First Badge, First Hint

We returned to New Bark Town to see two police cars in front of Professor Elm's lab.

"What happened?" I wondered.

"I don't know." Chris said. "But I'm sure we'll find out once we go inside."

We entered the lab, and I quickly saw Prof. Elm talking to a few policemen. When he spotted me, he rushed over.

"Kris! There you are! Thank God! It's just terrible!"

"What happened here?" Chris asked.

"Hmm? Oh, Chris! Nice seeing you! Anyway, a Pokemon was stolen here! A boy just broke in and ran off with it!"

"I'm officer Charles." said a portly officer, walking over. "Do you have any information that can help us catch the criminal?"

"Was the Pokemon a Chikorita?" I asked.

Elm's head sprang up. "Yes! Yes it was! Did you see this boy?"

"We kind of had to fight him off." Chris told him. "It was a boy with long, red hair named Silver."

Charles quickly scribbled the informatn down. "Thank you, boy. When we catch the thief, we'll be sure to reward you. Come on, men." He quickly gathered the other officers and left.

Professor Elm wiped his forehead. "How could something like this happen?"

"It'll be okay, Professor." Chris said. "We'll catch him."

"Yes… but how have you been, Chris?" Elm said, seeming to brighten a bit. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Exuse me," I said, "But you two know each other?"

"Of course!" Elm said. "Chris got his first Pokemon from me not too long ago."

"Interesting."

Elm stood up, seeming to put the missing Pokemon aside for now. "So anyway, Kris! What was Mr. Pokemon's 'big discovery'?"

"Oh! Um…" I fumbled around in my bag, and removed the shiny egg. "This."

"Egad!" Elm seemed shocked out of his mind. "An egg! Geez!" With trembling hands, he took it from me. "Is this the egg of a Pokemon???"

"I don't know."

"If it is, Kris, this is one of the greatest discoveries in the world!" He quickly placed it on the table. "I must study it. Anyhow, speaking of Pokemon, how is yours doing, Kris?"

I released Seltzer from his Poke Ball, and Elm examined it.

"Yes, yes… its grown a few levels, I can see. Very strong… it trusts you… well done! Kris, you seem to have an uncanny ability with raising Pokemon, I must say."

Chris smiled, and I blushed like mad.

"So, Kris… I think that you're fit to take the Pokemon Gym Challenge!"

"What's that?"

"It's where you go to the different cities and towns and collect gym badges from the leaders." Chris said.

"That'a boy, Chris." Elm said. "I wish the best of luck to both of you. Kris, take this…" he scribbled something down on a post-it note and handed it to me. "It's my phone number. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks, Professor." I said, smiling. "See you around!"

Chris and I stepped back out into the sunlight. "So where's the fisrst gym leader?" I asked.

"Violet City." Chris answered. "I was on my way there when I saw Silver attack you, so I figured we should just go together."

"Makes sense."

"Here, take these." He reached into his bag and removed five Poke Balls. "You're going to need to catch some more Pokemon if you want to challenge the gym leaders."

With my new traveling companion, five Poke Balls, and confidence, I set out once again on route 29.

It was evening by the time we arrived in Violet City. I had added a Pidgey and a Sentret to my collection, which I named Peeps and Ringding, respectively. They were strong, and I could see they were beginning to trust me. Chris already had a great collection of Pokemon, but he helped me with the battles anyway. We had gone through both wild battles and trainer battles on the road, and as a result we were much stronger.

"Let's go! Where's that gym leader?" I exclaimed, pumping my fists.

"Easy, party animal," Chris said, "First things first. We gotta heal our Pokemon, then buy items, and THEN we can fight the gym leader."

Finally, it was time. Time for me to acquire my first badge. I flung the gym doors wide open and stepped inside.

The gym was nice inside. The floors were done in shining blue bricks, and the walls were decorated with posters of hawks, ravens, and great eagles.

"Go get 'em, champ." Chris said, putting his hands on my shoulders and gently pushing me towards the first trainer.

"Well looky what we have here," the trainer snickered when he saw me approach, "A rookie! Hah!"

"She'll kick your ass!" Chris said from the entrance. "Don't doubt it!"

"Then let's go, girlie!"

The Bird Keeper had a Spearow, but with the help of Seltzer and Ringding, it went down quite easily.

"Don't get cocky." he growled as he withdrew the Spearow. "Falkner isn't as forgiving as I am."

At long last, after another Bird Keeper, I stood before Falkner, the gym leader. He rose when he saw me approach. He was tall, with long blue hair that fell lazily over one eye.

"Who goes there?" he said. "Who wishes to challenge me?"

"I am Kris, of New Bark Town. And I wish to challenge you!"

Not taking his piercing glare off me, he reached inside his tunic and removed two Poke Balls. "Then let's go."

The first challenger wad Pidgey. I chose Ringding to fight it. Ringding suffered a loss of about 15 HP, but by using Defense Curl, it was able to stay in the game. Pidgey fell. The next up was Pidgeotto, the second form of Pidgey. I chose Seltzer to fight. First, I used Leer to lower the defense. Pidgeotto seemed to be obsessed with one move called Mud Slap, which it used repeatedly. After two Leers, I had Seltzer use Rage, and with each Mud Slap, the power got higher, eventually knocking Pidgeotto out. The battle was over, and I had won.

I was frozen. I couldn't believe what I had just done. I had just defeated one of the gym leaders assigned by the Pokemon League themselves to confer badges on worthy trainers. I had beaten him!

"Oh my God! I won!" I cried, running to Chris and impulsively hugging him. "I beat him! I beat him!" Suddenly I was aware of what I was doing, and I awkwardly stepped back. "Sorry…"

"Don't be." Chris said with a smile. "I felt that way when I got my first badge, except that I didn't have anybody to hug in excitement."'

"Oh…" There was an awkward moment of silence.

"Ahem!" Falkner called from the rear of the gym. "Do you want your badge or not?"

"Oh, sorry." I went back and took the shiny Zephyrbadge.

"Keep it real, sweetie." Falkner said, winking. I rolled my eyes.

"You did a great job, Kris, you really did." Chris said as we stepped outside again. "I think this deserves some celebration."

Before I could speak, he threw a Poke Ball down to reveal a Fearow.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Come on, hop on!" he said. "I'm taking you to dinner in the big city!"

A bit reluctantly, I got on the back of the bird, then cried out in delight as we zoomed up high above the world and flew off.

My trainer, Kris, is doing a great job. I really like her now. We fought one heck of a battle in that gym. I'm curious about that guy that's with her now. I wonder if they will go out. I don't know what's going on outside, but it feels like I'm flying. I'm glad I've got my warm Poke Ball.

---Seltzer