"So, Polly, was types of special attacks can you do?" Megan asked as the two journeyed through the winding, uphill path north of Pallet.
Poliwag chirped and whistled to Megan. She giggled and pretended to understand. The grass was tall and randomly scattered around around the path to the text city. It wasn't too far, but since it was a small incline, the young girl and baby Pokemon were easily worn out, occasionally stopping to rest against some small ledges that were just a little too big to climb.
"These supplies won't last us very long," Megan mumbled as she reached into the side pocket of her bag to grab a candy bar, "I wonder how Pokemon trainers are supposed to make money..."
She waited for Polly to respond, "I guess we'll find out, right?"
Again, there was no response. Megan looked down to her right side and noticed the happy Pokemon was no longer bouncing alongside her.
"Polly!"
A few quick turns and darting eyes found that Polly had simply wandered off to a patch of grass they had just passed through. Megan sighed with relief. Taking care of a Pokemon was a lot more work than she had expected.
"Come back, Polly," She called, "I'll share my candy--"
Her words cut off when she noticed what Polly was looking at. A fuzzy, purple nose was poking out of the grass, sniffing at the underbelly of Megan's Pokemon. Behind it, a purple tail with stuck up from the grass. It's a Rattata, Megan thought to herself, Polly should be okay.
Rattata were generally friendly Pokemon. They were small and purple and lived around towns, commonly known around the world. Occasionally, they would approach picknickers and steal some of their food, but they would never randomly attack a Pokemon, especially a baby like Polly.
Megan was excited to see the two Pokemon interact. As the Rattata became more comfortable by smelling it's new friend, it slowly stepped out of the grass. Megan noticed that it was much smaller than the other Rattata she had seen around Pallet. Maybe it was a baby, too. Megan slowly crept forward so she could watch from a better angle, and a bubble started to form between Polly's lips.
Before Megan could figure out what was going on, the bubble floated a second to the Rattata, popping on it's nose with a loud snap. The purple Pokemon jerked it's head back in pain from the stinging bubble and hissed. The scared and confused baby Polly quickly turned to Megan with a helpless look. Megan was stupified.
"Wh-What did you just do?" She stammered.
She had no idea that a Poliwag could create a damage-inflicting bubble like that. It was her first time seeing her Pokemon do a special attack. As she stared at Polly with equal confusion, the Rattata shook it's head and dashed forward. Megan tried to step forward to stop it, but the teeth had already sunk into little Polly's tail.
The Poliwag screeched out in pain, wobbling around and trying to escape. Megan quickly darted toward the two Pokemon, scaring the Rattata away easily.
"Are you okay?" Megan scooped up her Pokemon with her arms, "You can't just go doing reckless things like that!"
The Rattata wasn't too strong, so Polly's tail was only a little scratched up; nevertheless, Megan couldn't help feeling bad that she didn't step in sooner.
"Hey you over there!" A voice from behind the two called, "Looks like you could use one of these!"
Megan jumped in shock and slowly tunred around to see a cute, young man holding a spray bottle. Nervously, she inched toward the man while Polly squirmed in her cradling arms, trying to get rid of the scratching sensation from the bite.
"It's a Potion." The man laughed, "It'll heal that wound in no time. Here, it's free."
With that, the man tossed the small bottle to Megan. Balancing her wriggling Pokemon in one arm, she managed to catch the Potion with her other hand. The man walked over to the two to explain what to do.
"I guess you've never seen this before." He chuckled to Megan, "All you do is spray the bottle on the injury until it's completely wet with the Potion. It should relieve the pain and make the wound heal faster, too. Usually you'll go through the whole bottle with one use, but since this Pokemon is so small, you can only use half this time."
"Wow..." Megan was stunned, "Thanks a lot! But why are you giving this to me?"
"It's a promotion for our store," The man replied, "and you can buy more of them from our store in Viridian City."
"We're on our way there!" Megan rejoiced, "I'm starting my Pokemon journey today! I'll be sure to buy a lot of these!"
"Oh really? You're a Pokemon trainer and you didn't know what a Potion was?"
Megan blinked a few times, trying to think of how to respond, "Well... not really..."
Embarassed, Megan looked down at Polly while she sprayed the Potion so she could hide her flushed face. The man knelt down next to her and smiled.
"Don't worry, it's your first day, so I guess it's excused then."
Megan looked up, still blushing. She thought he was a pretty cute guy, even though he did have long hair. His skin was really smooth looking, and he looked young and smart. He even wore glasses! Megan was really interested in this smart type with glasses. She shook her head and looked back to her Pokemon. This was no time to be thinking things like that! Her fingers kept pulling the trigger on the bottle, but nothing was coming out.
"I accidentally used it all up," Megan whined, "Oh well. Are you okay, Polly?"
Polly chirped and jumped up, kissing Megan's cheek. Megan stumbled backwards, laughing.
"You're cold and slippery!" She giggled in the dirt for a second and stood up.
"She's a pretty cute Poliwag!" The man stood up, too, "So, her name is Polly?"
Megan was shocked again, "Yeah, that's her name. How did you know she was a girl?"
"See this swirl on her belly?" The man pointed to Polly, "Females usually have a gray swirl there, but males are always pitch black... but there are other ways of knowing, too."
Megan blushed again. She never even thought about her Pokemon's gender until now, though she always just assumed that Polly was a girl.
"My name is Allen, by the way," the man smiled to her and held his hand out.
Megan stuttered, "I'm... Me-Megan!"
Before Megan's hand reached Allen's, A hissing noise arose from behind Megan and the two spun to see what it was. A Rattata was standing in the path with its tail sticking straight up, posed for battle. Megan forgot about Allen to resume the fight with Rattata.
"Okay, Polly," Megan stood firm, "It's time for your first real battle!"
The little Pokemon whined and hid behind its trainer's legs.
Megan sighed, "Come on! It's easy! Just shoot bubbles at it like last time!"
Polly slowly stepped forward, shaking. Megan felt bad, but she knew she had to help her Pokemon get over the fear of battle.
"Okay, ready? Shoot some bubbles now!"
Polly formed a bubble and shot it. No longer curious about them, the Rattata easily stepped aside while hissing and preparing for some kind of attack. Megan didn't know what to do. Couldn't she form bubbles faster than that?
"Try again, this time, shoot one faster!"
Polly strained to form another bubble, but it took even longer than the fast time. The bubble didn' t even float all the way to the opponent before it popped. Seconds later, the Rattata took off. It was moving so quickly that it just looked like a purple blur, racing circles around the crying baby Poliwag.
What should I do? Megan thought to herself, I'm such a bad Pokemon trainer!
"Ekans, help out the Poliwag!" Allen's voice called from behind Megan.
A Pokeball breezed by Megan's side, opening up to reveal a long, slithering Pokemon. Though it had no legs, the Pokemon could push itself forward very quickly, and formed a ring around Polly with its long, winding body.
"Wow, what is that?" She turned behind her.
"That's my Pokemon, Ekans." He gave her a smile, "I don't think a baby like Polly can take on Rattata's speed alone!"
Megan didn't know whether to be insulted that he called Polly slow or flattered that he was helping her out. She turned back to the battle.
"Try to shoot more bubbles at it, Polly!" Megan called out.
"The Rattata is using Quick Attack." Allen explained, "Normal fighting abilities like scratching and biting normally don't get named attacks, but when Pokemon seem to do something extrodinary that takes a lot of practice to learn, it gets a name. This ability is called Quick Attack, and a Rattata can run especially fast with it, making it a difficult target to hit, plus it hurts if the Rattata runs into you. Polly is using one of it's special attacks called Bubble. When Rattata runs into Ekans, he should be able to catch it with his special move, Wrap."
"Oh, so it's called Bubble?" Megan felt stupid for not knowing anything about her Pokemon, "Well then..."
She turned to the battling Pokemon and shouted, "Use Bubble, Polly!"
Polly strained to form another bubble from her mouth. After a lot of hard work, the bubble started to float, and the Rattata charged in for its attack. The bubble popped, but instead of hitting Rattata, it landed in the middle of Ekan's face. Ekans jerked and lost his posture, leaving Polly wide open. The Rattata smashed into the defenseless Poliwag, knocking it into the stunned Ekans. Without any delay, the Rattata jumped toward Ekans and got a firm grip on his neck with its teeth.
"Quick, Ekans," Allen shouted, "Try to use Wrap!"
Ekans's tail slithered toward Rattata, but it couldn't make it. Rattata tightened it's clamp on Ekans, and Allen could see that the teeth were starting to pierce the Pokemon's skin. The man quickly pointed his Pokeball toward Ekans and pushed the top and bottom together, sending a beam of red light out. The beam hit Ekans, consuming him in light, and returned to the ball. Ekans was gone.
"How did you do that?!" Megan shrieked.
"You really don't know about Pokemon, do you? Just point the button at the Pokemon and push the top and bottom together."
Megan started to shuffle through her bag for Polly's Pokeball, but Rattata had already pounded into her again. Megan realized there wasn't enough time and dashed after the Pokemon herself. She dove toward Polly, catching her and landing on the ground. It hurt a bit, but she didn't have time to notice. She quickly stood up and faced the Rattata, and she finally noticed. This Rattata was much bigger than the one they had met before. She didn't know why she didn't notice earlier, but this one looked a lot more angry -- and a lot more dangerous. Even Megan herself started to feel afraid. She tried to hide it by keeping a serious face as she finally found the Pokeball with her hand and returned Polly to the inside.
"Get out of here!" She screamed at the Rattata, but it didn't listen.
From nowhere, a sweet, perfume-like smell filled the air. The smell was strong enough to distract everyone around, and the Rattata gave up on the battle to follow it.
Was it really that easy to stop it? Megan turned to where the Rattata was headed and saw that the patch of grass had strange leaves sticking out of it. She wanted badly to follow it herself, but she had to stay and hold on to Polly. As the Rattata happily disappeared into the grass, the leaves sank and the Rattata cried out in pain. The aroma faded away and the two trainers ran to the mysterious spot in the grass.
An Oddish had wrapped the Rattata in its leaves, and it was quickly draining the Rattata's energy. The Rattata fainted within only a few seconds, and the Oddish let go, beaming and dancing with energy. A Pokeball landed on the Rattata, engulfed it with a light, bounced a second, and clicked to signify a capture.
"Looks like I already got my first capture." A quiet voice arose from around the corner of one of the ridges on the hill.
Megan instantly ran over to Ellen, tackling her with a hug. Ellen stepped back to maintain balance and slowly placed her arms around Megan, too.
"I knew you'd need me along, too." Ellen unwraveled herself from Megan's Wrap attack, "but don't you have something else to tend to?"
"Polly!" Megan's mind shifted instantly, "Oh man!"
Megan opened up her Pokeball and looked at her injured Pokemon, "We really need to get to a Pokemon Center."
Ellen reached into her bag, which was identical to Megan's, and grabbed some of her ointment, applying it to Polly, "This'll help, but we still need to get to a Pokemon Center to heal fully."
"As long as we keep our Pokemon in their Pokeballs, we shoudln't have any more strange encounters like that." Allen explained to them, "The Pokemon around here are all really docile."
The two girls nodded and returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs, and the trio headed off to Viridian City.