Pokémon Voyages Red-Blue (6)

The route bustled with patches of tall grass full of pokèmon. I pulled out the pokèdex and scanned some of the pokèmon. 

Pidgey, the Tiny Bird pokèmon.

Caterpie, the Worm pokèmon.

Weedle, the Hairy Bug pokèmon.

I knew I wasn’t just magically a legend because I’d beat Drake, or because I wore Red’s jacket. But I felt more confident. 

I threw an empty pokèball at a Pidgey, but I missed. Pidgey took notice and attacked. I threw Charmander’s pokèball, but Pidgey simply kicked sand in our faces and took off.

I watched as the Flying pokèmon flew away. 

Next I threw one toward a Caterpie. It (embarrassingly) hit the ground in front of him. But then the Caterpie sniffed the button of the pokèball, accidently pressing it. He got sucked inside with a wide-eyed look and the ball popped shut. Then it shook a few times and click!

I picked it up, surprised. My pokèdex updated: 4 different pokèmon caught, 6 seen. I pulled out another empty pokèball and tried a Weedle. It scored a direct hit, and Weedle was caught. Then a Pidgey, a Spearow, a Bellsprout. By the end of the route, my pokèdex was: 8 pokèmon caught, 8 pokèmon seen. I sent most of them to the Professor via the pokèmon box, but I decided to keep Caterpie. As soon as I’d let him out of the pokèball, he’d started crawling up my leg.

And so I’d gathered the newest member of my team. 
            Ahead was the Viridian Forest. I walked into the forest, then seen all the Pokémon. Pidgey flew about. I noticed a group of Kakuna hanging together, waiting for evolution. Metapod scooched along the ground. Even a Fearow flew overhead. Ratata stuffed its face with berries, then brought some back to its home. I looked up and watched a flock of Spearow. 

When I looked down, there was a short kid with a sunhat and a bug catching net. 

I caught his eye, and the second I did, he yelled at me, “Alright! I challenge you to a battle!” 

I blinked. “What?”

He said, simply, “When Trainers’ eyes meet, you can challenge each other to a battle! It’d be bad manners to back down!” He pointed right at me. “One on one! Don’t hold back… uh, whoever you are!” He threw a pokéball to the ground, and a Weedle popped out. I grabbed Charmander’s pokéball, but Caterpie burst out of his first. 

The kid whooped. “Yes! Bug-Type versus Bug-Type! Weedle, Poison Sting!” Weedle jabbed Caterpie with its horn. 

I called, “O-kay then, Caterpie, String Shot!” Caterpie blasted string at Weedle, wrapping around him. The kid whooped. His energy was infectious. 

“C’mon, Weedle, Bug Bite!” Weedle tried to bite Caterpie, but Caterpie dodged.

“Tackle, Caterpie!” Caterpie threw himself at Weedle. The kid gasped. This might’ve only been some low powered bug types in a fun battle, but he treated it like he was up against the Elite Four. “Weedle, Poison Sting again!” Weedle attacked, jabbing Caterpie with a horn. 

“Caterpie, Bug Bite!” Caterpie scored his hit, and Weedle fainted. 

The boy gasped. “NO! WEEDLE!” He sighed. “Hurrgh… fine, you win.” I smiled. 

“You did a good job, though,” I said, returning Caterpie. 

The boy introduced himself as Jake. “By the way, there’s going to be a lot of other people here, looking for a good battle. But you seem strong enough to take them all on, honestly.” I smiled at the compliment. Usually, everyone told me I couldn’t take anyone on.

Now, here I was, apparently strong enough to take on Viridian Forest solo. I went down the path, confident in my skills enough now. Self-respect was a new feeling for me.

A few more trainers challenged me to a battle as I walked through the forest.

My Bulbasuar vs. Joey’s Ratata.

My Charmander vs. Britney’s Pidgey.

My Squirtle vs. Austin’s Growlithe.

I won them all. And alright… I might’ve got a little overconfident. I would actually purposefully make eye contact with anyone who looked like they wanted a battle. One girl was literally tossing a pokéball up and down, watching me. She waved at me. “Hey! Cute guy! Come battle!” My brain froze at ‘cute’ and then restarted at ‘battle’. I chose Caterpie. She chose a Jigglypuff. The puffball began singing, and my eyelids started drooping. The girl giggled. “Boys.” I glared at her and clapped the sides of my face to wake myself up. Jigglypuff did it for Caterpie. “Double Slap!” Jigglypuff slapped Caterpie once, twice, three times. I know. “Double” Slap.
            Caterpie snapped awake. “String Shot, Caterpie!” Caterpie shot string at Jigglypuff, trying to entangle it’s feet. But he was still drowsy, and missed badly. 
            “Sing, Jiggly!” The girl giggled. 
            “Oh no, we are not falling for that again!” I yelled. The girl smiled sweetly. “Umm… yes you are.” 
            Sure enough, Caterpie had fallen asleep again. “Caterpie, wake up!” 
            “Jiggly, Pound!” Jiggly dropped like a stone onto Caterpie. Caterpie fainted and returned to his Pokéball in a flash of light. I grit my teeth and reached for Charmander-
            “What are you doing?” She squinted at me, her brown hair falling forward as she leaned forward a little.
            “I’m bringing out a second Pokémon.”
            “And who said you could do THAT? I don’t have a second Pokémon!”
            I blinked, realizing that I hadn’t bothered to ask how many Pokémon we could use, or even noticed the lack of Pokéballs on her belt. I sighed. “Fine. You win.”
            “YES! Victory for Grace, the girl- um… yeah, I’ll keep workshopping that one. But YES!” She twirled and danced around, her hair bobbing around and her bag repeatedly whacking her hip. Her Jigglypuff celebrated with her, dancing in a little circle. 
            Victory dances really sting when it’s not you doing them. 
            The girl, Grace, stuck out her hand. It took me a second to shake it, because I didn’t like her much at all for beating me. Then I realized how happy she was to win. Maybe she rarely ever wins. Maybe she’s never won. I acted like that when I beat Drake, didn’t I? And now I’m acting like Drake, just a sore loser. I got too confident. Self respect is fine, but I can’t get overconfident.
            “Um… handshakes don’t last this long, guy. Let go of my hand now.”
            I jerked my hand back, realizing I hadn’t when I’d gotten lost in thought. “Sorry!”
            Grace snorted, then took off, calling, “Fun battle, guy!” I smiled. That’s right, I should ENJOY battles. Pokémon are friends, battling a sport. Shouldn’t I have some fun, win or lose?

I'm making parts bigger now so that there's not 100 parts