18. Fighting in a Venom-enal Way
Danny, Richard and Janine continued their journey through Kanto. After a well night of sleep, they were ready to head off towards Vermillion City, which was getting closer and closer. Unless the nerves he had when he was about to battle Misty, Danny didn't had any of those right now. At least, not yet. And Vermillion City was still a day walk, so the nerves had some spare time to show up.
"Man, I can't wait to get in Vermillion City." Richard said, making both Danny and Janine look up surprised.
"I thought you liked being out in the nature?" Danny asked. "Yes I do, but these shoes are really getting irritating." Richard pointed down, and while nothing was visible from the surface, when Richard lifted one of his feet it became all clear: There where several gapes in the bottom.
"Why do you still wear them, you must have some extra?" Janine said. "I don't, my parents thought one pair of shoes would be enough, but they didn't survive the Growlithe chase." "And that's why you always buy Mountain Peaks." Danny laughed.
"So that's how your shoes are called. I never knew the brand." Richard said. "We bought them together, remember?" Richard shook his head.
"That's right, I bought these in the real world, with the Richard that doesn't have a Squirtle by his side. How long has it been, it must have been a month at least, longer. It has been longer than a month. I doubt the dream-theory, I think it might be something else, but I don't know what. One thing I know for sure, is that my dreams are never that long and never that detailed, like this, I never think in my dream, or I don't know what I am thinking."
"Danny, are you with us?" Janine snatched her fingers in front of Danny.
"Yeah, sorry, I wondered off." Danny answered. "We just wondered if we should stop by that Pokémon Centre over there or not." "I think we should." Richard said. "Well, why not?" Danny added to the mix.
"Damn, it doesn't happen too often to me anymore, but when I think about the reality switch, that's a good name for it, let's call everything that happened the reality switch, I wonder off completely."
Danny and his friends walked inside of the Pokémon Centre, which was in a complete hurry.
"Nurse Joy, what's wrong?" Richard asked. But he couldn't get as loud as the trainers where around them.
Joy and her Chansey where making extra hours, everywhere were beds and blankets. "Try to have your Pokémon calm down, I will try to treat them as fast as possible."
A stretcher with a Mankey lying on it was hurried past them, Joy behind it.
"Nurse Joy, what's the problem?" Richard repeated his question. This time, Joy heard him.
"There is a Grimer up in the small forest up on the mountain, right behind this center. And everyone that comes by, will be poisoned. Several trainers tried to capture it, but all their Pokémon end up being poisoned as well." She explained. "And they all come back here."
"A Grimer, that sounds interesting. Let's go." Janine said. "Yeah, Grimer's are one of my favorite" Danny added, and both ran off.
"Well, maybe I can help you Nurse Joy? I want to be a Pokémon doctor, so it could be a good exercise." Nurse Joy gave Richard a quick smile, as approval, before running off again towards the next patient.
"Yes"
Danny and Janine hurried up the mountain, ready to take on Grimer.
"You know I am going to catch it, right?" Janine asked, more sarcastically than casual. "I like that you want to help me, but I can handle this one by myself."
Danny started to laugh. "You thought I was going to help you? Hah, I am going after that Grimer myself, we'll see who walks away with the prize." Janine laughed as well. "That bet is on."
They ran up the small hill behind the Pokémon Centre. At the top they stopped for a while.
Janine pointed towards the north. "Look, have we passed that city?" Danny looked as well. "No, I can't remember, but it is right in the place Cerulean City should be. That's weird." Janine nodded. "I can't remember passing by that city neither." When they turned around, and looked south, another city was visible.
"That must be Vermillion City." Danny said. "I can't see it completely, but it looks like it has a harbor! I can see some of the sea."
"That would be great, seeing some sea." Danny murmured. "I always loved the sea." Janine nodded. "So do I, but you know what I like more?" Danny shook his head. "A Poison type Pokémon, so if you keep staring at that beautiful sea, I will capture Grimer." Janine laughed and ran off, Danny, of course, right behind here.
"It will be mine." He shouted.
Out of the forest, a pair of eyes was watching them, and they looked amused.
"Charmander, come on out." Charmander, who had been tired of the walking part, and wanted to rest a little bit. Venonat had the same thing.
If the sun had been shining, it wouldn't have been a problem, but it wasn't. The sky was clouded and a cold wind was blowing. Not good circumstances for a Charmander or a Venonat.
"You're really picking Charmander, don't you think that is a little bit risky?" Janine laughed. "I prefer to go with Koffing."
The feared Grimer was still looking at them, and saw both of its opponents appear, one Charmander and one Koffing. It was time for action.
Grimer appeared from out of its shelter, now visible for the two trainers.
"There it is. Charmander, use Ember!" The attack did hit, but didn't seem to leave a scar on the Grimer, who decided to go with a Sludge attack.
"Charmander, are you okay?" Charmander nodded, but seemed not okay. He fell down, and was getting a little bit purple.
"There we have it, it is poisoned, and that's why you don't fight Poison with anything else but Poison. Koffing, use Tackle."
Grimer didn't seemed to be harmed at all, and used Sludge again. Koffing looked at its trainer for instructions, cause they needed something stronger than Tackle to take out Grimer.
"I know something, how about a Sludge as well." Grimer did a Sludge attack as well, and neither one of them was damaged.
"Damn, I can't seem to damage it at all." The Grimer, however, was getting bored and turned around, ready to go.
"Hey, where battling here." Grimer didn't seemed to care, and crawled away, back into the forest.
Janine went towards Danny, who was kneeled down by his Charmander. "I know something for that." She took something out of her pocket.
"This is a Pecha Berry, I always have some with me, since both Koffing and Venonat cam poison opponents, and these berries will cure them." Janine explained. "Charmander, you need to eat this one, it will make you feel better." Janine said softly, and Charmander slowly opened his mouth.
Janine looked at Danny, who nodded, and she laid the berry on Charmander's tongue. The Pokémon's mouth closed, and he swallowed the berry as suggested.
Within seconds, Charmander went up again, happy as always. "That was a close one, thank you Janine." "Don't mention it." She smiled. "I'm just glad it worked out fine." "Worked out fine?" Danny asked surprised. "Haven't you used them before?"
"Well…" "Sigh, never mind. Grimer got away, so what do we do now?" Janine looked into the forest, as if she saw it right now.
"I don't know, we need to find a better strategy, what do you have for Pokémon with you?" "Well, I think Abra would work better, since it is a Psychic type." Janine nodded. "That would be best, why didn't you used it in the first place?" Danny sighed. "Because he was fast asleep, again." Janine started to laugh. "You really need to try and do something about that sleeping problem of your Abra." "I know. We have some time left to work on it though."
At the same time, before Danny and Janine battled Grimer, in the Pokémon Centre, Richard was having the time of his live. Not that all the poisoned Pokémon where such a great thing, but he just really like to be a doctor, and that dream was getting closer to actually coming true.
"Richard, can you help me over here?" Richard nodded, and walked towards Nurse Joy, who was just treating a Meowth.
"I need some of this powder, it is made of Pecha Berries and it heals poisoning, but this one is empty, you need to pick some." Richard nodded. "Where can I find them?" "Up the hill, there is a big tree with pink colored berries, there the only kind of healing berries that grow in Kanto, those are the ones I need." "On it."
Richard ran up the hill at the opposing side as Danny and Janine did, and when he was up, he saw both of them starring at the north, while he was walking up from the south part.
"No time to greet them, I need to get those berries." Richard, dedicated as always, walked on into the forest, right before Danny and Janine looked towards the south, and found Vermillion City.
"Somewhere in the forest, big tree with pink colored berries." Richard repeated, and he looked around. The more he looked around, the deeper het got into the forest.
"There they are." One tree stood out more than the others, and the pink berries where easily visible, and looked ripe.
"Here we go." Richard took a few that were hanging low on the tree, and put them in his pocket, but it where only a few, and he wanted more. Richard could be a real perfectionist, especially if it comes to the matter of Pokémon. While Richard was talking to himself, a pair of eyes was watching every move he made.
"It might cost a little bit more time now, but if I have to run up and down again because I didn't bring enough, that will cost more time." Richard decided, and climbed up the three, and took another pair, and another.
"That must be enough." He looked into his pocket, and he had now around 20 berries, in a quick count." While climbing down he heard a strange noise, coming from the opposite of the tree.
"Can't be anything interesting." Richard decided, and landed back on his feet. Turns out, it was something interesting. A Grimer appeared from out of the bushes, and confronted Richard full on.
"Ah, the Grimer Janine and Danny are looking for is now right here, just great." Richard said. "Sandshrew, how about you take care of this?"
Sandshrew appeared, and was ready to fight. "Okay Sandshrew, use Dig." Sandshrew went underground, now the point was, this Grimer wasn't interested in a battle to begin with. It looked relieved that the Pokémon had gone.
Right then, Sandshrew appeared from underneath the Grimer, knocking it back. Scared to death, the Grimer quickly crawled away.
"Well done Sandshrew, that was really great battling." Sandshrew was happy to do something good for its trainer, and happily returned to its Pokéball, knowing it would get a little something extra with dinner, something Richard always did when one of his Pokémon helped him out.
"Now let's go down." "Hey, Richard!" Danny and Janine where running towards Richard. "Hi guys, you never guess which Pokémon I just fought." Danny and Janine looked at each other. "I have no idea." Danny said. "It can't be Grimer, we just battled one."
"That's funny, I just battled Grimer as well." Richard said, shocking all three of them. "That's sure is strange." Danny said. "We just fought it, it was really aggressive, but got bored when it couldn't seem to win from Janine's Koffing." "No man, it isn't aggressive at all, it rather seems afraid of other Pokémon, than really wanting to fight."
Janine looked from Danny and Richard and back. "You guys are not going to say it I see, so I'll do it. There are two Grimers, one is the aggressive one that causes all the trouble for the trainers, the other one, the one Richard battled, is more shy, and definitely not the Grimer that causes all that trouble."
"That sure sounds legit." Danny said. "Anyway, you two good luck with your Grimer hunt, I need to go back towards the Pokémon center, Nurse Joy is waiting for these berries." Richard waved and hurried down, before Janine could offer to give some of her berries as well.
"Now there are two Grimers, that means we can both have one." Danny said. "I guess so." Janine said sad. "I actually liked the rivalry, I never had a rival before, and I just started to like it." Danny laughed. "Well, I have a rival, well, kind off, and it isn't too much fun."
Danny thought back on the times he was with Marcel, and the last thing Marcel had set came to mind.
-"Don't think that I'm nice to you from now on." Marcel all of a sudden said. "I still can't stand you." Marcel said, while returning both of his Pokémon, and he walked away.
"Well, I can't stand you either, glad you are leaving again." Danny screamed. –
"Believe me, having a rival isn't the best thing in the world." Danny said. Janine looked at her new friend, and realized there was a lot Danny hadn't told yet, she wondered if Richard knew everything about Danny, she guessed he did, but she didn't know for sure.
"Come on, let's go." Danny started walking again, and Janine quickly followed, putting her thoughts aside. For whatever reason Danny is keeping something secret, it is probably a valid one.
Richard had gone back towards the Pokémon Centre with the Pecha Berries, and informed everyone there wasn't one, but two Grimers. He also told Danny and Richard would capture them, so there was nothing to worry about.
"Where can those Grimer be?" Janine asked frustrated. It must have been halve an hour since they said goodbye to Richard, and there was still no sign of any of the two Grimers.
"Maybe we have better luck when we split up." Danny suggested. Janine nodded. "I'll go east, you can go west." She said, and Danny nodded.
The last one decided to let Abra already out of its Pokéball. "Okay buddy, listen up. This is very important, so you can't fall asleep, okay?" Abra nodded, but couldn't resist a Yawn.
Danny walked on through the forest, while also making sure Abra walked in front of him, and not falling asleep.
"I think I have a better idea. Beedrill, come on out as well." Beedrill appeared out of his Pokéball. "Beedrill, can you fly over this hill, and try to find a Grimer, doesn't matter which one. You are part Poison type as well, so you can't be poisoned. That means you are free to attack it." The word attack hadn't fallen yet, or Beedrill was gone. Bellsprout might be a fighting addict, Beedrill came close second.
"Maybe I should send Bellsprout out as well, it is Poison type too. Wow, Bellsprout, Beedrill and Grimer, that makes 3 Poison types, I sure hope we don't come across a Psychic type gym." Danny laughed. Abra turned around, and laughed as well. As long as it laughs it doesn't sleep.
Janine was walking through the forest as well, Venonat by her side. "So Venonat, you know the plan: When we see that Grimer, you are going to use your Confusion attack, that will do some decent damage, than I will be ready with a Pokéball." Venonat nodded, and was ready to fight.
While not noticing, Janine and Danny started walking in the same direction, there where Beedrill had flown to as well.
The Poison Bee Pokémon had seen not one, but two Grimers, sort of sitting, or standing, on the ground. It was ready for a fight, so it flew down and used Twineedle on both of the Grimer, one of them attacked immediately back with Sludge, while the other one was trying to get out of there as fast as possible.
Beedrill was just getting started, and the Sludge attack barely did any damage, so it happily went back in there, now only attacking the aggressive Grimer, since the other one didn't showed any sign of pugnacity. And, unlike Bellsprout, Beedrill did know when to attack and when to just ignore.
"Beedrill!" Before the called Pokémon could make a move, he heard the voice of his trainer, coming near. "I see you found them. Abra, use Psychic." Abra was fully awake, which actually surprised Beedrill, and used Psychic at its finest, doing visibly a lot of damage at the Grimer.
"There they are!" Janine came running in as well. "Venonat, use Confusion on the other Grimer." The shy Grimer also took some damage, and started to crawl away even more.
Both Danny and Janine took a Pokéball of their belt. "Pokéball… Go!" They screamed at the same time. Two Pokéballs flew out of the trainer's hands, and towards the Pokémon they were aiming for. Both Pokéballs hit the Grimer they were meant for, and both Grimer disappeared with two red lights.
Danny and Janine ran near. "Which's which?" Janine asked. "I don't know." At that time, one Pokéball went open again, and the Grimer captured by that Pokéball hurried away.
"O no, I'll go after it." Janine said. "No wait, let's see what this one does." Danny said. Both bend over and looked at the Pokéball. Ding, ding, ding, ding.
"Come on, be captured." Both said. Ding, ding. …. Click.
"Yes, I captured a Grimer." Both said, at the same time. "Hey, wait. This is my Grimer, not yours." They said at the same time again. While they were arguing, the Pokéball disappeared.
"What! Where did it go?" Janine said. "I don't know. All I know is that both Grimers are gone. One in a Pokéball and one without. Let's go down and eat something first, we'll get back here after we have eaten something." Danny said. Janine agreed, and both of them walked out of the forest, down the hill, towards the Pokémon centre, where the last patients where just cured and on their way home.
"And, who captured a Grimer?" Richard happily welcomed both trainers. "Neither one of us, both disappeared." Danny said cranky.
"Well, how about I make you some lunch." Nurse Joy said. Chansey happily agreed.
"I really wanted one." Danny mocked. "Yeah me to, but we better let it go, we can still get one." Janine said. Suddenly, the phone started to rang, and Nurse Joy answered.
"Danny, it is for you." Danny hurried towards the phone, and saw professor Oak.
"Hi Danny, I wanted to call you and tell you your Grimer has safely arrived at my lab." Danny was confused. "What?" "The Grimer you captured has been transferred to my lab, since you have already have 6 Pokémon with you, the seventh you capture will be send to me."
Danny got it. "So I captured the Grimer?" He said, loud enough for Janine to hear. "Yes, I'll let it out for you."
Grimer appeared in front of the screen, but didn't seemed to be angry or whatsoever.
"Hi Grimer, my name is Danny, and I am your new trainer." Danny said, and Grimer didn't seem to mind it, and happily waved towards him. Danny waved back. "So I know this one isn't the shy one." He said. Oak laughed. "It sure isn't shy, but really friendly. I have to go now, I will take good care of your Grimer, and your parents wanted me to say they miss you, and that they are proud of you."
Danny smiled. "Say I am doing well and miss them to." Oak nodded "I will, bye." "Bye."
Danny went back towards the table, where the food was just served. "I captured the Grimer, and it was send towards professor Oak. It was possibly just aggressive because it wanted to have a trainer, cause now it is really friendly." He explained. "Congratulations Danny." Richard said. "Yeah, congrats." Janine added.
"We can go back, you know. Give you the opportunity to capture that other Grimer." Danny said. "No, seeing how afraid that Grimer is for humans, I think it is best that it lives up there, alone."
In the forest, the shy Grimer was looking down at the Pokémon centre, and was relieved when it saw Danny, Richard and Janine leave towards Vermillion City. That other Grimer almost caused it to be captured, luckily, it wasn't.
I just realized I forgot to upload two weeks ago. My full apologize, I was a little ill during that weekend, and I completely forgot to add something. Well, I will try to make it up to you, right now. Danny's seventh capture is a fact, Grimer.
Put your bets folks, when do you think it will be in the main team, and which Pokémon will be switched out for it?