Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies. The characters in this work are all loosely based on those created by Pokemon and its companies, and this story will never by no means be used to make monetary profit or gain.
CHAPTER TWO
Sticks and Stones:
Officer Jenny held my trainer's card to the light as if she was testing its authenticity.
"Spent half of my life chasing you and that Oak kid outta the woods. Can't believe they finally gave you two one of these..." Officer Jenny shook my card in her hand and then finally gave it back. She winced a moment. "Supposed I told you not to step outta the route and dwindle in the forest, I'd be wastin' my time, wouldn't I?"
I nodded honestly.
She rolled her eyes. "Cute." Then she saw my pikachu. Her eyes widened with recognition. "Hey lil fella, you caused me quite some trouble all those years ago." She addressed him.
It was true. The day of my accident, I was lucky that Professor Oak had been returning from a trip to Viridian City on his tauros, Ares. When he had arrived at Pallet's gates and learned from the guards that his grandson and I had yet again managed to escape, he had searched for us himself. He had found us just in the nick of time before my pikachu could have had given me anymore permanent damage.
Afterwards I had heard that he had quite the talk with the officers.
My starter looked at Officer Jenny for a second and then lost interest. He made himself more comfortable in the basket of my bike and continued napping.
"Huh," Officer Jenny said. "Not very talkative, is he? Kinda like you. Does he have a name?" I didn't answer immediately, I got distracted by the second time today someone pointing out the similarities between me and my pikachu. Realizing the officer was waiting on an answer, I shook my head.
"Well, all papers are in order, so take care I guess." I was about to ride through, when she called again. "Oh, and Red? Knock'em dead!"
Grinning, I waved her farewell and pedaled onward. It made me happy when other people called me by Blue's nickname for me. It felt as if its meaning was solidified.
I checked the pikachu in the basket. Still asleep. I really need to find you a name, I thought.
As I cycled towards Viridian City, I went through my plan once again. Since my aim was to make it to Victory Road in three years, I needed to strategize wisely. Unlike Lance, I didn't have the time, resources, or team to go through all sixteen gyms. I would have to make do with the minimum eight.
In practice, trainers could challenge the gyms in any order they wanted to, aside from the Blackthorn and Viridian Gyms. Those two gyms were each the Kanto and Johto factions' eighth, meaning they could only be challenged if one had a minimum of seven badges. Also, unlike the other gyms, these two only gave out badges through battle. Therefore, not many trainers tried getting badges from Claire and Giovanni - the respective leaders for these gyms, Claire was none other than the heiress to the Blackthorn Dragon Breeders Clan and cousin to Champion Lance himself, whereas Giovanni was the most feared Elite Four member during the previous Champion, Agatha's reign.
Viridian City Gym was closest to Pallet town, but due to me being seven badges short, it was impossible for me to challenge it. Not sure if I wanted to either. Challenging an ex Elite Four member with just a pikachu was among the mistakes I wanted to avoid during my trainer's career.
The second closest gym to Pallet was in Pewter City, which was my aim. After Pewter, using the ferry I could go around Mt. Moon to Cerulean City for my second Gym Badge, and then south to Saffron for my third. Then to Celadon, and from there using the cycling road to Fuchsia. In Fuchsia I could catch a ship first to Cinnabar Island and then to Olivine City in Johto. My last badge would be in Ecruteak City, which would be the closest city to Olivine.
Overall a solid plan, I thought. Logistically, this route was both the safest and the quickest route I could take. By going on foot whenever I could, I would be able to both catch and train new pokemon. I imagined, including pikachu, I would need to train at least four pokemon, but I didn't think I had the time to train a full six-member roster. The last two members to my team I would probably need to buy from other trainers using my eventual earnings.
This plan of course hung on a lot of "ifs". The common people would think that the life of a trainer was full of glory; marching from one city to another, commanding a squad of monsters, earning money by battling others...
It was not. Most trainers struggled financially. They battled frantically without planning and lost more than often, wasting their money on tournament or gym entry fees. Sometimes even the best laid out plans would foil, simply because not all pokemon were equal in strength. There were times when pokemon would be killed - Fuchsia City Gym for example had quite the reputation for its death count. Then trainers would be forced to either catch and train new pokemon or buy already trained ones, a loss of both time and money. The Plateau did offer some help for struggling trainers, for example pokecenters offered free lodging and care, but they were mostly overbooked and understaffed, so lots of trainers were forced to camp in the wild outside city gates. And that was a risk all by itself, never knowing if you would survive the night with monsters out there ready to kill you.
Most routes in Indigo were safe though. Rangers had done quite a good job at isolating dangerously classed pokemon. Yet there were still areas more dangerous than others, Mt. Silver, Ilex Forest, and the Safari for example. The route I was currently on, route K01, was one of the safest ones.
It took me a week of cycling until I reached Viridian City. I made my pikachu run along me mostly to keep his stamina up. Along the way I caught a single zigzagoon which I mainly used to train pikachu during nights when I camped. During these small training sessions, I realized my starter was one of the pikachu that could run electricity through its fur. Some electric types were capable of storing large amounts of electricity, making them invulnerable to opposing electric attacks. These were the "volt absorbing" pokemon. Other electric types ran excess electricity through their skin, leaving those touching them paralyzed in pain. A "static" shield, so to speak.
My pikachu belonged to the latter group, which bode well to his stubborn nature. He would rather take hits then dodge them, which wasn't exactly the smartest strategy for a small and frail pokemon that should rather strike from a distance. Still, instead of making him work against his instincts, I tried teaching him the right way to take hits. I taught him to run static electricity through his fur the moment of contact. At the same time, I wanted him to jump back to lessen the impact of the hit. It took him a few tries, but I was generally impressed by how quick he learned it. His sparring partner the zigzagoon would lunge, only to be paralyzed the minute it touched my starter. Meanwhile, having jumped back, my pikachu would take less damage and finish off the slowed down and already in pain zigzagoon with his powerful lightning bolts.
A good strategy to cripple those stronger and faster, I thought. It still needed to be perfected though. Pikachu could only put up his static defense only once every three times, and one time the zigzagoon managed to get a bite, which pissed my pikachu off bad. I had to threaten him with the ball to stop him from zapping the poor zigzagoon to ashes.
The ball was another example of stubbornness with my pikachu. I had long given up upon trying to put him in it. Though unusual, there were plenty of other trainers who let their pokemon roam free. Luckily, pikachu were small pokemon and would not cause much of a problem in closed spaces, though I wondered how big mine would get when he eventually became a raichu.
I didn't spend much time in Viridian City. After replenishing my supplies, I thought of visiting Giovanni's Gym, just to get a look of the place, but decided against it when I overheard an elderly man talking about it being closed. I also considered detouring a bit towards west to the end of route K22. I knew at there I could find first of the Badge Gates trainers would have to pass in order to enter the championship. I later gave up on that idea too. I was already short on time, I didn't need to waste more on symbolic visits.
In the end, I just booked a small but cheap motel room for my pokemon and me. We were both tired of spending the last week in the open and a good night's sleep would do us both good before we continued tomorrow.
After having a cold shower, I was lying on the bed, playing with my pokedex, when my starter jumped up to my stomach and lay flat. I began scratching his ears with one hand and was rewarded with growls of pleasure.
"I really need to name you, you know," I said aloud. He kept growling.
"My first pokemon was a pidgey." I continued. "I named her Feathers because, heh, she had feathers." Pikachu snorted. Chuckling, I went on. "Would you like a name like that, based on your outward appearance? How about Thunderfur, Lightningtail? No? Quickfeet?"
He gave me the nasty eye, but I was having too much fun. "The professor names his pokemon based on ancient deities and legends. Maybe you'd like something like that. What do you think of Susanoo-no-Mikota or Mikoto something, I forgot."
His cheeks sparkled.
"Right. Got it. Not big on the name." Grinning, I reached out and shut the lights. In the dark, I confessed. "I always imagined a different kind of starter, did you know?"
I could only hear my pikachu's breathing.
"Don't get mad. You should know already by now that I'm full of ambition. I don't show it to other people though. Better to be underestimated."
I didn't know why I was speaking like this, knowing that my pikachu could only understand partially, if at all, any of what I was saying. It felt good though.
"I always imagined a larvitar. I know, I know, they're illegal as starters, but something small becoming big and strong. The idea inspired me."
I shut my eyes, slowly letting sleep take its hold.
"Realistically I expected something like an ekans. Moderately dangerous, would grow strong, obedient. Kinda like those other three starters back at the lab. Those who had no problem with a pokeball."
I heard a weird sound. Had my pikachu laughed?
"If you were another pikachu I might have been disappointed. You know your kind isn't exactly the cream of the crop. Fast and quick and dashing attacks and all that, but still frail and small."
A moment my mind cleared with ideas, plans of teammates to cover my pikachu's flaws and lacking. But the hold of sleep was getting stronger. I could hear my starter's breath also getting steadier.
"But then there you were. Something haunting from my past. A small monster that scarred me forever because of my momentary stupidity. I still don't know why I approached you that day. Like I said: Momentary. Stupidity. But I'm glad I did. That act reminded me of the dangers of my dream. That I couldn't let myself relax if I was serious about this."
I remembered hearing a rumor that Lance had never smiled in his life. My lips curled upwards needlessly. With one hand I found the yellow mouse and stroked his back again.
"It is destiny that you and I are in this together. It is destiny that I now have a starter who will always remind me of my goals. Who will always remind me to think smart."
I yawned loudly and was about to finally go to sleep. One last word.
"You still need a name."
His fur lit up a moment and died.
))(())((
I stared at the seemingly endless forest in front of me.
I had left the motel early morning and headed north through the gate. Half a day of cycling later I was at the point of route K02 where the road met Viridian Forest.
I knew that if I kept to the road I would be relatively safe. I knew that rangers patrolled the forest day and night. I knew a large amount of travelers passed through without harm every day.
Yet this was still my first experience seeing the real wild, not the small woods that I was accustomed to near Pallet and route K01.
I bit my tongue. I gestured my head forward and my pikachu eagerly jumped ahead.
My first impressions of the forest were generally positive. The shade of the trees felt nice. An elderly ranger who was probably on break greeted me with a "Safe travels!" as I passed by. The highlight of my day was when a stantler jumped in front of me, stared into my eyes, and then jumped back into the trees.
I looked longingly after it. The sun had begun its descent and I could feel the evening chill. I stopped cycling for a moment and began thinking my options here. My starter next to me stopped and looked up questioningly.
I was in a dilemma. On one hand, I really wanted to reach Pewter City as quickly as possible. Without any detours that would take about three days. On the other hand, I also wanted to explore the forest. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be lost, I remembered my training well. The upside would be that I could catch new pokemon to help train mine, or even potentially add them to my main team. The downside would be that I couldn't bring my bike with and no matter how many rangers patrolled this area, it was still the wild and the night could be dangerous.
In the end my curiosity won. I chained my bike to a nearby tree and turned to my pikachu. I nodded him towards the densely arranged trees. My plan was to camp outside the road for a day and return to my bike the next. Overall, this side trip would cost me only a day's loss.
My pikachu was ecstatic. He jumped around me, ran ahead and back, and occasionally let out small bolts. I had never seen him this happy. I reminded myself that he wasn't a born and bred lab starter, but rather a trained wild one. This forest was his home. His energy rubbed off on me too, I was in a high mood as I let myself deeper into the forest.
The first thing I noticed were the sounds. The wild pokemon had made their homes deep in the woods, not near to the manmade road, so I heard all sorts of whizzing, chirping, and grunting around me. A playful yanma flew next to me for a while, but left quickly after my starter sent a lightning bolt after it. I saw a pidgeotto swoop down the trees and chase after it. I briefly wondered if it was Feathers.
Next, were the smells. They were overwhelming. I put my nose to work and followed a particularly sweet scent. I was rewarded with a small hive of paras huddled together under a tree. I kept my distance, afraid of the deadly spores they could unleash if I went near, but I marked the place on my dex. I intended to come back later, paras mushrooms were a delicacy if cooked right.
The catch of the day was a venonat. I caught him after I realized my pikachu kept avoiding a certain tree in the clearing we were. Though not psychic types, venonat had low level psychic capabilities and they emitted confusing waves as a defensive measure. No doubt they had hit my pokemon and my poor starter was running amok, wanting to go near but instead wobbling sideways. I gave an order in a loud, sharp voice, and hearing it cleared his head. He rushed forwards, headbutted the small tree, and the venonat fell backwards. Before it could run away or sink its poisonous fangs - you could never expect what a wild pokemon would do - my pikachu's thunderbolt hit it, burning it on its side. I threw a ball and caught it.
This is good, I thought. I always thought psychic pokemon were the most offensively dangerous pokemon. I could now use this venonat as a training means for my pokemon to get used to psychic attacks. Eventually though, I would have to move on with stronger psychics.
The sun was setting down so I decided to make camp in the clearing. I started a small fire and laid my sleeping bag near. I ripped a small piece of cloth from my spare clothes and went back to the paras nest. I wrapped the clothing around my mouth to prevent inhaling spores, and acting quickly, I grabbed and dragged a paras from its hind legs, minding the sharp pincers on the front. It gave small shrieks as I broke the two mushrooms on its back. Then I let it go and ran back to my campsite.
I left the mushrooms boiling in a pot of water as I released the zigzagoon, two pokemon out were better than one in the wild. As I let him out, I saw my pikachu straightening up with the hope of another sparring match, but I shook my head. Disappointed, he slumped down while the slightly more relaxed looking zigzagoon began sniffing around.
I ate my mushrooms as soon as they were ready and put out the fire. Night was setting and I did not want to attract unwanted attention. I turned to the zigzagoon who had rested all day and ordered him to guard. He gave an understanding bark as I crawled in my sleeping bag - with my pikachu, of course.
I slept soundly, knowing that both the zigzagoon and pikachu's instincts would wake me up if anything happened. Throughout the night, I only woke up once as an overly curious beatifly fluttered its large wings near me and then took off after I threw my shoe at it.
Pikachu slept without any disturbances as far as I could tell.
The next morning, I woke up to pidgey and pidgeotto chirping. I yawned, crawled out of my bed, and began cleaning up after myself. I couldn't find my shoe for a few minutes but then the zigzagoon brought it back in its mouth. "Good job," I muttered as I recalled the proud pokemon back in its ball. Pikachu was still asleep so I gave him a gentle kick. He woke up and gave me a look as if he had been awake the whole time and was waiting on me. "None of that," I said, and we tried to find our way back to the road where my bike was. It took a few tries, but we finally found the right way and made it back.
A surprise awaited us.
My bike was shattered and broken apiece. It looked as if it had been stomped on by a large foot. Next to the remains, a ranger stood.
"Yours?" he asked, grinning. "My condolences."
I was too angry to speak.
"Primeape habitat these trees you should know." He continued. "One probably saw this bike and tried to yank it away. At one point I assume something tempered it and it began smashing - not that it needs an excuse, nasty little fuckers these primeape." He looked down on me. "You know this counts as littering, don't you? You can't leave the remains of your bike here."
I was beginning to like this ranger less and less.
"Take care of this," he ordered as he noted down my trainer's ID number. "I'll be back tonight and if this mess isn't cleaned, a fine will be waiting for you." He whistled and a fearow swooped down. She cawed at me mockingly and then flew up with the ranger on her back.
I cursed loudly. Not only was my fastest means of transportation destroyed, I was stuck with this demeaning task.
I released both the zigzagoon and the venonat. Not trained, still afraid, and scarred from pikachu's attack, the venonat tried running away, but my pikachu pinned it down. The tired eye sets of the zigzagoon, the panicked bug eyes of the venonat, and the daring eyes of the pikachu all looked up at me.
"Well?" I snapped as I began clawing my hands in the forest dirt. "Start digging."
))(())((
Hours later, I was covered in dirt and on the road. My starter walked silently next to me. Both the zigzagoon and the venonat were in their balls.
I was in a bad mood. I had spent valuable time burying my broken bike deep enough. My initial plan to reach Pewter in three, four days was now impossible. On foot it would take a week at best.
But I soldiered on. This was the life of a trainer after all, full of unexpectedness. I thought of trying to make the most of it by training my pokemon against psychic attacks and catching more.
The following days were a cycle of monotonous repeat. Early morning pikachu and I would dive into the forest, always keeping the road near. We would gather, hunt, and explore. The tracking function of my pokedex came especially handy during these ventures. I caught a small mankey which I thought would be a better sparring partner than the zigzagoon for my pikachu. I also found an above averagely large metapod and added it to my small team.
Around midday, I would trail back to the road and follow it to Pewter. I would walk till night settled and make camp afterwards. During the nights, I trained my starter first physically against the mankey, then mentally against the venonat. The mankey was a much fiercer and stronger opponent than the zigzagoon, and my pikachu slept a few nights covered in bruises. His training against the venonat went far better and soon the confusing beams had no effect on him. They still had an effect on me though, and I felt myself constantly dizzy during this training.
After nine days, we finally reached the end of the forest. I was still frustrated that I lost time, but I had to admit it was for the best. The constant exercise had strengthened us, and I now felt generally more equipped to deal with Pewter Gym's challenge.
The gate guard glanced me up and down after I handed him my license. I knew I looked feral, covered in dirt, smelling like dirt, and on my shoulder a pikachu whose fur had turned brown from dirt.
"Welcome to Pewter City." He eventually managed.
I checked myself in the nearest and cheapest lodging that had a shower.
After my starter and I freshened up, we hit the pokecenter. A commune full of trainers, I was hoping I could get a good price for my zigzagoon and venonat. I sold my zigzagoon to a female trainer who wanted a well-behaved pet for his younger brother. I assured her that he was and left out the part where he was trained for only about two weeks. The venonat I sold to a bug catcher for a better price. I parted easily with it because I hoped that the metapod would evolve into a butterfree soon, a pokemon that had a slightly higher psychic caliber and would be better for training.
Next, I began touring the city.
Though separated from the rest of the region by the surrounding mountains and Viridian Forest, Pewter was bustling compared to the other two cities I had been in. Historically rich, her people struggled hard in the past, almost always under attack by wild pokemon stampeding down the hills or out of the woods. The land was barren aside for a few crops growing near the riverside, which being too far from the main settlement was a risk on its own. The people worked hard together to survive and thrive, and despite the dangers, they eventually begun capitalizing on the uniqueness of their land. Rock and stone were more plenty and easier to obtain than wood, so they built the city of them. Tunneling through the mountains to their east, they discovered a rich branch of fire stones. Digging further, they were rewarded with water, leaf, and the rarest of them all, moon stones. They began mining and, using the river, shipped these valuable stones over to Cerulean in return for much needed goods. Slowly, a bountiful trade route began to establish. The rising commerce and population finally built up to the city Pewter today was.
The greatest boost to Pewter's economy came however in the recent years, after miners discovered fossil pokemon eggs rooted deep in the mountains. Fossil pokemon were a type of rock pokemon that laid their eggs literally in stone. It took many years, even centuries for their offspring to hatch, but the results were always powerful pokemon. I knew Brock of Pewter had three of these rare pokemon in his main team, and even Lance had an aerodactyl, though it was overshadowed by his dragons.
When news of the discovery of fossils reached the other cities, researchers and scientists from all over Kanto and Johto came to have a hands-on field experience to study the abnormal behavior of these pokemon. First private and individual, then corporate, and finally league issued funding boosted the city's capital, resulting in a lively, happy city filled with friendly workers having a sip of MooMoo Milk together at the end of a hard day's work.
As I strolled through the beautifully stone crafted streets and buildings of Pewter City, my feet unintentionally led me to Pewter Gym. It was a huge, plain building and a crowd of trainers and spectators were in front. On a whim I made my way through the crowd and entered. A cool air greeted me.
I waited the line in front of the receptionist. She looked like a kind elderly woman. On her shoulder a murkrow was perched.
"First time trainer?" She greeted me warmly.
I looked at her. How had she guessed?
She explained with a smile. "Your starter on your shoulder. The more experienced keep them in balls as a hidden advantage. Only the extremely confident or the rookies show off. Anyway, how can I help you?"
I told her I wanted to challenge Brock.
Her eyebrows rose.
"I am duty bound to remind you that as a first-time battler you shouldn't challenge a leader immediately." She bent forwards closer to me, obviously trying to give me friendly advice. "Look around you. Most trainers here are rookies like yourself. Brock and his gym aides are extremely good teachers, and these trainers know it. They hope to stay here a couple of years, hone their skills, and get their first badge by completing tasks. I advise you the same. You look young, and it would hurt you to see your starter injured in a battle. Brock tries to keep casualties to a minimum, but what he hates most is overconfidence."
I looked her straight in the eye. "I am not going to get my first badge by ordering my pikachu to jump through hoops." On my shoulder, my pikachu's fur crackled.
She sighed, obviously having heard speeches like mine a lot during the years. She checked the large size dex in front of her. "An opening next Friday. Is that suitable?"
I nodded, paid my fee, and left. Behind me I heard the murkrow cawing.
))(())((
After practicing more with the mankey and pikachu, I went up to the rooftop of the motel. My starter was next to me and we both stared at Mt. Moon, towering ominously in the dark at a distance. Pikachu nuzzled closer to me. I opened my dex.
"Brock." I read aloud his biography. "Born in Pewter City. Studied at Pewter Gym before beginning collecting badges in Indigo. After six badges, instead of continuing the challenge, he applied for a position in his hometown. Spent a year as a gym aide before being appointed as leader." I looked at my starter. "His main team consists of: Onix. Kabutops. Omastar. Aerodactyl - hey Lance has one of those too. Rhyperior. Golem. His signature pokemon: Diamondback the Onix. His starter: Shatterstone the Geodude."
"Killer team," I muttered. There were a few strategies when building teams. A "core" team would be based on two or three different types of complementary pokemon, and then you would add other pokemon depending on the core's weakness. The advantage was that you had a team ready for every scenario. The disadvantage, pokemon with different types usually fought among themselves and the trainer had to utilize different training methods for each one. The generally harder approach to team building, the only worthwhile trainer I had ever heard with this type of team was Champion Cynthia of Sinnoh, who had built her team around a steel-dragon-fairy core with her lucario, garchomp, and togekiss.
Brock's and many other trainers' teams were built on a "type" strategy, meaning most, if not all, their pokemon were the same type. It made training tremendously easier, and if you had a few pokemon to counter your team's weaknesses, you had an unstoppable team.
"Yeah." I repeated. "This team would kill us. Luckily we're not fighting it." I scrolled down the dex trying to find the gym challenges. "You see," I said to my starter, whom I was sure just wanted to sleep, "there are two ways to get a badge. With badges being the equivalent of academical degrees, normally, if I wanted to become a doctor let's say, I'd go and study for years at Celadon, Fuchsia, and a few other Gyms I forgot about. After completing their challenges, I would finally be rewarded with a badge."
I paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "But training licenses are different. They allow us to skip studying and directly issue a challenge. If we win, we get a badge, dodging years of field work. You following?" I nudged my pikachu. He gave me a slight shock. Great.
"It seems simple, right? It's not. The leaders fight tooth and claw with more experienced monsters than you could ever imagine. Ah there it is." I finally found what I was looking for on the dex.
"Pewter Gym, Combat Rules: Clause one: If the challenger has fifteen badge- wait I need to scroll down. Here. Clause sixteen: If the challenger is a first-time challenger the match will be 2vs1 single battle in favor of the challenger. That means I can switch between two pokemon to counter Brock's one. My plan is-"
I cut my sentence when I heard snoring. I gently carried my pokemon back to our room.
I stood awake. I couldn't sleep.
There were six days to our first match.
And I already had my plan ready.
...2vs1 in favor of the challenger...
...what he hates most is overconfidence...
I grinned evilly and waited for dawn to break.
))(())((
Author's Note:
Here are some small explanations if you're not familiar with the source games. If you've played the games after gen 3 then you probably know the abilities "volt absorb" and "static". During Red's description of pikachu I tried explaining them both.
I never liked the idea of fossil pokemon being brought back to life, so instead I tweaked it a bit with the laying eggs in stone part. More details on that later.
Brock's team is his PWT team in the games, except I changed relicanth in favor of rhyperior. I mean, who wouldn't want a giant rock dinosaur in favor of a slow old stone fish, am I right?
The team building strategies are actual strategies that poke-battlers in real life use. When I mean real life poke-battlers, I mean gamers using Nintendo devices to connect wireless to battle others. This sort of helped me to overcome the whole "why do leaders and elite4 and even some champions only use a single type of pokemon duuuurgh?" problem in games. Also, more details on that later, possibly explained in Blue's perspective.
Finally, this week you all get a double chapter, but after that I'll probably stick to a chapter a week. Also in the future I'll limit the size of these "Author's Notes" I write and only explain the hardest to find references. Everything you don't understand or are confused about will be explained in detail later, trust me without knowing me.