Route 1 was a rather exciting experience for the three new Trainers. Green had left Red and Blue behind to train Charmander against wild Pokemon, though the other two quickly followed suit.
Green watched with calculating eyes as Charmander took down a wild Pidgey. “Good work, Charmander. Let’s find our next victim,” He said coolly. Green checked his PokeDex,
Hmm, Level 7…Charmander should be learning Ember soon…Green clicked away at a few buttons and brought up a screen of Route 1,
Apparently, Pidgey and Rattata are the only wild Pokemon on this route…He looked around and spotted a wild Rattata forging in the grass, oblivious to the presence of Green or his Pokemon.
“Charmander, Scratch!” Green commanded.The Charmander nodded and sped at the Rattata, scratching it from behind before it could react. “Good! Again!” Charmander scratched the mouse-like Pokemon again.
The Rattata fell with a cry. Green frowned, “Too weak. I’ll never get stronger at this rate…” he mumbled to himself. Charmander stared at his master, awaiting his next move. “Let’s head on to Viridian, Charmander.” Green walked down the dirt road that led from Pallet Town to Viridian City, Charmander following behind. As they walked, Green couldn’t help but think about his first match with Red. He was utterly shocked that he’d lost. He actually began doubting that he’d chosen the right Pokemon, but knew he had to keep pushing forward if he was going to beat Red.
Meanwhile, Blue and Red were training against wild Pokemon together. “Good job against that Pidgey, Blue!” Red praised her at her latest victory. Squirtle was a rather quiet and timid Pokemon, but it held its own well in battle. Red admired that.
“Thanks, Red!” Blue checked her PokeDex and jumped in glee, “Sweet! Blasty advanced to Level 7! Now he can use Bubble!” She petted Squirtle on the head, “Aren’t you a fast-learner?”
The Squirtle cried happily in response to its Trainer’s praise. Its tailed wagged back and forth.
Red looked at his own PokeDex and grinned, “Looks like my win against Green was well worth it! That, and those wild Pidgey and Rattata I defeated, elevated Saur’s Level to 8!” Bulbasaur was a few feet away, sniffing some flowers. Red called his Pokemon over and patted him on the head.
Blue looked in the direction of Viridian City and exclaimed, “Hey! I think we lost Green!”
“No worries, he probably went ahead to Viridian! Let’s go!”
Red and Blue, together with their Pokemon made their way to Viridian City, clueless of the small, pink Pokemon that was watching them from the skies above, curious as to what these Trainers would achieve on their journeys.
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“Ember, Charmander!” The Fire-type spewed out flames to finish off the opposing Meowth. The Pokemon fell in defeat with its Trainer in dismay.
“How could you? Poor Meowthy, let’s get you to the Pokemon Centre!” The young schoolgirl picked up her Meowth and ran off.
Green petted Charmander, “Good job, bud.” They were outside the Viridian Trainer School. He’d systematically defeated the Trainers in attendance, furthering his Charmander to the 9th level. “Let’s get you healed up at the Pokemon Centre and then we’ll see about taking on the Gym here in town.” Charmander nodded and followed Green to the Centre.
Inside were a number of Trainers with their Pokemon. Behind the counter was a young woman with red hair and wearing a nurse’s outfit. Beside her was an egg-shaped, pink Pokemon that Green had yet to encounter. He approached the counter and picked up Charmander, “Excuse me, could you heal up my Charmander, please?”
The nurse gave him a warm smile, “Why, of course. I’m Nurse Joy, by the way, and this,” she gestured towards the pink Pokemon, “Is my assistant, Chansey.”
“Chan-See!” It chirped in response. Nurse Joy giggled.
“Now, let’s have a look at your Charmander.” Nurse Joy began inspecting Charmander before moving aside, “Chansey, Softboiled, please.”
“Chan-See!” The Chansey removed the egg it held in its pouch, causing it to glow.
“Whoa,” Green muttered.
The Pokemon gave the egg to Charmander, who ate it whole and suddenly leapt up, “Char! Charmander!” It jumped up and down to show its full recovery.
“That’s amazing! Your Pokemon can heal other Pokemon?” Green asked Joy.
The nurse smiled and nodded, “Yes. Chansey is the only Pokemon who can learn the move Softboiled. It takes a fraction of Chansey’s health, and heals another Pokemon when it ingests one of Chansey’s eggs.”
“But, doesn’t that hurt Chansey?”
“Not really. Chansey are known to have a phenomenal amount of Health, so it’s no real worry. In cases like this, it’s easier to use Chansey’s healing abilities. If a Trainer comes in with more than one Pokemon, we usually just use the standard healing machines the centre has installed.”
Green nodded, “Thank you for explaining, Nurse Joy. I appreciate it.” Charmander hopped off the counter and tugged at Green’s pants.
“No problem, sir,” Nurse Joy replied. “Are you a new Trainer?”
“Yes. Two other Trainers and I just started our journeys today. We’re from Pallet Town.”
The nurse’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Oh? Those two others, did one wear a red and white cap? And was the other a girl with a Squirtle? They passed by a very short while ago. They said they were heading towards Route 22 to train their Pokemon.”
Green and Charmander exchanged a look, “Thank you for that information, Nurse Joy. I must be going now!” He ran out of the centre with Charmander following.
“Um, no…problem?” The nurse sighed, “New Trainers, always on the run…”
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On Route 22, Red and Blue were in the middle of an intense training session. “Saur! Tackle Squirtle!” Bulbasaur charged at Squirtle headlong, but Blue didn’t seem too worried.
“Blasty, hold your ground!” Blue commanded. To be honest, she was nervous. This was the first actual Pokemon battle she ever participated in and it was against Red! Bulbasaur hit Squirtle square in its chest, but the Water-Pokemon didn’t allow itself to be sent flying. “Good work, Blasty! Hit it with your own Tackle!” The Squirtle rammed its head into Bulbasaur’s, sending the Grass-Type backwards in a daze. “Nice hit!”
Red smiled, “Nice, Blue! But,” He twisted his cap backwards, exposing a tuft of spiky black hair, “You’ll have to do better! Saur, Tackle Squirtle, again!” The Bulbasaur ran forward and hit Squirtle again, this time succeeding in sending its target backwards. Red checked the PokeDex, “Hey, I say we stop for now! Saur’s at half-health and Squirtle’s close to fainting.” He was right, Squirtle was panting and looked exhausted. Bulbasaur was only slightly better off, but not by much.
Blue nodded, “Alright,” she pulled out Blasty’s Pokeball and clicked the button, “Return, Blasty!” The familiar red light and the Squirtle was back in its Pokeball. “Thanks for training with me, Red,” she said with a traditional bow.
Red returned the bow, “Same to you!”
“Hey, guys, done training already?”
The two Trainers turned to see Green approaching with his Charmander. Blue waved, “Hey, Green!”
Green gave a curt wave, “Hey. Nurse Joy said you two were out here training. I thought I’d come and join you.” Charmander nodded its agreement.
Red scratched the back of his head in an apologetic manner, “Sorry to disappoint you, Green, but we’re kinda done for now. Both our Pokemon are pretty pooped.”
Green dismissed Red’s comment with a chuckle, “Then how about we make things interesting?” The boy reached into his pocket and produced an empty Pokeball, “We’ll both catch a Pokemon on this Route and battle with those. Grandpa wants us to expand our horizons, right? What better way than with a new Pokemon?”
Red smirked, “Fine by me. Blue, you gonna compete too?”
The brunette smiled sweetly, “No thanks, guys. I think I’m gonna heal up Squirtle and keep going. You two have fun now!” She winked and gave the boys a peace sign before departing.
Red waved her off, “Good luck, Blue!” The girl waved back and kept going.
“Alright, let’s get started, Red,” Green said.
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The two boys decided to split up and search the Route for Pokemon to capture. Green was combing through the tall grass, but he and Charmander couldn’t find anything worth capturing, just Pidgey, Nidoran, and Rattata. “I guess we’ll have to settle for a Pidgey, huh, Charmander?” Green asked. Charmander, however, wasn’t paying attention. The Pokemon’s senses had picked up on another presence in the area. “Oh…?” The Trainer looked in the direction Charmander seemed to be fixated on. There, floating above the grass was a cat-like Pokemon. It was pink in color and had a long, thing tail. Green pulled out his PokeDex to identify the creature, careful not to make too much noise in case he spooked it.
“
DATA NOT FOUND. POKEMON IS NOT NATIVE TO KANTO,” the PokeDex beeped.
Not found in Kanto? Green was puzzled by this. Regardless, he’d capture this unknown Pokemon! “Charmander,” he whispered, “Try and sneak up on it and use Ember!” Charmander wagged its flaming tail to show it heard Green. Slowly, the lizard Pokemon inched closer to the strange, floating Pokemon. When it was close enough, Charmander jumped into the air and unleashed a flurry of flames at the Pokemon!
“Mew?” The Pokemon was caught off guard and was pelted by the flames, but it didn’t seem injured.
“Charmander, Scratch it!” Green commanded. Charmander leapt at the Pokemon and attempted to scratch it, only to be met with an invisible force that sent the Fire Pokemon backwards! “Charmander?!” Green ran towards his Pokemon only to find it knocked out!
“Char…” Green returned the Pokemon to its Pokeball and looked up to where the mysterious Pokemon had been, but it was gone!
“What the?” Green looked around frantically but the Pokemon was gone!
“Hey, Green! Catch a Pokemon yet?” Red asked. He walked over to Green and noticed his knocked out Charmander, “Whoa! What happened?” He knelt down in genuine concern for the injured Pokemon.
Green rose to his feet, “Don’t worry about it. Just answer one question for me: Did you see a strange Pokemon a moment ago?”
Red looked confused, “A strange Pokemon? No, not that I can recall…” He suddenly became very excited, “Why? Did you see a cool Pokemon or something? Is that what caused Charmander to pass out?” He looked at Green with excitement in his crimson eyes.
Green scoffed, “Hold your Ponyta, Red. The Pokemon I saw,” he began to explain, “Wasn’t identified by the PokeDex…I don’t know what it was…” The spiky-haired boy kicked at the ground, “I was foolish to think I could take it on without knowing what the Pokemon was…Charmander suffered because of my stupidity…” He reached into his pocket and withdrew Charmander’s Pokeball, “I have to get him to a Centre immediately. Sorry, Red, but I gotta go.” Green ran off, in a hurry to heal his only Pokemon.
Red sighed, a bit crestfallen that Green couldn’t stick around to see his new Pokemon. The black-haired boy pressed the button on the Pokeball in his hand and out came a small, yellow, mouse-like Pokemon.
“Pikachu!” It said upon being let out. It had red circles on its cheeks and its tail was shaped like a thunderbolt. The Pokemon looked at Red and tilted its head slightly, “Pika?”
Red petted the Pikachu on its head, “Sorry, Pika, but I guess your battle with Green will have to wait for another day.” The Trainer looked up towards the sky and muttered to himself, “I wonder what Pokemon Green saw…” He then turned and started walking towards Viridian City with Pikachu following close behind. “I heard that there are a lot of Pokemon in Viridian Forest, Pika. You wanna go and check ‘em out?”
“Pika-pi!” The Pokemon responded.
Meanwhile, in the sky above Route 22, Mew let down its protective barrier. The pink Pokemon looked on with aqua eyes as Red and Pika walked off.
“Mew?”
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Next Time!:
Chapter 2: Shady Encounters in Viridian Forest!
Red, Green, and Blue have all advanced towards Viridian Forest to capture and train their Pokemon! Red comes across a group of strange individuals dressed in black with red "R"s on their shirts. What could they be up to? Meanwhile, Blue tries to train Squirtle, but could she really make it as a Trainer? And, as for Green, he's trying to find the strongest Pokemon he can to crush Red in their next battle!