Chapter 93

"Sheer Cold!" Aizen called out, and what followed next was a chilling cold and silence.

"Gym Leader's Victreebel is unable to battle. Aizen and Lapras win the fourth round and the Match!" The referee announced and the people in the stands, which included a group of kids from a school, happily cheered for his win.

Aizen had decided to give a chance to his Pokémon whom he had not used much in battles yet.

The first round started between Gym Leader's Venomoth and Aizen's Elekid, which the latter lost. But his Pokémon put up a great fight against Venomoth and gained more battle experience, which was what he wanted from this match.

The next round was between Venomoth and Golbat. And Golbat really made quick work out of the poor moth, finishing it off with a brutal Aerial Ace.

Gym Leader Koga sent a Haunter next to deal with his Golbat, and it proved to be the most intense fight of this match.

After nearly battling for twenty minutes, both the Pokémon took each other out. And the last round started.

Luckily, the Gym Leader chose Victreebel, which gave Aizen the chance to push Lapras in the battle.

Victreebel was, of course, very well-trained, and Lapras had to give its all to pull the win in the end. And fortunately, Sheer Cold managed to hit the Poison-Grass Pokémon, taking it out.

After Aizen received his heart-shaped Soul Badge from Koga, Leaf stepped onto the field for her Gym Battle.

She was quite nervous about her battle since she planned on using the younger Pokémon she had on her.

Her confidence rose when she saw the Gym Leader call out a Koffing, and she happily called out her Charmander.

The kids were really excited to see another beautiful Pokémon after Aizen's Lapras, and immediately, cheers for Charmander rose in the stands.

Perhaps it was because of those cheers that the Fire-Lizard was very pumped up. And it managed to win against Koffing rather one-sidedly. Though, it was still coughing due to the Smog that the fallen Pokémon had earlier used.

Next up, Charmander found itself up against a very angry-looking Golbat. And the battle that ensued was a sight to behold.

To the sadness of the kids, Charmander, unfortunately, lost the round despite giving it all. It was a very brave display, but it was just not meant to be. However, their enthusiasm soon returned when they watched Leaf call out Ponyta, which was another beautiful Pokémon.

The foal looked really pumped up, and its menacing yet cute look really rivalled the glare of the Golbat.

The Poison-Bat was not much tired from the last round, it gave its all against Ponyta, nearly taking it out with itself, but the foal prevailed and neighed proudly when its opponent fell on the ground.

And then, the fourth round started between Ponyta and Muk.

The stench of the amorphous sludge Pokémon really took Ponyta off-guard, and it hesitated to go near it.

Leaf too knew that coming in contact with Muk was not advisable, so, she instructed her Pokemon to keep its distance.

The two Pokémon remained in a stalemate for a few minutes, but as Ponyta got tired, Gym Leader Koga decided to end the round and instructed his Pokemon to repeatedly use smog.

Ponyta could no longer make out where the Muk was through the thick smoke and then was caught off-guard by a Sludge Bomb that took it out.

Leaf did not waste any time and called back Ponyta as soon as the referee announced that it was unable to battle, fearing that it might be poisoned by the Sludge Bomb, and she decided to quickly end things by sending out her Magnezone.

The match between Muk and Magnezone did not even last for a minute, and the Poison Pokemon succumbed to a powerful Discharge which was followed by an Electro Ball.

After the referee announced her win, she collected her Soul Badge and ran towards Anira, who was already waiting for her with Blissey.

Ponyta was indeed mildly poisoned, but it was nothing that Blissey and an antidote that they had already prepared last night could not handle.

After the foal woke up, Leaf showed him the badge that they had won, and it was visibly quite happy.

To commemorate their Gym Win, she took a picture with Charmander, Ponyta, and Magnezone. And then all of them returned to the Pokémon Center, where Ritchie and Gary were waiting for them.

The auburn-haired boy had left early in the morning to make preparations for his Gym Match appointment in the afternoon, which was the reason why he had not come over to watch their matches.

After Leaf greeted Gary, she immediately showed off the Badge that she had just won, and both her classmates seemed really happy for her.

Aizen and Sabrina then excused themselves away from everyone as they had some plans for their Psychic Training.

Misty was really upset about it, but she did not show it and joined Anira and Leaf in their plans for shopping in the City after they chatted with the two boys for a while. They visited the PokeMart first before heading towards a Shopping Mall to buy some clothes for themselves.

Anira planned on getting her brother some clothes too, so, the girls spent a good part of the day at the Mall.

They then visited the famous Fuschia City Train Station and then went to the Market Area where Fresh Fruits and Berries were sold.

"I am so tired!" Leaf said as soon as they returned to their suite, and then walked over to the couches before plopping on one.

"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Anira curiously asked as she went through the menu of the day at the Center.

"I will take whatever you order for yourself." Leaf said.

"Same for me." Misty was too tired to be in the mood for anything specific as well, and so Anira ordered their lunch to her taste.

"When is Ritchie's Gym Match?" Misty curiously asked.

"At 4 pm. Gary has his right after Ritchie's Match." Leaf informed her. "Do you want to come and watch it with us or do you plan to study?"

"I am not in the mood to study. It's between a nap or watching their Gym Matches, and I guess I will accompany you two." The orange-haired girl shrugged and said before getting up. "I will meet you in the lounge. Need to make a call back home and switch some of my Pokémon."

"Okay!" Both Leaf and Anira nodded to her.

After having a chat with her sisters, which improved her mood a lot, Misty happily switched out Blastoise and Politoed for Misdreavus and Jolteon.

She had decided to train them along with Onix, Houndour, and Krabby. And part of her reason for doing so was because Aizen had called back his Onix from Blanc Island last night to start training it.

Misty knew that if she proposed training their Onix together, he would not refuse her, and that would give her an excuse to spend some alone time with him.

She happily smiled and stored the Pokeballs away, but as soon as she turned around, her heart thumped hard, and she stared dumbfoundedly at the two people outside the Pokemon Center who seemed to be arguing with each other and were headed inside the Center.

One of them was Gary, who clearly seemed to be trying to make some excuse, and even though she could not hear what the other boy kept insisting about, she could guess that he wanted to have a duel. And that was because she knew the second boy really well.

It was none other than the infamous Ash Ketchum.

Misty cursed herself for jinxing things last night with her stupid thoughts, and hurriedly turned around to walk towards their lounge, but it was already too late.

"Misty!" She heard the call from behind her, and stopped, trying her best to suppress her emotions. "Ash?" She feigned some surprise and turned around, and felt chills up her spine when she found the boy from Pallet Town grinning at her.

"It's good to see you again!" The boy enthusiastically said and then pulled Gray towards her against his will. "Meet Gary! He's my classmate and also the Grandson..."

"We have already met." Misty cut him off, and the brown-haired boy was grateful that she did not let him finish his words.

Gary did not want anyone around them to know that he was the Grandson of the famous Professor Oak, which was quite funny, considering that he had shown up in the city in the morning in a rented car with some cheerleaders.

"You know each other?" Ash seemed surprised.

"Yes." Gary simply nodded and then looked at Misty. "Is Leaf coming to see our Matches?"

"Yes." She nodded to him and then greeted the dark-skinned boy who was depressedly walking towards them after being rejected by Nurse Joy. "Hey, Brock!"

"Hi, Misty!" He greeted her back, recovering his mood. "It's good to see you again. Is everyone else here as well?"

"Yes!" Misty nodded to him. "Wait, I will go and call Leaf and Anira, and then we can head to the Gym."

"Okay." After Gary nodded to her, she immediately bolted away from the place.