Misty took a deep breath, grabbed Ash by the wrist, and marched him toward a side passage without looking back.
She absolutely could not let her three sisters keep clowning around out there.
She was shaking with anger. How could Cerulean Gym be left to those three useless slackers?
"Come with me! That arena out there… is not suited for a real battle!"
Her voice was firm, brooking no argument. Her orange ponytail snapped behind her like a small, furious flag.
—Mom. Dad.
—I, Misty, am going to protect what's left of Cerulean Gym's pride!
Ash stumbled a little as she dragged him along.
Pikachu clung to his shoulder to keep its balance and curiously glanced back at the still-lively performance pool.
Watching the two vanish into the shadows of the corridor, the sisters on the floating platform exchanged looks.
"Oh my, Misty's angry~" Daisy flicked back her golden hair, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "But if she's being this serious… it looks like this 'Ash' kid is different, huh?"
Lily yawned lazily, draping herself over the edge of the platform. "Yeah. Totally not the same type as that nose-in-the-air Pallet brat who showed up with a full cheer squad."
"That Gary guy's got talent," she admitted. "He's just way too full of himself."
Violet nodded gently. "Gary's tactics and his Pokémon care were excellent. He deserved his badge."
"At first we figured… since he's also from Pallet Town, and for Misty's sake, we could just hand this Ash kid a free badge too. Save us the trouble."
She paused, gaze drifting toward where Misty and Ash had disappeared.
"But from the looks of it… Misty's planning to 'give it away' in a different sense."
Not just handing it over…
But putting a lot more of herself on the line.
As they talked, their expressions slowly melted into full-on auntie smiles.
Cerulean Gym finally had a proper successor~~
And it wasn't going to be any of them.
Their own talent and passion for battling just weren't that high.
"We just have to stay pretty and charming~"
"And leave all the serious stuff to Misty."
They decided—very smoothly—to continue being gloriously unmotivated.
What else could they do?
Their fame was still fairly high at the moment.
That visibility alone made people think twice about using underhanded methods.
But if they ever became nobodies, forgotten by everyone…
Certain ambitious Trainers would definitely start trying tricks and schemes.
Competition for Gym positions was fierce.
Plenty of powerful Trainers wanted to open a Gym but were blocked by League regulations and limited slots.
In their own way, these three beautiful big sisters were also protecting Cerulean Gym.
The corridor beyond was dimly lit.
The smell of water and disinfectant was stronger here.
In the distance, the low hum of filtration and circulation systems echoed faintly.
It was a stark contrast to the noisy, sparkling spectacle outside.
This was a different world.
A place for real Gym battles, not a theme-park aquarium show.
Misty's steps were quick, her shoes tapping crisply against the floor, the sound bouncing down the empty passage.
"Listen, Ash!"
She didn't look back, her voice more solemn than he'd ever heard it.
"The performance pool out there is for tourists. Cerulean Gym's real battlefield… is up ahead!"
She shoved open a heavy metal door stamped with a water-drop badge symbol.
Blinding light burst out from within.
Beyond the door was a slightly smaller, but far more professional battle arena.
A standard Water Field.
Several floating platforms sat neatly arranged on mirror-smooth water.
High-tech energy barrier emitters lined the edges.
Overhead lights turned the entire arena bright as noon, the air thick with fine mist.
Water-types would be significantly empowered here.
Electric-types would hit harder too.
Bring a Fire-type into this place and you'd be lucky to squeeze out ten percent of their normal performance.
On top of that, the terrain came with a lot of hidden constraints:
Flying-types had limited airspace.
Large, heavy Rock- or Steel-types would barely be able to move.
Pokémon that couldn't swim were stuck hopping between tiny platforms.
All in all, there weren't many species that could truly fight at full power here.
For a lot of Pokémon, stepping onto this field was practically walking to their doom.
It was very different from the games.
But that was exactly what Gym challenges were meant to be.
They weren't about "fairness."
They were training mechanisms.
Better to encounter brutal environments in a Gym—
Than run into something like that in the wild and die for real.
Harsh?
Definitely.
But when the League designed the Gym system, that's exactly what they had in mind.
Some moves were nearly unusable on certain fields.
A good Trainer had to raise their team to cover multiple roles.
They could have specialties—but they couldn't have fatal, glaring weaknesses.
For example: at least one Pokémon on the team should know something like Foresight, or some other reliable way to detect Ghost-types.
Otherwise, getting toyed to death in the dark by a single weak Ghost-type would be beyond embarrassing.
"This is where Cerulean Gym really tests challengers!"
Misty turned to Ash.
All the earlier embarrassment and fluster had been completely washed away—
Replaced by the steady pride and seriousness of a true Gym Trainer.
No matter what… she was a Gym Trainer.
Even if she'd inherited the title from her parents.
She drew in a deep breath, eyes sharpening.
"I won't hold back, Ash!"
"Show me whether you deserve Cerulean Gym's Blue Badge!"
"Pika!" Pikachu hopped down from Ash's shoulder onto the trainer's box railing, cheeks crackling with sharp, battle-ready sparks.
Ash looked at this proper battlefield—
Then at the completely different Misty standing before him.
The corner of his mouth curled up with excitement.
He raised a hand and straightened his cap.
His eyes gleamed.
"Just how I like it."
"Bring it on, Misty!"
He was more than ready to fry some fish~~
A Water Field was basically a massive power-up for Pikachu.
"Hold it!" Misty's eyes went wide when she saw Pikachu so eager.
"Pikachu is banned!" She turned away, cheeks flushing. "Today you're using Gyarados!"
"Huh? The challenger doesn't get to pick their own Pokémon now?" Ash asked, innocently trying to tease her.
"Shut up, you jerk!" Misty exploded immediately. "You told me you loved Water-type Pokémon! That you wanted to become a Water-type Master—that was just to scam me out of my fishing rod, wasn't it?!"
"I'm not stupid! I figured it out a long time ago!"
"Ahaha… ahaha…" Ash turned his head, looking a bit guilty.
"To become the strongest Trainer, I can't be weak with Water-types, right…?"
Since when did this silly girl get so sharp?
Did she pick that up from me? Proximity buff?
"Don't try to worm your way out of it with word games! Jerk Ash!" Misty snapped, hurling a Poké Ball.
"Today you have to use Gyarados!"
Of course, it wasn't just about the fishing rod.
Misty also wanted to surpass herself.
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