Merry Christmas, Arsyd and LiliNeko! These two are my Egoshipping buddies, so it's only fitting I write an Egoshipping story for them. The story is going to be about 8 chapters-ish total? My goal is to finish this story by New Years, but I get super distracted when I write, so it might continue on until the next year.

This takes place sometime after the Ever Grande Conference, and before Gary heads off to Sinnoh..

The Proposition

A light chime signaled the door of the Cerulean gym opening. The redhead at the counter who was typing on her laptop when the visitor came in and proceeded to finish her sentence of the e-mail.

"Hey Tracey, give me a- oh, you're not Tracey." She blinked as she looked up. "Hi, Gary. I was expecting Tracey. Where is he?"

"Boyfriend number two couldn't make it. There was a last minute emergency with some of boyfriend number one's tauros." The guy shrugged as Misty crinkled her nose at him.

"First of all, 'boyfriend number two' is going out with my older sister, Daisy. You might have battled her while she was here? Second, Ash is not my boyfriend. And third, I thought you were on Saiga Island? That's what Professor Oak said last time I visited."

"Oh, I got back a few days ago. I'm heading over to Sinnoh after this, and I have about a week or so to kill. Since Tracey and Gramps were busy taking care of the pokemon- nothing serious, Scarlet- Tracey asked me to deliver the pokefood for him, since my boat leaves from Cerulean City anyways." He set the bag on the desk and she nodded before turning back to her e-mail.

"All right. Good to see you. Bye."

Ignoring her signal for him to go, he looked at the pictures sitting on her counter.

"So, Ashy-boy placed top eight again, eh?" He observed from a picture May had sent through mail. "I'm guessing you didn't go watch up close and personal?"

"No, I couldn't close down the gym for those days or the League would kill me. Daisy was going to take over for me, but they shipped her off for a talk show in Goldenrod and Violet and Lily were visiting Dorian at the Coastline gym and they couldn't get back in time. I did watch him compete though."

"And the brunette? His new traveling partner, I'm guessing? Is she a trainer like him?"

"Nope, she's a coordinator."

"Are you jealous of her?"

"Jealous of her traveling with Ash? No. Jealous that she gets to travel? Yeah. There's not really much to do at the gym. All the challengers are obnoxious ten-year-olds who want to be Pokemon masters. Sound like anyone you know?"

"Yup. And I'm guessing you're writing to him right now?" He moved around, over her shoulder to check her e-mail. "Yup. Dear Ash, I love you with all my heart and- ow!"

"Have you heard of privacy? Plus, I didn't write that." Misty raised an eyebrow before shutting her laptop. "Why are you still here again?"

"Nothing better to do, Scarlet."

"Whatever. You can go. I'm going to go feed the pokemon now." She said, heading towards the entrance to the pool. Gary quickly blocked her way and she gave him a questioning look.

"Wait Scarlet, I've got a proposition. I'm here for a week before my plane leaves, and I really don't have much to do until then. You said yourself that you don't have anything to do around the gym, and I figured we should entertain ourselves. So let's see if I can seduce you."

"Excuse me? I don't know whether I should slap you or not."

"Come on, Scarlet. I need a place to stay- my reservations fell through, and I'm going to die of boredom in the next week if I don't do something."

"And you can't just go out and try this on the other girls of Cerulean?"

"Like I said, I'm here for a week, so I don't want to jump into anything. It's perfect. You and I already know each other, you know there's no strings attached, and we'll get some fun out of it. Plus, I want to see if you really do like Ashy-boy as much as everyone thinks. What do you say?"

"Well, as a gym leader, I can't back down from a challenge. So I accept your proposition."

"Then let the games begin."