Chapter 9: Green (4)
Nearly 3 months passed since the trio started their respective journeys.
Gary Oak was traversing the entrance of Route 10.
His roster of Pokémon now a party of 5.
Eevee.
Raticate.
Wartortle.
Kadabra.
Pidgeotto.
Recalling that Ash had a Pidgeot that he released ticked him off slightly.
After all, the fool had a fully evolved version of one of his team.
And yet, he just released it.
'I'm thinking of Red a lot lately. Must be because of that,' he thought whilst walking alongside Eevee and Raticate.
The two were frolicking together happily.
Ever since that battle, Gary was reminded at Ash's uncanny ability to go beyond even common sense.
Training Pikachu's physical capabilities?
Practising attacks?
Making a strategy to beat his opponent?
None of those.
Instead, the raven-haired boy created a whole new move altogether.
'Seriously, the guy found a way to close the distance between Pikachu and Raticate.
That numbskull has to be the craziest dude I know,' he recounted in his mind.
'…Heh, still won though.'
"Raticate!" the brown rat squeaked before running off.
This snapped Gary out of his thoughts.
"Raticate?" he said before following his ace Pokémon.
Caught up with his Pokémon, he was shocked to see what Raticate found.
A truck with the letter 'R' on its body.
Its contents, a multitude of caged Pokémon.
"Ruff! Ruff!" a Growlithe barked.
Raticate saw the red puppy's will to escape and wanted to help.
Turning to his Trainer, he conveyed his intent.
"You wanna bust them out?" Gary affirmed.
Raticate nodded.
"Looks like no one's around too…"
Gary had heard of Team Rocket.
Both from Ash and the news.
A criminal organization that made money off selling stolen Pokémon.
Sometimes selling only parts of them.
'The smart thing to do is to just ignore it…' Gary's logical side argued.
'Just recall Raticate into his Ball…'
"Raticate…" Gary began.
"[Hyper Fang]."
Crash!
Cages now wide open, the freed Pokémon escaped.
But not before Gary managed to scan the ones he had never seen.
His judgement came from a nagging thought in his mind.
'What would Red do?'
"Tch, that idiot's gone and infected me with his idiocy," Gary complained into the air.
"Grrr!"
A growl from the freed Growlithe caught his attention.
"Well, well, lookie here, boys."
The voice came from a middle-aged man with two other grunts beside him.
All of which wore Team Rocket's uniforms.
"You just waltzed yourself into a world of trouble, kid," one of the grunts taunted menacingly.
"You shouldn't mess with adult business, boy. Scram," another continued.
Gary scoffed.
"Heh. You guys must be pretty bad at your jobs if a boy can mess it this easily," he shot back with arrogance.
"I'd start working on my résumés if I were you," Gary taunted, summoning his team out.
"Haha! You're a real piece of work, hotshot," a Rocket grunt said, grinning maliciously.
Tss…
Gary's eyes widened and turned his back.
"Cra…"
"Koffing, [Self-destruct]!" the man commanded.
An explosion boomed.
"Gwah!"
Gary and Growlithe were flung back by its force.
Covered in dirt, he analysed the situation.
Wartortle, Pidgeotto and Kadabra had fainted.
"They were too close…" he surmised.
He had no time to think.
Two purple bomb-like Pokémon floated his way.
"Take them out, [Self-destruct]," a grunt simply commanded.
Growlithe and Gary narrowed their eyes at the floating Koffings.
Suddenly, from behind, a brown blur leaped.
Using the geography to its advantage, Raticate used the rocks as platforms.
All to reach the living bombs with his fangs.
The Koffings were already releasing the smoke that signalled their explosions.
However, in one move, Raticate turned the tables.
With incomprehensible speed, he threw both Koffings back at the adults.
They had no time to react.
Boooom!
"Good job, Raticate. You alright?" Gary asked, petting his ace.
Raticate nodded although with a weak squeak.
Gary thought nothing of it, thinking it as Raticate being tired.
"Okay. Let's go before these guys wake up."
Navigating into Rock Tunnel, Gary felt something following them.
With a sigh, he looked back.
"Quit following us, you're free now. Go back to the wild or something," Gary said to the following Growlithe.
"Arf!" the puppy barked back as if to say it wanted to follow the boy.
"…Fine, we need a light anyways," Gary sighed before capturing the puppy with a PokéBall.
Growlithe was amazed by Raticate's strength and speed.
Within the time the puppy knew him, it had already looked up to him.
"Eevee, Growlithe. You guys are front. Raticate, please cover our back," Gary instructed.
"Stay sharp until we reached the end of the tunnel."
Unbeknownst to Gary, Raticate was struggling to keep up.
Smoke coming out of its respiratory system.
Rain was heard as the group made their way closer to the exit.
The light outside grew larger and larger.
As Gary took his first step outside…
A silent thud echoed.
A fatal mistake.
He turned back.
A full party of 6.
Raticate was on the ground.
Now back to 5.
Covered by the darkness of Rock Tunnel.
Chapter 9: Green (4)
Raticate had died.
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