"A Gym Battle?"
Hearing Ash's intention, the three sisters were somewhat surprised. Judging by their expressions, they probably even forgot that this place was a gym.
"Oh, so that's it! But we have no fighting spirit whatsoever." Hearing this, Lily, the second sister, leisurely put her hands behind her head, showing no desire to battle at all.
"And he brought an Electric-type Pikachu. We definitely can't win."
Daisy, the third sister on the other side, glanced at Pikachu, also looking disheartened. It was common knowledge that Electric-type Pokémon had an advantage over Water-type Pokémon. They already had no fighting spirit, and seeing Pikachu only diminished it further.
"How can this be? As Gym Leaders, how can you give up so easily?!"
Listening to the three's disheartened words, Brock, who was also a Gym Leader previously, "broke free" from his petrified state, his eyes burning with fierce flames as he spoke earnestly.
"We don't want to, but… we were just recently beaten soundly by a few trainers from Pallet Town."
"…" Ash was a bit speechless hearing this. Pallet Town truly seemed to be full of troublemakers, fixing everyone up wherever they went. However, his progress here was already very fast; he didn't expect them to be even faster. Gary aside, that guy who drove was definitely the first to arrive. He didn't expect Ritchie and the others to be so quick on their feet either.
"How can Gym Leaders give up just because of a small setback like this??" The flames in Brock's eyes hadn't extinguished. A serious Brock was quite manly.
"Even if you say that, there's nothing we can do! Our Pokémon are all injured at the Pokémon Center right now! Besides, we're busy making ourselves beautiful every day, so we don't have time to train Pokémon!"
The three sisters expressed their lack of time to train Pokémon as if it were perfectly natural. Although Brock was a pervert, he wasn't a pure sycophant. As a Breeder, the effort he put into his Pokémon was no less than what he gave to his family. He couldn't accept their behavior of owning Pokémon but not training them properly.
"How can you… "
Just as he was about to speak, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Ash's hand on his shoulder, shaking his head at him. Seeing Ash stop him, Brock was a bit surprised. He thought Ash should be the same as him, but he didn't understand why Ash was stopping him.
"No matter what you say to them, they won't listen." Ash gestured for him to look over there again. Brock turned to look and saw the three sisters cupping their faces, lost in self-admiration.
Ash, of course, also disliked people who caught Pokémon but didn't take responsibility for them. But everyone had their own aspirations. Ash wouldn't mind for those who still had hope. However, he clearly knew that these three sisters were beyond help; they were only enthusiastic about their appearances and performances.
There was another point about people who didn't care about Pokémon: the Pokémon themselves. If the Pokémon themselves didn't care, then others interfering would just be meddling. The Pokémon here, though not particularly strong, lived quite freely and even enjoyed performing with them. This was enough; they didn't need to meddle.
Brock looked at the three sisters and finally calmed down. Ash was right; judging by their appearance, saying anything more would be meaningless. He had indeed let his occupational habit get the better of him and lost his composure.
"So, you can't have a Gym Battle right now, is that it? I can wait for your Pokémon to recover." Ash walked in front of Brock, interrupting the three sisters' self-admiration.
"Well… anyway, since you have Pikachu, we definitely aren't your match. How about this! Since you're challenging the Gym for a badge, I'll just give you the badge!"
Daisy stopped her reverie upon seeing this, then led Ash and Brock to the poolside. "Seel!"
As soon as the voice rang out, a pure white Pokémon with a pointed horn on its head, resembling a baby sea lion, leaped out of the pool. It opened its mouth and, along with its tongue, spat out a teardrop-shaped badge.
"This is the Cascade Badge. Take it!" Daisy handed the badge to Ash without hesitation.
"Wait a minute!!"
Just then, a familiar voice rang out. Brock was slightly stunned hearing it. From the audience stands, a figure leaped down, landing in front of the group. "Sister Daisy, for a Gym Battle, how can you hand over the badge without even battling?"
"M-Misty??" Seeing the newcomer, not only the Cerulean Sisters, but also Brock, exclaimed in surprise.
"Ash, I'm sorry for keeping it from you. Actually, I'm the youngest of the Cerulean Sisters." Misty looked at Ash, a little embarrassed, and said. Ash had saved her and taken good care of her along the way, but she had kept this secret, so she felt a bit bad.
"I know!" Ash, seeing this, shrugged indifferently, indicating that he had known all along.
"Huh? You… how did you know?" Misty was a bit surprised. She thought she hadn't let anything slip.
"Well… you use Water-type Pokémon, and you seemed really off when you said you were coming to Cerulean City. I sort of guessed it." Ash naturally couldn't say he had watched the show, so he could only quickly come up with a more reasonable excuse.
"So you knew all along." Misty was still a little embarrassed. She hadn't expected Ash to have guessed already.
"What Cerulean Sisters? It's the Cerulean Triplets and the Ugly Duckling!" At this moment, Lily, the third sister, suddenly interjected, trying to put her down.
Misty's face immediately changed upon hearing this. She looked at her three older sisters, unable to express her anger. In fact, she had always felt a little inferior to her three sisters since childhood. Her three sisters had been pampered, quiet, and elegant since childhood, while she was a tomboy who played in the mud like a boy. Coupled with her age, over time, she had become like this.
"That's not important. Why are you back so soon?" Among the three sisters, only Daisy, the eldest, was slightly more mature and wouldn't constantly put Misty down about her looks.
"Who was it that boasted they'd never return without becoming a great Pokémon Trainer?" Violet, the second sister, also spoke up at the same time. Because they felt Misty wasn't as beautiful as them, they even considered mentioning 'the four sisters' to be a loss of face.
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