CHAPTER 4 – THE VIRIDIAN FOREST AND THE TEAM ROCKET (Fixed)

In the previous chapter, our heroes arrived in Veridian City and after learning of the presence of Team Rocket, they went to the Pokémon Center, healed their Pokémon, had a good dinner and went to sleep.

With Ash.

We got up early in the morning, put on our clothes and after an exquisite breakfast, we said goodbye to nurse Joy and headed to the Viridian Forest, the last place before reaching the Pewter City that we would have to cross.

I must say that the Viridian Forest is totally different from video games in which you just have to follow a predefined path and already, in real life, you could see that it was a lush forest full of trees and Pokémon, especially Pokémon Bug, which Nancy did not take very well because she seemed to panic about the Bugs.

"I'm not panicking, I'm just disgusted!" – that's what he said when I asked him.

Anyway, the GPS of the Rotom Dex did not work in this area, luckily there was a pre-established path, so it was difficult to get lost... or so I thought.

"We're lost, aren't we? Nancy asked.

"Don't talk nonsense, we are following the path in a straight line, obviously we are not lost" – I denied.

"Ha, there you are wrong! Do you see that tree over there?" – he said, pointing to a tree that had a cross on its trunk. "Well, point it out earlier, when we pass by here!" said Nancy.

"You could have sought the way with me then," I said.

"And I knew we were going to get lost even passing by the road?" – Nancy said with a shrug.

"But I don't understand, we followed the path correctly, how could we get lost?" – I wondered.

Pikachu tried to comfort me while Nancy tried to find some other way, without success.

"Wow, with others who have been lost, they are already like 3" – someone said suddenly.

He was a young man in his 20s or so, in a tank top, white and a blue shorts, he was also a little plump and had short black hair and brown eyes as I saw.

"Who are you?" – I asked frowning.

"My name is Tomás and let's say my passion is Bug Pokémon, I came to Kanto to hunt some interesting Bug Pokémon" – Thomas introduced himself.

"Delighted, I'm Ash and this is my friend, Pikachu, that one over there is Nancy a friend" – I introduced myself.

"Delighted" – Nancy greeted.

"My pleasure, but tell me, are you trying to get to Pewter City?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, but we got lost, we walked in circles for a few hours thanks to my friend here," Nancy said as she pointed at me.

"Hey, you didn't notice either" – I sighed.

"Don't worry, this happens more often than you think" – smiled Tomas.

"What do you mean?" asked Nancy.

"This is the old road, they made a new road a couple of months ago, apparently some beedrill raised on a big tree that you had to cross and let's say they were not exactly friendly" – explained Tomas.

"Oh, so that explains everything" – I nodded.

"Hahaha, yes, calm I will teach you the right way, unfortunately I can not accompany you because I have things to do here, but I can tell you the right way, but before ..." – said Thomas.

"Before?" asked Nancy.

"Before I would like a Pokémon battle if you don't care, I caught a pretty strong Pokémon Bug and I wanted to test its power" – said Tomás throwing his Pokéball.

From it came a huge Scolipede.

"This is my new partner, Scolipede," said Tomas.

"Ha well, this will give me a chance to prove how strong I am!" – Nancy said animatedly.

But I put my hand on his shoulder before he could pull out his Pokéball.

"Let me fight," I said.

"Why?" asked Nancy, dissatisfied.

"Well, because your Snivy is Plant type and Scolipede is Poison and Bug type, your Snivy has no chance, besides that Scolipede is an evolved form" – I explained it.

"Well, anyway, so I'll be able to see your skills and devise countermeasures, yes," Nancy nodded.

"Whatever you say," I said.

"So, let the best win, the rules are simple, 1 vs 1, who first weakens, loses, the typical" – explained Tomas.

"Okay," Ash nodded.

"Then, Scolipede, I choose you!" – said Thomas.

"Scoli!" shouted Scolipede.

"Perfect, how about we show you how good we are, Pikachu?" – I said with a smile.

"Pika pi!" – Pikachu nodded.

"Then I choose you, Pikachu!" – I said, raising my arm and pointing straight ahead.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Pikachu going into fight mode.

"I'll be the referee then, both coaches ready?" said Nancy.

"Yes!" – we both said at the same time.

"Go ahead!" shouted Nancy.

"Use Quick Attack to get started!" – I said giving an order.

A beam of light enveloped Pikachu and shot out towards Scolipede who had no choice but to take the blow head-on, but it didn't do too much.

"Well done, but my Scolipede is very robust, Scolipede uses Poison Tail!" – exclaimed Thomas.

"Scoli!" exclaimed Scolipede.

His tail suddenly turned purple and sent it straight towards Pikachu.

"Dodge it!" – I said.

But Pikachu was not fast enough to dodge him and received the blow head-on, sending him flying.

"Are you okay Pikachu?" – I asked nervously.

"Pika" – Pikachu nodded.

"All right, then let's show what we're made of, use Quick Attack again!" – I ordered.

Pikachu again used Quick Attack and as before Scolipede could not dodge it and received the blow, but as before did not suffer much damage.

"Again? You can tell you're a rookie, boy, Scolipede, use poison tail again and terminal at once!" – Thomas ordered.

But this was just what I was waiting for and I could only smile, like Pikachu.

"Wait for the right moment and dodge it!" – I ordered.

Pikachu nodded and waited for Scolipede's tail to be a few inches away from him, but just as it was going to hit him, he did something that surprised Tomas, Pikachu used his tail as a springboard and dodged the Poison Tail.

"Thunder Shock!" – I said.

"Pikaaaa!" exclaimed Pikachu.

And a powerful lightning struck Scolipede which appeared to suffer quite a bit of damage from the blow.

"Ha, I never thought I could do that, but here you go, use Pin Missile and let's get it done, we'll see now how you dodge it!" – exclaimed Tomas.

"Scoli!" – Scolipede roared and threw several Pin Missiles at Pikachu.

"Come on Pikachu, let's show that although we haven't been together long, we are unstoppable, Double Team!" – I said.

Pikachu nodded, and suddenly numerous Pikachu appeared next to the real one and rushed towards Scolipede.

The Pin Missiles hit all the Pikachu.

"Did you think I was going to dodge it like that?" asked Thomas with a confident smile.

But what he saw surprised him because all the Pikachu were dispersed, which showed that all the Pikachu were fake.

"What noses!" said Thomas in surprise.

"Now we are the ones who have the pan by the handle, come on Pikachu, finish it with Electro Ball!" – I said with a smile.

Pikachu who had jumped and was on top of Scolipede, smiled and threw a powerful Electro Ball that hit Scolipede squarely causing it to fall to the ground weakened.

"Scolipede can't keep fighting, Pikachu wins, victory is for Ash!" – Nancy exclaimed.

"You've done well, Scolipede, rest," said Thomas returning Scolipede to his Pokéball.

"Big Pikachu, we won!" – I exclaimed as you high-fived Pikachu.

Cheerfully, he climbed onto my shoulder while patting my head, which made me laugh.

"Congratulations on your first victory!" – exclaimed Nancy with a smile.

"Thank you" – I thanked.

"Yes, the truth is that it was a good fight, you must be very experienced" – nodded Tomas.

"Actually, we both started yesterday," I said with false modesty.

"What, yesterday? My mother, you must be a genius, no, you are both geniuses, so strong and only in one day, you will get far boy, believe it!" – exclaimed Thomas with surprise.

"Thank you, but we are a team, we will become the strongest together" – I said with a smile.

"¡Pika pi!" – nodded Pikachu.

"I'll be the best, but I can let you be the second best!" – Nancy exclaimed.

"We'll see," I said calmly.

"Well and settled the fight, follow me, I will show you the true way to Pewter City" – said Thomas.

It didn't take us long to get to the right path, but to be honest it would have taken us a long time to find the right path, strange that Nurse Joy didn't warn us that they changed the path, although perhaps she assumed we knew.

"Okay, I'm saying goodbye here, I have things to do, goodbye" – said Thomas saying goodbye.

"Goodbye and thank you" – we both said.

"Pika pi" – Pikachu added.

Having won our first fight and already on the right track, we headed towards Pewter City.

Nothing happened along the way, so we could observe the Pokémon calmly as we walked, but when we had been walking for a while, suddenly, someone spoke to us.

"Stop there, we have seen your fight and we demand that you give us that Pikachu for good, the boss will be delighted to have one so strong!" – said the voice.

"Who are you?" – I asked frowning.

"What who are we? We'll tell you," said one of the two people we could see.

And as I thought it was Team Rocket who started singing the slogan that we all liked so much, at least I did.

Jessie: Prepare for trouble...

James: ...and make it double!

Jessie: To protect the world from devastation!

James: To unite all peoples within our nation!

Jessie: To denounce the evils of truth and love!

James: To extend our reach to the stars above!

Jessie: Jessie!

James: James!

Jessie: Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!

James: Surrender now or prepare to fight!

Meowth: Meowth! That's right.

"Team Rocket, you're that band of Pokémon thieves!" exclaimed Nancy angrily.

"We're not just thieves, but yes, anyway, you'd better hand over your Pokémon obediently, I don't want to have to repeat it!" – exclaimed Jessie.

"No joke, Snivy, it's time to fight!" said Nancy pulling Snivy out of her Pokéball.

"With that we have, uh, Ekans, I choose you" – Jessie said taking out an Ekans.

"Koffing, your turn," James said taking out his Koffing.

"Then it will be a double battle, Phione, let's fight" – I said pulling Phione out of her Pokéball.

I'd swear I could see some little stars when he got out of his Pokéball.

"A Phione!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Isn't that a very rare Pokémon?" asked James.

"I once read about that Pokémon and it's extremely rare, the weird thing is that they were a more intense blue and this one is clearer, it must be a rare species," Meowth replied.

"Great, yet another Pokémon for the boss!" – Jessie said with a smile.

"Believe it, Snivy uses Leaf Tornado on Ekans!" – ordered Nancy.

"Sni!" exclaimed Snivy.

And a torrent of leaves headed towards Ekans.

"Ekans, skip it and use Poison Sting!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Koffing, use waste on Snivy and finish it!" – ordered James.

"Believe it, Phione uses Water Gun to Koffing!" – I ordered.

Ekans was unable to dodge Snivy's Leaf Tornado and was sent flying, while before Koffing dropped his debris on Snivy, a Water Gun hit the Koffing and sent it flying, crashing into the Ekans.

"Let's get this over with, Snivy, Leaf Tornado/Phione, Water Gun at full power!" – we both exclaimed at once.

And so, they both went flying.

Jessie, James and Meowth: Team Rocket has been defeated again!

Once again? If it is the first time.

"Ha, that happens to them for confident, next time I will bring them before the law!" – Nancy said.

"Wow, you're actually pretty strong," I said with a smile.

"What did you expect? Obviously I am, I already said that I will be the best coach of all" – Nancy said proudly.

"We'll see," I said with a smile.

After this little incident with Team Rocket and being sure that this is not the last time I will see them, we both headed towards Pewter City.

The rest of the way I continued to praise Nancy from time to time and make small approaches from time to time.

To be honest, I was already starting to notice that my efforts paid off because Nancy turned red when I praised her or when I brushed her hands, so I'm definitely moving forward in my relationship with her, it may not be long until my girlfriend does, who knows.

*Author's note: I do know.