Pokemon Tales Red

[Dzentelmen]

"Hi. I'm a pretty lazy person who likes to come up with stories but never has enough time or energy to write them. I finally managed to write a story I've been thinking about for a couple years and I'm hoping to retain the speed at which I'm writing now." That's the description I have on my FanFiction net profile(I'm known as Leinil there). It's not entirely true now. I've been writing this story since May of 2018 and I have slowed down a lot in the past year but I still haven't given up on it. I figured that there are probably people who don't visit that site or do it and never noticed this story because of the abundance of works posted there every day, so for these people I decided to post it here.

Every chapter has an afterword but looking back at some of them I recognize that they're pretty cringy since they're pretty much just a stream of consciousness, so I won't be posting them or any of the additional stuff, just the chapters. There are three classifications of chapters; regular ones, side stories and special chapters. Side stories are the chapters that are usually shorter than regulars ones and are used to expand upon secondary and tertiary characters. Special chapters are way longer than regular ones, take place entirely in a certain setting and feature a seperate supporting cast and enemies much like a Pokemon anime movie would. There are currently 48 regular chapters, 6 side stories and 1 special chapter.

I used Microsoft Word for a long time but switched to Google Docs since it's more convenient. I don't have anyone to proofread the chapters so I do it myself but when I go over older chapters for reference I still catch one or two mistakes(stuff like accidentally using plural instead of singular) and edit them. I do have a problem with remembering some things that I establish and I inadvertently hinder myself. One example of that is deciding a Pokemon's gender but reverting back to calling all Pokemon "it" instead of "she" or "he".

As for what this Fan Fic is about, it's my interpration of the games from the first generation, although I have vague plans for stories covering the remaining gens. It draws inspirations from not only games but also from the anime and the manga, but I try to give my own spin to everything. Besides focusing on collecting Pokemon and battling with them, it's also Coming-of-age story so there's some drama and romance. The first chapter isn't too thrilling but it should be enough to fill you in on the premise

I'm not going to throw everything at you all at once. Instead I'll try to remember to post a new chapter every Sunday, until I catch up to the newest chapter at which point You'll have to wait until I write more. Anyways, here's the first(and probably the worst) chapter. I was weirdly snarky at the beginning but that disappears entirely in the second chapter so please bear with me.

Chapter 1: Ready.​

This is a story. That is true. This certainly can be called a story. It has a beginning, a middle and... Scratch that. It does not have an end. It does not really have a middle yet. There are things that will happen after the beginning, but how can one say if something has a middle if it does not have an end? That's pretty confusing to me. But then again, I'm not a naturally bright person. But, you know what is bright? The sun. And it was bright all the same on that day that a certain teenage boy decided to embark on a journey that would define his whole life.

. . .​

His name was Red, which gives you an insight into how imaginative were his parents. That kinda name can really influence a kid. Red's favorite color was red. His jacket was red, his hat too. Not his pants though. That's just bad fashion sense.

Red lived in the Kanto region. If somebody is not sure where that is, the only clue is this that it's right next to Johto region. But at this time in the story it's not really important. Red himself was too preoccupied with other things to even know about the existence of other regions. He rarely even had the chance to live his hometown, Viridian City.

His parents were a pretty average couple. His dad had a small grocery shop and his mother worked at a local office. They were pretty carefree and let Red decide what he wanted to do with his time. Sometimes, he attended the local school, but at other times he would wander around doing all kinds of stuff that relaxed him; fishing, playing football with friends, exploring the forest.

One day, when he was about 13 years old, he got hurt when he was attacked by a wild Mankey. His mother was pretty worried and wanted to start setting some rules as to keep him safe, but his father was more lenient and instead chose to provide Red with a partner that would help him during any future dangers. This partner was an Eevee. Red and the Pokemon quickly formed a strong bond. This kinda alienated Red from other teenagers, because most of them did not have Pokemon. It was fairly normal that a person who got their first Pokemon would set out on a journey to become a Pokemon trainer. Red wasn't too interested in it. He had loving parents, a great friend and all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted, so there really was no reason for him to begin a journey that would limit him to going from city to city and gathering badges.

One day, when Red was at his friends birthday party, all the other kids were preoccupied with the presents that the boy received. Red knew that the only reason he was invited was because the mother of the other boy pressured him into it, since she felt bad for Red. While others were playing outside, he went into the house to get himself a snack, and he noticed the boy's dad watching television. Luck would have it, that it was the semi-finale of the Kanto Pokemon League. Agatha, a famous trainer who was part of the Elite Four was using her Gengar in a fight against another trainer's Nidorino. Gengar was trying to hit the opponent with a Shadow Claw but Nidorino managed to avoid the attack and used Peck. At that moment, the father noticed Red and asked him if he needed something. Red remembered why he went into the house but was kinda embarrassed so he left without saying anything. He didn't go for the snacks. He left the party entirely.

On his way home, during dinner and when laying in bed, he was still thinking about the fight he saw. For the next couple of days, Red mostly stayed indoors, watching various videos on Pokemon on the internet and reading books about tactics used in Pokemon fights. Soon, he and Eevee would spend a lot less time playing around and a lot more, venturing out into Viridian Forest to fight the wild Pokemon there. Finally, Red decided to talk to his parents about the possibility of being a Pokemon trainer.

"You're going to be a Pokemon trainer?" his dad responded in surprise "Well, if that's what you want to do, you should go for it."

"What are you talking about?" the mother interrupted angrily "I know that we have decided to allow him a lot of freedom but I thought that was because you wanted him to have a satisfying childhood, so he would have no problem with taking over your business down the line."

"I mean... that kinda was my plan... but I don't really want to limit him. My father worked in a coal mine and wanted me to do the same, but I knew I wouldn't be suitable for that kind of job so I decided to do what I wanted to do and hoped it would work out. That's just how people in our family do it."

"I guess... but... Red, are you really sure this is what you want to do?"

The boy held up his chin with a hand and made a focused face while humming all the while to finally respond "Yes. At least for now. I don't want to set a specific goal for myself but if I at any point realize that this Pokemon trainer thing is not working out, I will return home. How about that?"

The mother, still visibly concerned, looked at her husband, then back at her son and nodded.

"If you are going to be a Pokemon trainer" said the father "there is something that I could arrange that would help you."

"What is it?"

"I don't want to make any promises so give some time, and when I'm sure whether this thing will work out or not, that's when you'll be free to go on your journey. Till then, just focus on preparing. We will give you some starting money, but it'll be good if you can learn to earn some yourself before going on a journey. Is that okay with you?"

"I guess... But what do you want me to do?"

"I didn't really have anything in mind... but... you are pretty good at fishing. You could try selling the fish you catch."

"Okay. I'll do that."

. . .​

Some time passed. It's been already 2 years since Red got his Eevee but only a couple months since he started being interested in becoming a Pokemon trainer. Over that time, his previous friends showed more interest, noticing him constantly training with his Pokemon and earning money. They felt too embarrassed to talk to him about what he was doing so they learned from his parents about him becoming a Pokemon trainer. They all started to feel bad about how they treated him and also kinda jealous. Many of them were inspired by Red deciding to take fate into his hands and working towards something. A lot of them still did not know what they wanted to do with their lives and weren't too keen to find any goals for the future, so seeing how Red was the only one doing something at that time, they started to feel bad about themselves.

However, soon a couple of them started to focus more on their studies, realizing that they need them to get the future jobs they wanted. Others began helping at local businesses to get a feel of what it means to be a working adult. Even though Red was the first one to take initiative, it actually seemed like his future was the one which was most unstable. Nevertheless, they were grateful to Red for the unwitting inspiration that he provided them. As a show of gratitude, when the day on which he would start his journey arrived, they threw him a big farewell party. There were many hugs, tears and apologies. Finally, it was time for Red to learn what his father hoped to arrange for him and if the whole thing worked out.

"So, you're gonna be on your way soon" said his dad, with a voice filled with pride but also a hint of sadness.

His mother was standing behind the father, holding a tissue she used already several times to wipe her tears.

"Yes. Me and Eevee have been doing a lot of training... I'm really excited for this" Red responded.

The father had to do a double take, because for a second there, Red seemed much taller than he really was, and his eyes looked almost ablaze with raging fire.

"Have you heard about Professor Oak?"

"Of course. He came up many times during my studies. I didn't really get much of the sciency stuff but he's supposed to be some kind of genius from Pallet Town."

"Yes. That's him. I heard from a friend that Professor Oak was creating something like a scholarship. He provides beginning Pokemon trainers with Pokemon and in exchange they have to regularly send him data from their Pokedexes."

"Poke-wha?"

"Yeah... I also don't get the "sciency" stuff. Anyway, I was worried that Professor wouldn't want to have you work for him because you've already got yourself a Pokemon but it turned out that he still had one Pokemon left to give out. Normally he wouldn't give it to somebody who already has a Pokemon but this one is a special case."

"How come?"

"I heard this one is a real pain in the a..."

"Honey!" his wife interrupted him.

"Sorry... Anyway, he will give you the Pokemon and if you can manage to tame him, you can take him on your journey."

"That's... that's awesome! You hear that, Eevee?!" Red yelled excited as he picked up his Pokemon and spun around a couple times.

"But remember Red, be care..." his mother begun, but she was too late.

Red was so ecstatic that he already ran off without even saying goodbye to his parents. After about 10 meters he realized that and turned around to yell "Don't worry! I'm gonna become a great trainer!"

"He seems a lot more sure of what he's doing than before" the mother commented.

"I said it many times already. When someone in our family decides on something, they won't change their mind, they won't stop until their achieve their goals... Even if these goals are kinda hard to define."

. . .​

Red stepped onto a great boulder, inhaled powerfully and declared "The southern wind is blowing. 'Tis the scent of adventure."

A moment later, a cloud of dandelion seeds, caused by a nearby Spearow, flew into his face, causing him to sneeze and fall off the boulder. Eevee, who was previously playing with one dandelion himself, ran to his trainer with a worried expression on his face. Red quickly got up and proceeded to massage a bump that formed on the back of his head.

"Owww. Darn it. Whoever is responsible for that will answer dearly to... oo... oo... Aaah! It still hurts!"

Red run around the boulder with Eevee following closely behind. When he noticed the Spearow playing in the grass, he pointed angrily at him "You!"

The bird, previously oblivious to the teenagers presence, and clearly not intending to do anybody any harm, looked at both of them in confusion.

"Eevee, give him a what for!"

This time, the dog Pokemon also looked at his trainer with a face that clearly showed that he had no idea what "a what for" is.

"What? You know what to do. You give him... like "a what" and then... like "fo..." after a while Red realized that he was not getting through to his Pokemon "Just... Just use Tackle."

When he finally received a command he could understand, Eevee quickly ran through the field of flowers and slammed into the bird Pokemon with such force that he flew a couple meters, not using his wings, mind you, and hit a tree standing where the flowers ended. Red and Eevee waited a couple seconds to see if the opponent would get up.

Finally, the Spearow got on his feet and gave Eevee an angry look. Right after that, he mustered his strength, clearly showing that the attack affected him greatly, and took to the sky. He gave out a couple of long screechy cries. After that, there came more cries. Reverberating like an echo, they deafened Red and Eevee.

Soon, they realized that the sounds came from a whole flock of Spearows who made that tree, and a couple other ones, their homes. About 50 angry birds were getting ready to attack, and Red realized that one stupid move could be the thing that would cause his journey to end prematurely.

 

[Dzentelmen]

I forgot to post a chapter last week but it's here finally.

Chapter 2: Firewall.​

Seeing the advancing flock of bird Pokemon, Red quickly evaluated the situation as to make the best possible choice of action. His Eevee tried to put up a brave front but his legs were shaking from , he realized that there was no ground beneath his trembling feet.

As it turned out, Red picked the dog up and decided to make a run for it. For a while, Eevee was disoriented, but he finally got his wits about him and looked backwards, in the direction of the angry birds. Seeing as they were getting closer with each passing second, the Pokemon felt completely helpless, but nevertheless, barked at them angrily. With Red holding him tightly, it was really the only thing he could do.

Red was trying to multitask during the whole situation. He decided to run through the woods, instead of the road or the flower fields as he hoped it would make it harder for the birds to follow them. His suspicions turned out to be correct. Spearows moved like a phalanx, in a perfect formation, which caused some of them to hit the trees whenever the whole flock tried to fly through tighter gaps. Red would not stop to count them, but by his approximation, about 30 of them still remained in hot pursuit.

As they were running through the forest, Eevee became worried again as he noticed Red growing more tired as their escape continued. Suddenly, they stopped moving. Eevee turned his head and noticed that not only have they left the forest completely, they also reached a precipice.

Although Red tried to quickly judge whether they would survive the jump to the river running below them, the bird Pokemon already managed to catch up with them. The one leading them stopped and he looked at them with a satisfying expression. He gave out a shriek which seemingly was a command to three of his companions to begin an attack.

Eevee struggled to get out of Red's hold, finally regaining his will to fight. He used Sand Attack to blind the attackers, after which he put them out of commission with a Quick Attack. Couple of Spearow's were visibly unnerved after witnessing Eevee's show of strength but their leader brought them back to order with a few quick cries. Finally, Red decided that they couldn't stand there and deflect the attacks forever. He looked at Eevee and yelled "Let's go, buddy!"

The dog ran up to him. When the Spearows realized what these two were doing, it was already too late. They plunged into the river and were quickly pulled by the current. As soon as the opportunity arose, Red grabbed Eevee with one hand, and a branch from a tree standing next to the river, with his other hand. He managed to get his Pokemon and, right after that, himself on dry land.

"I think... I think we lost them" he said while panting heavily.

He was soon proved wrong by another angry shriek. He slowly managed to get up and look in the sky. A group of 10 most persistent Spearow's were still following them and now tried to cut off their escape route by flying lower and encircling them.

"Okay... Now we can make our stand."

Before Red could give Eevee a command, two of the Spearow's already approached him and started pecking furiously. Another one took the opportunity and attacked from the back. Red tried to shoo them away but instead he drew another Spearow's attention to himself. He struggled to protect himself as the birds kept on using Fury Attack.

"Vine Whip!" somebody yelled from an unknown direction.

Instantly, the Spearows attacking Red were knocked away by what seemed to be a long, green rope. Before he could tell what was happening, his Eevee was also released from under the Spearow's beaks in the same way.

Everybody started to look around in order to discover where that attack came from. Not far from them stood a brown-haired boy in violet pants and a black shirt with a high collar. He had a pleased look on his face. Beside him, like an obedient lapdog, waited a Bulbasaur whose vines were quickly retracting back into his body. The boy slowly advanced towards Red and Eevee, as the bird Pokemon kept a safe distance, unsure of what he was planning.

"What the hell were you doing, getting into a fight with so many Spearow's at once?" he asked Red.

"Wha-? I mean... I didn't do it on purpose. It just kind of happened."

The boy looked at him for a while with a face that clearly showed that he was waiting for something till he finally said "How about a "thank you?" Or something? Anything."

"Oh, I'm sorry... I..."

"Guess that'll do for now."

Even though he was his savior, something about his attitude ticked Red off.

"Anyway..." the boy looked at flock of Spearow which managed to reform itself "...although I'm good, I don't think our power is gonna be enough here, especially with birds taking less damage from Grass attacks. Can you guys use Helping Hand?"

Red looked at him with a befuddled expression for a short while, finally saying "You mean that "you could use a helping hand"?"

"What?"

"What?"

"No! Are you dumb or something? The move! I mean the move "Helping Hand"! What kind of incompetent nincompoop are you?!"

"Hey! That's not very nice!" Red stopped "Even if I have no idea what nincompoop means."

"Just..." the boy began, but he was interrupted by an attempted attack from one of the Spearows, which flew right in front of his face "Just tell your Eevee to use Helping Hand!"

"Okay, okay. I'm on it. Eevee!"

The dog looked up at him with readiness painted on his face.

"Use Helping Hand!"

Even though they never heard of this move and did not practice it, what with Red being the only trainer among his friends and the move being useful only in double battles, Eevee managed to successfully execute it. He gathered up energy which made his body glow, then he put his paw on Bulbasaur which transferred the glow over to his body. Powered up in this way, Bulbasaur was ready to receive his command.

"Vine Whip isn't gonna be enough. Time to test that move we've been working on. Leaf Storm!"

Bulbasaur roared at the opponents as the bulb on his back started shooting out a seemingly unending barrage of razor-sharp leaves which formed into a whirlwind, at least 4 meters tall. Then, that miniature tornado seemingly gained a mind of its own as it flew in the direction of the birds. When the first ones started getting hit by the attack, the ones in the back realized the danger of the situation and tried to run away. Their efforts proved to be useless as every one of them got sucked into the whirlwind and battered inside it.

After a while, the wind stopped and the group of birds fell unconscious on the ground.

"Wow. Your plan worked out perfectly." Red commended the other trainer.

To his surprise, the boy reached into his bag and left a couple of Oran Berries near the passed out Spearows.

"I don't want to catch them so it would be unfair if we just left them here injured. They could become an easy prey for other Pokemon. So let's hope that they wake up soon enough and regain their strength with these berries."

With each second, Red's opinion of this mysterious trainer changed. At this point, he still wasn't sure what to make of his actions.

"Anyway, we should move from here."

Red followed the boy to the main road, with their Pokemon walking dutifully beside them.

"You seem really knowledgeable about this area." Red blurted out.

"Oh. It's because I live here. Not "here" here, but in Pallet Town... Which I guess also isn't true anymore as today is the first day of my journey."

"Oh? You're also on a journey? I started out myself a couple days ago... By the way, I'm Red."

"Like the color? Huh. My name's Green."

"That's... That's a weird coincidence."

"I mean... Is it? I guess... Anyway, I really should be on my way. By the way, Pallet Town is in that direction" he said as he pointed to the south.

"Thanks. Since we are both travelling trainers, maybe we'll meet on our journeys again."

"Sure. That's a possibility... Wait... Why would you be going to Pallet Town if you're a trainer?"

"Oh. There's supposed to be this big-brained guy, called Professor Oak who lives there and my dad arranged for me to get a Pokemon from him."

"I see. Yeah. My Bulbasaur is also from that "big-brained guy"... Good luck."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry." Green replied, already walking away towards Viridian City.

"You know, Eevee? Him saying that in such a suspicious way only makes me more worried".

. . .​

After arriving in Pallet Town, Red quickly managed to find Professor Oak's laboratory. It stood out as it was built on a hill on the edge of the town, yet still avoided the trope of looking like a house from a horror movie. The boy climbed several steps, after which he stopped to catch a breath, since he was still tired out from his previous escapade. He rung the doorbell and after a while, a middle-aged man in a lab coat opened the door and greeted him with a big smile.

"You must be Red." he said "Unless you're some kind of peddler. In that case, I don't need any brushes."

"What? No, no. It's me. I'm Red."

"I'm just joking around. Come inside."

The professor closed the doors behind them as Red was preparing to take of his shoes.

"Oh. You don't need to. This place is somewhat dirty since I have various Pokemon living here."

Red quickly learned what the professor meant when a group of Rattata ran close to his feet and a Pidgey landed on his shoulder and began to sing happily.

"They're quite a handful, but not as much as the one you came here for."

Oak led the teenager to a shelf on which stood some kind of device which seemed to have three places in which a pokeball could be placed, but with only one of them occupied.

"Although I have a lot of Pokemon, these three were actually provided by the Pokemon League. They trusted my judgement to find suitable trainers for them. One of them, I gave to my grandson since they already bonded while living here together. The second one I gave to a girl who came here from as far as Sevii Islands. Me and my grandson tried to find somebody for this last guy, but so far all the trainers have failed to tame him. I was about to release him in the wild, when your father contacted me."

"Wait... Is your grandson called Green?"

"Oh, did you happen to meet him?"

"Yeah. He helped me out when I was in a tough spot."

"Hmm. That's nice to here. So, without further ado, here's your new Pokemon" Oak handed the pokeball to Red.

"That's it?"

"Pretty much. As I said, this is the last chance for this guy. Try to bond with him, but if it doesn't work out, just release him in the wild. I just want him to find some peace."

Red swallowed nervously "You can count on me, sir."

. . .​

Red was walking on the road to Viridian City, holding up the pokeball with the mystery Pokemon as if he was intensely analyzing it, even though it was identical to then one in which Eevee was when he received him.

He found a small spot near the road, with two bunches and a small fountain with drinkable water, one of many such places scattered throughout the region as to provide a place for a short rest for travelling trainers. He instructed Eevee to stay back for a while, because he didn't want to scare away the Pokemon that was about to appear before them. He threw the pokeball, and a small orange lizard emerged from the ray of light.

He looked kind of disoriented so Red took the chance to use the Pokedex he got from Professor Oak to learn this Pokemon's name, as the Pokedex already had preexisting data an all the Pokemon currently and previously owned by Oak. Red learned the Pokemon's name and decided to call out to him "Hey, Charmander. How are you doing?"

The lizard responded by giving him a dirty look and turning away. He started walking towards the forest, so Red followed behind and tried to put his hand on the Pokemon's head to stop him, but when Charmander noticed him approaching, he jumped up and spun around to hit Red with his tail. The boy barely managed to dodge. He noticed that the front of his cap caught on fire so he quickly put it out in panic.

Charmander ignored Red and continued to walk away, as if dealing with the trainer wasn't worth his time. Red tried to come up with some way to convince the Pokemon to stay. During this brainstorming session, he glanced in the direction of Eevee who waited patiently as ordered. At that moment, a light bulb lit up in Red's head.

"Hey, you weakling!" he yelled.

Charmander heard him but continued to advance towards the forest.

"So that's it?! You're running away?! See that, Eevee?! It seems like that guy is just a coward!"

Charmander was bright enough to know that he was being insulted, although not enough to know that this was a subterfuge on Red's part. He turned around waiting to see what Red was planning to do after offending him.

"Eevee, you're up."

The dog ran in front of his trainer. Charmander realized that Eevee was to be his opponent, so he took the initiative by charging at him and furiously unleashing his Scratch. Eevee proved to be too fast, as he playfully jumped over Charmander and kicked him in the back of the head. Charmander took two steps to regain his balance, after which he turned around to attack again.

"Sand Attack!"

Before the lizard could do anything, his opponent kicked up the ground which blinded him for a short while, giving Eevee enough time to run to the side and execute his own attack after Red yelled "Tackle!"

Charmander became even more agitated. After quickly cleaning his eyes, the flame on his tail grew more intense as he got on all four and let out multiple balls of flame from his mouth.

"Quick Attack!"

Eevee sped through the avalanche of fiery bullets to deliver a headbutt to Charmander's belly. The pain caused the lizard to close his jaw and stop him from further attacks. Eevee jumped around happily, waiting for his opponent to counterattack. When Charmander finally got through his pain, he started slowly moving backwards, as to not alarm his foe. Eevee tilted his head with a confused look. When he was finally far enough in the grass, he used Ember again, but this time to create a protective wall of fire around himself.

"Oh no, you won't get rid of us this way. Eevee!"

The Pokemon looked at his trainer, noticed him pointing up and to the left, and when he realized what he meant, the dog used Quick Attack to get up the tree closest to Charmander. The lizard didn't have any time to react, as Eevee came down on him from above. They both rolled through the flames, but Charmander finally managed to push Eevee off himself. The dog was hurt by the fire but at least, the opponent was in the open again.

"I came to the conclusion that you didn't accept previous trainers because they were just trying to befriend you, not realizing what a prideful fighter you are, but now you run away? Maybe I was wrong after all." this time Red wasn't trying to anger, instead speaking of what he really felt.

It seemed that Red's guess was a bullseye, as Charmander took up a more aggressive stance and looked him in the eye.

"Now, that's more like it! Eevee, use Tail Whip!"

Eevee wagged his tail, which gave Charmander the chance to get a Scratch in.

"Once more! You have to endure!"

The same thing repeated. Charmander gave out a happy shout as he felt victory growing closer. Red proceeded to rain on his parade as he told his Pokemon "Alright. Time to finish it! Quick Attack Version B!"

Eevee used Quick Attack, but instead of running at the foe, he began circling around him, constantly gaining on speed.

"Mirror Room!"

Eevee moved so fast that to Charmander it seemed like he was encircled by a group of enemies. He began shooting more flaming balls at the enemy, but he only managed to hit the afterimages. Time after time, Eevee would jump out of the circle to hit the opponent, with the other versions of him still remaining.

Charmander was getting battered relentlessly, and the circle created by the Eevee's was getting smaller, finally thrusting the lizard into the air. Eevee stopped and jumped after Charmander to deliver a final blow. They both landed on the ground, but while Eevee was on his four feet, Charmander couldn't get off the ground. Red walked up to him and placed the pokeball which was his home within an arm's reach of the lizard.

"You can't fight anymore. Not today. I can either heal you, and let you be free or you can join us and we will grow stronger together, making your abilities live up to that darn pride of yours. Well... How about it?"

Charmander sighed tiredly as he pressed the button and let the light suck him back into his pokeball. Red picked it up, and look at it for a while to make sure that they really managed to reach an agreement, after which he looked at Eevee and showed him a big smile. Eevee followed suit.

 

[Dzentelmen]

Chapter 3: Prepare for Trouble.​

"How did that song go again? "I'm on a road to Viridian City. I'll meet my friends along the way..." I can't really remember what comes after that. How about you Eevee? You must have heard it a couple times" Red turned to his companion, walking beside him.

"Vee. Veevee. Eeeevee."

"No, that's not it. Oh, well. It doesn't matter anymore cause it seems like we're not on the road anymore." Red declared as he noticed the sign declaring that Viridian City was only 500 meters away.

. . .​

His first stop in the city was the Pokemon Center. Although he was carrying various healing items with him, there was no reason as to why he would avoid the advantages provided by free healthcare.

Soon after he and his Pokemon were rested, he decided to pay a visit to his parents. He used the key to open the front door but as he went inside, he came to realize that it's still pretty early in the day so both of his parents were still at work. He thought about going to his dad's grocery shop since it wasn't far away but he changed his mind, deciding that he's gonna spend the night, so they are gonna meet later anyway.

"Well, since I want you to meet them later, you should probably get accustomed to the place" he said to Charmander as he was releasing him from the pokeball.

Since Eevee was always outside of his ball, as soon as they got to the house he laid down on his favorite spot on the couch, but when Charmander was released, he was eager to play, so he grabbed the dog by his leg and dragged him down. Red took out one of Eevee's chew toys and the Pokemon began a playful romp.

Red went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and looked around for a second before he grabbed a carton of milk and poured himself a glass. He sat on a chair and watched the playing Pokemon for a while. After finishing the glass of milk, he got kinda bored and went to the salon to try to watch some television, but that didn't prove helpful. He turned around while laying on the couch which made him fall to the floor. The Pokemon stopped playing for a short while in concern, but after he started to get up, they continued their fun. As a last resort, Red turned on his father's computer and went on the internet.

"Maybe I should try meeting with my friends?" he thought as he was skimming through a site with funny videos, but he quickly decided against it.

For some reason, he thought that it would look dumb if he met them again so soon after starting his journey. Thinking about that, he remembered an important part of being a Pokemon trainer which he still hasn't experienced. He didn't yet have a Gym battle.

"I wonder where the closest Gym is."

He used a search engine to quickly reach his answer.

"Oh? We have one of them in the city? I guess I never cared to look for it before I was a trainer, and after that, I focused mainly on training with Eevee. Anyway, I should go check it out."

He torn out a page from his father's notebook and wrote down the address for the Pokemon Gym, after which he whistled to his Pokemon to get their attention.

"Hey, guys. Looks like there's a Gym in this city, so we're gonna go to check it out. Are you ready?"

Eevee barked happily in response, but Charmander had a puzzled look on his face.

"Hmm... I guess you never heard of Gyms... It's like... we get to fight strong trainers and their Pokemon and if we win we'll get a prize."

After that explanation, Charmander also responded happily. Red returned him to his pokeball.

. . .​

Looking around, then back to the piece of paper, then around again, Red was searching for the Gym. The place certainly seemed harder to find than he would have expected. He even asked some people for the way, but none were too sure where the Gym was, even if they knew it existed.

Finally, Red decided to take a short rest on a bench in a back alley he was walking through. He looked at the address again, certain that that either the Gym didn't exist anymore or that someone didn't want it to be found. When he put the paper down, he saw in front of himself a suspicious building with small windows, automatic doors and a yellow roof. As Red came closer to the building, he noticed traces of what seemed to be the words "Viridian City Pokemon Gym" next to the door. It seemed as if they were erased by the rain and no one bothered to provide a new paint job. The whole building looked kinda dirty and weed was sprouting from the ground around it.

"What's going on here?" Red pondered, while examining the building.

The automatic doors didn't seem to work, which added to the feeling that the building was abandoned.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" somebody yelled from the right.

Red looked in that direction to notice a thin man in black clothes, with a red "R" on his shirt, walking from behind the building. He had a cigarette in his mouth, but as it was almost burned out, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. When he got closer to Red, he sized the boy up, as if to examine if he was a threat.

"Get the hell out of here." he spoke again after a few seconds.

Red, being very confused, looked around almost like he was hoping that something would clear up the situation but there was nothing there.

"What is going on here?" he asked the man.

In turn, the adult also became visibly dumbfounded, probably because he expected his word to instantly get rid of the teenager.

"What do you mean "What is going on here"? Just scram, you moron."

"I mean... I would gladly do that, but the thing is, I have some business at this Gym." he explained while pointing with his thumb to the right.

"This Gym?"

Red began to feel like he was on a prank show with a hidden camera somewhere, but decided to continue talking in a calm and collected way "Yes. This exact Gym. There aren't any other Gym's around as far as I'm aware."

A vein popped up to the surface of the man's forehead, showing his growing irritation.

"Can't you see the place is closed? Whatever your business here was, you can't do anything with the place closed. So just get the hell out of here before I kick your ass and never show up here again. Capeesh?"

"No!"

"What the hell?!"

"I'm a Pokemon trainer. Part of that is collecting badges. I can't give up on doing that before I even got my first one."

"That's not my problem! The place is closed and I was told to scare away any losers trying to get inside!"

"Huh? Who told you to do that? Also... while we're talking about that, what's with the ridiculous outfit?"

"Ridiculous?! I see that somebody hasn't been watching the news as of late. I'm a member of Team Rocket! We're the biggest gang in Kanto and soon, on Earth."

Red was completely lost about what to think about everything, but he decided to take things easy and start by returning home and learning more about whatever happened to this Gym and if Team Rocket was actually a thing. He started walking away but a yell from the man stopped him.

"I don't like that attitude of yours. I don't wanna have you blabbing about what you saw here to other people so I'm gonna have to kick some sense into you with the help of my little friend. Go, Ekans!"

He threw a pokeball, from which emerged a purple snake.

"Was... Was that like a penis joke?"

"What?! No! Gah! I'm not wasting anymore time talking to you! Ekans, use Poison Sting!"

The snake opened its mouth and a rain of purple needles flew in Red's direction, with the boy managing to dodge them in the last second.

"That's how you want to play?"

Red's Eevee, who was standing back this whole time, not sure about what the humans were talking about, became angry after seeing his trainer attacked and was ready to fight back, but Red waved his hand to stop him.

"Not this time, buddy. I promised Charmander a Gym battle and since we can't have that, this will have to do. Go, Charmander!"

The lizard jumped out of his pokeball, full of energy. Red didn't have time to give him an order, because as soon as he saw Ekans, he was running at him full speed to deliver a Scratch. The snake Pokemon used his body like a spring to jump out of the way, not realizing that this way he exposed himself to something worse.

"Use Ember!"

Balls of flame flew towards the snake, who didn't have any way to avoid them. While he landed on the ground, he was already in severe pain, but still listened while his owner gave him the next order.

"Wrap!"

Ekans ensnared Charmander with his body and began to choke him.

"Oh no, you don't! Charmander, bite him to escape!"

The lizard put his sharp teeth into the snake's tail, freeing himself from his grasp. Ekans tried to run away, but Charmander kept his fangs sunk in his opponent's tail.

"Let's take a page out of Green's book. Spin around!"

Charmander began to turn quickly, making both himself and his foe dizzy, but when he finally let go of Ekans, not able to keep him because of centrifugal force, the snake was thrown into the side of the building. He wasn't even able to get up before Red gave Charmander another command, and the lizard sent the final Ember barrage, causing the snake to faint.

"What?!" the Team Rocket member yelled in surprise.

He proceeded to recall his Pokemon and gave Red an angry look. The teenager just smiled in response, having confidence in himself and Charmander after attaining this quick victory.

"You want to go another round?" he asked with a smug face.

The adult looked like he was about to say something, but was clearly too embarrassed by his lose. Red realized that the man didn't have other Pokemon, and that's why he wasn't keen on speaking out, on the account that Red could have chosen to repay him for that Poison Sting earlier. So instead, the Team Rocket member just ran away using one of the alleyways. Red slowly walked towards that direction with his hands holding up his head from the back. He was wondering if the man would return but seeing how quick he escaped, the boy dismissed that possibility.

"Great job, Charmander" he said to the Pokemon as he patted him on the head.

Jealous Eevee jumped into Red's arms, so for a couple seconds he hugged both of them.

. . .​

The sun was already setting on Viridian City as Red's parents met on the way back to their house.

When they saw that the lights were on, the mother got kind of wary, but the father came to a quick conclusion that Red must have returned. His prediction came true when he opened the door, and instantly they could see Red's shoes and jacket in the front hall, and also smell the delicious food being prepared by their son. Red heard them entering so he peeked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and a headscarf. He smiled happily and they responded in kind. While they were getting changed into their home clothes, he finished cooking and invited them to the dining room.

Soon, he came in, carrying two plates of food in his hands, one with spaghetti, the other with cheese and spinach cake. Eevee walked into the room graciously carrying a plate with three glasses of juice on his head. Charmander jumped onto one of the chairs and took the plate to put it on the table. After that, Red took out a candelabra, and the lizard Pokemon lit the candles using his Ember. Red took some of both the dishes and put them into the Pokemon's bowls before beginning the dinner with his parents, all the while remembering to warn Eevee about eating too quickly, as he was known to sometimes choke on his food.

The boy spent a pleasant evening with his parents, telling them about meeting Green, Professor Oak and befriending Charmander. The next day came, and he was ready to continue his journey. After checking the internet again, he learned that the second closest Gym should be located in Pewter City. Although there wasn't any indication that this one also wouldn't be closed, Red remained hopeful.

 

[Dzentelmen]

Chapter 4: Bluebell.​

Red has been travelling through Viridian Forest for almost a week, and he was really getting fed up with the variety, or lack thereof, this place had to offer. Although he was happy for any kind of Pokemon battle he could take part in, after fighting bug catchers every day, all he hoped for was someone who didn't use bug type Pokemon.

It was getting dark and the exit to the forest still didn't seem any closer, so the boy decided to set up a camp. That meant, having his Pokemon help with gathering sticks and stones for creating a campfire, while he used the biggest leaves he could find to cover a net hung up between a couple trees, creating a roof for the night.

After everything was done, Charmander lit the sticks, Red took out a couple berries he gathered during the day and started to slowly roast them over the fire. He left them propped up on the sharpened sticks he stabbed them on, to take a bottle of water and pour it into a bowl for his Pokemon. He was getting worried because they didn't see any stream for quite some time and it also hasn't been raining, so their water supply was dwindling.

After finishing their meal, Red put a blanket and a pillow on a layer of leaves which he gathered under his net roof. He put out the, trying to use as little of the water as possible. After that, he took a second blanket, returned Charmander to his ball and covered himself and Eevee before going to sleep.

. . .​

Loud barking and something hitting his chest over and over wasn't the best way for Red to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the one behind this commotion was none other than Eevee.

"What's going on, buddy?" Red asked after the dog jumped off from him, to give him a chance to get up.

He slowly rubbed his eyes and yawned, still trying to wake up. When he went out from under his impromptu roof, he noticed the reason for why the Pokemon interrupted his rest. Right in front of him, between the resting place and the extinguished campfire, there was a strange yellow flower that was not there when they went to sleep. Eevee must have noticed its strong smell and became alarmed.

"Huh. How did this thing grow so fast? Especially without any sunlight" the boy pondered.

He tried touching it gently with a stick but nothing happened. He walked out a little further to see if maybe somebody planted it there on purpose but he didn't notice anything. Finally, a sudden realization hit him. There was a possibility that the flower was a Pokemon that for some reason walked over there and planted itself in the ground.

Since it's been already a couple minutes since he woke up, Red didn't feel like going back to sleep, so he decided to check if he was right by using his Pokedex. He went back towards the backpack which also was under the net roof. Eevee, who was still observing the mysterious plant, noticed that the teenager stopped in his tracks. When he looked over at what Red was staring at, he saw that the blanket under which they previously slept, had a suspicious bulge, as if somebody was still sleeping there.

"Curiouser and curiouser." Red commented while rubbing his chin with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Welp, here goes nothing." he exclaimed while quickly pulling the blanket off from whatever was under it.

"Wha... What?!"

To Red's and Eevee's surprise, the one who was hiding under the blanket was a brown-haired girl, around Red's age, and wearing a set of pink plaid pajamas. Neither losing her cover nor Red's yell caused her to wake up.

"What is going on here? First, that weird plant. Now this... I'm not sure what to make of this, buddy." the boy commented, turning to his Pokemon.

Eevee turned his head an gave out a quick sound, indicating that he wanted to know what they were supposed to do in that situation.

"Well... I can't do anything, can I? Let's just wait until this girl wakes up and then we'll get our answers."

. . .​

The nose of the girl moved ever so slightly, as she smelled the aroma of slowly roasting berries. She licked her lips as a reflex, before opening her eyes. She got up to a sitting position and stretched out her arms. With a still dazed look on her face she turned her head to the left and then to the right. She noticed that wherever she was, clearly wasn't her tent, but wasn't really worried since she got a good sleep. She quickly stood up and began doing more stretching while making quiet sounds which were supposed to get her pumped up during the exercise.

Finally, after about 2 minutes, she turned around to see where that enticing smell came from. Red, surprised to see that, almost choked on the berry he was hitting, because he didn't want the girl to know he was staring at her exercise. She went up to him and sat on a log he prepared beforehand, while he himself was sitting on a flat rock, covered with leaves as to avoid any strain to his buttocks.

The girl looked at the food with glee in her eyes and then at Red with a hopeful expression of a puppy who wanted to be told that he was a good dog. The boy just nodded his head, and the girl took one of the sticks with an almost done berry and proceeded to turn it around as to roast it more evenly.

Finally, she began eating it. Red caught himself staring again, but he couldn't help being entranced by the pure joy which emanated from her face as she was gently chewing each bite of the berry. He put one of his hand on his heart, as if that was supposed to stop the increased heartbeat. Even though many of his friends were girls, he never was interested in any of them, especially considering that couple years of gap where he was shunned by them. He felt that this was the most intimate moment he ever shared with a person of the opposite sex, although they weren't really doing anything.

He calmed down after the girl finished eating and stood up again. She looked around, as if searching for something. When she spotted whatever it was, she started walking away without a word.

"Wait!" Red yelled, finally in full control of his feelings and with a clear mind.

The girl turned around with a confused look on her face. Then a light bulb seemed to have lit up over her head as she hit the palm of one of her hands with the other one closed in a fist.

"Thank you for the meal." she said while bowing cordially.

"That's... That's not really what I meant" Red sighed as he was trying to gather his thoughts "Okay... Okay, okay. First of, what is your name? Seco..."

"Blue." the girl interrupted before he could finish.

"Oh... Oh. Really? Like two weeks ago I me..."

"Really."

Red made a short sound of annoyance before speaking again "Let me finish what I want to say before you answer, okay?"

To his surprise, the girl remained completely silent for around 20 seconds.

"Are... Are you okay?"

"Oh. I just wasn't sure if you were done talking." she answered with a clearly honest look in her eyes.

"That's... fair. Anyway, my name is Red. I just wanted to say that it's weird that we are both named after colors since I met a guy named Green some time ago."

"Is it weird? Maybe we just all have parents with weak imagination."

"Yes." Red answered dumbfounded "That's certainly a possibility. But, what's more important than that is why did you sneak into my camp at 4 o'clock?"

"Oh. That wasn't on purpose. You see, I have my own camp over there." she said while pointing somewhere far away.

Red squinted his eyes to notice what could be a blue tent, about 200 meters away.

"Man, you have good eyesight. But, since your camp is over there, what are you doing here?"

The girl went into deep thought "I remember setting up the camp, eating some of my cookies, drinking juice and going to sleep... Then I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that Bell was missing so I started to look around for him. When I finally found him, I was too tired to go back, and that's when I noticed that he was right in front of some place with blankets and a pillow so I went to sleep. That's about all I can remember."

"I... I think that's all you need to remember. By "Bell" you mean that thing?" Red asked while pointing at the mysterious flower he found during the night.

"Oh! I was so hungry that I forgot completely that he was there. Hey, Beeell!"

The flower moved, revealing that the yellow part was its head, as its small eyes opened. It slowly managed to pull its roots up from the ground, as Red was passing it by to finally get to his Pokedex.

"Huh. A Bellsprout. Grass... no surprise there. Also poison... Hmm. Well... After you get changed..." Red turned to the girl with a small blush on his face "...you can come back to eat some more if you want."

"Oh. Thanks for the offer. I'll be glad to take you up on that. Bell must also be hungry."

"Vee!"

The trainers turned their heads to the campfire to notice Eevee using its paw to hit a Weedle which was trying to get away with one of Red's berries. But the bug wasn't alone. A group of four other Weedle's took the chance provided by their friend to steal the other berries.

"Hey! Get back here!" Red yelled while running after the thieves.

When the bugs noticed that they couldn't outrun him, they began giving out a cry for help. The boy heard a buzzing sound getting closer and closer, and finally an angry face of a Beedrill appeared right in front of him. He managed to dodge its drill and jump back to a safe distance.

"If that's how you want to play... Eevee, it's time to teach these bozos a lesson."

"Wait." Blue interrupted before the dog could answer his trainer's call.

She and Bellsprout walked by Red, stopping a short distance from Beedrill.

"I wanna pay you back for not getting angry at me for sleeping in your camp and for giving me food. At the same time... please never use the word "bozos" again." she said, giving Red a glare during those last words.

"O... Okay. Yeah. The floor... or I guess, the ground is yours."

The leader of the bug Pokemon wasn't too patient. He seemed confused with the exchange between the trainers for a short while but he quickly went on the offensive again. He tried to hit Blue with a Twineedle, but Bell jumped in front and knocked the attack to the side, causing the bug to miss.

Beedrill shifted his attention to the Grass Pokemon. He tried to use Twineedle again, but Bellsprout jumped out of the way and after receiving a command from Blue, used Vine Whip to catch one of Beedrill's arms and slam him into a tree. This caused the bug to go into a frenzy. He tried to hit his foe with a Fury Attack but due to his slim and nimble body, Bellsprout managed to dodge every attack while walking backwards. When the last hit was about to land, the plant Pokemon waited a little longer before jumping out of the way. Beedrill tried to follow him, only to notice that his drill was stuck in the tree.

"Hey. That's actually a good tactic." Red commented.

"I see that you underestimated me." Blue responded while jokingly making a sulking face.

"Ah. Sorry." the boy blushed out of embarrassment.

"I'm just joking. It's time to end this anyway. Bell, use Sleep Powder."

A cloud of white spores created from the leaves of the flower Pokemon fell on Beedrill's face, putting him to sleep. Bellsprout took the opportunity and proceeded to use Vine Whip on his opponent. This caused the bug to finally get released from the tree, but also to be knocked out for real. The group of Weedle's looked with worry at their leader, but they still seemed eager to fight back. Bell looked back to his trainer, and after receiving a nod of approval, he used Growth to make himself look much larger. This scared the Bug Pokemon for good. After they ran away, Blue congratulated Bell on his victory.

"Thanks for helping me out." said Red.

"Well, now we're even."

"I wanted to ask you... where are you travelling to?"

"Oh. I'm planning to collect Gym badges so I'm on my way to Pewter City."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that it's also my destination."

"Why would I be happy to know that?"

"Aah... Well, you seemed to like the berries I made so you could eat more of them if we travelled together."

Blue jumped away while doing something akin to a martial arts fighting stance, with Bell trying to copy her.

"My mom warned me about going along with strangers. How do I know that you're not gonna do something nasty to me?"

Red blushed again, and yelled out with a cracking voice "I already had the opportunity to! I didn't do anything, did I?!"

"Hmm. Yeah. I guess I can trust you." Blue calmed down "Oookay. I'm gonna get changed in my tent and will be back in a couple minutes."

"Fine. Take your time."

"On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed." Blue whispered, again making that sulking face, as she walked away towards her camp.

Red scratched himself on the head, thinking about what he just got himself into, when he heard Eevee's panicked barking. The only berry still on a stick was beginning to burn up, so the boy frantically tried to save it from the fire.

 

[Dzentelmen]

Chapter 5: Riffraff Roof.​

"Get back here!" Red's yell could be heard by all the people on the sidewalk as he ran past them in a hurry, accidentally bumping into some.

He didn't have time to apologize since he and Eevee were hot on a trail of a notorious thief, who just so happened to be a yellow electric rodent. They stopped at an intersection as the boy seemed to have lost the one they were following from his sight. Eevee barked while pointing his head across the street. Red noticed the escaping Pokemon running into an alley. He almost crossed the street without looking, but Eevee bit one of his pant legs to stop him from running into an oncoming car.

After that, they both quickly moved to where they last saw the thief. To their surprise, he wasn't in the alley, and since it led to a dead-end, there wasn't really nowhere for him to go. Nowhere but up.

Red noticed a fire escape, so he ran up a wall for half a second before jumping off and grabbing on to the ladder, making it fall to the ground. He wanted to help Eevee up, but the Pokemon realized what tactic was used by their target, so he used a nearby dumpster like a springboard and landed on the lowest level of the stairs. Soon, he and Red were on the rooftop. The thief seemed to think that he managed to lose them so he was sitting there, trying to figure out what the thing he stole was exactly. Realizing that he was about to bite his Pokedex, Red yelled in shock "Don't do that!"

The rodent turned around, startled by the fact that his victims managed to reach him. Not knowing what to do, he left the Pokedex on the ground and started running away again. Red picked up the device but then turned his head in the direction of the yellow Pokemon.

"I got my Pokedex, but I still want to catch that Pikachu. He's smart and fast. Let's go, buddy!" he spoke to his Eevee.

The mouse Pokemon used his speed to jump from one roof to another. The boy and the dog followed suit, although the former was unsure of his jumping abilities and felt kind of unstable after landing. Pikachu didn't want to give up, and continued to traverse the city at the height of around 30 meters. Finally, he saw a big gap leading to an isolated building on the edge of the city so he used Quick Attack to jump over there, sure that he wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.

Red, getting closer to the end of the building he was on, was starting to become afraid of the jump. He used his quick wits and called out Charmander. While holding him in his hands, he gave him an order "Ember!"

The continuous onslaught of fiery balls propelled them through air, still barely allowing them to make it to the other side. Red threw Charmander onto the roof, while he used his hands to grab onto the parapet.

Eevee used the same method as Pikachu to get across and then both of Red's Pokemon tried to help him get up by pulling on his hands, but he assured them that he could do it himself.

When they were finally all there, the teenager was out of breath, but at least he knew he had time to catch it back as there wasn't anywhere the thieving Pokemon could escape to anymore. The Pikachu grabbed on to the ledge of the building and looked down as if trying to gauge if he could survive a fall. After realizing that there was nothing else he could do, he gathered up his courage, turned around and got on all fours while trying to make an angry face at Red, which was kind of hard because the boy, as most people probably would, found the Pokemon to be extremely cute. The case was different for Charmander. He didn't care about what kind of opponent he would face as long as he got a chance to fight.

"Ember!" Red ordered.

The fire Pokemon released his attack, but missed the target as Pikachu dodged it and proceeded to run towards the foe by using Quick Attack. The impact was so hard that the lizard had to dig his claws into the roof of the building to stop himself from falling off. He left about a meter of scratch marks before he stopped the momentum.

Suddenly, Pikachu ran up to Charmander before he could counterattack, but instead of hitting him with an attack, he smiled from cheek to cheek and an aura of comfort showered the fire Pokemon. Then, Pikachu quickly returned to his previous expression as he jumped in the air and spun around to deliver a blow with his tail, which for a second seemed to turn into a hard metal. The attack sent Charmander's head into the roof, leaving a small indentation in the building. When he got up, he was so angry that it seemed like he was about to go out of control.

"Wait!" Red's yell stopped him in his tracks.

The trainer frantically looked over the data provided by the Pokedex, realizing that Pikachu used a combination of moves called Play Nice and Iron Tail.

"You can't allow him to do that thing again. It lowers your strength."

Charmander listened to Red patiently, but at the same time he was looking at the mouse Pokemon who stood a couple meters away, grinning confidently. He was trying to provoke a reaction by pulling down an eyelid and sticking out his tongue, but Charmander held back his rage while waiting for a command from his trainer.

"Wait..."

Seeing as his opponent wasn't going to move, Pikachu used another Quick Attack.

"Wait..."

As the Pokemon was getting closer, Charmander was growing eager to go against his trainer's instructions and use Ember again.

"Now, Smokescreen!"

When Pikachu was about to hit Charmander, the lizard let out a thick, dark cloud of smoke from his mouth. Pikachu tried to stop as the darkness was enveloping him, only to get tripped up by Charmander's tail.

When the electric Pokemon got up, he couldn't see anything besides the smoke. His foe managed to get outside of the range of his own move and looked readily at his trainer, who nodded, signifying that Charmander had free reign to deal with Pikachu in whatever way he desired, as his way to victory was already paved. He went back into the fray. He scratched Pikachu on his back and disappeared again into the cloud.

When the mouse turned around to face his foe, another attack came from the opposite direction. Charmander kept repeating this pattern, which caused Pikachu to lose his cool and start to get angry. Finally he snapped and started continuously using Thunder Shock while spinning, being sure that sooner or later he would catch up with his opponent. He didn't realize that Charmander left the cloud again until he heard his growling.

The lizard pointed at the sky while running towards his trainer. Red understood what he meant and prepared both his hands. When the lizard reached him, the trainer used his arms like a catapult and propelled the Pokemon into the air. He managed to get a couple meters into the air, right over the center of the cloud which has already started dissipating.

When Pikachu noticed a shadow on himself, he looked up, only to be hit by Charmander's Ember. The attack caused him to stop using Thunder Shock, as he hit the roof in pain. The lizard didn't let up, and started to spin as he plummeted towards his foe, to finally deliver a powerful attack with his tail into Pikachu's back.

After lifting himself off his opponent, Charmander picked him up by his tail and threw him over his shoulder. While the electric Pokemon was flying through the air, he was hit by another Ember. He tried to get up as quickly as he could to avoid leaving himself an easy prey to another attack, but Charmander reached him faster than he expected, and unleashed a couple Scratches before using another Ember. The lizard was ready to keep fighting until he heard his trainer.

"That's enough."

Red came over to Pikachu, and Charmander, realizing that the battle was over and he was about to hit somebody who was helpless, walked backwards with an ashamed expression. The trainer patted him on the head reassuringly.

"You did a good job. Now, about you..." he turned to the electric Pokemon "...I don't want you to think I'm a heartless guy so take this."

He gave him an Oran Berry. Pikachu had a little trouble eating it, but he managed to regain some of his strength. At least enough to sit up and listen to what the boy had to say to him.

"I heard from the people in this city that this wasn't the first time you stole something. You seem to cause trouble to all the fruit and fish stands. I understand that you're doing this only because you don't have a home and it's hard to get food in another way if you're living in a city, but there are other ways. You have a talent that is being wasted while you use it for these kinds of things. If you come with us, you can use your abilities in battle and I promise that you'll never have to be hungry. How about it?"

The mouse looked confused but then it closed its eyes, seemingly musing over Red's offer. Finally it opened them and pointed to the boy's pocket while giving out a couple shouts. The trainer reached in there and pulled out the Pokedex.

"Oh? You want to know how it works? I can show you that too. So how about it?" he said as he held up a pokeball in his other hand.

"Pika!" the Pokemon replied happily, after which he let himself be sucked into the device.

The boy stood up, as Eevee ran over from the other end of the roof. Red triumphantly reached to the sky with the hand holding the pokeball, celebrating the addition of a new partner, as the other two joined him by jumping into the air and giving out happy sounds.

"We should go to a Pokemon Center to heal you guys up. Also, I wonder what Blue has been up to during this time."

"Vee?"

"Huh?"

The Pokemon looked around.

"Oh yeah. How are we gonna get down from here?"

. . .​

As Red walked into the Pokemon Center, he immediately heard Blue's voice calling him "Hey, Red!"

He noticed her sitting on a sofa in the corner of the room, holding a newspaper that she stopped reading to greet him. He put up his hand, showing that he wanted her to wait a while, as he walked towards the counter.

"Good afternoon." the nurse working there greeted him.

"Good afternoon. Please take care of my Pokemon." he said while putting the pokeballs with his three partners on the counter.

Even though Eevee didn't take part in the fight, he was still there during the whole chase so he must have exhausted at least some of his strength. Since healthcare was free and healing Pokemon didn't take a lot of time, Red saw no reason to not take advantage of that.

"Come back after a couple minutes." the nurse instructed him.

What she said was more of a suggestion than an order. After each Pokemon was healed, the pokeball holding it would be put aside and the trainer could return for his partners at any point during the day. In rare cases where somebody wouldn't show up to take back his Pokemon until the next day, the nurse had a responsibility to contact the trainer by phone. If she couldn't reach him for a week, she would have to call for services which take care of abandoned Pokemon by preparing them to either be given to new trainers or to be released into the wild, based on the Pokemon's will.

Red didn't have to worry about any of that, as he would return for his partners after a short while. He walked up to Blue and sat on an armchair which was perpendicular to the sofa she was on.

"How was your day?" she asked cordially.

"It was great. I got into a big chase and managed to catch a new Pokemon."

"What kind?"

"A Pikachu."

"Oh? They are so cute. You'll have to show it to me." the girl's eyes lit up as she was saying that.

"What about you? What have you been up to?"

The girl stood up and rubbed her finger under her nose as a show of confidence.

"While you were out there playing around..." she began.

"Are you trying to start shi..."

"...I was busy kicking some serious ass." she continued, ignoring Red's comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Behold!" she shouted while holding a small grey pin right in front of his face.

"What is that? Wait... Is that one the badges?"

"You got that right. I went to the Gym and won it in a fight that will be remembered in history books as my first step to becoming the greatest trainer this world has ever known."

"I think you may be getting a little ahead of yourself."

"I think you are a little jealous." the girl teased him.

Red blushed a little while showing frustration on his face.

"I'm not! As soon as my Pokemon are healed, I'm gonna go there and get my own badge! You can come and see how a real trainer does it!"

"With pleasure. I just want to warn you that your Pokemon may have a little trouble, considering that the leader of this Gym uses rock type Pokemon."

"Rock type, huh? So you had advantage with Bellsprout."

"Also with my other Pokemon."

"Your other Pokemon? I didn't know you had one."

"You'll get to see it once the need for me to use it again arrives. Bell is already plenty strong, but this one is on a whole other level."

While wondering what Blue's other Pokemon could have been, Red glanced at the newspaper laying on the table, which the girl had been previously reading.

"Anything interesting in the news?"

"Same old, same old. Team Rocket are causing trouble in various places. They are getting rid of the other gangs, while growing stronger themselves. The police are rather helpless. They don't even know what the Rocket's goal is."

"Team Rocket... I almost forgot about them."

"What is it? Did you meet them before?"

"Yeah. And ever since, I wanted to meet a Gym leader, to ask him some things."

"Your Pokemon are healed!" the nurse yelled from the other end of the room.

Since the place was almost empty her voice didn't really disturb anyone. Red got up and started walking toward the counter.

"Time to get my badge and my answers."

 

[Dzentelmen]

Chapter 6: The Iron Tail of Pikachu.​

Since she already knew the way to the Gym, Blue walked slightly in front, skipping happily while humming some melody unknown to Red. She glanced at him from time to time, to look at his focused expression, caused by him trying to come up with a tactic to use in the upcoming battle. When he finally seemed to reach a decision, he looked up and his eyes met with the girl's, as she quickly turned her gaze forward, while trying not to seem embarrassed by being caught.

"Say, Red..."

"Yeah?"

"Why did you become a Pokemon trainer?"

That question struck him as kind of odd so he answered unsure "I mean... to catch Pokemon and collect badges... That's mostly what trainers do, right?"

"That's not really what I meant. You know that if you collect badges you get a chance to participate in Pokemon League, right?"

"Yeah."

"Aside from the four best trainers getting prize money and becoming famous for their abilities, the Pokemon League is also a stage for people to say whatever they want. You have the possibility to reach the biggest audience you ever could and convince them to support you, since it's easier for people to get behind a person who they already see as capable."

Red wondered if he had anything he would want so many people to hear about "I guess I just haven't given it much though. I'm just going as far as my abilities and my Pokemon will allow me. Don't get me wrong. It would be cool to become the master, but there can only be one. Even the two of us... I mean, if we get into the League it's possible that we will have to face each other."

"I suppose..." Blue seemed to get lost in her thoughts

"Do you have anything?"

"What's that?"

"Do you have anything that you would want everyone to hear about?"

The girl stopped and spun around to point a finger at the boy.

"Have you ever heard of Sevii Archipelago?"

"Sevii..." Red tried to search for the name in his mind "...I feel like I did but I'm drawing a blank at the moment."

"No surprise there. Even though Sevii Islands are so close to Kanto, many people here haven't ever heard about them. I come from one of those islands and I feel that they would be more appreciated if just more people knew about them. We have great agriculture and many good fishmen but there are no established trade routes between Sevii and the mainland. I have family and friends there whose business would surely bloom if it was just easier to reach more clients. My hope is to win the Pokemon League and tell everybody what a great place it is."

"Wow!" Red yelled as he subconsciously grabbed both of Blue's hands "That's such a great dream!"

Since his face was getting a little too close to hers, without the boy himself realizing, she decided to comment on that politely "Red? Could you back off a little?"

When he noticed what he was doing, he let go of her and jumped back with a blush on his face. The girl felt reassured whenever she saw that he got embarrassed by these types of situations easier than herself.

"It's just..." Red spoke up again "...I don't really have a great dream. I worked hard towards becoming a Pokemon trainer but I'm still not sure if it was worth it. I just kinda want to enjoy myself and if I win, I win. If I lose, I lose."

"There's nothing wrong with that." the girl started chuckling "Actually, this type of attitude suits you much more."

"Hey! Are you making fun of me again?"

"No way~!" she said with an intentionally condescending tone "Come on! We're almost at the Gym!" she continued with a happy voice as she started running forward.

. . .​

The Gym looked very similar to the one Red saw at Viridian City, although with a couple differences. It was located in an open area at the edge of the town, it's roof was grey instead of yellow, it was in an overall better state and the words next to the entrance read "Pewter City Pokemon Gym". There also wasn't anyone there to try to drive the trainers away.

The automatic doors opened and Blue allowed the boy to pass in front of her. Inside, he looked around with curiosity. It seemed like the Gym was separated into at least two rooms as the one they arrived in was rather small and contained only a receptionist desk and what seemed to be a waiting area. A middle aged man, in a blue suit and glasses, looked up from the computer he was using and stood up with a smile after seeing the trainers.

"Welcome to the Pewter City Pokemon Gym." he declared.

"Oh. Good afternoon." Red responded, while struggling with whether to bow during that.

"You're here again Miss Blue?" the man asked while adjusting his glasses as if to make sure that he didn't make a mistake in recognizing her.

"I'm just here to see this guy lose." she responded while pointing at Red with her thumb.

"Oy."

"I meant "win". Of course." Blue added quickly, hoping that she didn't cross a line in teasing Red.

"Oh. I see. The leader didn't have any appointments for a battle and no one came here since you left, so he should be free right now. I'll give him a call." after saying that, the receptionist clicked a button near the computer and spoke through some kind of intercom "There is a trainer here who wishes to fight you. Should I let him in?"

The teenagers were too far to hear the answer, but the man stood up after a couple seconds and pointed with his right hand to the doors leading to the next room. They understood what he meant, and started walking in that direction. The automatic doors opened, and after a couple meters of walking through a small corridor they reached a massive room which clearly was the place where Red was to fight for the badge.

About eighty percent of the floor was missing and replaced with ground and several boulders to create a fighting arena in the middle of the room. On opposite sides of the arena were two slightly elevated platforms. To the right and left of the opening through which the trainers came in, there were two sets of stairs, leading to a balcony which Red deduced to be an area for spectators.

"I'm gonna go up there." declared Blue.

Red nodded and himself decided to stand on the platform which was on this side of the room. Soon, a set of automatic doors opened in the corridor which was the other entrance to this place.

A young man with dark skin and very thin eyes, wearing only brown pants held up by a belt, entered the room. After arriving on the platform opposite of Red's, he seemed as if he was about to say something, but after noticing Blue, he changed his attention to her for a short while. He waved slowly and she responded, but slightly more energetic. Then, he turned to Red.

"I'm Brock. The leader of the Pewter City Pokemon Gym! Sta..."

"I know." Red interrupted him.

"What?"

"I'm in the Pewter City Pokemon Gym. Unless I stumbled in here by mistake, you can safely assume that I'm here to challenge this Gym in a battle for a badge. And since the receptionist informed the leader that I'm here and the leader agreed to fight me, and we're both standing here, it would be weird if you were anyone besides the leader."

"Oh no. He started again." Blue said to herself, too quietly for any of the other two to hear her.

"I get where you come from..." Brock started "...but that was kind of rude."

"Not my intention. I just wanna get over all the useless chit-chat and get right to the fight."

"You seem to exude confidence! I like that! Still, it would be nice to at least know your name before we fight."

"I'm Red. Red from Viridian City."

"Why... Why would I care about where you're from?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure. I just watched that one cartoon when I was a kid and the main character always said where he was from, even when he was in another region and no one could have any idea where his hometown was. I just wanted to try it out. Now, when I'm introducing myself to somebody, I will know better."

"Oh-kaaay. How many badges have you collected so far?"

"None. Does that matter?"

"Yes. Each Gym leader has to use a certain number of Pokemon based on how many badges the challenger has in his possession. Since you have none, I will be using two of my Pokemon. Meanwhile, you can use however many Pokemon you want to."

"What?!" Red was seriously surprised.

"Uh... Are you okay?"

"That's not fair. I don't want to win because of an advantage."

"Well... It's assumed that the Gym leader's advantage is that they know the layout of their arenas."

"I don't care about that!" Red yelled with anger.

Blue whistled to show her surprise. Because of how petty Red could sometimes be, she never expected him to get so fired up over something in a serious manner.

"I will also use two Pokemon! Is there a problem?!"

Brock was astounded, but he responded with a faint smile. It was a long time since someone so passionate challenged him to a fight.

"No. No problem. Just one more thing."

"What is it?" Red was thrown out of his mood.

"You can't use your Pokemon to turn on the sprinklers."

Red looked up to see the devices which he didn't notice before, because of how high the ceiling was.

"Why would I... Did... Did someone seriously do that in the past?"

"Yes. And it was a pain to clean up and refill them. But this time it's seriously all I had to say. Are you ready?"

"Sure am!"

"Let's begin! I choose Geodude!"

Brock threw his pokeball and a Pokemon which looked like a boulder with arms and a face, appeared in the arena.

"Let's go, Eevee!"

Red released the Pokemon who has been in his pokeball ever since being healed at the Pokemon Center. The dog went up to his trainer and stood up on his hind legs while propping himself on the boy's leg. Red recognized that as the pose he would do whenever he missed him.

He gave the Pokemon a pat on the head and then pointed in the direction of the opponent. Understanding that it was his time to fight, Eevee went back onto the arena.

Red quickly checked the Pokedex before the fight. True to Blue's words, Geodude was a rock type Pokemon, but he also was a ground type, which Red had not taken into consideration when thinking about the tactics for this fight. Since Blue's Bellsprout was effective against both, the girl must have not noticed the difference.

After seeing that both Red and his Pokemon were ready for the battle, Brock gave his first command "Geodude, let's see what they have to show. Use Defense Curl."

The boulder brought up his arms to his body, covering his face and giving him a more evenly spherical shape.

"Is he underestimating us? Use Quick Attack!"

Eevee fired off like a bullet in the direction of his opponent.

"Turn!" Red instructed him when the dog was close enough to his target.

Eevee changed the direction right in front of Geodude and veered a little to the right. Brock was surprised as he saw the Pokemon run past him, jump off the wall and come right back in a fluid sequence of moves which allowed him to deliver a blow to Geodude's back.

The rock Pokemon unfolded its arms and stopped itself from hitting the ground, avoiding any further damage.

"Dodge!" Brock yelled.

Geodude looked up to see that Eevee was continuing his attack and managed to use one of his arms to propel himself in the air.

"Counterattack!" ordered the leader.

Knowing what was expected of him in this types of situations, after facing many a challenger before, the boulder used its other hand to punch the dog in the head, with a force so great, that he completely stopped it in place. Geodude landed on the ground and quickly grabbed Eevee by the neck.

"It's over now" Brock declared triumphally.

Geodude held up Eevee above him and proceeded to repeatedly punch him with his free hand. The dog was struggling to get out of the enemy's grasp but the grip was too strong. Although the Pokemon itself felt completely helpless, his trainer was quick to come up with a solution to the situation.

"Use Sand Attack with your tail!"

The Dog didn't notice until then that he could reach the ground and since he usually used that move with his legs, the command came as unexpected. He listened to it nevertheless. Sand flying into Geodude's eyes caused it to instinctively try to cover them, giving the dog a chance to escape. He ran to a safe distance and used the couple seconds, during which Geodude cleaned his eyes, to regain breath.

"A normal Quick Attack is too risky. If Eevee takes a couple more punches, the fight could be over..." Red muttered to himself during this time, but decided to speak up after coming up with what to do next "Eevee! Time for our signature move! Quick Attack Version B!"

"What?" Blue and Brock said simultaneously.

Eevee began using Quick Attack to run around the opponent who seemed just as confused by what was happening as his trainer.

"Mirror Room!"

Multiple afterimages of Eevee surrounded Geodude, and soon he started being attacked from every possible direction.

"Tackle!" Brock yelled for nothing, as his Pokemon was unable of any movement with Eevee closing in on him.

Finally, the rock Pokemon couldn't be even seen as he was encircled by a brown blur.

"Okay. That's enough." Red commanded.

The dog stopped in the best way he could, but his speed was still so great that he turned in such a way as to fall into Red's hands. The boy caught him, this way almost falling off the platform.

"Return." Brock said while pointing the pokeball in Geodude's direction.

He turned his gaze to Red, and after putting down his Pokemon, the challenger responded with a confident smile.

"It seems you are stronger than I thought. Still, I usually use Geodude to test the water before I use this guy. Go, Onix!"

Red didn't immediately realize what he was faced with since a big shadow suddenly obscured his vision. After a second, he looked up to see that it was caused by an enormous snake made up of boulders. Eevee backed up, visibly afraid of fighting this new foe.

"Eevee, don't worry. Such a big thing is probably really slow. Let's keep using Quick Attack and we'll win."

Reassured by his trainer, the dog started running at the enemy.

"Bide!" ordered Brock.

Although Onix remained in the same place, he was keenly observing Eevee's movement, while the normal Pokemon run around him to hit the part of the snake's body which was touching the ground. The first attack hit and didn't seem to bother the opponent at all. Not giving up, Eevee repeated it two more times. Brock noticed that after the third attack, his Pokemon closed his eye for a second as an expression of pain.

"It's ready! Time to unleash it!" the leader announced.

A white ball of light formed in Onix's mouth and shot out in Eevee's direction. The Pokemon jumped up to avoid it when it got too close for comfort, but when he glanced backward, the ball changed direction and like a homing missile followed the Pokemon. He tried to avoid it a couple more times, but was too focused on it and ran straight into one of the boulders covering the arena, allowing the attack to reach him.

"Eevee!" Red yelled hopelessly.

The Pokemon fainted and the boy had to use its pokeball to call it back. As she noticed his sad expression, Blue felt kind of ashamed. All the time they were together, Red didn't lose his confidence so seeing him like that and her not being able to help in any way, put her in an uncomfortable mood. Red's response to the loss was brought about by the fact that it was the first time it happened to him and Eevee.

He put away the pokeball and grabbed onto the other two in which he carried his partners. Looking at them for a while, he was analyzing which Pokemon to choose next, but also remembering that he wasn't alone. Eevee was his oldest companions but he still could count on these new ones. He finally reached the decision and looked up at Brock with a smile.

"Let's go, Pikachu!"

Red threw the pokeball into the air causing Pikachu to be released at the height of Onix's face. The mouse shot out a couple small sparks from its cheeks as it somersaulted. Onix moved slightly while looking at this acrobatic feat. He noticed a mischievous smile at Pikachu's face which to his surprise turned to a more pleasant one while the electric Pokemon landed on the ground. This, for some reason even he was unsure of, caused him to be more wary than he was previously.

"Why did he choose Pikachu?" Blue said under the nose.

She looked at Red. Even though his usual confidence returned, she suspected that it could be a facade. It seemed illogical to her that he would choose electricity over fire. While both of his Pokemon would be less effective against Onix, at least Charmander would have a bigger pool of moves to choose from. But Red thought this over and was sure that he made the right choice so she also decided to have faith in him.

"Before we continue, can I ask for one thing?"

Red's question surprised Brock but he was curious to see if this was part of some plan "Uuh, yeah. What is it?"

"Can you show us the badge that we are fighting for?"

"I know you're not trying to trick me, but I don't really see the point." answered the leader.

Nevertheless, he reached into his pocket, grabbed one of the couple of badges he always had prepared for the victorious challengers and showed it off to Red, making sure that the boy could see the front of it.

"How about it, Pikachu?"

"What?" Brock said in surprise.

After looking at the mouse Pokemon to understand what was happening, he felt shivers run through his body. Seeing the prize he was about to fight for, caused the electric Pokemon to show off a sinister expression, even more unsettling than the one he had shown to Onix. One would not expect to feel such a strong sense of greed from any being.

Brock quickly hid the badge as if he hoped that it would cause Pikachu to return to his cheery expression. It seemed to work to an extent. What was now painted on the Pokemon's face, resembled the same confidence that his trainer was exuding for a while.

"You saw that, Pikachu? Not only was that thing pretty, but it's also not something that just anybody can get. We agreed that you wouldn't steal anymore, but I'll let you touch it any time you want if we win this battle."

The Pokemon turned his head so that he could see his trainer with one eye and nodded while maintaining his confident smile.

"Okay. We have to be careful about that Bide move."

"Don't think that's the only tactic we have. Rock Tomb!"

Onix opened its mouth which shot out a boulder which grew in size as it was getting further from the Pokemon, and when it was about 2 meters in diameter it split into several smaller ones and they began to rain down on the arena.

"Avoid it with Quick Attack!"

Pikachu began zigzagging through the field, barely avoiding some of the boulders, not realizing that he was being led into a trap.

When the mouse was efficiently close to Onix's tail, Brock yelled out "Bind!"

The rock snake ensnared Pikachu with the end of his tail and began to tighten the grip when suddenly he stopped and his eyes became blank for a while. Pikachu took that chance to wiggle out and ran off to a safe distance.

"What happened?!" Brock was in shock.

Onix came back to his senses, and his trainer noticed that after a couple seconds, small traces of electricity flashed through the stone body.

"I guess you never met a trainer who thought about using an electric Pokemon against you. I got this device from Professor Oak..." Red said as he showed Brock the Pokedex "...and one of its useful functions is that it can tell you about a Pokemon's ability. Although electric attacks won't work on Onix, my Pikachu has an ability called "Static" which has a chance of paralyzing the opponent, even if it's a ground Pokemon."

"Is that why he chose Pikachu instead of Charmander?" pondered Blue.

"You're definitely one of the most interesting trainers I've faced."

"He didn't say that to me." the girl grumbled, unheard by the others.

"I didn't mention it before, but I also used Eevee's ability to my advantage." added Red.

"Don't think that this will stop us! Onix, use Screech!"

The rock Pokemon opened its mouth again, but this time instead of a boulder, he let out an agonizing sound which for a moment deafened both everyone besides itself and its trainer who covered his ears in time. Pikachu felt weaker after getting hit with this sound. He looked at his paws with a puzzled look, which gave Onix a chance to attack again.

"Rock Tomb!"

This time, the mouse Pokemon didn't manage to dodge the first of the falling boulders, which landed right next to him while hitting his face and knocking him into another one that just landed. The rest scattered around without damaging him, but now there was almost nowhere to move to. The spaces between boulders were too tight to fit and using Quick Attack on top of them could cause the loss of balance.

"Get on top of him!" ordered Red.

Pikachu listened to the command, and before the foe had a chance to react, he jumped onto his body and ran up it till he reached the head. Onix looked up in confusion.

"Play Nice!"

Pikachu smiled cheerfully at his opponent, and while the move lowered Onix's offensive abilities it also caused him discomfort instead of pleasure, since he already had preconceptions about the electric Pokemon's personality. Afraid of what hid behind that fake expression, Onix started to flail around in hope of throwing it off. Pikachu looked in his trainers direction while holding onto Onix's horn and after receiving a thumbs up gesture, he let go and smoothly landed on the railing of the balcony opposite of the one Blue was on.

"This is our chance! Use Rock Tomb!"

Onix shoot out a boulder at Pikachu. Since the target was closer, it didn't have time to split before hitting but the giant rock missed and indented itself into the railing, while Pikachu dodged to the side.

"Again! More to the left!"

Onix repeated the attack, and although the electric Pokemon managed to also avoid this one, he was now stuck between two rocks and a hard place. He still had some space to move but not enough to dodge the next attack.

"Rock Tomb one last time!"

"Iron Tail!"

Pikachu jumped towards the approaching attack and caused his tail to be covered in steel which allowed him to counterattack. The boulder was hit back straight into Onix's face. Parts of it were crushed but most reached the face of the rock Pokemon, causing him harm. While Onix wasn't overly hurt by that reversal, he lost sight of his foe as the crushed boulder produced a cloud of dust. Brock was staring up, trying to figure out what happened to Pikachu but when he finally managed to do it, it was too late.

"Iron Tail!"

The mouse Pokemon hitting the boulder was not only meant to cause damage to the opponent, but also to launch him even higher so that he could grab onto one of the sprinklers mentioned previously by the leader. When the first attack was done, Pikachu dove down while spinning to add more impetus to his attack. It was so strong that Onix's head plummeted to the ground, causing him to be hurt even more by the boulders already scattered on the field. Before he could realize what was happening, Pikachu jumped up and spun around to deliver a second blow with his tail. He was preparing to continue but was stopped by Brock's shout.

"Enough!"

Pikachu looked at Red and when the trainer nodded, he traversed the boulders to reach him. Brock used that time to walk over to Onix and caress his head.

"You did good, buddy." he praised him while returning him to the pokeball.

Next, the leader walked over to the challenger. Blue also left the balcony and was standing a little behind Red.

"I want to congratulate you and your Pokemon on winning this battle. As a reward, the Boulder badge is yours." Brock said as he handed over the proof of victory.

Red looked at it for a while before kneeling down so that Pikachu could also take it into its hands and feel the result of his hard work.

"I know that you will go on to achieve great things. Meanwhile, I will have to contact my cleaning crew and get this place cleaned up before the next challenger arrives."

Hearing those words, Red realized that there was no time to waste so he quickly said "Could you explain one thing before we leave?"

"Sure. What is it?"