"Welcome everyone, to second match of the semi-finals of the Cape Tournament!" cried the announcer, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers. "For this battle, we have one of the Cerulean Gym Leaders, Misty Mizuyawa!" Once again, the crowd cheered loudly, apparently excited to see a Gym Leader in action. "and her opponent, the fiery Amber Fiamma, from Cinnabar Island!"
Misty stood on her side of the field, glaring at Amber on the other. She was going to pay for dissing water types, Misty was going to make sure of it. The referee activated the Coin Toss app, which landed on heads.
"Amber has the first move!" he announced, holding up the flag on Amber's side.
"Alright, Ponyta, Flame On!" the brunette cried, as she released her Ponyta from its Poké Ball. From where he was viewing the battle, Ash pulled out his Pokédex and looked the fire type up. "Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon. Its legs grow strong while it chases after its parent. It runs in fields and mountains all day."
Misty smirked seeing the fire type, she was going to douse Amber's flames. "Misty calls, Staryu!" she cried as she threw her Poké Ball to release Staryu.
The referee raised both of his flags, "Begin!"
"Start with Flame Charge!" Amber ordered. Ponyta neighed in response, before beginning to stomp wildly, and then charged, its body covered in flames, towards Staryu.
"Counter with Water Gun!" Misty instructed. Staryu aimed it top point forward, then sprayed a jet water from the tip. Ponyta was moving too fast to avoid it, getting hit by the super effective attack, dousing the attack. As the flames surrounding the horse became steam, Ponyta glowed blue for a moment, the added effect of Flame Charge, a speed boost.
"Alright, Ponyta, use Double Kick!" Ponyta ran at the water type, moving much faster thanks to the speed boost. As it reached Staryu, it raised it back legs, and spun on its front legs, before kicking into Staryu's core hard.
Misty's next command came quickly, "Staryu use Bubble Beam while it's still close!" Before the fire horse had a chance to move, Staryu fired a barrage of bubbles from its core, surrounding Ponyta, and causing super effective damage.
"Ponyta, quick get out of there!" Ponyta flared its fiery mane and tail, causing many of the bubbles to evaporate, and attempted to make a break for it, Misty however, had other plans.
"Don't let it escape, Staryu, use Swift!" Staryu spun, shooting a flurry of golden stars from its gem, which began to follow Ponyta like homing missiles, eventually, they hit sending the horse flying, and landing in front of its trainer, swirls in its eyes.
"Ponyta is unable to battle, Staryu wins!" the referee declared.
Amber recalled her fallen Pokémon, and then threw another Poké Ball, releasing her Growlithe, the same one which had set poor Oddish's leaves ablaze.
"Staryu, it's another fire type, you've got this!" Misty encouraged, though Amber smirked in response.
"Don't be so sure about, Growlithe, use Flame Wheel!" ordered Amber. Growlithe's body burst into flames, much like Ponyta did with Flame Charge, and charged towards the Starshape Pokémon.
"Water Gun!"
"Take it, Growlithe!"
What? Did she hear that right? Did Amber just tell Growlithe to willingly take a super effective hit? She had to be planning something, but what…?
The water jet connected with the Puppy Pokémon, causing it to flinch slightly, but it kept going. Amber's next order shocked Misty… literally.
"Growlithe, switch to Wild Charge!"
"What?!"
Growlithe's body ceased to be surrounded by fire, instead being replaced with blue electricity. The electricity travelled through the jet of water, shocking Staryu with the super effective attack, causing it to collapse, with its red gem flashing, and beeping.
"Staryu is unable to battle, Growlithe is the winner!"
Misty recalled the Star Shape Pokémon, thanking it for doing its best, then grabbed a second Poké Ball. "Your turn, Poliwag!" she cried as the Tadpole Pokémon burst out of its Ball.
"Growlithe, Wild Charge again!" Amber ordered, which the Puppy Pokémon did, surrounding its body with electricity once more.
"Poliwag, use Ice Beam on the ground!"
The water type fired a beam of ice at the ground in front of the charging Growlithe. The fire type ran onto the ice, and began to slip and slide around the frozen ground, causing its attack to end, and making it unable to stand straight. "Now, use Bubble!" the redhead instructed. Growlithe was soon surrounded by bubbles, making it even harder for it to move.
Amber was not very happy with this situation. "Growlithe! Calm down, use Heat Wave!" she ordered. The fire type barked in reply, and released a burst of heat all around it, causing the ice to melt, and the bubbles to pop. "Now, Wild Charge!"
"Poliwag, counter it with Mud Shot!" Misty instructed with a smirk. A brown blob of mud formed above the Tadpole Pokémon, and was fired at the charging Growlithe, causing the electric attack to fade, and Growlithe to take super effective damage from the ground type attack. "Finish it with Water Gun!"
The mud had caked in Growlithe's fur, causing it to move slower than normal, and it was too close to its opponent to move out of the way of the incoming jet of water, so it was forced to take it, and it did not end well for the Puppy Pokémon, who was now lying on the ground, with swirls replacing its eyes.
"Growlithe is unable to battle, Poliwag wins!" cried the referee. Next the commentator spoke up.
"Amber is down to only one Pokémon remaining, can she turn this battle around? Or will Misty take the win!?"
Amber returned her Pokémon back to its Poké Ball. She then glared across the field at Misty, and the smirked. "I've gotta say, Misty, I'm impressed with how you've gotten only using water types, but this battle is mine!" she exclaimed, "I don't only have fire types you know, Elekid, Flame On!"
Amber's final Poké Ball burst open with a flash of light, which formed into the electric type Elekid. Ash once again used his Pokédex. "Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. Elekid waves its arms to produce a strong electrical charge and gains strength when lightning is present"
Misty had not seen this coming, though she probably should have figured Amber would have a counter for water types, besides just teaching her fire types electric moves. At least Misty had something to deal with Electric types. "Poliwag, Mud Shot!"
Once again, Poliwag formed and fired a ball of mud at its opponent, but it didn't end up doing as much damage as the Cerulean trainer would have liked, because Amber had ordered Elekid to a Light Screen, which cut the damage of special category moves, which Mud Shot happened to unfortunately be.
"Elekid, Quick Attack into Thunder Punch!" Amber instructed. Elekid shot forward, (though not quite as fast as Pikachu), aiming for Poliwag, with its right fist charged with electricity. Poliwag didn't have a chance to dodge, and was hit right in the center of the spiral on its chest, sending it flying backwards into the wall behind Misty.
"Poliwag is unable to battle, Elekid wins!" the referee once more declared. Misty recalled her starter Pokémon, thanking it for its hard work. Now what? She thought to herself. All of her remaining Pokémon were weak to electric moves, all except for… That's it!
"Misty calls, Oddish!" Misty cried, throwing the Poké Ball containing the grass and poison type. Oddish burst from the Ball, and looked around. It quickly saw the girl that had insulted its water type friends, and glared at her, it would defend Misty and the rest of her team.
Amber rolled her eyes at seeing the grass type. "Piece of cake" she muttered, "Swift!"
Elekid opened its mouth and fired glowing golden stars from it at Oddish. The Weed Pokémon didn't wait for an order, and quickly flicked its leaves forwards, shooting a barrage of razor sharp leaves from them, which collided with the Swift attack, blocking the normally unavoidable attack. "Great job, Oddish!" Misty praised, "Now use Acid!"
Oddish fired a ball of violet acid from its mouth at Elekid, who quickly moved out of the way, and then slammed into its opponent with Quick Attack. "Oddish, Sweet Scent!" A pleasant and calming scent was released from Oddish's leaves, which covered the battle field. Amber tried to order a Thunder Punch, but Elekid did nothing, except have a sleepy and calm expression on its face.
"Oddish, Razor Leaf again!" Misty ordered. Elekid did nothing to dodge, the Sweet Scent being to pleasant to resist. The sharp barrage of leaves impacted with the dazed electric type, causing to fall down.
"No! Elekid get up!" Amber cried in panic but Elekid did nothing. Oddish fired another Acid attack, and that was that. Elekid didn't move at all, swirls in its eyes.
"Elekid is unable to battle, Oddish is the winner!" the referee declared, "Which means that Misty of Cerulean City moves on to the next round!"
Misty ran on the battle field and scooped up the Weed Pokémon in a hug. "You were great Oddish!" She told the Pokémon, "You showed that Amber whose boss!"
"Odd odd!" Oddish cried happily, it had won the battle! Maybe it wasn't as weak as it thought it was…
Misty walked over to her rival, who was kneeling next to Elekid. Noticing Misty's approach, she recalled the electric type and stood up. "Have I proven fire types are the best yet?" Misty taunted.
"Lucky break" Amber muttered, "and it's not like you beat me with a water type, maybe when you can beat me with only water types, I rethink how I feel about them" she said, before walking of the field, leaving Misty behind.
As soon as she left the arena, Misty was met by Ash, Brock and Leaf.
"Great job, Misty" congratulated Brock.
"Yeah, you showed her!" Ash agreed. Pikachu seemed to agree to, putting its fist in the air, with a "Pi pika!"
"Thanks guys" Misty replied with a smile, "Oddish seems to be getting a lot better!"
"And you're in the finals!" Leaf exclaimed, "Good luck tomorrow!"
"Thanks! I'm definitely gonna win!"
Unfortunately, she didn't, losing to the same trainer with the Machoke who Ash lost to, and though she was annoyed that she lost after making that far, she was still proud, of herself, and her Pokémon, especially Oddish. Misty had a feeling that it was going to be very stronger in the future.
Once the tournament had finished, the group stood outside of the arena. "As much as I love being with you guys, I think this is where we split" Leaf stated, "Now that Team Rocket has left Mt. Moon, I want to take a better look in there."
"I get ya, it was great getting to hang out again" said Ash, "and next time we meet, we're having another battle, you hear?!"
"You got it!" Leaf replied with a wink.
"It was nice to meet you, Leaf" Brock stated.
"Yeah, and it was great having another girl around for a while" Misty agreed.
"Well, I better get going, see you guys around!" Leaf exclaimed as she began to jog away from the group, looking back and waving.
Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu all waved as well, calling out their goodbyes. When his childhood friend was out of sight, Ash turned to his companions.
"You guys ready to go too?" he asked. Misty and Brock both nodded in reply. "Then off to Vermilion City!"
Finally, the Cerulean Cape Tournament has finished. This chapter may seem rushed, and that's because it was. I honestly just wanted to get it done, so we can get back to the journey. And yes, Leaf is gone for now, she was never going to be a permanent companion. She is one of Ash's rivals, and rivals don't usually travel with their rivals. Anyway, next chapter will have a capture, and based on where we are in the region and story, it shouldn't be that hard to guess.
Ash:
Pikachu (Male)
Charmander (Male)
Pidgeotto (Female)
Beedrill (Male)
Nidorino (Male)
Bulbasaur (Male)
Misty:
Poliwag (Male)
Staryu (Genderless)
Goldeen (Female)
Oddish (Female)
Brock:
Onix (Male)
Geodude (Male)
Zubat (Male)
