Memoirs of a Pokemon Master CHAPTER 12 The Big City

"Silph? Isn't that in Saffron?" - Trey LaJaunie

After a brisk walk through Lavender and a day through a tunnel, we finally reached the big city of Celadon. We slept in the pokemon center and then went to explore the city. Somehow we had found a small grassy area. Pikachu searched it and scared up a few pidgey's and a growlithe. I captured the growlithe. Now I had a fire type pokemon. We walked around the city some more. We saw lots of shops that were selling things that were either too expensive or we didn't need. But one shop caught our eyes. It was a perfume shop. It was full of pretty girls. Jason and Andrew were staring and pikachu was pasted on the window. One girl in particular caught my eye. She was trying some perfume. She had deep brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was down to the middle of her back. Her eyes, nose, and mouth seemed perfectly placed on her. She was dressed similar to me. She wore loose jeans, a white tee shirt, a jean vest, and a backpack. I also had loose jeans, a white tee shirt, and a backpack. But I had on a maroon wind breaker, rolled up to my elbows, and black gloves, with the finger tips cut off. I saw what pikachu was staring at. Another pikachu was sitting on top of her backpack. Perhaps that pikachu was a female? I snapped everyone out of their trance and we moved on. We walked on for an hour. Jason hadn't been in Celadon for some time so he forgot how to get to where he was going. We almost got lost. But we were saved when we found a pokemon mart and a pokemon arcade next to it. We went into the arcade. A pokemon battle was just finishing. I was surprised to see that the victor was the girl I saw at the perfume shop. Pikachu noticed too.

"Pika! Pika!" Pikachu said.

"Hey that's the girl I saw at that perfume shop!" I said.

"So why don't you go over there and challenge her?" Andrew asked sarcastically.

"Sure. Why not?" I said and I stepped into the arena. "I challenge you."

"You do huh?" She said. "What's your name?"

"I am Trey LaJaunie of Lavender." I said.

"You're from Lavender? Me too! I'm from the south end." She said.

"I'm from the north end, near the electricity plant." I said. "What's your name?"

"Alexia Lhouve." She said. "And I accept your challenge."

An announcer came on the loud speaker.

"A pokemon battle is about to begin! Alexia Lhouve from Lavender, the current champion, and the challenger Trey LaJaunie from Lavender, the challenger and former champ of Lavender. Each trainer can use only one pokemon. No items. No time limit. Let the battle begin!" The announcer said.

"Pikachu! Go!" Alexia said.

"Go pikachu!" I said.

The two pikachu stepped into the arena. Alexia's pikachu lowered one ear. My pikachu just stared at her pikachu.

"Pikachu! Quick attack!" I yelled.

Pikachu did nothing.

"Hey pikachu! Wake up and do a quick attack!" I yelled.

Pikachu still did nothing.

"Hah! You don't even have total control of your pokemon!" Alexia said. "Now I'll show you what a real pokemon is supposed to do! Pikachu! Thunder wave!"

Her pikachu did nothing.

"Hey pikachu! I said thunder wave!" Alexia said.

Her pikachu still did nothing. Alexia dropped to her knees and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Come on pikachu. I don't want to lose this battle."

Her pikachu still did nothing. I walked over to Alexia and offered her my hand.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm offering you a draw. It looks as though we're in a stalemate here. Neither of them wants to move." I said.

Alexia sat in thought for a moment then took my hand in resignation. We shook hands for a moment. The announcer came on the loud speaker.

"The battle ends in a draw game." The announcer said.

I went over to pikachu. I picked him up and looked at him. He smiled at me.

"Pikachu. What were you doing?" I asked.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said.

"You do realize you were in a battle right?" I asked.

"Pi?" Pikachu asked.

"Just forget it. At least we didn't lose." I said.

I looked over to Alexia. She was hugging her pikachu. It seemed as though they had already made up. Jason and Andrew came over to me.

"Wow. That was amazing. I mean that draw was really amazing." Andrew said. I popped him on the side of his head.

"I got directions. I can get us there in no time now." Jason said.

"Where is there?" Alexia asked.

"Um. A place I know." Jason said.

"You want to tag along?" I asked.

"Pipikachu!" Pikachu said.

"Sure. Lets go." She said.

We walked on for awhile. Alexia and I talked along the way. We got to know each other pretty well. My pikachu and her pikachu jabbered on and on.

"Pikapika!"

"Pipikachu!"

"Pikachu."

"Pi?"

"Pika!"

"Ever wonder what they're talking about?" Alexia asked.

"Most likely the same thing that we're talking about." I said.

"We're here!" Jason said.

We were standing in front of a tall building. There was a large sign in front of it. It read "Pokemon R&D A branch of the Silph Co."

"Silph? Isn't that in Saffron?" I asked.

"Yeah. But this is the research and development branch." Jason said.

"But what are we doing here?" Andrew asked.

"Lets go in." Jason said.

We followed Jason into the building. There were lots of people wearing white lab coats. Jason went up to the front desk and asked for someone named Bob. We were led into a laboratory labeled "Pokeball Research". We waited for a moment then a young man in a lab coat came in the room.

"Hey Bob!" Jason said.

"Jason! It's good to see you again!" Bob said.

"Guys, this is my best friend Bob. We met at a Pokemon convention three years ago. He works here researching pokeballs. Surprised someone like me knows a guy like him?" Jason said.

"Wow." Andrew said.

"Cool." I said.

"You make pokeballs?" Alexia asked.

"Yes. In fact, the great pokeballs are my idea." Bob said. "You guys want to see something really amazing?"

"Yeah!" We all said in unison.

"Great. Follow me." Bob said.

He led us through some hallways and labs until we ended up in a lab filled with computers. Bob picked up a box that was concealed behind some CPU's. He opened the box and produced a strange looking pokeball. It had a "M" engraved on it.

"This is my latest invention. It's not ready to be sold yet. This won't be out for at least another eight years or so. It's called a Master Ball." Bob said.

"What's so good about this Master Ball?" I asked.

"This pokeball has a one hundred percent catch rate." Bob said.

"One hundred percent?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah. That means that you can catch any pokemon, any time without weakening it." Bob said.

"Why wait eight years?" I asked. "These could make pokemon training much easier."

"That's why we have to wait. If we mass produce these now, then there won't be much of a challenge to catching pokemon. If there's no challenge, people won't become trainers. No trainers means no one buys pokemon products. No one buying means no money coming in. No money means no jobs. We're talking pokemon marts, poke centers, gyms, arcades, and even Silph itself!" Bob said. "Pokemon will be out of business with these. So we're going to wait until things start getting hot then we'll start selling them through special order."

Just then, the lights went out. Alexia screamed. Andrew tossed out his charmander. The light on charmander's tail acted like a torch and lit up the room. I could see two figures standing in the room. Jason found the light switch and turned it on. When the lights came on we saw the two figures perfectly.

"Oh. You guys are in so much trouble!" Bob said.

"Trouble!?" The two figures asked.

"Prepare for trouble!" Lilly said.

"And make it double!" Kirby said.

Just then, two electric blasts and a fire ball slammed into team rocket. I looked down and saw my pikachu and Alexia's pikachu poised for battle. Andrew's charmander stood behind them.

"Pika!" My pikachu said.

"Pikachu!" Alexia's pikachu said.

"Charmander! Char! Char!" Andrew's charmander said.

"How come you guys never let us finish our motto?" Kirby asked.

"Lets see. Hmmm. Probably because we don't like you. Have you ever thought of that?" I said.

"Oh. Well we're here for the master balls!" Kirby said.

"Give them to us or else!" Lilly said.

"So this is team rocket huh?" Jason asked as he let kadabra out.

Kadabra began to glow. Lilly and Kirby sent out their pokemon. My pikachu and Alexia's took up position next to each other. Charmander stood behind them. Jason's kadabra did not move. Lilly's beedrill attacked first. It tried to swoop down at my pikachu. But pikachu quickly dodged the attack and Alexia's pikachu zapped it. While Alexia's pikachu was distracted, Kirby's voltorb tackled it. Alexia's pikachu was hit hard and was sent rolling. Charmander shot a blast of fire at the voltorb. The beedrill and the voltorb got up and was about to launch another attack.

"Kadabra!" Jason's kadabra shouted.

Kadabra's glow turned into a blinding light. Alexia, Andrew, Jason, myself, and our pokemon covered our eyes. When the light diminished, beedrill and voltorb were still poised to attack. Then they turned around and started attacking team rocket.

"That was kadabra's confusion technique!" Jason said.

"Pikachu! Thunder bolt!" I yelled.

"Pikachu! Double team!" Alexia shouted.

"Charmander! Flamethrower!" Andrew shouted.

"Kadabra! Psybeam!" Jason shouted.

Two electric blasts, a fire ball, and a psychic energy shot slammed into team rocket and their pokemon. The force of the hit sent them through the wall and up into the sky. As they flew away, I heard a familiar cry.

"Looks like team rocket's blasting off again!" Lilly and Kirby cried as they flew.

"Um. Sorry about the wall." I said to Bob.

"It's okay. You guys risked everything to protect me and my invention. Thank you." Bob said.

There was a pokemon shop in the building. We got a special discount because Jason knew Bob. Before we left Bob asked me if we could talk privately.

"I'm in you and your friends debt. As a token of my thanks I want to give you this." Bob said as he handed me a master ball.

"I can't take this from you." I said.

"No. Take it. I've got plenty more. Just don't tell anyone where you got it. Okay?" Bob said.

I finally accepted his gift. He put us all up in a classy hotel for the evening. Then next day we headed for the gym. We went into the gym. The gym was full of plants and grass type pokemon. I had a clue as to what pokemon the gym leader had. We were shown around the gym. They made lots of perfume in this gym. Finally we were brought to the gym leader Erika. I challenged her to a match. She accepted. She sent out a victreebel. I sent out growlithe. I had never seen a victreebel before so I pulled out dexter.

"Victreebel. The fly catcher pokemon. This pokemon is the final evolution of the pokemon bellsprout. The second evolution of bellsprout is weepinbell. Victreebel is said to live in huge colonies deep in jungles, although no one has ever returned from there." Dexter said.

"Victreebel! Vine whip!" Erika said.

Two vines shot out from behind victreebel and hit growlithe. Growlithe tried to fend them off.

"Growlithe! Flamethrower!" I yelled.

Growlithe opened his mouth and shot out a fire ball at victreebel. The victreebel caught on fire. Erika used a fire extinguisher on victreebel. But it was too late. The victreebel fainted. Erika tossed out her second pokemon. It was a gloom.

"Gloom! Acid attack!" Erika yelled.

The gloom spit a shot of acid at growlithe. Growlithe quickly dodged and shot a fire ball at gloom. The attack hit home. Gloom caught on fire. Erika extinguished the flames. But she was too late again. The gloom had fainted. I had won the battle. Erika gave me the Rainbow Badge. We stayed in the city for a few more days. Alexia and I got to know each other quite well. I took her out to dinner one night. Andrew got his badge. Then Alexia earned hers. Alexia informed us that the next gym was in Saffron. So we headed out to Saffron. On our way there we camped out in a small forest area. It was late at night. I was looking at a small creek, watching the magikarp swim by. Alexia came over and sat next to me.

"I'm going on ahead." She said.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't stay with you guys. It's nothing personal." She said.

"Did I say or do something wrong?" I asked.

"No. It's not you. You see, I like you a lot, but I need to concentrate on getting these badges. But if I stay with you, I'll be distracted. If I'm distracted, I won't be able to be a good trainer. You understand don't you?" Alexia said.

"I see. Will I ever see you again?" I asked.

"When I get my eight badges, I'll go back home. I'll wait for you. That is, if you'll wait for me." She said.

"Of course I'll wait for you." I said.

We moved closer together. We kissed. It was the most exciting experience I had ever felt. She left and took her pikachu with her. My pikachu was still asleep. I would have to explain to him where she was when he woke up. The rest of the night I couldn't sleep. I kept staring at the water. I made a silent vow to myself to find her when I get my badges.

"She lives in Lavender so she won't be so hard to find." I said to myself.

Eventually I went back to the campsite, laid myself down and stared off into space. I didn't sleep at all. I could only think of her.

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