February 1, Sunday.
On Route 5, between Cerulean City and Saffron City in the heart of the Kanto Region, a boy dressed as a Trainer, with spiky light-brown hair, was cycling toward his next destination.
"Just as I thought, Gym Leader Misty in Cerulean City was a fan of Teacher Yu too..."
As he rode, Blue recalled yesterday's fierce Gym battle, and a few drops of cold sweat trickled down his temples.
True, he had only set out on his journey as a Trainer this year, but he had helped care for Pokémon at Professor Oak's Laboratory since childhood and met his first partners there. He wasn't a complete rookie like Red.
With Arcanine, Alakazam, and Charmeleon on his team, shouldn't he have steamrolled everything and collected eight Gym Badges in no time?
Granted, his main Pokémon weren't particularly well suited to taking on a Water-type Gym. He had to pull out the dirty tricks he'd learned from Teacher Yu, using Arcanine's Solar Beam under Sunny Day to quickly knock out an opponent and secure the win.
But instead...
The same scene from his earlier challenge in Pewter City had played out again.
Because Misty was also a loyal viewer of Teacher Yu's streams, not only had his tactics failed, but she'd also ambushed him with an Azumarill she'd pulled out of who knew where.
That's right, an Azumarill with Sap Sipper...
"Who the hell runs Sap Sipper on Azumarill instead of Huge Power?!"
Just thinking about it infuriated Blue. If he hadn't finally elbowed his way past Azumarill through sheer physical strength and scraped out a win, he would have lost another Gym battle.
If he got stuck for too long at the earlier, easier Gyms, Red would catch up in no time!
Blue shook his head and instinctively