Chapter 10; friction of growth
Sonic rushed to the pokemon center of Vermillion city to heal his pokemon after his intense battle with team Rocket admin Ariana. He burst in through the doors of the pokemon center causing a couple of trainers, two girls, already inside to jump in surprise.
"Is nurse joy here?!" he asked them not seeing her behind the counter.
"No. We're also waiting to heal our pokemon. She was asked to the nearby farm to heal the pokemon of a grumpy old man who won't come here himself" one of the 2 girls answered him who was petting her jigglypuff.
"Damn. Is that farm far from here?"
"No but you shouldn't bother going. He doesn't take kindly to strangers".
"Great. Guess all we can do is wait" Sonic murmured and sat down on the couch opposite of the two girls. Pikachu jumped off of Sonic's shoulder and laid on the table to rest. Jigglypuff soon joined it singing silently in Pikachu's ear to soothe it but not put the trainers to sleep as well.
"Those are some injuries your Pikachu has" the 2nd girl commented "what did them?"
"A Nidoking" Sonic answered while looking at the ceiling trying to relax from the adrenaline.
"A wild Nidoking around here?" the first girl said in surprise.
"We should go look for it Valerie" her friend said.
Sonic thought about revealing it was a trainer's pokemon and not a wild one but refrained.
"Yeah. It could still be around" he said as he looked back at the ceiling.
"That was one tough battle" he thought not talking "did it really belong to the boss of team rocket? I wonder how they will react when they find out".
Meanwhile at team Rocket's base
Ariana was walking towards the boss' office trembling in fear. Losing a battle against a teenager with one of the boss' pokemon too? It was basically a death sentence.
She knocked the door to the office and a woman opened the door.
"He is expecting you" she told Ariana.
Ariana stepped into the shadowy room. In front of her behind his desk was him. The big boss.
"Matori leave us" he said in a calm voice.
"Yes sir" she said and walked out the door.
"I must say" he said in a serious tone "I confess myself deeply disappointed admin Ariana. Your one job was making sure that kid didn't interfere with our work again".
"Giovanni sir, please let me explain…"
"And not only did you have a total of 7 grunts in your disposal to keep our profits safe, you also had my Nidoking to use in case of emergency. And what do I find out? You lose a battle to a teenager with second class pokemon AND both him and that kid Michael as well as ALL our profits are gone. I am terribly disappointed. You know what the punishment is for your failure".
"Giovanni sir please! I couldn't have expected what occurred there".
"What could possibly have occurred that you couldn't expect? You are a member of team Rocket. You have been trained to expect everything".
"That kid that beat me sir. It had a special Pikachu!"
"Just as special as the one the two incompetent fools and their Meowth lost too after we broke them out? The one belonging to that kid from pallet town?"
"No sir. The one I'm talking about… it did something impossible. It knocked out your Nidoking… by using thunder shock!"
Giovanni had his back turned to Ariana the whole time. Hearing her last phrase caused his eyes to widen in shock momentarily though she didn't it. He slowly turned around.
"Are you certain that's what happened? Or is this a desperate attempt to escape punishment?"
"It's not sir! I'm telling you the truth!"
Giovanni looked at her eyes. They contained pure terror in them. But they also seemed genuine.
"Very well. I believe you. If what you told me is true, that could cause a big problem long term. Thankfully we're ahead of schedule on the plan" he got up "since you brought some valuable information, I will be lenient this time – this time only – and spare you the punishment".
"Thank you sir! Thank you. You won't regret this!"
"I know" he thought sinisterly "I know".
Back at Vermillion city pokemon center
Minutes turned to one and a half hour before nurse joy returned with her chansey. After Valerie and her friend healed their pokemon, Sonic took his turn waiting for his pokemon to be healed. After they were fully healed he decided they would head out to get something to eat. While eating at a sandwich stand – "Need some resources asap" Sonic thought chewing – he was considering what came next apart from the 3rd gym badge.
"Guys" he said talking to his 3 pokemon "we should train after we're done eating. We are progressing too fast and not grow enough"
They all agreed. When they were all done they headed to a beach east of the city. They immediately got to work each one working their hardest. Wartortle was the first to make progress learning water pulse on its own. Kadabra switched between meditating and practicing psybeam. Pikachu on the other hand had started reaching a dead end. Sonic was sitting in the sand observing it using thunder shock over and over but the attack never seemed to do more damage. Eventually they decided to stop training for the day and just go to sleep, Sonic sleeping in a sleeping bag while his pokemon except for Pikachu were sleeping. Pikachu observed the stars as if it was lost in deep thought.
The next day Sonic went into town to get supplies to cook for his pokemon on the beach while their training continued when he happened to come across a battle. The two trainers, both dressed in what seemed like military clothes looked like they were training as well.
"You have not won yet Visquez! Go Raichu!"
The pokeball was tossed in the air and the evolved form of Pikachu came out of it. Sonic and his Pikachu became transfixed in it but didn't approach the two. They witnessed Raichu first use slam to damage its opponent, a voltorb and then thunderbolt which knocked out voltorb while also leaving the two observers in awe with Sonic wondering how he could help Pikachu learn that move faster.
"Amazing as ever, friend" the man named Visquez said.
Sonic not wanting to be noticed at that moment left with Pikachu still on his shoulder, its eyes fixated on Raichu.
After buying supplies enough to last them a few days as well as a bigger backpack, Sonic took the way back to the beach. On the way he and Pikachu heard a scream. Following it to its source they saw one of the two girls they had met at the pokemon center, more specifically Valerie outside a cave. When they approached she noticed them.
"Oh thank god, I need help. Someone attacked me and stole my bag! My partner's pokeball was inside!"
"Did he go into the cave?" Sonic asked.
"Yes".
"Don't worry I'll go get it" he said rushing in before even Valerie could respond.
After about 30 second however they came across a weird scene; the robber knocked out and holes around him.
"Wait a minute" Sonic said remembering once reading about a specific pokemon "this can't be diglett tunnel, can it?!"
The moment he completed his phrase about 5 digletts appeared around them as well as a dugtrio in front of them. Cursing at the fact that he left Wartortle back at the beach, he decided to try and scare them off with light.
"Pikachu use thunder shock on the wall".
Pikachu obeyed confused and the result was just what Sonic expected. Digletts being pokemon that lived underground, in other words in darkness, wouldn't react well to sudden strong light. They all immediately darted underground. Quickly grabbing Valerie's bag he turned to leave but saw something shining inside one of the holes the digletts left. He faintly recognized the shape of a lightning bolt.
"No" he said in disbelief "it can't be".
He put his hand in the hole and pulled out a small green stone with a yellow lightning bolt on it.
"A thunder stone" he said in awe. Pikachu looked at it in excitement.
"Pika pi! Pikachu!" it cried out and tried to touch the thunderstone. Sonic pulled it away.
"No Pikachu! Not yet!"
"Pika?"
"If you evolve you won't learn any other move. We need you to learn thunderbolt first".
"Pika pi!"
"Look just patience ok? We're close".
Pikachu looked grumpy as it climbed back on Sonic's head and they exited the cave returning Valerie her bag. They then returned to the beach where Sonic cooked the same curry he did in Cerulean City and afterwards they continued their training. During their training Sonic had to stop Pikachu from sneaking over to his backpack to get the thunderstone a total of five times.
"Pikachu this is getting out of hand!" he said losing his cool after a while "you need to learn thunderbolt first!"
"Pika pi!" it cried out in anger.
"I said no! You will evolve when ready not earlier!"
"Pikaaa! Pikachuuuu!" it cried out as it used thundershock zapping Sonic who fell back in surprise as Wartortle and Kadabra rushed to defuse the situation.
"Alright that's it" he said disappointed at Pikachu who looked conflicted, partially regretting blasting its trainer and partially thinking its desire was within its grasp.
"You need some time off" Sonic said pressing the button on Pikachu's pokeball forcibly recalling it. Wartortle and Kadabra looked at him in question.
"Rest for the day ok?" he told them as he laid on the sand and watched the sunset, trying to calm down.
Five minutes later he sensed his phone vibrating. It was Tails facetiming him.
"Hey Sonic! Where are you right now?!"
"On a beach close to Vermillion city. Why?"
"Seriously? Awesome! I'm visiting a cousin of mine in two days who lives there and wondered where you are! What do you say I come early?"
"That would be great" Sonic said smiling "hey is it possible you can bring a voltmeter along?"
"Easy but why you asking?"
"I need your help with something again if that's ok".
"Anytime. I'll be there first thing in the morning".
"Haha. I didn't know you meant this early" Sonic joked as Tails hang up.
The rest of the evening was tense for the team as Pikachu who eventually came out to have dinner, was grumpy and even once again tried to sneak to the thunder stone, causing Sonic to put it in his pocket for safekeeping. After dinner they all went to sleep as Pikachu sat close to the seawater and looked at the stars, observed by Sonic.
"Just a little more buddy" he thought "please understand" he hoped as he closed his eyes, the thunder stone still inside his pocket out of pikachu's reach.
Sonic had a weird dream that night. He saw Pikachu in a field chasing the thunderstone around. Suddenly both it and the thunderstone were engulfed in giant bolts of electricity. Sonic tried to rush to save it but was knocked back and then suddenly splashed by water both in the dream and in real life.
"Gotcha!" a familiar voice was heard.
"Damn" Sonic said smiling despite being wet top to bottom "hell of a way to make an entry Tails".
After getting out of the wet sleeping bag the two friends sat in the sand so Sonic could dry as he didn't have a change of clothes and thought he would ask his mother to send him some with Jet when he got a chance to visit.
"You've been busy" Tails said seeing Sonic's 3 pokemon playing.
"That's true" Sonic said smiling.
"Are you um.. still thinking of Amy?"
"Every day. It's not easy to let go. Maybe it's not even possible. Currently I am focusing on this journey. Hopefully this will lessen the impact of her words on me later on".
"Only so much you can do" Tails commented "by the way what did you need a voltmeter for?"
"You brought it?"
"Yes".
"Good. Let's get started" Sonic said getting back up.
They approached the 3 pokemon and Sonic let Tails get close to them so that they would be acclimated to his presence. After a bit of bonding Sonic asked Tails to stick the voltmeter's cord edges on Pikachu's cheeks so that they could see the voltage it released, Sonic's theory being it would learn thunderbolt if it could increase its voltage output.
"Ok. I'm ready" Tails said.
"Thunder shock" Sonic told Pikachu.
Pikachu used its move as Tails checked the voltmeter.
"25.000 volts. Honesty that's quite high for a Pikachu. Usually it's around 10.000 volts with that move".
"Maybe but thunderbolt creates 100.000 volts" Sonic commented "so we need to increase its power output 4 times somehow".
"Hm… you said that kid's Jolteon blasted Pikachu and empowered it right? Maybe if we find another pokemon to replicate this it could increase it".
"That was a one-time thing" Sonic said thinking "we need something more permanent. A more stable source of electricity".
Tails rubbed his chin for a few seconds before getting a mischievous smile.
"I have an idea".
"Uh oh".
"What?"
"Every time you get that face your idea is crazy and we get into trouble".
"I won't deny that but those ideas usually work. So I didn't tell you this but my cousin is working at the local power plant".
"No. No. No. No. You're not thinking what I'm thinking".
"Yes I am".
"Breaking and entering into the power plant? You know that could get us arrested right?"
"I know. But it's either that or we go looking for the legendary bird of thunder, Zapdos. Take your pick".
Sonic weighed their options as Tails was looking something up in his phone.
"Power plant it is. But make sure they won't find us".
"Way ahead of you. Already downloaded the layout of the power plant. All I need now is to borrow my cousin's entry card for a while to replicate it so that he won't get in trouble" he explained getting up.
"I'll go meet up with him and swipe the card for a while. Meet you later for lunch? My treat".
"Ok".
Tails left and Sonic and his pokemon returned to training, Pikachu having overheard everything deciding to be patient for one more day.
They later met with Tails who revealed the replicated entry swipecard.
"We need to go there tonight. The card is one use and untraceable only if used before the original. My cousin's vacation time is ending tomorrow so it's our only chance".
"Got it".
"I'll tell you the plan when we get there. Now can I see the two badges?"
The rest of the evening went by pretty smoothly with the two friends actually catching up while the pokemon ate. In the afternoon Sonic returned to his beach base and Tails to his cousin's house telling Sonic to be at the power plant at 10pm sharp. Sonic and his pokemon immediately got back to training so that they could pass the time not knowing they were being watched from above by 2 large birds.