A/N: A bit short of an episode to finish off the Route 1 stuff. Viridian stuff coming soon! Cheers.

Episode 6: Route 1 (Part 2)

You know how in the Pokemon games, when you walk in the tall grass areas, one wild Pokemon would attack you? And you take turns making moves until you capture it or defeat it or run away or whatever?

That's all BS.

They attack you however they want to, in whatever number they can muster. Also, they don't wait for you to make moves "in turns." This is not one of those Russian competitions where contestants take turns slapping each other until one of them faints or gives up (this is a real thing). It's more like the UFC, man.

And these Rattatas were fierce. They might have been related to the one Gary caught (no sign of him, by the way), or maybe witnessed that encounter and decided to attack any humans they came across, but these guys were out for blood. I'm not sure if they could've actually done any fatal damage to me, being really small, but I wasn't going to find out. And if they were going to attack in a group like this (I counted eight, but they were really fast so there could have been more), I wasn't going to play by the rules either.

I ran to create a bit of distance between me and the pack, turned around abruptly to stand my ground. I still saw them running at me, ready to do some damage. I grabbed all three Pokeballs and threw them out in front of me.

"Tackle!" I shouted, as the blinding lights appeared from the Pokeball.

Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander popped out of their digital resting places just in time to intercept three of the Rattatas running ahead of the group. I'm glad my Pokemon were just as quick as the little rats.

Bulbasaur didn't have to "tackle" so much as to stand his ground, and use his butt to smash one of the Rattatas in the teeth. It bounced back a few yards back, visibly hurt. Squirtle turned around, and "launched" himself towards the second Rattata, shell-side first. The shell made contact with this Rattata harder than Bulbasaur's butt. And lastly, Charmander used his left shoulder to tackle the third Rattata. It didn't connect as hard as the other two attacks, but Charmander was already making threatening moves with his flaming tail (which is very cool, by the way, to see in real life), driving back the third Rattata that had already gotten back up.

Remember when I said I had a bit of time with my starter Pokemon back in Pallet Town? I had already figured out what kind of "moves" my Pokemon knew, and what their strengths and weaknesses were.

Bulbasaur had really strong muscles in all four legs, and could tackle the hardest, even though his speed wasn't anything to write home about (yet). He could take physical hits like a beast, though. Tackling and taking tackles from Rattata was not a problem for him.

Squirtle's shell is super tough. I taught him how to tackle shell-first, and it obviously worked out. He was a natural. I even asked Charmander to try scratching the shell, and it didn't even leave a mark. I have to teach Squirtle some water moves, though, because he couldn't show me anything in that regard.

Charmander was definitely the quickest of the three, and had the sharpest claws. I tried to teach him to control the flame on his tail, to make it bigger to attack or smaller to dodge water attacks, and saw a little bit of success.

In any case, that half an hour or so I spent before heading to Route 1 was enough to make my Pokemon understand how to fight.

The Rattatas didn't stand a chance. The bravest of the group tried attacking again, but they were already scared. Charmander swiped his tail left and right while advancing, walking backwards. Bulbasaur and Squirtle stood close to him, left and right respectively, effectively forming a walking phalanx formation (we practiced this too). If any of the Rattatas got close enough to try and flank Charmander, they'd bounce them back with a mean tackle. The Rattatas all ran away, disappearing into the tall grass.

"Good fight guys, good fight," I said. "Come over here. Anyone hurt? No, good. Let's debrief."

"Bulbasaur, do you feel your vines? Oh, they're there, good, you just need some practice controlling them like a whip. Right now, it's too short. Squirtle, you can practice punching and headbutting. We'll find a stream or something later and see if that'll help you learn the water moves. Charmander, go sharpen your claws a little on that big rock over there, and practice swiping and dodging. Here, I'll show you how to shadow-box."

So and so forth.

There was no way to accurately check the "levels" on my Pokemon, or those in the wild. Even later I learned that this isn't actually a thing. Imagine in real life, putting levels on boxers or MMA fighters. It really doesn't work that way, does it? But more on this later.

The rest of Route 1 was uneventful, and I thought perhaps the noise from the battle with the Rattatas spooked other wild Pokemon into hiding. I walked about thirty minutes along the path, until I came out of a clearing and onto a dirt road.

A signpost stated: "Viridian City."