Pokemon: Crimson and Azure

Chapter 2: On the Road to Viridian City

In this chapter:

~Route 1-Crimson's First Pokemon!-Gotta Catch 'Em All!-Entrance to Viridian City~

~Route 1~

1 km long and relatively safe route simply labeled as „1", it connects our heroes' home town to their first destination: Viridian City

After her first Pokemon battle ending in a win for our main hero, Crimson, we find her at the edge of Pallet Town where she met Prof. Oak. She was standing in front of a sign reading „Route 1- Connecting Pallet Town with Viridian City". She suddenly had a flashback of the Professor telling her and her new rival about Viridian's Pokemon Center, where they could sign up for the Indigo League Challenge. Crimson looked back at the town one last time, then forward towards the path surrounded by trees and tall grass and sighed. She had already returned Flare to her Pokeball, which was now in the balls pocket of her bag. She stepped forward, passing the sign and heading further out the path. Her journey has now officially began. This was also the first time she was ever leaving Pallet Town alone, and on foot. But she wasn't scared. She had Flare with her after all. After some walking she saw a figure in the distance. She squinted her eyes to try and make out who it was, due to the morning sun shining towards her. She could only make out the figure waving at her. She shrugged it off and continued forward, until she could make out a boy roughly her age.
„Hello there, traveler! My name is Tom and I work at the Viridian Trainer Shop! I came out here to advertise our store, we sell Pokemon medicine and merchandise! Potions, Pokeballs, Antidotes ... we have them all!"
„Huh, that's nice I guess." Crimson replied, trying to smile a little, but deep inside she felt uneasy. She always hated people who advertised something like this, just blabbering about how great their products are and stuffing them in people's faces.
„I know, I'll give you a free sample, here!" The boy said with a smile and took out a strange bottle of pink liquid from his backpack which was lying on the ground next to him, handing it over to Crimson.
„Wow, thanks." She said, taking it from his hands and examining it.
„No problem! Now keep in mind that's just a regular potion, it will only heal small wounds, which is why we are selling them for a cheap price! They are excellent for beginners like you though. To use it, just press the button just below the cap."
„I might look like a rookie but I know more than you think." Crimson frowned at him. She already knew things like this from all the TV shows she had watched and all the tutorials she had seen on the internet.
The boy just laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head... When all of a sudden, they heard something moving in the bushes near them.

~Crimson's First Pokemon!~

There is nothing more exciting for a beginner trainer than catching their first ever Pokemon!

Crimson looked around and saw the tall grass wiggling around, as if something was walking around in it, she slowly got closer to see it was a Pidgey. „Now's my chance ..." She thought to herself, swiftly pulled out her Pokeball and threw it. The ball opened and projected the Pidgey inside, and then closed, starting to wiggle around. „Yes!" She shouted and jumped in joy. The boy from earlier approached her. „Uhm... miss .. that won't work..."
„What? How come?" She asked
„Well ..." Just as he said that, the ball opened and the Pidgey reappeared, flying away.
Crimson just stared as it flew away, half surprised, half embarrassed, and half angered.
„You see ..." The boy continued. „You first need to battle and weaken the targeted Pokemon. Just throwing a ball straight away usually won't work."
„I see ..." She said, picking up her ball and putting it back in her balls pocket, then turning back around to face him. „Thanks for the advice and the potion ... i appreciate it."
„No problem!" He smiled. „Be sure to visit us at Viridian City!"
„I will!" She encouraged him and ran off. She was still not sure what to think of the boy, he seemed nice enough, at least he wasn't chasing her around to give her stupid flyers that she would throw away at the earliest opportunity anyway.
After she could no longer see him, she stopped running to catch her breath, then looked around. Shutting her eyes, she listened closely to the warm breeze, trying to sense if there are any more Pokemon lurking around in the tall grass. Opening her eyes, she looked around again, seeing nothing but a long path with curves here and there, forests and fields surrounding it as it was slowly ascending towards the higher peeks where Viridian City was located. Crimson got buried in thoughts about becoming the champion again, and all of the amazing journeys she would have. Then she suddenly came to her senses as she heard more rambling around in the grass. She looked around and managed to spot a Pidgey not far away from her. She remembered the kid's advise and pulled out Flare's Pokeball, throwing it in the air. "Come out Flare!" She shouted as her little lizard friend jumped out of it's ball, did a flip and landed perfectly on the ground. That caught the Pidgey's attention and it turned around towards them. Crimson pulled out her Pokedex and opened it. It displayed the Pokemon she was facing. There was no info on it, since she hadn't caught it yet, but it did display it's level: Level 2. Given her Charmander was already at level six, she had a pure advantage over the poor thing. "This is gonna be a breeze." She said with a slight giggle. "Flare, charge straight in with a scratch attack!"
Her Charmander did as told, but missed as the Pidgey flew up, then flapped it's wings together really fast to create wind powerful enough to knock Flare back a bit. "Shute … this might be harder than I thought …" She said to herself, trying to think this through. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped in her brain. "Flare, jump up as high as you can and try to grab onto that Pidgey's legs!" She gave her pokemon a command as it nodded and jumped up. Thankfully the Pidgey wasn't flying that high and Flare managed to latch onto it's legs with it's claws, which caught the bird Pokemon in total surprise. "Good, now use scratch!" Flare did as told and scratched the Pidgey's belly, then let go and jumped down to the ground. The pidgey fell to the ground, but swiftly got up and kicked some sand in Charmander's direction, lowering it's accuracy. "Shute … Flare, stay in one place and try to listen to Pidgey's movements!" She said calmly as Flare did as told. The Pidgey then launched a Tackle attack straight at Flare. "…Now, jump up!" She shouted, her charmander jumping up just before the Pidgey's body was about to collide with it's own. The pidgey stopped and landed on the ground. "Now launch a scratch attack!" She shouted, Flare finally rubbing the sand off it's eyes and growling as it jumped towards the pidgey, landing a direct hit at it's wings. There was no escape now. "Pokeball, go!" She said just to add up to the tension, throwing one of her pokeballs, sealing the pidgey inside. The ball started waggling left and right as before, but quickly stopped with a beep sound. Crimson just stared in awe, then looked down at her Pokedex to see Pidgey was now marked as caught, with it's moveset updated. Apperantly this one already knew Sand Attack and Gust, rare for a level 2 pidgey. She was so excited she didn't even bother reading the dex entry. She just closed her dex and shouted "We did it flare!" And hugged her lizard, both being full of joy. "Char-char!"
"Dad would be so proud …" she thought to herself at that moment. "You did great, Flare … I'm proud of you." She smiled at her charmander. "Return" She returned it to it's Pokeball, and then picked up Pidgey's pokeball as well. Suddenly she heard a beep from the Pokedex that was still in her hand. She opened it up and saw the message Oak was talking about. "Do you want to give a nickname to Pidgey?" She thought about it for a moment but then denied. She was never good with names to begin with, and considering there were still 151 Pokemon left for her to catch, she highly doubted she would nickname all of them. Filled with confidence, she put her pokeballs and pokedex back in her bag and continued walking down the road.

~Gotta Catch 'Em All!~

After her first catch, Crimson felt more thrilled than ever! She got one step closer to finished the Pokedex, only 149 Pokemon were left!

After about 20 minutes of walking, Crimson stopped and sat down on a rock at the edge of the path for a quick snack. She opened her bag and pulled out one of her two sandwiches and began munching it down. "Ah… mom's sandwiches were always the best." She thought to herself whilst eating. But suddenly she remembered she was not alone. After she was done chewing, she retrieved her Pokeballs from her bag and released her two Pokemon. " You two must be hungry … I know Pokemon food would be better, but it's all I have for now." She said, taking out the second sandwich, splitting it in two and reaching out with the pieces in her hands. "Char Char!" Flare happily took it in it's claws and began munching it down. The pidgey examined it first, then gave it a quick peck to taste it. Soon after, it took the entire thing in it's beak, flew off a short distance away and began to peck it down. "Well, at least you like it …" She smiled, enjoying the sight of her Pokemon eating. She then decided to finish her own sandwich. Flare finished first, and then approached the newly caught Pidgey, reaching out her arm for a handshake … or more, a wingshake. The pidgey stared at Flare a bit scared at first, but the stretched one of it's wings out as Flare shook it slowly. "Char char!" "Curroo Curroo!"
Crimson eyed them, finishing her sandwich. "What interesting creatures Pokemon are …" She thought to herself."
After they were done with their lunch, Crimson had a quick drink and then got up. "Arlight you two, back in your balls!" She said, returning Flare first with no issues, but then her newly caught pidgey flew up as she tried to retrieve it. "What? You don't want back in the ball?" The Pidgey shook it's head, indicating it didn't want to. Crimson chuckled sweetly. "Okay then, you can fly around for a while." She said, beginning to walk again. The Pidgey flew around freely close to her.
After 10 to 15 minutes of walking, Crimson stopped as she sensed something was wrong with Pidgey. It had stopped flying and was looking down at the taller section of the grass, as if following something. She looked at the direction at which Pidgey was looking to see a strange purple figure in the grass. She pulled out her Pokedex and it detected a Ratatta, level 3. "This will be tougher than Pidgey … but at least Pidgey will get more battle experience. Plus, I have the upper hand this time." She thought to herself. "Okay Pidgey, launch straight at that Ratatta with tackle!" She shouted to Pidgey. It did as asked and flew downwards in high speed, hitting the ratatta directly, knocking it out of the tall grass and exposing it to Crimson's view. "Good, now do another one!" She said, as her bird launcher another attack, but this time the ratatta let out an odd hissing-like sound, launching straight at her pidgey with it's own tackle. Both attacks collided, resulting in both sides taking serious damage. "Pidgey no!" She shouted as her pidgey fell to the ground, whilst the ratatta was still standing strong. Thankfully Pidgey managed to recover rather quickly and flew up again. "Yeah! Now, use sand attack!" She shouted, the pidgey flying low and flapping it's wings towards the ground, directing the sand that was now flying through the air towards the purple rat, blinding it briefly. "Good, now's our chance, tackle!" She shouted. Her Pidgey launched for a tackle attack. The Ratatta was unable to dodge due to the sand in it's eyes. It couldn't see where the attack was coming from. It got hit directly and fell to the ground. "Good, go, Pokeball!" She said the same line again, throwing another pokeball at the ratatta, sealing it inside. Again, the same beep was emitted from the pokeball and her dex. She opened it up to see it had updated the data on the Ratatta, along with it's moves: Tackle and Tail Whip. "Yes, three down!" She jumped in joy, then ran towards her pidgey for a hug. "You did great, Pidgey, you deserve a good rest." She smiled at it. "Curo coo!" The pidgey returned to it's pokeball. She picked up the new ratatta's pokeball and put it in her bag, along with pidgey's. She then opened the Dex and denied the nickname request again. She then remembered she forgot to check Pidgey's gender. It was male, and her ratatta was female. She retrieved her Pokedex to her bag, now being down to three pokeballs. She sighed happily and turned around, continuing along the path. She highly doubted she would find any more pokemon around these parts.

~Entrance to Viridian City~

The town where all new trainers will pass by eventually, including our heroes.

It was now nearing 10 AM, the temperatures were slowly rising. Crimson was getting quite tired, the distance might have been more than 1 km, but climbing all those small cliffs was hard work, especially in the summer. But when she looked ahead and finally saw a town forming in the distance, she was relieved. She reached a sign saying "Welcome to Viridian City, an eternally green paradise!", with the city standing not far away from it. She smiled, and walked through the main gate.

Next time: Azure's Journey to Indigo Plateau.