North of town there was a gleaming, golden bridge. A sign posted next to it read "Nugget Bridge, Cerulean Cape: 1/2 mile."
There was someone standing on the other side of the bridge, though I couldn't make out who they were. I went over to see.
The view from the bridge was spectacular, the sunshine glinting off the water made it all the better. I looked out to the West just admiring the scenery for a bit before I noticed something. A small island was situated over past the river and it seemed to have an opening in the rock. I turned to the man next to me.
"What's that cave there?" I asked him. He chuckled.
"That's Cerulean Cave. No one's allowed in there, some kind of urban legend that those who go in never return."
"Sounds like a load of crap to me." I said, then looked at him again. Something seemed familiar.
"Uh, do I know you from somewhere?"
"I can't say we've met before, no."
"I got it! You're that pokemart attendant from Viridian! What was your name?"
The man chuckled again.
"You must be thinking of my brother, Rick. Don't worry, people get me and my brothers mixed up all the time."
I was confused.
"Brothers? Plural?"
"Yeah, there's five of us, we're all pokemart attendants. Kinda like the nurses in the pokemon centers."
"Oh. Well, what's your name?"
"Nick."
Of course. Why not?
"Well, you said there's an urban legend about the cave?" I asked.
Nick shrugged.
"Supposedly there's some kind of monster in there, but what it actually might be is anyone's guess. We just know that we can't go in."
"That's dumb."
"Yeah, but if there is something dangerous in there it's best to stay out just in case. Anyway, are you headed to the cape?"
"Yeah. Bill lives there, right?"
"Yup, you should go see him. He's a pokemon expert, after all. Oh and," He suddenly got a serious look on his face. "If you ever swing by Lavender Town, tell my brother I send my condolences. See ya!" He walked off.
I wasn't sure what to make of the guy, but I put that to the back of my mind for now. I walked across the bridge, but the guy on the other side stopped me.
"Hey buddy," he said with a suspicious smile. "How would you like to join the greatest organization in all of Kanto?"
I eyed him. He was dressed in all black with a big red R on his shirt. I knew where I'd seen that before.
"Is it Team Rocket?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"Smart kid! How did you know?"
"Because I already had to deal with a couple of members and their Meowth."
He frowned.
"Oh. Those idiots. Take it from me kid, the rest of us aren't like those three failures. We get the job done and we'll do anything to do so."
"Is that a threat?"
His frown only grew.
"Okay, how about this? You've got two choices, hand over your pokemon or I beat all of you to a pulp. What's it gonna be?"
I sent out Raticate.
"I think I'll take my chances." I said.
"Fine, looks like the brat needs to be taught a lesson. I'll send you crying for your mommy!" He sent out a Golbat.
"Fine," I growled. "Use Crunch, Raticate!"
Raticate went in, its fangs bared, ready to attack. Golbat was fast though, dodging the attack with ease. Golbat then countered by sinking its fangs into Raticate. Raticate writhed in pain, trying to break free.
"Hang in there Raticate!" I yelled, though in truth I wasn't sure what to do.
Raticate must have heard my encouragement because it seemed to put all its strength into pushing Golbat off. Raticate flung it off and it smashed into the edge of the bridge, stunning it for a moment.
"You're gonna pay for that, kid!" the Rocket member growled. Golbat was now charging toward Raticate at full force.
Before I could even say a command Raticate began charging back towards Golbat. It seemed angrier then ever and ready to pounce at any moment.
I noticed something strange about Raticate's tail though. It was turning hard and metallic like when Charmeleon used Metal Claw. Could it be?
Raticate swung its now hardened tail at Golbat. It fell back, now having a gash on its side, and was temporarily down.
"Nice Iron Tail, Raticate." I said. I could see it was pretty tired though.
"You should rest now. I'll get Charmeleon to finish it off." Raticate didn't seem to be raising any objections. I sent out Charmeleon just as Golbat got back up.
Golbat began making odd screeching noises. At first I thought something was wrong with it, but then I realized what it was doing.
"Charmeleon, cover your-" But it was too late. Charmeleon was staggering on its feet, dazed and confused from the Supersonic sound waves. It was helpless.
Golbat took the opportunity to begin slapping Charmeleon over and over with its wing. Finally, Charmeleon snapped out of its confusion.
"Charmeleon, finish it with Metal Claw!" I cried. Charmeleon struck with its hard claws.
Golbat staggered for a moment, then collapsed. We'd won, if just barely.
The Rocket member gave an exaggerated groan.
"It's a shame," he said. "With your skill you could become a high ranking member in Team Rocket."
I fixed him with the most hostile glare I could muster and I could see the color drain from his face.
"Y-you…you're…" he stammered.
"You look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong with you?" I said.
"I-it's nothing. I'll leave you alone, just…don't look at me like that again." Then he ran off.
As I neared the cape I noticed what I assumed was Bill's house off to the side. It was surrounded by various plants and flowers with an entire garden out back. I'd have sworn I saw something moving in the grass out of the corner of my eye.
Coming up to the door, I noticed it was slightly ajar and I could hear voices from inside. They didn't sound happy to say the least.
"You'd better do something quick, Chase! I can't stay like this forever!"
"I said I was sorry! Geez, it's not my fault you made the code so complicated."
"It's not even that hard! If I still had thumbs I'd do it myself but…"
Wait, still had thumbs?
I'd hate to barge in on someone else's business, but this sounded serious. I pushed the door open.
Inside, I could see a boy around my age with a Pikachu on his shoulder and what looked like a Nidorino standing on its hind legs. That was strange by itself but then the pokemon started talking to me.
"Oh, thank god!" it said, making me do a double take.
"Uh, did that thing just talk?" I asked.
"Yeah," the boy sighed. "Bill's having some issues right now."
"But I think you can help." Bill said. "An experiment went wrong and my DNA got combined with a pokemon's. When I step into the teleporter, run the cell separation system and get me back to normal. Chase here would do it but he knows diddly squat about code."
"That and your computer is so unorganized." Chase mumbled.
"Well," I said. "I don't know much about code either, but I suppose I can try."
"Great!" Bill exclaimed. "Just enter the command into my computer and we'll get started." He stepped into the machine. "Okay, I'm ready!"
I typed in a command then pressed Enter. Nothing happened for a moment, then the machine began to hum and whirr. It continued for about a minute before abruptly stopping. The room was silent.
"Oh god," I said. "Did I kill him?"
The door opened and a man with brown hair stumbled out, coughing.
"Well, at least you didn't kill him." Chase said, trying to hide his smile.
"Thanks Chase." Bill said sarcastically. He turned to me.
"Man, I owe you one, kid! Thanks a bunch!"
"Uh, no problem I guess?"
"Well, I need to find some way to repay you. How about you take this off my hands?" He handed me a ticket of some kind.
"I got invited to a party on the S.S. Anne cruise ship, but I'd rather stay here. Can't stand fancy dos. You can go in my place."
"How come you never give me anything that nice?" Chase asked. His Pikachu made a noise of indignation.
"Learn to take care of yourself and I will." Bill retorted. "Now, don't you have to go see your sister?"
"Oh, right. Elaine's probably expecting me back in Vermilion soon." He turned to me.
"Well, hopefully I'll see you later…uh…"
"Red."
"Red. I'll see you later, Red."
I was just crossing back over Nugget Bridge when who should I find but…
"Hey, Red. Lagging behind as always, huh?"
"What do you want, Blue?" I grumbled.
"I came to see how much better you've gotten. I won't take no for an answer."
"Fine. Let's make this quick."
He sent out his Pidgeotto, I sent out my Nidoran. Since it hadn't battled against the Rocket thug's Golbat it should have more energy than Charmeleon and Raticate. It was a basic stage pokemon though, so it wouldn't be as strong. Blue wasted no time yelling a command.
"Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!" he yelled.
The bird pokemon came at a lightning fast speed, pelting Nidoran with blow after blow. I could hardly see it, let alone keep up.
"Now, use Double Team!" Blue yelled and Pideotto began spreading fake copies of itself all over.
"Argh," I grunted, not sure what to do. "Nidoran, hang in there!"
But Nidoran was still being struck again and again, taking more and more damage.
"Concentrate, Nidoran! Listen for the real one!"
Nidoran's ears perked up. It stayed still for a moment then, very suddenly…
WHAM! It struck its horn into Pidgeotto's chest knocking it back as the fakes disappeared. I had a feeling that would work. The pokedex said that male Nidoran's ears were very big and sensitive. It had excellent hearing.
"Okay, now hit it with Body Slam!" Nidoran went in for the blow. It slammed into Pidgeotto with all its might.
For a minute I thought we had done it, but then Pidgeotto rebounded, its wing turning the same hard and metallic state I'd seen so many times.
"Nidoran, watch out!" I called, but it was too late. Nidoran had been hit with the Steel Wing and lay unconscious on the ground. Pidgeotto crash landed, now also unconscious. I guess it had used the last of its energy to land that attack.
"Huh, guess we were evenly matched." Blue mumbled. "Well, let's see you take on this one!" He sent out a small plant pokemon.
"Knock 'em dead, Bellsprout!" he called.
"Okay, come on out!" I yelled, throwing out Charmeleon. This could be tough, both Raticate and Charmeleon were hurt from the earlier battle. I'd have to think of a way to end this quickly.
"Bellsprout, use Bullet Seed!" Blue yelled. The pokemon began shooting rapid fire seeds out of its mouth. All Charmeleon could do was run around trying to dodge the attacks. Blue groaned.
"Stay still!" he yelled. "Fine! Use Wrap!" Vines came out of the ground and tangled around Charmeleon as it struggled to get free.
"Sleep Powder." Blue simply said. The next thing I knew, Charmeleon was fast asleep.
"Damn it!" I cursed. This didn't look good. Bellsprout went in for the kill.
"Acid." Blue said. Bellsprout sprayed Charmeleon with its Acid, causing it to writhe around in pain.
"Charmeleon, get back!" I pleaded. I had no choice.
"Okay Raticate, let's finish this."
"I hope you've managed to tame that thing." Blue sneered.
"Raticate, use Super Fang!" I yelled angrily. Raticate went in for the attack.
"Get back, Bellsprout!" Blue called, sending Bellsprout back to its pokeball. In its place came a Wartortle who retreated into its shell. Raticate yelped in pain as its teeth collided with the shell.
"Wartortle, use Water Gun!" Blue called and a jet of water flew towards Raticate. Raticate was so weakened from the previous battle that it went down in no time at all.
"Okay, okay! I give! Just stop it, Blue!" Blue looked down at me.
"You've definitely gotten better, I'll give you that. But you've still got a lot to learn." He turned and walked off.
"Guess we'll have to sleep on it." I mumbled as I headed to the pokemon center to get me and my pokemon some well deserved rest.