Episode Forty-One
In the previous episode, Pikachu tried to battle Magmar but couldn't take the heat. Amanda also suffered heat exhaustion, forcing her to spend the night in the Pokemon Center in order to recover. Meanwhile, Mark and Michelle both attended an exciting party for all the tourists that were visiting the island. As usual, though, Team Rocket found a way to interfere, and they also tried to steal Amanda's baby Elekid. Thankfully, Blaine stopped them with his Charizard. He and Amanda also had their rematch, which ended with Amanda winning a Volcano Badge. During the battle, Wartortle evolved into Blastoise. Our heroes now head back to the starting point of Amanda's journey to see Professor Oak.
With seven badges now in her possession, Amanda and her friends quickly find themselves approaching Pallet Town.
"I haven't been in the lab in quite some time." Said Amanda.
"I've never been in there at all." Said Mark.
"It'll definitely be a new place for me as well." Said Michelle.
"You guys are going to love it." Said Amanda. "It's a really big place where Professor Oak keeps a lot of Pokemon. I can't wait to see how mine are doing." After another five minutes, they reached the entrance.
"It feels so good to be here again." Said Amanda. "Come on, guys!" She started running off towards the lab, with Pikachu close behind.
"Slow down there, Amanda!" Mark cried as he started running in order to keep up.
"Yeah, wait for us!" Michelle cried. She and Eevee started running too. Inside the lab, Professor Oak was feeding lunch to all of the Pokemon there.
"Make sure you eat all of your bird food, Pidgeotto." He said. "And Abra, no using your psychic powers to throw food around. I had quite a mess to clean up yesterday, which I didn't quite appreciate." He was about to feed Nidoran when he heard a knock on the front door.
"I wonder who that could be." He said and went to answer the door. A young boy was standing there, and he looked very excited.
"You must be Thomas." Said Oak. "Your mother told me that you'd be coming by today to get your starter Pokemon. Are you excited about this?"
"Let me put it this way, Professor. This is the most excited that I've ever been in my life." Said Thomas.
"Follow me, please." Said Oak. He led the boy over to the table near his computer.
"I'm sure you already know this, but you get to choose from Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle." Said Oak. "Whoever you choose will be your partner for the duration of your journey. Of course, there's no right or wrong choice, so just pick the one that you like best." Thomas looked over all of the Pokemon carefully before making his choice.
"I think I'm going to choose Charmander." Said Thomas.
"A fine selection." Said Oak. He handed the boy six empty Poke Balls and a Pokedex.
"Here you are. Good luck on your journey." Said Oak.
"Thanks, Professor!" cried Thomas. He rushed out of the lab and zoomed right past the trio.
"Who was that?" Amanda wondered.
"Beats me." Said Michelle. Seeing as the door was already open, they walked inside.
"Hello, Professor Oak!" Amanda cried. The professor looked at them with a surprised look on his face.
"Hello there, Amanda." Said Oak. "I must say, I'm quite surprised to see you here."
"Well, my friends and I were on our way to Viridian City and we thought that we'd drop by for a visit." Said Amanda. "First, there's Michelle. You already met her on a phone call before."
"That's right, I do seem to recall that." Said Oak.
"It's such an honor to finally meet you in person, sir." Michelle cried.
"Same goes for me." Said Oak.
"Our other friend here is Mark." Said Amanda. "I don't think you've met him yet."
"Can't say that I have." Said Professor Oak.
"I feel privileged to finally get to see you. This has been a dream of mine!" Mark cried. Oak let out a chuckle.
"Your friend here is definitely quite excited." He said. "Anyway, all three of you come with me and you can see all of the Pokemon that I've been looking after for various trainers." He led them into his back room where the kids were immediately trampled by a Tauros stampede.
"What in the world was that?" Michelle asked.
"Those Pokemon were a herd of Tauros that belong to Ash." Said the professor.
"Tauros, huh?" Amanda wondered with curiosity. She had seen Tauros before when she was four, but she had been scared by them back then. This wasn't the case now, of course, but she had forgotten what they looked like. She quickly took out her Pokedex so she could find out more information about Tauros.
"Tauros, the wild Bull Pokemon. Tauros is very rowdy and has a high amount of stamina. Once it starts charging, it is unable to stop or change course until it hits something."
"They're also very fast, too, from what I saw." Said Mark.
"Yes, Tauros are known to be fast runners." Said Oak. He took them over to where Michelle and Amanda's Pokemon were being kept.
"Hi there, guys." Said Amanda. "How have all of you been doing?" Nidoran sped toward Amanda and gave her a playful lick, making her laugh. Michelle also took the opportunity to check in with her own Pokemon, which were very happy to see her. Chansey gave Michelle a big hug, and Clefairy greeted Amanda by showing off her Metronome attack.
"It's definitely been a while, Clefairy." Said Amanda. She then heard a sound from the pond in the backyard, so she rain to see where it was coming from. It turned out to be her Magikarp, which was splashing up and down in the water.
"Hey Magikarp, remember me?" Amanda asked. Magikarp quickly nodded and kept splashing around. Michelle, Mark and Oak soon joined her.
"It looks like my Pokemon have definitely been kept busy." Said Amanda.
"Some of them have even been training in all the time you've been traveling." Said Professor Oak. "For example, your Abra could only teleport before. But now, he's learned to use some actual psychic attacks."
"That's awesome news." Said Amanda. Meanwhile, Conrad and Sally were walking dejectedly toward the entrance to the town.
"How can we possibly face our boss when we still haven't captured a single Pokemon for him?" Conrad whimpered. "Not to mention that we've had no luck in grabbing Pikachu and Eevee from those two girls."
"The boss isn't going to show you any sympathy, so stop whining and start thinking." Said Sally.
"Yes, sir." Said Conrad.
"And another thing. Don't call me sir." Said Sally. "We're not Marcie and Peppermint Patty, you know."
"Sorry." Said Conrad sheepishly. They sat on the ground for a bit and thought about how they would attack. Then, a lightbulb went off in Conrad's head and he grinned.
"What are you cooking up there in that mind of yours?" Sally asked.
"Allow me to show you." Conrad answered. He pulled out a kit that showed a whole bunch of parts for building a mechanical robot.
"Haven't we tried that already?" asked Sally.
"I'm sure we did at some point. "said Conrad. "That one we had before was already made. With this one, though, we have to put the parts together."
"What you're saying is that it's one of those build it yourself kits." Said Sally.
"That's exactly what it is." Said Conrad.
"And how much did this kit cost you?" Sally asked.
"Well, the amount of money I had in my own bank account didn't quite cover it, so I had to borrow some from yours to make it work." Said Conrad. Upon hearing this, Sally was furious.
"You did what?!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, look on the plus side. If this works, not only will I be rich, but you'll get an investment too." Said Conrad. "What do you say now?" Sally didn't know what to say, as she was still angry. She then lunged forward and tackled her partner.
"You get me my money back right now!" She cried.
"It's not that simple." Conrad protested.
"I don't care!" cried Sally. "In all the commotion, however, the kit that Conrad was in possession of got squished, which caused the two of them to stop so he could open it up. Now he was the one who was angry.
"My build it yourself robot kit. It's ruined!" he screeched. He gave Sally an angry stare. "You had better fix this right now!"
"If I knew how to fix things, I would." Said Sally. "However, I do have another idea."
"Okay, what do you have in mind?" asked Conrad.
"Come with me and I'll show you." Said Sally and she quickly led her partner away. At the lab, Michelle was starting to get a bit curious.
"Professor, how are you able to handle taking care of so many Pokemon at once?" she asked.
"That's a very good question, Michelle." Professor Oak answered. "I have a very thorough step by step process, which I'll be glad to explain to you. First, I wake up at the same time every morning, which is usually at around eight o'clock. Once I'm dressed and ready for the day, I go for my breakfast. After that, I let the Pokemon out of their Poke Balls and give them their own food."
"Do you buy their food for them?" asked Mark.
"Some trainers would do that, but I actually make their food from scratch." Said Oak. "It's hard work, but it's very rewarding."
"How are you able to keep track of which food goes to which Pokemon?" asked Michelle.
"That's easy." Said Oak. He opened up the fridge in the kitchen and showed them jars full of food. Each one had a different Pokemon's name on the label.
"Okay, now that makes more sense." Said Amanda.
"After the Pokemon have eaten, I lead them in their daily training and exercises." Said Oak.
"What kind of exercises?" asked Michelle.
"That depends on the Pokemon's type." Said Oak. "If it's a water type like Magikarp, then they practice their jumping in the pond out in the back. For a psychic type, I have them do yoga techniques so they can think about possible attacks to use in battle."
"I didn't think yoga would be of help for a psychic type." Said Amanda.
"I didn't think so either, but your Abra's an excellent student." Said Oak. "Let me play you one of the recent videos I filmed and you can see for yourself." He put a blank tape into his videocassette player and all three kids saw Abra looking poised and in full concentration mode.
"Okay Abra, let's see you use a Confusion attack." Said Oak on the tape. Abra glowed a bright blue and lifted the professor into the air gently before putting him back down.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind, but still, good job." Said Oak. The professor then stopped the tape and smiled at Amanda.
"I'm glad to hear that Abra's been doing well." She said.
"With all the training he's been going through here, he can easily evolve into a Kadabra at any time now." Said Oak.
"Professor, what do the Pokemon do after they've exercised?" Michelle asked.
"Oh yes, I should get back to my explanation." Said Oak. "After their exercises are finished, they have playful practice battles with each other to further hone their skills so that they can give it their best effort in actual matches. After that practice is finished, I feed them their lunch."
"Do they eat the same food every day?" Amanda wondered.
"Technically, yes, but I change up the ingredients as often as possible to make the food look different." Said Oak.
"That's certainly important." Said Michelle.
"After lunch ends, the Pokemon all have naptime for a couple of hours while I conduct my research." Said Oak.
"How much research do you have to do?" asked Mark.
"That all depends on any new discoveries that may happen." Said Oak. "If there's a big discovery that needs my attention, then I need to do lots of research on it. But regardless, the afternoon is my standard work time so that both the Pokemon and I can be left in peace. After my work is done, it's more training for them until dinnertime. And after dinner, they go back into their Poke Balls for the night so that I can have my own rest after a hard day's worth of work."
"It certainly seems like you're certainly busy a lot, Professor." Said Amanda.
"When it comes to researching and taking care of Pokemon, a professor's work is never done." Said Oak. "I always try to stick to a set schedule for my daily tasks. Of course, unexpected emergencies can pop up sometimes that you can't exactly prepare for." Just then, Clefairy bounced up to Oak and gave him a slight nudge.
"Clefairy." She said, which meant 'Time for my exercises.'
"Oh yes, thank you for reminding me about that, Clefairy." Said Oak. "You know, Amanda, since you're here, maybe you and your friends would like to participate in this session too."
"Well, it would be some good practice for the gym battle that I'm going to have when I get to Viridian City again." Said Amanda.
"That's the spirit." Said Oak. He led Amanda, her friends and Clefairy to a wide open spot in the yard.
"Normally, I'm the one that would lead the Pokemon in their exercises." Said Oak. "However, the three of you are in for a treat today."
"Why is that, Professor?" asked Michelle.
"I've lined up a special guest instructor for today's regimen." Said Oak. The guest instructor stepped forward, and as it turned out, Amanda had seen this certain individual before.
"Brock. It's good to see you again." Said Amanda.
"How have you been doing?" Brock asked.
"I'm doing great." Said Amanda. "I only need to earn one more badge to get into the Pokemon League."
"That's great news." Said Brock.
"How do you know him, Amanda?" Mark asked.
"I battled him for a Boulder Badge in Pewter City when I was starting my journey." Amanda explained.
"Nice to meet you, Brock." Said Michelle. Mark just looked at him in awe.
"You're taller than I thought you'd be." Said Mark.
"Well, that's to be expected since I'm a little older than you." Said Brock. "I take it that you and Michelle are Amanda's friends, right?"
"That's right." Said Michelle. "The three of us have been doing quite a bit of traveling together."
"I have plenty of traveling experience myself." Said Brock. "Most of it has been with Ash, but it still counts."
"Brock here just returned from a stay on Valencia Island in the Orange Archipelago as Professor Ivy's assistant." Said Oak. The mere mention of that name made Brock drop to the ground and curl up into a ball.
"Hey Brock, what exactly happened?" Amanda asked.
"I don't want to talk about that." He answered firmly.
"Fair enough." Said Amanda.
"She must've fired him or something." Mark whispered softly.
"Probably." Amanda whispered back. They were trying to be careful so that Brock wouldn't overhear them.
"I thought we were out here to exercise, not to talk." Said Michelle. Brock suddenly stood back up and smiled again.
"All right guys, we'll begin on my whistle." He said.
"Are you ready, Clefairy?" Amanda asked. Clefairy smiled and nodded to acknowledge that she was indeed ready.
"Places, everyone." Brock called out. He then took out the whistle that Oak had provided him and blew on it to begin the session.
"Jumping jacks, on the double!" he cried. Mark, Amanda, Michelle and Clefairy obeyed the command and started jumping.
"How many of these does he want us to do?" Michelle asked.
"I have no idea." Amanda answered. They got up to one hundred jumping jacks before brock blew the whistle again.
"Time for running exercises!" he called. However, Clefairy had never ran before, so she was a bit nervous.
"Clefairy." She said anxiously, which meant 'I don't know if I can do this.' Amanda wasn't worried in the slightest, however.
"Just try to do your absolute best, Clefairy." She said in a calm and reassuring tone. Even Pikachu gave her some words of encouragement. Brock blew the whistle and everyone started running. Since Pikachu was built for speed, he had no problem completing the exercise. Clefairy, however, was a little slow in trying to keep up with everyone.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried, which meant 'Try to go a little faster, Clefairy!'
"Clefairy!" Clefairy called out, which meant 'I'm trying!' After running a total of five laps, the exercise changed again. This kept up for a full hour and a half before Brock finally ended the session.
"Great work, everybody." He said.
"Clefairy?" the small pink Pokemon asked, which meant 'How did I do?'
"I think you did just fine, Clefairy." Said Amanda. Michelle's stomach started to growl.
"All of that exercise has made me a little hungry." She said.
"You're in luck because my cooking skills are terrific." Said Brock. He mixed some ingredients together to produce a delicious stew for Amanda, Mark, Michelle and Professor Oak. He also put some special Pokemon food together for both Pikachu and Eevee.
"So Brock, what exactly led to you being let go by Professor Ivy?" asked Michelle. That mention caused Brock to shudder again.
"You're not supposed to mention that name around Brock." Said Amanda.
"Oops, sorry." Said Michelle. Brock stood up again and gave Michelle a smile.
"That's perfectly all right." He said, and they resumed their meal. As they ate, Brock noticed what Amanda was holding in her arms.
"I don't think I've seen that Pokemon before." He said.
"That's because it's a Pokemon that isn't usually seen here." Said Amanda. "It's an Elekid."
"It's very cute." Said Brock. He leaned over and smiled at the baby Pokemon, but Elekid burst into tears.
"I hope I didn't do anything wrong." Brock said.
"You're fine." Said Michelle. "Elekid doesn't know you yet, so it's a little shy. Maybe once it warms up to you a little more, it'll be more comfortable around you." Amanda dried off Elekid's tears and kept eating.
"By the way, Professor, there's something else I wanted to ask you while I'm here." She said.
"What is it, my dear?" said Oak.
"By any chance, you wouldn't happen to know who the leader of the Viridian City gym is, do you?" Amanda asked.
"I'm afraid I don't." said Oak. "I know the gym blew up in some explosion some time ago, but I'm pretty sure it's rebuilt by now."
"That's definitely a good sign." Said Mark.
"You wouldn't happen to know who it is, do you, Brock?" asked Michelle.
"I don't know either." Said Brock. "Even if I did know, though, I wouldn't be able to give that information anyway because it would violate the gym leader code."
"Well, if Oak doesn't know, and Brock can't say, then who would possibly know?" Amanda wondered. It was at that precise moment that a familiar figure wearing a long sleeve purple shirt, dark grey pants, a yin and yang necklace around his neck, brown boots with black straps and spiked hair on the top of his head walked into the room.
"I would." Said the voice. "If you'll turn around, you'll look right at him." They all looked at the figure, and who they saw surprised Amanda.
"Gary?" she cried.
"Hey there, Grandpa." Said Gary. "I just thought I would check in and see how you're doing."
"I'm doing fine." Said Oak.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you just say that you're the Viridian gym leader?" asked Michelle.
"I did." Said Gary. "They actually opened the place up again after rebuilding work finished and Lance asked me to be the new leader, a job that I was more than happy to accept."
"In any case, it's good to see you here again." Said Amanda.
"How do you know Gary?" Mark asked.
"I ran across him in Viridian when I started my journey, and he was giving Ash a hard time like he always does." Said Amanda.
"Speaking of Ash, where is he right now?" Michelle asked.
"Last I heard, he, Misty and Tracey were all on Pummelo Island for Ash's big match against Orange Crew leader Drake." Brock answered.
"Since you're here, how about some lunch." Oak suggested.
"I am feeling a bit on the hungry side, so sure." Said Gary. Brock got out a bowl of Gary to serve him some stew and they all ate together.
"I still can't believe that your grandson is the gym leader." Said Amanda.
"I was a bit shocked myself when Gary first told me that he got the job, but I still have to support him in any way I can." Said Oak.
"When's your first official battle as the new gym leader supposed to be?" asked Michelle.
"Tomorrow." Answered Gary. "I came down here to see how some of my Pokemon are doing because I need to make sure that they're in top shape for that match."
"That's certainly very smart." Said Mark. After lunch, everyone got up from the table and started to go over to where Gary's Pokemon were being kept when they heard a loud noise from the backyard.
"What's going on out there?" Gary asked.
"I don't know!" Amanda cried.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried, which meant 'Stop the noise, Amanda. It's too loud!'
"I'm sorry, Pikachu, but I have no control over that." Said Amanda. The loud noise caused Elekid to start crying again, and Amanda had to soothe him.
"We can't just stand around here!" cried Michelle. "Let's see what the noise is." Everyone ran outside and saw giant fake bombs falling onto the ground.
"What in the world?!" cried Gary. "Who's up there throwing those bombs?" Conrad and Sally gave a laugh and stepped forward from behind the smoke.
"Team Rocket!" cried Amanda and Michelle together.
"Don't you two know when to quit?" Mark asked them.
"We're not quitting until we have both Pikachu and Eevee." Said Sally.
"You're not getting them!" Amanda cried.
"Yeah, leave Pikachu and Eevee alone!" Michelle cried.
"You two have some nerve invading my laboratory like this!" Oak yelled. "Get out of here this instant!"
"Not a chance." Said Conrad firmly. He quickly grabbed a Poke Ball and threw it. "Go, Golbat!" The dual poison and flying type appeared in a blaze of light.
"Arbok, go!" cried Sally. The poison snake instantly appeared and started to glare at Elekid, only for Michelle to intervene.
"Don't you even think of going anywhere near that baby!" she yelled at Arbok.
"Gary, do something do get rid of these intruders!" Oak ordered.
"On it, Grandpa." Said Gary, and he threw one of his own Poke Balls. "Arcanine, go!" The strong fire type appeared in a blaze of light.
"Gary has an Arcanine too?" Amanda asked in a shocked manner.
"And by the looks of things, he's done a great job of taking care of it." Said Brock.
"Arcanine, use your Take Down attack!" Gary ordered. Arcanine ran at Golbat, but the flying type flew out of harm's way to avoid the attack.
"Arbok, use your Poison Sting attack!" Sally cried. Arbok shot purple needles straight in Arcanine's direction.
"Arcanine, Agility now!" Gary called. Arcanine used its' speed to avoid each one of the needles. He then ran circles around Arbok, confusing it.
"Arbok!" Sally cried.
"Time for me to step in." said Amanda. She quickly grabbed a Poke Ball off her waist and threw it.
"Fearow, go!" she cried.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu cried, which meant 'No! Bad idea!'
"I can't change Pokemon now!" Amanda cried. Her strong bird appeared in a blaze of light. Pikachu just shook its' head, as he knew exactly how this would turn out.
"Fearow, go for the Whirlwind! Blow Arbok and Golbat away!" She ordered. Fearow pondered for a moment before flying over to the top of the fence and fell asleep on top of it.
"Pika!" he cried, which meant 'I told you so!' Amanda let out a sigh.
"Fearow, return!" she exclaimed and recalled the Pokemon into its' ball. "Well, Pikachu, I guess it's up to you to deal with this." Pikachu was about to step forward when Abra suddenly appeared in front of her.
"What do you think you're doing, Abra? I want Pikachu battling." She said. Abra refused to move, however, and simply gave Team Rocket's Pokemon a stare down.
"I think your Abra's wanting to battle." Said Oak.
"Is that true, Abra?" Amanda asked. Abra nodded and looked ahead again.
"In that case, go for it!" Amanda cried.
"You've got to be joking." Said Conrad. "All Abra knows how to do is float around and cause trouble."
"Is that so?" Amanda said with a smirk. "Well, I think you'll find that my Abra is very different. Okay, Abra, use your Psybeam!" Abra fired a purple and pink beam at Arbok and shot it right into a tree.
"Ah! Arbok, no!" cried Sally.
"Golbat, use your Wing Attack!" cried Conrad. Golbat started to fly in toward the psychic type's head, but Amanda had another trick up her sleeve.
"Use your Disable!" she cried. Abra's eyes glowed blue, causing Golbat's attack to stop dead in its' tracks.
"And now for the finisher!" Amanda cried. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu unleashed the strong attack, creating an explosion and sending Golbat, Arbok, Conrad and Sally flying into the air.
"We're blasting off again!" they cried. DING!
"Great work, Abra and Pikachu." Said Amanda.
"Your Fearow looks great, but if it's still not listening to you when you get to the Pokemon League, you could have a problem." Said Gary.
"Abra deserves a lot of the credit, though." Said Michelle. "He's the one who saved the day for us." Abra smiled, and then glowed white.
"Pika!" he cried, which meant 'Is he doing what I think he's doing?'
"He certainly is." Said Gary.
"Abra's evolving." Said Brock. Once the glow stopped, Abra was much taller and had a gold star on its' head.
"Amazing! It evolved into a Kadabra." Said Oak.
"Congratulations, Kadabra." Said Amanda. "You know, you could be very useful for me in my next gym match. Would you like to come with me to the Viridian City gym?" Kadabra nodded.
"I think that's a good choice that you made." Said Oak. "You'll have to leave one of your other Pokemon with me, though, in order to make room." This wasn't a hard decision at all, and Amanda handed over Venonat's Poke Ball.
"Do a good job looking after Venonat, Professor." Said Amanda.
"I'll do my best." Said Oak. One more Team Rocket attack thwarted, and one more new Pokemon for Amanda. Now, it's back to Viridian City for a full circle stop for her Earth Badge. I hope she gets it, don't you?
TO BE CONTINUED
Amanda's Party: Pikachu, Fearow, Blastoise, Weepinbell, Arcanine, Kadabra
Michelle's Party: Eevee, Electabuzz, Doduo, Psyduck, Ponyta, Charmander
Mark's Party: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Jolteon, Gastly, Lapras, Nidorino
Amanda's Spare Pokemon At Oak's Lab: Rattata, Gengar, Magikarp, Butterfree, Zubat, Venonat, Tentacruel, Pidgeotto, Dratini, Clefairy, Scyther, Flareon, Nidoran Male, Rhyhorn, Goldeen, Dragonair, Snorlax, Machamp, Horsea, Seadra
Michelle's Spare Pokemon At Oak's Lab: Gengar, Sandshrew, Nidoran Female, Poliwhirl, Tangela, Chansey, Shellder