Episode Nineteen
In our previous adventure, the group came across a young girl named Abby, a magician in training. However, none of her tricks were going right and our heroes had to boost up her confidence. To do so, they took her into a dark forest where she caught a Hypno. However, Team Rocket was up to some trickery themselves and disguised themselves as magicians in their latest attempt to capture Pikachu and Eevee. Abby's new Hypno used its psychic abilities to stop them, however, and she now had the boost she needed to become a good magician. As for our heroes, it's off to another adventure.
Mark, Amanda and Michelle were strolling through a large grassy area and enjoying the sunshine.
"We've been on a great streak of nice weather lately." Mark observed.
"Good weather's important for venturing on a Pokemon journey." Said Amanda.
"Indeed." Michelle agreed.
"I wonder what kind of Pokemon we'll run into in this area." Said Amanda. She didn't have to wonder for very long, because after another five minutes had passed, a Pokemon with a yellow bell-shaped body jumped out at them. The Pokemon had three small green spots above its eyes and small, brown hook-shaped stem on top of its head.
"This one definitely looks more friendly than that Fearow we ran into a few days ago." Said Amanda, and she took out her Pokedex to scan it.
"Weepinbell, the flycatcher Pokemon. Weepinbell camouflages itself as a plant in the forest whilst awaiting an unwary victim. When its prey draws near it sprays poison powder to immobilize the target before melting it with its internal acids."
"You're such a nice Pokemon." Said Michelle. She knelt down to pet it, which Weepinbell appreciated.
"Bell." It said, which meant 'Thank you.'
"You know, I don't think I've caught a grass type yet, so this would be a perfect addition to my team." Said Amanda. She grabbed a Poke Ball from her waist and threw it.
"Nidoran, I choose you!" she called. The small poison type appeared in a blaze of light.
"Nidoran, use Poison Sting!" Amanda called. Nidoran shot its sharp needles from its horn, but Weepinbell countered with Razor Leaf to block them from hitting it. Weepinbell then shot out a vine from its stem and hit Nidoran repeatedly with it.
"That's Weepinbell's Vine Whip." Mark said.
"Hang in there, Nidoran." Said Amanda. "Use your Tackle attack!" Nidoran shook off the attack it had been hit with and charged at Weepinbell with a hard tackle. It knocked Weepinbell back a bit, but the grass type was tough. It then sprayed some blue powder all over Nidoran and made it fall asleep.
"There's Weepinbell's Sleep Powder." Said Michelle.
"Come on Nidoran, try to wake up." Said Amanda. Nidoran was happily snoozing away, though, and Weepinbell took advantage of its opportunity by using Slam to lay itself on top of the poison type. The loud noise caused Nidoran to wake up immediately and sting the grass type with Horn Attack.
"That's it, Nidoran!" cried Amanda. "Now, go for Take Down!" Nidoran ran hard at Weepinbell and sent the small grass type backwards. Amazingly, Weepinbell still wasn't knocked out.
"That's a strong Weepinbell there." Said Mark.
"I can see." Said Amanda. Weepinbell tried using Poison Powder, but it didn't affect Nidoran due to its poison typing.
"Another Poison Sting!" Amanda called. Nidoran shot more needles from its horn, and this time, they hit Weepinbell's body. The last needle hit so hard that Weepinbell began to feel a little funny.
"Looks like it's poisoned." Said Michelle. Weepinbell used Mega Drain to regain some of its energy, but the poison started taking effect, essentially negating the attack.
"Another Tackle, Nidoran!" Amanda called. Nidoran tackled Weepinbell harder than before, and although Weepinbell still didn't get knocked out by the attack itself, the poison took effect again and caused the grass type to faint. Amanda wasted no time grabbing an empty Poke Ball from her backpack.
"Poke Ball, go!" she cried, and threw the ball at Weepinbell. The small plant Pokemon got sucked inside, and the ball started wiggling. Amanda, Mark, Michelle, Pikachu and Eevee all looked on to see if the catch would be successful. The ball wiggled a little more and then made a ding sound to indicate a successful catch.
"All right! I caught a Weepinbell!" she cried and struck a victory pose.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu cried, which meant 'Congratulations!'
"Thanks, Pikachu." Said Amanda. She got her Pokedex back out and hit the button that sent Dratini to Professor Oak's lab. She then picked up the Poke Ball containing her new capture and put it on her waist.
"Welcome to the team, Weepinbell." She said.
"Nidoran?" Nidoran wondered, which meant 'Did I go a good job?' Amanda smiled at the little poison type.
"You did great, Nidoran." She said and recalled it to its Poke Ball.
"I can't wait to tell Professor Oak about my new catch." Amanda said, and they started walking again. They soon arrived in Celadon City.
"Wow, this place is even bigger than Saffron City was." Said Amanda.
"People say that it's the largest city in this entire region." Said Mark. "There's plenty of things to do here such as shopping at the department store and gambling at the casino."
"Too bad we're not old enough for that yet." Said Michelle.
"There's also a gym here, too." Mark said.
"Then that's where I'm headed so I can get my next badge." Said Amanda. "Come on, guys!" She started to run off, with Michelle and Mark following after her. Celadon City's gym was a circular shaped building with the top of a Gloom's head making up the roof. The trio were in for a disappointment when they arrived there, however.
"Don't tell me this one's closed too." Amanda said. Michelle tried opening the doors, but they were locked.
"Yep, it's closed." She said.
"I guess your gym battle will have to wait until later." Said Mark. "Come on, let's find the Pokemon Center." They headed off in a northbound direction, but with how big the city was, they had to do a lot of walking. After forty-five minutes, they finally located the center. Nurse Joy greeted them warmly.
"Hello. Is this your first visit to Celadon City?" she asked.
"It sure is." Said Amanda, and she gave Joy her Pokemon so they could be healed up. While that was going on, the group called up Professor Oak.
"Hello there." Amanda said.
"Hello, Amanda." Said Oak. "How are you and your friends doing today?"
"We're doing great, Professor." Said Amanda. "Did my Dratini make it there safely?"
"It sure did." Said Oak. "I'm actually glad you sent it to me because Pokemon of this kind don't get to be here very often."
"I guess Dratini has a bit of a history, doesn't it?" Amanda asked.
"Very much so." Said Oak. "Dragon Pokemon have been around for years, centuries even. They're so rare because they usually live in secluded areas that nobody can get to. If you don't mind, I'd like for Dratini to stay here so I can research its history and background in full."
"I don't mind at all, Professor." Said Amanda. Pikachu jumped in front of Amanda and waved hello.
"Good to see you too, Pikachu." Said Oak. "I'm glad you're doing well today."
"Oh, Professor, before I forget, I caught a Weepinbell right before we arrived in Celadon." Said Amanda.
"That's very good, Amanda." Said Oak. "I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job raising it. Well, I should get to work on researching Dratini. Good luck out there, Amanda."
"Thanks, Professor." Said Amanda, and she hung up.
"Well, since the gym isn't open right now, what should we do?" asked Michelle.
"Mark, you said something earlier about shopping, right?" Amanda asked.
"That's right." Said Mark.
"I guess we can check out the department store." Said Amanda. A short ding tone was then heard, meaning her Pokemon were all healed up. She grabbed her Poke Balls from Nurse Joy, and the three of them went on their way.
"How big is the department store?" Michelle asked.
"It's pretty big." Said Mark. "They have a variety of different sections."
"Do they have perfume in there by any chance?" asked Amanda.
"They should." Mark answered.
"I could probably buy some, then, and send it to Mama." Said Amanda.
"That's not a bad idea." Said Michelle. They had to walk for a long while to get to the store, but when they arrived, they were amazed at how big the building was.
"This place is huge." Mark observed.
"Just wait until you see how many different stores there are." Said Michelle. They went inside and saw that the place was bustling with people. Pikachu and Eevee both took notice of the huge crowd.
"Pikachu." Said Pikachu, which meant 'I hope I don't get lost in here.'
"Eevee." Eevee squealed, which meant 'I hope not either.'
"Don't worry, guys, we're all going to stick together." Said Michelle.
"In the event we do get lost, though, try to find a security guard and ask for help." Said Amanda.
"Look at how many floors there are." Said Mark. He was looking at a map, which showed that there were at least seven floors.
"That must mean they have a lot of different stores." Said Amanda.
"Where should we go first?" asked Michelle.
"I did say that I wanted to look at some perfume." Said Amanda. She checked the directory and saw that the store she wanted was on the fourth floor. They made their way into the store and started smelling all the different perfumes.
"These all smell so good." Said Michelle. Pikachu and Eevee sniffed around too and gave a thumbs up in agreement. Mark even had a whiff himself.
"You're right about these smelling nice." He said. "I can see why girls like this stuff a lot." A tall young woman came up to them just then.
"Well, I'm glad you all have respect for our perfume selection." She said. They turned around to look at the woman, who was wearing a pink kimono with red flowers and a red headband sat in the middle of her blue hair.
"A young man and his two friends passed by here last year, and he had no respect for the perfume at all." The woman continued. Of course, she was referring to the one and only Ash Ketchum and his friends Misty and Brock.
"Well, everybody has different likes and interests." Said Michelle.
"I don't disagree with you, but that's still no reason to disrespect our perfume." The woman said. "By the way, my name's Erika."
"It's very nice to meet you, Erika." Said Amanda.
"You don't run the gym here by any chance, do you?" asked Michelle.
"I sure do." Said Erika. "As I'm sure you all noticed, today's my day off from being the gym leader."
"That would probably explain why it was closed." Said Mark.
"Gym leaders sometimes have second jobs." Said Erika. "For example, I work here three times a week, and the other three days, I run the gym. If you'll come with me, I'll show you around the store." Amanda, Mark, Michelle, Pikachu and Eevee all followed Erika through the store. She explained about all the different perfumes and how each of them were made. At the end of the tour, she held up a special bottle.
"This is our number one seller here." Erika said. "It's called Essence of Gloom."
"I always thought Gloom let out a terrible smell." Said Mark. Erika chuckled.
"No, it only does that when it feels threatened." She said. "Other than that, Gloom smells perfectly fine. When we first started selling this perfume last year, nobody liked it because of the bad smell that was originally used. After we made some changes, though, it's been selling much better and people like it now."
"That's good to hear." Said Michelle.
"Well, what did you think of the tour?" Erika asked.
"I thought it was very interesting." Said Michelle.
"Pikachu." Pikachu said, which meant 'It was pretty good. What do you think, Eevee?'
"Eevee." Eevee nodded, which meant 'I liked seeing all the different fragrances.'
"Looks like your Pokemon enjoyed the tour too." Said Erika.
"Erika, would I be able to buy one of the perfumes?" Amanda asked.
"Certainly." Erika answered. "Which one would you like?"
"I'm not too sure." Said Amanda. "They're all so good that I can't really decide." Pikachu pointed to a bottle in the middle of the shelf.
"Pikachu!" he said, which meant 'Get this one.'
"Are you sure, Pikachu?" Amanda asked. Pikachu nodded.
"I hope you're making the right choice." Said Amanda. She chose the perfume that Pikachu had pointed to and paid for it with the funds on her trainer card.
"There you go." Said Erika. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"I'd like for this to be sent to my mama if possible." Said Amanda.
"That's no problem." Said Erika. "I just need to know what city you're from so I can mark it on the label."
"I'm from Fuchsia City." Said Amanda. Erika wrote it down on the label, put the perfume in the box, wrapped up the package and shipped it off.
"Okay, you're all set." Said Erika.
"Thanks, Erika." Said Amanda. "I hope to see you at the gym soon." The three of them left the perfume store and went back into the mall.
"Where should we go next?" asked Michelle.
"I think there might be a section in here that sells video games." Said Mark.
"Oh yeah, we kind of forgot that you're a gaming nerd." Said Michelle. They looked at the directory again, and much to their luck, the store Mark wanted was on the exact same floor they were on.
"That's definitely convenient." Said Mark. They didn't have too far to walk to the store, and when they got inside, they found all sorts of games. Most of them were for the Nintendo 64, of course, but there were a few Super Nintendo titles available.
"I do seem to remember when we first met him that he has a Nintendo 64 system." Said Amanda.
"I remember that as well." Said Michelle. Mark then spotted a game that got all of their attention.
"This would definitely be fun for a game night with friends." He said. On the box was a picture of the famous Mario about to hit a dice block.
"This one's Mario Party." Said Mark.
"Have I heard of this before?" asked Amanda.
"I don't think so because it's a new franchise." Said Mark.
"I thought you only liked Pokemon games." Said Michelle.
"I do, but I like other games too." Said Mark. "Besides, I need to have a variety of different games, not just necessarily ones of the same genre."
"Pikachu." Pikachu said, which meant 'He has a point.'
"How are you even going to play that when you don't even have your system with you?" asked Amanda.
"It's easy." Said Mark. "I can have this sent back to my house and my mom can put in somewhere in my room for safekeeping."
"In other words, the same thing I did with the perfume I bought earlier." Said Amanda.
"Exactly like that." Said Mark. He went up to the counter and paid for the game. He then asked for it to be sent to his home address, which the clerk had no problem doing. The three of them then left the store.
"All right, Michelle, it's your turn to choose a store." Said Amanda. Michelle looked at the directory carefully. However, she was taking a bit longer than normal to decide.
"There's so many sores on this certain floor." She said. "I'm honestly not sure which of these I want to go to." Eevee nudged her leg a little bit.
"Eevee?" she squealed, which meant 'Are you all right, Michelle?' Michelle smiled at her small partner.
"Don't worry, Eevee. I'm just having trouble trying to decide, that's all." Michelle answered.
"You better decide on something soon, Michelle. We don't have all day." Said Mark.
"Don't rush me." Said Michelle. She looked more carefully, and then finally pointed to a shop on the second floor.
"There's something here that looks interesting." Said Michelle. They made their way down to floor number two and started making their way over to the store she had been talking about. When they got there, a smile lit up on her face.
"A store that sells Pokemon." She said. "It's always been a dream of mine to see something like this." They went inside and saw a bunch of Poke Balls on the shelf.
"I don't understand, why aren't there any actual Pokemon on any of the shelves?" Amanda asked.
"It's for safety reasons." Said the clerk, who was a very kind young woman in her mid-twenties. "If the Pokemon in these balls were to be shown on the shelves, there could be potential problems. Not all of them are like that, though. Fortunately, all of these ones have been caught and tamed so that they'll obey anyone that purchases one of these."
"That's good to know." Said Mark.
"I wonder which one I should pick." Said Michelle. She started looking over the Poke Balls, and Mark pulled Amanda aside.
"It's good that she's happy, but I don't think it's a good idea for her to get one of those right now." Mark whispered.
"Why not?" Amanda asked.
"I can't tell you, because that'll ruin the surprise." Mark whispered. "We can let her look, though." The two of them went back over to Michelle.
"They all look like good Pokemon I could use." Said Michelle.
"May I show you some pictures of what we have?" the clerk asked. "That may influence your decision a little more." She opened up an album and showed the gang some photos of what was available.
"Some of them look so cute." Said Amanda.
"Eevee?" Eevee wondered, which meant 'Are they cuter than me?'
"No Pokemon could ever be cuter than you, Eevee." Michelle reassured her partner. Eevee breathed a sigh of relief. The clerk finished showing the pictures and put the book away.
"Well, now that you've seen what's available, is there any particular Pokemon that you'd like to have?" she asked. Michelle was about to answer when Mark intervened.
"I think we need a little more time." He said.
"That's no problem." The clerk said. "Take as much time as you need." The three of them left the store empty handed.
"Well, now that all of us have had a turn going to a store we wanted, I guess there's not really anything left to do in here." Said Amanda. Pikachu's stomach growled, as did Eevee's.
"You might want to re-think that." Said Michelle.
"I guess you two are both hungry, aren't you?" Amanda said.
"Pikachu." Pikachu answered, which meant 'Very hungry.'
"Eevee." Eevee said, which meant 'Me too.'
"Let's find somewhere to eat." Said Michelle. They looked at the directory for the food court and saw that it was on the fifth floor. They went up and saw lots of food places.
"What are you guys in the mood for?" Amanda asked.
"It doesn't really matter to me." Said Michelle. After talking it over, they all agreed on a burger and fries place, so they went up to that vendor and each had a cheeseburger with fries and regular soda. Amanda and Michelle both shared some of their food with their Pokemon, which made them both happy. After they finished lunch, they went for a walk around the city and came across the casino.
"This is definitely the best place here." Said Mark.
"I don't think they're going to let us gamble, though." Said Michelle.
"We can try, though." Said Amanda. They went inside and asked for some coins for the slot machines, only to be turned down due to them all being under eighteen. As a result, they all left a bit disappointed.
"I had a feeling they weren't going to let us in." said Michelle. They spent the remainder of the day exploring the rest of what Celadon City had to offer, and when they arrived back in the Pokemon Center in the evening. They were all a bit tired. They had a light dinner from the cafeteria and spent the rest of the night watching some television before falling asleep. Amanda and Mark had no problem sleeping, but Michelle kept tossing and turning a little bit. The noise from that woke up Eevee, so she went to see if her trainer was okay.
"Eevee?" she squealed, which meant 'Is everything all right, Michelle?'
"I'm just fine, Eevee." Michelle said in a groggy voice. "Go back to sleep." Eevee went back to her little makeshift bed and closed her eyes. Deep down inside, Michelle, however, a part of her was feeling a bit nervous.
"I hope they didn't forget what day it is tomorrow." She whispered to herself. What could she possibly be talking about? Find out in the next episode.
TO BE CONTINUED
Amanda's Party: Pikachu, Fearow, Squirtle, Weepinbell, Clefairy, Nidoran Male
Michelle's Party: Eevee, Electabuzz, Doduo, Poliwag, Ponyta, Nidoran Female
Mark's Party: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Diglett, Gastly, Lapras
Amanda's Spare Pokemon at Oak's Lab: Rattata, Haunter, Magikarp, Butterfree, Zubat, Abra, Tentacruel, Pidgeotto, Dratini
Michelle's Spare Pokemon in Storage: Gengar
