"Don't worry, buddy. I'll get you a full spa package," Ash muttered, brushing a bit of frost off his partner's bulb.
Nurse Joy blinked when she saw him. "Oh. Oh. This one's had a day, hasn't he?"
Ash nodded solemnly. "He beat a Milotic in single combat and judo-threw it across the arena."
Joy paused. "Would you like a heating pad, or a trophy for him?"
"Yes."
Bulbasaur let out a sleepy "Saurrr…" before being wheeled away for rest, snacks, and possibly an ice pack laced with Oran Berry extract.
Ash leaned against the counter, finally letting out a breath. That Melotic was absolutely scary and as good as Pikachu was there was no way he was winning that fight right now.
Two Badges although he would need to go back and face Brock again.
He'd done it.
Ash ran a hand through his hair, still damp with condensation from the gym's impromptu steam bath. That Milotic… that wasn't just a Gym Leader's ace. That was the kind of Pokémon you saw in the Indigo Plateau Finals.
He was lucky Bulbasaur held on.
And lucky Misty didn't press her advantage when the ice cracked.
"Two badges," he murmured, tapping his badge case and flipping it open. Pewter. Cerulean.
Official.
But…
That wasn't the goal.
Not really.
The Boulder Badge he had was the real deal, stamped and recorded with League authority—but Ash wasn't interested in just the league minimum anymore. No, he wanted the Star Badge—a distinction some Gyms quietly offered, known only to a few. It wasn't for rookies or token battles. It was the kind of fight you earned after proving yourself capable of going toe-to-toe with a Gym Leader in their prime.
It meant battling at their full strength. No scaling. No pulled punches.
It meant you were ready—ready to go Elite.
Ash leaves the gym to explore curelaean city looking for a place to rent or buy for cheap, His identity of lady Cyel had alot of money afterall.
Cerulean had always been a beautiful place—part resort town, part coastal defense hub, with just enough League infrastructure to make it feel professional. But now? Ash wasn't here as a wide-eyed kid.
He was here as a competitor.
And… as Lady Cyel.
He glanced down at his IPhone and tapped into the pokemon go app Cyel's an the 3DS which had access to the account. The screen immediately shifted—gold-trimmed UI, high-priority alerts, personal banker contact on standby. The private funds under Cyel's name were considerable, thanks to a several hundred hours of grinding years and years ago.
And no one was checking too closely if a, elite-ranked mystery girl wanted to make a quiet property purchase.
Ash smirked to himself. "Let's find something that says 'future champion lives here.' But also—budget conscious. Y'know, in case of Hyper Beam damage. Gyarados are a thing afterall, a quick trip into an alley and a tap in the pokemon go app and He was Lady Cyel now an she had some stuff to purchase.
I mean they needed to make use of all that server an computer equipment somehow, an property was needed for that.
Maybe a trip to the pokemon center as Lady Cyel would help location a relator
===
"Welcome to the Cerulean City Pokémon Center. Can I help you—oh. Lady Cyel?"
Cyel offered a small nod, her tone calm but deliberate. "I'm looking for property within the city. Zoned for reinforced utilities. Global network access. Preferably quiet. Low foot traffic. Crime rates lower than average. It's not going to be my full-time residence, but with how long I'm likely to stay in Kanto and Johto… I need a place to call my own."
"Well," Joy said smoothly, pulling a tablet from behind the desk, "we maintain a short-list of trainer-tier holdings available for fast clearance. The League occasionally cycles out surplus properties—old field offices, research satellites, battle labs. Usually reinforced, with decent isolation. Most are already tagged for trainers like you—quiet, efficient, not too flashy. Although the league may wish to know if you plan on staying… An you need to be a Indigo native."
Yellow sighs before pulling out the Trainer Yellow pokemon id card, it was old but it would work. An Joy would probably get even more shocked, an word of her technical return would spread like crazy… God hopefully the actual Yellow of this world was dead cause if not she might have another monster closing in on her for identity theft.
Joy's fingers hovered above the tablet as Cyel—no, Yellow—reached into her coat.
With a sigh, she pulled out a battered but very real Trainer ID. Faded, edged with wear, but still unmistakably official.
Trainer Class: YELLOW
Region: Kanto – Indigo
Status: Veteran
Certification Level: Cleared – Full Access
Nurse Joy blinked once. Then again.
She stared at the ID like it might burst into flame—or rewrite itself. "Is this… real?"
Yellow gave a tired half-smile. "It's old. But it still scans."
Joy ran it across the League reader embedded in the counter. A green flash. Confirmation tone.
A few seconds of silence followed.
Then: "Oh. Oh dear."
Joy's voice was polite, professional—but a tremor ran beneath it. She wasn't just verifying credentials. She was realizing who stood in front of her.
The Yellow.
Not a Yellow. The Yellow.
Kanto's and instinct's forgotten prodigy. One of the unspoken legends.
"You'll… want discretion," Joy said, already locking the screen and disabling her recorder. "I'll suppress the alert ping. But if any Rangers are still cross-checking old licenses, someone upstairs will notice soon. Welcome Home, we all thought you were dead. Red and Blue said so."
Cyel lets out a silent sigh of relief, "Tales of my demise were greatly exaggerated… Although Spark did actually die in that battle, and I moved to Kalos to start fresh." Cyel states coming up with a back story on the spot.
Joy's eyes softened, but her grip on the ID didn't waver. "We never found his body," she said quietly. "There were rumors, of course. But to hear it from you…"
Cyel gave a slow nod, more solemn than she expected. "He went down buying time for the extraction team. I walked out of there with barely enough left to keep breathing. Kanto was too full of ghosts. So I went where no one would ask questions."
Joy slid the ID back across the counter. "And now you're back."
"... I have something important I need to do." Cyel states sticking to the back story of watching over Ash.
Then Joy straightened. "I'll mark you clear to purchase under the old networkprotocol. League won't question it. It'll cover your property claim and suppress any legacy pings. There's one place that fits your criteria. The old League network node on the northern edge of Cascade Row."
She tapped through her tablet, eyes flicking across schematics and zoning details. "It's got reinforced utilities, fireproof insulation, Faraday cage shielding, triple-layer fiber uplinks… Was a satellite operations bunker back during the war before it was decommissioned. Even comes with a private basement-level habitat zone. Discreet."
Cyel's brow rose. "That's more than I expected."
Joy gave a wry smile. "It's also a fixer-upper. Power's fine, but the structure's been through a few Gyarados tantrums. The good news? The League already wrote off the repairs. If someone like you wants to claim it, they'll even refund half the restoration budget."
She hesitated, then added, "...But Yellow—if you're really back, for real—some of the old guard might want to see you again. Agatha. Okay. Even Surge checked in every once in a while after it all went quiet."
Cyel's expression hardened. "I do need to have a word with Surge."
Joy blinked. "Oh?"
"There's a rumor," Cyel said, tone like frost, "that he's working with Rocket. Supplying them. Covering for them."
Joy's fingers hovered uncertainly above her screen. "Should I file that?"
Cyel shook her head. "No. I'll handle it. If the rumors are true…" Her gaze sharpened, ancient and dangerous. "Then the League can come deal with the crater afterward."
For the briefest moment, the Pokémon Center felt like it had dropped ten degrees.
Joy swallowed. "Understood."