Pokemon: Crimson and Azure

Chapter 10: Vermillion City and S.

In this chapter:

~The City-The Pokemon Fanclub-S. -An unintentional accident-Vermillion Gym~

~ The City~

"A southern city that is bathed in orange by the setting sun."

With the arrival of a new day, came Crimson's awakening in Vermillion City, the insanely popular city that connected the Kanto region with the ocean. It was ultimately famous for it's cruise ships, making it a great tourist attraction. After her usual morning exercises and breakfast, including some for her Pokemon, Crimson set out to explore the town a bit. Aside from all of the regular buildings, there was one plot of land where an old man had been standing on, with a Machop stomping the ground flat.
He noticed the young girl staring at him and his Machop in greatest interest and curiosity, and struck up a conversation: "Why hello there, young lady! This here's my plot o' land! I'm going to build a little house here, and my trusty pal Machop here is helping me out lay the foundation, isn't that right, buddy?" As he finished his sentence, the old geek looked over to his Machop, which immediately growled and rose a thumbs up with a smile, before continuing it's hard work.
"Uh… that's nice. Good luck with that, mister."
"Why thank you! Say, are you a Pokemon trainer by any chance?"
"Why, yes I am."
"Ohoho!" His laugh sounded like the comical and stereotypical laughter of Santa Claus from some bad Christmas comedy. "Well, in that case, you should check out the Pokemon Fanclub! All types of trainers and Pokemon fans alike go there! It's a lively place, you might like it!"
"Oh. Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it … do I need a membership?"
"Not really, be my guest! The only rules are to love Pokemon and have fun!"
"Alright, well, thank you." With a bow, she left the man at it, feeling curious about this "Fanclub" her told her about.

~The Pokemon Fanclub~

All Pokemon Fans unite!

The building was quite small, but then again it was a local club in a small seaside town. Crimson had a lot of time before the boat's departure, so she decided to check the place out. Immediately she was left with the impression of how lively the place was. The people seemed very nice and instantly greeted her.
"Ha, could this be a new member! Come on, don't be shy! Come and sit here with us!" said the fat middle-aged man. The place was actually held in the chairman's own home, on the first floor. All there was was a large rounded table with a small Nidoking statuette in the middle, a few paintings here and here, a TV hanging from the wall like the TV sets in pubs and a small fridge in the corner of the room. The second floor was presumably where the chairman lived. Crimson bowed in front of everyone politely and sat down next to the fat guy.
"You're just in time, as we're just starting!" He said.
The chairman was a nice old man with glasses, his eyes nearly fully closed. He reminded her of Brock, the Pewter City gym leader.
The only other person in the room was a young blonde girl with a Dewgong sitting next to her.
"Let's all introduce ourselves to our newest member!" He said. "I am the chairman of this very club! You can address me as Mister Sukizo. I have raised more than 100 Pokemon throughout my life!"
"One hundred?" Crimson said, with a bit of a surprised expression on her face.
"Why yes! I know a lot about Pokemon. Anyway, enough about me. I do have a speech to do in a jib. Why not introduce yourself, Alice? Ladies first, after all!"
The girl across the table nodded. "My name is Alice. I am 21. I really like Dewgong! It's so cute and fluffy, and makes the sweetest squeaks when I hug it!" She said, hugging her Dewgong as, like she said, squeaked in a rather pleasing way.
"And my name's Fred! And this here is my Pikachu! Isn't it cute?" He said, introducing his Pikachu to her as he held it close to his chest and petted it.
Crimson nodded at both of them with a smile. Although it was lame for a trainer like her, it was still a nice place to spend some time in if you were tired from all the battling and wanted to take a quick break.
"What about you, long lady? Tell us more about yourself!" Said the chairman.
"Well, my name is Crimson, and I'm from Pallet Town. I'm a Pokemon trainer, and my dream is to become the world's first Pokemon Master!"
"A Pokemon trainer, eh?" Said Fred "Care to show us your Pokemon then?"
She nodded, taking out all six of her Pokeballs and throwing them in the air, as they opened up and all her Pokemon were outside: Charmeleon A.K.A Flare, her recently evolved Pidgeotto, her recently caught Abra and Oddish, along with her two Nidoran.
"Ah, I see! A nice selection of Pokemon indeed! What fine Pokemon they are! It is clear you raised them very well!"
"Thank you, sir." She replied to him.
"Now, it's time for my speech! My favorite Pokemon is … Rapidash … it so … lovely and … remarkable … fluffy … hug it… when sleeping …"
The so-called 'speech' was nothing but random rambling. It sounded so boring that Crimson, along with her Pokemon nearly fell asleep. Fred seemed to be on the same boat as her, but Alice was listening closely, with a wide and bright smile on her face.
"Ah! I talked slightly too much! Excuse me! Well, today's meeting is over! I hope you all have a fantastic day! Oh, and Crimson!"
"Zzzz…uh, yeah?" She came back to her senses slowly.
"Thank you for visiting us. I know you are a Pokemon trainer, so you probably travel a lot, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, I go all over the place collecting gym badges."
"Well, then have this as a token of my appreciation!" He said, handing her a small ticket-like piece of paper.
"What is this?" She asked, examining it.
"Why, it's a bike voucher! I got it for donating money for the Bike Shop in Cerulean City, but I have no use for it! My Spearow can take me anywhere, so I wondered what to do with it for the longest time! But now that I met you, I know it can be very handy!"
"Wow, thank you, sir." But before she could bow to him, he had already fallen asleep, the old fool. After returning her Pokemon to their pokeballs, she bid farewell with the other two members and headed off to the pier with a smile on her face.

~S.S. Anne ~

This luxury cruise liner stops by at the vermillion pier once a year and connects Kanto with the rest of the world!

The pier was surprisingly small for such a big seaside town. It was a surprise how this large cruise ship was able to fit in. In fact, the only ship in the entire pier WAS S. . There were a couple of old people fishing on the pier, however, Crimson showed no interest in it and instead just went straight for the ship. There was a sailor up front who checked the tickets.
"Your ticket, lassie?"
Crimson flashed the S.S. ticket
"Excellent! You may go on through!"
The ship looked a lot bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. The first person inside she met was a sailor right by the door.
"Welcome aboard S. ! We are a luxury cruise liner that connects the Kanto region with the Johto region! Please enjoy your cruise!" He sounded like he remembered those lines, as if he was an actor of some sort.
"Uhm… I'm not actually going to travel, I just came here out of curiosity. I'm going to compete in the Indigo League, so I have to stay in Kanto until I've gotten all 8 gym badges. A friend of mine gave me his ticket, because he 'couldn't stand fancy do's'"
"Oh. Well, in that case, enjoy your stay! The ship will depart in about an hour. We will announce it on the speakers so that you know and have enough time to exit. You know, a girl like you entered the ship, saying the exact same thing.."
"I think I might know her…" She knew who that person was alright..
"All the passengers on this ship are trainers and they are bored out of their minds! So don't be surprised if some of them challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"
"Duly noted." She nodded, and then made her way to the main hall. There, a waiter with a French accent bumped into her.
"Oi! Mon petit! Watch your step!"
Crimson simply apologized.
"So much work, so little time! Ah!"

"Ah, a silent type, I see… Well, take care now!"
Crimson was relieved when the young waiter left her sight. She could never stand people who couldn't speak proper English. Surprisingly, she had no registered cabin. However, she didn't know that, so she began searching for her non-existant cabin, finding all of them occupied. Some even had trainers, which, like the sailor said, were eager to battle. One of them was an impolite old man dressed like the gentleman he wasn't. All he had was a Growlithe. Then there was a family with two kids, both with weak Pokemon. The girl was quite spoiled, while the boy was so social it scared Crimson a little. Eventually, she found herself on the bottom floor, fighting off a few sailors and other trainers. It was safe to say the ship was quite lively, and it was surprising how all those battles didn't affect the ship in any way. It was probably built in such a way so that it couldn't get beat up so easily, keeping in mind with all the trainers traveling on it every month. Crimson got lucky and even received some items like a great ball and a TM from some of the more pleasant trainers. Not all were trainers, however, as there were some families that were peaceful and were there to either go sightseeing in foreign grounds, or just for the ride. One of those said families, was a little boy with his dad. The boy was very excited, constantly looking out the window, while the dad was very polite and even tried to describe a Pokemon they saw in the Safari Zone all the way in Fuchsia city. Crimson took a few notes, wondering what was that said Pokemon they saw that day. By the end of the day, she was tired of saying "I'm sorry…" every time she entered a full cabin. Her Pokemon were tired, too, forcing her to go back to town and the Pokemon center to quickly heal them up.
On her second visit, she decided to take a look at the dining hall. It resembled a more luxurious version of a school cafeteria. The kitchen was at the end of the long tables. There were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, some were copper, others silver, and a large golden one hung in the middle of the room. A lot of chefs were walking around in quick steps, carrying ready hot meals from the kitchen to the tables. In the corner there were three chefs peeling onions. One complained about how all he got to do was peel onions, the other mentioned something about a "hidden ball" in one of the bins , and the third was singing while crying. It was safe to say that all of them had poor English, but with the help of one of them, Crimson got her hands on an Ultra Ball! It was unknown who thre it in there in the first place or why, but she was happy. Afterwards, she made her way to the second floor and first went out to the deck of the ship. There, she fought two sailors, one of whom was wondering how many Pokemon there are in the world. When Crimson informed him she was working on completing the Pokedex, he was amazed, and mentioned how his father used to think there were more than 100 confirmed Pokemon species. After that interesting chat, she went back inside. The second floor had almost no trainers, probably because it was first class. Some crew members told her how their captain was a real swordmaster and how he is teaching the move "cut" to people's Pokemon. Some ladies were talking about him as well, how he looked quite pale and sick. Finally, Crimson decided to see this man for herself, and see if he could teach her that move that was apparently so good. But when turning the corner that lead to his office, she bumped into someone she instantly recognized… ~An unintentional accident...~ … Both girls were knocked butt-first to the ground.
"Ow… hey, watch where you're goin- … oh, it's you!" said Azure.
Crimson simply got up and cleaned the dust off of her skirt.
"So, how did you get in here? Were you actually invited?" Azure let out a laugh.
"No, but my good friend Bill gave me his ticket.." Crimson smirked.
"W-What? Bill what?" Azure widened her eyes. "Well, no matter! Hey, I just checked on the captain. Everyone are giving him so much praise, telling he was a real swordmaster or something! Well, guess what … he's just a seasick old man! Don't be expecting him to teach you any special "cut" moves or anything … You're better off doing it yourself with his cut HM. Anyway, let's battle! I won't lose this time!"
Before Crimson could protest, Azure had already sent out her Spearow. Crimson this time decided to fight fire with fire, sending out her recently-evolved Pidgeotto.
"Ah, Pidgeotto, an interesting choice indeed! But you're no match for me! Spearow, use peck!"
At first, Crimson was planning to use her basic Sand-Attack strategy, but then remembered they were on a ship, so that would be pretty much impossible.
"Pidgeotto, use gust!"
The bird Pokemon furiously flapped it's wings, creating a strong gust of air that knocked the poor under leveled Spearow so far back it also knocked Azure down with it.
"Argh… Y-You'll pay for that… S-Spearow, return."
"You ready to give up yet?" Crimson said, crossing her arms, smirking with her eyes closed.
"W-Why you little… How dare you! GO! RATICATE!"
"Oh, so your Ratatta finally evolved, eh? How cute… Pidgeotto, use gust!"
"Not so fast… Raticate, use bite!"
Surprisingly, Azure's Raticate managed to outrun Crimson's Pidgeotto in speed, jumping in the air and launching a bite attack before it could use gust.
Crimson widened her eyes as the Rat pokemon held on tightly to the struggling Pidgeotto's neck.
"Yeah! How do you like that? Raticate, use hyper fang!"
The Raticate growled and stuck it's teeth even deeper, knocking down the Pidgeotto.
"Not bad … Pidgeotto, return."
"See? I told you I'd get you back!"
"Hehe… Don't be so sure. Now, Flare, show 'em what we got!"
The Charmeleon growled in an intimidating way as it came out of it's Pokeball.
"Pfft, please… Raticate, let's wrap this up!"
"Use Ember!"
But before the Raticate could even make a move, it was already engulfed in Flare's flames .
"Raticate, no!"
"Good job, Flare. Keep it up."
Flare's ember attack increased in power, completely immobilizing it's prey.
"Raticate, hang in there! Use bite!" Her Raticate however, could not move due to the intense flames.
"Now, finish it off with scratch!"
Finally, Flare stopped the ember attack just to quickly jump in the air towards Raticate, landing a direct and critical scratch attack on it, knocking it down furiously.
"Raticate!" Azure quickly ran to it and picked it up. It's body temperature was surprisingly cold.
"Flare, return…" Crimson then approached Azure who seemed to look quite distressed. "You still have a lot to learn…" She then noticed the poor Raticate that looked quite beat up. ".. Do you think it's going to be alright?"
"S-Shut up!" Azure began tearing up and ran off, without even giving Crimson any prize money. Crimson, however, didn't care about that. Maybe she shout have went easier on them both… but there wasn't much she could do now. She figured they'd be fine and made her way upstairs to the Captain's office.
The office was small. There was a desk with a pale-looking old man wearing a captain's hat and outfit, a waste bin next to him, and a couple of bookshelves scattered across the room. There were two large and real kitanas in a glass portrait on the wall.
"Oh, hello ther-" But before the captain could even greet his visitor, he quickly took the small bin in his hands and made gagging noises. Crimson carefully approached him when he did that and gave him a few back rubs and pats, helping him take it all out.
Once it was over, he let out a long sigh of relief. "Oh… thank you, lassie! I needed that … Some captain I am, getting seasick. I've been reading this book on how to deal with seasickness but I needed someone to help me out. You were the only one who did so. Thanks again!"
"You're welcome. So I uhm… I heard you were quite the swordsmaster and you teach cut to people's Pokemon."
"Oh, that was in the past! I'm too old for that now. But don't look so down! There's still hope! Here, take this!" He said, giving her a golden disk.
"Oh? What's this?" She asked
"It's HM01: CUT! Use this to instantly teach one of your Pokemon the move Cut! However, be careful, as HM moves cannot be easily forgotten once you teach them so one of your Pokemon,so chose wisely!"
Crimson nodded and then bowed. "Thank you very much, captain."
"No, I should be the one thanking you! Thanks to you, I can now set sail!"
"Oh, in that case I better go! I'm a trainer and have to stay here until I get all the gym badges so I can compete in the Indigo League."
"Ah, the Indigo League? Heh, youth… well, hurry up, because in a few minutes we are setting sail!"
"Okay, bon voyage!"
The captain smiled at her and waved goodbye as she ran out of his office and down to the ground floor, exiting the ship just in time. She watched as the ship set sail, waving at all the passengers she battled.
Once the ship was out of her view, she made her way back to the Pokemon center and inserted the newly acquired HM into her Pokedex, and after a long moment of serious thought, she taught it to Flare, making it it's primary normal-type move. She then checked the clock, seeing it was still 2 PM, so she had time to pay the gym a visit. And that's what she did, heading there right after her Pokemon (and herself) got a quick rest.

~Vermillion Gym~

The Lightning American awaits!

The next stop was the Vermillion gym. Oddly enough, the building was surrounded by bushes, so Crimson had to make use of the new Cut technique her Charmeleon had learned just now. It made for some good practice, that's for sure. The building itself looked rather odd … It looked more like a hanger or a military-type building than just your every-day Pokemon gym. Crimson didn't make much of it, and entered the building. Inside, she found a few trainers willing to battle. They all had electric type Pokemon, and each of them said the same things. The gym specialized in electric type Pokemon, and the leader, Lt. Surge, was once in the great Kanto Pokemon war. Everyone looked high on him, saying he wasn't easy to beat. His office was, however, closed off by an electric lock, and the only way to open it was to find the two hidden switches in some of the many baskets scattered all around the place. That wasn't too hard, as one of the trainers stupidly gave Crimson a hint that the second switch is right adjacent to the first one. And so, Crimson managed to open the door with ease.
Inside she found the leader himself. He was a tall and bulky guy, with an American accent and short blonde hair.
"Ah! So you managed to get through my brilliant defense, eh soldier?"
"Uhm… cracking the password was actually easier than I thought. You might want to change your security.."
"Nonsense! It's actually brilliant! And if you really managed to crack it so easily, you must be good! But are you good enough? I tell you kid… electric type Pokemon are the best. They saved me in the war by zapping my enemies with electricity. There's no chance a puny little girl like you can beat me!"
"Oh, I guess we'll just have to battle it out and see then." Crimson stated with a confident look on her face, preparing one of her Pokeballs.
"Heh! You got guts! I like that! Now let's get this battle started! Go, Voltorb!"
"Flare, take over!"
The two Pokemon emerged from their Pokeballs and stared at each other, ready to have one heck of a battle.
"Voltorb, use Thunderbolt!"
"Flare, dodge it!"
Voltorb launched a Thunderbolt attack, but Flare's speed was high enough to dodge the attack successfully by jumping in the air.
"Now, use Cut!"
Flare readied it's claws and with a roar landed a Cut attack straight on the Voltorb, making it take a lot of damage.
"Heh, not bad. Voltorb, use Light Screen!"
Just when Crimson was planning to use Ember to finish it off, Voltorb used Light Screen, making it and all future Pokemon resistant to special damage. It's like Lt. Surge read her mind. But that didn't stop her.
"Flare, use Cut once more!"
The Charmeleon landed another Cut attack, knocking out the Voltorb in an instant. There was no time to celebrate yet however, because Surge still had more tricks up his sleeve. Plus, that Light Screen would last for 4 more turns.
"I gotta hand it to ya, kid, that Charmeleon of yours is quite strong." He said, retrieving his fainted Voltorb back in it's Pokeball and congratulating it for the great job.
"Go, Pikachu!"
His next Pokemon was the electric mouse, Pikachu. Not the strongest electric type out there, but certainly a worthy opponent.
Flare couldn't launch an Ember attack yet, as the Light Screen was still in effect, so Crimson had to be smart about her moves.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
"Pikachuuuuuu!" The yellow mouse launched a Thunderbolt attack which was faster than Voltorbs, so Flare couldn't get away in time and got hit, taking quite a bit of damage from it.
"Grrr… Flare, use Smokescreen!"
A move Flare learned after evolving, Smokescreen lowers the foe's accuracy. Flare instantly blew out a large cloud of smoke, covering the entire room. Lt. Surge began to cough.
"What is this?..."
"Flare, use Cut!"
Before it could even react, the confused Pikachu got hit by Flare's cut in the thick fog of smoke, barely able to pull through.
"Not bad. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to clear the fog!"
Surprisingly, that Thunderbolt attack managed to clear most of the fog, giving Lt. Surge and his Pikachu a clear and visible view of Flare.
"… Flare, return!"
Crimson did a smart move on her part, as Flare was currently her strongest Pokemon, so she wanted to save it for Lt. Surge's strongest Pokemon.
"Go, Oddish!"
Grass types have a resistance against electric type attacks, so Oddish was a wise choice.
"Not bad, kid. But type advantages won't help you here! Pikachu, use quick attack!"
"Oddish, dodge it and use Absorb!"
Surprisingly, the Oddish just barely dodged the attack without taking any damage and then used it's move, absorbing whatever energy was left in Pikachu.
"Pikachu, return. You did a great job, now take a good rest. Hey kid, what was your name again?"
"Crimson."
"Crimson, great job! Not many trainers have gotten the chance to fight against my final Pokemon… a true friend I've had with me ever since my days in the war. Go, Raichu!"
Raichu was twice bigger, faster and stronger than Pikachu, meaning that this would be quite the challenge.
"Oddish, use Sleep Powder!"
"Not so fast! Raichu, use Quick Attack!"
Since Raichu is faster than it's pre-evolved form, it was able to land a direct hit before Oddish could use Sleep Powder.
"Grr…. Oddish, return!"
Oddish obviously wouldn't be good against this guy.
"You're up next, Nidoran!"
Crimson sent out her hardly ever used male Nidoran. But she had a good tactic for this.
"Oh, a Nidoran? HAH! Did you finally give in and accept the fact that you will lose?"
"No, quite the contrary actually… Nidoran, use Poison sting!"
Her Nidoran opened it's mouth and launched tiny, purple spikes straight at Raichu, hitting it hard and poisoning it as well.
"Ah, I see what you were going for now. But I'm afraid that won't be enough! Raichu, use quick attack!"
"Nidoran, use tackle!"
Both Pokemon collided with each other, however, Crimson's Nidoran was knocked out while Lt. Surge's Raichu was still up and kicking, even though it was poisoned.
"Good job, Nidoran, return."
"So, who's going down next?"
"Don't underestimate Nidoran's poison… it might not seem like much now, but it will take effect in a few more turns."
Crimson noticed the Light Screen was finally gone and sent Flare back in.
"Flare, use Ember!"
"Raichu, dodge it!"
His Raichu tried to get away, but Flare was swift enough to move to Raichu's direction, hitting it directly with the flames. It got knocked down on the ground.
"Raichu, get up and use Thunderbolt!"
His Raichu tried to move but failed. The poison had finally gotten to it. It was over. Crimson was the winner.
"Raichu, return. You did a great job, my old friend."
Lt. Surge then approached Crimson and shook her hand.
"Great job, Soldier, you earned this." He said, presenting her with the Thunder Badge.
"Thank you very much." She said, taking it from him and bowing in respect, then also thanking Flare for the great battle before returning it to it's Pokeball.
"Oh, kid, also take this!" He said, handing her another TM disk.
"What's this?"
"It's a shocking move! It's that Thunderbolt all my Pokemon used in our battle. It's really powerful, so don't waste it on a water type Pokemon!"
That made no sense, as there were no water types that could learn this move. But whatever, Crimson accepted it with joy and left to gym. On her way out, she saw the same nerd congratulating her on yet another fantastic battle. He apologized that he was late, but he was sightseeing and fishing a bit at the pier.
After a quick stop at the Pokemon Center, there was still time to continue on the road to the next town, so Crimson got ready and headed East to route 11.

/ Author's note and update: I'm sorry I haven't been updating in almost two months, but I've been enjoying my holidays and the first month I was away from my PC where I had all my documents on, so I couldn't really continue this. But now that I'm back, I'll try to update more frequently.

Next Time: Azure's Major Loss…