The Rhydon roars while enraged and starts to charge at my Icarus, the now evolved Pidgeotto.
"HAHA this is fun!" the big guy laughs. Clearly he enjoys fighting weaker trainers. He's that type of guy who likes to battle only if he wins.
"Rhydon use Megahorn!"
"Icarus fly!" Rhydon rams into the tree Icarus was resting at. Breaking it into several splinters.
Icarus is understandably dazed by what is happening in front of him. His defeated foe just evolved after losing the battle, not that it was impossible. When a pokemon's body reaches it's limit, it restructures itself to surpass it's capability. That's called evolution.
'That guy forcefully evolved the rhyhorn.' Not only that but it's similar to the drugs that bodybuilders take to enhance their physiques before competition. This Rhydon is not an average one.
I cannot win against a rhydon who's 6ft tall, weighing more than 1 quintal in kilograms. Escaping from this place is out of question. The Rhydon can catch upto me in a jiffy. I should let Icarus carry all the pokeballs in my backpack to the city, successfully keeping everyone safe. But I can't ride Icarus yet. Not until he's a Pidgeot. He'll have to escape without me.
"Icarus!!" I don't get to complete my sentence as a new pokemon arrives onto the clearing. With it announcing it's arrival to everyone.
"Pika!" It is the cute mouse like pokemon covered in yellow fur. Pikachu, presumably the one from the poster besides the police station. Why is it here?
It is very fat compared to the poster's depiction from what I remember, having a chubby body, short arms with five tiny fingers on it's forehands and three sharp fingers on it's hind legs.
"Who's this Pikachu meddling in my spar? Rhydon use Megahorn!"
Rhydon starts it's charge to ram into the Pikachu. With it being so chunky I doubt the Pikachu can dodge the attack successfully. I can't let that happen, I need to catch the Pikachu for myself.
"Bob use bubble!" Bob immediately gets to charging a bubble attack but is interrupted by the two grunts.
"We ain't letting you intervene in our mission anymore!" These guys couldn't just spectate huh. Probably in hopes of impressing their boss to get onto his good side I guess.
"Hey stop with the underhanded shit and leave Bob alone! Icarus use Whirlwind!"
Icarus blows the grunts away with his improved power. The whirlwind has minimal impact on the towering Rhydon and doesn't faze it at the slightest.
Bob starts spraying his bubbles on Rhydon dealing minimal damage.
"Hah Rhydon won't lose anymore." The leader who's still standing after facing the whirlwind laughs. What if I let Icarus attack him directly? No, Rhydon will block the attacks.
"Bob don't stop attacking!"
"Percy get the Pikachu!"
Percy the spearow isn't able to catch upto the rhydon in time. I embrace myself mentally to see a flattened out mouse next.
"ROAHHHH!" Rhydon cries out loudly while ramming into the area Pikachu is at.
Only to strike air. Just before getting squashed the Pikachu moved rapidly, making illusory copies of itself. The Rhydon attacked one of the copies which turned out to be an illusion.
It goes after another, it's a fake too. Rhydon being brazen keeps attacking every illusion but the pikachu keeps making more. It's the double team move.
'That's how it was never caught by the residents of the city.'
The Rhydon gets more infuriated with each attack that is a dud.
"This is useless, Rhydon use Earthquake!" The leader is an experienced trainer, using a large AOE attack will be attacking every copy at once and reveal the real one. Rhydon starts setting off an earthquake, literally. Everyone can feel it. The ground is shaking violently. Bob has already withdrawn into his shell. Percy and Icarus are unaffected as they can fly. The other two grunts and me are having a tough time standing upright.
All the fake copies of Pikachu disappear, caught in the wide attack. Leaving the real pikachu who's struggling to not fall on the ground from the expansive earthquake.
"Bob return!" I call back Bob into his pokeball. HIs job is done for now. Realistically what can his Bubbles do against this Rhydon, the move lacks the fire power unlike water gun. He'll scrap to do something with his eagerness to help the Pikachu. But tackling or using tail whip ain't doing anything to the Rhydon.
Sometimes you gotta know when it's okay to give up. I don't want to see my pokemons suffer needlessly to draw out time. It's pointless to do that, nobody is coming to be saving us.
"PIKA-CHUUU!"
Pikachu makes it's last stand against Rhydon, using the most effective attack in it's arsenal, the Thundershock. A jolt of electricity is hurled at the foe but doesn't even leave a mark.
"ROAHHHHH!" Rhydon realises it has won. Still enraged, it doesn't stop it's assault on everyone here. Keeping the Earthquake active for who knows how long.
"Rhydon return!" The big guy now is scared for the fight time since I've seen him. Rhydon ignores his command.
A pokemon who doesn't listen to it's trainer is a dangerous mon. I think Pokemon only listen to trainers they find capable, that is the trainers who show skill, bond and authority. If a pokemon surpasses it's power and the trainer stays at the same level. It gets rebellious. Just like Ash's charizard from the anime.
"Dammit run!" The leader screams at the two grunts who're alongside him now.
This action doesn't go unnoticed by Rhydon. It immediately attacks them with a charge of it's own.
"ROAHHHH!" it rams into numerous obstacles in it's way, splitting trees and rocks alike. Maybe it doesn't even remember why it started it's charge. Rhydon are dumb like that.
Now that it's chasing them and has stopped the earthquake, I can finally get to escape from here. Unluckily the Rhydon stops in it's tracks all of a sudden to look at the pikachu lying exhausted on the ground. Spamming the double team move took it's toll on it, significantly more as it's fat.
"Icarus rescue the Pikachu from Rhydon!"
Rhydon takes a step forward towards the fallen Pikachu to squash it. Icarus flies down just in time to grab Pikachu by it's tail. Lifting a fat mouse who's like 8 kilos isn't a huge task for Icarus.
The rhydon's eyes go bloodshot and it roars like there's no tomorrow.
"ROAHHHHH!"
I cover my ears instinctively to protect them. Icarus drops the pikachu to protect his own ears. Not that I can see them, his ears aren't externally visible.
"I can't let you harm it! Go Bob!" I call on Bob for the umpteenth time.
"Squirt!" He seems determined to not hide in his shell this time.
"Bob can you use the move Water Gun? See it's like this." I proceed to spit on the ground in this ridiculous situation. I dunno how to teach my pokemon moves. I'm not a pokemon myself so my demonstration is ass. I wonder how TMs work in this world.
"Squirt?" He doesn't know does he? I'm fucked on my third day in this world. I might be screwed for real. The Rocket grunts are no where to be seen. It's the Rhydon versus me now.
Rhydon moves forward to stomp on the Pikachu. I see the Pikachu squirming to get away, struggling to escape from it's inevitable fate.
Like Earth this world is cruel too. Only if I had stopped the guy from injecting the steroid into the rhyhorn then I wouldn't be in this situation. I need to think quicker next time, if there will be any.
"ROAHHH!"
"Bob just attack it again. I'm with you bro."
Bob the squirtle sprays countless Bubbles on the Rhydon only to be neglected by in return. The Rhydon is hell bent on killing the Pikachu. Maybe it's following the last orders of it's trainer blindly before it went berserk.
"Gyarados use hydro pump!" Rhydon is blasted by a huge volume of water launched under great pressure. It couldn't even counter attack. The non stop barrage of water only ceases once the Rhydon faints.
"Are you okay kiddo? Pikachu looks to be in a bad condition here. We should rush to the Pokemon Center. I'll brief you on the way."
The one speaking to me is none other than Misty, the gym leader of Cerulean City. With her green eyes, fair skin and her short, orange hair tied into a side ponytail. I'd be a retard to not recognise her on spot.
She's wearing her iconic fit from the anime too. A yellow cropped tank top that reveals her midriff, red suspenders, denim shorts that stop at her thighs, and red high top sneakers without socks that also have yellow lining with white laces.
She looks to be about 16 years old. Not that I can ask her directly. My age estimation capability is pretty top-notch. I once got kicked out of class for correctly guessing my female geography teacher's age. She was holding a quiz that whoever gets to guess her age right would receive a candy in return. That and I also mistakenly called her a man. That was a honestly a slip of tongue in that moment. I was a class clown during my days at middle school.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks a lot for helping me. Can I get your name?"
"It's Misty. I'm the gym leader of Cerulean City."
"Thanks again. I really can't thank you enough for saving everyone here."
"It's my job, no need to thank me. I wonder how long you've held by your own against Rhydon. Were there any other people here?"
"Yeah I was under attack from Team Rocket. They had a leader who had grills, this Rhydon is his."
"And you defeated all of them?"
I told her all about my encounter with Team Rocket all the way from the beginning. How I caught the ekans till when she arrived here. No need to hide details from her. She's a good person in this world, probably.
"And you're a day old trainer from Kanto? Lemme see your ID."
I bring out my pokedex.
"I need the league to keep me in the loop next time. Trainers like you are rare. You're talented at battling Red. No other kid would've survived this encounter. Worst case you'd be put on missing posters."
"Yeah I'm still getting used to being called talented." I let out a laugh.
She smiles at me. "With me here Team Rocket won't get to you. I promise your safety."
"Thanks again. What about the Rhydon your Gyarados knocked out?"
"I've contacted the league about it's presence right after arriving. The trainers I've come with will take care of it." She points behind her and I see a couple of people with their pokemon beside them.
"Oh Let me see the Pikachu." She gives way as I kneel in front of the Pikachu on the ground.
"Hey care to join my team? You won't have to hide from people or pokemon anymore."
"Pika.." It purrs acknowledging my offer.
"Alright then." I grab a pokeball and throw it gently. It's a swift capture.
With the Pikachu scanned by the pokedex. I come to learn his nature is Timid. Having the ability Static, meaning that there's a chance that the attacking enemy will be paralyzed if a contact-making move hits Pikachu.
"Ha! Your name will be Chungus." As you know it's fat. Not for long though as battling will put him into shape.
I recall Bob, Icarus and Percy into their pokeballs, all of them unharmed but worn out from the ridiculously challenging battle. Maybe struggling to the end was a good tactic.
Team Rocket's shenanigans don't go unnoticed by the League. They dispatch gym leaders and other trainers to be actively hunting them down. I don't know how Giovanni isn't caught yet.
"We should hurry." Misty points towards my Pikachu. It's in a worse condition compared to the others.
"Sit back." A trainer with his arcanine tells me. Sitting on top of it felt like sitting on a warm cushion. The arcanine is covered with bright orange fur with jagged black stripes, resembling the fur of a tiger. Most of its head and face, and its chest, legs, are covered in light cream colored fluffy tufts of fur. It has a long puffy cream-colored tail. Misty follows behind me in a car.
Misty briefs me about how she encounter me after she was here on some business with the Indigo League. She doesn't tell me more. That's fine by me. Not long after I reach the Pokemon center to heal my Pokemon. I rush to the front desk.
"Pikachu is severely overworked. He will be fine after a day's rest." Nurse Joy answers after treating Pikachu by herself. My other pokemon got healed instantly by the machine at the front.
"Thanks Nurse Joy." I really mean it. All this service was free from her side. Even though the League makes the healing free of cost. It doesn't say that they need to give it their all at restoring the pokemon to their full health all the time. But Nurse Joy ensures that the treatment and diagnosis is excellent, she's in this industry out of love for the Pokemon, not for the money.
"Will you stay here or leave for Viridian forest now?" Misty asks me out of nowhere.
"I'll go there right away." Traveling via route 2 to Viridian forest in the north will take some time. It'll be at around night I arrive at the massive forest with bug Pokemon everywhere. Oh wait, isn't Misty afraid of bugs?
"Are you going there too?" I ask her in hopes of becoming her friend. She's a powerful trainer.
"Yeah I'm going to follow the trails of Team Rocket. And there's been rumors about some suspicious activity on Mount Moon, That's close to my city anyways."
"We can go together right?" I suggest to her.
"Well, I didn't bring my cycle with me, traveling on foot will take time and the Viridian forest..."
"I can accompany you if you'd like."
"That's not a bad idea. You're a capable trainer Red. I'm curious about how you bond with your pokemon. Maybe sticking around for a while will teach me something new." She smiles slyly.
'She isn't interested about anything. But that's a good excuse without telling me outright about her fear of bugs.'
"It's a good thing to be with a gym leader. I'll learn a lot from you, I bet."
"Yeah so lesson one will be about camping gear." She says while leading me towards the shop that seems to sell camping and hiking gear. I don't think my wallet will survive this.