Now that they had arrived at the Pokémon Center, there was no rush to challenge the gym. Ash first took his Pokémon to feast, then took a good nap. After replenishing his energy, the energetic Ash, along with Froakie, headed toward the Cerulean Gym.
Serena and Brock had nothing better to do, so they followed Ash to watch his battle.
Of course, maybe only Serena really wanted to watch. As for Brock… he was just there for the water show.
The Cerulean Gym wasn't just a gym in Cerulean City — it was also the city's largest aquarium.
This was quite normal. As landmarks of their cities, gyms often doubled as other attractions. For example, the Cerulean Gym also functioned as an aquarium, while Pewter Gym doubled as the city's fossil museum. After all, gym leaders didn't get challenged every day. They always had free time, and as dedicated trainers, they never just stayed home—they found other interests. So gyms often served dual purposes: for trainers and the general public.
Though the Pokémon League officially discouraged gym leaders from working part-time, as long as it didn't interfere with their duties, few cared.
Soon, they arrived in front of the Cerulean Gym. Ash took a deep breath and pushed the grand doors open without hesitation.
"Hello! I'm Ash from Pallet Town. I want to challenge—"
Whoosh!
Before he could finish, a golden-brown blur suddenly flew past him. Ash's mind hadn't even processed it yet, but his hands moved instinctively with lightning speed. He instantly caught the flying object in his arms.
The impact made Ash take a step back, but his muscles absorbed the shock. When he looked down, he saw what he'd caught: a Staryu.
But the Staryu didn't look well. The red gem in its center flickered weakly, and it looked like it had passed out.
Ash quickly took out a Potion from his backpack and sprayed it on the Staryu. Though Ash couldn't see its expression change, the ruby's flickering slowed considerably. It must be the Potion's effect.
After hearing from Serena about Potions, Ash had bought plenty from the Pokémon Center. Their special training always caused some injuries. While fruits often helped heal them, sometimes it was too late to pick any, so having them was a smart backup.
At that moment, Ash heard a voice announce:
"Staryu has lost the ability to fight. The winner is Goh from Pallet Town!"
Then Ash heard a smelly fart noise.
"How about that, Misty? I told you you couldn't beat me!"
"That's only because I wasn't serious. Don't you know gym trainers use Pokémon matched to the challenger's level during official battles?"
"Hey! Is that true? Even if it is, my Pikachu will definitely win in the end."
"You think so? Pikachu?"
"Pika!"
"…Too lazy to argue with you."
Ash heard running footsteps and then saw Misty rushing out, looking worried.
"Is that you?" Misty was startled to see Ash. "Why did you come to Cerulean Gym?"
"I'm here to challenge the Cerulean Gym," Ash replied, holding out the starfish. "Is this your Staryu? I took care of it a bit."
"Thank you, thank you so much." Misty took the Staryu and saw its breathing had steadied. The worry on her face eased. She looked up at Ash, about to say something, but Ash's gaze shifted as he noticed Brock behind him.
"Brock, why are you with Ash?"
"I ran into you by chance on the road," Brock replied casually. Then he looked at Misty, surprised. "Are you really the gym leader of Cerulean City? At such a young age?"
"I didn't want to be, but my sisters are useless and didn't want to run the gym at all," Misty sighed. "So I'm the only one who can take the lead."
"Who are you talking to, Misty?" Brock asked, about to say something else when a brown-skinned man appeared, hands resting behind his head.
"Oh, Brock, you're here."
"Yeah." Brock nodded toward Goh.
"I'm coming to join you."
"Are you…" Goh glanced at Ash again, frowning. "I think I've seen you before?"
"I'm Ash. We fought before."
"Oh, I remember now," Goh said. "You're the trainer with the pirated Pikachu, right?"
"…Mimikyu is not a pirated Pikachu. Mimikyu is Mimikyu, no one's knock-off," Ash said, frowning deeply. He stared seriously into Goh's eyes. "Please don't say that again. It's annoying."
"Well…" Goh wanted to reply but caught the fierce look in Ash's eyes and awkwardly looked away. "Fine, if you don't want to say it, then don't."
The mood cooled after that, but Ash ignored it and looked at Misty again.
"So, you're really the gym leader? Can we battle now?"
"You want to battle today?" Misty looked troubled. "Yes, but the Pokémon I use for official gym battles aren't able to fight right now. How about tomorrow?"
"I don't want to wait," Ash insisted. "You said the Pokémon you use officially can't fight. Do you have any others? Otherwise, can I fight with those?"
"You mean use my own Pokémon?" Misty was surprised. "Yes, it's possible, but my own Pokémon are higher level and might not be suitable for novice trainers."
"No problem. I've been a senior trainer for two months now," Ash said, growing red with excitement and patting his chest. "It's fun to fight against high-level Pokémon!"
"Okay, then." Misty gave in, glancing sharply at Goh. "Goh, come here. I'll show you the true strength of a gym trainer!"
…
So Misty's second gym battle of the day began.
The referee stepped forward and announced the rules.
"The Cerulean Gym battle begins now. Both sides may send out a total of two Pokémon. The battle ends when one side's Pokémon loses the ability to fight. During the battle, gym trainers may not switch Pokémon, but challengers may switch at will."
Both sides faced each other in the large swimming pool. The referee waved his hand.
"Now, the battle begins."
"I'll send out my Pokémon first."
As the gym leader, Misty threw out her Poké Ball.
"Hi!"
An energetic purple starfish appeared before her — the evolved form of the Staryu, the Starmie!
"This is the Pokémon I'm sending out."
Ash took out a Poké Ball from his waist.
"Go, Mimikyu!"
"Mimikyu!"
"That's that kid!" Misty recognized Mimikyu from their previous battle. Curious, she had looked up information about it.
"It's a Fairy/Ghost type. It can counter the Starmie."
"But there's something strange about Mimikyu. It can't be hit by attacks."
"In other words, if you manage to hit Mimikyu, this battle will be over!" Misty raised her head and waved her right arm.
"Starmie, use Water Gun!"
"Hi!"
Starmie aligned its top four tentacles into a sharp point, then blasted a high-speed stream of water at Mimikyu.
"As long as you don't get hit, we're fine," Ash said, waving his hand fiercely. "Mimikyu, show them the results of our special training — jump!"
"Mimikyu!"
In the blink of an eye, Mimikyu leapt high into the air.
"What speed!"
Misty was stunned by Mimikyu's speed, but quickly regained composure.
"But you can't attack in mid-air, right? Starmie, use Thunderbolt!"
"Hi hi!"
Starmie immediately fired a strong electric current at Mimikyu.
At that moment, Ash suddenly waved his hand.
"Now, Shadow Sneak!"
"Mimikyu!"
The shadow behind the jewel starfish suddenly stretched. In the next moment, Mimikyu's shadow in the air overlapped with Starmie's shadow — then disappeared instantly.
Starmie's shadow began to ripple like boiling water. Suddenly, Mimikyu reappeared, springing from the shadow. Seeing this, Starmie turned its head in surprise, but Mimikyu didn't hesitate. Black claws stretched out from beneath and grabbed tightly.
"Uh!" Starmie was directly knocked into the water.
Super-effective!
Ghost-type Pokémon often have the ability to blend into shadows. This trait is unique to their type. Although Mimikyu's speed isn't as fast as Froakie's, if it can make full use of this shadow-blending ability, its flexibility becomes almost as good as Froakie's.
After all, Mimikyu's real weakness isn't speed, but rather agility and evasiveness. Based on this, Ash has been consciously training Mimikyu's ability to lurk in the shadows. Though it hasn't completely solved Mimikyu's vulnerability to attacks, it has made Mimikyu truly capable of fighting.
"Starmie!"
Seeing Starmie pushed into the water, Misty couldn't help but exclaim. She hadn't expected Mimikyu to pull such a trick. Gritting her teeth, she said, "In that case, Starmie, use Surf!"
"Hi!"
"Don't give it a chance! Mimikyu, use Wood Hammer!"
"Mimikyu!"
Mimikyu's tail instantly deformed. At such close range, it didn't even need to aim carefully. Spinning quickly, Mimikyu slammed the sledgehammer right into the gem on Starmie. The next moment, Starmie flew out of the water and crashed into the wall behind Misty.
With a bang, Starmie went limp and motionless.
"Starmie has lost its ability to fight. The winner is Ash from Pallet Town!"
"...Come back, Starmie."
Misty recalled her Pokémon, looking at Ash with a hint of surprise. "I didn't expect you'd make such progress after just a few weeks."
"We had a good workout," Ash laughed, waving off the compliment. "Stop talking—show your second Pokémon!"
"I really underestimated you." Misty chuckled, then quickly hardened her expression. "I can't let you underestimate me!"
She threw her Pokéball immediately. "Go, Gyarados!"
The Pokéball opened instantly, releasing a behemoth several meters long into the aquarium.
"Roar!"
With its roar, both Ash and Mimikyu instantly felt a heavy pressure, an uncontrollable shrinking feeling deep in their hearts.
Mimikyu's attack dropped.
Ash's attack dropped.
Misty blinked in confusion.
"What's going on..." Ash frowned and pulled out his Pokédex.
"Tip: Gyarados is a fierce Pokémon with the Intimidate ability. When it appears, it lowers the opponent's attack."
"So that's what it is..." Ash closed the Pokédex, mood lifting again. "But we won't lose. Mimikyu, use Double Team!"
"Mimikyu!"
Mimikyu instantly scattered into dozens of clones across the battlefield.
"Gyarados, use Dragon Dance!"
Misty ordered decisively. Mimikyu's shadow-shuttling gave it tricky flexibility, but Gyarados's huge shadow was hard to deal with. Still, Misty decided strengthening herself first was the best bet.
"What a great opportunity!" Ash's face suddenly lit up. "Mimikyu, use Burning Jealousy immediately!"
"Mimikyu!"
Dark flames erupted around Mimikyu. In the next second, it stretched two black claws from the soles of its feet. The fiery claws struck Gyarados fiercely. Flames engulfed the carp dragon's body—but before Misty could even scream, the flames shimmered, became illusory, and vanished quickly, as if they had never appeared.
Impossible.
Misty soon noticed scorch marks on Gyarados's body and saw painful expressions flash across its face from time to time.
Gyarados was burned!
"Burning Jealousy causes Pokémon to burn 100% of the time when their abilities increase," Ash explained kindly, noticing Misty's puzzled look.
"...I didn't expect you'd hide this trick." Misty bit her lip. Even with her attack buffed, it felt like scraping against a wall.
"However, the burn won't affect our speed boost," Misty said, quickly ordering, "Gyarados, use Hurricane!"
"Roar!"
Gyarados resisted the burn and summoned a fierce wind. The violent storm scattered all the Mimikyu clones except one.
"Use Iron Tail!"
"Roar!"
Gyarados's tail gleamed with a gray-black metallic shine. Twisting its body, it swung its wide tail fin, smashing the lone Mimikyu clone into a mess.
Ash didn't hesitate.
"Use Shadow Sneak to get behind Gyarados!"
"Mimikyu!"
Mimikyu vanished into the shadows and reappeared behind Gyarados. Seeing the massive tail above it, Mimikyu's thoughts matched Ash's perfectly.
"Jump on Gyarados's tail and leap up!"
At Ash's command, Mimikyu jumped onto the shining tail. Gyarados swung its tail unconsciously, thrown off by the strange movement. Mimikyu didn't resist, instead using that momentum to adjust direction and rocket toward Gyarados's head like a cannonball.
"It's decided!"
Ash roared excitedly, "Mimikyu, use the most powerful Shadow Claw!"
"Mimikyu!!"
With a sharp swish, two ferocious black claws protruded from Mimikyu's feet, like ten sharp thorns. Mimikyu struck Gyarados hard on the head without hesitation.
Boom!
The decisive blow hit a vital point!
Gyarados screamed and crashed into the pool.
"Gyarados has lost its ability to fight. Since all the Pokémon on the gym trainer's side are out, the winner is Ash from Pallet Town!"