Disclaimer: Ranma ½ does not and will not ever belong to me, neither do I hold copyright on various creatures that can be sucked into high tech balls. Now that we have that cleared up lets get on with the real things we want to see.

Ranma was relieved to see the distant buildings of Pewter City as He, Emerald and Wem exited the forest. The last few days spent in the forest was tougher then he thought, he spent a lot of his time in the forest teaching Wem to speak although there was some progress she hadn't really taken up verbal speech as quickly as Emerald did, possibly due to the fact that she could already communicate with him by telepathy. Her speech was broken and she kept referring to herself in third-person which her awfully cheerful nature along with the fact that she liked to be in extremely close proximity with him reminded him of a certain Chinese amazon and a few times he even curled into a defensive ball for the expected mallet session that would not come to pass. Of course this didn't go unnoticed by Emerald who was extremely jealous although she wouldn't admit it. The aura of jealousy never seemed to dim the whole time Wem joined Ranma's team, when she thought Wem and Ranma were getting too close she would interrupt them more often physically than with words. The last day however cooled her temper as Ranma saw it fit that Wem could communicate well enough for the moment and continued Emerald's training. Her temper however was rising again after Wem began asking Ranma to train her as well after witnessing their training session.

Not all of it however was just training and teaching speech there were a bunch of other things that happened. Since they had to leave Viridian in such a big hurry Ranma didn't have a chance to restock on foodstuffs on the second day he was out of food partly due to the extra mouth that had been added. Much of the morning was spent finding food and things that would hopefully last for a couple days. While Ranma managed to get some fish from a stream, Wem and Emerald went out and brought back an assortment of berries. Unfortunately for Ranma the berries which were fine for pokemon and pokefemmes to ingest didn't quite agree with him despite his cast iron stomach. Ranma spent the better part of three hours making a lot of noise from both ends, and even when it subsided he went to sleep moaning that his ass was burning, it's safe to say Ranma would never touch a berry brought by a either of the girls ever again. Other challenges were of course wild pokemon, at one time Ranma accidentally stumbled into a Beedril nest and he ended up doing a revised version of the Bakusai Tenketsu counter training before Wem and Emerald rushed to his aid and sent the bee pokemon with stingers tucked under their abdomens, but now things were different since civilization was once again very near, so a few things had to change. First Ranma needed to ball Wem, it was a necessity since he found out from Emerald that Wem was in fact a very powerful and very rare pokemon either of her forms would undoubtedly bring a lot of attention. Emerald also had to change back to her pokemon form which felt a bit strange to her since she'd been in her human form the entire time she was in the forest. After this was done Ranma once again started down the road and eventually passed under the arch with the sign pinned on it "Pewter City."

Ranma asked the nearest person for directions to the pokecenter, after the building was pointed out he quickly thanked the young lady and took off leaving the woman pouting since he had given her no time to ask him out to a cup of tea. At the pokemon center Ranma was amazed how the Nurse Joy in Pewter would look exactly like the one Viridian and still be only her cousin who had the same name. However unlike the last time this Nurse Joy didn't try to give him a physical although she did pass a few flirtatious comments and a subtle invitation to go out with her after her shift was up in the next two hours and would be taken up by her twin sister, also named Joy just to let you know. Ranma ignored the comments but politely declined on the invitation, after balling Emerald he handed her to Nurse Joy to undergo a full recovery but kept Wems ball to himself unless it was absolutely necessary he wisely decided not to heal Wem in the Pokecenter and opt to pay for potions and other products if she was hurt or otherwise, the last thing he needed was the publicity of him owning a legendary pokemon, especially with his unique ability he now possessed. Still it would be difficult especially at the moment the money he had would be running out soon and unless he got a job or fought some battles he would be out of luck, He also needed to start doing what most trainers should be doing, battling and collecting badges. His pokedex informed him that Pewter City had a gym but it also specified what type they specialized in and Ranma didn't like the fact that everything was against him.

"This isn't good." Ranma muttered to himself leaning back into the couch as he reviewed the basic stats of Pewter City gym. "Rock type pokemon and I only have Emerald and Wem." Ranma sighed and rubbed his temples. "Emerald was already on a disadvantage due to her type and even though he found out that Psychic types like Wem were actually quite effective against rock he knew she was already out because he didn't want to reveal her unless he wanted the press dogging his every step. His troubled thoughts were interrupted by a melodious voice that called out to him.

"Mister Saotome! Your pokemon is ready." Nurse Joy announced.

Ranma quickly got up and walked over to the counter and retrieved the ball containing Emerald. "Thank you Nurse Joy." Ranma said with the utmost sincerity.

"Not a problem at all." Nurse Joy stated before her gaze turned from professional to flirtatious. "Are you sure you don't want to take up my offer, I know this café that serves the best okonomiyaki."

With the word "okonomiyaki" Ranma almost said "yes" but he managed to resist although it took a large amount of his willpower to do so, he shook his head before replying. "Sorry Nurse Joy no can do, I need to plan a strategy for when I challenge the gym, maybe next time though." Nurse Joy sighed and visibly deflated, the look in his eyes after she mentioned "okonomiyaki" made her think she had him for sure however it seemed he was a lot more strong-willed then most men which attracted her even more so since very few would ever turn down an offer for a date from any Nurse Joy.

She pushed aside her disappointment for the moment and smiled. "Next time it is then, do come again mister Saotome."

"Name's Ranma," Ranma stated as he turned to leave. "And I might just do that if I drop by here again." Before he left he turned half-way around and gave a small wave with a bad boy grin on his face that made the heart of the pokemon nurse to increase in tempo and flush her face with crimson. Then as quickly as he was there he was gone the hiss of the automatic sliding doors closing was the only clue that signified he had been there. Nurse Joy quickly turned to her computer that sat right next to her and began to furiously type marking the message and sending it to the entire list of e-mail addresses in her online address book it was a pain but she determined to let every one of her family know that if you see a young and very handsome man wearing a red shirt and black pants with his hair in a pigtail to stay the hell away from him because she marked him first, she even sent a picture of him from the digital surveillance camera to let them know what he looked like. Unfortunately for her although they were all close they wouldn't listen to her especially after they saw the picture and even worse for Ranma was that every Nurse Joy in Kanto now knew about him.

Ranma felt a chill run down his spine and shivered unconsciously, why did it suddenly feel like he was dropped in the Arctic Ocean, butt naked. He looked around but saw no visible threat. "I must have imagined it." Ranma said, before spotting the poke mart and quickly entered to buy some supplies. Ranma left the pokemart with his supplies but frowning at the single bill note and a few coins. "Now I've really got to do something about this or I'll be broke before I get my first badge." Ranma sighed and sat down on a nearby bench thinking on how to solve his dilemma, absently he tossed Emeralds ball releasing her from confinement. The electric mouse rubbed her cheeks and stretched before hopping up on the bench beside Ranma. "Hey Emerald things are looking pretty bad we're almost out of money, and I still need to get started on winning badges. Ranma brought out his pokedex and after a little button pushing he brought the red device down to show Emerald. "The gym here specializes in rock pokemon." Ranma said and scratched his head. "And not to be rude or anything but we'd lose at how we are right now."

Emerald frowned at Ranma but nodded in agreement, even though she hated to admit it her electric attacks would do no good against a rock pokemon. "Pika pikapi ka?" She asked.

Ranma looked at her. "I'm pretty sure you're asking me what I'm going to do about this." Ranma said. Emerald nodded confirming that his guess was correct. Ranma scratched the back of his head a bit and leaned back into the bench. "Well an idea came to me but seriously I don't think I should think about giving you that kind of training, you're pretty tough right now but I don't think you can handle the training for that technique."

Emerald frowned and crossed her paws. "Pika! Pika pika pikachu, pika chu chu pika!"

Ranma sighed. "Seriously I don't think you're ready, you'll get hurt if you do it. Maybe we should head on to the next town we can make it if we forage for food."

Emerald shook her head and kicked at Ranma. "Pikachu!" She pouted.

Ranma stared at his pikachu for a few seconds before sighing in resignation seriously he wasn't sure they could make it to the next town while having to deal with gathering food most of the time. Emerald looked determined but Ranma still had a bit of prejudice to let Emerald go through "that" training. "Emerald I'm gonna tell you seriously, this technique is going to be really tough to learn and you will get hurt, so you better think hard on what you're about to get into." Ranma stared hard at his pikachu but Emerald still held steadfast, she gave no reply and returned the hard look back at Ranma, steel lacing her emerald green eyes. Ranma gave a light groan and closed his eyes it looked like Emerald was determined. "Alright then we better head back to the forest then." Ranma stood back up and shouldered his pack.

Emerald gave him a confused look. "Pika pi? Pika pika pi pikachu?" She asked.

Ranma looked at her. "I guess you're asking why we're heading back to the forest, it's simple really, I don't want anybody seeing us, and I don't want anyone to hear you cry out in pain." At Ranma's blunt words Emerald began to think that maybe she'd gone a bit in over her head.

A few hours later…

Emerald, in human form flopped face down on the ground her clothes were tattered and her body twitched rapidly. Ranma sweatdropped as he coiled the rope he used in the training. "Uh… Emerald, are you okay?" Ranma asked and immediately felt stupid for asking such a question with such an obvious answer in front of him. His answer came to him as a glare from his shift changing pokemon. "Sorry I asked." Ranma said sheepishly. "Let's get you fixed up for tomorrow okay?" Emerald planted her face back in the dirt and groaned. It was going to start again tomorrow she was really regretting her words earlier.

Half an hour later a small campfire burned with a pot of stew hanging over the flames, Wem in human form was using her psychic powers to daintily stir the pot as she gazed at the sight before her with a bit of envy. Across from her were Ranma and Emerald, the pigtailed martial artist had used some herbs he'd found to treat Emeralds bruises and scratches opting to hold off using his potions if there was an emergency. He now had Emerald lying face down on a blanket as he massaged her battered body. "Are you feeling better now Emerald?" Ranma asked as he gently worked the inside of her shoulder blades. Emerald let out a loud moan in reply she was really enjoying the massage Ranma was giving her.

'This training isn't so bad after all if I can get this every time.' Emerald thought and let out another pleased moan as Ranma worked her lower back.

(Food's ready.) Wem announced interrupting Emeralds happy time.

"Great I'm starved!" Ranma stated as he lifted his hands off of Emeralds back making the pokefemme groan in disappointment, she shot a look at Wem who ignored her in favor of serving Ranma a bowl of stew ladling a nice serving with her psychic powers. "Man this looks good." Ranma stated as he lifted his spoon and dug in.

Emerald slowly rose from her prone position as her stomach growled out its need for food as well. Both pokefemmes stared at each other with steel edged gazes before Wem finally served Emerald a bowl as well. Ranma shivered and looked around. 'That's strange.' He thought. 'Why does it feel so cold around all of a sudden?"

The next day continued Emeralds training, Ranma winced as the boulder slammed into Emerald for the twentieth time with no sign of improvement. "Emerald maybe you should take a little break, you've been at this for awhile." Ranma said.

Emerald peeled herself off the boulder again before looking at Ranma. "No Ranma I can go on."

Ranma rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Are you sure?" He asked in a worried tone. "You look pretty busted up. You don't need to push yourself so hard."

"I can do this Ranma, again please." Emerald readied herself squaring off with the boulder. Ranma sighed and conceded pulling back the vine again he released it sending the boulder swinging down at Emerald. The pokefemme thrust out the index finger of her right hand, the only one that wasn't wrapped, straight at the boulder the effect was the same as the other times and Emerald was once again plastered to the boulder.

"I told you no to push yourself." Ranma said as he began to lower Emeralds unconscious body.

That night Ranma was forced to use a potion to heal Emerald the amount of damage she took in her training was beyond what he could heal in time for the next day of training. Things were a lot more peaceful that night Dinner was fish caught from a nearby stream and Ranma told the girls about his life growing up, the ten years he spent on his training trip with his father. It wasn't strange that both of the pokemon turned pokefemme now developed a very deep resentment to Ranma's paternal guardian.

The next day seemed like the last two days. Emerald still hadn't picked up the technique. "You know Emerald we can just skip Pewter City for now and come back later." Ranma said.

"No! Please Ranma I know I can do this." Emerald said although her ragged state said otherwise.

"I don't know Emerald." Ranma said. "I don't know how much longer my supplies will last and right now I think we can make it to the next city with what we have now but any longer and I'm not so sure."

(Ranma.) The telepathic voice of Wem echoed in Ranma's mind making him turn to face his second pokefemme that was slowly approaching him in a bobbing float.

"Do you need something Wem?" Ranma asked.

(Yes.) Wem said. (I was wondering if you could go through that kata you showed me the other day, I haven't been able to get any help from you since you were teaching Emerald this whole time.)

Ranma looked at Emerald it wasn't so much that he was teaching Emerald as he was instructing her verbally he saw nothing wrong with helping Wem out in her kata. "Sure, thing." He said. "First you start off like this with you knees bent slightly and…" Ranma continued to instruct Wem though her kata while Emerald battered herself against the boulder.

The boulder struck again and Emerald growled, not at the lack of progress but the sight below her of Ranma helping Wem, at first it was show and tell with Ranma showing the movement and instructing her verbally, but now he was up close and personal as he guided Wem's movements. Not only that the Mew pokefemme had a smug grin plastered on her face that was just infuriating to see. The hits on the boulder became more rhythmic and she didn't even feel the pain anymore she unconsciously kept pushing the boulder off attempted to shatter it and get hit but her entire attention was focused on Ranma and Wem and how Wem seemed to be taking advantage of the situation by making mistakes that would require Ranma to wrap his arms around her. It finally reached the breaking when Wem purposely tripped and ended up bringing Ranma down to the ground with her, the result left them in a rather compromising position and Emerald boiled with electric energy her anger needed an outlet and the boulder swinging toward her again caught her attention first. She struck out with her single digit her cheeks sparking and a loud cry of, "Bakusai Tenketstu!" The finger struck and penetrated, cracks appeared along the surface then spread rapidly until the boulder crumbled into pieces. Emeralds anger quickly gave way to surprise as she stared at the result of her successful strike.

Ranma turned his head when he heard the cry and was shocked to see Emerald succeed in the pulling off the Breaking Point technique. "Emerald!" Ranma quickly got up off of Wem who pouted some before levitating back to her feet. "You did it Emerald! You mastered the Bakusai Tenketstu!" Ranma quickly lowered the ropes and untied Emerald who was staring at her finger like it was some sort of alien creature. "Emerald?" Ranma asked a bit worried at her zoned out expression. His words seemed to catch her attention as Emeralds head slowly turned to face him.

"I did it." She stated simply in a blank tone.

"Yeah, you did." Ranma said smiling.

Emeralds blank expression disappeared as a smile replaced it before she threw herself on Ranma nearly bowling him over. She wrapped her arms around him shrieking with joy. "I did it! I did it Ranma! Did you see!? Did you see!?"

"Yeah," Ranma wheezed out. "I saw it Emerald, now could you loosen up a little? I can't breathe."

Emerald gasped and immediately released Ranma from her enthusiastic embrace letting the pigtailed martial artist gulp down some much needed air. "Gomen, Ranma."

"It's alright." Ranma said, before clenching his fists. "Now then let's take a break, than it's on to Pewter City gym." Emerald and Wem let out a cheer for Ranma's statement before settling down for lunch.

Two hours later…

The tiny group was on the road again heading for Cerulean City Emerald had a bad twitch in her left eye as she walked along with a somewhat dejected pace, beside her Ranma sported a huge sweatdrop on his head and on his unoccupied side was Wem who floated along softly giggling. It had been over half an hour sine they left the Pewter City gym and none of them had spoken with each other since then, finally however Ranma broke the uneasy silence. "Well… that was a lot easier then I thought." Ranma said nervously chuckling. He flinched when Emerald fixed her gaze on him, her left eye twitching erratically.

"Easy you say?" She asked. "After all that I went through I expected a lot better then that!"

(Calm down Emerald.) Wem said floating above the pikachu pokefemme. (You won the battle.)

Emerald glared up at the mew pokefemme and growled out. "Yeah but you'd expect something more then that."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Well I can't really blame the thing after what he saw you do."

(Flash back over half an hour ago)

Ranma was standing outside of a pokemon arena inside the Pewter gym as expected there were many large boulders decorating the arena signifying its type use.

"Well what do we have here? Looks like a newbie trainer in his first battle." Flint said in a mock arrogant tone, sure it was an act but one who had a reputation as a gym leader had to play the part to an extent.

"Actually it is, was I that obvious?" Ranma said scratching the back of his head beside him Emerald in her pokemon form slapped her head and groaned, outside looking through one of the windows near the ceiling of the gym Wem, also in pokemon form shook her head.

(Oh Ranma, Ranma, Ranma.) She telepathically muttered to herself, meanwhile Flint facefaulted at Ranma's blunt confirmation of his somewhat sarcastic introductory statement.

"You mean this is you first battle and you are already trying for your first badge?!" Flint said unbelievingly.

"Yeah it's my first battle although I'm still kinda new at this I'm pretty good at catching onto things." Ranma said.

Flint stared at Ranma for a long time before shaking his head. "Kid let tell you something now if you haven't battled at all then you have now experience your pokemon will only get hurt if she fights now, especially that pikachu. Do a little studying, go fight some other pokemon trainers and then come back."

Ranma frowned. "Don't underestimate Emerald she's been training hard for this, now are we gonna battle or are we gonna argue all day?"

Flint sighed. "I can't really refuse a challenge so I'll make this as quick as possible, but be warned I won't hold back, this might teach an amateur like you what to expect from now on."

"That's fine with me." Ranma said. "I only have one pokemon and I'm using Emerald." Emerald scurried into the arena her cheeks sparked as she prepared for her fight.

"This is going to be one short match." Flint said and tossed a pokeball. "I choose you Onix!" With a large roar the giant rock snake crashed into the gym floor nearly making Emerald lose her footing. Flint pointed at Emerald. "Onix make this quick, take out that pikachu with a tackle." With another roar Onix sped toward Emerald who stood at ready.

"Okay let's see here… um… Ah Emerald agility!" Ranma said as he looked at his pokedex. Emerald responded immediately dodging Onix the rock snake missing her by inches. As Onix turned to face her again Ranma shouted his next command. "Alright Emerald this is it! Give him a taste of the Bakusai Tenketsu!"

"Bakusai Tenketsu?" Flint said to himself wondering what this newbie trainer was telling his pokemon to do.

Emerald shot forward a single paw raised and a single claw extended she reeled back as Onix lowered its head to her level apparently ready to take the full force of her attack knowing her type was at a disadvantage. But just as she was just a few steps away… she tripped and her paw in an attempt to balance herself shot forward and into the ground before her. There was a loud booming noise and rock debris flew. As the dust settled all the occupants got to see a little pikachu shaking herself while standing in a crater with a radius of fifteen feet and six feet deep. The Onix had an enormous sweatdrop rolling down its head as at stared at the pikachu that had only been a few steps away from striking it. Flint's jaw hit the ground barely comprehending the sight that just happened.

"Wha…What the hell was that?!" He shouted.

Ranma dusted his clothes and smirked at Flint. "That was the Bakusai Tenketsu a little something I taught her, alright Emerald finish this fight." Ranma said.

Emerald nodded and faced her opponent again only to find the rock snake missing looking around the gym she spotted her foe curled up in a corner of the gym its enormous tail was holding a tiny stick with a white cloth on it, the Onix then proceeded to wave the stick. A massive sweatdrop appeared on Emeralds head while Ranma decided to get a close look at the ground as he facefaulted.

"Onix refuses to battle." The referee stated although this was by far the weirdest match he experienced he still had to do his job. "Emerald is the winner!"

(End Flashback)

"Although Flint was right about one thing that battle was short." Ranma said chuckling.

Emerald pouted, she had gone through three days of pain and suffering and the result was her tripping and winning her first official fight by blowing a big crater in the ground how lame was that. It should have been her striking her opponent down with the technique she worked so hard to learn and then Ranma would embrace her for doing such winning and than this would happen, and that would happen. She sighed, now her dream was shattered.

"Hey Emerald." Ranma's voice jarred Emerald from her thought as she turned her head to look at her trainer.

"Yes Ranma?" She asked.

"You did really good Emerald even if it was a bit weird you won and that's because you worked so hard, we have a long road ahead of us so don't worry you'll improve and I'll be there with you."

"Ranma…" Emerald felt her heart beat a little quicker she moved a little closer to Ranma and reached out for his hand right before Wem floated down onto Ranma shoulders curling her tiny body around him.

(Ranma you'll teach me too won't you? I'd love to battle for you too.) Wem said enticingly running a hand down his right cheek turning the pigtailed martial artist a deep shade of red.

Emerald growled and her cheeks sparked "Wem! You're a rare pokemon you can't battle you'll draw too much attention!"

(Oh?) Wem said looking at Emerald. (But we can't just have you doing all the hard work, too much and you'll get to butch.)

"What did you say?!" Emerald shouted the bolts on her cheeks grew larger as she balled her fists.

(I said you'll get butch if you do all the fighting.) Wem stated.

"How dare you say that? I'm not butch at all!"

"Hey you two calm down now." Ranma said realizing the danger as the two began to argue.

"Shut up Ranma! She's gonna get it now!" Emerald formed a giant ball of electric energy in her hands all thanks to Ranma's training.

(Oh you want to fight me? Maybe I will if you get past this.) A pink ball of telekinetic energy formed around Wem as she smiled at Emerald.

"Why you…" Emerald growled.

"C'mon the two of you stop this right now."

(Iyaaaa, Emerald looks so scary, Ranma please protect me from that scary woman.)

"Wem you aren't helping at all!"

"That's it! Take this!!"



"Ah Ranma! I'm so sorry, are you alright? Ranma… Ranma!"

(Oh dear he looks a bit well done. Ranma are you alright?)

"Wha…What did I do to deserve this kami-sama."

To be continued.

Author notes: I'm sorry it took so long everyone, life is taking a front seat to this and it's more important then my hobbies. For you information it might get a little more troublesome since I finally decided to transfer from my community college to the state university and I start this spring. I'm not giving up my stories but just to let you know frequency of my updates will probably be greatly effected, I'm also going on vacation to see my sister who's graduating at her university this winter although I wanted to get at least another chapter for another story in before I left I see that it won't be possible. Just to let you know the current work is War Angel Ranma and Ranma Dead or Alive Extreme. I'll be working on blueprints for other stories on my vacation but nothing really concrete Other then that I hope you enjoy this chapter as late as it is and hope you keep a look out for my updates when they happen, so until next time.