After his fall, Brock is dragged by these rapids, but is rescued downstream by a girl named Melanie. She gets him out of the raging waters, and assists him.
Brock goes back into the forest to track Ash and Misty. Once he finds them, helps them out of the net, and together return to Melanie's camp: a hidden Pokémon village.
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu desperately look for Brock, but keep falling into one trap after another. When they end up caught in a net and hanging from a tree, Bulbasaur appears, and celebrates the bad luck of its enemies.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is nearby, following a lead they got about a hidden village full of Pokémon. If true, this is a great opportunity for them to commit a major heist, but time and again, they also fall into several traps.
Bulbasaur tackles Misty's Starmie and Ash's Butterfree, then gets away with Oddish and both disappear in the woods. Trying to follow it, Ash and company press on, until they get to this old hanging bridge.
As they try to cross it, one of the ropes unravels, and the bridge comes apart. Brock drops a tremendous height into the raging river. Ash, Misty and Pikachu barely make it to the other side.
Still trying to get to Vermilion City, the group leaves the main road, and get lost even further in the middle of high grasses and thick trees. After hours of wandering, they stop to rest at a spring, and come across an Oddish.
Misty weakens the Oddish with her Starmie, but when she tries to catch it, a Bulbasaur appears out of the forest to defend it, and prevents the attack.
Enter Giselle, the top student in the beginners class; as pretty as she is smart and condescending. She scolds Joe for not being prepared to battle a Cerulean trainer. She takes over the fight, and her Graveler easily defeats Misty's Starmie.
After belittling Ash at the pool deck, her Cubone gives Pikachu a beating with textbook moves; but thinking outside the box, Pikachu uses speed, bites, and scratches to beat the ground Pokémon. Giselle is in disbelief that a Pikachu would win without electricity attacks.
Joe, the kid that was being bullied, invites everyone for a tour of the school. He explains that his classmates were helping him study because his scores are bad, and being tough is their way to help him improve.
In the simulation room, Joe shows them how he can always beat any Cerulean City water Pokémon, even though he is at the bottom of his class. Misty takes offense and challenges Joe. Despite what the simulations say, his Weepinbell is no match for her Starmie.
Pokémon Tech is a boarding school that guarantees entry to the Pokémon League upon graduation, without the need to earn badges. Ash and Misty challenge the bullies, but they dismiss them, and leave.
The mist in the forest was being artificially created by the school for a "Fog Battle Techniques" class, but once dissipated, Ash and friends can see the impressive facilities.
Thinking they are heading to Vermilion City, the group enters a foggy area of the woods. Between the low visibility and the endless bickering between Ash and Misty, they are deviating further from Vermilion.
While looking for firewood, Ash comes across a group of youngsters that seem to be hazing a kid. They claim to be students from the Pokémon Technical Institute helping a classmate with some quiz questions under high-pressure conditions.
While everyone argues about A.J.'s tactics, Team Rocket sneaks into the gym to kidnap Pikachu; however, they take Sandshrew by mistake. The ground-type Pokémon is so well trained, that it escapes capture and returns to the gym.
Seeing how A.J. and his other Pokémon celebrate Sandshrew's return, Ash understands that there are other ways of being a good trainer. Team Rocket shows up again, but A.J. challenges them. His Sandshrew defeats Ekans, Koffings, and Meowth, giving them their 100th victory!
Ash offers A.J. to join him and the rest of the group, but he declines. He closes the gym and begins the journey with his Pokémon to start collecting badges.
The battle takes place in this combat stage. A.J. uses Sandshrew, and Ash uses Pidgeotto and then Butterfree, which are supposed to have the advantage. Things don't work out, though, because Sandshrew wins.
Misty and Brock wonder how Sandshrew could get so strong to defeat Pidgeotto and Butterfree, but the answer is evident once they enter the gym: A.J. runs an extremely tiring and demanding training program. Ash finds it violent and unethical.
A.J. is a young man who trains wild Pokémon. He is undefeated around these lands, having won 98 battles. He built a non-sanctioned gym all by himself, and uses it to train Pokémon and to take on challengers.
A.J. is quite arrogant, but so is Ash, who thinks that he can take on anything after getting the Boulder and Cascade badges. A.J. feels differently about badges; he will only start seeking them after he completes 100 victories.
☆ |
As one of the leaders, and to protect the gym's reputation, Misty accepts Ash's challenge. Her Staryu defeats his Butterfree, but his Pidgeotto defeats her Starmie. The battle stops when Team Rocket attacks using the giant vacuum they stole earlier.
Pikachu uses Thunderbolt attack, which zaps Team Rocket, while Ash turns off the stolen machine. The Sensational Sisters give Ash the Cascade Badge for saving everyone at the gym. With the match ending in a draw, the team leaves Cerulean City to continue their journey.
☆ |
The Sensational Sisters have lost all interest in combating, and are more focused on their aquatic show; so when Ash challenges them, they decide to just grant him the Cascade Badge without a battle.
Ash prefers to earn the Badge fair and square, but the sisters insist on just giving it to him. When he is about to accept it, the fourth sister shows up in the gym... it's Misty, and she is one of the gym leaders!
☆ |
This is the Cerulean Gym. It is led by Violet, Daisy, and Lily, also known as "The Sensational Sisters," for their impressive water acrobatics and synchronized swimming. The gym also has an immense aquarium.
Nowadays, the gym is being used as a performance stage for the sisters, rather than a Pokémon training facility, because the sisters were defeated in combat by three Pallet Town trainers, and their Pokémon are healing in the Pokémon Center.
☆ |
Ash and Brock arrive in Cerulean City under strange circumstances. First, Misty is nowhere to be found; she was completely against coming to Cerulean. Second, there is a commotion in downtown, and many curious people are gathered at a Machine Store.
Several cops, including Officer Jenny, have the area cordoned off. The night before, burglars broke into the Machine Store and stole a giant vacuum and a large hose. Unknown to everyone, it was Team Rocket!
☆ |
Seymour decides to stay in Mount Moon living with the Clefairy and Clefable to protect them, and also to continue researching the moon Stone, hoping that one day they will take him to outer space.
Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu descend Mount Moon via Route 4, and get to a fork in the road: will they continue east via Route 4 to Cerulean City, or to the south via Route 5? Ash is adamant on going to Cerulean, but Misty refuses to go there. Why?
Seymour convinces the Clefairy to take the Moon Stone back from its robbers. While Ash and company stop Team Rocket's getaway, the fairy Pokémon use a Metronome attack to make the Moon Stone explode in a million pieces.
The rain of sparkly shards prompts many of the Clefairy to evolve into Clefable, one of the rarest Pokémon species in the world. Later, the fairies take the remaining pieces back to the cave, and forming a new Moon Stone, start dancing again.
Pikachu makes friends with Clefairy, who takes everyone up Mount Moon again, and into another cave, where the core of the legendary Moon Stone sits. Clefairy places its shiny rock next to the large core, and the chamber begins to glow.
More Clefairy come out and start dancing around the Moon Stone, but Team Rocket steals the Moon Stone in the middle of a Smokescreen attack by Koffings, and escape through a tunnel dug by Ekans.
