Sorry, the Surfing Nurse Joy will be in the next chapter.

(Opening Song: Pokémon World)

So you wanna be the Master of

Pokémon!

Do you have the skills to be

Number one!?

I wanna take the ultimate step

Find the courage to be bold (Pokémon)

To risk it all and not forget

The lessons that I hold

I wanna go where no one's been

Far beyond the crowd (Pokémon) Yeah!

Learn the way to take command

Use the power that's in my hand

Oh hey!

We all live in a Pokémon world

(Po-ké-mon)

I wanna be the greatest Master of them all!

(Greatest Master)

We all live in a Pokémon world

(Po-ké-mon)

Put myself to the test

To be better than all the rest

Ungh!

So you wanna be the Master of

Pokémon!

Do you have the skills to be

Number one!?

We all live in a Pokémon world

(Po-ké-mon)

I wanna be the greatest Master of them all!

Got the power right in your hands

Po-ké-mon!

Today, our heroes are once again by the water, but soon decide to take a rest on an Island where they will have an interesting encounter.

Kinnow Island

Today the gang was relaxing on Kinnow Island. Misty was playfully splashing Togepi in the water, Tracey was drawing, while Ritchie was training his Pokémon.

Molly, Tomo, and Serena were relaxing with their Pokémon, and Ash was in the middle of reading the journal. He still doesn't know the name of the person who wrote it, but from what he's reading right now—a name doesn't really matter.

There was so much to learn from this journal that he couldn't help but absorb everything he was reading. It talks about how the original owner of this journal explains how they were given a blessing by the "Legendary Beasts" for protecting them from human ignorance and fear.

No sooner did they leave to start their own journey, they encountered the same pokemon and received a blessing from each of them.

Ash took this as a different meaning though. Reading this reminds him so much of the story his mentor would tell him when he was little.

Could it be that…

"You've been reading that for awhile," Tracey came up to him and sat down, "Anything interesting?" He asked.

"All of it is interesting." Ash replied, "I can't believe the original owner of this journal was blessed by the three Legendary Beasts!"

Tracey's eyes widened at the information, "By the Legendary Beasts, do you mean—?!" He exclaimed.

Ash nods his head, "Suicune, Entei, and Raikou." The fact that these three Legendary Pokemon are able to bless humans is surprising. Something tells him if he keeps reading he'll find out something even more interesting.

"That's amazing! I didn't even know Legendary Pokemon could give blessings to humans." Tracey sounded fascinated by the new information just like Ash.

"I didn't know, either." Ash admitted.

Meanwhile, Lapras was giving both Pikachu and Togepi a ride on her back. Psyduck was in the middle of taking a nap on said back without a care in the world.

Pikachu was having fun and didn't notice anything at first, but soon realized that Psyduck was gone!

"Pika Pikachu (Psyduck's gone)!" Pikachu exclaimed.

Lapras immediately brings them to shore where the others are and tells them what's happened.

"Pika Pikachu Pika (We've got an emergency)!" Pikachu calls out to them, gerund their attention.

"Huh, what's wrong?" Tracey wondered.

"Not sure." Ash said, running over towards the shore with the others, "What's the matter, Pikachu?"

Tracey noticed something, "Hold on, it seems like there's something missing, by what could it be?" He's sure there's something missing.

"Tracey's right, but what?" Serena wondered.

Ash was the first one to notice, "Hey, wait! Psyduck's gone!" That got everyone's attention real quick.

"Oh, no! Where's Psyduck?!" Misty started freaking out.

Molly looked around, "He didn't fall in the water did he?" She asked, clearly worried.

"I hope not. But we should probably look just in case." Tomo suggested.

"Good idea, everyone spread out and search for Psyduck!" Ash sent out Blastoise and Gyarados so they could help.

Misty also had her water Pokemon assist in the search. Everyone walked around the beach, hoping they'd be able to find Psyduck—but no such luck.

All of the water Pokemon gathered around in front of them.

"Still no sign of Psyduck?" Misty questioned.

As one, they shook their heads.

Misty looked down in sadness over the missing Psyduck. Pikachu was also worried and blamed himself for not noticing sooner.

Lapras, the sweet little girl looked ready to cry. Ash saw this and gently rubbed her head, "Don't feel bad Lapras, you too, Pikachu. You did the best you could, we all did, okay?" He assured them.

Lapras cooed and felt a little better, same with Pikachu.

Ash returned Lapras so the little one could get some rest. Ritchie sighed, "Seriously though, where did Psyduck wander off to? It's not like it's that easy getting rid of Psyduck."

Misty whirled on him, "What?! Ritchie, we can't just stop looking for Psyduck—we have to find him!" She yelled.

Ritchie blinked for a moment before grinning, "Wow, I didn't know you cared about Psyduck so much, Misty."

"W-What?! N-no, I'm not worried, it's just…" She trailed off, looking embarrassed.

Tracey knew why Misty was so worried, "It's love."

…

"…say what now?" Ritchie wondered if he heard him right. Did he really just say, "it's love?!"

"What makes you think that, Tracey?" Tomo asked him.

"Simple. Misty hides her true feelings about Psyduck because she doesn't want to admit that Psyduck is in fact her favorite Pokémon." He deduced.

"Oh, so all those times she was being mean to Psyduck was because she really liked him?" Molly said.

"Yep."

Misty got in Tracey's face, "No way! Psyduck is not my favorite Pokémon!" She denied.

"Says you." Richie teased, grinning at her.

Misty growled at him, printing both Ash and Serena to step in and stop a fight from starting.

"Um, excuse me." Rowing up to them was a girl with blue hair, wearing a long pink shirt and shorts, "You wouldn't happen to be looking for this would you?"

A Tentacruel appears, holding a tearful Psyduck.

"Psyduck!" Misty felt overjoyed to see the water Pokemon. She then noticed there was something wrong with his tail. It was glowing red.

Not thinking much of it, she focused on hugging the water Pokemon—glad to see it was okay.

"Thank you so much for finding my Psyduck. Oh, these are my friends, Ash, Ritchie, Tracey, Molly, Tomo, and Serena." Misty introduced the rest of the gang, who all have their own individual greetings.

"And my name is Misty." Misty introduced herself last.

"Mines Marina." Marina bends down to get a better look at Psyduck's tail, "I'm not really sure, but from the way Psyduck's tail is growing it means it's getting ready to evolve."

"Evolve, really?" Ritchie said.

"A Pokémon trainer told me. She said sometimes before they evolve a Psyduck's tail starts to glow pink—just like this one is." Marina explained to them.

Misty smiled at the prospect of Psyduck evolving, "So, are you ready to evolve Psyduck?" She asked.

Psyduck looked up at her, "Psy (Evolve)?" He sounded confused and didn't understand what she meant.

"That means Psyduck will evolve into a Golduck." Ritchie commented.

Serena looked it up on her Pokédex:

[Golduck, the Duck Pokémon. The evolved form of Psyduck. Golduck is very adept at using its webbed hands and feet, making it the fastest swimming Pokémon of all.]

"Wow, Golduck looks amazing. If Psyduck really did evolve into a Golduck then that would be amazing." Serena was a little excited to see Psyduck evolve.

"Golduck is one of my favorite Pokémon!" Marina and Misty gushed.

The two girls then look at each other, "You sound like you really know about Water Pokemon, Marina." Misty noticed.

"Well, that's because I'm a trainer who specializes in training Water Pokémon." Marina replied, a little sheepish.

"Really?! Me too! Me too!" Misty said.

Serena wisely backed away from them and moved over by Ash, "It feels like they've retreated into their own little world." She observed.

"That's what happens when two people share the same hobby. Good for Misty, though." Ash didn't see anything wrong with the two of them bonding.

"No way, why didn't you say so! I just love the way they can float, swim, dive, surf, and squirt!" Marina gushed.

"Oh, I know!" Misty squealed, excited that somebody else felt the same way she did, "Don't you love the cute way they waddle around?!"

Ritchie groaned, rubbing his forehead, "Great, there's two of them. It was bad enough when Misty would talk about Water Pokemon all day long, now here comes another one."

"Don't be like that, Ritchie. I'm glad Misty made a new friend." Molly said, smiling.

"Ursa (I'm glad, too)." Teddiursa agreed.

"At least Misty now has someone else to share her love for Water Pokemon with." Tomo commented.

"From my observations, I would say that's a good thing, too." Tracey was also in agreement.

Marina and Misty both showed off their fish hooks and then talked about wanting to catch a Legendary Water Pokemon someday.

"By the way, are the Gyarados and Blastoise your Water Pokemon, Misty?" Marina suddenly asked.

"Oh, no! They belong to my friend Ash over there." Misty replied.

Marina then zeroed in on Ash, "Oh my gosh! I just love your Gyarados and Blastoise! They look really amazing!" She complimented.

"Thank you." Ash said, "Did you want to pet Gyarados? I'm sure she won't mind."

Marina's eyes sparkled, "Your Gyarados is a girl?!" She squealed.

"That's right."

"Even better! Of course I'll pet her!" Marina went over by the water as Gyarados lowered her head so the girl could rub the top of her head.

"She's so sweet and docile! You don't see that everyday. And her scales are beautiful! They're literally sparkling! You've raised this Gyarados well." Marina complimented.

"Thanks, that means a lot coming from you." Ash said, sincerely.

"I still question how Ash was able to make his Gyarados so docile." Tracey was very curious to understand.

"Join the club." Ritchie said.

Marina gave Gyarados one last pat on the head before she turned to ask Misty something, "There's just one I don't understand."

"What?" Misty questioned.

Marina looked at Psyduck, "How come your Psyduck doesn't know how to swim?" She questioned.

Misty flinched, having not expected her to ask about that.

"Uh, well, you, uh…" Misty couldn't bring herself to look Marina in the eye or answer her question.

Ritchie grinned, "I was wondering about that, too." He teased.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask the question myself." Tracey said.

Ash whispered in Tracey's ear, slowly, his eyes widened at the revelation, "What?! Psyduck doesn't know how to—?!" Ash quickly covered his mouth.

"Not so loud, Tracey!" Ash hissed, quietly.

Tracey mumbled out an apology.

Ultimately, Misty decided to laugh the question off, "tt sure is a rare Psyduck, and if you really want it you can talk me into trading it for your Tentacruel."

Marina gave her a skeptical look that had Misty sweating a little. The blue haired girl then smiled, "I don't think so, but Misty why don't we have a pokemon battle to see which one of us is the better trainer?" She suggested.

Misty smiled, "Sounds good to me! You're on!" She said.

The two of them went and took their places on opposite sides of the rocks, "How about a three-on-three match?" Marina suggested.

"Okay, Ash would you mind acting as referee?" Misty asked.

Ash stepped forward, "Sure."

"You haven't battled in a while, Misty so you might be a little rusty!" Ritchie called out to her.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not as rusty as you think." Misty replied.

Ash got things started, "This will be a three-on-three match! The winner will be decided when one side's pokemon can no longer battle! Are both trainers ready?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Marina replied.

"Let's do this!" Misty said.

"Battle…begin!" Ash announced, raising his arm in the air.

Marina went first, "I wanna win this match so I'm gonna start off with something really cool! Go, Tentacruel!" She called out her first pokemon.

"Tentacruel (I'm ready to go)!" Tentacruel said.

Misty held out a pokeball, "And I'm gonna start off with a pokemon that's good as gold! Goldeen!" She tossed it.

"Goldeen (Shall we begin)?" Goldeen said.

Serena got out her Pokédex:

[Goldeen, the Goldfish Pokémon. A Water type. When the weather warms up, Goldeen form schools and swim upriver. Some say this is a sign that spring has arrived.]

"Your Goldeen is such a sweetie!" Marina complimented.

"Thank you." Misty said.

"But just being cute isn't enough to win," Marina said, "Tentacruel, use Wrap!"

Tentacruel moved its tentacles to wrap around Goldeen.

"Goldeen, use Agility!"

Goldeen avoided being grabbed by Tentacruel by using Agility to move fast in the water.

"Horn attack, now!" Misty commanded.

Tracey was sketching the battle with rapt attention, "Wow, Misty certainly knows how to hold her own in a battle." He noticed.

Molly nodded, "Misty's a gym leader at the Cerulean Gym in Kanto, so she's super strong!"

Misty put up a peace sign, "I'm gonna win this!" She declared.

"Don't bet on it, Misty. Tentacruel, use Poison Sting!" Marina countered.

Tentacruel stabbed Goldeen with its large blue beak on its face.

"Goldeen, no!" Misty cried out.

"Perfect!" Marina said.

Goldeen slashed into the water and came right back up with swirls in its eyes.

"Goldeen is unable to battle! Tentacruel wins!" Ash announced.

Serena winced, "Poor Goldeen, but Marina's Tentacruel is really strong."

"Fenne (It is)." Fennekin agreed.

"I wonder which pokemon Misty will go with this time?" Tomo wondered.

"Good question." Ritchie said.

Marina smiled, "I think I probably forgot to mention that my real specialty is water pokemon that have characteristics from some other type of pokemon, too."

"I get it now, Tentacruel is both a water/poison type with the abilities of both types." Tracey said.

"A duel type pokemon, Ash mentioned it once now that I think." Ritchie remembered.

Misty returned Goldeen, "You did your best. Now, I choose you, Staryu!" She called out her next pokemon.

(My turn)!" Staryu said.

Serena scanned Staryu:

[Staryu. The core of this Water Pokémon shines in a rainbow of seven colors, a core that is valued by some as a type of jewelry.]

"Oh, I just love Staryu!" Marina squealed.

"I think Staryu's one of my most favorite pokemon of all." Misty said.

"Yours really sparkles, Misty!"

"Do you think so?! I like to keep it looking good so I polish it everyday!"

"You did a really great job!"

"I'm so glad you like it!"

Ritchie groaned, "Are you two gonna talk about water pokemon all day or battle?!" Exclaimed.

Misty frowned, "Fine…Staryu, use Swift!"

Staryu shot mini stars at Tentacruel, making it tired by the relentless assault.

"Your Tentacruel's pretty strong, but its too tired from Staryu's attack." Misty stated.

Marina agreed with her, "Nice work Tentacruel but you better take a nice rest." The water pokemon swam away to go and rest up.

"Time to bring out my strongest pokemon!" Marina tossed a pokeball and out came a Psyduck that was completely different from Misty's in every way. For one thing, Marina's looked confident and ready to battle.

"Wow, Marina's Psyduck looks really different from Misty's." Serena states the obvious.

"Yeah, this one looks more battle ready." Ritchie pointed out.

"Look, it's even flexing its muscles!" Molly giggled a little.

"Definitely different." Tomo said.

"You can't even compare the two of them because unlike Misty's this Psyduck is tough looking." Tracey added his own two cents.

"I don't know how you raised your Psyduck Misty, but now I'll show you how a real one battles when you train it the right way." Marina bragged

Ritchie snorted at Misty's irritated expression, "Shade and burn." And Misty couldn't say a word back, either.

"Staryu, Water Gun!" Misty commanded.

Staryu blasted a water gun attack at Psyduck, but Marina was prepared.

"Psyduck, Confusion." She countered.

Psyduck's eyes glowed blue as the water gun attack bounced right off of it and headed right back at was sent crashing into the water by its own attack.

"Staryu!"

Staryu came back up above water, its gem was blinking—signaling that it was knocked out.

"Staryu is unable to battle! Psyduck wins!" Ash announced.

Misty returned Psyduck, "I think you better take a nice long rest."

"Hey, Misty, why don't we let our Psyduck''s battle?" Marina made the suggestion.

"Our Psyduck's?" Misty questioned.

Tracey turned to her, "Having your Psyduck battle could help it evolve." He said.

Misty was thinking about it before agreeing, "Yeah! Okay, go Psyduck!" She tossed what was thought to be Psyduck's pokeball…only it wasn't.

"How come Psyduck didn't come out?" Molly questioned.

"Maybe that isn't Psyduck's pokeball." Serena guessed.

Misty looked at Ritchie, "Ritchie, could you hand me Psyduck's pokeball?" She asked.

"Sure!" Ritchie rummaged around, but couldn't figure out which one was Psyduck's pokeball. Instead of wasting more time on finding it, he decided to just toss Misty's whole bag over to her.

Which would have been a good thing…

…if it didn't fall into the water instead of over at Misty.

"Ah, my bag!" Misty exclaimed,

"Sorry!" Ritchie quickly apologized.

Bending down, Misty reached and grabbed her bag, and was shocked to be staring face to face with a Golduck instead of Psyduck.

"What the?! Did Psyduck evolve already?!" Ritchie exclaimed in shock.

Misty didn't care and hugged the water Pokemon as it jumped out of the water, "You finally evolved Psyduck!"

"Gol (Say what, now)?" Golduck tilted its head in confusion.

Ash had to suppress a chuckle because this Pokémon is clearly not Misty's Golduck.

Marina and Misty didn't seem to care though as they were gushing over the Pokémon.

Tracey nodded his head with a hum, "I told you, it's love."

"Huh?" Ritchie sounded doubtful.

Tracey elaborates, "Psyduck evolved because of its love for Misty."

"Yeah, right." Ritchie didn't believe that for a second.

Misty rubbed her face against Golducks, "Everybody used to scream and tell all kinds of bad things about Psyduck, but now that you're a Golduck they won't be saying anything bad about you now, right Golduck?"

Golduck gave her a thumbs up.

"Uh, most of those things were said by Misty herself." Ritchie pointed out.

Serena smiled nervously.

The battle continued.

"Psyduck, Confusion!" Marina commanded.

Psyduck sent a wave at Golduck by using Confusion.

"Ride that wave, Golduck!" Misty said.

Golduck jumps in the water and starts using Surf to send the attack back at Psyduck, and it would have hit had a whirlpool not interrupted.

Luckily, Golduck managed to get out of the way in time.

"What's going on?!" Tomo couldn't see through the whirlpool.

The cause of it was none other than Team Rocket. They were in a Magikcarp submarine and were trying to take not only Pikachu, but Golduck, too.

Before they could go through with their plan, Golduck easily got rid of them by using Disable do they couldn't move before sending them flying with a Hyper Beam attack, after that Misty and Marina resumed their battle.

Since Psyduck got swept away by the whirlpool Team Rocket created, Marina switched out and used Starmie.

"Starmie, use Tackle!" Marina commanded.

Starmie tackled Golduck, but the water Pokemon looked as though it barely felt the hit.

"Okay, then. Use BubbleBeam!"

Starmie shot bubbles at Golduck.

"Counter with Hyper Beam!"

Golduck concentrated an orange beam between its hands before firing at Starmie.

"Quick, use Light Screen!" Marina commanded, a little panicked.

The Hyper Beam easily shattered the Light Screen attack and slammed into Starmie, knocking it out.

Ash called it, "Starmie is unable to battle! Golduck wins! The victory goes to Misty!" He announced.

"All right! That was amazing, Golduck!" Misty compliments her new water Pokemon.

"That was a great match. You really are a great water Pokemon trainer, Misty." Marina tells her.

"Thanks Marina, but I was lucky Psyduck evolved when it did. If it wasn't for Golduck I think you would've won." Misty said, honestly.

Everyone else started clapping for Misty's victory.

"Okay, Golduck, why don't you take a rest in your pokeball." Misty said, but the moment she held the pokeball out—Psyduck came out.

Misty and everyone else gasped, save for Ash because of course he knew.

Psyduck yawned before noticing Golduck, who gave its pre-evolved form a thumbs up.

Misty was confused, "But my Psyduck's a Golduck now, so how…"

Golduck then took notice of some girl walking along the beach and scampered over to them. Wanting to impress them, it started doing poses.

"I see, that Golduck wasn't really Misty's at all. It's just a wild one that likes to show off—for girls." Marina said.

Misty's whole body turned to stone at the revelation, "it's just a Pokémon version of Brock."

Molly waved her hand in front of Misty, "Are you okay, Misty?"

"She's in shock." Serena said.

Ritchie gave Ash the side eye, "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yep."

Should've known.

"So where were you all this time, Psyduck?" Ash asked.

"Psy (Where was I)?" Psyduck tilts its head.

"Pi Pika Pika (We looked everywhere for you)." Pikachu tells him.

"Psy! Psyduck (Oh! I was taking a nap)." Psyduck replied.

"So you were taking a nap in your pole all, huh?" Ash smiled.

"Psy (Yep)." Psyduck nodded.

"Typical Psyduck." Ritchie said.

Misty stood up suddenly, "But I'll still get a Golduck anyway! You said it's flowing tail meant it was going to evolve!"

Marina flinched, smiling nervously before looking away.

"That wild Golduck sure had you fooled." Tracey comments.

Misty glared at him, making the taller boy flinch before singing out in exasperation. Too tired to even argue.

"You should be happy Misty. The fact that you were able to get a wild Golduck to listen to you and still won the match proves you're a great water Pokémon trainer." Marina cheers her up by saying this.

"But hey, since Golduck was a wild Pokémon doesn't that mean her last battle didn't count?" Ritchie questioned.

"It doesn't matter. Misty got it to battle for her and she won the match, so I'm a way it does count." Ash countered.

"I guess." Ritchie decided not to bother with it anymore.

The gang soon said goodbye to Marina, Misty promised the girl that should Psyduck evolve, they'll have another battle.

Misty may not have gotten her Golduck like she expected, but she has the skills to become a Water Pokemon Master.

Stay tuned, as the journey continues.

Pokémon On Hand:

Ash: Pikachu (Male) Charizard (Male), Young Lapras (Female), Blastoise (Male), Gyarados (Female)

Ritchie: Sparky (Male)

Molly: Teddiursa (Male)

Tomo: Kangaskhan (Female)

Serena: Fennekin (Female), Rhyhorn (Male)

Misty: Goldeen (Female), Starmie, Staryu, Psyduck (Male)

Tracey: Marill (Male), Venonat (Male)

Next Time: Surfing Nurse Joy & Navel Island!