Moving on from Cerulean City
Misty and I escaped with our Pokemon, and after withdrawing most of them safely into their Pokeballs, jumped into the water. Poliwhirl grabbed Misty and I grabbed Wartortle behind the shell. He was still too small to carry me through the water comfortably. The frenzied Pokemon under Mewtwo's influence luckily didn't follow us out of the cave. We soon returned to our rendezvous spot.
"I cannot be seen with you in public," Misty explained. "I know I'm being watched by Team Rocket agents and if you're seen with me, you'll be watched too."
She explained that I had to be careful.
"It's one thing to be a powerful trainer," Misty said. "And another thing to do that while staying under Rocket's radar. You HAVE to stay hidden."
"Okay," I agreed.
"Promise me," she said, taking my hand.
"I promise."
She gave me a hug and wished me luck before disappearing into the night. It was only an hour or so until sunrise. I made my way, feeling the damage on my body, back to the Pokemon Center. The HUMAN doctor and nurses came rushing at the sight of me, and I claimed that I fell from my bicycle in Route 4. A quick scan under a fancy machine showed that no bones were broken and there was no internal bleeding. Thank goodness. They patched me up with bandages and gave me some pain meds. After getting my Pokemon treated as well, I returned to my room and passed out.
God knows when I woke up. I found all my Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, scattered about the room. I must've still had enough rational thought in my delirious state to let them out of their digital cages. The ones that were in battle yesterday were all wiped out, lying unconscious in different forms. Their wounds were treated, but they were fatigued. It made me laugh a bit. The smaller guys that didn't fight were sitting by the sleeping ones, taking care of them. I let everyone relax for a while.
It was dinner time when I felt like we were all okay to come out. I had dozens of missed calls from Alan and Bill. We set up a time to meet up for dinner.
"Why don't we eat up in my family's dining room? We can bring the food from the restaurant upstairs," Alan suggested, when I asked if there's some place we can speak in private.
Bill had a Magnemite scan the living for any wire-taps, just in case.
"I don't battle with my Pokemon, but I do have some handy for special tasks," he explained.
Alan looked a bit nervous as the floating Pokemon scanned his TV, his phone, etc. Once I explained everything about Team Rocket, the evil Gym Leaders, and the resistance group, he understood the precautions.
"I, uh- I'm not a very powerful trainer," Alan said. "But I'll do anything to help out, if you'll have me."
Bill and I assured him that any and all help was welcome. Bill later told me that he had already run a background check on Alan and his family ("Can't be too careful," Bill had said), and they came back clear.
"We're not just looking for a few powerful heroes," Bill said, looking at me. "The whole resistance wouldn't mean a thing if more everyday people didn't stand up to the cruel exploitation of Pokemon. Not to mention stealing and hurting people!"
We continued some discussion about what we can do from Cerulean City. Alan volunteered to serve as the communications agent. He also said he could smuggle resistance resources or personnel to and from Team Rocket controlled areas.
"It will seem natural," he said. "I go on deliveries for the restaurant all the time. We sometimes do catering too. I can get around the city on the restaurant delivery bike, to Bill, and to Misty's mansion."
Oh yeah, Misty had a giant mansion East of the city. Her family was loaded.
"I will continue to provide the technology," Bill said. "Speaking of which, here's something for you."
He reached into his fancy metal case and pressed a button. Giving off a little bit of steam, the metal case/box opened up, revealing some shiny, silver-chrome gear. It totally gave off Iron man vibes and it blew my mind how cool it was.
"This is the latest prototype of my Pokebelt," he said, handing me something like Batman's Utility Belt. "It's programmed with Artificial Intelligence that I coded to your voice and DNA."
When the hell did he do that? What a genius.
"It can carry up to 20 Pokeballs safely, and you don't need to worry about them falling off from your store-bought belt," Bill explained. Good-bye, my crappy old belt! "Only you can unbuckle it, so even when you're unconscious, no one can take the belt or steal your Pokemon. In battles, the AI should read the situation you're in - or listen to your voice commands - and eject the appropriate Pokeball from one of these two openings."
He pointed at two small circle holes, big enough to shoot out the minimized Pokeball. One on the left, one on the right. I could definitely see how this belt will come handy during ambush situations. It also had a compartment where I could keep my Pokedex, Pokemon trainer ID, and some other smaller items. It was the ultimate anti-theft and Pokemon battle gear.
"Our conversation the other day about different technology definitely got me tinkering with new prototypes. I got more coming in the future," Bill said.
Back at his place, Bill and I had discussed a lot about Pokemon and Pokemon technology. I had mentioned some things that existed in my previous life and asked if such things were in this world (I worded it secretly of course). He seemed very interested in some things I mentioned like different applications of AI, self-driving cars, etc., and I guess he went away making some new tech. Awesome.
"Here's the second thing," Bill said, handing over what looked like a giant sports watch. The connected strap went over my wrist, and when he pressed a button, it clasped tightly but comfortably around it.
Since I am a small 10 year-old, the watch covered half my forearm. If it was any bigger, it would've been a Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Disk.
"Give me your phone for a second," Bill demanded.
He took it and connected it to the giant wristwatch.
"It IS a watch," Bill explained. "But now it's also your phone. Press this button here."
A holographic map popped up with a small dot bleeping to show my current position.
"Press this other one here."
A holographic screen of the Pokedex came up.
"Can- Can I get one of these too?!" Alan blurted out.
Bill and I turned to Alan, who had his jaws dropped in awe of this technology. We all laughed. Bill promised Alan something similar.
We talked about how we could encrypt some of this technology so we can communicate without fear of being overheard by Team Rocket or their agents. We had a nice chat over dinner about some pleasant things too, like some of our Pokemon and how cool they were.
I felt like I had enough rest before dinner that I opted to get started on my way to Vermilion during the night. It also gave me an opportunity to find some nocturnal Pokemon. I caught a wild Meowth (sorry, she didn't speak).
I walked East out of Cerulean City, and talked down South along Route 5. Some time later I walked by a lone, giant cabin. There was a sign that said "Pokemon Day Care Center" on it. Ha! It was after operating hours so I walked past it.
The walk was eventless and I saw almost no one. I walked by a few trainers, but they were uninterested in battling, given the late hours.
At the North Gate of Saffron City, however, I noticed Team Rocket goons loitering around the area. They noticed me, and I considered fighting them, but then I remembered what Misty said. I quickly doubled back before they could come pick a fight with me.
I walked a bit to the East and found the entrance to the old Underground Path that connected Route 5 to Route 6. The infrastructure was old but still staffed by an old guard there. He nodded at me and let me through with a smile.
A long walk underground was very boring. I promised to myself that as soon as I became strong enough to deal with Team Rocket more openly, I would destroy them all.
Route 6 was actually a nice little path to walk at night on the way to Vermilion City. It had a sizable lake, lots of grass and trees. It was the middle of the night, so there weren't any trainers that wanted to battle.
It was just before sunrise when I came into Vermilion, and I was tired. I was on the way to the local Pokemon Center when I noticed a man fishing near the edge of the lake. I approached him and looked over his shoulder.
"Catch anything?" I asked.
"Not even a nibble…" he replied, not even looking back at me. "You like fishing?"
"I went with my dad one time, but… he's not with me anymore," I said, talking about my previous life.
He then let out a sigh and started packing up his gear. He then handed over his worn out fishing rod to me.
"Here, why don't you take this, kid? Maybe you'll have better luck than me. And you remember the time you went fishing with your dad?"
And that's how I got the old fishing rod. It definitely was worn out and looked like it couldn't handle much force on the other end of it. I decided to give it a few tries before I went found some accommodations.
I ended up snagging up a Magikarp. Then I realized that I was being stupid.
I took out some Pokemon food from my bag and broke it up. I tossed it into the water and noticed that some Pokemon came nearby to eat it. Then I had Pikachu deliver her most powerful Thunderbolt into the water. A few unconscious Pokemon rose to the surface and I caught them: Goldeen, Poliwag, and a Horsea. They were nice additions to my B Team. I was also thinking about how to get Magikarp to evolve.
After a quick nap in a Pokeroom, I went back up to Route 6, where trainers now came out to battle. Most trainers were easy to beat, as they were just using Pidgeys, Rattatas, and the like. One bug trainer did have a Butterfree, and I used Charmeleon to practice throwing his fireballs at a moving, flying target. Another trainer had a Raticate, much bigger and more aggressive than your average Rattata, and I had Wartortle practicing his moves as well. The same trainer had a damn Fearow, whose super long beak was formidable. Ivysaur, however, could deal with him easily with vines. This way, I tried to keep my newly evolved starters in tip-top fighting form.
As much as possible I also gave my other Pokemon the chance to battle, either vs. trainers or vs. wild Pokemon. As a result, Geodude evolved into Graveler, and Mankey into Primeape. They were my muscles. I also had a chance to get my smaller guys on fours a chance to train as a team. This included my Rattata, Pikachu, both Nidorans, and my three Eevees. Then a session with my flying team, and another with my newly expanded Water-type Pokemon. It was a super busy day on Route 6.
The next day, I spent the morning and early afternoon doing similar kinds of training on Route 11. Here, near the treeline, I was able to catch a Drowzee. The trainers here had all sorts of Pokemon I hadn't seen in real life before, namely Growlithe, Vulpix, and Magnemite. My Pokemon got tons of good fighting experience. On the way back I responded to a public bulletin notice for a girl that was looking to trade her Farfetch'd for a Spearow (why?). I went out of my way to catch an extra Spearow and made the trade.
On the way back into the city center, I stopped by the Diglett's cave just to catch one for myself. I went to the Pokemon Center and then went to board the S.S. Anne.