Nugget Bridge!

Gan and Misty looked on, they couldn't see who the victor was for now. Right then, both Pokemon revealed themselves; bolts of electricity radiated over Starmie's body. Machop didn't move and Starmie was the same.

Gan called out to Machop and Misty called out to Starmie, but none of them responded.

At that moment, Machop dropped to the ground, it had fainted! Shortly after it fell to the ground, Starmie followed and also fainted.

"W-what?"

"Is it a draw or..."

Many people in the audience weren't sure, but it seemed like Misty had won because Gan's Machop had dropped first. Gan sighed and nodded before recalling Machop; saying that it did well.

"The judges have ruled that the Challenger has lost the battle." The Judges ruled in Misty's favor, she had won, while Gan had lost. Gan didn't see anything odd about this ruling, his Machop was the first to fall.

Misty sighed and looked over towards Gan, he didn't seem that fazed about losing. Gan had all types of emotions now, the main question was—why was Starmie so bulky? It was extremely determined to win the fight against Machop at all costs.

Gan looked toward Misty, and she was already upon him with a smile on her face.

"That was a good match, it has been a while since I've had a match and a good one at that." Misty reached out to shake Gan's hand, and he returned her kind gesture.

"Yes, it was a good battle and a good learning experience for me, I'll be back some other time for a rematch." Gan smiled back, he was testing a few things in this battle anyway, so he wasn't really that bothered by defeat.

"Perfect! The next time you come battle me, we can have a 1 on 1 match." Misty wanted to believe it to be a tie, but Gan would never think so, it was clearly his loss.

"Sounds good to me, the next time I'll be ready. So hold onto that badge for me, for now, because it'll be mine soon." Gan turned around and started to leave the gym; leaving Misty with a surprised Pikachu face.

"Haha, I'll be waiting!" Misty waved as Gan exited the gym.

When Gan completely left the gym, a few females came over to her.

"That was a good match, I knew you wouldn't lose Misty!" Some redhead said.

"Hmph! That guy was so arrogant, the way he battled pissed me off! That annoying evil grin of his was the worse!" Some haughty blonde said with a tinge of contempt.

"Oh, stop, he was clearly a very skilled trainer. I can't wait to battle him again., it was so intense." Misty shook her head, she didn't agree with her, but he did have a little arrogance to him. However, it wasn't the type that thought he was all that and above it.

"Hmm..." The girls all looked at each other but didn't refute Misty's statement.

...

Meanwhile.

Gan had walked out of the Gym, he was currently heading toward the Pokemon Center to heal up.

"That battle was far more intense than the one I had with brock, I can only imagine how crazy it will get for the later Gym Leaders and the Elite 4 members." Gan's blood and heart were pumping faster than usual during that fight.

The Cerulean City Gym was someway away from the Pokemon Center in the City. So, Gan took around 8 to 10 minutes to reach the place. There were a lot of kids playing around the streets here, they mainly had Poliwags as their playmates, along with other children.

Making his way into the Pokemon Center, he handed both his Pokemon over to the Nurse. His Pokemon were to be healed, so he left the Pokemon Center to check out the Nugget Bridge. The Nurse was curious about what happened and he told her it was Gym Battle.

"The Nurses are a little too nosy in this world." Gan couldn't help but mumble after leaving the Pokemon Center. He had to show his ID and she had to scan it, so that when he came back to pick them up, they would know it was him.

With the help of his Pokedex, he was able to find the Nugget Bridge with ease. The Bridge was golden with gray brick tiles grounding it—and it was spacious, he could even see several people on it. Some of these people were staring off into the distance where the wild area was, while others were actually battling each other.

It would be sometime before Warren and Arlo showed up in the City, so he wanted to get a few things done. There was supposedly a Pokemon on routes 24 and 25 he was looking for, he was hoping it was here, which it should be.

Gan began to walk the bridge himself, he saw two trainers battling up ahead. One of the trainers was using a Primeape, while the other was using a Drowzee. Gan only looked for a brief moment before looking into the distance.

The water had lily pads moving across it and he could see multiple silhouettes in the water. Gan suspected that these were fish-like pokemon, similar to Magikarp. Gan didn't have a fishing rod to reel in some game, so he could only watch from above.

These waters were off-limits when it came to swimming here. Gan spotted several heaps of tall grass where many Pokemon gathered and congregated.

"Oh, it's a Venonat." It was a Pokemon that had managed to slip away from him back in Viridian Forest.

"Little clown, you'll be caught this time." Venonat was chowing down on some berries from what Gan could see. It was quite a distance away, so it wasn't easy to make out what it was eating.

Gan turned quickly because he could hear cheers coming from the ongoing battle, it had ended.

"Damn it, this isn't fair, you have a Psychic-type while mine is fighting, what bullshit!" The man with the Primeape complained in anger.

"So what? Who told you to use a Fighting-type against a Psychic-type, are you stupid?" The slightly chubby man laughed coldly.

"Boo! Get lost, you sore loser!"

"Ah, man, he really does have brawns for brains, who uses a Fighting-type to fight a Psychic-type!?" One man from the crowd shook his head.

"F**k all of you! You guys are all trash!" The brawny man turned to leave, he stumped away fuming with rage.

"I'm starving." The slightly chubby man rubbed his stomach before recalling his Drowzee.

Gan had avoided all of this by going around the crowd to reach the end of the bridge. He was obviously heading towards the wild part to see if he could add a few Pokemon to his dex entry.

After getting off the bridge, he summoned Geodude to assist him against Venonat. Geodude wasn't going to have a good time over here because there were also Psyduck hanging around this part.

However, Gan didn't come to this area for either of these Pokemon, technically. There was one Pokemon that was in this area that he wanted to catch and that was Squirtle. Gan had to rematch Misty in the future, she wanted to have a one-on-one next time, and he knew the Pokemon that was perfect for the job.

Gan thought about it and decided that he would call forth another Pokemon. Poison Pokemon wouldn't be suitable to use in this area, it might bring people to question a few things. This was mainly because they were close to water, and pollution would be a big problem. Gan couldn't call forth any of his other Rock/Ground types because of the disadvantages.

Gan tossed a Pokeball and summoned Haunter, she called out her name before turning to Gan with a smile.

"Slurp~!"

"Bwahhhhh!" Haunter immediately licked Gan with its big tongue when she saw him and started laughing soon after. Gan was sweating profusely as he struggled to even talk, was this Pokemon crazy?

"Dude!" Geodude glared at Haunter before launching a Rock Slide its way.

Haunter dove into the ground and disappeared before appearing behind Geodude and tapping it on its head. Once Geodude turned around, Haunter made a silly face by putting both its thumb on his cheek and sticking out its tongue.

Geodude's eyes twitched, it couldn't figure out what was going on with this girl at all.

"Haunter, stop messing around, I need your help." Gan took a deep breath and stood up. Geodude ignored Haunter's goofy expression and went to help Gan keep his stance.

"Haunter~" Haunter tapped its chin with its index finger, it seemed to be thinking of something. After thinking for about 60 seconds, it nodded like a chicken pecking grain.

'Damn... this Pokemon is too complicated!' This had to be the hardest-headed Pokemon he had met so far, it was a little rogue if he had to say so himself.

"Alright, following me, it's just up ahead." The scenery of the tall grass boarding the water could be seen up ahead. Many trainers were looking at Gan in fear—seeing him summoning a Haunter, they didn't say anything but they avoided him like the plague.

Geodude and Haunter just followed along behind Gan while he was leading the way. While they were walking, someone tapped his shoulder. Gan looked to his side and saw Geodude, he looked at Geodude and wondered why he had tapped him on his shoulder.

Geodude shook his rocky body/head and pointed at Haunter. Gan looked at Haunter, but she was looking the other way while whistling.

'This Pokemon!' Gan's eyebrows twitched but he turned and kept walking.