Akira and Sylvia have met Misty, who is understandably excited to meet fellow Water type trainers! It's a good thing they managed to make a good first-impression, even if Sylvia is the kind of person who just can't help herself. What else does Misty have planned for them for their first day here? We'll have to find out!

KedharS: I would probably say doubtful.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yes, she's definitely 20.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 823

Misty took another look at Akira's pokemon and nodded approvingly. "Akira, you've done a really good job of taking care of your pokemon," she complimented him. "As a Water type trainer, I'm really impressed."

Akira thanked her for his kind words, and tried not to trip over himself too much to do it. Misty was a trainer he really looked up to, and hearing her compliment him like that was really validating, especially all the kind things she said about Satsuki.

Satsuki herself felt a swell of pride at the gym leader's comments, satisfied that she was so respected in the other girl's eyes.

Then Misty turned her attention to Sylvia. "So what about you?" She asked innocently. In spite of Sylvia's attempts to goad her, Misty was still a professional and could let small things like that go. "Sylvia, right? Bring out your pokemon, too!"

Sylvia had half a mind to send out all of her Ghost types and really throw the woman for a loop, but decided that would just complicate things in a boring way. She held up her pokeball and tossed it into the air with a flourish, her Jellicent emerging.

"Meet Runja," Sylvia said, her Jellicent landing in the pool with a splash. "She's a Jellicent. What do you think?"

"Wow, amazing!" Misty said, her eyes widening with excitement. "A Jellicent! We don't have those in Kanto, it's going to be a lot of fun helping you train her!" She turned back to Sylvia, her eyes glistening expectantly.

"…Yeah, that's my only pokemon, sorry," Sylvia said, picking up on the insistent look in Misty's eye. The other girl was clearly expecting her to send out two or three more.

"…Oh," Misty said, trying to hide the obvious disappointment she was feeling. "I see. Well, that's fine! So you're just raising a Jellicent?"

"That's right!" Sylvia proudly prevaricated. "I've decided that, as a Water type trainer, I'm going to devote myself to raising Runja to be the best pokemon she can be!"

Akira was honestly impressed. As much as Sylvia might piss him off, the way she could so easily lie like this, convincingly, it was something to see.

"I think that's also a great way to go about things!" Misty gushed. "I mean, think about it! There's something to be said about raising a team of all your favorite Water types, but choosing one that you care about and putting in the time and effort to understand everything about them… I don't think there's a wrong way to go about it!"

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she apologized, scratching her hair, "I kind of get a little excited when it comes to Water types. But the point is, there's no wrong way to raise Water type pokemon, that's what I want you to know."

"…I know a girl who would really get along well with you," was Sylvia's response.

Akira paused. There was another pokeball that was burning a hole in his pocket, and he wasn't sure whether or not he should show Misty. He'd wanted to keep it private, and wait for a moment when they were alone when he could show her, so Sylvia wouldn't find out and torment him even more over the whole thing.

But he figured that there wasn't anything wrong with showing her right now. Sylvia probably already knew anyway, and it would be better just to judge her reaction from the start. Misty was a very reliable person, and surprisingly, Sylvia was on her best behavior.

Terrible as her behavior might have actually been, anyway.

"…Actually, there's something else I forgot to mention," Akira said, already reaching into his pocket. "I actually have another water pokemon."

"Oh, really?" Misty asked, shooting up another notch in excitement.

"Really?" Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow. That had actually come as a surprise to her, which was definitely a rarity. She hadn't thought that Akira had any other Water type pokemon, when did he get another one?

It was a weight on Akira's heart, but he did it anyway. He took out the pokeball and pressed the button, releasing the pokemon into the water.

"Chinchou!" The tiny pokemon chirped, bobbing up to the surface. His antenna were glowing softly, tiny sparks of electricity hopping off them.

Sylvia gasped in realization. Oh, this was new.

Misty knelt down, falling in love instantly. "Oh, look at that! He's a little Chinchou, oh, he's just the most adorable thing ever!" She swooned.

"His name's Sparky," Akira said quietly.

Misty looked up, confused by the dour shift in his personality. Before, he had been a lot more excited, but it seemed like the star-struckedness was wearing off. She sensed something was wrong. "Why didn't you send him out with the others?" She asked.

A thin smirk crossed Sylvia's face as she glanced Akira's way. She wondered how he was going to play it off. She knew he wasn't going to call the Chinchou his and disavow his previous trainer, but she also predicted that he wouldn't tell the whole truth, downplaying what had happened to her so as not to make things awkward.

"He… belongs to a friend of mine," Akira awkwardly replied, realizing that he was bringing the mood down. He tried to smile. "She's in the hospital right now, so when I told her that I was coming here to meet you, well… I thought it would be nice if you got to train her pokemon a little bit, too, since she can't do it herself."

"Oh, I see, so this pokemon belongs to your friend," Misty said, putting together the pieces that she had. "So you want to train him up a little, too?"

"Yeah, there's really no greater trainer, is there, Akira?" Sylvia laughed. "Misty's certainly going to be a lot of help in raising up Dakota's Chinchou, wouldn't you agree?"

Akira hoped that Misty wouldn't pick up on the flinch he felt upon hearing Dakota's name. He knew this was a bad idea!

But Misty seemed to think it was a perfectly fine one. "So your friend's name is Dakota, huh?" She said, standing up, "well, don't worry, Akira, you and I are going to take great care of Dakota's Chinchou, she'll be shocked when she sees how much progress we made with him!"

Sylvia applauded Misty's ability to twist the knife in. Not bad, not bad. Of course, no one could compete with the master.

"Yeah, in fact, you could say that helping Dakota is one of the main reasons we chose to come here in the first place!" Sylvia added.

"Well, this Chinchou may be low-leveled, but he's in great condition," Misty nodded. "I'd love to meet any trainer who would take such good care of a Water type!"

Sylvia nearly died of laughter. But she had to keep a straight face. "Wow! That's a great idea! Don't you think so, Akira?" She asked, smiling brightly towards him.

Akira could only nod, feeling numb.

"Well, now that we've introduced ourselves to all our pokemon, let's get down to business!" Misty said, throwing her head up proudly. "We need to get some training done!"

Akira and Sylvia were taken aback by that.

"Training?" Sylvia asked. "Already?"

Akira was still fighting the effects of jetlag. Sylvia's Shuppet had kept him from having anything close to a relaxing sleep. "But we just-"

"No buts," Misty interrupted. "I still want to see what you kids can do! What do they teach at that Pokemon Academy of yours?"

She winked at them.

"So I think the best thing we could do, is have some pokemon battles! What do you say?" She asked, looking between the two of them. "You two against me!"

Akira was stunned. They'd just met Misty, and she'd just met their pokemon, but she was already suggesting they have a pokemon battle?

Sylvia was all for it.

"That sounds marvelous!" She agreed. "And I would love to go first!"

Misty nodded. "Well, that works fine with me! I can see what that Jellicent of yours is capable of first-hand!"

She turned to Akira. "That okay with you? You can go next!"

Akira could only nod.

Misty led them to the main battlefield of the Cerulean City Gym, one half pool one half sandy beach. She walked around, flinging off her coat to reveal the pokeballs around the waist of her swimsuit. The air around her had changed, getting more serious.

"Are you ready for this?" She called over to Sylvia, who stepped up into the challenger's box.

"Do I get a badge from you if I win?" Sylvia called back.

Misty's response was a laugh and a shake of her head. "This match is just for fun. We only hand league badges out to registered trainers. Now then…"

Sylvia sent Runja back out, seeing no need to stand on pretense. Meanwhile, Misty was running her fingers along the pokeballs on her waist.

"This one! Come on out, Golduck!" Misty declared, sending out her Golduck. The dark blue pokemon landed in the water and laughed, the ruby on his forehead gleaming.

"So, a pure Water type, huh?" Sylvia asked, intrigued. She'd expected something a little more saucy out of the gym leader. But she certainly wasn't going to make a fool of herself by underestimating what a trainer like Misty was capable of.

"My policy is an all-out offensive with Water type pokemon," Misty declared. "Golduck, start with water gun!"

It wasn't exactly that Sylvia prided herself on being able to tell what people were going to do and why. That would be like saying someone prided themselves on being able to breathe. It was just something that naturally occurred.

But she was definitely caught off-guard by THAT move.

"Water gun?" Akira asked from the sidelines, equally shocked.

Indeed, Misty had chosen to use water gun. Her Golduck popped his head out from under the water and opened his beak, firing a thin stream of water at Runja so fast that even if the jellyfish had wanted to get out of the way, she wouldn't have been able to.

But why would she want to? The water attack couldn't hurt her. It hit her directly and was absorbed into her liquid body.

"What was the point of that?" Sylvia asked, confused.

Misty smiled. "Water Absorb. Just like I thought."

"So you wasted a move just to figure out what my Jellicent's ability was?" Sylvia asked.

"I'm an expert on Water types, as I'm sure you know," Misty replied. "And that's how I know that Jellicent are capable of having two different abilities. Either Water Absorb, or Cursed Body. It was important to figure out which one I was dealing with. If she had Cursed Body, I wouldn't want to recklessly waste my attacks and get them disabled, now would I? So I had Golduck test the waters with a water gun! If you absorbed it, then it was Water Absorb. If you didn't, then Cursed Body. And if water gun was then disabled, well, no loss for us, and then you couldn't disable any of our next attacks! Not a bad plan, if I do say so myself."

"You forgot Jellicent's hidden ability, Damp," Sylvia reminded her.

Misty shook her head. "I may not have a Jellicent myself, but I'm a great judge of the conditions of Water type pokemon. And from your Jellicent's condition, I could see that it wasn't any wetter than ones I've seen before. So I could rule out Damp from the start."

Well, Sylvia had to admit, the girl was impressive "As expected of a gym leader."

"That's why I sent out Golduck in the first place," Misty said. "He's capable of shooting water gun faster than any of my pokemon!" She narrowed her eyes. "You seem like a calculating type of trainer, and I couldn't have you dodging, after all."

Sylvia may have just been impressed, but Akira was absolutely floored. So this was the kind of thinking that a gym leader used in battle? Impressive!

If Sylvia was actually an expert on Water types, then maybe she could have figured out what Misty was aiming for. Oh, well, no helping it now.

"I'll applaud you," she agreed, "but now it's time for the counter! Runja, use energy ball!"

"Jellicent!" Runja raised her tentacles up in front of her mouth, sculpting an orb of green light filled with nature energy.

"A Grass type move! Just as I expected!" Misty smiled. The orb flew straight for Golduck, but the duck pokemon wasn't about to let a super-effective move pass so easily. "Golduck! Block with your light screen!" Misty ordered.

"Gold!" Golduck's ruby glowed, and a bright red barrier of light appeared in the water in front of him. The energy ball bounced off it, not harming the water pokemon at all.

"Now, hit her with your disable!" Misty swiftly followed. Golduck's ruby flashed again and his eyes started glowing red. A red light appeared around Runja's body, preventing her from using any energy ball attacks in the near-future.

"Excellently done," Sylvia complimented her. "When you suggested that we fight, you must have done so expecting that I would have a move or two up my sleeve for dealing with Water types. And you waited for me to use it, so that you could seal it away with your disable attack. You gym leaders are on a whole other level, huh?"

Misty grinned. "Thank you for the compliment!"

Maybe Misty couldn't pick up on the patronization in Sylvia's voice, but Akira could. Sylvia's words were dripping with sarcasm. He didn't know why she had done it, but she had clearly seen Misty's disable play coming and had fallen for it all the same.

Akira was right on the money. Sylvia knew going into this that Golduck would likely use disable. And it was a lot better that Misty burn that move on something simple like an energy ball, as opposed to something much more valuable.

"Okay, Runja, let's do this!" Sylvia called. "It's okay that you can't use energy ball anymore, we've got more tricks up our sleeve, don't we?"

"Jellicent!" Runja called, bobbing up and down in the water in agreement. As if to punctuate her words, her body began glowing with a dark aura, practically oozing with ghostly energy.

"Golduck might not really be a Psychic type, but a good Ghost type move is certainly going to sting," Sylvia grinned. "Runja, use ominous wind!"

"Jellicent!" Runja rumbled, sending a wave of ghostly wind rolling across the battlefield, whipping up the pool into tiny waves that billowed towards Golduck.

"That won't be enough to get through our light screen," Misty said. Indeed, she was quickly proven right. Golduck closed his eyes, and the barrier of light easily deflected the ghostly waves that crashed into it.

"Now, use calm mind!" She followed, and her Golduck began to concentrate, focusing his special powers.

Akira turned to Sylvia. For whatever else she was, she was a talented pokemon trainer. But right now it looked like Misty was toying with her. Was this one of her usual tricks, and she was just preparing a surprise to catch the gym leader off-guard? Or was a gym leader like Misty really too much for Sylvia to beat with just one pokemon?

Akira quickly dismissed the latter thought. Misty was talented, sure, an excellent trainer and a master of Water types. But Akira had learned a long time ago that nothing good ever comes with underestimating Sylvia Driscoll.

"Runja," Sylvia called, "use will-o-wisp."

Misty was stunned by that one. A Water type trainer inflicting a burn? Certainly with scald, but using a Fire type move?

"Jellicent!" Runja raised her tentacles, and glowing orbs of ghostly fire floated up into the air around her. She flung the fireballs at the meditating Golduck.

Misty smiled.

"Come on now, you've gotta try a lot harder than that, Sylvia!" She called. "Or did you forget where we're fighting? If you want to use Fire type attacks against one of my pokemon, they're going to have to be stronger than that one! At least strong enough to break the surface of the pool! Golduck, dodge by diving underwater!"

"Golduck!" Golduck quacked, ducking down deep under the water. Just as Misty had predicted, the will-o-wisps hit the water and immediately sputtered out.

Sylvia smirked.

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head about that, Misty," she laughed. "I didn't really think something like that would work against a trainer like you! And besides, even if I did get a burn on your Golduck, so what? He's a special attacker, a burn wouldn't do a whole lot to him."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just needed to make sure that your Golduck and those psychic powers of his were a little further away, so he couldn't interfere with what I was planning to do above the water. Now, Runja, use your trick room!"

Akira gasped. It was Sylvia's best trick!

"Trick room?" Misty gasped in surprise.

"Jellicent!" Runja howled, forming a cube of light in its tentacles. The cube expanded, stretching to engulf the entire battlefield- including underwater. Practically the entire gym was bathed in a soft pink glow, as eerie bubbles floated in the air.

"What is this place?" Misty asked in amazement.

"Oh, just somewhere I think you and your Golduck are going to enjoy," Sylvia replied. "And now that I've properly slowed down that little speedster, we can get started on our real strategy, isn't that right, Runja?"

"Jell," Runja nodded, raising her tentacles. They began to crackle with electricity. Misty gasped.

"Now, use shock wave!" Sylvia ordered.

"Jellicent!" Runja brought her tentacles down into the water, releasing the massive current of electricity through the entire pool.

"What do you think, Misty?" Sylvia asked, her gleeful smirk illuminated by the lightning. "Do you like Runja's electric jellyfish imitation?"

So Misty has found herself on the receiving end of one of Sylvia's tricks! Will Sylvia wrap things up quickly, or will Misty show her that there's a reason she's the Cerulean City Gym Leader? Let's see what she's got up her sleeve!