FicWad

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon or any intellectual properties tied to its name and franchise, but I own Josie Sheridan and miscellaneous characters I make up for her to battle...except gym leaders :D.

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Wow she felt refreshed. Certainly a lot better now than she did half an hour ago. Yes, for once she had been pretty quick getting ready. As she finished drying her hair, she gave herself a quick once over. Yeah she was ok she nodded to herself. Todd did have a new assignment, as he'd shouted through her door five minutes ago, along with the usual 'don't take all day' kind of comment. She smirked, rolling her eyes, boys! Still, bet he was going to have a heart attack now. She laughed despite herself as she left the room.




He did too. Todd had been expecting to wait at least another half an hour when she said she just had to 'do her hair'. In fact he nearly fell from his seat in the lobby, much to even Nurse Joy's amusement as she briefly stopped her ministrations to ensure that he was ok before continuing.

"Yeesh there's no need to be THAT shocked," Josie laughed as Todd recovered. "I'm not that bad surely."

Todd stood up, looking decidedly sheepish, scratching the back of his head. "You've no idea Josie honestly."

Yeah she supposed, SHE might not have any idea herself. Besides what was it her mother said? Oh yeah 'boys will be boys'.

He was expecting to be run down after that comment; honestly girls were beyond him. "So what do you fancy then?"

She thought...she knew she forgot to think about something! Oh well. "To be honest...I don't know."

"I know a place, I've been to Cerulean a few times. After you..." he was going to hold the door open, completely forgetting for a moment they were automatic and nearly fell through.

Josie began to laugh, patting his back. "I appreciate the sentiment Todd, now come on, show me what's cool around here, I have no clue."

He laughed at his own misfortune. "I'm beginning to think clumsiness and forgetfulness may be infectious. Come on then, I'm sure you'll love it."

Josie began to walk out into the darkening city with him, before realizing what he'd just said. "Hey!"

Too late Todd was already way ahead. "Come on, a Slowpoke thinks faster than you!" he laughed.

"When I get my hands on you..." Josie shouted, though admittedly laughing herself, running after him.




Phew! That's all she could think about as she plopped down on her bed later that night. Man was she stuffed. Even she was beginning to think she could give a Snorlax a run for its money. Still it was good thinking of Todd to choose an all you can eat place. She laughed silently to herself, she could have just imagined the bill for what she ate otherwise. Strange though, during the whole evening they'd talked about the area Pokemon and what she wanted to catch, the gym backlog thanks to Team Rocket...in fact anything but this new assignment he mentioned earlier when she was still getting ready. Strange...awww great now she was wondering what it was, if planning didn't keep her awake, it seemed other things could. She thought about the trip to the cape tomorrow to see Bill, he was coming with her there at least, apparently Bill was a fanatic when it came to Pokemon, bet he'd get a few photo opportunities there, and she'd get a chance to use her pokedex to get some info she guessed, she'd have to use it eventually. Speaking of which she should research Mankey and her moves for her notebook first chance she got.

She picked up her issue of Pokemon Monthly, flashing through to the 'Peek at New Trainer's Article' that was prominently displayed on the cover. Wow Todd had talked to a lot of Pewter City and Viridian Trainer's; she was the only Pallet Towner though...seemed she was the only one he caught before the deadline. Others had contributed to the article, there were a few trainers from cities he couldn't possibly have been to. Disregarding everything else though she set her eyes upon Kendo Travis. She hadn't thought much about him recently but she couldn't resist a quick peek at his team. Seemed he'd gone post haste to Viridian Forest after battling her seems as Todd met him first...must've used a potion and burn heal. There was his Squirtle, a Pidgey and a Rattata, wow he'd rushed quite a bit it seemed, he'd only caught two Pokemon when he met Todd, still, she reminded herself, he could have caught a lot more since. She looked at her team picture, smiling briefly; she didn't look too bad...she guessed. She sighed, she hated having pictures done, but privately, she admitted, they never actually turned out all that bad. Putting the magazine down, resolving to read it in real detail tomorrow night, she shut her eyes, she'd have to or tomorrow would never come!




To her great surprise as she entered the canteen for breakfast the next morning, she was there before Todd. A quick glance at the clock told her why, half seven! Aw man early or what...at least for her. She felt tired again already despite her shower just half an hour ago. It was also early, seemingly, for most of the centre's other residents from the night before, there were only one or two trainers dotted around right now.

"Well good morning," Nurse Joy beamed happily. "Ready for breakfast?"

Josie grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her head as her stomach answered the question for her, growling loudly despite how full it was last night. "Yeah, thanks Nurse Joy," she said as Nurse Joy giggled, handing her a portion of cereal and a round of toast.

"So what are you doing today, if you don't mind my asking?" Joy asked, obviously curious as to her comment from the day before.

"Oh I'm going to visit Bill up on the cape," Josie smiled. "Professor Oak said it'd be a great idea to do so."

Joy nodded. "He is a very knowledgeable young man, it will probably be a good experience for you. Well, I hope you enjoy it," she finished, spying some more trainers entering the canteen.

"I'm sure I will," Josie smiled in reply. "Thanks Nurse Joy."

She left Nurse Joy to attend to the newcomers seating herself on a table near the entrance and began to think about starting her cereal with relish, so much so she almost forgot to put some milk in it in fact, only remembering to pour some out of the table's pitcher jug when she finally looked at it. She laughed inwardly, seemed she wasn't quite awake really yet. Still rubbing her eyes and, finally, putting some cereal in her mouth seemed to perk her up again.

"Eating again already?" a voice said from behind her.

Josie nearly choked again, but managed to swallow her mouthful of food with minimal effort thankfully, she must be getting used to it. She turned to see Todd with a steaming cup of tea in his hands, laughing.

"I really wish people would stop doing that," she grumbled a little.

"Well I did wave," Todd laughed, sitting down. "For some reason though you seemed transfixed of pouring milk into your cereal."

Josie blushed, embarrassed. "Oh err...opps, sorry."

Todd laughed. "I'll make a note never to disturb you till you've finished eating in the morning in future. I don't know how you can eat though, can you even remember what you put away last night?"

"Err yeah," she blushed. "But I'm a growing girl so...I'll walk it off today anyway," she finished changing excuses half way through.

"Yeah, I must admit I'm looking forward to seeing Bill, I hope to get some good snaps."

"Your mind's always on your work, isn't it?" she grinned, turning to her toast.

"Yeah but," Todd paused to sip his tea. "Your minds always on Pokemon and food so we're even so nyeh." He stuck his tongue out.

"At least I think of more than one think," Josie countered.

"Well look who's sharp for the time of day," Todd laughed.

"Yeah well us girls are good at multi-tasking...or something," Josie said, thinking about whether that was true or not, she was sure she'd heard that somewhere.

Todd just laughed again. "Well when you're multi-tasking, try not to forget things like you seem to have just done."

"Ha, ha," Josie said sarcastically, though still smiling, if rather sheepishly, before continuing on with her breakfast.




"Uhhh," Josie grimaced as her and Todd, now in the company of a relatively confused Charmeleon walked North towards the cape.

"Bet you're regretting breakfast now aren't you?" Todd laughed. "I told you not to eat that extra round of toast."

"Char?" Charmeleon finally piped up.

"I'm skipping lunch, let's put it that way Charmeleon," Josie sighed, taking a swig of water out of a bottle of water she'd brought from a kiosk before they'd left the city.

The Pokemon still looked mightily confused.

"She's eaten way too much Charmeleon, that's all," Todd laughed.

"Char," the Pokemon sighed, seemingly hiding his head in his claws, shaking it disapprovingly, even more so as Josie burped.

"Opps...excuse me," she blushed.

Todd and Charmeleon could only laugh and shake their heads at her embarrassed features, even more so as she did it again, hiding her head by pulling her demin jacket over her head like a hood.

"I just hope you get it out of your system before we get to Bill's," Todd eventually managed.

"...I'm never eating that much ever again," she mumbled, slowly slinking her head back out from her jacket.

Charmeleon smirked giving her a 'yeah right' kind of look as Todd pointed off into the distance.

"Look, there's the Nugget Bridge that leads to the cape, shouldn't be too long to Bill's after we cross it."

Josie took another swig of her water bottle, feeling slightly better for her gas attack. "Hey Todd, do you know why its called the Nugget Bridge?"

He nodded. "There used to be a competition held here, if you could beat all five trainers present here in a row, you would get given a small nugget of gold. However, the competition was infiltrated by Team Rocket years ago, and they used it to scout out potential members and powerful Pokemon to steal, so it was abandoned."

"Pity," Josie said. "I would have loved to try that challenge. It would have been cool, right Charmeleon?"

"Char!" he agreed, flexing his arms a little. Evidently he thought they could have won too!

"Hmph! Why try something you'd never win?" a voice said, from behind them...Gawd Josie was really beginning to hate that! Still...that voice.

As she turned...oh no! "Hi Kendo, how've you been doing?" she smiled, trying to be polite, thinking it best to try that first.

"Just bidding my time till later today when I can go trash the gym leader," Kendo said idly. "I've already been to the cape, you're getting behind you know...oh hello Snap," his tone seemed to change when he realised just who her travelling companion happened to be. "How are you?"

"I'm just fine Kendo," Todd replied, a little surprised by his attitude. "I'm just going to the cape with Josie here."

"You know if you want someone to go to the cape with, I'd gladly offer my services," Kendo said, starting to ignore Josie now, much to her and Charmeleon's consternation.

"That's quite alright Kendo," Todd smiled. "You'll miss your gym battle and get behind otherwise, besides we've been travelling for a few days, I'm sure we can manage, can't we guys?" he smiled looking at Josie and Charmeleon.

"Char!" Charmeleon smirked, beating his chest.

"What he said," Josie smirked, thumbing towards her partner.

Kendo just chuckled lowly. "Fine then, though before you go, I demand a rematch," he said, refocusing his attention towards Josie and Charmeleon once more.

"You want a battle, you've got one buddy!" Josie grinned, as did Charmeleon.

"Fine then how about...two on two?"

"Sure why not?" Josie readily agreed. "So we battling for money this time?"

"Why not...half of what we each have," Kendo smirked.

Wow, that could potentially be a lot to win...or lose. This was Kendo though; she couldn't back down based on money. He'd just call her god knows what forever. "...Fine I accept."

"Josie, are you sure?" Todd asked. "You could lose."

"True..." Josie said. "Still I believe my Pokemon won't let me down...besides, I refuse to not accept a challenge."

"Your loss," Kendo shrugged nonchalantly.

Taking positions opposite each other, they prepared to battle. Todd got his camera ready this ought to be an explosive battle!

"Ok," Kendo smirked. "For my first choice I choose...Rattata!"

He threw his poke ball and in a flash before them stood a Rattata, raring to go.

A normal type...well this would be a perfect match to test out the latest member of her team. "Well if that's the case," she said, unhitching a poke ball. "I choose Mankey!"

As her Mankey appeared on the field of play, Kendo smirked. "Oh so now you're all for type advantage? No matter, if your Charmeleon could beat my Squirtle, then the same can happen here."

"That's true, type isn't everything...but I can't deny it's a big help," she pointed across the field. "Let's go Mankey, start things rolling, use your low kick!"

Mankey flew across the distance between herself and the Rattata rapidly, beginning to bring a foot out as she neared her target.

"Rattata, use your quick attack to get away from that attack!" Kendo commanded loudly.

The Rattata obeyed; using the extra speed afforded by quick attack he was able to pretty handily dodge the incoming attack. Mankey's momentum carried her a little further, but she recovered by using the position her attack left her body in to skid relatively harmlessly to a halt, though she brought up a lot of the dirt around her in the process.

"Rattata, use quick attack on Mankey," Kendo ordered as his rat Pokemon turned to face its opponent again. To this the Pokemon immediately set off again.

"Mankey, use fury swipes to help you deflect the attack!" Josie shouted, hoping that the attack could help bat away the comparatively smaller creature. It worked to a degree, although as the smaller Pokemon was batted down towards the ground with some degree of force, Mankey was pushed back a little by the force of the quick attack, she was not an immovable object, but as she recovered, neither, it seemed, was Rattata an irresistible force.

"Alright Mankey, get it with your low kick now, and follow up with scratch attack!" Josie shouted, hoping this may finish it.

Mankey's low kick connected this time, catching the recovering Rattata in its side, following up with a scratch attack that looked more like a sweeping uppercut as it was performed from ground level practically scooping its poor recipient up into the air and its performer even having to spin, following through the motion the attack began. The Rattata flew through the air but, quite remarkably, as it landed on the ground managed to roll and land on its feet. Though injured and breathing heavily, there was still fight left in this opponent.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to take down my Pokemon," Kendo laughed. Josie bit her lip, literally forcing herself to bite back some witty retort about that not being how she remembered it last time...it wasn't his Pokemon's fault, it was his as the trainer.

"Your Rattata's a good, strong Pokemon," Josie conceded. "Still, so is my Mankey."

"You won't be saying that after this..." Kendo started. "Rattata, use hyper fang!"

His Rattata, again with amazing speed afforded by the attack, and the Pokemon itself, traversed the distance between itself and its opponent, before sticking his fangs into the unfortunate Mankey's arm.

"Ha, your Mankey won't be so tough once this attack's through," Kendo practically gloated.

Damn, Josie had heard how that attack took a lot out of Rattata opponents. She thought quickly, if there was one thing Mankey could do that could throw it off...

"Mankey," she shouted. "Quickly, use your karate chop attack!"

Mankey needed little prompting, she was already angry about the fact the rat Pokemon was hanging from her arm. She shook wildly, stomping her feet hard, practically jumping in fact, and shaking her arms in a chopping motion with such ferocity the Rattata had little choice but to let go, especially as its body was being practically slammed into the ground in the commotion.

Josie took a second to think, now Mankey was angry, who wouldn't be, ill temperament or not! Still, till she calmed down it'd be a little harder to make any good, co-ordinated moves, but the Rattata was well and truly dazed, so hopefully a rage induced fury swipes would do it.

"Mankey finish it, fury swipes!"

The fury swipes, or more accurately what actually seemed more like some kind of double handed scratch followed by tackle, hit its mark...and as the rat tumbled along the ground, it certainly didn't seem like it was getting up this time. Todd looked at his camera, wow, a good 20 or so action shots for his portfolio right there, this was good stuff.

"Hmph! Dumb luck..." Kendo muttered, recalling the fainted Pokemon, quickly revealing a second poke ball. "There's no way your Mankey will beat...Squirtle!"

Even as the Squirtle appeared in the customary flash even Josie had to admit it was highly unlikely. Mankey had yet to recover from her rage properly and it was undeniable that that hyper fang had taken a considerable amount of energy to shake off, as well as causing damage.

Todd too was assessing the situation; you don't spend your life taking pictures of Pokemon without learning to notice things. This battle probably was going to go down to the last two Pokemon, still weirder things had happened.

"Maybe, maybe not," Josie said, before adding with resolve. "However one thing that is certain is that my Pokemon will try their best, and that's all I can ask."

"That attitude is why you will finish last, nice guys...or girls always do as they say. Squirtle, use bubble!" Kendo finished his statement with a command to resume the battle.

As the Squirtle began to blow bubbles ferociously out of its mouth Josie acted as fast as she could.

"Mankey, dodge it," Josie called out.

Mankey did move, though not quick enough by any means to dodge all the bubbles that flew at her, Kendo had chosen his attack well. Still it seemed to gain Mankey's complete and utter attention fast enough.

"Mankey, go for a karate chop!" Josie called as her Pokemon began to look angry again.

She did indeed rush, surprisingly quickly despite her wet fur to attack the Pokemon who had just effectively soaked her.

"Squirtle, withdraw!" Kendo ordered.

The Pokemon immediately obeyed, retreating into its hard shell as Mankey began pummelling it.

"Keep it up Mankey!" Josie shouted, hoping for a similar result to last time.

"Try it all you like, Squirtle and I have worked on our defence since we last met," Kendo laughed.

She supposed it was inevitable that he had, even as Mankey continued. She guessed it was too good to be true. Still, maybe there was a way to coax it out, although maybe that wasn't a good idea, Mankey was tiring. Still, what else could she do?

"Mankey, jump back and use leer!" she commanded, if Mankey could position herself just right, maybe the leer could coax Squirtle into doing something that would weaken its defence.

"You think I'm going to let you do that?" Kendo laughed. "Squirtle, stay withdrawn and roll!"

The Squirtle did indeed begin to roll within its own shell; there was no way Mankey's leer would work if she couldn't get eye contact. Strangely it was rolling towards her.

"Mankey, kick it way!" Josie ordered, not trusting what it was doing, it seemed however getting close was a mistake.

"Now Squirtle, rapid spin!" Kendo said smirking as he did.

Spin the Squirtle did. The spinning was so ferocious that Mankey stood no chance as its body was taken in by its foot catching on the shell and battered several times in quick succession. Mankey reeled backwards before collapsing.

"Mankey!" Josie called out. It was no use though she was out for the count. Josie sighed, bringing up Mankey's poke ball. "Come on back and rest Mankey!" The red light recalled the fainted Pokemon to its ball. Josie looked at it smiling. "Good job Mankey, I'm proud of you."

As she placed the ball back on her belt, Kendo called. "I told you Mankey would lose."

"You did, but nevertheless she did her best and like I said, that's all I can ask."

"You going to use Charmeleon now so I can give it the beating its type deserves from Squirtle?" Kendo asked, again laughing, as Squirtle emerged from his shell ready for his next challenger.

Todd wondered, would she? He couldn't say he knew, though Josie's fire type was very good, now Kendo and Squirtle were more experienced it would be a lot harder. Still she did have others at her disposal, any of which right now had no particular disadvantage to Squirtle. He readied again regardless.

Josie thought a little, though Charmeleon would be up to it; she did have another Pokemon she'd been training through Mount Moon for just this type. She looked at Charmeleon while unhitching a ball; he smiled and nodded at her. If he was in agreement then it was settled. She smiled at Kendo. "I've got to good a theme going here," she started. "Seems a shame to deviate from it so I choose Pikachu!"

As Pikachu emerged from her ball, ready for battle, Kendo didn't look all that surprised for some reason. "...I knew you'd have a Pikachu." He eventually smirked.

Josie just raised an eyebrow. "So...?"

"I get the feeling all the Pallet Towner's will, trying to emulate Ash Ketchum," he laughed. "Let's face it he's the best that town's managed to muster in years and what has he done? Top 16? Ohhh I'm shaking..."

"He won the Orange Island Challenge," Josie said matter-of-factly.

"Pshh couldn't have been much of a challenge then," Kendo smirked. "Oh wait, some of your family are Orange crew right? Opps..."

Josie bit her lip, there was no point rising to anything he said. She had to admit though, she kind of regretted letting Todd use that in his article now. "Yeah whatever," Josie said, raising her arm defiantly. "Let's just get going again, shall we?"

"Very well," Kendo said. "Squirtle withdraw and roll again!"

Even as the Squirtle began advancing on Pikachu, Josie knew what to do. "Pikachu stop that Squirtle with your thunder wave!"

"Pika!" she shouted letting loose the jolt of electricity from its body which did indeed stop Squirtle in its tracks.

"One bitten twice shy I see," Kendo remarked. "No matter, Squirtle use water gun!"

"Pikachu, use your quick attack, dodge and get in close," Josie countered.

As the Squirtle's water gun left its mouth with surprising force and accuracy, Pikachu deftly dodged it, closing in even as the Squirtle tried to adjust its stream to catch Pikachu; she was just that much faster than Squirtle could react to. The quick attack hit, sending the turtle Pokemon back a good few feet, clutching its belly slightly, but the shell was hardy, it took the attack well.

"Squirtle, use bubble, try to slow it down," Kendo ordered.

"Stay on the move Pikachu and use double team," Josie ordered.

As the bubbles emanated from Squirtle's mouth, Pikachu used double team to great effect, creating five illusionary copies of herself to confuse her opponent. The bubbles stopped as Squirtle looked around.

"Aim for as many as possible Squirtle," Kendo ordered. "Get rid of those illusions!"

Squirtle again began its bubble attack aiming for three of the copies, neither of which it seemed was the real deal. Josie smiled; time to play advantage a little more.

"Pikachu use your thundershock now," Josie shouted.

All three remaining Pikachu's jumped up in the air, electricity forming at their cheeks, so good were the illusionary copies, but inevitably only one let lose the actual attack. Squirtle, who now knew what to aim at, managed to let loose a few bubbles before falling victim to the jolting electrical attack. Pikachu was knocked back a little in the air by the bubbles let loose but managed to land on her feet again, if a little wet and winded for it, shaking most of the water off. Josie would have to be careful though, the fact that she was wet and winded meant her speed may be affected, bubble could do that. By now Squirtle was beginning to shake of the effects of the thundershock so Josie had to act fast.

"Pikachu use quick attack!" Josie ordered, Pikachu obeying and heading towards her opponent at speed.

""Withdraw Squirtle," Kendo ordered, confident in he fact that his Pokemon's shell would absorb the best part of any physical damage that could occur. As Pikachu hit, the shell slid along the ground quite a distance it was a good hit, but something stronger was needed.

"Pikachu, try slam!" Josie shouted, that attack had considerably more physical power behind it than quick attack, it may just rattle Squirtle and Kendo up, if she could get Squirtle out of the shell, she could end it.

Pikachu bounded into the air towards her opponent, swinging her tail down onto the shell with considerable force before jumping away again. It was a few seconds before a reaction occurred, Squirtle emerged, rubbing its head, seemed it did rattle him.

"Go Pikachu, thundershock!" Josie commanded.

The electric attack hit its weakened and disorientated opponent swiftly and hard. Squirtle swayed a little before rolling onto its back, defeated.

"Alright!" Josie punched the air. "Way to go Pikachu!"

"Pika," she called, her ear twitching, a broad smile upon her face as Charmeleon went up to her, chorusing his congratulations.

"Squirtle return," Kendo growled, still a lot more composed this time over defeat as his Pokemon returned to its ball. "I said it before and I'll say it again...dumb luck. Don't expect it to hold out, I'll be the first person there to capitalise on it."

"Hey I'm up for a rematch any time," Josie said. "Whether you think I win because of luck or not doesn't matter to me."

"Then I'll definitely be seeing you again, only next time the outcome will be different." He reached into his pocket. "Here's $300, half of what I have...pity you caught me after a trip to the Poke Mart...heh. Hope to see you again Snap," he turned to her travelling companion who was packing his camera. "I plan to be a champ by then though."

With that he turned and left Josie staring at her winnings, meagre compared to what he would have won...what a gip!

"Well he's...confident," Todd commented scratched the back of his head grinning.

"Oh please he's the most arrogant guy I've ever met," Josie laughed.

"Still you weren't kidding when you said there was a rivalry there...geez. Made for some good battle shots though," he smirked indicating to his camera.

She just rolled her eyes, typical Todd. She then turned to Pikachu, kneeling down and rubbing her head. "Good job Pikachu...Mankey did her best too. Hopefully she will have recovered a little by lunch and I can give her a potion then too. Alright, return Pikachu."

The Pokemon readily returned to her ball as Josie rose. She turned to Todd and Charmeleon as she attached the poke ball to her belt. "Well I guess we should get going," she smiled. "Not long to go till Bill's right?"

"Not at all," Todd smiled, motioning towards the bridge. "After you guys."

"You know? I could get used to this gentlemanly behaviour," Josie laughed, even more so when Charmeleon chorused his agreement.

Todd pouted. "Aww don't start on me," he said, before smiling good-naturedly. "After all someone has to act polite and mature out of the two humans today, especially if you have more gas attacks today."

Charmeleon laughed as Josie hid her head a little, suddenly feeling the need for more water. "Bring that up why don't you..."

"If you insist," Todd smirked as they carried on to the bridge and beyond.




The walk to Bill's certainly didn't take long. There was the brief diversion of rustling in a grassy area as they passed it. Despite thorough investigation of the area by all three of them however, nothing was found, even though Charmeleon was sure he smelt the presence of something. That was strange to say the least but still they were here now. It was quite an impressive cottage Bill had, built against a plateau on a patch of land surrounded on all three other sides by water. A brief look in the water saw Josie identify Magikarp, Goldeen and Poliwag swimming in there...cool.

"I wonder if he'll give a brief interview," Todd thought aloud as they crossed a small bridge leading to the front door.

Josie looked at him. "Do you always think about work?"

"I thought we discussed this this morning at breakfast," he grinned.

Josie thought a little. "...Oh yeah. Well I suppose he might, can't hurt to ask can it?"

"Nope," he grinned as they reached the door, Charmeleon lamenting his trainer's forgetfulness again.

Josie shrugged and knocked the door. They waited.

"No answer..." Todd said.

"Yay Captain Obvious," Josie laughed. "Do you suppose he's away? We didn't pass anyone on the way here"

"Guess so," Todd sighed. "Guess we walked up here for nothing, but at least you walked off your breakfast."

"Oh please stop bringing that up..." Josie whined a little, as Charmeleon pressed his head against the door. "Something up Charmeleon?"

"Char," he nodded, indicating to the door.

Todd put his head against it...he could here something. Machinery? Shrugging as his head left the door. "I'm not sure what I hear but..."

"Oh no not again!" a voice could be heard shouting behind the door.

"Someone's in there," Josie said almost jumping out of her skin.

"Try the door?" Todd asked, looking at her and Charmeleon.

"I guess we better had, someone could have broken in."

With that Todd turned the handle and to his surprise, it was unlocked. A quick and silent nod between them all later and they cautiously entered.




"There's no one here..." Todd said looking around as the entered the room beyond the door. It was full of strange equipment.

"Well who spoke then?" Josie wondered out loud.

Charmeleon sniffed the air, and immediately ran to a panel by two strange looking tubes. "Char! Charmeleon!"

Todd and Josie both ran to investigate. As the reached the panel, they peered curiously over it to where Charmeleon was looking. There was a small creature obscure by shadow at first, but as they peered closer.

"Aww wow a Marowak!" Josie said excitedly. "Cool!"

The Marowak moved out of the shadows then, standing before them. "Unfortunately young lady, I'm not actually a Marowak...I am Bill, pleased to meet you."

"What!" both Josie and Todd exclaimed loudly as the 'Marowak' put his hands to his ears.

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A/N: What indeed. Again sorry for the late chapter, next chapter expect fun with Bill (I can't remember if he was a specific Pokemon in the games so I randomly chose Marowak), Pokemon catching (yay for more :p) and more besides on the return to Cerulean City.