"Huh, so, I guess that big gatehouse over there connects to Viridian forest?" asked Arden to Gimpy as they approached it. He glanced at a smaller side road branching off in another direction. "What do you reckon's down that way?"
"Squirt. Squirtle," replied the pokemon shrugging.
"I have to tell you, that means absolutely nothing to me," Arden said.
"Hello youngster!" shouted an elderly man standing at the edge of the path.
"Uh, hi," answered Arden warily.
"You're new as a trainer, huh?" asked the old man.
"Yeah, I guess," said Arden. In an undertone he added to Gimpy, "Who is this guy?"
"Want me to show you how to catch pokemon?" asked the old man. He seemed excited about the prospect.
"No, that's okay," said Arden, now feeling rather alarmed. "I think I've got a pretty good idea how it's done. Er, thanks for the offer, though—"
"Oh, come on!" said the old man, coming forward. He grabbed a hold on Arden's upper arm. His grip was surprisingly strong for such an old man. "Here, I'll show you how it's done!"
"You're hurting me," said Arden. He tried to pull away but couldn't. The old man started pulling him toward a patch of tall grass. "My mother warned me this would happen if I went abroad," said the boy to his squirtle. "I should have listened…"
"Look there!" said the old man, pointing one bony finger at a clump of grass that was moving. A weedle inched its way out of it leisurely. "A pokemon! Now, you reach into your pack and find a pokeball…"
"Aren't those poisonous?" said Arden. "I mean, shouldn't you weaken it first? So that it doesn't kill us with its poison?"
"Squirtle squirt!" Gimpy chimed in, in agreement.
"Don't be a pansy!" yelled the old man into Arden's ear. His manner calm again, he continued, "Now, we throw the ball!"
And he threw it. It opened up in the air next to the weedle, enveloping it in a red light, before closing again, sucking the pokemon into it. The ball fell to the ground a wiggled a few times before making a beeping sound. The old man relinquished his grasp on Arden's arm and picked up the pokeball. "And that's how you catch a pokemon! Normally, though, you'd weaken it first."
"Yeah, I know that," said Arden. "I told you I knew that, but then—"
"Have a good day, youngster!" said the man, walking off.
"Squuuuuirtle," mumbled Gimpy, making a twirling motion at his temple with one stubby finger. Arden bit his lip and nodded, and they continued on their way.
"Y'know, I think I have a name for that pidgey you concussed," said Arden as they walked down the path toward the gatehouse.
"Squirt?" asked the pokemon, half-interested.
"Yeah," said Arden, assuming it was the squirtle equivalent of a 'what?' "I'm going to call him Brain Damage. Because he has brain damage. I mean, I know it's a long name, but the only shorter one I could think of was 'Stupid'. And, well, that wouldn't be any good on his self esteem. I feel guilty enough for him as it is. So Brain Damage. Brain for short, maybe."
"Squirt," said the squirtle, now seeming entirely disinterested.
Arden frowned as they reached the gatehouse. "Never mind then," he mumbled. "I don't know why I try to talk to you…"
He pushed open the door and entered the gatehouse. Just an empty building with a door at the far end. Arden wasn't sure what he was expecting, but this… Seemed so unnecessary. A few people were walking around inside, but Arden continued on without talking to any of them, or even making eye contact. He wasn't about to have another episode like he'd had with that old man. "People in Kanto are weird," he mumbled to Gimpy as they exited the building.
Viridian forest spread out before him, full of lush grass and enormous trees. A trail of short grass, worn down by hundreds of feet of hundreds of travellers. Maybe over hundreds of years, but Arden wasn't sure. He didn't have any idea for how long people in the Kanto region had been trudging through this forest. He'd gone to school, but they'd just talked about pokemon and pokemon training and pokemon battling and pokemon collecting. No history or anything. His instructors had told him he'd pick that up as he went along. He noticed a young boy sitting at the base of a tree in front of him, and chanced an interaction.
"Hey," he said. "Do you know which way I go to get to Pewter city?"
The boy replied in a nasal voice, "There are poisonous pokemon in this forest. You should have some antidotes with you."
"Ah, okay," said Arden, raising one eyebrow. "Thanks. I'll, uh, take that under advisement… Now, about Pewter city?"
"My pokemon fainted because it was poisoned and I didn't have any antidote," stated the boy.
"Sorry to hear that," said Arden. He pointed to one path. "Does that lead to Pewter city?"
"There are trainers up ahead," said the boy. "If you make eye contact with them, you have to fight them. That's the rule."
"Whose rule?" asked Arden. "That's a stupid rule."
"It's a trainer's duty," said the boy.
"I… okay, whatever," said Arden. "But is this the path to… Oh, never mind. I'll just find it myself."
"Make sure you have antidotes!"
"Right," mumbled Arden, starting off down the path. "You too."
"My pokemon fainted because I didn't have any antidote."
Arden exchanged a glance with Gimpy as he left the boy behind and—for a brief moment—trainer and pokemon were connected in mutual frustration and befuddlement.