Day 5

Sunny, with a few clouds
Current mood: exhausted
Current location: Just outside Viridian Forest

Dear Diary:

We made it out of the forest this evening. Ash says we'll arrive in Pewter City in the morning, so that means I'd better train a bit in preparation for our fist badge. That isn't the only piece of news I have today--we now have a Butterfree with us in camp! Metapod evolved after a clash with Musha, a samurai, this afternoon, so now his dream of gaining wings has finally come true! Right now, he's arguing with Pidgeotto about whose turn it is to guard the camp, and the noise is driving me nuts, so I'll just close up my tent...

It started when we befriended a Weedle this morning. Misty screamed and shook it off, but Ash opted to summon Pidgeotto and duel it! But as Misty walked away from the duel, she felt a blade against her neck. A shadowy figure asked if she waas from Pallet Town, but when she said no, the blade withdrew, and the figue went on his way.

I finally woke up just in time to see Ash attempt to catch the Weedle, but the shadowy figure tried to turn Ash into sushi...we learned that his name was Musha. No sooner had Ash accepted his challenge of a duel, he summoned Pidgeotto to fight against Musha's Pinsir. Pinsir proved too strong for Pidgeotto, so she fell, defeated.

Ash summoned Metapod and told him to harden, and that brought down Pinsir! But Musha had a few tricks up his sleeve as well--he summoned his own Metapod!

After several hours of watching the two Metapods hardening, I heard a low buzz in the distance, that meant a swarm of Beedrills was coming! In the confusion that followed, one Beedrill snatched Metapod, sending Ash into a panic!

After a while, we came to a grove where some Kakunas were relaxing, and I found Metapod among them! Ash called to him, but that made all the Kakunas evolve--sending us running again from a newly created swarm of Beedrills!

Once we lost the Beedrills, Musha invited us to his woodland retreat not far from Butterfree Grotto--a place in Viridian Forest where lots of Butterfrees live. After lunch, Musha told Ash that compared to all the other Pallet trainers, he was just a novice. Ash tried to defend himself, but Musha scolded him further by saying no trainer would abandon his Pokemon. Dejected, Ash led the way upstairs, where we took a nap. Yet as i slept, I could Ash talking in his sleep about how he was going to save Metapod.

Musha woke us up a short while later, saying he sensed Ash was in danger! When we arrived at the Kakuna grotto we found both Team Rocket and Ash cornered by Beedrills! Team Rocket fled, but one Beedrill was determined to attack Ash! Ash told Medapod that he didn't leave him, and that he would never leave any one of us. Metapod seemed pleased with that--and I watched in awe as a Butterfree emerged from Ash's arms. Ash told Butterfree to put the Beedrills to sleep, giving us time to escape!

Musha was impressed by how Ash controlled Butterfree, and promised to meet up and battle with him again one day. On that note, we headed to camp.

I think Butterfree's guarding tonight, so I'd better close for tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Pikachu

Day 6

Sunny
Current mood: happy
Current location: Just outside of Pewter City

Dear Diary:

We're resting just outside Pewter City, but I'm happy because the resident Gym Leader, Brock, has decided to join us on our adventure...which is great because not only is he a great battler, he's also an expert chef and guitar player! I can hear him singing all the way in here, and judging from how much everyone's enjoying it, they like it too! Even Butterfree and Pidgeotto are singing too.

So how did we meet up with this super talented Gym Leader? It began not long after we arrived in Pewter...not long after we burshed off Flint, the local rock seller, we arrived at the Pokemon Center. Ash spotted a poster advertising the Indigo League, and asked Nurse Joy about it. She told us that if Ash really wanted to try his luck at entering, the first step would be defeating Brock, the local Gym Leader. Misty led the way inside the Gym, promising us that she'd wait outside.

When we entered the arena, I saw an older boy with tanned skin meditating among the rocks...I could hear him saying "I am one with the boulder...and the boulder is one with me." again and again.

After focusing on the boulder before him for a moment, he reached for an odd flute-like instrument that looked like two whistles stuck together. One of them acted like a drone, and the other was the melody.

I listened as the boy began an odd song, and almost like magic, the rocks came alive and danced to it! However, the strange song was putting Ash to sleep...I tried to keep him awake, but by the time the song concluded, he was lying on the floor, sleeping.

I was confused as to why the song had only affected Ash and not me...I was still awake, and Ash was lying right next to me, snoozing peacefully.

Misty raced inside to attempt to awaken Ash, but just before the boy could begin his odd melody again, I warned Misty to cover her ears. Despite her best efforts, she too succumbed to the odd melody.

After watching us snooze for a few seconds, the boy pocketed his instrument, and snapped, awakening Ash and Misty. We learned that this was indeed the famous Brock. Ash tried to ask how he could hypnotize us like that, but Brock waved aside the question and asked which of us was going to duel. Ash stepped up to the challenge, and Brock snapped, turning the lights on. I saw a red and blue Poke Ball in the center, which I assumed was the battlefield.

Brock waited as Ash and I faced him on the Blue side of the Poke Ball, while he took the Red side. Once we were settled, Brock explained the rules: two Pokemon a side, and whoever knocked out both of the other side's Pokemon won.

I jumped when I heard an announcer call "Red side ready?" Brock gave an affirmative nod in the direction of the unseen referee. "Blue side ready?" Ash and I cheered. "And three...two...one..." No sooner had the countdown concluded, did I hear a whistle...and Brock summoned a giant rock snake Pokemon! I tried to attack him, but he was way too strong for me! No matter what I did, I couldn't even make a scratch!

Ash was piqued about the giant monstrosity, so he consulted Dexter:

'Onix, the rock snake Pokemon. There is a magnet in his brain that prevents him from losing direction while tunneling. As he grows older, his body becomes steadily rounder and smoother."

By this time, Onix had me wrapped in his rocky coils and was squeezing me tight, making it increasingly harder to breathe. Just when I thought it was the end, Brock told Onix to stop. Ash retrieved me as I sputtered for breath, and before departing asked Brock why he had showed mercy to me. Brock replied that he couldn't bear to see Onix kill me, or Ash's reaction if I did die.

Flint caught up with us later as we explored the city. He told us that Brock mainly worked the Gym as support for his ten siblings--but he also moonlighted as a singer--so when he wasn't battling, he was playing guitar and singing at parties and events all over town...but inside the arena, he was a ruthless battler. Ash told Flint how Brock's Onix almost killed me. Flint suggested that Ash power me up via an old power plant just outside of town.

Once I was settled in the ancient generator, Ash started walking to generate power for me. Despite the immense pain I felt as the power surged into me, I also felt the power of a new move or two flowing into me. After the ordeal, Flint fed us dinner before we challenged Brock again.

Brock was waiting for us when we arrived, and escorted us down to the arena...and when the whistle blew, I watched as Brock summoned...a stone? I couldn't resist laughing at first, but once I noticed eyes and arms on the stone, I figured it was my first opponent.

Dexter had this to say:

"Geodude, the rock Pokemon. The longer he lives, the more his edges are chipped and worn away, making him more rounded in appearance. However, his heart will remain hard, craggy, and rough as always."

Geodude tried to crush me, blinding me at first and making most of my attacks bounce off the wall, but my newfound power gave me the strength to defeat him! I swallowed hard as the mighty Onix appeared...he lunged at me as if he wanted to kill me again, but suddenly, I felt it raining. It turned out that in my rush of paniced Thunderbolts, I set off the emergency sprinklers. This gave me an idea--if Onix was wet, I could hit him! With that, I mustered the strongest Thunderbolt I could muster.

Onix howled in pain from my attack, but before I could issue the final blow, I noticed a group of children of various ages looking down on the arena--Brock's siblings. At this, Ash told me to lay off, and the duel was called no contest.

Just as we were about to leave tonight, Brock caught up with us, all packed and ready to go on an adventure. Not only that, we also learned that Flint was Brock's dad! After giving Flint some last minute instructions and Flint giving Brock his blessing, we departed...

...and here we are in camp. It sounds like Brock's starting another song, so I'm going to go join in the sing-along...

Until tomorrow,

Pikachu