19 Fragrant Doom [1]

A few things to address, one being about legendaries and such. He WILL eventually catch some, but it probably won't be for a good while. Maybe catch the minor legendaries, but definitely not the big boys like Dialga and Palkia for a good damn while, or at all.

They are supposed to be the 'Gods' of the pokemon world for a reason, so I'm making them far stronger than even champions as I feel like that's how it should be. Gods are gods for a reason, and that they have unimaginable amounts of power.

Finally, during his journey, as of right now, I don't exactly plan on having time progress as if it was actually realistic. This isn't one of those extremely realistic fanfics. Plus, if I did decide to do that, I feel like I would end up writing a bunch of unnecessary dialogue and information that doesn't exactly add anything to the story. I hope you can understand.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

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"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[Pokemon Speech]

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It was time.

Nate and Kayden were calmly walking through the city towards where the gym was. If there was one particular thing that they noticed about this city aside from the massive buildings, it the damn smell. It smelt nice, and it seemed it was a pleasant smell throughout the entire city. You had to appreciate it.

However...

"What the fuck...!"

[Fucking hell!] Kayden and Nate's faces both scrunched up as an absolutely overpowering powerful smell of perfume erupted right into the noses as they opened up the door to the gym. The smell caused them to recoil back as they both held their noses. [Who the hell called the perfume addict?!]

"You gotta be kidding me..." Nate waved his hand in front of his face while also holding his nose, trying to fight back the intense smell, but it didn't work at all. They weren't against perfume, but the amount that they were smelling was FAR too much! "I feel like I'm suffocating...!"

[Bruh, I'm feeling a headache coming along...]

"Oh, hello there, young man." Nate and Kayden both turned their heads to the right to see the person who had called out to them. The person was a young woman in her early twenties or so with long green hair tied into pigtails. She walked out from the counter and approached them. "How can I help you?"

"This is the Celadon City Gym, right?" Nate voiced as he tried to resist the overpowering smell. Don't get him wrong, it wasn't a bad smell, but too much of ANY kind of smell is absolutely horrid. The woman nodded her head at this. "I'm here for a battle then..."

"I see." The woman nodded, though she noticed his expression and seemed confused. "Is something the matter?"

"W-Well, it's just that... is it a perfume that's covering this building?" Nate decided to ask for clarification. The woman seemed confused for a bit before she nodded her head in response. "It's kind of too much... I can't really deal with it."

"Eh? But, it smells wonderful! How can you dislike it?"

"It's not that it's bad... it's just that there is so much of it that it's just a complete pain the ass at this point." Nate wasn't lying, both he and Kayden were seriously feeling light-headed just by smelling the perfume. It wasn't even a light perfume that was in high quantity, it was a large amount of very strong perfume! "It totally sucks..."

[I need fresh air, be right back...]

Nate just watched as Kayden began stumbling out of the door while almost tripping over a few times, Nate just sweatdropping at the sight before he felt some kind of glare fall on him. He rose an eyebrow in confusion and turned his head around to see a number of other females wearing the same outfit as the green-haired girl standing in front of him.

"What the hell?"

"So, you're saying our perfume sucks, huh?"

"The nerve of you! I'll let you know that perfume is an incredible thing!" One of the other girls shouted as they all glared at him. Nate was extremely confused right now, he wasn't at all affected by their glares but was just confused. Why the hell were they so damn angry about this?

"You're angry because I said that the perfume is a pain in the ass? I'm just giving my opinion. Plus, too much of this stuff and it smells like total crap." Nate just stated as a fact as he just blinked a few times. This wasn't well received as the girls all glared at him even more intensely, though he still wasn't affected by them.

"You insolent...!" One of the girls, this one having long blue hair with a back small ponytail, gritted her teeth as she seemed to take out a strange red large stamp. She then pointed it at him. "For your disgraceful words, you shall not challenge this gym! You are now the stinker!"

[What the hell is happeni-]

"The fuck?" Nate just narrowed his eyes as the girl with blue hair lunged towards him and was preparing to smash the stamp right onto him. A few simple words and they were getting violent with it? Wow, mature... Nate was not about to get damn stamped by some ridiculous woman!

Before she could punch the stamp hard right onto his face, he simply stepped to the side before swiping the stamp right out of her hands as she stumbled past him. For amusement, he used the stamp and stamped right onto her back before she fell to the ground. He was all about gender equality here.

[Huh?] Kayden could only shake his head, dumbfounded by the situation as he looked down at the woman that was now lying face-first on the ground in front of him. What the heck did he miss in the one minute he was gone? [What's going on here, Nate?]

"These girls aren't letting me challenge the gym since I insulted their perfume, even though I was just giving my personal opinion." Nate stated with a scoff as he dropped the stamp onto the ground before smashing it easily to pieces with a single stomp. He then glared at them as Kayden just blinked in surprise and annoyance at what he had just heard. "So, the gym leader isn't going to battle me because I insulted the perfume, huh?"

"Th-That's right!" One of the girls managed to squeak out as they all faltered under Nate's icy cold glare. Nate continued to glare at them for a second before scoffing as he turned around and headed for the door, confusing them. Though he stopped before saying.

"If this gym leader is so easily angered by the fact that someone gives their own opinion about something, and so happens to think the opposite, that they aren't going to accept the challenge. Then that isn't a gym leader worth winning a badge from. They can keep it for all I care, there are more than enough gyms out there."

Nate voiced his words clearly and coldly. It was true, there were definitely other gyms out there that aren't officially announced in the games and such. In both Kayden and Nate's minds, people should respect another's opinion even if it doesn't support their own. Everyone is free to have an opinion, yet this gym leader and these girls...

"If you don't like me for having my own opinion, then you can go take a hike!" Nate spat as Kayden also turned to follow after Nate. None of the girls could say anything in response as he began walking away, an annoyed expression plastered on both his and Kayden's faces.

[Was Erika this damn bad in the games?] Kayden voiced as he held his chin in thought. From what they remembered, Erika in the games was represented as someone who usually dozed off quite a bit and didn't really seem to have an addiction or anything to perfume. The anime sure is different... [So, what's the plan then?]

"At the moment, probably head to Lavender Town and then take on Sabr-."

"Please, wait a moment, young man." Nate and Kayden blinked when a gentle voice called out to them. They turned around in confusion to see who it was, and to their surprise, it was the very same person that they were just talking about while leaving.

The person that stopped them was a woman around the same age as those other girls, maybe younger. The woman had fair skin along with short black hair, along with having cut bangs. They instantly recognized her to be Erika, the gym leader of this city. However, unlike in the games, she wasn't wearing a kimono but more casual wear.

"Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to apologize on behalf of my students, they spoke without thinking." Erika seemed to voice in a sincere tone as Nate and Kayden both blinked in surprise. Maybe she wasn't as bad as they thought she was compared to the games where she fell asleep a lot. "If it is a battle you wish to have with me, then please do come along. I am supposed to accept challenges according to league rules after all."

"Very well. Thank you for the apology. Sorry if any of my previous words offended you." Nate stated calmly as he and Kayden began walking back to the gym, following Erika past the girls from before, who didn't dare make eye contact with the young male. They both felt guilty as well as scared due to his cold look from before.

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The group all now arrived at the battlefield, which was surrounded by a number of trees as well as a spectator seating area just beside the arena. Erika was standing on one side while Nate and Kayden were on the other side, Nate narrowing his gaze as he prepared himself mentally.

While they did train a lot and he had quite a bit of confidence in winning, he knew that overconfidence was something one should never have if they aren't foolish. He doesn't know how different this Erika would be compared to the version of her in the games, as well as what pokemon she had.

"This battle will be a two on two pokemon battle, and whoever's pokemon are unable to battle, loses! Is that okay with you?" Erika asked as Nate just nodded his head as a response. She then took out a Pokeball before asking. Erika then looked towards the green-haired girl, who was acting as the referee, and nodded as she took out a Pokeball. "What is your name, challenger?"

"It's Nathan, from Viridian."

"Nathan... Is this the one Surge warned me about?" Erika muttered as she narrowed her eyes slightly while frowning slightly. She had received a call from Lt Surge from the Vermillion Gym, warning her about a powerful trainer who would most likely be challenging her. A young boy named Nathan with a pikachu by his side. 'Must be. Very well then.'

Erika then pocketed the Pokeball she had just taken out before taking hold of another Pokeball, to which she looked at the ball and nodded before staring seriously at Nathan. If what Surge had told her wasn't at all overexaggerated, then she needed to be careful.

"Isn't that the one Miss Erika was warned about...?"

"I think so..."

[What in the world are they talking about?] Kayden frowned as his ears twitched upon hearing the spectator's statements. Nate was the same, though he didn't dwell on it for too long as he quickly refocused himself on the battle at hand. [You know who you're going to use?]

"Yeah. I'm getting you to sit this one out, that okay?"

[Sure, go ahead]

"The gym battle between Miss Erika, the Gym Leader of the Celadon City Gym, and the challenger, Nathan from Viridian City will be underway!" The referee shouted Nate took hold of the Pokeball holding his first pokemon, both sides staring seriously at one another. "Only the challenger may substitute pokemon, and the loser is decided by whoever's pokemon can no longer continue. Please send in your pokemon!"

"Alright, front and center, Machop!" Nate was the first one to send in his pokemon as he tossed his Pokeball forwards. When it opened, Machop soon emerged from within as he landed on the ground in front of Nate. Machop narrowed his eyes as he got into his stance. Nate had already informed him that he was going to be battling first, so he was ready.

"So, it's a machop... Parasect, I choose you!" Erika muttered before swinging her Pokeball forwards. The ball soon burst open before a giant crab-like pokemon with a giant mushroom on its back appeared on the field, the pokemon having two large front legs that were reminiscent of pincers. "Let's see if what Surge warned us about is true..."

On Nate's side, he narrowed his eyes, along with Kayden. While normal trainers may not notice, they certainly did. They notice a number of hidden scars and more on the parasect's body, indicating that it had been through many battles before. Just from a single glance, they could tell this pokemon is stronger than what this gym should probably have against its challengers.

While they knew that Machop had a move that would be extremely effective against Parasect, it was obvious to them that this Parasect was on a rather high level of power. Nate looked at Machop, who also seemed to recognise his opponent's power, but remained firm and awaited the battle to start.

[This won't be an easy one]

"Perhaps not. However, if we play our cards right, then we'll have the win."

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