Cerulean City was just as Aeris had expected it to be- a large, widespread city that overlooked the Moon river which had its source over Mt. Moon and flowed beside Cerulean to a flowy landscape.

"We're finally here, Pikachu."

"Pika."

A day has passed by since Aeris and Pikachu left Mt. Moon with their new friend in tow.

Currently, Aeris had four pokeballs attached to his belt. One was, of course, Pikachu's, two of them was for Nidorino and Dratini, and the last one was for their new friend, the Flame Pokemon, Charmander.

"Why don't we head right over to the gym buddy?"

"Pikka." Pikachu nods at its trainer. The idea was refreshing. Although it would be a hassle to directly dive into a gym battle after going through Mt. Moon, but since they have been doing nothing but dozing off since their encounter with those men in black, Pikachu wanted to stretch its arms and legs a litte.

"Alright then, let's go!"

"Ugh! Is it just me or is this place not a gym?"

What Aeris meant that the building in front of them was nothing like a pokemon gym. Instead, it looked more like an aquarium.

"Excuse me, are you here to register for the upcoming Pokemon Contest?"

Aeris turns around and spots a tall, older woman in a blue uniform.

"Uh, no."

"Are you registering as a spectator then?"

"Um, you see, I'm here to actually challenge the Gym Leader."

"The gym leader?"

"Yeah. I'm from Pallet Town, and I'd really like to have a battle with the leader."

"Oh, I'm sorry to inform, but the Gym Leader is not in the gym at this moment."

"What? The gym leader's not at the gym?"

This is the second time this has occured. First it was the Viridian City gym, and noe it was Cerulean's. Was Aeris's luck that bad?

"You see, there's a fishing competition being held at the Moon river as of today. And, since the Gym Leader has a fascination for Water-type pokemons, she's going to participate in that challenge."

"Oh man! What a bummer?"

"Ah, but, you wouldn't need to worry much though. The competition is just for today, so the Gym Leader will be here tomorrow."

"The gym leader's gonna be here tomorrow?"

"Yes, if nothing goes wrong, that is."

"Alright, I guess I'll come back tomorrow," Aeris stated, with a much disheartened face as he and Pikachu walk back towards the path they came from.

24 hours shouldn't be that long of a wait. Unless, of course, time slows down to an hour per second.

Since they were not able to challenge the gym, Aeris and Pikachu decided to take a breather along the riverbed of the Moon river. The water of the Moon river was crystal clear, and it was sparkling under the sunlight.

"Damn Pikachu, we couldn't challenge the gym today. Why does this keep happening to me?"

"Pika pika...…."

For now, there was nothing to be done, and before he knew it, Aeris found himself throwing pebbles in the river while sitting on a rock, Pikachu beside him.

It was in that exact moment when a loud bang resonated around him.

Looking around, Aeris spotted that at the corner of a river, there were banners and posters set up, and quite a number of people were gathered there.

"Eh? Is that a festival?"

"Pika pi?"

"Wanna check it Pikachu?"

"Pikka."

The first thing Aeris and Pikachu noticed was that almost everyone had a fishing rod in their hand.

"Eh?"

Now that he thinks about it, the woman at the gym did mention something about a fishing contest.

"Hello there. Are you a participant?"

A tall, young man asks Aeris. Incidentally, there was a badge on his shirt-pocket which had the word 'Volunteer' on it.

"Uh! No. Not really."

"Hmm? Then, would you like to participate?"

"But, I don't really have a fishing rod or anything?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," says the man. "We have rental rods for those who don't have their own. You can just borrow one of them if you like."

"Wow! Really! Awesome!"

"I see you want to participate. Very well then, follow me."

"Awesome! There are so many fishing kits here!"

"Pika pi...!"

Both Pikachu and Aeris were astonished with the amount of fishing rods, hooks, baits, and other fishing kits around them.

It was like a festival of fishing kits.

"Alright then, here's where you pick a fishing rod?"

The volunteer said, gesturing him towards a shelf which had fishing rods lined together very delicately.

"Wow. This is amazing."

There were rods of all size and colors. The baits mostly consisted of small fish, and the hooks were of different colors.

In the end, Aeris ended up getting an easy-to-use rod along with a metal hook and bait.

"Alright! I'm set! Time to go fishing Pikachu!"

"Pika pika!"

Aeris sat at the riverbank, humming quietly to himself as he wishes for something to happen.

"Damn! This is so boring! We've been here for an hour, and there's nothing happening."

"Pika pika..."

Even Pikachu was quiet exhausted.

Looking to his left and right, Aeris realizes that all the other participants had at least caught a magikarp or goldeen. And, here he was, with his bair still intact.

"Gosh! This is so frustrating! Why doesn't something get caught already?!"

"Pika pika!"

"Fishing is all about patience. You can't hurry with it."

"Eh?"

A tall girl.

Her ginger hair was in shoulder-length pigtails, and here eyes were orange. She was clad in an orange crop top and jeans short, and there was a shiny fishing rod in her hand.

"Hi there. I'm Misty. And it seems like you're having some trouble fishing."

"Oh. Hi. I'm Aeris. And, this is my partner Pikachu."

"Pika pi!"

"Wow! Aren't you just a cutie!"

Misty bends down and immediately starts squishing the electric rodent's cheeks.

"Hey! Wait! If you do that-."

"Pika pi!"

She received 1000 volts of shock for that one.

"Ehehehe. Looks like I really messed up."

"Sorry. It's just that Pikachu doesn't like when someone touches its cheeks."

"Don' worry 'bout that. Besides, I was the one to surprise it like that anyway."

"Pika pi..."

"Anyways, are you a participant too?"

"Yup," replies Misty. "Though, as you can see, I'm already done with my stuff."

Misty shows Aeris a bucket. The letter looks down to see a lot of pokemons; mainly Magikarps and Goldeens.

"Wow! So many! You're a pro."

"Uh. Not really. It's just that when I start fishing, I get so hooked on it that I can't stop."

"You must really like fishing then."

"I like fishing. But I like water pokemons more, in general."

"I see. That's nice "

"I have this dream, you know. To one day, be the strongest water-type trainer. Well, right now I'm nothing more than an amateur, but I hope to accomplish that someday."

"Amazing! You're so confident."

"Well... Yeah... I guess."

Pikachu felt bored. Its trainer was too hooked on talking with that girl which showed up just now, and it had nothing else to do.

With no other option, it walks towards the river before staring at its reflection in the water. It was at that moment when a ripple formed and something came out.

"Shellllllll!"

"Eh? What was that sound?"

Aeris becomes alerted.

"Pikka!"

Misty and Aeris looked at Pikachu's direction and saw a blue shell-like pokemon floating on the surface of the water.

"That's a Shellder!" Misty exclaims, upon seeing the pokemon, as Aeris takes out his pokedex for further info.

"Shellder, the Bivalve Pokemon, a Water type.It swims facing backward by opening and closing its two-piece shell. It is surprisingly fast."

"Woah. Finally, there's something I can catch. Alright Pikachu, get ready."

"Pikka!"

"Pikachu, use Electro-"

Before he could finish though, Shellder opened his mouth... or shell, and sorayed a beam of water at Pikachu's mouth before starting to laugh continuously.

Pikachu cleans its face and wipes its mouth before glaring at the shell pokemon.

"Pika!"

"Shell shell shell shell shelldeeer!"

"Pika pikachu!"

Shellder then gives Pikachu 'the eye', as in making a mocking look on its face before swimming swiftly.

"Don't let it get away, Pikachu!"

Aeris says, and starts running on the bank along with Pikachu.

"Hey, wait for me!" Misty says, running after him with her fishing rod and bucket still in her hands.

Shellder looked back at his followers once and sniggered profusely before raising its speed.

"Pikachu, use Electro Ball!"

"Pika pika pika pikachu!"

Pikachu flied midair before releasing the pinball like electro ball from its tail.

Shellder finally looked scared, a little, and looked to dodge it, but was denied when the electro ball hit straight on its face, bang on, with 100% accuracy.

"Alright, pokeball! GO!"

Aeris threw the pokeball at it, and the Shellder got swallowed inside the pokeball. The ball dropped on the surface of the river, and shook several times before finally it calmed down.

"Alright! I caught a new pokemon!"

"Pi pikachu!"

"Well, that's amazing Aeris! You caught a very rare pokemon!"

"Really? Does it mean I might win the competition?"

There were sparkles in his eyes, but unfortunately for him, Misty let him down, reluctantly.

"Um, I'm sorry to say, but that won't count because you didn't catch it with a fishing rod!"

"WHAAAAT?!"

The winners were announced through the speakers, and as Aeris had thought, Misty won it. The prize was a deluxe fishing rod that was expensive and hard to get. No wonder Misty was delighted to lift the fishing rod in front of everyone.

"Woah! Congratulations, Misty!"

"Thank you! And as much as I'd like to celebrate it, I really have my job cut out for me."

"Huh? Your job?"

"Yeah, I'm the Cerulean City gym leader. I forgot to mention it, right?"

"What? You're the gym leader! I wanted to challenge you for a battle but you weren't there in the morning!"

"Aw! I'm sorry. I seemed to have caused you some troubles. But don't worry, when you come tomorrow, you're sure to get n exciting battle!"

"I'll be looking forward it then!"

"Yeah, cool! Well then, bye bye for now!"

"Yeah, bye! Get ready for the battle!"

"I will Aeris, and you too Pikachu!"

"Pika pikachu!"

It was the day of the battle, and Aeris and Misty were inside the Cerulean city gym. The battle was taking place inside the aquarium, a hidden staircase which led to the battlefield below, a solid rocky island with water surrounding it. Seems like the perfect place for a water pokemon battle.

"Trainers, please get ready. This will be a battle between the Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty and Trainer Aeris Blackwood from Pallet Town. Both trainers will be able to use up to 2 pokemons, and only the challenger may be able to switch their pokemon. If you're ready, then... BATTLE BEGIN!"

For his first pokemon, Aeris decided to go with the Shellder he caught yesterday. Although he did train it a bit to give him some footing against water pokemons, Shellder had practically little to no experience in pokemon battling, so the move was slightly risky.

As for Misty, she went with a Goldeen.

"Goldeen, the Goldfish Pokemon. A Water type.Goldeen is a very beautiful pokemon withfins that billow elegantly in water. However, don't let your guard down around this pokemon- it could ram you powerfully with its horn."

"Don't let your guard down, huh?" Aeris repeated the Pokedex's words before giving a command. "Then, let's brace for an attack Shellder, use Withdraw."

Shellder withdraws back to its shell before it glowed momentarily and came back out. Its defense stat had risen."

"Then we'll greet you like you wanted- Goldeen use Horn Attack!"

Golden's fins started flap rapidly in the water before it swam seiftly towards Shellder. Since both of the pokemons were floating on the water, Goldeen dived underground before using its horn to hit Shellder from below it, causing the latter to fling out to the air before falling back down on the surface of water.

At first, it looked like it was knocked out, but slowly, it rose up to the surface with a smirk in its mouth.

"Use Bubblebeam, Shellder!"

Shellder opened its mouth and lots of bubbles of water sprayed and hit Goldeen. The attack wasn't much effective though, and the bubbles merely popped when it came in contact with Goldeen's horn.

"Use Supersonic, Goldeen."

"Dodge it!"

Goldeen pointed its horns at Shellder before firing superonic wavelengths at it. In response, since the attack was slowly, and Shellder was on water, it only had to swim away from its initial position to doge the attack.

"Ice Beam, Shellder!"

A very powerful attack, Shellder opened its clamp before bolts of ice started firing out from its mouth.

"Go underwater to dodge it, Goldeen"

Goldeen listened to its trainer and dived underwater to successfully dodge the attack.

"Now use Horn Attack once again!"

As before, it started to swim from the bottom to the top, and was about to hit Shellder when-

"Clamp, Shellder!"

Aeris had been preparing for this. As soon as Goldeen was close enough, Shellder opened its clamps and caught the Goldfish pokemon before closing its clamps. Goldeen choked due to the clamps' force and fainted inside.

Afterwards, when Shellder released itz Goldeen floated up with swirls in its eyes.

"Goldeen is unable to battle."

The referee confirmed and Misty withdrew her pokemon.

"Ha-ha. Who knew you'd go with a trick like that? So, the Ice Beam was just a bait, huh?"

"Yup, I knew you'd go with Horn Attack because water type attacks aren't really effective against Shellder."

"And so, you also raised its defence beforehand to withstand the attack. That's some clever planning."

"Hehe."

In truth, Aeris had learnt a lot from his Gym battle with Brock. A little bit of precaution, mixed with some hidden tricks that made use of the environment, and he could eliminate his opponent. He still has more to learn though. An elite trainer would've never used Bubblebeam against a water pokemon. It almost cost him the battle. If Shellder was hit with the Supersonic, the match might've gone the other way.

"However, Aeris, tricks like that won't work againd this pokemon!"

Misty threw a pokeball. A red light shooted towards the battlefield before a star-shaped pokemon with a gem on its body came out.

"Staryu, the Star Shape Pokemon. A water type.An enigmatic Pokemon that can effortlessly regain any appendage it loses in battle.""So, basically, I just have to hit it before it can recover."

Aeris brought out Shellder's pokemon and withdrew it out of the battle. In return, he asked Pikachu to battle it.

Pikachu stood on the small island. Opposite him stood Staryu on an identically small island.

"Resume Battle."

With the referee's announcement, Misty was quick to spring into action.

"Staryu, use Water Gun!"

The gem on Staryu's body started glowing brightly before a small beam of water was sprayed at Pikachu.

"Use Thundershock, Pikachu!"

To counter the Water Gun, Pikachu used Thundershock. The two attacks met and a small explosion formed between the middle of the two pokemons but neither of them was harmed.

"Keep your distance Pikachu. Use Electro Ball!"

Pikachu spun in midair before hurling the sparkling orb of electricity at Staryu.

"Rapid Spin!"

Staryu jumped and started spinning violently at 360. Not only did spinning its body deflected the Electro Ball to somewhere else in the Gym, it kept going at an accelerating speed before tackling Pikachu.

"Pika pi!"

Pikachu was damaged by the attack, and the yellow rodent had to hold its knees to stand back up.

"Damn. I didn't expect that!"

"Pikachu pika!"

Pikachu, enraged by the attack, started to spark its cheeks and urged its trainer for another attack.

"Ha-ha. Seems like you're all fired up, Pikachu! If keeping our distance doesn't matter, then go ahead and use Quick Attack!"

Although it had to go through water to perform the attack, Pikachu's speed, paired with its minor weight helped it on running on the surface of the water leaving droplets behind it.

Misty was genuinely surprised but asked Staryu to perform a Rapid Spin regardless.

Staryu spun rapidly, and charged towards Pikachu. However-

"Now, move to your right!"

Instead of attacking, Pikachu jumped to its right and laned on the island on Misty's side.

"Use Tail Whip!"

While Staryu was spinning, Pikachu jumped over it and slapped it with its tail. Staryu fell on the water. Although the Tail Whip itself didn't do any damage, because of the impact, Staryu felt as if it was slapped by the water.

"Use Recover, Staryu!"

Misty realized the situation and quickly ordered her Staryu to regain its health.

"Just as I expected!" Aeris smirked. "Now Pikachu, finish it with Thundershock!"

"Crap," Misty widened her eyes upon realising the situation.

Pikachu sparked its cheeks once again before hurling zaps of electricity at Staryu. The water was 'hyper' effective, if possible. Electric moves are effective against Water type pokemons anyway, but paired with the water around Staryu, the attack became even more powerful and effective.

The Staryu, who was in its recovery process, received the full force of the attack and sank to the bottom of the pool before floating back up.

"Staryu is unable to battle. This means that the winner of this battle is Challenger Aeris Blackwood!"

"Alright!"

"Pika Pikachu!"

Misty smiles at his fallen pokemon before returning it back to its pokeball and letting it rest. Afterwards, she walks towards Aeris with a box in her hand.

"Ha-ha. That was a nice battle. I still can't believe that Pikachu just ran on the water there like that, though."

"Well, it's not enitrely impossible. Pikachu is a light pokemon and is also very fast, not to mention the water in the battlefield was thicker than normal."

"I see, you seem to know a lot about different things, huh? In any case, here's the proof of your victory- the Cascade Badge."

The was basically a sunflower with each of its seven petals having the colors of a rainbow.

Aeris takes out the badge from the box and puts it inside his badge case before returning it back inside his bag.

"Also, here's something from me personally."

From her short's pocket, Misty takes out a shiny grey stone.

"This is..."

Aeris recognizes it. He saw one of these with those guys in black uniforms back at Mt. Moon.

"A Moon Stone. I picked it up when I was walking around Mt. Moon a few days. I don't really have any use for it, so I'm giving it you. I'm sure it'll be handy one day."

"Thanks."

A Moon Stone was one of the many evolution stones found in the planet. Certain species of pokemons evolve only when they are exposed to these stones. Researchers say that pokemons absorb the energy needed to evolve from these specific stones, thus they turn into ashes after the pokemon has evolved.

After thanking Misty once again, Aeris left the Cerulean City Pokemon Gym with his second badge with him.

Sorry guys for posting after such a long time.Recently, shit has been coming up one after another for me. I was supposed to give me O' level exams in May, but since the quarantine, my studies have been going nowhere and I'm stuck in a serious predicament.Anyways, hope you all liked this chapter. Since I've nothing else to do nowadays, I'll be posting more often.Cheers!And make sure to wash your hands frequently and go out of your home only if absolutely necessary.Stay safe and stay healthy.Bah-Bye?