I rounded the corner to see Daisy standing at Nugget Bridge, now lunging at one of the Team Rocket members. The man stepped aside, causing the girl to crash into the side of the bridge. The other grunt held the bag over the side of the bridge. "Enough! Any more funny business, and we send your Pokémon down the river!

I skidded to a stop and joined a building crowd. There was tension in the air, but nobody wanted to move. Daisy picked herself up and clenched her fists.

"What do you want with her Pokémon?" One of the trainers cried out.

The grunt rolled his eyes. "To steal it."

The trainer raised an eyebrow. "How're you going to pull that off? You're surrounded."

The grunt looked around and saw that trainers had now gathered on both sides of the bridge.

"We'll smash the Poké Ball, obviously!" The second grunt quickly said.

"How?" A second trainer questioned.

The grunts looked at each other, clearly getting irritated. "Listen, we're the ones in charge right now!"

A third trainer scoffed. "Sure you guys are." Despite the fading tension, I could tell that Daisy was terrified. It was her Pokémon on the line, and these Team Rocket grunts could be dangerous.

"Shut up! And get out of the way!" The grunt holding the bag barked. Nobody made any movements.

"Do you guys really want to push it?" The grunt prepared to toss the bag into the river. Daisy gasped, holding herself back from charging at them. Why are people not taking this seriously? I wished there was something I could say to get them to understand the situation.

Suddenly, both men were surrounded by a blue outline. "Never fear everyone, I'm here to resolve this." A voice exclaimed from behind. The voice sounded extremely familiar. Wait a minute... is that?

I turned to see Blue striding through the crowd. A yellow bipedal Pokémon walked by his side, holding a spoon in its hand. "Baby sis, grab your bag." Daisy didn't say anything but quickly moved to pull her bag from the man's clutches.

They strained against the hold but weren't able to move at all. "Thank Arceus you're alright," Daisy breathed a sigh of relief, confirming Venonat's Poké Ball was in the bag.

"Let's wrap this up!" Blue shouted. "Kadabra, toss 'em into the river!" The boy threw his hand into the air, and both men started to rise off of the ground. Kadabra used his powers to hold both men over the river, and then let them go. They went tumbling into the water, crashing with a loud splash.

People started to cheer for Blue. "Blue! Blue! Blue!" They yelled, surrounding the teen and his Pokémon. I rolled my eyes and ran up to Daisy, throwing my arms around her.

Daisy was a bit surprised but returned the embrace. "Hey Red, sorry about all that. I was trying to get some supplies at the store, and they caught me completely off guard."

I took a step back from her and told her that I had lost the Gym Battle. I apologized for not listening to Daisy, and that I was relieved she and her Pokémon were alright.

"It's alright," Daisy told me. "I've got some ideas we can try implementing. We'll have to do a bit of training."

We glanced over at Blue, who was making direct contact with us. The crowd had died down and begun to disperse, giving him a clear path over to us. Blue's nose was bruised and swollen, which made the glare he was giving us look a bit goofy.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Oh brother,"

"Hey baby sis," Blue spat. "You're welcome."

My friend crossed her arms. "I think we're even after what you pulled in the forest."

I felt extremely small as the two siblings began to clash. It was as if sparks were flying between the two of them. "Actually given your dear little friend here couldn't keep his hands to himself, I think we're pretty far from even."

Blue jammed his finger at me. I wished I could shrink down and run away from this entire situation. I tried to sign to him to explain that I was sorry, but Blue immediately looked away.

"What are you talking about?" Daisy questioned.

"He punched me in the face after you ran off crying!" Blue shouted, jamming his finger at me again.

I look at Daisy, feeling a pit in my stomach as her expression started to change. To my surprise, she began to laugh. "Really? Red, that's awesome! Nice one!"

Blue and I had the same shocked looks on our faces as Daisy held up her hand to give me a high-five. I hesitantly tapped her hand. "You deserved it, jerk. Now if you'll excuse us, we've got some training to do." Daisy marched away from Blue, and I followed behind her.

"W-what? Get back here! Do you not get it? He hit me! And I saved you!" Blue shouted.

I shrugged at the boy, while Daisy whipped around. "Yeah, thanks for helping with Venonat. However, you're still a jerk. Red's my friend, and you don't have any power over us so... see you later, big bro."

With that, we left Blue behind and went back to the Pokémon Center. We went into the building and I recapped to Daisy what had happened in my battle against Misty. I had my Pokémon restored, and then Daisy and I went outside.

There were a few trainers hanging out by the water fountain in the center of the city, so we walked over to a small field nearby some houses.

Daisy sent out her Venonat. "Alright, so Misty's Water-Types have psychic abilities like Venonat! So what you need to do is get your Pokémon to a stage where they're capable of avoiding Psychic. Let's start with Bulbasaur since he's weak to psychic attacks!" Daisy instructed. I sent out Bulbasaur, who used his vine to wave at Daisy.

"Alright Venonat, use Confusion!" Daisy told the Bug-Type and its eyes began glowing a light blue. Bulbasaur, run out of Venonat's reach! Bulbasaur started to run across the grass, attempting to evade in incoming wave.

Bulbasaur was moving too slow, and was scooped up by Venonat. Daisy's Pokémon released Bulbasaur and I racked my brain trying to think of a strategy to handle Venonat's powers. "Is there any other way Bulbasaur could move himself?"

I suddenly had an idea. Bulbasaur use your vines to throw yourself into the air when I give the word! I signed to Daisy I was ready for her to try again. Bulbasaur held his vines at his sides, keeping them at the ready.

"Venonat, use Confusion!" Venonat sent out another wave of psychic energy. Now! Bulbasaur slammed his vines onto the ground, propelling himself into the air and landing out of Venonat's reach.

My Pokémon landed back on the ground and seemed pretty satisfied with his efforts. "Starmie and Staryu are pretty fast, and your Pokémon don't do great in the water. So, let's try and fix that!"

We walked across Nugget Bridge and down a staircase that led to the waterfront. I sent out Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

Daisy crouched down next to the Pokémon. "You guys probably can't learn how to swim, but you can at least get some methods for escaping the water when you fall in."

Squirtle jumped into the water and began to swim around. Bulbasaur and Pikachu both stayed at the edge of the water, unsure of what to do. Bulbasaur, do you think that when you fall into the water, you could use your vines to pull yourself out? I asked him.

Bulbasaur seemed unsure. I was as well. It was hard to be sure how sturdy those islands were. Pikachu stuck his foot into the water and shivered.

Squirtle stared at the two Pokémon from the water and began to laugh. I noticed some sort of dark patch moving towards the Pokémon, but before I could say anything, two men in black uniforms had burst from the water. The Team Rocket grunts had returned!

One of them grabbed hold of Squirtle. The turtle started to thrash in his clutches. "Got ya! Haha!"

"You guys? Again?" Daisy groaned.

I took out Squirtle's Poké Ball to return him, but the grunts started to hide him behind their bodies. Pikachu's eyes narrowed and the Pokémon began to speed forward, charging across the surface of the water. The electric mouse slammed into the rocket grunts, causing them to fall over.

Bulbasaur lashed out with his vines, launching them through the water so they could wrap around Squirtle and pull him from the hold of the grunts. Squirtle emerged on the other side of the grunts and unleashed a torrent of water.

The Team Rocket goons were pushed down the river, tumbling away. Meanwhile, Squirtle and Pikachu swam back to the surface. "Woah, that was some quick thinking from your Pokémon."

I nodded, patting Squirtle and Pikachu on the heads. Well, I guess we have some ways of dealing with the water now.

I gave one of Bulbasaur's vines a high-five, and then returned the trio. I signed to Daisy that I felt like I had a better idea for how to manage Misty's Pokémon and the battlefield.

Daisy nodded. "Makes sense. Let's get out of here before those fools show up again."

We walked back to Cerulean City as the day began to near its end. I decided to ask Daisy why she was so hesitant about me taking on the gym.

Daisy shrugged. "It just felt a bit out of character, sort of like something my brother would do. I know you're excited, but I don't want you to end up getting in over your head. It was pretty unfair of me to get on your case over that though. I'd probably do the same thing, so I'm sorry about that."

I tilted my head and thought about what she said. It made sense, Blue was the kind of guy to confidently stride into a situation. I had to imagine that had blown up in his face plenty of times.

I signed to Daisy that it was alright, and I understood what she was saying. I was getting too eager to become a revered trainer so that I could stand up to someone like Blue. That wasn't good for anyone, and I appreciated the reality check.

A smile tugged at Daisy's face. "Well you know how I can tell you aren't getting too cocky, you wouldn't have said that if you were. I still can't believe you punched my brother, though. That's awesome!"

I had a sheepish grin on my face as Daisy lauded praise onto me for my rash decision. Maybe it was alright to be a bit cocky, just not all the time. Though, eventually I'd need to be able to beat Blue in a Pokémon Battle and not just a fistfight. It was time to see if I could get anywhere near that level.