"Your Pokemon are fighting fit!" The attendant at the front desk bowed to the group and returned their Pokeballs, "We hope to see you again!"
"Wow," Megan blinked, examining her Pokeball for differences, "Did that really heal them?"
She lightly tossed the ball out in front of her and within no time, Polly appeared from the released light, full of energy and as healthy as ever. The jiggling blue Pokemon leapt into its owner's arms and began snuggling up to her chest.
"Pokemon are stored as a type of data while in a Pokeball, so the machine at a Pokemon center can correct the parts of the data that display injuries to heal them," Ellen explained to her friend, "They'll become perfectly healed after a quick spin through the machine."
"Well, I have to get back to my job," Allen told the two girls, "so I hope you two have good luck on your journey!"
The young man left the Pokemon Center without even wanting for a 'thank you'. Megan smiled and tossed her Pokemon lightly in the air, catching it and tossing it again and again. Polly squeaked with happiness as it played in the air.
Ellen decided to call out her Pokemon, also. Oddish was the first to be summoned, who walked serenely to his master's side, brushing his leaves against her legs. After retrieving Oddish's Pokeball, she dropped her second one. At first sight of the purple creature, Polly had sped to the corner of the Pokemon Center, shaking with terror.
"Ellen!" Megan scolded her, "Why did you do that?"
"Don't worry," Ellen laughed, "Pokemon gain respect for their trainers after being captured. This guy will listen to whatever I tell him, as long as I respect him, too."
She turned to her Rattata, "Listen, now, that blue one over in the corner... he's your friend now."
Rattata slowly walked to the corner of the building, curious to what his new friend was like. Polly began squealing with fright and running frantically in circles. As the imposing danger grew closer and closer, the baby Pokemon realized she had no choice but to fight him off. Megan saw the water form a bubble in her Pokemon's mouth and hurriedly stomped in front of Polly.
"Polly, this is your friend now," Megan explained, sounding a bit nervous herself, "so you don't have to be afraid."
She bent down and scooped Polly up with her hands and placed her in front of Ellen's Rattata. Polly turned away a little, keeping her eye on the purple fiend, slowly taking shaky steps backward. Rattata took a long stride forward and sniffed at Polly's flapping tail. The scary Pokemon chattered his teeth and hopped a bit, and Polly's shaking ceased. A curious squeak and a few steps later, the two Pokemon were happily jumping and playing together.
After a sigh of relief, Megan turned to the leafy Pokemon at her friend's feet, "How come Oddish isn't playing?"
"Well," Ellen paused to look at the calm, peaceful Oddish resting next to her, "Oddish was always shy and would never interact with other Pokemon. Oak figured that he was better with humans, so he let me keep him as a pet and said he would be the perfect type of Pokemon for training."
The curious girl crawled over to the small creature and began to pet his leaves, but Oddish pounced into her face, repelling her as small purple spores drifted toward her, landing all over her skin. Ellen quickly withdrew Oddish into his Pokeball and called Polly over to her side.
"Hey, can you pop a few bubbles on her face and neck for me, please?" Ellen begged her friend's Pokemon.
Confusedly, but obediently, the Poliwag forced two bubbles to splash upon her dazed trainer's face. Megan shook her face in shock as the sharp sting registered in her brain; tears began to form in the eyes of her worried face.
"What happened to me?" She whined.
Ellen sighed, "It's just Poison Powder, one of Oddish's attacks. It doesn't affect humans much, but if we didn't wash it off, it could've gotten serious."
"Ellen..." the fickle girl sniffled, "You're so smart about Pokemon."
Ellen softly smiled and pulled a cloth from her bag and started to wipe up the wet powder from her friend's teary face. She reached behind her again and grabbed a small bottle of blue liquid. She dropped the cloth aside to twist the cap off the bottle and gave it to Megan, who stared at it with confusion. Ellen put her hand in the shape of the letter "c" and tilted it a bit, motioning for her friend to drink the contents of the bottle. Megan responded hesitantly and swallowed the strange substance in one swift gulp.
"Just in case, you know?" She smiled again to Megan.
Megan was still clueless, "What was that?"
"My last antidote," Ellen giggled, "Let's go buy some more."
It had been a long time since Megan had been in Viridian City. It really wasn't too much different to her than Pallet Town, as all the buildings were pretty much the same, and the townsfolk seemed dull. Also like Pallet, Viridian City had one very unique building: the Pokemon Gym. Megan was excited about battling the gym trainer there to earn a badge.
This much about Pokemon training she did understand. Every trainer goes on a journey to try to become the Champion. This person has a special seat above all other trainers and can enter forbidden areas where very strong wild Pokemon live. In order to become the Champion, one must first defeat the Elite Four, a group of powerful trainers who fight for the sole purpose of defending the Champion. If a trainer can defeat the four in battle, they will become the Champion and gain glory, fame, and not to mention -- money.
But becoming the Champion isn't just that easy. In order to even face the Elite Four, a trainer must first collect eight Gym Badges from the region that he or she is participating in (There are actually multiple Champions in different places across the world). These badges are obtained by finding and defeated the Gym Leaders in Pokemon Gyms all across the region. Once these badges are collected, a trainer may venture into a large, difficult cave that may eventually lead them to the Elite Four.
Megan was eager to start earning Gym Badges right away, but her priority was to shop with Ellen first. The girls bought a few antidotes for curing poison and spare Pokeballs, and Megan made sure to stock up on Potions just for Allen.
"Oh man!" Megan whined as they left the store, "I just spent almost all my money! How does a trainer get money, anyway?"
Ellen laughed nervously, "Do you really not know? You battle in fair matches with other trainers and wager money on it."
"Isn't that gambling?" Megan's eyes widened.
"Not really," Ellen scratched the back of her neck, "It's more like a contest of skill, so it's not really gambling..."
Her voice trailed off as she followed her friend directly to the gym.
"Who are you?" A girl confronted the two as they neared the gym.
Megan was speechless. The girl seemed a little younger than she and Ellen, but had the feel of an experienced person. She was wearing a blue shirt and a red skirt and had on matching blue loose socks. The yellow bag hanging at her side had six Pokeballs attached to it. The two could tell that she was an experienced trainer.
"You're Green," Ellen spoke slowly and softly, "from Pallet Town, right?"
"And?" The girl replied haugtily.
"We're from Pallet, too!" Megan exclaimed, "We're gonna fight in this gym, too!"
"Don't even bother." The younger girl laughed at Megan, "The Gym Leader here is probably the best in all of Kanto. Either way, he's not around right now. I tried to go in, but he was gone for some reason."
Ellen nodded to Megan, "Well lets head to the forest up north. We could probably do a lot of training there."
"I guess so..."
The arrogant Green left without saying anything while Megan was disappointed that she couldn't fight a Gym Leader, but after thinking she realized that Polly couldn't even fight a wild Rattata. The first thing she had to do was teach Polly how to use her Bubble attack properly and work on her basic fighting skills. The two friends turned back and started heading for the norther gate.
"Are you two young ladies heading into the forest?" A strange man holding a cup of coffee approached them from what seemed like nowhere, "Let me show you how to catch Pokemon!"
A strange grin grew among the mans face and Megan's stomach sank. Without any hesitation, the girls were dashing to the entrance of Viridian Forest.