6 down, 2 to go until I have covered all the gym leaders of the Kanto region.

Our penultimate topic of discussion of this first season of gym leaders is the beloved aquatic tomboy and leader of the Cerulean City Gym, Misty.

Misty is, alongside Brock, the most well known gym leader of all time. Both were Ash's companions from the very start of his journey. Misty, in fact, was the very first person to ever accompany Ash. She stuck with him for the entirety of Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto. Only Brock was on the show longer than that. Misty has since made several guest appearances in multiple generations, and was back with Ash for his final hurrah back to Pallet Town after becoming the world champion.

Her popularity due to the anime makes most fans think very highly of her in the games as well.

Like I mentioned, she is the gym leader of the Cerulean Gym, using her favorite Water type Pokemon. Her gym design is fairly simple, just a walkway across a swimming pool until you reach her. She hands the players the Cascade Badge after being defeated.

Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Fire Red, Leaf Green, Let's GO

Misty is the second gym players encounter in their Kanto adventure. She is often called one of the first real roadblocks in the game, as certain parties will struggle a lot against her.

Misty uses two Pokemon, a Staryu and a Starmie. The former can be a bit annoying, but the latter is the real threat. A fully evolved Pokemon this early in the game is no laughing matter, and it hits incredibly hard with either Bubble Beam or Water Pulse. In generation 1 faster Pokemon had a higher crit chance, and Starmie is one of the fastest Pokemon in the game. Players who chose Bulbasaur won't struggle much, but Squirtle lovers might not deal a lot of damage back, and anyone who picked Charmander is fighting an uphill battle. Her water attacks will make quick work of Charmeleon, so it is recommended to pick up a Pikachu or a Grass type in the route north of Cerulean.

After defeating Misty, she won't appear again in the game. This is a common trend with early generations, as gym leaders didn't become plot relevant until later on.

Pokemon Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heart Gold, Soul Silver

Misty is one of the earlier gym leaders you can run into during the post-game in Kanto. In the 2 years since Kanto it is clear she has entered some puberty phase of her life, as she is busy on a date with her boyfriend (lucky bastard) and won't be in her gym until you find her. There is also a sub-plot about a Team Rocket grunt planting something in her gym that the player needs to find.

Once you interrupt her date and swoop in to marry her, she will be happy to challenge you to a battle. She uses 4 Pokemon: a Golduck, a Quagsire, a Lapras, and a Starmie. Individually there are some strong Pokemon here, but by this point in the game a good Grass Pokemon will make quick work of her. Just be wary of Ice Beam!

In Heart Gold and Soul Silver, she can be re-matched by calling her during a certain day of the week. She will appear in Olivine City and challenge the trainer to a battle. This time she dumps her Golduck and adds Lanturn, Floatzel, and Milotic to her team. She has a lot of mean strategies like setting up rain to boost her Water damage, using Perish Song to put timers on your Pokemon, and Baton Passing stat buffs to her slower Pokemon.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Misty, like many of her fellow Kanto Gym Leaders, reappears for the Pokemon World Tournament. She can be challenged in tournaments such as Kanto Leaders and Type Experts. She uses a lot of the Pokemon she had in Heart Gold and Soul Silver, on top of new additions like Blastoise, Carracosta, Swanna, Jellicent, and Slowbro.

She does not appear at any other point in the game.

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And that's Misty! I have always enjoyed her as a character. Even in the games her tomboyish attitude was fun and came across pretty accurately to how her character was in the anime. I like that she actually shows some growth from the Kanto games to the Johto games, as going on a date feels appropriate for the 2 year age jump she has in the latter. It makes her feel more like a real character, rather than a stoic NPC stuck in their gym. She's not the only Kanto Gym Leader to show this (see Koga, for example), but hers is subtle and fun.

I do wish you could destroy her bike in the games though. Is that why they put the bike shop in Cerulean?