Roy and Antonia stayed at the gym for a long while to work on getting their pokémon used to the water and ready for tomorrow's battles. Despite their best efforts, however, Charmander remained obstinate. He even nipped Roy's hand when the boy had tried to push the pokémon closer to the edge of the pool. At that, Roy finally threw up his hands and told Antonia, "He's hopeless!"
By then, all of the other trainers had left the pokémon gym to go home or get dinner, leaving Roy and Antonia with their pokémon and Misty the gym leader to keep them company. She approached them now, her smile contrasting with Roy's sullen expression. "How are things going?"
"Not very well," Antonia answered while Roy huffed. "Roy's having some trouble with his pokémon."
"She can see that," grumbled Roy. He and his charmander were mirror images of each other, with arms folded across their chests and matching glares directed at the still blue-green surface of the pool.
Misty shrugged and said, "Well, I can't blame it, not really, and, anyways, a fire pokémon like a charmander isn't going to be too much help in our battle tomorrow. You have other pokémon, don't you?"
Roy rolled his shoulders and didn't look at Misty as he admitted, "Yeah, one, but he's not, ah, really completely totally trained just yet."
One of Misty's eyebrows arched and the gym leader asked, "And you're still thinking about challenging me for a gym badge? How long have you been a pokémon trainer?"
When Roy didn't answer, Antonia tried to direct the conversation elsewhere. "But you must've met other trainers in Roy's situation? What did they do?"
"Well, most of them lost," was Misty's initial response, but then her face softened and she added, "but there are a few places not too far from here where you can catch pokémon who are better suited to dealing with water, and with water pokémon." With another shrug, Misty said, "We can reschedule your challenge for another time if you want to take the time to check it out and do some more training."
Antonia glanced at Roy, who was still pointedly staring at the water and not saying anything, so her answer was, "We'll talk about it."
"No."
Both Antonia and Misty turned back to look at Roy. He was grabbing Charmander's poké ball out of his pocket and recalling the pokémon within it and said, "You can expect us tomorrow. Thanks for letting us train here." Then he started to leave the gym. Antonia gave Misty an apologetic look, gathered up her own pokémon, and then rushed after him, almost losing him as the gym's doors opened and a stream of trainers who had left earlier reentered the facility.
Antonia caught up to Roy well inside of the market square that they had passed through earlier. There was much less activity now that the dinner rush had subsided, and Antonia felt exposed as she reached for and caught Roy's arm. "Roy, are you okay?" she asked, quietly so that no one around them could hear.
"I'm all right," Roy said, not bothering to match Antonia's lower volume. "I just needed to get out of there and clear my head. All of that pool smell was making me dizzy." He tried to smile, but it weakened when Antonia did not let go of him. "Seriously, Toni, I'm fine. I'm hungry and we should be getting back to the pokémon center for some dinner anyways."
"If you're sure," Antonia said, and her grip slackened enough for Roy to pull his arm free of his grasp. He started walking again and she worked to keep up with him. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, come on, let's get some food."
Antonia glanced back at the gym and then took a breath before asking, "So, you think you've found a way to get Charmander comfortable with battling by the water?"
"No, not really." Roy laughed. "Maybe I'll try giving him a bath." When Antonia didn't respond to his joke, he frowned again. "We'll be fine. I'll figure something out by tomorrow."
"It doesn't have to be tomorrow, Roy. We could tell the gym leader that you need more time to train and get ready. Maybe you can try catching a pokémon that will help you."
Roy's frown deepened. "Maybe. But what will you do? Will you wait for me, or will you battle tomorrow and get another gym badge?" Before Antonia could answer, Roy added, "And what about Jesse? He's not going to sit around and wait for me to catch up. I have to keep moving forward, Toni, or else I'll just keep falling further and further behind."
There was nothing more to be said between the two trainers after that, and they continued their walk back to the pokémon center each preoccupied with his or her own thoughts. The silence continued even after they walked through the sliding glass doors into the red-roofed building's lobby and only ended when they reached their rooms on opposite sides of the same hallway.
"I'll meet you for dinner in a few minutes, okay, Toni?" said Roy and he smiled when Antonia nodded.
Despite the hopes this parting had engendered in her, Antonia was disappointed to find Roy remaining quiet throughout their dinner. His appetite was as healthy as ever, but she was a little worried to see that Roy's pokémon did not join Antonia and her team of pokémon for the meal. When she asked him about that, Roy just curtly told her that Charmander and Nidoran would be eating later in his room.
She thought about what she could talk to him about, but the words did not come out in time to stop Roy before he finished his food and excused himself back to his room, leaving Antonia next to her bulbasaur while Beedrill flew overhead. Her pokémon needed a rest after the day's training, so Antonia retreated to the pokémon center's small library and tried to find a book or some other information that she could use to plan for tomorrow's battle. But despite finding some good tips on how she could utilize her newly evolved beedrill, the information would not stick in her brain. Too soon Antonia let herself give up on reading and retired to her room. Even then, sleep did not come easily, as she turned over the events of the day again and again, and worried about what was still yet to come.
The next day, Antonia woke up at her usual early time and felt better for it. When she crossed the hall to knock on Roy's door, she was surprised to find that he answered her almost immediately. When Roy opened the door, Antonia was further surprised to find him already dressed and almost ready to go. He smiled at her when she came in, but then quickly turned his attention to lacing up his shoes and gathering up his poké balls.
"Are you ready to go?" Roy asked, and Antonia gave a little start.
"Oh, well, um, what about breakfast?"
"Breakfast, right!" Roy smiled at Antonia, but soon he was focusing on his shoes again. "Yeah, breakfast. Let's get going."
Antonia was worried that the morning meal was going to be a repeat of last night's dinner, but Roy was more talkative over food. "Are you ready for today?" he asked Antonia.
"Yes, I think so. Are you?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely," said Roy, but instead of going on he started in on his breakfast.
Antonia pushed a lone sausage link three laps around her plate before daring to ask, "So, what is your plan for beating the gym leader today?"
"I don't really have one," replied Roy brightly. Antonia goggled at him, at which Roy laughed and said, "I talked with Charmander last night, and Nidoran too, and we came up with a few ideas, I guess, but nothing really solid. We'll just have to see what happens."
Antonia was agog, but Roy finished eating his food and excused himself to go feed his pokémon back at his room. "Come get us when you're ready to go."
Having lost her appetite, Antonia gave the rest of her food to her grateful bulbasaur and then sat with him in the cafeteria, running through her own planned strategy for the day's battle until she felt calm. Then, she deposited her tray and went to retrieve Roy.
Antonia had not yet known what to expect from Roy today, and she was once again surprised to see the he and his pokémon were not doing any last-minute training or planning in his room, but rather appeared to all be relaxing. Roy was laying on the bed with one arm folded behind his head while the other was being used to toss a poké ball into the air and catch it again. Beside the bed, Charmander was making a kind of growling hum in his throat as he ran his claws up and down the bedpost and Nidoran was nudging and piling up a blanket on the floor so that it resembled a kind of nest. With Antonia's entrance, all three of them looked up at her and Bulbasaur and Roy said simply, "Is it time to go, Toni?"
When she said that it was, Roy recalled his pokémon back to their poké balls without any objections from them and then swung his legs off of the bed and stepped past Antonia into the hallway. "All right, let's do this!"
They retraced their path back to the Cerulean City pokémon gym from yesterday, but neither Roy nor Antonia had any eyes for the wares and stalls of the market's vendors today. Their focus was on their upcoming challenges, and on the building which lay before them, growing larger and larger in their eyes until it dominated their fields of vision. When they reached the gym's doors, Antonia tried to catch Roy's eye, but he either failed to notice her or ignored her, and instead boldly strode inside, leaving her to dart in after him.
"Welcome, challengers," Misty said from where she was stretching by the pool. It was still early enough in the day that there were not as many trainers and pokémon gathered in the gym to serve as an audience to Roy and Antonia's challenges. Misty was dressed in an unbuttoned denim jacket over a sensible black swimsuit and motioned the newcomers over to the pool where she was standing. "I've been looking forward to this all morning. I'm beyond excited to see what you two will have to show me. Would you like to go first, Antonia?"
She looked to Roy and this time succeeded in drawing his attention. "Go for it, Toni," he said easily. "I went first last time, when we battled against Brock."
"That's right," said Antonia quietly, and then addressed Misty in a louder voice, "Misty, will you accept my challenge for your gym's badge?"
"Of course, Antonia, it'd be my pleasure!" Misty waved over to a girl about the same age as Roy and Antonia who was standing on the other side of the pool at its midpoint. "Diana over there will serve as our judge. Take it away, Diana!"
The girl cleared her throat and then announced, "This will be a battle between the leader Misty and the challenger Antonia! Both sides will be allowed two pokémon each, and only the challenger is allowed to substitute her pokémon! The battle will continue until either side is out of pokémon!"
While Diana had been speaking, Antonia had taken up a post one of the shorter edges of the rectangular pool, with Misty standing opposite her. Between the two opponents was a pool of blue-green water upon which two platforms floated lazily.
The scene did not remain peaceful for long. With a smile, Misty removed a poké ball from the pocket of her jacket and threw it spiraling towards the platform closest to her. "You're up, Staryu!" she cried and a pokémon took shape on the platform in a flash of red light. It was a gold pokémon shaped like a star which stood on the lowermost two of its five points and had a glowing red gem in its center. Seeing the staryu in-person made Roy and Antonia both appreciate even more the piece of jewelry they had seen the day before which had been modelled after the pokémon.
Antonia swallowed a lump in her throat and then brought forth her own pokémon with a cry of "Bulbasaur!" Her pokémon landed heavily on the platform before his trainer, and quickly worked to adjust his weight so as to not tip it over. Once he was settled, he croaked menacingly at Misty's pokémon, but the staryu did not give any sign of having registered the threat.
"Starting off pretty strong by choosing your bulbasaur, Antonia!" Misty called from across the pool. "I like that! But let's see if you can keep up!" Her eyes narrowed and she jabbed a finger at Bulbasaur. "Staryu, tackle it! Knock her pokémon into the water!"
Moving surprisingly quickly for such a strange-looking pokémon, Misty's staryu jumped off of the platform and launched itself at Antonia's bulbasaur, spinning through the air in a violent spiral. Alarmed, Antonia ordered, "Block it with your vines, Bulbasaur!"
Her pokémon moved quickly, and Antonia was relieved to see how rapidly the squat pokémon's vines emerged from under the bulb on his back. They crossed in front of him and met the staryu's attack head-on. The incoming pokémon was blunted, but the force of it still sent Bulbasaur backwards and rocked the platform he was standing on while Misty's pokémon fell backwards and dived into the water.
"Quick thinking, Antonia!" remarked Misty. "I like that too!" Her staryu emerged from the water and sprang back onto the platform before its trainer, dripping water onto the rocking surface.
When Bulbasaur tried to lash out at his opponent with powerful swings of his vines, the staryu just danced around his blows, rolling and spinning out of the way of the blows which rocked the platform violently and slapped it against the surface of the water to send up sprays of water and waves rolling across the once-calm surface of the pool.
"Keep it up, Bulbasaur!" said Antonia, but her voice sounded distracted and her eyes were not focused so much on her own pokémon, or even Misty's staryu, but on the other trainer.
Roy caught onto it and so did Misty. "What do you have planned, Antonia?" she asked. "Maybe we need to change things up a bit." The older girl's voice grew sharper as she said, "Staryu, jump up and down! Let's make some more waves!"
Her pokémon complied immediately and started incorporating more jumps into its frantic dance around Bulbasaur's lashing vines. The platform that the staryu was standing on was tethered to the bottom of the pool by a rope, but it still bucked on the surface, more and more violently as Misty's pokémon timed its jumps to exacerbate the platform's instability. The waves that this produced were not overly impressive to an outside observer, but they were powerful enough to rock Bulbasaur's platform and the stout pokémon's attacks faltered in their intensity as he struggled to maintain his balance and not fall into the water.
Just when Bulbasaur finally paused his attempts at lashing Misty's staryu, the other pokémon struck again, launching itself with the same spinning leap that it had attempted against its opponent. Bulbasaur saw the attack coming, but his vines were sluggish and too slow to intercept the incoming pokémon. Roy gasped, but Antonia shouted, "Now, Bulbasaur! Do it now!"
Just as the staryu was about to strike Antonia's pokémon, Bulbasaur leaned forward so that his bulb would absorb the brunt of the blow. Misty's staryu connected with it, and then the bulb gave weigh before puffing out a cloud of purple spores which enveloped the two pokémon before drifting lazily onto the platform and the surface of the water surrounding them.
"Was that your bulbasaur's poison powder?" Misty asked Antonia as her staryu retreated into the water once more.
"That's right," said Antonia proudly. "Bulbasaur and I got the idea from a battle we had a few days ago."
Misty's smile turned into a smirk as her pokémon emerged from the pool and resumed its position on the platform in front of her. "Unfortunately for you, my pokémon can just wash away your spores in the water. All it needs is a quick bath!"
Antonia matched Misty's confidence with a smile of her own. "We'll see about that," she said, and then to Bulbasaur she ordered, "Use your poison powder again, Bulbasaur, and again, and again!"
Bulbasaur grunted and the bulb on its back pulsed to release more and more of the purple spores into the air. They drifted down into the water and were carried by the settling but still agitated water to every corner of the pool. When she was satisfied with her pokémon's work and Bulbasaur was panting with exertion, Antonia raised his poké ball and recalled him in a flash of red light. "He's earned a rest," she explained to Misty, and then raised her other hand and depressed the button on Beedrill's poké ball.
The yellow and black pokémon emerged from the flash of light with its wings beating furiously and it rushed straight at Misty's staryu. The gym leader had enough time to yelp in surprise before Beedrill drew a thick scratch in her pokémon with one of the deadly needles tipping its forearms. But as Antonia's pokémon was flying around for another attack, Misty gathered her wits and ordered her pokémon into the water.
Beedrill's thrumming wings quieted slightly as it took up a vantage point high above the pool, scanning the water for Misty's pokémon. The two trainers were taking stock of the situation and of each other.
"That was pretty unexpected," admitted Misty, "I'm impressed that you had your pokémon ready to attack coming right out of its poké ball."
"We came up with it just this morning," Antonia replied. "I told it that I would aim, and Beedrill would just have to fly straight ahead."
Misty nodded, and then asked, "But what are you going to do now?" She gestured to the water. "My pokémon can stay underwater for as long as it takes, and it can attack too." To demonstrate, Misty raised her foot over the water and slapped it against the water, sending ripples across its surface and soundwaves below. Within a few seconds, her staryu had aligned itself on the floor of the pool and a burst of pressurized water erupted from the surface nearly striking one of Beedrill's translucent wings. The airborne pokémon buzzed worriedly and was soon avoiding a steady barrage of watery missiles coming from below it.
Antonia observed the spectacle with interest but without worry. She shouted over the sound of the splashing and beating wings, "Beedrill! Fight back! Fire your poison stings under the water!" Now it was Antonia's pokémon's turn to maneuver into a good firing position and it let loose with a few needling darts from the stinger tipping its abdomen. Under the water, Misty's staryu worked to avoid the missiles, but the pollen from Bulbasaur's bulb swirled around the surface of the pool and gave Antonia and her pokémon an idea of where and when their target was moving.
Across the pool from Antonia, Misty was growing frustrated and soon shouted, "Staryu! Get out here!"
Her pokémon obeyed with a leap from the pool, but its landing on the platform in front of its trainer was less-than-graceful, and it was apparent why. The pokémon's gold-hued body was marred with purple dots, the spores which bulbasaur had scattered over the pool.
"Your pokémon might be able to wash off the spores going into the water," Antonia said with an uncommon amount of glee behind her words, "but what about getting out of the water?"
Misty bit her lip and frowned as her pokémon staggered on the floating platform, but both her and her staryu had no time to rest or think before the buzz of Antonia's beedrill's wings rose in pitch and volume again and the pokémon divebombed Misty's staryu while brandishing its two front stingers. Both the gym leader and her pokémon hesitated, unsure whether to dive back into the water or to stand and fight until Beedrill had struck the staryu. By then, the decision was out of their hand as the red light in the center of staryu's body pulsed weakly and then the pokémon toppled forward to float limply in the water.
"Staryu is unable to battle! The winner is Beedrill!" announced Diana from the sidelines as Misty brought her unconscious pokémon back into its poké ball.
"Not bad," Misty admitted as she replaced her staryu's poké ball in the pocket of her jacket. Then, she produced another red and white sphere and added, "but let's see how you handle my next pokémon." Her thumb depressed the button on the center of the poké ball and it emitted a beam of red light which took the form of a pokémon similar to a staryu in that it was a faceless pokémon composed on multiple legs arrayed around a center red jewel. Unlike Misty's previous pokémon, however, this one was a rich purple color and its bulky body possessed twice as many limbs, looking almost as though it was composed of two staryu pressed together like a set of alternating gears. "Think you're ready to take on my starmie?" asked Misty.
Antonia's face hardened and she simply replied, "Yes!"
Misty laughed and said, "We'll see," before sweeping her finger forward and ordering, "Starmie! Tackle her beedrill into the water!"
The starmie's speed was incredible. Despite its heavier weight, it flung itself off of the platform where it had been standing and launched itself in a spinning leap which cut through the air dangerously close to Beedrill, who just barely managed to avoid the attack.
Undeterred, Misty's starmie landed on the floating platform in front of Antonia and was ready when its trainer gave her next command, "Bubblebeam!" From the point of the starmie's topmost limb emerged first one fist-sized bubble and then many more. They did not hang in the air, not initially, but instead sped towards Antonia's beedrill with even greater speed than the first attack the airborne pokémon had avoided. Despite Beedrill's hectic flying, a few of the bubbles burst against its wings and body causing the yellow and black pokémon to jerk erratically in the sky as it responded to the pain of the blows and the dampening of its gossamer wings. What bubbles did not strike Beedrill hung in the air, drifting lazily about until Antonia's frightened and confused pokémon made contact with them.
"You're not the only one who can shake up the battlefield," Misty said to Antonia. Then to her pokémon she ordered, "Put out another layer of bubbles, Starmie."
As the purple pokémon obliged its trainer, Antonia clenched her jaw. Beedrill was looking to her for direction, when it wasn't trying to dance its way through the bubbles. But each of the floating obstacles which struck its wing made it harder for Beedrill to stay in the air and Misty's starmie was adding a steady stream of new hazards. Beedrill continued to drop closer towards the surface of the pool, and its opponent, and Antonia thought that it was only a matter of time before it was unable to stay airborne at all.
With that in mind, Antonia gave her beedrill its last order for today's battle, "Ram Starmie! Knock it into the water!"
Beedrill acknowledged its trainer's command with a more rapid beating of its damp wings. It was still falling towards the water below, but now it was doing so intentionally, picking up speed and angling its body at Starmie. Misty and her pokémon watched the attack unfold without comment. The gym leader's pokémon stood firm, steeling itself for the attack, and from the sidelines it didn't look to Roy like Beedrill would be capable of moving the heavy pokémon. But then, at the last moment, Antonia's beedrill angled the stingers on its forearms ahead of its diving body. That concentrated the speed and power behind Beedrill's attack enough to throw Misty's starmie off-balance, then, when the rest of Beedrill's body followed the initial glancing blow of its stingers, the two pokémon went tumbling off of the side of the platform and into the water of the pool.
Owing to its weight, Starmie quickly sank to the bottom of the pool, but Beedrill floated on the surface, flailing about and struggling to escape the water with no success. The battle had left it too weak to lift its waterlogged wings. Antonia held out hope that it was not so, but the decision whether or not to recall her weakened pokémon passed from her when the match's referee announced, "Beedrill is unable to battle! The winner is Starmie!"
The effect of Diana's pronouncement was immediate. Antonia lifted her beedrill's poké ball and withdrew it in a flash of red light. Then she sent out her other pokémon. Bulbasaur emerged from his poké ball onto the same platform he had occupied earlier, looking alert and ready to battle.
"So, it comes down to this, Antonia: your strongest pokémon against mine," Misty remarked as her starmie leapt out of the water to the platform in front of its trainer. The gym leader's expression soured when her pokémon stumbled during its landing. It was hard to make out on Starmie's purple body, but Antonia was certain that some of Bulbasaur's spores had found their way onto the staggering pokémon. Misty's thinking seemed to be along the same lines, but she just shook her head. "That just means we'll have to finish this quickly! Go! Starmie!"
Even as Misty jabbed her finger towards Bulbasaur, her starmie was already launching itself into another flying tackle. An instant later, Bulbasaur's two vines emerged from under his bulb and he tried to meet the larger pokémon's attack head-on as he had with Staryu earlier. But Starmie's speed and weight drove him back, and Bulbasaur was teetering on the edge of his platform after he managed to finally deflect his attacker off to one side.
Misty's starmie landed with a splash in the water between Bulbasaur and Antonia, sending up a spray of water which fell upon the girl. But Antonia hardly flinched. She blinked away the chlorinated water from her eyes and scanned the pool intently for any sign of an impending attack. She had barely seized upon a ripple of movement when the purple pokémon burst from the pool and came flying at Bulbasaur for another attack.
"To your right!" Antonia shouted, and Bulbasaur swung his vines towards Misty's pokémon, but too late to do more than slightly slow the attack. Starmie slammed into Bulbasaur with enough force to knock the smaller pokémon halfway off of the floating platform. With his back legs pumping rapidly in the water, Bulbasaur managed to pull himself out of the pool. It would have been a perfect time for Starmie to follow up on its successful attack, but the gym leader's pokémon had halted instead. Starmie stood on the platform swaying back and forth on its pointed legs. It was hard to tell without recognizable facial features, but to the trainers watching it the purple pokémon looked dazed and tired. Only after Bulbasaur had regained his footing did Starmie try to act, but by then Antonia and her pokémon were ready for it.
"Tie it up with your vines!"
Despite his own fatigue, Bulbasaur responded gamely to his trainer's command. Once more the vines from under the bulb on his back extended towards Starmie, but while their speed was comparable to Bulbasaur's previous exertions, there was now more finesse in how the dark green vines moved. Starmie tried to avoid the grappling attack, but its larger frame was too lumbering, too slow to prevent Bulbasaur's vines from snaking through the gaps between its limbs. The twin vines then met behind Starmie's back and tightened so that Misty's pokémon dropped backwards onto the surface of the platform.
While Misty shouted for her pokémon to get back up and Roy shouted without thinking about what he was saying, Bulbasaur scrambled up onto Starmie's prone body to try and hold it down with his weight. Bulbasaur was largely successful, and he held onto Starmie's bucking body with his paws and vines and ignored the feeble bursts of bubbles and sprays of water sent out from the other pokémon. Gradually, Starmie's struggling slowed and then ceased as the poison from Bulbasaur and Antonia's strategy worked its way through its system. Once the purple pokémon stilled, Diana the referee raised a flag towards the end of the pool where Antonia was standing.
"Starmie is unable to battle! The winner is Bulbasaur!" Then, as Misty recalled her unconscious pokémon, Diana announced, "The winner of the match is Antonia! Congratulations!"
With that, Antonia let herself smile and Roy cheered loudly from the sidelines, "You did it, Toni! You did it!"
Misty's expression was more of a grimace, but she still nodded at Antonia and said, "Congratulations. You beat me fair and square."
As Antonia returned Bulbasaur to his poké ball, the gym leader walked around the perimeter of the pool to where the younger girl was standing. Roy had already beaten her there, but he cut himself off midsentence and forced himself to step back in order to let the two opponents speak.
"Congratulations again, Antonia," Misty said while offering a handshake. "You were faced with an unfamiliar battlefield and powerful pokémon, but you responded admirably! In recognition of your adaptability, I'd like to award you with the symbol of my gym, the Cascade Badge." At that, Misty reached into the pocket of her denim jacket and pulled out a small blue emblem shaped like a raindrop. Antonia accepted the gift reverently with soundless gratitude. The gym leader then retrieved a small capsule from the same pocket and dropped the cube in Antonia's cupped palms. "And this is a technical machine for you and your pokémon to use. It teaches a pokémon how to create bubblebeams. I think you'll get a lot of use out of it when you find the right pokémon for it."
"Thank you," said Antonia, "thank you very much."
Then, the red-haired gym leader turned her attention to Roy. "How about you, Roy? Are you feeling up for challenging me for a gym badge?"
"You bet I am," replied Roy. His excitement for Antonia's win was now being channeled in a new direction and he bounced eagerly on the balls of his feet. "Right now?"
"Not right now," Misty laughed. "Let me heal my pokémon first. Why don't you two give me until after lunch, and then we'll have our match."
