Chapter 4: Living the City Life

After more than a whole day around Route 7, we finally made it to Celadon City. While I was happy enough to reach it, Gloria was even happier:

"Perfume shops, beauty salons and a Contest Hall! I gotta check them all!"

Her Bulbasaur agreed.

They started running the faster theycould. Me and Squirtle had trouble keeping up with them.

Me: "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Gloria: "There are too many things to see and do. I don't want to miss the action!"

Me: "But, wait! Your Contest is at Friday!"

By the time I said it though, they had already stormed out. Alone with my Squirtle again, we made it to the Pokemon Center, exhausted…

After returning Squirtle in its Pokeball, I made it to Nurse Joy's counter: "Nurse Joy, please take care of my Pokemon! And give us a room for tonight!"

Nurse Joy tried to stop my rush: "Wait, wait, first thing first. Give me your Pokedex."

Realizing that I had forgot to give my Pokedex to her, I gave it immediately. She took it and checked in a machine. Suddenly, she shouted: "Oh no, I can't believe that Saffron's Nurse Joy was in such a hurry!"

Since it looked like there was a problem with my Pokedex, I asked Nurse Joy in worry: "What's the matter? Should I worry?"

She calmed me up: "It's allright. Just wait a minute…"

She started pressing some buttons in her computer, and then gave me my Pokedex.

"I have installed an update that shows you the Pokemon's happiness and methods of evolution when you press details on it."

I replied: "That's great! Thank you for this one! Still, should you heal my Pokemon?"

Nurse Joy: "Of course I will! Chansey, take them inside!"

A Pokemon appeared and took my Pokemon's Pokeballs who were upon a medcal bed. I scanned it with my Pokedex:

"Chansey, the Egg Pokemon. It lays several eggs a day. The eggs are apparently rich in nutrients and extremely delicious. Chansey is also used as a Pokemon assistant in the Pokemon Centers because of their healing abilities."

Nurse Joy continued: "As for your room..."

Just then I realized that I had forgot to say that I wanted a double one: "Nurse Joy, excuse me. I am waiting a friend to come by any moment. Should we make it a double room?"

She happily replied: "No problem! Just tell your friend's name."

Me: "Her name is Gloria Patricks."

NJ: "Allright… You get room 243. Here is the key."

Me: "Room 243… Thanks."

I quickly left the counter and made it to the restaurant. Since I was exhausted from all the battling and running, I ate quite a mouthful, before making it to my room. I quickly took a shower and made it to bed for an afternoon nap.

…

Suddenly, I woke up.

"WERE YOU SLEEPING, IDIOT?"

Soon enough, I realized that it was Gloria. Even though I had just woken up, I decided to tease her a bit: "I woke up at 7:40, had 2 hours of special training, a battle and LOTS of running around. At least I am now fresh and chipper. In contrary, someone else woke up at 10:00 and went for a shopping spree as soon as she reached Celadon!"

Gloria had to answer back: "I don't have to sleep, you know. I visited the best perfume shops, restaurants, and beauty salons, while you just stayed here and slept the whole afternoon!"

Me: "Just let me ask… How much money did you spend all afternoon?"

Gloria: "Everything I had. But it doesn't matter."

Me: "You know, I spent a FREAKIN' TOTAL ZERO!"

Gloria: "That's because you are an idiot!"

Me: "YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WILL NEVER EVER CALL ME IDIOT!"

Gloria: "Anyway… what about some Celadon City nightlife?"

Me: "You just said that you spent everything you had!"

Gloria: "Excuse me, but you will pay this time!"

Me: "NO WAY!"

Gloria: "You are quite an idiotic gentleman…"

Me: "Anyway… I would like to do something tonight as well. I mean, it's my first night at a city as a Pokemon Trainer. Still, we have to find something cheap…"

Gloria: "I have an idea…"

Me: "Should I worry or not?"

Gloria: "Of course not, idiot! We should have a visit at the Rocket Game Corner."

Me: "Game Corner? What's that?"

Gloria: "It's a casino, idiot!"

Me: "Are you kidding me? We are 10 years old, we have no appropriate clothes for their dress code, and YOU DON'T HAVE A PENNY!"

Gloria: "Don't be such an idiot, Thomas! This casino is open to all Pokemon Trainers, regardless of age or dress code! After all, I always have a dress with me for the Contests!"

Me: "Okay, you've got me. But we will only play, like 20P at the slots."

Gloria: "Whatever. I am going to take a shower, as for you sleepy idiot, dress up, we are leaving as soon as I get dressed!"

…

The most annoying thing about Gloria is that she wants around 2 hours to get dressed, comb her hair and so on. Which makes me worry, how will she fare in an event like a Pokemon Contest?

Finally, she came out of the bathroom, with her pink dress. I couldn't resist the urge of telling her: "At last, you are dressed like a girl! It was worth two hours of waiting…"

She replied: "DON'T DARE YOU COMMENT ON MY CLOTHING! We are already late, let's go!"

We finally left the room. Before leaving, we made it to Nurse Joy's counter to ask about our Pokemon. She told us that they will be ready by tomorrow morning. Thus, we made it to the Game Corner by ourselves.

Being a casino, there was a guard standing by the gate. As soon as we approached, he checked us with a detector machine and asked us to give him our Pokedexes. Finally, he gave them back to us and let us in.

We made it to the main counter to buy chips. The lady over there greeted us with a huge smile.

Lady: "Welcome to the Rocket Game Corner, Trainers! Are you here for some marks?"

I replied: "We do."

I then brought up 20P and asked her: "How many marks can we buy with them?"

She laughed a lot and told me: "One mark."

Upon hearing this thing, I whispered to Gloria: "Let's get out of this place immediately!"

She whispered back: "Now, give all your money for marks."

Me: "No way!"

Gloria: "Just do it! We won't use them!"

I found out that I had no other choice. I brought out 3000P and told the lady: "Convert those 3000P"

Lady: "Sure! That gives you 150 marks! Have a nice time playing!"

When we finally made it out of the counter, Gloria told me: "Just wait about half an hour, then we will return them all."

After hiding for more than 20 minutes in the toilet, and spending around 5 minutes while playing at the slots (I was lucky enough to win a little at the first time, so I was able to play again to spend some time), I finally made it to the counter with 3000P exactly and asked the lady: "Please convert them back."

She looked at me angrily, and then she converted all marks back to the 3000P. After taking my money back, I left once again.

Meanwhile, Gloria was hiding at the toilet. I made it there and gave her the signal to exit. Finally, we were about to leave when…

I heard someone shouting: "EVERYONE IN HERE, GIVE US YOUR POKEMON NOW!"

I turned around to see who was talking. What I saw wasn't exactly nice. Three men in black uniforms together with some powerful-looking Pokemon were forcing everyone to give them their Pokemon. I had the urge to check their Pokemon at the Pokedex, but I decided to not do so.

Gloria told me: "We have no Pokemon, we have all our money, let's leave this place instantly!"

Unfortunately, one of these men heard us talking and came towards us.

"What are you kids telling each other?"

I stepped up and told him: "Please don't harm us! We left our Pokemon at the Center tonight, we're telling the truth!"

He was not persuaded by my sayings, though: "WHAT WERE YOU TELLING EACH OTHER?"

While trying to keep the distances, I heard someone shouting from far away: "Poliwrath, mission time!"

The man chasing after me turned around, and then ran away from us: "The Police has found us! Let's leave!"

The other two followed, and together they tried to leave the place. But the man who shouted before finally came towards us: "Poliwrath, use Hypnosis on them!"

His Pokemon, whose name was probably Poliwrath, used Hypnosis and made all three of them fall asleep. The man, who was around the age of twenty, arrested the three criminals while asleep and took them into custody: "You are now safe, but you should leave! Don't worry about me! I will take these three into custody!"

We left exactly as he told us. Making it back to the Pokemon Center, the only thing I was saying along the way was: "Why do I have to face problems every night?"

We made it to the room… When we were finally safe, I decided to do some Pokedex searching:

First, I scanned Poliwrath: "Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokemon. An adept swimmer, it knows the front crawl, butterfly, and more. It is faster than the best human swimmers."

Next up, I checked the evolution methods of my Pokemon: "Squirtle evolves into Wartortle if it's power level is too high. Its final form is Blastoise."

"Pidgey evolves into Pidgeotto if it's power level is too high. Its final form is Pidgeot."

"Growlithe evolves into Arcanine if you use a Fire Stone on it."

Finally, I checked Gloria's Pokemon: "Bulbasaur evolves into Ivysaur if it's power level is too high. Its final form is Venusaur."

"Vulpix evolves into Ninetales if you use a Fire Stone on it."

I was quite surprised by the fact that both Growlithe and Vulpix evolve by using a Fire Stone on them. That's why I checked about the Fire Stone: "A Fire Stone is a special stone that causes some Pokemon to evolve. A nice way to get Fire Stones is to buy them from a Department Store in the cities of Celadon, Goldenrod, Lilycove or Veilstone."

I couldn't believe what the Pokedex was saying: "Did you say in Celadon?!" I immediately shouted: "Gloria!"

Gloria, who was in the bathroom, came out and started shouting: "Why are you calling me, idiot?"

Me: "I saw something at the Pokedex that was really really interesting…"

Gloria: "Was it that interesting to make me leave the bathroom?"

Me: "The Pokedex says that both Growlithe and Vulpix evolve by using a Fire Stone on it."

Gloria: "So what?"

Me: " We can buy Fire Stones at the Celadon Deparment Store!"

Gloria: "Do you mean that we can evolve them? How much do they cost?"

Me: "I do not know yet. We should go first thing tomorrow."

Gloria: "Okay. The Department Store is a nice place for shopping, after all!"

So, with that in mind, we fell asleep for the night…

Next time: Celadon Department Store