The road to Viridian City was about 8 to 10 meters wide. On each side of the road were forests for people who wanted to catch Pokémon inside of them. Some wild Pokémon walked onto the road since they wanted to cross to the other side.
"I shouldn't waste my time searching for Bellsprout here. Viridian Forest will have many Bellsprout I can capture." Roy rubbed his chin and continued walking along the road. He could still see vehicle tracks and human tracks on the road.
The road was empty, and only the wind blew. As Roy walked, he pulled up his Virtual map, and what he found stoked his interest.
Deep within the forest, there appeared to be a sign in location. It was labeled as The Purple Fang Gang Hideout.
"So this is where the Purple Fang Gang is located. It's fairly deep in the forest, between Pallet Town and Viridian City." Roy also noticed that there were two sign-in attempts for this base.
"Hmm, I heard the leader had an Arbok and wasn't to be trifled with. Arbok is a Pokemon that was naturally in its 20s, or more, in terms of level. The guy's definitely a boss-like mob within this area."
Roy rubbed his chin and smiled, but he didn't want to go to this base right away. It was best he prepared before sneaking his way into this base. Roy wanted to rob the base, as he heard the Purple Fang Gang was quite wealthy.
Route 1 stretched quietly between Pallet Town and Viridian City, a simple road winding through a peaceful sea of green.
Tall grasses swayed gently on either side of the path, their emerald blades dancing beneath the warm afternoon breeze. The road itself was worn smooth by countless footsteps, bicycle tires, and the passing of Pokémon Trainers.
While Roy was walking, he would, from time to time, hear the call of a Pidgey echoing above him, and the rustling of the grass suggested that a Pokémon was hiding just out of sight. A Rattata would sometimes dash across the road before vanishing into the undergrowth, leaving only the slight trembling of the grass in its wake.
The trip from Pallet Town to Viridian City would take an hour at most, and forty-five minutes at the least. Roy wanted to do a little training, so he hunted Rattata and Pidgey using Abra.
"Abra can detect the location of Pidgey and Rattata, but so can I." Roy had Aura, so no Pokémon within his radius went unseen. He had used Abra, who was at level 7, to beat up some Pidgey and Rattata.
"If people saw what I was doing, they would think I was bullying and abusing the wildlife." After thirty minutes of relentless hunting, his Abra had achieved level 8 and had fallen asleep afterward.
Roy had thought about setting up camp, but he was already so close to Viridian at this point. Sure enough, Viridian appeared in the distance, and within ten minutes he had arrived at the city's entrance.
There were no guards, and he just walked right inside the city. The city was filled with people going in all directions. There were many businesses, and even Pokémart, which was much bigger than the Pokéshop in Pallet Town.
"What a place; this city is huge, judging from the Virtual Map. However, there are only two places to sign in within the city, and these sign ins equal to five sign ins, in total."
There were shops of all sorts on every corner: hair salons, barber shops, Pokemon grooming shops—you name it.
Just then, Roy saw a trainer rush down the street with a battered Pidgey in his arms. Its beak was messed up, and one of its wings looked like it had been snapped!
'Is this guy going to the Pokémon Center? This Pidgey's going to need a miracle with those injuries.' Roy wondered what happened to this Pidgey for it to end up in that state.
Roy actually followed the boy to the Pokémon Center.
As soon as he walked inside, Roy heard an urgent voice.
"Nurse Selune, we have another one; they just keep coming, don't they?" A woman wearing a standardized nurse outfit turned to the boy's Pidgey and said with a sigh.
"Looks like another loser trying to fight the Gym Leader, only to get schooled in the end." Another boy off to the side looked at the boy and said in a mocking tone.
"What do you know? Why don't you go fight the Gym Leader? I bet you won't win!" The boy was furious; his face had even turned red. At this point, he had already handed over his Pidgey to the nurses.
This boy wasn't the only one in here. There were many teens who were at least 15 and above sitting in the Pokémon Center. Clearly, their Pokémon had taken a serious beating, and they were simply waiting around.
"I will challenge the Gym Leader, and I will receive my Gym Badge while I'm at it. Clowns like you should know their place in the world; trying to become a Pokémon isn't something for the weak. Go back to your backwater Pallet Town and be a farmer; this is your only path."
Roy's eyebrows rose; this guy was more arrogant than Haren. The teen was well dressed and groomed, with dark blue hair and a suit vest and pants with a white shirt underneath.
'This was clearly some rich uppidy brat.' Roy didn't pay any mind to this guy, took a seat, and asked a few of the teens sitting around about what was going on.
Turns out these guys challenge the Viridian City Gym. Usually, people required 7 badges to even fight this Gym, but this has changed. The Gym could scale down their Pokémon depending on how many badges a trainer has during a challenge.
The Gym leader is a substitute placed by Giovanni named Aric. Of course, Aric uses Ground-type Pokémon as one would expect. The Gym had just opened today, so most of the trainers from Pallet Town that Roy knew had already left for Viridian Forest before this event.
"If you manage to beat him, you get a good payout, and he will give you the TM Bulldoze. Many trainers were trying to beat him, but ended up being beaten black and blue." The boy told him everything with a sigh.
"Thank you for the information." Roy took out 100 Pokédollars and handed them to the boy.
"What? T-thank you!" The boy's eyes lit with joy; money was very much needed.
This information was important, though if he snooped around, Roy probably could have figured it out. He got up to leave; none of his Pokémon were injured despite beating up Pokémon earlier.
"You're not going to challenge the Gym Leader, are you? I suggest you don't; his Rhyhorn is really ruthless when it attacks." The boy felt chills when he thought about his Pokémon being run down by that thing.
"I'm not challenging him yet." Roy just left the Pokémon Center before checking into a hotel for himself.
"It's time for me to train and hunt some new Pokémon entries. I'll start with Route 22 and then head off to Viridian Forest to see what I can get myself into."
Roy already had a few Pokéballs ready before coming to Viridian City. Before leaving, Roy actually visited the Viridian City Gym. There was quite a lineup here; there were trainers leaving the Gym with expressions of defeat.
Honestly, Roy only came here to sign in and leave.
"Another guy who has to rush his Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. This might deal a devastating blow to these upcoming trainers."
A fat man wearing beige pants and a blue shirt stood by the door, shaking his head. He was worried that this slew of events might demoralize a whole generation.
"Kid, I advise you to truly structure a team before challenging the Gym. This is a serious matter, and this match could dictate your future and your worldview. I recommend that your Pokémon be Tier 1 Medium grade in power level to challenge this Gym."
The Fat man saw Roy approaching and sincerely warned him.
"I'm not challenging yet; I'm going for a look. I'll wait until I train up a bit more before challenging this Gym." Roy's Pokémon were too underleveled to fight the Gym Leader, so it was best to go out and train more.
In this world, Pokémon are categorized into Tiers instead of levels. Roy saw levels directly; the world saw things differently, via machines and scanners.
Tier 1 was a Category, and it had three subcategories within it. These subcategories were: Low, Medium, and High.
Low meant Levels 1-10, Medium meant 11-15, and High meant 16-20. Roy's Pokémon were all Low Tier Pokémon on the power scale; they couldn't cope with this Gym's bottom-tier Pokémon.
"That's good. There's plenty of time to challenge once your team has been put together. I recommend going to Viridian Forest and getting a Grass-type to assist."
The battle required two or more Pokémon to challenge the Gym as well. It was recommended, but you could challenge with one; the Gym Leader will still have two.
"I'll do that, thank you." Roy nodded and walked into the Gym.
The Gym had many footprints on its brown marble floors. The janitor hadn't had time to clean the shoe prints due to heavy traffic. The Gym lobby was well furnished and decorated; there were paintings on the walls, snack machines, and, of course, the receptionist counter.
The lobby was filled with teens, waiting their turn. Roy surmised this number would die down in general over the days. These trainers will realise they really have to take the Gym Leader seriously and start making plans to make a comeback.
'Sign in.' Roy chanted these words in his thoughts.
[Congratulations, you've received: Thick Club (x1)]
"... ..." When Roy saw the reward, his face changed slightly.
"The rewards from a sign-in have really taken a blow. This item is only good for Cubone and Marowak, and nothing more besides selling it."
Roy sighed before leaving the Gym and heading toward the westward exit. He wanted to capture some Pokémon on Route 22.
Roy passed through and left the City for Route 22. Route 22 was a quiet wilderness where the familiar countryside gradually gave way to something wilder.
The cut ran through broad fields of emerald grass. Tall grass was thick at its edges, swaying in waves every time the wind picked up. As Roy grew further away, the distant sound of human chatter was replaced by rustling grass, chirping Pokémon, and the occasional cry of the wild Pidgey overhead.
Beyond these fields, Roy could see large mountains in the distance. The massive structures were far, but Roy could see them perfectly and knew this was Victory Road. Pokémon moved frequently here; Rattata scurried between bushes, and Spearow watched Roy from the treetops.
"What a place! I need to capture every possible entry on this route." Roy's senses swept out, and he detected every Pokémon within his detection range.
Roy detected a Nidoran male just thirty paces from his position. This little fella was eating berries and making annoying smacking noises.
"There's even a Mankey in a tree just a little farther away from it. This guy is eating some berry that is shaped like a banana."
Roy knew what Pokemon frequent this route. The ones he was looking for were: Mankey, Spearow, Nidoran Male, and Nidoran Female.
"Three of the Four have shown up to my door, hehe!" Spearow was in a treetop and was the closest to him. In fact, this bird was staring at him at this very moment with its sharp eyes.
Roy analyzed the little bird without expecting much from it.
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"Come and fight me, you loser!" Roy summoned Dratini and pointed at Spearow, provoking it.
"Caw!!" Spearow was immediately enraged by Roy's provocation. It already had an attitude problem; how could it sit around and allow this?
Spearow left the treetops and dove straight to Dratini.
"I love this world." Roy smiled and prepared to engage Spearow.