Waterflowers of Cerulean City

(Cerulean City, Outside of the Police Station.)

Noah exited the Police Station and basked in the afternoon sun. An Officer Jenny, accompanied by two Pokémon Rangers, had met him in the tunnel half-an-hour after he 'rewarded' himself and escorted him, along with the two grunts, to the station.

They had questioned him about the events that occurred in the tunnel. Naturally, Noah told them the truth and even offered them a guess about why the grunts had captured the Zubat's – their plan to capture his Golbat.

After they confirmed his identity, he was rewarded with a ten-percent discount for all the stores in Kanto for the next two months and released him with a reminder to avoid Team Rocket members in the future.

Noah looked up at the towering skyscrapers. Cerulean City was easily the largest city he has been to since the start of his journey and he had the urge to explore it but, he wanted to defeat the gym first.

Noah looked to the information board placed in front of the station and found the direction to the gym. He opted against releasing his Pokémon in the city, the chances of something going wrong was high and with Team Rocket still running around, it would be safer to keep them inside their Pokeballs.

…

(Cerulean City Gym.)

It took Noah fifteen minutes to arrive at the gym and he was surprised to find it bustling with people – a majority of them being teenage boys and young adults. Very few seemed to be real trainers, so Noah assumed they were here for one of the Sisters' shows.

As he walked into the gym, a teenage girl in uniform pushed through the crowd with ease and walked up to him.

"Are you here for the show?" She shouted loud enough for him to hear it over the clamour and cheers of the crowd.

"I'm here to challenge the gym," Noah replied to her once she was close enough.

"Sorry," The girl said as she scratched the back of her head. "But the gym's closed now. You can come back after the show, it's on until six."

"I see…" Noah shook his head in disappointment, he would have to wait two more hours before he could challenge the gym.

Noah thanked her and headed for the Pokémon Centre to rent a room. He planned to stay here for a week or two to challenge trainers on the Nugget Bridge and Route 25. He also wanted to find a clearing to individually train his Pokémon during this time since the journey would only continue to get harder as he progressed further into.

But for now, he had two hours to kill.

…

(Two Hours Later.)

Noah was rather tired by the time he returned to the gym. After renting a room, he decided to walk around the city and ended up spending the majority of his time at a nearby café. By that time, he had already brought a small map of the city and supplies for his Pokémon.

The gym was mostly empty – save for a few stragglers from the earlier performance that were standing around and chatting with each other. Noah looked around for the girl he had met before but after failing to find her, he followed a few signs that brought him to a large room. Most of it was dwarfed by a massive swimming pool that had a few circular platforms floating on it.

As he walked in, Noah curiously glanced around and searched for possible advantages in his upcoming battle. He then spotted three tall and beautiful teenage girls in swimsuits sitting on the side of the pool giggling with each other.

Noah walked up to them and cleared his throat to grab their attention. The teenage girls stopped giggling and turned to look at him in puzzlement.

"My name is Noah Oak and I'm from Pallet Town. I've come here to challenge the gym." Noah said plainly.

"What to do? Our Pokémon are pretty tired out from the performance earlier and won't be ready to battle for a few days." The blonde girl, who he recognized as Daisy, spoke apologetically before she perked up and took out a badge. "How about I just gift you the Cascade Badge?"

"You serious?" Noah replied in astonishment.

"Yea," Daisy said cheerfully as her two sisters, Violet and Lily, nodded in confirmation.

"Well then, don't mind if I do." Noah shrugged his shoulders and reached for the badge. He had looked forward to battling the Sensational Sisters, but if they didn't want to battle and instead hand him the badge for free, who was he to reject?

However, before Noah could seize the badge, someone had already grabbed it and pulled it away from him. The culprit had orange hair, blue eyes and looked to be no more than ten years old. She wore a blue and white one-piece swimsuit with a jacket over the top, leaving only her legs bare – Noah immediately recognized her as Misty.

"I can't allow you to receive a badge without earning it," Misty said as she placed the badge into her pocket. "But I cannot fault you for my sisters' mistake. So, I would like to officially accept your challenge and since it's getting late, let's make it a one-on-one battle. Do you accept my conditions?"

"Sure, I came here to have a battle anyway," Noah said as he made his way to the swimming pool.

"Good." Misty nodded at his attitude and walked to the other end of the pool, but not before giving her sisters a severe glare.

Lily took it upon herself to be the referee and announced the rules. "This is an official Pokémon League gym battle between Noah Oak from Pallet Town and Misty Waterflower from Cerulean City. This is a one-on-one battle and there will be no time limit. When both trainers are ready, please show your Pokémon."

"Starmie, I choose you!" Misty called out as she threw a Pokeball into the air, a beam of red light flashed from the ball and a star-shaped Pokémon appeared directly in the pool.

"Scyther, stand by for battle," Noah said as he too threw his Pokeball. Scyther appeared and silently hovered over the water.

"Starmie versus Scyther. Begin!" Lily slashed her hand down.

"Starmie, use Water Gun!" Misty immediately ordered as she suppressed a shiver from the presence of a Bug-type Pokémon.

Starmie cried out in affirmation as it released a spiral of water from the tip of its uppermost limb at its opponent.

"Scyther, dodge it with Agility and follow it up with a Swords Dance," Noah ordered as he swiped his hand.

As the spiral of water made its way to Scyther, his body vanished from the spot and reappeared further up in the air, effectively dodging the attack. Several light-blue swords circled around Scyther and crossed together, his entire body flashed red before he released a sharp cry.

"Excellent work their buddy! Now let's finish this off with a combination of Quick Attack and Fury Cutter!" Noah shouted in excitement.

Scyther dived sharply down towards his opponent at an unbelievable speed, streams of white light appeared behind him as he crossed his two scythes and opened them again, making them have a crimson glow.

"Starmie, quickly use Psywave!" Misty shouted in urgency. Her opponent had executed his Pokémon's moves flawlessly in a matter of seconds, such a battle style nibbled at her confidence in winning the battle.

Starmie took aim at Scyther and fired a beam of multicoloured energy from its jewel, but the opposing Pokémon moved to the side and dodged it with ease.

Once Starmie had entered his attack range, Scyther ruthlessly slashed his crimson scythes at his opponent, with each hit doing more damage than before and after several hits, Starmie's jewel cracked under the onslaught and fainted.

Lily checked the state of both Pokémon and announced. "Starmie is unable to battle. The winner of this battle is the challenger, Noah Oak from Pallet Town."

"Scyther, that was a fantastic battle!" Noah sincerely praised him and took out its Pokeball. "Return for now buddy, I'll make sure to reward you properly later."

"Scy!!" Scyther cried out with pride as it landed next to Noah and nuzzled his head against his arm.

Noah smiled at his Pokémon's affection and returned him. Scyther seemed to have accepted him wholeheartedly after the ordeal in Mt. Moon and this sudden change was certainly a welcomed one.

Noah made his way to where the Sensational Sisters stood and saw them all waving at him.

"That was, like, totally incredible!" Daisy said with a smile when he got near.

"Yea! I can't believe your Scyther made it out of that battle without getting injured." Lily said in wonder.

"You should definitely come back here when you get stronger, I want to see how much you would have improved after getting eight badges," Violet said as she sent him a flirtatious winked.

"Uhh… Thanks, I guess?" Noah scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"They're right you know." Misty interrupted when she had reached them. "That battle showcased your potential as a trainer and it showed us how much your Pokémon trust your judgement."

"And it's with that thought in mind, we would like to present to you the Cascade Badge." Daisy took over and once again offered him the badge.

"Thanks," Noah said with a smile as he took the badge and placed it in his badge case. "Well then, I'd love to stay and chat but it's getting late. Take care of yourselves and I hope to see you, ladies, again."

After receiving a wave of goodbyes from the Sensational Sisters and a smile from Misty, Noah made his way out of the gym and headed back to the Pokémon Centre to get some much-needed sleep.