The next morning, Alex was up early. The previous day, Joseph and himself exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. They also called Roger and let him know how they were doing, also giving him their phone numbers. Roger said the orphanage was doing fine, as the previous the Poke he had gotten from his previous sale of Moonstones made sure that the costs of Cherry Grove would be covered for a while. After discussing, they decided not to send the money they had received back to Cherry Grove for now. Alex transferred over 40,000 Poke to Joseph as a loan. Professor Oak had confirmed Alex too would be getting the 20,000 Poke stipend every month like everyone else. He would be provided boarding and lodging in Pallet Town for free, and didn't need money for now anyway. And if all goes according to plan, 50,000 Poke would be pocket change to him.
Alex and Joseph walked for 3 hours before reaching Route 1, an F rated wild area.
The wild area is the name given to any place that was not habited by humans. There were countless wild areas in the world, with over 70% of all discovered land being wild areas, not to mention the vaster oceans.
Wild areas could be undeveloped mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, natural caves, or weird zones that were not developed and habitat by humans and were primarily filled with Pokemon.
The wild areas were dived into U, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F, depending on the degree of danger.
F rated wild areas could be easily travelled, even if you had no Pokemon on you. There were almost no aggressive Pokemon in such places, and even those that are here are accustomed to humans. The path between two close human habitats, like Pallet Town and Viridian City, for example were F rated wild areas.
E rated wild areas were almost identical to the F rated wild areas, but due to slightly longer distance, and connection to higher rated wild areas, occasionally one or two aggressive Pokemon may enter such areas. It was recommended you have at least a beginner stage Pokemon to traverse such areas. The route from Hurik Town to Celadon City was considered an E ranked wild area.
D rated wild areas were more dangerous, as they had a large number of Pokemon residing in them. They were a little bigger, and usually connected to higher wild areas. You needed at least a beginner level Pokemon to traverse these areas. Also, a small ranger group would patrol these places. The outer fringes of Viridian Forest which connected Viridian City to Pewter City, for example was a D rated wild area.
C rated and B rated wild areas were much more dangerous. There were characterised by a distance from any large town and scores of wild Pokemon in them. A strong Veteran Pokemon was needed to protect you when transversing these areas.
A rated areas were highly dangerous. The depths of Viridian Forests and Mount Silver were A rated areas. You weren't recommended to transverse these paths unless you have a full team of powerful Pokemon.
Information about S and U rated areas were not related to the public, except they were very dangerous.
"Wow, that was a long way. So here we are. While it is technically safe to enter F rated wild areas without a Pokemon, I think I will still stop here. Viridian City is a day away if you go straight down this path" said Alex.
"Alright. But before you leave, I want to catch a Pidgey. Why don't you witness my first wild capture?" asked Joseph.
"Sure. How are you going to go about it?" asked Alex.
'Watch" said Joseph.
He then matched up to a tree nearby where there were numerous Pidgey resting and yelled, "Hey Pidgey! I want to capture one of you! So, will the strongest among you come out! I want to challenge you to a battle!"
The Pidgey all looked at him in apparent surprise when yelled at. Then they proceeded to go back to idly sitting on the batch, ignoring him.
"Did you expect that to work?" asked Alex.
No sooner did his words finish, a lone Pidgey flew down from the tree and stood before Joseph.
"Pidgey!" it yelled, flapping its wings.
"Alright! Go Charmander!" yelled Joseph throwing his Pokeball.
"Chaaar!" yelled the Charmander standing opposite to Pidgey.
Alex scanned the Pidgey.
Pidgey
Gender - Female
Lvl - 4
Type - Normal/Flying
Held item - None
Ability - Keen Eye
Moves - Tackle, Sand Attack
Nature - Naive
Training - None
Potential - Blue
"Wow! What amazing luck! Who would have thought there would be such a talented Pidgey here?" though Alex obviously, as Joseph prepared for the first Pokemon battle of his life.