Hey howdy y'all! After a absolutely WILD couple of weeks I present to you Chapter 6! I wanted to apologize for it taking this long but life had me hella busy the last two weeks. Between my girlfriend, the little one and me getting sick plus starting a new job time just kinda seemed to slip away from me. However, know that we're all healthy and Im starting to get used to my work schedule so I should be able to return to writing with gusto instead of just little snippets here and there.
I also thought a bit on how I wanted to schedule out my chapters for this story and I think I've come up with a plan? Im basically going to be posting a chapter every week until I hit five chapters. After that I'm going to take a week off to either focus a bit on life or just get a bit ahead in case life decides to sucker punch me again. Anyways hopefully the longer chapter will make up for that!
(As always I do not own Pokémon. That right goes to GameFreak and Nintendo)
Enjoy!
Team Rocket. In the games, they were just a rag-tag bunch of thugs that you could beat up to get some easy levels for your team. The real world? A cutthroat gang of criminals that would have no problem watching the blood of a child leak onto the earth for a couple of trained Pokemon.
There was a botched raid that happened in Cerulean last night. Some Government officials who thought they could ransack a Rocket hideout by themselves ended up lighting a whole residential district ablaze in the ensuing fight as the Rockets tried to escape. They weren't sure of the death toll yet but it was rumored that dozens had lost their lives in the less-than-textbook raid that took place. Thankfully Misty arrived before the fire could spread and doused it within minutes. But the damage as well as a handful of the Rockets still on the loose brought calls on whether or not the League was fully capable of tackling this problem head-on. Before there was cooperation between the Government and the League to ensure the safety of the citizens and to prevent a brawl like this from happening. This time there wasn't and a whole clusterfuck erupted.
I turned away from the news and sat back in my chair. With my knowledge, I knew for a fact that Giovanni was the Leader of Team Rocket. While being the Viridian City Gym Leader, he was also a very prominent businessman that would be frequently needed in other large cities around Kanto like Celadon or Saffron. As such most of the time, his gym is run entirely by gym trainers. Occasionally he'd make an appearance whenever he was in town but most of the time it was just his head gym trainer who would handle the challenges. I couldn't just come out and say "Hey! The Gym Leader that you've been trusting to protect you is the big bad guy you've been trying to catch all this time! Don't ask me how I know!". That would get me locked in a straight jacket and a cell in seconds.
I also debated for a second if they were even really my problem. While I was more than willing to defend myself and those around me from them, that didn't necessarily mean that I had to be the one to get rid of them. Someone else could figure out how to solve the Rocket problem. I just wanted to climb to the top.
As I munched on my toast for breakfast, I debated what I wanted to do today. My flight would be leaving tomorrow morning at dawn so I didn't want to start anything that would take too much time to complete. I could always head over to the Battle Club and get a handful of matches in, which would be nice. On the flip side, I could always spend some more time training Kong and Polli. While they had both gotten a grasp on the moves we learned yesterday, they were still not battle ready for Brock.
"Decisions decisions" I muttered under my breath. Unfortunately, I might have said it a bit too loud as my Uncle looked up from his coffee and tablet towards me as I sat lost in my thoughts.
"Everything okay Cindy? You seem a little down this morning." I quickly refocused as I realized that my mind was needed for a conversation.
"Yeah. I'm just trying to find something that I want to do today. I don't want to put too much strain on Kong and Polli before we leave so I was thinking of just a match or two at the Battle Club. But they also have a bit of solo training to work on some moves that we picked up. And…" I took a second to try and put my feelings into words "I'm a little nervous about my gym challenge. What if I'm not good enough to go as high as I want to? What if I get a couple of badges and that's as far as I can go you know?… I guess I'm just starting to feel the nerves of setting out, you know?" I tried my best to keep the tears from prickling my eyes but all I managed to accomplish was keeping them from falling. I was unprepared for the burst of laughter that erupted from my Uncle. I stared at him with my mouth hanging in disbelief. I was on the verge of crying damn it! What the hell was so funny?
After a couple of seconds to gather his composure, he looked back at me with a soft smile on his face.
"I'm sorry for laughing like that Cindy but when I heard that it brought me back to when I first set out on my journey. I remember when I had delayed my departure by a day because my stomach was tying itself into knots at how nervous I was." He stopped for a second and seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a second before he smiled again and looked at me. "Cindy, what does being a trainer mean to you?"
I sat there for a second to think about my answer. What being a trainer means to me? I had never really thought about it on a deep level before. I just knew that I wanted to be a trainer. And being a trainer would help me achieve my goals. But that couldn't just be it, could it? Being a trainer means achieving my dreams. I stopped for a second as I brushed my hand across Kong's Pokeball. It felt warm under my hand. Almost as if Kong was reassuring me through it. No…I didn't want to be a trainer because of my dream. I wanted to be a trainer because Pokenon was amazing. That rush of emotions whenever I won my first battle came to mind. And then the bittersweet feeling of not reaching the mark after a loss. That wasn't because of my goals. That was because I loved my team. Their dreams were my dreams. We would become strong because we dreamt that we would. I rubbed the tears from my eyes and looked back towards my Uncle with a bit more resolve in my heart.
"Being a trainer means being part of a team. And…being a team means we're working towards the same goals. Not just my own but my Pokemons goals too. Kong and Polli both want to get strong. And so I'm going to make sure they get there. And likewise, they will push me to grow. To learn and widen my thinking to reach as far as I can go. To have each other's backs for life." I looked down at Kong and Polli's Pokeball and vowed to myself that I would do everything in my power for them. It was only right since they were helping me achieve my dreams.
"A good answer kiddo. As long as you remember that then I have no worries or doubts about you achieving what you set your sights on." Walking over, my Uncle wrapped me up in a warm hug. I could feel the nerves slowly easing away and the tears began to dry in my eyes when he eventually pulled away.
"Now. I believe you said that you had some training for Kong and Polli. Go get that started and then I want to show you something." My Uncle returned to his seat to finish his breakfast and emails for the morning. I quickly finished the last half of my toast and went out into the training area.
Releasing both Kong and Polli, I thought for a second about starting Polli on Encore but I dismissed the thought. While I would love for Polli to have it now, I knew that we still had some work on getting the shields summoned quickly enough.
"Alright, guys! We're going to be heading out tomorrow for Pewter so I don't want to start too much. So while I head back to figure out what Uncle wants to show me, I want both of you to work on Protect today. Try and get it to form as quickly as you can without sacrificing the strength of the barrier." Both of my Pokemon shot straight up as if giving me attention and then ran off to start practicing.
"Once it starts to feel natural, start playing tag with it! Start slow and move faster as you get better with it!" I hollered out to them as I made my way back to the doors. I spent a second more watching them work and made my way back into the kitchen once I was satisfied. My Uncle noticed my return and got up from the kitchen table. He motioned for me to follow him and we walked through the halls of the dojo.
"Remember when I took that vacation out to Unova a few years back?" It took a second for me to remember what he was talking about but I did remember a couple of months when he wasn't around the dojo for a while. "Yeah, I think so. Was that around the time when we went on vacation to Fuchsia to see the Safari Zone?"
"Yeah, I think it was. Originally the trip was only going to take six months. Just some business with acquiring some Pokemon for the dojo here. That was until I met a rather remarkable young man who was researching the Regional Form mutations that are commonly found on the other side of the world from here." At this point, we had walked past the general use portions of the dojo and had started to make our way back to the more important areas of the building.
There were the stables that held a few Pokemon from other trainers that were sponsored in the previous years. And then there were the main offices of all the trainers that Uncle had under his employ at the dojo. Each office came equipped with a twin bed in the case of a long shift to catch up on paperwork or if they had the overnight watch shift. Further back behind the dojo was a large fenced enclosure that housed all of the many Pokemon that were used for what our dojo offers including separated habitats and even a relatively decent-sized breeding facility.
While we may have fallen from the major eight, our gym still had the necessary resources to run the dojo as a business instead of a gym alone. We still offered challenges but we also were a lot more open to the public. We held tournaments at the sparring courts out front. We took in plenty of people who wished to be trainers and prepared them for life on their own. Each year we provided 15 Machops and 5 Tyrogues as starter Pokemon in Saffron City alone. Plus while being a small breeding facility, we mostly focused on Fighting type Pokemon. So we still got a relatively stable business for trainers looking for coverage. Also, we held many beginner classes and seminars on helping beginner trainers out in the wilderness. While we may have lost a lot of traffic due to the reclassification, we still were able to provide to the region in a variety of ways.
We walked out towards the back offices that usually were kept for meetings. The very back office was the one that my Uncle had turned into his own. He said he liked the space the room offered and had set up a bunch of exercise equipment so he could train as he worked.
"So eventually I ended up becoming friends with this guy and he asked me for a favor. I figure why not you know, it couldn't be too hard. I ended up adding about two months to the journey in Unova trying to find these two Pokemon for him but I eventually did. After that, he managed to get me a variant form of a Farfetchd that was a Fighting type! It blew me away Cindy! Some of those things out in Galar are hard to believe. And now with Alola and Paldea getting brought to the worldview and all of the different variants of Pokemon being discovered, it's very exciting!" Uncle then turned towards the projector he had set up and killed the lights. He booted it up and suddenly there were two Pokemon pictured on the projector screen.
One was a Meowth. The other is Rattata.
"I have a request for you Cindy. My friend would like the chance to study a Kantonian Rattata and Meowth. He's actually in search of a Fighting evolutionary line we don't have currently at the gym. If you can capture both of these Pokemon and complete the gauntlet challenge for the first three gyms, I will give the Pokemon that we receive to you."
At this, I spluttered," Uncle no…I could-."
"I'm going, to be honest, Cindy…my time of glory is over. My dream was never permanent and it took me a while to come to terms with that. There was always going to be a day when someone would be better than I am. And that is a good thing. It shows that we are growing in our strength through the generations. My time to shine in the limelight is over. And now it will be yours to take." He pointed at the two Pokemon on the screen, "Honestly the capture of these two Pokemon is more of a chore than a job. Meowth is pretty common around these parts and you can find a Rattata almost anywhere in Kanto. So if you want the Pokemon then I want you to gain your first three badges through gauntlet runs only. The only stipulation I would add is having the Pokemon stay at the stables for a while so we can rotate them through the breeding program. Once we have five viable eggs, they will be back to your team with no strings attached. Does this sound like something you might be interested in?"
I really couldn't believe what my Uncle was telling me. I could get a Pokemon that would cost me the price of a nice-sized house for free by just catching a couple of Pokemon and adding a couple more gauntlets to my challenge. Who the hell would say no to a deal like that!? I quickly bowed toward my Uncle in gratitude and gave my answer.
"Uncle, it would be an honor to accept this Pokemon in your stead. I'll acquire the requested Pokemon and send them to the stables for you to prepare for transfer over. And while I won't lie that three gauntlet challenges in a row will be difficult, it will be a worthy challenge for us to overcome and prepare us for the upper levels of battling. Thank you for thinking of me." I rose from my bow and nodded toward him. With my acceptance of the job made clear, he moved over to one of the side drawers of his desk and pulled out five Pokeballs. "Take these for capturing the requests. Any that are left over feel free to keep for yourself and use them. Once you capture them send me a message so I can get him notified and the transfer underway. Thank you Cindy it means a lot and takes some things off of my plate as well."
I took the Pokeballs from him and stored them in my bag. I made a note to grab Polli from training after this so we could go and grab the Meowth before we had to leave for Pewter tomorrow. I made a couple of reminders on my phone about capturing a Rattata later and started thinking about preparing for the other two gauntlets we would need to undertake now.
With a quick goodbye, I left my Uncle's office and made my way back toward the training area behind our house.
"Polli! We're going to go and look for a Pokemon for Uncle real quick. Kong! Keep doing some work on Protect until you can get it workable. If you can get it under four seconds then I want you to shadow spar while using it. Start getting used to summoning it while on the move." Polli ran over to me from where she had been training the power output of her Water Gun. Kong gave me a cheeky salute and kept working on getting the barrier to appear more quickly. He had gotten the formation of the shield down at this point but was still struggling with getting it to form fast enough to use in combat.
Returning Polli to her Pokeball I quickly threw on my travel clothes and threw a cap on my head. I knew that there were plenty of Meowth that roamed around Route 6 where I had first captured Polli. I had even seen some running near the edges of the forest so I had a good lead on where to go to find one. I rushed out the door with a grin on my face. I now knew what I was going to do today.
Route 6 hadn't changed much since I had last been there. The small lake where I had caught Polli sat in the distance near the western edge of the forest. But what I was looking for would be found on the opposite side of Route 6 with forests and pocketed clearings that stretched between Saffron and Vermillion. Many Meowth liked to call these areas home and would claim territory around trees and large brush they could use as shelter from the elements.
I started my trek through the tall grass and made my way deeper into the trees for my search. I stumbled upon a pair of Oddish which scampered off into the brush at the sight of me. I continued in my search through the forests before finally spotting my objective lazing about in one of the lower branches of a tree. I grabbed Polli's Pokeball and released her next while we were still a distance away and motioned for her to be quiet in a shushing motion. I pointed up at the dozing cat and then at the ground letting her know I wanted it knocked out of the tree. She nodded and crept forward a couple of feet until she was within a distance that she would be able to cross to engage the Meowth once it fell.
Once she had gotten close she stopped for a second and shot off a Water Gun that hit the Meowth dead on the side of its head. It flipped out of the tree yowling and frantically swiping in the air at any possible attackers. Unfortunately for the Meowth, Polli favors distance so its swipes only caught air as it plummeted to the ground. Polli started running forward having judged where the Meowth would hit the ground and moved to intercept. As Polli grew closer she jumped over it and swung around in a powerful Pound attack.
Holy Shit! Polli just hit it with a classic ground spike! Like straight-up Captain Falcon into the dirt! I almost dropped the Pokeball in my hand trying not to burst out laughing.
The Meowth slammed down to the ground and struggled to rise to its feet. I could see that it was on its last legs and would be slow to react. Polli landed lightly on her feet off to the side of the Meowth. She quickly arced around where she would be in Meowth's line of vision and launched a Hypnosis attack. The Meowth tried to react but its body was feeling the effects of previous attacks and couldn't avoid it. Meowth's eyes slowly started to shut until they slumped forward with small snores. I readied the Pokeball and tossed it forward hitting the Meowth and encasing it in energy. The ball shook once and then stilled showing the lack of resistance from the snoozing cat.
I thanked Polli for a good job and she glowed at the praise. While the Pound might have been unnecessary it was pretty cool to watch and it helped daze the Meowth for easy capture. Speaking of which I quickly shot off a message for Uncle telling him that I would be bringing back a Meowth for his business partner? Friend? I wasn't sure what exactly he was but I knew I wanted whatever Pokémon he would send over. I quickly returned Polli and began making my trek back home.
On the way back I noticed a small commotion over towards the entrance of the Underground Tunnel. Two tunnels ran under Saffron, one north to south and the other east to west. It was an idea to help ease the congestion that Saffron City is known to have. One trip through Saffron could add as much as three hours to someone's journey. And that's not even considering the number of traffic jams that occur just regularly in the city alone. As a way to reduce that congestion, the Indigo government decided to construct tunnels that traveled underneath the city allowing passage past the city but not through it. While it may not have been used to the fullest capacity that it was intended for, the tunnels did still see use from many trainers looking to bypass Saffron for other cities and others that wanted to avoid the busy streets of Kanto's largest city.
Walking closer I noticed that there seemed to be a disagreement between two people while another seemed to try and ease the rising tensions. I noticed that the situation was beginning to boil over so I decided to run over and see what the fuss was about. As I drew closer to the person trying to diffuse the situation, a young boy who was carrying a net over his shoulder looked over at me in relief.
"What seems to be going on guys? Anything I can do to help out?" I asked as I drew closer. The two who had been arguing quickly turned toward me with surprised looks on their faces. One of them, a girl that looked about my age answered me. "We were planning on battling each other when we got out of the tunnel, but this idiot Marco over here only has one Pokemon when he said he had two! And Billy over there only walked with us because he thought we were going to have a double battle but none of us have a second Pokemon!" At this, the boy with the net who I assumed was Billy rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. I managed to catch something about him not needing to battle anyways but the other two completely ignored him and went back to arguing.
"Well maybe if you had asked me how many Pokemon I had when we first talked about the idea, we wouldn't be having this problem! I thought you had two Pokemon and that's why you found Billy to be my partner!" The other boy who I assumed was Marco roared back at the supposed accusation. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. This was not what I signed up to deal with today but I should probably solve the issue. Being a sponsored trainer means I'll be asked to deal with serious situations and issues in the future. While this may not be a very serious issue, it would be good practice when I need to help mediate more important issues. It may have just been a misunderstanding, but things like this happen a lot and can sometimes spiral out of control. I waved my hand a bit to draw all of their attention to me and explained my solution.
"So all of you have one Pokémon with you right now right?" At this, I got three nods while Marco and the other girl nodded. "Okay, since I have time and nothing else to do today I'll hop in for the fourth slot. However Miss…?" At this, I turned to look at the girl and she flushed for a second before saying her name was Julie. "Okay, Julie. Next time you plan a battle make sure that you specify how many you would like to battle with. While it's not a huge deal, it helps keep issues like this to a minimum. And Marco," At this I turned to look over at him and he jumped slightly at the attention, "Whenever someone is challenging you to a battle you should always set the parameters of the battle. If you only have one Pokemon on your roster, state that. Otherwise, you can find yourself in a tough situation where you are very outmatched and you lose your money to a thug." At this, Marco flushed in embarrassment and looked down at the ground.
I quickly pulled out my own Pokeball and phone. "Alright so if y'all want to have a double battle we can. Whoever wants to be on my side comes over here and then we can set the match and wager." At that Marco quickly shuffled over to me and Billy walked over toward Julie. I opened Showdown and set up the rules while showing them how to set it up for a double battle. We set the wager for 500 a piece and confirmed that we would all be using one Pokemon a piece. Afterward, we both headed toward our side to prepare for the match.
As we walked over I decided to see what kind of Pokémon Marco had and what we could do to strategize.
"My Pokemon? Oh! I have a Bulbasaur." I nearly choked on the water that I was drinking in surprise. This kid had a regional starter? How the hell did he manage that? He must have seen my look of a surprise because he reached behind his neck and rubbed it in embarrassment. "Yeah, I managed to impress Professor Oak during my second interview. My half-sister in Johto, Nissa, got a Chikorita for her starter so we have a competition going for who raises the better Grass Starter. I'm planning on being a Grass and Poison specialist because of Bulbasaur's future typing."
"Alright, I can work with that. Do you know what Pokemon either of them has?" Marco looked thoughtful for a moment before his eyes lit up in recollection. "I'm pretty sure Billy said that he had a Kakuna. I'm not sure what Pokemon Julie has though. We were trying to figure out who would battle who when we figured out that we didn't have the required numbers. And I didn't mention my Pokemon to them either so both of ours are unknown."
"Awesome, so we have that advantage. I have a Poliwag named Polli and I'm pretty confident in our abilities. For right now, I'll take on Billy and his Kakuna while you focus on whatever Julie has. If It's a bad matchup just try to stall and disable while Polli fights or disables Kakuna." I drew Polli's Pokeball into my hand and waited while the others did as well. A small drone zipped overhead to record the battle for our records. The Battle Club worked in tandem with the PWG to authorize and monitor Pokemon battles even out in the wilds. There was a large number of drones that were used to record and oversee the battle from the skies. The video feed was monitored by a PWG official who would referee the battle. We waited as the drone announced the rules and prepared our Pokemon. We lost the toss so we had to send ours out first.
"Polli! You've been chosen!" "Bulbasaur! You're up!" Polli erupted from the energy with a fierce expression on her face. It seemed she was more than ready to have a battle before we returned to training. Marco sent out his Bulbasaur and it appeared to the side of Polli. It appeared with a flash and snapped its vines a few times in preparation while growling. It appeared to be pretty feisty which was odd for their species but at least it had spirit. Sometimes that's what it took.
"Kakuna! Let 'em have it!" "Sandshrew! Slash them to pieces!" Billy tossed his Pokeball out and a Kakuna appeared in front of him. Its gaze tightened as Polli squared her glare on it. From Julie's Pokeball a Sandshrew appeared and made a few swipes with its claws at Marco's Bulbasaur. We waited for the buzzer to sound and each second added another layer of tension. My muscles immediately calmed as the buzzer sounded and I gave Polli my instructions.
"Polli! Kakuna is our opponent. Push forward while attacking, keep your eyes peeled for any incoming attacks!" Polli Immediately launched a Water Gun that shot off toward the bug Pokemon. It was easy to dodge however with the wide distance but Polli was running forwards to shorten the time that Kakuna was able to react to her attacks. I knew that Kakuna was a rather slow species of Pokemon so if we could get closer but far enough away to still avoid any return attacks we should be able to win our fight easily.
"Bulbasaur hold and drain!" I glanced over at the order that Marco gave and watched Bulbasaur lash out with both vines in a Vine Whip attack at the Sandshrew. Julie's Sandshrew showed great agility in dodging the vines as they slammed around it attempting to grab hold of it. One managed to clip it as it dodged though and it stumbled in its step. It was what Bulbasaur was waiting for however as it shot off a Leech Seed as soon as it felt one of its vines connect. And while its dodging skills were impressive, it couldn't recover quick enough to dodge the seed that impacted its torso. Once it connected vines erupted from it and latched onto the Sandshrew's form eliciting a loud cry of pain from it. It tumbled to the ground and tried to forcibly detach the vines with its arms but they had rooted immediately upon contact and dug deep.
"Sandshrew! Scratch on those vines! Get them off of you!" Julie shouted with a worried expression on her face. It started to try and scratch through the vines that had wrapped around his body but it seemed that the Bulbasaur was better trained. The vines were tough and were rather resilient as the scratch attack was unable to cleave through them. In the momentary distraction, Bulbasaur had whipped out its vines once more and began slamming them into the Sandshrew. Each impact caused it to reel backward from the impact and suddenly the Sandshrew slammed backward onto the dirt. Between the Leech seed draining its energy and the vines not giving it any rest, the Sandshrew seemed to be unable to gain any breathing room to change the flow of the battle. Bulbasaur was ruthless in its attempts to slam the Sandshrew repeatedly into the dirt.
In Polli's end, everything was doing pretty well. The Kakuna had set up a few Hardens to decrease the amount of physical damage it could take while Polli advanced. The Water Guns from earlier had not done much but they had made a few dents in its cocoon which showed that it wasn't completely unaffected. Now and then it would fire off a Poison Sting whenever it could, which would relieve the pressure of Polli's barrage of attacks. They seemed to be working however as Kakuna was beginning to react slower to her ranged attacks and its attempts at dodging became slower and slower.
"Kakuna! Try and trap it with a Poison Shot! Keep dogging buddy!" Kakuna nodded and shot off a flurry of String Shots. Polli dodged the first two but the third managed to catch her leg. She paused as the substance stuck her to the ground for a few seconds that it took Polli to free herself. At that time Kakuna launched a volley of Poison Sting at Polli while she was immobilized. While Polli was successful in freeing herself from the sticky substance, she wasn't able to dodge the poisonous barbs in time and took the full force of the attack. She rolled backward from the momentum and struggled up to her feet. After a small glance, I could see a nasty purple bruise beginning to spread from where the barbs pierced and I could see the telltale signs of the poison effect starting to spread.
I needed to hurry and wrap this up. With Polli poisoned, we couldn't afford to try and outlast the Kakuna like we had been trying to do. While that would have been to our advantage, the poison would complicate things and make our strategy of attrition into our loss. I glanced over for a second and noticed that Bulbasaur had managed to trip up Sandshrew once more with its Vine Whip opening a perfect window for Polli to get a hit in.
"Polli! Use Water Gun on Sandshrew! There's an opening!" Polli nodded and immediately turned her gaze towards the Sandshrew that was huffing and panting in exhaustion at being on the defensive the whole battle. It seemed that Julie hadn't trained it as much as we had. She shot off a powerful stream of water that blasted the Sandshrew on the side of her head. With a shriek of pain, the Pokemon flew backward into the dirt and didn't rise. I looked over at Marco and gave him a quick nod before looking back over at Kakuna. "Polli's been poisoned. I can't afford to stall any longer. We need to combo it quickly." Marco nodded in return and quickly gave orders.
"Bulbasaur! Razor Leaf on Kakuna!" Bulbasaur did just that as a series of leaves were sent spinning toward the Kakuna. They tore into it hardened by the infusion of type energy and Kakuna winced at the strong attack but didn't budge. I grimaced as I looked at Polli who was now starting to slightly tremble at the poison that was coursing through her body. This was the first time that Polli had ever experienced the condition in battle and was unused to fighting while being so debilitated.
I ran over our options and decided that just letting loose and hitting Kakuna with everything we had would be the way to go. It couldn't take hits forever and while Polli may go down she could still inflict damage upon the Kakuna before succumbing to the poison's effects.
"Polli! Bombard! Full Blast!" Polli started to shoot off supercharged Water Guns and Mud Shots at Kakuna putting her full might behind every projectile. She knew that she would only be able to keep battling for a few more minutes. While she had grown a lot since I had captured her, she wasn't strong enough to be able to ignore a status condition while battling and she knew it.
I could see the flash of worry in Billy's eyes as he realized he was now in a 2v1 situation. While Kakuna had some impressive defensive powers, they weren't known for their abilities to deal damage. With two Pokemon that could dish some serious firepower at this level against him, there wasn't much that he could do. The Kakuna tried to dodge all of the ranged attacks that Polli and Bulbasaur sent its way but it couldn't jump out of the way of everything. After about another minute of constant attacks, Bulbasaur launched a particularly vicious Razor Leaf that ended up being the tip of the scales and Kakuna fell to the ground unconscious.
The drone zoomed closer to the ground and waited a few seconds to see if Kakuna would rise. When it was apparent that it wouldn't it began the end battle announcements. "Kakuna is unable to battle! Victory is awarded to Cindy of Saffron and Marco of Viridian! Your winnings and records will be updated promptly!" And with that, the drone shot off and within seconds vanished into the distance presumably to be used in overseeing another battle.
Marco and I quickly met Billy and Julie and shook each other's hands. Julie looked mortified at causing such a ruckus earlier only to have her Pokemon be the first to fall in the battle. We quickly reassured her that we didn't hold it against her and that we held no hard feelings. We chatted for a bit about traveling and all three were surprised that I had yet to leave my hometown. After a few minutes, Billy returned to the Underground tunnel to make his way north towards Cerulean. Like me, he was heading west towards the Viridian forest but wanted to take a long way around and opted to venture through Mt. Moon. Something about trying to find a Paras or something like that. We bid him farewell and watched as he descended under the earth.
"Well, I guess that means that I should take my cue and head out as well. I want to get Sandshrew looked at and train a bit before taking on Surge." Julie said while looking off into the distance. I could see that her confidence had been shaken a bit due to how quickly she had lost. "Don't be strangers if we see each other again! And I hope to meet you both in the Kanto Preliminaries!" Julie made her way south towards Vermilion at that. I felt for her as I knew she hadn't taken the loss well. Hopefully, she would spend some extra time training before she challenges Surge. While he may only use a Raichu for low-level challenges, he was notorious for being a large hurdle to climb with the injuries that many rookie trainers would receive from the battle.
Marco looked lost in thought for a moment as he stared at Bulbasaur's Pokeball. I debated asking him what was on his mind but I decided to wait. I didn't know him very well and I didn't want to pry too deeply into his thoughts. He was pretty nice and while he only had a single Pokemon he showed that he was a decent trainer at the least. He nodded to himself and then turned to look at me. It seems that I wouldn't have to wait long for him to speak his mind.
"Thanks a lot for battling with us. I know that it probably took some time out of your day to do." Marco gave me a sheepish grin as he rubbed his head in embarrassment.
"Oh, no worries at all! I had finished my main goal for today so I didn't have much on my plate! I should be thanking you! It isn't every day that you get to see a regional starter in all their glory!" At that Marco once again laughed sheepishly and scratched his head. He took a quick breath and seemed to be gathering the courage to ask something.
Oh no.
He wasn't going to ask me on a date, was he?!? I'm only thirteen! And mentally I'm like forty! I absolutely couldn't stand dating anyone right now. The nervousness and inexperience of teenage dating would grind at my gears. I didn't want to deal with any of the stupid teen hormones and drama that always seems to come up. I had enough of that in my past life and I wasn't very eager to experience it again. I prepared a firm but gentle rejection in my head but was stunned at the unexpected question that came from Marco's mouth.
"Would you be open to having a traveling partner? You're Poliwag is very well trained for someone being new to this as you are. I'm a little nervous about traveling on my own and was wondering if you were open to some company along the road. I planned on heading to Viridian soon to visit my family anyways and Brock in Pewter would be a wonderful first badge for the both of us!" Marco was speaking so fast that I barely understood what he was asking at first. He flushed from embarrassment as he realized what he had done and actively tried to slow his speech. "I know we just met and that it might be uncomfortable for a bit since we don't know each other but I wanted to extend the offer anyways! And you don't have to answer right away either! I didn't have a plan for acquiring any of the badges and was just kinda going with the flow to give Bulbasaur some experience." At this, he trailed off and looked at me expectantly.
I'll be honest, I hadn't given any thought to having a travel companion during my journey. I had just planned around it being me and my team but honestly…I wouldn't mind having another person to talk to while traveling. King and Polli were great friends but they couldn't speak to me as another human could. I debated for a while on the pros and cons and finally came to a decision.
"Well…I do have a flight to Pewter tomorrow morning so I'll be in the same area soon. Tell you what. By the time I reach Viridian, I'll make sure to have a concrete answer to give you. I hadn't planned on traveling with other people but I also don't mind it. Let me think on it for a bit and I'll let you know whenever I reach Viridian, how does that sound?" Hopefully, it wouldn't be too strange of an offer. While Marco seemed nice, I had only just met him and I wanted to get to know him a bit more before I decided to spend a good portion of the next year with him. I also had a few things that I wanted to do solo like bug hunting for a Heracross in the Viridian forest. While it may be important, especially in terms of my team's roster, I knew that I would be spending a significant amount of time there during my search. And I wouldn't want Marco to be bored while I had my escapades into the trees.
Marco thought for a minute and then nodded. "I plan on heading north to Pewter after visiting my family anyways. I'm pretty sure Giovanni is going to be in town while I'm there and I don't fancy trying to get an Earth Badge while he's in town. I'm not ready for that kind of challenge. How about this? Once we both get our first badges we can meet up in Viridian for our second. It'll give both some time to grow individually and experience traveling solo. And then whenever we see each other in Viridian we can bring it up again." Marco suddenly grinned and looked at me with a challenging glint in his eyes. "Even if you decide not to, I would like to battle against you one day and that seems like the perfect time to do so." At that statement, I felt a matching grin stretch across my face. Marco and his Bulbasaur were pretty strong already so I knew the fight would be a good one. I nodded and extended my fist towards him in acceptance of his proposal.
"That honestly sounds like a great idea. I had planned some time for exploring as well and I don't want to hold you somewhere or drag you around while I was doing it. So deciding whenever we're both in Viridian sounds like a great plan! I promise I'll have a sure answer for you then!" We exchanged phone numbers and chatted for a few more minutes. After a while, though I could feel myself wanting to head home so after a quick goodbye and reassurance that I would think over his offer, we parted ways.
With a quick and uneventful trip back to Saffron I skipped my way back into the dojo and decided to check on Kong and his progress on Protect. Whenever I arrived back home I was surprised to see Kong sparring with my Uncle Hitmonlee with Uncle overseeing the battle. I could tell that Hitmonlee wasn't even trying at the extremely exaggerated movements that he was making while training with Kong. Kong however seemed to be half a step behind passing out from pure exhaustion. I could see the trembling muscles which showed how far Kong was pushing himself.
It was a pleasant surprise however when Hitmonlee let out a very underpowered Swift attack that Kong managed to procure a shimmering shield that blocked the projectiles. It was weak as I could see the noticeable cracks that appeared in the shield after repelling the Swift but it was leagues better than when I had left this morning. My uncle noticed me out of the corner of his eye and clapped twice, notifying the two Pokemon that the spar was over. Kong promptly collapsed on the ground and took heaving breaths in exhaustion. I could see the small signs of a grin however so I knew that Kong was pleased with the soreness and exhaustion that he was experiencing.
"Ah! Welcome back, Cindy! After your capture of Meowth, I decided to spend some time helping Kong's training as thanks. I already sent it off to my friend so whenever you acquire a Rattata let me know so I can send that one off promptly as well." He looked approvingly at Kong as Hitmonlee wandered off into the forested area of our stables. "Kong is a wonderful Pokemon to have as a starter you know. While he may not have the rarity of some other starters, he has a tenacity to grow that I've only seen in Pokemon that achieve great accomplishments. Be proud of him Cindy. He will help you achieve greatness."
At this, my eyes began to water. That was high praise coming from a talented Fighting Specialist like himself. While he may not have achieved the level of Master, he was still very knowledgeable and powerful in his own right. Kong puffed up at the unexpected compliment and seemed to forget a bit of his exhaustion as he sprang to his feet and pumped his arms into the air. The exhaustion quickly returned and he fell flat on his face which brought Uncle and me to the verge of tears from laughing so hard. I returned Kong allowing him to finally rest from a long day of training. "Good word buddy. I knew you could get the hang of it." The Pokeball shook slightly in my hand before it stilled, proving that Kong could indeed hear me through the stasis technology of the Pokeball. I regaled the tale of today's battle with Uncle as I transferred Polli from my roster over to the healing room that we had in the dojo. While a Pokemon Center would have been quicker at healing Polli, I didn't want to have to wake up even earlier to go and pick her up from the Center. Our healers, while not as experienced or capable as Nurse Joy and her team were, could easily patch up Polli and her minor injuries before I left for Pewter in the morning.
I could feel the pit of nervousness grow within my stomach again but not nearly as bad as it was this morning. I will be starting my journey for real tomorrow. Not just training but traveling the Kanto region. And while flying to Pewter using the travel service might not be the "traditional way" it would be nice to have a badge and some more experience before I braved the wilds. Plus I had made another friend and possible future companion today and that was a lot to think about. Marco was easy to talk to even if he was a bit shy. And with a Bulbasaur as his starter, I knew he could become strong if he wanted to. Plus having another person with a different team would do wonders for training up my team against different Pokémon. While I may not have given my answer right away, I didn't see too many reasons to refuse the offer once I got Viridian. And with Ashley currently traveling in Johto, it would be great to have another friend beside us as we traveled.
With a quick dinner and the setting of my alarms, I drifted off to sleep. One way or another I would climb my mountain. And tomorrow would be my first step
So Cindy is about to head of into the world of the Kanto region! And quite possibly have found a companion to travel with! But with this chapter we conclude our pre journey training and all that jazz!
Once again I want to apologize for the late chapter. Hopefully moving forward I'll have a plan and resources in place where life won't destroy my new hobby of writing for y'all! Also shout out to the good ole Unc for a new team member in the future! I hope y'all are ready to find out who it is!
As always feel free to leave a review and let me know what y'all think!
Take care and remember to hydrate not diedrate!
