TB007: The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

is the 7th episode of of , Season 1 of , and of .
==Synopsis==
Ash seeks the Cascade badge in Cerulean City—but for some reason, Misty doesn't want to join them. When Ash and Brock show up, the city is buzzing about a break-in that just took place—and are initially accused of the crime! (We see Team Rocket commit the robbery, but no one else knows about their involvement yet.)
Ash and Pikachu arrive at the Cerulean City gym, which resembles an aquarium with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. They see a water show performed by the Sensational Cerulean City Synchronized Swimming Sisters. Later on, Ash learns that the sisters are actually the Gym Leaders. He challenges them, but they don't feel like battling and instead offer him the Cascade Badge without a fight.
It looks like Ash will have his Cascade Badge without breaking a sweat...but then a fourth Gym Leader step up! Who is this mysterious Gym Leader? What does Team Rocket plan to do with the stuff they stole? And where's Misty?
==Episode plot==
At the start of the episode, Misty tries to convince Ash and Brock to bypass Cerulean City and go straight to Vermilion City. She fails and says that she will wait for Ash and Brock outside of town.
Later, Team Rocket enters a building looking for something to steal Pokémon with and they find what they're looking for.
The next day Ash and Brock enter the city, then they notice that Misty is gone and Ash doesn't mind it though Pikachu misses her. Later that day, they see a crowd of people around a building and wonder what's going on. They head over and see Officer Jenny standing at a crime scene. Officer Jenny accused them of being the thieves that stole a giant vacuum machine. Ash and Brock prove to Officer Jenny that they are innocent, she lets them go. After that Brock asks Officer Jenny out on a date but she turns him down. She then tells Ash what the thieves stole and tells Ash and Brock to move along.
Ash asks Brock if he can tell him anything about the Cerulean City Gym Leader. Brock says that since he is also a Gym Leader, he can't tell. Brock says that he has something that he needs to do and Ash heads to the Gym by himself.
When Ash arrives at the Gym, he sees three sisters performing a show. Ash confronts them backstage and discovers that they are the Gym Leaders and he challenges them to a gym battle. The girls (Lily, Daisy, and Violet) tell Ash that they can't because their Pokémon have battle three other Trainers from a place called Pallet Town and their Pokémon are all worn out. The only Pokémon they have left is a Goldeen that only knows Horn Attack. They offer Ash a badge without battling when Misty appears saying that she, the fourth Cerulean Sister, will battle him.
It turns out that Misty is the youngest Cerulean Sister but the other three call her a runt. After Misty fights with her sisters, Misty challenges Ash to an official 2 on 2 gym battle. Ash accepts.
At the start of the battle, Ash tried to send out Pikachu, but Pikachu didn't want to battle Misty. Ash then sends out Butterfree instead. While Misty sends out Staryu. Even though both sides are even, Staryu quickly knocks Butterfree into the water, making it lose. Misty withdraws Staryu and sends out her Starmie and Ash withdraws Butterfree and sends out his Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto uses Whirlwind on Starmie, but it jumps into the water and Tackles Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto use Wing Attack, but got hit by Starmie's Tackle again. Pidgeotto used Gust on it, making Starmie hit the wall.
Just as Ash is about to win, Team Rocket bursts in with the stolen vacuum and tries to steal all the water Pokémon with it. Their plan is to steal the water from the pool. It sucks in all the Pokémon including Seel and Pikachu but Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt due to water conducting electricity. The attack causes the machine to malfunction and Team Rocket to get electrocuted and fall into the water. They are then sucked down into the vacuum and, to the delight of Seel, blasted out from the other side and fly off into the sky.
After Team Rocket goes flying, Daisy gives Ash the Cascade Badge. Misty protests this until Daisy points out that if Ash used Pikachu from the start he would have won. Ash gladly accepts the badge. Ash and Misty leave the gym while arguing, meeting up with Brock and they all head out to Vermilion City.
==Debuts==
===Characters===
*Daisy
*Lily
*Violet
===Pokémon===
*Starmie (Misty's)
*Seel
===Moves===
*Stun Spore
*Wing Attack
===Item===
*Cascade Badge
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*Who's That Pokémon: Seel (JA, EN and KO)
*This episode marks the first time Brock asked out a girl, which he does many times throughout the anime.
*This is the first time Pikachu does not participate in Ash's Gym Battle.
*This is the first time non-Pokémon creatures are seen.
===Mistakes===
*In the Spanish dub, Misty's sister calls for Seel, but mispronounced it as See-al instead of Seel.
*In one point, Ash's Pikachu's part of its right ear is missing.
*The star that's usually seen when Team Rocket blasts off did not make a sound in this episode.
*When Team Rocket arrived, Ash's hat was discolored.
*At the end of the recap in the English version, the Cerulean City sign post is still written in Japanese even though it was translated into English in the previous episode.
*At two points when Team Rocket arrive at the gym, the peak of Ash's cap is white.
===Dub differences===
*In the English dub, during the opening and right before the title appears, the text on the sign Gary wrote on is in Japanese although the dub is in English.
*While there wasn't a clear winner after Team Rocket interrupted the battle between Ash and Misty, the original has Violet saying that their match went down the drain, and Lilly saying that it was a Water-Draw, while the dub has Violet saying that the match was postponed.
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a badge
Category:Episodes featuring Gym Battles
Category:Episodes focusing on Misty
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash