Blue probably needed a better strategy than throw and pray when it came to catching an Abra. Of course, it was hard to test other ideas when said Pokémon would simply teleport away at the slightest hint of confrontation. He looked at his phone and contemplated calling Sabrina for advice, seeing as she was a psychic trainer, but ultimately decided that her work was probably more important than his petty issues. Besides, there was no way he could be the best if he needed help just to catch an Abra. He continued walking through the field and peeking in every spot he thought might house an Abra, but the Psi Pokémon was almost as hard to find as it was to catch. He spotted one napping under the shade of a tree and threw a Pokéball at it. The ball managed to collide with it and open up to swallow the Abra inside. It fell onto the grass and began shaking as the Abra attempted to escape. The ball then opened up and Abra came out leaving Blue disappointed once again. Before he could try again, the Abra began glowing with energy and teleported away.
"Damn it," he complained as he went to restart his search.
There truly was nothing like a warm shower when it came to cleaning off the dirt of the day. That was the sentiment Green expressed as she stepped out of the bathroom, having successfully cleaned off all the sludge that transferred from Red after he successfully hugged her. She was glad that Pokécenters provided guests with free laundry service, otherwise she'd have to deal with one of her outfits being absolutely filthy for a really long time. That or take time out of her journey to return home to ask her mom to wash it. She put on another outfit and laid down on her bed for a moment to relax. She hadn't really considered the aftermath of the fight at Mt. Moon in the moment, especially after Red gave her something more pressing to think about, but she had possession of two very real fossils, and had no idea what to do with either of them. She could put them in a museum, or study them maybe? A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts.
"Hey, are you decent yet? I wanna talk." Green had no idea if Red's timing was perfect or awful, but it was a nice distraction from the turmoil this decision was giving her.
"Yeah, come on in," she said as she walked up to the door and opened it for him.
"You look nice," he said, which caused Green's cheeks to turn slightly pink. She squeezed her shoulders a bit as she shied away.
"You didn't just come here to say that, did you?" she protested with a blush.
"No, but it's still true," Red said. Green noticed that his own cheeks were also slightly pink.
"Is that all you came here to say?" she asked with a smile as she spoke to him.
"Of course not, I ummm, think I might have to go north while you face Misty. Apparently there's some grass types there, and I need something to counter water types anyway. You kinda have two pokemon for that." Green thought it was a bit cute how he was telling her this.
"Red, you don't need my permission, besides, you didn't ask when you went back into the forest to train," she said with a chuckle.
"I know, I know," he grinned. "Just wanted to let you know where I was going."
"Here, if you want," she reached into her bag and pulled out the Helix Fossil before handing it to him, "For good luck."
"Thanks," he smiled and placed it in his bag before turning around. Green pouted as he started to leave.
"Aren't you gonna wish me luck for my gym battle?" Red stopped for a moment before turning his head over his shoulder to look at her.
"You don't need luck, cause I know you're gonna blow Misty out of the water." Green's cheeks went red as he turned to walk off.
You had no right to sound that cool!
Red wasn't sure what grass type he was planning on catching. Bellsprout and Oddish both seemed like good choices. He crossed Nugget Bridge where he spotted Blue still trying his hardest to catch an Abra to no avail.
"Hey, how's it going?" Red asked as he waved to Blue.
"Well, well, finally managed to catch up to me? Guess that means you got two badges too then right?" Blue asked smugly as he held out his badge case.
"Well... not exactly, I came here to get a grass type."
"Ah, I guess you are still behind, then. Aren't you?" he said with a smirk as he held a Pokéball in his hand.
Blue was obviously trying to goad Red into a battle, but damn was he effective at it. Red took a Pokéball from his side and held it out. "Two on two, switching means that Pokémon is out, we'll see who wins!"
The two boys walked a few paces apart and sent out their first Pokémon, to Red's dismay, Blue led with Wingstorm against Gabriel. "Tough luck Red, Wingstorm is gonna eat your Butterfree for dinner!"
Red clenched his fists and decided to go for broke due to his own rule on switching. "Hit him with a confusion!" Gabriel flapped his wings and created a spiraling pattern with the spots on them. Wingstorm's eyes began following the spiral which caused it to accidentally crash into a tree. He let out a slight sigh in relief as that plan managed to actually work in his favor. "Now Tackle!" he commanded, and Gabriel slammed into the Pidgey.
"Counter attack with a gust, Wingstorm!" Blue shouted and his Pokémon began flapping its wings to blow Gabriel away. Gabriel spun through the air before flying back towards Wingstorm.
"Use sleep powder!" Red commanded. Gabriel began flapping his wings and shedding some of his scales off. They blew towards the Pidgey.
"Wingstorm, use gust to blow them back at him!" Blue replied as his own Pokémon began flapping its wings to blast the powder away. Gabriel flew away from the powder and the two Pokemon were left at a stalemate on that front. Wingstorm began glowing as his body began transforming into a Pidgeotto. He began flying faster after Gabriel who was unable to escape as a result of the speed difference. A tackle to the back was all it took for Gabriel to fall to the ground defeated. Red gritted his teeth, but recalled his Pokémon all the same. He held his last Pokéball in his hands. Was this the end? Blaze couldn't stand a chance against Shellshocker, and he'd be weak heading into the fight thanks to Wingstorm. Should he back down? He felt the heat radiating from the Charmeleon inside the ball, there was no way Blaze would take him seriously as a partner if he gave up now. He sent out his starter with determination on his face.
"Blaze! Use Ember!" Blaze had barely exited the Pokéball when red hot flames streaked across the sky, hitting Wingstorm straight in the stomach. One blast was all it took to end the round.
"Not bad, you managed to get a Charmeleon, I was worried you'd be eternally behind me when it came to progress. I mean, you still are, just not as far behind as I thought." He sent out Shellshocker. "So, ready to lose?"
"So, you did get a Wartortle then? I have a fully evolved Pokemon and a middle stage, doesn't that make me ahead of you?" he retorted.
"We both know Butterfree doesn't count, those evolve really fast! Shellshocker, use Water Gun!" Blue pointed to Blaze and Shellshocker sucked in a breath to launch a blast of water.
"Use Ember to heat the water before it can hit you!" Red ordered. Blaze responded by releasing another red hot streak of flames towards the oncoming torrent to evaporate it into a cloud of steam. Blaze spat out a blue and white flame to show his excitement at having found another worthy opponent. Red nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, I agree, things just got a lot more interesting."
"All right, since he can block your ranged attacks with his flames, get up close and personal. Bite him if you have to." Shellshocker ran towards Blaze ready to fight.
"Blaze, why don't you give him a taste of your rage?" Red responded as the Charmeleon rushed towards him burning up with power. Being slightly faster, Blaze managed to land the first hit, but Shellshocker bit his other arm soon after. The bite only seemed to fuel his rage as his next punch connected even stronger than before. The two Pokémon continued trading blows, each one seeming to wear the other down, but they were mostly evenly matched.
"Alright, enough of this Melee," Blue said as he raised his hand, "Take him down. Hit him with-"
"Excuse me! Could you help me!" came a concerned voice that interrupted the battle. Red and Blue both looked towards the figure approaching them. He looked like a human, but his skin was a sickly Yellow, His feet had no segmented toes, and his shirt appeared to be merged with his skin. A circle of White hair grew from his neck and surrounded it almost like a bib. A large silver ring hung from the bottom of the bib. His true hair color appeared to be some kind of yellow-orange, based on the top of his head bearing such a hue. Red and Blue looked at each other before silently agreeing that this battle would have to be a draw.