Some interesting developments coming in the future, you can get excited about them.

Cerulean City Gym (Part 2)

Although Pikachu was able to one-shot Goldeen, I was humbled by the fact that I might've lost the match without my crazy battery rat.

It would be hilariously easy to just "counter" all the official gym battles from here on out: Rock-type vs. Electric, Fire-type vs. Grass, and so forth. At the same time, I wanted to train my Pokemon to deal with disadvantageous situations and push them to their absolute, extreme limits. I wanted to find a balance between using my knowledge and making it more challenging for myself on purpose. I was, after all, thinking long term, beyond just getting all 8 badges.

The day after prelims, I felt like I had a good plan put together. Then, with a stroke of luck, I was able to battle a trainer for his Gym Leader ticket. I had so much cash that I was able to tempt him into battling with me, and I one-shotted all of his Pokemon.

It was 4 in the afternoon that I was called from the locker room to go up to the Gym Leader battle.

The crowd had gathered in the stands and was already shouting for Misty, the 10 year old genius trainer that had become the leader of Cerulean City Gym.

As my trainer platform was being raised into position, I saw her face across the water arena. She was in the outfit we all know her in: a slightly short sporty yellow tank top, super short jean pants folded up once on the bottom, red suspenders, red and white running shoes, and of course, her bright orange hair tied up on one side by a blue elastic hair tie. It was quite a breath-taking sight, Misty in real life.

But it was time to get down to business. The arena had been modified so that 95% of the field was a deep pool of water. There were two very thin floating platforms that were on the verge of flipping over if the Pokemon standing on it wasn't very careful about being balanced. It was a rigged fighting arena that gave a huge advantage to Water-types, and no wonder why many younger trainers had trouble beating Misty, as Alan told me.

Misty was to use up to 2 Pokemon, and me up to 3. The boundary was marked clearly (mostly the pool), and the match began.

"Go, Staryu!" Misty released her first Pokemon and Staryu immediately submerged herself into the pool. I noticed that she "swam" by spinning her five appendages towards the desired direction.

Without saying anything, I threw my Pokeball straight into the water.

"I saw the recording of you fighting my coaches, Red," Misty said. So she knew my name. "Using your Squirtle against me, a Water-type specialist, is a foolish idea."

But a second later, a fainted Staryu floated up to the surface of the pool, facing downwards.

Misty, as well as the whole crowd, grew dead silent, as my Pikachu came up to the edge of one of the floating platforms, and crawled her way up. She shook the water off from her fur and started grooming her ears (so cute!).

People would have expected that I would use Pikachu, but didn't expect me to throw my Pokeball into the water. Even Misty thought that it was Squirtle. The downside of this was that it was a one-off.

"STARYU IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!"

Misty recalled Staryu into her Pokeball, and threw out her second Pokemon: Starmie. The pastel-purple starfish Pokemon, with 10 appendages, stood with more balance than her pre-evolutionary form. Her red crystal core gleamed with a mysterious light.

Starmie was a whole other ball game. It was clear that Misty had a lot of experience battling versus Electric-type Pokemon, and had crafted effective strategies against them. Which makes sense, given her specialty. Starmie basically didn't go into the water against Pikachu, knowing that the entire water served as an effective conductor. By standing on the other small floating platform, Starmie basically challenged Pikachu's aim.

I gave Pikachu the hand signal for Thundershock, but as she was channeling her power, she was hit in the face with a stream of water. Starmie had waited for the perfect timing, and with a super accurate stream of water that came from one of her 10 appendages, had effectively cancelled the move. It was difficult to dodge her Water gun because it could come from any of the appendages she wasn't standing on.

It was like a Western pistol duel for a while, and Pikachu was always given the first draw. Everytime I gave a secret hand signal (some were fake, as to throw the opponents off), and Pikachu tried her best to hide her channeling, she would get smacked in the face with Water gun and lose her balance. Pikachu couldn't stand still, either: if she waited too long, Starmie gave a thicker stream of water that threatened to throw Pikachu into the water. And the Water gun was doing damage to Pikachu.

It's true that Electric moves can knock out Water-type Pokemon very easily. But not every Electric Pokemon can withstand Water moves as well. For example, if Blastoise blasted a full Hydro Pump at a small Pikachu (or even a Raichu), the sheer PHYSICAL power and pressure of the water would knock them back, or even knock them out.

I could see that Pikachu was tired, just as she was when I caught her. She was panting, and her Electric power was being depleted. She just wasn't experienced enough to dodge the Water gun and use Thunderbolt in an effective combo. I mentally noted this for future training sessions.

It also suddenly became clear to me how Starmie could time her Water gun perfectly. Starmie wasn't your regular Water-type Pokemon. She was also a PSYCHIC type. There was probably a limitation, but Starmie could predict Pikachu's intentions quickly enough to negate any aggression.

Pikachu growing tired and Starmie clearly the more experienced and stronger fighter, this match was over.

"Good work, girl!" I brought Pikachu back. "Let's go, Bulby!"

Distributing his weight and naturally low center of gravity with 4 paws, Bulbasaur stood more firmly and with more balance on the platform. Starmie fired her Water gun with a super-fast thin jet, and Bulbasaur tanked it like a beast. He actually enjoyed it. Starmie tried again with a thicker, more powerful stream of water. Bulby enjoyed it more.

Bulbasaur countered with a Razor leaf move, and Starmie evaded by jumping into the pool.

Once she was in the water, Starmie was practically immune from Bulbasaur's Razor leaf or Vine attacks. She sometimes came out of the water, spinning her body rapidly, and tackling Bulbasaur from the sides, or from behind, but Bulbasaur was able to tank all this, thanks to Brock's special training.

"Let me show you all the weak points of your Pokemon that you need to defend," Brock had said. Speaks to his knowledge of Pokemon anatomy; Brock is a fine Pokemon Doctor.

So we were again at a bit of a stalemate, neither side being able to deliver the final, knock-out damage. Misty smirked at me with a "watchu gon' do now" look. It made my heart skip half a beat. She was cute.

At my signal, Bulbasaur opened his bulb slightly, and started releasing thick, saturated doses of Poison powder. The visibly dark purple powder floated up a bit, then settled on the surface. I could see Misty's confusion turn into concern, as within seconds the toxins from the poison visibly contaminated the water. Starmie was trying to avoid it, but the spread was too fast.

Stamie was forced to come back out of the water to avoid the neurotoxin in the water. The slight dulling of gleam in her red ruby core showed that Starmie had already taken in a bit of the poison in her body. I gave Bulbasaur the command to release more and more Poison powder until the water was fully and severely contaminated. If Starmie ever returned to the water, it would mean her defeat. Now it was an even game.

Bulbasaur had concentrated on making the Poison powder as saturated and potent as possible so that he was now unable to battle. I recalled him, but not before ordering Bulby to DESTROY the very floating platform he was standing on. I recalled him into his Pokeball as he fell into the water (don't worry, he is immune to his own toxins).

I could see Misty's eyes going wide in surprise as she saw my final Pokemon come out of the Pokeball and land right in front of Starmie.