"HYAAA!" I cried... again.
"__________... It's just a lousy Caterpie! Nothing to be afraid of..."
"Shut up, Green," I mumbled as I threw out a Pokéball, trembling. As the ball stopped moving, I inched forward and grabbed the Pokéball, stashing it away with my other Pokémon after I had registered it to my Pokédex.
"I take it you're afraid of Bug Pokémon?" Red asked.
"Haha, yeah," Green answered, laughing.
I responded by kicking him in the shin. As he was (rather comically) hopping on one foot while holding the other, I pointed to an opening. "Hey, guys, look!"
We all ran through, leaving the Viridian Forest to find that we were at the entrance to Pewter City.
"Pewter City Gym, here we come!"
●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●
"Whew! I'm beat, I'd say that was enough activity for today..." I said, slumping in fatigue. I had been able to beat Brock's team with my own burgeoning team, and later in the day Red and Green had done the same, impressing the leader.
"Me too," Red said. "Let's set up camp."
As Green and I set up the two tents, Red started a fire. "All right, a campfire!" I exclaimed excitedly.
Red started to get food supplies out of his Bag. "I'll make something good... I did a bunch of research to make meals that taste good and are reasonably healthy with stuff that's easy to travel with."
"Okay, nerd," Green teased. Soon, he caught me gazing dreamily at Red, who was concentrated on his task. "Like a guy who cooks, eh, __________?"
"Shut up," I said again, because, of course, he was right.
Later, everyone got into their pajamas and gathered around the fire. We talked about the day, our venture through the Viridian Forest and our defeats of Brock. Before long, the sun was completely gone and it was time for bed. I sent Eevee out of his Pokéball so we could snuggle.
"'Night, guys!" I called out as I crawled in my tent. Green and Red responded by repeating what I had said, and going in their tent.
About a few hours later, when it was still nighttime, I woke up and heard the two boys chatting. Curious, I got out of my tent and crept close to theirs to investigate.
"I don't know... does she like me?" I heard Red say.
I heard Green chuckle. I gasped. They're totally talking about me. Don't tell, don't tell, don't tell, Green, if you tell Red I like him, I'll... I thought.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Green said. I breathed a sigh of relief. "So, I'm stuck on this level on Donkey Kong..."
I slowly went back to my tent and snuggled up in my sleeping bag. I didn't think much about why Red would be asking if I liked him, falling back asleep quickly.
●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●
"Come on, please? Can't we stop at the Game Corner?" Green whined.
"Fine," I sighed in exasperation.
It had been two months since the first day we set out from Pallet Town. We had visited and conquered each gym, and now we were at Celadon City.
Green skipped in the Game Corner as Red and I started talking about the beach, standing to watch Green rush over to the counter and buy coins, then immediately begin playing a slot machine.
As I glanced about the place, I noticed something odd—there was a guy dressed in dark clothing standing in the corner of the room doing nothing. it looked like he was standing guard, but all that was behind him was a poster.
"See that guy over there?" I pointed him out to Red.
"Yeah, he looks suspicious... Green, come on...something's up with that guy. Let's figure it out."
"Who cares, I'm in the middle of something," he said, rolling his eyes.
I sighed. "Red, you keep an eye on Green and I'll see what's up..."
"You got it."
I walked over to the guy standing in the corner. "Hey, man, what's going on?"
"None of your business, kid," he mumbled, shifted uncomfortably.
"Sure," I said, "What are you standing in front of?"
"Hey, you little brat, why don't you go play somewhere else, okay?" he growled, shoving me.
Red was suddenly by my side. "Hey, man, keep your hands off her."
"I got this, Red," I said dismissively, a fire lit inside me that pushed me into battle. "Go, Eevee!" I sent Eevee out of his Pokéball.
"Eevee!" he cried.
"Alright, go, Zubat!" the Grunt sent out a Pokémon of his own.
"Eevee, use Take Down!" I shouted, feeling very confident.
Eevee did so, and tackled the Zubat with enthusiasm.
"Zubat, use Bite!" Zubat viciously bit Eevee.
Eevee did not seem wavered. "Use Quick Attack!" Eevee attacked with lightning speed.
The Grunt smirked. "Use Toxic!"
I gulped. Zubat tossed a ball of sludge at Eevee, who shuddered and winced in pain. I was about to use my turn to use an Antidote on my partner when I remembered one of the TMs I had recently given Eevee.
"Eevee, use Facade!" I instructed Eevee, who nodded and proceeded to use the unique attack against the Grunt's Zubat. The attack hit with so much power that the Zubat instantly fainted.
Out of Pokémon, the Grunt, flustered, threw some money at me and stumbled out of the building. "Uhh, there's NOT a secret switch behind that poster!" And he was gone.
I wasn't buying it. After giving Eevee a Super Potion and an Antidote, I gently peeled back the poster from the wall, and sure enough, there was a button the size of a quarter protruding from the wall. "I'll be right back guys," I said toward the guys' direction.
"'Kay," Red replied, going back to making sure Green didn't blow all of his money.
I pushed the button. Before my eyes, a stairwell emerged. A bit in shock, I tentatively stepped down the stairs. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was met with a startling sight.
There was a large room, and it seemed to be a maze. I slowly entered.
"Hey!" I heard someone yell. This startled me greatly, but I whipped around to find another Grunt. I sighed in relief, easily defeating him.
As I moved throughout the area, I got a better feel for it, and realized it was some sort of secret base that some nefarious villain organization had set up.
After defeating about three of these Grunts and walking about the area, I began to get an idea of how the hideout worked—there were several floors connected by a series of warp panels that would instantly carry me to another location when I stepped on one.
As I proceeded throughout the hideout, I continued to easily defeat the Grunts with Eevee, Doduo, and Nidorina.
After defeating one, as he scurried off I noticed something fall out of his pocket. I bent over to see what it was. It was a small plastic card that had a letter R printed on it. I turned it over and saw that along the top, it said, "LIFT KEY." I hurried over to the elevator for the floor I was on. The elevator, previously locked and inaccessible, opened when I approached it. I cautiously stepped in and selected the highest level for the floor. It took me up, and when it opened, I precariously stepped out to discover a meeting room. A dark man was standing before me, seemingly waiting for me.
He spoke, "So! I must say, I am impressed you got here. Team Rocket captures Pokémon from around the world. They're important tools for keeping our criminal enterprise going. I am the leader, Giovanni!"
"What?" I muttered. This was totally nuts... I had heard rumors about this criminal organization and had had run-ins with Grunts like the ones that scattered this hideout, but I didn't know it was so organized, and was finding it threatening for the first time.
I scoffed. "So, you're some bad guys, going around stealing Pokémon? Just take down the organization and I'll leave you in one piece," I spoke, brimming with confidence.
This enraged Giovanni, who exclaimed, "For your insolence, you will feel a world of pain!"
"Alright, piece of cake!" I said to myself, smirking. "Go, Nidorina!" I sent out Nidorina.
Giovanni sent out a Rhydon.
"Nidorina, use Water Pulse!" I commanded. Nidorina blasted the opposing Rhydon with water, shaking the whole room. Before it even had a chance to attack, Nidorina had KO'd the Rhydon.
Next, Giovanni sent out an Onix, which was swiftly defeated in the same manner as Rhydon had been.
Giovanni, who was shaking with anger, threw out his last Pokémon. "Go, Kangaskhan!" He commanded Kangaskhan, "Use Mega Punch!" Kangaskhan obeyed her master and slugged Nidorina with a punch thrown with muscle-packed power. The impact knocked out Nidorina, who had already been weakened by battling Grunts earlier.
My heart dropped. "Nidorina, return!" I held out Nidorina's Pokeball and a bright red ray emerged from the red and white sphere and brought the unconscious light blue quadruped back into the safety of the ball.
"Okay, go, Doduo!" I sent out the Twin Bird Pokémon. "Use Peck!" Doduo did so, and the Kangaskhan winced slightly.
"Kangaskhan, use Bite!"
Doduo was unwavered. I thought about what to do next. I thought of a move Doduo had learned a few levels ago that I hadn't tried yet.
"Doduo, use Tri Attack!"
Brilliant beams shot from Doduo's beaks and directly hit Giovanni's Kangaskhan. Despite being hit with so much power, the Pokémon held on.
Giovanni began, "Kangaskhan, use..."
Kangaskhan suddenly faltered, then fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Heh, the opposing Kangaskhan was hurt by its burn," I muttered to myself. I patted Doduo, and his heads cooed in pleasure. "Good job, Doduo!" I praised him.
"WHAT!? This can't be!" Giovanni exclaimed. He paused, then spoke, "I see that you raise Pokémon with utmost care. A child like you would never understand what I hope to achieve. I shall step aside this time! I hope we meet again..." He left through the elevator. As I was about to leave, the elevator door opened.
"__________!" It was Red.
"Where's Green?" I asked, curious.
"Oh, uh, I just couldn't tear him away from those slot machines! He's doing pretty well, actually," Red said, chuckling.
"Ah, I see. So, what are you doing here? Giovanni just left."
"Giovanni?"
I explained what had happened to Red, who listened intently.
"Whoa, you beat the boss of Team Rocket!? You're really strong," Red said with admiration in his voice.
"Heh, he wasn't really that good, it was a piece of cake," I said. "He only had three Pokémon. Come on, let's get out of here." I used the Lift Key to access the elevator and brought Red back to the first floor, and then we took the stairs back up to the Game Corner.
"Hey, dork, come on," I dragged Green away from the slots.
"Hey," he growled. I gave him a look that said, "Let's go, or I'm kicking your butt." He sighed. "Fine, I got a lot of coins anyway. We can come back later for my prize."
As we exited the building, Red handed me something. "I found this on that last floor of the hideout." It was some sort of device for looking through.
I examined it as we continued. In black lettering, it said, "SILPH SCOPE" on the side.
Green piped up. "I know what that's for! If you look through it, you can identify ghosts."
"Whoa, cool!" I stashed it in my bag. "Maybe this will help in the Pokémon Tower..."
"So, uh, what do you guys want to do next..." Red asked, looking around. "It's, like 7:00... We still have a ton of time to do something before we set up camp."
"Hey, look!" I pointed to a small path that was almost hidden. It led to behind a building. There was a door at the end.
"Let's go in," Green suggested.
"Are you sure?..." I questioned.
Green sighed. "Come on. Red?"
"Yeah, let's go!" Red responded.
I groaned, exasperated. "Fine..."