"Yo! You can't jam out if you're a Pokémon trainer!" a different yet weirdly identical bug catcher cried. "What? What are you talking about, kid?" Natalia asked, hand on Gina's Poké Ball.
"First of all, my name's Doug, and second, let's battle!" he answered. I still don't know what he means, but OK, Natalia thought. "Weedle, I choose you!" "Gina, go!" She checked Dex's Battle Monitor, and saw that Doug's Weedle was level seven. Huh. Pretty sure it should've evolved by now…
"Poison Sting!" Gina had been injured from earlier fights, so the damage—all three points of it—was a bit more worrying. Scratch didn't do much either. "Gina, return," Natalia said. She picked Flint's ball from the end of her belt and threw it. Doug blinked when he saw the Charmander emerge. "Weedle, String Shot!" Fine silk shot from Weedle's mouth and wrapped around Flint's limbs.
Natalia smirked. "Flint, let's try out your Ember!" Flint nodded, but Weedle got him right in the gut with its horn before he could. "Flint is now poisoned," Dex beeped. Flint opened his mouth and shot a series of small flames at his opponent. "It's super effective! Nicely done!" Weedle collapsed. "Dang it," Doug muttered. "Other Weedle!" This one met the same fate as his first, though Flint was getting tired by now (and level eight).
"Flint, return," Natalia said. "Char," Flint commented before dissolving into red light. "Lucy, I choose you!" she called.
"Kakuna, you're up!" Doug replied, looking nervous. Lucy twittered when she saw her opponent. "Peck!" This one almost took Kakuna out in one hit. "A critical hit and super effective!" Dex beeped. "Kakuna, Harden." The yellow cocoon/chrysalis/whatever closed its eyes and suddenly appeared stiffer and shinier.
"One more time, Lucy!" She expertly flew in and upended the Kakuna with her beak. "Lucy grew to level seven and learned Leer!" Dex informed her. "Ran out of Pokémon," Doug griped, handing her 84 Poké. She cured Flint and restored his and Gina's health, leaving her with a Potion, an Antidote, and those Parlyz Heals. A bit farther down the path, she picked up an extra Antidote. I hope I can get through the forest soon.
She avoided another one (God, the forest was full of bug catchers!) by taking a shortcut that was mostly long grass. In the middle of the path it intersected (also very grassy), a level three Weedle jumped out at her. Or, well, tried to: you know what I mean. "Get it, Gina!" Two Scratches later, Weedle was hers.
"*beep* Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon," Dex stated. "Often found in forests and grasslands. It has a sharp, toxic barb of around two inches in its head. Give Weedle a nickname?" She decided on the somewhat random name "Carla." "Initiating transfer to PC storage network," the machine informed her. Carla's Poké Ball glowed white, then simply vanished. "*beep* Transfer complete. Carla was placed in Box 1. You can access your stored Pokémon from any PC. Use your Trainer ID as the passcode." Oh, right, you can only have six Pokémon with you at a time, Natalia remembered.
The path she was on was refreshingly simple—no side paths, and a predictable curve. At the top of it, she noticed yet another bug catcher staring intently at a tree. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "What's so interesting about the tree?" she asked.
"No idea. I'm Charlie, let's battle!" This fight was unremarkable once she sent in Flint—his two Metapod only appeared to know Harden, and his Caterpie was just too easy. At the end of the fight, Flint was level ten and feeling great! Natalia headed down the path, then…
"Pika pi?" A Pikachu was staring at her. She knew they were really rare in this area and in general, but having an Electric-type wouldn't help against the first Gym [a/n: because everyone and their mother knows that the first gym almost always uses Rock/Ground-types]. Regretfully, she patted the yellow mouse on the head and walked away.
The part of the curving path she was currently on branched off ever so slightly, into a square glade with flowers and a Potion. "I wonder how these items get here," Natalia mused aloud, placing the purple squirt bottle in her bag. "The sign says to watch out for dropped items, but who in their right mind would drop medicine?"
She headed on up what she hoped was the last part of the path. On the way up, the umpteenth bug catcher intercepted her. He only had a Weedle, but it was level nine, so she wasn't sure whether to be worried or not. The fight went much the same as the others had, except that Flint didn't save the day this time; Lucy did, even though she got poisoned.
Natalia cured Lucy, then walked onward and saw a gatehouse. To her great delight, this meant that she was indeed at the last part of the path. "I am never going there again without very good reason," she vowed, stepping into the gatehouse. It was that exact moment that Julian decided to emerge. "Hey, you're not supposed to do that," she chided. He blinked, and rammed into her left ankle.
"Ow! Point made. It must get stuffy in there anyway." Julian wriggled with delight. She talked to everyone, and learned two new things—you could stop a Pokémon's evolution, and those skinny trees on the side of the road could be cut down with a special Pokémon move.
The other part of Route 2 didn't fare well at all. She had an EXTREMELY ANNOYING battle with a level five Weedle who poisoned both Flint and Cody, and got Jo to 1 HP! Flint beat her in the end, though (and Julian grew to level five). The more pressing problem was that she was running low on supplies—only one Antidote and two Potions left. She cured Flint's poison, healed Jo, and gave Cody her last Potion so he could last until they reached Pewter City. The three Parlyz Heals from Viridian City sat innocuously in her bag, mocking her. "Damn it," she swore.
Fortunately, she made it to the Pokémon Center with Cody still in the green zone (Dex color-coded her Pokémon's HP levels. Green meant healthy, yellow meant at or below half health, and red meant critical). "Welcome to the Pokémon Center!" Nurse Joy smiled. "I'll take your team for a few moments…" She detached her party members and handed them one by one to Nurse Joy. With a practiced grace, Joy placed them all on a big white machine and pushed a button.
Instantly, a warm yellow glow suffused her Poké Balls, and the monitor behind Joy displayed all the data screens for her team, in order, very quickly. Various health bars shot up, Cody's poison icon vanished, and a bunch of other numbers increased too. "All right, your Pokémon are back to perfect health," Joy said, passing Natalia's team to her with a bow/curtsy. "We hope to see you again!" Natalia didn't bother asking who "we" was.
Then a beautiful, soothing song wafted through the Center. "Jigglypuff, jigglypuff. Jigglypuff, jiggly…" it went. Natalia just wanted to curl up and take a nap right there on the floor. The song ended after Natalia had gotten halfway there (curled up, but not asleep, somehow). She sat up and applauded, because that seemed right. "Puff? Jigglypuff, jig jiggly!" the Jigglypuff singer cried out. Its blue eyes were wide with adoration and respect. It wasn't every day that someone listened to Jigglypuff's song and didn't get their face scribbled on, after all.
"Impressive!" everyone in the Pokémon Center said at once. "I heard somewhere that the sound waves of Jigglypuff's song match the brainwaves of someone in deep sleep," a kid near a glass-top table commented. "You must be, like, part Jigglypuff to not be on the floor right now!"
"Well, I'm not. Now, if you'll excuse me…" And she dashed out of the Pewter City Pokémon Center.
Visiting the Poké Mart, she found that Pewter City stocked all kinds of medicine, plus Escape Ropes and Repels. "What's a Repel?" Natalia asked. "It's a spray that keeps wild Pokémon away," the clerk said. "This green one lasts for a hundred steps." She sold her Parlyz Heals and bought two Potions and two Antidotes. With desperately low funds, she left town for yet more training.
She alternated between the second part of Route 2 and Viridian Forest every so often, healing as needed. She justified going into Viridian Forest (which was as annoying as ever, even though she stayed near the gatehouse) because getting more varied training in and hopefully finding a Pikachu were indeed very good reasons. On one of her sojourns into the forest, she beat that kid she'd avoided. Also, the local Weedle seemed to be stalking her.
The end result of training was that Gina, Julian, and Jo each leveled up, and Gina learned Low Kick. Feeling brave, Natalia entered the Pewter City Gym, located right below the Museum of Science.
