My Great Big Adventure

Charizard Bridge...

Apparently you can't catch Charizard here, much to my dismay.

After spending a few hours wandering around the Lostlorn Forest yesterday, I returned to Nimbasa City to retire for the night. I would head out to Route 5 the next day.

Today.

Barely a few miles outside the city limits, I came upon an old trailer house. There was a woman outside, sweeping. She caught sight of me and waved. "Hello there," she called. "Tell me, traveler, might you have any fine ingredients to sell me? I have no food to cook for today!"

…So go to the grocery store? I mean, really, she lives right next to a LARGE city! Hmmm, I did have some tiny mushrooms and other stuff weighing down my bag though… I reluctantly followed her inside and dumped my bag on her kitchen table, where she began rummaging through the mess.

"Oh! What's this?" she cried, spying my mini-cooler, where I kept my stash of Casteliacones. "Oh my…! Are these…?"

"Yup," I replied. "I've sort of… been hoarding them…"

She turned to me, her face shining with glee. "PLEASE let me have them!"

"Well, I—"

"I'll pay you $200 each!"

Two hundred… EACH? They'd only cost me like $10 per cone or something.

I promptly handed over my collection of close to eighty Casteliacones. In return, she gave me a big wad of CA$H. CHA-CHING!

This doesn't make me a bad person!

Though I do wonder… why did she have all that cash on her…?

As I left the trailer, the xtransceiver started to ring.

Really? Again already?

"You keep calling this often and I might think you actually like talking to me," I drawled, answering the call.

"…but I do like talking to you?" Curtis replied, sounding hurt.

Oh, well, this is awkward…

"I, umm…" What do I say to that? "Thank you…" I think?

"Ahaha, Rose, no worries! Talking to you is a nice escape from work," he explained. "So tell me, how are you?"

"Fine!" I squeaked, blushing. "You don't have to pretend you're interested in my life, though, just to escape work…"

He sighed. "Just tell me… I really want to know."

He really does? Weirdo! "Okay, fine, you win," I grumbled. "I'm on Route 5, battling Pokemon trainers."

"Oh, are you a trainer?" he asked enthusiastically. "Wow, I bet you're really good! Let me guess, you already have four badges, right?"

I blushed again. "It's not that impressive," I stammered. Why does he have to talk that way? It's weird!

"I'll just think aloud," Curtis said suddenly, as if about to reveal a secret. "I want you to know… I really like fire-type Pokemon! I think they're so cool! What about you, Rose? Do you like fire types?"

"Of course," I answered quickly, thinking of Moro. "I love my Growlithe!"

"Wow, you have a Growlithe? That must be nice," he said, sounding deep in thought. "Oh no, I should get back to work! Let's talk again soon! Bye~"

Click.

What is this… what is this weird feeling I get when talking to Curtis? Why is he so… so… concerned?! Gah, thinking like this makes me feel funny. I had to distract myself with Pokemon battles!

There were a few trainers up and ready to battle this morning, but not as many as I would have liked. Actually most of the trainers were gathered near Driftveil Drawbridge.

Some huge gangster on a motorcycle was flirting with a few schoolgirls. Well, he called it "flirting" but really, he was just forcing them to have a Pokemon battle if they wanted to cross the bridge.

Well, I wanted to cross the bridge, and my Pokemon were itching for more training… I'll never turn down a fight!

"Hey, you, Gangster Man!" I called, approaching. "Leave the girls alone! I'll battle you!"

Letting out a beefy laugh, the man rode up on his bike. "Well, well, well. What have we here? You're pretty cute. I'm Charles, by the way. Heartbreaker Charles."

I blushed. "Cut the chit-chat! You wanna battle, am I right?"

"Hmm, you're almost too cute to crush… But if you want to feel my might, so be it!" he proclaimed, sending out three Pokemon. "ROTATION BATTLE MODE, ACTIVATE!"

Rotation Battle Mode…? Isn't he just battling with three Pokemon out? He has to give it a fancy name?!

"Fancy name or not, I'll still beat you," I growled, sending out Servine, Azumarill, and Lucario.

And beat him I did. But I never doubted my victory.

After he lost, he started… crying! "Beaten by a child…" he sobbed. "Now I'll never find a girlfriend! Heartbreaker Charles has never lost before… I'm off to Driftveil! The women there will love me…!"

Uh… sure…

With him out of the way, it was time to cross the Driftveil Drawbridge! aka Charizard Bridge.

Unfortunately, as I discovered, you cannot catch Charizard here. You can, however, anger a mob of Ducklett into chasing you the entire way to Driftveil.