It was a bright sunny day on Route 4 on the other side of Mount Moon, and the heat was beating down on the group of trainers, it was hot enough for (Y/N) to be without his jacket, keeping it as padding the mystery egg in his bag safe, and Torchic was enjoying the heat while on it's trainer's shoulder. (Y/N) grabbed a berry off of one of the nearby trees as they walked, it was a rather quiet walk, with the occasional mention of the weather being great.
The tranquillity was lost when Misty's voice rang out to Brock and the two Ketchums.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Misty called out while running up behind them to catch up, once she caught up though, she stopped and panted a little bit to catch her breath, "hey, where do you think you're going?" She asked with a whine to her voice.
Ash looked Misty in the eyes, "oh, I know where we're going. We're going to Cerulean City," he said in a somewhat innocent tone, but that made Misty panic... a lot, but the thought of Cerulean City brought a smile to (Y/N)'s face.
"Ahh... Cerulean City..." (Y/N) smiled dreamily, his mind wandering to the Sensational Sisters of the Cascade Gym.
"Cerulean City!? What're you going there for?" Misty asked in a worried tone. Ash said something but (Y/N) wasn't listening as he was too busy still daydreaming about the Sisters and walked alone, but was soon blocked by Misty. "Hey, what about we go to Vermillion City? It's by the ocean, and there's this big hill where you can watch the sunset," Misty tried her best to convince the group to not go to Cerulean City.
However, (Y/N) had priorities, "sorry Misty, but the Sensational Sisters are there, and I've been waiting for Cerulean for a while now," he said, side-stepping Misty and continuing, with Ash and Brock following close behind, and Misty lingering behind with a pout.
It took a full day of travel, but they finally made it to Cerulean City, and (Y/N) was too caught up in his daydreams still to be bothered about listening to Ash or Brock, but a crowd swarming someplace seemed to catch all three's eyes, and so they walked closer to investigate, not having much trouble pushing through the crowd to reach the front.
"Excuse me, do you know what happened here?" Ash asked as he looked at someone else who was already there.
"Some burglars broke into that store last night."
Ash's brows furrowed slightly, "burglars, huh?"
"What do you know about burglars!?" The familiar voice of Officer Jenny asked accusingly as she looked at Brock, Ash and (Y/N) questioningly, trying to figure them out, "you three look very suspicious to me."
Ash's face lit up in excitement, "hey, you're that motorcycle officer from Viridian!" He exclaimed happily.
"Ahh, you must've met my sister-in-law!" Jenny said rather happily, as (Y/N) chuckled slightly at the 'in-law' part, "if you've met my sister-in-law, then that means you've had some dealings with the police in Viridian," Ash was about to say something, but Jenny continued, "now, maybe you stopped to ask her for directions, or maybe you found a wallet on the ground and was going to return it, or maybe you're burglars who broke out of jail!" She yelled out the last part, extending handcuffs out, in front of her towards the three.
"I've never been to jail, officer," (Y/N) said respectively, with a small smile, "neither has Ash, or Brock... I think Brock hasn't been to jail."
"That's right, never been to jail, we just arrived in town and saw the crowd, so we came over to see what was happening," Brock added on, waving his hands in front of his face a little.
Officer Jenny's lips curled up a little menacingly, "the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime."
Brock was about to say something, but Ash pulled out his pokédex, and held it up, "maybe this will clear things up."
"I'm Dexter, a Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum."
"Yeah, and I was the leader of the Pewter City gym," Brock said while holding up the Boulder Badge.
"Well, that excuses you two, but what about you?" Jenny turned her attention to (Y/N), who pulled out the Kanto Champion badge, "oh great heavens! I'm so sorry, I should've recognised you from the last time you came around here," she sighed and put the handcuffs away, "sorry I was so suspicious, now I'm suspicious of my sister... she has such weird taste in friends."
"Um, miss," Brock started, getting (Y/N), Ash and Jenny's attention, "I was wondering, since I'm new in town, maybe we could get together tonight and you could show me around."
Officer Jenny's smile returned and she turned her head to the side, "well, I don't get off duty until past your bedtime," she had a smug smile on her face the whole time as she said how young Brock was, "and I may even have to work around the clock to catch these burglars," Ash inquired about the stuff that was stolen, "that's the strange thing about it, they didn't take any money, just a massive vacuum and a giant hose."
Soon after, Jenny managed to break up the crowd as she and her colleagues was investigating.
(Y/N), Ash and Brock sat on a bench nearby in the suburban area, and was just relaxing.
"Good thing I had Dexter, and you two had your badges," Ash mumbled as he relaxed.
"Yeah, say... shouldn't you be heading to the Cerulean City gym?" Brock asked, his arms crossed as (Y/N) continued to daydream about the Sensational Sisters.
Ash nodded, and turned to Brock, "yeah. Hey, Brock, do you have any insider information on the gym trainer there?" He asked, looking at the newest travel buddy. Brock looked at Ash with a peaked eyebrow, causing Ash to laugh nervously, "I just wanna get as much information about him before we have our match. 'Know yourself, know your adversary, and you hold the key to victory'," Ash said proudly, which actually caught his older brother's attention.
"You remember? I thought I was wasting my breath when I said that," (Y/N) said with a small smile, happy that Ash remembered something he had told him, "glad you took it to heart."
Ash smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck while pulling up Dexter, "I actually learned that from Dexter," (Y/N)'s expression soured slightly.
Brock smiled and laughed a little, "either way, I haven't personally met the trainer here. But I do know they have a special move," he smiled, which made (Y/N) look at Brock, knowing full well that was a lie.
"Really? What move is that?" Ash asked, with an excited tone.
"Sorry Ash, but I can't give you that information, I'm a gym trainer too, after all. I can't tell you out of respect, you understand," Brock informed, standing up and slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"I understand."
(Y/N) spoke up again, "luckily I'm not a gym trainer, but you could get the badge with Pikachu alone, it's a water-type gym, so you have the type advantage," he said, standing up as well, picking Torchic up from the bench and putting it on his shoulder, "y'know, so long as Pikachu listens."
Brock left as the two Ketchums were looking for the Cerulean City Gym, which (Y/N) could actually help with directing Ash the right way.
Once they arrived at the gym, (Y/N) and Ash walked in and they heard the announcer of the place call out to the amassed crowd in the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please welcome the stars of our show!" The announcer called out, causing (Y/N) to rush to sit on one of the lower stairs, "the Sensational Cerulean City Synchronised Swimming Sisters!"
Both Ketchum's eyes widened as they saw the Sisters, Ash's in wonder as this was the first time he had ever seen them, and (Y/N)'s in utter awe and anticipation. They looked up to the top of the diving board which was incredibly high up, where the three sisters waved and soaked in the glory of everyone's cheers, (Y/N)'s included.
The Sensational Sisters began their performance with a dive into the pool, Ash was confused, unsure of why a show was on, as he thought this was solely a gym.
Pikachu seemed to have the same idea as (Y/N), and was utterly mesmerised by the Sensational Sisters. (Y/N) couldn't even fathom the absolute beauty the three exuded, and again, he was a softy towards them.
As the performance came to an end, the crowd erupted into cheers, and again, (Y/N) was cheering alongside them, and was in fact louder than a lot of them.
"Aren't they amazing?" (Y/N) asked his brother, looking back, only to see him gone. He sighed as he got up, and saw the cornered tail of Pikachu going down some stairs. (Y/N) followed, and decided to check up on Ash, "what's wrong?"
Ash turned to his brother, "I just don't get it, I thought you said this was a gym, yet we've only seen the three girls you've been crushing on," he said, before looking along the corridor, only to see several displays of several fish, "woah. It's like an aquarium down here."
"It is a gym, we just happened to stumble across it as a show was on, you know the trainers have lives other than battling, right?" (Y/N) asked, shaking his head, "they have personal lives and don't live for battle. Besides, the gym acts as an aquarium and a... what's it called when synchronised swimmers have a dedicated stage? It's like a pool, but more professional... oh well, there's probably a word for it."
As (Y/N) was lecturing his younger brother, he heard the Sensational Sisters talking about their performance, and were complimenting each other. Ash approached the Sisters, "hey, um-"
"Hey, if you want an interview, you'll, like, have to talk to our manager," the one with pink hair, Lily said, Ash tried to get his point across, but was cut off again, "we don't do autographs."
"I don't want one, I just want to know if this is actually a pokémon gym," Ash inquired, the Sisters nodded.
"It sure is," the blondie, Daisy, chimed in.
"Well, I'm looking for the gym trainer," Ash said, as (Y/N) was already fanboying over the Sisters quietly.
"Well, you're looking at them," Lily said, causing Ash to become even more confused.
To (Y/N), it was almost as if they were glowing as they spoke, "the three of us are the gym trainers here," Daisy said, and again, (Y/N) was silently fanboying.
"We're the Sensational Sisters," Lily added.
"We're world-famous," the one with blue hair, Violet said with a smile.
Ash was utterly bamboozled, and questioned about all the swimming, making it clear he truly wasn't listening to (Y/N) at all. The Sensational Sisters made a terrible water pun, and (Y/N) laughed a bit at it, he didn't find it funny, he just wanted to not seem rude. Yet it caught the Sensational Sisters' attention, and Lily looked at the eldest Ketchum.
"Hey, you're familiar, do we know you?" Violet asked, which caused (Y/N)'s cheeks to flush at the sudden attention.
"Uh, yeah, four years ago, I came here to get my Cascade Badge," he said, smiling slightly as he tried to maintain eye contact, and failing miserably.
Daisy chimed in, shaking her head, "no no, I swear I've seen you on television somewhere."
(Y/N) rubbed his arm a little, "yeah, I'm (Y/N), current Indigo League Champion."
Almost as if a switch had been flipped in the Sisters' heads, they all started speaking at the same time, giving (Y/N) more attention than Ash, "so that's why you look so familiar!" Violet smiled, practically gushing over the older Ketchum.
"You're cuter now than you were when you got the Cascade Badge!" Lily chimed in.
Ash's expression was practically unreadable, but it was clear he was annoyed at being side-lined, "I challenge all of you to a gym battle," he said with determination in his voice.
Daisy looked at Ash, and tilted her head to the right, "sorry, but we don't feel much like battling anymore," this surprised Ash to no end as all of them walked together to the main pool where all the stands were empty.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked, somewhat annoyed about having a trip to Cerulean being for nothing.
Violet looked at Ash to explain their reasoning, "we just got beat three times in a row by some kids from this nowhere place called 'Pallet Town'," she said, emphasising it was embarrassing and she didn't like it at all, "it was just one defeat after another... my eyes were spinning from all the losses."
(Y/N)'s expression soured slightly, "we're from Pallet Town," he mumbled under his breath as Daisy continued.
"We had to like, practically rush all our pokémon to the Pokémon Centre," Daisy said, crossing her arms over her stomach.
Lily dropped a pokéball onto the ground, "this is the only one left," it hit the ground, and a Goldeen popped out of it in a small flash of light, clearly not much of a challenge, in both (Y/N) and Ash's eyes.
"If it evolved into Seaking, we could use it, but as it is now, all it can do is its horn attack," Violet added, which made sense, but Ash was still disappointed.
Suddenly, (Y/N) got an idea, and turned to his brother, "hey, Misty's a water-type trainer, right? Maybe you can get the feeling of earning a badge by battling her," he suggested, holding his finger up as if he were educating his brother, "she may not be gym trainer level, but she's certainly competent in wa-" he was cut off by Violet.
"Hold on, you know Misty?" she asked, befuddled by (Y/N)'s choice of friends.
(Y/N) looked at Violet and nodded, "yeah, she's one of my friends, who actually helped save my life, so I kinda owe her... not as much as Ash, considering he owes her a new bike," he looked at the eldest of the three sisters as Daisy called Seel up from the pool, and offered the Cascade badge to Ash with no strings attached. As if (Y/N) was prophesising the appearance of someone, Misty appeared and gained everyone's attention, "well, speak of the Devil, and she shall appear."
"If you won't battle him, Daisy, I will," Misty said, pointing at the Sensational Sisters. Ash was confused and wasn't fully sure why Misty was here, "I'm a Cerulean City trainer too," she said with a smug look on her face, and (Y/N) looked between Misty and the Sensational Sisters, "I'm the fourth Sensational Sister!"
Lily looked unamused, and wagged her finger side to side, "there's only three Sensational Sisters and one runt."
Things started to click in (Y/N)'s head, and he looked at Misty, "wait, so you're telling me that I've been-" he stopped himself before he said something stupid, "...damn."
"So, little sister, it's a surprise to see you back here so soon," Daisy said, looking at Misty.
Violet looked at Misty as well, if a bit mockingly, "that little girl with a big mouth who said she wouldn't come back until she was a great pokémon trainer, wasn't that you?"
(Y/N) finally understood that was the reason that Misty had so many reservations to come to Cerulean City. Misty looked away a little, and looked slightly disheartened, "well, I guess I did say something like that when I left," she muttered under her breath.
"So that's why Misty was so dead-set in not coming here," Ash said, saying what was on both Ketchums minds.
Lily started to have a jab at Misty, clearly getting a kick out of making fun of the youngest, as siblings love to do.
"Misty, you left here pretending you wanted to become a great pokémon trainer, because you couldn't compare with us, because we're clearly more talented and beautiful than you are," she said, looking away and shrugging her shoulders with her arms out.
Misty tried to object, saying that it wasn't the reason she left, but Daisy cut her off again, not letting Misty have a chance to recover, "well them, like, I guess you came back because you just couldn't make it as a pokémon trainer," she said, holding her cheek in her hand in faux sympathy.
"It wasn't my idea to come here! The only reason I'm here is because they wanted to come!" Misty shouted, pointing at both (Y/N) and Ash, the older of which waved slightly, while Ashe just scowled.
Daisy looked at the brothers, "well, the little one isn't exactly someone I'd choose for a boyfriend," she said, mocking the younger Ketchum, "buuut, I doubt you'd be able to land someone as famous as him, you're no prize yourself," she said, pointing to (Y/N) while roasting Misty, with the older of which recoiling slightly.
"No no no! Misty's not my girlfriend and Ash isn't her boyfriend either," (Y/N) shook his head vehemently, not wanting any mistakes to be made. "Misty's too young for me."
"They're not my boyfriends!" Misty practically screamed. (Y/N) covered his ears from the sheer noise, "if I battle Ash, it'll show I'm not a quitter, and that I'm just a good a trainer as you three are!"
Daisy looked at Misty with a small smile, "well, you are the only one of us with a pokémon that can actually battle."
At this point, Misty pointed at Ash, and asked if he was ready to battle, to which Ash nodded slightly, unsure how to take the sudden challenge.
A few minutes later, (Y/N) was stood next to the three Sensational Sisters at the side of the pool, now battle arena.
Misty and Ash did a bit of shouting back and forth, deciding the rules of the gym, two pokémon against two.
Ash decided to choose Pikachu, and almost threw him into the battle, but Pikachu held onto Ash's hand, not wanting to be thrown, and not wanting to battle against Misty.
Ash chose Butterfree, which (Y/N) didn't fully approve of, but Ash's options were limited, and as such, it was wise for Ash to send in the weaker of the two pokémon first. (Y/N) thought the first choice would be either stun spore, or sleep powder, both of which would be good, but sleep powder would be better for the best effect. Misty chose Staryu, and (Y/N) knew this was a bad matchup already due to the arena being in Staryu's favour.
"Do you think Misty can actually win?" Violet asked.
"Like, in her dreams, maybe," Lily said, making her remark clear she didn't really hold much respect for her sister.
(Y/N) looked at the three Sisters, "if she plays her cards right, she can rather easily win, she has the advantage of knowing Ash's pokémon, and has the arena's conditions in her favour. If anyone's having a bad time, it's Ash," he said, shaking his head a little, and looked back at the battle.
Ash sent Butterfree to use a tackle. It connected, and it seemed that despite Staryu's counter-offensive, Butterfree's aerial advantage was too much in terms of evasion, and Butterfree just kept attacking.
Misty commanded Staryu use Water Gun, and Butterfree still kept dodging, countering with Stun Spore.
(Y/N) thought the strategy was solid, but there was one issue.
"Staryu, wash it off in the water!" Misty shouted, Staryu fell into the water, and burst through the water and landed again, "hah! Too bad you didn't know Stun Spore doesn't work when you wash it off in water!"
(Y/N) frowned slightly as Ash chose to use Sleep Powder next, because if Stun Spore was able to be washed off, so would Sleep Powder, which was true as Staryu submerged itself underwater, and tackled Butterfree from under the water.
As Staryu broke the surface tension of the water, it spun rapidly, and hit Butterfree once, but it kept dodging after the first time.
"Misty's totally awesome," Daisy complimented, (Y/N) looked towards the Sisters, confused as to where the sudden compliment came from.
Lily kept watching the battle, "well, we three got the good looks in the family, so she had to at least get some talent," she said, and (Y/N) was sure that was the biggest backhanded compliment he had heard.
"Ouch, you three don't really like Misty, do you?" (Y/N) asked with an eyebrow raised, just then, Staryu hit Butterfree, and Butterfree was submerged in the water, and started drowning, with the wet wings, it couldn't fly anymore.
Ash recalled Butterfree, and sent out Pidgeotto, and in retaliation, Misty returned Staryu, and sent out Starmie, the evolved form of Staryu.
The power difference between Staryu to Starmie was evident with the sheer speed and ferocity in the same attacks, and able to withstand a Whirlwind and Wing Attack from Pidgeotto. Yet Pidgeotto hung on and kept attacking, actually taking down Starmie, and was ready to beat Misty.
However, the gym started to rumble, and the wall broke down, and a large vehicle came in with metal shielding on the front so it could break through the wall. None of the trainers inside were amused, and to nobody's real surprise, it was Team Rocket.
As a precaution, (Y/N) sent out Weedle and Rattata, ready to fight when things inevitably went wrong.
The next thing anyone really knew, was water being sucked up by a giant vacuum, then shot at the trainers at a high pressure, and Ash used Pikachu to destroy the vacuum while shocking Team Rocket.
"It's times like these that make me want to go straight," James muttered, before falling over into the water, and sucked into the vacuum which was still sucking up water only for it to come out the other end of the hose pipe and send off flying, making Team Rocket blast off again.
The vacuum was still sucking up Pikachu, and Ash ran around the pool, much to (Y/N)'s dismay, as it was very unsafe. Unsafe or not, Ash still shut the vacuum off, and the water was spewed out of the machine.
A few minutes later, the machine was taken by the police, and Ash was awarded the Cascade Badge despite not technically winning the fight. Misty complained that Ash didn't win, therefore didn't deserve the badge, but Daisy pulled up a point that was absolutely true, Pikachu saved the day, and if Pikachu was used in the fight, Misty would've lost without a doubt, which (Y/N) saw reason in.
"I mean, Daisy has a point, but hopefully Ash doesn't keep getting badges through pity," (Y/N) muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "otherwise, Ash's pokémon won't respect him at all."
Once outside of the gym, Misty and the Sensational Sisters said their goodbyes, and once Misty was done being loudmouthed, (Y/N) lingered behind, and decided to shoot his shot. "So, hey, can I like, um... get your numbers?" he asked, smiling a little, his hopes high.
Violet smiled, and patted (Y/N)'s shoulder, "sorry, but no thanks, we wouldn't have the time to date between our shows and gym training, and your whole pokémon trainer thing, so sorry, but it wouldn't be good for any of us... even though Daisy like, totally has a crush on you," she chuckled, only for Daisy's eyes to widen, and look at her sister.
"Hey! I do not!" Daisy shouted, seemingly annoyed.
"Yeah you do," Lily said, siding with Violet.
(Y/N) smiled, taking the rejection in stride, "don't worry, I understand your hobby and your job are important to you three, and if I get in the way, you do you, but it was good meeting you again. Hopefully I can see you again soon," he grinned, showing a thumbs up, "anyway, I gotta babysit your sister, and my brother, making sure they don't get lost again on the way to Vermillion City," he waved as he ran off to catch up to his brother and friends.
"Send a card!" Daisy shouted, waving (Y/N) off.
"Yeah, make sure you give Daisy a big smooch mark on the card!" Lily called out.
Word Count: 3934
Author's Note: Yoooooo! Here's an update, I hope it's up to your guys' relatively low standards. I just want to let you guys have an early Christmas present. So happy holidays, and I hope whatever you celebrate this time of year is a good time for you lot. :D
- Sincerely, ImTired269