Cerulean City

Ash and Misty had been on the road for about two weeks, basically just journeying and taking their time to enjoy the sights as they journeyed back to Cerulean City. The past days had been rather eventful, having taken a ferry from Cinnabar Island back to Fuchsia City. They didn't stop to see Koga or Janine, haven opted to visit the Safari Zone before setting off for the road, training whenever they had a chance to stop, with Ash sparring with Misty.

Ash had gotten in a fair bit of training with Misty enough so that he felt it should have made up for the neglect that he had shown her at times.

"Finally," Misty said with a sigh as they reached Cerulean City. "I'm home!" she screeched so loud that Ash felt that if he hadn't covered his ears, his eardrums may have been ruptured.

"You didn't have to scream so loud."

"I know but I chose to… it makes it all the more believing that I am happy to be back."

Ash shook his head slightly before muttering under his breath, "still didn't have to scream so loud." He turned towards the redhead. She was looking so fierce lately. May be it was a side effect of having battled a lot more trainers over the past two weeks as Ash allowed his pokemon to rest. Her confidence had grown almost as much as her pokemon had.

"Where to?" he asked her.

"Well, I'd like to get to the gym, you know, see how things are going with the Sensational Sisters," she said the last part with a hint of annoyance.

Ash nodded. "So let's go then."

Misty smiled at that and she took him by the hand, dragging him as she ran towards the gym, earning them weird stares as they did so.

It didn't take long before they were standing in front of the gym. Misty was smiling. She had left wanting to grow as a trainer and now she had returned, feeling that she had achieved that and was ready to take over as the gym leader for the Cerulean Gym. Ash was indifferent. The last time he was here, was as a challenger. He left victorious and this time he was returning as a… he didn't even know what he was returning as, perhaps a conqueror. He held his face in a rather odd position, one that made Misty laugh.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Let's just go inside."

It was sometime around noon so the Sisters would probably be relaxing in the gym's pool, or another possibility practicing for a show. Misty took the lead as she strode inside the huge building.

"I'm back!" she shouted as she walked in reaching the gym's field area. There in the pool where her three sisters in bathing suits casually relaxing.

"If it isn't the runt of the family," Daisy said with a smile. "Welcome back and-" she paused as she saw Ash walk in. "I see you brought the young Ketchum."

Ash raised an eyebrow at how he was addressed before greeting back. "Hey Daisy, Lily and Violet. How have you been?"

Lily and Violet gave a wave back while Daisy swam forward to get closer to the edge. "How have you been sis?"

"I've been fine. I'm back to take over the gym and give you guys more of a chance to have your show and go on tour."

"That's great and all but," Lily said as she swam forward, "how sure are we that the gym will be able to flourish under your leadership… no offense."

Misty went red but she was able to contain herself. "What do you mean?"

"It means," Violet said as she swam forward, "we'll have to battle you to see if you're worthy to take on the mantle of Gym leader."

Misty was about to scream but Ash stopped her. "Well it is for the best Misty. This gym has been in your family and it is only right that your sisters would want to see your capabilities as future Gym Leader. Wouldn't you want it that way?"

Misty found it hard to argue with that logic.

"So a battle. What's the format?"

"Hmm…" Daisy placed a hand on her chin before turning to look at Ash. "How about you decide the format."

"O…kay. How about a three on three. The three of you versus Misty." That was almost like a handicap to Misty, but it was the best way to prove her worth to her sisters. She agreed to it.

"When are we starting?"

"How does now sound?"

Misty nodded her head.

-Break-

Misty stood on one side of the gym facing off against her three sisters. Ash stood on one other end of the platform, standing in as a referee.

"This three-on-three battle between the challenger Misty Waterflower and the Sensational Sisters will now begin."

"Misty since this is a battle to prove your worth we will be using our strongest pokemon." As Daisy said this, she released a pokemon while both of her sisters did the same thing.

Misty watched as flashes of white lights filled the opposite edge of the field before coalescing to reveal a Gyarados, a Dewgong and a Tentacruel.

Misty smiled. Her sisters weren't taken her lightly so she would respond with her powerhouses. She had to be smart about it so her first choice was pretty obvious. She released her Starmie and calculated the next best choice. She held two more pokeballs and released her Gyarados and her Poliwrath.

"Ooh… the runt's bringing out the big guns," Violet said and all of them shared a giggle. After giggling for a while, they turned to Ash to give the go-ahead.

"Challenger has the first move. Begin."

"Starmie stay behind to provide support. Poliwrath and Gyarados, you are the guns of this team." Misty held a smirk. She was going to try her best to win this. "Gyarados twister on the pool. Poliwrath, into the air and send a focus blast at the center. Starmie keep using agility on yourself."

"Gyarados counter with your own twister."

"Dewgong ice beam on Starmie."

"Tentacruel poison sting on Poliwrath."

It was just a few seconds in and all the shots had been fired. Gyarados spun his tail under the water as she erected a giant twister within the pool. At the moment, Poliwrath was in the air focusing all its energy into a giant orb of pure fighting energy.

Daisy's Gyarados countered with a twister of its own as both fought for dominance until Misty's gave in. An ice beam escaped Dewgong's mouth making way towards Starmie and a barrage of poison stings had been launched at Poliwrath.

Misty's Gyarados blocked the incoming ice beam with its body, shrugging the damage off as she roared a challenge. Poliwrath's focus blast broke through the incoming poison stings and impacted the surface of the pool, throwing up water. All the while Starmie was focused on using agility.

"Gyarados thrash. Poliwrath stay back."

"Brace yourselves!" Daisy, Lily and Violet shouted at the same time.

As soon as Misty gave the command, her Gyarados began to trash about, using its serpentine body to hit the surface of the water randomly. The pokemon belonging to the sisters held their body close to themselves as they fought against the impact of the water. Misty was smiling to herself. She had other plans. Her Poliwrath was nowhere to be seen.

"Hyper beam," Daisy called to her Gyarados. Immediately, the behemoth began to charge up the attack, albeit one not as powerful as it would have done if it was outside the building.

"Aurora beam."

"Sludge bomb."

"Send them back with psychic!"

Starmie was just about done in using agility to lighten the load on its body. It was now faster than every single pokemon on the field. With ease, thanks to training from Ash's Golduck, Starmie's gem glowed and a psychic force wrapped around sludge bomb and aurora beam. It ignored the incoming hyper beam which hit Gyarados on the back.

The impact of the beam sent Gyarados into the pool as Daisy's Gyarados roared. The psychic, sludge bomb and aurora beam slammed into Daisy's Gyarados, blinding him in the eyes, temporarily. Daisy could only watch as Gyarados flailed about in the water.

"Use water gun on Gyarados, Dewgong."

Dewgong shot the small jet of water at Gyarados' face intending to cleanse the eyes of the behemoth but Misty had other plans. Starmie intercepted the water gun attack.

"Wait. Where's Poliwrath?" Violet asked.

Just then, Dewgong was sent flying courtesy of a just resurfacing Poliwrath. His right hand was glowing a bluish white and his fist was clenched.

"Gyarados!" Daisy shouted, "Wash your face in the pool. Use trash."

The behemoth submerged as it began to trash its face about in the pool. Misty ignored the Gyarados as she gave a command to hers.

"Hold him under water. Poliwrath focus blast on Dewgong."

"Dewgong hydro pump."

Tentacruel had been held at bay by Starmie who was holding its own without the need for commands from Misty. Gyarados had already wrapped himself around Daisy's Gyarados but she was struggling as she did so.

Misty was in thought, but the impact of hydro pump and focus blast brought her out of her thoughts. "Ice beam on the pool," Violet called to Dewgong.

"Starmie!"

On hearing its name, Starmie used psychic to wrap around Tentacruel and sent the water and poison type at Dewgong, prompting the pokemon to halt its attack.

Just then, the pool erupted as Daisy's Gyarados roared. Misty's was sent flying from the impact and a huge column of water was raised. Gyarados fixed its gaze on the pokemon in the pool as its eyes pierced into them. The atmosphere immediately became unbearable as the weight of Gyarados' power pushed against them.

Daisy gulped. Her Gyarados was pissed and he was going to knock out any that stood in his way. "That's enough. Ash end the match."

The raven-haired trainer who was now soaked in water stepped forward as he raised an arm. "The match ends in a… draw." It was the best call he could give seeing the outcome of the match.

Misty was… shocked. Her sisters withdrew their pokemon and the pool was now calm.

"Wait!" she yelled as she hurriedly returned her pokemon. "Who won the match?"

"No one," Lily replied.

"Obviously it's like, us."

"I disagree!" Misty yelled back.

"Well," Daisy started, "to be honest we would have won the match. But that was not the objective of this match."

"Huh? Then what was it?"

"Isn't it like, obvious?"

"No it isn't."

"If I may," Daisy said as she interrupted what would have been a back and forth between sisters. "The objective of this match was to prove if you were worthy enough to serve as the Gym Leader of Cerulean City. It entails a lot of responsibilities and the most important one is battle wise. You didn't have to win to prove it, you just had to show that you were a capable battler."

"Oh," Misty said as realization hit her.

"Congratulations Mist. You're going to be the Gym Leader."

"Thanks Ash… it feels nice to have won and know that I am one step closer to achieving my dreams."

"Not quite," Daisy interrupted.

"What now?"

"Well…" she was about to start but Lily cut her off.

"There's the paperwork and the League review and some other ones I can't remember yet."

Misty looked oddly at them. She had started it, so she was going to see it through and take over as Gym Leader.

"Well let's get to it then," she said with enthusiasm as she pumped a fist.

Before they could leave however, Ash interrupted.

"Well, I have done my part. I brought her back home safely so I will be taking my leave now."

"That's right," Daisy said as she and the other Waterflower sisters, barring Misty, surrounded him. "You've done a good job."

"Like you helped her become a better battler."

"Is there anything we might be able to reward you with."

Ash noticed a sudden shift in the atmosphere as he took a step back. "Well, I didn't do much… Misty deserves all the praise and if there's any reward I'd like it would be a battle with Misty as the Gym Leader of this Gym." Without missing a beat, he turned on his heel and ran, fearing that he might be devoured by the sisters.

"See you when next Mist!" he shouted as he exited the building.

"Bye Ash," Misty thought to herself as a smile made its way to her face.

-Break-

Ash stood at the entrance to Mount Moon having just recalled Blaze back into his pokeball.

"Okay… let's see just how strong my aura has gotten," he said to himself as he entered the cave. His eyes shone an electric blue as he empowered them with aura. He was trying to see if he would be able to locate the Clefable, Clefairy and the Cleffa. With that he kept on working and following his senses, but it got to a point where the outerworldly energy was affecting him because he felt as though he wasn't going in the right direction.

"Not strong enough," he muttered to himself as he released Clefable. "We're in Mt. Moon and I wanted to see if we could check on your family. Help me located them."

She nodded as she went on her way. Feeling their energy had always been a natural thing for the Cleffa line. Ash just silently followed her as she took him deeper and deeper into the cave. It didn't take long before he started hearing voices and then everything went quiet.

Their eyes locked onto his and everything went still. There was some movement and then a Clefable flanked by two other Clefable stepped forward. He smiled. It was the Elder Clefable he had battled with.

He heard her speak to him as his Clefable went to meet with her mates and maybe catch up.

"I had to come visit. She needed to see her people once again."

She chittered a bit.

"No. It happened during a battle we had against a horde of Mankey and Primeape. She felt she wasn't strong enough so she asked to evolve. I let her."

Another chitter.

"I've been alright… I have grown a fair deal."

He noticed a smile on the face of the Clefable. She chittered this time and Ash smiled.

"I would like a battle. How about one with Clefable?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Clefable! What do you say to a battle?"

-Break-

Ash held Clefable's pokeball in his hands. She had put up a good fight but experience and power had played the battle in the Elder Clefable's favour. He smiled. He still had some ways off to go. He turned to her as he heard her chitter.

"I try my best to help her be the best she can."

Another chitter, and this time a happy one.

"It will have to be next time. I still have to reach Pewter City."

She nodded. She spoke again, but this time to his mind.

'I will see you next time young chosen.'

Ash blinked in confusion before bidding her a farewell and setting his sights on Pewter City. It took him a little while before he saw the exit of the cave. This time there was no Team Rocket. He paused. Things had been awfully quiet for a long time. Just where was the crime syndicate? It wasn't as though he wasn't happy or anything but it felt like the calm before the storm.

He looked at his Xtransceiver. He had to at least reach Pallet Town before night fell and while he could use Blaze to reach faster, he would prefer to go on foot and take in the scenery.

A further forty minutes in and he was in front of the rock gym, the first gym he conquered. He was feeling nostalgic coming here. The icing on the cake would be him seeing Brock. He took a deep breath as he stepped into the building.

"Hello!" he called as the lights came on.

"Who goes there?" a voice boomed in the empty, rocky field.

'That sounds almost like Brock's.' "The name's Ash. I'm looking for the Gym Leader Brock."

"Oh," the voice replied back. "The name's Forrest. My brother has been away for two days. Went out for training but my dad, Flint, is around. If you want a battle I can go get him."

"That's no worry. I already have this gym's badge. Just tell Brock I came to say hey." With that he turned on his heel and existed. There was only one stop left in his mind, and that was his home. It was Pallet Town.

It was somewhere around two in the afternoon when he exited the dry town and started making his way towards Viridian Forest, the place he met his Butterfree and Beedrill and hatched Volt. He just followed along the path without bordering to stop, only smiling at the sight of pokemon and taking in the fresh air. His walk was empowered by aura so he was moving a lot faster than a normal human would.

He spent about two hours walking through the forest. He took a somewhat straighter path majorly because he was using aura sight to monitor his surroundings and take a faster route. He had soon reached Viridian City. He wasn't coming here to conquer or anything of the sorts. He was just passing by, but with enough training, he would be coming to conquer the gym. It was fun. Despite already having a direct pass to the Indigo Conference, he would much rather go the route of a battler.

He didn't need to spend time in the city, so just as he came in, he was already walking out. He just had one more hurdle to pass before he reached his house and the sweet and loving embrace of his mother, not to mention her cooking.

He stopped his aura powered walk as he started jogging using only his physical strength. Normally he would have been worried about the Spearow Flock but being who he was, he had no doubt that he would be able to handle them.

His jog soon started to slow down as he neared the entrance to route one from Pallet Town. He stopped with a smile as he overlooked the quiet town that the Professor and his own father, the Pokemon Master, had decided to call home.