Episode 3: Mankey the thief!
By the time the sun was setting, they finally could see the edge of Viridian City. Exhausted from walking nearly all day, they decided to head to the nearby pokémon center to sit down and have something to eat. Earlier in the day, Niko send out bulbasaur again to walk alongside them, so that it could also see the world around it. Fay and JJ did the same, with JJ holding eevee in his arms instead of having it walk all the time. While they were eating they decided to let their pokémon take a rest in the beds that the pokémon center provided free of charge.
"So uh Fay, when should we reach Pewter City at the rate that we're going?" JJ asked Fay and Niko, who were sitting on the other side of the table, in between bites of a burger.
"Well we only have to pass through the Viridian Forest and then Pewter City is just a little bit further than that. I'd say half a day at that point," Fay said, pulling out his map of the Kanto region. He nodded again to confirm what he had just said. "Yeah, we'll reach it tomorrow night or the following afternoon, depending on how long it takes to get through the forest."
"I've heard that the Viridian Forest is pretty dense, and it's really easy to get lost," Niko piped in. "At least, that's what my dad told me. He spent a lot of times studying in there."
"Well…then we'll reach Pewter City the day after tomorrow," Fay said with a chuckle. "Gives us plenty of time to prepare for the gym battle against Brock."
"Speaking of which," JJ said, "do we even know what type of pokémon Brock uses?" Fay and Niko looked at other, a little confused. Fay shook his head and Niko shrugged his shoulders.
"Dunno. Is there any way we can look it up?" Niko asked.
The three trainers looked at each other, then Fay got up and walked over to the resident Nurse Joy if she knew. She handed him a pamphlet with a smile, and Fay walked back over a minute later.
"Look what I got" he opened up the pamphlet with an eager smile, as if he had discovered gold. Niko leaned over to take a look at it. JJ got out of his seat and leaned over Fay's shoulder. They perused the pamphlet until they got to the section on gym leaders. It had a short profile of each leader, including their city of residence, their type specialty, and other pieces of biographical information. However, it left out the exact pokémon that they used.
"So here's Brock's information." Fay said, pointing to the first gym leader. "It says he is originally from Pewter City, is the son and grandson of former gym leaders of Pewter City, and uses rock types. He's also referred to as Brock Jr."
"Hmm…rock types, eh? So…what would be useful against them?" Niko wondered.
"Grass types, actually. And water types," Fay responded. "So only you have an advantage against Brock, Niko."
"Well that's nice! Guess I'm off to a good start then!" Niko smiled. "I just need to learn more about bulbasaur first, and I think I can beat him!"
"He is a gym leader after all, it won't be easy," Fay looked at him. "But you're right. At least you have an advantage. I'm not sure how I'll beat him with Charmander."
"All I have is an eevee! How am I going to beat him?" JJ piped in.
"Oh yeah…" Fay chuckled. "Normal types don't do any damage to rock types," he said to a rather disappointed JJ. He put his hand on JJ's shoulder. "But you'll find a way, buddy," he smiled. JJ returned the smile.
"We should probably get to bed guys," Niko said, down on his knee patting bulbasaur's bulb. "We have a long day of travelling ahead of us."
Fay and JJ got up from their table and returned their pokémon to their pokéballs, and the three boys went to an empty dorm room in the pokémon center, again free of charge. After another half hour of talking, they all fell asleep.
Fay was the first to wake up, already out and about by the time Niko began to stir. When the latter got out of bed he noticed Fay was already outside training with charmander. It will be difficult for him to fight Brock, so I'm glad he is taking some time to get to know his pokémon a little more. Niko then turned back to the room, only to see JJ getting up. He was clearly not a morning riser, based on how he looked.
"Wha-what's up Niko?" JJ responded in a groggy voice.
"Heh, morning JJ. Sleep well?"
"Yeah I guess so. It's weird waking up in a bed you don't recognize," JJ said. He was right. It was a little odd for Niko as well. He hadn't left home before, not even for vacations, and so he was very much used to the bed he has had for pretty much his whole life. "Anyways, where's Fay?"
"Outside training with charmander."
"Ah yeah, he's gonna have a hard time. I should probably go and train with eevee as well," JJ got up and went to the bathroom to change clothes. When he got out Niko was already packing their backpacks and was ready to go. The two boys grabbed Fay's backpack and walked outside to meet with him.
Fay was jumping back and forth with his pokémon. He looked up and noticed his friends walking over to him, and he stopped, instructing charmander to continue with their exercise.
"Morning guys, what's up?"
"Not much Fay, what are you uh doing?" JJ asked, looking over at charmander.
"Exercises to increase his speed and allow it to dodge easier. That'll make it easy to get around rock type moves," Fay responded, looking over at his little lizard pokémon. Niko was amazed at how ready Fay seemed to be. If he kept this up he might actually stand a chance against Brock.
He put down his backpack and sent out his pokémon. "Alright bulbasaur, let's do some training!"
The seed pokémon yawned as it exited its pokéball and looked up at Niko. Its trainer then asked it to use vine whip, in order to see how powerful it was. Bulbasaur then released two vines from each side of its bulb and whipped them in the air. Niko smiled, and asked it to try again. Bulbasaur responded with yet another vine whip, and kept swinging the green vines back and forth, presumably to get a better feel for how they move around and with how much force.
While they were doing this JJ sent out eevee to watch the other two. He didn't know what eevee could do, and while he was pondering this eevee started jumping back and forth like charmander. "That's perfect, eevee! Let's do what Fay and charmander are doing, since we'll also have a tough time with Brock," JJ responded happily. In the corner of his eye he noticed something crawling towards his backpack. As he quickly turned around he noticed a furry little creature rummaging through his stuff. "Hey! What're you doing?" JJ yelled, running over to his backpack. The creature looked up and jumped at JJ with a glowing arm. It then punched him in the stomach and ran out off ahead of him.
"Charmander, use ember on that pokémon!" Fay ordered. His pokémon released a small flame from its mouth in the direction of the mysterious pokémon, who then turned around and stared at charmander with a sandwich in its mouth. After a moment of the two pokémon staring each other down, the thief then ran off into the city.
"What was that?" JJ asked, a little disappointed that his lunch had been taken.
"It's a mankey," Niko said, pulling out his pokédex. He showed his friends the pokédex entry for mankey.
"Mankey, the pig monkey pokémon. An agile Pokémon that lives in trees. It angers easily and will not hesitate to attack anything."
"That's it," Fay looked up in the direction mankey ran in, "I'm catching it. That's probably the little bastard that stole from us yesterday. It also looks like a fighting type, and that's effective against rock types. Let's go guys," he said, motioning to Niko and JJ as he walked into the city.
For not being a major city in the Kanto region, Viridian City was pretty nice looking. There was a farmer's market going on the day the boys were in town, and so as they were looking for mankey, they also decided to stock up on some fresh food for their journey. While Niko was grabbing some berries, he saw a flash of light brown jump onto the berry cart and then smack him in the face. He fell back onto the ground, berries spilling everywhere. Still dazed from the surprise attack, he looked up and saw mankey grabbing as many berries as he could hold and then leap off the cart and run into a nearby alleyway.
"Fay! Fay! I found it!" Niko yelled as he got back onto his feet. Fay, who was just a few carts down, responded by giving his food to JJ and quickly asking him to pay for it.
"Don't worry JJ I'll pay you back later. I've gotta catch this!" He said, running towards the alleyway that Niko was pointing to. JJ sighed and then pulled out some cash. Fay stopped midway through the alley as he spotted mankey rummaging through its loot. Niko stopped right behind him. "Charmander, I choose you! Let's get this mankey!"
"Chaaaar!" Fay's pokémon responded as it exited its pokéball. It stared down the pig monkey pokémon as mankey returned the glare.
"Let's start off with an ember attack!" Charmander released a little ball of fire in the direction of mankey, who dodged and then ran right at Charmander with a glowing fist. "Dodge it, just like we practiced earlier!" Charmander tried to dodge, but mankey was faster, and jabbed charmander in the side. The lizard pokémon fell to the side, only to release another ember right in mankey's face. The pig monkey, now very clearly angry, began a series of jabs in charmander's direction. The first few hit Fay's pokémon in the stomach, but eventually charmander was able to dodge them. "Alright, now use tackle! Grab mankey and run into the wall over there!" Fay said, pointing to the side of the alley. Charmander ducked its head and ran into mankey, arms stretched outwards as it slammed into mankey, pushing it into a wall.
Mankey returned the tackle by shoving charmander backwards and kicking it in the side with its right foot, which was also glowing. It then jumped into the air and, with its foot glowing, began to slam down onto charmander.
"Roll to the side and dodge it!" Fay commanded. "Then use ember!" As mankey descended onto his pokémon, charmander rolled away and then released as little flame as mankey slammed into the ground. Now dazed, Fay reached into his backpack and pulled out a pokéball. "Alright mankey, I'm going to catch you!" Fay threw the pokéball at mankey, who went into the ball. It wiggled a couple of times before ultimately sitting still after making a clicking sound. Fay picked up the pokéball containing his new mankey. "Excellent!"
"Great job Fay! Now you'll definitely beat Brock!" Niko said, patting his friend on the back. "And we also don't have to worry about it stealing our food anymore." Fay smiled as he looked at his new pokémon.
"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" JJ said as he stood at the entrance of the alley, hands on his knees and panting. Fay and Niko looked over at him.
"Fay just caught the mankey. It was such an exciting battle!" Niko exclaimed.
"Chaaar!" Charmander yelled excitedly. Fay looked at him, and got down onto his knees to pat it on the head.
"You did a great job Charmander. Your dodging skills are getting better!" Charmander smiled as Fay returned to his pokéball. "Now, let's get back to the pokémon center. I need to heal these guys up. Niko and JJ nodded as the three walked back through Viridian City the way they came.
