Hey guys, TheDoctor1998 here with another chapter! Last time we saw Cinder and the gang travel through Mt. Moon, with Cinder obtaining a Clefairy and a pair of fossils. Now, on with the show!

XXXXXXXX

Cinder was walking alongside Brock on Route 4, enjoying the nice weather. "Ahh, a great day to enjoy the sunshine on my skin."

"And while you're enjoying the sunshine, this Gary guy is busy catching more Pokémon." Brock pointed out.

Cinder frowned. "Brock, I don't catch Pokémon for the sake of filling up the Pokédex. I only catch Pokémon who want to travel with me."

Brock smiled. "I guess a trainer can just enjoy the sunlight if they want to.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Misty yelled, running to catch up to Cinder and Brock after stopping for a few minutes. "Where do you think you're going?!"

Cinder blinked. "Cerulean City, of course."

"W-what are you going there for?" Misty asked, extremely nervous.

"There's a Gym there, and I need the badge to enter the League." Cinder said with a deadpan voice.

"B-but there's lots of scary Ghost Type Pokémon there!" Misty continued, obviously trying to steer her traveling companions away from the city.

Cinder only smiled to herself. "I hope I'll be able to befriend them, then." The blind girl then started walking along the Route once more.

"Wait a second!" Misty exclaimed, running to block the path. "What about Vermillion City? It's right on the water, there's a huge harbor, and there's a little park way up on a hill where you can sit and watch the sunset. So romantic!" Even Misty started thinking she might be grasping at straws. "It's much nicer than that old Cerulean City, so let's get going!"

"Okay, let's go." Cinder smirked.

"Really?!" Misty asked with a smile.

"To Cerulean City." Cinder finished, much to Misty's dismay, before she and Brock started walking again.

"But there's also a Gym in Vermillion, you can go there instead of the one at Cerulean!" Misty said, trying to use her trump card.

"I've got to get to Cerulean for the badge at some point anyway." Cinder countered. "We're almost there anyway, and we can go to Vermillion later."

"Makes sense to me." Brock said, continuing to walk alongside Cinder.

Misty only grumbled. "I didn't want to come back here so soon." She muttered, before getting concerned and following the duo again.

XXXXXXXX

Night had fallen in Cerulean City, giving a certain criminal trio the opportunity to commit a robbery. Jessie kicked the grill of the ventilation shaft open, allowing James to poke his head out. "The coast is clear." He said with a smirk.

"Nothing to fear." Jessie said, also poking her head out of the vent.

"Nobody here." Meowth finished, catching up to his human partners before the trio jumped out.

The trio was looking around the various machines, before James spotted what they were looking for. "Looks like we've found it."

"Just what we need to get what we want." His partner said, smirking at their plan.

XXXXXXXX

The sun had risen again in Cerulean City as Cinder and Brock made their way there. "So this is Cerulean City?"

"Pretty nice place, isn't it?" Brock asked, smiling at how good the city looked.

"I suppose." Cinder shrugged, unable to see the architecture. "Hmm, Misty's stopped following us." She said, noticing the absence of the third member of their group.

"She really didn't want to come to Cerulean City." Brock said, remembering all the excuses and convincing the redhead tried the day before.

"Maybe she had a bad experience here?" Cinder wondered, knowing that bad experiences can paint certain things in a bad light.

A few minutes later, the duo walked deeper into the city, seeing a crowd along with the sounds of a police siren. "I wonder what happened there?" Brock pondered, walking over in his curiosity.

"Does anyone know what happened here?" Cinder asked the crowd at random, having followed Brock.

The man next to her shrugged. "Some burglars broke into that store last night." He said, pointing at the machine shop surrounded by police.

"Burglars?" A woman's voice interrupted. "Did someone say something about burglars?"

"This man was just explaining what happened here, Officer Jenny." Cinder said, recognizing the Aura and voice of a member of the Jenny family.

"Erm, miss?" Brock asked, his tone slightly flirty. "I was wondering, since I'm new in town, maybe we can get together tonight, and you could show me around." He finished with a grin.

Officer Jenny only grinned back at him. "Well, I'm not off duty till past your bedtime, so you're outta luck kid." She then sighed. "I might even have to work around the clock to catch these burglars."

"What did they even steal?" Cinder asked, eager to change topics. "Guessing they stole a few thousand dollars or something?"

"That's the strange thing about it." The officer said, crossing her arms. "They didn't take any money, just an industrial vacuum cleaner and a compatible hose."

"Why would anyone steal that?" Cinder said, baffled. "I know that if I were in their shoes, I'd at least take the money too."

"I don't know, young lady." Officer Jenny said, narrowing her eyes. "I do know I don't have time to play guessing games with you, because I've got a job to do, and it's time for you to move on." She started guiding the crowd away. "Alright everybody, show's over. Nothing to see here, break it up!"

Cinder and Brock decided to, wisely, move away.

XXXXXXXX

After their little encounter with the law, Cinder and Brock decided to have a little rest, and sat down on a park bench. "Shouldn't you be heading for the gym?" Brock asked suddenly.

"Nothing wrong with taking it easy every now and then." Cinder shrugged before grinning. "So, you know anything about the Gym Leader here?"

"Well, I never actually met the Gym Leader." Brock said. "But I do know what Type they use." The older guy frowned at his younger companion. "I won't help you though, mostly out of respect for my fellow Gym Leader."

"I get it." Cinder said, standing up. "I didn't ask about inside information or anything, just wondering what kind of person I end up battling." She continued as she and Brock walked out of the park. "Besides, I already know that the Cerulean City Gym is a Water Type gym."

"Did your homework, did you?" Brock smiled.

"Yup." The blind girl replied. "I've been looking forward to this journey for years, so I learned what I could about the League."

Eventually the duo reached a four way crossroad. "Well, I've got some stuff I need to check out." Brock said.

"What stuff?" Cinder asked before groaning. "Don't tell me you're going to ask Officer Jenny out for a date again."

"Nah." Brock waved her off. "Just resupplying food and stuff, nothing exciting." He then started walking away.

"See ya later." Cinder called out to him before turning to Pikachu. "Let's get going."

After walking about a bit, and asking for directions, Cinder and Pikachu eventually found the gym. "Pikapi!" Pikachu said, pointing at the direction of the building.

Where the previous gym looked like a building carved out of a massive boulder, this building looked like some kind of circus attraction with a giant Dewgong sign on the roof. When Cinder entered the building, she quickly managed to find the central room, which she assumed to be where the battles took place. Interestingly, the stands were completely filled. "The battles around here must be popular." Cinder muttered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the stars of our show! The Sensational Cerulean City synchronized swimming sisters!" An announcer said, making it clear that this wasn't a gym battle.

Cinder gazed through her Aura at the three silhouettes that were standing apart from the crowd, and she had to admit that they had some attractive figures. Listening, she also heard chants for one Daisy, Violet and Lily, so Cinder quickly figured that those must be those Sensational Sisters she heard the announcer talk about.

In perfect sync with one another, the three sisters dived into the water below before resurfacing and dancing, much to the crowd's delight.

Cinder, however, was only confused. "I could've sworn that this was the gym." She did, however, keep looking at the dancing girls. Eventually, the trio finished their show, allowing Cinder to walk deeper into the building. "Did I make a wrong turn somewhere?" She asked Pikachu.

Pikachu shook his head. He knew that they followed the directions to the letter, so unless the locals they spoke to were wrong, this had to be the gym.

Eventually, Cinder ended up in an aquarium, so she just watched the Auras of the fishes swimming around as she heard three people walking up to her. Glancing, she saw the Auras of the three sisters whose show she just watched. "The crowd was totally awesome!" One said.

"I know, that was so great!" Another replied.

"Daisy, that dive you did was super!" The first continued.

"The practice really paid off." The third said.

"Totally!" The second said, before all three started laughing.

"Excuse me." Cinder said, walking up to them.

"I'm sorry, but if you want an interview, you have to, like, call our manager." One of them, the shortest, said to the heterochromatic girl.

"No, it's not that-" Cinder tried to clarify before being cut off.

"We don't do autographs." The swimmer continued.

"I'm not here for one." Cinder assured. "I just want to know if I'm at the right place, and if this is the Cerulean City Gym."

"It sure is." Another one, Daisy if Cinder recalled correctly, said with a bit of uncertainty.

"In that case, I wish to challenge the Gym Leader." Cinder said.

"You're looking at them." The one in the middle said.

"The three of us are the Gym Leaders here." Daisy continued.

"We're the Sensational Sisters." The short sister said.

"We're world famous!" The middle girl boasted with pride.

"Okayyyy." Cinder said uncertainly, having never heard of the trio before.

"It's, like, our hobby, and our fans love to watch us perform!" The shortest said, loving their work.

"We pool our talents to make a big splash!" The middle sister joked before she and her sisters started laughing.

"Let's just get this battle started." Cinder said, the personalities of the Gym Leaders rubbing her the wrong way.

The trio led Cinder towards the swimming pool that they'd just had their show in before glancing at each other awkwardly.

"So, which one of you do I battle?" Cinder asked.

"We don't feel much like battling anymore." Daisy said, slightly embarrassed.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Cinder said, angry at being roped around by the three.

"We just got beaten thrice in a row by these kids from this nowhere place called Pallet Town." The middle sister said. "It was just one defeat after another, my eyes were spinning from all the losses."

"We had to, like, practically rush all our Pokémon to the Pokémon Center." Daisy continued.

"This one is the only one left who isn't recovering." The shortest sister said, throwing a Pokéball and releasing a very young Goldeen on the floor.

"If it was old enough to battle, we could use it." The middle sister continued as the shortest returned Goldeen. "But all it can do right now is Horn Attack."

"So, like, there's no point in battling." Daisy said.

"At least we've got enough time to make ourselves look more beautiful than ever without those matches!" The shortest said.

"Hold on, I know what you want." Daisy continued, noticing the ticked off look the girl was giving. "Seel!" She called for a Pokémon in the pool.

A Pokémon that looked like a white seal with a horn jumped out of the pool, holding a water droplet shaped badge on her tongue, which she quickly gave to Daisy as she unintentionally triggered Cinder's Pokédex.

"Seel, the Sea Lion Pokémon. A Water Type.

Abilities: Thick Fat and Hydration

Hidden Ability: Ice Body

Entry: This Pokémon thrives in cold environments, and loves swimming in waters as cold as -40 degrees celsius. It hunts for prey under sheets of ice during the night."

"A Cascade Badge." Daisy continued, holding the badge out for the girl. "This is what you want, right?"

Cinder, however, slapped the item out of the Gym Leader's hand. "I want to earn it, fair and square." The girl growled, holding back on cussing out the girls for just giving badges away.

"I couldn't agree more!" A familiar voice exclaimed, clearly not happy at the sisters. Misty then jumped from the stands, putting herself between Cinder and the trio. "If you don't want to battle her, Daisy, then I will!"

"Guessing you know them, Misty?" Cinder asked, quickly figuring out that the sisters were likely the reason Misty didn't want to come to Cerulean City.

"I'm a Cerulean City Gym Leader too." The redhead said, much to the surprise of Cinder. "I'm the fourth Sensational Sister."

"There are only three Sensational Sisters and one runt." The shortest sister corrected.

"Shut up Lily!" Misty growled.

"So, little sister." Daisy said. "It's a surprise to see you back so soon."

"That little girl with the big mouth that said she wouldn't come back until she was a great Pokémon trainer, wasn't that you?" The unnamed sister, who Cinder deduced to be Violet, taunted.

"...I guess I did say something like that when I left." Misty muttered to herself.

"So that was why Misty didn't want to come here." Cinder said to Pikachu.

"Misty, you left here pretending you wanted to become a Pokémon trainer because you couldn't compare to us." Lily taunted. "Because we're obviously much more talented and beautiful than you are."

"And suddenly I'm glad to be an only child." Cinder muttered.

"That wasn't the reason!" Misty yelled.

"Well then, I guess, like, you came back because you couldn't make it as a Pokémon trainer." Daisy sighed.

"The only reason I came back here was because she wanted to come here!" Misty retorted.

"I admit she's cute, and those eyes do make her look exotic, but I didn't think you were into girls." Daisy teased.

Cinder blushed, heavily. That being said, she wasn't embarrassed for being mistaken for a lesbian when she thought about it, but more so the fact that she was mistaken for dating her friend. Thinking about it a bit more, she realized a few things about herself. Lack of interest in boys, a weird feeling in her belly whenever Daisy (not Misty's Daisy, but Gary's sister) complimented her, her denial of Samurai's crush recently. It all added up to one thing. 'Oh shit, I'm gay.'

As Cinder had her crisis of sexuality, Misty kept yelling at her sisters. "It's not like that, I'm straight and just traveling with her! But now I'm just trying to make sure you idiots don't get the gym closed!"

"Well, you are the only one of us with a Pokémon that can battle right now." Daisy relented.

"Alright Cinder, are you ready to rumble!" Misty asked with a smirk.

"Sure!" Cinder said eagerly, trying to put the fact she just learned she's likely a lesbian into the back of her head for the time being.

"I wasn't planning on battling you like this until later, but this is as good a time as any." Misty said, walking to her side of the field. "Normally I'd ask how many badges and Pokémon you have, but I already know you've only got one badge and five Pokémon, so I'm not even gonna bother."

"Same rules as with Pewter?" Cinder guessed.

"Yup." Misty replied. "I get two, you get as many as you have with you." The redhead then grabbed one of her Pokéballs. "Misty calls Staryu!" She threw the ball, releasing the starfish Pokémon on one of the platforms floating on the water.

"Butterfree, come out my friend!" Cinder called her butterfly, who made sure not to go into the water. Bugs capable of flying don't exactly mix well with water, after all.

"Do you think Misty could really win?" Cinder heard Violet ask her other sisters.

"Like, in her dreams maybe." Lily muttered.

"Water Gun!" Misty immediately commanded, starting the battle.

Staryu did as its trainer told, and started spewing a jet of water at its insectoid opponent. Butterfree was caught off guard with the first blast, but he quickly shrugged it off and started dodging the subsequent blasts.

"Stun Spore!" Cinder called.

Butterfree immediately threw some of the dust on its wings at Staryu, the yellow powder coating itself all over the starfish. Small bolts of yellow energy, seemingly like electricity, darted around the Water Type, signaling its paralysis.

On the sidelines, Seel started clapping for the battle.

Violet glanced down at the Pokémon. "Which side are you even clapping for?"

"Staryu, jump into the water to wash it off!" Misty commanded, completely ignoring her sisters.

Obeying its mistress's command, Staryu jumped into the pool below, washing most of the powder off of it. However, this did not cure its paralysis instantly, instead it went as far away from Butterfree as it could, triggering its Ability before it jumped out again.

Misty smirked at her friend. "Funny thing about Natural Cure, it doesn't just trigger when you call your Pokémon back, it also triggers when your Pokémon flees from its opponent."

"Sleep Powder." Cinder called, figuring that preventing Staryu from moving at all would help here.

"Underwater, then Tackle!" Misty said quickly.

Butterfree spread more powder from his wings, blue this time, but before it could land on the starfish said starfish jumped into the pool once again. This time, however, Staryu immediately started spinning around and jumped out of the pool, slamming its whole body against the butterfly. Staryu then tried the same tactic over and over again, but despite one of its Abilities boosting its accuracy, Butterfree kept managing to dodge.

Daisy smiled at the display. "Misty's totally awesome."

Lily also gave her two cents. "The three of us got all the good looks from mom, so I guess Misty got all of dad's skills."

As they talked, Staryu managed to get near Butterfree in the air. "Sleep Powder, now!" Cinder called.

Butterfree quickly did as told, and blasted his opponent with the sleep inducing powder point blank. Staryu had no time to dodge, and quickly succumbed to sleep as it fell to one of the platforms below.

"Staryu, no!" Misty called in worry, knowing she couldn't do anything until her Pokémon either woke up or was rendered unable to battle.

"Confusion, keep slamming it down!" Cinder yelled out.

Butterfree concentrated, and used whatever latent psychic abilities he had to grab a hold of his sleeping foe, and slammed it down onto the platform below him over and over again, until he noticed the gem in Staryu's body started flickering.

"Staryu is unable to battle." The referee interrupted, stopping the match when she saw the flickering core. "Gym Leader, choose your next Pokémon."

"Staryu, return!" Misty returned her knocked out Pokémon and grabbed another Pokéball. "Misty calls Starmie!"

The Pokémon that came out was clearly related to Staryu, looking like a bigger and violet version of it with an extra starfish on its back. It cried out as it triggered Cinder's Pokédex.

"Starmie, the Mysterious Pokémon and the evolved form of Staryu. A Water/Psychic Type.

Abilities: Master Instinct and Natural Cure

Hidden Ability: Analytic

Entry: This Pokémon communicates with others of its kind by emitting electrical waves from its core, which are believed to be fast and powerful enough to reach to the edge of the universe. Due to this and its tendency of sending transmissions skyward, it's believed to come from outer space.

Evolves from: Staryu with a Water Stone"

"Butterfree, return." Cinder returned her Butterfree to his Luxury Ball, noticing how tired he was. Besides, she had another bug that she wanted to try out on Misty. "Beedrill, come out my friend!" Like her butterfly before, Beedrill made sure not to get into the water.

"Huh." Violet remarked. "Now that I think about it, isn't it weird that Misty's not shrieking at those Bug Types?"

Lily started pondering. "Guess so. You gals think she's over her fear of bugs?"

"Nah." Daisy answered. "Maybe those two specific bugs, but I don't think she'll be good with others."

"I thought you didn't like Type advantages?" Misty said, smirking.

Cinder only shrugged. "Not really, no, but I don't think it really counts if both Pokémon have an advantage over the other." She then smirked. "Poison Sting!"

Beedrill did as her trainer said, and fired a barrage of poisonous needles from her stingers at the starfish.

"Rapid Spin!" Misty countered.

Starmie spun around like a shuriken, blowing away as many of the needles as it could while it aimed to strike at its opponent.

"Counter with Twineedle!" Cinder said.

Beedrill did as told, striking at her spinning opponent with her stingers. Each time the starfish got close, she'd hit it with one of her super effective attacks.

"Use Psybeam, keep it at a distance!"

Starmie quickly fired a beam of psychic energy from its core, aiming it straight at the bug, who was unable to dodge from that distance. "Speee!"

Cinder grimaced, but then smirked. "String Shot, trap it in place!"

Beedrill, despite being in pain from the psychic attack, quickly recomposed herself and shot her silk at her opponent with such force that it was launched out of the battlefield, sticking to the wall.

"Twineedle again!" Cinder pointed.

"Keep using Psybeam, try to keep it away!" Misty hurriedly called.

It was no use though, as despite Starmie's accuracy, Beedrill kept weaving through the air, making herself as difficult to hit as she could before she finally managed to strike the core of the starfish, knocking it out.

"Starmie is unable to battle." The referee called, ending the match. "The challenger has won the match."

Before anyone could do anything else, a big machine on wheels suddenly rammed through the wall, scaring everyone inside the Gym. When the machine stopped moving, Daisy managed to regain her senses a bit. "Like, who invited the party crashers?"

"Sorry to break in, ladies." Jessie said, rising out of the machine.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves." James said, following his partner and holding a blue rose.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people 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, that's right!" The talking Pokémon finished, jumping in front of his partners.

"Oh Arceus, not these morons again." Cinder muttered to herself.

Before anyone could do anything, a hose came out of the machine and put itself in the pool and started to drain the water out of it.

Cinder blinked. "Well, guess we know who robbed that store back there."

"Our swimming pool!" Daisy exclaimed in horror.

"Do you know how expensive it is to fill an entire pool?!" Lily yelled at the criminals.

Meowth smirked at the supposed Gym Leaders. "Guess I should give it back, then." With a flick of the switch, the industrial vacuum cleaner stopped draining the pool as the hose aimed at the five girls and spat the water out again, blowing them all away. "And now's the time to suck em up!" He flicked the switch again, making the vacuum suck in the water again, along with Seel and Starmie, who were both in the water now because of Meowth's attack.

"Pidgeotto, Steel Wing on that machine! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Cinder called as she threw the Luxury Ball.

"Pidgeo!" Pidgeotto went into action in an instant, her wings glowing with a silvery sheen before striking against the machine, punching a hole in it from which the water and the two captive Pokémon escaped.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu screamed as he zapped the pool, the electricity going throughout the entire machine and electrocuting the criminals.

"It's times like these that make me want to go straight." James muttered before he and his team fell in the water. "And now I know how it feels to be all washed up."

"We'll never come clean." Jessie groaned before she, James and Meowth got sucked into their own machine, which immediately spat them out through the hole that Seel and Starmie came out of, though at much greater speeds due to the machine starting to malfunction.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" The trio screamed as they were tossed into the air, just before the machine finally died due to the damage.

"Are you guys alright?" Misty asked Seel and Starmie, the latter of whom having regained consciousness.

"Seel." "Hiya!" Seel and Starmie both nodded, just glad that it's over.

"Here." Daisy said, walking up to Cinder. "You won, fair and square, just like you wanted." She handed the heterochromatic girl a Cascade Badge.

"Thanks." Cinder smiled, glad to have won her badge. "Also, I think you guys might want to call Officer Jenny. There was a robbery last night where an industrial vacuum and a hose got stolen."

"Right." Violet nodded. "I'll give her a call."

XXXXXXXX

Later that day, the five girls all stood together in front of the Gym. "Misty, you just go right on to become a great Pokémon trainer." Lily started. "You might as well be good at something, cause you'll never be stars like us." The pink haired girl teased.

"You keep that up and you'll be seeing stars!" Misty retorted angrily.

"Chill out, she's just joking." Violet laughed, trying to diffuse her little sister's anger.

"Just be careful." Daisy smiled. "You know we love you."

"Yeah." Misty nodded, a few tears forming in her eyes. "Just don't give away any more badges, alright? At least try to battle the challengers."

"Don't worry, we learned our lesson." Violet said, smiling.

"Cinder!" Brock called out, running up to the Gym.

"Hey Brock." Cinder smiled at her friend.

"How did it go?" Brock asked, knowing the reputation the Sensational Sisters have among Gym Leaders.

"See for yourself." The blind girl smiled, showing her badge case containing both a Boulder Badge and a Cascade Badge.

"Cool." Brock nodded. "I've finished getting our supplies, so we should be good to go."

"Alright, let's go."

"You're not leaving without me!" Misty screamed, chasing the duo again, much to the amusement of her sisters.

XXXXXXXX

Pokémon Seen: 33

Pokémon Caught: 10

Cinder's Pokémon: Pikachu (M), Butterfree (M), Beedrill (F), Pidgeotto (F), Clefairy (F)

XXXXXXXX

And that's a wrap. Cinder earned the Cascade Badge, and discovered something about herself that she'll keep to herself for now.

And yes, this will not be a Pokéshipping fic, as Misty is definitely straight in this story.

TheDoctor1998 here, signing out!