Chapter 1

Misty gritted her teeth as she stood at one end of the fairly uninteresting playing field. Rocks and boulders really weren't her idea of fine d'cor, but it seemed to suit the Pewter Gym's style, and the trainer wasn't planning on staying any longer than she had to.

"If you're ready then," the burly fellow at the other end of the field replied with a shrug, almost absently tossing a pokeball a few feet away and calling out his pokemon, "Time to defend our Gym's honor, Grinder!"

Grinder turned out to be the second biggest onyx Misty had ever seen. And this one also seemed to have been through a whole lot more than the others. The enormous stone serpent had many large scars across his body as testament to the many years that he and his trainer had been traveling the world, avoiding the responsibilities of family life and battling against others who knew them only by reputation.

Misty glanced over at Miranda, who was calmly leaning against the wall, her arms folded across her chest with a confident smile upon her face, her eyes half closed. Upon her shoulder Nezumi sat on his haunches, mimicking his trainer's pose.

"I have faith in you," said Miranda quietly, speaking softly even as her voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling.

Misty smiled, knowing the fight would be one sided. She knew that the old onyx was tough, but his kind was known for their incessant hydrophobia. "Shadow," she commanded, holding a small pokeball up with two fingers in an attempt at copying Miranda's sense of melodrama, "Time to win you first badge!"

She tossed the ball into the air as it expanded before popping open with the characteristic mechanical noise they all made. A half second later, a wash of crimson light spilled forth from the split sphere, forming a large five-pointed pokemon out of seeming nothingness.

The trainer at the far end of the field gave a stern look to hide his disappointment. "A staryu, eh?" he commented, rubbing his stubbly chin, "alright then, let's get this over with! Grinder, tackle attack!"

"Shadow, power-up!" Misty ordered in response, causing her levitating staryu to turn sideways and begin spinning in a counter-clockwise direction as the stone snake bore down upon him.

The onyx roared, a sound akin to a mountain avalanche, as he arced his way into the air before slithering quickly across the field and swooping down upon the smaller pokemon, his jaws agape. Seemingly undaunted by the prospect of becoming a star shaped stain on the rock strewn floor, Shadow's speed increased, spinning faster until his five arms were but a blur, the red orb at his center glowing fiercely with the exertion.

"Now, Shadow!" called Misty, the tension coming across in the slight quaver in her voice, "Neptune's Might!"

The staryu gave a quick affirmative that was lost in the cacophony of sound that followed the powerful water technique he unleashed. The spinning pokemon now appeared to be more of a circle than a star, and with an exclamation akin to a battle cry, Shadow let loose with quintuple blasts of high-pressure water.

The onyx, now doing something of a power dive let out a roar of terrified panic, even before the spinning wall of water bisected him. Unable to pull back from the attack, the silicate-based pokemon followed through, although it seemed that he more fell forward more than actually attempted to tackle, but the effect was similar.

However, as he hit the spinning arms of Shadow, Grinder's head was violently jerked upwards in a movement that would have given a creature with an actual spine whiplash. He let out a sound that could have been construed as a yelp of surprise, but sounded more like two rocks crushing a diamond, as the staryu hit him several dozen times in the jaw.

Misty smiled at the effect. "Just as I planned," she replied, knowing that the water would more than soften the onyx's armor, allowing her pokemon to knock the nearly invulnerable beast into unconsciousness.

Just then, Shadow's multiple jets of water slowed to a dribble, and the starfish pokemon flew off into the air on sheer momentum, leaving the wounded Grinder to fall beneath him.

"Not a bad victory," Flint replied, returning the onyx before he turned in to mud, "But I'm getting a little sick of being beaten on by you water obsessed trainers."

"Try getting more diverse pokemon," replied Miranda, running onto the field with open arms just in time to catch the falling staryu, "Ah! Gotcha! Oh goodness you're heavy!"

The staryu almost seemed offended by the comment, but levitated slightly as Miranda set him down on the ground. "Nice going, Shadow!" his trainer exclaimed happily, holding up two fingers in the traditional symbol for victory, "Couldn't have done it without ya!"

"And congratulations to you, dear," commented Miranda as she stood up, untucking her now wet t-shirt so she could wring it out a bit and smiled.

Misty returned the smile as she walked past the woman. "It was easy," she told Miranda as their fingers entwined, "You were my inspiration..."

Miranda turned as Misty continued on, her shoes making squishing noises in the now muddy floor as the two held out their arms to maintain contact for as long as possible.

"I think that's my line," Miranda chuckled as their fingers slid over one another until contact was reluctantly broken, "But I'll let you get away with it this time."

Misty glanced over her shoulder as she approached the gym leader. The girl caught Miranda's gaze and smiled mischievously. "That'll be one Boulder Badge, sir," she said, walking towards Flint without breaking eye contact with her lover.

The man grunted in reply, holding out his large hand. Misty turned back to him and nodded as she reached out with her much smaller fingers to take the badge. "Thank you," she replied politely, her voice a sounding a little sad as she took the small object.

"Not a problem, lady," said Flint with a shrug, in a tone that implied that he was getting too old for this, "Just make sure you tell my son to get his butt down here next time you see him."

Misty shuddered involuntarily as she turned away, the look on her face causing Miranda's heart to sink. "I'll be sure to do that," Misty answered quietly before running over to Shadow and hugging him happily, covering her mood with a bright smile, "Look what you one us!" she laughed, but Miranda could see the turmoil in her eyes.

"We'll talk later," the courier responded, putting a hand on Misty's shoulder.

The water trainer glanced up, her expression becoming more serious, and nodded before standing up and leading her pokemon off the field. "It's just bad memories, dear," Misty said with a shrug as Miranda stood ready for her crack at a Boulder Badge.

The gym leader met her calm, serious gaze with a slight shiver, and Miranda smiled a little at the thought of such a large man being afraid of her. "Are you ready?" she inquired politely, "Or would you like to establish some extra ground rules?"

Flint nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, actually," he answered with a gruff, but not unfriendly tone, "One on one as with your friend there, but this time, please no water pokemon. Okay?"

Miranda's half smile became a full-fledged grin. "Not a problem," she said glancing at the rattata on her shoulder, "You're up, dearest."

The man nearly burst out laughing as the rattata leaped to the floor where he stood upon his hind legs. "Nez, umi!" he exclaimed in challenge, rolling one small forepaw into a fist and raising into the air.

With a polite cough Flint pulled a second pokeball from his belt. "A rattata, eh?" he said rhetorically, tossing the sphere onto the field, causing a squat, round rock-type to materialize, "It'll be nice to have the advantage for once. Go, Krystal!"

"Don't bet on it," chuckled Misty, kneeling beside her exhausted staryu on the sidelines, "That's no ordinary rattata!"

"Indeed," replied Miranda, reaching into her shirt, and pulling out the small, rounded, and very well polished dark, stone she now wore on the end of a silver chain, "Nezumi, show the nice golem what you can do."

With a confident grin, the rattata took a deep breath before firing an ice beam over the golem's head. Both trainer and pokemon ducked instinctively, their heads moving to follow the path of the beam as it struck the wall near the ceiling. Then, as the beam faded out, a small section of wall began making unpleasant crackling noises as a small sheet of ice formed upon it.

"A- An ice beam?!" stammered Flint, looking back at Miranda in astonishment, "Where the heck did he learn that?!"

Miranda folded her arms across her chest, shifting slightly as she put most of her weight onto her left leg. "Nezumi's quite an exceptional rattata," she said simply, keeping her smile polite, "You would do well not to underestimate him."

"I see," the gym leader said thoughtfully, shaking his head in disbelief, "Oh well, at least if the rumors are true I won't spend so much time getting my butt kicked..."

"Firstly," replied Miranda, raising her index finger slowly into the air, "Never assume you've lost until after the battle, and secondly," she lifted a second finger, "What rumor?"

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Flint exclaimed in surprise as his golem sat down heavily and Nezumi yawned, looking bored, "They're opening a ninth gym."

"Ninth gym?" inquired both Miranda and Misty in unison.

The aging Gym Leader nodded. "I thought you trainers were always up on such news?" he pondered, "Oh well. Hasn't been officially confirmed yet anyway."