“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sterling said angrily. He and Ronan sat in the pokemon centre waiting room. They had spent the night there while Sterling’s pokemon healed up from whatever had happened inside the Viridian City gym.
“Are you going to try again once your pokemon are ready?” asked Ronan.
“No. Even fully healed we wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“What pokemon did the gym leader use? Don’t most gyms have different teams depending on how many badges the challenger already has?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” Sterling looked like he was going to continue yelling but the light over the door to the pokemon centre’s back rooms winked out with a musical ding. Nurse Joy came out with her assistant Chansey pushing a cart of pokeballs.
“Sterling?”
“That’s me,” he said walking over to meet her. “Are my pokemon okay?”
“Their fighting fit. Though I must say I don’t recommend putting them through that again,” Nurse Joy said with a meaningful glance.
“I won’t,” Sterling replied with an unusually serious tone. “Thank you.” He picked up his two pokeballs and came back to where Ronan was sitting.
“You good to go?” Ronan asked apprehensively. “You’re not thinking of going home are you?”
“Of course not,” Sterling said without a second thought. Ronan noticed the look of doubt on his friend’s face however. He stood up and put his bag on his back.
“Do you think this gym is why so many of the trainers Professor Oak gives a pokemon to have given up so soon?” Ronan asked once they were outside.
“Maybe,” Sterling replied distractedly.
“Well we promised the professor we wouldn’t end up like that. More importantly we promised each other. I’m not travelling the whole region with you moping like this.”
Sterling grimaced. A flash of light burst from his bag and when it disappeared, Squirtle was standing beside him. To Ronan’s surprise, Sterling looked even more ashamed than before.
“I’m sorry, Squirtle. I let you down in that last battle. I never should have made you fight someone so strong.”
Squirtle put its hands on the sides of its shell and shook its head. It suddenly got a mischievous look and aimed a water gun at Sterling’s face. It laughed and so did Ronan.
Sterling shook the water from his head. “You think that’s funny? Let’s see how you like it. Squirtle, use water gun.”
Ronan ducked and avoided the jet of water. He knew another wouldn’t be far behind so he ran for it, still laughing. Sterling picked up Squirtle and gave chase. They didn’t stop until they were out of Viridian City and at the edge of the forest.
Even with autumn swiftly approaching, the forest canopy was dense enough to cover the ground in shadows. Shafts of sunlight broke through here and there. The whole area was filled with the sounds of wild pokemon.
“Okay, okay. Truce?” Ronan said through panted breaths. Squirtle; perched on Sterling’s back, was already preparing another water gun.
“Fine. You win this round,” Sterling said with a smile. Squirtle closed its mouth too late to stop the water gun. Its mouth filled up with water and inflated like a balloon. It opened its mouth just enough to let the water squirt out to one side like a fountain.
“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we split up on our way through the forest? We can compare the pokemon we both catch by the time we reach the other side,” Ronan suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. We did buy all those pokeballs yesterday. May as well put them to good use, right?”
“Right. See you on the other side then.” With that, Ronan headed deeper into the forest, following a different path to Sterling. He reached for his belt and opened Bulbasaur’s pokeball.
“Hey, pal. Thought you might want to stretch your legs a bit. What do you think to this place? Think we’ll find some new friends here?”
Bulbasaur looked around before stomping his feet on the ground happily. They walked together with Bulbasaur a few paces ahead. After a few twists and turns, Ronan noticed that all the sounds of pokemon still seemed far away.
Looks like we’ll need to head off the path if we’re going to find anything. He thought to himself. Pushing his way through the shrubs and long grass, the sounds became more distinct. It actually sounded like fighting; he wondered if there were other trainers around the forest today. Bulbasaur trotted towards the commotion and Ronan followed him, crouching as they came closer. Pushing aside a low branch as quietly as he could, Ronan saw what all the noise was about. There were no trainers but it was still a battle. A Pidgeotto was attacking a tree full of Caterpie and Metapod. It would be an easy meal for the bird type if it weren’t for the Butterfree fighting to keep it at bay.
The Pidgeotto swooped back and forth, trying to confuse the Butterfree by attacking from lots of different angles, but it was unwilling to get too close to Butterfree’s poison powder. Pidgeotto hovered in place for a moment. It beat its wings even harder and brought up a gust that pushed the poison powder back, covering the tree and all the Caterpie and Metapod. Pidgeotto dove in victoriously.
Just before Pidgeotto could reach the nearest Caterpie, it was swatted away by vines. Ronan followed the length of the vines to find that Bulbasaur had rushed into the clearing to help.
“Way to go, Bulbasaur. Use tackle now that it’s on the ground,” Ronan shouted, pushing his way into the clearing as well. Bulbasaur charged forwards but the Pidgeotto recovered in time to fly up to safety. It beat its wings again, readying another Gust.
“Hurry Bulbasaur. Use your vines to break that branch.” Bulbasaur did as he was told and the branch snapped off the tree just as the Gust came hurtling down. “Knock it away with the branch!”
It worked. Leaves went scattering in every direction but the gust was knocked aside and disappeared. Bulbasaur countered with another Vine Whip attack but the Pidgeotto was simply to high up to reach. Before Ronan could come up with a plan, the Pidgeotto went stiff. The Butterfree had recovered and used Confusion when no one was looking. Not only that but one of the Caterpie had crawled to the top of the tree and leaped off to tackle its assailant in mid-air. The Pidgeotto hit the ground.
“Grab it Bulbasaur!” Ronan yelled. Bulbasaur’s vines wrapped around the tumbling Caterpie and brought it down to the forest floor gently. Ronan reached for one of his pokeballs. He threw it at the stunned Pidgeotto. A flash of red light and it was inside the ball. It rolled backed and forth more than when Sterling had caught his Spearow, but after a few tense moments the ball went still. Ronan had caught his first pokemon.
“Nice timing,” Ronan said to the Butterfree. It stayed high up on its branch, looking down at Ronan and Bulbasaur warily. “Don’t worry. That Pidgeotto won’t be bothering you again.”
He walked over to pick up the pokeball he had thrown. When he went to return it to his bag he found a Caterpie clinging to the strap. “Hey there, little guy. You’re the one who made that leaping tackle, huh? You’ve got guys, I’ll give you that.” Ronan tried to pick to the Caterpie so that he could place it back on the tree with its family but it wouldn’t let go.
“I’m not going to hurt you. What is it? You want to come with us?”
The Caterpie nodded emphatically.
“Is this okay with you?” Ronan asked the Butterfree. For its answer it flew down from the tree with something clutched in its hands. Sitrus berries; it gave one to Bulbasaur and the other to the Caterpie. They both started eating happily. “Alright then.” Ronan reached into his bag and pulled out the Nest Ball he had decided to buy back in Viridian City. He held it out and the Caterpie pressed its nose to the button. Another flash of red light and Caterpie disappeared inside.
“I guess I’ll have to make sure you and Pidgeotto get along from now on. Let’s get going, Bulbasaur. We’d better try and make it to the other side of the forest before it gets dark. Take care, Butterfree.” Ronan waved goodbye to the pokemon in the tree, Bulbasaur at his side and his two new friends in his pocket.
“Are you going to try again once your pokemon are ready?” asked Ronan.
“No. Even fully healed we wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“What pokemon did the gym leader use? Don’t most gyms have different teams depending on how many badges the challenger already has?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it.” Sterling looked like he was going to continue yelling but the light over the door to the pokemon centre’s back rooms winked out with a musical ding. Nurse Joy came out with her assistant Chansey pushing a cart of pokeballs.
“Sterling?”
“That’s me,” he said walking over to meet her. “Are my pokemon okay?”
“Their fighting fit. Though I must say I don’t recommend putting them through that again,” Nurse Joy said with a meaningful glance.
“I won’t,” Sterling replied with an unusually serious tone. “Thank you.” He picked up his two pokeballs and came back to where Ronan was sitting.
“You good to go?” Ronan asked apprehensively. “You’re not thinking of going home are you?”
“Of course not,” Sterling said without a second thought. Ronan noticed the look of doubt on his friend’s face however. He stood up and put his bag on his back.
“Do you think this gym is why so many of the trainers Professor Oak gives a pokemon to have given up so soon?” Ronan asked once they were outside.
“Maybe,” Sterling replied distractedly.
“Well we promised the professor we wouldn’t end up like that. More importantly we promised each other. I’m not travelling the whole region with you moping like this.”
Sterling grimaced. A flash of light burst from his bag and when it disappeared, Squirtle was standing beside him. To Ronan’s surprise, Sterling looked even more ashamed than before.
“I’m sorry, Squirtle. I let you down in that last battle. I never should have made you fight someone so strong.”
Squirtle put its hands on the sides of its shell and shook its head. It suddenly got a mischievous look and aimed a water gun at Sterling’s face. It laughed and so did Ronan.
Sterling shook the water from his head. “You think that’s funny? Let’s see how you like it. Squirtle, use water gun.”
Ronan ducked and avoided the jet of water. He knew another wouldn’t be far behind so he ran for it, still laughing. Sterling picked up Squirtle and gave chase. They didn’t stop until they were out of Viridian City and at the edge of the forest.
Even with autumn swiftly approaching, the forest canopy was dense enough to cover the ground in shadows. Shafts of sunlight broke through here and there. The whole area was filled with the sounds of wild pokemon.
“Okay, okay. Truce?” Ronan said through panted breaths. Squirtle; perched on Sterling’s back, was already preparing another water gun.
“Fine. You win this round,” Sterling said with a smile. Squirtle closed its mouth too late to stop the water gun. Its mouth filled up with water and inflated like a balloon. It opened its mouth just enough to let the water squirt out to one side like a fountain.
“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we split up on our way through the forest? We can compare the pokemon we both catch by the time we reach the other side,” Ronan suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. We did buy all those pokeballs yesterday. May as well put them to good use, right?”
“Right. See you on the other side then.” With that, Ronan headed deeper into the forest, following a different path to Sterling. He reached for his belt and opened Bulbasaur’s pokeball.
“Hey, pal. Thought you might want to stretch your legs a bit. What do you think to this place? Think we’ll find some new friends here?”
Bulbasaur looked around before stomping his feet on the ground happily. They walked together with Bulbasaur a few paces ahead. After a few twists and turns, Ronan noticed that all the sounds of pokemon still seemed far away.
Looks like we’ll need to head off the path if we’re going to find anything. He thought to himself. Pushing his way through the shrubs and long grass, the sounds became more distinct. It actually sounded like fighting; he wondered if there were other trainers around the forest today. Bulbasaur trotted towards the commotion and Ronan followed him, crouching as they came closer. Pushing aside a low branch as quietly as he could, Ronan saw what all the noise was about. There were no trainers but it was still a battle. A Pidgeotto was attacking a tree full of Caterpie and Metapod. It would be an easy meal for the bird type if it weren’t for the Butterfree fighting to keep it at bay.
The Pidgeotto swooped back and forth, trying to confuse the Butterfree by attacking from lots of different angles, but it was unwilling to get too close to Butterfree’s poison powder. Pidgeotto hovered in place for a moment. It beat its wings even harder and brought up a gust that pushed the poison powder back, covering the tree and all the Caterpie and Metapod. Pidgeotto dove in victoriously.
Just before Pidgeotto could reach the nearest Caterpie, it was swatted away by vines. Ronan followed the length of the vines to find that Bulbasaur had rushed into the clearing to help.
“Way to go, Bulbasaur. Use tackle now that it’s on the ground,” Ronan shouted, pushing his way into the clearing as well. Bulbasaur charged forwards but the Pidgeotto recovered in time to fly up to safety. It beat its wings again, readying another Gust.
“Hurry Bulbasaur. Use your vines to break that branch.” Bulbasaur did as he was told and the branch snapped off the tree just as the Gust came hurtling down. “Knock it away with the branch!”
It worked. Leaves went scattering in every direction but the gust was knocked aside and disappeared. Bulbasaur countered with another Vine Whip attack but the Pidgeotto was simply to high up to reach. Before Ronan could come up with a plan, the Pidgeotto went stiff. The Butterfree had recovered and used Confusion when no one was looking. Not only that but one of the Caterpie had crawled to the top of the tree and leaped off to tackle its assailant in mid-air. The Pidgeotto hit the ground.
“Grab it Bulbasaur!” Ronan yelled. Bulbasaur’s vines wrapped around the tumbling Caterpie and brought it down to the forest floor gently. Ronan reached for one of his pokeballs. He threw it at the stunned Pidgeotto. A flash of red light and it was inside the ball. It rolled backed and forth more than when Sterling had caught his Spearow, but after a few tense moments the ball went still. Ronan had caught his first pokemon.
“Nice timing,” Ronan said to the Butterfree. It stayed high up on its branch, looking down at Ronan and Bulbasaur warily. “Don’t worry. That Pidgeotto won’t be bothering you again.”
He walked over to pick up the pokeball he had thrown. When he went to return it to his bag he found a Caterpie clinging to the strap. “Hey there, little guy. You’re the one who made that leaping tackle, huh? You’ve got guys, I’ll give you that.” Ronan tried to pick to the Caterpie so that he could place it back on the tree with its family but it wouldn’t let go.
“I’m not going to hurt you. What is it? You want to come with us?”
The Caterpie nodded emphatically.
“Is this okay with you?” Ronan asked the Butterfree. For its answer it flew down from the tree with something clutched in its hands. Sitrus berries; it gave one to Bulbasaur and the other to the Caterpie. They both started eating happily. “Alright then.” Ronan reached into his bag and pulled out the Nest Ball he had decided to buy back in Viridian City. He held it out and the Caterpie pressed its nose to the button. Another flash of red light and Caterpie disappeared inside.
“I guess I’ll have to make sure you and Pidgeotto get along from now on. Let’s get going, Bulbasaur. We’d better try and make it to the other side of the forest before it gets dark. Take care, Butterfree.” Ronan waved goodbye to the pokemon in the tree, Bulbasaur at his side and his two new friends in his pocket.