VS Misty

Let's analyze it.

Misty is 21 years old here, so I'm into games. On the other hand, I don't remember that Hilda and Rosa traveled to Kanto. Will Hilda have a Reshiram in her backpack?

"Mello Snow, come down so we can fight." The orange-haired girl snapped me out of my thoughts.

I descended the stairs connecting to the field from the stands and got ready. On the way, I bumped into Hilda.

"Luck," I nodded.

"You're a rookie, 1 badge; I like to crush rookies. Let's get started. How many Pokémon do you have?"

Notice how Misty didn't have the same smile she had with Hilda; this one was more forced. Ha, okay, I'll show him what I'm capable of.

"4."

"Then I'll use 3, but I won't make it easy for you." A pillar emerged from the ground, revealing three new Pokéballs. How modern the Pokémon world is when you're interested...

"Start. Gym Leader Misty will send out Staryu," the referee announced.

"Staryu:

Level 18

HP: 100%

Gender: None

Moves: tackle, water gun, bubble ray, psychic, recovery, hydropulse

Ability: Natural Cure."

Natural cure… It won't do much good to poison her if she changes Pokémon. On the other hand,

How does a Staryu know psychics? Shouldn't it learn it at level 40 or something?

"Well, are you going to take it out now? I still have eight fights ahead of me, you know?" The tomboy said.

"Patience is a virtue, you know?" I retorted as I sent out Konrad.

"Shuppet:

Level 29

HP: 100%

Gender: Male

Moves: Knock off, shadow claw, sneak shadow, shadow ball, feint

Ability: Frisk."

This will be easy; there's an 11-level difference. But Misty doesn't know this.

"Staryu, water gun."

"Konrad, use shadow claw."

Konrad dodged the attack with his superior speed and struck back with a small shadow claw.

Staryu:

HP: 10%

Mmmm, you have to practice that move a lot more.

"Shadow ball."

"Staryu, get up."

Staryu, still hurting from the previous attack, was knocked out by the shadow ball.

And that's it? Are we that strong in just 3 months?

"I'm sorry," Misty apologized.

"Apology accepted?" I said, not quite understanding.

"I underestimated you a little; I thought you were a rookie who had just received his first medal. I should have known when I saw that you were Giovanni of all people."

"Timy changes the difficulty to 4 badges." Another pillar with three Pokéballs emerged, from which Misty grabbed two.

"This will make things more entertaining." I sent out a Starmie.

"Starmie:

Level 36"

Shuppet had leveled up to 30.

"The trainer is given the option to change Pokémon."

"Konrad, switch. Go Corvus."

Murcrow:

Level 27

"Oh, here goes Rosa; you have to see this," Hilda, who had already witnessed what my Murcrow was capable of, told her friend.

"Starmie, hydropulse."

"Deflect it with your wings."

Corvus deflected the large ball of water by flapping his wings.

"Corvus, use peck."

Corvus, just as we practiced using thunder waves.

"What the heck?" Misty exclaimed as a thunderstorm filled the field and paralyzed Starmie.

"Now use chase."

"Quick, Starmie."

Some stars emerged from the star Pokémon and hit my Murcrow.

Murcrow:

HP: 50%

He almost fell into the water, but he stabilized at the last moment.

"Starmie switched," said the tomboy girl as she watched her star recover from paralysis.

"Go, Seaking."

Seaking Level 35

While I took advantage.

"Corvus, poison the water."

Corvus understood my command; we both had a wicked mind. Corvus began emitting toxic fumes into the water.

"What?" Misty couldn't believe it; the field was filled with toxic smoke. In a matter of moments, we noticed how the water turned a darker blue.

"Seaking, don't let up, use hydropump."

Murcrow weakened, but not before unleashing another toxic move, further poisoning the water.

"I'm sorry; this is my departure," I said.

"Grrr," Misty growled for some reason. Why are all pokewaifus so bad at losing?

"In the challenge, Mello has 30 seconds to send out his next Pokémon."

Of course, I waited 29 seconds for Seaking to feel the effects of the poison.

"Go, Scope."

Gligar:

Level 23

"You made me angry; now you'll see," Misty said, switching. She returned Seaking and sent out her last Pokémon. The Starmie from before was now cured of paralysis thanks to its natural healing ability.

Misty kept glaring at me. Did I do something wrong?

"Scorpio, stall."

My Gligar lasted as long as he could—5 minutes. With that, I could see that the poison's effects were affecting Starmie.

Starmie:

HP: 46 

"Just one more second…"

"Ice Beam, Starmie."

The attack hit my flying/ground Gligar.

"Gligar is out of commission."

"Go, Beako."

"Yes, Master."

Kirlia: Level 22

"Starmie, hydropulse."

"Use Lightning."

The attacks collided, but lightning prevailed over the hydropulse, weakening Starmie.

"I did it," Kirlia celebrated.

"This is how it's done," she encouraged him. She wasn't going to tell him that he only had 10 HP left when he landed the hit.

"Leader Misty forfeits," the referee announced.

"Seaking, go."

"Beako, your lightning won't affect him."

"Uh, why?"

"His ability is Lightning Rod."

"I see you know about my Pokémon's ability," Misty acknowledged. "Thank you."

"But that won't help you; use Megahorn."

"Disarming Voice, Beako."

Beatrice screamed, but it was futile. Megahorn overpowered Disarming Voice this time, defeating Kirlia.

"The challenger only has one Pokémon left; you have 30 seconds to send it out."

I waited until the last second, much to Misty's irritation and Hilda and Rosa's amusement.

"Go, Konrad; it's all up to you."

Shuppet:

Level 30

HP: 100%

Seaking:

Level 36

HP: 94 - 12 = 82

The poison continued to take effect.

"Konrad, it's poisoned; create distance and use shadow ball."

"Seaking, dive."

Seaking dodged the shadow ball by diving into the water, but it didn't save him from the poison's effects.

Seaking:

HP: 88 -18 = 70

"Konrad levitates; no need to engage."

"Ugh, what a dirty strategy; you're just like Koga."

So I'm on par with a gym leader. Yes, Koga was a gym leader here; his daughter, Janine, was the current gym leader. So, I'm at the Pokémon Gold and Silver events.

"Seaking, surf and hydropulse."

An angry Seaking emerged and aimed at Shuppet.

And I failed.

Seaking:

HP: 70 - 24 = 46

"Now, shadow ball."

"Finish this with Megahorn."

Seaking pierced the shadow ball with his horn and charged at Konrad with full force, delivering a blow.

Shuppet:

HP: 40

"Hahaha, thought you could mess up my gym and win, huh?"

So that's why she's so out of her depth. I cleaned her fish tank. Oh well, too bad. In just 2 hits, I weakened my final Pokémon.

It's been 5 minutes since she sent out Seaking.

Seaking:

HP: 46 - 30 = 16

"Konrad, just one hit, and we win."

"I think the same," Misty replied.

"Hydropulse" and "Shadow Ball"

This time, the exchange ended in a tie, causing a wall of smoke that blocked the vision of both trainers and Pokémon. But I knew what to do in these cases.

"Hide in the smoke."

"Hydropulse the smoke; disperse it."

To my surprise, Shuppet moved without my command. Finding an opening now that Seaking was tired from continuous hydropulses, Konrad attacked in the direction of the attack, landing a shadow claw on Seaking and securing the medal.

I liked the result; it's good that my Pokémon think for themselves and aren't just walking robots. Although the battle was won, if Konrad had continued hiding in the remnants of the smoke or materialized with a shadow sneak, it would've been even better. But I wasn't going to comment on it; this way was better.

I approached Misty, who looked like she had eaten a lemon.

"Well, you won; even if your Pokémon tainted my water, you won; take the badge."

"Thank you, Cascade Badge obtained."

"Ugh, now I have to postpone the games, filter the water... could there be more problems?"

"I'm sorry," I said. It wasn't intentional, but it doesn't hurt to be polite sometimes.

"Just go," she replied.

Is it normal for one of your childhood friends to treat you like this? I guess she's just having a bad day.

Well, a shame. I was hoping to take her on my trip or something, although it's impossible due to my job as an undercover agent for the international police.

Speaking of the international police, I still haven't received any money from them since I saw Looker. I don't want to say that I only care about money, but our deal is a bit one-sided.

I mean, I've been risking my life with the microphone on everywhere I go, and they've only given me 60 thousand pesos; the fossil was worth more.

Being a trainer was expensive, especially if you wanted to evolve your Pokémon to their final stage, which was often the case.

That's to say, being a trainer with a full team of six was for the wealthy, which is why there were barely thousands of them in a population of millions.

Luckily for me, Shuppet could feed on emotions, Murcrow and Gligar ate less than a human, and Beatrice was a vegetarian.

"Mello!" Hilda greeted me.

"Senpai," I greeted her in response.

"As expected of my kohai," Hilda said, crossing her arms and nodding.

"Mmm," I said, not quite understanding.

"Your Murcrow is a threat," Rosa remarked, commenting on Corvus. "I've never seen such powerful poison; I don't even want to think about what he'll do when he evolves."

"About that; I don't think he can evolve." I explained Corvus's backstory to the girls—how his former trainer made him swallow an Everstone and abandoned him.

"That bastard," Rosa growled. "How could he do that to a partner?"

"Well, it happened; now my Pokémon wants revenge in the league."

"Do it!" Rosa encouraged me.

"Hey?" I was surprised by Rosa's change of attitude; she had always been very formal with me. I must have struck a chord with her with that story.

"Get the badge and show that trainer who the failure is," concluded the Serperior's trainer.

"I'll do that," I smiled. "By the way, Hilda, what's up with our date?"

"Date?" Hilda and Rosa said.

Shit, was I too direct?

"Um, you know, going out for coffee—I call it a date."

Rosa glanced at Hilda, and I swore she blushed a little.

"Can Rosa come too? Also, I haven't forgotten; I want a Darumaka vs. Gligar rematch."

"So that's why you remembered…" I sighed, making the two of them laugh.

For me, let Rosa come twice. Although, in reality, I was aiming for Hilda...

"Hahahah, can I come too?"

"Of course."

Everything was going well. We were going to leave the gym to find a café until...

"Misty, please help me."

"You," the tomboyish mermaid said hatefully. "So you come crawling back," she finished.

"I'm not asking this of you as your ex; I'm asking this of you as a citizen protected by a gym leader."

Wait, wait, what? Her ex! Misty!?

"What's going on? You're not my ex; we were never anything."

Bill's name sounded familiar to me.

Oh, Bill, the scientist who turns into a Clefairy at one stage of the game 'Fire Red', and as a reward, he gives you a ship ticket or something.

Come to think of it, in Pokémon Silver, he had a date, one that the protagonist ruined by showing up.

"Team Rocket is wreaking havoc on Routes 4 and 9, but it's a distraction; their real target is me, or rather, my research."

"What's your research?" Misty asked as if she were a judge and executioner.

"An artificial Pokémon, to assist me in my research."

"Did you create an artificial Pokémon?" Hilda joined the conversation.

"You're Hilda? The champion of the Johto regional tournament last year?"

"The same; what Pokémon did you create?"

Bill hesitated but eventually said, "a Porygon."

"A Porygon!?" There are barely four known specimens of Porygon," Hilda said with stars in her eyes.

Remember the lore: Porygon is the first artificial Pokémon and was created in the Cinnabar Island laboratory (according to a report found in Silph Co.).

Being an artificial Pokémon, it does not need to eat.

You don't need to eat...

Out of nowhere, it occurred to me and my wallet that I wanted a Porygon on my team.

"What happened? How did you get here? How can we help you?" I said, while inside, I was scheming how I could get the Porygon.

"Thanks to Arceus, we finally get to the reasonable questions. I escaped with my Kadabra using teleportation. They told me their plan before I escaped: they plan to use a lot of electromagnetic waves to forcibly evolve the Pokémon and create chaos.

So on Routes 4 and 9...

I remembered what Marcus told me before he left.

'Be careful; there will be robberies in Cerulean and Pewter; there are operations to do in those cities for the supremacy of Team Rocket.'

So, he was referring to this.

"We'll split into three," said Misty.

"Bill and I will go to Route 25 to try to recover the Porygon if Team Rocket gets hold of it—who knows what they'll do with it," she said, pointing to herself. "Hilda will go to Route 4, and Rosa will go to Route 9."

I wasn't included in their plans.

"I'm sorry, kohai; you're still too inexperienced to confront criminal organizations," Hilda told me with concern.

"I understand," I said.

In fact, it's better this way; now I can go wherever I want.

I acted resigned to this turn of events, but inside, I smiled.

The three trainers and the Pokémaniac headed to their respective areas.

Misty and Bill teleported with a Kadabra.

Rosa flew with a Mandibuzz.

And finally, Hilda rode her Druddigon.

I went to heal my Pokémon; it would be a long 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, someone covered my mouth and dragged me into a corner.

I got nervous, thinking I was being kidnapped, but I relaxed when I heard a familiar voice.

"Shhh, calm down, kid."

Looker.

"Looker, what are you doing here?"

"You have the answer; did you expect the police to do nothing while we confirmed criminal activities in Pewter City and Cerulean City thanks to you? They've dispatched Ranger trainers and police officers throughout the city."

Looker continued.

"As if that weren't enough, you discovered a secret base on Mt. Moon, along with a fossil bed in the same place. Shuppet's ability wasn't known either; you're full of surprises."

I was taken aback by all the praise from someone who seemed so tough.

"Ahem, but it means more work; our final mission is to dismantle Team Rocket. To do this, we need you to find out who's hiring Team Rocket's services, who their leaders are, what their objectives are, and what their influence is; all of that falls to you. You've proven to be the best international police agent in just three months working for us."

And the flattery continued unintentionally.

"And my salary?"

"200,000 a month."

"Let the payment begin now."

"Done."

With 200,000 a month, I could easily fund my Pokémon adventure unless I got a Snorlax.

"Well, that's it. Keep climbing for Team Rocket; don't let go of your microphone," and with that, he left.

"Mr. Mello, your Pokémon are healed; please proceed to reception."

I retrieved my Poké Balls and went outside. Once outside, I released them.

"We have a mission, guys."

"You want the rare Pokémon, right?" Konrad said.

Corvus and Beatrice looked determined.

Scorpio seemed confused.

"Gligar will have a new partner?"

"That's the plan," I told my favorite scorpion.

"But how, master?" Kirlia asked worriedly. "We saw your battle against the gym leader; our strengths are completely different, I assume."

"We'll figure something out," I said as I retrieved my Rocket mask from my backpack.

Time to get back to work.

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And that's all for today. I didn't make up the part about Misty being Bill's ex. In Pokémon Silver, Misty is on a date with a stranger, and it's theorized that it's Bill because it's the same sprite.

I got this information from Misty's biography while writing this chapter