Chapter Five
I spent the night arguing about which route I should take with myself.
"Okay, if I take route twenty seven, then I should be in Saffron in about eight days."
"But, I could also take route twenty four and stop by the Safari Zone on my way to Celadon city."
"You're talking to yourself you know."
"Shut up. I'm not talking to you."
"Huh? I thought you were."
"Man, I am so weird sometimes." I said, shaking my head.
I finally decided to go to the Safari Zone. I needed to "recruit" some new friends for my journey. I left early the next morning and arrived at the Safari Zone a few hours later. I went inside the main office and talked to the game warden about rules in the Safari Zone.
"You can only catch pokémon that are on this list." The game warden said as he handed me a small booklet. Inside it's pages were the names of several different types of pokémon and their pictures. Above their pictures, it said if I could capture them or not. Many pokémon, such as Kangaskhan or Lapras, were marked off in the "Almost Extinct" category, so I would not be allowed to capture those. I headed inside with a pouch full of Safari balls and my pokédex out.
"In the Safari Zone," my pokédex beeped, "trainers are not allowed to use their pokémon to battle other pokémon."
"What?" I asked my dex. "Then how the heck am I supposed to catch anything?"
"The special Safari balls you are equipped with enable you to capture some pokémon without weakening it first."
"Cool."
I took off, deeper into the Safari Zone. I emerged about four hours later with twelve new additions to my team. I sent them all to Prof. Oak before I called him over the video phone in the main office. He was overjoyed by the large amount I sent him.
"Excellent!" he said as he turned the camera to my new pokémon. "Just wonderful! You've caught so many at one time! Amazing!"
"Thanks Prof. Oak." I said, smiling. I opened my outer shirt to show him my four badges. "Check these out!"
"My, you have four badges! I admit, you don't have as many as Gary, but he never sent in this many pokémon at once."
"Did everyone get there safely?"
"Oh yes. Let's see. Your Nidorino, Dodrio, Farfetch'd, Parasect, Venomoth, Pinsir, Psyduck, Ponyta, Tauros, Scyther, and Ditto are all here."
"What? I caught twelve pokémon! That's only eleven! Where's the last one?"
"Twelve? Well, I'm not sure. I only got...oh wait! Another one is arriving! Hang on."
Prof. Oak dashed out of view. He returned a second later holding my twelfth pokémon and practically jumping up and down.
"My, oh my! You caught a Dratini! You must let me study it!" He said, hugging Dratini tightly.
"Well, sure. But I don't think you can study it that well if it's dead from strangulation."
Prof. Oak looked a little confused, and then noticed that Dratini was starting to turn purple. He quickly released his grip and Dratini panted for breath as his face returned to it's normal shade of blue.
"Opps. Sorry. I guess I got a little excited. Thank you for letting me study it."
"You're welcome. May I please have Scyther? I need him to battle in Celadon City."
"Why of course. Just select the trade option in your pokédex and send me one of your other pokémon."
I opened my pokédex and sent my Koffing to Prof. Oak in exchange for my Scyther. I said good bye to Prof. Oak and headed back to the pokémon center. I stayed there the rest of the day, getting acquainted with Scyther. I left the next day towards Celadon. I arrived in a few days, capturing an Arbok on my way there. I was able to get to Celadon a lot faster thanks to my Scyther. He let me tie one end of a rope to it's legs and the other to my bike. With my pedaling and his flying, I made about thirty miles a day. I was going so fast, that the only reason that I caught Arbok was because I ran it over with my bike, knocking it unconscious.
I headed directly to the Gym. I walked right into the main hall and was greeted by a very odd smell.
"Holy...!" I said, covering my nose with my shirt collar. "It smells like a Muk died in here!"
"Oh, sorry about that." A young woman said as she walked up to me. "That was just Cassie's Gloom. You startled it when you came in."
"Wow. My Gloom never made a smell like that."
"You have a Gloom too?"
"Well, not anymore. It evolved into Vileplume."
"That's great!" The woman said. "Tell me, do you like perfume?"
"Well, I'm more into cologne, but I don't have anything against perfume."
"Great! So tell me. Why are you here? Have you come for the flower arranging session?"
"Uh, no. I came to challenge the Gym Leader. Do you know where she is?"
The girl smiled and pointed at herself.
"You're the gym leader?" I asked, slightly shocked.
"Yep. Why are you so surprised?"
"Well, it's just that you're so nice. All the other Gym leaders I beat acted so serious and kinda mean. Except in Cerulean City. That Gym leader was just stuck up."
"Yes well, most people are surprised by me. My name's Erika. What's yours?"
"Stephen. Nice to meet you Erika."
"Glad to meet you to. Should we go to the battling arena then?"
"Sure."
We both walked through a large door with a Victreebell carved into it. Behind the door was a large arena, filled with flowers and trees. On either side of the room were large risers. They were filled with several women and plant type pokémon.
"Do only women work in this gym?" I asked Erika.
"Yes. This gym is also a perfume factory." She replied.
"Cool."
Erika stood on one side of the room while I stood on the other. She pulled out a pokéball and threw it to the center of the ring.
"One pokémon each. Go Gloom!" She cried as her Gloom popped from it's pokéball.
"Go Syther!" I said, tossing out one of my pokéballs.
Gloom got a freaked look on it's face as Scyther appeared before it. It began to shake as it watched the light gleam off of Scyther's razor sharp blades.
"Don't be afraid Gloom! Go at it with your stench attack!" Erika said.
"Uh-oh! Not that smell again!" I cried, quickly covering my nose again.
Gloom sprayed a dark green mist into the air. It settled around Scyther and he began to get nauseous from the smell.
"Yikes! Hang in there Scyther! Blow the smell away with your Swords Dance, Mambo Style!"
"Mambo style?" Erika asked as Scyther began to dance around.
Scyther jabbed it's blades to the left, then to the right. It extended it's arms out and leapt into the air.
"My, what a beautiful dance." Erika said, admiring Scyther's agile moves.
Scyther landed and began to spin. It spun so fast, it turned into a blur, sucking up all of the gas and whirling around like a top. It stopped spinning and finished it's dance with a pirouette and a back flip. The women in the audience applauded as Scyther bowed. Even Gloom started to clap.
"Now Scyther! Give Gloom your Tickle Tackle!"
"Huh?" everyone in the audience asked.
"Scy!" Scther said as it flew into the air. It pinned Gloom to the air, turned on it's back, and began to tickle Gloom by beating it's wings under Gloom's arms. Gloom began to laugh so hard that Erika had to return it, lest it pass out from the tickling.
"Good job Stephen." Erika congratulated as she handed me a Rainbow badge. "You beat me without actually hurting Gloom, and you did it with finesse."
"Thank you Erika. You have no idea how long it took me to teach Scyther that dance step." I said as Scyther nodded.
"Ther, scy." He agreed.
Scyther and I stayed at the Gym for a few hours more, teaching Gloom and several other of the trainer's pokémon some dance steps. Scyther also gave a Tengela a "haircut" when it got to close to his blades. Erika fixed Tangela's vines so they looked better and Scyther and I said goodnight. I headed back to the pokémon center and spent the night there, telling Nurse Joy all about what happened at the Gym over some coffee. She was glad to hear that I had such a fun time and was sad that I would be leaving the next day. I went back to my room and got a good night's rest. The next morning, I made sure to splash on a little bit of the cologne Erika had given me the day before.
I started out on the road to Saffron City, using Scyther again to help get a few extra miles in before I had to set camp. After about two hours, I found it was no longer necessary to use Scyther for speed, due to a battle and a new pokémon.
"Butterfree! Use your stun spore attack!" I cried.
"Cloyster, blast it with your Spike Cannon!" The girl cried.
I had been crossing the almost completed "Sunny town Bridge" by bike so I could get to Saffron when a bike gang stopped me. A girl challenged me to a battle, no time limit and however many pokémon we wanted to use. If I won, I got whatever pokémon she used. If she won, she got my bike. I thought it would be a breeze to beat her. Boy, was I ever wrong.
"Butterfree look out!" I cried as Cloyster slammed Butterfree with it's spikes. Butterfree's stun spores didn't do any damage since Cloyster's hard shell wasn't affected by the dust. Butterfree was down and out. I pulled out another pokéball and lobbed it in front of the Cloyster.
"Go Vileplume! Use your razor leaf attack!"
Vileplume's leaves just bounced off of Cloyster as the whole bike gang laughed at me. Cloyster knocked Vileplume out with one tackle.
"Hah! You'll never be able to beat my Cloyster!" the girl taunted. "It's my favorite and strongest pokémon!"
I couldn't believe I was losing so easily. I had to try a new angle. Suddenly, I had an idea. I tossed out another pokéball.
"Go Pidgeotto!"
"Hah! What a pathetic little bird." One of the gang members laughed.
"This will be quick!" The girl said. "Cloyster! Use your Spike Cannon!"
"Pidgeotto, Agility!" I cried.
Cloyster flew at Pidgeotto, ready to spear it with it's spikes. However, Pidgeotto was not there anymore. It blew past Cloyster at an amazing speed. It began to fly around him in small circles.
"Pidgeotto, use your Quick Attack!"
Pidgeotto began to fly faster and faster. A small tornado blew up and engulfed Cloyster. Still, the shell pokémon stood it's ground, not moving an inch.
"Now Cloyster, Clamp it!"
The tornado suddenly stopped and the dust blew away to reveal Pidgeotto being held roughly inside of Cloyster's outer shell.
"Pidgeotto, try and get away!" I cried as Pidgeotto struggled.
"Hah! It will never get away. Cloyster, finish it of with your Ice Beam!"
"Pidgeotto! No!"
Cloyster's eyes began to glow bright blue as it charged up it's Ice Beam. Suddenly, Pidgeotto became enveloped in a bright, white light. It grew and grew till it was bigger than Cloyster. It quickly broke free of Cloyster's grip, soaring into the air as a brand new pokémon.
"Whoa! You evolved into Pidgeot!" I cried happily.
"Doesn't matter." The girl said smugly. "I'll still beat you easy. Cloyster, clamp it again!"
Cloyster flew up and grabbed onto Pidgeot's wings, pulling it down to the ground.
"Pidgeot! Break free with your Wing Attack!"
Pidgeot's shoulders suddenly arched up and it's wings broke from the Cloyster's shell, extending to their full, eighteen foot wingspan. A sickening crack was heard as Pidgeot's Wing attack shattered the hinge of Cloyster's shell. It lay prone, unable to protect it's soft inner body from attacks.
"Cloyster! Finish it with Aurora Beam!"
"I was hoping you'd say that. Pidgeot! Mirror move!"
Cloyster shot out a large, multicolored beam at Pidgeot, but it quickly dodged and blasted Cloyster with a beam twice as big as the original. The beam blasted Cloyster's weak inner body and it immediately fell unconscious. The girl zapped Cloyster back into it's ball and sadly handed it to me.
"Good bye Cloyster." She said as she began to walk away. I looked at the pokéball in my hand and knew I couldn't keep it. I gave it back to the girl and in exchange, she told me that Pidgeot are strong enough to support a full grown man and a small pokémon on their backs. I thanked her and climbed on Pidgeot's back. He flew into the air and we reached Saffron in a matter of hours. Not wanting to waste anytime, I healed my pokémon at the pokémon center and made a beeline for the Gym. I walked inside and was greeted by a young man wearing a operator's mask. He took me to Sabrina, who was a young woman around eighteen years old. She held a small doll in her hands. For some reason, she made me agree that if I lost, I'd have to play with her. Seeing no harm in that, I agreed and the battle began.
"Go Abra." Sabrina said as she flung a pokéball into the ring psychically.
"Boy, I've got to learn how to do that." I said as I pulled out my pokédex. I pressed the trade button and transferred a new pokémon. I quickly tossed out a pokéball.
"Go Ditto!" I cried. "Transform into...um, oh! I know! Turn into a Gengar!"
"Ditto! Ditt...gar, Gengar!" Ditto said as he transformed into the ghost pokémon.
"A wise move." Sabrina said. Her eyes began to glow a dark shade of purple and Abra stood and got into a battle stance. "Abra, Psychic attack now."
"Gengar, use your Hypnosis attack!"
Gengar/Ditto began to wave it's hands in a circular motion. Abra began to rock back and forth and then fell asleep.
"Abra. Wake up now." Sabrina said. Her pokémon blinked and tried to stand up, but the constant barrage of sleep waves kept it down.
"Now Gengar, finish it with Dream Eater!"
Gengar/Ditto turned into a fine mist and flew into Abra's head. Abra's eyes began to twitch. It suddenly let out a shrill yelp. Gengar/Ditto came out of Abra's head and burped loudly. It turned and tapped Abra on the head. Abra promptly fell flat on it's back. Sabrina scowled and a small, circular badge flew from her hand and into my hand.
"Take your badge and leave." She said as she returned her Abra. I pinned the badge on my shirt and quickly left. That Gym gave me the whillies.
Chapter Six
Now having five badges, I decided to take a look around Saffron. There were dozens of stores and restaurants just in one city block! I dropped by a small Chinese restaurant called "The Happy Magikarp." Once inside, I sat down at a small table with water pokémon drawn all over it. A waitress gave me a menu and as I opened it, a small flyer fell out of it.
"Pokémon League Admittance Exam." I read from the flyer. "Come and try your skill and knowledge to be entered into the pokémon league."
I folded up the flyer and asked the waitress for some fried Magikarp to go. I took my meal and headed out the door towards Route 45 and the Pokémon League Admissions Center. After a few hours of flying, Pidgeot spotted the building and we came in for a landing. I returned him and headed inside to the main desk.
"I'd like to sign up for the Admissions Exam please." I asked the man at the desk.
"Certainly." He replied as he handed me a piece of paper. "Just fill out this form and return it to me when you finish.
I took the form to one of the small desks encircling the room. I accidentally bumped into a kid with a camera, ruining his shot of a Sandshrew.
"Sorry bud." I said as I walked to one of the desks.
"No problem!" he called to me.
I answered all the questions that I could on the paper and returned it to the front desk. The man looked over my paper and pointed at one of the questions.
"Excuse me Mr. Stephen, but why didn't you fill in the section that asked if you lived with your parents or a legal guardian?"
I just kind of stared at my shoes and mumbled an answer.
"Excuse me? I couldn't understand what you said." he replied, putting his hand to his ear.
"I said I don't have parents." I said, sounding bitter. "They were kidnapped by Team Rocket when I was little. I don't have anyone."
"Oh, I'm sorry..." the man said. "Um...do you have any pokémon in storage?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll need your pokédex as well as your pokéballs. You're not allowed to use your own pokémon during the examination." He said, holding out his hand.
I reluctantly gave him my pokédex and pokèmon and pinned a small badge with the numbers 241 onto my shirt. I headed into the examination room with everyone else and found a seat in front of a small computer. The Exam Master told us what to do and we went to work.
"Hitmonlee is known as the punching demon, true or false?" the computer asked.
"I think it's true!" a boy behind me said loudly.
"Will you please be quiet?" I asked him while shooting him a dirty look. He shrugged and continued on with his exam.
"The only attack Magikarp originally knows is Splash. True or false." the computer beeped.
"Magikarp? I've never had one of those...I think it's false." I thought to myself as I hit the X button.
"Caterpie is the world's smallest pokémon, true or false?" my computer asked.
"You kidding me?" I thought to myself as I hit the X button again. "Digglet is much smaller than Caterpie."
After that section of the exam was over, I went out to the lobby to see how I scored. I had gotten roughly a B minus.
"That's not so bad." I thought to myself as I saw the kid I bumped into earlier taking pictures of the lowest scores. I left the building and went out to the battling area with everyone else and got in line by grades. I was only a few spaces from the front. I watched everyone battle as the line moved slowly forward. The battles drew spectators from all around the area to come and watch. I finally made it to the front of the line where the Exam Master was waiting.
"Please pick a belt." He said, motioning to the belts that were on the table. All of the black belts had three pokéballs on them. I grabbed the belt nearest to me and buckled up. I stepped out into the battle ring and pulled out my first pokéball.
"First pokémon, here we go!" I cried as I flung the pokéball into the ring. It opened and in a flash of light...a huge pile of sludge appeared?
"Huh?!" I asked, "what's that?"
Just then, the pile of sludge started to move...
"Mmm...mmuu....Muk!" it said as it stood up, revealing it's face and hands.
"Oh! It's a Muk!" I said.
The other trainer there in his pokéball. It had an Abra in it. The Abra just kind of sat there. I guess it was sleeping.
"Okay, what are Muk's attacks..." I mumbled to myself. "Oh! I know, Muk, pound that Abra!"
"Muk!" it said as it charged at the Abra, fists ready to bash it. Just before Muk reached Abra, Abra teleported away and ended up behind Muk. Muk looked around in confusion.
"Behind you Muk, try pound again!" I said as Muk turned around. Muk charged at Abra again and again, still never landing a hit. I could hear laughter starting to come from the crowd.
"What a dork!" somebody called as I stood there, my blood boiling.
"Why that little...Muk! Use your screech!"
Muk opened it's big, slimy mouth and let out a ear piercing screech, causing people in the crowd to cover their ears, and more importantly, causing Abra to cover it's ears in confusion.
"Now Muk, blast it with your Disable!"
Muk's eyes turned a dark shade of blue and Abra suddenly froze in place.
"Now Muk, pin it down and use your sludge attack!"
Muk used it's Disable to lay Abra flat on the ground. It then slid it's way over to Abra, completely enveloping the little psychic pokémon in it's sludgy body.
"Now, Minimize!" I said.
Muk began to glow, and then shrunk down to half it's size. However, the Abra within it's slimy body did not shrink. The sudden extreme pressure of being crushed instantly knocked Abra out. Muk slid off Abra and started to do a victory chant.
"Mummm Mummm Muk Muk!" It cried while I returned it. Abra was zapped back into it's pokéball and the trainer threw out a new one. This time, he got a Exeggcute.
"Second pokémon, here we go!" I said as I flung my next pokéball out. As soon as the pokémon appeared, I knew I was doomed.
"Machop!" the little gray pokémon said as it got into battle stance. I knew Machop couldn't win. He was a fighting type. Fighting types don't even stand a chance against psychic pokémon, even if the opponent is just part psychic.
"Well, let's give it a try. Machop, give it your leer!" I said as I pointed at the bunch of eggs.
"Exeggcute, use you Hypnosis!" the other trainer called.
Exeggcute's Hypnosis overpowered Machop's Leer and sent him reeling.
"Now Exeggcute, Barrage!"
Exeggcute threw each of it's eggs at Machop, all of them connecting. Machop began to stager.
"Machop, try your Seismic Toss!"
Just before another egg could slam into Machop, it was able to grab it and fling it back into it's group, knocking them back several feet.
"Okay Exeggcute, finish it with your Sleep Powder!"
Exeggcute began to vibrate, causing dark spores to shoot from it's body. Machop was hit by the spores and instantly fell asleep. I returned him and tossed in my final pokéball.
"Third pokémon, here we go!" I cried as I hurled the pokéball into the ring.
"Golduck!" it said as it exited the pokéball.
"Golduck? Yeah!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air. "I can definitely win with this!"
The other trainer threw in his pokéball and my smile came crashing to the ground.
"Golduck!" the other pokémon said. Two Golducks!?
"Okay Golduck, give it your Fury Swipes!" I said.
"Golduck, same attack!" the other trainer ordered.
The two Golducks lunged at each other, slashing at each other viciously. Their claws landed every other time. My Golduck finally sent the other flying with a swipe across the face.
"Okay Golduck, now use your Tail Whip!" I cried.
Golduck ran at the now standing Golduck and swung around, ready to smash the other Golduck in the stomach with it's tail. Just as Golduck was about to connect, the other Golduck threw it's hands up and caught my Golduck's tail. It's eyes began to glow and it shot my Golduck back to me with it's confusion attack. Golduck passed out as it hit the ground.
"Golduck! Aw man..." I said dejectedly as I returned the fainted duck.
I waited behind the spectator lines as the test continued on. However, due to a brief stopover by Team Rocket, the test had to be taken over again. Most of the students didn't stay to take it again. I was one of them. I headed out as soon as I heard that the test had to be retaken. As I was about to leave, an elderly man walked up to me.
"Excuse me," He said as he looked at a small clipboard he held in his hands. "is your name Stephen?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Be there tomorrow at noon." he said as he handed me an envelope. I was about to ask him what it was, but when I looked up, he was gone.
"Weird." I said as I opened the envelope. Inside was a small map and a flyer. "Pokémon Tech" was written on the top of the flyer.
"Pokémon Tech huh?" I said as I pockted the letter. Thinking for a moment, I tossed out a pokéball. "C'mon Pidgeot! We've got some flying to do!"
Tune in for the next chapters.