Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Pokemon.
Character thoughts are italicized
As the group continued on their way to Celadon City, they arrived in Sunnytown. "Can someone tell me where exactly Sunnytown is located?" Nick complained.
Samurai reached into his bag and pulled out his map. "If you look here." He began, showing Nick the map. "Sunnytown is located at the end of cycling road. If we continue on this path, we could make it to Celadon City by the end of the week."
This got Nick excited. "If that's the case, why are we standing around. Let's get moving." He started to walk forward, only to jump back when a swarm of people on bikes almost ran him over. "What just happened?"
Just then, an Officer Jenny stopped infront of the group. "You should be more careful. Especially with the Poke-Cycle Grand Prix starting in a few hours."
"Poke-Cycle Grand Prix?" The whole group said back.
"What is this grand prix? Is it some kind of race?" Ebony asked.
"That's exactly it. Trainers compete against each other by riding on bikes up cycling road. While riding, each trainer has a pokemon with them to try and knock the other competitors out of the race." Officer Jenny explained. "If you're interested in trying, you can still register over at the Pokemon Center."
"This sounds like a good chance to train. I don't know about you three, but I'm entering and I plan on winning." Nick said enthusiastically.
"But, we don't have any bikes with us." Janine pointed out, popping Nick's bubble.
"Don't worry. The Pokemon Center rents bikes out to travelers that arrive here on the day of the race." Officer Jenny said.
The group then headed straight for the Center, looking to register. Once there, they found the Center to be surprisingly deserted. "Hello! Nurse Joy are you here? We want to enter the race!" Nick yelled down the halls.
Nurse Joy walked from around the corner. "I'm sorry, we don't get many visitors on this day. In fact, not too many people participate in the race anymore. Its a real shame."
"What do you mean, 'not too many people participate'? We almost got run over on our way here." Samurai asked.
"Those might have been members of the local bike gang. Chopper has won this race the last three years in a row. He'll stop at nothing to win." Nurse Joy told them. "But maybe if one of you can win, it'll knock him down a peg. Maybe dent his ego a little. But before that, you still need to register with what pokemon you'll be using."
"I'll win this race, and show this Chopper who is a real competitor." Nick said, motivated to win. "I'll show him that you can't scare me."
The group all registered, one after the other. Nick signed up with Eevee, Samurai was with Paras, Ebony with her Meowth and Janine with her Venonat. They also all rented bikes for the race. Nurse Joy then pulled out a map. "The race route follows cycling road exactly as it is. The finish line is the Pokemon Center at the other end. If you need a bicycle, you can borrow one from the pile over there. You just have to leave them at the other Center after the race.
Everyone picked out their bikes. Nick had a red bike, Samurai picked a light green bike, Ebony grabbed a blue bike and Janine picked a purple bike. The four then rushed over to the starting line, as the race was to start soon. The group lined up to the starting line. As they waited, a group of bikers arrived being led by a guy with red hair standing straight up and wearing a leather vest. His bike looked like a Zapdos and he rolled up right between Ebony and Janine and continued until he was infront of all four trainers.
"Well, what do we have here." He said, looking at the four trainers. "The name's Chopper. In case you didn't know, I've won this race three years in a row. I'm kinda like a celebrity around here." He then looked at Janine and Ebony. "You two are pretty cute, how'd you like to date a four time champion."
"I'd rather eat dirt than go out with you." Ebony replied, sticking her tongue out at the punk.
Janine on the other hand moved closer to Samurai. "I'm already seeing someone." She said, grabbing Samurai's hand.
This confused Samurai. "What are you talking about." He whispered.
"Just help me out. I can't stand this guy." She whispered back.
The two responses weren't what Chopper wanted to hear. He circled around the four, trying to intimidate them. "You don't know who you're messing with. Everyone knows better than to get me upset. I'll make sure you learn that during the race." Chopper then left, rejoining his gang.
"That guy's a creep." Ebony said. "There is no way I'm losing to him."
"I don't think any of us will." Nick added.
Just then, a gust of wind blew through the starting line. As everyone covered their faces from the wind, they didn't notice a boy role up next to them. "Well, if it isn't Nick. Its been awhile hasn't it?" The boy said.
Both Ebony and Janine were confused by this person, but Nick and Samurai recognized him immediately. "A.J, how's it been? I haven't seen you since we battled outside of Cerulean City."
"I know, how's your journey been. Personally, its been great. I've already earned six badges. I was on my way to Fuchsia City to challenge the gym there when I heard about this race. That guy over there, the one on the Zapdos bike, tried to scare me out of the race." A.J explained to everyone.
"You too. He's won this race the past three years and I guess he tries to scare away the competition. So, who did you enter with?" Samurai asked.
"My Voltorb. Its the easiest one to use. All my other ones are either too big or heavy for the bike. Voltorb can sit in my basket though."
"All racers make your way to the starting line, the race is beginning in exactly one minute." A voice over a loud speaker said. "As is always the case, we have checkpoints along the trail. If you don't reach a checkpoint by a certain time, you are eliminated." The traffic light infront of everyone lit up. The color changed from red to yellow to green. Once the light turned green, everyone was off.
Samurai rushed out to an early lead with Paras in his basket. Not to far behind was Chopper and a handful of his gang members. This guy doesn't understand how this race works. It doesn't matter if he rushes out in front of everyone, at this rate he'll be too tired to continue by the halfway point. Chopper thought as he peddled. "Okay boys, its time to go to work." He said as all the members grabbed their pokeballs.
Elsewhere, Nick was peddling along. He knew that at the current pace he was at, he would have a decent chance of winning. As he was peddling, he started to notice something going on up ahead.
"Venonat, use psybeam." Janine called out. The bug and poison type pokemon launched the psychic attack from it's eyes, the beam hitting a few people on bikes.
"Janine, what's going on." Nick yelled as he caught up to her.
Before she could answer, a new bike appeared. It's rider was a female with long green hair, who wore a leather jacket. "So, you think you'll be of any help to her?" The voice asked while laughing.
"Who are you and why are you after us!" Nick demanded.
"Hasn't anyone ever taught you how to talk to a lady?" She asked teasingly. "I'm Tyra, second in command of the Bridge Bike Gang. Our leader has told us to dispose of any other competitors." She said, raising a pokeball. "Pikachu, use discharge." The electric type appeared in Tyra's basket, charging up electricity in it's cheek pouches. The electric mouse launched the attack at the duo. Electricity flew from it's cheeks and headed straight for Janine and Nick.
"Voltorb, use light screen on those two up ahead." A.J called out from behind everyone. An invisible screen covered Nick and Janine, causing the discharge attack to bounce off of it.
"What are you doing, why help them? You're only going to have to race them as well. Why not let me take out your competition." Tyra asked.
"You see, I don't really like your little gang." A.J explained. "I'd rather win this race fairly, then win by taking everyone out. Voltorb, use sonic boom." Voltorb spun around quickly, creating a shockwaves to be created. The shockwaves were then launched in the direction of Tyra's bike, popping her tires and knocking her out of the race. "Let that be a message to your gang. Don't mess with me before a race, or you're going to regret it." He yelled as Nick, Janine and himself peddled away.
Further behind, Ebony was being chased by a few gang members who were trying to knock her out of the race. She dodged attack after attack as she peddled down the Grand Prix's path. "Meowth!" She yelled, waking the cat pokemon up from it's nap. "Use thunderbolt on these guys." Meowth stood up and climbed from the front of the bike to behind Ebony, standing on the bike seat. The normal type then began to charge up electricity before launching it in front of the bikers. The electric attack moved back and forth in front of the bikers, causing them to fall off their bikes when they tried to dodge it. Ebony turned around and laughed at the group laying on the ground behind her. "That's what you deserve for picking on a girl."
As Ebony continued peddling, she realized she wasn't moving as easily as before. She jumped off the bike and checked to make sure everything was fine. As she checked everything on the bike, it all seemed fine to her. When she checked the tires however, she found poison sting needles stuck in them. She realized that the attack must have put holes in the tires and caused them to lose air. "Well Meowth, it looks like we aren't going any further in this race." She said to her pokemon, disappointed in the fact that she lost.
Further ahead, Samurai was still in the lead with the majority of the bike gang behind him and Chopper right in the middle of them all. "Paras, maybe we should give them a little surprise." Samurai told his pokemon. "Use stun spore, that way a trail of it will be left behind us. If they breathe it, they won't be able to continue racing." He explained as Paras shook it's mushrooms, creating the spores and releasing them into the air.
The plan worked exactly like Samurai had hoped. A majority of the gang rode right into the stun spore, inhaling it and causing them to drop out of the race. Chopper wasn't one of them though. When he noticed Paras releasing something into the air earlier, he immediately covered his mouth and nose so that he wouldn't breathe any of it in. "If he thinks he can beat us with a silly trick like that, he's surely mistaken." Chopper said, only to see most of his gang members were out of the race.
Chopper was now annoyed with Samurai. No one makes a fool out of the Bridge Bike Gang and gets away with it. He thought as he looked straightforward. "Beedrill!" He yelled as the poison and bug type flew down from the sky. "Use poison sting on that bike up ahead." He said, pointing at Samurai. Beedrill raised it's stingers and fired at Samurai, hitting the bike right away.
Once the bike was hit, Samurai started losing contol of it. He looked behind him to see that Chopper was still in the race, and attacking him. "That guy just doesn't quit." He said, looking forward again. "Paras, use energy ball." Paras charged up the green ball of energy and launched it at Chopper, who dodged it easily. Samurai could feel his tires losing air, and losing it at a fast rate. "Paras, we don't have much time, keep firing energy ball. If we're going down, we're taking him with us." Paras continued to fire attack after attack at the gang leader, only to have him dodge every single one.
"Play time is over. Beedrill, use string shot!" Chopper commanded. Beedrill fired string from it's mouth, the attack landed on the back of Samurai's bike and then passed him shortly after.
Samurai could feel himself being stopped and looked around. He noticed that on the end of his bike was a string shot attack. He then noticed that the attack ran all the way to a pole, making it impossible to move any further until he could cut it. "Well Paras, we did our best. I guess we just weren't meant to win this race."
Just then, Nick, Janine and A.J all rode by Samurai as they tried to catch up to Chopper. They were almost at the finish line and didn't have much time left. "We don't have much time left." A.J said, between breaths of air.
"Ya, you're right." Nick said, agreeing with the trainer. "After the drawbridge, is the finish line." Nick said, pointing to the bridge up ahead.
The three trainers then increased their speed, knowing that the race was nearly over. "We can't let that guy win this race." Janine said, picking up the most speed, only for A.J to pass her. Neither of them get far, as they noticed that the drawbridge was rising for a boat to pass through. "If we don't make it over," Janine began "we'll lose the race."
A.J wasn't losing to someone like Chopper. He started peddling as hard as he could, climbing the raising drawbridge. Nick stared in disbelief that he was going to try and jump the gap. "Janine." Nick said, getting her attention. "Launch psybeam at A.J's bike. I'm going to launch shadow ball. Hopefully the explosion from the attacks can help launch him over the bridge." He said, explaining his plan. He then looked down at Eevee. "Eevee, use shadow ball." Eevee launched the ghost type attack at A.J's bike, hoping it would be enough.
"Venonat, use psybeam." Janine called out. Venonat fired it's attack as well, launching the colored beam at A.J's bike. The two attacks collided, causing an explosion that sent A.J into the air. The duo could only watch as A.J flew over the drawbridge and landed on the other side.
Thanks to the steep incline, A.J was gaining a new burst of speed. He flew down the drawbridge, passing Chopper on the way by. "I guess you won't be winning four years in a row." He teased as he flew by the only other racer left.
"I wouldn't get so full of yourself just yet. Beedrill, use string shot." Beedrill fired the same attack that had got Samurai tied to a pole just before the drawbridge.
A.J smirked, having figured a way to beat this. Once the string was attached to his bike, he tried out his plan. "Voltorb, use thunderbolt on that string." A.J said, pointing at the string shot. The electric type did exactly as it was told, launching the electrical attack onto the string. The electricity flowed through the string, heading straight back at Beedrill. The bug type was unable to lose his end of the string and was shocked by the thunderbolt, knocking it out and causing it to fall on top of it's trainer.
A.J watched Beedrill crush it's trainer as he crossed the finish line, winning the race. As he was celebrating with Voltorb, Nick and the others all arrived to congratulate him on winning the race. Immediately after the race was finished, A.J jumped back onto his bike as he was ready to head to Fuchsia City.
"You'd think that you would be tired of riding a bike after today." Nick joked with his rival.
"Riding is the fastest way to Fuchsia City. I can head straight back to Sunnytown and then Fuchsia a short walk from there." He said before peddling away.
"Well, I guess that's our cue to get going as well." Nick said as the group of four left and continued on their way to Celadon City.
Team:
Nick- 4 badges:
Eevee- swift, quick attack, dig, shadow ball
Beedrill- poison sting, fury attack, twinneedle, hyper beam
Kingler- water gun, crabhammer, stomp, mud shot
Charmelon- flamethrower, ember, dragon rage, metal claw
Ghastly- night shade, mean look, hypnosis
Hitmonchan- mach punch, agility, comet punch
At Oak's:
Shellder
Samurai- league exam badge:
Pinsir- x-scissor, bulldoze, harden, revenge
Venonat- supersonic, tackle, foresight
Paras- energy ball, stun spore, fury cutter, slash
At home:
Butterfree- aerial ace, sleep powder
Ebony- ? Badges:
Charmelon- fire spin
Meowth- thunderbolt, fury swipes
Magneton- electro ball, thunder wave
Seel
Janine- league exam badge:
Venonat- psybeam
Zubat
Grimer