POKEMON

Chapter Eight:

Playing the Game

Danny and Pikachu had arrived in Celadon City as the sun was starting to set. But the first person they came across was a Team Rocket grunt, complete with black uniform and cap. "Keep out of Team Rocket's way," he snarled.

Danny stopped at the Pokémon Center near the entrance to heal his party. Then after that, Danny went onto the PC to make another Pokémon deposit using Bill's storage system, sending Dugtrio to Professor Oak's lab.

After that, Danny and Pikachu spied a very tall building. A sign out front read "Celadon Mansion: Home of the Game Freak Center!" Danny turned to you readers and said, "Yep, we're going to visit the place where this all comes from!" (Yep, breaking the fourth wall here!) They entered, and first checked out the manager's suite, where an old lady (said manager) was hanging with her Clefairy, Meowth and female Nidoran. A sculpture of Diglett was placed on a shelf.

The old lady manager explained, "My dear Pokémon keep me company. Meowth even brings money home!"

"Meowth!" her Meowth said, holding up a coin.

"Oh, you have an adorable Pikachu with you!" the old lady exclaimed to Danny. "You look like a fantastic duo. You're making me jealous."

"Pii-kaa…" Pikachu let out a somewhat embarassed laugh as he blushed a bit.

No one was in the Game Freak meeting room on the second floor, but up on the third floor things were busier, as that was where the Game Freak development room was. Danny and Pikachu entered.

One guy on his computer turned to face Danny. "I wrote this story! Isn't Erika cute? I like Misty a lot, too! Oh, and Sabrina, I like her!" He let out a somewhat perverted laugh.

Danny glanced at his Pikachu and said, "I guess that's why there are so many pretty girls in this region." He caught a glimpse of the computer's monitor and exclaimed, "It's the script! Better not look at the ending!"

At another computer, a computer technician explained, "I'm the graphic artist! I drew you!" But he was currently playing an online game instead of working as he said that.

Another computer technician told Danny, "Me? I'm the programmer!"

Danny looked at the screen. "It's the game program," he realized. "Messing with it could bug out the game!" So he didn't.

Another man in the office looked at Danny. "Is that right?" he asked. "I'm the game designer! Filling up your Pokédex is tough, but don't quit! When you finish, come tell me!"

"Sure thing," Danny said, and he and Pikachu left the room.

Outside the building, Danny and Pikachu noticed a back door. Perhaps this could take them to the penthouse that was blocked off when using the front door? They went in and up the stairs to find out…

…

After climbigng the back stairs, Danny and Pikachu were able to get to the penthouse. A sign next to its' door read "I KNOW EVERYTHING!" Danny and Pikachu looked at each other uncertainly, and went in.

Some strange man greeted them, explaining, "I know everything about the world of Pokémon in your game! Get together with your friends and trade Pokémon!"

"Cool," Danny said. He looked around a bit, going through a pamphlet about TMs and HMs, a chart about trading and battling Pokémon with friends, and a Pokéball on the desk.

"Go ahead," the man said. "Take it!"

Danny took the Pokéball and opened it. An Eevee came out!

"Wow!" Danny said. "An Eevee! Just like Butt got from Professor Oak. And I would've gotten it if it wasn't for Butt butting in… ah, no matter. I got to start with Pikachu!"

"Pi-KA-chu!" Pikachu happily agreed.

Danny pulled out his Pokédex and checked the capture data. "Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon," Dexter explained. "Its' genetic code is unstable, so it could evolve in a variety of ways. There are only a few alive."

"Wow," Danny said. "I wonder what I can evolve him into…"

But now it was getting a bit late, and Danny and his Pokémon had not had dinner yet. But first, they had to check into a hotel. They trekked through the city a bit, finding a building that looked suspiciously similar to Celadon's Pokémon Center, but longer, and there were a couple of luggage cart and busboys around. They decided to go inside.

In the main lobby, it strangely looked similar to the Pokémon Center's main lobby, but no healing machines or PCs were present. At the counter was an old lady. Danny walked up to her with his Pikachu, and the lady said, "Pokémon? No, this is a hotel for people, we're full up. Won't have room for… another twenty minutes. You wait?"

"All right then," Danny said.

So Danny and his Pokémon went to the café/restaurant a few buildings down the street from the hotel and had dinner. People there were talking about this new game corner that had been built. They all sounded pretty excited.

One large man that was eating next to Danny pointed over at a miserable-looking guy at one of the tables and said with his mouth full, "The man at that table lost it all at the slots."

Danny looked over at the man, who angrily said, "Go ahead! Laugh! I'm flat-out busted! No more slots for me! I'm going straight! Here! I won't be needing this anymore!" He hurried over to Danny and handed him a coin case.

"Uh… thanks!" Danny said, unsure what to make of it.

Danny decided to go check out this new game corner. It sounded like a big deal. But right after stepping out of the restaurant, he came across another Team Rocket grunt dressed in black.

"What are you staring at?" the Rocket grunt snarled. "Get lost or I'll punch you."

Danny made an uncertain noise, scooped up his Pikachu and ran off towards the Game Corner. Sure enough, a big crowd was there, as two people dressed in fancy blue tuxedos and yellow boater hats were addressing them. One of them was a woman with long red hair, and the other was a man with short purple hair. Danny noticed they looked somewhat familiar…

"Come one, come all," Jessie was announcing, "to the new Rocket Game Corner! The playground for grownups!"

"Step right up!" James added. "Take your chances at the slots and other casino games! Win fabulous prizes such as rare Pokémon and technical machines!"

"Hmm," Danny thought. "I wonder what kind of rare Pokémon they have? Well, since I have a coin case, we can check it out!"

An old man with glasses moaned among hearing Danny. He told him, "I blew it all at the slots! I knew I should have cashed in my coins for prizes!"

But then Danny noticed an unusual figure; a very tall person wobbling around in a long trenchcoat and fedora hat. His face looked very familiar…

"Say, isn't that Billy?" Danny wondered out loud. He rushed over to the figure and said, "Aren't you my brother?"

Billy shushed Danny. "Yes! I want to get into the Game Corner, but they say it's the playground for grownups, so me and a couple other Pokémon are passing ourselves off as an adult to get in!" As he said that, his Wartortle and Kadabra poked out from underneath the trenchcoat, revealing Billy was standing on top of them.

Danny laughed. "You look ridiculous doing that. It's like something out of a cartoon!"

"Don't tell anyone!" Billy insisted. "They probably won't let you inside either, seeing you're also a kid."

"Hmm," Danny thought out loud. "Come on, Pikachu, let's just blend into that crowd going into the Game Corner. Maybe they won't notice!"

So they did, and Danny and Pikachu managed to get inside the Rocket Game Corner undetected. Jessie and James and a bouncer at the entrance also didn't seem to raise an eye at Billy in his adult disguise.

…

Inside, several people were enjoying themselves at the slot machines. Danny sat down next to one and realized he needed coins to play, so he tapped the shoulder of the guy next to him.

"Hey, what? You're throwing me off!" he insisted. "Here are some coins, shoo!" And he put some coins in Danny's case.

Danny smiled, and looked at another guy playing the slot machines. "What's up?" he asked. "Want some coins?" And he gave Danny some more coins.

…

After a few tries, Danny finally scored some coins when lining up three cherries.

"Gee," Danny realized, "these are so addictive!"

An old man overheard Danny. "Games are scary," he agreed. "It's so easy to get hooked!"

Eventually after spending 20 minutes at the slots, Danny earned a decent amount of coins. He got up and started walking towards the entrance door so he could see what prizes were available, another man at a slot machine beckoned Danny over and softly told him, "Keep this quiet. It's rumored that this place is run by Team Rocket."

After hearing that, Danny noticed Jessie and James at a couple of the slot machines, still in their sharply-dressed disguises. Their Meowth was with them, lounging on top of one of the slot machines.

Jessie was saying, "There! Come on! Almost got it… Aaah, so close!" She had lost again.

James turned to his partner. "Come on, Jessie, why don't we head to the hideout now?"

"Oh, come on," Jessie said, "we've already handed over the Cubone to another Team Rocket member. What's the harm in taking a little break? Besides, how were we supposed to open the hidden entrance to the hideout, anyway?"

"We just need to check the poster with a vehicle on it, remember?" James explained. "A vehicle that's the best way to represent us!"

Danny got a little closer to the two, but not close enough to get noticed.

"What do you mean?" Jessie asked James. "What kind of vehicle is the best way to represent us?"

"You know," James said, "those things that blast off into space?"

Danny glanced over to the upper right corner of the room and noticed a poster with a drawing of a launching rocket that a Grimer and Koffing were riding on. Sure enough, there was another Team Rocket grunt, dressed in black, standing in front of the poster. Danny also saw his brother Billy, sitting and using a slot machine, still in his trenchcoat with his Wartortle underneath, holding him up on the stool. Kadabra stood on the floor in front of the stool, panting a little inside the coat after taking a break from holding up Wartortle and Billy.

"Hey, uh, Billy…" Danny tapped Billy's shoulder.

"WHAT?!" Billy nervously said as he quickly lurched to focus on Danny, but then he started to lose his balance and he fell, revealing his Wartortle and Kadabra! Luckily, Danny caught him as he fell on his behind.

"Well, this is awkward…" Danny noted.

"Great," Billy said as he got up, sounding peeved. "Now I'm gonna be caught and thrown out with my Pokémon!"

"Don't worry," Danny softly reassured his brother as he also got back on his feet. "No one seems to really care about me going around the place, and I'm a kid, so I am sure you're safe too, even without that disguise. But it looks like that Team Rocket is actually running the place."

"Ohh," Billy said in a low voice. "Like the name Rocket Game Corner, and that thug standing by the poster?"

"Yes," Danny added, "and those two guys over there are also Team Rocket members."

"Ohh, are they Jessie and James?" Billy asked. "I ran into them a couple times already, with their talking Meowth."

"Exactly," Danny said. "Something is fishy, but I want to try and figure it out. Maybe if we can uncover Team Rocket's operation, that will give us a more positive image on our training journeys."

"You go," Billy said. "I'll watch."

Danny rolled his eyes, and he and his Pikachu walked over to the Grunt standing at the poster. But the Grunt heard him approaching and rapidly turned to face Danny. "I'm guarding this poster!" he growled. "Go away, or else!" He pulled out a Pokéball and tossed it open, to which a Raticate came out.

So of course, Danny had his Pikachu use Thunderbolt on the Team Rocket Grunt's Raticate, but a Hyper Fang was enough to greatly weaken Pikachu. Fortunately, Pikachu's Quick Attack was able to knock out the Raticate. So Danny had Pikachu rest afterward and sent out his Charmeleon.

Among seeing the Zubat, Charmeleon covered his eyes in fear. "Chaar!"

"It's OK, it's OK!" Danny said to the Charmeleon. "You can defeat it using your attacks! Try using Rage on it."

So Charmeleon sucked in his gut and unleashed his Rage attack, but Zubat sent out a Supersonic, confusing the Charmeleon!

"Please don't hurt yourself in the confusion," Danny softly pleaded.

Fortunately, Charmeleon was initially able to use his Rage attack to knock out Zubat anyways, despite hurting himself in his confusion a few times.

"Dang!" the Rocket Grunt cried out. "Our hideout might be discovered! I better tell the boss!" He ran off and jumped out a nearby open window.

Billy ran up to Danny and his Pikachu, taking off the fedora hat he still had on to reveal his red-and-white baseball cap with a green stylized "L" on the front. "Wow, you sure showed him!" Billy said, amazed.

They both peeked behind the poster. "Hey, a switch behind the poster?!" Danny said in disbelief.

"Let's push it!" Billy said, and Danny did. The switch beeped, and a secret door down the hall opened to reveal a stairwell going downward. "I'll check things out there first," Billy decided. "My Pokémon were just healed."

"OK then," Danny said. "I'm gonna heal up my Pokémon and then join you."

"Sure thing," Billy said, and he and his Wartortle disappeared down the stairs.

…

At the Pokémon Center, Danny healed up his team and exchanged his Eevee via PC for his Kadabra. Then he went back to the hotel, where a room was now available, and checked in. And then he returned to the Game Corner, going down the secret stairwell to investigate…

…

Danny and Pikachu went down a couple of stairwells when they heard a familiar voice. "Danny! Down here!"

They went down to the third basement level and found Billy. "Be careful down here," Billy warned. "There are tiles on the floor that spin you around. They're like a maze!"

Danny looked further. "Note that stairwell being farther from us instead of close to it," he said. "I bet there's something important down there!"

"Well, we'd better be careful anyways," Billy said. "There are quite a few Team Rocket guys down here too!"

Sure enough, a Team Rocket Grunt noticed them. "We got word from upstairs that you two were coming!"

"I'll handle this," Danny told Billy, and had Kadabra beat the Grunt's two Machops.

"What? I lost? No!" the Grunt cried out in agony. "Go ahead and go! But, you need the lift key to run the elevator!"

As Danny and Billy and their Pokémon took off, Billy asked "Lift key? Elevator?"

"I'm sure we can find them," Danny said.

Soon they came across some of the spinning tiles. Arrows were marking which direction they would send whoever stepped on a tile.

"See those arrows?" Billy pointed out. "They send you spinning that direction when you step on them."

"It looks like some kind of maze," Danny noted. "I'm sure we can find our way through if we just keep trying…"

Soon they were spinning throughout the maze. They were getting dizzy. But then Danny noticed something ahead of the four spin tiles pointing the same direction. "Get onto that third one," Danny instructed, and they did so. Soon, they found themselves out of the maze, and they managed to slip past another Team Rocket Grunt and into the seemingly-random stairwell.

Sure enough, on the fourth basement level, through one of the doorways, they spied yet another Team Rocket Grunt, this one holding some kind of key.

"That must be the lift key," Billy softly told Danny.

"I'll try and get it," Danny said.

"But he's gonna notice you!" Billy warned him.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take," Danny replied. "Come along, Pikachu."

Danny and Pikachu went over towards the Team Rocket member, and of course, he noticed the two. "The elevator doesn't work?" he asked teasingly. "Who has the lift key?" He twirled it around in his finger, and then sent out a Koffing to attack.

Danny had his Kadabra battle it, and despite being poisoned from the Koffing's Smog attack, it was still able to make the Koffing faint with its' Confusion move. Then Pikachu was able to fry the Grunt's Zubat easily with a Thunderbolt.

In shock and disbelief, the Team Rocket Grunt accidentally dropped the key from his finger. "Oh no! I dropped the lift key!"

Pikachu quickly grabbed the lift key and handed it to Danny, who said "Thanks!" as they both took off.

Danny showed Billy the Lift Key, and he grinned. "You got it!" he said happily. "Now let's find that elevator."

Because they didn't see it on the third level, Danny and Billy and Pikachu went back up to the second level. Once again, they had to go through another maze of spin tiles and battle a couple other Team Rocket Grunts, but they found their way to the elevator doors. Pikachu looked a bit dizzy after all the spinning, but then he shook his head and appeared fine.

Suddenly, another Team Rocket member popped out at the three. "How can you not see the beauty of our evil?" he told them, and sent out an Ekans.

"I'll handle this," Billy told Danny. "You go ahead." And then he sent out his Kadabra to battle the Ekans.

Danny and his Pikachu hurried to the elevator and rode it down to the fourth basement level. But after getting out and trekking towards a doorway with "BOSS" written over it, who should pop out but Jessie, James and Meowth once again!

"Not another step, brat!" Jessie demanded as they approached Danny and his Pikachu. She and James were back in their silvery-white Team Rocket uniforms.

"You guys again?!" Danny moaned.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie began.

"Make it double," James added.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth finished.

"Do you two always have to say that crazy rhyme?" Danny asked.

Ignoring his question, Jessie angrily said, "How dare you humiliate us at Mount Moon!"

"It's payback time, you brat!" James added, right before sending out his Koffing.

Danny sent out his Ivysaur and commanded it to use Razor Leaf, but it didn't do much damage.

James let out a self-confident laugh. "You've got a lot to learn about Pokémon, twerp!" he teased Danny.

"I'm just getting warmed up," Danny insisted.

"Koffing, Tackle!" James ordered.

"Koffing!" the floating toxic Pokémon called out as it attacked Ivysaur, who countered with its' Cut move.

After another Tackle from Koffing and a Razor Leaf from Ivysaur, Koffing fainted.

"I'm up next!" Meowth announced. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

Danny held his ears. "That's almost as loud as Leer! Ivysaur, Vine Whip!" Danny ordered.

That attack sent Meowth to the ground, but he jumped up and prepared to use his Screech attack again, but it failed! A Razor Leaf attack from Ivyasaur then knocked Meowth out.

"Go, Ekans!" Jessie commanded as she sent out her Ekans. But Danny's Kadabra was able to defeat it with Psybeam.

"Such a dreadful twerp!" James cursed. Then he and Jessie announced in unison, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" and dashed off out of sight.

Shortly afterward, Billy came out of the elevator. "You doing all right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Danny answered, giving his Ivysaur a Super Potion. "I just had to battle Jessie and James."

"Those two!" Billy said, clenching his fists.

"Come on," Danny said. "The Rocket boss must be in there. We can take him down together!"

"Are you sure?" Billy asked.

"I'm sure," Danny insisted. "Let's go!"

So they both went in. Sure enough, the boss was sitting in a chair in the shadows, stroking a Persian, the evolved form of Meowth.

"So," the boss said, "I must say, I am impressed you both got here!" He stepped out of the shadows, revealing his full figure as he got out some Pokéballs. "I am Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, and I can take both of you down!"

So Giovanni sent out his Onix and Rhyhorn to attack, while Danny and Billy had their Ivysaur and Wartortle, respectively, come out of their Pokéballs.

With a single Vine Whip from Danny's Ivysaur, Onix was knocked out, and Billy's Wartortle did in the Rhyhorn with Water Gun!

"Not bad," Giovanni said, returning his fainted Pokémon to his Pokéballs. Then he sent out his Kangaskhan to fight Billy's Wartortle, and ordered, "Persian, attack that pesky Pikachu!"

But even after trying to Bite Danny's Pikachu, Persian was defeated by Thundershock and Thunderbolt. Meanwhile, Billy's Wartortle knocked out Kangaskhan using Bite and Bubblebeam!

"WHAT?!" Giovanni shouted in disbelief. "This cannot be! I see that you both raise Pokémon with utmost care. Children like you would never understand what I hope to achieve. I shall step aside this time! I hope we meet again…" And with that, he threw down some kind of smoke bomb, and disappeared in the smoke, leaving Danny, Billy and their Pokémon coughing.

After the smoke cleared, Ivysaur's flower bulb began to glow

"Hey!" Billy said. "Looks like your Ivysaur is about to evolve!"

Sure enough, Ivysaur's whole body glowed in white, and he grew a bit larger. After that, each petal of the flower bulb slowly opened one by one. Danny, his Pikachu, and Billy all gasped in amazement. Then the light faded, and the Pokémon had now become a Venusaur!

"Venusaur!" the Venusaur said in a booming voice, seemingly pleased by its' own evolution.

"Wow!" Danny and Billy both said.

"Pika…" Danny's Pikachu added, quite astounded.

Danny checked his Pokédex, and it explained, "Venusaur. The evolved form of Ivysaur, and the final form of the Bulbasaur evolution. The flower on its' back catches the sun's rays. The sunlight is then absorbed and used for energy."

"Maybe my Wartortle will soon evolve," Billy pointed out.

"That's a possibility," Danny said, recalling Venusaur back into his Pokéball. They noticed a box with "SILPH SCOPES" on it.

"Let's each take a Silph Scope," Billy said. "It'll come in handy for that haunted tower in Lavender Town."

"Good idea," Danny said, and they each took one, rode the elevator back to the upper levels of the hideout, and went up the stairs to inside the Rocket Game Corner and outside the building, where night had fallen.

Sure enough, an Officer Jenny and some additional policemen were on the scene, arresting some Team Rocket members. "Don't worry, folks," Jenny addressed the public, "the Game Corner will remain open, but under new management."

"That's right," a man in a business suit standing next to Officer Jenny announced. "Following Team Rocket's scandal being destroyed, the name is being changed from Rocket Game Corner to Celadon Game Corner!"

The crowd all cheered.

"I guess we are parting ways now," Danny said.

"Yeah," Billy agreed. "I'm going to play in the Game Corner some more."

"And I need to heal up my Pokémon and then get some sleep," Danny said. "I'm going to battle Erika tomorrow for the Rainbow badge."

"Good luck," Billy said, and they shook hands and went their separate ways.

TO BE CONTINUED