Episode 9: Red, Yellow, and the Green!
"So I caught this Snorlax, but its too strong for me to use right now, is there any way I can leave it with you Professor?" Red asked, once again in a videophone in the Pokemon Center.
"Of course, take out your Pokedex and Snorlax's Pokeball." Said the Professor, smiling.
"Kay..." Red did as he was told.
"Now, there should be a little plug below the screen, insert the top of your Pokedex into it.
Red obeyed, and the Pokedex clicked.
"Now open the Pokedex screen, and select Snorlax."
Having done this, Red's Pokeball disappeared from his hand in a flash of Blue light.
"What the-?" Oak was now holding Snorlax's Pokeball, the Pokedex had teleported it to the laboratory.
"That's it, do this whenever you need to send a Pokemon back or if you want to bring one to your location... But remember, Trainers can only legally carry six Pokemon at a time."
"I'll remember, see ya Professor." Red set the phone down and walked away.
"So now you've got no usable Pokemon..." Brock said, sharing Red's disappointment.
"Yeah.."
"S'cuse me, did you say you don't have any Pokemon?"
Red and Brock turned to see a boy about Red's age... In fact he looked a lot like Red, though with brown hair, brown eyes, and a yellow hat... Of the same brand no less. He wore baggier jeans, and his jacket was blue and partially zipped up, with long blue sleeves.
Though he did share the same hairstyle from under the hat... From afar, they could be mistaken as related.
"Uh... yeah... Who're you?" Asked Red, walking up to him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, my name's Richie, but I've had the nickname 'Yellow' for a long time." He said putting his hand out, Red shook it, "Cool, my name's Red, and this is Brock."
"'Sup."
"Well like I said, I overheard you had no Pokemon left, yet you've beaten the first gym leader haven't you?" Yellow asked, adjusting his hat's brim.
"Well yeah... My Pikachu's sick, and I have no others with me."
"I think I can help! C'mon!" Yellow gestured for Red to follow him.
"I think I'll stay here Red, go on." Brock said, sitting down.
"Why?" Both young trainers asked, then they looked up and saw the reason... Brock was staring at a young Pokemon Center nurse, obviously lovestruck.
"I get it, c'mon Yellow..." The two of them laughed and walked out as Brock began flirting with her.
(Insert theme music here.)
Red followed Yellow outside of Cerulean city, to a forest on the outskirts of town.
"C'mon, this is awesome..." Yellow said, rushing in, the Pokemon-less Red following closely behind.
"So what exactly are we doing?"
Yellow didn't answer, instead stopping in front of a rock as soon as they were deep enough in the forest.
"Check it out..." Yellow said, shoving the rock with little effort.
The Rock moved out of the way, revealing a hole in the ground, which lead into a dark tunnel.
"No way..." Red said, staring down the large hole.
"Follow me!" Yellow said jumping down the hole, Red hesitated for a moment, and followed Yellow into the dark tunnel.
Back at the Pokemon center, Brock sat with Pikachu in his lap, scratching the Pokemon's ears as it slept. He was making a conversation with the young trainee nurse, she was about 17, and looked just like almost every other Nurse... Her name was Joy. Her hair was red, almost Pink, tied into two ponytails as most Nurses did, but her left one hung significantly lower than the other. Her face was very pretty, blue eyes and a very fair complexion.
"So how exactly do Pokemon center machines work?" Asked Brock, inquiring as to the machines that the nurses used to energize Pokemon that faint but aren't hurt in any other way.
"Well, its kinda complicated..." She replied thoughtfully, "I got time." Brock said... Smooth as ice.
"The Pokeball has the virtual reality in it, as you know... And the machine sends kind of a volt of electricity through it, making it glow for a bit... I've never been in a Pokeball, but I think the Pokemon is healed through the volt somehow."
Brock raised his eyebrows, and shook his head, "So the volt-" The center's door flew open, Misty and Jim Gai ran in, recognizing Brock, she ran over to him."
"Brock, I'm so glad I found you..." She said, looking panicked and out of breath.
"Misty? What's the matter?" Brock said, handing Pikachu to Joy.
"It's those Team-whatstheirnames! They're taking the Pokemon out of the river!
Brock scowled and got up, "I'll be back, hang onto Pikachu for me Joy..." He said, she nodded and held the sleeping Pokemon.
The two gym leaders ran out, looking down beneath the bridge in Cerulean, the Team Rocket thugs were using electric-type Pokemon to fry the water, and scooping the unconscious Pokemon out of the water.
Brock furrowed his Brow and drew out a Pokeball.
The cave was dark, Red could only follow his companion by listening to his footsteps, ducking so as not to hit the low ceiling.
"Here we go..." Yellow tossed a Pokeball in the air, a familiar sound coming out of the Pokemon from inside.
"Pika!"
"Sparky, use flash!"
A bright light shown off the Small Pokemon that had been released, it was a Pikachu, like Red's.
"Hey, a Pikachu!" Red exclaimed, seeing his new friend's glowing Pokemon.
Yellow smiled as they continued to walk, Sparky, as Yellow had nicknamed it, lit the way.
"Yeah, caught it in Viridian Forest, little guy just followed me around until I challenged it to a battle."
Red smiled as the cheerful Pikachu walked ahead of them.
"I got my Pikachu from Professor Oak... Wonder how it's doing." Red responded somberly, walking next to Yellow.
"Wait, Oak gives out Pikachu now?" Yellow asked, tilting his head in question.
"Not exactly..." Red smiled, remembering how he had picked the obstinate Pikachu over the three obedient starter Pokemon.
"We're gonna be walking a while, tell me about it!" He said cheerfully, Sparky agreed, smiling and listening as well.
Red looked up as they walked, and began talking.
"When I started my journey a few days ago, I went to Professor Oak's lab, like most new trainers I was excited to get my first Pokemon. Looking back now, I wonder if I might've been a little obsessed with it. Anyway, when I got there, the Professor showed me Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. Each standing on the table ready to go... Not that I didn't like them, in fact, they were about the coolest things I had ever seen!
But then I asked the Professor about a fourth Pokemon he had told me about.
That's when I first met Pikachu.
It sat in that corner, away from the other Pokemon, heck it acted like it didn't want anything to do with others, or being trained for that matter.
Oak said it didn't like Pokeballs, and that's why it was so upset... I never put much thought into it, I never wanted to put my first Pokemon in a ball anyway! I said so and Pikachu suddenly changed its mood, and wanted me to take it! It was kind of aggressive about it too..." Red smiled, reminiscing about how the stubborn Pikachu had climbed up onto him as soon as it found out it wasn't going in a ball.
"So Pikachu and I set off, we've had our share of wins and losses, and even though we've only known each other a few days... I think we'll be friends for a long time."
Yellow smiled into space, thinking about Red's story.
"I know it sounds corny but..." Red began, trying to regain a two-sided conversation.
"No way! I like it!" He said excitedly, giving Red a good feeling of relief.
Yellow continued, "I got my first Pokemon from Professor Oak too, but I got it a few weeks ago. And how you described your relationship with Pikachu is exactly how I feel about Zippo, My Charmander!"
Red grinned at him finding a kindred spirit was always a good feeling, but at the same time he felt a little heartache.
"That's why I'm worried about it, Pikachu's never been hurt this bad before... I just hope he'll be okay."
WTP?!
In the rocky mountains where these Pokemon live the flames on their tails shine like stars at night. They protect their previous evolution from harm against the Rock-Type Pokemon in their habitat, and await their day of evolution when they'll fly to the higher areas of the mountain to train.
Onix roared as it slammed all of the Rockets' tiny Pokemon into the river, Brock giving it sharp and precise orders, allowing it to follow without doubt or hesitation.
Misty helped as well, with the assistance of the local police officer and his young trainee.
"Starmie! Use Psychic!" The purple star-like Pokemon shot a violet beam across the river, and as Onix sent the Pokemon into the River, the psychic wall kept them from the water and fainted them.
"Tentacruel, wrap those thugs!" Ordered the Officer, whose large Jellyfish Pokemon was wrapping its many tendrils around the mass Pokemon theives and bringing them up onto the bridge.
Brock and Misty's efforts were rewarded, returning the water-type Pokemon to the River and confiscating the Rockets' Pokeballs.
"What were you doing? Were you trying to get caught?" Interrogated the adult officer to the leader of the Rocket group.
He didn't respond, though the fear in his eyes was evident. The policeman holding him by his shirt was large, intimidating and angry.
"Answer me boy, or I'll add 'Failure to Cooperate' to your charges!"
"Alright, alright, I'll talk!" He said, the cop throwing him down, his handcuffs clearing some skin from his wrists.
The two teen Gym Leaders walked up too, Misty slapped the Rocket across the face, leaving a deep, red hand-shaped print in his pale cheek.
"I hope you're proud of yourself you creep!" She yelled at him, if looks could kill, the one she was giving him would turn him into worm food faster than you could blink.
Brock held Misty back, she backed off, but only to glare fiercely at the Pokemon thieves.
"What was the point of this little scheme? You know there's no way you could get away with it."
The black-uniformed Rocket's attitude changed, he looked up at the cop and the two teens.
"You'll know in about three seconds..."
Puzzled, they were about to examine him further when in a bright flash of light, the weather had changed drastically.
"Theeeere we go.." The Rocket sneered, dropping one of his smoke bombs and letting the entire mob get away as Brock and Misty looked up, the clouds in the sky were darkening, lighting striking, and deafening thunder.
"What in the world?" Asked Misty, looking up at the impending storm, "There's not supposed to be rain for days!"
"This can't be any normal storm... We need to get inside, fast." The Police officer said, ushering his young girl trainee and the two teenagers away from the river and toward the Pokemon center.
When they made it inside, the Pokemon Center was crowded, hundreds of trainers stood at the counter, overwhelming the nurse with hurt Pokemon, complaints and just plain ol' chaos.
"What's going on?" Misty thought out loud as Brock led the way, they had split from the Cop and were headed toward Joy and Pikachu, still sleeping soundly.
"Joy, what's going on?" Brock asked, the young nurse was obviously stressed out beyond words, ignoring Brock's question as she and her superior nurse took responded to the hundreds of trainers talking to them.
Misty shook her head and sat down, thinking about what to do, the town was never in this much chaos, she thought, 'If only I could...' Misty then scowled and stood up, climbing up onto the center's desk.
"Everyone, QUIEEETT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and in that instant there was not a single sound to be heard, and she continued, smiling sweetly, "Now, you're probably all wondering about the storm, it's unexpected, and I won't lie to you, it can't be natural. But I'm going to tell you all now that Panicking will do us NO good! Everyone please just organize yourselves and tell us ONE. AT. A. TIME. What your problem is, and we'll let you know what to do. Brock, Nurse Alice, Nurse Joy, and I are gonna line up behind this counter, and YOU with the problem are gonna stand in line PATIENTLY and tell us what we can do for you. Thank you!" Misty finished, leaving the crowd, the nurses, and Brock in awe.
As she stated, the plan went accordingly and swiftly.. Flowing like an easy river.
Afterwards, the people having received answers to their questions had returned to their homes, and the Pokemon center was once again empty.
"Alright... So what do we know?" Misty asked, sitting on the desk next to Nurse Joy. Brock and the Senior Nurse, Alice was her name, stood with clipboards.
"From what the people are saying, the storm's affecting their Pokemon, electric-types specifically, it's making them... Short out." Brock said, referring to the notes they had taken.
"Anything else?" Asked Nurse Joy.
"Yeah, a lot of People's Pokemon were taken by those Rocket thugs, but thanks to that Cop that was with us, we got all their Pokemon back." Misty responded... When from seemingly nowhere, there was a light tug on Misty's hand. The redhead turned around to see a little girl in a blue nightgown.
"Um... Excuse me Miss Misty... I wanted to know.. Um.." She said, a little shy, the group looked on as Misty got off the counter and knelt down to eye-level with the girl.
"What do you need sweetie?" She asked, in a tone that wouldn't suggest she was even the same person as she was a few hours ago.
"..M..My Horsea was stolen by those bad men.. I was wondering if it might be here..." She sniffed in sadness at her missing Pokemon. Misty stood straight up.
"C'mon to the back, we still have a few Pokeballs back here, lets see if we can find it." Misty led the little girl to the back room, the others followed.
"Here's all we have, recognize-?" Misty started, the little girl jumped on the first Pokeball she saw and threw it, out popped a blue seahorse Pokemon. Recognizing the little girl, it flew down and hugged her... Or rather she hugged it, it didn't have arms.
"This it honey?" Misty asked, petting the Horsea, which was happily nuzzling the little girl.
"Yes! Yes yes! Thank you Misty!" She said, hugging the gym leader's long bare legs and hurrying out of the Pokemon center with Horsea.
Misty put her hands on her hips and smiled as she left, then caught the glances of Brock and the Nurses.
"What?"
Their expressions were a bit accusatory... Smug accusatory.
Misty had built her reputation around being a tomboy, hot-headed, tempermental and tough as nails. No one had ever seen that side of her before now, and now she was stabbing herself mentally for not being more nonchalant.
"Quit looking at me like a Slowpoke and lets get back to business!" She snapped, walking past them back into the Center's main counter.
Misty was going to sit down when she noticed something was amiss, and then she realized, her hair standing on end.
"Where's Pikachu?!"
After a good amount of time, Red, Yellow and Sparky had made it outside the cave to be greeted with a huge, dark forest-green field, filled with floating spores that gave the place an eerie glow.
"Welcome to the Venusauric Grove!" Yellow said, letting Sparky put down its flash and sit on his shoulder.
Red stood in awe as he saw dozens of the Pokemon Venusaur on the ground below, along with hundreds of Ivysaur and Thousands of Bulbasaur, some sleeping, some playing, some even evolving before his eyes.
"Is this where Professor Oak gets his Bulbasaur?" Red said, walking next to his companion as they went down into the field.
"Well kinda, Professor Oak's Venusaur lives here now, and he gets Bulbasaur eggs."
"Professor Oak has a Venusaur?!" Red asked excitedly, looking around.
"Yeah, he let it live here when he retired. He comes to visit, and when he does, there's always a new Bulbasaur egg for 'im.'
The two boys walked through the throng of Grass Starter Pokemon. Red was surprised they were so calm about a couple of humans walking into their place... But then he remembered that Venusaur tend to be very calm creatures unless provoked.
"Look at 'em all! Do they all live here?"
"Well, at least in Kanto, can't get one anywhere else but here." Yellow said, walking up to the biggest Venusaur in the grove and giving it a pet on the forehead.
"Hey Venusaur, how's it goin'? It's me, Yellow." Said the boy, the large Venusaur, obviously the one Oak had trained as a child, responded with a friendly nudge and a low rumbling growl.
"My friend here needs a new partner, are any of the Bulbasaur ready for travel here?"
Venusaur stood up, a vine from its large blooming flower extending in a westward direction to a group of Bulbasaur.
"Venusaur says ya can take your pick of one of those!" Yellow said to Red, pointing to the Bulbasaur.
"Really? How do you know? Do you speak Venusaur?" Asked Red skeptically, not in the mood to be attacked by wild Pokemon right then.
"Nah, I've done this a lot of times though, go on."
Red shrugged and walked over to the Bulbasaur, who were playing with each other in the grass as baby Pokemon often do. It was difficult to make a decision... Until Red lifted his gaze and saw one Bulbasaur standing outside the rest. It was tiny, very, very small compared to its companions. It stood silently, watching the cave entrance as if it had a story to tell.
Red knelt down near it, it took notice, but didn't shift its gaze.
"What's up Bulbasaur? Lookin' at something?" Red tried to follow its gaze.
"Bulba." It responded, its voice a bit higher than the others, but that was to be expected given its relatively small size.
"Why are you all alone? Wouldn't you rather be playing with the other Bulbasaur?"
Bulbasaur shook its head, still staring at the entrance intently.
Red sat next to it and watched the entrance too, "Mind if I join ya?" He asked, scooting close to the plant pokemon.
Now it was the Pokemon's turn to be confused, it tilted its head, shifting its gaze to Red for the first time.
"Bulba? Bulbasaur?" It said in a questioning tone, "Are you asking why I'd wanna sit here with you?" Red responded with a smile, to which the tiny Bulbasaur nodded.
"Well, why not? Everyone needs a friend." Red said, smiling at the Bulbasaur, which acted as if kindness was foreign to it... Then it smiled and crawled into Red's lap, returning its gaze to the cave entrance, in moments, night had fallen, and suddenly it was made clear to Red and Yellow (Who was sitting on Oak's Venusaur's head, watching Red.) Why Bulbasaur watched the cave so intently. As the full moon came out, beautiful white light filled the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites were full of moonstone, which shone in a bright, beautiful light when lunar light struck it.
"Is this what you were waiting for?" Red asked the Pokemon in his lap. Bulbasaur nodded happily and watched the glimmering lights for several minutes. Red looked around and saw that all of the other Pokemon were completely oblivious to what was going on here, none of them stopped to look... Except this Bulbasaur.
"Hey Bulbasaur, I was wondering, do you wanna travel with me?"
Bulbasaur looked back up at Red, a questioning look on its face.
"It's just that, I know I'll be going all over when I leave here, and I'll see lots of cool and beautiful stuff like this... Wanna see it too?" Asked Red one more time, holding a Pokeball with a smile on his face.
Bulbasaur hesitated, looking around at the other Pokemon, at the grove, and then once more at the lights in the cave... Then it closed its eyes and smiled.
"Bulba!"
"You will?"
"Saur." Bulbasaur nodded and rammed itself into the Pokeball's button. It didn't even shake once before it clicked, and Bulbasaur was caught.
"So you're taking the little guy huh?" Yellow said as Red opened his Pokedex to check Bulbasaur's information.
"Pokemon 001: Bulbasaur has been caught. All data on physicality, behavior and power has been recorded.
#001 Bulbasaur
1'00"
3.4Lbs
Physical Attributes: High Power Potential
Nature: Lonely
Known Attacks:
-Tackle
-Vine Whip
-Razor Leaf
-Sleep Powder
Current ability Level: 13
Status: Full Health "
Yellow took Red out of the cave, once again, they were in the forest on the outskirts of Cerulean City.
"Thanks for taking me down there Richie, I've always wanted a Bulbasaur." Said Red, shaking his Companion's hand.
"No Red, thank you."
"For what?" Red asked, confusion in his tone.
"For reminding me how lucky I am to have such amazing friends and partners. For teachin' me that power isn't what makes a Pokemon great, it's the bond you have with it that makes it better than strong. It makes it your friend."
"Pika!" Sparky agreed, riding on its trainer's back.
Red pondered that for a second wondering how exactly that the kid in the yellow cap could have gotten that from him convincing the runt Bulbasaur to follow him, then smiled and waved as his new friend walked off into the forest, disappearing from view.
As soon as Yellow was gone, Red turned and a sight caught him that chilled his bones. There was a massive black cloud over Cerulean City, letting loose thunderbolts in rapid succession.
Red took off toward it as fast as his legs could carry him.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Holy Rapidash Crap that was a long episode... But what do you think?
Lets go over what happened here:
-Red met a fellow Pokedex Trainer
-Brock and Misty almost prevented a Rocket Scheme
-Misty Character Development
-Red Character Development
-Yellow Character D!
-Pikachu's gone missing!
-Red now has a Pokemon a bit more his level, Bulbasaur!
-And an electrical storm is being caused by god-knows what!
Phoo, lots happened in this one, just recapping for those who got lost!
Here's the mail, it never fails, makes me wanna wag my tail, when it comes I wanna wail; "MAAAAAIIILL" (If you get the early-childhood reference, you win the internet.) :
Steelrush Writes:
Sorry for the late review...once again. I had family matters to attend to, so that's why I haven't been on and reviewed when I should have. :P
First, I'd like to point out a perk at the beginning (though this would seem minor to some), the "insert your theme here" part is a good trait. I choose to think that because Pokemon fans, even ones who were around since the original series have favorite openings from all eras (Generation II, AG, DP, and beyond).
Now, as for the other features of chapter 8, I liked seeing Lt. Surge (my favorite Kanto gym leader) and also was surprised at how his Pokemon healed Pikachu.
That's a good trait that displays some originality, because I haven't seen that in any of the fics I've read so far.
As for the WTP, it's Farfetch'd (the riddle is self-explanatory).
I also noticed that Red was exhibiting a trait that Ash frequently displayed (throughout the anime) when he was talking to Brock about challenging Misty, which is the somewhat arrogant "know-it-all" belief that training requires little effort (and he can win any battle easily).
In this case he thought he could get Snorlax to obey him, despite not having enough badges.
Also, I think it was a good decision to have Nurse Joy give an explanation of what goes on inside of the pokeballs when Pokemon are in there.
I'm not sure if the games or the anime explained this, and even if it was given, I'm sure it was probably crappy in comparison to what you, me, and pretty much anyone else in the fanbase could provide.
Ah, the gym leader of Cerulean City, battling her was always easy for me in the games, and especially now (in the BW 2 world tournament) with one of my two signature Pokemon, which is the grass-type known as Serperior (he totally kicks ass all the time, even against fire-types).
As for Red's battle against Misty...I understand why he rejected the badge, and though I'm not arguing with the decision, I'm going to say I was a bit disappointed at not seeing him get it.
So, overall this was a fun chapter to read, and I am now VERY hyped for the next one. I also would like to point out that the formatting was excellent.
The paragraphs were spaced out neatly, making this very easy to read, and the ones with limited sight range would appreciate this too.
Crobatman, you're making this story live up to the summary, and definitely to the title. With each chapter I read, you're honestly making the title of this story seem like far less of an opinion, and much more like a fact.
If the story keeps going on this excellently, and if THIS was how the anime happened, there's a very high chance that the anime would be as universally accepted as Star Wars (if not more).
This has got to be one of the finest examples of Pokemon storytelling yet, and I'm quite sure that others agree with me too.
What you've done here is made the writers of the Pokemon anime (who are responsible for the shitty reception) look as intelligent as the guys who talk with completely unintelligible and purely incoherent internet slang, and even more lazy than a person who wants to be chauffeured to their neighbor's house.
This is one of the reasons why I thank you for writing this story, and it also brings another question to mind; will Tracey make an appearance, and if so, what role will he play?
Anyway, update when possible-
My Reply:
No worries man, I don't have an expiration date! :D
Heck, my favorite theme is a tie between the First Movie Theme Remix and the Advanced Battle Theme, so I decided to let you people decide!
Lt Surge was my favorite too, mostly cause Raichu's my second favorite Electric-type, and I decided to turn him into a 'gentle giant' of sorts in this, give him a better personality than the arrogant jerk he was initially in the anime.
And yes, 'tis Farfetch'd... In case you didn't notice, I made that one a LOT easier... Sue me, people weren't getting it right often enough.
As for the Pokeball thing... I totally made that up cause it made sense in my head, think of it as me sharing my theory on how they work.
And Red can't get this badge conventionally now, I have bigger plans for miss Misty than just a one-time gym leader, stay tuned!
Thank you for the complimentary comment!
And yes, Tracey will show up... Granted, he'll be much different than he is in the anime, but Imma do that to everyone pretty much. ^_^'
Will do!
Jac Bandit Writes:
True, true. Guns don't belong here...but ducks with swords totally due! Farfetch'd for the win! XD I hope Red catches one, even if I doubt that happening. T.T (I could totally see a Rocket pointing a gun at somebody, LOL)
Wow, Red was pretty mature about that. If it was me, personally, I would NEVER have done that! XDD Even if Snorlax didn't obey. :P But hey, that's me. I'm not as mature as Red is. Kudos for you, Red.
Wow...feel bad for Misty. I wonder who made her cry...10 Poke says it was Gary...somehow.
My Reply:
Heck yeah, Farfetch'd needs to be relevant again! EVOLVE HIM GENERATION VI! And I just may have Red catch one, ya never know!
I just put how I'd do it... Heck, if I won by a fluke, I'd do what I had Red do... Probably. I'd wanna earn that stupid badge!
And we'll find out about Misty's ex-boyfriend soon, not this episode obviously, but next episode likely!
RickyPWhoWrites Writes:
Good chapter, the answer is Farfetch'd.
My Reply: You WIN. Now WRITE A BETTER REVIEW BOY. XDLOL
Well that's it, this weeks winners for WTP:
Steelrush, Jac Bandit, RickyPWhoWrites and iwish328!
See ya next week! (Sorry it's late!)
Just keep Catchin' 'Em all!
-The Crobatman