Chapter 3:
"Viridian City," Tommy sighed. "What do you think Blaze?"
"Char!" Charmander said happily.
"I know, it's pretty cool!" Tommy and Blaze walked through Viridian City on their way to the pokémon center, marveling at the tall buildings in the evening light. "I bet this is your first time in a city, right?"
"Mander," Charmander affirmed. Blaze sat on Tommy's shoulder, turning his head every which way to look up at the buildings. Soon enough they reached the pokémon center.
"Welcome!" A young pink-haired woman stood behind the counter. "I'm Nurse Joy, and this is the Viridian City Pokémon Center."
"Hi Nurse Joy," Tommy said, grabbing Blaze's pokéball from his pocket. "Blaze, return." After recalling Blaze into his pokéball, Tommy spoke again to Nurse Joy. "Would you mind taking a look at my Charmander?"
"Of course. Please put its pokéball right here." Nurse Joy slid a tray across the counter, and Tommy set Blaze's pokéball down. Then, a large pink pokémon waddled around the corner, with an egg in a pouch on its chest.
"A Chansey!"
"Why yes," Nurse Joy responded. "All of the Nurse Joys in the Kanto region have a Chansey as their partner and helper in the pokémon center."
"Right," Tommy said. "Could I also have a room in the pokémon center for the night?" It was far too dark for them to continue traveling that day, so staying the night and sleeping in a bed instead of a tent made much more sense.
"Of course. Here you go," Nurse Joy said, passing him a room key across the counter to him. "Room 13. It'll be on the third floor, right side. Your Charmander will also be ready to be picked up in the morning."
"Okay, thank you very much. I'll be back then. Good night." Tommy turned and walked to the stairs. After climbing two flights Tommy found Room 13, exactly where Nurse Joy had said it would be. He unlocked the door, and stepped inside. The room was simple; a bed, small table, and a dresser. Tommy flicked on the lights, threw his backpack on the ground, and flopped onto the bed. Tommy took off his jacket and hat before getting up. He took out one of the sandwiches Mrs. Ketchum had given him, and began eating.
During his meal he thought about what he and Blaze could do in Viridian City. There was a pokémon gym, but he only had one pokémon. And, the Viridian City gym was notoriously difficult to defeat. So, he decided that he and Blaze would move on early the next morning, and head to Pewter City. He would also need to catch a few pokémon on the way. A grass or water type would be helpful for the Pewter Gym, since it was a rock type gym. Blaze would already be at a disadvantage, so a water or grass type would be essential. Tommy continued thinking about the Pewter Gym for a while. Eventaully, he grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste from his backpack, brushed his teeth, and climbed into bed. Before long, he had drifted off into a deep sleep.
When he woke the next morning, the sun shone brightly through the drapes covering the window. Tommy, thinking of Blaze waiting for him in the lobby of the pokémon center, quickly got dressed and exited his room.
Descending the two flights of stairs quickly, Tommy reached the counter, where Nurse Joy was expectantly waiting.
"Hi Nurse Joy."
"Hello Tommy, thank you for waiting. Your pokémon is fully rested and healthy."
"Thank you very much. Here you go." Tommy handed back the room key. "Alright," he said, grabbing Blaze's pokéball. "Thanks again Nurse Joy, have a good one!"
"You too!" Nurse Joy called back as Tommy exited the pokémon center. It only took a few minutes to reach Route 2, a dirt pathway flanked by trees that led to Viridian forest. After walking for a few minutes, Tommy came upon another boy, standing in the tall grass beside the road.
"Hello?" Tommy said, startling the boy. The boy spun around, He wore shorts, a tank top, and a straw hat. He also carried a sort of butterfly net with him.
"You're a trainer right?" Tommy nodded. "Then let's battle!" Tommy's Pokédex began vibrating in his pocket. Tommy pulled it out to see flashing words moving across the screen. Bug Catcher Rick would like to battle. There was no option to accept or decline, instead, the screen cleared to reveal a picture of him, a picture of Rick, and a big VS in between them.
"What the…what's this?"
"Is this your first battle?" The boy asked. Tommy nodded. "Oh wow, okay, well this screen shows you and your opponent. I activated mine as soon as I saw you. Oh, and you can't decline a challenge. Also, you can give yourself a title, like, my name's Rick, but I love bug type pokémon, so I gave myself the title of Bug Catcher." Tommy was still confused.
"But how does it know me? I've never battled before."
"Well it's all based on your trainer ID. You have to have one to get a pokémon and a pokédex, so you must have been registered when you first started out. Okay, enough talk. Let's battle!" Rick grabbed a pokéball from his waist and threw it. A weedle shot out from the pokéball in a flash of red. A bug type pokémon. This shouldn't be too hard.
"Blaze, let's go!" Tommy threw his pokéball, and out came Blaze.
"Char! Charmander!"
"Dle, weedle!"
"Okay weedle, use string shot!" The weedle fired a sticky stream of string towards Charmander.
"Dodge it!" Charmander leaped to the side and dodged the move. "Now Blaze, use ember!" Blaze shot a few bursts of flames at the Weedle, scorching it. The weedle howled, but didn't go down. That move is super effective, so we'll just have to hit it again. "Ember again!" Tommy's charmander repeated its move, firing another stream of flames.
"Weedle, use Poison Sting!" The weedle leaped towards Charmander but before it reached him it was engulfed in flames. When the blast cleared, the weedle was out cold, fainted on the ground. "Weedle return. Alright, Caterpie, you're up!" Rick threw a second pokéball, releasing Caterpie.
"Wait! How many pokémon are we using? I only have one."
"Caterpie's my only other pokémon with me. Usually if you don't set a battle limit at the start, like 2 on 2, it's just use however many pokémon you have with you."
"Okay, let's finish this then Blaze. Use Ember!"
"Caterpie! Dodge it, then use tackle!" Before Charmander could hit the Caterpie, it slithered out of the way and tackled Charmander.
"Blaze! Scratch it before it gets away!" Charmander quickly recovered from the hit and scratched the Caterpie with glowing claws.
"Caterpie! String shot!" The caterpie fired a stream of string at Blaze, noticeably slowing him down.
"Get out of it!" Tommy yelled. Charmander began struggling, but failed to get out of the string that was restricting his movement.
"Tackle!" Caterpie launched into Blaze, knocking him over. Tommy strained to think of ideas, when he figured it out.
"Blaze! Use Scratch to cut your way out!"
"Char!" Blaze sliced his way out of the string shot, freeing himself.
"Great job! Now finish this with ember!"
"Mander!" Blaze yelled as he fired one more stream of fire from his mouth, knocking out the Caterpie.
"Aw man! Caterpie return. Great battle man." Tommy smiled as Blaze celebrated.
"Great work Blaze!" Tommy's Pokédex buzzed again, and when he pulled it out, a new message showed on the screen. You defeated Bug Catcher Rick. You have received $72. "Wait, why'd I get money?" Tommy asked, pleasantly confused. Rick scoffed.
"Wow, you don't know anything. When you win a battle you get reward money. Same thing goes for when you lose a battle, you have to pay someone their prize money."
"Awesome! Blaze, return." Tommy recalled Blaze, and after saying goodbye to Rick, he kept walking through route two. Then, he began to ponder the possibilities. He and Blaze could make a lot of money from winning battles, yet another reason to get stronger. "Alright Blaze, let's find some more people to battle.
"Nice! Another 108 pokédollars! Great job Blaze."
"Wow, I was no match for you." Bug Catcher Sammy was right. It had been an easy battle. All Blaze had to do was use ember a few times and the battle was over, especially since most of the pokémon he had fought were bug types, which were weak to fire types.
"Great battle. See ya!" Tommy called Blaze back to his pokéball once more and kept walking. They were now in Viridian Forest, searching for more people to battle. Tommy had been challenged by five bug catchers by now, and had defeated all of them without breaking a sweat. Blaze's type advantage gave them a huge leg-up on their opponents, but it wouldn't be that way forever. Pewter City was coming up, and rock type pokémon had a big type advantage over fire type pokémon. But, he couldn't catch one of the thousands of weedles and caterpies that lived in Viridian Forest either. Bug type pokémon would do just as poorly against rock types.
"Blaze, come on out." Tommy tossed Blaze's pokéball up in the air, releasing the lizard pokémon. It was getting dark, and they were still a few hours walk away from Pewter City. "We're gonna make camp here buddy. That okay?"
"Mander," Charmander said indifferently. So Tommy began setting up. He had brought a small tent with him that took up most of the room in his backpack, and after a few minutes, he had it all set up. Blaze, on the other hand, was gathering wood for their fire. This would be their first night spent in the woods, and as Charmander dropped some sticks for their fire onto the ground, Tommy was suddenly grateful that he had a fire type pokémon with him.
"Alright Blaze," Tommy said after clearing a small area and stacking the sticks up. "Light her up." Blaze spat flames onto the pile of dry sticks, igniting the fire. Tommy didn't have anything to cook over the flames, but camping out without a fire just didn't seem right. Tommy reached back into his backpack to get Blaze's food as well as his own. "Oh dang," Tommy said. "I don't have anything for you to eat out of buddy." Tommy had meant to buy a bowl for Blaze's food in Viridian City, but had forgotten.
"Char, charmander." Blaze seemed to be saying that it was fine.
"I'll get you a bowl in Pewter City. Promise." Tommy and Blaze spent the rest of the night talking, relaxing under the canopy of trees. Eventually, after the fire died down, Blaze let himself back into his pokéball. Then, Tommy accidentally fell asleep on the ground instead of in his tent.
"Wag, Poli" Tommy woke up to a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and almost jumped three feet in the air. Sitting on his chest was a poliwag. Tommy's sudden reaction scared the poliwag of Tommy's chest.
"Oh I'm sorry," Tommy whispered, "It's okay. Come here." The poliwag gingerly approached him. Tommy held out his hand slowly, and after a moment, the poliwag stepped forward, let Tommy scratch its head. "What are you doing out here buddy? I didn't think poliwags lived in Viridian Forest."
"Poliwag, wag wag." The poliwag nodded towards a set of bushes and began walking that way, so, Tommy stood up and followed it. About 50 yards away Tommy found a small river.
"So you live here?"
"Poli." The poliwag confirmed. The small blue pokémon stood on the edge of the water, refusing to jump in.
"What's wrong? The water seems fine." Tommy crouched down and touched the water's surface. "See, it's fine."
"Wag wag poliwag!" The poliwag sounded angry and scared.
"What's the matter?" Suddenly Tommy heard buzzing coming from across the river. The buzzing sound steadily became louder and louder as the bushes on the other side of the river began to rustle. Then, five pokémon flew out of the bushes with buzzing and hissing. The sharp stingers on the pokémon's arms began to whir angrily. "Beedrill! Let's just back away slowly Poliwag," Tommy kept his voice calm as he began to step backwards slowly. "There we go," Tommy said, his confidence returning that the Beedrill would leave them alone. But then, the five Beedrill flew towards them. "Run Poliwag!" Tommy shouted. He began to sprint back towards their campsite with poliwag beside him.
"Poli! Poli!" Poliwag began to protest as it fell behind, it's long tail dragging on the ground, slowing it down.
"I've got you Poliwag," Tommy said, scooping the tadpole pokémon into his arms. The Beedrill continued to give chase, relentlessly following them. Tommy sprinted as fast as he could eventually reaching the campsite. He set poliwag down on the ground and snatched Blaze's pokéball.
"Blaze let's go!" Tommy threw the pokéball up in the air, releasing Charmander. "Use Ember!" Blaze appeared in a flash of red, but instead of firing an attack, he began to stretch his arms. "Blaze! Come on!" Blaze rubbed his eyes and looked around, suddenly spotting the Beedrill flying at them. Blaze's mouth dropped open in shock, but after a moment's pause Blaze used ember, knocking one of the Beedrill down. "Ember again!" Blaze fired the stream of flames once more, but the Beedrill swerved out of the way, then dived to attack Charmander. "That's twineedle! Dodge it!" Blaze tried to avoid the double needle attack but one of the Beedrill clipped the Charmander before he could get clear. "Charmander no!" Tommy looked around, unsure of what to do. "Come on Blaze!" Blaze struggled to get up but got to his feet.
"Char…char!" Charmander was too tired to fight them alone. Looking around, Tommy eyed the poliwag cowering behind him.
"Poliwag! Blaze needs help. Please, you've gotta be brave!" The poliwag didn't react. "Fine. Blaze! Use ember!" Blaze used ember once more, this time hitting his target, but there were still three untouched beedrill coming at them, with the other two flying away. The three Beedrill attacked in unison. The Beedrill's stingers glowed before launching green missiles of energy. "That's pin missile! Blaze stop it with ember!" Blaze's ember shot from the Charmander's mouth and hit two of the pin missle's, stopping them in their tracks. But the third pin missile continued to shoot forward towards Blaze. "Blaze! Watch out!"
"Wag!" A jet of water shot forward, destroying the third and final pin missle. The poliwag now stood next to Blaze, determined to win the fight.
"Thanks Poliwag! That was a great water gun. Alright Blaze, Poliwag. What'd you say we finish this?"
"Char!"
"Wag!" The middle Beedrill's stingers began to glow as it swooped in to use the move peck.
"Stop it with scratch!" Blaze jumped and intercepted the Beedrill with his glowing claws. "Now finish it off Poliwag!" This time the Poliwag shot a fast stream of bubbles at the Beedrill, knocking it to the ground and scaring it away. "You know bubblebeam too? Nice! Alright guys, Blaze, use Ember on the Beedrill on the right! Poliwag, take the one on the left!" The two pokémon sucked in deep breaths and fired a stream of fire and a stream of bubbles at the two remaining Beedrill, knocking them away. The Beedrill fled from the battle, buzzing away as fast as they could. "Great job you guys!"
"Char!"
"Poliwag!" Tommy's face was lit up in a smile, until he looked at their campsite. Where his new, fully functional tent had just been, there was now an unrecognizable mess of fabric covered in holes, rips and tears.
"No!" Tommy said, running his fingers through his hair. "My tent!"
"Poli," the tadpole pokémon apologized.
"No, it's not your fault. Damn! Ah, it's okay. We'll live. But we need to get out of this forest, huh Blaze?"
"Mander," Charmander agreed. So, Tommy started packing up the remains of his tent and stowing them away in his backpack. After a few quick minutes of Tommy packing and Blaze and Poliwag playing around, they were ready to go.
"Alright Blaze, time to go. But first, Poliwag. Let's battle. You're a strong pokémon, and I wanna take you with me on my journey! But only if Blaze and I can take you down! What'd you think?"
"Poli!" Poliwag said excitedly. They spaced out in the clearing, Tommy and Blaze on one side, Poliwag on the other.
"Alright Blaze! Use ember!" As soon as Blaze shot the flames from his mouth, Poliwag fired off a quick water gun, dousing the flames. "Okay then, use growl!"
"CHAR!" Charmander growled fiercely, lowering poliwag's attack power. Poliwag shook off the growl as its tail began to glow.
"I think that's pound! Blaze use scratch!" Blaze and the poliwag leaped at each other, matching blow for blow with scratch and pound. They separated after the sparring, both of them breathing heavily. "Use growl, one more time!"
"CHARMANDER!" Blaze growled even more intensely, once again lowering the poliwag's attack power. Then the poliwag shot a stream of bubbles, making direct contact with Blaze.
"Char!" Blaze groaned.
"Alright Blaze, use growl once more!" The Charmander growled again, and this time, the poliwag shuddered. But, after a momentary pause, the poliwag's tail began to glow once more. "Use scratch!" Blaze met the poliwag's pound with scratch, but this time, Blaze overpowered the poliwag, knocking it into the ground.
"Wag!" Poliwag wailed, struggling to get up. Tommy reached into his pocket, this time finding the pokéballs he had kept in his pocket ever since their encounter with that spearow.
"Pokéball, go!" Tommy threw the pokéball directly at the poliwag, tapping it on the head. The pokéball opened, and in a flash of red, swallowed up the poliwag. The pokéball wiggled once. Twice. Three times. Then dinged. "Awesome Blaze! We caught our first pokémon!" Tommy walked over to the pokéball and opened it up. "Welcome to the team poliwag!
"Poli!"
Alright Guys, this chapter was a lot longer than the others, but Tommy finally caught a pokémon! Please do reviews to let me know what you think. Also, I'm undecided on what other pokémon Tommy will catch, so if you have any suggestions let me know in the reviews!