Three days after setting out from Pallet Town, Chad, Lindsay, and Zack were finally nearing Viridian City. They could see the city just over the hill, and it was the first time that Chad had seen his hometown in nearly four years.
"So, Chad," Zack said. "I'll bet you're happy to be back home, huh?" He looked over at his older brother with a smile, but a short-lived smile when he saw Chad's face. He looked annoyed, almost angry.
"Yes!" he said. "I AM happy to be home again. In fact, I was happy about it yesterday, too! But it's taken us a whole day more to get there because somebody just had to encounter and catch every Pokémon on the way there! What do ya' have to say about that, huh?" He began cracking his knuckles and advancing toward Zack, who gulped in worry. Luckily, Lindsay took hold of Chad's arm.
"C'mon, pet," she said, pulling Chad back, now with help from Lucario and Roserade. "He's just being retarded-ly over-excited about just beginning his journey. Right, Zack?" Zack gave Lindsay a look of thanks and sighed, nodding in response.
"Yeah!" he said. "Besides, isn't that the idea of me having a Pokedex? To record the information on every Pokémon there is?" Chad's anger seemed to disappear at hearing the question, and he, Lindsay, Lucario and Roserade looked confused. The confusion only lasted a moment, however, before they burst out laughing. Zack and Gastly exchanged confused looks of their own. "What?"
"Oh, Zack," Chad began. He couldn't continue, however, as he couldn't contain his laughter. Lindsay seemed in control enough to give an explanation, complete with what appeared to be drawings illustrating the story that Roserade presented in a Vanna White fashion.
"You see, Professor Oak did originally build the Pokedex to collect data on all of the Pokémon in the Kanto, and later Johto, regions. But! Two Pokémon trainers, named Red and Ethan, completed these tasks in just less than four years. He's also had colleagues of his complete Pokedexes for their regions to help him out. Really, the Pokedex project ended almost six years ago."
"So…" Zack said, scratching his head and sharing another confused look with Gastly. "Why is he still giving out Pokedexes?" At this point, Chad had brought himself back under control and was able to give the next explanation.
"That's pretty simple, actually," he said. "Every time a person sees another Trainer with a Pokedex, they tend to want one themselves. About four years ago, Professor Oak signed a contract with the Silph Company and Devon Corporation, allowing them to manufacture and produce the Pokedex. Professor Oak gets fifty-percent of all the profits from that." At this point, Zack was staring at his brother wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.
"You mean I'm just a glorified sponsor?"
"Pretty much," said Lindsay. Zack sighed and slumped his shoulders.
"Whatever," he said. "Let's just get to Viridian. Now."
"Oh, sure!" said Chad, a bit of his annoyance coming back. "Now you wanna' hurry up and get to Viridian! Yes, my liege, let's do everything by your calendar!" His continuing rant spurred a few different responses: Lindsay giggled to herself, Lucario and Roserade looked embarrassed and began conversing with each other, and Zack and Gastly didn't seem to take notice. Luckily for all, it was only another half hour until they walked into the city.
"So," began Zack. "Do you wanna' go visit Mom? I'm sure she's pretty excited about me starting my Pokémon journey!"
"Yeah," said Chad. "But do you remember what that same excitement lead to the day Lindsay and I started our journey?"
Zack paused and thought about what Chad said. Images of his mother bawling her eyes out at one moment, then laughing hysterically the next, all with a bottle of vodka gripped in her hand, came back to him. He visibly shuddered, as did Gastly, seemingly remembering the event himself.
"Good point!" he said. "Let's head over to the Gym! I've been itching to have my first Gym battle!" Chad nodded his agreement without missing a beat, and Lindsay gave him a poke in the side.
"Be nice!" she said. "I mean, I don't wanna' see another one of your mother's drunken break downs, but…well, just be nice!" Chad laughed, and smiled at Lindsay as they headed off for the Gym. As they were only a couple of streets away, Lindsay spoke up again. "You know, Zack, you're lucky. This street caused Chad, Lucario, Roserade and I a collective headache when we walked down it for the first time." Zack responded with an, "Oh?"
"Yeah," Chad said, taking over. "When we passed through, there was some crazy, senile old man who insisted that he had to teach us about catching Pokémon, even though we had both already caught two our-"
"Hey, boy!" a loud, raspy voice interrupted Chad. "Do ya' wanna' know how to catch them there Pokémon?" Chad and Lindsay's faces went pale. They turned, and to their horror, saw the same old man from all those years ago.
"HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?" yelled Chad. Lindsay raised her "Truth Stick" (as she had told Zack it was called). The old man didn't seem to notice either of them, and pointed his cane at Zack.
"Y'see, first ya' run into that there tall grass and find one of the little rascals!" As the senior citizen continued with his tutorial, Chad turned to Zack and said calmly, "Hey, Zack – can you go ahead and meet us at the Gym?"
"But why…?" Zack began to ask, but was interrupted by Chad.
"Just go!" Zack reluctantly agreed, saying, "Come on, Gastly. We'll meet them at the Gym…" The last thing he saw before turning away was Lucario and Roserade suddenly appearing behind the old man, Lucario holding his arms down while Roserade held him by the ankles as Chad and Lindsay closed in on him. Strangely, none of the many people of the city seemed to pay any notice, and no one even flinched when the man's screams and bones breaking filled the air.
"This is gonna' be a long, scary journey, Gastly," Zack said to his trusted friend. Gastly, despite being a type of Pokémon renowned for frightening people, looked frightened himself as he nodded and muttered, "Gas, Gastly…" Once they reached the Gym, however, Zack decided to lighten the mood by making a dramatic gesture.
"All right!" he yelled as he advanced on the large double doors of the enormous building. "I've come to challenge the Gym Lea-" His declaration was cut off as he walked, unexpected, right into the unyielding doors. "Ah! Son of a…!"
He rubbed his nose, which he felt had nearly been broken by the thick glass, and looked at the door along with his ghostly partner. A sign on the other side of the glass read, "Out on official Gym Leader business. Will return in the near future." The sign was simply autographed, "B. Oak." "What the…?" Zack asked to no one in particular.
"Oh, is that jackass out again?" Chad asked. Zack jumped slightly as he hadn't heard his brother, Lindsay, or either of their Pokémon arrive. Zack simply nodded, still rubbing his sore nose.
"Should we really be surprised?" said Lindsay. "We had to come back three different times before we were finally able to challenge the Gym Leader here. I think we're better off just heading to Pewter City first." Chad nodded his agreement, once again visibly annoyed at the situation. Zack assumed that his annoyance was justified this time, though, as Lucario mirrored his annoyed nodding.
"Besides," said Chad. "Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, is a really cool guy! It'd be nice to see him again." Lindsay agreed, and Lucario and Roserade both put in enthusiastic cries of, "Cario!" and "Rose!" respectively.
"Sounds good," said Zack. He started fiddling with his Pokegear until he brought up the map function. "Well, it looks like we can either go through the Viridian Forest, or take the road around. I guess the answer's obvious, huh?" Chad and Lindsay nodded, both smiling deviously.
"That's right," said Chad, snickering.
"We take the nice road around," said Lindsay. She then pointed at Zack. "You travel through the Forest and train yourself along the way!" Zack started to stutter an objection, but Lindsay continued. "It's the only way you'll get better! Oh, and you might wanna' make use of that Pidgey you caught. There are a lot of Bug-types in the forest, and neither Bulbasaur or Gastly will do too well against them."
"But Pidgey's still weak," he said. "Can we at least head to the Pokémon Center first?" Chad grabbed his younger brother by the arm and started to drag him along.
"Ya' should've thought of that before we decided where we were going," he said. He reached into a pocket on the inside of his trench coat and pulled out a Potion, which he tossed to Zack. "But, since I'm such a generous brother, I'll lend ya' that Potion. Make it count!"
