare to fight!" "Slowpoke!" Jack sweatdropped. "Not you again." James looked indignant. "What do you mean not you again?!? Team Rocket is a very well-respected organization! You should be proud that your pokemon are worthy of being stolen by us! Now hand them over!" "No! And respected by who?" Team Rocket sweatdropped. "That's off the point! And if you won't give us your pokemon, we'll have to take them by force!" James pointed at the machine while Jessie explained. "We finally found a use for Magikarps! This machine shoots them out the front at high speeds, so give us your pokemon or we'll fire!" Without waiting for an answer, James hit the large red button marked "Fire". Everyone watched as the machine whirred, made several clanging noises, then slowly fell apart. Jessie pulled out a mallet and smashed James in the head. "You idiot!!!!" She screamed. "You told me that this thing was built!!!" James, rubbing the mallet imprint, got defensive. "Well, at least I remember to include the fuel supply. Twenty gallons of gasoline." He smiled proudly. Jessie hit him again. "That doesn't matter!!!!! You should have built the gin part instead!!!" Bob, meanwhile, smiled evilly when he heard the gasoline comment. He tossed out a pokeball. "Charmander, go! Use flamethrower!" The lizard pokemon nodded, then let lose a stream of fire, straight at Team Rocket. Jessie and James looked up just before the fire hit. The gasoline ignited, sending the trio flying off into the distance, with a "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Followed by a fainter "This is all your fault!" "Well, that was an amusing break from the norm." Jack commented. A man is sitting in a darkened office, the same as last time. The same scientist as before comes hesitantly into the room. The man squints at him. "Who are you?" He says, trying to make out the man's face. "Giovanni sir, I am your chief scientist. Remember, the one in charge of the project?" Giovanni continues squinting. "Oh, it's you." He stops squinting, and sits back. "That's it. I'm tired of ruining my eyes like this." He hits a switch. Lights turn on in the ceiling. "But sir, you'll ruin the ambiance!" "I don't care. What worth is it being the boss of Team Rocket if you can't turn on a light once in a while!" Then he seemed to realize that the scientist wouldn't come in without something to tell him. "What is it?" "Sir, I just received a report. Lab 012 has been destroyed, but how is unknown. A routine resupply mission found the remains of an explosion where the lab used to be." Giovanni, (Who is the figure behind the desk, in case you haven't figured it out yet), slammed his fist down in anger. "That lab was the leading researcher in pokemon splicing! This loss sets us back years!" The scientist cringed. Giovanni seemed to calm down. "The project was your responsibility. I will not accept another failure. If we lose another lab, it will not go well for you. I expect that you will not fail me again." "Yes sir!" The scientist practically ran out of the room, glad to escape intact. Several minutes later, three blackened figures staggered into the room. Team Rocket, having landed right outside of headquarters, had been ordered to report to the boss immediately. They stood there, looking worried. "Have you two stolen any rare pokemon lately?" Giovanni asked, already annoyed at the news that the lab had been destroyed. "Well, no, but we did steal this lollipop!" James said, holding out a piece of candy. Giovanni batted it out of his hand. "You two are hopeless. You need a new partner." "No!" Yelled James. leaping onto Jessie. "Don't separate us!" "That wasn't what I was talking about. I'm giving you a new mascot. Hand me your Slowpoke." James sniffled. "Will it be taken good care of?" He asked, holding it protectively. "Yes, it will be handled by the finest experts in their field." "Oh, that's good." James handed over Slowpoke. "Now, meet your new partner pokemon. Meowth, come out." A cat-like pokemon opened a door behind Giovanni and walked into the room. "What is it?" The Meowth said. Jessie and James jumped into each others arms again. "A talking Meowth!" They yelled in unison. "Yeah, yeah, I talk. Now can we get going?" "As you can probably tell, Meowth here will be your newest partner." Giovanni said. "He will provide technical expertise to your team." Jessie and James nodded. "And some much needed brains." He thought to himself. "Now get going! And you'd better have a success to report to me next time." Jessie and James nodded again, then ran off. Chapter 10 The group got into Cerulean early in the afternoon. After going to the pokemon center and dropping off their belongings and pokemon, they discussed what to do next. "So, does anyone want to battle the gym leader today?" Bob asked. "No, I'm tired. Let's just relax today. We can battle the gym leader tomorrow." Jack responded. This idea meeting with general approval, they left the center and started talking about where to go. "I want to go to the mall!" Lauren announced. Everyone groaned. "Didn't you do that at Mount Moon?" David asked. "Anyway, I want to go to the movie theatre! They have a new movie that just came out. It's "School, the First Movie", where a genetically created textbook is going to use it's super learning powers to destroy all humans on the earth! Remember, it's based on the TV show that's based on the video game!" "That's a stupid movie. There aren't even any pokemon in that game, just trying to get good grades, and answer them all. The mall is much better!" Lauren retorted. "I want to go to a restaurant." Bob said. "I'm hungry!" The discussion started to degrade into an argument, until Jack, in a desperate attempt to stop any violence from happening, pointed out a building across the street. "Look, that place looks interesting. It's something called" he squinted. "Bow-ling. It says pokemon can play too!" "It's worth a try." Bob said. With that, they went inside the building. "What do you mean we have to rent special shoes to play this?" David exclaimed, staring menacingly at the man behind the counter. "I'm sorry, but you have to wear special shoes, and so do any pokemon who are playing, so you don't scuff the floor." The man said. "Those are the rules." "David, just rent the shoes." Jack said, exasperated. David reluctantly paid the money. "Who are you going to let play? None of my pokemon are able to play, because it looks like you have to be able to grab a ball and roll it, and none of mine have hands." "I'm letting out Squirtle and Clefairy." "Charmander and Abra can play." "My Cubone, Graveler, and Jigglypuff can come out." Bob picked up a pamphlet on playing. "It looks like all we do is roll one of these balls, and try to knock down as many pins as we can. Sounds simple." After five frames, (half the game), no one thought it was that simple anymore. Lauren gritted her teeth in anger as yet another ball went rolling into the gutter, failing to knock over any pins. Bob and David were also feeling annoyed, because they were having the same luck as Lauren. Jack was actually doing ok, he had managed to at least get some pins down most of the time. Over in the lane next to them, where their pokemon were playing, things weren't going very well. None of the pokemon were having any luck, there had only been a total of seven pins hit down in five frames. The pokemon and the humans were both getting frustrated. Bob's Charmander had just had a ball roll almost all the way down the lane, before it rolled into a gutter. For the fifth time. Finally fed up, he let loose with a flamethrower. What pins were not burnt to ashes fell over, charred black. Everyone laughed, but then realized that they might have to pay for the pins. After looking around guilty, Bob told his Charmander not to do that again, and the others also cautioned their pokemon. About the seventh frame, (with things going as they had been before), Bob excused himself from the game. After a few minutes, he came back with a gigantic soda. "Whoa! Where'd you get that?" David asked, amazed at the size. "And what is it?" "It's a 42-ounce Surge." Bob said smugly. "I got it at the snack bar. I noticed it when we came in." "How can you handle that much caffeine?" Jack asked, with a disgusted look on his face from the thought. "I've had practice." Bob said, taking a large sip of the soda, then sighing with pleasure at the taste. After a few more sips, he got up and started to take his turn. Meanwhile, David's Squirtle wandered over and spotted the soda. He climbed up on the table, and took a sip. A few seconds passed, and then his eyes bugged out. He took another sip, then walked over to then other pokemon, carrying the soda. "Squirtsquirtsquirtlesquirtsquirtletlesquirt!!!" He said, practically vibrating in place. "Clefairy?" Clefairy asked, confused at what Squirtle had said. Making a visible attempt to slow down, Squirtle repeated himself. "Squirt. Squirtle. Squirt. Squirt." Understanding dawned on the Clefairy's face. "Clefairy!" It exclaimed, clapping it's hands. Then it took the soda from Squirtle and took a long sip. It exclaimed in delight, and took another sip. A minute later+ICY- "Clefairy!" Clefairy said, rolling on the ground with laughter. Both Clefairy and Squirtle were getting pretty hyper with the caffeine dose, and were also getting pretty noisy. Charmander, noticing what was going on, came walking over. Catching sight of the soda, he grabbed it and took a long drink. Nothing seemed to happen for a second, then his eyes bugged out. "Char!" He yelled, as the flame on his tail flared and started burning twice as large and twice as bright. He started carrying the soda over to the other pokemon, who were in a large clump a few feet away. Bob finally noticed what had happened to his soda. "Hey!" He yelled, seeing that Charmander had it. "Give me my soda back!" He ran towards Charmander, reaching for his soda. Charmander took one last sip, then tossed it to Cubone. Cubone gulped some down, then passed it on. Meanwhile, Bob was chasing the soda, always just missing it, while the pokemon drank it down. Finally, Abra caught a pass from Graveler, and drained the last of the soda, before tossing it to Bob. Bob looked at it, hoping that there was at least a little left, but all the soda had been drunk. "Great." He groaned. "I wanted to drink that myself. Surge is my favorite soda." Jack, meanwhile, was worried about other things. "You guys know how much caffeine is in that stuff? Well, it's all in our pokemon now." It showed. The pokemon were extremely hyper. Cubone was using bonemarang on the pins, while Graveler had run down to the end of a different bowling lane and was eating the pins. "Do you think that's good for it?" David asked Lauren, looking at her Graveler. "I'm sure it's fine. Gravelers can digest almost anything, because their stomachs are made of rock. Anyway, it looks like it's enjoying itself." Several others had found the snack bar, and were running rampant. Charmander was toasting hot dogs, then gulping them down, while Abra was using telekinesis to juggle popcorn, occasionally taking a bite of it. All that could be seen of Clefairy was its legs, sticking out of a gigantic tub of ice cream and wiggling while Clefairy ate its way through. Cubone, getting tired of just throwing its bone at pins, caught sight of Jigglypuff. Noticing its round shape, he grabbed it and started bowling with it. "Ok, that's going a bit too far." Lauren walked over to her Cubone and started speaking sternly to it. The she picked up her Jigglypuff and took it back to where everyone else was sitting, holding it and making soothing noises. Cubone looked remorseful for a moment, but then he found the arcade, and started bashing at the figures on the screen with his bone. The group (if you haven't figured it out, when I say the group I mean Jack, Bob, David, and Lauren. It's easier then writing it all out.) sat at their table for a while, laughing at the antics of their pokemon. Finally, their stomachs rumbled. "Ugh." Bob groaned. "I didn't realize how hungry I was." "Yeah. We should get some food. Come on, get your pokemon." Jack followed his own advice and retrieved Lauren's Cubone for her. Bob called back his Charmander, who had a full belly from the hot dogs, and his Abra, who was sleeping on the counter of the snack bar. Lauren recalled her Graveler and Jigglypuff. Clefairy had to be tugged out of an ice cream tub, after eating three three-gallon tubs, it was larger then Lauren's Graveler. Oddly, Squirtle was nowhere to be found. After a long search, it was finally found inside the Shine-o-Ball-o. With an extremely shiny shell. "You mean its been there for the entire time we've been here?" David asked, incredulous. "Probably ever since it drank that Surge." Jack commented. Squirtle looked up dizzily at it's trainer. "Squirtle." IT said, giving him a peace sign, before falling asleep from dizziness. (It had been spinning in a ball polishing machine for over an hour.) David recalled it and they left. "So, what does everyone want to eat?" Jack asked, once they were outside and away from the wrecked bowling alley. "Cheeseburgers!" David and Bob yelled simultaneously. Jack sweatdropped. "I was thinking something a little less like fast food. Why don't you two go off and get food for yourselves, while Lauren and I go get something better." "Ok." Bob thought it was a good idea. Meanwhile, David was thinking aloud. "Hmm. Jack and Lauren, eating dinner. Together. No one else there." He was about to make a comment, when Bob elbowed him in the stomach, to prevent him from getting himself hurt by Lauren. Jack pointedly ignored anything he might have heard from David. "Let's meet back at the pokecenter at 9 o'clock. Ok?" Everyone agreed, and they split up. David stuffed the last bite of his cheeseburger in his mouth. "Mmm. That was tasty. You just can't beat McDonalds food for quality." "Yup. Who wouldn't like greasy fast food? Bob finished the last bites of his cheeseburger. "I'm still hungry." "Too bad. We're meeting Jack and Lauren at the Pokecenter in five minutes. Order something to go or something." "Ok." Bob walked up to the counter and ordered a small fries to go. After a minutes wait, it came. Bob opened it and looked inside. "Have you noticed how they always put too many ketchup packets in these bags? Look, there must be at least 20!" "Great. Come on, let's get going back to the Pokecenter. We don't want to be late." Several minutes later+ICY- "How was your dinner?" David asked, after he and Bob had met up again with the other two. "Ours was great! You can't beat McDonalds food!" "Yeah. Sure. We had a much higher class dinner." Lauren said. "Come on, let's go inside. I have a monopoly game in my backpack. We can play." Jack offered. "No thanks. I think I'll eat my fries instead." Bob said. Everyone else agreed, though. "Yeah! I got boardwalk!" David yelled. Everyone was excited about the monopoly game, seeing how monopoly is known for it's excitement and fast-paced action. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Bob was eating his fries. He put some ketchup on them, then took a bite. His eyes bugged out, and he started gobbling the fries, making sure to scoop up lots of ketchup on each one. After a few minutes, he finished the fries, and opened another package of ketchup. He squeezed a little out, and tasted it. He then started eating it straight from the packet. Soon, Bob was tearing open packets and sucking the ketchup out of them. Once he finished all the ketchup, he got up and walked unsteadily over to where the others were playing monopoly. "Hello you guys." He said in a slurred voice. "Enjoying monopoly?" Everyone was frightened by his behavior. "Um, Bob, are you feeling alright?" Lauren asked hesitantly. "I'm feelin fine." He said, practically falling into a chair. "Monopoly is a fun game." He pulled out the dog piece. "I like dogs. Don't you like dogs?" He said, thrusting it in Lauren's face. "Jack, help!" Lauren said, scared. "Ok." Jack started flapping his wings. Powder floated out of them onto Bob, putting him to sleep. "You know, that really comes in handy." David commented. "Really! I mean, have you noticed how many times you use sleep powder on someone?" "Um, can we forget about that? Let's try to find out why Bob was acting like that. Was it something he ate?" "No, all we had was regular cheeseburgers. He did bring some fries back here, though." "Maybe it's the fries." Lauren suggested. "I doubt it." Jack thought for a moment. "Maybe it's something about him being a pokemon. Let's check the pokedex." He pulled out his pokedex and pointed it at Bob. It beeped. "Well, that explains that." David said. "We should keep him away from ketchup." "Yes. Let's follow Bob's example and go to bed. We are going to fight the gym leaders tomorrow, remember?" Everyone agreed, and they went to bed. Chapter 11 The morning dawned bright and sunny. Actually, for the sake of variety, let's say it was raining very hard outside. No, it was just a cloudy day. Really. It actually is a cloudy day. It's not raining, but it's just cloudy. Anyway, on with the story. Bob was being shaken. "No." He mumbled, his eyes still closed. "Mom, I don't want to get up. Just five more minutes. Please." He opened his eyes at the sound of laughter, and realized where he was. He groaned. "Ugh. I have a horrible headache. What happened last night?" David laughed. "You sorta got drunk on ketchup last night." He said, with a smile on his face. "Drunk? On ketchup? That's insane! What really happened?" "That's what really happened. Pikachus get drunk on ketchup, so you are able to too." "Great." Bob said sarcastically, then started searching his backpack for some aspirin. Finding some, he swallowed two pills, then looked back up. "Well, what are you looking at? Let's get going to the gym." As they left the pokecenter, a figure bumped into Jack, almost knocking him over. "Watch where you're going!" The figure said, then took a closer look at his face. "Well, if it isn't Jack, the loser from Puce. I see you finally got started on a pokemon journey." He smirked. "Too bad you're such a horrible trainer." "Shut up Nancy!" Jack shouted, then swung his fist at him. The rest of the group was surprised, seeing how Jack usually was the peacemaker. Still, they held him back to keep him from attacking. "I see you acquired some loser friends, too." This time, Lauren also had to be held back from attacking Nancy. "Wait." Bob said. "Did Jack say your name was Nancy?" The boy scowled. "My parents had some odd ideas about what a boy should be called. Anyway I prefer to be called Bruno." He paused for a second. "That's it, I've had enough of you losers." He walked off. "What an idiot." David commented. "Who was he, and how did he know you?" Bob asked Jack. "He used to live in Puce." Jack explained. "He always made fun of me, but he moved away before you and David came to Puce. I heard his father got some sort of job with the Viridian Gym leader, so he had to move." "He'd better not show his face around us again, or I'll pound it in for him." Lauren stated. Apparently, the comment about loser friends had really stung. "You two really shouldn't let people like that phase you. He's probably just jealous of you. Anyway, you can show how good you are by getting more badges and stronger pokemon then he does." Bob said, trying to cheer up Jack and Lauren. "Yeah!" Jack exclaimed. "Come on, let's go to the gym!" He dashed off. Jack stepped up to the building. "So this is the gym." He thought. It loomed, dark and ominous, over the street, seeming to crush the spirits of those who walked into its shadow. "An evil place." Jack thought. He took a step forward, ready to enter it and face- "Jack! The gym's over here!" Lauren yelled from farther down the street. Jack sweatdropped. "Oops." He muttered, then quickly ran to catch up with the others. They entered the gym. There was a large pool in the center, with several platforms floating in it. Lining the walls were bleachers, and there was a unobtrusive door in the back of the room. The ceiling was riddled with skylights, letting in sunshine. The entire gym was painted blue, and there were several motifs on the walls showing scenes of water pokemon. "I wonder what kind of pokemon they have here." Bob said sarcastically. "Hello? Anyone here?" Jack called out. A voice boomed from a loudspeaker. "Who wishes to challenge the Cerulean Gym Leaders?" "We do!" David yelled. "You will lose to the awesome might of" The door at the far end of the gym opened, distracting the voice. "Um. Just a second." Three girls walked out of the door. They all giggled. "Hi." The tallest one said. "We're, like, the, like, gym, like, like, like, like, like, like," She seemed to get stuck on the word. She kept repeating it, then sat down and started singing a little song to herself composed entirely of the word "like". "Ok, that's very frightening." Jack said, staring at her. Another of the three was just sitting by the pool and sucking her thumb, while the third was attempting to eat one of her pokeballs. Suddenly, the door opened again and a very hassled looking redhead came out. "Sorry," She said, shepherding the trio back towards the door, "My sisters aren't usually this airheaded, they just got hit by a stray psychic attack in a battle earlier." She pushed them through and came back to talk to the group. "Anyway, I'm the gym leader. Usually my sisters and I share the job, but they are unable to right now." She glanced back at them. "Daisy!" She yelled, running back to her. "We don't eat our pokeballs!!!" She removed the red and white orb from the older girl's mouth. She then tossed it out. A Seel came out. "Seel, I think that you should take the others and keep them away from my older sisters until they shake of the psychic attack." The Seel nodded, then walked over to the three sisters and took their pokeballs. It then ran off thorough the door with them. Misty then continued pushing her sisters out of the room. After she got them out, she came back to the group. "Now, about that pokemon battle." "Oh yeah!" David said. Everyone had been a little distracted by the spectacle of Misty's sisters. "We all challenge you!" "Ok. Since I am the only available trainer, it will be a one-on-one match. Take your position." She walked over to the edge of the pool, where there was a box for the trainer to stand in. "Starmie, go!" The many-armed starfish pokemon materialized in the water. David walked over to the box on the opposite side of the pool. "I'll fight you with my own water pokemon. Squirtle, go!" His water-turtle came out, his shell still extremely shiny from his stay in the shine-o-ball-o. "Squirt, squirt, squirtle!" It yelled at the opposing Starmie. Squirtle started off the battle with a shell tackle. He retracted his limbs into his shell, then flew, spinning, straight at Starmie. Starmie responded with a water gun, which, even though it didn't hurt Squirtle, the sheer pressure of the water sent him flying backwards, until he hit the wall of the pool. He popped his head out and shook it, dazed. The Starmie, taking the initiative, jumped up, then started spinning while flying straight at Squirtle. He yelled in surprise, then dove underwater, dodging. The Starmie followed, however, and slammed Squirtle. Squirtle climbed onto a platform, dazed. "Ok Starmie!" Misty yelled. "Finish it off with aurora beam!" The Starmie grunted in response and began to glow, gathering her energy. "Watch out Squirtle!" David yelled. "You'd better deflect it with shell reflect!" His Squirtle nodded and pulled out a cloth from somewhere inside his shell. He began rubbing it across his shell. "What's he doing?" Lauren wondered aloud. As Squirtle keep rubbing his shell, it, already shiny, became so shiny that the reflected light was too much to look at. All the spectators had to look away, except for Bob, who pulled out a pair of sunglasses and kept watching. He saw the Starmie let loose with its rainbow-colored aurora beam, just as Squirtle retracted into his shell and balanced on the edge, with the shiniest part facing Starmie. The beam hit Squirtle, and reflected right off his shell, straight at Starmie. If Starmie had eyes, they would have opened wide at the sight of her own beam coming straight back at her. Unfortunately, she didn't, so the only sign of surprise was a small grunt. The Starmie went flying back, out of the pool, to slam unconscious against the wall of the gym, KOed by her own beam. The force of the beam had spun Squirtle around on his shell, finally causing him to fall down, but he was not seriously hurt. "Yeah!" David yelled. "I won! Nice going Squirtle!" He pulled out a poketreat and ran over to give it to Squirtle. "Squirt squirt squirtle." He said, munching on the treat. Misty tossed David a teardrop-shaped badge. "Here, you earned this." "Yeah!!" David yelled. "I got a Cascade Badge!!!" Misty looked at the other three. "Ok, who's next?" She asked. "I'll go." Bob said. "I'll go." Bob said. "Fine. Misty chooses." She posed dramatically, then stopped. "Wait, I just thought of something. Seel!!" The pokemon pushed open the door behind her and poked its head out inquisitively. "Seel?" It asked. "Go get me the others and bring them here. Since my sisters are unable to battle, I'll use their pokemon. This match will be two versus two." She said. Seel walked out from the door again, after leaving to get the pokeballs. Misty took them and thanked it. "Choose your pokemon. Misty chooses." She posed again. "Staryu!" She threw out the pokeball, and released the starfish pokemon, the unevolved version of the Starmie David had just fought. Bob pulled a pokeball from his belt. "Abra, go!" He said, as it popped out. The Staryu didn't wait for the psychic to be given any commands, it went straight for it, spinning. Abra teleported out of the way, however. It reappeared on the other side of the arena. The Staryu didn't see where the Abra had gone, and stopped to look around. Meanwhile, the Abra hovered in place and concentrated. A few moments later, Staryu finally noticed where Abra had gone. It grunted triumphantly, then started spinning straight at it. Still Abra didn't move, just hovered there and concentrated. Brock was currently fighting a battle. His challenger had a high level Butterfree that was giving Onix some trouble, but Onix had just wrapped itself around the largest rock in the arena, preparatory to a rock throw that would knock out the Butterfree. Suddenly, the boulder disappeared with a loud *POP*. Brock and his Onix gaped, just before the Onix was knocked out by a psybeam. Back in the Cerulean Gym. Everyone was staring at Bob's Abra as it just sat there, unmoving, as the Staryu came hurtling at it. "What's it doing?" Jack wondered aloud. "Why isn't it moving?" The Staryu got closer and closer. Finally, just as it was about to hit the Abra, a large boulder appeared out of nowhere right above the Staryu, knocking it down and KOing it. "So that's what it was doing." Jack said. "I wonder where it got the boulder from?" "I don't think we'll ever find out." Lauren replied.] Misty gritted her teeth. "You may have won that match, but you cannot win against the pokemon I'm about to use. This pokemon is the most powerful water pokemon in existence, no one can hope to win against it's mighty power. Go, " a pokeball on her belt popped open. Out came a yellow duck, holding its head. "Pssssy?" It said, looking up at Misty. A vein popped out on Misty's forehead. "PSYDUCK!!!! I didn't choose you!!!!" The duck looked up at her, confused. She sighed. "Fine, go out and get yourself beaten up." Then she muttered to herself. "I should never have accepted you as payment when that trainer lost. No wonder he walked out chuckling to himself." The Abra stared at the Psyduck as it stepped into the arena. Then it started rolling around, laughing. The Psyduck looked slightly offended, at least as much as it could with a perpetually stupid expression on it's face. Finally, after several minutes, Abra managed to control it's laughter. It then started teleporting Psyduck about fifteen feet in the air, then letting it fall on it's head from that height. Bob meanwhile was looking through the pokedex entry for Psyduck. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Abra! If you make its headache worse, it can use super powerful attacks!" Bob yelled to his pokemon. Abra stopped teleporting Psyduck, but it was too late. Psyduck's eyes glowed blue, and he started slamming Abra against the walls with his mind. Abra was also doing an attack, however. It concentrated, and Bob's backpack suddenly started bouncing around, like something in it was trying to get out. After a few seconds, the zipper opened, and two tiny tablets came zooming out. Abra was still taking punishment, though, and was about to pass out. Psyduck raised Abra to the ceiling, just as the tablets zoomed into Psyduck's mouth. The glow in his eyes suddenly vanished, and Abra fell to the floor. Unfortunately, this was enough damage to knock him out. "What was that?!" Misty asked. Bob thought for a moment, puzzled. Then he snapped his fingers. "Aspirin!" He exclaimed. "What?" "That was aspirin my Abra put in your Psyducks mouth!" "Oh great. That means his headache is gone, so he can't fight." Misty groaned. "Oh well. Choose your next pokemon." Bob thought. "Hmmm. I can't use Charmander because he might die if he's knocked in the water. Abra is unconscious, so that leaves" He pulled out a pokeball. "Metapod, go!" Misty laughed. "All a Metapod knows is harden! It can't defeat my Psyduck!" Bob grimaced. "Are you going to talk or battle? Metapod, harden!" Misty considered her options. "All of Psyducks moves are useless, unless he has a headache. I know!" She yelled instructions to Psyduck. "Psyduck, start hitting yourself over the head with that Metapod!" Psyduck looked at her questioningly. "Psy?" (For once, I'll translate. Translation: "Are you insane?!") "Just do it!!" "Psy." Psyduck picked up the Metapod and started hitting himself in the head. "Yes! That's it!" Misty watched as his headache got steadily worse. "Just a few more hits, and you'll be able to use your attacks!" "Psy!" Psyduck hit himself a few more times. His eyes started to glow blue. "Yes! Now use disable!" Psyduck put down the Metapod and stared at it for a second, then slowly fell over. "You know, if you want to win a battle, you probably shouldn't use techniques that injure only your pokemon and not your opponents." Bob commented. Misty growled. "I know that!!!!!" She yelled at Bob. She calmed down a bit. "Here's your Cascade badge." She handed it to Bob. "Yes!!" Bob yelled. "I got a Cascade Badge!" Lauren sighed. "Is everyone going to say that?" A glowing slit appeared on Metapod's back. "What's happening?" David asked. "Should you recognize a pokemon evolving by now?" Bob asked him. The slit opened further, and a winged shape unfolded itself out of the shell of the Metapod. "Free!! Bee free!" "Yay! You evolved into Butterfree!" Bob yelled. Lauren sighed again. "Can't anyone ever think of a more original phrase then that?" She complained. The Butterfree got a puzzled look on its face. It sniffed the air, then turned towards Jack. "Free?" "What does it find odd about you?" Misty asked. Jack sweatdropped. "Er. Nothing!" Bob quickly recalled Butterfree into its pokeball before it could say anything. "Now, who will battle me next?" "I will." Lauren stepped out of the stands. "One versus one battle. Misty chooses Dewgong!" Lauren threw out her pokeball. "Jigglypuff! I choose you!" The balloon pokemon came out, ready to fight. The Dewgong started off with a water gun. Jigglypuff just barely dodged. Dewgong kept using water guns, which were dodged, but kept the Jigglypuff from doing anything. Finally, though, Jigglypuff started singing as it jumped all over, dodging the attacks. Soon, the Dewgong fell asleep. Along with everyone else in the gym. Several hours later, everyone woke up. Lauren noticed her Jigglypuff asleep next to her. Out on the fighting field, the Dewgong was lying, fainted. Misty recalled it. Then she looked at Bob. "What happened to your face?!?" She exclaimed. "What happened to my face? What happened to yours?!" Bob yelled back. Jack chuckled. "You two should really see yourselves. You too, David. You all look really weird." The three of them turned on him. "SO DO YOU!!!" They yelled. Jack fell over from the force of the yell. What had happened was this. While everyone had been asleep, Lauren's Jigglypuff had taken her makeup out of her backpack and put it all over everyone's face. Well, everyone's but Lauren's. The Jigglypuff hadn't done it to her, because she was it's trainer. Everyone, upon realizing that they all had gotten free makeup jobs, courtesy of Jigglypuff, ran for the pool. As they jumped in and scrubbed at their faces, the water turned black, and several other colors. After everyone had gotten their faces cleaned up, Jack asked Lauren a question. "Why do you even have black facepaint?" Lauren sweatdropped. "No reason." "No, why?" "Really, I don't know how it got there." She was sweatdropping even more. "Why do you have black facepaint in your backpack?!" Lauren, looking around frantically for a way not to answer, finally settled on pushing Jack into the pool. Misty cleared her throat. "Could we please get on with the battles? This a gym, remember?" Jack sweatdropped. "Oh yeah." Bob broke in. "You know, I'm sure all that sweatdropping can't be good for you. If you keep losing all that water, you could become dehydrated. You do produce such gigantic sweatdrops." Lauren hit him over the head. "Thank you." Jack said to Lauren in response. Misty, realizing that talking wouldn't work, came over and administered mallet blows to everyone. "Pokemon battle. Now. Here." She said, dragged Jack to the challengers box. She then walked to her side of the arena and sent out Horsea. Jack sent out Gyrados. "One versus one." "Fine." Horsea started by squirting ink into Gyrados's eyes. Gyrados, unable to see, thrashed around wildly until he finally used water gun to clean it off. He then tried several tackle attacks, but the agile Horsea always dodged. Finally, Jack got fed up with it. "Gyrados! Use ice drill!" He called. Gyrados jumped up in the air and started spinning, then flew straight at Horsea. As he flew, he breathed out a white mist. This mist solidified into a sharpened shield of ice surrounding the front of Gyrados. Overall, the effect was a spinning spear of ice, coming straight at Horsea. Horsea attempted to dodge, but the attack came too fast, and he went flying, unconscious. They both recalled their pokemon, and Misty handed Jack a cascade badge. "Yes!" Jack yelled. "I got" Lauren pushed him into the swimming pool again. "Do you know how annoying that gets after so many repetitions?" She said to no one in particular. "You think you have to go through repetitions?" Misty asked. "I'm a gym leader. I have to hear it every time someone wins a badge." "Let's get going back to the pokecenter." Bob broke in. "It's late. We lost a lot of time to that sing attack."