As Red and Tesla headed north from their home, Red was rummaging through his backpack, making sure he had what he was looking for… if he didn't forget it… his map.
"~pika?~" Don't you already know where to go? asked Tesla, walking beside him. Tesla's pokeball was nestled somewhere in Red's backpack, and he felt no need to recall his partner. If they were jumped by a wild pokemon, it'd be better if Tesla were already out and ready to go. Well, as ready to go as Tesla ever was.
"Just making sure we can still get to Pewter before nightfall. I'd rather not camp in the Viridian Forest." The two of them had heard stories of trainers getting lost in those woods, and didn't want to join them in case they were true. "Hm… Well let's get on Route 1 first, before we do anything else."
"~pikapi~" You mean, you do anything else.
Red chuckled, and the two dashed into the tall grass at the edge of Pallet Town.
Minutes later, they entered Route 1.
There isn't much to say about Route 1 – a short path connecting Viridian and Pallet with occasional patches of tall grass. As Red was messing around with his pokedex earlier, he saw that both rattata and pidgey made their home here, so he resolved to catch one of each before reaching Viridian. Shouldn't take too long considering how common they both are.
"C'mon Tesla! We need to do some searching." The two walked into tall grass again… and Red saw from the corner of his eye, a man standing around on the winding dirt path that spanned Route 1. Red didn't know if the man was a trainer, so he ignored the guy. Said guy stood tall, wearing an apron, looking around.
Moments later, he spotted movement at the other end of the tall grass and bits of purple contrasting with the green. This must be a pack of rattata, he figured. They startle easily and are more likely to run from a trainer than engage one. Sneak up on them? Yes, that's how they'd have to do this. Red kneeled down to whisper directly in Tesla's ear.
"You see them, too?"
"~pikapi~" Yeah. I think I should use Thunder Wave.
"Go for it." Red rummaged thru his bag as quietly as possible while Tesla gathered electricity. The sparks made faint static sounds, but the purple patch didn't seem too worried about them – perhaps they couldn't tell what it was or hear that faint chirping at all.
"Now!" Red stood up.
Waves of electricity rolled from Tesla's body towards the purple patch.
Ears swiveled towards the source, along with red eyes.
They raced away, as Red expected, and out of the grass. Tesla fired Thundershocks at them, missing just about all of them, and the rattata escaped.
"~pi…pika~" Well… that was disappointing.
The duo sighed, and something about their sighing must have caught the eye of that guy standing around, because he walked up to them.
"Hey, did you just start your training journey?" the older, brown-haired man asked.
"Is it that obvious?"
The man chuckled. "Oh, cheer up. You'll just get better from mishaps like that. Anyway, I work for the PokeMart in Viridian, and we're giving out a free potion to new trainers." He handed Red a potion, which Red accepted gratefully. "Good luck!" He then ran back to his workplace, knowing that the only other trainer he'd seen on this route had already received one.
"What a nice man," said Red while stowing away the potion. "I'll have to stop by that mart before leaving Viridian."
He smiled. "Now then… back to pokemon catching!"
Red and Tesla spent the next half-hour trying (and failing) to catch even one rattata. No matter what they tried, the small and quick rodents always managed to slip away just before Red could call out any Thundershocks.
At one point, they were in the middle of another failure, and Red decided to just lob a pokeball at the pack even though they weren't injured. He knew it wouldn't work – a pokemon aware that someone was trying to catch it could easily break out at full strength – but maybe he would get lucky.
And he did.
That pack veered off course as soon as he said "pokeball go!" but directly in front of them, minding its own business, was another one of their kind foraging. The pokeball hit that one straight on – one shake, two shakes, three shakes, congratulations! You caught a rattata!
Red blinked. Tesla blinked. "Didn't see that coming." He walked over, picked up the ball, and pressed the sole button on its body. The ball split open on a back hinge, and a red beam shot out of its darkness, re-forming the same rattata.
The rattata blinked. "~rata?~" What just happened?
Tesla trotted over to the new catch. "~pikapika!~" Welcome to the party! My trainer just captured you.
"~ra~" Oh.
A pause. Red began messing around with his pokedex again.
"~ratta! ratarata?~" What! What do you mean by that?
"~pikaka…~" Well, you'll be coming along with us on a journey as Red tries to become a Pokemon Master. Or something like that. I might have slept through that part...
The rattata shook its head. "~ratatata!~" But I don't want to leave here! The other grassy places are dangerous!
Tesla sighed. "~pika…~" Alright, look here… It would be a pain, but it seemed that he would need to talk this one into staying on with them. Well, rattata weren't inclined to fighting unless they had to – being a formerly wild pokemon, he understood that mentality. But it wouldn't help now.
"~pikapika…pikapika!~" You won't be alone, alright? You have me, Red and all the other pokemon who'll be joining us on Red's stupid journey. (The rattata chuckled at that.) He patted the rattata on the head. So relax! You'll be fine with us.
The rattata didn't say anything. Tesla turned to his first partner. "~pikapi~" What are you doing with that thing, anyway?
Red didn't turn away from the small screen. "Just looking for something. It's a feature Oak mentioned while he was healing you… Ah, here it is. 'trainer's pokemon'" He turned to Tesla and pointed the 'dex at him and at his new pokemon. He began to read off the screen in bits and pieces.
"Let's see… Tesla; male; level 10 pikachu; knows Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Growl, Tail Whip; Static ability… and it has your stats, weakness, resistances, move list, egg group and a whole bunch of other stuff too… Next entry… Unnamed rattata; female; level 4; knows Tackle, Tail Whip and Quick Attack; Run Away ability… well that last one's not helpful, but no matter! You need a name…" Red put a hand to his chin.
The rattata stepped towards Red slowly. "~ra?~" A name?
"Yeah. Something to call you… how about Kora?"
She seemed okay with it, as far as Red could tell. So, that would be the rattata's name from now on, and he entered it into the pokedex (which also maintained a connection to Oak's registry of pokemon trainers, apparently) as such.
Welcome to the team, Kora! But she still seemed apprehensive…
Thinking that the wild pokemon would be stronger on Route 2 and in the Viridian Forest (and knowing that he still had a way to go until he could even think about taking on the Pewter City Gym), he decided to level up Kora a bit before heading on Viridian. It went about as well as one might expect, given how timid the rattata was and how non-confrontational most of the wild pokemon were. An hour later, Kora had gained only enough experience to go up a level and a half. (To the side, Tesla was asleep.)
Red sighed. Even the pidgey, while not quite as aggressive as gyarados or ursaring, didn't seem up to battling. And they still needed to hurry on along, or risk having to spend the night in the Viridian Forest.
"~rarata…~" I don't think this is working… commented Kora. She hadn't completely warmed up to the whole being taken from her home and dragged along on a(n epic) journey, but was starting to get the hang of this whole 'battle' thing. It wasn't as bad as she was expecting, and tried not to wonder about whether things were going to get better or worse from here on.
Relax! You'll be fine with us. She'd like to believe that.
"Yeah, I'm starting to agree. We should he…" Red began before being interrupted by sharp chirping coming from a patch of nearby trees. He started looking around for the source, but noticed that Tesla (who was now awake) and Kora had already located it, thanks to their sharper ears. Red turned to that tree and something quickly flew out of it.
It was a pidgey, flying directly at them. And unlike normal pidgey, the brown feathers it should have had were replaced with dull golden ones instead. Red saw none of the annoyance in its eyes that he noticed with the other pidgey they had encountered, but instead something closer to confidence. Red didn't know what should be more surprising: that he'd run into a shiny pokemon so early on in his journey or that it was attacking them.
Because the pidgey was gunning straight for Tesla. As soon as the pikachu realized that the bird was going to Tackle him, not just flying low for some other reason, he jumped out of the pidgey's path about five seconds before impact.
"~pikapi?~" What the hell? he asked.
"~pidgpidg!~" Have at you! replied the small bird pokemon as he kept throwing out attacks at Tesla (and occasionally Kora, but not as often). Red pulled out his pokedex and tried to consult it, a difficult task when the subject kept flying around. At the same time, he commanded his two party members.
"Tesla, use Thundershock! Kora, wait until Tesla gets a hit to use an attack!" Tesla complied by sending out bolts randomly hoping to just catch the annoying bird in one, but said bird skillfully avoided them. But they did slow him down enough so that Red could get a reading.
"A level 9? On Route 1? And a shiny pidgey at that!" He put the Pokedex in a back pocket. That settled things. He had to catch this pidgey. The rest of their travels would go so much smoother if he did. And there was the whole 'shiny' aspect too, can't forget that.
"~rata?~" Did he just say a level 9? exclaimed Kora, while keeping away from both the Thundershocks and the Tackles. Tesla was being awfully inconsiderate of her position for some reason.
Tesla grimaced. Well, that explained a few things about this whole scenario. He supposed that now Red would want to catch the pidgey, and he had no problems helping there. The blasted bird (who still won't get hit!) had interrupted his nap and needed to be punished.
"~pikaaaa… pipipika!~" Doesn't matter… I have the type advantage! The pikachu chuckled wickedly and Kora stepped further away from him.
"Kora, use Quick Attack! Tesla, switch roles!" Red called to his two teammates. Kora wasn't sure what doing that was supposed to do, but she did it anyway, noticing that Tesla had ended the light(ning) show. She began running at the pidgey faster than the pidgey was flying. The bird noticed her and sped up; so did she.
The bird made a wide turn; she made a sharp pass and cut him off, striking true… and sending him directly towards Tesla. The pikachu was grinning wickedly and had one paw in the other, electricity sparking wildly from his cheeks.
"~piiii… pipikapi?~" Sooo… interrupt my nap, will you? More electricity.
The pidgey's eyes widened, and he flailed his body around to regain control and not get anywhere near the malicious electric mouse, succeeded and was promptly struck in the back by another Quick Attack from the rattata. The pidgey landed hard on the ground, but quickly rebounded.
"~pipiiiiiiiiidg!~" Take thiiiiiiiiiiiis! The pidgey yelled as he lunged straight at the rattata for another Tackle, and was so distracted by that, he didn't notice the pokeball headed straight for his head until it was too late.
Not.
With a back-winged motion, the pidgey sent out a Gust at the pokeball, preventing it from reaching him, but not Kora from hitting him with yet another Quick Attack. Disoriented from those three hits, he didn't block the next pokeball.
"Alright!" Red walked over to pick up the pokeball, and also patted Kora on her head. "Good job, Kora. Now then, back to training!"
Kora's mood dropped a bit, then rose again when she realized that she had taken on a stronger pokemon essentially by herself (Tesla's help was mainly psychological) and won. The next hour seemed to breeze by (especially for Tesla who went back to sleep) and the two were much more successful in raising her level. She reached level 9 and the three of them went into Viridian, now avoiding the few encounters they had.
As he said, the second thing Red did upon entering Viridian City was enter the Poke Mart. The shop looked just the same as any other small general store, but there was one crucial difference: this shop sold only supplies for pokemon trainers – both hobbyists and wanderers. The brown-haired apron-wearing assistant saw Red as he walked in. So did the man at the register.
"Hello there!" "Oh, it's you! Welcome!" they said at about the same time.
The cashier turned to the other man and began talking, as Red began looking around the shelves for items to buy on his limited budget.
"You know that kid?" the cashier leaned on the counter, chin in hand.
"Yeah, he's a newbie. Gave him a potion, like I said. Just like that other kid, he came here."
The cashier chuckled softly. "Alright, I admit it. That was a good idea. That Blue kid spent a whole lot here, and now with this kid…"
Red interrupted them from the end of an aisle of plenty. "Blue was here?" He stepped out, holding a few potions and pokeballs.
"Brown spiky hair, about your height with an Eevee?"
Red nodded.
"Yep, that's the one. He looked in a rush – probably halfway to Pewter City with that bike of his. Wonder why he's in a rush?"
"He was always like that." Red put down six potions and three pokeballs on the counter. "We're rivals, so he wants to keep ahead of me. But I don't have a bike…"
The cashier began ringing in the items. 2400 poke-dollars total.
His assistant spoke up. "I hear there's a bike shop over in Cerulean. Might want to check them out. You should take on some trainers beforehand though, they're expensive."
"Sure you don't want any antidotes?" asked the cashier, now done with his task. "They'll be pretty useful in the forest up north, what with all the weedle and beedrill up there. Can't expect the pidgeotto to take care of them all for ya!"
Red wavered. Yes, he would probably need one or two while running the Viridian Forest, trying to find the northern exit, but he did still need to eat before he left – and feed his pokemon, including the mankey he needed to catch on Route 22 to take on Brock's team.
The two could see his wavering as he closed his eyes in thought. The cashier interrupted him. "Tell ya what, take one or two on the house – I'm feeling nice today. But you better go on and beat your friend in whatever you're doing, all right?"
Red promised and left with those two antidotes, thinking they'd come in handy later.
Route 22 was another one of those short paths between two far more important locales – Viridian City and the gate to the Indigo Plateau (including the Kanto/Johto Victory Road). Immediately to the north of the route were rocky outcroppings which grew higher and higher – eventually into the mountains forming the boundary between the two regions, the one the Indigo Plateau straddled.
The route itself was rough and sloped up to the west towards the gate. It held a few patches of tall grass and a small lake near Viridian, but the grass became rougher and shorter towards the mountains. But even with that roughness, Red could see the few wild pokemon that made this route their home moving about: spearow and rattata in the grass, mankey in the trees.
At the level these mankey were at, the only move they knew he felt he should worry about was Karate Chop. Kora should be able to handle this without Tesla's help.
He released Kora from her pokeball. She looked around at the route (swiveling her ears to take in the sounds) and then at Red.
"~rara?~" More training?
Red shook his head. "We need to catch a mankey to take on the Pewter City gym. See them up there?" He pointed at one of the trees, where several mankey were swinging around and resting – small white-furred pig-nosed red-eyed monkey pokemon. Kora nodded. The duo looked and wandered around to find one alone, locating a strong-looking (relatively) one by the small lake. Kora snuck up on him (according to the 'dex) while Red kept a bit of distance.
Eventually, the mankey heard them. Red accidently stepped on a branch, and he turned in their direction. Seemingly enraged by this, the mankey rushed at Kora with intent to use Karate Chop, screaming. Kora responded by… running away from the mankey, led by fear.
Red sighed. Well, he should have expected that reaction. "Kora, use Quick Attack! Hit him before he hits you!"
She turned, Red's call reminding her of what they were there to do, and dashed back at the mankey. Said mankey became even more enraged at the audacity of this rattata to try and fight it head on. "~keeeeeeeeey!~" Youuuuuuuuuu!
But due to Kora's smaller size, she got away from the chop and hit him. She ran away again from the further enraged pokemon, now very much distracted from Red and the pokeball thrown at him. The ball hit him on the side of his head, and he didn't even react before he was captured.
One shake, two, three… Success!
Red walked over to the pokeball, picked it up and began walking back to Viridian. "I'll train you in the Forest… Shouldn't take too long to get through it."
…
