Ohirume: *yawn* Yeah, we're running out of ideas for these things.

Omega: The sad part is - this only chapter 7. Pathetic, isn't it.

I don't own Pokémon or Ben 10.

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The Sensational Cerulean Screw-Ups

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Everyone woke up exhausted. Everyone except for- do I even have to say it?

"Good morning!" Seymour shouted.

Everyone groaned at being woken up by the scientist. Last night was a nightmare.

After the 'firewood incident', Seymour tried to help with a tent they never intended to set up, tried collecting berries without knowing which ones were rotten or ripe, and then he nearly started a forest fire with a smore. They didn't even have marshmallows. He almost started cooking until Brock intervened.

The group stood outside the original entrance to the cave and were about to separate from the man. The clefairy and clefable all stood around the entrance to see them off.

"I've decided to live here with the clefairy." Seymour announced.

They haven't told him off yet, why would they now?

Ash sweat dropped but gave a thumbs up, "Good to hear."

Misty waved, "So sorry to see you go."

Brock nodded, "It's been an experience."

Seymour's eyes were bright, "Thank you, Mr. Ketchum. It's always been my dream to find the moon stone. I hope that someday I can travel to the stars with the clefairy, aboard the moon stone."

Nobody knew how respond to that. The clefairy and clefable started looking at each other, confused. The oldest among them just shrugged when asked what the human meant.

Ash and friends left the mountain and Seymour far behind. Luckily, they wouldn't be leaving the mountain with only bad memories.

Ash heard heavy breathing coming from behind, he half expected to see Seymour running over to ask if he could join them. He was thankful when he turned around. The clefairy that they befriended was running towards the group, struggling to keep up with them. She ended up tripping and falling on her face.

Ash ran over, "Hey, are you alright?"

Clefairy looked up and jumped into his arms. She started chattering away in her native tongue, way too fast.

Ash blinked at the Fairy-type and looked to his side, "Soot?"

"I think she wants to join us." Soot responded, at bit shocked.

Ash looked down at the extremely rare Fairy Pokémon, eyes wide, "You want to join my team? Really? You're not pulling my leg here, right?"

Clefairy blinked and looked down at Ash's legs. Soot snorted, "He meant to ask if you were joking."

Clefairy looked back and shook wildly in disagreement, "I want to travel with Ash. I promise to be strong and loyal."

Ash blinked, 'why did I understand that?' Thinking back, he remembered that Clefairy hugged his right arm after the ceremony. Ash frowned, 'great.'

Clefairy noticed the frown and started tearing up, "Does Ash not want me to join?"

Ash flinched, "That's not it. I swear."

Brock became confused, "What?"

Ash flinched again, "I mean, she sounded sad. I kind of feared the worse."

Clefairy perked up, "So Ash does want to me to join?"

Ash responded by pulling out a pokéball, "It's completely up to you, Clefairy."

She smiled and hit the ball.

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*Pallet Town

Professor Samuel Oak was sitting at his desk when an alert went off.

Trainer Ash Ketchum has captured a new Pokémon

Oak smiled and went over to the computer. Ash catching something didn't happen that often, as opposed to Gary.

"Let's see what we he's caught now." He said to himself as he hit a button on the computer.

The image of the Pokémon appeared on the monitor. Sam blinked as he saw it. He turned the monitor off and back on; no change. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Either I need a new computer or Ash just caught a clefairy."

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*Back with the twerps

Clefairy rode on Ash's shoulder, opposite to Pikachu. Apparently, Pokémon that hated pokéballs were drawn to Ash.

She looked at everything, with a sense of wonder in her eyes, "Oh, what's that?!"

Pikachu looked at where she pointed and chuckled, "That's another pidgey."

She looked confused, "But it's a different color."

Pikachu double checked, "Oh yeah. I think they're shiny. If you've met clefairy that was colored differently, then you probably already known what that means."

"Oooooh"

Ash chuckled as he overheard their conversation. He was starting to wonder how Clefairy would react to the watch.

"What's that up ahead?" She called out again.

Ash looked, "It looks like a sign."

Brock looked at the sign, "It's for Cerulean City. We're getting close."

Misty sighed, "greeeaaaat." She looked at sign to and noticed something, "There's something scribbled on it: 'Gary was here, Ash is a los-' huh?"

Ash checked too and sighed, "Of course Gary would do this."

Pikachu pouted, "Not him again."

Misty looked at Ash, "Who's Gary?"

Soot spoke up, "He's the professor's snobby grandson. Real full of himself. He got on Pikachu's nerves pretty fast."

Pikachu glared at the sign. Clefairy did too, "Meany."

Ash crouched down, "He shouldn't be vandalizing signs like this." Ash pulled out the claws on his right hand - the last two finally grew back - and started scraping away at the message. He was being careful not to cut it in half.

Clefairy stared. Pikachu patted her shoulder, "Trust me, this is nothing compared to the rest."

Misty took a chance, "Ash, can we not go to Cerulean City? There are lots of other gyms in Kanto to choose from."

Brock was confused, "Misty, I thought you were from Cerulean City. Why wouldn't you want to go home?"

Misty crossed her arms, "It's … personal."

Ash was still focused on the sign, "About your sister's or the gym?"

Misty stared at him, "You knew?!"

Ash shrugged, "I told you, I studied the gyms."

She blinked, "Why didn't you say anything before?"

Ash finished with the sign and looked at her, "It wasn't my place to call you out on it."

Misty sighed, "No use trying to hide it, I guess. Yeah, it's my 'sensational sisters'. I left home with a promise that I would return as a Water Pokémon Master. Well, more of a bet that a promise."

Brock frowned, "Do you not get along with them?"

Misty pouted, "That's one way of putting it. They see me as the runt of the family. Always talking down to me because I'm not as pretty as them."

Soot frowned, "They sound nice." She said sarcastically.

Ash glared at the path ahead of them, "They need to get their acts together."

Misty blinked, "huh?"

Ash looked back at her, "You haven't heard? The Cerulean gym has been getting a bad reputation among league trainers. Your sisters have actually been refusing most of their challenges in favor of their water ballets and handing out a lot of badges for free."

"THEY WHAT?!" Misty shouted; eyes wide. "We are heading straight there, NOW!"

She stormed of towards the water city.

Soot looked up, "You heard the woman."

Everyone broke into sprint.

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**Time Skip**

The sun started setting, so the group stopped for the night, much to Misty's disappointment.

She paced around the clearing, "I cannot believe those three. When I get my hand on them, I'm gonna-"

Sorry, gonna have to cut her rant short. No amount of censoring will make it appropriate. And if you're not buying that: I'm sorry for being lazy.

The others decided not to interfere.

Soot frowned, "geez, I'm starting to feel sorry for her sisters."

Clefairy was confused at Misty's words, "Hey, what does-"

Pikachu interrupted, "It's probably best you don't know."

Ash spoke up, "I'm gonna head into the woods to train. Come on guys."

Pikachu and Clefairy ran over. Soot laid down next to the fire.

Ash was confused, "You're not coming, Soot?"

Soot yawned, "Nah, I think I'll rest. I'm still tired from last night."

Ash chuckled, "Fair enough. We'll be back later."

Ash and the others disappeared into the woods.

Soot continued to lay down by the fire, enjoying the warmth. Brock sat down next to her, looking like he had something on his mind.

Soot looked up, "You okay, Brock?"

Brock seemed nervous, "Well it's kind of about that puppet thing from yesterday."

Soot sat up, "You mean marrionetter? Brock, I already told you. Only using it once for such a short amount of time won't have any ill effects. You'll be fine so long as we don't do it more than two more time within the next week or so."

Brock seemed to calm down, "Thanks, but there was something else."

Soot raised a brow.

Brock continued, "Despite all the mayhem, I did see how Ash used, well, you back in my gym. The movements he did were a little more subtle than what you had me doing and he pulled off a lot more stuff."

Soot chuckled, "Marionetter is kind of weird with its margin for error. My user, at the time, actually has two options for how they control me. The movements you did were the clunkier ones that are easier to pull off and are much more accepting of errors. Dad's technique was a lot more advanced and effective but there's little to no room for error. One twitch in the wrong way and I could end up with a new zipper around my neck."

Misty stopped ranting when she heard that, "What? I thought those zippers were a part of you?"

Soot nodded, "They are but I wasn't born with them. Before I evolved, I was a poochyena with shuppet inheritance. My zippers are actually my bodies version of scars."

Brock flinched, "Wait, what?!"

Soot nodded again, "Yeah, the zipper on my back happened shortly after I evolved. We ran into a hurt scyther and it attacked me out of confusion. The one on my leg happened about a few months later. Some poachers got me while they were trying to catch the same scyther. That was awkward."

Brock and Misty were shocked beyond belief. Ash and Soot have really been through that much?

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*Ash

Clefairy's jaw nearly hit the floor as she stared at the male clefairy in front of her. Her new teammates were all around her.

Pikachu nudged her, "Told ya."

Butterfree glided over, "Ash, this is so cool! I didn't know you could turn into new Pokémon just by letting touch your wrist … thing."

Ash chuckled, "It's called a watch, Butterfree. Yeah, it's a pretty cool feature, I guess. Check this out."

Ash hit the symbol on his stomach. He flashed green and emerged in Pikachu form.

Ash smiled, "Ta da!"

Clefairy fainted. Pikachu laughed in triumph, "Hah! I wasn't the only one!"

Pidgeotto cocked her head, "If that's true, then why haven't you had me or Butterfree touch it, yet?"

Pikachu responded, "According to Soot, it's because he's too stubborn."

Ash glared, "No, I am not! It just doesn't seem fair to have that kind of power. Like I said, I can't use this in an official battle."

Butterfree nodded, "Yup, too stubborn."

Ash hissed.

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**Time Skip**

Morning rolled around and the group continued on their journey to Cerulean City. The entire time, Clefairy asked Ash about what all he could turn into and what Power Integration let him do; now that she knew he could understand her. Pikachu was given the 'honor' of answering because Brock and Misty were there.

The two humans said nothing during the walk. They were still thinking about what Soot told them last night and how she was so nonchalant about it. Every so often, they would look at the zipper on her back and grimace at the thought of how she got it. Not to mention what all Ash said about making friends and the 'Phantom Child' mayhem. Ash and Soot usually seemed so calm and easy going, when Team Rocket wasn't around. It was hard to believe that they'd been through stuff like that.

Misty's home city came into view after a few hours.

Soot smiled, "There it is!"

Ash smiled too, "Come on, the Cerulean gym awaits."

The pair and shoulder riding Pokémon made their way down the hill. Brock and Misty followed a few feet behind them, in no rush.

Brock looked over to Misty, "So, what's your plan for your sisters?"

Misty looked at him, confused, "What?" she perked up as she remembered what Ash said, "Oh, right! I nearly forgot about that. I just can't help thinking about- well."

Brock nodded, "Yeah, me too."

Misty looked at the ground, "It's just- It's hard to believe how rough they had. Especially with how calm they always are."

Brock frowned, "I know what you mean."

Ash looked back, "Hey guys, is everything alright?"

Misty looked up and forced a smile, "Yeah, we're good."

Soot looked back too, "Well then, come on. We're almost there."

Misty sighed as they turned back around.

Brock watched as they kept walking, "Lets just try not think about it for now. We'll just focus on being there for them."

Misty nodded and smiled, "Yeah, sounds good."

The humans picked up their pace. After a few more minutes, they were finally at the city limits.

Ash turned to face his friends, "So, how should we split up?"

That caught them off guard. "What do you mean?" Brock asked.

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Well, we need to restock. I was thinking we could split up and get it done faster."

They couldn't argue that. At least, not without Ash questioning it.

Brock spoke up, "I'll get it done. I'm used to big shopping trips."

Ash smiled, "Thanks." He turned to Misty, "So, I guess we're heading to the gym then?"

"Yeah! I still need to give my sisters a piece of my mind!" Misty said, determined.

Clefairy blinked, "Humans can do that?!"

Soot chuckled, "It's an expression Clefairy."

Ash nodded, "Sounds good."

They made their way into the city. It didn't take long to notice the crowd.

Ash turned towards Misty, "Is this normal?"

Misty frowned, "No, its really not." She walked over to the crowd to try and get a better look. The others followed.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Misty asked.

A man turned around, "Last night some criminals broke into a warehouse and stole something."

Ash frowned, "what did they steal?"

"How suspicious of you to show up here." The group turned around the see Officer Jenny glaring at them.

Ash spoke up, "Officer Jenny, do you know what's going on here?"

Her glare deepened, "How do you know my name?"

Misty blinked, "Your joking, right?"

Ash pinched the bridge of his nose at the question but answered anyway, "I met another Officer Jenny back in Viridian City."

She kept glaring "If that's so, then you met my sister-in-law. Perhaps it was to ask for directions or find your lost wallet. Or maybe it was after you all broke out of Jail!" She whipped out a pair of handcuffs, "You're all coming with me!"

Soot's eyes widened, "You cannot be serious. We only just got to town. We saw the crowd and came to see what was going on."

Jenny looked at Soot, "And you have a mightyena. That must mean you're from Hoenn's Team Aqua or Team Magma."

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" Soot shouted.

Ash patted her head, "Calm down, Soot." Ash turned towards Jenny and pulled out his pokédex, "Look, I'm a licensed trainer from Pallet Town. The mightyena's name is Soot and she's is one of my Pokémon."

"And I used to be the Pewter City gym leader" Brock pulled out a badge.

Jenny glared at Misty, "And what about you?"

Misty deadpanned and held up a Cascade Badge, "My name is Misty Waterflower."

Jenny flinched and backed up, "Oh, I'm sorry about that miss Waterflower. Your family's gym is very, well-"

Misty interrupted, "In need of fixing. I know. Now, can you please tell us what's going on here?"

Jenny sweat dropped, "Yes, of course. It's the weirdest thing, really. They left all the money behind and just stole a gigantic vacuum and hose."

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Why the Yvel would anyone steal that stuff?"

Jenny sighed, "I've been trying to figure that out, too. It's put me on edge lately. I'm sorry again for accusing all of you."

Ash chuckled, "No harm done, right?"

Soot muttered something that only Ash and Pikachu heard. Pikachu blushed.

Jenny sighed, "Thank you for being so understanding."

Brock walked up to her, "Perhaps after your shift, you could make it up to me with a date." He said charmingly, holding a rose.

"Sorry, but I'll be working long past your bedtime."

Brock fell to his knees in despair. Clefairy giggled. Soot raised a brow, 'How long has he had that rose with him?'

Jenny continued, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work on this case."

Ash nodded, "I wish you luck in finding the culprits."

The group separated from the crowd and continued walking towards the gym. They noticed a Pokémart along the way.

Brock spoke up, "Well, this is my stop. I'll meet you guys at the gym right after I'm done."

Ash nodded, "Sounds good. See ye later."

The group split; Brock towards the Pokémart and the rest to the gym.

Ash and Misty made it there in no time flat.

Misty sighed, "Welp, I'm home."

Ash put a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled at him and turned to glare at the door, "Alright, let's get this over with."

She pushed her way through and was ready to shout at her sisters. She was not ready for the music and spotlights.

The group stared at the scene from the top row. Misty was flabbergasted, "What. The. Yvel."

Ash sighed, "It's like I said. Water ballets."

Soot propped herself up on the railing, "This looks a lot more like a Pokémon Showcase than a gym. No offence."

Misty kept staring at the performance, "None taken."

Clefairy eyes lit up in amazement, "Soooo pretty."

Pikachu was about the same, "And so graceful."

Misty grabbed Ash's arm, "Come on. We're putting an end to this!"

She led them down a hallway with massive aquarium tanks on either side. Water Pokémon could be seen swimming all around without a care in the world.

Clefairy put her face up to the glass, "Woah. Hey, who's that Pokémon?!"

Soot looked, "That would be a Luvdisc."

"And that one?" she said, pointing to another fish.

Soot checked, "Goldeen. Misty actually has one."

Clefairy's eye lit up, "Really?! It's so pretty." She looked again, "Oh, what's that one over there."

Soot chuckled, "That's a-" she stopped when she noticed the Water-type in question, "Woah. Misty, you guys have Basculin? Those are really rare in Kanto."

Misty smiled proudly, "Yeah, it's pretty impressive."

They heard giggling from up ahead. Misty's sisters came into view.

"That dive you did was super, Daisy!" the pink haired one, Lily, announced.

"Yeah, practice really paid off!" the blond, Daisy, responded.

"Totally!" the blue haired one, Violet, squealed.

They let out a collective high-pitched squeal that made Ash and all of the Pokémon cover their ears. It even scared away all of the fish near the sisters.

Soot recovered after they stopped, "Ow."

The girls noticed Ash and his Pokémon, but apparently not Misty.

Violet went first, "Sorry but if you, like, want an interview, you'll have to call our manager."

Ash frowned, "I'm not here for an interview."

Daisy went second, "We don't, like, do autographs either."

Ash's frown deepened, "I don't want that either. I'm here for a gym battle."

Lily went third, "Sorry, but we don't, like, do gym battles anymore."

Soot sweat dropped, 'why do they keep throwing 'like' into their sentences.'

Misty jumped in, "And why might that be?"

The sensational sisters finally noticed their youngest sister.

Daisy walked over, "It's surprising to see you so soon, little sister."

Lily followed, "The little big-mouth who swore she would, like, become a great trainer."

Ash was already tired of this, "How do know she's not?"

Violet laughed, "She hasn't been gone for that long. And we've seen her account; she hasn't, like, caught any new Pokémon."

Ash laughed mockingly, "That's your justification? What on earth makes you three the judges?"

The sisters glared at the comment. Misty actually felt a little touched that Ash would stand up for her like this.

She was also confused because condescending remarks were usually Soot's thing, 'Guess I know where she got it from.'

Lily smirked, "Well, why don't we prove our point with a battle."

Misty glared at her sisters, "Bring it! I'll show you all just how far I've come."

They all made their way to the gym's main battlefield, and by default the pool. And then-

"Sorry but we, like, can't" Daisy said with a shrug.

Ash blinked, "I'm sorry, what? You're the ones who challenged Misty."

Lilly spoke up, "We just got beaten three times in a row by these kids from some nowhere place called Pallet Town." Ash and Soot's eyes narrowed at that. "It was just one defeat after another. My eyes are still spinning from all the losses.

Daisy pouted, "We had too, like, rush all of Pokémon to the Pokémon Center."

Lily pulled out a pokéball, "All we have left is this."

The ball opened and a goldeen emerged on the floor. It started flailing next to the pool.

Lilly continued, "It would help if it would evolve into seaking. So far, it only knows Horn Attack."

Ash ignored them and walked over to the flailing fish. He picked it up effortlessly and dropped it into the pool. The sister's stared, not sure how to respond.

Ash noticed and frowned, "Most Pokémon from the Water 2 egg group need to remain in water, unless they learn how to levitate." He glared "I'd expect a trio of Water-type gym leaders to know something so simple."

Misty could barely hold in her laughs as Ash belittled her sisters. She stopped, a little embarrassed, when she remembered what happened in Viridian Forest.

Daisy recovered, "Well, anyway. Now do you get it? There's no point in battling."

Soot laughed hysterically at her response, "Sorry, its just- You belittled Misty because you thought she wasn't a good trainer. Yet, this is your excuse?" She laughed harder, "Oh man. No wonder your reputation's in the toilet."

The sister's stared. "Did that Pokémon just talk?" Violet asked.

Misty got in their faces, "Not important! You challenged me to a battle, so you owe me a battle."

Daisy pointed at Ash, "Well why don't you just battle him?"

Misty glared at her sisters.

Ash frowned, "First you challenge Misty to a battle and now your trying to pass it on to me? Fine."

Misty turned to look at him, confused, "Huh?"

Ash shrugged, "Well, why not? I'd still rather earn my badge in a battle and these three sure as Yvel aren't gonna do it."

Misty grinned, "Alright, you're on. But don't expect to win."

Ash smiled, "I look forward to the challenge." He turned to face the sister's, "The battlefield still has trainer platforms, right?"

Lily raised a brow, "Of course, why wouldn't it?"

Soot deadpanned, "After seeing how you three treat battles, it seemed like a fair question."

The girls glared. Violet returned her goldeen and pressed a button on the wall. Large platforms rose up on either side of the pool.

"There, happy now?" Daisy pointed at one of the platforms, "Misty, you take red. Boy, you take blue."

Misty glared, "His name is Ash."

Soot glared too, "And for the record, I don't appreciate you calling our home a 'nowhere place'."

Ash and misty took their positions on the battlefield. The referee's area was still empty.

Misty looked over to her sister's, "Hey, where's the ref?"

"We gave him the day off." Daisy called out.

Misty blinked, "What?! But the gym is still open!"

Soot sighed and walked over, "I'll handle it. I still remember what the guy in Pewter said."

Lily blinked, "Wait, a Pokémon is going to be the ref?"

Violet followed suit, "Wouldn't it just root for its trainer?

Ash glared, "Soot isn't that biased."

Misty followed, "And, besides, we need a referee. Your good to go, Soot."

Soot nodded, "Sweet." She cleared her throat. She was about to start when something occurred to her, "What's the protocol for a second badge battle?"

"Same as Pewter City's first badge." Misty replied.

Soot nodded, "Alright, this gym battle will be between the Cerulean City gym leader, Misty Waterflower, and the challenger, Ashton Satoshi Ketchum of Pallet Town. Both sides may use up to two Pokémon, but only the challenger may substitute. The battle will be decided when one sides Pokémon are unable to continue. Should the challenger be victorious, they shall be awarded the Cascade Badge. Are the rules clear?"

Ash and Misty nodded.

Lily, Violet and Daisy blinked in surprise. "Whoa, she's better than our usual guy." Violet commented.

Soot held up a paw, "Very well. Let the battle-" she brought it down forcefully "BEGIN!"

Ash looked down at Pikachu, "Alright Pikachu, let's- what's wrong?"

Pikachu looked up at Ash, "I don't really want to battle Misty. She's our friend."

Ash smiled and crouched down to pet him, "Don't worry buddy, I understand." He turned to the other Pokémon he had out, "Clefairy?"

She became nervous and started poking her pointer fingers at each other, "Well-"

Ash pet her too and smiled, "I get it. You guys can sit this one out. I promise I'm not upset."

That seemed to calm them down.

Ash pulled out a pokéball.

Misty blinked, "You're not using Pikachu?"

Ash shrugged, "He doesn't want to. Same goes for Clefairy."

Daisy blinked, "How do you know that?"

Soot looked towards the stands, "I can vouch for them. Now shush."

Ash tossed the pokéball into the field, "Butterfree, it's your move!"

Misty followed suit, "Misty calls Staryu!"

The Pokémon emerged. Staryu stood on the platform, took note of its surroundings, and turned to face Butterfree. Butterfree stared in surprise and looked back at Ash.

Pikachu responded, "It's a gym battle. Turns out Misty is one of the gym leaders."

Ash narrowed his eyes, 'Staryu first. The only move I've seen it use is Water Gun. Whereas Misty knows just about all of Butterfree's moves. That puts me at a disadvantage. I just need to be careful and pray that it doesn't know an Ice-type move.'

Misty frowned, 'Great. He had to choose a Bug-type. At least Butterfree isn't gross looking like other bugs.'

Soot began again, "Now, Start!"

Ash acted first, "Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!"

Misty snapped out of her thoughts, "Staryu, dodge!"

Misty's command came too late. The blue powder shrouded the starfish; it started to sway from exhaustion.

Ash didn't let up, "Butterfree, Tackle!"

"Staryu, get into the water!"

Staryu managed to get to the edge of the platform and fall in. Butterfree shot by, missing.

Misty smirked, "Hah, Sleep Powder doesn't do anything if it gets washed off! Staryu, stay under and use Water Gun."

The stream of water shot out of the pool and hit Butterfree right in the chest. He managed to recover.

"Butterfree, Sleep Powder! Don't let up!"

Butterfree complied.

Misty grinned, "It's not gonna work Ash. Staryu's still underwater."

Ash smirked, "You sure about that?"

Misty frowned and looked at the water. It was starting to turn blue, and not the normal shade.

Misty flinched, "What's going on?!"

Ash raised a finger, "You were right, Misty. Sleep powder doesn't work if you wash it off. But, while the effects won't be as efficient, it's a decent contaminant."

Misty's eye widened, "Staryu, get out of the water, now!"

The Water-type emerged slower than expected. It wasn't as drowsy as before, but it was still sluggish.

"Now, Butterfree, Tackle!"

Misty wasn't done, "Staryu, you Tackle too!"

The combatants shot at each other and met at the center of the field. Staryu got the upper hand and knocked Butterfree on to the opposing platform. Its eyes swirled.

Soot raised a paw towards Misty, "Butterfree is unable to battle. Staryu wins the round."

Misty cheered, "Alright, Staryu."

Daisy watched in amazement, "Woah! Misty actually won!"

Lily wasn't far behind, "Alright! Take him down little sis!"

Ash smiled slightly, "Good work, Butterfree, get some rest."

The butterfly disappeared and Ash pulled out another pokéball.

"Pidgeotto, come on out!"

Pikachu spoke up, "Pidgeotto, we're-"

"Battling Misty. I heard. Pokéballs aren't exactly soundproof." The bird stated as she looked ahead.

"What did she say?" Ash whispered.

Clefairy looked up, "That pokéballs aren't sound roofs."

"She means soundproof" Pikachu responded.

Soot looked at the field and nodded, "Alright. Begin!"

Misty raised an arm, "Staryu, use Swift!"

Ash grimaced, "Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

Staryu, still drowsy from the sleep pool, fired a barrage of stars towards the oncoming bird. Pidgeotto swerved through the attack and hit staryu right in the core.

Ash didn't let up, "Now, Steel Wing!"

Misty could respond soon enough. Pidgeotto batted Staryu into Misty herself.

Ash flinched, "Woah. Sorry Misty!"

Misty raised hand, "I'm good. Believe it or not, this has happened before."

She held out a pokéball, "Thanks Staryu, return."

Misty got back up and smiled, "Get ready Ash. Here comes the finale." She pulled out a pokéball and enlarged it.

Ash smiled, "I'm ready."

"Misty calls Starmie!"

Everyone was tense, waiting for the final battle to ensue. Misty's sisters all cheered for her.

"Go Misty!"

"Show him who's boss, sis!"

"You've got this!"

Soot smiled and raised a paw, "This will be the final battle!" She brought her paw down and pointed at the wall in front of her "BEGIN!"

The wall exploded; kicking up dust into the air. Everyone looked at Soot in shock.

Soot shook her head, "That wasn't me."

A round of laughs rang through the dust.

Soot's eye twitched, "Freaking Arceus."

The dust settled enough to reveal Team Rocket riding … another giant machine, treads included. The main difference was the pointed hull at the base and the gigantic exhaust pipe on the side.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! Dat's right!"

Misty glared, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!"

James looked at her and flinched, "What are you doing here?!"

"Her family owns the gym, you dunce!" Soot shouted.

Jessie smirked, "Well then, this just makes things easier. Meowth, start the machine."

Meowth pulled a lever on the control panel, "It's vacuumin' time!"

A large hose popped out of the machine and started emptying the pool.

Ash groaned, "I should have known they were the thieves. Who else would pull a heist that dumb?"

Daisy was shocked, "Hey, that's our pool!"

Meowth grinned, "You're right." The hose raised out the pool and pointed at the trio, "Here, take it back."

Water shot out of the hose at an alarming rate. Soot ran over and tackled the sisters out of the way.

She glared at the machine with her Banette eyes. "You three, take cover now." she told the sisters.

They nodded and ran behind the bleachers.

Meowth frowned and pointed the hose to Ash.

Meowth smirked and pulled a lever, "Now ta suck 'em up."

The vacuum started to, well, vacuum the area. Clefairy and Pikachu were lifted off their feet. Ash returned Pidgeotto and jumped up to catch them. He ended up getting sucked in with them.

Misty was shocked, "Ash! No!"

Soot grimaced, "Crag."

The hose turned to Misty, still sucking. Misty tried to stand her ground but was failing. She felt something grab on to her and the pulling stopped. Misty looked up to see the vacuum still pointing at her. She looked down and saw Soot holding on to her.

Soot noticed Misty's confusion and grinned, "Intangibility, remember? Even helps with wind."

Jessie glared, "Meowth, what's going on?! Why isn't the vacuum working?!"

Meowth got worried, "I don't know! 'Dis t'ings at full suckage."

The vacuum stopped.

"MEOWTH!" Jessie shouted.

"I didn't do dat! Somet'in must be wrong with it!"

Electricity started to crackle around the vacuum. "huh?" James look around, "Is the twerp's pikachu doing this?"

Jessie grimaced, "But we got the twerp too. He wouldn't take that kind of risk, would he?"

Soot laughed, "You guys don't anything about my dad."

The machine started rumbling.

Soot grimaced, "Uh oh." She let go of Misty and phased through the machine right before it exploded.

Team Rocket blasted off again.

The team remained mostly silent as they flew.

James sighed, "At least we didn't waste any money this time."

*ding*

The smoke cleared to reveal Ash and his Pokémon in the middle of the ex-machine; huddled around Soot. Ash opened his eyes to see everyone else staring at him.

Ash sighed in relief, "Looks like it worked." he looked at the hole in the wall and frowned, "Geez. Sorry about all this."

Daisy recovered and shrugged, "We'll get it fixed. Gyms have really good insurance."

Misty sighed, "I guess we can't finish the battle. Sorry, Ash."

Violet walked over, "I don't think that will be problem. Come on out, Seel!"

A seel hopped into the room. It was balancing a Cascade Badge on its nose.

Ash blinked, "I thought you didn't have any Pokémon left."

Lily shook her head, "We don't have any left for battles. Seel's a performer."

Ash raised an eyebrow, "And the badge?"

Lily giggled, "Well, you saved us and most of our gym. It's the least we can do."

Ash looked over at Misty. She crossed her arm and turned away, "Oh, just take it already."

Ash smiled and took the badge from the seel. He sighed, "This is going to be reoccurring thing, isn't it?"

.

*Later, outside the gym

Misty, Soot, and Ash said their goodbyes to Misty's sisters. The three of them held Misty a group hug for 5 minutes. The whole time they were wishing her luck, asking her stay safe, and giving her advice. Unfortunately, most of said advice was about makeup. Ash couldn't help but chuckled about some of it. That earned him a glared from Misty.

Brock walked up to the gym, "Hey, guys. I got everyth-" he noticed the gym, "What happened here?"

Soot growled, "I'll give you a hint. Their initials are T. and R."

Brock stared at the destruction, "Please tell me you're joking."

Ash sighed, "She's serious, alright. Turns out those three were the vacuum thieves."

Misty growled too, "They tried to weaponize our pool. I mean, COME ON, who does that?!"

Soot sighed, "Well, at least they're gone now."

Brock chuckled before he remembered, "Ash, did you get your gym badge?"

Ash held up his new Cascade Badge, "Yeah, Misty was tough."

Misty crossed her arms, "Yeah, but you didn't even win. My sisters were just grateful for you saving the gym."

Brock chuckled, "Sounds familiar."

Ash rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll try not to earn the rest of my badges out gratitude alone."

Soot smirked "Don't make promises you can't keep, dad."

The friends laughed as they left the city.

.

.

Omega: Life Fiber Infection! Nuno-Kiseijuu, Omni-Koketsu!

Faux: Aura Transmution! Hamon!

*random explosions and other anime nonsense*

Ohirume: Guys, quit! This is not a good way to- YIPE!

Seishin: Keep your head down! Faux just went Ki!

Faux: Aura Transmution! Chakra!

Seishin: Make that chakra.

Faux: Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!

Omega: Omni, shield!

Omni: on it.

Faux: Aura Transmution! Mana! Frost Magic! Icicle Cascade!

Gem: Oh, Omega just bled!

Ohirume: CRAG!

*BOOM*

Omega: *monstrous roaring*

Faux: Aura Transmution! Grace!

Seishin: Woah! This is gettin' good! These guys should get bored more often!

Ohirume: WHYYYYYY?!