Chapter 9: Well, what the fuck, so long as we're here we might as well.

Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the bulbasaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod.

"Finally, civilization!" I shouted in a loud voice with a laugh as I emerged into the little air conditioned informational center that marked the entrance to Viridian Forest – or, for me, the exit. The few other people inside stared at me and my four pokémon for a minute, but then ignored me as I quickly found a seat and flopped down. "Four days. Four FUCKING DAYS. But you know, it was kinda fun. Been a long time since I've done any sort of exploring like that and beat other trainers to a pulp. But still, screw this shit – next time I'm renting a flying pokémon and just flying over. Thankfully, I won't have to be doing this again anytime soon."

"Not quite true, dearie," Doreen said from her spot on the floor where I'd pretty much dropped her. She was a cocoon; she could take it.

I glared at her. "What do you mean?"

"I think she means this isn't the same place as where we came in," Henry said as he came back from grabbing a little informational map/pamphlet from the info desk. "This is the Viridian entrance."

"Fuck. You're joking, right?"

"I think he's right, actually," Jane said. "I don't recognize thisp lace exactly, either."

I sure as hell couldn't tell the difference – looked practically the same as the place on the way in. But I figured they weren't lying. "Well, fuck. And I don't have enough cash to pay for a ride back." I sighed, suddenly extremely conscious of how long it'd been since I last bathed, and how long it'd be until I could finally do so again. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Drop by the pokémon center, heal you up, then actually use a map on the way back and get out faster. Then you two-" I pointed at Doreen and Lemon, "-can go home, and the rest of us can go back to my home, and I can finally sleep in a fucking BED again. Got it?'

"Actually, I've got a suggestion," Henry said. "What if we battled the gym leader since we're here? I mean, then we'd-"

"No," I said.

"But it'd give us the cash we need to go home, and it'd be a piece of cake," Henry insisted, a hopeful look on his face. "And it'd be easy for me – rock/ground types? Piece of cake now that I know vine whip."

"I already said no," I repeated. "Even if this wasn't some part of yours and Green's and Oak's scheme to start me on a journey, I still wouldn't do it. Hell, my heart's still flighty from that run, and that was four whole fucking days ago. I ain't pushing it. We're going back."

Bulbasaur frowned. "I mean, you're my trainer and all, and I respect your decision… But please? I may not be that into battling, but so long as we're here, I'd honestly like to give it a go. Why are you so against it?"

"I have my reasons." And I had hella good reasons, too. And yet… ah, that look of Henry's when he begged. I had trouble resisting, especially when deep down I really did want to give it a try. "But… Okay, one gym battle can't hurt. THEN we're going home, for good, no exceptions."

"Finally, you do something interesting!" Lemon said. "You gonna let me-"

"No. You're still level three and I'm not planning on training you anytime soon," I said before she could even finish her question. "I'm not even using Jane. Normal? Against rock? I don't know a thing about battling, and even I know that's a terrible idea. You can watch, and that's it. Now come on, let's get this out of the way so I can get back home all the sooner."

Pokémon center, then straight to the gym we went. Of course, there were the gym trainers – two little brats in this case. Wasn't sure if the kid who called Brock hotter than me had any idea what he was saying, or if Brock was raising little perverts to go along with the classic 'rock-hard' speech that he supposedly gave to every trainer. Guess I was going to find out.

"Welcome, challenger!" Brock said when I finally made it to him. He actually wasn't bad-looking for someone everyone joked about being so messed up. "My pokémon are all rcok-ha-"

And that's when I stop it. "All right, battle. NOW. Henry, you're up."

I didn't even wait to see when Brock was ready; I'd learned in the past not to hesitate. That was admittedly in rather sketchier battles than official gym battles, but still, old habits are hard to break. I ordered the vine whip before the geodude was even fully out of the pokéball. The geodude, caught off guard and unable to defend himself against the super effective attack, was knocked out with just that one hit.

I felt my heart start to race, but for once, it was in a good way. I'd never been much of a battler, but it did bring out a side of me that I'd tried to suppress for a long time, a part of me that had partly come out during our adventure through Viridian. That feeling of putting everything on the line in order to achieve a victory, or discover something new – it was incredible, just as it always had been.

"So you're that sort of trainer, huh?" Brock said with a bit of a sneer. "Well, we'll see if you can catch Onix off guard!"

My heart soared at the sight of the massive pokémon. Now this was a real challenge. In the past, she might've just gone headlong and ordered attacks. But not now; she'd learned at least a bit more from her time with Oak and Green. "Leech seed first!"

"Got it!" Henry said, "And I think I can try something new, too!" He shot the seeds out of his bulb, then followed it up with something I'd never seen before – poisonpowder.

"You'll need more than that to beat Onix! Tackle!" Brock commanded.

The tackle – a ferocious thing coming from such a huge pokémon – made contact and sent Henry flying. My heart fluttered, but even in midair he righted himself and fell on his feet. He was fine; we'd trained plenty in the forest, as a side-bonus of having to get through it.

"And vine whip!"

In retrospect, I probably could have started out with a vine whip, because this one completely knocked out Onix with just one well-placed hit to the head.

Henry turned to face me, a grin on his face. But as he turned, his body glowed faintly, and grew. Leaves sprouted from the base of his bulb, which was turning into a closed-up flower, and his body was suddenly rather too big for Arrow to hold.

I smiled back and rushed over to him, heart still racing from the battle. "That was great! Took out that whole motherfucking onix all by yourself, and evolved to boot! Congrats!"

Brock came up and handed me what I'd earned: the Boulder Badge. "You're Arrow, right?"

I glanced at him, surprised. I hadn't told him my name yet.

"Green told me when he beat me that if you came through, to tell you he was heading on to Cerulean through Mt. Moon. He'd keep an eye out for you."

I was suddenly less than happy. "That bastard guessed I'd battle the Pewter Gym even though I said I wouldn't…. Fuck."

Brock shrugged and left her. "That's none of my concern."

"Well, whatever," I said as Lemon and Jane came up from the sidelines, where they'd been watching. Doreen was back in her pokéball. "Anyway, pokémon center, then back home tfor all of us."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Jane asked.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you're joining in on Henry's little conspiracy to make me go on a journey?"

Jane looked down at the ground. "Well, it's just that… You really did look really happy to be battling."

"Happy or no, I'm done with it," I said.

We headed off to the pokémon center, but as the nurse was healing Henry and giving him a basic post-evolution exam, I overheard someone in the lobby talking on the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, it's true!" the guy was saying. "Team Rocket is running amok in Mt. Moon! I hear they're after something special in there!"

Color drained from my face. Normally I'd have just let it go and gotten the hell back to Pallet, where I belonged. I had no business with Team Rocket.

But there was the matter of Green. Brock had said he was going through Mt. Moon. And what if…

"Goddamn bastard, making me worry about him. Shit. He can take care of himse- oh, who am I joking, damned idealist!" He'd beaten Brock with a charmander, and no doubt he was a good trainer. But against a whole team of people in a dark cave who weren't afraid to fight dirty?

"Ugh… If I don't go after him and he gets himself hurt sticking his uppity little nose into other people's business and trying to make the world a better place, I'm never gonna forgive myself, am I?"

"Forgive yourself about what?" Henry asked as he walked up to her, apparently done with his examination.

I let out a frustrated breath. "All right, change of plans. We're going after that motherfucking Green and making sure he doesn't get into trouble in Mt. Moon."

End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen.


And so, the journey continues, even if Arrow would really rather it not. :)