I am Misty and that's okay (Pokemon Anime SI AU)

[Pinklestia]

Chapter 01: Not your grandpa's Pokémon

To make a long story short, I died and I got reincarnated as Misty, one of my favorite characters from the Pokémon Anime.

Unfortunately Misty is the first romantic love interest that got dumped after a few seasons, so I had no motivation to try to follow canon. More so as the last time I had watched the Pokémon Anime had been a long time ago before I died and was reborn as Misty herself.

So, why not be the best Gym leader ever instead? Sure being the Pokémon Champion would be nice, but it is also a lot of hard work! Plus Koga went from Gym Leader in the First Gen games to being a member of the Elite Four in the Second Gen games, so it's not like being a Gym leader meant I couldn't become one of the best trainers around.

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans of Pokémon and humans often go awry and I had to face the cold hard reality.

By that, I meant that being a Gym leader is not as easy as the Anime made it look, even with my two years of experience as a Pokémon trainer.

Heck, maybe my plan to be the best Gym leader ever was a mistake. Case in point; my current annoyance.

"Eight Kanto badges? And you want more? You do know that you only need eight badges to participate in the Kanto Pokémon League Conference, right?"

The tall blond teen smirks, he is handsome and probably thinks he is charming. I can see Helena, a small blonde girl and one of my Gym trainers, stare at him with cartoon hearts in her eyes. Heck, he is even dressed in expensive clothes! Doesn't he fear those getting ruined during his Pokémon Journey or what?

"True, but it's not against the rules, right? Besides, I got most of these last year so I need to get back in shape," he says in an arrogant tone.

He looks just like the type to try to force me on a date if he wins.

'I really don't understand, most of my life boys ignore me in favor of my sisters but as soon as I become a Gym leader? Then they start to notice I exist. Is this some kind of fetish or something? Is dating a Gym leader something boys brag about? Sure is not like I hate the attention, but I can tell they want a date because of my job, not because of myself.'

"No, that's okay. But I will need to get your badges verified, you understand." I say and point to an old and big machine behind him. The 'badge verifier' is an old model that got in the cheap and I cashed in some favors to get it fixed.

It is technically possible to spoof it by getting legit badges stolen from someone else and hacking them to register them to a different trainer. But in that case; why bother with an actual Gym challenge at all?

"No problem." The guy keeps smiling and walks to the machine to get all his badges verified, one by one, to his annoyance.

I said it was an old model, alright?

"Okay, fine. Come back in two hours for the challenge. You will have to defeat all my six Gym trainers in battles one after another and then have a three vs three battle with me. It will be a Triple battle, which means all six Pokémon will be on the field at the same time. We will use the artificial river battle arena, is that okay?"

"Yes, I got this in the bag." He smiles again and walks away like he is a great deal; making my left eye twitch; asshole.

"Are you okay Misty?" Helena asks me, she did notice my reaction to the guy. And Helena had been present before when some idiot had got a bit too pushy in trying to date one of my sisters. Let's just say the idiot got a dive right into the river... from a block away. I almost got arrested for that.

"Yeah... but I am not holding back on that jerk."

Anyway, I have a fight to get ready for.

I am starting to hate the job and I still have most of the year left until the Kanto Pokémon League Conference starts, then the Gym will be closed for a month and give me time to do a few errands. Thankfully my attendance is not mandatory.

In fact, Gym leaders usually don't go unless politics are involved or they are sponsoring someone. Since I am so new, I can skip even if that was the case.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

The handsome blond boy is barely able to beat all my Gym trainers. And it's not like every Gym trainer uses a whole full six Pokémon team, they just use two each. Then, because his Pokémon are tired from the previous fights, it turns into one-hit knockouts when it is my turn.

Lapras Ice Beam destroys his Bulbasaur, Milotic uses Mirror Coat to fry his Jolteon and for his Victreebel... The Blizzard from Blastoise turns out to be too much for him.

He is not happy about it and that erases his annoying smile.

"So I lost? Big deal. As you said I already got eight badges. I don't need yours."

'Whatever happened to getting back in shape, asshole? If I have to deal with people like him frequently I will quit, plans for the future be damned!'

I have to mentally count to ten to avoid my thoughts coming out.

Then I glare at him.

"The Kanto Pokémon League Conference starts in eight months. I suggest you use the time to improve if you want to take part in it."

"Yeah whatever," he says and walks away.

I take a few minutes to calm down then I close the Gym for the day and go to get my Pokémon healed at the Pokémon Center, only for a pair of idiots to try to ambush me.

Golduck blasts the idiots unconscious with a Psychic attack before they can pull their Pokémon out.

What? Not a Gym battle.

Also they are members of Team Rocket, but not the trio or even that similar duo; just stupid grunts.

Uh, apparently they stole someone's Pokémon close to the Gym? Wasn't something like this in the games? But it was a TM instead of a Diglett. Oh, and it was more like they ran in my way instead of an ambush... still not sorry about crushing them.

Since they didn't get blasted away, just knocked unconscious, I have to go to the Police Station to get these guys arrested and basically waste time.

But getting thanked for returning the Pokémon back makes me feel better, like being a Gym leader is worth all the hard work after all.

Wait...

Facing Team Rocket makes me remember that I haven't been challenged by a certain idiot with a Pikachu yet. Did I miss him when I went on my own Pokémon Journey? Can't be, I actually fought Gary Oak last week in my Gym and they are supposed to be the same age, right? So where the hell is Ash? Did whatever things I did differently end with Gary and Ash swapping Gyms challenges somehow?

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

"What? The Gym is closed?" The ten-year-old boy asks.

"Sorry kid, come back tomorrow," the blonde Cerulean Gym trainer says in a soft tone.

Ash Ketchum looks down, then perks right back up.

"It's okay, we can wait, right Pikachu?"

Ash turns to look at his Pokémon only to notice it has fallen asleep.

Right, the walk to the city had been a bit long.

Maybe he really should have used the money he saved to buy a bicycle instead of getting all this Pokémon trainer stuff.

Ah, no use crying over it, so what if Gary already got three Gym badges? He could do this, he just had to believe!

Oh and make camp for tomorrow, is not like he could waste money in a hotel.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

The next day I wake up bright and early while my sisters sleep like a log, tired after doing one of their shows.

I have no clue where I got this whole waking early thing, I don't remember Misty doing it in the Anime and I hated doing it in my previous life.

So I brush my teeth, make myself breakfast, then take a short shower; get changed and go to open the gym.

Only to find a certain idiot and their Pikachu literally camping at my Gym entrance.

'Helena probably took pity on him or most likely she thinks that he is cute.'

I ignore him and open the Gym, Helena arrives later, weird as she doesn't work in the morning on Tuesdays, and wakes up Ash freaking Ketchum up.

'Yeah definitely a crush. Why did I have to make the most boy crazy girl I know my second in command? Ah right she makes a good coffee.'

So my first challenge for the day is the Chosen One, the Protagonist. I notice a certain pervert Gym leader is not with him and that... I am his first Gym challenge.

"Are you ready Pikachu? We trained really hard on Mount Moon so we should get this!"

"Pikapika!" Pikachu looks determined... but since Ash has no Gym badges yet, I get an evil idea.

"Not yet, you have to pass a test first."

"What?"

"Oh don't worry, it's just watching a few educational tapes about Pokémon and then I ask you a few questions; piece of cake!"

After all early Anime Ash's worst enemy was actual schooling.

To my shock and surprise, after two hours of watching educational videos about the basics of being a Pokémon trainer, he doesn't get a single question wrong.

"Well, you passed, with full marks, color me impressed."

"Really? Cool, I only got good grades in school when it came to Pokémon stuff." Ash says blushing at the praise.

'Why? Is the whole being a female Gym leader thing? Or he just isn't used to praise?'

"Since you passed, let's go to the pool battle arena to do a one vs one fight."

I pointed behind me to the pool, good thing my Gym trainers cleaned it after the last show my sisters did yesterday. I really should give them a raise someday, but the Gym reforms and Pokémon food budget take priority, unfortunately.

"Sure, let's go Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Wow Pikachu looks way happier than I remember him being at this point in the anime and that fur is well groomed, I took enough advice about Pokémon care from my sisters to notice that. That shows he is taking really good care of him. I guess he doesn't really need Brock?

Wait... he doesn't need Brock. That means that as close as things are to the Anime, this is basically a different version of it, besides whatever changes I made without noticing.

I call one of my Gym trainers to act as a judge and the battle starts.

"Go Goldeen." My fish Pokémon falls gracefully on the pool water while Pikachu looks ready to jump into one of the floating platforms.

"Go Pikachu... use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu jumps into the plastic platform and then gets ready to unleash his powerful attack.

"Jump!" I quickly order Goldeen before the attack hits him.

Goldeen jumps out of the water to avoid the powerful electric attack, Ash wasn't kidding about training really hard on Mount Moon. That's not a move I expected his Pikachu to have yet.

"Again Pikachu!"

"Goldeen use-"

Too late, my poor fish Pokémon gets fried by the attack and lands on the water completely unconscious.

"Goldeen cannot continue to battle, the win goes to the challenger."

Then the speakers on the pool battle arena start to play a victory tune, one very similar to the one in the games and Ash gets ready confused.

"Uh...What's with the music?"

I look away in shame, while also trying to not smirk.

"My sister's idea. Congratulations on your first Gym victory! Here is your Cascade Badge!" I look into Ash's eyes, smile and give the kid his first badge.

"Cool, we got our first badge, just seven more to go and we can compete in the Pokémon League!" Ash says happily, then Pikachu jumps into his shoulders and smiles. And then the music finally stops.

'Such a cutie rodent, too bad Pikachu belongs with Ash, and he also doesn't fit my Gym type.' And I already got my cute electric sheep for my non Gym battles.

"Is Pikachu your only Pokémon?" I ask just to make small talk. Unlike the battle with the blond casanova, I actually liked this one, even if I lost.

'No, I also got a Butterfree and I caught an Abra a few days ago." He says then looks down. "I really wanted a Cleffa or Clefairy but I had no luck."

"So... ran out of Pokeballs trying to catch one of those pesky fairies then?"

"Yeah... then a kid I know rubbed it in my face that he caught two Clefairy and even found a Moon Stone!"

Ah yes; Gary Oak, at least he didn't try to hit on me, even if his cheerleaders squad was really annoying.

"Well, I think you should go to Pewter City next, a Butterfree alone is more than adequate for a one badge gym challenge there."

More so if the bug Pokémon is even half as strong as his Pikachu.

"You think so? I actually wanted to catch a Water Pokémon first."

"Well I can't say that's a bad idea, in fact... Hey Suzy, bring me that notice we have about those wild Squirtle causing trouble; will you?"

"Yes Boss Lady!"

Suzy, my brunette Gym trainer; does so and I pick up the report. It is a bit too far away to take charge of it quickly during Gym battling season, but here I got a kid with a powerful electric Pokémon so...

"Here you go, read this," I say offering the piece of paper to Ash and he reads it.

"Zenigame town? No clue where that is."

"Suzy get this kid a map and mark Zenigame town there, will you?"

"At your command my lady of water!"

Yeah Suzy is a tad weird; but so what? She still does her job well.

Once Ash has the map with Zenigame town marked there, I ask him to please take care of the problem for me. As an incentive I offer him a TM as a reward. Yes I know that in the games Gym leaders can give you TMs just for winning against them, but let's be realistic, the things are not cheap. I would go bankrupt if every winner got one.

So Ash ends up going to a town that's about a week away on foot and I finally end up realizing that since Ash is not exactly the same as he was in the Anime; then I (probably) didn't ruin things by not trying to follow the plot of the Anime.

Not that I was losing sleep about it or anything, but nice to know about that anyway.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

After Ash left I put Goldeen's ball away and replaced it with Poliwag's ball. I tend to always keep Blastoise and Golduck with me, but the rest of my team composition changes depending on how many badges the challenger has.

I fished and caught Goldeen a few weeks ago, so for now I keep him for zero badges challenges only. Fortunately he doesn't take a loss badly, not like Blastoise, as much as a goof she is outside battle she is such a drama queen any time she loses.

'And she totally gets it from me, I am not fond of losing when I am going all out.'

And talking about Blastoise, I let her out of her ball, she may barely have had to work yesterday but she still deserves a break.

As soon as she is out of the ball she smiles, pulls on the red clown nose she keeps inside her shell and tries to make me laugh.

I let Lapras, Milotic and Golduck out so my Starter has more of an audience.

Poliwag is usually scared of Blastoise so I keep him in his ball. He is really young, just ten days old since he hatched from his egg, so that's understandable.

My sisters don't like Blastoise's act, that to be fair is terrible. In fact it is only funny because it is so deliberately bad.

Then again back when we first met, Blastoise's act was bad simply because it was bad. I am convinced the only reason my sisters let me take her as my starter Pokémon was because they couldn't use her for their shows at all.

I should have realized early on that if Misty actually had a Squirtle as a starter, then she would have appeared in the show. That SHOULD have been my clue that no matter how similar, this World is not an exact fit to the Pokémon Anime.

Unfortunately, I was too busy feeling happy as I love Squirtle in general. Also I had just got my first Pokémon that was actually mine, not just a Pokémon my sisters let me borrow.

So with Squirtle at my side, I started my Pokémon Journey-

"MISTY!" My chest... it hurts!

I glare at the quite strong redhead woman hugging me.

"Aunt Cass, cut it!"

"Sorry; sorry!" The woman stops crushing my lungs with a hug and backs away.

"Just... I saw how you handled that kid, it's amazing how you have grown as a person!"

Aunt Casandra, Cass for short, is not my real aunt, but is the woman who took care of us when our parents died.

Of all the things to kill them in this crazy Anime World, it was a completely normal car accident of all things. I was just a baby when it happened so I don't remember them. I only know what my parents looked like from old photographs and a home video they made when mom was pregnant with me in her belly.

Aunt Cass's blue eyes have that sparkly look she gets when she is planning something.

"Okay spill it, what are you planning?"

"A shopping trip with you of course."

"Aunt Cass; I already have enough clothes." I protest weakly.

"Ah those were clothes for a Pokémon trainer; you are a Gym leader now, you need different clothes."

"We just finished adding the artificial river battle arena. I am not exactly swimming in money."

"Oh don't worry, I am paying."

"Aunt Cass, I can't just close the Gym to go shopping, that's really irresponsible."

"Oh should I take one of your sisters instead?"

"Still sleeping, the last show yesterday ended late."

My deal with my sisters is, that they can make their shows after the Gym closes at seven in the afternoon.

I had to beat all of them at the same time in a Pokémon fight to make them accept that.

I was angry so they got Golduck.

"I know you don't have Gym battles on the weekend and on Saturday there is a sale on clothes in the Celadon Department Store."

"Fine, but if you get me swimsuits I will only wear them if they are one piece swimsuits." In fact I usually wear a one piece swimsuit under my normal clothes to go for a swim anytime I want or need to.

"Deal!" Aunt Cass says and I groan as I notice I am going to be dragged into another shopping trip.

'And because it is Celadon City, it won't just be shopping. It will also be a visit to the gardens next to the Celadon Gym, then probably going to a tea house and Mew knows what else!'

AN: Yeah I know the Pokémon Battle went really fast, sorry.

In the next episode:

Spoiler

"Hello, I am Professor Oak, may I come in?"

Edited by megrisvernin.

 

[Doccer]

Love it.
A smart Ash?! What dark sorcery is this AU?!

 

[Pinklestia]

Love it.
A smart Ash?! What dark sorcery is this AU?!

Click to shrink...

Actually smart Ash used to be quite common in Pokemon fanfics once upon a time.

I have to clarify, this Ash is smart when it comes to be a Pokemon trainer, for anything else he is as competent as early canon Anime Ash.

Is just that being a Pokemon trainer includes more that just Pokemon battles, you need to be able to survive in the wild and manage money.

Heck think for a minute how dangerous is to live in Pallet town, the place is NEXT TO THE SEA, that means going to the beach means getting attacked by wild water Pokemon. You have to walk in tall grass to reach Viridian City meaning you literally can't go to the next city over without at least one Pokemon to protect you. Also Professor Oak lives there, meaning thieves and other nasty people try to steal his research or any rare Pokemon he might be studying once in a while. Also there is not even a local police station!

In the Pokemon World, small towns have it way harder that cities due to the lack of enough people with strong Pokemon to deal with wild Pokemon.

Remember the first two episodes of the Anime? Sure Ash was an idiot but how many times he got almost killed on those two episodes alone? And that was while very close to Pallet Town!

So yeah simply put this version of Professor Oak doesn't just give a Pokedex to local kids, they have to earn it! He only picks three to four a year and they have to be competent enough or they don't get his sponsorship, Pokedex and Pokemon. So Ash had to both get passing school grades and get quite good grades in all school subjects that have to do with being a Pokemon trainer or he wouldn't have qualified.

While it is kind of mentioned in the story, besides getting a Starter from a Pokemon Professor, in this srory Gyms do give starter Pokemon to rookie trainers. Usually you have to help around the Gym for a while for that to happen. In Cerulean City case, Misty gives a class on the basics of being a Pokemon trainer and you have to pass an exam if you want a starter from her Gym. Sure is just watching some videos and then taking a test, but is several hours long of educational material and Misty couldn't afford to do something better.

Also Gyms tend to be the dumping ground of Pokemon people don't want anymore or can no longer take care for some reason. Only Pokemon of the same type of the Gym are usually accepted. The Pokemon is then put to work for the Gym or for adoption. This is done to prevent strong Pokemon just being released on the wild, more so as trainer Pokemon that were raised by humans from a very young age tend to have no clue how to survive in the wild and so resort to boss around weaker Pokemon or steal from humans to survive.

This is even worse for the Kanto Starter trio of Pokemon as they no longer exist in the wild, so they lack a pack they can join to learn what they are supposed to do.

Despite that, because there isn't a law against just releasing a trainer Pokemon in the wild, incidents, like the Squirtle Squad in the Anime, happen once in a while.

Also due to the recent war, there is no such a thing as Pokemon Rangers in Kanto, so part of the duties of a Gym is patrolling and defending their city against criminals and dangerous wild Pokemon. That only covers the city itself and any land not protected by a different Gym that you can get in three days of walking from the city, or less.

Gym leaders can stil chose to deal with emergencies further away from that but they are not obligated to do so unless it qualities at least a B class emergency or worse.

B class is simply put something so big the local police and trainers can't deal with it in their own. For example Team Rocket takeover of a city in the games would be considered an B+ emergency, while a gang constantly stealing Pokemon in the same area would be a B- as the Police force is supposed to deat with stuff like that but can ask a Gym Leader help if needed.

The Squirtle Squad is a C+ but only because they have stayed in the same town for a while and the locals can't deal with then. If they keep switching towns it would be just a C.

D is anything lesser that a recurring problem involving Pokemon.

And an A is the kind of emergency that you call the Elite Four or the Champion for. If they can't help for some reason, several Gym Leaders can work together to try to solve things or at least do the best they can.

This is due to Gym Leaders being the modern equivalent to Clan Leaders, although they only have that kind of authority in emergencies and even then their power is equal to the local mayor. However because the power is equal in those cases, the mayor can't overrule them.

 

[Blaflaix]

'I really don't understand, most of my life boys ignore me in favor of my sisters but as soon as I become a Gym leader? Then they start to notice I exist. Is this some kind of fetish or something? Is dating a Gym leader something boys brag about? Sure is not like I hate the attention, but I can tell they want a date because of my job, not because of myself.'

Click to shrink...

"They're only attracted to my abilities. I want them to love me for my body!"

 

[Pinklestia]

"They're only attracted to my abilities. I want them to love me for my body!"

Click to shrink...

Is not about abilities, it is because dating a Gym leader is indeed something boys brag about.

Without a Battle Frontier or international Pokemon competitions, at least for now since the war ended not that long ago, Gym Leader is usually as high as a trainer can go as one of the Elite Four retiring takes a while and becoming the Champion is quite hard. So while the job doesn't make Misty have a lot of money and is not easy to do, it carries quite a lot of prestige in the Pokemon World.

Also

He looks just like the type to try to force me on a date if he wins.

Click to shrink...

As much as the Pokemon World is fixated on Pokemon battles, trying to force someone to have a date with you, without at the very least making clear the battle is about that and giving the option to refuse the challenge, is still quite the scummy thing to do.

Also in case this wasn't clear, this was someone who already had eight badges going all out against a rookie Gym leader, is just that Misty was both stronger and better prepared that he was expecting.

This isn't like the post game of Gold and Silver were the Kanto gym leaders go all out against you because you are the Pokemon Champion and want the challenge.

You can battle a Gym again to revalidate your badges as they are only valid to participate in the Kanto League tournament for two years. This is done so kids who started late don't miss getting the eight badges needed and so can compete the next year.

However that is not what it was happening with that pretty arrogant boy.

No, this was basically bulling because Misty has not been a Gym leader that long and to get the brag rights of winning against a Gym leader that "was going all out", only it backfired.

 

[Snowandmax]

Fund your own criminal organization to out compete team rocket, also make sure to use it to stop other teams from destroying the world.

 

[Pinklestia]

Chapter 02: But I don't want to be an evil genius!

Professor Oak is a busy and very important man, so I never bothered to try to nag him to give me a Pokédex, not when that could have ended badly.

However, I did end up bothering him with questions about Water Pokémon once I became a Gym leader.

That was done by letter, and I made clear it was not urgent. Yes, I could have used an email but first I didn't know his email address and second I didn't want my email to end in the Spam folder and be deleted.

The letter included copies of the pictures of all the rare water Pokémon I found in my two-year-long Pokémon Journey and also an open invitation to visit any time he felt like it.

He never answered back to that letter and I decided to not try again.

That was months ago.

So imagine my surprise when he showed up in person the day after Ash had won a Gym badge from me.

"Hello, I am Professor Oak, may I come in?"

The Professor didn't knock at the Gym's front door, but instead the door at the house next to it. Since it is past seven in the afternoon and so my sisters are preparing one of their shows, I am alone at our house.

"Sure, I am Cerulean Gym leader Misty, do you want some tea?"

"That would be nice, thanks." The gray-haired man sits in a chair in the kitchen and waits for me to actually make the tea.

Once the tea is served at the table we both take time to drink the earl grey tea and just stay in silence for a few minutes.

"So... how may I help you Professor?" I ask.

"I got your letter."

"Ah that, I thought it had got lost in the mail since it was months ago." I hope I didn't sound angry at saying that.

Oak coughed. "I was away on vacation on the Orange Islands and when I returned someone-" he says in anger. "Had made a mess of my whole lab, I only recently found your letter under the fridge I use to store samples in my lab."

I wisely decide to not ask who that someone was, and I am glad that I waterproofed my letter by placing it inside a sealed plastic bag.

"Okay. So... I guess you want to know about some of the Pokémon in the pictures?"

"While that would be nice, I am mostly here to apologize. While it wasn't my fault, it was still rude of me to ignore your letter for so long and fail to answer it. It doesn't help that I do get a lot of correspondence even if some of it is getting replaced by emails."

"Well... Thanks for the apology? But you didn't have to go all the way from Pallet Town just for that, a phone call or a letter would have worked." We don't have an email yet, at least not for the Gym, of course there is one for my sisters' shows. And each one of them has an email for fan mail. I have a private email account but I don't use it much.

"Well, I also wanted to get a look at the Hoenn Pokémon you got. I want to know if they are adapting well to Kanto and if you are having any trouble taking care of them."

'Wow Really? Do you really care so much about some Pokémon you only saw in pictures? Then again in the anime he takes care of a whole lot of Ash and Gary's (and others) Pokémon.'

"Feebas evolved a few days after I send the letter so now she is a Milotic and is happier than she has ever been. Surskit doesn't seem to have any problems and Wingull... well she was feeling a bit lonely so I traded her to a ship captain that usually goes from Kanto to Hoenn and back to deliver cargo. There are a few other Hoenn Pokémon here but they legally belong to the Gym so you will have to talk to the Mayor if you want to take them away from the city. Not that I think she will dare to deny you."

It was sad to let Wingull go, but the Poliwag egg I got in exchange for her was not a bad trade, in fact I kinda feel like I got the better deal. Still got to find a King's Rock, but is not like I am in a hurry. Also Poliwag is a Gym Pokémon, not one of mine.

"A Milotic? I have never seen one in person. Can I borrow her to do some tests?" Despite not saying anything I know he is likely to talk to the Mayor once he legally obtains the list of Gym Pokémon of this city. Ludicolo is still in the lost and found category as we have no clue who his trainer is but for Professor Oak? The Mayor may even decide to give the Pokémon to him anyway even if she has to pay the compensation money out of her own pocket.

"Maybe after the Gym battling season is over, she may not have been a Milotic for long but she is still one of my strongest Pokémon and I had a run in with Team Rocket just a few days ago."

At hearing that Professor Oak scowls.

"Did anyone got hurt?"

"Thankfully no, I caught a pair of Team Rockets' grunts just as they were stealing someone's Diglett. Honesty there is a whole cave full of them in Vermilion City! Unless the place got closed off since the time I did my Pokémon Journey, they could have caught one there. And even then Diglett is not a rare Pokémon."

"Actually the Diglett's Cave did get closed off, as there were fears of a cave in. The fact trainers keep catching a Diglett there to take on the local Gym had of course nothing to do with it," Oak says with a smile. "As a result getting a Diglett is slightly harder than it used to be."

Uh, so not complete idiots then, good to know.

"Okay, is there anything else I could help you with?"

"Yes, marry my grandson."

"WHAT."

At seeing my expression he quickly moves away, I am not that scary, right?

"Joking, I am joking, don't hurt me I am a senior!"

"And a former Pokémon Champion," I say with a smirk on my face.

"Oh? Not many people your age know that."

"I was just guessing and you just confirmed it."

At hearing that he facepalms.

"I got outsmarted by a ten-year-old?'

"Twelve-year-old," I almost growl. Stuff like this is why I have a hard time believing anyone is genuinely interested in dating me for anything else besides me being a Gym leader.

"Sorry, sorry." The man that could most likely crush my Gym if he felt like it, maybe literally if he still has at least one of the Pokémon he had as a Champion, bows to me repeatedly.

I can't help it, I smile a bit.

"Please stop, I know I have a bad temper, but please think of your good reputation."

"And what about yours?" He stops bowing and stands up straight.

"I am just a small girl that lucked into being a Gym leader by using her sisters' Pokémon, right? What good reputation?" That's not even the worst thing they said of me after I became Gym leader.

And as much I wanted to storm the local radio station for saying that of me? I did nothing of the sort. I just crushed any idiot who thought I was going to just give medals away easily instead.

"Really? Aren't they calling you the tomboyish mermaid lately?"

"They WHAT?"

I breathe in and out, then I mentally count to ten.

My anger doesn't control me, I control my anger.

"Still better than being called a tiny Gyarados I guess."

Honesty, as nicknames go is not so bad, they could have gone for something much worse.

"Misty, people only give nicknames to their Gym leaders when they respect them. And this is not an insult, it shows that they care about you," Professor Oak says seriously.

"Yeah, I guess you are right. Now do you have any serious requests? I barely know any people in Hoenn but I could put you in contact with Wallace, the Sootopolis City Gym leader. I did get a Rain Badge out of him, and it was for an actual battle, even if I lost. Since then we have kept in contact by email due to a shared interest in Water Pokémon. "

I almost didn't take the medal, but then he pointed out how the battle arena had been completely destroyed in our Pokémon fight.

We basically both went all out in a three vs three triple battle with only Water Type Pokémon. My Blastoise, Cloyster and Lapras vs his Seaking, Walrein and Milotic.

And knowing what I know now about how expensive Gym repairs can get; I think he basically gave me the badge to avoid wasting even more money on repairs if we had a rematch.

'Mmm, Cloyster still wants a rematch against his Walrein, maybe I could take a short trip to Hoenn if I find the time. After all we could just have a battle in the sea if he worries so much about repairs. Plus I am a Gym leader now, so I could give him a Cascade Badge even if I am the one who wins. And maybe a pass for one of my sisters' shows? But I don't like owing my sisters anything! Well this is something for the future so no rush.'

"While I have visited Hoenn before, I am not that familiar with the regional Gym leaders so that would be nice."

"Good, I can ask him if he wants to contact you and... I just remembered I don't have your email address, hint, hint." That's not funny, yet we both smile for some reason.

"Here you go." Oak pulls out pen and paper and writes his email address on it.

I take it, then give him one of my business cards, not only my personal email is there but also the Gym and house phone number. Cell phones just aren't very popular unless you really need them, what with having public use PCs in every Pokémon center. I basically got the business cards made to try to appear more professional, but it didn't work.

"Thank you. Now can I at least see your Milotic?"

"Eh, why not? Let's go to the backyard so we have enough space."

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

"Go Milotic!" Milotic exits her ball and then immediately gets close to me, to get head scratches once she notices we are in the backyard and no one is attacking me.

I oblige, and Professor Oak immediately starts to take notes, after a few minutes of head scratches I signal for the Professor to approach.

"How were you able to evolve her outside of her native region? Did you import special food?" Oak asks.

"I groomed her every day after I became Gym leader until she evolved." The only really useful skill about Pokémon my sisters taught me, by forcing me to groom their Pokémon for years before I went into my Pokémon Journey.

Then again, money was tight and everyone had to help. That is also why I didn't have the right brushes and care products during my Pokémon Journey, even with Pokémon battles working on money bets like the games, I just couldn't afford both Pokémon food and grooming products to make Feebas prettier. Yes, Berries do work as food, but they do not grow anywhere as fast as in the games.

Sure, special food to make her prettier was an option but even in Hoenn that specific kind of food was not cheap.

Oh and helping to take care of all the Gym Pokémon for years gave me an edge when it comes to Pokémon care, but not when it comes to Pokémon Battles.

"Oh interesting. What kind of grooming have you used?"

"The kind used in Pokémon for Pokémon shows and Contests that helps them look better, my sisters are the ones to talk to if you want a detailed explanation."

"Sadly I can't stay much longer, are you sure I can't borrow your Milotic for a few days?" Seeing an old man attempt puppy dog eyes is really bizarre.

"Unfortunately as I said before, not until the Gym battling season is over. With Team Rocket being willing to operate in broad daylight and with most of the police force here not having strong Pokémon, Cerulean City depends on me. Out of battling season is different, I can just keep a few strong Pokémon on me and be okay. But at the moment? I had a few idiots try the whole 'ambush the Gym leader after she lost a Pokémon fight' strategy already." Two times so far, and they weren't even from Team Rocket!

"I had no idea the situation in Kanto had got so bad. Pallet Town is usually peaceful and nothing has happened when I have given conferences in this region."

I snort at hearing that. "You are both the Pokédex Professor of the Kanto region and a former Pokémon Champion. Of course Team Rocket is going to avoid you. And while regular criminals may be less informed, those are usually the kind the police force can actually take care of themselves."

"Pokédex Professor? Are they really calling me that?"

"Can you actually buy a Pokédex in a store or anywhere else?"

"No, at least not for now. They are too expensive to produce and maintain. Plus we recently added a function to make them work as legal identification, so that would make mass production complicated even if they manage to make a Pokédex cheap enough."

"Oh, so in a way you could say the nickname is earned?"

"Yes..."

"Don't worry Professor Oak! People only give nicknames to their Pokémon Professor when they respect them. And this is not an insult, it shows that they care about you!"

Oak double facepalms.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

After that Professor Oak really has to leave, but promises to call some people to crack down harder on crime and on Team Rocket specifically.

Night has fallen, my sisters are probably still doing their show and I have not much else to do, so I send an email to Wallace telling him about Oak, then I go to sleep.

The next day once more I wake up early, even if the day looks horrible and it is raining. After breakfast I let Surskit out so he can enjoy the rain, and I go to open the Gym.

Inside the first thing I see is Helena's green eyes staring at me, almost making me jump out in surprise.

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?" I ask, only I notice that there is something wrong with her.

"Give..."

"Give what?"

"Give... me... YOUR SOUL!" Helena screams and tries to jump at me, I duck away.

"Go Milotic, Capture!" Milotic quickly uses her elongated serpentine body to trap Helena.

"Now, you are a ghost Pokémon possessing my Gym Trainer, aren't you?" I say as Helena struggles in vain to get free.

"Your... soul... will be... MINE!"

Ignoring the theatrics I release Golduck and just glare at my possessed employee, Golduck glares at her too.

"Potions do work on humans, I can just beat the crap out of poor Helena here until you leave; then heal her."

"WHAT? MISTY HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL?" Helena suddenly yells and a Gastly ends up fleeing out her head, only to be hit by a Great Ball and end up captured by yours truly.

The ghost Pokémon doesn't even resist, and then I pick the Pokéball and let my newly captured Pokémon out.

"Hey Golduck, have fun with the new meat."

"GOLDUCK!" He honestly doesn't have to sound so happy about being given free rein to discipline my new Pokémon.

It almost makes me feel sorry for the small ghost Pokémon.

The key word here being "almost".

"Milotic, let Helena go." At hearing my orders Helena stops being restrained and both of us ignore Gastly's cries of pain.

"What... what... I was possessed?" Helena asks, confused.

"Yes. You didn't walk into a graveyard at night or something, right?"

"No, of course not! I just... woke up here being restrained by Milotic."

"Well at least it looks like it was a wild Pokémon, not someone trying to steal from the Gym. We should check if anything is missing just in case."

"Yeah, we probably should."

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Thankfully, nothing is missing save for some cans of spicy Pokéfood. And that was most likely Golduck instead of the newly captured Gastly. Any time I leave my violent duck out for long he goes to eat spicy stuff, he is basically addicted to it.

And talking about the stupid ghost, I return his fainted body to his Pokéball and walk to the Pokémon Center to get him healed.

Then I put him on the adoption list on the Pokémon Center wall, hopefully some trainer will want him, until then he is mine.

Then I go back to the Gym, but maybe because of the rain, there are no challengers yet.

So I let some of my Pokémon out in the pool, Surskit is still out in the rain, and I enjoy Helena's freshly brewed coffee.

It is not until near lunchtime that a challenger finally appears.

"I am Lieutenant Surge, Gym leader of Vermilion City, they call me the Lightning Lieutenant and I am here to CRUSH THIS PATHETIC GYM!"

AN1: Don't worry, Surge didn't go crazy, there is a reason for this.

Professor Oak is a retired Pokémon Champion, has a lot of money, is the Kanto Pokémon Professor who gives away Pokédexes and owns a whole lot of land in a quiet and beautiful town where it is rare for anything to happen. You jelly?

The only way I can justify Professor Oak taking care of so many Pokémon; even if he has help, is that he studies them.

By the way; mass production is my justification of why the Rotom dex ends up being made in Aloha, with the Pokémon acting as AI, it makes it way cheaper to produce.

In the next episode:

Spoiler

"So you want an all out battle Surge? Trying to crush seven Kanto Gyms then go challenge the Elite Four and then the Champion? We will see if you got what it takes!"

Edited by megrisvernin .

AN2: The evil genius reference is because of Professor Oak, not because SI Misty.

 

[Blaflaix]

AN: Don't worry, Surge didn't go crazy, there is a reason for this.

Click to shrink...

That isn't mutually exclusive...

 

[Pinklestia]

Fund your own criminal organization to out compete team rocket, also make sure to use it to stop other teams from destroying the world.

Click to shrink...

That's too much paperwork, not enough Pokemon battles and swimming time.

That isn't mutually exclusive...

Click to shrink...

All Gym leaders and strong trainers are slightly crazy, some more that others. Normal people stop being trainers after a while and get normal jobs. It takes more that being a good trainer to be a Gym leader.

Specifically Gym leaders tend to keep going and not quit unless being forced to. Is the kind of Ash not quitting after getting almost killed many times kind of determination.

Good Gym leaders look into keep getting themselves and their Pokemon better but also have an eye in understanding their Pokemon potential and personality.

Some Pokemon are mere pets, other battles, a few have what it takes to become Champion Pokemon. If you try to force a.Pokemon to give more what it can give it can end in injury or death.

As Misty helped with the Gym since she was little, she has an eye to see that kind of things.

But not to the extent of those guys in the games that tell you about your Pokemon potential.

 

[Centergg]

I don't remember canon,
I like this story a lot

 

[Doccer]

I almost didn't take the medal, but then he pointed out how the battle arena had been completely destroyed in our Pokémon fight.

We basically both went all out in a three vs three triple battle with only Water Type Pokémon. My Blastoise, Cloyster and Lapras vs his Seaking, Walrein and Milotic.

And knowing what I know now about how expensive Gym repairs can get; I think he basically gave me the badge to avoid wasting even more money on repairs if we had a rematch.

Click to shrink...

Give me your badge old man or this here 11 year old girl is just gonna keep 'losing' till you have nothing left!
🥺
Think about it. Which costs more? A 20 dollar badge or a entire Gym built from rubble? Make it easy on yourself and think about your wallet!
😢
Fine! Just take the damn badge you tiny bully!

 

[AlmightySouls]

I remember reading this before…

 

[C_L0cke]

Hard Enough 2:
Wet Enough.

 

[Andorxor]

Abusing his elemental advantage to bully other gyms is pathetic, I hope he will meet a ground type trainer to stop his reign of terror

 

[Pinklestia]

I don't remember canon,
I like this tory a lot

Click to shrink...

Thank you. Season one of the Pokemon Anime was quite weird and also way more deadly that I remembered. Nowadays I think Misty and Brock followed Ash not because of his potential but because they wanted an excuse to travel around and because they didn't want Ash to die. Well besides that Misty found Ash cute and Brock really wanted to find a girlfriend.

Give me your badge old man or this here 11 year old girl is just gonna keep 'losing' till you have nothing left!
🥺
Think about it. Which costs more? A 20 dollar badge or a entire Gym built from rubble? Make it easy on yourself and think about your wallet!
😢
Fine! Just take the damn badge you tiny bully!

Click to shrink...

Yeah maintaining a Gym is not cheap due to all the repairs. Surge really cheats as his Gym is basically a repurposed warehouse without specialized areas for Electric Pokemon, so most of the maintenance costs come from it being near the sea and salty air corrosion being something of a pain.

Gym badges are more expensive than 20 dollars, at least in Kanto. Not only they do need to be made by a specialized artisan, but they have anti tampering and anti duplication measures. So basically each badge costs about ten Ultra Balls ( 12.000 Pokedollars) as is simply not possible to mass produce them due to each Pokemon Gym needing their own badge design and identification ID. That's one of the reasons why all Gyms have extra means on income. In Misty's case the Gym pool is used in the weekends by Club members, as if it was a regular club; and the Gym is co-owned by the city. Gym trainers earn extra money by doing patrols and dealing with Pokemon related problems in the city and nearby. Gym leaders earn extra money by doing publicity or having an extra job.

A Pokemon Gym Is also a type of Gym that helps to train Pokemon of a specific type, so if you have let's say a Lapras and take it to Misty's gym, they help you to train it in exchange of money. If you are a Club member ( that's not a Gym trainer, a Gym trainer is an employee of the Gym) is cheaper to do so because you pay the Gym each month in exchange of use of the pool, swimming lessons and a discount on Misty's sister Water shows.

Misty is trying to find alternate ways of income but at least for the next few years she can't just kick her sisters out. And her sisters do need the Gym pool for their shows as anywhere else would be more expensive. Not to mention most of the Pokemon they use on the shows legally belong to the Gym due to tax reasons and because that way part of the cost of feeding and taking care of them is paid by the city. That also means that legally those Pokemon need to stay in the city or near it to help defend it in case of trouble

Misty main means of income are the Gym and some investments she made, that's it.

Yes I know the price of badges sounds kind of ridiculous but the Pokemon League covers half of it, that's also why they notice when a Gym starts to lose way too many Pokemon battles.

 

[Pinklestia]

Chapter 03: Thunder.exe Not Found

"Hi Surge, long time since I last saw you. How are you doing?" I asked in my most cheerful tone. Two years is a long time after all and he was my first Kanto Gym challenge.

"Misty? You are a Gym Trainer here? Are you working for your sisters now?" Lieutenant Surge pocketed the black sunglasses he was wearing and gave me a look. Apparently winning a medal from him without using Earth-type Pokémon is enough for the blond foreigner to remember you. Still not sure if he is from Orre or Unova but I feel like it is rude to ask.

"No, I am the new Gym leader. Did I hear you right? You want to crush this Gym, as in, you want an all out battle with the Gym leader using their strongest Pokémon?"

"Yes, Kanto has way too many Gyms, so I decided to do some spring cleaning since the Kanto League is doing nothing as usual."

In the games you can (usually) challenge the Elite Four and the Champion with just eight medals of the region the game takes in.

In the Anime there is a tournament by region. And since I stopped watching the Anime after the Battle Frontier; save for a few Misty specials, I have no clue if the tournament alone is enough to become a regional Pokémon Champion or not.

But in this Pokéworld, at least in Kanto, winning the local Pokémon League alone is not enough to become the Region Champion. You have to also defeat the Elite Four and then defeat the Champion. You still get a first place golden cup for winning the tournament at least. But the cup is for winning that year's tournament not for being the Champion.

But for Gym leaders there is a different option.

You can go defeat the other seven Gym leaders, who will be going all out, get seven badges, plus the one you already have for being a Gym leader, and then go to either challenge one of the Elite Four to take their job or to try to defeat them and then face the Champion if you defeat all four.

Do note that while you can use any six Pokémon against the Elite Four and the Champion, you must only use Pokémon of the type of your Gym to defeat the seven Gym leaders.

This is called Gym crushing, because it can outright end with a defeated Gym getting closed.

Of course, the risk is not only for the Gym leader getting challenged, but also for the one doing the challenge. If Surge loses I could get his Gym closed down.

The official written exam for being approved as Gym Leader tests all this stuff okay? The practical is just a Pokémon battle against the official examiner.

"So you want an all out battle Surge? Trying to crush seven Kanto Gyms then go challenge the Elite Four and then beat the Champion? Then I will see if you got what it takes!"

"Nah, who wants to be the Champion? That's too much hard work. If I wanted to work that hard I would not have retired from the army," the muscular blond man says and scratches the back of his head.

"Uh... replace one of the Elite Four then?"

"No, I just want to crush weak and useless Gyms that give Kanto a bad name," he says in a serious tone.

While I understand his frustration, that doesn't mean I will let him crush my Gym.

"Oh and what do I get if I win? I am not really interested in getting your Gym closed."

"Bragging rights? Tell everyone you won against an Electric type Gym leader when he was going all out?"

"Try again Surge."

"How about one million Pokédollars?"

"Like you have that kind of money."

"My Gym is worth more than that!"

"What would I do with a second Gym?"

"I don't know, sell the land to make a big mall?"

"So close to the sea? A hotel would be better..."

"So are you in or what?"

"No, I don't want to close down your Gym or own it." While it has a great location, I don't want to change cities plus you know Surge is actually a good Gym leader and I like him as a person.

"Fine. How about we both go all out but neither of us gets either's Gym closed?"

"That I can accept. So how many Pokémon should we use?"

"Normally I would say six, but I don't want to be rude and get your Gym destroyed."

Yeah, not only that would be rude, my budget is a bit tight at the moment.

"One vs one then? Using our strongest Pokémon?" For me that's Blastoise, for him his Electabuzz, that's too brutal for anything less than seven badge challenges... unless his Raichu has gotten really stronger in the last two years?

"That works."

I copy his confident smile.

"Okay is the artificial river battle arena okay?"

"You got a second battle arena made? Cool, where did you get the money for that?"

That's a very good question but-

"GOLDUCK STOP HOUNDING MILOTIC!"

My duck Pokémon instantly backs away from poor shy Milotic, she is still not used to all the attention she gets from being beautiful.

"DUCK GOLD UCK!"

"If she doesn't want to eat spicy food that's her choice!"

I normally suck at understanding Pokémon, but Golduck is one of the few exemptions to that. Maybe it is because we both are quick to anger?

"Duck..."

"Look I understand that you want to share what you love with others but this is not the way to do it. Return!" Golduck is back to his ball and I turn to look at Surge, who is giving me a weird look. "What?"

"That's your baby Psyduck? Oh my how much he has grown. You really took good care of him!"

"You are lucky he can't hear you call him a baby."

"What? I was just complimenting you for being a good trainer!"

I breathe in and out several times. It's not his fault, he doesn't know. He is not my enemy, he is even kind of friendly.

"Once my Psyduck became Golduck he got a temper problem. I can't even use him for Gym battles since he is so ruthless, and calling him a baby really angers him."

"What? I thought only Dragon types or dragon like Pokémon became like that after evolving."

"Golduck literally scares wild Gyarados away with just looking at them." While amusing, I got a bit freaked out about that until we both did some therapy.

Turns out that his temper is partly my fault, we share a mental link somehow, and while that helped with his headaches when he was a Psyduck, once he evolved and the headaches were gone... he became violent as a way to defend me and himself.

"Really? Electabuzz helped me in the war and that's why he is so violent. Whatever happened to your duck?"

I look away. "I will tell you someday; but not in public. The walls have ears." If anyone will understand it's him... well maybe other people will too, but of all the Kanto Gym leaders I trust him the most. He really helped me a lot when I was quite new as a Pokémon trainer. Not to say he mentored me, but he gave me some useful advice.

"That bad? Shit sorry; I didn't mean to pick at old wounds. If you want I can come in another day?"

"Nah, it's okay. Come back in an hour, I need to get things ready."

"Okay, whatever happens, no grudges okay?"

"I will try but I am a sore loser," I say with a smile.

"I will just go get a latte or something, see you later."

"Bye."

An hour later we both are in the artificial river battle arena, half of it is ground covered in rock and sand, easier to repair and cheaper than grass, the other half is the artificial river. The fake river is basically water that gets diverted from the real river to make a U-turn that goes into the battle arena and then heads back to the river.

Electabuzz and Blastoise are glaring at each other waiting for the battle to start.

This isn't a normal Gym battle, it will only end once one side surrenders. In the far away past, when there were no Pokémon Leagues and Gym leaders were more like Clan leaders, this type of "duel" was to the death.

But thankfully we live in more civilized times and neither me nor Surge wants to take things that far.

Helena, despite the scare from before, is acting as the judge.

"Ready? Battle start!" My second in command yells and both Pokémon charge at each other. In an all out battle like this there is no time wasted in saying commands, as they imitate a brutal fight to the death.

Blastoise instinctively hides her head inside her shell to protect it, avoiding the crackling, buzzing Thunder that Electabuzz fires past that space with a resounding boom, the powerful electric move glassing a spot behind my giant turtle leaving a rugged crater-shaped bowl.

Then I make a mistake by looking at the ground under Blastoise, making Surge's Electabuzz notice that one of my Pokémon's legs is raised and about to stomp hard on the ground. That makes the electric Pokémon jump avoiding the Earthquake that rocks the entire arena as several cracks, holes, and large sections of broken ground rise up into spires that would have struck him had he not moved up.

Before even landing Electabuzz flips in the air to avoid my giant turtle Hydro Pump shot from her water cannons. I hide my surprise at that. That's quite the acrobatic Pokémon!

Electabuzz follows his dodge with Thunder again only for Blastoise Protect to nullify it with a dark blue barrier.

Then to Surge's surprise my giant turtle hugs Electabuzz and crashes with him to the ground, doing another Earthquake. The damage to the ground basically doubles and this time ground spires do hurt Surge's Electabuzz.

Unfortunately that costs Blastoise as there is no way she can avoid the Thunder attack she receives in response since she is touching him.

I flinch at hearing my Pokémon's cry of pain at the direct hit with electricity. But she endures it and does another Earthquake, only to be hit by yet another Thunder and yet she is still not letting Electabuzz go despite the pain. Both Pokémon are down in a sinkhole due to the latest Earthquake.

"Enough! I give up!" It's not that Electabuzz is that much stronger than Blastoise, but Type advantage means he was the one doing more damage. Milotic would have been better for this battle but she is both not my strongest Pokémon and I don't want to traumatize her. Also, she just doesn't have the experience to fight well on her own yet.

Oh and the repair of this is gonna hurt my budget but it can't be helped. At least I get the "Gym leader discount" for this.

Blastoise lets Electabuzz go and weakly stands up, not fainting only out of sheer stubbornness. Electabuzz meanwhile stands up with no trouble despite clearly being injured.

"Sorry big girl, we are just not at that level yet," I say in apology and return Blastoise to her Pokéball. Then Surge returns his own Pokémon.

Only a few minutes passed from start to finish, and while I could follow the fight, it was by only focusing on that.

'So this is the barrier I need to pass to be a true Elite, uh? Well can't be helped, Surge has been doing this for way longer than me.' I still don't like that I lost but me and Blastoise will get better.

"Good fight Misty, no hard feelings, right?" Surge says and offers his hand. I walk carefully over the broken ground and shake his hand.

"No hard feelings. Here is your Cascade Badge." I give Lieutenant Surge the badge and then look behind him.

"Had fun watching old hag?" When Oak said he was going to help with the Team Rocket problem I didn't think he would get someone so strong to take care of it, much less her.

"No, it was boring! No wonder Team Rocket is still causing trouble if this generation's Gym leaders are so weak!" Agatha, the oldest member of the Kanto Elite four, says in a mocking tone.

Surge turns around, sees who I am calling old hag and looks at her with a wide smile.

"Hey Agatha, what's up? Did you find anything?"

"What's with the casual tone you idiot? Respect your elders!"

"What? But you said nothing about Misty calling you old hag!"

"So what? I am an old hag and proud of it!"

I have no clue how Oak got her to help, as far as I remember both in the anime and games she kind of has a grudge with him because he retired from being Kanto's Champion.

"Find anything? What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, the muscled idiot here did what he does best and acted as a loud distraction while I looked into why Team Rocket is so active in your city."

And I completely fell for it! Then again if I was told I am not sure I could have played along. I am a tad too direct for spy-like stuff like this.

"Okay, so what have you found Lady Agatha?" I ask in my most serious tone.

"Team Rocket was trying to steal Pokémon fossils from the Mount Moon dig site and trying to find both Clefairies and Moon Stones to sell to collectors. The operations done in Cerulean City were done both as a distraction to keep you and the local police force busy and to try to recruit new members for Team Rocket. But Oak's grandson Gary crushed their operation on Mount Moon and a Pokédex trainer named Ash did trash their recruiters here just a few days ago. Besides that, there were Team Rocket members hiding in a secret tunnel that goes from outside Cerulean City, under Saffron City all the way to outside Vermilion City. That's why I got this musclehead involved, I dealt with them while he was being the lightning rod for attention he usually is." Agatha's playful and mocking tone was gone despite what she just said.

"Shit they opened that tunnel again? I trashed it just after I became Gym leader!"

There was just too much gang activity on it. First I had to defeat everyone inside it then kick them out, then flood it with water attacks. And then I made my Sandslash trash it with several Earthquakes.

Some people were not happy about it, and I got a lot of complaints, but once I made it clear why I did that, the complaints quickly dried up. Not everyone in this world is a Pokémon Trainer but most people have Pokémon of their own and of course don't want to get them hurt or stolen and that's what the gangs were doing.

"Apparently they had enough money to not only repair the tunnel but also make hidden entrances to it," Surge says. "It won't be easy but I can probably convince the Diglett and Dugtrio near Vermilion City to erase it... just... I will have to get that stupid Diglett's Cave open again."

"Don't forget to insist on having support pillars in the tunnel so there won't be any cave-ins, after all you got it closed down because of that, right?" Agatha says what I was thinking of saying.

Surge winces at hearing that but says nothing. I feel your pain Lieutenant Surge, I really do.

"So... is Surge here gonna continue his Gym crushing routine with you shadowing him?"

Both Agatha and Surge look at each other.

"No," Surge says at the same time Agatha says "Yes."

"What? But we are in Gym battling season! I have a job to do!" Surge protests.

"This plan worked once. No reason It cannot work again. Besides, you are right in one thing, Kanto has way too many weak Gyms. You can go crush a Gym a week and still have time to run your own Gym."

"Oh come on, I don't wanna bet my Gym each time!"

"Then don't, bet money instead, we can get the League to cover it up as expenses as long as you do pay it back eventually."

Lieutenant Surge groans and facepalms.

"Misty, this is your fault!"

"No grudges, remember?" I respond smiling. "Besides, it serves you right for what you did to my poor Blastoise."

I stick my tongue out, Surge groans again while Agatha laughs.

"By the way, I got a Gastly up for adoption," I say while staring right at Agatha.

"Oh ho! Sorry but I already got more than enough ghost Pokémon," Agatha says in an innocent tone. Yeah, if she had nothing to do with Helena getting possessed I will buy a hat and eat it.

"Don't look at me, I am terrible with ghosts," Surge says while glaring at Agatha.

"I like your spirit Misty, it can be calm as a pond and then raging like the sea in a storm," Agatha suddenly says. "Such an interesting duality of being. Maybe you should try to become the Champion one day, or at least aim for my job, I won't last forever you know?"

"Oh, whatever happened with this generation's Gym leaders being weak?" I ask.

"You are weak, but you are also just a child, you can and will become strong if you put effort into it."

'Can... Can I really do it? Can I and my Pokémon reach that high? Of course we can! And then what? Well, I would have to find and or train a replacement...'

Helena suddenly starts to slowly back away.

'Oh well, it's not like I can become one of the Elite Four today, plus there is still time.'

Helena then stops backing away.

That's suspicious.

'Helena, if you can read my mind, you are getting a pay cut.'

Helena tries, really tries to not react to that but I still see her flinch.

"Excuse me a moment," I say, before walking to Helena and giving her a hug.

"What."

"You are a Psychic. Don't worry there is nothing wrong with that and you are not getting a pay cut."

"What. But I can't be Psychic!" Helena protests but doesn't try to get away from my hug.

"Why not?"

"They tested me for that when I was younger, I couldn't even guess what card was someone looking at, much less read minds!"

"I never said anything about reading minds."

"How? My parents tried everything to see if I would become a Psychic like them but nothing worked."

"If I have to guess, maybe it was being possessed that did it? As weak as Psychic types are to Ghost Types, Gastly's Poison type means he is weak to Psychic attacks and you did get him out once I scared you."

CLICK!

I turn around.

Did... did Surge really take a picture? Why the hell does he carry that big camera in his backpack anyway?

"I want two copies."

Of course Agatha wants two copies; because why not?

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Despite the picture Surge took, I didn't stop hugging Helena nor did she move away. Helena is the kind of person who both likes to touch people and is a bit too shy to do so.

She is also straight as an arrow, but kind of sees me as a big sister of sorts.

That has not stopped people talking but people will always talk and any protests or denials will just make things worse.

Thankfully this Pokéworld is way more tolerant about these kinds of things than Earth was back when I lived there.

Then again when an important part of the population basically walks the Earth as a rite of passage when they are ten, even if not everyone finishes their journey, I guess that leads to being more open-minded.

Even in modern Kanto culture is not uniform, for example most people who live in Cerulean City like to swim, be it on the river or the sea. While Vermilion City shares that but also got an important part of the population being sailors and fishermen. They also used to have a bit of a problem with wild Gyarados until Surge became the local Gym leader. Meanwhile Fuchsia City, while it has access to the sea and a small beach, it has people more interested in cycling, ninjas and the Safari Zone.

And that's just personal interests. My city has a-

Ugh, right these two pests are still here.

"I don't want to be rude, but you two had your fun already. Unless there is something you want to talk about, may you please leave?"

"Right, don't want to get in the middle of whatever you got going with your Gym trainer," Surge says then looks at Agatha. "Can I go back home now? You said the Gym Crushing would be once a week and I already did the one for this week, got the badge and everything! Also I really don't want to be around late at night, Misty's sisters are kind of grabby."

"As they are family I feel like I should defend them, but as someone who has to live with them... yeah, better leave while you can." After all the walls at home are a bit too thin. And I had to grow up there. No wonder canon Misty basically left as soon as she could, even if she wasn't taking the Pokémon League challenge.

"Fine, we did everything we had to do here anyway. Let's go Surge, and remember you have a bunch of Earthworms to talk to."

"Yeah... I will do that tomorrow." Surge slumps his shoulders and walks away.

Agatha smirks at me," It's nice to see how caring you are, get stronger child or I will personally come to kick your ass."

Then the old hag leaves too and I feel drained about this whole thing.

But then I get another Gym challenge and try to keep what the old hag said out of my mind.

It doesn't work and I make a little girl cry, then Helena has to calm her down and accompany her to the Pokécenter to get her Oddish healed. She also takes my Blastoise there since she needs healing too.

'Fuck, that's it, I am closing for the rest of the day and doing those meditation exercises my therapist taught me.'

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Golduck and I sit on a training mat, incense candles lit around us. We breathe in and out slowly, trying to clean our minds. Milotic is sitting next to me, her head touching my left arm. That goes on for about twenty minutes then I sing a song that came from the Hoenn region all the way to Kanto, hundreds years ago and became popular with sailors.

"I want to go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I want to go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the Wingulls crying.

I want to go down to the seas again, to the vagrant sailor's life,
To the Wingull's way and the Wailmer's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."

The singing part may not be the usual kind of meditation, but it does work for Golduck. Unfortunately, meditation and singing doesn't replace therapy. After the Gym Battling season is over I am going right to the Orange Islands to see my therapist. Me and Golduck need it.

But for now, it will hold, I will get better once I get Blastoise back, and so will Golduck.

Then I hug both Golduck and Milotic. I cry a bit and unlike before my Pokémon Journey two years ago, I don't feel ashamed of it.

Even Golduck cries, but is okay, he doesn't have to put on his mask all the time, not anymore. Is no longer just him, Blastoise and Sunshine protecting me.

We are stronger now and I have more Pokémon, we have allies, we have friends and we have both soft and hard power we can use if needed.

And once my vacation time starts, we will see if that is enough to prove a prophecy wrong.

AN: Misty's Pokémon Journey... well it wasn't easy even with her knowledge of the Anime and games.

Blastoise tanked two super effective and powerful electric attacks but wouldn't have been able to tank a third. Misty decided she didn't want Blastoise to risk a grave injury that she might never recover from.

Because yes that's a thing that can happen in the Anime.

Agatha wanted two copies because one picture is to send to Professor Oak, in case you wanna know.

Imagine if you will why Surge forcefully evolved a recently caught Pikachu into a Raichu, and why he is so familiar with Agatha...

And for why SI!Misty called Agatha old hag? It is a bit too much of a coincidence that Helena got possessed before the Elite Four that uses Ghost Type Pokémon showed up, don't you think?

In the next episode:

Spoiler

"Clefairy, fairy, cle!"

"What is he saying Sunshine?"

"Nyyynyynyyta!"

"Team Rocket kidnapped Bill?"

"Ny!"

"Damn it!"

Edited by megrisvernin .

 

[AlmightySouls]

Yea so is this a repost? because I remember reading this exact story.

 

[Beyogi]

Interesting story so far. Psychic sidekick acquired?

 

[Doccer]

Imagine if you will why Surge forcefully evolved a recently caught Pikachu into a Raichu, and why he is so familiar with Agatha...

Click to shrink...

Huh??? The answer is not obvious to me. I always thought he was a moar powah idiot that only punched.

 

[Pinklestia]

Yea so is this a repost? because I remember reading this exact story.

Click to shrink...

Thie story has been posted in other forums, yes.

Huh??? The answer is not obvious to me. I always thought he was a moar powah idiot that only punched.

Click to shrink...

In the Anime Surge cares about his Pokemon being strong, to the point he keeps sending kids Pokemon to the hospital because he is being a bit too hard on his Pokemon battles. Is not until Ash beats his slow Raichu using Pikachu that he chills a bit.

Here he is still interested in Pokemon being strong but he is also aware that he has to hold back with trainers that don't have enough badges.

Simply put Surge lost friends and Pokemon during the last war and that's why he wants his Pokemon to be strong so badly. Agatha was of course involved in the war and so was Oak. Remember Agatha speciality is Ghost type Pokemon and Poison type Pokemon, now image her using that in a war were Pokemon battles were to the death and Pokemon were used to kill people.

Unlike in the Anime, Surge going too hard on trainers resulted on trainers catching Ground type Pokemon just to beat him.

By the time Misty went to challenge his Gym two years ago, Misty not using Ground type Pokemon to challenge him made Surge actually threat the challenge like it was, a zero badge challenge so he just used a single Pokemon and not his strongest one.

He actually was nice and helpful with Misty when she had a few questions, that's why he is Misty favourite Gym leader in Kanto.

And the one she is 100% sure doesn't secretly work for Team Rocket.

Interesting story so far. Psychic sidekick acquired?

Click to shrink...

She already worked for Misty so is not like things changed that much.

 

[Tempest Warden]

Well this is certainly interesting and wonder how it'll go. One think would certainly be what alternate sources of income she acquires....

So has a psychic second alongside a golduck with a connection to her, a milotic whose shy, and a Blastoide who carries a clown nose. Also sent Ash off to deal with things though do wonder what might happen when he returns. Though activity from Team Rocket plus apparently having to keep the thought of who else might be working with Team Rocket in her mind. Is interesting seeing how her views with Surge is, so wonder how the other gym leaders are viewed. Am wondering though about if they could've just turned that tunnels into underground rails, but then again could probably be problems with that...


Recalling the movies, what comes to my mind being the ones involving Mew Two, Articuno, Moltres, and Zaptos plus Luigia and Mew. Wonder how things might play out. Let alone how things currently are in this Pokemon world.



Also just in general for some reason enjoy when Orre gets brought up. The two game cube pokemon games that involved it just kinda stuck with me plus with just how the region is. Let alone considering how with where it was based off of/used as reference does seem like it would be close to Unova. Certainly some distance away cause Arizona and New York, but still.

...Hm, so have seen a Brock, Dawn, and now a Misty SI. Wonder who the next would be?

 

[Pinklestia]

One think would certainly be what alternate sources of income she acquires....

Click to shrink...

Remember those breathing masks in the Anime, how they don't need oxigen tanks? Remember how overpriced some sea related items are in the games? Sea diving for "treasure" is one of the ways this Misty makes extra money, if is too deep for her she just sends her Pokemon. Unfortunately she can only do that out of Gym battling season because unless in an emergency she can't leave her Gym alone for too long otherwise. Misty has also invested some of her savings on the Silph Company shares. Also more unfortunately, backpacks don't have as much storage space as in the games since that's not a thing on the Anime.

While that has not earned her money; Misty has encouraged Berries planting and farming in places were it makes sense. Hence why Celadon City now has Berries greenhouses.

Misty and Gym Leader Erika from Celadon City basically fight on sight, mostly by verbal sparing.

They are basically frenemies.

Am wondering though about if they could've just turned that tunnels into underground rails, but then again could probably be problems with that

Click to shrink...

That would have been too expensive and noisy, remember the tunnel goes under Sabrina's city, even passes near her Gym! there is no way in hell she wouldn't have noticed an underground train. Also a subway trains would have needed to reinforce the tunnel and it just wasn't worth the cost. Team Rocket here is not gonna be stupid with money like in the Anime, no mechas or giant robot Pokemon, thank you.

Edit: Well more stupid with money like the games not the "How the heck can they afford this?" of the anime.

Also just in general for some reason enjoy when Orre gets brought up.

Click to shrink...

My headcanon is that Surge is from Orre hence why he moved to be Gym leader on a city in Kanto next to the sea and why he has no intentions of going back. And why he took part of the war in Kanto's side, he just wanted to live in a place with enough water, a lot of Pokemon and a nice beach.

 

[Pinklestia]

Chapter 04: The Great Fairy Detective

The next day I decided to take the morning off. One of my two battle arenas had been completely wrecked after all. Even with Sandslash's help it was still not fully repaired, but at least the holes were mostly gone. So I had to call for a local company to finish the repairs even if it hurt my wallet.

Helena was around, so was Suzy, so I left them in charge and decided to go on a patrol around the city.

"Go Sunshine!" My Ponyta, that refuses to evolve, got out of her Pokéball and was happy to see me.

"Hey girl, wanna go for a run?"

"Nyynyy!"

"Sure, there will be carrots later for now here is an apple."

After Sunshine eats the apple, I put the saddle, girth, bit and reins on her. Then I make sure to be wearing jeans and shoes then climb up and let her take me where she wants to go.

While I tried to copy Anime Misty's clothes as much as I could I went for a real yellow shirt instead of whatever the heck she had that showed her belly button. After all I want to wear a one piece swimsuit under my clothes, to both swim anytime I feel like it and to avoid perverts getting a look.

And unfortunately riding a Pokémon with just shorts is uncomfortable, hence the pants.

The tourists still get confused about a Water Type Gym Leader riding a Fire Type Pokémon but it's not like I care.

Unless it rains, Sunshine is better than a bike, and she is basically a cute pony so that's a plus. Well technically a horse like pony but Pokémon are weird.

Despite what I said, she is trotting instead of running, we are heading to a certain sea cottage, home of Pokémon researcher (And Mad Scientist) Bill.

Why? Sunshine likes him. And also it has been a month since Sunshine last saw him so she is most likely worried.

Heck just last month he somehow had got fused with a Clefairy in an experiment gone wrong!

Yeah just like in the games, also like in the Anime he has a lighthouse.

Look in my defense it made sense that he actually has someplace to live besides the lighthouse okay? Even if in hindsight all the hints this world is not a perfect match for the anime are in plain sight.

Good thing for that too as my memory of the anime is kinda blurry on some things.

And no, no giant Dragonite so far.

Cloyster tends to wander to this area and fight wild Pokémon when I let her out to have some fresh air... and she once returned clearly injured but happy. Then again it's not like we have a huge beach area, it's basically Bill's land at the end of Route 25 and that's it.

So maybe she fought the giant Dragonite? Hopefully Bill never finds out if that's the case.

Once we reach the cottage I knock on the door but no one answers.

"Nynyta."

"You think he is at the lighthouse? Well okay let's go there." I climb down off Sunshine and walk to the lighthouse on foot, my Ponyta behind me.

There is a sign at the lighthouse.

"Closed down for repairs?" I read out loud. I take a look, the lighthouse doesn't look damaged.

I push the door, it's locked.

"What do you think, Sunshine?"

"Pony, ponynynyta."

"Yeah, he would have sent a letter or something if he was going to be away for long."

I take out my copy of the lighthouse key (yes I got one of the lighthouse and another of the cottage, since I am the closest he has to a neighbor) and then unlock the door.

Inside things are a mess, there are signs of violence and I can barely hear someone crying.

"Clefairy is that you?"

Bill's Clefairy suddenly runs from under a desk and hides behind Sunshine.

"Clefairy, fairy, cle!"

"What is he saying Sunshine?"

"Nyyynyynyyta!"

"Team Rocket kidnapped Bill?"

"Ny!"

"Damn it!"

"Okay Clefairy, we are going to run to the city and then get in contact with the police and with some people that can help. Do you want to come with us?"

"Clefairy!"

"I will take that as a yes."

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Once more I am in the local police station about something having to do with Team Rocket. And it has not even been a week since the last time!

"Hi officer Jenny Sue."

"My name is just-"

"By old rules dating back to the era of Clans, as this city Gym leader I can legally change your name, so don't tempt me. It has been a really bad week so far."

"Right, sorry Leader Cascade! What can I do to help you today?"

"Pokémon Professor and Researcher Bill has been kidnapped by Team Rocket. Right Clefairy?"

"Clefairy!"

"Is that Professor Bill Clefairy?" A policeman asked.

"Yes, he is also the only witness. Hope you have someone who can understand Clefairy language."

"I am sorry Leader Cascade, no one in the police station knows Clefairy language," officer Jenny (Sue) says, sounding a bit scared. Right, in emergencies like this a Gym leader is of equal rank to the city mayor.

"Do you have a room big enough for me, my Ponyta, Clefairy and someone to take Clefairy's statement? I can make my Ponyta translate for me then I can just repeat whatever she tells me but in human language."

"Yes Leader Cascade, please follow me," officer Jenny (Sue) says and I and Clefairy follow her to an empty and big room.

Then I release Sunshine into the room and we start to take Clefairy's testimony.

After that I call Professor Oak, then Surge. Oak is worried for his friend while Surge curses up a storm because this means he has to call Agatha and she is not his favorite person currently, to say the least.

Then I walk to the house of the mayor and inform her in person what the heck is going on.

"Bill? They took Bill! He made the Pokémon Transfer System! This is a disaster! Team Rocket will steal all Pokémon that get traded or moved digitally!" The mayor is an old woman with graying hair that is in her sixties and apparently has no lung problems due to how much she is screaming.

"No, they can't do that. Yes, Bill created the system but he is no longer involved in it. Dr. Akihabara took over it about three years ago and has made enough changes that Bill would need a lot of effort and time to mess with it."

"Uh? Really? Then why is this the first time I heard about that?"

"Dr. Akihabara prefers his privacy. I only know because Bill told me."

Like in the anime, Pokémon in this world don't get stored digitally, only transferred or traded.

Well technically speaking digital Pokémon can be stored digitally but whatever.

"Then why did they kidnap Bill?"

"He is the most knowledgeable person in the Kanto region when it comes to rare Pokémon... and maybe they don't know about Bill no longer being involved in the Pokémon Transfer System? Wait... oh no."

"What?"

"Last time I talked to him he was investigating legends and rumors about the Legendary Birds of Kanto and Orange Islands legends."

"WHAT? IS TEAM ROCKET NUTS?"

Looks like I will have to go back to the Orange Islands sooner than I expected.

"Looks like it; sorry gotta go to deal with this."

"Misty, wait you are just twelve years old!"

By the time she says that I am already leaving, and ignoring her.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

"Clefairy cleiry, fairy!"

"Pony, nyny, ta."

"Fine. You can come with me Clefairy. Sunshine, return." With my Ponyta back in her Pokéball, I have to decide what Pokémon to take. While Blastoise is fully healed, she still needs a few days to fully recover.

So...

Golduck is of course going. Sandslash can't do anything to Zapdos, Milotic's Mirror Coat would need her to tank a Thunder from a legendary. So ice then? Cloyster is my best Pokémon with ice attacks and can close his shell to reduce damage from attacks.

Wait... I am not thinking this right, this is not the games. Legendaries are much more powerful here.

So I should at most be able to take down a single one of them.

Articuno and Moltres have a quadruple weakness to rock. And Zapdos has a double weakness to it.

So... should I call Brock? If he has a few Golems it may work for Zapdos.

No, I am focusing on the wrong things.

This isn't about defeating the birds, I can make the priestess summon Lugia if it comes to that.

This is about rescuing Bill.

So I should pick the Pokémon best for doing that.

Oh and I have to tell Oak, Surge and Agatha what I plan to do.

And of course Surge and Agatha will insist on coming along. Maybe Oak too, due to Bill's age Oak may even be a sort of mentor figure to him now that I think about it.

Then again he is a former Pokémon League Champion.

You know what? I will just pick the right Pokémon after I call Oak and Surge and then go.

My Lapras may not be the fastest Pokémon ever but her endurance is insane, so I can just tell her where to go and nap during the journey.

Oh and I don't have Bill's Clefairy Pokéball, so I should pack some food in case he gets hungry.

Let's see, emergency backpack number two is fully stocked and I am so glad I did the end of the world crisis prep after Bill temporarily fused with Clefairy.

Should I make Clefairy take a backpack too? He can carry the smallest one I guess.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Let's see...

Survival backpacks ready, one on me and a smaller one for Clefairy.

Helena is in charge until I return, with Suzy as her assistant. The Gym has a "Temporary closed for repairs" sign for everything but the pool which is for Gym members and Water shows only, and is closed until further notice.

I am taking six Pokémon. Lapras as my ride, Golduck as bodyguard, Sunshine to ride inland the islands, Cloyster and Milotic for battling...

Still got one slot.

Seadra.

I pick her ball, then hesitate.

I need her to be stronger.

The problem is that her evolution is part Dragon and Dragon Pokémon are temperamental and hard to control.

I got the Dragon Scale months ago, unlike in the games all she needs to do is to hold into it and she will evolve.

I mentally count to ten then release her into the Gym pool.

"Seesee!" My seahorse like Pokémon is happy to see me. Then she notices my sour mood.

"Dra?"

"Seadra... Do you want to evolve?"

Seadra stays silent, probably thinking about it.

"Seadra! Seeseedra!"

"Really? Okay."

She doesn't want to evolve, on one hand I am relieved on the other that's a lot of money I wasted for nothing.

"Seedra seesee."

Ah, she doesn't want to evolve to avoid worrying me.

"Seedra, I am about to do a rescue operation, and I might have to face some really strong Pokémon. Blastoise is still recovering and Lapras will be my ride. Golduck will do his best, and so will Milotic and Cloyster. Sunshine, well... she is going but there is just too much water for her."

"Seeedra, see dra!"

"No, I am not afraid, just... we don't have the time if something goes wrong if you evolve now."

Seedra moves close to me, and I give her a hug.

"See?"

"No, you are not my only option."

"Seedra, see dra see."

Okay she lied to make me feel better. She actually doesn't want to evolve because she thinks her evolution is ugly.

"Honesty, I like you the way you are. Know what? I would feel better if you stayed to help Helena."

I also think Kingdra is a tad ugly.

Yeah I know, I am never going to be the best that ever was with that kind of attitude but this is not a videogame. I have to actually look and interact with my Pokémon and that is hard if for some reason I don't like a particular Pokémon I own.

"Seesee!" Seems like Seadra is happy with my idea of her staying with Helena.

Well that leaves Scizor but I definitely can't use him if Moltres gets loose.

But at least he resists Ice type attacks so that's something.

And again, I can get the priestess to summon Lugia if needed.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

Helena is surprised that I am leaving Seadra with her. Once I explain things she doesn't know what to think. She is unsure if in my situation she would have forced Seadra to evolve or not.

Still I have no time to talk about it, so I ride Lapras in the river and we use it to head to the ocean.

Now if my sisters were better people maybe they would be trying to stop me.

But even in that case it's still early in the morning and they are sleeping like logs.

And while the mayor is not happy about it, she can't really stop me.

So there is no one running in a dramatic way and trying to stop me.

In fact not even at the sea do we face trouble at first, but that's because I release Golduck to be his usual angry self.

"Clefairy."

"No clue what you are saying, and Lapras is not gonna both translate and pay attention to where she is swimming too."

So Clefairy tries charades instead.

After half an hour of trying and me barely getting anything he is trying to say, Clefairy just gives up and looks at the sea instead.

I feel kinda bad about that, thankfully my angry duck is more than just angry, he is good for some other things besides all out fights.

"Duck!"

"Fairy."

"Gold."

I try to ignore Golduck and Clefairy's talk and get some shut eye time; the journey to the Orange Islands will take a while. Heck the Orange Archipelago, as the Orange Islands are usually called on maps, is so far away most flying Pokémon that carry their trainers wouldn't be able to do the trip without several stops. The problem is that there is not a single place to make a stop in the ocean route you need to take to go there, much less several.

The Orange Islands are located far west of Cinnabar Island while the Sevii Islands are located far south of the Kanto region.

Sure technically the Orange Islands are closer, but even in a Lapras that can go for long without resting like mine, it takes a whole day to reach there. The Sevii Islands take a three day journey by ship instead.

I am almost sure the Orange Islands should actually be located in the same place as the Sevii Islands instead, but whatever, if they are somewhere else then they are somewhere else.

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

I wake up late at night, Golduck has climbed Lapras back to take a break, and he and Clefairy are sharing the rations in Clefairy's backpack.

"Hey, how is it going?"

"Duck duck gold."

The fairy Pokémon just looks at me in annoyance but says nothing.

"Yeah, sorry about that, hey Golduck, wanna return to your pokéball?"

"Duck!"

"Fine, stay with your boyfriend."

"Golduck!"

"One I was joking and two; I am happy that you made a new friend."

My blue duck blushes and looks away, the pink fairy does the same.

I ignore that and I get a few rations bars for myself and also a can of lemonade, from my backpack.

Then of course we get attacked interrupting my dinner. And worse, it has to be tentacle monsters cause anime.

Freaking Tentacool and Tentacruel, you are going down!

"GOLDUCK!"

Oh I didn't know those kinds of knots!

▪ ▪ ▪ ☆

After that the journey is mostly peaceful, so I finish my dinner and go back to sleep. Golduck stays outside his Pokéball to make sure no annoyances wake me up.

Then early in the morning the rising sun wakes me, I can barely see the Orange Islands in the distance, the view is just as amazing as the last time.

I have to admit, I was tempted to just... move here. No Chosen One to deal with, no Team Rocket... and then I got slammed in the head with the whole Pokémon Movie 2000 Slowking and priestess existing so that crushed my dream quite fast.

To be fair that was before I decided to take over as a Gym leader.

Anyway, there is a particular island we are heading to, the one with a temple, a Slowking and maybe a Priestess, she usually doesn't spend her time in the temple after all.

Shamouti Island, a place I tried to avoid but ended up going to anyway.

Hopefully Team Rocket is just after the stupid birds and not after Lugia.

To reach the center of the Orange Archipelago (as Shamouti Island is there) is gonna take about ten to twelve hours, so I pack my clothes in my backpack and take a small break swimming naked to relieve myself. Then I climb Lapras' back, dry myself with a towel and put my blue one piece swimsuit on.

Then my growling stomach tells me I really should eat breakfast.

''Sure Misty, go on Lapras, it's better than renting a ship and cheaper too, it makes you look cool! I want a decent breakfast damnit!'

Golduck looks at me with a smug smile.

The pink fairy Pokémon however is still sleeping.

"Sure laugh it up, but we couldn't waste time, Bill needs us and apparently Lugia may need our help too."

That makes Golduck smile drop.

"Duck duck duck!"

"Why else do you think I was in such a hurry? For Mew's sake, you could just have read my mind or something."

"Gold uck..."

"Ah, our therapist told you not to do that without permission. Okay makes sense. You have my permission."

I don't feel a headache or even a minor annoyance yet I can still feel Golduck in my head, I mostly try to ignore it while I eat my breakfast of ration bars and a can of lemonade.

"Golduck?"

"No I am not the Chosen One, don't be ridiculous."

"Gold duck gold gold!"

"Sure Lugia likes me but-"

Shit, does Lugia want me to eventually catch her?

"Golduck!"

"But why me? I am nothing special! Heck I am even insane! I am not the Pokémon Champion, I can't even beat a Gym leader of the same Pokémon Type I use if they are going all out!"

Golduck moves closer and gives me a hug.

Then he shows me a recent memory of mine.

"I like your spirit Misty, it can be calm as a pond and then raging like the sea in a storm," Agatha suddenly says. "Such an interesting duality of being. Maybe you should try to become the Champion one day, or at least aim for my job, I won't last forever you know?"

"Oh, whatever happened with this generation's Gym leaders being weak?" I ask.

"You are weak, but you are also just a child, you can and will become strong if you put effort into it."

I then facepalm with my two hands.

"Clefairy."

"Good morning Clefairy," I say and decide to look at the islands in the distance.

"Fairy?" He asks confused that I can suddenly understand him.

"I got Golduck in my head acting as a translator. He can't do both that and fight since it is distracting but for now it means I can understand you."

"Cle fa ry!" Oh looks like now Golduck is the one that made him angry.

"Gold uck duck uck!"

I have never been so happy to be attacked by a group of Gyarados as I am right now.

"Clefairy!" The pink Pokémon launches some kind of glowing pink energy ball to the Gyarados group.

'Was that a Moonblast? Maybe something else? I really wish I had not skipped the Switch games...'

Whatever it is, the attack scares the Gyarados away. They go underwater before the attack hits them and then they swam away as fast as they can.

"Clefairy."

"Yes you are awesome, Bill must be proud of you."

"Clefairy fairy fairy Clefairy!"

"Oh you have an idea of where on the Orange Islands they might have taken Bill, then why didn't you say something to the police?"

Clefairy looks down.

"Clecle fairy..."

Ah he only thought about it once we were out in the sea, no wonder he was so annoyed at me not being able to understand him.

"Wait, then why didn't you tell Golduck to tell me?"

At that Clefairy facepalms.

AN: Definitely the greatest fairy detective that Misty knows (because he is the only fairy detective she knows).

We get more about Lugia next chapter.

In the next episode:

Spoiler

"YOU!"

"Me?" I asked, pointing at myself despite the fact we are the only ones on the beach, probably due to the freak storm that recently ended.

"YOU RUINED MY VACATION! I am not even supposed to be a priestess until two years from now and it's not even the festival yet!"

"Melody please calm down, this is important."

Edited by megrisvernin.

 

[darconor]

Dr. Akihabara took over it about three years ago and has made enough changes that Bill would need a lot of effort and time to mess with it.

Click to shrink...

Last time I bothered to check Dr. Akihabara was building Meda-Bots in Meda-City.

Definitely the greatest fairy detective that Misty knows (because he is the only fairy detective she knows)

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Too bad she didn't found an amnesic pikachu that could speak hummie in the way out.

 

[Pinklestia]

Last time I bothered to check Dr. Akihabara was building Meda-Bots in Meda-City.

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Is the guy who in the Anime invented the Pokemon Transfer System.

Dr. Akihabara

m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

Just you know both banned episode and stealing Bill's thunder so here in this story Bill invented it then moved on to other things.

pikachu that could speak hummie in the way out.

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Misty does know one Pokemon that can talk and is not the talking cat Pokemon that works for Team Rocket.