Chapter 9
"Viridian City"

The sun rose off east signalling the start of a new day. The three trainers ate a good meal from the Inn's breakfast section and happily left filled. The owners thought that it was a good way to reward customers for staying and it was a shame that they didn't have much business.

The three walked around Viridian City for a while and pondered what to do next. When they wandered by the PokéMart, they decided to stock up on items. They knew that they would need to stock up on Antidotes for Viridian Forest and that was one of the first things they bought. Looking at the Antidote made Iris remember what happened to Yasashi in the forest that day. Yasashi places his hand on her head and smiles, lifting her mood. The Pokémon stare at the colourful items assorted on the shelves and their trainers, finally done with their purchases, called for them to go. Before they left, the clerk told them to wait and places a package on the counter.

"Hey! You came from Pallet Town? You know Prof. Oak, right? His order came in. Can I get you to take it to him?" The clerk smiles and Yasashi picks up the package from the counter. He looks at the two and they all sigh in unison. "Okay, thanks! Please say hi to Prof. Oak for me, too." the clerk adds. Exiting the PokéMart, Yasashi tells Mizu and Sei-Shun that he would be back and left to deliver Oak's parcel, his Eevee following close behind. Mizu and Sei-Shun decided to visit Green at the Gym that was north of where they were.

"We should at least do something worthwhile to wait for him, right?" Sei-Shun asks her. She shrugs. "Might as well." she replies.

After a short walk, they found an old man on the middle of the road. "Hey, um…Are you alright?" Sei-Shun asks. He walks closer to examine him and the old man suddenly gave a loud burst of verbal orders. "You can't go through here! I absolutely forbid you from going through here! This is private property!" He says while still lying on the ground. A young women came out of a nearby house with a mug in her hand and sees Mizu and Sei-Shun. She turns her gaze to the old man on the middle of the road. She quickly moves beside the old man, handling the mug carefully as she did.

"Oh Grandpa! Don't be so mean!" She raises his head to the mug and he drank with big gulps. She turns her head toward Sei-Shun and Mizu and apologises. "I'm so sorry. He hasn't had his coffee yet."

After a short while, Yasashi came back with his Eevee sitting on his shoulder. "Hey guys, did I miss anything?" he asks. Mizu shrugs and Sei-Shun shakes his head. "Not really. Some old guy didn't let us pass until he had his coffee." He points to the young women trying to get her grandfather on his feet. Yasashi sighs, relieved that they didn't leave him out of anything important. The young women looks at the three and lowers her head. She apologises again and brings her grandfather inside and shuts the door behind.

"So what was in that package?" Sei-Shun asks. Yasashi shrugs. "It was just a custom Poké Ball that he ordered." he told him.

Yasashi recalls his trip back to Pallet Town and him entering Oak's lab to deliver the parcel.

"Hm? Oh, Yasashi! How goes your journey? Are you taking good care of your Pokémon?" he asks the trainer. The Professor takes a good look at the Eevee and it was showing affection toward Yasashi. "Well, it seems to be growing more attached to you. You must be talented as a Pokémon Trainer." Oak tells him. Yasashi smiles and eyes the box he was carrying. "What's that? You have something for me?" The trainer hands Oak the parcel and the Professor smiles as he opens the box and takes out a round object that resembled a Poké Ball. "Ah. It's the custom Poké Ball. I had it on order. Thank you!" It was a strange colouration; the whole device was crimson with a strange design on it. "What type of Poké Ball is that, Prof. Oak?" Yasashi asks him. The Prof. inspects at Poké Ball and nods his head as he analysed it. "It's called a Cherish Ball. The Pokémon League has been working on a way to reward trainers for their hard work and had Silph Co. develop a new type of Poké Ball to commemorate these special events. With the data from the PokéDexs that a couple certain trainers have filled, they were able to research a way to replicate Legendary or other hard to obtain Pokémon. These Legendary Pokémon are highly restricted on their abilities, so there is no worry if things go out of hand." Professor Oak explains to him.

Legendary Pokémon, huh? I wonder what they're like. Yasashi thinks to himself.

He says his farewell to Oak once again and heads back to meet up with Mizu and Sei-Shun, hopefully catching up before anything important happens.

Back the present, the trainers walked a bit further and arrived at the front of Viridian City's Gym. Yasashi looks at the sign marked with a Poké Ball insignia placed near the entrance and reads the text inscribed on it.

Viridian City Gym

Leader: Green Oak

The Omnipotent Master

"Sounds a tad pretentious, don't ya think?" Sei-Shun asks the two. It didn't seem to matter to Yasashi, he only wanted to meet Green, one of the two who grew up with Red, besides his sister Leaf, and who is probably a perfect match in a battle against him.

Before they could walk through the automatic door, it suddenly sprang open. A young man with spiky orange hair that was combed in one direction came out with his hands in his pockets. He wore a dark grey jacket and shoes, brown pants, and a necklace. He glances at the three trainers and sighs.

"If you want to challenge me, come back later. I got a call from the Pokémon League that sounded urgent." The tone of his voice sent a chill down the spines of the three. Yasashi clears his throat and shakes his head. "We're not here for a challenge. We only wanted to see you." he says. Green's eyebrow went up in curiosity. Something must have grabbed his attention. "Hmm." He stares at all three of the trainers looking back and forth between them. Yasashi saw that he stared more at their clothes and at his Eevee on his shoulder. A smile ran across Green's face as he took a step back.

"Ain't this a surprise? You all are dressed in the same clothes that me, Red, and Leaf had when we went on our journey all those years ago. With different colours, but still the same design." His brown eyes then focused on Sei-Shun. "I remember wearing that when I was younger. I think it was around seven years ago." Green then turned toward Yasashi's Eevee. "My first Pokémon was an Eevee that gramps gave me. Well, not exactly gave me but it was still my first. Ah, the memories. I can remember everything as if it happened yesterday." He smiles as he scratches the head of the Eevee.

The Pokémon pokes Yasashi in the neck to get his attention. "He's really nice. I wonder… What did his Eevee evolve into?" it asks him. He ponders for a minute and shrugs. "I'll ask." he whispers. He looks at the Viridian City Gym Leader and Kanto Champion laughing with Sei-Shun.

"Hey, Green." Yasashi says. "What did your Eevee evolve into?" The Gym Leader stands there and scratches his head. He turns toward Yasashi and smiles. "Mine? Hmm…Why do you want to know?" he questions. "No reason in particular. Just curious." Yasashi replies. Green shrugs. "Well, the one I used as champion against Red that fateful day was a Jolteon. He won against me at every battle I encountered him with. Man he was strong. Still is, I think. I don't see him that often anymore. He just up and left. Really modest person too." Yasashi analyses his words carefully. "What do you mean by, 'the one'?" he asks. "I had two. One I got from gramps and one that I got somewhere in Celadon City. That one was the one that I used the Thunder Stone on. The one gramps gave me evolved into something else."

Green reaches toward one of the Poké Balls on his waist. He only carried three on him, which was odd since he usually carried six. He throws up one of the Poké Balls and it burst open to reveal an Umbreon. "I didn't know that an Umbreon was one of the many evolutions of Eevee and I didn't want to use it against Red. It seemed kind of cheating to use a Pokémon not ever recorded before in a battle so I kept it around. The PokéDex couldn't even obtain data from it at the time. Using a Dark Type when none of them were in the Official League types at the time seems unfair, don't you think?" He bends down on one knee and scratches the head of his Umbreon. "I never use her in battle all the time though, and she seems kind of irritated for that." Yasashi noticed that Green used the words "her" and "she" and the others seemed to have as well.

"Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I have to go. Meetings are boring as hell, but I have to attend them." His Umbreon hops on his shoulder and he takes out another Poké Ball and tosses it up. A Pidgeot comes out and he jumps on its back. "I'll see you guys soon then. I hope I'll get to face you all, I bet you guys would make amazing trainers." His Pidgeot starts to gain air and then flies off at unbelievable speeds.

The three trainers wave their hands and then look at one another. "That was a nice talk with him, eh guys?" Sei-Shun tells the two. Yasashi smiles and Mizu just looks away. "Whatever. Anyway, we need to get to Pewter City soon if you two are going to start your Gym challenges." Mizu says. Yasashi looks at her in confusion. "'You two?' You're not going to collect the Gym Badges?" he asks. She looks at Yasashi in the eye, then at Sei-Shun. "I…I'm not a battling type. Prof. Oak said to fill out the PokéDex and that is what I intend to do." She starts to walk off and Sei-Shun quickly follows behind. Yasashi stands there worryingly and looks at his Pokémon, he then starts moving to catch up with his companions.

Mizu's Sentret looks up at her and she looks back at it. "I'm sorry…but I don't want to participate in battles like those. Wild Pokémon are fine, but with trainers…I don't want any of you to get hurt." She could feel its disappointment but she already made up her mind. She holds it tighter in her arms.

I will not allow you all get hurt. I won't let that happen again. Not again…