The Sensational Sisters

"Feels strange being back in Cerulean City so soon," Lillie spoke as she walked through the city with Ash and Brock.

"It's the first time for me!" Ash informed with a light smirk. "And this time you'll get to witness a gym battle in action for the first time!"

Lillie nodded with an excited expression. "Oh yes, I've seen trials and grand trials before but this'll be the first time I've seen a gym battle!" She recalled the time when she witnessed Kiawe battling Totem Salazzle and the time when Zach battled a Totem Pikachu! "This is so exciting!"

"I know how you feel, I can't wait to earn my second badge!" Ash pumped his fists as they continued walking along before a large dome shaped building caught his attention. The sign said 'Cerulean Gym' but it sure didn't look like a Kanto gym to him, it looked more like a performance arena of some kind! There was also art of various Water types like Dewgong and Milotic painted along the outer walls of the building, making it look even more like a performance arena!

Ash tilted his head for a moment as he wondered if somebody was playing a cruel trick on him and that was just the Contest Hall, however he did a quick turn and noticed Cerulean City's Contest Hall was only a few blocks away meaning that it couldn't possibly be that! Ash turned to Brock who could only shrug in response, he may be the son of a gym leader but that didn't mean he was familiar with the other gyms and their leaders!

"Well I guess it won't hurt to look, maybe it was the former location of the gym and they just forgot to take down the sign." It wasn't something that happened all the time but he did recall hearing that Saffron's gym was Fighting typed a long time ago before Sabrina's older brother utterly destroyed the gym leader in combat and took the gym title from him without even having to utter out a single command! Sabrina's brother sounded like quite the powerful trainer and Psychic specialist, Ash was quite excited to battle him but it'd be some time before he could reach that point.

As the three walked up the steps they'd begin hearing what appeared to be a crowd cheering causing the three to look at another in confusion before walking on inside. Immediately upon entering Ash would see a fish tank full of various fish Pokemon from across the world like Goldeen, Remoraid, Huntail and Gorebyss, along with some Luvdisc and Finneon! Up ahead Ash could see the entrance way into a large room where a water show was currently being performed. Ash couldn't see much of what was going on from here but this was most certainly not the gym! He turned around to walk out only to come face to face with the 'winner wall' showcasing the pictures of his rivals and their Pokemon upon completion of the gym. First up was Giselle who had utilized a Gloom in order to seal her victory, Gary was also present with his Umbreon and Wartortle while Leaf and her Ivysaur were pictured next to him, finally Flash with presented alongside his Electabuzz and a 'new record time' labeling slapped onto his picture with Electabuzz. There were no pictures presented after Flash and a bucket labeled 'Free badges' sat in front of the wall. The sight of the 'free badges' was quick to set Ash off, his eye began twitching as he let out a light growl.

"Come on Ash, you can get your badge somewhere else." Brock tried to comfort his friend only for Ash to brush him right off as he turned to go confront the so called gym leader! As he entered the room he'd immediately notice three extremely attractive girls who weren't that much older than them, only by a few years or so, performing a show as various Water types fired off water attacks and leaped from the large pool that was centered in the middle of the gym! The three women were the same build wise, all of them had light skin tones and rather slim and attractive bodies with quite the curves and busts, no wonder they had such a large crowd. Seeing how they were mostly men Ash assumed that they were just there for the eye candy. The only difference the girls really had was their hair and eye color, one had long blonde hair along with green eyes, another had long indigo colored hair along with brown eyes, and the third had long pink hair along with blue eyes!

Ash looked between the three as he tried picking out which of them was the gym leader but it was an impossible task to make. He quickly rushed back to check the winners wall for clues but that was just as unhelpful. The blonde was in Gary's picture, the blue haired woman was present in Giselle's, the pink haired woman was in Leaf's picture while all three were in Flash's and giving him quite the murderous glare while Giselle could be seen returning the glare from the sideline.

"I-Whose the gym leader?!" Ash shouted as he pulled at his hair from frustration.

"I am!" A familiar voice spoke up causing him to turn and witness Misty stomping right past him with a furious look in her eye. "This gym is set to be mine and they're going to completely destroy the gym's legacy, I'll never be a respected Water specialist if my own gym is considered a joke!"

"Misty?! What's going on?" Lillie asked with a nervous look upon noticing how pissed Misty looked, the girl could be quite scary when she was pissed off! Misty responded with a growl and Lillie was quick to hop out of the way while Brock was still in the arena and drooling heavily as he eyed the three sisters.

"Show's over!" Misty shouted, yanking on Brock's ear to bring him back to reality. Unfortunately the crowd seemed to ignore Misty causing her face to burn bright red as this only pissed her off even further! "I said the show's over, Gyarados use Hyper Beam!"

"GYAAAA!" A ferocious looking Gyarados burst out into the stands and towered over the crowd causing everyone to quickly panic and rush for the exit while the sisters stared with a confused look before forming a glare at their younger sister as they realized she was there!

"Misty."

"Lily, Violet, Daisy." Misty coldly responded as Ash silently flickered his gaze back and forth between her and her sisters. It appeared that they didn't get along. Ash remembered what that strange man had told him about the League being corrupt and though Misty seemed to be on poor terms with her sisters he was sure they were clean of any corruption, after all they wouldn't have turned the gym into a dump if they were! "What did you do to my gym?"

"Your gym? It belongs to us!" Lily retorted.

"Yeah, mom gave it to us before she passed!" Violet added on.

"Only because I was too young, you're only temporary gym leaders remember?!" Misty growled out.

"We can still do what we want though!" Lilly growled.

"Yeah, battling is just not fun anymore. Ever since that Flash kid one punched our entire team we've simply had no desire to battle anymore, trainers can have the badges if they want them so bad but we're not wasting our time getting our asses kicked anymore." Violet waved Misty off.

"I-You can't do that! It's against regulations, you'll get the gym shut down as soon as somebody reports you! Hell I'd turn you in myself within a second if that didn't mean inheriting a gym with a tarnished reputation!" Misty shouted out.

"Oh do be quiet, you know the three of us were made for performing! Why should we be stuck with a lousy gym?" Daisy narrowed her eyes.

"I-It's just a little over a year and a half before I can take over!" Misty shouted out defensively. "Besides if you three simply take turns playing gym leader then the work won't be as heavy for you!"

Lily and Violet protested at that but Daisy looked a bit thoughtful at the point Misty had provided, she did make sense but was it right for them to hold onto the gym for one and a half more years?!

"E-Excuse me but who do I talk to about getting a Pokemon battle? I'm not leaving until I get one!" Ash decided to pull a rather risky maneuver to get their attention causing Lily and Violet to give him a harsh glare while Daisy rubbed her chin in a thoughtful manner as it appeared as if Arceus had just given her an answer to her problems!

"What's your name, kid?" Daisy asked.

"Ash Ketchum, future Kanto cham-"

"Don't care," Daisy coldly dismissed him causing Ash to let out a frustrated growl. "Look Misty I've got a proposition for you, beat that meddling boyfriend of yours and we'll take good care of the gym until you graduate. Lose and well, we quit and you can't complain to us about it any longer!"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ash shouted.

"Yeah, I am!" Lillie shouted as she wrapped an arm around her boyfriend only to quickly cower behind him as Lily, Violet and Daisy shot her a look.

Misty clenched her fists before giving Ash a quick glance over as she nodded her head in agreement. "Alright, I'll beat him." She turned to face Ash before forming a light smirk as she returned Gyarados to her ball. "Well then I guess it looks like both of us will be having a battle today but don't expect me to go easy on you, my goal and future livelihood is on the line here!"

"And I wouldn't dream of going easy on you either, it's disrespectful to your opponent and yourself to not give it your all during a battle!" Ash exclaimed before pumping his fists with an excitable expression. "So where's the battlefield?"

"You're looking at it." Misty pointed towards the large pool, two circular platforms could be seen floating in the middle of it to provide an area for land based Pokemon to battle rather than have to swim or float above the water.

"So the Cerulean Gym rules are simple," Misty explained as she walked to an end of the pool to take her battling position. "We each get to use three Pokemon and the winner will be announced once one of us is unable to continue, or we forfeit which I don't see either of us doing." Ash nodded in agreement as he took his place upon the battlefield.

"Right, well I think we'll start off with Butterfree!" Ash grinned as he reached for the ball containing the butterfly Pokemon before giving it a throw!

"Freeee!" Butterfree cried out as he fluttered through the air in front of his trainer.

"Go Gyarados!" It seemed Misty wasn't playing around as she was already using the big guns! Gyarados burst back out with a loud roar before giving Butterfree an intimidating stare resulting in the Bug type shivering lightly.

Brock and Lillie stood to the side of the battlefield to spectate while Misty's sisters stood on the opposite with rather bored expressions as they expected Ash to win rather quickly much like Giselle and Flash had done.

"Electroweb!" Ash shouted out as Misty's sisters let out a moan.

"Here we go again..."

Butterfree fired off an electrically charged string from his mouth that began taking form of an electrical net as it approached the massive water serpent, soon landing upon Gyarados and giving him quite the shock!

"Alright way to go Butterfree!" Lillie cheered on while Brock calmly watched, knowing that the match hadn't yet been decided yet and he was proven correct as the attack faded away to reveal Gyarados still standing strong!

"Gyaaaa!" Gyarados let out a roar, looking mighty pissed off from the electrical shock that he had been given.

Misty let out a laugh as she crossed her arms. "I suppose I should have warned you ahead of time, this is my secret weapon! I captured him back during our second trip to Kalos and have been training him in secret ever since as I had a feeling that we'd battle each other here!" Misty boasted with a smirk. "I even asked a certain friend of ours some advice on teaching this next move, Flamethrower!"

"What?!" Everyone else present within the gym leaped back with shocked expressions.

"I-I didn't know Gyarados could learn Flamethrower!" Lillie gasped out in shock while Misty's sisters looked a bit impressed but attempted to hide the fact as Gyarados let out a cry before firing a large stream of flame at Butterfree!

"Freee!" Butterfree let out a cry of pain as his body was roasted by the flame of the attack!

"Butterfree!" Ash gasped out in concern for his Bug type, the surprise attack had definitely put a spin on things as Ash hadn't planned for something like that! He quickly whipped out his Rotom Phone and let out a frustrated growl upon seeing the power level of Gyarados, no wonder Butterfree was looking worn out from the attack, Gyarados was at the same power level as Silvally, Croagunk and Lucario! Thankfully it wasn't like Cross' Incineroar or else Butterfree might have been wiped out!

"Sleep Powder!" Ash called out while silently praying that this worked as Butterfree might not be able to take another Flamethrower!

"Freee!" Butterfree began flapping his wings as he blew a sparkling green powder upon his opponent, Gyarados put up a bit of a struggle but it eventually fell asleep giving Ash and Butterfree a chance to get in some attacks and deal some damage! They could simply swap out but if Treecko got hit by fire then the match was pretty much over, Misty still had Psyduck and Poliwhirl on standby unless one was getting benched for another one of her wild cards, Ash couldn't take that chance. Especially as Butterfree's Electroweb would do four times the amount of damage that Treecko's Absorb or Bullet Seed would do!

"Fire off another Electro Web!" Ash shouted out.

"Freee!" Butterfree shot off another string of electricity before trapping Gyarados in the electrical net and giving the water serpent another powerful shock!

Gyarados let out a grunt in his sleep as Misty clenched her fists. "Come on Gyarados, wake up and use Flamethrower!" She shouted out and looking just about as angry as Gyarados! The two really were a perfect fit for one another. Unfortunately for her Gyarados continued snoozing away, giving Ash another chance to attack!

"Electro Web one more time!" He hoped that this would be the last one, Gyarados' breathing had grown heavier but it was hard to judge rather that it was because he was waking up or about to go down?

Butterfree trapped Gyarados in another electrical net and shocked the water serpent, he let out a pain filled howl of rage as his eyes shot open, his eyes burning with rage as Misty let out a cheer before punching the air in front of her.

"Flamethrower!" Gyarados opened up his mouth and blasted Butterfree, the butterfly let out a cry as he was roasted before dropping to the platform below as his eyes were reduced to swirls.

"Butterfree is unable to battle, Gyarados wins!" Brock played the part of referee while Misty's sisters looked at each other with shocked expressions.

Ash frowned lightly as he returned Butterfree to his pokeball. "You did good Butterfree, take a long rest!" He looked up at Gyarados and lowered his head for a moment as he reached for a pokeball.

"Treecko, I choose you!"

Treecko burst out and gave a smirk before cowering lightly at the sight of Gyarados due to the water serpent's ability.

"Tree..."

"Well this won't take long," Misty let out a laugh. "Hyper Beam!"

Gyarados opened his mouth before blasting at Treecko with the orange-yellow energy beam!

"Dodge it!" Treecko rolled to the side as the attack landed behind him, resulting in a large wave of water to splash out of the pool. "Misty... I know the friend you're referring to, I too asked him for some help during our stay in the Alola region!" Ash looked up to flash her a smirk before throwing out his arm. "Thunder Punch!"

"Tree!" Treecko leaped across the pool before delivering an electrically charged punch to Gyarados' body causing the water serpent to let out a loud cry of pain before collapsing forward into the water and creating a large splash as the audience members were hit by flying water!

"T-That looked a lot like..." Lillie started.

"Yep, Zach and his Lucario helped Treecko master the attack! Ash thought that it might come in handy during the gym battle." Brock explained as he had witnessed the training session.

"Huh, should have expected that..." Misty muttered as she returned Gyarados. "I'd forgotten the two of you are close friends but no matter, let's see if Treecko is fast enough to defeat my next Pokemon!" Misty grinned as she grabbed another Pokeball. "Milotic, let's go!"

"Milo!"

"Huh?" Ash paused as Misty pulled yet another wildcard on him, Misty could only smirk in response.

"I caught this one in Kalos too, Gyarados is her boyfriend and she's not going to be pleased to hear that Treecko beat him!"

"Milo?! Miloooo!" Milotic cried out, looking quite full of rage for something so beautiful!

"Milotic the Tender Pokemon, it is said to be the most beautiful of all Pokemon and is quite skilled in battle!"

Ash put away his Pokedex before giving Treecko a nod.

"Use Leer then follow up with Thunder Punch!"

"Tree!" Treecko gave Milotic a leer before leaping forward and slamming an electrically charged fist against her! Milotic let out a cry upon being struck but she was still in a battling state!

"Ice Beam!" Milotic fired a beam of ice from her mouth, striking Treecko with quite the accurate precision as Treecko's skin turned blue. The gecko began shivering and for a moment it looked as if he was getting frozen but it turned out that was probably just Treecko's first exposure to an Ice attack!

"Bullet Seed!" Treecko began firing off a barrage of seeds from his mouth as if he were part machine gun! The seeds pelted Milotic and pushed her back while her body began looking bruised up from the attacks she had taken over the course of the battle!

"Recover!" Milotic's body began to glow brightly as the bruise marks faded away and Milotic almost appeared as if she were just freshly released from her ball!

Ash cursed beneath his breath as Misty flashed him a cocky smirk. "Hehehe, sorry Ash but I can't afford to lose!" She felt bad for him but she was serious when she said couldn't afford to go easy on him! "Ice Beam!" Milotic fired off another beam of ice.

"D-Dodge it!" Treecko rolled to the side, avoiding the ice beam as Ash threw out his arm. "Use Leer once more then fire off another Bullet Seed!" Milotic may be regaining health but her stat changes were still very much in effect!

Treecko gave Milotic another leer before firing off a barrage of seeds at her, pelting her body and knocking her back as Misty fired off her own command.

"Ice Beam once more!" Milotic opened her mouth and fired off yet another ice beam, Treecko was too slow this time and took the hit! The gecko keeled over before falling face first against the ground and remaining still as Misty's sisters shared a rather loud gasp while Misty gave them a smirk, pleased that they were seeming to change their view on her.

"Treecko is unable to-" Brock started as Ash lowered his head only to go silent as Treecko slowly stood back up and turned to face Milotic with a look of determination across his face.

"Treecko..." He panted out, looking worn out but not wanting to stop until the fight was over!

"Treecko...? You can't!" Ash shouted out in concern to his Grass type only for him to wave him off.

"Tree!" Treecko shouted as a bright blue light surrounded his body, Ash's eyes widened while Misty let out a frustrated growl. Treecko's body began turning a darker shade of green while his large bushy tail separated into two long and slender leaves, leaves also began to grow off the end of his arms while a long slender leaf grew from the top of his head and ran across the gecko's back.

"Grovyle!"

"Grovyle the Wood Gecko Pokemon, the leaves growing out of Grovyle's body are convenient for camouflaging it from enemies in the forest. This Pokemon is a master at climbing trees in jungles!"

"Way to go Grovyle, you evolved!" Ash cheered as Grovyle flashed him a light smirk before giving a nod towards Milotic as he reminded Ash about the fight. "Oh right, Thunder Punch!" Grovyle leaped forward in a bright green blur, his fist charged up with electricity as he slammed his fist against Milotic! Milotic let out a harsh sounding scream before falling face forward into the pool as her eyes turned to swirls while she floated above the water.

"Milo..."

"Gro...vyle..." Grovyle collapsed seconds afterwards as Brock raised both his arms. "Grovyle and Milotic are both unable to continue!"

"Well now things are going to really get interesting," Misty smirked as she tossed a ball up and down. "Ara-"

"Psy!" Psyduck burst out from his ball and landed in the pool, holding his head for a second before realizing that he was in water! "Psy psy psy!" Psyduck began flailing his arms about with a panicked look, Misty's sisters began laughing at Psyduck's expense while Misty's face shot bright red from embarrassment.

"You still haven't taught him how to swim?!" Lily laughed.

"A Water type that can't swim, what a joke!" Violet laughed.

Lillie felt sorry for Psyduck as Misty yanked the duck out of the pool before throwing him out onto the platform.

"If you wanna fight then at least stay on land!" Misty shouted out with a growl.

"Absol!" Ash grabbed at the ball containing his Dark type before Absol burst out onto the rivaling platform. Now it was Misty's turn to feel overwhelmed as Psyduck's Confusion wouldn't do a thing against Absol!

"Slash!" Absol quickly leaped across the pool and slashed at Psyduck with his claws, the duck Pokemon held his head as he uttered out a grunt.

"Water Pulse!" Misty shouted out but to no avail as Psyduck just stood there.

"Psyduck... come on, don't do this to me! We're so close to winning the gym!" Misty begged but Psyduck continued staring blankly ahead of him.

Ash felt bad for her but he couldn't just forfeit, not after Butterfree and Grovyle put in all the work they'd done to get him that far!

"Absol use Quick Attack!" Absol rushed forward in a white and black blur before throwing his body at Psyduck and knocking the duck back into the water!

"Oops..." Ash sweated as Psyduck began flailing his arms about with a panicked look. "Sorry Misty!"

Misty let out an annoyed groan as she quickly removed her clothes to reveal the swim suit beneath, getting ready to dive in after Psyduck as he'd quickly sank beneath the surface. However just as she was about to dive in a bright blue glow lit up the pool as everyone's eyes lit up from surprise!

"No way..." Ash breathed out.

"It can't be..." Daisy gasped.

"Did Psyduck just...?" Brock asked before a shared gasp was emitted by all as a Golduck splashed out of the water, his fist surrounded in a bright blue aura before delivering a Dynamic Punch directly against Absol's face!

"Sol!" Absol cried out from the critical hit before being quick to topple over in defeat as swirls formed in his eyes, Golduck standing proudly above as Misty let out a squeal before diving into the water and swimming out to pull him into her grasp.

"You did it Golduck, you did it! You saved our gym!" Misty pulled him into a tight hug as Golduck blushed. It appeared that despite how goofy and empty headed Psyduck appeared to be, he was actually quite powerful! No wonder his Confusion attacks almost always ended up with the opponent being knocked out!

Ash smiled at the sight of Misty and Golduck excitedly embracing one another before he lowered his head as the knowledge of his loss had just sunk in. He was suffering from a losing streak lately and he had hoped to break out of it here by securing his second badge!

"Way to go Misty!" Daisy cheered as her sisters clapped their hands.

"You're definitely deserving of having the gym." Violet added.

"Yeah, you made battling actually look fun again!" Lily added.

Lillie walked over to comfort Ash as he returned Absol to his ball, the blonde girl placed her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder and offered him a light smile in the hopes of cheering him up. "You okay..?"

Ash just stared at his feet for a moment before answering without looking up. "Yeah... I'm fine." Lillie and Brock looked at him with an equal amount of concern. Ash then looked up at Misty and forced a smile. "Congratulations on the win, I'm glad that you get to inherit the gym and keep your goal..." Ash lowered his head again before turning to leave without a word as Misty tilted her head and was about to rush after her friend before her sisters grabbed onto her.

"Come on Misty, let's go celebrate!" Daisy shouted out.

"Yeah!" Violet and Lily cheered out.

"You wanna come with Brock?" Violet asked only to discover that he and Lillie had left with Ash, she shrugged before the three dragged Misty out to go celebrate her victory and future as the Cerulean Gym Leader!

I spent a bit of time thinking about the outcome of the match, I really didn't want to pull a 'You lost but you can keep it anyways!' card as there's only so many times you can do that and get away with it. And Ash had to lose against a gym leader at some point, Surge is a bit expected so I thought why not do it where it's not expected? Things looked bad for Ash throughout the battle then just when the tables were reversed, BAM! Misty came through with the win!

Sucked to have Absol lose his first onscreen match under Ash, I wasn't a fan of it when I realized but it made perfect sense for Absol to be there instead of Espeon. Especially as I made a big deal about Espeon being used too much and Absol was immune to Psyduck's Confusion attack!