Brown's Challenge

6th January 1995

Kanto Region, Viridian Forest

Red was psyched, He finally met a trainer although it was one of those bug catchers that were from Bug town. The trainer would be relatively strong and the bet was 500 Poke.

Of course bets were increased depending on what area the battle was taken place in, In Viridian forest, Prize money would increase to 500 and in Pewter city, They would rise to an alarming 700 Poke.

In Bug town, Red knew nothing about how much prize money was but he was intrigued, nevertheless.

The bug catcher, A young man named Tobias had short blonde hair and wore a Bug catcher hat as well as a singlet and brown shorts, The basic bug catcher outfit.

"1 vs 1," Red decided and they cleared some space between each other.

This was one of the most dangerous places in the world, No trainer could walk out here alive so it would be stupid to battle with all your Pokemon since there's no guarantee of your safety without them.

Tobias took out a Pokeball and threw it into the air, revealing his Pokemon, A Pinsir.

Red's dejected expression was showcased to the world as he combed back his hair with his hand and sighed.

'I don't know why but I expected a rarer bug,' Red thought as he unclipped a Pokeball from his belt.

He had returned his Pokemon to their Pokeballs as soon as his eyes were met with Tobias's eyes.

"Go, Gastly!"

As Red gave out the order, He threw the Pokeball into the air and it burst open revealing the black ball of chaotic ghost energy although it wasn't that strong.

Pinsir was at an oustanding LV. 13 and Red had to admit, It was strong for a bug but Gastly was standing at LV. 14 so he was anything but afraid.

"Start with Night Shade!" Red ordered.

Gastly's eyes lit up with an ominous light as two black beams of ghostly energy shot out of them.

"Dodge the attack and then use Vicegrip!" Tobias ordered.

Pinsir sprung to it's feet, seemingly dodging the two beams of energy with little effort and jumped at Gastly, attempting to use it's horns to clamp onto the ghostly surface of Gastly but they went through much to Tobias's and Pinsir's surprise.

Of course an average trainer that graduated from Pokemon School should know type advantages and disadvantages and Red was sure that the battle was in his favor as long as he used every opportunity he could get, There was no need for a strategy to win, Pinsir's attacks wouldn't even touch Gastly as it was a physical Pokemon meanwhile Gastly's attacks would have full effect on Pinsir since it was a Bug Pokemon.

"Icy wind!" Red cried out.

…

The battle had been short and boring with Pinsir getting hit by Gastly's attacks but Pinsir was unable to get any hits in.

Tobias looked dejected as he handed over 500 Poke much to his dismay, A Pokemon battle was like a gamble, If one won, He got paid and if one lost, He lost money.

Red walked away after tucking away his 500 Poke in his pocket and smiling, of course he returned Gastly first.

"Ah finally," Red said as he got further enough from Tobias and released all of his Pokemon and then smiling at them, He could notice that Gastly's energy while using Icy wind and Night Shade was a little bit more refined than before although he could just hope that Gastly learned more moves to integrate into it's move list of three moves to choose from.

…

"Riolu, Fall back!"

"Pichu, Thundershock!"

Red ordered, Their opponent was a Doduo this time and Red wondered what it was doing in the forest although he planned on sticking around the area for a bit to find more about the primate Pokempn, The one and only Mankey, he was interested in getting two fighting Pokemon on the team for them to of course balance each other out.

[A / N: I think I gave a spoiler on the sixth Pokemon... Enjoy your spoiler while you can though]

Red's fingers were clenched as Doduo dodged the Thundershock by a hair's breadth, There were two things going on here, Either Pichu's accuracy today was shitty or this Pokemon was just so damn lucky.

"Icy wind!" Red ordered.

The next moment, a chilling wind caused Doduo to freeze in it's tracks as it's legs got affected by the cold, Riolu after some seconds of contemplation went in with a Karate chop ending the battle once and for all, as well as the Pokemon.

…

Red tilted his Pokedex.

"If we ocntinue this way, We'll leave the Butterfree territory and enter the Gloom territory tomorrow," Red said, "Alright let's get some more battles in, I want us to be strong for the Gloom territory as their Pokemon will certainly be stronger,"

The Pokedex had an inbuilt map of everywhere in the Kanto region, it was a tool that many trainers would kill for and here it was, In the hands of Red who wasn't even well informed of the functions of the Pokedex.

"Aha, I've found you, Red Ketchum!" A person announced and Red turned around, his crimson eyes piercing the blue eyes of the brown haired boy that talked to him.

"I have more important things than honor a battle with you," Red said while mapping out the route on the Pokedex where they would surely encounter LV. 11-13 Pokemon before reaching the Gloom territory. Mapping was a really disturbing thing and Red didn't want the nonesense of dealing with a boy the same age he was, yet immature and hot-headed too.

"Do you really think just because you've got a Pokemon, you can just come here and try to threaten me," Red said with a slight shrug as he smiled without even looking at Brown, "Then you must be a big idiot,"

…

Author's Note:

Aha, The imminent showdown between Red and Brown happens in the next chapter, Honestly I'm thinking of integrating a bit of manga into this book and you guys will see how it goes.

Don't forget to head over to Ko-fi.com/kristylers to support as well as donate to me.

Here are the chapters you can get ahead on Ko-fi: Chapter 35 [Red vs Brown], Chapter 36 [A Terminated Treaty], Chapter 37 [Yellow], Chapter 38 [Pinsir Territory], Chapter 39 [Concussion], Chapter 40 [Scyther], Chapter 41 [Capturing Scyther], Chapter 42 [Bug Town], Chapter 43 [Bug Town Gym], Chapter 44 [First Loss]