Episode Two: Day One
Red and Pikachu set off down Route One, battling and training against wild Pokemon and tough-looking trees the whole way, "Looks like you have some great speed Pikachu... If we can take advantage of that somehow..."
"Pika..." The two thought as they walked, when Pikachu piped up, "Pika Pi!"
"What is it?" Red asked, he turned to what Pikachu was looking at, and his eyes widened, "Whoa..." He said as he saw it.
A massive forest stood between the duo and Viridian City... The sign next to the entrance was broken down, off its post, giving off a rather foreboding feel to the forest.
"Viridian Forest..." Red said, holding the ridge of his cap as a cool wind blew through the area.
"Think we're ready?"
"Pi.." Pikachu sounded unsure, and Red tried to hide it, but he was too.
"C'mon..."
The two of them meandered through the forest, fending off wild Bug Pokemon, fighting off enough that Pikachu learned its first Electric-type move; Thundershock, which proved useful against the other young trainers wandering through the forest.
Red made it to the exit, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, when he caught a glimpse of two men, likely in their early twenties, talking about something. Normally this wouldn't faze Red, but there was something else involved here, Pikachu gritted his teeth and growled, still holding onto Red, but twitching. Assessing the situation, the young trainer hid from the men in the nearby underbrush.
"What's the matter Pikachu?" He asked his Pokemon, whose gaze never shifted from the two men... Red noticed they were wearing uniforms of some kind, Black shirts with high collars, matching Pants, Black army Berets... It honestly looked kind of goofy. There was also a big, red 'R' on the front of their shirts.
Red listened to their conversation.
"Is it set up?" Asked the first, leaning on a tree facing his companion.
"Heck yeah, this is gonna be awesome." Replied the other.
"Oh yeah, not even Pewter's little Gym leader's gonna stop us!"
"How old is that guy anyway?"
"Young bro, he's like 15."
"Seriously? You can run a gym that young?"
"His dad used to run it, but he disappeared, leaving him to deal with the gym and his sibs."
"Seriously? That's cold, even my dad didn't up and leave."
"Didn't you kill your dad?"
"Yeah, with his own knife too."
"Sweet."
Red had heard enough, he and Pikachu burst from the bushes, catching the thugs' attention.
"Whoa, who's this kid?" Asked the second of the men, pointing to Red, whose expression was intense, but interrogative.
"Must be some newbie trainer."
"I've heard enough outta you two!" Said Red, Pikachu growling in agreement.
"Ooh, little boy's got gumption! Okay, I'll humor the kid." The second man threw a Pokeball between the three, out popped a bat-like Pokemon. Red Registered it in the Pokedex.
"Zubat, Poison/Flying type, Bat Pokemon."
"Pika!" Pikachu hopped out in front of Red and awaited its orders.
"Pikachu, Thundershock!"
Sparks flew from Pikachu's Red cheek-circles, Zapping Zubat out of the air, fainting it instantly.
The man's eyes widened, embarassment filled his face as he returned Zubat.
"Pathetic." The first man threw a Pokeball himself, this time revealing a purple snake Pokemon, it hissed. Pikachu seemed to recoil as it hissed, rearing its head.
"Ekans, Poison Type Snake Pokemon."
"Ekans, bite!"
Ekans swiftly attacked Pikachu, locking its' jaw on Pikachu's body.
"Thundershock before it lets go!" Red called quickly, remaining calm.
Pikachu responded with another strong shock to Ekans, the snake taking critical damage from the close-range attack.
Ekans let go of its bite, Pikachu rearing on its forelegs.
"Now Tackle it, quick!"
Pikachu obeyed and knocked Ekans for a loop. The Man returned his Pokemon to its ball, his teeth gritted.
"This doesn't matter, soon our boss will finish his plan, and then Team Rocket will take over... Permanently."
The two uniformed men ran off, through the exit to Viridian City.
Red scowled as Pikachu ran back to him.
"Nice job Pikachu..."
"Pika..."
"I know, we need to follow them..."
Who's That Pokemon?
It prefers to live in darkness, it's often a major annoyance to passing Trainers
Red exited the forest, the weaning sunlight striking him, blocked from his eyes by his hat brim. Pikachu jumped down and walked ahead of its trainer.
"No sign of 'em." Red said, looking around. The sun was setting over Mount Silver in the distance, Red always found Sunset to be the best time of day, some days he'd just stare it at it, knowing how close Mount silver was to the Indigo Plateau, where the Pokémon League Tournament was held. He dreamt of what it would feel like to hold that trophy with his Pokémon at his side, the sun setting... how perfect that feeling would be.
His daydream was interrupted by Pikachu calling out.
"What's up?" He asked his Pokémon, following its gaze to a man in a black trench coat and phadora.
"Who's that?"
The man turned at met eyes with Red, something about his gaze felt foreboding, powerful... Intimidating.
"Who are you?" He asked, staring Red down.
"My name's Red, sir..." Red replied, politely, and attempting not to seem as intimidated as he was.
"Red... Are you a Pokemon Trainer?"
"Yes."
The man's gaze hit Pikachu, whose ears stood straight up.
"I take it this is your only Pokémon?" He inferred, referring to the yellow electric-type.
"Well..."
"I wouldn't waste my time challenging the Viridian Gym leader."
Red's fear dissipated, irritation replacing it.
"Why not? We're pretty strong!"
The man chuckled, "Of course, you survived Viridian forest without getting lost, even sent those two Team Rocket grunts running."
"Team Rocket?"
"They're an organization that steals Pokémon. They plan to use them to take over the Kanto region."
Red's eyes widened.
"What?"
"I wouldn't be too concerned, the only competent member is their boss and his Administrators, the grunts and scientists don't have a clue, even a newbie trainer could take them down, so many already in prison."
"..." Red remained quiet, then spoke again, "Well then why shouldn't I challenge the Gym leader here? If I can take them out-."
"As I said before, the Grunts are incompetent, especially when it comes to battles, Gym leaders, like the one in Viridian, are professional battlers."
"I still think..."
"Three reasons, boy;"
The man's irritation seemed clear at Red stubborn tendency.
"One, your only Pokémon is an Electric type, unevolved and obviously very low-level. Two, the gym leader here uses Ground-type Pokémon, all fully evolved trained constantly, completely unaffected by Electric type moves and strong against Pokémon of that type. Three, the gym leader refuses to Battle you."
"How do you know that?!" Red's anger escalated a bit, he tended to pride himself on his league knowledge... How he forgot the Viridian City leader used ground type Pokémon was a mystery to him.
The man smirked, held out his hand and spoke, "Giovanni, at your service."
Red's anger faded and was replaced by embarrassment, made clear by his cheeks that would quite frankly put Pikachu's to shame.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I hear there's a challenger worth my time at the gym, boy just started and has a total of twenty-four Pokémon... Goodbye."
Giovanni walked off, leaving Red feeling emotions he didn't know he could feel, he looked at Pikachu, "Pikapi, pika pikachu!"
It said, obviously trying to cheer his trainer up, and succeeding.
"You're right Pikachu, c'mon." Red lifted his Pokémon up onto his shoulder again and walked into Viridian City.
"We're not strong enough to take on Giovanni, but there are other gyms."
"Pika!"
"Then when we're strong, we'll come back and teach that guy a lesson he wont forget!"
"Chu!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
Sorry this one's short, but leave us face it, episode 2's never too exciting unless its a follow-up.
This Week's Mailbag:
The Lucario Kid Writes:
Well... Dang. I loved the old anime, but imagining how this could go... Wow, please keep this up!
And at the end.. yes, you were ranting, but it was a good rant!
As for the WTP... I wont answer, I'm not logged in, and I think I have your FC already dude.
Peace!
Reply: Thanks for the comfort, nice to know people agree with my views on how the show could improve.
Keep Reading, and nice B/W2 Reference Username!
Steelrush Writes:
"Pretty Much this writer's dreamchild, I wanted to take the clustercuss mess that the current anime is, and shove it off a cliff. So, I wrote the first episode of this, no Ash, no annoying characters, starting at Square 1. Read it if you've ever been a fan of Pokemon, games or anime... I think you're in for a treat."
The last sentence is the most truthful part of the summary. Although many of my friends have different views on what the anime has become, I don't blame you for your thoughts on this.
On the part where you said they quit caring, once again, you are correct.
However, I've seen the newer stuff, and there are some newer generation Pokemon that I like, however I'm not going to argue with you on the belief that the new stuff from the anime sucks.
And as for the actors...I've heard better voice acting from a drunk.
So anyway, I'm going to give you thoughts on the story now-
First off, I like how you made Pikachu cooperate with Red that quickly. In the first episode of the anime, I don't really have a problem with how it went there, but I'll admit it was annoying how Pikachu was being a dick at first.
Second, I also like how Red didn't try to put Pikachu in the pokeball right off the bat, and it's also good that you made Red's first battle take place at the beginning (unlike what happened in the anime).
As for the Pokemon riddle, I believe it's either Voltorb or its evolved form.
Now regarding my advice for what you should put in the next chapter, perhaps we can discuss it through PM's (this post would be too long to read if I told you all my thoughts on it :P).
Nice job, but there's also something I want to tell you in addition to this;
One of the finest things you did so far is that you represented a large portion of the Pokemon fanbase. This is actually what a lot of people have been thinking, and if we were writers for the series...
Well, it'd be more popular than the creators of the series could ever imagine it to be.
I'm looking forward to what you have next.
Reply:
100 Percent correct on the WTP for you! It was Voltorb!
Second, I'm glad you like this stuff, I have a few surprises in store, and quite a bit of familiarity too, hope to see you write again!
Nauran Writes:
You forgot to have Professor Oak ask the most important question to Red.
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
Reply: I was hoping someone would bring that up! I had every intention of putting that in... but I just couldn't figure out how to put it in context!
With luck, I'll figure it out and add it in, 'cause that's a joke I REALLY want to put in here somewhere.
That's it for this Episode's Mailbag! Till then, write, comment, Pm, Anything really! This is for the fans!
This week's "Who's that Pokemon?" Winner: Steelrush
See ya next time!
-TheCrobatman