Mikan Gym was close to the shore, on the other side of the point where Ash and Tracey had touched land. The duo had visited the Pokemon Center first, where Ash contacted Professor Oak about the Lapras he'd caught and introduced Tracey to the man. The call about Lapras was an excuse, the real reason was how Tracey had babbled on nonstop about how he looked up to Professor Oak and wanted to meet him someday. Seeing Tracey go star-struck seeing the old man Ash knew so well was funny.
Afterwards, Ash and Tracey ran into a coconut.
And the coconut soaked Ash when he went to pick it up.
For context, the Coconut was connected to a bucket and when Ash picked the coconut up, it fell on his head.
"You couldn't even dodge that!" the snickering voice of a child was heard before said child jumped out from the bushes.
Ash, irritated and wet, stared at the boy with annoyance.
"What do I look like to you? A circus performer?" Ash hissed.
The boy looked at Ash from top to bottom before smirking in a way that was exactly how the boy saw Ash.
A vein popped up on his forehead.
"I'll have you know that I was top eight in the Indigo League!" Ash snapped.
The boy looked stunned for a moment before scoffing.
"The Indigo League may not be all that then if you could make it to the top eight."
Ash was going to pound this kid to the ground and bury him alive.
Luckily for the Kid, Ash didn't get the chance. Unluckily for the kid, his sister was the one to slap him around a bit before forcing him to apologise.
A teary-eyed Senta apologized, much to Ash's amusement.
"I also deeply apologize for my brother" the woman bowed. "Are you a challenger at the Mikan Gym?"
"I am!" Ash said with a grin. "I'm here to beat the Gym and then take on the champion.
Senta scoffed, but the woman glared at him.
"Well then, you're at the right place" the woman smiled. "I'm Cissy and I am the Mikan Island Gym Leader."
Xxx
Gyms in the Orange Archipelago were different from those in Kanto.
Ash was expected to pass certain challenges before he was allowed to fight the Gym Leader. The challenges varied from Gym Leader to Gym Leader, Cissy explained.
Her first challenge was shooting down targets using water types. Cissy went with her Seadra while Ash sent out his Wartortle. Seadra was quick, but Wartortle was quicker, shooting down cans and then frisbees once the targets were changed to aerial ones. It was a one-sided affair in the end, that seemed to shock and disgust Seedra.
The second challenge was a race. Cissy sent out her Blastoise, while Ash went with Lapras since the Trainers were expected to ride their Pokemon during the race. The race began with Blastoise in the lead and Lapras lagging. But the sudden rush of a wave derailed Blastoise, while Lapras froze the wave and saved herself and Ash. But Blastoise recovered quickly and the race soon became neck and neck. That was until Ash had the bright idea to have Lapras use Ice Beam to freeze her path and ride the ice to victory. Lapras was a better ice skater than a surfer as it so happened.
"I am impressed," Cissy said after the race, "it's not always that I find a challenger who beats me in both challenges. Especially one from outside the Islands."
Her face then turned serious and she tilted herself to allow Ash to walk with her.
"Come, we'll have our battle now."
Cissy led Ash back to the battlefield inside the Gym building, Tracey and Senta not far behind them. Senta was in shock from his sister losing her challenges, and Tracey was pleasantly impressed.
"It'll be a two on two battle" Cissy explained. "You'll get to switch your Pokemon around, but you may only use two Pokemon so choose which two wisely. The last one with a Pokemon remaining wins" she paused a moment, "And should you lose, you'll have to beat me in the challenges all over again before I can allow you to battle me."
"Understood" Ash nodded.
The Mikan Island Gym battlefield reminded Ash of the water field at the Indigo Conference qualifying rounds. Most of it was water, with a few platforms floating on it. No, not floating. Those were pillars that grew from the bottom of the pool and their tops were visible above the pool.
Cissy sent out her Seadra and Ash sent Wartortle out. Seeing the turtle Pokemon made Seadra flare up. He was out for revenge. Cissy called for smokescreen and Ash commanded Wartortle to go underwater immediately. But Seadra was already there, hitting with a Skull Bash before swimming away. It was faster underwater and used its speed quite well to dodge Wartortles Hydro Pumps and Skull Bashes before doing damage of its own.
Ash thought a moment before commanding Wartortle to use Withdraw and use Hydro Pump. Wartortles Withdraw and spinning Hydro Pump caused the water in the pool to begin swirling and create a whirlpool. Seadra was caught in the whirlpool and was spun to the centre, where Wartortle waited and used Ice Punche when Seadra was close by. He quickly followed it up with a Skull Bash and Ice Punch again, knocking it out.
Cissy called Seadra back and sent out her Blastoise. Ash called Wartortle back and sent out Pikachu. The first order of business that Cissy dealt with was to stop the swirling water with Hydro Pump before jumping into the water. Something Ash thought was stupid before the Thunder Ash had Pikachu use hit the water and fried the Shellfish Pokemon. It floated up a moment later knocked out.
Xxx
With the badge in hand, Ash and Tracey arrived at Mandarin Island to rest a bit before heading out again. As the two stepped into the city, they noticed how a few Magnemites, Voltorbs and a Grimer were attacking their trainers. Ash went to help, only for Pikachu to do the same. One of the Voltorbs used Self Destruct and they all vanished, including Pikachu.
Officer Jenny came in then and took Ash and Tracey to the Police Station to explain the situation, and how only Gastly was not affected. That prompted Ash to retrieve his Gengar from Professor Oak.
Using Gengar and Gastly the trio of Ash, Tracey and Officer Jenny try to find where the Pokemon had gone. Ash was certain it was a Psychic type Pokemon, remembering how Sabrina's dad had told him that Ghost types were a good match for Psychic types, and Gastly and Gengar seemed unaffected.
And Ash was right because they'd found Team Rocket and the stolen Pokemon, as well as a Psychic type Pokemon.
But it was not just any Team Rocket members though.
Ash recognized the two being the same thieves from the Pokemon Day Care that escaped.
They seemed to recognize him too.
"Well hello, there twerp, fancy seeing you again" the man said.
"Are you here to give us your Pokemon this time?" the woman taunted.
"You will release all these Pokemon. And the Psychic type too!"
They both scoffed.
"Our little Drowzee here has control of all the Pokemon of Mandarin Island!" the man boasted.
The Drowzee in question winced.
"You're hurting your Pokemon!" Tracey exclaimed. And he was right, the strain of controlling all of these Pokemon seemed to hurt the Drowzee.
"Drowzee is just fine! It knows what'll happen if it fails us" the woman stated calmly.
Drowzee flinched and turned the Pokemon in the warehouse on the three trainers. Electric, Fire and Water types readied their moves, but suddenly they all seemed to snap out of the mind control.
Team Rocket, shocked and confused turned to their Drowzee, only to find that Gengar had gotten to the Pokemon and was not draining its energy while it slept in peace.
The two were arrested and the Pokemon were all freed. Drowzee too was freed from the Team Rocket duo and chose to go with Tracey because Tracey was the only one to notice that it was in pain and acted in its defence.
With a new Pokemon added to Tracey's team and a well-deserved rest after, Ash and Tracey set out for he next Island.