Chapter 14: Rising Tensions
I awoke the next day before I needed to and waited in the PC lobby. Sure enough, a man came around at almost exactly noon. He called himself the leader of the Pokémon fan club, and said that any friend to Lt. Surge was a friend to him as well. He gave me the voucher and left, as did I. He also gave me a fishing rod. He told me it wasn't very good quality, but that rods are essential for catching water Pokémon. As I was leaving the city limits, a familiar face stopped me. It was one of Prof. Oak's aides. We had a short conversation about my progress, and when he saw that I had over 10 Pokémon registered in my pokédex, he gave me HM05, Flash.
It took three and a half days to make the journey back too Cerulean, so by the time I arrived, the bike shop was closed. On the fourth day, I redeemed the voucher early in the morning, stacked up on supplies at the pokémart, and hit the road again. I was on route 9 before noon, and I nearly crossed the whole route in a day. Although I had only stopped for lunch and to battle. I was gonna be feeling it in the morning, but I was still proud of my progress. There was a PC outside Rock Tunnel, so I'd rest there for a day or two.
On the way I'd battled and defeated Picknicker Alicia using only Butterfee, and decided against having him learn Whirlwind. I also fought several other trainers along the way, but none were particularly of note. I quickly realised that there were no Pokémon on this route I didn't already have. As such, I had no problem leaving route 9 behind me the next day, other than the gruelling pain in my thighs.
On route 10 I caught a Voltorb, and noting that I had everything else, continued onto the PC. When I got there, I made sure to remember to teach Flash to Meowth. I chilled for the rest of the day, and decided when I got up that I still wasn't ready to travel through Rock Tunnel, so I stayed another day. I finally remembered to send some money home. I had to pay mum back for putting me up through the first few weeks of my trip. Well, I didn't have to, but I wanted too. In the meantime, I tried out my new fishing rod on route 10. I caught a level 5 Magikarp. Wonderful.
I set off into Rock Tunnel the next day, and had Meowth light up the cave like the fourth of July. Setting off through the tunnel, nothing particularly eventful happened. I beat some trainers and got lost a few times, but I did manage to capture a Machop. On my way out, I even managed to snag an Onix!
It was pitch black when I got out. I set up camp and set off towards Lavender Town the next morning. I thought I might stop by Pokémon tower to pay my respects, but when I heard of team Rocket occupying the tower, I thought again. So, the next day, I passed through Lavender Town and onto route 8, where I caught both a Growlithe and a Vulpix. Pikachu learned Thunderbolt, replacing Thunder Shock, Pidgeotto learned Wing Attack, replacing Tackle, Butterfree learned Gust, also replacing Tackle, and Charmeleon didn't learn Scary Face.
Two days after I left Lavender Town, I was in Celadon. I had to wait another day to challenge the gym due to time constraints though. I had Meowth cut down the tree blocking my path and made my way to the gym. As soon as I entered, I checked the plaque at the front. Blue's name was listed among the winning trainers.
I beat the couple of gym trainers I faced easily enough. There were quite a few in here, but I only faced three. Next was Erika. I wanted to talk to her about what Surge said, but the battle came first. I'd made the mistake of assuming I had the advantage when I faced surge, but between my Pidgeotto, Butterfree and Charmeleon, it was hard not to think it.
I approached her. "Hello… Lovely whether, isn't it? It's so pleasant…" She trailed off. "Oh dear… I must have dozed off. Welcome. My name is Erika. I am leader of Celadon gym. I am a student of the art of flower arranging. My Pokémon are solely of the grass type." I looked at her quizzically. She looked back.
"Umm… I'm here for a gym challenge…"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea that you wished to challenge me. Very well, but I shall not lose." That was more like it.
"Victreebel!"
"Butterfree" We each released our Pokémon. "Confusion!"
"Victreebel, Stun Spore!" Butterfree was faster, despite being a lower level. Unfortunately, the confusion, despite being super effective, only did just over a third of Victreebel's health. "Victreebel, Acid!"
"Butterfree, again!" This time Victreebel went first. The paralysis had slowed Butterfree enough for him to be the slower of the two. The acid landed and did about as much as Butterfree's confusion had done. The concurrent confusion left Victreebel just above critical health. On the next round, Acid put Butterfree into dangerous waters, and the counterattack didn't come out, Butterfree couldn't move. He fell to the next acid attack. I guess type advantage didn't account for as much against a skilled trainer.
"Pikachu, Go!" I wasn't confident in a Quick Attack finishing Victreebel off, so I sent out Pikachu, who I knew was faster than Butterfree. "Slam!" Pikachu slammed Victreebel hard with his tail, and Victreebel was done for.
"Well done Victreebel, go ahead and rest now."
I took the opportunity to switch too. She sent out Tangela and I sent Pidgeotto out to fight it. Same level. Wing Attack came out first, and did nearly half damage. Erika ordered Tangela to use Poison Powder, and it infected Pidgeotto quickly. "Pidgeotto, again!"
"Tangela, Giga Drain!" I guess Tangela didn't have any good moves to counter a flying type. However, despite being not very effective, after Tangela held on with critical health from the Wing Attack, the Giga Drain dealt and restored considerable damage, a little less than a third of Pidgeotto's total health. Between the poison damage so far and that, Pidgeotto was on half health. Despite its valiant efforts, Tangela fell to Pidgeotto's next Wing Attack. But Pidgeotto was feeling the heat.
"Vileplume!" She released her final Pokémon. I stayed with Pidgeotto, banking on him being faster. As it turned out, he was. Pidgeotto managed to get off a Wing Attack before he fell to Vileplume's Acid attack. I sent out Pikachu. I wanted to give Charmeleon the biggest advantage I could. "Pikachu, Thunder Wave!" Pikachu was faster, and the Thunder Wave paralysed Vileplume.
"Vileplume, Sleep Powder!" Unfortunately, being paralysed didn't stop Vileplume from putting Pikachu to sleep. She used this opportunity to spray Vileplume with a Full Heal, removing the paralysis. Pikachu was still asleep. "Giga Drain." Maybe I didn't think this through. Vileplume was back on full health, and Pikachu was on less than half, and asleep. "Again." But Pikachu woke up in time. "Yes! Pikachu, Thunder Wave!" Pikachu managed to paralyse Vileplume again before falling to the next Giga Drain. I still had the advantage.
"Charmeleon, go!" She looked annoyed. Understandable, half my team are grass/poison killers. "Ember!"
"Vileplume, Sleep Powder!" Charmeleon went first, and dealt nearly half damage before being put to sleep. "Acid." Seemed like she wouldn't bother with Giga Drain. The Acid did considerable damage. Charmeleon would have to wake up the turn after next, minimum. At the very least, he hadn't woken up yet, and Erika ordered another Acid attack. He finally awoke.
"Charmeleon, Ember!"
"Vileplume, Sleep Powder!" Charmeleon's Ember left Vileplume on near-critical health. Vileplume fired the Sleep Powder… and missed. "Yes! Charmeleon, EMBER!" Charmeleon seemed hyped up by my enthusiasm and blew a very impressive torrent of flames. Vileplume fainted. Still, in spite of her major disadvantage, she still managed to defeat three of my team of Pokémon that may as well have been designed to counter hers. Despite her seemingly aloof or gentle personality, she was quite a tenacious battler.
"Yes!" I was still overwhelmed. It wasn't even that close, and even I couldn't tell why I was so happy. Just the feeling of battle and victory I guess. She waited patiently.
"You are remarkably strong. I must confer on you the Rainbow Badge. She held out the gleaming, rainbow metal, and I accepted gratefully, pinning it to my jacket. "The Rainbow Badge will make all Pokémon up to level 50 obey. It also allows Pokémon to use Strength in and out of battle. Please also take this with you." She held out a technical machine with 19 written on the front. "TM19 contains Giga Drain. Half the damage it inflicts is drained to heal your Pokémon. Wouldn't you agree that it's a wonderful move?" A rhetorical question.
I nearly forgot to talk to her about what Surge said before I left. I turned to face her. "By the way, Lt. Surge said to tell you that he sent me." She looked taken aback for a moment, before her entire demeanour changed.
"I see. It would seem like you and I have a lot to talk about." She beckoned me to follow her to another room at the back. Naturally, I did so.
She offered me a seat, and I took it.
"Would you like some tea? Well, that's what I would usually say, but now may not be the time for that." She sat down opposite me. "Let me reintroduce myself, I am Erika, Celadon Gym Leader, and leader of the resistance. You are?" My eyes widened. Of course I'd heard of the resistance, who hadn't? The thing was, naturally, all the members were anonymous. The fact that she so readily spilt this information just because I said Lt. Surge sent me… Well, at least I knew they were both people I could trust.
"My name is Red, I'm from Pallet town." She took my measure. I noticed what had changed. It was almost like she didn't take herself seriously when she acted like she was earlier, unlike now.
"You've come quite a long way then. I had another challenger a while ago who was from Pallet Town. What was his name…" She closed her eyes as she tried to remember.
"Blue." She opened her eyes.
"Yes that's right, his name was Blue. I figured you must know him." I almost didn't want to ask.
"Umm… when he fought you… he didn't happen to have a Raticate in his party, did he?" She took a moment, but slowly shook her head.
"No, he didn't use a Raticate to battle me. Why?" I was worried, but I told myself that it didn't necessarily mean that Raticate was…
"Never mind, it's nothing." I shook my head clear of the thought.
"Anyway." She cut the silence. "You're just a kid, so I cannot condone you getting caught up in all this. However, if there's anything you wish to know, go ahead and ask."
"Who's on our side?" I figured that was the most important thing. She looked disapprovingly at my use of the word 'our', but answered anyway.
"Surge and I, for starters. Blaine too. Misty's a bit too young to get involved, but she's our ally nonetheless. I'm sure Brock would be willing to join us too if we asked him, but it's not his problem, so I'd like to avoid dragging him into it, if at all possible. And then there's Sabrina." Her serious expression wavered at the mention of Sabrina, but settled back down momentarily. "She's simply too young, I would never ask her to join us." Wasn't Misty still just a kid too? She can't have been as old as fifteen when I met her. "Other than that, there's the Viridian City gym leader. I don't know if he would be willing to join us or not, but I can't count on it." She seemed to be talking to herself as much as she was to me. "Anyway, I have no intention of offering you to join us, like Lt. Surge wants. Honestly, that man. He's a valuable ally and a good person to be sure, but sometimes…" She shakes her head disapprovingly. "If that's all, then I should get back to my duties. You should go heal your Pokémon as well." I nodded.
As we left the back room she turned to me. "Despite what I've said, I'd like to ask you a favour. There is a man in Lavender Town by the name of Mr. Fuji. He is in possession of a valuable item, a Poké Flute. It can be used to wake sleeping Pokémon. You don't need to feel obliged, but if possible, I would like you to collect the flute from him and use it to awaken the sleeping Snorlax on route 16. There is one on route 12 as well, as you must know. If you could awaken just one of them, I would be very grateful. Don't worry about Mr. Fuji, he too is a member." She must be talking about the resistance. "You need only tell him I sent you." I nodded.
"Ok, I'll look into it." I waved my hand in farewell and took off. I would need to get one of those two to move if I intended to advance to Fuchsia City anyway.