Viridian Forest

It was dark, and Gary had traveled about 2 miles into Viridian Forest, thinking back on what happened earlier at the Pokemon Center, and on his interaction with Ash. He frowned at remembering how he defended the other boy from the other girl, Misty, and Team Rocket. He didn't like how at the end of beating the thieves, Ash and his Pikachu blasted the trio out of the center, damaging the place along with it. Sighing, he decided to put the amount of property damage that was caused out of his mind, and looked around him. Nodding that this was a good spot, he tossed up his Poke balls, and called out his Pokemon.

"Guys, come on out!" Gary summoned his team.

Squirtle, Nidoran, Mankey, Spearow, Rattata, and Pidgey emerged from their balls, with calls to their respective species. Landing on the ground, they all looked around them, before looking back at Gary. Noticing that the boy was already taking out his sleeping bag from his backpack.

"We'll be camping out tonight, and so on, until we get to Pewter City. So, find yourself somewhere to sleep. We'll be getting up early, to get in some training and catching any Pokemon in this forest."

The Pokemon all responded positively, before they went to make themselves comfortable around their campsite. It wouldn't be long before the party of 7 had fallen asleep.

The sunlight was shown, pushing at the night sky. The group of Pokemon and one human were still asleep, save for one Pokemon. Mankey, being an early riser, uses its hands to start rolling Gary around, while the boy was still in his sleeping bag.

"Wha..what is going on!" the boy questioned. Waking up as Mankey stopped rolling him. Spotting his Pokemon, he shook his head, but with a smile. "Mankey, I guess you are an early riser," Gary laughed.

Sitting up, he saw his shouting had woken up his other Pokemon, and watched them all yawning and stretching. Smiling, he climbed out of his bag, folded it up, and put it back in his bag. When that was done, he went over to converse with his Pokèmon. The Pokemon all stood in front of him, while he sat on a fallen log, a bottle of water in hand, and looked at each of them.

"Alright guys, I would like to first of all say, thank you, to Squirtle, Nidoran, and Rattata. You 3 performed great in our first battle. Even if it was against a bunch of thieves. You three really put them in their place. You guys were very determined, tough, and courageous," he said to each of the three, respectively.

These praises caused the three Pokemon to beam at him, and make noises. "Squirtle, squirt!" Squirtle, puffing up his chest, with a confident smile.

"Ni, ni!" Nidoran showed off pointing its horn in the air, smirking up at Gary.

"Rattata!" Rattata hopping on his feet, in glee.

Gary then turned his attention to the other three, and said, "Spearow, Pidgey, and Mankey. I'll be expecting you three to get your fill of battles while we're in the forest. I want us all to be prepared to face off against the first gym."

The three mons cried out in cheer, and in support to help their trainer. Mankey had taken to joining Rattata in hopping from side to side in glee as well. While Spearow and Pidgey had chosen to perch themselves on Gary's shoulders.

'Spearow is quite prideful, while Pidgey is cheerful. Very different from each other, and last but certainly not least, our early rising, high spirited Mankey,' he thought to himself.

His Pokèmon tried their best to hold onto Gary, who chuckled at this. It took him a bit of a while to take out his Pokè balls. "Alright you guys, we should get through this forest," he said, returning them all to their respective balls. Put on his backpack, and was soon traveling through the forest, just as the sun had peeked over the horizon.

While walking through the forest, for the past hour, he was noting down, in his notebook, each of this Pokemon's current personalities, their types strengths, weaknesses, and the moves they each knew. Coming up with ways to use them in the battle with the Pewter Gym Leader. His battle with Team Rocket had shown him that while he was good, there was still a lot of room for improvement, if he wanted to be a Pokemon Master.

After putting his notebook away, he pulled out and opened his Pokèdex. The screen switched on, showing him the available Pokèmon in Viridian Forest. Noting that there were only 2 bug lines, Caterpie and Weedle found in this forest. As well as a rare encounter with an electric type Pikachu, and grass type Oddish.

Seeing that those were his only options, he put his dex away, as a small green Caterpie had wandered by his eye line. "We'll catch every Pokemon line in this forest, starting now!"

The little green Pokèmon, not having noticed the human, sat there, munching on a berry from a nearby bush. Gary pulled out his Poke ball, and sent Spearow out to battle it.

"Alright, Spearow , show that Caterpie your Peck Attack!" Gary calls out.

"Spearow!" Spearow cawed, and struck Caterpie hard. Causing the small bug Pokèmon to roll backwards, till it came to a stop, with spirals in its eyes. The Oak boy threw a Pokè ball, and caught the pokèmon with a 1,2,3 beep, and a ding!

After thanking his Pokemon, he went to retrieve the ball, only for it to vanish in a bright light. A bit confused, before smiling. "Of course! A trainer is only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon on their person. While any more captures are sent back to the one place that trainer received their Poke Dex from. So, Caterpie is with Gramps," he said, to both himself, and to his Spearow that was listening to him. Casually, Gary looked up, and spotted a small brown bug, a Weedle, sitting upon a tree branch, looking down at him.

"Weedle," the pokèmon said, shaking at the sight of Gary and his Spearow.

"Return, Spearow. Let's Go, Pidgey!" he returns his prideful bird, for his more cheerful Pidgey, which makes short work of the poison Pokèmon using Gust. "Perfect! Now to find those two elusive Pikachu and Oddish, which are rare in these parts."

The Oak boy had seen something leap out of the bushes. It was a female Pikachu holding a Berry in its mouth pushing around other Pikachus who wanted the berry! He immediately could tell it was a female, due to the end of the tail shaped like a heart. "A Pikachu with an attitude!" Gary sends out his Rattata for the battle against her.

"Rattata, Quick attack!" Gary calls out as Pikachu drops her Berry, and tries to use growl against Rattata, dropping its overall attacking damage. Rattata disappears, leaving behind an after image of itself. Once Rattata reappeared, he charged and collided into Pikachu. It was like a squeaky toy colliding with a brick wall, which do as much damage like he usually would. "That growl really lowered your attack Rattata," Gary commented, looking carefully at how to go about this fight.

Pikachu got on all fours unleashing its own quick attack! In a blink of an eye, Pikachu threw itself into Rattata, causing the Mouse Pokèmon to roll backwards.

"This Pikachu is causing a little bit of a problem. You did a great job though. Get some rest," Gary returns his Rattata, then he sends out Mankey, who is rather excited to battle the electric mouse.

"Mankey, use Seismic Toss on the Pikachu!" Gary says feeling confident in his Mankey.

The fighting type obliges by running over to Pikachu, grabbing the Pikachu in a suplex hold and leaping into the air before plummeting down with a suplex! Causing the Pikachu to be dazed.

"Looks like it's working," Gary smiled. Luckily it would seem that Pikachu didn't have the Static ability, but the Lightning Rod ability. "Now weaken it further with a scratch!"

Mankey lifted its paw and scratched at Pikachu. Making the yellow mouse particularly angry before unleashing a Thunder Shock! The attack struck Mankey, and made the Pig Monkey Pokemon quite angry.

"Calm down Mankey! Don't lose your cool there! We can still win this! Now, let's end this with another seismic toss!" Gary called out.

The Pig Monkey Pokèmon nodded, grabbed onto Pikachu again, jumping into the air while holding onto Pikachu, and dropping the yellow mouse onto the ground with a powerful suplex. Pikachu stumbled around, quite dizzy from that last move, and clearly about to fall over.

"Great job Mankey! I'll take it from here!" Gary announced, throwing a Pokè ball at the once aggressive Pikachu, and catching it.

Once it too vanished, back to Oak's lab, Gary made sure Mankey's injuries were treated, before he returned it to its ball, and made haste through the forest. It wasn't long before he came across a boy wearing Samurai armor while carrying a sword and bug catching net. The boy was waiting by what appeared to be an exit, judging by the path next to some trees.

'Hmm, I wonder if he's a trainer too. And if he was waiting there to battle unsuspecting trainers that come pass here?' He thought to himself, as he came to a stop, a few meters from the boy.

"You there! Are you a trainer from the town that is Pallet?" The Samurai asked, standing up, and holding out his sword, pointing it in Gary's direction.

Gary was on guard, and his hand on a Poke ball, on his belt. "That's right. I'm Gary Oak, from the town of Pallet!"

"Very good! I have already battled two other trainers from Pallet Town, earlier today," he said, nodding his head, while sheathing his sword. "I am Samurai. I am shrewd, fearless, and completely invincible in combat. I have been waiting for another trainer from Pallet Town to come across his path. Let's have a Pokemon match, to see who triumphs!" he declared, holding out his Pokè ball, issuing the challenge.

Gary smiled, and did the same. "Fine by me. I accept your challenge, Samurai!"

The two stared each other down, in a showdown moment. Then, at the sound of a nearby acorn, landing on the ground, not far from them, the two sent out their Pokèmon to battle!

Spearow vs Pinsir

The Tiny bird Pokèmon showed off its dangerous beak, Pinsir showed off his terrifying pincers. Like their trainers, they too stared each other down, after being summoned to the battlefield. Gary smirked at the match up, while Samurai tried to look unfazed at the type disadvantage he was in.

"You've got this Spearow! Use Peck!" Gary called out.

"Try and catch it with your horns!" Samurai countered quickly.

The battle was fierce. Spearow showing off its aerial skills, with constant peck attacks, being thrown out with immense speed! Due to this, Pinsir was being worn down, and had fallen to one knee.

Samurai was now looking more worried, while Gary grinned on.

The weakened Pinsir had finally caught Spearow in between its pincers.

"Vice Grip!" Samurai called out. Pinsir did just that, squeezing the tiny bird Pokèmon.

"Spearow, you can do it!" Gary yells, giving Spearow a moral boost, its eyes twinkle with burning spirit, it powers through the Vice Grip giving one final peck to Pinsir's cranium. Knocking it out, and releasing Spearow from its hold.

"Great job, Spearow! I knew you could do it!" Gary confidently cheered on his Pokemon.

"SPEAROW!" Spearow caws at the praise, and its victory over its opponent.

"Your Spearow is really well trained," Samurai commented, and returned his fallen mon. "Return, Pinsir. You deserve a good rest." Then brought out his next and final Pokemon. "Come out, Metapod!" A green chrysalis Pokèmon sat on the ground.

"Return Spearow, you did great. Now for the grand finale, go Squirtle!" Gary sent out his starter Pokèmon who looked determined to win this battle for Gary and his teammates.

The two opposing sides stare each down, once again, before calling out their attacks.

"Use Water gun, Squirtle!"

Squirtle nods,and he sprays a jet of water from its mouth, pelting the green cocoon Pokèmon hard.

"Harden, Metapod!" The bug Pokèmon hardens its body to become as tough as samurai's armor, and took the force of the water attack head on. "Hah! You see! My Metapod has the greatest defense in the entire forest! A novice like you would never get through!" Samurai called out with a grin.

"Using Harden isn't going to stop Squirtle. Keep up your water gun!" Gary counters, and watches as Squirtle kept firing water from its mouth. Whittling down the once tough Metapod before it collapsed onto the ground, with spirals for eyes. Surprising Samurai with the Knockout!

"I… I lost sighs You did great, Metapod. Return, my friend," Samurai said in defeat, before looking up at Gary, with a smile. "Thank you for a spectacular match, Gary Oak. You truly have shown me that you, like the other two before you, really know how to raise your Pokemon."

"Thanks for the battle, Samurai. I knew in the long run, you wouldn't win. I'm just far too good" Gary says, after returning Squirtle to its ball. "If you want to make up for it, there is a 4th trainer from Pallet Town that should be making his way through this forest. You can battle him, when he makes it through here."

"A 4th trainer you say? Very well. Even though I have now lost for the 3rd time, to a trainer from the town of Pallet, I shall now redouble my training to prepare to battle the 4th trainer from the town of Pallet! May you have many more victories!" Samurai waved goodbye.

Gary also waved, before leaving down the path. Almost to the end of the forest, he encountered the rare Oddish. With the help of his Nidoran, he caught the little grass type, and made it out of the forest in record time, with still some day light in the sky.

Gary took his first steps into Pewter City, and decided he would head to the Pokemon Center to treat his team. With that in mind, he walks into the city. After the center, he'll head to the Pewter City Gym, to battle for his first gym badge to enter the Pokemon League, the Boulder Badge!

End of Episode 3

Authors note: Gary sure laid the smackdown on the Samurai!

Thanks to https/u/1012133/blackshinobi for this awesome collaboration between us!