" I'm really getting bored of these Pidgey and Rattata." Chris said to Charmander as they walked along Route 1. He'd already caught both of them and Charmander had beaten a few for training but it was pretty boring.

Charmander felt the same way as he walked beside Chris. Suddenly, Charmander started to sniff the air and walked toward the trees.

" You smell something?" Chris asked Charmander. " Char Char!" Charmander replied and ran into the forest. " Hey! Wait up!" Chris shouted as he ran after Charmander. The two ran into a clearing where they saw a boy with gray hair, a gray t-shirt and jeans battling a Pidgey.

Chris looked at the boy and tried to see his Pokemon. The boy was using a Pokemon that looked like a ghost, but Chris had never seen it before. After scanning it with his Pokedex, he realized the Pokemon was called Duskull and was from Hoenn!

Chris hadn't noticed but the boy had finished his battle. He noticed Chris standing there and walked over. " Hi! I'm Kelvin! As you can tell, I'm from Hoenn and this is my partner, Duskull."

Duskull nodded at Chris before Kelvin went back to talking. " I just started my journey today and based on your Charmander, I assume you did too. Although, I didn't get my Pokemon from a professor. I got Duskull from my cousin in Johto. His name is Morty and he specializes in Ghost Type."

" That's awesome!" Chris replied. " My name is Chris! And this is partner Charmander! Hey! I have an idea! Why don't we travel together? We are both new trainers after all!"

Charmander seemed to agree because he started to speak at the statement. Duskull also seemed to like the idea. " How about this?" Kelvin started. " If you can beat Duskull in a battle, I'll travel with you."

Chris smiled and pumped his fist. " Sure thing!" Chris looked to Charmander. " Ready?"

Charmander jumped in front of Chris and his tail lite up brighter. Chris could tell he was ready! " Let's do this, Kelvin!"

" Alright!" Kelvin said. " I'll start this! Duskull use Astonish!"

Duskull disappeared from view and appeared in Charmander's face. Duskull headbutt Charmander and Charmander flinched.

" Good job! Now use Night Shade!" Duskull sent a wave of darkness at Charmander and it hit him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Charmander got back up and wiped his face.

" You got this Charmander! Now use Scratch!" Charmander jumped towards Duskull but went through Duskull and slammed into the dirt.

" Don't you know Normal can't effect Ghost?" Kelvin said as he laughed.

" Oh but Fire can! Charmander use Ember!" Chris said as Charmander turned and fired an Ember at Duskull. When the flame hit, Duskull fell to the ground, fainted.

" How could one Ember knockout Duskull?!" Kelvin asked.

" I let Charmander take the damage that way his ability would kick in. Blaze!" Chris said. " Blaze makes a fire Pokemon's attack stronger! And I used Scratch to let Duskull and you let your guard down, making this my win!"

Kelvin face-palmed. " I can't believe I didn't notice Charmander's flame grow throughout the fight! Anyways that was a good match and after I heal Duskull, let's head-out!"

" You got it!" Chris said as he grabbed Charmander and they walked back onto the route.

" Viridian City is up ahead!" Kelvin said. " Let's go!"

And the two walked off, entering the city that awaited them. Ready for the journey to continue.

" So this is Viridian City!" Chris said as he looked around. There were a lot of houses around and people walking the streets. They seemed to be enjoying themselves and they would just keep talking.

" Let's find the Pokemon Center." Kelvin said. " We should shower and wash up before heading for Viridian Forest.

" Sounds good to me." Chris said as they walked around town until they found the orange building.

" Hi boys! How may I help you today?" Nurse Joy asked.

" Is it alright if we rest and shower here?" Kelvin asked.

" It would usually be alright, but the water is out for the city. We think it has something to do with the sewer but, we have no available workers to check it out and the Pokemon here need to be bathed." Nurse Joy replied.

" Why don't we check it out?" Chris asked.

" Yeah." Kelvin replied. " We'll investigate for you."

" Thanks but, a boy just came here asking to use the water as well. He decided to go investigate as well." Nurse Joy said.

Chris felt a familiar feeling inside him. " What was his name?"

" Elijah!"

And in a flash, Chris was gone, pulling Kelvin along with him. " What's up?" Kelvin asked. Duskull and Charmander tried to keep up with them.

" That guy! Elijah! He's my rival. If he's trying to fix the water, I'm definitely fixing it first!" Chris said as he took off running.

" Oh geez." Kelvin replied. " Chris wait up!" He said as he ran after Chris.

Charmander and Duskull tried to keep up, running after their trainers.

" So this is the sewer?" Chris asked.

" Seems that way." Kelvin replied. " It seems fine. I don't know what's wrong."

" Well, let's investigate." Chris said. The two walked further into the sewer and Chri caught a glimpse of a man in a black outfit running down the hall. Chris turned to Kelvin and held a finger to his mouth as they creeped towards the man. They turned the corner and noticed he was standing there, watching two people battle.

" If you think that you grunts can beat me, you're wrong!"

Chris recognized the voice. " Elijah!" Chris whispered.

" Come on, kid." The first grunt said. " We just tryin' to do our job. Just mind ya business."

" Yeah." The second grunt said.

Chris looked past the second grunt and saw Elijah battling the grunt. Elijah was using his Squirtle and the Grunt was using his Zubat. After a Water Gun to the face, the Zubat fainted and the grunt returned it.

" That was easy. I'm outta here." Elijah said as he turned his back.

" Not so fast! Grimer go!" A purple blob jumped on Elijah's back and pinned him to the wall. " Damn it!"

" Now you'll sit here while we finish our plans." The first grunt said as the two grunt's walked farther into the sewer.

When they were gone, Chris and Kelvin walked over to Elijah and Chris hid a laugh.

" Chris?!" Elijah asked angrily. " What the hell are you doing here?!"

" Watch your mouth!" Chris said as he laughed. " I came to watch you get wrecked by a Grimer!"

" Just shut up and get me outta here!" Elijah shouted.

" Fine. Charmander use Em-"

" No!" Kelvin shouted. " If a fire attack hit's a Grimer it will explode! That could kill him and us!"

" Oh. Woops." Chris replied. " Then how do we get it off?"

" I don't know...We can lure it away! It likes chemicals and waste so the sewer water might help!" Kelvin said.

" Alright then here goes!" Chris scooped up some sewer water and threw it at Grimer, who absorbed it. Some landed on Elijah, which may or may not have been an accident.

" Can you aim?!" Elijah asked.

Chris laughed. " Come on, Grimer! Want more…" He looked at sewage. " Um...water?"

Grimer jumped off of Elijah and ran towards Chris. " Finally." Elijah said as he turned just in time to see Grimer tackle Chris into the sewage. Elijah and Kelvin burst out in laughter as Chris swam in sewage.

" I knew you stunk Chris, but this?" Elijah asked.

" Very funny." Chris replied. " I should have light you like a match."

" Anyway, I'm outta here. That Grimer was what was causing the clog, now with it gone, the water is fixed." Elijah said. " Later."

" Wait Elijah!" Chris said as Charmander used his flame to dry Chris off. " Those two guys...who were they?"

"I didn't know at first but with their uniforms, I'm certain." Elijah said. " They're back again. Team Rocket is back."

A couple of hours later…

" Those showers were great!" Chris said. " I'm ready to hit the road!"

" Same here! I say we have a few hours before sunset. Let's get moving!" Kelvin said.

What the two boy hadn't noticed was someone had been following them the whole day. Washington was watching everything. So Chris and Elijah haven't got much better yet. Washington thought. But I've improved. He said as he turned back around and walked off with his Ivysaur.