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Episode 8: Viridian Forest (Part 1)
Two things already happened as a butterfly effect of my actions. First, Gary joined Professor Oak on his way to Route 1 to meet me, and now, he sent the Pokedex by post rather than having to have me visit him in his lab again. This was perfect, because it saved me a trip to the Pokemon mart, and back to Pallet Town (hours off my schedule). After purchasing a dozen Pokeball from the store in the Pokemon Center, I headed North to Viridian Forest.
I tried my best to look for the "alternative route." You know, the one that you can use "cut" to gain access to and from? Route 2? Through the tunnel from Vermilion City? Yeah, I couldn't find it. I did later though, that's for another time.
Instead, the road to Viridian Forest was obvious, as it was the biggest attraction of Viridian City, and the main way to get to Pewter City. There was a gated area with a uniformed staff handing out a pamphlet of the Viridian Forest. It had a general guide of how to get to Pewter City.
Think of Viridian Forest as a National Park, thick with deciduous trees. The thick leaves of the trees and tall grass areas really blot out the sky when you're in the thick of the forest, and color the area in a "viridian" color: dark teal.
Like I said, there is a common path to Pewter City that is not too hard to find, but the forest does have areas that are open for exploration, and can wind around to join the common path. Most of the vast forest is not mapped, and very few trainers travel deep into uncharted territories here.
I walked along the main path for a while, and ran into… nothing. No other people, and no wild Pokemon. Quite eerie, actually. My best guess is that all the wild Pokemon near the main path have been all caught, so trainers wanting to catch some bug Pokemon had ventured a bit deeper into the forest.
After a while, I decided that it would be boring to get to Pewter City without encountering anything. I needed, after all, to make sure that my Pokemon were battle-hardened and ready for the first gym. So when I saw an opening to the left of the main path, I decided to head that way.
Before long I started to hear a few human voices coming from behind some trees. I decided to sneak up and see what was going on.
In a small clearing, I saw two boys (teenagers, just a few years older than me) standing over a smaller boy (more near my age). At first, I thought the smaller boy had gotten hurt and the other boys were helping him, but it soon became clear that it was a bullying situation.
"Cough it up, loser," one of the bigger boys said, kicking the victim in the leg. Wow, wtf.
"Please, that's all I have, I swear," the smaller boy said. His face was already covered with dirt, tears running down on his cheeks.
It was then I noticed that the smaller boy was clutching an unconscious Pidgey in his arms.
"I get to punch you in the face ten times for every hundred Pokebucks I find in your bag, loser," the bigger boy on the left said. Let's call him Dick 1. There was a Rattata standing next to him.
Dick 2 was already going through the smaller boy's bag. A Weedle was standing next to this guy.
This was obviously so effing messed up. Two teenagers beating the shiz out of a smaller boy, stealing his money and beating not only his Pokemon, but the boy himself. Then I realized…
HOLY SHI- that's actually what happens in the Pokemon game!
Random trainers force you to engage in Pokemon battles you can't run away from, and then if you run out of Pokemon to battle with, you "faint" and lose money. Whattttttttt. Why did this never occur to me? Because it was just a GAME.
Why else did you "faint" and end up in the nearest Pokemon Center when you lost a battle? That's because they beat you up silly and somehow you made it back into the Pokemon Center, where the police can keep the law. The police didn't give a damn what happened in between cities.
I assessed the situation. What would I do if I was Dick 1 or Dick 2, trying to beat up a kid to steal his money? I'd use my best Pokemon. A Rattata? A Weedle? How hilarious.
Time for some justice.
Was there a formal or polite way to challenge trainers to a battle? Probably, but I wasn't sure. What I WAS sure about, is that these losers didn't deserve anything of the sort. I was going to give them nothing, but take from them… EVERYTHING.
I circled around so that I could come up from behind them. I then summoned all three of my starters from behind the trees. The Dicks didn't notice.
The best idea was to leave Bulbasaur to deal with Weedle, because he could handle the poisonous stinger if it came to that. Charmander would go and scratch the Rattata to bits. Squirtle… well, keep reading.
"Bulbasaur, tackle Weedle from the side! Charmander, scratch Rattata, watch out for his bites!" I shouted, while holding the bushes aside so the ambush could happen.
"Huh?" Dick 2 cried out.
Without any commands, and caught completely off guard, the tiny Weedle took a full Bulbasaur to its side and went tumbling yards away. As previously instructed, my Bulbasaur didn't wait for further instructions, but kept on charging the insect, tackling him again, and again. No need to wait for the Weedle to get up. Taking turns is a stupid thing.
"Rattata, tackle!" Dick 1 managed to issue this command, but the Rattata was momentarily distracted by the charging Bulbasaur, so it didn't see the Charmander coming. It stood no chance. The scratches went deep, and despite its thick skin (compared to a regular rat, at least), the Rattata started bleeding in some places. I had told Charmander to hold back his attacks against smaller guys, so if he hadn't, I know the cuts would've opened up deeply.
"Are you okay?" I approached the smaller boy, but from a few feet away. I still had to keep my eyes on the Dicks. (Wait, that came out wrong. What, that sounded wrong too. Damn it).
It seemed like he wanted to say something to me, but he was in pain.
"Hey, what's your problem, man?" Dick 1 had the audacity to ask.
"My Weedle! No fair!" Dick 2 matched his buddy.
"Alright," I said. "This is what's going to happen. You're going to take out everything you took from this guy and put them down on the ground here. Then you're going to take out everything YOU have and leave it here too. Then scram!"
"Ha, no way! Caterpie, string-shot on the Bulbasaur!" Dick 1 shouted, as he threw a Pokeball behind me.
"Nidoran, tackle the guy!" Dick 2 shouted, also throwing a Pokeball towards me.
I expected that the Dicks would be carrying more than just one Pokemon. I'm also glad that I expected that the Dicks might order their Pokemon to attack ME, and not just my Pokemon. I wasn't sure if that was an element in this world, but what can I say? I wasn't taking any chances.
Bulbasaur stood still, letting himself get covered with some sticky string. Big deal. Charmander went up to the distracted Caterpie and connected with a scratch-tackle combo. The little big went sprawling on the ground a few feet away, unconscious. Charmander used his flames carefully to free Bulbasaur from the webs.
At the same instant, Nidoran came to tackle me, aiming for my hips, the center of gravity. I'll give it points for that. But I turned my back to face the Nidoran, and guess who was clutching onto my backpack. That's right, Squirtle. He was on my back this entire ambush, waiting as backup. Squirtle's hard shell connected hard with the Nidoran, and at its high speed, it basically knocked itself out.
With even their second Pokemon knocked out, the two teenagers looked flustered and defeated. Even more so when my Pokemon surrounded them from behind.
"Let's try that again," I said. "Leave all your stuff. Now."
They dropped the "loot," let's say, on the ground, and after collecting their Pokemon, ran off into the direction of Viridian City.
"Hey, thanks…" the smaller boy (still older than me) said.
He explained that he was looking for some insect Pokemon deep in the woods, and while he had confidence in his Pidgey to fend Pokemon off, he couldn't handle being teamed up on by those bullies. After the Pokemon battle was over, the bullies had beat him up themselves.
"Is this...usual?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it normal for Pokemon trainers to force others to battle, then beat up the loser and take all his money?"
"Uhh… which planet did you come from, man?" he asked.
"I'm… new to this?" I tried.
He explained that usually trainers agreed on the conditions of the battle (i.e. number of Pokemon to use, time, etc.) and wagered an agreed amount of money. Usually these "friendly" battles ended when a trainer submitted, rather than when all the Pokemon fainted, because it's more for practice.
However, deep in the wild where the city police do not patrol, bullies were out to make MORE money by just simply… well, robbing you. It never got "too serious," the boy explained. They just roughed you up a bit, and took money. No one ever leaves another person for DEAD. That's still so wrong...
He absolutely refused to take all the money. He took a bit of money that he claimed was originally his, and left the rest to me. The bullies had left, however, some potion sprays, and he asked me if he could use one for his Pidgey. I said of course.
Release the safety pin, which "opens" the spray, then use the button to release a misty dose of nanobots that … just kidding. I don't actually know how it works, but the Pidgey started to come around and regained some energy. There was a small cut on his left wing that, after the potion mist had been sprayed on it, seemed to speed up in the healing process. It was like watching Wolverine healing in slow mo. Pretty cool. Maybe there WERE nanobots...
"Say, are you headed to Pewter City?" he asked.
"Yes, but I wanted to catch some bug Pokemon first. And maybe a Pidgey for myself as well." I looked at his Pidgey. It looked up at me with googly eyes. Cute!
"I can't thank you enough for helping me out," he said. "I can at least show you where to find some of the wild Pokemon in the forest. Thanks to the potions, I don't have to go to a Pokemon Center right away."
I agreed right away. I wanted to catch some Pokemon, because I suspected that filling up the Pokedex somewhat would help me in my journey. After all, even though I had a strong THEORETICAL knowledge of Pokemon, the living creatures were entirely new to me in this physical world. Having a friend would help me.
"Say, there wouldn't happen to be Bulbasaurs in the Viridian Forest, would there?" I asked.
"Not on the route between Viridian and Pewter Cities, no. There's supposed to be a family of Bulbasaurs and Ivysaurs led by a really old Venusaur, but their home is deep in the woods, and no one knows where it is. Lucky you have one already, because it'll be rare to even see one here."
"I see. Then let's start with the bugs," I said.
"My name is Alan by the way," Alan held out a hand. I shook it. "Nice to meet you."
It was good to make a friend in this new world.