Chapter Ten:
“I couldn’t do anything to help her.” Danny said aloud to himself, walking along the asphalt on the outskirts of Cerulean City on his way to Vermillion. “Nothing I could have done would have saved her. Nothing anyone could have done would have saved her.”
“Aro.” Aron said sympathetically, looking up at his trainer.
“It’s not your fault Aron, it’s mine.” Danny replied, not even looking down at his Pokemon.
“Aron!” the tiny iron Pokemon roared, ramming its head into the back of Danny’s knees, causing him to fall into the ground.
“Aron, what's wrong with you!?” Danny yelled, grasping the Pokemon in both hands.
“Aro-ron-Aron!” Aron yelled back, leaping out of Danny’s grip, taking a battle pose.
“Aron…” Danny said hesitantly. “Heh, I get it. You want me to snap out of it and get stronger right?”
“Aron!” the Pokemon chirped, loosening up.
“Well, as much as I hate to do it, I can’t mope forever, and the sooner I stop the better.” Danny sighed, standing upright again. “Come on, we’re going to Vermillion.”
Danny and Aron continued down the road, until they came across a small wooden hut at the edge of what seemed to be the entrance of a forest. Danny and Aron entered the hut, only to find a sign and a set of stairs leading underground. Danny walked over to the sign, and read it aloud. “Vermillion City, Keep Going Straight.”
“Looks like we go underground to get to Vermillion, fine by me.” Danny said, hoping down the steps in front of him, with Aron close behind.
Danny continued to walk through the lightless underpass, until he ran into someone coming from the other direction.
“Kid, you going to Vermillion?” the other person inquired, stopping Danny as we walked up to him.
“Yea, what's it to you?” Danny asked, looking at outline of the shady looking guy in front of him.
“You going to battle Surge, the leader there?” he asked, staring down at Danny.
“Yea,” Danny began to say, but as interrupted.
“A kid like you expects to beat Surge?” he scoffed, laughing at Danny. “Listen kid, if I couldn’t beat him, you sure won’t.”
Just what I need now, a dumbass saying I won’t beat the gym. Danny thought to himself, rubbing the temple of his forehead. “Aron, Headbutt.”
Aron charged forward at the vaguely visible figure, ramming its head into his stomach, the sound of bones shattering echoing throughout the tunnel.
“And I’m guessing since I beat you, I have a better shot at beating Surge, right?” Danny jeered, walking past the maimed body on the ground.
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“So this is Vermillion City,” Danny said, admiring the large buildings that surrounded him. “Hopefully we’ll find the gym soon, right Aron?”
“Aron!”
Danny and Aron continued to walk along the streets of Vermillion, looking at all the shops that they crossed. When they reached the downtown area of the village, they heard a large commotion of people screaming and yelling.
“Aron, come on!” Danny yelled, running in the direction of all the commotion.
When Danny and Aron reached the center of the turmoil, they saw a large blue mudfish, with dark blue fins emerging from atop its head and both thighs. It had bright orange fins on its cheeks, and an orange underbelly.
“Is that…a Marshtomp?!” Danny exclaimed, pushing through the crowd of fearful citizens. “Hey, what's going on?”
“That Marshtomp! It’s on a wild rampage through the city!” a man fleeing by responded, not even stopping to look at Danny.
“Rampage of what?” Danny asked aloud, not expecting an answer from any of the scampering citizens. “Exeggcute, get out here!”
Exeggcute emerged from inside its pokeball, facing the uncontrolled Pokemon.
“Marshtomp!” the beast howled, falling to all four feet, growling at Exeggcute.
“Exeggcute, Sleep Powder to put that Marshtomp to sleep.” Danny commanded, panicked.
Exeggcute shot the rough textured seed at Marshtomp, only to have it deflected by a small block of round ice.
“Ice Ball!?” Danny exclaimed, caught off guard at the ice type attack.
Marshtomp roared once again, charging towards the six huddled eggs, balling its fist into a tightly compacted fist. Marshtomp flung its fist in the direction of Exeggcute; only to have them lay down horizontally, dodging the punch.
“Was that Dynamic Punch? Where did this Marshtomp come from to have such rare and powerful attacks?” Danny yelled, not knowing how to retaliate against Marshtomp. “Exeggcute, separate into Barrage!”
Exeggcute rolled around Marshtomp, surrounding it from six different angles, each one glowing brightly. Marshtomp looked around, with bloodlust evident in its eyes. It lunged for one of the Exeggcute, only to be pelted at the last moment by the onslaught of projectiles from the entire pack.
“Tomp!” it yelled, being sent flying onto the road, bruises becoming apparent over its body.
This Marshtomp must be in serious pain, I know for a fact Barrage didn’t cause all those bruises. Danny said, staring onward at the injured Pokemon in front of him.
“Marsssshhhhhh!” the fallen Pokemon yelled, rising up to its feet, shining brightly.
“What, it better not be evolving right now.” Danny said under his breath, watching Marshtomp glow radiantly.
When Marshtomp was encased in light, it shot out an earsplitting roar, causing Exeggcute to roll over onto its side, screaming in pain.
“No, not evolution, Endeavor!” Danny yelled, pulling out two pokeballs from his belt. “Exeggcute, return. Aron, get out there.”
Aron jumped in front of Danny, staring at the injured Marshtomp. Marshtomp ceased glowing, rising up on its hind legs.
“Aron, don’t take any chances. Its weak enough, so just use Dig.” Danny dictated, calming down a little.
Aron dug its claws into the ground beneath it, disappearing under the pavement. Marshtomp inhaled, and shot out long jet stream of mud at the hole Aron disappeared at, cringing with pain. Aron emerged out from the ground behind Marshtomp, ramming its head into the spine of the mudfish Pokemon.
“Now’s my chance.” Danny said, tossing the pokeball in his hand at the defeated Marshtomp, enveloping it in a blaze of light. The pokeball began to rattle vigorously, until at last it froze. “Aron, let’s go! We have to get Marshtomp to the Pokemon Center!”
Danny ran over to the pokeball on the ground, and gripped it in his hand and quickly ran off in the direction he came from, Aron following behind him. Danny shrunk the pokeball, and stuck it into his belt, skidding to a halt at an intersection he came to.
“Dammit!” he yelled, looking for a sign indicating the direction to the Pokemon Center. “Where is the Pokemon Center!?”
“Take a left, and keep going straight young man. You’ll be there in about five minutes if you run.” an old lady told him, hobbling over to him.
“Thanks lady, sorry I can’t stay, in a rush!” Danny called out, taking the directions the women just told him. Within five minutes, Danny arrived at the Pokemon Center, just like the old lady said.
Danny burst into the Pokemon Center, and hurried over to the receptionist desk. “I-I-I have a Marshtomp,” he said, taking deep breathes in between every other word. “Needs serious help…”
“Let me see, I’ll take it back and see what I can do.” the receptionist behind the desk said, putting out her hand, awaiting the pokeball from Danny.
“Thank you very much.” Danny said, pulling Exeggcute’s pokeball out as well. “I also have an Exeggcute, it’s not in as serious condition though.”
“I’ll take it as well,” the lady said, grasping both pokeballs in her hands. “We’ll let you know when their better. In the meantime, you should rest over on the couch, you don’t look to good.”
“Yea, ok.” Danny said, as he was walking over to a velvet covered couch not to far away from.
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“Danny, your Pokemon are ready.” the receptionist said, waking Danny from his sleep on the couch, handing him one pokeball.
“Really, that’s great. But why is there only one pokeball, I gave you two, Exeggcute and Marshtomp.” Danny questioned, staring at the single pokeball in his hand.
“Well,” the lady nervously began to say. “the doctor would actually like to see you about that.”
“Is Marshtomp in that serious of a condition?” Danny asked, jumping off the couch.
“No no, but it does have a disease, please follow me.”
Danny followed the nurse back behind the desk, and into the back room of the Pokemon Center. When Danny and the nurse went into a tight fitting office, they saw a stern looking doctor sitting in a petite wooden chair.
“Hello, are you the Marshtomp’s trainer?” he quickly asked, gesturing Danny to take a seat next to him, while the nurse left.
“Yea, what's the problem with it?”
“Take a look at this.” the doctor said, holding up a tiny test tube with a parasitic leech inside. “While examining Marshtomp, I came across this parasite attached firmly on the back of one of its fins.”
“What is that...?” Danny hesitantly said, investigating the bug inside the tube.
“It’s a leech that carries a very rare disease, Pokérus. Do you know what Pokérus is?”
“No, but I’m guessing it’s not good, correct?”
“I wouldn’t say its not good, but it’s not bad.” the doctor began to explain, setting the tube on his desk behind him. “Pokérus is, in a sense, a double-edged sword. It is usually very contagious, but this certain specimen seems to have just died, contributing to the rampant actions of Marshtomp. Pokérus is a disease that grants Pokemon tremendous power in battle, but in turn drains the quickly of energy, and disobedient to orders.”
“So you’re saying that Marshtomp will always be crazed and never obey me?” Danny asked, looking straight into the eyes of the doctor.
“No, only under extreme conditions will the Pokérus take effect, causing Marshtomp to go on a violent rampage once again.”
“Is there any cure to Pokérus?” Danny hesitantly asked the doctor.
“There is no official cure, though there is one person I know of who knows a cure. Koga, the Fuchsia City Gym Leader.”
“Koga. How far away is Fuchsia City?”
“Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get to Fuchsia from here.” the doctor began to explain, grabbing a map out from a drawer in his desk. “Your best bet would be to go to Cerulean City, travel through Rock Tunnel, emerge at Lavender Town, go west to Celadon City, and then travel down Route 17. You will then be at Fuchsia City, and should have no problem finding Koga.”
“Ok, is there anything else I should know, like what to do if the Pokérus takes effect?”
“There’s nothing that can be done. You have two options though. Either incapacitate Marshtomp and recall him right away, or leave him alone, and hope that he’ll overcome it shortly.”
I feel so useless, Danny thought to himself, clenching his fists. First Hiromi gets kidnapped by Team Rocket, and now I have a Marshtomp that is diseased.
“Oh, and here is Marshtomp’s pokeball.” the doctor said, handing Danny the red and white sphere. “Good luck, and I hope you make it to Fuchsia safely.”
“Yea, me too.” Danny said, walking out of the tiny office, back into the main room of the Pokemon Center.
Danny ventured out a little north from the Pokemon Center, outside of Vermillion. When there, Danny tossed out Marshtomp’s pokeball, releasing his newly captured Pokemon.
“Marshtomp, I’m Danny, your new trainer.” Danny said nervously, extending out his hand.
“Marsh.” Marshtomp placidly said, walking underneath Danny’s hand.
Whoa, Marshtomp’s like a whole new Pokemon now that he’s settled down. Danny noted, rubbing the filmy head of Marshtomp. “Ok Marshtomp, how about a little training?”
“Marsh.”
“Ok, uh…lets see.” Danny said, looking around his surroundings to find something to help with their training. “A-ha. Use Ice Ball. Send it flying across that pond.”
“Marshtomp!” the mudfish yelled, getting down on all four feet. It opened its mouth, absorbing cool air and water particles from the atmosphere, forming a chunk of ice in its mouth. When the chunk of ice in Marshtomp’s mouth was large enough, Marshtomp shot the ball of ice across the water, causing a huge splash to erupt from the center of the body of water.
“Incredible power and speed.” Danny remarked, looking at the docile Marshtomp on the ground in front of him. “Maybe, just maybe, I’ll beat Surge after all now.”
“Marshtomp-marsh.” Marshtomp yelled, charging another block of ice, this one bigger than the previous one.
“Another one, I didn’t order that Marshtomp.” Danny interjected, walking over to Marshtomp.
Marshtomp shot off the larger ice ball, this one shooting farther at faster speed. Marshtomp continued to charge and shoot off ice balls, until at last he couldn’t control it.
“Crap, Exeggcute, Stun Spore.” Danny called, tossing Exeggcute out of its pokeball.
Exeggcute shot off the paralyzing powder into Marshtomp’s face, sending him falling to the floor, stunned.
“Marshtomp, you have awesome attacks, but zero control it seems.” Danny said, spraying Marshtomp with a paralysis heal. “Marshtomp, I want you to keep shooting off Ice Balls. And you, Exeggcute, use Stun Spore when he reaches five balls.”
“Marsh.”
“Exeggcute-egg!”
Marshtomp continued to shoot off the Ice Ball attack, and every time it reached the fifth ball, Exeggcute used Stun Spore, and Danny used his paralysis heal to cure Marshtomp.
If I’m right, having Exeggcute use Stun Spore should be just like potty training Marshtomp. His body will adapt to paralysis after the fifth Ice Ball, thus allowing him only five at a time. Danny thought, watching the process continue over and over again.
“Ok,” Danny said, after hours of training Marshtomp’s Ice Ball. “Marshtomp and Exeggcute, you’ve had a hard day training, lets go back to the Pokemon Center and rest up. Tomorrow we’ll face Surge for the badge.”
Danny, Marshtomp, and Exeggcute left the pond, and made their way back to Vermillion, heading to the Pokemon Center to rest for the remainder of the night.
