Through the Mountain to Cerulean City

Akio shook his head quickly and said, "He's not...! Never mind! I came here to work on my Pokedex for Professor Oak, but I'm also here to become a stronger trainer. To do that, I gotta take on the Gym Leader, whoever he is." He thought for a moment, then turned to the girl and said, "You said you live in Cerulean. Can you take me there?"

Soon, Zeiro got to Cerulean City with little trouble. He immediately headed to the Pokemon Center, hoping to heal up the Nidoran as quick as he could.

"Welcome~!" Said the Nurse Joy as he came in. Without a word, he placed all three pokeballs on the counter. Before she could ask, she could see the wounded Nidoran.

"Please...you need to help it." He simply said. Nurse joy nodded as she took the pokeballs. "You should get some rest as well. I'll make sure they're all fine." The response she got was a grunt as he walked away.

So he had been sent by Professor Oak? That was interesting. Was the other the same? Whichever way it turned out to be, this was going to be fun.

"I can take you there if you want." She replied with a grin. "Do you want me to take you there now, or do want to rest and I'll find you tomorrow and take you there?"

Akio looked down to his Pokemon, they weren't tired since he was the only one not to use Pokemon during the battle with Team Rocket. He figured that he had every ability to challenge the Leader as things were. "No, I think I can go now. The sooner I get stronger, the better. Who knows if we'll meet up with those rocket guys again."

Inside the Center, two boys were talking. "So you lost to them too?" one of them said. The other nodded and said, "They're all really strong, but the worst part is that there was a really shifty guy with them. Guess it doesn't matter though. We can't even cross the bridge with them there..."

Zeiro paused as he overheard the two boys talking. ~Don't tell me...Team Rocket? Again?~ He thought as he walked up to them.

"Excuse me. I couldn't help but hear what you said...could you please explain a bit more of what you mean?"

The two boys turned to Zeiro and one of them said, "You haven't heard? Well, recently the bridge north of here has been taken over by powerful trainers. The battle anyone who tries to cross saying that the winner will get some prize. But now no one can cross because no one can beat them."

"Is that so...? How troublesome..." He muttered, glancing down.

"Zeiro! You're pokemon are all healed up!" Joy called out to him. He stood up and waved to the boys, thanking them for the information as he took the pokeballs and left the Center. Outside the center, he released the Nidoran from its pokeball and looked down on the purple pokemon.

"You're all healed up. You should go on now." He said. The pokemon was hesitant, taking a step back as it was confused. Zeiro sighed as he knelt down, holding his hand out to the hesitant pokemon. "It's ok. I saw you get attacked by a group of Spearows. You're in Cerulean City now. Sadly, I can't take you back to your home."

Nidoran's ears twitched as it could understand Zeiro, but it was still a bit hesitant. Soon, it started to relax and walk over to Zeiro, rubbing its head against his hand. The trainer smiled as he picked it up and started to walk off to wards the bridge.

"Alright, just follow me then!" She said as she bounced off in the direction of her gym. It wasn't long before they were there, and she motioned for him to follow her inside.

On the inside was basically a giant pool. Wood and rubber rafts floated at random in it, and there were some spots where there were random rock-like platforms. There were several Water-type Pokemon playing around in the pool, but no people besides themselves to see anywhere.

The girl pranced along until she was at the edge of the water and spun around to face her challenger. "So." She said, spreading her arms wide. "Welcome to my Gym."

At the bridge, there were five trainers, standing one after the other. The were definitely blocking the path and it was easy to see they were ready to fight. At the far end was a man standing just on the other side of the bridge, watching everything.

Akio smiled as he looked around at all the Pokemon. They seemed very happy there. When the girl turned and said it was her gym, Akio looked at her with a blank face and said, "Y...your gym? Wait, you really are the Gym Leader!? There's no way that's right! You're my age!"

The girl blinked before giggling. "Actually, I'm probably closer that other kid's age. I'll be turning 15 soon. I'm just very short..." She looked down. "And very flat. The jacket doesn't help much with that either, I'll admit."

She kicked off her sandals and took off her clothes, revealing under them she was wearing black swim trunks and a light blue bikini top (and proving that she was in fact older than him with it). With that, she jumped into the pool, grinning when she came back up.

"So, I'm Brooke, the Leader of the Cerulean Gym." Brooke told him as she pet a Horsea that came up to greet her. "Ready to battle or are you still in shock?"

Zeiro glanced at the trainers, letitng out a small sigh as he took out his Pokedex, looking at the information of his new Pokemon. "Hmm....you know quite a few moves." He said, closing it and looking at the Nidoran. "All right...Let's see what you're made of." He started to advance, seeing how the trainers will react.

Akio was certainly surprised to see he was mistaken about her age, but it did make more sense. His eyes became more determined as he went to to his pocket and pulled out a Pokeball. "No, I'm fine to battle. As a matter of fact, its better this way. I wanted to see how I was compared to you anyway." He threw the Pokeball, revealing the small yellow mouse Pokemon. "Let's do this, Pikachu!" He gave a grin as he knew that his Electric Pokemon had an advantage. The only problem is that its only Electric attack was Thundershock.

The trainers grinned lightly as he approached. A young male with a Bug Catching net walked up to him and said, "Welcome to Nugget Bridge! We five trainers are guarding this place. Beat us and you'll get a fabulous prize. If you can't then you aren't crossing this bridge..." He threw a Pokeball, revealing a Weedle, a small worm with a poison stinger on its head.

"...Hmph. And here I thought I had something to worry abbout." Zeiro taunted as he pointed at the Weedle. "All right, Nidoran...Time to show us what you're made of! Peck!"

Nidoran glared down at the Weedle as it ran towards it, digging its horn deem into the bug pokemon.

"String Shot!" the boy said simply as the worm sprayed out a white sticky goo onto the Pokemon to slop it down. The attack wasn't stopped, however. It hit and the boy returned his Pokemon back to its ball immediately. A girl came from there, tossing a ball and a small bird came out. "Pidgey, your turn! Weedle didn't faint so its not over yet. If you battle one of us, you battle all of us. Use Sand Attack!"

The bird moved to the nearest dirt area, grabbing a claw full of dirt and rushing back. It threw the dirt into Nidoran's eyes to make it less accurate.

"Pikachu, not bad kid." A young male voice spoke out from the entrance of the Gym, a silhouette matching the tone appearing in the doorway. He walked out from the outside light, hands behind his head. Black and red covered his entire body, from the shoes he wore to the black shorts that fell past his knees, to the coat of red with black patches, and finally his black and red baseball cap he wore backwards on his head.

"Not gunna lie, Brooke, looks like this kid has his plan set." He gave a smile to the Gym Leader, his blue eyes looking out from under dark hair.

"Tch! Looks like you're not playing by the rules of one battle till the pokemon faints!!" Zeiro hissed as he threw a pokeball. "Pidgey, knock back that Sand attack with Gust!"

As soon as it came out, Pidgey started to flap its wings at the opposing Pidgey, sending the Sand twirling back ato the two pokemon while getting some sand out of Nidoran's eyes. The Poison pokemon gnawed at the string, glaring at the Pidgey as it was preparing to rush in and attack, only to be stopped by Zeiro's foot, shaking his head as he pointed at the Pidgey. "Now, Quick attack!" Suddenly, the Pidgey flew into the Gust and straight at the opponent's Pidgey at an incredible speed.

"Woah, slow down there." Brooke said to Akio, laughing. "Didn't you have to battle some trainers before you fought Reye? You need to do something similar here."

Brooke pointed to the other end of the pool. "See that side of the pool? All you've gotta do is reach it. You can swim, fly, paddle one of the rafts, whatever, but you gotta get over there. But be warned, the Pokemon that are in the pool will try to stop you. They won't attack you, but will try to stop you from getting there are given the chance will put you right back here. If you use a Pokemon to attack them though, they will attack back."

She gave him a serious look. "But if you or your Pokemon are starting to get in trouble in the water, like drowning, and me and my Pokemon come over to help you out, and then you attack us, you are automatically banned from the Gym. I will not tolerate that."

When she heard the new voice, she looked over and grinned. "Hey Ty! I haven't seen you in a while." Then she rolled her eyes. "Everyone's always underestimating me. I blame my brother."

The man known as Ty only chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets. "I didn't say he was going to beat you, sweet heart." He then looked to the pool, watching the distance. "To be fair, I already did that so I don't see why I have to again. When this kid's done, think we could have ourselves a battle?" He smiled to the Gym Leader "I have a new friend I want you to meet."

Akio nodded lightly and said, "I'd never do that to begin with. I'll play by the rules and give you a battle Right away." He knew that if he couldn't do this, that he wouldn't be able to challenge her anyway. Underhanded tricks would never work, but he did have one problem. His only Pokemon that could swim was Squirtle, and it couldn't support him. It wouldn't be easy to get across, but he'd have to do it of his own power.

He used his hand to motion Pikachu back to him. The mouse moved to his head, after which Akio started heading to the pool. That was when he caught sight of the man who'd just walked in. He seemed different from anyone he's seen before. His aura gave him a feeling of power, as if he was a very strong opponent. It gave him all the more reason to want to finish the task. He jumped into the pool, Pikachu on his head as he began to swim. As he swam, his Pokemon used its tail in the water to guide his movements. That way he wouldn't have to focus on getting up to see where he was going.

At the Bridge, the girl's Pidgey was attacks, and fell. It started to stand but it was quickly returned. Another girl wearing green came next, sending out a white Nidoran to battle. It jumped up, attacking the bird with its pinned claws which were laced with Poison. A Poison Sting attack.

The man watching was amazed at what the boy could do. He grinned as he watched on, seeing that he was in complete control despite the situation.

"Shit, Poison Sting?! Pidgey, Return!" Zeiro cried as he returned his Pidgey, hoping that he poor bird wasn't poison badly. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" immediately, a vine whipped out after Bulbasaur was released from its ball, aiming at the Nidoran's body to grab and toss over the bridge.

"Fine, fine, be lazy." Brooke said to Ty, rolling her eyes again. "But you won't be getting a badge. And I have an old friend who wants to meet you too!"

In the water, several Pokemon suddenly appeared in front of Akio, creating a wall of sorts. They blocked almost the entire width of the pool, from the top almost to the very bottom.

The vines wrapped around Nidoran and tossed it, but the Pokemon was able to roll and balance itself. The boy grinned and called out, "You should know you have to do better than that. "Go, Horn Attack!" The Pokemon came charging at Bulbasaur as another trainer still seemed ready to battle.

Pikachu's tail started to move up and down as he saw the Pokemon wall blocking his path. He could try to attack them, but it would take a lot of energy and stamina to get through them all that way. He grinned with an idea as he raised up his head and called out, "Pikachu, Thunder Wave!" The mouse grinned as its cheeks began to spark. It sent out a wide wave of Electrical energy that was harmless to Pokemon physically, but caused them to become immobilized. He knew that if their movements were slowed down, that he's be able to get to one of the few openings available without as much trouble.

"Hmph. Guess you're not the slow type. Vine Whip on the ground! Launch yourself over it!" Zeiro shouted out. Bulbasaurs vines slammed against the ground, propelling the grass pokemon over the charging Nidoran. Soon, Bulbasaur turned around and leaves started to come out from its bulb, aiming at Nidoran's back.

The leaves hit and caused Nidoran to fall. It was a critical hit. With the Pokemon completely fainted, the five had to admit defeat before they could even reach all five of them. "Where did that Razor Leaf come from?"

"You kids obviously are no match for this boy," a man said as he started to walk towards Zeiro from behind the five trainers. "You did well to get this far. As promised, you win this prize..." He held out his hand, offering a golden nugget to Zeiro. "You're truly a remarkable trainer. I can imagine you can become quite strong if given the right guidance."

He narrowed his eyes as he took the golden nugget from the man's hand, looking at it all around to see if it was truely real. "...There has to be some sort of catch." He said, glaring at the man. "These trainer are ruthless, indeed, but they're not THAT hard to beat. Not only that, a nugget is far too valuable to be given away as a prize for something so trivial..." Zeiro's hand goes over one of his pokeballs while Bulbasaur glared down at the man, both ready to fight.

"Who in teh world are you...? What do you want?"