One of the reasons I picked Squirtle as my starter is that I can sweep the Pewter City gym with him. I know Brock brings out his Onix and Geodude to face off against the beginner trainers or someone without a single gym badge. Squirtle should be able to learn the water type move, Water Gun before the gym and proceed to solo clear it. Blue might have already rushed to the Viridian forest by now, but it's not a big deal for me.
In the games Blue is always ahead of the player in their journeys, having beat the gym leaders already before the player reaches the city. In this life it'll be different, everything's real here. I haven't seen my pokemon's hp or pp even when they use their moves. Therefore I assume there's no levels in this world too.
Maybe these mechanics were just the game's way of telling us about our pokemon's conditions in the battles through our screens. But this is reality, I have no way of telling how much hp Bob, the Squirtle is at right now. I can assume he's at full health after having rested for half a day.
Neither do I know what strength each of the wild pokemon possess. If they belonged to a trainer I could judge from how well they respond to their trainers' commands but in the wild only the strong survive. I'll have to assume the worst and prepare for it.
I'll get Bob evaluated at the Pokemon center at Viridian City soon, maybe by noon today. I'll keep moving on this dirt road until I spot some wild pokemon to capture.
I encounter my first wild pokemon after a while in the tall grass, it was a pidgey. I had to go out of the dirt road and follow it's droppings which led me to it.
Looking at it's small size, I estimate Bob can take it down in under 2 hits.
"Bob go!" I yell after throwing my pokeball. Still lacking the allure in my throw I think. I want to develop my own style of throwing the pokeball to look cool and feel more at place in this world.
Bob pops out in his same bipedal stance, ready to go at the pidgey. The pidgey won't respond until it senses an attack as it's a docile Pokémon that prefers to avoid confrontation with other Pokémon and humans altogether, hiding in the tall grass to prevent themselves from being seen. If cornered, though, they will attempt to escape by using Sand Attack to blind foes or Whirlwind to blow them away and buy themselves time to fly away.
I don't think this little pidgey can use whirlwind yet. I tell Bob to simply attack it as I know he can only use tackle as his only offense tactic. But he surprises me yet again.
A spray of bubbles hits the pidgey. The bubble attack is the first water type move learnt by Squirtle. It seems like Bob was hiding this move to show me during battle. I don't dislike the thought but I'd wanna know all his moves before I use him next time.
The countless bubbles hit the pidgey continuously, until it's drenched and it faints immediately.
Either Bob is too strong or this pidgey was too weak. I don't use my pokeball at the fainted pokemon as it can't consent to it's capture right now. Capturing fainted pokemon is deemed unethical by the standards of a pokemon league trainer.
I'll come across more encounters very soon so I don't mind this. I turn towards Bob and pick him up by grabbing the sides of his shell.
"Don't hide your potential Bob, this time show me everything you can do clearly", I say looking at him eye to eye after bringing him up to my height.
After a few minutes of dawdling I grasped that he just learnt bubble simultaneously during that fight and the fact that he can stand upright on his tail by balancing on it.
'This'll be helpful in battle if the battle terrain is unstable I guess'
Moving onwards in route 1. I encounter a spearow next. It's bigger than the previous pidgey, with it's eyes boring into me. Spearows are territorial pokemon, constantly buzzing about and calling with a loud cry that can be heard from half a mile away. This cry serves to scare away predators and to keep in touch with other Spearow, though the latter is reserved as an alarm to its kind.
This spearow is stronger than the last encounter for sure. Maybe it's protecting it's eggs, which are known to be prey for hungry Ekans, which are known to be able to swallow them whole.
I bring out Bob from his pokeball and command him to use bubble immediately.
The spearow flies right above Bob and uses it's peck move. Bob closes his eyes in fear, that gentle nature of his is a boon for boosting his special defence but at times like this it's more of a liability.
'He's holding back unconsciously', he had all the time to spray his bubbles while the spearow was charging at him. I tell him to withdraw in his shell and wait until the spearow lands on the ground.
'Within his shell the spearow can't hurt him' .Right after a few consecutive pecks the spearow gets tired and returns back on ground.
"Bob use Bubble!" I yell right after it relaxes it's wings to land on ground, I deem it's within Bob's effective range. Tackling it is ineffective as it puts Bob in risk of getting pecked or sand attacked.
Under the continuous barrage of bubbles, the spearow falters. I tell Bob to stop and throw my pokeball. I sense the the spearow looking at Bob with jealousy, wild pokemon are usually jealous of pokemon who are domesticated.
It rejects the pokeball I threw, damaging it. "damn I can't use that again you know!"
I throw another one, hoping it's more weakened now after using it's last strength to swipe away at my thrown pokeball with it's wing.
After three shakes of the pokeball I hear a clear ding sound. This time it's a success.
My first wild capture and it's pretty strong compared to the pokemon found nearby Pallet town.
My pokedex successfully scanned it. I came to know he's a Bold natured spearow with the ability keen eye which prevents loss of accuracy. Prof Oak told me that just seeing the Pokemon isn't enough, I need to capture them to record them in my Pokedex.
I look around to see what it was guarding, only to find a stash of berries being eaten by an injured rattata.
'So you were protecting another species'. Maybe it is his friend, I should capture this guy too, so the Spearow won't feel lonely.
I approach the little purple rat-like Pokemon with a pokeball, since it's already injured, it'll be an easy capture. But it stood up for battle.
"Bob, let's give guy what it wants" telling Bob to spam his Bubbles again. This move will be his foundation for learning the famous water move, Water gun. The more he gets proficient with this, the easier it'll be for him to learn the water gun move sooner.
Rattata didn't stand a chance against Bob, with it being unable to fight back. I honored his boldness by accepting the battle. This showed me it's not some average Pokemon who'll go down without a fight.
"I'll name you Percy and Tyson" I say looking to the spearow and rattata in their pokeballs respectively.
The rattata with it's bold nature has the ability guts which ups it's attack while it's suffering. So when poisoned, burned, or otherwise hurt, instead of weakening he'll shut down his fear response and be pumped with adrenaline, tensing his muscles. It truly fit the type of pokemon Tyson is. So far, I've only captured male pokemon by pure coincidence.
I shouldn't use my two recent captures until after they're healed at the Pokemon center. I'll have to rely on Bob until I can capture another capable pokemon.
We keep moving along route 1 with Percy the spearow and Tyson the rattata at my belt. They are locked onto my belt in their pokeballs by the help of a magnetic lock which attaches the pokeballs I carry to my belt. Too tired to even battle, I don't mind them being silent all the way.
I keep Bob outside to accompany me since I don't want to keep reaching for my belt at every encounter I face.
With only two pokeballs I need to be conscious about picking who I capture. Bob has already battled with a pair of pidgey together since I captured Tyson the rattata. At this point the surrounding pidgey no longer give him a challenge. Spamming Bubbles from a distance can knock out any pidgey in one move.
Bob is not at his best shape but sturdy enough to keep other wild pokemon away. I notice a group of mankeys at the treetops and sneak past them. I can't deal with this group of mankeys without all of my pokemon. Bob can knock down one mankey at best but the others can wreck me. My other pokemon aren't in fighting shape so it's not worth battling them now.
Soon, I come across a pidgey again. Something is different about this guy. It approaches me by itself almost as if asking for a battle. Pidgey are incredibly weak and are an easy catch for beginner trainers, but they can evolve into Pidgeot, a powerful flier, who're taller than I am now, capable of creating whirlwinds strong enough to bend trees. Did I mention it can Mega Evolve?, its muscles becoming even stronger which allows it to fly for two weeks nonstop.
'It's a must catch, and here comes one offering itself to be caught.'
I call out to Bob to spam Bubbles again, but this pidgey fights back with the move gust. A flying move that creates a mini tornado at it's feet.
"Bob withdraw into your shell!"
The shell is light enough to be sucked into the tornado, I don't think Bob is hurt much physically but he's probably disoriented now.
This pidgey keeps spamming gusts everywhere, even I need to move around the grassy terrain. Dodging with all of my capability. Wild pokemon usually target the pokemon only and not the trainers but this guy can do that since Bob is still stuck in it's gust.
After some time Bob finally falls back to the ground. "Bob don't worry about me and only attack the pidgey!"
At this moment it's more of a battle between the wild pidgey and me, I roll on the ground but can't dodge all the fierce winds generated by the multiple gusts. This pidgey knows from experience that rookie trainers get overwhelmed easily by his tactic and enjoys tormenting the newbies, taking away their belongings after knocking them out.
I can't keep dodging forever. I hurl my backpack at the pidgey but it dodges with a quick movement to it's side. It doesn't look to the other side while dodging and only at my backpack. In that moment Bob gets to regain his energy and use bubble move at this pidgey. Landing a successful hit.
The pidgey falls down, this guy can't even stand up after taking a hit. I see it struggling to gather itself up after taking it's first hit in a while.
Just then I face an almost invisibly fast attack from the pidgey, it was feinting by showing it's weakened condition to get a hit on me. I fall down clutching at a rock to decrease the damage I take.
Bob cries out in worry and furiously tackles the pidgey who's exhausted after using quick attack on me. The attack shouldn't have phased me but this child's body is very fragile. I might need to train this body to be more durable so I don't become a liability myself.
I feel the area where I'm hit, thanking God I wasn't hit in the groin. I feel a dull ache in my lower ribs at my right side. I manage to stand up properly with some effort. I think I can't walk smoothly for a while.
I got too careless by relying on my strong starter all this time. Training in the wild is as much of a battle for the Trainer as it is for the pokemon itself.
Bob rushes over to me, I notice his shell having been scratched multiple times by the gust attack. Nothing serious for him it seems. I throw my pokeball at the wild pidgey lying weakly on the ground.
It shakes three times and then I hear the ding sound. This guy is incredibly strong just to be on route 1. Blue must've dodged this encounter the previous day as it was sleeping.
"I shall name you Icarus." I say after seeing it has an adamant nature and the same ability as the spearow, keen eye. There's no way this guy would like to stay a pidgey forever, he's as power hungry as me. I dread for the trainers who'll face him when he's a Pidgeot with the beautiful colors of its crest being symbols of speed in popular culture.
I listen to it reply with a weak "pij-ee" cry.
"I think you like it"
With one pokeball left and no pokemon encountered on the rest of the route 1, I arrive at Viridian City with my new party of mostly injured pokemon.