Chapter 5 – First Route
The grass rustled as Red slowly shuffled his feet through the foliage. Pokémon were detecting the disturbances and scampering away.
Soon, Red had left Pallet Town and could see the whole of Route 1. The route was a short winding path, bounded by metal fences and trees. It was almost always devoid of any trainers, given how remote Pallet Town actually was.
Not today, though. Red immediately noticed a bored young man pacing around on the ledge in front of him. He decided to talk to him, if only to find out why he was there. He would have to walk through a patch of tall grass, though. Recalling what Professor Oak had told him, he sighed.
"I might as well encounter some Pokémon… What will it be?"
The grass rustled again. Out of the corner of his eye, Red saw a flash of purple.
A small purple rat with huge front teeth scurried into a clearing and hissed at Red. It was a Rattata!
Red immediately brought out Bulbasaur, who saw the new Pokémon and growled softly. Of course, the rat was faster, and quickly Tackled the sturdy 'saur. Luckily, Rattata was light enough that Bulbasaur was able to hold its ground.
To lower the Pokémon's attack, Red asked Bulbasaur to Growl at it. After exchanging a few Tackles, the Rattata was defeated. It weakly collapsed onto the ground.
"Yes!" Red pumped his fist in the air. Bulbasaur gained some experience, but did not level up like after the battle with Blue.
Red climbed up the ledge and walked up to the young man, who was now staring at the tree in front of him.
Lightly tapping him on the shoulder, Red introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Red from Pallet Town. What are you doing here?"
"Hi! I work at a Pokémon Mart. It's a convenient shop, so please visit us in Viridian City." The man paused. "I know, I'll give you a sample!" He smiled.
"Okay, I'll gladly accept it!" Red cheerfully agreed.
"Here you go! ... Thanks a lot! Route 1 doesn't exactly have many trainers, and you're the first one that accepted my sample! Just now, a spiky-haired boy came over. When I told him that I work at a Pokémon Mart, he rudely refused. Thanks again!" The worker seemed really grateful for Red's acceptance of the potion.
"No problem!" Red winked.
When Red was out of the man's sight, he shook his head at Blue's audacity. Looking ahead, he found that he was only one third of the way into the route. A long way to go… He picked up his pace and broke into a brisk walk.
Weirdly, no wild Pokémon were appearing. Without thinking, Red started whistling a tune that he had heard on a kid's TV program. If he remembered correctly, it was a children's nursery rhyme. The melody was simple but quite catchy. It helped him get by the rest of the walk and ignore the slight strain in his feet.
Out of nowhere, something had hit Red squarely in the face. (He was immediately reminded of the time when Blue threw a ball at his face). However, the 'ball' had felt quite… soft and feathery?
Disoriented, Red rubbed his face and looked around for the strange object, only to find that it was the Pokémon that had so rudely woke him up in the morning.
"Pidgey! Red exclaimed. Red summoned Bulbasaur once more, who looked slightly drained, but still eager to battle.
Like with the Rattata, Red made sure that Bulbasaur Growled first before starting the tackles. However, the Pidgey could kick sand into Bulbasaur's eyes. The chubby lizard's vision was blurred, and it became confused. It missed a few tackles, and as Pidgey kept kicking up sand, the battle turned into a desperate struggle to even land a hit on the agile bird.
After a few minutes, Bulbasaur was weak, confused and annoyed. That was when Red knew that he had to use the potion. He fished it out of his bag and sprayed. Bulbasaur, revitalised, was able to hang on long enough to defeat Pidgey.
After the battle, Bulbasaur was positively glowing with energy! Then, without warning, Bulbasaur shot a few seeds onto the ground, which immediately started growing. Bulbasaur had learnt a new move! Red jumped for joy.
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