"Fight me first, chica," the camper smirked. "I'm Liam, and you're ten thousand light-years from facing Brock!"
"I'm going to ignore your gross misuse of the phrase 'light-year'," Natalia commented dryly. "Gina, let's see what you can do!" Surprisingly, Gina took down Liam's level 10 Geodude in just two or three Low Kicks.
"Sandshrew, go!" Liam shouted. An unfamiliar (but quite cute) mouse-like Pokémon with dull yellowish-brown scales emerged. "Shrew," it squeaked. "Gina, Scratch!" The Pig Monkey leapt in there and scratched her hardest, but to little avail.
Liam smirked. "Sandshrew, return the favor." Sandshrew nodded, then swiped Gina across the face with its sharp claws, sending her flying. "Gina!" Natalia cried. Gina stood up, hurt but ready to go on. "Return," Natalia said. "Playtime, Flint!"
"Defense Curl," Liam ordered. Sandshrew ducked its head in between its arms and curled its tail up around its legs. "OK, Flint, Ember!" The Charmander looked at her. "Come on, trust me." He shrugged, then spat little pellets of fire at his opponent. He finished it the same way, despite Sandshrew digging up a little cloud of dirt—Sand-Attack. Gina and Flint grew a level, but Gina's Defense was pretty bad compared to everything else. "Dang it! I just remembered that light-years measure distance, not time!" Liam griped, handing over a sizable 220 Poké.
"Good work, Flint," Natalia smiled. "Return." Flint smiled back at her before disappearing into the Ball. She rearranged her team so Julian was once again following her. "Tomorrow, we'll train some more, OK? Who knows, maybe you'll even evolve!" "Cater cat!" Julian squeaked. She headed back to the Center, healed, and rented a room upstairs.
She detached her belt and set it near her bag and shoes. "Look the other way for a second, Julian," she said. He thoughtfully closed the door as well, allowing her to change into Staryu-print pajamas with no awkwardness. "OK, you can look now." Julian barely blinked at her new attire. She dropped her hat over her bag/shoes and climbed into bed. "See you tomorrow, Julian." "Pie," he replied, already curling up into a little ball.
The next morning, after breakfast, she brought out her whole team. "OK, guys, we'll be doing the same thing we did yesterday. I might buy supplies or visit the Museum, but that's the basic plan. Are we cool?" Everyone nodded. "Then let's go!"
Before setting out, however, she explored the city. In the Poké Mart, a kid warned her not to trust any old guy who offered to sell her a Pokémon for 500 Poké, because she'd get a weird, useless fish Pokémon. "And I should know; I was dumb enough to buy one!" he pouted. "Is that legal?" Natalia asked, concerned. "It shouldn't be," he said darkly.
Visiting a house near the Museum, she observed a small child attempting to train the family's Nidoran male. A check of her Pokédex told her that the Nidoran was level 13. "Our Pokémon came from a friend. It grows fast, but it ignores most things we say," the father sheepishly explained. "If only one of us had some Badges…" Natalia nodded. "I see. Good luck!"
Training had mixed results. Cody grew a level, but he got poisoned in the forest when he was near half health. She made her way to Pewter City as fast as she could, but when she was in sight of the Pokémon Center… "Cody is at zero health," Dex beeped. "I'm sorry." Then the machine started playing Taps. Natalia blinked numbly, and Julian squeaked something. Cody… She walked to a clearing near the Pokémon Center and sent out Flint.
"Flint…Cody's gone. Help me dig a hole," she murmured. It took a few tries, but they had a hole big enough for Cody's body soon enough. With shaking hands, she laid the little bird and his Poké Ball (signatures can't be rewritten) in the grave and covered him up. "Char, charmander," Flint said solemnly.
Rest in peace, little Pidgey, Natalia thought. She recalled Flint, healed the rest of her team, and set off to finish what she'd started.
On another trip to Viridian Forest, she found a level five Kakuna right off the bat. She didn't have one, but she knew that it would be hard to train if it only knew Harden (which the wild Kakuna and Metapod seemed to know exclusively). So, she combined Julian, Lucy, and Jo's efforts to defeat it. "Jo grew to level seven and learned Quick Attack!" Dex beeped.
During the second battle (a Weedle), Jo got poisoned, but Julian grew a level and won. In the middle of his victory wriggle, he started glowing white. "Cat?" he asked no one in particular. The light engulfed him, and Natalia could only stare in awe as Julian changed.
When the light faded, Julian was completely different. He didn't even look like a Caterpie anymore. No, he now appeared to be a green shell with half-open eyes. "Meta," he commented. "Congratulations! Julian evolved into Metapod!" Dex beeped. "He can now use Harden! View stats?" Natalia selected "Yes" and saw that his defenses were better, but he was slower and couldn't attack as well. Also, his ability had changed to Shed Skin, which meant that he could cure his own status conditions. She then left the forest [a/n: don't ask how Julian can follow her, I don't know either XD] in order to heal up. En route, she gave Jo one of her only Potions so she could survive.
After healing and fighting a few more battles, she remembered something—I never finished exploring Route 22! Adventure time! She made sure to buy a Potion beforehand. Which didn't even last ten minutes before Jo needed it to survive. She sent out her whole team once they'd been healed. "New plan; we're going to Route 22, 'cause I just remembered I never finished exploring it. If we see any Weedle, we will NOT attack them. I'm out of money and Antidotes, and I don't want anyone else to die from poison like Cody. OK?" Everyone's eyes widened when they heard about Cody, but they nodded.
Natalia's luck was in: the first thing she found in Viridian Forest was a (level three) Pikachu. "Oh YES! Julian, we're gonna catch ourselves an Electric mouse!" she cheered. "Tackle it!" Equally excited, Julian got a critical hit on the little guy. And when it let itself be captured after only one Poké Ball…Natalia's high-pitched squeal of delight could be heard clear out to Route 11. She didn't even look at Dex's information, skipping right to the keyboard and entering "Ethan." Even better, Pikachu didn't like Poké Balls, so she had an excuse to have Ethan follow her all the time! Mercifully, Viridian Forest passed without anything else terribly inconvenient happening.
"Ready to kick some bird butt, Ethan?" Natalia smiled once she'd healed her team (in Viridian). Ethan's cheeks buzzed with electricity. "Pika!" They headed west to check out Route 22…and found none other than Gary.
"Hey, Natalia! Headed for the Pokémon League?" he asked. "No, is it this way?" she replied. "Yeah, but forget about it," he stated flatly. "You probably don't have the Boulder Badge yet, do you? The guard won't let you in without them." "Speaking from experience?"
Gary flushed. "Shut up and fight me!" Amusingly, he still only had two Pokémon. At least his Pidgey, Alex, had the decency to be level nine. Ethan jumped in and gave Alex the evil eye. "Slow down there, Ethan," Natalia said. "Lucy, go!" Ethan turned his eye on her before moving so the Spearow wouldn't hit him.
Gary wasn't playing around—two Tackles from Alex got Lucy to seven health. "Come back. Flint, go get 'em!" Flint beat Alex easily enough with some Embers. "Not bad," Gary nodded. "Juan!"
"Gina!" While Juan was on the field, Gary made him use absolutely nothing but Tackle. This, at one point, got Jo (whom she'd switched in when Gina's Scratch wasn't working so well) to ONE HP. "Way to hang in there, Jo," Natalia smiled. "Now, Julian, finish him with Tackle!" Julian propelled himself over the ground and into Juan's body. The fight was over.
"Thanks for the workout, Gary." He nodded curtly, handing her 144 Poké.
"I heard the Pokémon League is jammed with tough trainers. I need to figure out how to get around them," he commented. "You, on the other hand, should go get that Boulder Badge already!" He raced back to Viridian City. She followed soon after to heal, but he was long gone by the time she got there.
The rest of Route 22 was calm—only one encounter, with a level 2 Mankey. Soon enough, she was standing before an imposing red building—the Pokémon League. Ethan tilted his head quizzically. "We're just going to look at the place. I swear," she assured him. It didn't matter much anyway—the lobby was barren, and the guard wouldn't let her through. "Back to Pewter City!"
Viridian Forest, blessedly, was devoid of problems. No one got poisoned or paralyzed (Pikachu had Static as their ability). And there were only two encounters, which was mixed. My team is still so weak… Natalia thought nervously. How do I know I'll be able to stand a chance against Brock? Just to make herself feel better about it, she deposited Ethan. "Sorry, little guy, but the Pokémon in Pewter Gym are immune to your Thundershock," she explained. "I'll get you back out when I win, I promise."
