Working on this a bit early since I have nothing better to do. I intend for this chapter to move the story along at a nice clip and set the pace for the bulk of the story. How well I can pull off this chapter will determine how far I can go with this (or rather, how fast).

It was finally time to put Cerulean City in Red and his friends' wake. The next stop was south; Vermillion City. Unfortunately, the path to Route 5 was blocked off by tangles of chin-high thorn bushes. Blue suggested using the Pokémon move Cut to clear the way, but no one had a Pokémon that knew Cut. The group looked around town for a way south. The searching was fruitless for some time until (mostly out of desperation) the group checked the northeast corner of town. There were police around one house that looked like it had been burglarized.

The trainers walked up to the house to see what the commotion was about. It seemed the police were just finishing up with the place. The reason it looked burglarized, apparently, was because it was. Apparently a criminal using a Pokémon to terrorize and rob the owners of the house. Green was the first to decide she wanted to help and dragged Red and Blue along for the ride as usual.

Inside the place was a total mess. There were claw marks and footprints all over the floors, walls and ceiling. The furniture in the room was thrown about the room and ruined with more of the same. The owners were doing their best to clean up the destruction. Green was the first to approach them, picking up a few damaged books on the floor.

"Excuse me," she said politely, handing off the books to one of the homeowners. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but what exactly happened here?"

"A bandit stole the TM for Dig!" the man of the house exclaimed. "I was going to teach it to one of my Pokémon since it's such a useful move, but now it's gone. Darn those Rockets!"

"Those Team Rocket guys again!" Blue growled unkindly.

"I'll find them for you," Red said as he made his way toward the back of the house. Ordinarily there'd be no door, but now there was a hole where the Pokémon and its crook trainer blasted out an escape route. Green apologized for Red's manners and she and Blue followed.

They didn't have to go far to find the thief. He was in a rather large abandoned lot behind the house he had robbed. He had a strange Pokémon next to him. It was a yellow and brown shrew-like Pokémon standing on two legs and had a long, floppy nose. He was apparently trying to figure out how to use the TM he had stolen. Red could sympathize with the thief at least as far as that went; he still couldn't figure out TMs himself. Though that didn't mean he was going to compare notes with the crook.

The criminal, standing right next to the scene of the crime in his Rocket uniform, noticed the three young trainers' approach. "Hey! Stay out!" the Rocket called at Red, "This isn't your yard!"

"It isn't you're yard either!" Green shot back.

"Forget whose yard it is!" Blue cut in, "Give back the TM you stole!"

"Who, me? I'm just an innocent bystander, don't you believe me?" Judging from the look Red was giving him, he didn't. Red was already drawing a Pokéball for the coming battle. "Drowzee, use Poison Gas attack!" the Rocket ordered, pointing at the interloping trainers.

Red and the others jumped out of the way of the toxic purple cloud. Red threw his Pokéball as he dove out of the way. The house that the Rocket had burglarized was directly behind them and he couldn't let the attack go unchecked. "Pidgeotto, Gust!" Pidgeotto burst forth from the Pokéball and summoned a tornado to dissipate the smoke.

"How dare you Rockets use Pokémon to attack people like that!" Green snarled. She'd have been throwing a Pokéball of her own had Red not already beat her to it.

"We're going to make you pay for that!" Blue added. He didn't care that Red already had a Pokémon out, he was drawing a Pokéball to throw at the next opportunity.

"Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

"Drowzee, use Pound attack!"

It was almost sad how one sided the exchange was. Pidgeotto blasted past Drowzee at blinding speed, slamming into his foe hard enough to lift it off its feet. Drowzee did attempt to pummel Pidgeotto with its fist, but it had no hope of hitting it. Pidgeotto had really come into his own after evolving. And even if Pidgeotto was still just as ready for a fight as before (though that was far more normal for a Pidgeotto than a Pidgey), he was a lot calmer and more focused now. "Try Confusion, Drowzee! Just hit it this time!" the Rocket ordered impatiently.

"Pidgeotto, Sand Attack." Pidgeotto responded instantly, kicking up a massive wave of sand that blocked Drowzee's vision. The normally invisible psychic waves of Drowzee's Confusion attack rippled through the cloud of sand safely away from its target. A smirk played across the beak of Pidgeotto when it saw the dust cloud was covering the Rocket as well, causing him to cough and rub his sand filled eyes. "Finish it with Twister," Red ordered casually. Pidgeotto obliged, his keen eyes spotting his target among the sand and picking it up and throwing it into a nearby fence. Drowzee was knocked soundly out.

"Fine!" the Rocket said, still trapped in the dust cloud. A light brown computer disk flew out of the dust cloud toward Red. He caught it easily. "You can have the TM back! It's time for me to leave!" The Drowzee disappeared into red light that vanished into the dust cloud. Soon after, the cloud dispersed, but there was no Rocket to be found. With a dissatisfied sigh, Red turned back to reenter the burglarized house. His mood only brightened when his victorious Pidgeotto landed next to him and followed him inside.

"Here," Red said to the homeowner, handing over the TM.

The man looked it over and smiled. "Thanks, kid. This is really nice of you, but I figure what's lost is lost. You can keep it."

Red was about to take the item back when Green appeared next to him. "Can I have it then?" she asked brightly. Red looked over at her, frozen in mid motion with a sour look on his face; she had that look again…

He threw up his hands in defeat, "Whatever." He walked out, Green and her new TM right behind him.

"Hey, how come you didn't give it to me?" Blue asked as he joined them.

Route 5 was just beyond the lot behind the burglarized house. It was a short walk from there to the Underground Path that led to Vermilion City. Green wanted to see if the road was open to Saffron City, a place she had always wanted to visit, since a road there led to Saffron. Unfortunately, the road was closed for work to be done on it.

The Underground Path was a concrete tunnel running under Saffron toward the port city of Vermilion. The city was renowned for its many Pokémon Trainer destinations; the S.S. Anne was in port holding a party for Pokémon Trainers, Diglett Cave that offered new Pokémon to catch, and of course a Pokémon Gym. There were a few scattered trainers along the way, but nothing was going to stop the three young trainers on the path to greatness.

Kind of a weak ending line, but otherwise good. I'm hoping I can "fast travel" like this for most of the grind to level X0 or more here routes throughout the game. Not only would this get mind numbingly boring (to write or read!), but it would also likely result in this lasting for way too long. A story like this is bad enough as it is, I don't need it getting any more doorstopper…