Chapter 11 – Farewell, Cerulean City! Zac's Powerful New Pokémon
I am going to start something new: I am going to respond to my reviews. : )
spitz - Yeah, I know, is Andrew great or what? (happy sigh) I am so proud of Andrew...
toasterovenman - They are 16 years old now. And yes, we will meet more people from the Real World, but not anytime soon, I am afraid. : (
Aztec Goddess - Cool, I am glad you like her new hair style. : ) Her old one never really bothered me, though. I kinda like it, actually. I just thought it would be interesting to change her appearance. And just so you know, I plan on bringing her back with her original hair style. Sorry! And as far as Ash goes... I did not mean he is, like, buff or anything. He is not big and muscular. I meant to say he is just... well toned, that is all. : P
Okay, on with the story!
Chris has a much easier time battling Misty. After all, he has Bulbasaur, and as we all know, Grass kills Water. Chris knows that Bulbasaur must be at a very similar level as Squirtle was when he evolved. As a result, Chris uses her against both of Misty's Pokémon, eager to see her evolve into an Ivysaur.
However, the evolution never comes. Bulbasaur beats Staryu with a few well-placed Vine Whips. She doesn't evolve. Her battle against Starmie is a little more exciting. Since Starmie keeps diving underwater to avoid Bulbasaur's Vine Whip, Chris comes up with a clever plan.
"Bulbasaur, jump from this platform to the center one and use Sleep Powder as you go!"
With a running leap, Bulbasaur jumps from Chris's yellow platform to the red one in the center of the pool. Sparkling blue powder falls off her back as she leaps over the water. The powder settles on the surface of the water. Starmie breaks the surface to attack, but it soon falls asleep when it comes into contact with the Sleep Powder. Bulbasaur then finishes it with a couple of Vine Whips.
Bulbasaur beats both her opponents by herself and Chris gets his Badge, but she still hasn't evolved.
"Don't worry," Ash tells Chris after the battle. "Most of my strongest Pokémon have never even evolved past the first stage! My Bulbasaur is one of them." "Yeah..." says Chris, feeling a little better. "That's right," Zac says. "So stop crying like a freakin' baby."
Chris scowls at Zac.
Ash can't help but laugh. "You two are an interesting pair," he says. "You're both strong, too. I look forward to seeing you two in the Pokémon League." "If we make it that far," Chris mutters. "Chris, stop being stupid!" Zac says fiercely. "We are gonna make it that far!"
After their little conversation with Ash, Zac and Chris leave the Gym with the promise of returning tomorrow.
Chris blinks in the strong sunlight when they walk out. He sighs as they walk to the hospital. "I'm glad we both won," he says. "Of course we did," Zac replies. "Andrew will, too." Chris laughs. "Yeah," he says, "I can't wait to see Ash and Misty's reaction to him." "They'll probably just give him blank stares, just like everyone else's reaction to him," Zac says, shrugging.
They stay with Andrew in the hospital all day long. They play random board games and watch movies on the new TV, which has been installed as a replacement for the one that got ruined by a brick. To Andrew's great delight, Zac goes to a buffet to get dinner and brings back chicken nuggets, which apparently is Andrew's favorite food. Finally, night time comes, and after refusing Andrew's demands for candy, Zac and Chris go to the Cerulean Pokémon Center to crash for the night.
The next day proves to be just as nice as the one before it. Chris wakes up to see sunlight streaming through the windows of their room. After he wakes up Zac and the Pokémon, they all head over to the hospital to pick up Andrew.
"Just... try your best to keep a close eye on him," the doctor tells Zac and Chris at the front door of the hospital. He gives Andrew a nervous sideways glance as he repeatedly tries to leave the hospital by walking through the glass doors. "We always do," Chris assures the doctor.
"Does he even know the glass is there?" the doctor whispers anxiously. "Probably not," says Zac cheerfully. "Thanks for everything, Doctor, and stop worrying about him; he's made a full recovery, trust me."
And with that, the three Trainers leave the hospital to find a place to eat.
After a rather exhausting breakfast that involves restraining Andrew from gluing his pancakes to his face with syrup, the group makes their way to Misty's Gym.
Ash and Misty are both waiting for them. Misty doesn't look too happy. It seems that she has tried to keep Ash from showing himself again and failed. She sighs and walks to her side of the pool.
"Come on, Andrew, let's go."
Andrew hops over to his platform on one leg. His Pikachu tries to do the same, falls down several times, then finally runs to join its Trainer on the yellow platform.
"Hey, isn't he a bit young?" Ash calls down from the stands.
Misty gives Andrew a shrewd look. "Yeah, he's definitely not 10 years old, is he?"
Zac gets down from the bleachers and walks over to Misty. "No, but he has already earned his first Badge. That technically means he has been given permission to be in the League, right?" "I suppose..." Misty says slowly. "All right, if he has a Badge then he must already be a registered Trainer. Okay, let's start the battle!"
Zac walks back to the stands to rejoin Chris and Ash. He's thinking about Misty's words. (Hmmm... Is Andrew really a registered Trainer? Did Brock register him or something? I guess we'll find out when we reach the Pokémon League...)
Andrew's second Gym battle isn't nearly as short as his first, but it is still pretty damn quick. Following Zac's advice, he lets Zubat fight Staryu for a little at the beginning of the battle. He then uses Mankey to finish Staryu off. When Misty brings Starmie out, Andrew's Pikachu makes short work of it. Starmie is actually able to land a Water Pulse and a Rapid Spin on Pikachu before Pikachu finishes it off.
In a matter of minutes, Andrew is dancing around the gigantic room with his Cascadebadge. Zac, Chris, Ash, and Misty watch in silence for a little while.
The group actually ends up staying with Ash and Misty for a good few hours. They eat lunch while Zac and Chris tell them about the Real World. Ash and Misty in turn tell them about the Pokémon World. Zac and Chris learn about the four major continents: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Kantohto. After Zac and Chris finish laughing at the name "Kantohto", Ash says, "My guess is that they ran out of good continent names, so they just took the names 'Kanto' and 'Johto' and put them together. Lazy bastards..." Everyone laughs at this.
Around 2:00 PM, the group says their final goodbyes to Ash and Misty.
"We'll definitely meet again!" Ash calls out the front door as the group leaves. "I can't wait to battle you guys at-!" Misty takes him by the ear and yanks him away from the doorway, firmly scolding him for nearly exposing himself to the public. Zac laughs, waves goodbye one last time, and the group finally leaves Cerulean City.
"Well, that was fun," says Chris. "Yep, it sure was..." Zac agrees.
They reach a bridge. Chris reads the sign. "Nugget Bridge," he reads out loud. Andrew suddenly perks up... even more than usual. "What, nuggets? Chicken nuggets? I love nuggets of the chicken!" he yells. He sprints onto the bridge and jumps around happily. "Andrew!" Zac says sharply. "Stop being stupid!"
Andrew, however, doesn't stop as they walk down the bridge. By the time they reach the end of it, Zac is ready to wrap his hands around Andrew's neck and kill him. His violent urges are interrupted, however, by something very solid hitting him in the back... hard.
He goes flying and hits the ground face first. "Jigglypuff!" he hears a squeaky, angry voice say.
"Oh my god, it's so cute!" Chris exclaims, eyes sparkling. "Cute?" Zac growls as he slowly gets up. "Cute? Uh-uh... not cute. Dead; it's dead!" Zac turns around and gives the Jigglypuff that just rammed him in the back a death glare. Jigglypuff squeals in terror and hides behind Chris. Chris glares at Zac. "How dare you scare it!"
"Fine!" snaps Zac. "If you like it so much, Chris, why not let it join our little group?" He says this in a very ominous tone of voice. Chris gulps. Zac looks at Wartortle. "Wartortle, use Water Gun!"
Wartortle attacks Jigglypuff. The battle starts.
Jigglypuff dodges the water and starts spinning really fast. It launches its spinning body at Wartortle who can't possibly get out of the way in time. He goes flying into a nearby tree. "Wartortle!" Zac cries. He glares at Jigglypuff, and Jigglypuff glares back as it pulls out a microphone. Then, Zac's eyes slowly go wide in recognition...
"You're the Jigglypuff that saved us in Mt. Moon!"
Jigglypuff nods and puts the microphone to its lips, obviously preparing to sing. However, a strong stream of water sends it flying a few yards. Zac turns to see Wartortle limping his way back to his Trainer. That Rollout attack hit him pretty damn hard, but he's still ready to get his revenge on Jigglypuff.
Jigglypuff's body seems to inflate as it glares angrily at Wartortle. Then it returns to its normal size and charges at Wartortle with surprising speed. Before Wartortle can even do anything, he gets hit a good number of times by Jigglypuff's Double Slap. Wartortle somehow manages to get up again. Jigglypuff looks surprised, then smiles admiringly at Wartortle. Obviously, the balloon Pokémon wasn't expecting Wartortle to get up after a second attack. It is now clear to Zac that Jigglypuff is at a much higher level than Wartortle. (Why is it following me around...?) Zac wonders in agitation. (Maybe it wants to join us...) Wartortle suddenly lunges at Jigglypuff and uses Bite for the first time. Jigglypuff yelps in pain and doesn't respond right away. Wartortle takes his chance and uses Tackle. Jigglypuff's light body goes flying into the air. Wartortle follows up with a Water Gun. Jigglypuff gets hit in midair. It hits the ground, looking battered and bruised. Zac takes out a Pokéball. Chris gasps in surprise.
"Go, Pokéball!"
In a flash of red light, the Pokéball captures Jigglypuff. It shakes a few times, but Jigglypuff doesn't escape.
Zac cheers and picks up the Pokéball. However, when he picks it up, it breaks open. Jigglypuff appears at his feet. It smiles up at him fondly. "Jigglypuff!" it says happily as if it's greeting Zac.
"Wait..." Zac says slowly. "You... let me catch you?" Jigglypuff nods.
Zac smiles at Chris. "Looks like it wanted to join us after all."
They make their way back to Cerulean so Zac can heal Wartortle and Jigglypuff at the Pokémon Center. Chris complains about not having any really cute Pokémon like Jigglypuff, Zac calls Chris gay, Chris yells at Zac for calling him that, and the group leaves Cerulean City again.
As they cross Nugget Bridge again, Zac grins to himself. (With Pokémon like Wartortle and Jigglypuff, no one will have a chance of stopping me from becoming the undefeated Pokémon Champion!)
And there you have it! A rather short chapter, but a good one nonetheless, right? I am gonna pick up the pace with this story now. I do not want to dwell on the whole Badge-collecting part for too long. There is much more to this story after the Pokémon League, and I want to get to it as quickly as possible! The next chapter will go directly to the Vermilion Gym. Oh, yeah, and just so you know, my profile has very informative character bios now. So until next time! And thanks for all your reviews. : )