Cerulean City was a unique city, even by Kanto standards. It was a bizarre mixture of new and old cobbled together to make one fantastic city. The centre of Cerulean City was a high-tech nirvana. Stainless steel buildings soared high into the air, everywhere polished glass gleamed and the sun glinted off burnished metal.
The centre was surrounded by a maze of canals dug deep into the soil peppered with small islands topped with quaint wooden houses often at a slight slant. Every so often the islands were slightly larger and here treacherous looking buildings, also made out of wood, were hastily erected. The buildings fought for space in the overcrowded islands, half of them leant over the water, the only thing keeping them from plunging into the canals thin wooden stilts. For a newcomer, visiting Cerulean always left a lasting impression.
Jack was overwhelmed by the sights and smells of Cerulean. He was riding on a finely crafted gondola steered by a gondolier and pulled by his mermaid-like Vaporeon towards the high-tech centre. He stared down at the clean, pure water entranced by the water Pokémon flitting swiftly between the islands.
Though the canals were seemed like an impossible maze the gondolier effortlessly guided the gondola through and soon Jack was disembarking onto the concrete at the city centre. Jack headed straight for Cerulean gym, which was a large, single-storied building built directly at the centre of the City. He tried to push open the doors but they wouldn't budge. A hastily scrawled note explained the gym leader's absence.
Gone to investigate around Cerulean Cave, be back in two hours. Jack swore and punched the door in frustration. Ruefully he flagged down another gondola and set course for Cerulean Cave.
Jack exited from the north gates of the city and entered the wild country. The grass was up to Jack's waist and clawed at his body with hand like tendrils. They wrapped round his legs like they had a mind of their own, tripping him up on more than one occasion and generally hindering his progress. He ended up wading through the grass like it was water, leaving a swathe of crushed glass behind him. Strangely Jack encountered no Pokémon, not even a glimpse.
There was nothing. The whole area, though vibrant with a multitude of colourful flora, seemed dead. It was completely silent, there were no Pidgey chirruping loudly in the trees, no shrill warning calls of Rattata sentries assaulting your ears. Every so often a cold presence seemed to blow through the area.
The grass rippled though there was no wind, the water rippled and twisted though there was no object moving there and often Jack felt a cold shock passing through his body along with a malevolent mind close to his.
'What are you doing here?' a high pitched, indignant voice ripped apart the forbidding silence, 'I explicitly forbid anyone from going here whilst I was researching the disappearance.' A small teenage girl dressed in a tank top and hot pants stood beside Jack, hands on hips. 'Well, what do you have to say for yourself?'
Jack stared at the small red-headed girl who was soundly berating, unable to take her small stature and cute looks seriously, 'well I'm a trainer so I was looking for Misty to battle her.' The girl's face became even more clouded with anger and she looked close to a violent explosion, 'you've found her.' Jack started in surprise, 'oh right. Sorry. Can I battle you then?' Misty shook her head vehemently, 'I've got to check out this disappearance first. I'll battle you in about an hour.'
Jack was suddenly interested, 'what disappearance?' Misty frowned, 'you haven't heard? About two months ago Pokémon began disappearing from around Celadon, this area especially. It wasn't too pronounced to begin with, so people didn't really notice. About a month ago Pokémon really began to leave in droves, but still they didn't take any notice.' Her voice rose in pitch and volume as she began insulting the 'bureaucratic buffoons' very vocally.
Tears began to fill her eyes as she finished describing the situation, 'now all the Pokémon around Celadon are gone. Gone! Even the family of Dratini that were nesting in the water have left.' Misty wiped away her tears and stood on tip toes to look Jack in the eyes, 'and I've found nothing.' she paused, 'OK. Come with me back to the gym and I'll battle you. I can't face searching around here anymore.'
When Jack was finally shown the inside of the gym he gasped in surprise. It was full of salty water and extremely humid. A huge pool was set into the stone floor, with small islands scattered irregularly in the sapphire blue water. Misty turned and stood at one side of the gym facing Jack over the water. She threw a Pokéball high into the air and a tan coloured star fish Pokémon appeared in the air, the circular red jewel set in gold at its centre flashing vivid red light.
Gracefully it plunged into the water and bobbed to the surface, half in half out, ready for battle. Dante would be no good for this battle Jack knew so he paused for a second as he tried to devise a battle strategy for Asrael. After about a minute Misty began to get impatient so Jack released Asrael onto the watery battlefield. The dragon Pokémon crowed delightedly as it plunged into the water, sending fans of white spray arching through the air either side of his entry point.
'Where did you catch that?' Misty's voice was a strange mixture between anger and curiosity. 'I found him in Viridian Forest getting attacked by some half-witted trainer. Why?' Misty's voice rose with excitement, 'because the only place that Dratini are found is in the water around Cerulean City. So your Dratini must have migrated from Cerulean to Viridian Forest.'
She was smiling, as if a great weight had been taken from her chest. 'OK. We'll talk about this later. Now we battle. Staryu use bubblebeam. The red jewel at its centre began to glow and suddenly huge transparent bubbles began to form in front of it. These bubbles were sprayed very forcefully towards Asrael, exploding on his body with enough force to leave apple sized bruises on his side.
'Asrael, use thunder wave.' Asrael swooped through the air, swimming through the air with explosive strokes of his tail as if he was swimming through water, and sent a small shock of electricity through the air towards the Staryu. The Staryu dived deep into the water to avoid the shock and moved through the water so swiftly that only a glimpse of gold could be seen, distorted out of shape by the refraction of light.
'Now Staryu, use water gun,' called Misty and for a second all was quiet and silent in the gym. The silence was shattered as the Staryu exploded out of the water and shot a foot into the air, water cascading off its form in small waterfalls. A powerful column of water blasted through the air arrow straight towards Asrael a mist of white spray surrounding it.
Asrael managed to avoid the bulk of the blast but was clipped in the tail and knocked out of the air. He hit the water with more force than his size dictated, creating waves a metre tall either side of the impact. Asrael disappeared in a flash, his blue skin colour a fantastic camouflage. 'Asrael use thundershock.' The two trainers watched the water closely with bated breath, wondering when Asrael was going to attack.
Asrael's exit from the water was much less dramatic than the Staryu's, but much more effective. His streamlined body made no sound as it exited the water and for a second the Staryu did not notice that its enemy was behind it. A small ball of electricity began charging in front of Asrael, hissing and crackling when it came into contact with droplets of water.
The Staryu whirled around to face its opponent and was welcomed by a powerful shock. For a second it was still, electricity coursing through its body, then it was thrown backwards, spinning uncontrollably through the air as bolts of electricity arced erratically off its burnt bulk. It hit the water smoking and plunged into the salty debts with an audible hiss. Misty stood in shock before pulling herself together, 'Staryu use recover.'
Jack swore, 'Asrael, dive in there and shock it again.' Asrael dived quietly into the water and for over minute nothing seemed to happen. Every so often large bubbles rose lazily to the surface of the water, popping on impact with the air and a wave appeared, as if from nowhere, to circuit the pool until it ran out of energy. Both trainers peered into the pool to see if they could make out the results of the battle.
Suddenly a blinding flash lit up the gym as a web of electricity sparked through the water. Bolts of power sparked out of the water, branching into the air like delicate trees. A faint smell of burning flesh wafted out of the water. The gym was silent but for the occasional sparking of rogue arcs of electricity as both trainers waited in silence for the result of the matching to make itself clear. With a fait plopping sound a Pokémon rose to the surface.
The Staryu was almost charred beyond recognition. The same basic shape of the five pointed star was the only thing that separated from a pile of charcoal. Wisps of smoke rose idly off its prone form and the pungent smell of burnt meat permeated the air. Mist stared in shock at her mutilated Pokémon and sadly recalled it.
As if to add insult to injury Asrael sped into view, his glistening wet body looking unarmed by the electricity. Electricity he said in his mischievous voice it tingles. Jack barked out a short laugh in relief, 'God,' he whispered, 'you nearly gave me a heart attack!' Asrael cocked his head to one side well I couldn't let you have an easy time of it could I? Misty's shrill voice interrupted their exchange, 'go Starmie. Revenge your sister's defeat!'
A bigger, violet sea star set with a large ruby at its centre was introduced to the battlefield. 'Asrael, shock this Pokémon into submission. Thundershock again.' Asrael began to charge again. 'Starmie use rapid spin.' A second star mounted on the Starmie's back began to spin faster and faster. Like a Frisbee the Starmie began to curve towards Asrael, its body horizontal to the ground.
It moved surprisingly fast and before Asrael could react it was bludgeoned to the ground. Unluckily for Asrael their collision took place above one of the small islands that peppered the pool. His collision with the island was slightly harder than it would have been with water. Asrael lay on the island barely conscious, his body had been shredded by the rapid spin attack and a multitude of luckily shallow cuts criss-crossed his body.
Brilliant red blood dribbled out of his body, single droplets staining the ground red where they fell. He tried to move his battered body but his bones were too bruised. If he even tried to move agony assaulted his brain from a dozen different places. 'Come on Asrael,' encouraged Jack, 'use thundershock again.' Asrael managed to create a small electrical orb in front of him and willed it towards the Starmie.
In one fluid movement the Starmie span to the side, dodging the attack. Unbeknownst to the it the ball of electricity began to bend round towards it. 'Look out, behind you!' shouted Misty, her voice full of panic. She remembered how much damage the attack had done before.
She was too late. The orb collided with the jewel at the Starmie's centre and the Pokémon dropped like a stone towards the water, sparks still crackling off its body. Just before it hit the water it managed to right itself and hovered just above the surface. The attack had clearly hurt it, burn marks sprinkled its body and the red jewel at its core was dimmer now, but it didn't have the devastating effect it had had before.
'Starmie, finish that Pokémon with water pulse.' The jewel began to glow brighter and brighter as the Starmie focussed its mind and the water around it rose into the air. The water began to spin forming a watery circle that was kept together by the velocity of its rotation.
The pulse of water hit Asrael with surprising force, its weight crushing him to the ground. More pulses of water created by the Starmie hit him in quick succession, and Asrael's agonised groans could be heard even above the deep sound of the water.
When the onslaught was finished Asrael lay on the ground unconscious. His back had snapped like a twig and every so often his muscles twitched as the broken nerve endings sent phantom signals to his brain. Jack recalled Asrael angrily and reluctantly released Dante. He knew the battle was against him now. Dante was extremely weak to water and he didn't have any attacks which were particularly effective.
'You're coming here with a fire Pokémon?' Misty asked incredulously, her bearing now more confident than it was before. 'I don't have a choice. Dante use flamethrower.' Dante stood awkwardly on one of the tiny islands, almost falling into the water, his fiery metallic body looking completely out of place in the sapphire blue surroundings. He belched out a ravening pillar of flame that greedily licked its way through the air towards its prey.
'Starmie, counter it with water pulse.' Almost disdainfully the Starmie matched Dante's attack with its own, the force of the water extinguished the fire, sending a mixture of spray and steam fountaining across the whole battlefield. 'Now Starmie use rapid spin.' The Starmie began spinning at tremendous speed and scythed through the air towards Dante. 'Dante, meet it with iron head.' Dante tensed his body and leapt forward to headbutt the Starmie in midair.
The impact knocked both Pokémon to the ground, with Dante getting the better of the collision. The Starmie floated to the surface of the water, clearly dazed by the collision. 'While it's dazed, flamethrower.' The Starmie just managed to avoid the fiery attack and snapped out of its daze to retaliate with water pulse.
Dante had nowhere to run to. He couldn't jump to another island because none were in reach and he hated the water with a passion so was loathe to jump into the pool. 'Block it with flamethrower,' ordered Jack, though he was just stalling. He had no idea how to win this battle. The two attacks again cancelled each other out in a huge explosion of steam and spray and for a second a fine mist hid both combatants from each other.
This was what Misty had been waiting for. 'Starmie use psychic.' Behind the opaque barrier of mist, hidden from Dante and Jack, the Starmie's jewel began to shine brighter than ever before and suddenly shimmering, purplish energy exploded out, instantly dispersing the mist, before hitting Dante. Dante was knocked off his island as if he was but a feather and thrown a good ten feet before he crashed into the water.
It was a bedraggled Dante that dragged himself out of the water, holding himself gingerly because of a huge bruise on his side. If he hadn't had such tough skin and bones he would have surely been splintered by that attack. 'Dante use rest.' Dante had never been so relieved to go to sleep. Misty clenched her jaw as he saw Dante healing, then smiled evilly. 'Big mistake, Starmie use hydro pump.'
Her Starmie descended into the water and began to spin. As it span a funnel of water surrounded it and slowly the vortex began to rise higher and higher into the air. 'Now Dante. Use sleep talk!' shouted Jack desperately. He knew if the attack hit Dante would be dog's meat.
Dante stretched in his sleep and spat a massive ball of fire towards the Starmie. As the two attacks collided the whole gym was covered in the mist that the impact created. The mist quickly receded and Jack groaned as he saw the vortex of water homing in on Dante, its bulk barely diminished despite the lava dome Pokémon's best efforts. The collision wasn't pretty.
The sheer weight of water cracked the concrete island in two and drove the still sleeping Dante deep into the depths of the pool. The collision with the floor of the pool was so hard that it was audible, even through five metres of water. Jack recalled his Pokémon quickly, not wanting to see the shattered mess that would be undoubtedly left behind. 'Good battle,' he said, sighing sadly, 'I really thought I could win that one.'
Mist walked around the pool to shake his hand. 'Your Pokémon are very strong, you have raised them very well. I think I will expect to see you within the week.' Jack nodded his agreement, 'you bet. Then I will win.' Misty raised her eyebrows. 'We'll see.'