After earning his third Gym Badge, Brayden continues his journey, now accompanied by fellow rookie Trainer Trace. After a brief stop back in Cerulean City, they now make their way across Route 9 in search of an abandoned Power Plant.
"Why are we going to the Power Plant, again?" Trace asked Brayden.
Brayden raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you remember? The other day, Lt. Surge told us about it."
Days ago, at the Vermilion City Gym, after the battle ended…
"Both of our Pokémon deserve a good rest after this match!" Surge said as he and Brayden placed the Poké Balls of Oddish, Mankey, Electrode and Raichu on the restoration machine.
"I gotta say, your Electric-type Pokémon are really awesome!" Brayden said enthusiastically to Surge.
Surge grinned. He began to ponder something, then got an idea.
"You know, if you want an Electric Pokémon, you should catch one of your own. And I know just the place for you to find one!"
The present, Route 9…
"He told me to go the Power Plant on Route 10, because lots of strong Electric Pokémon live there." Brayden told Trace.
He took out the Town Map he had received from Daisy Oak and pointed out the Power Plant's location.
"Looks like we have to travel down a river to reach it, because the bridge that used to connect there got torn down several years ago. Good thing Misty gave me the Surf HM!"
"Wartortle!" Wartortle said cheerfully.
"Oh yeah! Thanks for letting me use it on my Water Pokémon, Brayden! That sure saved me a lot of time." Trace said.
"No problem! I owed you for saving us back at the S.S. Anne, anyway." Brayden replied.
Trace chuckled in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh! I just remembered!" Trace said.
"I still haven't told you about how I met Pikachu."
"That's right! I completely forgot about that!" Brayden realized. "Well then, we're listening. Tell us!"
Trace looked down at Pikachu anxiously as they walked down the route.
The Mouse Pokémon stared back at him and nodded encouragingly.
Trace breathed in and out, as though he was hesitant to tell the story. Brayden noticed this and felt a bit worried. Did something bad happen to Trace that day?
"It was like this…" Trace began.
Celadon City, weeks ago…
Trace and Charmander stepped out of the Pokémon Center, filled with utter excitement. They had arrived the previous night, and now they were free to explore to their hearts' content.
"Wow! This town is so much bigger than Vermilion City! I don't know where to go first. What do you think, Charmander? The Gym? The Game Corner? Maybe the Celadon Condominiums?" Trace asked his Fire-type friend.
Charmander looked around, then noticed a very tall building with a blue roof.
"Char! Charmander!" he cried, pointing at the building.
Trace new exactly what it was. And his excitement reached a new high as a result.
"Wow! The Celadon Department Store! That place has tons of stuff we'd never find at the Poké Mart back home! Let's go, Charmander!"
Later…
"Awesome! We got Potions, Full Heals, and even some TMs! Now we're prepared for anything!" Trace said confidently after he was done shopping.
"Charmander!"
Charmander cheered, then heard some commotion nearby.
Trace noticed Charmander wander off towards a small crowd watching a cruel-looking man and woman and their Pokémon.
"What's going on?" he wondered as he walked over.
"All right, nobody move!" the man snapped. "We're taking everything we can carry from this place free of charge. Any attempts to stop us will be not be tolerated!"
He and the woman put on noise cancellers, and the man's Pokémon, a Poliwrath, let loose a horribly loud shout, causing everyone in the room but him, his partner and her own Pokémon to crouch down and plug their ears.
"Oh no! They're thieves!" Trace thought as the noise generated from Poliwrath rang in his ears.
"Poliwrath's using Hyper Voice to keep everyone pinned down! What should we do?!"
Nobody could hear it, but the woman laughed approvingly.
"Good work, dear! Now, Golduck, use Psychic and get as much loot as you can!"
Trace and Charmander looked on as Golduck's eyes shone blue, and items on display all over the floor and even some from higher floors began to fill the robber's bags. After a minute had passed, the bags were completely full, and Poliwrath stopped shouting.
"Excellent work as always!" the male robber complimented his partner.
"Anything less would be shameful." she replied.
With that, the thieves dashed out of the store. But to Trace's shock, Charmander ran off after them, wanting to recover the stolen items.
"Charmander! Come back!" Trace cried out as he got to his feet and hurriedly followed.
Somewhere on Route 16…
After running for what felt like five minutes, Trace finally caught up to his Fire-type companion. Charmander was peering between some trees. Apparently this was where the robbers had hidden.
After catching his breath, Trace looked at Charmander and whispered, "C'mon, Charmander. We can't fight those guys. Let's go find the police and let them know they're here."
Charmander faced Trace. The Lizard Pokémon looked like he was determined to fight, despite the danger.
Trace looked back at his Pokémon friend, and felt that there was nothing that would persuade him to back down.
But before Trace could decide his next move, he heard the thieves call out to him.
"We know you're there, so make it easy on yourselves and come out!" the male robber said.
Charmander stepped into the clearing trying his best to look brave, while Trace didn't even try to hide his fear.
The male robber stood up and beckoned Charmander and Trace forward, expecting a fight. His Poliwrath stood next to him, awaiting orders.
The woman was sitting nearby with her Golduck and the bags, grinning wickedly.
"How cute. This little Pokémon wants to stop us. It even dragged its reluctant Trainer along." she said.
Charmander looked back at Trace and saw the fear on the boy's face. This unfortunately caused the Fire-type to start losing his own nerve.
The man laughed.
"What's wrong? Not going to attack us? I thought you wanted to recover the things we took. Too feeble to think for yourself?!" he mocked, before kicking the Lizard Pokémon into Trace's gut, knocking the boy down.
"A word of advice, kid," the criminal said to Trace.
"Next time your Pokémon tries to run off, put it back in the ball! Then tell it off for not listening to you! You'll never accomplish anything if you don't get your Pokémon to obey!"
These words stung Trace, but he got back up. He knew the robber was wrong, and he had to at least try to prove it.
"I-I don't believe you! Pokémon can be strong no matter how they're treated. Charmander is my friend. I'd never be mean to him just because he wanted to do the right thing!" Trace said defiantly.
Charmander became invigorated by those words.
"Charmander!" he cried.
The man chuckled, obviously unconvinced.
"You think spoiling your Pokémon makes it strong? Then prove it! Attack!" he insisted.
"Use Scratch, Charmander!" Trace shouted.
The Lizard Pokémon swiped at Poliwrath with his claws.
A direct hit!
But Poliwrath didn't so much as flinch.
"Is that the best you can do? Poliwrath didn't even feel that attack!" the robber taunted.
"Oh…no…" Trace muttered.
The thief commanded Poliwrath to use Hydro Pump, and in the blink of an eye Charmander was blasted into a tree by the pressurized water.
"Charmander!" Trace cried out in despair.
Trace knew all along that Charmander wasn't strong enough to fight such a powerful Water-type Pokémon, yet he hadn't run away when he'd had the chance. If only they had caught a Grass- or Electric-type Pokémon before today!
"Alright then, time to make sure this kid forgets he saw us today. Can't have him squealing on us." the woman said as she got up.
"Golduck, Hypnosis!"
Golduck's eyes glowed light blue, and Trace and Charmander began to grow dazed.
Then, a bolt of electricity struck Golduck, interrupting the Hypnosis. Trace and Charmander regained focus, but were still somewhat sleepy.
"What?! Who did that?!" the male robber shouted, looking around.
"Pika! Pikachu!" something shouted back, before leaping out of a tree and landing in front of Trace. It resembled a small, yellow rodent, and had a lightning bolt-shaped tail. It's red cheeks were crackling with electricity.
"A… Pikachu?" Trace and the robbers said together.
The Pikachu stood up on his hind legs and stretched out his hands in defense of Trace.
"Pika Pika!" he cried angrily.
"Why are you sticking up for this kid?!" the male robber said.
"Back off while you still can, weakling! Or you'll be in for a world of hurt just like them!" the female robber snapped.
Poliwrath and Golduck menacingly closed in on them, and Trace shut his eyes, certain that even this brave Pikachu couldn't save him from those scarily strong Pokémon.
He heard Pikachu's next electric attack, but the sound of another attack, what seemed to be a barrage of leaves, joined in.
That was the last thing he heard before he passed out.
Present Day, Route 10…
Brayden was overcome with both excitement and concern by Trace's story.
"Oh man! Sounds like you had a real bad experience back there." he said to his friend.
Trace looked down at the ground in shame.
"It really shook us up good. Charmeleon hasn't been quite the same since then. He tries to stay positive for my sake, but whatever courage he had to chase those guys completely vanished afterwards. If it wasn't for Pikachu and that nice lady, things could've been even worse for us." he said sadly.
"What lady?" Brayden asked, curious.
Before Trace could answer, the river they had been searching for came into view.
"Sweet! There it is!" Brayden exclaimed as he ran to the water's edge.
"Ready to use Surf, Wartortle?"
"Tortle!" the Turtle Pokémon answered.
Wartortle jumped into the water, then emerged with his shell face-up. Brayden carefully lowered himself from the shore and sat down on Wartortle's shell. Remarkably, Wartortle remained steady.
"Wow! It really works!" Brayden grinned.
"Come on, Trace! Get your Water Pokémon out and let's get going!"
"Okay! Charmeleon, return!" Trace said as he recalled the Fire-type to his ball. He then threw another ball.
"Poliwhirl, let's Surf!"
This Pokémon resembled Poliwrath, but was smaller and had a much softer expression.
"Poliwhirl!" the Tadpole Pokémon said as he dived int the river, then emerged the same way as Wartortle. Trace slowly got onto Poliwhirl's back, then both Water-types shot down the river at moderately high speed, enough that their Trainers didn't fall off.
"Wow! Awesome!" Brayden cried. "We'll be there in no time now!"
And he was right, as they arrived at the Power Plant three minutes later.
The boys and their Pokémon stepped onto the dry ground, then looked up and the large building.
They could hear the faint sounds of discharging electricity and moving machinery.
"Surge said that this place used to provide power to all of Kanto, when Electric-type Pokémon started appearing and attacked the workers, the place was abandoned. Now every city has its own smaller power generator, and the local Electric Pokémon call this place home. It's the perfect place to catch an Electric-type of my own!" Brayden said.
Trace rubbed the back of Pikachu's head, to the Mouse Pokémon's delight.
"I'll pass on that. I already have a great Electric Pokémon!" the boy said.
"Still, I'll help however I can."
And together, the two Trainers stepped inside the Power Plant.
Several Minutes Later…
Brayden groaned from impatience. They had been searching the inside of the factory for some time, yet they had not found a single thing, even though they had brought out all their Pokémon to help them search.
"Where are all the Pokémon? Are they hiding from us?" Trace wondered.
"This doesn't make any sense. The place is supposed to be packed full of them!" Brayden complained.
He looked around, then began to think.
"Maybe we're looking in the wrong places…"
Oddish hopped behind one of the operating generators, where she spotted a Poké Ball.
"Odd, Odd!" she called out to everyone.
Brayden came around at once.
"A Poké Ball? Wonder how that got here?" he asked.
"Oh well. Might as well take it."
He stepped past Oddish and reached for the ball.
Trace felt unsure of this choice.
"Brayden, be careful. What if it's laced with electricity? You'll get shocked!"
Brayden hesitated, but to everyone's great shock, the Poké Ball turned around! There was no button on it, instead, two eyes glinted mischievously at Brayden.
"Voltorb!" it shouted happily, before enshrouding itself in electricity and crashing into Brayden, sending the boy flying backwards into a wall with a booming thud.
Wartortle and Oddish ran to Brayden to make sure he was okay.
"Yikes! It's a Voltorb!" Trace yelped. He took out the Pokédex and scanned the Voltorb.
"Voltorb. The Ball Pokémon. An Electric-type. It was first sighted in a Poké Ball factory, and bears a striking resemblance to one. It is very sensitive and any disturbance can cause it to electrocute or explode."
"Voltorb!"
The Ball Pokémon began rolling around the decrepit building at speed, laughing all the while.
"Well don't just stand there," Brayden said as he got up. "After it!"
Though Voltorb wasn't too fast, the many generators and scattered debris made chasing it down very troublesome. Eventually, Mankey managed to corner Voltorb in the back room, and Charmeleon and Pidgeotto surrounded it to make sure it couldn't escape.
"Finally! No more running away, Voltorb! Let's battle!" Brayden shouted.
Voltorb bounced up and down excitedly, apparently it was happy to have been challenged.
"Mankey, use Brick Break! And Pidgeotto, Twister!" Brayden commanded.
"Use Metal Claw, Charmeleon!" Trace said.
Voltorb bounced away from Mankey's chop, but got caught in Pidgeotto's tornado, which left it vulnerable to Charmeleon's slashing claws.
Voltorb bounced backwards, reeling from the attacks. But in an instant, it recovered by bouncing off the wall, before proceeding to crash through all three of its opponents with Rollout.
"Voltorb, Voltorb, Volt!" it cried excitedly as it spun around in a circle. As it did so, Voltorb gained tremendous speed, then it began to glow brightly.
Brayden and Trace gasped.
"Is that…?" Trace uttered.
"Yes. Voltorb is evolving!" Brayden said, amazed.
The glowing subsided, but the wild Pokémon was moving so fast it was just a blur. Without warning, it hurled itself into Charmeleon, electrocuting him the same way it had done to Brayden.
"Charmeleon!" Trace cried.
The Flame Pokémon collapsed, unable to keep fighting.
The Pokémon responsible bounced away a short distance and came to a stop, finally revealing its identity.
"Electrode!" it shouted, grinning.
"I knew it! Voltorb evolves into Electrode!" Brayden said.
He smiled in satisfaction.
Clearly, this Electrode was a powerful one. And that meant only one thing.
"I'm going to catch you, Electrode!" Brayden declared as he pointed at the Ball Pokémon. "Mankey, Mega Kick!"
The Fighting-type launched his flying kick at Electrode.
"Trode!" Electrode shouted with glee. It shot itself right towards Mankey.
When the two met in the air, Electrode's Electric attack actually managed to overpower Mankey's Mega Kick, causing him to crash down to the floor in a heap.
"No way! Even Mega Kick can't stop Electrode! That's some Spark!" Trace said in shock.
Brayden was definitely worried about Mankey, but he had to continue to focus on Electrode.
"Pidgeotto, Agility! Then use Aerial Ace!"
The Bird Pokémon increased his speed before charging after Electrode. The latter responded by unleashing a horribly loud Screech move, lowering Pidgeotto's Defense and forcing him to land.
Electrode immediately used Rollout and steamrolled Pidgeotto.
"Come on! Something has to work!" Brayden shouted in frustration. "Mankey, can you still battle?"
The Pig Monkey Pokémon got to his feet and said nothing.
Brayden was worried, but he had to try using the Rock Tomb/Mega Kick strategy. Would Mankey listen to him?
"Okay then! Use Rock Tomb!" Brayden intructed.
But Mankey did not respond.
"Is Mankey okay?" Trace asked.
Electrode waited patiently for Mankey's next move, but was starting to get bored.
"Mankey, please don't use Rage. Use Rock Tomb. Don't use Rage!" Brayden said urgently.
Steam blew out of Mankey's snout, and an aura of anger consumed him.
"MAAAAAAAAANNNNNNKKEEEEEEYYYYYY!"
Once again, Mankey had disobeyed Brayden.
Once again, he had foolishly activated Rage!
"NO! Why won't you listen to me?!" Brayden shouted at Mankey.
The Pig Monkey ignored his Trainer and soared across the room using Mega Kick. Electrode responded with another Spark, but when they collided, this time both of them were sent flying away.
Mankey thudded to the floor at Brayden's feet while Electrode flew back towards the entrance, where it rebounded off the wall and began bouncing its way back.
"Trode Trode Electrode!" it said proudly.
When it got back to them, Electrode began to glow white, but in a way different from the evolution glow.
"Waaahh! It's going to use Explosion!" Trace screamed.
"Noooo!" Brayden yelled in dismay.
If Electrode exploded, Brayden would lose his chance to catch it, and this whole trip would've been a waste. But there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Suddenly, Trace's Poliwhirl ran towards Electrode, who was now glowing dark red.
"What are you doing, Poliwhirl?!" Brayden shouted.
He shut his eyes as he braved himself for the explosion, which would likely still effect him and the others even if Poliwhirl took the full force of it.
But the explosion never happened.
Trace tapped Brayden's shoulder.
"You can open your eyes now, Brayden! Electrode's not going to explode now!" he said.
Brayden couldn't believe his eyes. Poliwhirl was lying on top of Electrode, and neither Pokémon was damaged in any way, though the latter was looking quite sad.
"But…how…?" was all Brayden could say.
"Heh heh heh!" Trace chuckled.
"My Poliwhirl's Ability is Damp! It stops Pokémon from exploding!"
Electrode seemed truly saddened by this fact.
"Electrode…" it moaned as tears began to fall from its eyes.
Brayden couldn't help but feel sorry for the Electric-type.
"Electrode, you were just playing a game with us, weren't you? You don't get company very often, do you?" he asked the sobbing Pokémon.
Electrode nodded, still crying.
Mankey was disgusted by this revelation. How could he have lost to a Pokémon that didn't take battles seriously? And Brayden had the gall to be angry with him and pity the Electrode. He narrowed his eyes, folded his arms, and looked away.
"Well, if you come along with us, Electrode, you'll never be lonely again! What do you say?" Brayden said to Electrode.
Electrode immediately stopped crying and looked around at all the friendly faces (except Mankey, of course). Oddish hopped over and smiled brightly at it.
"Oddish! Odd Odd!" she said sincerely.
Electrode grinned and bounced up and down ecstatically.
"Trode! Trode Trode!"
"Well, there's your answer, Brayden!" Trace said with a smile.
"Great!" Brayden exclaimed as he tossed a Great Ball in the air. Electrode bounced into the button and vanished inside the ball. The capsule rocked three times, then clicked shut.
Brayden picked up the ball and held it up.
"Yes! We caught Electrode!" he exclaimed.
Except for Mankey, all the Pokémon joined in the celebration.
"Great job, Brayden! Now you have a full team of six!" Trace complimented.
"Yeah, but this capture wouldn't have been possible without you and Poliwhirl, so thanks!" Brayden said gratefully.
Mankey rolled his eyes, but nobody noticed.
"Ha Ha Ha! You needed another Trainer just to catch an Electrode?! I always knew you were a wimp!" a sickeningly familiar voice taunted.
Trace looked around, confused.
Brayden and Wartortle growled.
"You!" Brayden said, shaking with anger. He whirled around, and there, standing in the western entrance, was the Trainer he hated most, Blue of Pallet Town.
Trace recognized him immediately.
"Wow! You're Blue! One of the strongest Trainers in Kanto!" he said in awe.
"That's right! And you're friends with Brayden, huh? You must be a really bad Trainer if you think that guy is strong!" Blue jeered.
Trace's eyes widened and his face went red. He was completely taken aback by Blue's words. Naturally, this angered Brayden.
"Seriously, Blue? Now you have to insult my human friends?! You've hit rock bottom!" Brayden snapped.
Blue chuckled.
"Not even close! I took out all the Pokémon here for training! People said they were dangerous, but they didn't stand a chance against me! They ran away like babies, just like you did after our last battle! HA!"
Brayden felt a chill run down his body. Blue just said out loud, in front of Trace, the result of the fight in Cerulean City. He couldn't think of any sort of retort.
"I guess I somehow missed one, but I know that it wouldn't have made a difference. After all, nobody can beat me but Red! And soon, even he won't compare to me! Smell ya later!" Blue said.
He stepped back outside, and called out his Fearow to carry him elsewhere.
Once Blue was in the air, he frowned.
"I went to all that trouble to power up my Pokémon, and yet the Legendary Pokémon wasn't there! What a letdown. Oh well. I don't need it anyway!"
Back at the Power Plant, Trace and Brayden walked back out the front entrance.
"Uhhhh… Blue definitely isn't what I thought he'd be." Trace said matter-of-factly.
Brayden simply shook his head.
"My Pokémon and I have sworn to beat him, but it's not going to be easy. We still have a lot of work to do."
They recalled their Pokémon except for Wartortle and Poliwhirl, though Brayden kept Mankey out to say something to him.
"Listen to me, Mankey. You can't keep letting your anger get to you! Stop using Rage, it's almost never been a good thing! We have to stay in sync, or you will never get to battle at the Pokémon League! Understand?!"
Mankey looked at him, unamused, but nodded anyway.
With that, Brayden recalled Mankey to his ball, then got on top of Wartortle so they could Surf back up the river.
As they two boys left the Power Plant, Brayden looked up in the sky, wondering if things would be alright between him and Mankey. He spotted dark storm clouds in the distance, surging with lightning, and thought he saw a large bird Pokémon with yellow and black wings fly behind them.
Brayden may have caught Electrode, but his latest encounter with Blue and strained relationship with Mankey have left him feeling uneasy. Can our heroes overcome the trials that lie within the Rock Tunnel? Will Brayden's friendship with Mankey survive? Stay tuned for Chapter 22!