Not that surprising that it's Friday, but due to some weird (and mildly annoying) circumstances, I'm working on this sooner than I usually do. That's kind of a depressing thought. I have a vague idea of where I'm going with this chapter, but I'm not sure how far I'll get.
Erika was a challenge for Red and Blue to be sure, but they were able to both pull off wins against her as well. Red had the advantage of his Charizard's Fire and Flying-type abilities, and Blue had brought a host of Fire-types to the Gym in advance, knowing about the Grass-type specialty. Erika remained graceful through the whole event. She presented the three trainers with their Rainbow Badges for defeating her and assured them that she'd keep a closer eye on her Gym so that no one would get turned away in the future.
"Well, that was an annoying delay!" Blue complained.
"You wouldn't have been delayed if you had just helped us with that Rocket thing," Green noted.
"Are you still on that?"
"Just drop it," Red said quietly, "none of us were expected to do anything about it."
Green sighed, "I guess that's true. Still, I'm going to chalk that up to karma."
"Whatever," Blue grumbled.
The group returned to the Pokémon Center to heal their Pokémon from the hard Gym battle. Erika was a crafty opponent, using her Grass-type Pokémon's abilities to release spores and powders to disrupt opposing Pokémon with type advantages. With the sleep, paralysis, and poison, all three trainers had at least one Pokémon that needed help.
The Pokémon Center took quick and excellent care of their Pokémon. There was still some daylight left, so the three decided to see how far they could get. They started on the path out of Celadon City, heading toward a place called the "Bike Path". It was a long, mostly flat hill many people used for off road biking and was the fastest way to get to Fuchsia City. Fuchsia City held the next Pokémon Gym, so all three of them were eager to get there as fast as possible.
The path out of Celadon City was a modest one given how bustling and lively the city itself was. There was a wide, natural path connecting the city to the Bike Path. It wasn't very long, but very quickly, they found there was an obstacle in their way. A big one.
"Not another one…" Red grumbled.
"Another one?" Blue asked, "You've seen this before?"
Red nodded, recalling seeing a giant, tubby, teddy bear like creature with mostly dark fur and a white belly. "There was one off of Route 11," Red explained, "If this one is anything like the other, it's not going to move any time soon."
"We'll see about that!" Blue said as he stomped up to the big creature. Before Red or Green could do anything to stop him, he wound back his foot and kicked the Pokémon as hard as he could. His brilliant plan didn't work, however. As soon as his foot hit the side of the Pokémon, he recoiled. "Ouch!" He started hopping away from the still sound asleep Pokémon, holding his now throbbing foot. "What's that thing made out of?!"
Green tried her best not to laugh, but the best she could do was to keep it to a quiet snicker. "I'm telling you, no bad deed goes unpunished." Blue just glared back at his friend.
Red decided to stay on task, "How are we going to get to Fuchsia City? The other one is blocking the only other way there."
"Do either of you know what a Poké Flute is?" Green seemingly asked out of nowhere. Red and Blue looked at her quizzically and saw her looking at the Pokémon with a strange pair of binoculars. "This thing sais 'Snorlax. Recommendation: Poké Flute'."
"What is that thing?" Blue asked as Green put away the binoculars.
"The Silph Scope, according to the label on the side," Green explained, "The leader of the Rockets dropped it after we beat him."
Blue thought for a moment. "Actually, now that you mention it, I think I have heard of the Poké Flute. I think a guy named Fuji had one. He lives in Lavender Town."
"Then we should head back to Lavender Town and see him," Green suggested. After a second she looked at the darkening horizon and realized the time. "Actually, let's do that tomorrow."
They returned to the Pokémon Center for the night and set out first thing in the morning. They made good time toward Lavender Town. Having already been in the area and caught all the Pokémon they could, there was no reason to linger.
Lavender Town was just as dreary as they left it. It wasn't hard to find Mr. Fuji's house, it was the only thing of note in the town other than the Pokémon Tower and Center. There was a sign on the door that said it was always open, so the trio of trainers let themselves in. Inside was full of Pokémon. None of them were particularly rare, mostly locals if their first glance was anything to go by and none of them looked like they were trained for battle or even caught. The inside of the house seemed built for the Pokémon that milled about rather than any human occupant, though there was space enough for someone to live there.
Unfortunately, Mr. Fuji was nowhere to be seen. The Pokémon all seemed worried about something, some even looking pleadingly at Red and the others. It was as if they were asking for something.
"Something's wrong here," Blue noted as he looked around.
"They want to know where Mr. Fuji is," Green said as she reached down and petted a worried looking Rattata. "I'm pretty sure that's what they're trying to tell us." She picked up the little rodent Pokémon to address it face to face. "Hey, little guy. Do you know where Mr. Fuji is?" The Rattata, which had been content to sit in Green's palms until then, jumped out of her hands and dashed through a dog door in the front entrance of the house.
The three trainers followed the Pokémon out. It hadn't gone far, just a few steps outside, and was staring at the Pokémon Tower. The trainers knew what that meant; they'd have to brave the haunted tower again.
Just as before, when they reached the third floor, they were quickly surrounded by angry ghosts. "Now what?" Blue asked as their Pokémon froze at the wild Ghost Pokemon's illusion again.
"I've got an idea!" Green said, pulling out the Silph Scope. The display activated, identifying the Ghastly surrounding them. "They're Ghastly, alright. But it's not telling me anything else."
"It doesn't have to," Red said with a smile as the ghosts' illusion wore off, causing the fighting spirits of the Pokémon to be restored. "I don't know what's going on here, but we're going to find out!"
Not what I thought it was going to be, but I'm okay with it. Not much else to say here, so I'll see you next time as Red and co. climb the haunted Pokémon Tower.