After Ash said goodbye to his old Bulbasaur and said hello to his new Spearow, he headed straight to Viridian City to continue his path to Pewter City and reclaim his first Kanto Gym badge. Before he goes any further than the city however, there's one thing he wants to see.

Chapter 3: Rescue at Viridian City

When Ash reached the small city, he looked around to take in the memories. Of all the cities in Kanto, this was one of the ones he had revisited the most and with all sorts of different friends. He turned a few corners and eventually arrived as the destination he was looking for; Parade Avenue. This street usually held parades with many floats marching down the road towards the Pokémon League during tournament season, blaring out the town's anthem as they crawled. The town was slightly busier than usual as it was lunch time, workers sure to be on their break, so Pikachu held on tight to Ash in case anything happened.
Ash followed the avenue down to the end and came to a stop. The pavement and road ended and quickly turned into a gravel path with flattened grass at the sides, usually where the torch runner would begin their famous jog. Ash remembered the time in the past, during his first journey, when he was that torch runner. He got in a scrape with Team Rocket over the flame, but in the end everything worked out and he had the time of his life before his first ever tournament.
Smiling at the memories, Ash began to follow this path. Pikachu grew a confused expression on his little face.

"Pikachu?" he asked.

"What's up Pikachu?" Ash replied.

Ash looked to his partner on his shoulder who replied, "Pika, Pikachu?"

"We're here because I wanna see what happened to the old league stadium for myself," Ash explained, "I would've imagined Route 2 may have been off limits but the fact it still leads somewhere interests me."

"Chu," Pikachu nodded as Ash continued forward.

Ash eventually reached the end of the road. He certainly knew it was the end because before him was a giant wall. Not made out of bricks, stone or wood though. It was literally made of debris. Broken pipes, concrete and trees were lazily patched together to make a blockade which couldn't be climbed by a person. Ash studied the wall for a moment, then reached for his belt and pulled out a Poké Ball.

"Spearow! I choose you!" he called as he flung it out in front of him.

The ball opened up and released a white light, which formed into the shape of the bird-Pokémon, who flapped its wings to keep it hovering in midair. It looked at Ash with doubt, its eyebrows arched to show that it wasn't keen on the trainer, but Ash didn't notice at all.

"Spearow, go to the top and see what's on the other side," Ash asked of his Pokémon.

Spearow kept flapping its wings and looked at Ash for a few more seconds, "row," it squawked as it flew to the top of the wall and settled down, proceeding to take a nap.

Ash only stood with bewilderment, "uhh..." he breathed, "I didn't ask you to fall asleep, Spearow..."

Spearow laughed and stood up, then just stared menacingly at Ash. It turned its head and walked along the wall, its footsteps seeming unneededly forceful. Spearow paced back and forth violently on this wall and it began to shake, then a little bit of rock came loose from the top. Spearow hopped over to it and brung back its left foot, then flicked it forwards, kicking the rock directly at Ash's forehead.

He yelled out in pain, "AHH! Spearow! What was that for?" Ash rubbed his forehead to try and sooth the pain, all the while Spearow was in hysterics on top of the wall, which continued to shake. It then split at the middle and shook violently and started to break off and collapse onto itself. Spearow was startled and lost control, it fell downwards, headed straight towards a sharp blade made from a broken pipe. Ash acted quickly and brought out Spearow's Poké Ball.

"Spearow! Return!" he called in a panic as the ball unleashed a red light with swallowed up the bird Pokémon to safety.

Ash and Pikachu watched as the huge wall was reduced to rubble with random parts sticking out of the pile. Looking beyond, Ash then saw what had happened to the old Pokémon league stadium. It was nothing but a giant crater, the size of a whole small town. Bits of rubble like the one before him decorated the inside of the crater where buildings and similar structures once were. As there was not much to see, Ash turned around to leave but before he stepped out, he heard a quiet sound coming from the rubble pile that Spearow had just caused.

"You hear that, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

The Pokémon nodded and replied, "Pika!"

Ash walked closer to the rubble to find the source of the noise and saw something wiggling violently, its purple back half, with spikes protruding and a small tail, was sticking out of the pile. It was crying out loudly and quickly in succession, but what it was calling was muffled up.
Pikachu jumped down and grabbed onto the sides of its rear, then pulled hard. It was stuck tightly, but Pikachu managed to grab it hard enough to pull it free, but it caused him to fall backwards.

More of the rubble collapsed as Pikachu brought back the creature that was trapped, but it narrowly missed the two of them. Pikachu sighed with relief, then looked at what was sat on top of him.

The front half was very much like the back. It was a male Nidoran. Ash quickly ran up to Nidoran and Pikachu and scooped them both up in his arms.

"Hey! You guys okay?" he asked.

"Pika," Pikachu nodded, then looked at Nidoran who seemed to have fainted just a moment ago. It was covered in dirt and bruises from when the wall collapsed on it. It must have jumped in the way at the last second, unaware of what was about to happen.

"Let's hurry Pikachu, we gotta take it to the Pokémon Center," Ash said and quickly dashed back to Viridan City to aid the hurt Pokémon.

-

At the Pokémon Center, Ash and Pikachu watched through a glass window as Nurse Joy tended to the Nidoran. She massaged its body gently through rubber gloves, carefully avoiding the spikes on its back. Nidoran looked refreshed but still in some pain. Ash reached his hand backwards and fumbled through the side pocket of his backpack and brought out his Pokédex, then pointed it towards Nidoran. It spoke in a new voice, male as opposed to the female voice it had in Sinnoh.

"Nidoran, the Poison Pin Pokémon. Nidoran comes in two different species dependant on its gender. This purple Nidoran is male. Nidoran is able to move its large ears around at any angle it wants. The longer the horn on a Nidoran, the more poisonous venom it can secrete through the spikes on its back."

Ash then pressed another button on the Pokédex and it spoke again.

"The scanned wild Nidoran's currently known moves are: Horn Attack, Double Kick and Poison Sting. Its Ability is Poison Point, which may poison an attacking Pokémon if it makes contact."

Ash smiled at the Pokédex and looked at Pikachu, "this is awesome! Glad Oak updated it."

"Pi Pikachu!" the Pokémon responded, then pointed at itself.

"Oh you wanna know a little about yourself, buddy?" Ash laughed in response.

Pikachu nodded, then Ash pointed the Pokédex towards his partner sat on his shoulder and pressed a button.

"Your scanned Pikachu's currently known attacks are: Thundershock, Thunderbolt, Iron Tail, Agility, Quick Attack, Thunder and Volt Tackle. Its Ability is Static, which may paralyze a foe when Pikachu makes contact."

"All those attacks!" Ash laughed, "guess it's proof of how long we've been travelling together!"

"Pi Pika!"

A moment later, Nurse Joy exited the room she was tending to Nidoran in with Chansey pulling a trolley on which Nidoran sat. He looked quite happy, staring at Ash with watery eyes and a smile.

"Nidoran is much better now," Nurse Joy said with a smile, "it just needed some sleep and some relaxation. I'll leave you to it now!"

Nurse Joy and Chansey walked off and Ash got closer to Nidoran.

"Nido! Nidoran!" it immediately called out, thanking Ash for helping him.

"Glad to see you're better! So you wanna go back to Route 22 now?" Ash asked.

Nidoran shook its head violently, then looked up directly at Ash's face, "Nidoran! Nido, do!"

Ash looked at the Pokémon for a moment, "so you don't wanna go back?"

Nidoran shook its head gently this time, then nodded at Pikachu, "Nido!" then at the Poké Ball on Ash's belt, "Nidoran!"

Ash looked down and chuckled, then brought an empty Poké Ball up, "so you wanna come with us huh?"

Nidoran cried out happily and nodded many times quickly.

"Alright then! The more the merrier!" Ash turned his hat around and lightly rolled the Poké Ball in the air. Nidoran willingly let it bounce off it and become swallowed by the red light it released to capture it.

The Poké Ball dropped to the trolley and shook around for three seconds, then the button in the middle shone red and beeped. Ash picked up the Poké Ball and held it high with pride.

"Our first captured Pokémon!" he then made a straining noise of excitement, "Nnngggg...I caught a Nidoran!"

"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu called in victory, jumping happily.

Night was approaching and Ash had decided to stay at the Pokémon Center in Viridan City that night instead of approaching Viridan Forest, mainly out of common sense. He would make the trek there and try and get out in the same day. He sat in the main hall of the Pokémon Center, admiring the Poké Ball which held his new Nidoran, but didn't notice the trainer that had walked up to him.

"So, you caught your first Pokémon did ya?" the male voice said in a taunting manner.

Ash looked up at the trainer, a young boy wearing a yellow t-shirt, blue shorts and a blue cap. Ash replied, "this is definitely not my first."

He looked at the boy for a second and realised by his mocking smile that he was trying to discourage Ash for some reason. Ash spoke up again, "you know, I've travelled through many regions. Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh...this is my second time travelling Kanto!"

The boy laughed, "pfft! If you had really gone to all that length would you seriously still have a Pikachu?"

"What's your deal anyway?!" Ash immediately bickered.

"Just looking for some chumps to battle!" the boy laughed, "you look like a top chump. Why don't we go outside and just see how chumpy you are?"

"I'll show you who's a chump!" Ash said angrily, standing up quickly.

He followed the boy outside and they faced each other at the entrance to the Pokémon Center. The dim night-blue streets were lit by lampposts around the area, it was late and hardly anybody was about at this time.

"So what's your name anyway?" Ash asked, bringing a Poké Ball from his belt.

"Joey. And don't you forget it!" the boy boasted, "one day you'll be hearing all about Champion Joey!"

"And I'm Ash Ketchum, and that's a name you'll want to regret you made fun of!"

Joey snickered and took off his cap, revealing a single Poké Ball sat on his head. He grabbed it, put his cap back on and kissed the Poké Ball, then threw it out in front of him.

"Go, Rattata!" he called as the ball opened up and revealed the small rat Pokémon.

"Seriously? THAT'S what you've got?" Ash laughed trying to match up to Joey's cockiness, "it's no match for my Pokémon! Spearow, I choose you!"

Ash launched the Poké Ball opposite Rattata and Spearow was released from the inside. It stood menacingly and stared at Rattata, then sighed and lifted itself into the air, perching itself onto the roof of the Pokémon Center to look down on the battle.

"Oh come on Spearow! Why won't you listen to me? You're making me look bad!" Ash yelled to the bird.

"Hahaha! You must be the biggest chump in the world to not have a Pokémon as basic as a Spearow listen to you!" Spearow heard this comment clearly and glared at Joey, but Joey ignored it and put out his hand to bring attention to his Rattata, "I'll have you know my Rattata is in the top percentage of all Rattata! Nothing you have can beat it!"

Ash was majorly furious at Joey's boasty comments and quickly grabbed the other Poké Ball from his belt, throwing it right onto the field and yelling, "NIDORAN! SHOW THIS GUY WHO WE REALLY ARE!" Ash's sudden attitude adjustment caught Spearow's attention.

From the Poké Ball came Nidoran, who didn't look happy with Joey at all. It too was angry.

Ash rushed into the first move and commanded Nidoran as soon as it was unleashed, "Nidoran, Horn Attack now!"

"Nidoran!" the Pokémon called as it charged at Rattata, its impressively sized horn shone white and extended as it jammed the sharp point into the rat Pokémon, who cried out in pain.

"You can take it, Rattata! Go for a Tackle!" Joey commanded.

Rattata grabbed Nidoran's horn and pushed forward, then lowered its head and headbutted Nidoran, sliding it backwards slightly.

"You okay Nidoran?" Ash asked as Nidoran shook off the blow, it nodded, "then use Poison Sting!"

The spikes on Nidoran's back took on a purple shine and shot out smaller purple spears, "Niiiiiidooooooo!" and they curved over Nidoran and launched towards Rattata.

Joey retaliated quickly, "Rattata, block it with your Tail Whip!"

"Rata!" the Pokémon shouted as it jumped around and started to wag its tail left and right precisely, knocking almost every poison spear out of the way, but one managed to hit the tip of its tail, "RATTATTAAAA!" it cried.

"Now Nidoran, Double Kick!" Ash shouted happily.

Nidoran ran up to Rattata, who was too busy tending to its stung tail to notice the Pokémon charging towards it, and one of its claws began to glow white. Nidoran struck Rattata at the bottom of the stomach, launching it upwards, then as it came back down, stood on its hind legs and kicked it square in the stomach again and sent it flying to Joey's feet, defeated.

Joey stared down at Rattata, his face full of shock and confusion. Nidoran smiled towards the trainer, reflecting his taunting personality.

"Looks like I won," Ash announced, "so whadda ya say Joey? Take back what you said earlier?"

Joey bent down and picked up Rattata who hadn't quite fainted but was very beaten up.

"I guess so..." he said, looking down in shame, "I'd never battled a trainer before. Only wild Pokémon. I thought my Rattata could take on anyone. I just challenged the first guy I saw and..."

He looked back up, Ash was in front of him smiling, resting his hand on Joey's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Joey said.

"It's alright. I can understand, being a new trainer is exciting. I don't blame you, you just wanted to battle so bad!" Ash laughed, though still annoyed by the trainer's behaviour previously. He decided to give him a chance now that he had learned his lesson.

"Let's go in the Pokémon Center and heal up huh?"

Joey nodded through some small tears and walked ahead to the Pokémon Center, going through the doors. Ash crouched down behind himself to Nidoran.

"Nice job Nidoran! That was a great first battle!" he praised, then whispered, "we sure showed him who's boss!"

Ash, Nidoran and Pikachu shared a small laugh, then Ash returned Nidoran to its Poké Ball and looked up at Spearow.

Ash didn't know if he was right, but when he looked at Spearow, the Pokémon looked back differently. It didn't seem to have as much disgust and fallacy in its eyes as it did earlier in the day. There seemed to be a gleam of hope in Spearow's stare right now.
Ash brought up the Pokémon's Poké Ball and called for it to return. Once it was safely inside, Ash looked at it for a second, then returned to the Pokémon Center for a good nights rest. It had been a long day.