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I woke up at dawn once again. I felt wonderfully rested, though a mild soreness in my muscles from yesterday's exertions had begun to set in. After a quick wash and breakfast, I set out on my way. I checked out with Nurse Joy, returned my room keys, and soon I was walking through the streets of Viridian, heading due north.
The path to Pewter City led along Route 2, through the famous Viridian Forest. Among trainers, it was renowned as the first true test. One could easily get lost in there; it swarmed with dangerous Poison-types, and a "gang" of Bug Catchers operated within its borders. In reality, they were quite pleasant; at most, they'd fleece you for some pocket change, which the League didn't even bother to address. They viewed it as a good school for beginners—a strong trainer defended themselves, while a weak one realized they needed to train harder.
I walked through the half-empty city at a calm pace, reflecting on our adventure. When I finally approached the city exit, I spotted the guard. At the moment, there was only one Ranger in fatigues. He looked like your typical grizzled soldier—the kind of guy who chews iron for breakfast. He was accompanied by an unusually large Pidgeotto. The Ranger was intently scanning the wilderness, but the moment he heard my footsteps, he turned. The stern expression vanished instantly, and he waved at me with a friendly smile.
"Good morning, young man! And where might you be headed?" he asked in a voice that must have been audible all the way back in the city center.
"Good morning. I'm heading to Pewter," I replied matter-of-factly. "Any tips for the road?" I asked curiously.
His smile widened even further. City guards and Rangers were usually exceptionally helpful; they loved sharing advice and survival tricks for the wild. They frequently patrolled the main routes and rescued people... well, if they could. Most of the time, unfortunately, it was already too late.
"Hmm, tips..." The Ranger paused to think for a moment. "You can travel Route 2 even at night without much worry; the Pokémon there aren't very dangerous. At most, a stray Beedrill might wander by. The real threat lurks in Viridian Forest. Last week, a group of trainers went missing there, and another was found dead along with his Pidgey. My colleagues reported that the Beedrills are exceptionally aggressive right now. There's also a small group of Scyther moving about—heaven knows how they got there, but they've been successfully evading the patrols. And I don't want to scare you, but there are reports of a Spinarak infestation, and an adult Ariados is said to be roaming the area." He paused for a beat.
"Definitely don't travel through the forest at night. If they catch you in their webs, it's certain death... and you definitely won't see them in the dark. Though your ghost might," he added, pensively scratching his chin. "Oh, and a colleague mentioned seeing a small family of Shinx as well."
"So: no night travel, Spinarak infestation, an Ariados, a group of Scyther, and Beedrills. Understood."
"Exactly. Those Spinaraks are the most dangerous, so be careful and take it slow, young man."
"Thank you very much, I'll be careful. I'll definitely be camping at night," I thanked him with a smile. I handed him my ID so he could log my departure, and with a brief farewell, I left the city gates behind.
Route 2 was perfectly peaceful. The grass was lightly trodden and maintained to ensure we wouldn't accidentally trip over a Poison-type Pokémon. It didn't take long for the city sounds to fade behind us, replaced by the rustle of the wilderness. I decided to pick up the pace a bit so we could reach Viridian Forest as soon as possible; it was supposed to be a few hours' journey to the boundary. I ran alongside Haunter down the path lined with deciduous trees, where I occasionally spotted Pidgeys or Starly resting. Every now and then, I caught a glimpse of their evolved forms, though I hadn't seen a final evolution yet.
Fortunately, these birds were peaceful toward humans. Spearows, on the other hand, were a different story—total bastards. Rangers relentlessly drove them away from the common paths because they had no problem attacking a person and potentially eating them.
It was late afternoon by the time we reached the sign marking the entrance to Viridian Forest. It was good that Haunter and I had moved so quickly, leaving us with some time, but I decided to be sensible and listen to the Ranger. I doubled back about ten minutes down the path.
I stepped off the road and into the trees. I clearly wasn't the only one who had chosen this spot for camping; although no one was there at the moment, I found a pre-dug fire pit. It was an ideal spot and saved me the work with my shovel. Haunter already knew exactly what to do—he immediately floated off to gather dry wood. A clever partner.
It wasn't long before our fire was crackling merrily, even though dusk was only just beginning to fall. We had plenty of time, so we decided to continue our training.
"Haunter," I called to him. "Your Shadow Ball is coming along great. We'll have to test your Hypnosis on stronger Pokémon, but until then, we need to expand your repertoire of techniques." I paused while Haunter listened intently. "I'm thinking of two options: either Dark Pulse, which isn't entirely natural for you, or Acid Spray. What do you think? Which technique would you like to learn first?"
I watched him as he pondered, but in the end, he couldn't choose. It seemed it didn't matter to him—the only thing that was important was that we were improving together.
"Let's learn the one that's more natural to you. You might master it sooner, which will immediately boost our combat readiness. Your Ghost energy doesn't work on every type of Pokémon," I explained.
"Haunter!" he nodded with determination.
"The problem is that every Pokémon has to learn to control its own energy. As a Haunter, you're both Ghost and Poison-type, so poison should be familiar to you. Can you feel those two types of energy within yourself?" I asked curiously.
"Haunter!" followed an enthusiastic nod.
"Alright then, let's try to master the technique. Gather the toxicity within you and spit it out in front of you in a controlled burst. Understand?"
He nodded again and began to concentrate. I watched him for a while until he suddenly started looking like he was choking, his eyes bulging. It wasn't long before, with a sharp cry, a small purple glob flew out of him. Haunter made a sour face, looking almost disgusted. I couldn't help but laugh; he looked hilarious. I quickly grabbed the Pokédex and snapped a photo.
As soon as the shutter clicked, he glared at me. He probably knew exactly what I was doing.
"It's just a memory," I reassured him, laughter in my voice. "Don't worry, when you're a powerful Gengar, we'll laugh about this together."
"Haunter, Haunt, Haunter!" he grumbled reproachfully, but eventually nodded.
"Then keep training. Try to control it and spit it out deliberately. Just don't choke on me here," I teased him.
I decided on technical training for myself. I wasn't in the mood for strength exercises, so I drew my sword and polished the stances I had designed. It occurred to me that in Fuchsia—the city of ninjas—I might find a master who could correct my mistakes and teach me true technique.
Parry, strike, parry, swing, leap, swing, strike. I slaughtered imaginary enemies while Haunter trained nearby. Occasionally, I glanced over at him and smirked. That sour expression of his was priceless. It was a mystery to me how a Poison-type could be bothered by its own energy, but apparently, his Ghostly side was dominant. Maybe we should have tried Darkness training? He was close to that too, and it would be a better choice for hunting. Eating a poisoned Pokémon wasn't a good idea—not if you didn't want to die. And wasting expensive Antidote on your own dinner would be sheer nonsense.
The forest was filled with the constant rustle of Pokémon, muffled cries, or the clicking of teeth. You eventually learned to ignore it; it was perfectly normal in the wild. It would only be a problem if those sounds came too close. Weaker Pokémon usually avoided humans, so I wasn't too worried on Route 2. In Viridian Forest, however, I would have to be on constant alert.
I had just finished off an imaginary ninja with a final swing and slid the sword into the scabbard on my back in one fluid motion. I found myself hungry for dinner and thought about checking the news on the Pokédex. I still hadn't called Lindsay. I decided to leave it until Pewter City—what would I tell her anyway? I'd rather not mention that incident with the Ekans; it would only make her worry unnecessarily.
Suddenly, I heard a sharp whistle from a nearby tree. I barely managed to dodge in time. It was a good thing I did—a white, poisonous sting embedded itself in the ground before me, slowly dissolving into a toxic stain in the grass.
A Weedle emerged from the shadows.
A stupid, small, and weak Pokémon that served mostly as bird food. It was practically worthless—maybe fifty dollars in pure profit. It had attacked me purely by instinct. As a first-stage bug, a Weedle was too primitive to notice Haunter. Haunter, focused on his own training, had also ignored it. Perhaps at the moment I heard the whistle, Haunter was busy spitting poison, and the noise had completely cost him his alertness. Pokémon had better hearing and sight than humans, but in the heat of training, anything could be overlooked.
Should I call him or not? I hesitated for a moment, but then decided to handle it myself. If I couldn't survive an encounter with a Weedle, what chance would I have later? With a swift movement, I drew my sword again and ran toward it.
The Weedle didn't wait around. Another poison sting flew toward me. It was relatively fast, but its attack was predictable. The sting shimmered with a white-purple hue in the gloom, so it wasn't hard to dodge. I didn't stop and charged straight for it with my blade drawn.
It wasn't as stupid as I thought; it tried to fire off a String Shot to immobilize me. My blade, however, passed through its silk like a knife through butter. It was too delicate, thin, and weak. Maybe it would have stopped me if the Weedle had time to grow into a Beedrill, or if it had managed to fire multiple layers at once, but like this, it didn't stand a chance.
It tried to back away, but it didn't even cover a centimeter. My sword sliced through its segmented body from the top spine down to the middle, where the blade finally snagged. The Weedle quivered on my sword for a few more moments until it breathed its last with one final, weak "wee." I thought I'd cut it clean in half, but it turned out even a common Weedle is tougher than it looks. I had to use my foot to help free the sword from its body. Greenish blood ran down the blade. I quickly wiped it on the un-bloodied remains of its shell and put the sword back in its scabbard. I'd have to clean it properly later.
It would be too risky to leave the carcass near us. It could attract predators, so I decided to call Haunter to take it far away from the camp.
"Haunter!" I called out.
He jerked, turned around, and purple liquid dripped from his mouth, which he got rid of with a sharp spit. When he flew over to me, he immediately started berating me: "Haunter! Haaaaunt Haunt! Haunter!" He gestured with his claws toward the sliced-up Weedle and cast reproachful looks my way.
"Take it easy, Haunter. You were training hard, and I handled the Weedle myself. It wasn't dangerous; I have a backpack full of Antidotes, after all." It didn't seem to calm him down, so I quickly issued an order: "I need you to take it as far away from us as possible. I don't want any guests here tonight. Can you do that?"
"Haunter!" he nodded determinedly, grabbed the Weedle in his hands regardless of its poisonous sting, and disappeared among the trees with one last lingering, reproachful look.
I could finally return to the fire in peace. After the fight, I had worked up an appetite. I pulled a tripod from my bag, set it over the flames, and prepared a pan with the last meal from Lindsay. The backpack had a great feature—thanks to technology similar to that in Pokéballs, it slowed down food spoilage by affecting time in a peculiar way. In Viridian, I had eaten in the dining hall since it was included in the price, so I had saved these supplies for the road. While my steak heated up, I thought.
It was strange that the Weedle had attacked me, but that was the wilderness for you. Maybe I had disturbed it at its tree and it had attacked instinctively. It certainly didn't want to eat me; it lived on leaves and berries. Actually, I didn't have to kill it... but it would have been an unnecessary risk. Would it have surrendered after a defeat? Would it have tried to attack me while I slept? Killing it was simpler. There were a million Weedles everywhere, their market price was negligible, and even Beedrills didn't live to a great age. It was wasted money.
It wasn't long before Haunter returned. I was just tucking into my steak.
"Aren't you hungry, Haunter?" I asked.
He shook his head in disagreement, but he was still looking at me with a bit of a grudge.
"Well, if you're still up for it, you can keep training," I suggested. "Tomorrow morning we'll be in Viridian Forest, and we'll have to be extremely careful there. We need to save our energy too."
"Haunter!" he cried out determinedly and went back to honing his poison technique.
"What if we tried meditation?" it occurred to me as I lay in my sleeping bag. It would give him a better overview of his inner energy, allowing for easier manipulation of his attacks.
With that final thought, I drifted off into the realm of dreams.
***
Author's note:
Chapter 8, and the grind never stops! I know, I know—these two are training like their lives depend on it (and in this version of Kanto, they probably do). Poor Weedle didn't stand a chance, but hey, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few bugs. Haunter's finally branching out into Poison moves, though he doesn't seem to be a fan of the taste.
Thanks for sticking with me through the journey! Let's see if all this practice pays off once they actually step foot inside Viridian Forest.
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written:
9. A War of Wings and Blades
10. Red "R" and Crimson Steel
11. Gastly: From the Void
12. The Weight of Necessity
13. Nature's Cruel Mercy
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