Red watched Charmander carefully as it crawled ahead of them, sniffing curiously at the ground. It is when he heard squawking and cawing in front of them did he become cautious.
"Charmander." Red motioned the Pokémon over to him. "Here." The fire type obeyed, running over to him. As it reached him, it moved to climb up his body but Red picked it up before it could attempt. He didn't want any holes in his clothes.
Blue and Yellow were also on their guard, Bulbasaur's vines already extended and Squirtle's pokeball in a hand. They walked a few steps further before the cause of the commotion was revealed.
It was a Spearow and Pidgey.
And they were both fighting.
Red was pretty sure they noticed them, especially since the Spearow glanced at them, but they still didn't stop their fight.
"Should we...?" Yellow drawled out her question. Blue shook his head. "Are you crazy? No way. This is obviously an important battle to them."
Yellow tilted her head. "How so?"
"They're rivals." Red answered for her.
"Oh." Yellow said simply. She never really understood the concept of rivals. She gets that competition was important for motivation, but having someone who tried to crush your dreams and achieve theirs by beating you never made sense to her.
"That Spearow is clearly winning right now." Blue said with a grin. Yellow wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to catch it.
Yellow noticed the states of the common birds. Spearow had a few scratches and disheveled feathers but Pidgey was worse for wear. It was dirty and was taking weight of its left leg.
She frowned. "This makes me want to see Pidgey win now." As the two birds came to a stare down, Yellow drew their attention when she shouted.
"Come on Pidgey! You can win!"
The bird stared at her in confusion. It looked to its opponent, Spearow, who was giving it a similar look.
"I'm rooting for you Spearow. Show that Pidgey who's boss." Blue grinned.
The birds were no less confused. But the humans didn't seem to want to interrupt their battle and catch them so they turned back to each other before attacking again. Blue and Yellow cheered them on.
Red, seeing this himself, sighed. There was no way Blue and Yellow were gonna leave this area without seeing the end of the battle now. He walked to a tree and sat down under its shade, putting Charmander beside him who mimicked his position.
Red took out the book he was currently reading, What Make A Plant A Plant, and a few hard candies. He was intrigued by the physiology of Grass Type Pokémon after seeing in action Bulbasaur photosynthesizing. He wanted to read up more before beginning to ask any questions and tried to squeeze in time between any tasks.
He popped a candy in his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner looking at it curiously so he offered it one. "Want one?" The starter took it before throwing it in his mouth. In one chew and a gulp, it was gone. Red laughed. "I guess hard candy's got nothing on those teeth, huh?"
Charmander tilted his head confused but Red only shook his own in dismissal. "It's nothing. Have some more."
As Charmander reached for more of the candy, Red glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds were beginning to roll in. Red began reading his book, internally hoping the battle finished soon.
He didn't want the rain to catch them.
/
The battle went on for ten more minutes before both of the Pokémon simultaneously fell down. Red had to give it to them, they had monstrous stamina.
"Damn, Pidgey didn't win." Yellow frowned.
"But it didn't lose either." Blue said. "That's the fun part of having rivals." He walked towards the birds, planning to ask Spearow to join him.
Yellow still didn't understand the rival thing, not being able to comprehend why someone would be satisfied with not winning. But she did know that she wanted to train and grow with this Pidgey as its passion for battling was clear. So she swallowed her confusion and marched over to it.
They were almost to Viridian City. Today was actually the last day they needed to travel on foot before reaching it. Spearow and Pidgey were both flying over ahead, maneuvering around each other with calm squawks. Yellow originally thought they were gonna fight again when they were released and they would have to stop them but was surprised when they were calmly flying with each other. It was just another thing she didn't understand but no one was being harmed so she didn't question it.
Their Pokédex had told them that they only had a few more miles ahead before they reached the city and Yellow felt her excitement skyrocketing. She had never actually been to a city before and was looking forward to seeing it.
As her mind dived into fantasies of what it would be like, she was taken out of her thoughts by Spearow's harsh caw.
Her heart skyrocketed again when she saw what was it was crowing at but this time it was in fear.
"Is that-?"
"A flock of angry Spearow? Yes." Red's voice had a fearful tightness to it.
Spearow cawed again and seemed to get ready to charge at them but Blue recalled it. Yellow did them same with Pidgey. That seemed to get the Spearows angrier at they dived at the trio.
"Run!"
They all turn tailed and ran.
"Do you think that they're Spearow's old flock?" Blue asked.
"Seems like it. And if they're so angry that must mean that they didn't kick him out, he left." Red shared his observations.
"Is it because it allowed itself to be captured? Spearows hate that right?" Yellow remembered learning something like that in school, not sure of the details but the general idea.
"It could be." Blue said. "But I really don't wanna find out so run faster."
/
Blue had never been more glad for his best friend. Sure gym classes helped, but Blue was sure that they would never have been able to maintain such a distance between the flock if Red hadn't said they should keep exercising outside of classes.
A rumble of thunder had him looking up just for him to squint as water fell in his eye. It was a raindrop. Blue was not that bothered until after five minutes it was pouring and he could barely see.
They continued running though as the Spearows never gave an inch. Damn did they know how to hold a grudge. He should take notes.
His eyes widened as he came to the edge of a cliff, a raging river beneath it. He held his hands out to stop Red and Yellow as they caught up with him. "Don't!"
As they saw the cliff, they stopped. Yellow looked behind her and cursed. Blue guessed the Spearows were catching up.
"We'll have to jump." He said.
"Are you crazy?!" Yellow shouted.
Red shook his head. "No. He's right. We can't turn back now." He looked to her. "Plus, the Spearows might even stop following us."
They all knew it was wishful thinking. Spearows held grudges long enough to rival a Ninetales and even though the fox never actually hurt someone, Blue was sure the birds wanted at least a couple pecks in before letting them go.
Still, it was enough to convince Yellow who nodded. They held hands and counted to three before jumping.
/
Blue held most of Red's weight, supporting him as they walked along. Yellow's abilities removed the strain from her muscles every few seconds while Blue's Yang energy made his stamina much larger so they were mostly fine. But Red's abilities didn't help him be more physically powerful and while he trained his body to be above the average ten year old, running almost a full twenty miles is no easy feet. Blue knew he would wake up sore tomorrow.
Luckily, by the time they reached Viridian City, most of the Spearows had plummeted to the ground as they were naturally inept at flying for long distances. Only one had followed them in but it fainted at the entrance.
Yellow opened the Pokémon Centers large doors open and Blue shivered a little as the air conditioner hit them, still wet from the rain.
Blue felt the current occupants of the room staring at them but kept his gaze at the lady behind the counter. "Can we get a room please?"
Red's vision was hazy as he awoke and he blinked to clear it away. As he gathered himself, he became more aware of the limbs entangled with his and the snoring beside him.
His feet were already hanging off the bed so all the boy had to do was remove Yellow's arm from his chest and Blue's leg of his face before rising off the bed.
He looked around the room. Their bags were throw carelessly on the floor along with their room key. In front of the bed was a small cupboard with a television resting on it. A table with four chairs laid south west of the mentioned device. The whole room was covered by a wool carpet.
Red noticed that their pokeballs were not present. He remembered in his haze, them handing off the Pokémon to Nurse Joy for check up but never actually remembered picking them up.
Figuring they must still be there, Red left the room to collect them. He honestly felt disgusting as he was still in the clothes that he was wearing the previous day, but recovering their Pokémon was more important right now. They'd been in there for hours and Red felt they needed a good stretch.
The Nurse Joy at the counter brightened up when she saw him. "Good morning!" She was all smiles, opposite to how Red felt but he couldn't find it to be annoyed. Nurse Joys were one of the few good things in the world. "I was hoping one of you would wake up! Are you okay? You passed out before your friends even registered for a room."
Red tried his best to smile at her. "I'm okay. I'm a little sore but nothing some time can't fix. I came to collect our Pokémon. Are they all okay? I'd like to collect them if possible."
"In tip too shape! They're all doing well and are ready to go." She smiled apologetically. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to hand over Pokémon to anyone but the rightful trainer. As such, your friends will have to collect their own Pokémon."
Red sighed. Of course. "That's okay. They'll be by in a moment. I'll still collect mines."
"Okay then!" She smiled cheerily and Red could actually feel some strength return to his body. "Wait one minute sir." She turned and the automatic doors opened, letting her through.
Red watched as the doors covered her retreating back. Nurse Joys were sanctioned all over the world. They were the closest thing to a human that took on most qualities of a Pokémon, especially the Pokémon Chansey.
The Egg Pokémon were known to be one of the best allies on a team. They had a tough defense, max healing abilities and also a fair amount of attack power. All Chanseys were female and naturally asexual so historians did not know how Nurse Joys' connection with them came to be. Though they might have figured it out and just hadn't revealed it for the sake of the Nurse Joys' privacy.
Nurse Joy was the spine of Pokémon Battling. If they didn't exist, battling absolutely could not continue. They were the only humans that were naturally adept to learning medicine, cared for the well-being of both human and Pokémon wholeheartedly, had healing abilities and could survive more the one blow from rampaging Pokémon all in one. The Pokémon League saw this and recruited them, offering to supply every family member with anything they needed as long as they worked as a Nurse Joy.
The family accepted on the condition that there real names were kept private which is how the name Nurse Joy was coined. Red was sure there were more offers to the deal but as he said, their privacy was protected and the public didn't know much.
"Okay!" Red looked up as Nurse Joy came out the door. "I've got your Charmander."
Red accepted the pokeball and reveled in the way it fit into his palm. "Thanks Nurse Joy."
She smiled at him sweetly. "No problem!" Then she perked up. "Oh! Before you go." She leaned in to whisper, bringing her hand to her mouth and Red gave an ear. "Your Charmander seemed to have a bit of a low self esteem. It's not too bad, but try to give it more praise and have it out more with you, ok?"
Red nodded. He figured and was doing exactly that but it was nice to get actual confirmation from an expert. "Thank Nurse Joy. I'll remember that."
She waved as he went back around the corner. "Have a nice day."
Red went back into the room feeling lighter than when he left. Being around a Nurse Joy does that to you.
He opened Charmander's pokeball and let it out. He immediately crouched down to it. "Hey buddy. Feeling good?"
Charmander patted its body, turning to look at its tail before nodding and pointing to him with a question. Red chuckled. He must really look horrible if Charmander's asking. "I'm fine little guy. We were attacked by Spearows yesterday so we were knocked out for a little while and couldn't come get you. Sorry about that."
Charmander nodded with a soft response and Red took that as enough, standing to his feet. "I'm gonna wake these two up." He nodded over to the table where a lamented piece of paper was. "There's a menu on the table over there. Decide what you what for breakfast."
Charmander watched as his trainer went over to the two lying trainers, picking up a pillow and swinging it at them. As they begin to complain, the fire type looked away before hoping up on a chair and taking up the menu.
That was none of his business.
/
"We definitely need to battle some people." Red said. "Or take a part time job." He shrugged. "Either way we're gonna need more money."
"If we stay here for two weeks with each of us having a job with the minimum wage, we could earn enough money to buy important items with some change left over." Yellow suggested.
Blue nodded. "I could get some training for Pewter City in too. Squirtle has a type advantage but I'd like to be prepared."
"Okay. So who's gonna go where?" Red asked.
"I think I'm gonna stay at the Center." Yellow said. "If I could land a place as a waitress in the cafeteria, I could earn some tips too."
Blue folded his arms,"I'm going to the Viridian Gym. I could end up taking care of some of the regulation Pokémon or just managing the gym but it's something. I could learn more about ground types too."
"And I'll go to the Pokémon Mart." Red said. "I heard the pay is good enough."
"Sounds like a plan then." Blue said. They sat in silence. Red knew they should probably get up and move but he was still sore from last night as he had not made Yellow heal him as she hadn't eaten anything yet.
"Okay." Yellow said after swallowing the last spoonful of yogurt in her cup. "Give your hand."
Red eagerly gave her his hand but before she could start healing, someone walked up to their table.
"Um, hello?"
It was a girl. She wore a long pink blouse that covered the top of the black folded skirt she was wearing. Her green hair was styled into two curly pigtails with bright green eyes to match.
"Are you guys okay?" She asked. They remained quiet, almost genuinely confused.
"I was here last night." She began explaining. "When you guys rushed in looking..." She shook her head to rid herself of yesterday's memories. "I just wanted to know if you're fine. The first days as a trainer can be rough."
"Oh yeah we're fine." Yellow reassured her. "How could you tell we're new though?"
She smiled,"You've got the look. Young, a little nervous, few Pokémon."
Red felt himself relax as Yellow healed him. He didn't bring attention to it and kept his eyes on the girl. "Are you a new trainer too?"
The girl looked hesitant to agree or deny. "Sort of? I've been a trainer for a month now so while I'm not a baby, I'm still fairly new. My name's Skyla by the way."
"Red."
"Blue." Blue pointed to himself.
"Yellow." Yellow waved.
Skyla's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Are you guys triplets?"
Red chuckled. "No, just close friends."
"That's nice."
A harmonious ring came from the speakers. "Skyla, please make your way to the front desk to retrieve your Pokémon."
The announcement repeated another time before the speakers shout off. The girl smiled at them. "I'm sorry but I've gotta go. It was nice meeting you."
"You too. Thanks for worrying about us." Yellow waved her goodbye as she went.
Blue looked at the clock on the wall. "It's best that we get moving now if we want to get any free slots."
Silently agreeing with his statement, the other two followed his example as he got up. They threw away their trash before making their way out of the Pokémon Cafeteria in different directions.
/
Taking up a job at the Pokemart was an easy in and out. Since they only accepted trainers as part-timers, as long as you had your ID to show them, filled out a few forms, signed a few papers, then you were hired.
Afterwards, they will give you what is know as a Mart Provisional Pass. It will allow you to register for tasks at any PokeMart in the region in exchange for money without repeating the whole process.
From then on they give you your tasks. Collecting berries, organizing the goods and some others, are the many tasks you could get paid for. Of course, you were paid by the difficulty of the job and had the option of taking up more tasks if you so needed.
His first task was to collect one hundred of these from a patch of trees that were grown near Lake Viridian. Red had accept it for one reason. It was near the place he was going to scout for potential Pokémon.
The boy didn't know exactly what Pokémon he would find as most reports would be of Goldeen, Poliwag and Magikarp but people have also said to find Feebas and even Psyduck. Those in particular were hard to come by and he wanted to have a second Pokémon before reaching Pewter City.
He looked at the phone which had a map marking his location and showing him where to go. As he walked down the hill with Charmander by his side, he sighed internally. He desperately wished for enough money to buy a smartphone. Once you become a trainer, you are practically an adult and are expected to look after yourself. The only thing Red found weird about it was the fact that you couldn't access your bank account without your parents permission until six months after.
He has no idea what this rule was supposed to achieve. Some said it taught the new trainers how to manage money better but Red called bullshit. If you're old enough to work then you're old enough to spend. Simple as that.
After walking for fifteen more minutes, Red reached the patch of Lum Trees. Since it was May, many of them were in full bloom.
First thing Red did was spray the given bug repellent all over him. Then, he ordered Charmander to attack any Pokémon that approached without using Ember unless ordered. Bug Pokémon loved Lum Berries and while they were easy to deal with by using fire, Red didn't want to accidentally burn down a tree.
They had to take down a few Caterpie but in two hours, they had the required amount of Berries. After closing the two coolers that were now filled with the green fruit, Red took up the handle to the wagon.
As the phone told him the shortest way to Viridian City, Red groaned. He had to climb up the hill now.
/
"No." Blue paused as his assigned mentor spoke. "You want to make sure approach Rhyhorn from where it can see you. If you don't, it might be startled and attack out of surprise."
Blue did as he was told, making sure Rhyhorn could see him. He bent down and took up the brush out of the bucket before tentatively scrubbing the Pokémon's scales.
He heard his mentor chuckle and turned around to face him. "Come on." He patted the Rhyhorn. "It scales are pretty tough and barely have any nerves in them. To make Rhyhorn feel good, you have to scrub harder than that."
Blue tried again, putting much more force into his scrubbing and his mentor clapped. "Great! Now do the rest."
Blue looked the left where there were at least fifty more Rhyhorn waiting. He felt his heart drop and his mentor chuckled at his face. "Do you want to give up?"
The boy shook his head, both to rid himself of his dread and to answer the question. He turned back to the Rhyhorn in front of him. He came here to learn about Pokémon while earning some money. And that is what he is gonna do.
/
"You're really good with Pokémon."
Yellow paused where she was patting a Magby. She had just fed it and was trying to put it to sleep.
As she watched as Nurse Joy kneeled next to her, Yellow resumed her patting when the Magby began shifting. Nurse Joy watched the display. "I didn't think they would relax around you so soon that's why I was so hesitant to give you this job."
And she really was. When Yellow came looking for a job, all the other present jobs at the Pokémon Center were full except the Pokémon Care unit. Nurse Joy was hesitant to admit her there as the Pokémon here could have violent responses to strangers but Yellow managed to convince her.
"Whenever a new person is to work here, I'd have to introduce them slowly but you get them to cuddle up to you in just three hours. You're a natural."
As Nurse Joy continued to lay on the compliments Yellow chuckled awkwardly. She wondered if she should tell her?
She watched as Nurse Joy talked, not really registering the words. Nurse Joy is trustworthy so it's okay if she told her right?
"I'm a Type Fairy."
Nurse Joy paused with a surprised look. "Oh! What level?"
Yellow cocked her head. "Level?"
Nurse Joy smiled at her. "A person with typings strength can be measured by levels, Level 1 being a weak affinity and Level 10 being the strongest affinity. All Nurse Joy's are at least Level 8."
"That's how you are able to get people to trust you so much? Because your level makes you super kind?" Yellow question.
Nurse Joy laughed but Yellow noticed she suppressed it as to not awaken the Pokémon. Even subconsciously, she was kind.
"Being a Fairy Type does not affect your personality at all dear. You're the one that decide what to do with your gifts. I have a few more minutes of break. Why don't we have a talk in my office?"
/
In the end, Red completed three tasks and earned one hundred and fifty dollars. He wanted to take up one more task but it was already approaching sunset and they had all promised to eat dinner together at six.
"And I haven't even caught one Pokémon..." He sulked. Despite Red taking the tasks that required him to go out of the city, he never saw any Pokémon that interested him.
"The Local Shelter is always an option."
"Huh?" Red turned to his boss, Felix, who had spoken. The man paused where he was wiping down the desk. Like the Pokémon Center, the PokeMart was open twenty four/seven and someone else would be running his shift so he was typing up before leaving.
"The Local Shelter. A few cities have them though ours is a little less taken care of." Felix explained. "It's where abandoned, abused or lost Pokémon are placed for care. I help out there sometimes." He smiled. "I'm actually not surprised you haven't heard of it. People don't exactly visit as it's all the way on the other side of the city in the White District."
The White District. Red has actually heard of it. It was the part of Viridian where people were the poorest, there were little food, electricity and water at that side of the city.
"Can you give me directions? I want to go there tomorrow."
Felix shrugged. "Sure, but be careful. The people there aren't known for being kind."
/
"So you're telling me any day now you could possibly blast a Disarming Voice in our face?" Blue grinned. "Cool."
Yellow giggled. "I'd have to practice a lot to possibly use such abilities. Plus, offensive skills might not be something I'm good at." She shrugged. "Most people of my type aren't."
Blue nodded then he turned to Red. "What about you? Did anything interesting?"
Red shrugged. "I battled a lot of wild Pokémon but that's about it. I still want to get a second Pokémon before we reach Pewter though so I'm visiting the Local Shelter tomorrow."
"Oh okay. Where is it?"
"In the White District."
"The Whi-Are you crazy?!" Yellow seemed confused as Blue suddenly whisper shouted at Red, wanting to get his pint across without drawing attention. "What? What's the White District?"
"It's just a closed of party of the city." Red explained.
"Yeah, where people get killed everyday." Blue added. "They gamble, kidnap and sell all kinds of things there." He rambled. Yellow looked to Red, concerned. "And you want to go there? Red..."
"I'm not staying for long. And the Shelter is not that deep in the District, I'll be fine." Red insisted. He wasn't gonna let them stop him from going.
Blue sighed. "Fine. But are you still able to handle the shopping for all of us? I could do it instead."
Red shook his head. "It's fine. As I said, I'm not staying for long."
He wished he could tell them something like he would leave his location on, but they didn't have phones. Those cost 10, 000 dollars each and they were dirt poor. Red frowned.
They need to find a way to earn money fast.