So, Route 2... Another countryside, just like Route 1. According to the map, it leads right to the Viridian Forest and… continues after it? This is strange. But it seems to be another road somewhere near, and it leads straight to Pewter City. I tried to find some way to this second road on my way across the Route 2, but I could see nothing but dense forest. Aw well, it seems I have to walk through the Viridian Forest. It isn`t that bad, the forest may have some interesting pokemon to find, some trainers to beat, some money to gain.
After an hour of walking along the main road I finally reached some sort of transition building. The infamous Vidirian Forest starts right after it, but I had to pass this point to proceed. Maybe some people are worried about the population of pokemon in this forest, so they control all trainers that come in and out, who knows?
Anyway, I passed through the building without any accidents. There weren`t that many people, waiting for something or having a rest after a long way. One old man gave a suspicious look, but I guess it is because of my own suspicious look on him. I decided not to make any attention here, asking them about Team Rocket, and just continue on to the forest.
The real green land surrounded me on the way out, like I appeared to be right in the middle of it, so far from the civilization, despite the door to back to the city was right behind me.
I looked around, searching for any signs of interesting pokemon, but for now – nothing. Just dark shade of forest, so dense I couldn`t even see the sky. Some strange feeling inside of me – something… uneasy. I`m used to cities and roads, maybe steppes and meadows, but all that was under the opened sky. With a deep breath I managed to overcome myself and make a step deep inside the forest.
Suddenly a sound from the left startled me, and I felt something on my back. As I turned, a wild pokemon appeared in my sight, definitely looked hostile. The sticky String Shot right in my back proved it.
"Wait a second, are you…"
The pokemon interrupted me again, shooting strings at me, but I managed to dodge it somehow. The look of it was familiar to me, maybe it`s one of pokemon shown in the guide book. A brown larva pokemon with a spiked horn on head.
A Weedle.
I remembered that I wanted to catch a Weedle for my team, and how useful he can be. And now I was given the chance for it.
"Remember this day, bro. Today your life will change forever!"
The wild Weedle took a fighting stance, readily looking right into my eyes.
"But I have to convince you first, right? Dumpling, be my diplomat for today!" I threw pokeball in the air and sent out Charmander. With a real will to battle, Dumpling faced his opponent.
"Be careful with this guy." I warned Dumpling. "We want to teach this nasty bug a lesson, not to destroy him. Anyway, a pokeball can`t catch fainted pokemon, they say."|
Dumpling nodded to me and turned to Weedle, waiting for my command. His opponent prepared himself for defense.
"Yes, and now… Use Scratch!"
In another situation I would use Ember as my not-so-big experience was telling me to use everything I got. But I am sure Ember will destroy this little bug in one hit, and I will not be able to catch him. So now we need to be careful.
Dumpling rushed to the Weedle and tried to land a hit, but this small bug was pretty fast, and easily dodged this attack, jumping to the side and shooting a string on my Dumpling. My partner was hit by that, and covered with sticky stuff, making it harder to move and slowing him down.
"Oh no, you don`t! Repeat that Scratch of yours, Dumpling!"
Pokemon tried to scratch some string of himself, but it was useless. After my command he turned again to his opponent and rushed in another attempt to hit. And again Weedle dodged our attack and hit with another String Shot, covering Dumpling with another layer of web.
How can this be? A little bug has that much of advantage to the fire-type pokemon? Nobody will believe that. I need to come up with some strategy.
"Dumpling! Throw your embers behind him!"
Strange command confused my partner for a second, but he performed it, exactly the way I wanted. The embers pack flew above the Weedle and burst into the ground right behind him. The pokemon was startled by this, and ran in the opposite direction from the embers, in the direction of Dumpling.
"Here we come! Scratch! With all you`ve got!"
When shocked bug realized his mistake, Dumpling was very close with hand raised high. A very strong scratch made Weedle to fly back to the ground… and faint. Damn it.
"Looks like you`ve got much more that is needed, Dumpling." He looked at me with a mix of victorious and sorry look.
"So… Is that it? It really won`t work?" I said with a disappointment, looking at an empty pokeball. I came closer to Weedle and squatted. His body laid here, so defenseless and powerless. But it looked like he was breathing – that meant he was alive. I gently hit his head with a pokeball, but the capsule did not react. Looks like they are right about that.
"Too bad. He was pretty fast for a bug, we could use such an advantage in our team."
Dumpling came closer to Weedle and put his hand on bug`s head. From my side that looked so touching I even could cry if I had feelings. But suddenly I had an idea. A very stupid idea, maybe, but still an idea.
From the depths of my greatcoat I took slightly shining yellow crystal called a Revive for a reason. I looked at it from some sides and realized I don`t know how to use it. Must pokemon eat it? Or… absorb it? Maybe, it must be touched, like evolution stones?
I poke Weedle with the crystal, but nothing happened. No, it`s not like the evolution stone. But after that I noticed some strange sound from it, like… something was inside. With nothing else to do, I clenched the crystal in my hand, and golden powder from the inside fell on the Weedle. Its lifeless body soon moved and started to show some signs of life.
And when he opened his eyes and stared at me, I hit him with a pokeball again, and he was beamed inside. Pokeball shook in my hand for once.
Another shake…
And another…
The click inside the capsule marked my final victory over the Weedle. He was caught, at last.
"We did it, Dumpling!" I said my Charmander joyfully. He looked glad too.
My first caught pokemon… Hope this means the beginning of a new partnership.
"Come on out." I beamed Weedle out on the ground. He looked around and when finally found me with his eyes, he angrily shot me with a String Shot.
"Why you little…" In an attempt to clean my face from his string, I lost balance and fell back. I couldn`t see what happened next, but judging by the sound, Dumpling started to educate a new member of team, with some Scratches.
When I managed to tear off all this sticky stuff from my face, I sat and stared at Weedle.
"Look, pal, you are in a team now. And I am your trainer, you should know that."
Displeased Weedle turned his head away from me.
"When you respect your trainer, he respects you. And together we become stronger, get it? Do you want to become stronger?"
That line seemed to interest him, returning attention back to me.
"And with me you WILL become stronger. You will travel all around the world, you will see things, you will beat other pokemon. Isn`t that great?"
Without trust he nodded me positively. That`s something.
"Great. And, you know, I wanted to find someone like you. I have prepared a good name for you. From now on, you will be called… Reaper!"
Weedle seemed to accept this name. When he evolves into a Beedrill, this will definitely be the very best name for him.
"I`m glad you are okay with it. So… welcome to the team, Reaper!" I carefully touched one of his upper small limbs, like a handshake. Dumpling barked something to him too, maybe, greeting speech. If only I could understand pokemon… Everything would be much easier.
"All right, team. Let`s continue our path. So much things must be done." I returned both my pokemon to their pokeballs and followed the road.
And soon has led me to crossroads. I hate crossroads, they always persuade you to make a choice, without knowing the result at all. Hoping for a blind luck I turned right. Hope it was right thing to do.
In the forest I crossed my way with some trainers, but they were battling each other, not me. I saw a lot of bug catchers, that`s not surprising. What was strange - all of them tried to escape my sight. I even started to bore. But finally one of them challenged me to a battle.
"Hey, dude, do you have a Caterpie?" He asked in from the beginning.
"Well, no…"
"Everyone must have a Caterpie!" He shouted joyfully. Another maniac, I see, but at least it was some experience for me. "I got three, and guess what?"
"What?" I literally waited for him to say the next.
"…Some of `em evolved! That`s so cool, you know!"
"I have no idea." I replied sarcastically. "Maybe you will present them to me? In a battle?" This line really burned fire in his eyes.
"You will see the might of the Caterpie family!"
Bug catcher sent out his first pokemon. No doubt it was Caterpie. As for me, I decided to start with Reaper.
"A Weedle, huh? I bet it`s gonna evolve soon, too!" My opponent was a bit surprised by the sight of a Weedle, and at the same moment he was excited about this.
"Yeah, a Weedle. A Weedle that uses String Shot on your Caterpie!"
Reaper noticed the command and zealously shot a string into opponent. Caterpie had no chance to evade it, and, being covered in a web, it`s speed fell even more.
"Hey, not fair! Caterpie, take him down with Tackle!"
But his pokemon was no more in condition to fight – little bug couldn`t move and was literally glued to the ground, so instead of tackling my Reaper his Caterpie just fell on the ground.
"Now for some hard-damaging attack! Poison Sting!"
My pokemon gained some speed and hit Caterpie with his sting in head pretty hard. Angry Caterpie tried to free himself and attack in return, but another String Shot from me literally destroyed his last chance for success, if there was any. After some more Poison Stings opponent`s Caterpie was defeated.
"Well, I haven`t trained him that much…" Bug Catcher tried to explain away. "But now for a real challenge! Go, Metapod!"
A green cocoon-like pokemon appeared on the battlefield. What a strange sight, really. How can he even fight without any limbs?
I quickly examined the enemy. I think, in a cocoon form he is slow enough, and we don`t need to slow him down even more with String Shots. But using Poison Sting will be not that good too, because I read that Metapods have good defense from physical attacks, So…
"Quick-substitute!" I shouted and returned Reaper back. "Dumpling will handle this!" And Charmander appeared on battlefield, ready to fight.
"A fire-type, huh? Looks like you have been prepared. So survive, we must switch to defence tactic. Use Harden!"
Metapod started to shrink all his muscles to make become even more hard against attacks.
"Well, man, I am not sure if it will help you…"
"What do you mean?" Bug catcher questionably look at me.
"…because Ember – the attack I`m going to use – is special, not physical."
After my words Dumpling momentarily understood the command and spit a whole bunch of embers on the opponent. Metapod was definitely not prepared to this, and with some hard burns it fell on the ground, defeated in one nice hit.
"Nice job, Dumpling!" I cheered my pokemon. He replied to me with the same and returned his focus to battle.
"It was my mistake… A horrible mistake. Excuse me, Metapod." Bug Catcher returned his pokemon back to the pokeball. He looked desperate. "But we will fight to the very last! Go, Butterfree!"
And from the last of his pokeballs a new pokemon for me appeared on the field. For some reason I really have never seen a Butterfree that close. Times change…
"Let`s start… And finish this with Confusion!" The opposing trainer shouted. For a moment I was distracted by my thoughts and by attempt to remember what Confusion is, and that was enough for my opponent to land a hit on Dumpling with this new move.
"Ah, what a great move! Do you know that Confusion has a chance to cause confusion?"
Yeah, after he said that I know.
"But, I guess, it also has a chance NOT to cause it?" I said and looked at Dumpling. Are you all right, buddy?"
Dumpling just shook his head after a direct hit from Confusion, but looked fine. He turned to me and barked to show me he`s okay.
"Well, the only thing can confuse him now is my stupid questions." I declared to the disappointed Bug catcher. "Now let`s burn this Butterfree`s wings a little! Ember!"
Dumpling gladly executed this command, jumping high enough to reach flying pokemon and blast it with a nice pack of hot embers. The hit was direct, but foe`s Butterfree managed to survive this attack and retreated high above. It was hurt pretty badly, another successful attack will finish it, but for now pokemon was too high for my partner to reach.
"Come on, Butterfree, come on! You can do it! Fly higher!" Bug catcher shouted at his pokemon. What he`s up to? Is he trying to launch some sort of sky attack?
I looked around for a fitting tree for my plan. Of course, it is not difficult to find a tree in a forest, but I needed a special one… Just like that one!
"Dumpling, climb up that tree and jump on the Butterfree!" I commanded Dumpling. This maneuver could be dangerous, but this was a risk I had to take.
My partner rushed toward the tree and started to jump from a branch to branch in order to get higher and make catch up to the Butterfree. Foe was hurt and gained height very slowly, and my opponent was too surprised and confused to think of something, so it was just a matter of time till Dumpling will reach needed height and show all his courage to jump on Butterfree`s back. In such a close range embers will deal really good damage to a pokemon.
"Burn, baby, burn! Final Ember!"
Dumpling made a very deep breath and launched the strongest ember I have seen. Butterfree just squeaked and started to lose height very fast.
"No, Butterfree!" Bug Catcher rushed to his Butterfree to catch it. I did the same in order to catch my partner. Dumpling was really excited from the happening, and jumped right into my hands.
"That was awesome!" I complimented him, but he was still a bit shocked from all this coolness he has just performed. I put Dumpling on the ground and stroke his head a little.
"What were you even trying to do?" I asked bug catcher. He returned poor Butterfree to the pokeball and stood straight, facing me.
"I… just wanted to get away. I didn`t thought about the next move…" He replied unsurely.
"Eh, boy, that`s no good. You should ALWAYS think about your next move. But if something unexpected happens… Improvise! Like I just did."
"Ah, I don`t know…" He sat on the ground in despair and close his face with hands. "Maybe, this is too difficult for me. Brock has already shown that to me."
"Brock?" This name sounded strangely familiar to me.
"Yes, Brock. The gym leader of Pewter City. I battled him yesterday and lost so badly… So shamefully."
"Come on, calm down. He is a gym leader for a reason, right?" I tried to cheer this guy a little. "Tell me about him. What happened during the battle?"
"Well… I battled Geodude first… But I started with a Butterfree and confusion helped me to defeat him. But then… He sent out Onix…" The last words sounded pretty scary from him.
"Wait a second, Onix?"
"Yeah, a giant rock snake pokemon! My pokemon were so tiny compared to him, I was confused and lost control of battle. Butterfree was beaten… Then Metapod… And, of course, Caterpie too."
"To face trained Onix in such battle is a real challenge. No wonder your chances for victory were slim." But just now I thought, how slim are MY chances for victory? "Do you remember what moves did he use?"
"He just tackled all my pokemon. Even Butterfree. Usually Onixes aren`t that fast, but this one was! It just smashed my poor Butterfree with its head and… that`s all."
I looked around. Too many thoughts flooded my mind at once. But this information can help me to come with some strategy, maybe.
"Thanks, man." I gave bug catcher my hand and helped him to get up.
"What for?" He asked confusedly.
"For the information that will help me to defeat Brock tomorrow. If you want, I will dedicate this victory to your revenge."
"I`m sure you will defeat him. You`re so strong!"
"I`m not strong. I`m a trainer only for two days. But I have something else in my sleeve…" I turned back and continued to follow the road, waving bug catcher in parting. Judging by the sound of fast stomping, he directed back to Pokemon Center to heal his pokemon.
As for me, the day is not over yet. I proceeded in the forest depths. I had so much training to do… I had to prepare for Brock. This will be really challenging. But I already have a plan…