After passing through places like the Seven Grapefruit Islands, Moro Island and Murcott Island, our heroes were finally seeing the island Misty was longing for all this time. "Look, I can see Mandarin Island South!" Misty shouted, looking at the popular vacation island. Two weeks after their adventure on Navel Island, the group finally reached a destination where they would do other things than shopping with Daisy and going to the beach. Here, Misty finally got to do something she really wanted to.
"So? Are there clothing stores?" Daisy asked. She did quite a lot of shopping on the islands between Navel Island and here, but her hunger for clothes was impossible to stop.
"Yes, but that's not why we're here," Tracey said. "Prima lives here."
"Who the f*ck is Prima?" Daisy asked.
"A Water Pokemon Master and a member of the Elite Four," Tracey explained. "Misty would love to battle her and meet her again. She, Ash and I once met her quite some time ago. She completely humiliated Ash!"
"Would she humiliate Misty as well if they'd battle?" Daisy asked, much to the aspiring Water Pokemon Master's annoyance.
"Probably," Tracey said. "But Misty still wants to try."
"That does it!" the Cerulean City Gym Leader screamed. She grabbed the big, wooden mallet from her bag and gave Tracey and Daisy the smash they were asking for. With a face red from anger and eyes burning from figurative fire, she wanted to battle, not be put down by her sister and her best friend.
"I can understand her," Gyarados thought. "I hate having Daisy on my back, all she does is nag, put Misty down and talk about fashion trends... And she clearly has a negative influence on Tracey, he used to be nicer... I don't approve of mallet usage and such violent outbursts, but it's understandable..." Then, the Pokemon arrived at the shore. While Misty hopped off the Pokemon's back, the couple struck by the mallet did the same. "Thanks for the ride," Misty said, returning the Pokemon to his Poke Ball.
"I'd love to sunbathe here!" Daisy said. "And then let's go to that clothing store, and then that mall! I need some new dresses, a bunch of skirts and some cute pink shorts!"
"Oh no, you won't! We're going to look for Prima right now, you promised me you'd cooperate!" Misty snapped. "We constantly did what you want on all the islands between Navel Island and here, so now you're gonna do what you promised!"
"She's got a point," Tracey said.
"Now I know how it feels to be bossed around..." Daisy said. "Maybe locking up Misty at the Gym might've been wrong, she's so angry about it..." she thought. "Oh well, at least I have an awesome life, so f*ck her!"
"Daisy," Tracey asked, while walking to the town square. "Why are you so silent? Were you thinking about something?"
"Um... No," Daisy lied. She didn't want Tracey to know she understood how Misty felt, that might make Tracey more eager to push her to let Misty go. Meanwhile, it would also make her come off as more selfish than Tracey already knows.
Five minutes later, the group reached a busy square. A small fountain in the middle, a round grassfield surrounding it and a big place for people to stand. This was really the center of the town. "Hey look!" Misty shouted, while pointing at a purple-haired woman wearing glasses. "It's her!"
Then, the Elite Four member looked at the excited redhead. "Hey, it's you, Misty! I haven't seen you in a long time, how are you?" she asked.
"Not so good," Misty said. "But I don't want to cause drama in this crowd of people, could we please to go a less crowded place?"
"Fine," the Water Pokemon Master said. "I just finished my grocery shopping, so we can go to my house."
"Hi Prima," Tracey said. "I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, Daisy! She's an older sister of Misty."
"Um... Hi?" Daisy muttered nonchalantly. She really didn't care and just hoped to get this over with, so she could relax and maybe even go shopping or work on her tan.
"You and Tracey are a cute couple! How did you two meet?" Prima asked, while the four people walked to a cottage near the shore.
"He once came to the Cerulean City Gym to run some errands for Professor Oak. While Misty had to run an errand herself, Tracey stayed to repair some broken pipes, work I normally force Misty to do. And so, he and I started bonding that day, and immediately knew we are made for each other. I'm much nicer to him than to others, and he also really loves me," Daisy explained.
"But why aren't you nicer to other people than Tracey?" Prima asked.
"Screw that!" Daisy snapped. "If I can benefit from others, why not do it?"
"I heard you say you normally force Misty to do work, could you explain that a bit more?" Prima asked.
"There we go again..." Misty thought, while the group entered the house.
"Well, when Misty was in Johto with Ash and another friend of hers named Brock, my other two sisters, Lily and Violet, went on a holiday around the world with me. To prevent the Gym from being closed, we forced Misty to take over as a stand-in. However, on the holiday, Lily, Violet and I decided to just refuse to take our positions back, so Misty would be forced to stay at the Gym as long as we want to," Daisy explained.
"But why would you do that? What would be the point?" Prima asked.
"Now, I don't have any responsibilities and obligations anymore! Isn't it great? I'm a rich model, and the same goes for Lily and Violet! We do fashion shoots when we feel like it, and otherwise, we just hang around the Gym and are lazy," Daisy explained.
"But isn't this incredibly unethical?" Prima asked.
"What do you mean with that? And what does unethical mean?" Daisy asked.
"I mean that it's not fair to use Misty without considering how she feels. Is she happy as a Gym Leader?" Prima asked. "And unethical means that it's not ethical. There's no law forbidding unethical things, but some people would morally feel wrong about this."
"I don't care whether it's ethical or not. And Misty is really sad that she can't pursue her dream of becoming a Water Pokemon Master. But I don't care, I'm happy and that's what matters. And besides, Misty can battle at the Gym too. She says the opponents there are too weak for her and that she can't progress much at the Gym, but isn't becoming a Water Pokemon Master about battling too? I don't really understand the difference."
"This is outrageous!" Prima snapped. "The world doesn't revolve around you!"
"Do you really think so?" Daisy asked. "It totally does. I'm rich, lots of men gush over my fashion shoots and many women buy the dresses I promote! I even promote Contest dresses for Coordinators, I'm their favourite model! And lots of people like fashion and Contests, so the world does revolve around me."
"It's time someone takes you out of the sky and puts you back on Earth, you deserve a good slap in the face," Prima thought. Then, she continued the conversation. "And becoming a Water Pokemon Master is more than just battling!"
"Oh yeah? What else does she need?" Daisy asked.
"Before I got my current status, I travelled through a few regions, caught different Pokemon from different regions, explored many places, took part in multiple competitions like the Whirl Cup and even small ones like the Catch-A-Seaking Contest, and many more things. All that can't be done when not having full freedom to travel!" Prima explained. "You're holding Misty back by not allowing her to do all this! Can't you just appoint another Gym Leader and let Misty go?"
"No, Misty does anything I tell her to, someone else wouldn't be that easy to boss around," Daisy said. "And now she's all depressed, she isn't protesting my decisions as much like she did in the beginning. If she's starting to accept her fate, I don't see what the big deal is."
"If she says that one more time, I'm going to grab my mallet again," Misty thought. "She can keep me at the Gym as much as she wants, but she can never steal my ambition and fighting spirit!"
"I guess you'll never learn," the Water Pokemon Master mumbled at the blonde Sensational Sister. "So, tell me, why are you three here?"
"Well, Professor Oak sent me to Valencia Island to deliver something to Professor Ivy for research purposes. I asked Daisy to come with me, and we decided to turn this into a little vacation and visit all islands," Tracey explained.
"Right. And why is Misty with you? After what Daisy said, I'd expect her to be at the Gym now," Prima asked.
"She's here because we need her Gyarados for transport. We have a stand-in named Dorian filling in, he's from the unofficial Coastline Gym in Johto," Daisy answered.
"You sick, sick b*tch..." Prima thought.
"Wow, check out that angry look in her eyes!" Tracey said to Misty. "I always thought she was calm, but she looks like you when you're on a rampage!" He got lucky that Daisy was able to prevent Misty from striking with her strong right fist.
"Misty, come on, let's battle! I need to blow some steam off," the Elite Four member said.
"Awesome!" Misty said. "Shall we do it at the beach, just outside your house? Three against three," Misty suggested.
And so, five minutes later, while was next to her on her towel, Daisy was sunbathing again, together with Tracey and his Jumpluff. They picked a sunny spot where they were able to see Misty battling her idol. They saw a strong Slowbro standing on the shore, looking in Gyarados's eyes. The Atrocious Pokemon was in the water, ready to start the battle.
"Gyarados, let's start with a Hyper Beam!" Misty commanded, starting the battle with an immensely powerful move. While a strong, colourful beam smacked down the pink opponent in one hit, the red-haired trainer was surprised the opponent seemed to go down that easily!
"Slowbro, can you go on?" Prima asked, while looking at her severely damaged Pokemon. "SLOW!" he shouted, while standing up easily!
"Awesome!" Prima thought. "And now finish it with Zap Cannon!"
"Zap Cannon?" Misty thought. "Oh no!" A strong, energetic ball of lightning struck the surprised Gyarados, who felt a giant blow. As a result of water conducting electricity and as a result of his giant weakness against Electric attacks, the Pokemon went down in one hit!
"Gyarados, no!" Misty screamed. Then, she spoke more calmly. "Gyarados, you were awesome. Return!"
"I can't believe Gyarados went down in one hit..." Tracey moaned. "And that after Slowbro seemed to be done for after that Hyper Beam..."
"Gyarados did horribly, should Misty punish him now?" Daisy asked.
"Of course not! Gyarados didn't choose to lose, and Misty thanked him for his effort. That's important, she loves her Pokemon!" Tracey answered. "It's all about loving your Pokemon and being nice to them! Misty often sacrifices her own good for the safety of her Pokemon! When she went back to the Gym, she took a life-threatening hit to protect Gyarados from a slight injury!"
"That's unselfish," Daisy said bluntly. "I'd never do that for anyone else aside from you."
"Well, that's wrong. Being a good person requires more than treating your boyfriend right," Tracey replied. Meanwhile, Horsea used his Smokescreen to prevent Slowbro from aiming his Zap Cannon well.
"Who else should I be nice to? I'm nice to Violet, Lily and you, that should be enough," Daisy said.
"No. You mention Violet and Lily, but aren't you forgetting a sibling?" Tracey asked.
"You mean Misty? Why would I be nicer to her?" Daisy asked.
"Because she's your sister just as much as Violet and Lily are," Tracey said. "When is the last time you gave her something for her birthday? As far as I know, you never gave her anything for her birthday, you forced her to do physical labour at the Gym even when she was ill some months ago and you always spend the majority of her wage on make-up..."
"I often give Misty something nice, I often give her extra work," Daisy said. "She enjoys battling, so she should be happy at the Gym! And if she doesn't like the job I gave her, she's an ungrateful b*tch," Daisy said nonchalantly, while Misty's Horsea was slowly but steadily damaging Slowbro, who wasn't able to land an attack.
"Battling weak rookies at the Gym is very different from battling whatever opponent you want on a journey," Tracey said.
"Battles are battles, do you have any concrete example?" Daisy asked.
"Do you remember that rookie who battled Misty a week before we started this journey? Her Corsola defeated the two Pokemon he had with ease! Misty can't learn much from such battles, her Pokemon barely grow from that," Tracey explained. "And look at her battle with Prima now! She'll rarely have challengers like that at the Gym!"
"But she's going to lose!" Daisy said. "Prima is way too strong for her!"
"That may be, but at least she can learn from it! And her Pokemon can grow from it as well," Tracey explained. "Back when I travelled with her and Ash, her Poliwag was quite weak. But now, it's a strong Politoed, because Misty battled with it often in the Johto region."
"I think I see now," Daisy said, while seeing how Slowbro was finally able to strike Horsea by using Shadow Ball. The seahorse lay on his back, looking done for.
"Face it, Misty! Horsea can't battle anymore," Prima said. But then, the Pokemon countered the opponent. While being shrouded in a white light, he started glowing and growing. After the transformation, the Pokemon had a different cry. "Seadra!" they heard.
"Look, Misty's Horsea just evolved into a Seadra!" Tracey said happily. "That would've never happened at the Gym, not even if she'd battle hundred rookies!"
"This is so cool, Misty! Congratulations with your Seadra!" Prima complimented.
"Thanks," Misty said. "This is awesome!"
"That won't stop me from beating you," the Elite Four member countered.
"Tracey is right..." Daisy thought. "I always thought Misty should shut up and do the Gym work, because she wanted to battle. But this is what she meant all the time, she was right all along! The Gym is indeed as horrible for her as the thinks!" Then, she asked Tracey a question. "I'm feeling something weird in my stomach, could you please see if you notice something?"
Then, the Pokemon Watcher put his hand on his girlfriend's stomach, which was covered by the white swimsuit she was wearing. "I don't feel anything," Tracey said. But then, he looked into Daisy's eyes, which showed a small tear. "I think I can see what you're feeling!"
"What is it?" Daisy asked. "After understanding that Misty were right all along about the Gym being bad for her, I'm feeling a heavy pain in my belly!"
"Don't worry, you're not ill. This is a typical case of guilt and remorse. You feel bad for something you did, and realize how bad the consequences are for someone else," Tracey explained.
"Oh my Arceus, you're right!" Daisy said. "Professor Ivy, your parents, Cissy and Prima were right all along! Oh, I've been such a b*tch..."
"So does this mean you'll let Misty go after this journey?" Tracey asked, while Seadra defeated the strong Slowbro with his Dragonbreath. Misty managed to defeat one of Prima's Pokemon! Then, the Elite Four member sent out her Jynx.
"I'm not sure," Daisy said. "Dorian told me he'd make Lily and Violet do one chore every week, because they're responsible for the Gym. Misty just did anything we told her to, Dorian isn't that easy. I wouldn't want him to take over from Misty permanently..."
"Just think about it," Tracey said. "At least you're realizing that you were wrong, and that's the first step to improvement." Meanwhile, the battle was underway. Seadra just got struck by a strong Psybeam, but was still ready to go, despite being almost defeated.
"Shall I tell Misty about this?" Daisy asked, while she saw Seadra getting defeated by a strong Psychic.
"No, only tell her if you make a permanent decision," Tracey said. "Otherwise you might give her false hope."
"I suppose you're right," Daisy said. "I finally understand why so many people hate me now... I really want to better my life!" she thought. "And all that thanks to Seadra and Tracey!"
"I've reached a breakthrough!" Tracey thought. Then, he gave his girlfriend some valuable advice. "The best thing you can do now is letting Misty go, as I said. But if you want to take smaller steps first, just try to be nicer and more polite to people."
"Lots of people see you as nice, is that all that makes you so nice?" Daisy asked.
"Not just that," Tracey said. "You also need to sacrifice yourself for others sometimes. Do something you don't like if you can make someone else happy with that. It can even start with just doing a chore, so someone else has less work to do."
"I see, I hate chores... Is there anything else I need to know?" Daisy asked.
"If they're genuine, many people like compliments," Tracey said. "Do you see that Misty is doing nicely, even if she loses this battle? Well, you can compliment her for that later today."
"I'll do that," Daisy said. "It's a small effort and it can put a smile on someone else's face." Then, she thought "as long as it makes Tracey happy, I also have an extra motivation to be nicer to Misty."
Then, they watched the battle progressing. Misty's Vaporeon stood in front of the strong Jynx. The Water-type just suffered a strong Psychic, was close to collapsing, but it wasn't fatal. Before that, the Ice-type got struck by Water Gun twice.
"Vaporeon, use your Water Gun again!" Misty commanded. However, the Water-type didn't follow her trainer's orders. She wasn't recalcitrant anymore, but the attack was clearly harder and stronger than normally, heavily damaging Jynx, who got soaked.
Prima was amazed. "Wow, your Vaporeon just learned Hydro Pump!"
"That's so cool!" Misty said. "Vaporeon, let's finish this battle, use your Hydro Pump again!" And so, a strong blast of water struck down the Ice-type, defeating her during the process.
"Jynx, you were awesome. Have some rest," Prima said to her Pokemon. Then, she looked at Misty. "The last time someone defeated two of my Pokemon was when I got challenged by Bruno for a friendly battle two years ago!" Then, the Elite Four member chose her last Pokemon. "Go, Poliwrath!"
"Vaporeon is very tired, she won't be able to take much more anymore," Tracey muttered.
"Well, even though Misty won't win, she still did well, she defeated two Pokemon of a Water Pokemon Master and her Pokemon showed great fighting spirit!" Daisy said. "Maybe she'll reach Prima's level someday."
"But only if you let her go," Tracey said.
"But how will Lily and Violet react to that? Then they might do everything together and leave me out, it might cause them to hate me..." Daisy moaned.
"You're right," Tracey sighed. "This must be so difficult, choosing between Misty and Lily and Violet, and between your own benefits and Misty's happiness..."
Then, the battle went on. "Vaporeon, Aurora Beam," Misty said. Her blue Pokemon fired a colourful beam at the tadpole, who got hit and fell down on the ground.
"Poliwrath, Dynamicpunch!" Prima commanded. The Fighting-type stood up, ran at Vaporeon and quickly struck her down with a harsh punch without giving her a chance to escape the blow. And so, the already exhausted Water-type collapsed. She was knocked out. Defeated. Done for.
"Vaporeon, you were awesome," Misty complimented. "Come back and have some rest." Then, she walked up to Prima, who just returned her Poliwrath to its Poke Ball. "You've showed your awesome skills once again, congratulations!" Misty said. "You deserved this win."
"Thanks, Misty," Prima said. "But you were the one who did awesome today. I haven't had such a strong opponent in years! You're clearly stronger than most people who won eight Badges in a region, and stronger than all people on this island aside from me! Especially your Vaporeon amazed me, she's so strong and skilled!"
"And that while Vaporeon didn't even listen to me at first," Misty said. "Thanks, I don't know what to say. Sorry for being a little nervous, but you're my idol."
"I understand. But now we're here anyways, is there anything you'd like to talk about?" Prima asked.
"This battle taught me more than any conversation could, but still, that would be awesome," Misty said. "Would you like to see the two Pokemon I haven't used in our battle, but that I still have with me?"
"Sure," Prima answered. "It's indeed better to give Gyarados, Seadra and Vaporeon some rest."
"Yeah," Misty said, while hurling two Poke Balls. "Psyduck and Azurill, go!"
"Azu!" the blue baby Pokemon squealed. Then, Prima went down on her knees and greeted the small Pokemon.
"Hey, Psyduck, don't be so impolite! Introduce yourself to Prima!" Misty snapped.
"Psy," the mentally handicapped duck said, while standing with his rear towards the Water Pokemon Master from Mandarin Island South.
"Hi Psyduck, I'm Prima," the Elite Four member tried. However, the Pokemon didn't respond. "Misty, why is he ignoring me? And why does he have that empty look in his eyes?"
"I think he's mentally handicapped," Misty said. "He never understands what people ask him, he only attacks when he has a headache and he can't even swim..."
"Yeah, it seems like it..." Prima said. "Do you actually use him in battle sometimes?"
"I try to avoid that, but he sometimes pops out of his Poke Ball when I try to use another Pokemon. Then, he runs around aimlessly until he gets a headache. Then, his psychic powers are triggered and he defeats the opponent using Psychic," Misty explained.
"So he's actually strong? Psyduck is cooler than he seems." Prima said.
"Yeah, I'm often mad at him, but he's still my Pokemon and I love him for it," Misty explained.
"That's good," Prima said. "I'm glad I saw you again."
Then, Nurse Joy ran to the beach and walked up to Misty. "Misty, I got an emergency call for you from Professor Ivy, she told me that I should tell you to call her as soon as possible! You, Tracey and Daisy need to come to the Pokemon Center as soon as possible and immediately call her when you're there!"
"Thanks for the information, I'll tell Tracey and Daisy so we can go," Misty said to the nurse.
