Saffron City seemed to be built all around one giant skyscraper. The lettering on the side of the building established it as Silph Company, their logo looking like a split Pokeball making an S-shape. It looked to be one of those situations where a company made their headquarters and just built a small town around them for their employees to live.
However, there was a lot of security around for some reason.
Guys in outfits like the guys from Celadon with big "R"s on the jackets of their black uniforms guarded almost every entrance. They didn't really seem to notice me, until I tried entering some of the buildings. I'm not sure if they were trying to keep people out, or keep people in. There was even a guard in front of Silph Co, chatting with some of his friends.
"With Silph Co. under our control, we can exploit Pokemon worldwide!" the taller of the guards shouted at the top of his lungs, looking excited and dancing about in front of the skyscraper's entrance.
"Marv, I know that." the shorter one sighed heavily, making it obvious this was the ten thousandth time Marv had said that phrase, "Boss Giovanni made it clear that Silph Co is responsible for the best Poketech on the planet, and by taking over the company… forcefully… we can also take over the world."
Well, crap.
Hobbes the Sandshrew jumped up and down on my hat, pointing at Marv and his shorter accomplice, as if demanding we fight them. Thing is, I also remember this plot point from the Pokemon games. Silph Co is about the midpoint of the game, and there was no way in hell we were ready at level 12 to take down all of Team Rocket.
Luckily, there was one thing that Team Rocket had missed, one house none had gone near a few blocks away. There was an eerie pressure coming from the house, and I found it hard to even approach the door. Something beyond my scattershot memories were screaming at me to leave the house alone. Steeling myself, I turned the knob and threw the door open as hard as I could. It slammed open, shaking a picture frame off the inside wall and bounced back in my face.
Catching the door sheepishly, Hobbes and I peeked inside the home. It was another one of those bizarre two-story, one room affairs that seemed to populate the Kanto region. Kitchen, bedroom, living room, and any other thing a person needed to live all crammed into one high-ceiling'd home. At the very least, it looked cosy. At the center of the room, sitting at a short table, was a frail elderly man, balding and wearing a pair of sunglasses. Without me even saying a word, he turned to me. His eyes seemed to penetrate me despite the tinted glass between us.
"Don't say a word!" he boomed, suddenly before me as I blinked. His hand thrust out at me, holding the jewel case for a compact disc, "Take this!"
Red got TM-29!
Red put TM-29 in ITEMS.
Without warning, we were shoved out of the house by an unseen force, and the door slammed in our faces. I looked down at the CD in my inventory. It was labeled "Psychic," and the surface shone purple with unspeakable power. Hobbes crawled off my head to my shoulder and poked at the case, shrinking back when the case rattled in my hands. Carefully, I placed the Technical Machine on the ground and pulled Shazam the Abra out of his Pokeball.
Shazam shadow boxed the air a few times as he spawned, as befitting a Psychic Pokemon who somehow relied on his fists more than on his mind. Shazam watched me as I picked up the jewel case once more, popping it open. I applied the CD to his forehead and it let out a high-pitched whine as the purple disc glowed brightly and began to spin faster and faster until it shattered into fading shards of energy.
Shazam learned PSYCHIC!
Ok, so he'd forgotten Headbutt, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have his head hurt the enemy in ways that would actually work with his type.
Team Rocket was beginning to take notice of the single, lone Pokemon trainer wandering around Saffron City, so I chose to head north. After several minutes of walking up Route 5, I entered Cerulean City. It seemed pretty peaceful, to be honest, and the sound of running water pervaded the entire town.
Of course, it wasn't perfectly peaceful. I noticed an Officer Jenny taking a report from a pair of civilians. Their front door had been ripped off its hinges and thrown to one side, and I could see that the house inside had been ransacked with the intent of finding something.
"That's right, Officer," a large man spoke up loudly. He was the owner of the house, apparently, and looked incensed and frustrated at the whole thing, "So far as I can tell, they only took the Technical Machine I'd just bought. TM-28 for Dig." he paused, patting the Pokeball on his belt, "I meant to teach my little Diglett how to dig so I could work on my garden."
Officer Jenny nodded, sketching down notes in her notepad as she "mm-hmm"ed an answer.
"If I find the jackass who did this," he continued, getting even more worked up and grabbing the shovel "I won't even engage them in a Pokemon battle! I'll just keep hitting them with this shovel until they don't move anymore."
I heard a soft 'eep' coming from behind the house.
I let out a low sigh and walked around the house, climbing easily over the three foot wooden fence. Hobbes let out a squeal of "shrew!" as he spotted what I had heard: a man in dark clothes with that same white "R" across the chest, trying desperately to sneak away. Why the hell didn't he even try to run away? What did he hope to-
You know what? Forget thinking about it.
"Android!" I cried out, throwing my pokeball at the thief, "Ice Beam!"
Before the already slow-thinking thief could react, he was encased in ice up to his neck. I walked around to the front of the thief, calling Android back into his Pokeball. I looked the idiot up and down, and couldn't help but notice he was part of the same group of people from the Rocket Game Corner and Saffron City. Laying on the ground in front of him was the TM-28 that had been stolen. Unlike the unnerving TM-29 from earlier, this one was a dirt brown in color. And, of course, was labeled "Dig."
"This won't stop us…" the frozen thief shivered, "Team Rocket will go on without me…"
I ignored the thief and jumped the fence back to the front of the house. Within seconds, I was holding out the stolen item to the owner of the home.
"Oh," the man blinked in surprise, seeming awkward about the offer, "...thank you for the offer, but I'm going to teach Diglett how to dig without one."
"...but this is the exact one that was stolen."
"No-no," the burly man laughed, "You obviously worked hard to find one as well, so I must refuse. My shovel and I will do this the hard way. But thank you, young man."
I nodded reluctantly and pu-
Red got TM-28!
Red put TM-28 in ITEMS.
-yeah. That.
Well, might as well make use of this one. Hobbes had been pawing at TM-28 when it was in my hands, and let out a little squeal of delight when I slipped it back out of the ITEMS bag. Popping the disc out of its case, I placed the Technical Machine on the Sandshrew's head. It whirled and exploded like the previous one, albeit much less creepily. Hobbes flexed his little arms, pleased with itself. He had forgotten Razor Wind, but we'd never used it before, so there wasn't any loss there either.
Hobbes and I wandered around the city a little longer, taking in the few sights like the Bike Shop and the Cerulean Gym. I didn't feel confident enough to take on a gym yet, especially with a Geodude who wanted only to splash around in water rather than fight. There was a very ornate wooden bridge stretching over the nearby river, and it looked pretty cool. We walked close by an-
...why did the music change?
Without warning, a new person seemed to jump out of nowhere, marching towards me with intent. Without warning, the young boy pointed to me and shouted, "Yo! RED! You're still struggling along here?"
"...who are you?" I asked, scratching at the back of my head. I looked to Hobbes, who only shrugged.
"I'm doing great!" the apparent Rival continued, ignoring my question, "I caught a bunch of strong and smart POKEMON! Here, let me see what you caught, RED!"
With that, Rival threw out a Pokeball. From the fading glowing light, a little Growlithe formed. Hobbes leapt off my shoulder and instantly used Dig without my asking. Blue, as I now somehow knew him as, told his Growlithe to try and scratch… only he couldn't, as Hobbes was underground. Hobbes shot up with an uppercut from the dirt, knocking the Growlithe out in one shot.
"Pretty snazzy, RED," Blue admitted, recalling Growlithe and throwing out another Pokeball.
This time, it was a Pidgey. I decided to let Hobbes keep fighting, but then stood there in shock as the Pidgey jumped into the air and flew at Hobbes with a Hi-Jump Kick. This also seemed to catch Hobbes by surprise, as he reeled back and blinked a few times. The Pidgey also stopped to Wing Attack the air a few times, as if boxing at an unseen opponent.
I pulled Hobbes back, sending out Android in his place. The Magnemite flew out of his Pokeball, spinning its little magnets as menacing as something adorable could. The Pidgey kicked the metal ball, sending it flying back as it lost some HP. However, he wasn't out yet.
"Ice Beam!" I shouted, and Android complied. The Pidgey froze solid, also KO'd.
"Hmph," Blue scowled, throwing out his third and last Pokemon.
A Rattata. Oh, thank god. Something nor-
"FLAMETHROWER!" Blue commanded, and the Rattata somehow complied.
Flames built up in the little rat's mouth, bursting forth in a stream of impossible death at Android. While the Steel typing wouldn't be part of him until Gen 2, it was still damned deadly-ish to him. His HP dipped low and the Magnemite fell unconscious.
HOW.
What kind of loving God, or Arceus, would let this crap happen? I pulled Android back into his Pokeball, sending out the only guy who would have some sort of resistance to it.
"Go, Burnie!" I cried as I threw out my second Pokeball.
The Charizard looked down at the Rattata in front of it. Flames surrounded the pair of Pokemon, and a subsequent flamethrower really didn't do much damage to the fire-based Pokemon. Luckily, his Rattata's defense wasn't fantastic and didn't hold up to a single Mega Punch from Burnie.
With all three of his Pokemon downed, Blue recoiled in surprise. For a second. Then his cocky attitude came over his face once more, "Hey! Take it easy! You won already! Hey, guess what? I went to BILL's and got him to show me his rare POKEMON!"
Oh, good. Blue was going to ramble at me about some more plot stuff that I didn't care about for the moment. I simply turned away and began walking, ignoring the rest of his dialogue. Blue didn't seem to care, but I don't think he was set up for much beyond just reading out his script.
However, something was finally dislodged in my swiss-cheese brain. That Rattata shouldn't have known Flamethrower, that was obvious. But Team Rocket was made up of about a third of Rattata and its evolution.
Oh.
Shit.
Well. I guess my romhack might have just screwed this world over royal. I need to fix this. And to do that, I need supplies…
Hobbes and I stood atop the Celedon City Department Store. The reason I'd trudged back to the department store was really simple: cheap refreshment with Water from the vending machine. I'd remembered stocking up on hundreds of these back when I'd played the game in my youth, so it couldn't be too hard to do it here either.
I dropped 200 Pokedollars into the coin slot and chose the Fresh Water. The machine made a loud clunk and… no water came out. Something was there, though, and I grabbed it. Pulling as hard as I can, I found myself flying back several feet as the item finally became unwedged and came out.
…
I just bought a Bicycle.
What.