Itchy, as it transpired, was far from the strongest Route 1 had to offer, even by Rattata standards. For a while, he could only get in a single Tackle, before having to let Battery handle the rest. But they persevered, and Itchy began to get progressively stronger. And as they trained, Axel discovered another function of the Pokédex- he could use it to look up the attacks his Pokémon currently knew. In doing so, he found out that Itchy didn't have any other moves beyond the Tackle and Tail Whip he had already shown, but that Battery knew Growl and Tail Whip in addition to Thunder Shock.
"Itchy! Tackle now!" cheered Axel.
"Rrrrrattata!" Itchy cried out, slamming yet again into the wild Pidgey he was up against. This blow was the final straw, and the Pidgey collapsed, nearly unconscious, having only enough strength to weakly sort of crawl away from the fight before more damage was done.
"Way to go!" cheered Axel. "Itchy, Battery, you two are getting stronger and stronger!"
"Pikachu!" smiled Battery.
"Alright, let's rest up at the Pokémon Center, and then check out Route 2," suggested Axel. This suggestion went down quite nicely with the Pikachu and Rattata, and once the latter was back in his Poké Ball, the former walked alongside his Trainer as they approached the building with the red roof.
Not long afterwards, they headed up north, stopping only to observe as an old man tried to catch a wild Rattata that had wandered into town from up north, only for his last Poké Ball to shatter.
Once they reached Route 2, the first thing Axel could see was a thick mass of trees before him- the fabled Viridian Forest. A natural maze. He shuddered- he didn't think he'd be ready to tackle that kind of place just yet. However, he could see a patch of tall grass just short of the forest's entrance, so he headed towards that. Before he could reach the grass, though, another Pidgey emerged from it, and upon noticing the Trainer, adopted a fighting stance.
In response, Battery's cheeks crackled with electricity. "Battery, no-" began Axel.
"CHUUUUUUUU!" interrupted Battery, as a jolt of electricity was fired at the Pidgey. Axel groaned, expecting the Pidgey to fly away, but to his surprise, the Pidgey wasn't moving. In fact, it wasn't moving in spite of obviously attempting to do so- the electric jolt paralyzed it.
"Wait... what?" murmured Axel. "Was that a new move?" He consulted his Pokédex curiously, and sure enough, he could see that the fourth space in Battery's list of moves had been filled in with two words: Thunder Wave. "Ohhh, I see- Thunder Wave doesn't damage enemies, it just paralyzes them," smiled Axel, before turning to Battery. "You did that so it'd be easier to catch, didn't you?" he asked.
"Pi ka chu," nodded Battery.
"Well, then, looks like it's my turn now," grinned Axel, the red-and-white sphere already leaving his hand. "Go, Poké Ball!"
Emboldened by yet another successful catch, Axel continued on into the Viridian Forest, albeit not too far in- his plan was to catch another Pokémon, then head on back to the Pokémon Center, not only to heal up Battery and whatever he would catch in the forest, but also to heal Ozone, his new Pidgey, of her paralysis. And sure enough, another Pokémon came to Axel in the woods- this one was a small, green insect with red antennae- a Caterpie. Battery started with an encore performance of his earlier Thunder Wave, and Axel followed up with yet another Poké Ball... and another... and a third one... and they were soon welcoming Flutters the Caterpie to their team.
This was followed by some further training. Ozone proved proficient in the use of the Gust technique, and as the training progressed, even learned how to use Sand Attack. Flutters, meanwhile, showed excellent use of Tackle, and also, according to the Pokédex, knew a move called String Shot.
Flutters, Axel noticed, wasn't quite as strong as her teammates, and took more training than them to get stronger. Her battles took longer, and she was more dependent on her teammates' help than Itchy or Ozone ever were. But they persevered, and soon enough...
"Flutters! Tackle it!" exclaimed Axel. Chattering in response, the Caterpie surged forward, and rammed the wild Rattata so hard that it turned tail and fled. And then, to everyone's surprise a bright white glow started to emanate from Flutters's body. "Flutters? What's happening?" asked Axel as the glowing mass that was Flutters changed shape somewhat. And then, as the glow faded away, Axel realized what had just happened- Flutters had evolved! Sure enough, she wasn't a Caterpie anymore- rather she was now encased in a hard, green shell. She had evolved into a Metapod.
"Pika!" smiled Battery.
"Metapod, Metapod," replied Flutters. Though her voice was something of a monotone now, and though she didn't have much of a face, her eyes were still lit up with happiness.
"You know what? I think we should explore Route 22 now," declared Axel. "It leads to Indigo Plateau- the Pokémon League headquarters! I mean, obviously we're not that good just yet, but... I kinda want to go check it out. What do you say?"
"Pika pika!" nodded Battery.
"Metapod!" chimed in Flutters, hopping up and down eagerly.
And so, after a brief stop at the Pokémon Center, Axel and Battery headed out to the route west of Viridian City. And, as has been the case with the other routes they traveled thus far, this one too sported a patch of tall grass, subtle movements of which hinted at the presence of wild Pokémon within. And sure enough, as Axel drew close, a creature emerged, this one purple like Itchy, and with noticeable front teeth, but that was where the similarities ended- this creature had large ears, and sported numerous small spikes all over its body, including a prominent horn on its head.
"It's a Nidoran!" exclaimed Axel, throwing a Poké Ball. "Go, Flutters!" he added, his Metapod materializing before him. "Harden!"
"Metapod," droned Flutters, as its hard shell seemed to gleam in the light. In response, Nidoran shot Flutters a piercing glare, and the Metapod shuddered, almost seeming to undo what its Harden did.
"Leer," murmured Axel. "Of course. Flutters, Tackle it!"
"Pod!" responded Flutters, and with surprisingly quick jumps, it was off, slamming its hard body into the Nidoran. The Poison-type tried to retaliate with another Leer, but Flutters was in no position to make eye contact at that point- it was gearing up for another Tackle. Once the second one landed, however, Nidoran managed to maintain eye contact long enough to pull off another successful Leer, further rattling the Metapod.
"Pika..." murmured Battery.
"Yeah, I don't like this," nodded Axel. "Nidoran keeps wearing down Flutters's Defense like that, one good, solid Tackle will be enough to take her out. Flutters, now use Harden again!" he called.
However, as he spoke, Nidoran charged forward, going on the offensive without any warning. Fortunately, even with a lowered Defense, Flutters wasn't harmed much by the attack. She did, however, Harden once more once Nidoran had backed off.
"Wow, nice!" grinned Axel. "Now use Tackle!"
"Metapod!" Flutters exclaimed, slamming into Nidoran once more, who merely glared at the oncoming Bug-type. Flutters shivered at the Leer, but was not deterred, and still delivered the Tackle.
At this point, Nidoran was starting to look worn out, and Axel could notice this, too. "Good- come back now, Flutters!" he called, holding out Flutters's Poké Ball. Once he withdrew his Metapod, he turned to the yellow rodent by his side. "Battery, Thunder Wave!" he ordered.
"CHUUUUUUUUU!" Battery replied, firing off a jolt of electricity which stunned the wild Nidoran. It managed to charge forward and ram into Battery, seeing no other opponent anymore, but it was a real effort, and it was all it could do to back off after using the attack.
"Now! Go, Poké Ball!" Axel exclaimed, tossing a red-and-white sphere at the Nidoran.
Several thrown balls later, and Needles the Nidoran became a part of the team. Following this, Axel retreated to the Pokémon Center, where Battery, Flutters, and of course Needles were all healed of their injuries, and where Needles was introduced to his new teammates. Itchy wasn't so welcoming, but Ozone made sure to prevent a fight from breaking out between the two purple partners. Meanwhile, Needles and Flutters appeared to have some sort of mutual respect between them, possibly as a result of their battle, though as they exchanged glances, Axel got the feeling that the two of them would want to spar again at some point in the future, albeit under more friendly circumstances. And Battery seemed to help most of all in getting Needles acquainted with the other Pokémon, and with their Trainer. More training followed this, the better for Axel to get a feel for what Needles was capable of, and as this took place, it occurred to Axel- he was running perilously low on Poké Balls.
"Huh," Axel remarked, glancing at the pair of Poké Balls among the pile of Potions he had yet to use. "Looks like I better ease up on the catching, at least until I win some battles. Need the prize money to buy more Poké Balls. Alright, let's get back to Route 22!" he declared, a notion that his Pokémon all seemed to agree with. Indeed, Axel and Battery were both in good spirits as they walked through the tall grass and past the ledges, finding themselves on a brick walkway leading down the route, until they saw just who lied ahead of them.