FIRST QUEST
"I got a pokemon! Yay!" Rikkel fistpumped the air. Her new charmander waved its arms happily, eyes sparkling with delight.
"Wait a moment," Oak said in a tone that made Rikkel pause with her foot in the doorway.
"What?" she demanded, turning in unison with her charmander to face him.
"I need you to do me a favor before you can begin your pokemon journey."
"But Professor, I just got my pokemon…" Rikkel waved a hand at her charmander. "Char!" exclaimed the pokemon.
"Precisely, now you can leave Pallet Town safely. You see, the nearest pizza place is in Viridian City. I phoned them right before you arrived. Now I need you to go get it and bring it here."
Rikkel was not enthused. "You want me to what now?" she grumbled.
Oak shoo'd them out the door. "Hurry! Before it gets cold!"
"Ack!" Rikkel stumbled and before she could turn around to give Oak a piece of her mind, the lab doors closed.
Rikkel glowered at the door until her pokemon tugged on the edge of her shirt. "Char…"
"Right, you're right. Okay, let's get this over with." Digging through her backpack, Rikkel found her old map of the region. She had it with her because her mother told her to carry it in case she got lost. That had not happened yet.
"Let's see…" Rikkel muttered, unrolling the map on the ground for the pokemon to see. She pointed her finger on the map. "Here we are. And…" She slid her finger to Viridian City. "…That's where we need to go."
With a shrug, she rolled the map back up and stuffed it into her bag. "It takes fifteen minutes for them to make a pizza right?" she asked charmander.
"Char!" The pokemon elaborated by waving its arms.
"Sometimes thirty? Well, we had best be going."
A small forest path was all that led to Viridian City from Pallet Town, and if Rikkel remembered correctly, it was full of tall grass and ledges.
"I bet he doesn't want to pay the delivery cost on pizza…" Rikkel muttered as they shoved their way through tall grass.
The grass beside them rustled and a rattata scurried across their path. It paused for a moment, its nose twitching. Then it bared its fangs and lunged at charmander. The scuffle ended quickly with charmander chasing the rat pokemon off, and the pair continued on their merry way.
Two unconscious rattatas and a stunned pidgey later found the pair standing at the edge of Viridian City. Compared to Pallet Town, Viridian City was a bustling metropolis. Rikkel and charmander passed several houses before stumbling upon the market. People waved and greeted her as they strolled by. Down the street they could see the pokecenter and the pizza parlor beside it.
"Char! Char!" Pointed her charmander excitedly.
Together they broke into a sprint for the last fifty or so feet. They skidded to a halt outside the door and Rikkel yanked it open. Her charmander ran up to the counter and tried to get the attention of the clerk behind the counter. Sadly, her pokemon was too short. Its front claws could barely scrape the top of the counter when the pokemon stood on its tiptoes.
"Hi, I'm here to pick up a pizza for Oak," Rikkel told the man while leaning on the counter.
"One anchovy and pineapple pizza, I got it right here," he said, pulling a box out from behind the counter. Rikkel let the wave of revulsion cross over her face as she accepted the box.
"Thanks," she muttered.
"Have a good day!" he called after them.
"You know," Rikkel said to charmander as the door closed behind them. "I was going to suggest that we try some of the pizza…"
"Char…" the fire pokemon made a noise of sympathy and trudged beside her.
"Oh well, at least we have his pizza." Hurray for us.
They left Viridian City towards Pallet Town. Just as they reached the first patch of grass, Rikkel commented, "I hope this does not attract wild pokemon."
Her charmander nodded in agreement. Just then a slavering rattata leapt out of the grass.
"Tackle it charmander!" Rikkel yelled, holding the pizza high above her head.
She heard a screech and whipped her head around to see a pidgey swooping in. With a scream, Rikkel ducked, tucking the pizza box under her arm. Her charmander was still wrestling with the rattata, so Rikkel was on her own. The sound of wings filled the air and Rikkel turned to see more pidgey streaking toward her.
"Charmander!" she called when two more rattata sprang from the grass. "We're running!"
Holding the box high, Rikkel ran screaming through the forest with all number of pokemon chasing after.
She and charmander dragged themselves to the door of Oak's Lab. Dirty, bruised, and sweaty they burst through the doors and fell in a pile on the floor.
"My pizza!" Oak cried, rushing forward. He picked up the box from her slack fingers and immediately flipped the lid back to inhale the odor.
"Ungh…" Rikkel groaned, her face squashed against the cool tile. While Oak munched on his anchovy and nasty pizza, Rikkel slowly pushed herself to her knees. Charmander leaned against her, panting.
"Good job!" the professor commended them cheerfully between bites of pizza. "Now, before I give you your pokedex I need you to…"
Rikkel felt her charmander's breath catch and she felt her own heart sink.