From Cerulean City you have three options. You can head dead south and traipse towards the notoriously dangerous Saffron City and battle the notoriously dangerous gym leader Sabrina. Most trainers don't travel to Saffron until later in their Pokémon career. You can bypass Saffron through the first underground path and travel to the port of Vermillion and challenge the gym leader there.
From Vermillion you can take the second underground path, bypassing Saffron again, and travel to Celadon. The third choice is almost as unpopular as the first. You can travel east from Cerulean towards the power plant and travel through the imaginatively named Rock Tunnel to Lavender Town. Rock Tunnel is pitch black, large and full of deadly traps and pitfalls that have claimed the lives of more than one trainer.
After all that effort of travelling through Rock Tunnel you arrive in the insignificant little Lavender Town which has a population of only twice that of Pallet Town and its only interesting feature is the creepy Pokémon Tower, a graveyard for the dead Pokémon of many trainers. It is said that one certain trainer called Red laid his fallen Pikachu to rest there. And another certain trainer called Green buried his Scizor next to the Pokémon of his eternal rival.
Like many trainers Jack chose the most sensible second option. With his Pokémon fully healed after his battle with Misty he headed directly south from Cerulean and travelled along the wide road to Saffron. About a mile before he reached Saffron City Jack turned off the road and walked towards the tall stone building which signalled the entrance to the first underground pass.
The wild Pokémon left him be as he walked through their territory, having learnt through harsh experiences to avoid the trainers around the area, but Jack could hear from their angry chattering that they weren't happy about it. A bored looking guard dressed in a smart blue uniform lazily waved him through, barely looking at his trainer id before admitting him.
The path continued underground for two to three miles, a dark and dingy place full of shadowy niches and suspicious looking items that also had a nasty infestation of Koffing and Weezing which the Pokémon League didn't deem dangerous enough to clear. Jack had not heard about this infestation, so he kept his Pokémon in their Pokéballs as he strode through, and was full of surprise when purple, pitted balloon full of toxic gas knocked him to the floor.
Its stench was almost unbearable, clouds of foul smelling, yellow gases puffed out of small holes in its body as it regulated the pressure of the gases contained inside it to stop it exploding. Jack lay on the ground panting and winded from the collision as the poison gas Pokémon hovered above him, its expression eternally blissful.
Jack scrabbled in his backpack and released Dante, backing away from the wild Pokémon with nervous haste. Dante roared at his attacker slashed through the air with a steel claw. The attack connected and almost immediately the wild Koffing exploded as the flammable gases stored in his body exploded out of him, igniting on contact with the air.
The explosion tossed Dante in the air, sending him somersaulting over Jack to land heavily on the marble floor of the tunnel, gouging deep holes with his claws as he gripped tightly to stop the shockwave pushing him backwards any further. The shockwave was considerably weakened when it reached the seated Jack, but it was still enough to smash him hard against the floor for the second time in less than five minutes.
Jack lay winded, his face pressing hard against the cold marble floor, before painfully pushing himself up and recalling Dante. He knew that a fire Pokémon would be a death sentence in a place full of flammable Pokémon so he released Harry. Harry he thought keep any of those exploding Pokémon away from us OK. Harry began to scan the darkness for any dangerous Pokémon and motioned impatiently for Jack to walk on.
They continued like this for nearly an hour, Harry scaring away any Koffing foolish enough to approach by searing their mind with his psychic power. As they neared the exit a huge, scarred floating Pokémon tackled Harry to the floor.
Its main body looked like a Koffing on steroids – huge, pitted, emitting enormous clouds of foul gas with large canines from its bottom jaw protruding over its top lip – but it had a smaller, sadder looking second Koffing attached to it by a bony appendage. Its two chambers seemed almost at odds with each other – one irate and angry and the other sad and doleful. Using his psychic power Harry threw the Pokémon off him and stood up angrily.
Coward he cried weakling. How dare you attack me from behind? Stand and fight like a man! The Weezing hovered out of reach, not deigning to answer, and released an abrasive cloud of poison gas towards Harry. The psychic Pokémon began to cough as the gas reached him, and suddenly collapsed to the floor as the gas began to strip his skin from his body.
Quickly harry dispelled the gas with a swift blast of psychic energy, but even in the short time that the gas had engulfed him patches of his skin were missing from his body, slowly seeping blood, whilst many red, weeping sores had erupted on his skin. Harry stood still for a second as he considered the orders from his trainer before he swiftly, fluidly flew into action.
Almost contemptuously Harry froze the attacking Pokémon into place so it could not even move a muscle. Then he erected barriers around it so it was completely surrounded by a psychic force field. Once the Pokémon was safely contained inside his own barriers Harry focussed hard, his eyes again turning completely purple as he used the most powerful attack in his arsenal. Slowly he crushed his hands together. Inside the cocoon of psychic energy the Weezing exploded.
The explosion was more powerful than anything Jack had previously encountered. It ripped through the barriers as if it they were paper, tearing through the wall which was in close proximity and ripping through the ceiling. The explosion completely destroyed the tunnel around him, ripping the structure to pieces and bringing huge chunks of the surrounding earth crashing down.
Just before the explosion reached him and his trainer Harry put all of his energy into erecting his most powerful barrier yet. The barrier held, barely. It bent inwards by nearly a whole metre but somehow it didn't break and energy of the explosion was stopped before it reached Jack.
Jack watched in terror as the shockwave raced towards him, and sighed in relief when it was repulsed by Harry. He gasped as Harry suddenly collapsed, the effort of contained the explosion too much and rushed to his stricken Pokémon. It was only when a huge piece of rock narrowly missed his head that Jack realised the tunnel was collapsing. He hastily recalled Harry and sprinted towards the exit.
All around him the tunnel was collapsing, pieces of rock and soil rained down on and around him, any big pieces luckily missing him. Jack had never run so fast in his life. His legs and arms pumped like pistons and he found strength and speed that he never had before as sheer terror spurred him onwards.
He reached the exit and shot up the stairs just as the tunnel completely collapsed, sprinting past the stunned guard who was glued to the huge pile of rocks that covered up the entrance of what had just been a tunnel. Collapsing on the grass outside, under the beautiful golden sun, Jack kissed the ground and promised himself that he would never go underground ever again.
His body ached all over and he knew he was covered in dirt and his clothes were quite badly ripped in places. A cheerful voice sounded above him, 'need any help there?' Jack nodded and a strong hand pulled him up. 'Thanks,' he muttered, brushing off his thin coating of dirt. 'Had an encounter with the Weezing?' the voice asked curiously, 'it normally catches out new trainers.' Jack looked at the tall, handsome boy in front of him and nodded slowly, 'yeah, you could say I had an encounter.'
The boy broke out into a winning smile, 'in the case I challenge you to a battle. I need the money you see, I need an easy win.' He sounded almost apologetic as the excuse slipped off his practiced tongue, but Jack wasn't fooled. He knew that this trainer was the kind who preyed on easy meat. Why do they always think that I'm easy meat? wondered Jack what is it about me that makes me seem weak?
It did seem to work out better for him though. They underestimated him – a fatal mistake. 'Maybe you won't find me that easy,' he spat, throwing Asrael's black and yellow Pokéball angrily towards his opponent. His opponent released a reptilian Pokémon dressed in crimson scales. Sharp claws graced its hands and feet and a large, flickering flame ended its powerful tail.
'Charmeleon start this battle with slash,' called the trainer, who stood confidently opposite Jack with a small smirk on his face. 'Asrael use slam,' ordered Jack, unsure about what type of Pokémon he was facing. The Charmeleon tensed its powerful hind legs and in an explosion of powerful muscle he powered towards Asrael. Asrael swam fast through the air with a flick of his powerful tail, unimpressed by the Pokémon in front of him.
The flame Pokémon's speed took Asrael by surprise and he wasn't ready for its attack. The Charmeleon slashed Asrael with its long, sharp claws drawing a scream of pain from the dragon Pokémon. Asrael rose above its opponent, blood streaming from large, deep cuts that had just been inflicted upon him. Roaring in anger he suddenly dove downwards and smashed the Charmeleon with his large tail, sending the Pokémon sprawling onto the floor. Not stopping there Asrael followed the Pokémon to the floor and wrapped his long, prehensile body around its neck and began to tighten.
With one powerful constriction of his body Asrael tried to snap the Charmeleon's neck, but stopped when the Charmeleon managed to thread its powerful hands under Asrael's body and pushed outwards with all its strength. For a second it seemed that Asrael would succeed, but with a heave of its powerful shoulders the Charmeleon ripped Asrael from around its neck and tossed it away.
Asrael landed on the ground heavily, blood still flowing freely from its deep wounds. Looking very weak Asrael rose up, balancing on the tip of its tail and looked towards Jack for instructions. 'Asrael use water gun,' ordered Jack, worriedly taking in his Pokémon's bad condition. Asrael took in a deep breath and sprayed a powerful jet of water out his mouth towards the Charmeleon. The cylinder of water hit the Charmeleon in the face, pushing it backwards along floor.
The Charmeleon tensed his thick, muscled neck to stop it from snapping with the force of the attack and dug its powerful claws deep into the soil to stop from being pushed back. Its efforts were in vain as the power of the attack overwhelmed it and knocked it over onto its back. It landed with a dull thud but quickly heaved itself back up. It was damaged, but not badly so, and very, very angry.
'Charmeleon cook that bastard with flamethrower!' shouted the trainer, seeing a win in sight. As Charmeleon complied and attacked with a flamethrower attack nearly as powerful as Dante's Jack panicked, 'Asrael counter it with water gun, quickly.' Asrael marshalled his energy and a thin beam of water shot towards the much large beam of fire. The two attacks met and quickly the flame engulfed the water, evaporating it into gouts of steam, before engulfing Asrael too.
When the attack ended Asrael wasn't moving, his body badly burnt. 'It looks like I win,' smirked the boy, 'hand over the money.' Jack shook his head, 'I still have another Pokémon and...'
Asrael's burnt body began to glow softly with white light that slowly began to brighten as something happened to the half-dead Pokémon. Suddenly the whole world was filled with bright light, blinding both trainers. When the light finally receded a whole new Pokémon floated in the air where Asrael had been. This Pokémon was fully healed and looked very angry.
His body was longer, thinner and a much darker blue than Asrael used to be, his ears were now larger and feathered, a small horn now adorned his brow and a small blue jewel was set in the skin just under his chin and two more were set on the end of his tail. Asrael looked magnificent, floating in the air with his long feathered ears rustling in the light breeze.
'.....And now you're going to lose,' Jack said, one he had finished staring in amazement, finishing his earlier sentence. Asrael's eyes were now larger and a latent fire seemed to smoulder in those depthless irises, and when he fixed them on the Charmeleon the angry fire Pokémon seemed to quiver slightly. 'Asrael use dragon rush.' Asrael nodded and began to growl, first quietly but gaining more and more volume until menace was radiating off him in waves.
The Charmeleon retreated slightly, trying to hold its own against the terrifying menace in front of it. It didn't see a Dragonair anymore. Instead a huge shadow, draped in darkness, terrible yellow eyes glowing sickeningly hovered before it. As the Charmeleon cowered from his mind tricks Asrael began glow, his eyes burning with terrifying fire and his blue orbs glowing painfully bright, as his latent power, unique to dragons, was called upon.
He moved so fast towards the Charmeleon that his body merged into an indistinct blue blur, and he crashed into the Pokémon with enough force to knock down a building. Asrael's dragon energy exploded out of him when he collided with the Charmeleon, enveloping both creatures in a bulbous dome of light blue energy. This dome of energy sucked sound itself out of the world before attracting the very air to its brightly glowing core.
Both trainers struggled to breathe as the air around them became an oxygen-less vacuum. Everything was still, frozen in place as the world braced itself for the explosion to come. Then the mysterious silence and stillness was shattered as the dome of energy finally erupted outwards. Sound suddenly returned to the whole in a rush of disorientating bangs and both the trainers were knocked flat to the ground by the flare of energy before being pounded by unnatural winds, created by the explosion, which scoured the battlefield.
After nearly a minute of confusion and chaos everything suddenly fell silent. There was a huge crater in the ground where Asrael collided with the Charmeleon and the grass had been ripped from the ground by the wind. Huge burn marks blighted the soil, which would not grow again for a very long time. Asrael lay at the centre of the circle, completely unharmed but totally drained from the attack.
He raised his head weakly and looked at Jack with trustful eyes before submitting to unconsciousness. The Charmeleon was nowhere to be seen, the only thing signifying it had ever been alive was a small pile of ashes and the faint smell of burning meat. As Jack watched the ashes disappeared in a flash of white stars as the remains of the Charmeleon were returned to its Pokéball.
Jack turned to his opponent, who could barely talk for fear and shock. The boys face was ashen and his whole body was shaking, but Jack knew that he didn't look much better. He shakily made his way over to the boy on trembling legs and held out his hand, 'I believe you owe me money.' Jack was glad his voice didn't betray him.
Mutely the boy handed over a wad of cash and turned and fled from the scene. His story, fantastic in the truth, would be embellished and exaggerated. This is where the legend of Jack Lovata was started.
But Jack knew none of that. Slowly he returned Asrael and walked towards Vermillion, still unsteady on his feet. There was a large road leading into Vermillion, very similar to the one leading out of Cerulean, except the land around the road was wild and untamed. A spattering of trees grew in the long unruly grass, each tree home to a flock of Pidgey with the occasional Pidgeotto or Pidgeot visible through the dark green foliage.
The wild Pokémon here, like the ones outside most large cities, were very wary of trainers and didn't attack. Instead they skulked in long grass, indignantly insulting the trainer behind their backs. Jack ignored the venomous insults and followed the road to Vermillion. The hard road was not helping his legs, soon the dull ache that permeated them became a sharp pain.
The pain became so much that Jack sat down heavily on a large rock, painfully massaging his injured calf. Whilst he was sitting on the rock he got jumped again by a trainer. He stood up grumbling, 'what is it about you trainers that makes you challenge people who are injured or resting? It's pathetic.'
His opponent, a tall red-haired girl in her late teens seemed unabashed by Jack's grumblings and released a four foot tall turtle Pokémon with dark blue-indigo skin, large furry ears, a long tail covered in soft, thick fur and a scarred, algae covered brown shell. Jack decided that both he and Asrael needed battle practice to get used to his new form so for the second time in less than an hour Asrael took to the field.
Asrael was now extremely large and powerful looking at nearly five metres in length and the trainer who jumped Jack was starting to have second thoughts. 'Can't back out now,' warned Jack, annoyed with being jumped for the second time. 'Asrael, use thundershock!' Electricity began to spark around Asrael's body as he let loose a gigantic, tangled web of electric bolts towards his petrified opponent. 'Wartortle,' screamed the red-haired trainer, 'use bide.'
The water Pokémon immediately retreated into its shell and watched with wide eyes as the attack, which certainly was not thundershock, bore mercilessly down on it. Just before the attack reached the Wartortle shut its eyes and braced itself for the inevitable pain.
The web of electricity converged on the Wartortle and for a second the Pokémon was invisible in a deadly cage of electricity. Then the cage collapsed and the Wartortle screamed as fifty thousand volts of electricity coursed around its body. If it hadn't been hiding in its shell it would have been certainly fried, as it was the Wartortle was barely able to stagger to its feet, its shell now covered in a thick coating of charcoal.
Thinking quickly its trainer darted in front of it and sprayed some kind of substance on it from a purple canister, healing the Wartortle of the worst of its wounds. 'That wasn't thundershock,' whispered Jack, looking at Asrael with something akin to awe. No answered Asrael, his voice full of mischief I heard your order but decided to elaborate upon it. That was thunderbolt! He laughed happily that may be happening a lot now.
'Asrael, use thunderbolt again,' ordered Jack, trying to end the battle quickly. Before Asrael attacked the Wartortle suddenly broke into a sprint and smashed into Asrael with its thick skull. The trainer must have whispered an order when Jack wasn't looking so he was taken by surprise. So was Asrael. He was so focused on charging his thunderbolt attack that he didn't even see the powerful water Pokémon sprinting towards him.
Asrael let out a yelp of pain as he was knocked heavily to the floor, writhing wildly as he tried to shake of the Wartortle which had clamped down on his tail with large fangs. Whilst it was biting the Wartortle also viciously scratched at Asrael's skin with thick claws. Asrael's skin as a Dragonair was thicker than it was when he was a Dratini, but the prolonged attack bludgeoned its way through his protective scales to rip at the soft skin beneath.
Asrael began to scream in a mixture of pain and anger as the Wartortle's claws and teeth began to cut his skin, sending globules of blood spraying onto the lime green class, small ruby stones in a sea of emeralds. With a powerful flail of his tail Asrael sent the Wartortle skidding through the grass, kicking up large clods of soil and grass, and rose up into the air, radiating power.
'Asrael use slam!' shouted Jack, seeing the Wartortle's vulnerable state and wanting to take advantage of the situation. Asrael's eyes bored into him and Jack noted the mischievous glint in their endless depths. Asrael's tail began to glint with a metallic sheen as it arrowed through the air towards the Wartortle, which had managed to pull itself to its feet. Asrael stopped about two metres from the Wartortle and swung his tail round with unbelievable speed.
His tail connected with the Wartortle hard, immediately snapping its armoured chest and the attached ribs. The force of the blow knocked the turtle Pokémon off its feet and into the air, where he seemed to hang for a second, as if suspended on wires, before crashing heavily down to the floor. If it hadn't been for its shell the Wartortle's chest would have been caved in and its insides would have been liquefied, definitely not the first time that the organic armour had saved its life, but with its protective shell the Pokémon could still just about totter to its feet.
'Wartortle use hydro-pump,' shouted the girl, desperately trying to salvage the battle. The Wartortle's body seemed to heave, every muscle tensing despite its obvious pain, for spraying out water from its mouth.
The attack was incredibly thick and powerful. It made Asrael's water gun attack look like that of a small child, dwarfing it in size, thickness and velocity. The attack broadsided Asrael with all the force of a sledgehammer, snapping the bones in its tail like twigs and throwing it through the air like a small toy. Asrael must have flown for at least thirty feet before he crashed unceremoniously to the ground and moved no more.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief and pattered her Wartortle on the head, the Pokémon affectionately nuzzling her hand. To both trainers' surprise Asrael's body shivered then rose slowly and tiredly into the air, wavering but not falling. Asrael gave Jack a cheeky wink, his mischievous nature evident even in the heat of battle, you didn't think I was hurt did you? Sorry for worrying you! Jack sighed and barked out an order, 'end this now with a final thunderbolt.'
My pleasure. The orbs on Jack's body glowed yellow and sparks danced along the length of his body as he charged up the attack. 'Wartortle try and endure this,' pleaded the trainer, 'use bide again.' The Wartortle retreated back into its shell again, with an air of resignation, closing its eyes and tensing its body to somehow manage the impossible and endure the attack.
Asrael's attack was every bit as large as the last one, maybe even larger, and the mesh of power hit Wartortle to great effect. For a full ten seconds electricity danced around the shell like small, deadly faeries before finally abating. The burnt, unconscious body of the Wartortle flopped out of its shell, much to the chagrin of its trainer. Jack waited for her to recall her Pokémon before collecting his prize money and continuing on the road to Vermillion.
When Vermillion City was in sight Jack sat down to eat the food in his backpack. As he ravenously tore into soft, fluffy bread he had bought from a baker in Cerulean he felt a tap on the shoulder. Another trainer stood over him, obviously challenging him. 'Piss off,' answered Jack, his mouth full of food, 'can't you see I'm eating.
He turned away and was yanked to his feet by someone a lot stronger than him, accidentally spilling the last of the bread onto the grass as he did so. Mud covered the delicious, expensive, freshly baked bread and Jack swore loudly, rounding on the trainer angrily.
'You're going to pay for that,' he yelled, spitting bread right into the trainer's eyes. Jack shoved the trainer and stalked to a spot around ten metres away. 'The sooner we get started the sooner I can get back to my food. Jumping a trainer while he's eating. The trainers here are cowards. You're all bloody cowards.'
Like the other trainers the heavily muscled teenage boy opposite him seemed unperturbed, calmly releasing his Pokémon onto the ground. A green-blue dinosaur like Pokémon with a large red bulb surrounded by large ferns growing on its back growled menacingly at Jack, showing surprisingly large fangs in a blood red mouth. A beautiful scent wafted tantalisingly from its swelling bulb.
Jack smiled widely at the trainer who had attacked him before releasing Dante. It wasn't a nice smile. 'Dante,' shouted Jack, anger evident in his voice, 'let's finish this in one move with flamethrower.' With the pleasure responded Dante I've never like grass types.
Ravenous flames licked greedily at the air as they emerged from Dante's steel-toothed maw, homing in on their leafy prey. The Ivysaur only had time to brace itself, tucking its head tight into its body, before it was engulfed by the voracious flames.
Immediately the flower on the Ivysaur's back exploded into flame, burning and wilting until only a faint skeleton of the bulb was left. The leaves were burnt to ashes and the Ivysaur's body was covered in soot and dirt. Under its coating large white blisters could be seen on its green skin as well as angry red sores inflicted by the boiling flame.
With the loss of its bulb came the loss of all the grass attacks which made the Ivysaur such a dangerous opponent, however it could still use physical attacks.
'Ivysaur use takedown,' called the trainer, worriedly running his hands through his spiky black air. Jack shook his head in disbelief, 'rookie mistake. Really, really bad mistake.' He sighed, 'Dante finish this with iron head.' The two Pokémon began to run towards each other, both gathering speed until they were running surprisingly fast for stocky, four-legged Pokémon.
The Ivysaur powered towards Dante with his shoulder, meaning to crush him into the ground. Dante was having none of it. He caught the attack on his armoured skull, the Ivysaur's body bruised badly on impact, before tossing the creature through the air to land heavily on the ground. It didn't look like it was moving any time soon. Suddenly Jack saw the wooden stump of something begin to push itself through the Ivysaur's back, and cursed as it began to glow with a pure, white light. He knew what was happening next.
The glowing reached its peak as the Ivysaur's body was gripped by a molecular change peculiar to Pokémon before dying down to show a formidable opponent. The Ivysaur had more than doubled in size. Its body was now hugely powerful and muscular, its skin hard and pitted. The bulb on its back had been replaced by a large red flower with an enticing golden centre held up by a thick wooden stem.
I'm a Venusaur crowed the Pokémon in triumph, turning its blood-shot red eyes on Dante now you will lose forest-burner. The Venusaur was now larger than Dante, though probably not as heavy, but Dante didn't seem worried. Without a command from Jack it attacked with another flamethrower, trying to crush it again.
The flames reached Venusaur and for a second the Pokémon was engulfed by a raging inferno. The flower and leaves began to get eaten by the fire, huge chunks disintegrating in the flame. However as quickly as the flower was burnt, it healed even quicker and when the attack abated the Venusaur only seemed moderately weakened. 'Venusaur use razor leaf,' shouted the trainer who seemed extremely confident.
I still have the type advantage thought Jack, gritting his teeth as he hurriedly adapted his plan. 'Dante burn those leaves with flamethrower.' Large leaves with barbed, serrated edges swooped in from the surrounding areas to hover in front of the Venusaur before scything through the air towards Dante. Dante belched gouts of flame and watched in satisfaction as the leaves wilted and dropped lifeless to the floor.
'Now Dante use iron head again!' shouted Jack. 'Venusaur match him with takedown.' Both Pokémon charged towards each other, and Jack had a strong sense of déjà vu for just minutes earlier, except this time Dante was the smaller Pokémon.
The two Pokémon collided with enormous strength. The collision actually created a shockwave of energy that travelled through the soil, creating small earth tremors before dissipating. The Pokémon were evenly matched. The Venusaur was larger but Dante had the weight advantage because of his steel plating and was holding his own. Both Pokémon dug into the ground with large claws as their thick limbs strained to push the other back.
Dante's enormous claws scored deep trenches in the ground, but he could get more purchase with them and slowly began to push the big grass Pokémon back. The muscles in the Venusaur's huge neck bunched together as it struggled to hold Dante's advance but it was to no avail. Slowly the Venusaur's front legs were lifted off the floor as Dante began to crank up the pressure, and suddenly Dante tossed the huge creature onto its back with a flick of his powerful body.
As the Venusaur struggled on its back Dante attacked with a flurry of powerful punches and slashes, ripping through the Venusaur's thick skin and damaging internal organs. With a powerful kick Dante was sent somersaulting away to land heavily on his side where he lay for a moment. Both Pokémon struggled to their feet and faced off again, expressions deadly. 'Venusaur let's end this, use petal dance.'
The Venusaur grinned evilly as it called on nature and a huge tornado of spiky leaves and petals engulfed it. With this razor sharp shield the Venusaur smashed into Dante with a powerful attack. Dante yelled as the leaves and petals sliced through his skin, leaving innumerable small cuts the covered his whole body.
Dante tossed the Venusaur away but the tornado left its creator and closed in around Dante, preparing to rip him to shreds. 'Dante,' shouted Jack, trying to keep calm in the face of such impressive power, 'burn the leaves! Don't let that leaf type beat you.'
Dante managed to ignore the tornado threatening to rip him to shreds, put aside his panic and set his body on flame. The flames on his body burnt bright, hard and hot and soon the tornado of leaves and petals were burnt to a crisp, falling down on Dante's body like ashy snow. 'Now Dante use fire blast!' Dante's eyes became pits of flame as he prepared to use much of his energy with this powerful fire attack.
The flame began building in his throat, but it stayed there for much longer than a normal flamethrower attack. Suddenly Dante could hold back the flames no longer and they exploded from his mouth in an unstoppable torrent. The flame engulfed the Venusaur in a swirling mass of 1000 degree flame and the poor Pokémon's deep bellows of pain could be heard even above the raging of the fire.
The torrent just did not stop. Fire poured out of Dante's mouth for a good thirty seconds before spluttering to a halt. It was complete overkill. The damage was done within the first five seconds, the rest just increased the damage. The Venusaur lay on the ground, bright flames feeding on its body. It looked like a beacon, smoke billowed off its body into the sky, merely the kindling for the rapacious fire feeding on it.
The trainer quickly recalled the Venusaur, not wanting to submit it to anymore suffering. He turned round and glared at Jack. Jack's returning glare was deadpan. He slowly walked towards the trainer and held out his hands. The trainer clenched his fists and really looked like he would punch Jack in the face.
Jack knew he probably deserved it, but in his mind it was the other trainer's fault for attacking him. What happens in the battle arena happens, they are dangerous places which can inflict great pain and great fame. To Jack the pain didn't matter, it was the fame and achievement that interested him.
After the trainer reluctantly handed over his money Jack turned round and walked the rest of the way to Vermillion City cursing the trainers under his breath. The distance between Cerulean and Viridian was less than ten miles, but it had taken him over twelve hours to walk the distance. It was an extremely grumpy and irritated trainer that finally reached Vermillion City in the pitch blackness.