The Indigo Road
Chapter 03 - The Three Little Kids
By Shinymarill


Chris and Krystal woke up the next morning and got ready to leave Crimson city. They went downstairs in the travel lodge and had a rather shabby fried breakfast before healing their Pokemon and heading East to Pallet Town.

“Ready to go, Kecleon?” Chris asked his friend.
“Leon le!” He cried. Chris had congratulated his battle against Bellsprout yesterday, and told him not to worry about losing to Beedrill.

“It shouldn’t take too long to reach Pallet town” Krystal said, Marill in her arms. “It’s only a short walk, and we’ll be able to see some Pokemon we wouldn’t see in the Miami Islands”

“Sounds good” Chris said. They walked out of the route gate and through the fresh, open field that led them to Pallet town. Chris then saw a Pidgey sitting in the grass, grooming under its left wing.

“Pidgey!” Chris said happily. “I have to catch one!”
“Why do you want a Pidgey?” Krystal said, laughing. “They’re small and weak”

“But it will evolve” Chris said, his eyes widening. “Into Pidgeotto!”
“Oh man” Krystal muttered. “I thought you didn’t like Pidgeotto anymore”
“Are you crazy? I’d love one!” Chris cried.

He selected a Pokeball to throw out into the field to face Pidgey. He plucked the smooth, round Pokeball from his belt and maximised it. He pulled his arm back and then hurled it forward, releasing the ball from his grasp.

The ball burst open in a wonderful flash of light and formed into Smeargle. He faced Pidgey, who was still grooming himself.

“Smeargle! Use a glare!” Chris shouted. Smeargle’s eyes turned a vivid electric blue and he shot a stunning look at Pidgey. Pidgey, despite trying to overlook the glare, caught it, and turned the same blue colour as Smeargle’s eyes.

“That’s it! He’s done for!” Chris said happily. “Smeargle, weaken it with a pound”
Smeargle nodded, and ran forward on all fours. He raced at Pidgey, who kept in his frozen form. Smeargle leapt up onto Pidgey and knocked the tiny bird to the ground.

“He’s nearly dead!” Krystal screamed. “Chris!”
“Hey, he is!” Chris said worriedly. “I guess Smeargle is strong”

“Chris, we have to get it to a Pokemoncenter right away!” Krystal nagged. Chris sighed.

“Pokeball, go!” He cried, throwing the ball at Pidgey. He thwacked Pidgey on the head with the round ball and sucked him inside. After all of Pidgey’s attempts at squirming out the ball failed, the ball pinged.

“Alright!” Chris cried. “I captured a Pidgey!”
“How nice” Krystal said sarcastically. The two kept walking towards Pallet town.

*

The two trainers and their Pokemon arrived in Pallet town. It was very…stereotypical for a town; there was a quaint shop, no Pokemoncenter and a lot of two-storey houses. There was a laboratory atop a hill that probably belonged to Professor Oak.

“Well, we’d better head to that laboratory” Krystal said. “Professor Oak can maybe heal Pidgey”

“Yea, let’s go” Chris said. They walked through the town, many people stopping to admire Marill and Kecleon. The town was very small and it took the two no longer than five minutes to walk up the hill to the laboratory.

Chris rang the doorbell, and was greeted by a man of about 42. He had jet-black hair around a slightly bald spot, and a slightly hooked nose. He had a gracious smile and emerald green eyes.

“Hello there” He said. “May I help you?”
“Oh, are you professor Oak?” Chris inquired.

“Why yes I am,” He said, smiling.
“We have a very injured Pidgey and were hoping you could heal it for us” Krystal said innocently.

“Right this way” He said sternly. “Oh, and thanks for bringing Smeargle”
“Erm…how did you…” Krystal began. Professor Oak smiled, and showed the two a small white creature with a lost expression on its face. It tugged on Oak’s trouser leg.

“It was my Ralts,” He said. “He uses Psywave and predicted that you two would be bringing Charles’ Smeargle for me”

“Oh, right” Chris said, understanding Professor Helmsworth was called Charles. “Thanks”

*

Professor Oak had put Pidgey in a healing machine in his lab. It was resting in the corner, and the Professor then introduced Chris and Krystal to three trainers.

“These three are all starting their Pokemon journeys today” He explained. “This is Anne-Marie Appleton, and she has chosen Bulbasaur”

Chris looked at this stubborn-looking 11 year old. She had blonde hair that showered down her back. She had a stuck-up nose and was wearing a black, revealing top, although she had little to reveal. She had massive metal loopy earrings on and bright red lipstick. Chris didn’t understand why , but she was wearing a black feather boa that reached down to her black skirt.

“That skirt’s a little ‘north-of-the-knee’” Krystal whispered. Chris had to agree.

Chris then looked at her Bulbasaur. Presumably a female, she had a diamond-shaped crystal on her forehead, with golden beads going around her head to secure it on. Her Bulbasaur had eyelash extensions , which were a deep black, and wore pink lipstick. She had a large ruby chunk in her bulb , making her look like a walking jewellers.

“Nice to meet you, Anne-Marie” Chris said, holding his hand out. Anne, however, was talking to herself, her hand over her ear.

“Erm…I said hello” Chris said nervously. With her free hand, Anne slapped Chris’ that he held out.

“I’m on a cell-phone!” She hissed. She held her other hand out, and a minute phone was seen in her palm. She held it back and started speaking. “Oh-my-god. I was like ‘Charmander? Sure, I’ll have a pyromaniac lizard-thing burning my dress! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!’ But seriously though, Bulba is soooo cute! The only problem is, I gave her eyelash extensions and although they look super, she still looks rather ugly”

Chris couldn’t believe it. Bulbasaur got out a vine and slapped Anne.
“I wasn’t talking you, honey!” She said, a nauseating smile spreading across her face. She put the phone back in her pocket and approached Chris.

“ You have a mental age of a 3 year old,” She snapped. Chris stepped forward.
“Yea? Well you have the mental age of a 31 year old!” He snapped back. Shocked, Anne-Marie stormed out of the laboratory with her Bulbasaur.

Professor Oak looked rather flustered.
“This is Daniel Grey; he chose Charmander” Oak said. The kid had black hair and a baseball cap on backwards. He was wearing a football shirt and football shorts, as well as a pair of silver trainers.

“Hey Daniel” Krystal said politely. “You know, I used to have a Charmander”
“Really?” He asked. Krystal sighed inside her head; 11 year olds were sure full of energy.

“Yup” Krystal said. “He’s one of my strongest Pokemon”
“WOW!” Daniel cried. “I hope I can be as strong as you, Krystal”

“Well…that’s very nice” Krystal stuttered. She had dug herself in a large rut now. Professor Oak handed Daniel five Pokeballs and a Pokedex, so he took them and ran out of the lab, shouting his name constantly.

“Where is the other trainer?” Chris asked.
“Oh, he’s called George” Oak said. “He’s rather timid, and he chose Squirtle”

“Oh, ok!” Chris said. “Did he leave sooner?”
“Anne made him cry” Oak explained. “That girl is a handful”
“I know” Krystal said.

“Anyway, I think Pidgey should have recovered now” Oak said, walking over to the machine. He pulled the Pokeball from it and handed it to Chris.

“Thanks” Chris said, putting the ball on his belt. “And here’s Smeargle”
He handed the orange ball to the Professor, who put it on a shelf.

“Thanks for that” He said. “Now, I expect you are heading to Viridian City?”
“Yea!” Chris said excitedly. Krystal frowned. “Well, we’re researching Articuno, and on the way we’ll be passing through some of the gyms”

“Well then, I’m sure I heard that Pewter museum has a lot on extinct Pokemon and legendary Pokemon; maybe you can find something of use there” Oak explained.

“Thanks” Chris said, as he and Krystal left the laboratory.

*

Tony

Misty had just fed the Pokemon, so my 7 were all pretty happy. Wailmer sure did like Misty! Goldeen was very fond of Misty’s Goldeen, and the two swam around a lot. Looking at Misty’s Seadra made me remember Krystal and her Kingdra. I wonder how she was doing?

“Ok then, that’s Staryu and Starmie attended to” Misty said, dusting her hands.
“Great” I replied, being as enthusiastic as possible. Misty seemed really tipsy…light-headed and such.

“Are you Ok?” I asked her. Truth be told, I was actually hoping there was something wrong with her, just for some added excitement. Misty sighed.

“I saw David again,” She said, sighing once more. “That Blastoise…so cool! And David is so hunky and cute…”

I grumbled. The only reason I left Catcalina was because of Sam, and now a bigger, more muscular one was in Cerulean City and caused Misty to swoon! This was so unfair!

“Personally, I think that Squirtle are cuter” I replied, trying to get Misty to like my best friend Squirtle. Misty flicked her ginger hair back.

“Maybe when you’re older you’ll realise how great big strong Pokemon are” Misty said, sighing. Yea, right. She only liked Blastoise because he belonged to David. I decided to change the subject rationally by looking at my watch.

“Do you think we should start exercising the Pokemon?” I asked. Misty nodded, and on her command, a Staryu, Starmie, Seadra, Goldeen, Politoad and a Psyduck emerged from the water.

“Come on guys!” I cried. Wailmer, Goldeen, Squirtle, Croconaw, Lapras, Pellipper and Octillery emerged. Together, they started pacing themselves as the 13 Pokemon swam lengths of the pool.

As I watched Squirtle swim along through the pool, I realised the only way to get Misty’s affections would be to evolve him. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how, but it was the only way.

“Keep it up Lapras!” I roared. Lapras was in the lead, slightly ahead of Starmie and Politoad. I bet I could have counted on Chris or Krystal in times like these, but they were millions of miles away. I had a new duty; as an apprentice at Cerulean Gym I had to get Squirtle to evolve.

*

“Well, I suppose we should camp out for the night” Chris suggested. They had found a nice dry spot in the forest, and had let all of their Pokemon out except Krystal’s Kingdra. Kecleon had become fast friends with Pidgey, as had Marill, but Charizard seemed to contemptuously stare at him. Electabuzz and Charizard had grown rather friendly.

“I guess we should go get some wood for a fire,” Chris said. “Pidgey, Kecleon! Come on”
Pidgey and Kecleon followed Chris through the forest as he went for kindling.

Krystal

When I was told we were in a region I never expected to be sleeping out in the woods at night. I wasn’t really that cold, but I would never be able to sleep like this. Electabuzz had started to drift to sleep, as had Granbull, but Umbreon stayed awake, looking at the full moon with anticipation.

Marill was with me now her new friend Pidgey had gone off. I held her close, as Charizard walked over and slumped down next to me.

“This should be great,” I said enthusiastically. “Hopefully we can catch some more dragon Pokemon to help us reach Dragon’s Rock”

Charizard nodded, understanding that he would need to tone up his social skills. However, Marill looked slightly unhappy.

“Look, I know I won’t be battling with you as much, Marill” I said. “But you will be expected to pitch in a lot and be my friend…that is, if you still want to…”

I knew I’d hit the innocence key. Marill said her name innocently and she started smiling. She obviously felt bad by what I’d said, which was really my ulterior motive at the time.

Suddenly, I heard a loud noise. Turning, I saw a pack of Houndour staring at me, each with globules of saliva creeping out of their heavily fanged mouths. I backed away slightly, but Charizard and Marill stepped forward.

“Marill! Bubblebeam!” I cried, noticing Granbull and Electabuzz still asleep. Chris’ Granbull wasn’t half lazy! Considering he was a bulldog, he slept a lot and was scared of water…It looked like I’d have to do this alone.

Marill blasted the stream of bubbles forward and peppered Houndour with them. This particular one leapt into the air at me, but Charizard swung his tail round and knocked it to the ground. It was there that Charizard started kicking and punching it with incredible force.

However, the other four Houndour didn’t like this. It looked as if the one Charizard was savagely attacking was the leader. Just my luck! The other four all ran forward to my Charizard and ripped and tore his skin. Charizard roared loudly as he collapsed onto the floor.

“Charizard!” I cried, as he roared out loud. Marill blasted a water gun at one Houndour, but he managed to evade it and give Charizard the damage. Worried, I looked across at Umbreon, who was transfixed at the full moon.

“Umbreon!” I snapped. “Help us out!” I knew my Espeon would never have let us down like Chris’ Umbreon did. Umbreon turned, and each of his gold rings were sparkling a white colour, and his eyes were red.

“Umbree!” He cried, running forward. A streak of white trailed from his body as he charged headlong at the Houndour. He tackled Houndour and left him lying on the floor in pain. It looked like two ribs had been broken, not counting one of the three on his back.

“Alright!” Krystal cried. Suddenly, Chris ran through the forest with Kecleon and Pidgey. Shocked, Chris dropped the pile of wood onto Granbull’s head, making the pink Pokemon collapse onto the ground.

“Help us out!” I cried. Chris nodded, and sent Pidgey to attack. That stupid old pigeon couldn’t help! We needed power here!

However, I was soon proved wrong as Pidgey used a whirlwind to send two Houndour off my Charizard. There was one left, and four lying on the floor. Marill blasted a water gun at them and Electabuzz (after being woken by Chris) fired an immensely powerful thunderbolt and got rid of them all.

“Thanks!” I cried, hugging Chris. Chris said it was nothing, and tended to Charizard’s cuts and grazes with some full restore. I was so thankful I was travelling with him at the moment. Charizard was recalled in his Pokeball after he coughed up some flames to get the fire going.

“I’m glad we’re travelling together,” Chris said, as he held his hands against the raging flames. Granbull stayed fast asleep, while Electabuzz and Kecleon sat with Chris, Marill and I. Umbreon curled up next to me, and Pidgey roosted on a low branch.

I couldn’t help but agree with Chris on that one.