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Leaf was always going to be a step behind the kids from Pallet Town. She’d known that this was going to be the case from the get-go, but the reality of it all really only fully sinks in when she finally gets to Professor Oak’s lab and two of the three starter Pokemon offered are already gone.
“I’m sorry.” Professor Oak’s tone is sincere and apologetic, but she’s sure that he knew what was going to end up happening just as well as she did. “I have to offer starter Pokemon on a first-come, first-serve basis, and I couldn’t convince the others to wait. Bulbasaur’s the only one left. If you had your heart set on Charmander or Squirtle, I can still get one for you, but you’d have to wait.”
“No need,” she tells him. “Bulbasaur was the one I wanted anyways.”
If he is surprised, he does not show it. If anything, it seems like he expected that answer. “Well then, young lady, it’s your lucky day.” He walks over to the table, picks up the last remaining Pokeball from its slot, and places it in her hand.
It’s smooth under her fingertips, and strangely light. She had expected it to be heavier.
Professor Oak smiles at her as she pulls her hand back and cradles Bulbasaur’s Pokeball close to her chest. “That Bulbasaur has been waiting for a trainer for a long time now. You’ll take good care of him for me, won’t you?”
“Of course.” Leaf knows what it’s like to be the one who is left behind. She tightens her grip around the Pokeball in her hands and gets the sense that Bulbasaur knows that feeling too.
She makes her way back towards Viridian City and stops at home for a few days to say goodbye to her grandparents and pack some supplies.
It’s been implied for a while that they don’t fully approve of her decision to become a trainer, but their last-ditch attempts to gently convince her into trying something else make it obvious how wary they are.
Grandma tells her stories of her friend’s great-niece who’s going to some lovely law school just outside of Celadon City. You could go there too, if you wanted. Grandma feeds Bulbasaur oatmeal-raisin cookies as Leaf packs and sees a pet instead of a traveling companion.
Grandpa tells her about how her second-cousin just started working as an engineer for Silph Co. in Saffron, about how the pay is nice and the work is stable and that she’d be good at it. He mentions one night over dinner that with a good word from her cousin and some time at the right schools, Leaf could easily get herself an internship in a few years.
He looks at Leaf and sees the memory of a woman who is no longer here, looks at Bulbasaur and sees the echoes of his own failures. It’s hard not to when reminders are littered around the house: photos of a little girl who looks strikingly like Leaf, framed pictures of a teenager proudly showing off her gym badges, a dusty photo album with a pregnant woman and a Venusaur by her side.
(I’m sorry, baby girl. Mommy has a work trip and I can’t be late. I’ll be back before you know it. Be nice for Grandma and Grandpa, okay?)
“Be safe,” Grandma tells her as she sees her off. It’s just as much a plea as it is an offering of well-wishes.
Like her mother before her, Leaf sets off from home with a Bulbasaur, a container of homemade cookies for the road, and a dream.
Bulbasaur is calm by nature, and he doesn’t seem all that bothered when Leaf decides to make a quick trip to Route 22 to catch another Pokemon for her party. He sunbathes when they stop to eat and only cracks an eye open long enough to make quick work of the half of a cookie she passes him from her own lunch.
Bulbasaur likes naps in the midday sun, Grandma’s slightly-bitter cookies, and staying just a step or two behind her as they walk. He’s an ideal traveling companion, and despite his seemingly lazy habits, he seems to enjoy battling. He’s good at it, too.
Adjusting to Bulbasaur is an easy change in routine. Adjusting to Nidoran is not.
Nidoran is just as wild as the tall grass where Leaf finds her, running and jumping and nibbling on anything she can get her teeth on. She’s stubborn and quick tempered where Bulbasaur had been easygoing and agreeable, and Leaf quickly finds herself having to change her approach—but only slightly.
Nidoran, just like Bulbasaur, loves to eat. Leaf tries offering Nidoran half a cookie after she wins her a battle against a boy and his Pidgey, but Nidoran seems disinterested in it at best. It’s only after Leaf pulls out a snack for herself and Nidoran instantly stands at attention that she understands why. It costs her half of her bag of hot chips, but she learns Nidoran has a taste for spicy food.
When they stop to eat dinner she sets a large handful of chips out alongside the rest of Bulbasaur’s cookie. By the time they make it to the entrance of Viridian Forest, Leaf thinks that she and Nidoran might even be friends.
Viridian Forest is huge. She’d known this well before entering, but even still, it’s still a bit overwhelming to walk for hours on end and see nothing but trees.
Bulbasaur sticks close to her heels, knowing wild Pokemon could appear anywhere at anytime. He’s able to fend off most of the over-curious Caterpie looking for a snack and quickly defeats any Weedle that get a little too close. With the latter, he keeps an especially close eye out for angry parents.
Despite his vigilance, Bulbasaur isn’t perfect, and Leaf isn’t all that surprised when she gets out of her sleeping bag in the morning and finds a Caterpie munching on the remains of one of her cookie containers. Bulbasaur, needless to say, is not thrilled with her decision to add Caterpie to the team, but he gets over his grudge soon enough once he finds out that they are not, in fact, completely out of his favorite snack.
Out of the corner of her eye at lunch, Leaf catches Bulbasaur splitting his cookie with Caterpie. Her attention is quickly pulled away from the two when Nidoran nibbles at her shoes and squeaks for more food.
Leaf laughs and passes Nidoran an extra chip. She’d like to think that this whole Pokemon training thing is going pretty well, all things considered.
Caterpie is eager to please and upbeat, and Leaf doesn’t have any issues with his training. In fact, if anything, training Caterpie proves to be surprisingly easy. Almost a little too easy.
Logically, she had known that Bug-type pokemon grow incredibly quickly, but still finds herself a bit flabbergasted that it only takes a few well-won battles for Caterpie to evolve into Metapod. She supposes that must be part of their appeal, and if not that, it must at least part of the reason the trainers in and around Viridian Forest seem to be so fond of them. It feels like she’s battled nothing but bugs for the past day or two.
A bug catcher challenges her to a battle shortly after Caterpie evolves and Bulbasaur makes quick work of his Metapod and Kakuna.
“Two kids from Pallet Town came in and trounced me and my buddies a day or two ago,” he says, as he recalls his fainted Pokemon with a low whistle and passes Leaf her prize money. “You from Pallet as well?”
His question is innocent and well-intentioned, but something about it makes her stomach twist nonetheless.
“No. I’m from Viridian City.”
By the time she makes it out of Viridian Forest, Metapod has evolved into a Butterfree.
When Leaf gets to Pewter City, she finds herself to be—yet again—one step behind the trainers from Pallet town.
“Come back tomorrow,” says one of the gym trainers, a boy who doesn’t look much older than herself. “We’re not accepting challengers today. Brock’s getting his Pokemon healed up from the battles with the two Pallet Town kids that came through here yesterday.”
It’s a completely valid reason to be closed; nobody can battle without their Pokemon in fighting shape. Even still, it’s infuriating. So, as any reasonable person in her situation would do, Leaf spends the rest of the day training out of spite and promptly goes back to the Pewter City Gym the next morning.
The boy who had blocked her at the entrance the day before laughs at her when she sends out Butterfree against his Geodude.
“Are you stupid? Butterfree is doubly weak to Rock-type Pokemon.”
He stops laughing when she and Butterfree thoroughly kick his ass. A couple of well-timed Stun Spores and a few Confusions make quick work of his Pokemon, and he is noticeably quieter when Leaf recalls Butterfree and collects her prize money.
She makes it to Brock with Bulbasaur at the ready and fights like her life depends on it. She leaves the Pewter City Gym with an Ivysaur and her first gym badge.
At dinner that night, she gives Butterfree and Ivysaur the last of Grandma's cookies. She makes a mental note to stop by the store and buy some shortbreads before leaving tomorrow morning.
While traveling through Route 3, Nidoran evolves into Nidorina.
This is both good and bad. On one hand, the power increase provided by evolution proves to be a great asset in battle. On the other, Nidorina has far more energy to burn on a daily basis. Leaf ends up having to adjust her training schedule considerably, and Nidorina comes out to battle far more often. The biggest problem, though, is that Nidorina eats far more than she did as a Nidoran. That alone forces a quick detour back to Pewter to buy some extra food.
Needless to say, by the time that Leaf makes it to the Pokemon Center by the entrance of Mount Moon, she’s exhausted.
She doesn’t even glance up as she makes her way through the door, fumbling through her bag for her ID card. Leaf isn’t sure if it’s because of this or the fact that she’s running on autopilot and her feet are burning, but she accidentally runs right into a boy about her age.
He grunts slightly, but otherwise doesn’t seem all too bothered. With dark hair, dark eyes, and a Pikachu perched on his shoulder (who looks far more offended than the boy she ran into does) it’s obvious that he’s a trainer as well.
“Sorry,” Leaf tells him. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. Long day.”
The only response she gets is a slight nod and a brief glance down at Ivysaur before he makes his way past her and continues on his way out the door.
He doesn’t look back. Neither does she.
She stays a day at the Pokemon Center to rest and train before moving on.
The caves of Mount Moon are dark. It’s something that makes Leaf especially glad that she had packed a flashlight, as she has no Fire-type Pokemon to light her way. She can only hope that the battery will last. She doesn’t have any Electric-types either.
(It’s times like these she briefly wishes she had the opportunity to get a Charmander, but that thought is quickly pushed down. If she had gotten a Charmander she wouldn’t have gotten Bulbasaur, and if she hadn’t gotten Bulbasaur, she wouldn’t have Ivysaur now.)
Mount Moon is so different from anywhere Leaf has ever traveled before. Zubat are almost everywhere she looks, hanging off the ceiling and flying off with a screech when she accidentally shines her flashlight right on a group of them. She almost trips over a few Geodude that sit like boulders on the ground, and passes by a few Clefairy who run at the sight of her.
Viridian Forest had been wild, but it was bright and green and vibrant. Here, things are musty and damp and smell like mold. It’s not fun, but caves do, at the very least, have a few advantages. They’re well known for being littered with dropped, lost, or otherwise discarded items, and by the time Leaf exits Mount Moon, she has found several empty Pokeballs, a few potions, a rope, a Moon Stone, and a fossil that looks like a chunk of amber.
Ivysaur doesn’t like caves much. When they finally get out of Mount Moon and onto the western side of Route 4, he spreads out on the grass and enjoys his first time out in the sun in days. Leaf can’t fault him for it. She lies down next to him and does the exact same thing.
Cerulean City is a welcome sight after Mount Moon. Breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sun on her skin is invigorating, and aside from the rumours of Team Rocket activity, it’s quite peaceful, she finds.
She makes her way over to Cerulean City’s gym and is quickly turned away like she had been in Pewter, a gym trainer citing the need to heal up and that two kids from Pallet Town had come through the area just the day before. Leaf would be annoyed by this if not for the fact that she honestly doesn’t mind spending an extra day or two in Cerulean City. It’s nice here.
She takes the extra time to explore and train a bit. Nidorina gets a kick out of the Nugget Bridge challenge on Route 24 and Ivysaur enjoys spending some time down by the river. The wild Pokemon nearby provide a bit of sorely-needed battle experience, but nothing she encounters is particularly hard to deal with. Well, aside from a particularly scrappy Meowth that foolishly tries and fails to steal some of Nidorina’s lunch, but a quick battle and a Pokeball quickly solve that problem. Just like that, another member is added to the team.
Meowth is crafty and seems to delight in taking advantage of his surroundings. Whether it be by throwing dirt in the eyes of a Rattata that gets too close at lunchtime or climbing up a nearby tree when he simply can’t resist sampling someone else’s breakfast, Meowth is quick and nimble and more than able to hold his own in a fight.
A few days after Leaf arrives in Cerulean City, she leaves its gym with her second gym badge.
Two down, six more to go.
When Leaf tries to go through Saffron City to get to Vermilion, she’s stopped by a guard. There were several other trainers waiting outside the gate when she had arrived and it’s only once the guards tell her to get lost that she quickly realizes that they, too, must have also been turned away.
The guards are tight-lipped as to the exact reason why nobody is allowed in or out, but when she mentions that she is trying to get to Vermilion City, one of them points her towards a tunnel on Route 5 that goes underneath the city to Route 6. At some point she’ll have to figure out a way into Saffron City for their gym badge, but she’ll cross that bridge when she gets to it. Vermilion, Celadon, and Fuchsia come first.
(Getting to all three would be far easier if she could just go through Saffron, but it is what it is. She has a way to Vermilion now. That’s what matters.)
She polishes her badges until they shine while camping out on Route 6 and dreams of being able to afford one of those bikes she had seen for sale in Cerulean. One day she’ll get one. The money she’ll get from conquering the Pokemon League should be more than enough, she thinks.
Ivysaur snores slightly as he sleeps. It’s rather endearing.
The Vermilion City Gym is well known for its Electric-type Pokemon. If she went and got herself a Ground-type, it would be an easy victory. In fact, the local trainers highly recommend catching one. There’s no shortage of Diglett in the nearby Diglett Cave, and Leaf has a Moon Stone she could use to evolve Nidorina if she really needed to.
She doesn’t want to, though. There’s no point in catching a Pokemon just to use it in one battle or forcing a Pokemon to evolve when it’s not ready to. Pokemon are friends, partners, companions. They’re not tools to win gym battles with. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just wrong.
(Pokemon are friends. Venusaur is a friend, can you say Venusaur, Leafy? Yes, that’s right. Venusaur. Just like that.)
When she sends out Nidorina, Lieutenant Surge chuckles.
“Usually people evolve those before challenging me,” he says, pointing. “You not able to get a Moon Stone or something? How about this, I’ll be nice and give you the chance to switch Pokemon before we start the battle.”
Nidorina turns and gives Leaf a look that clearly says This is my fight. Don’t you dare switch me out.
Leaf looks right back and nods. I know. I won’t.
Nidorina is stubborn and has something to prove. Leaf would be a hypocrite if she got in the way. “I don’t want to switch Pokemon.”
“You sure?” He sends out his Raichu and it takes its place on the opposing side of the battlefield, cheeks crackling with electricity. “Last chance if ya’ wanna switch!”
When she glares at him in reply, he shrugs.
“Your loss.”
When Leaf walks out of the Vermilion City Gym with a Thunder Badge, it is very clear that the loss was his.
Leaf hates caves. More specifically, she despises Rock Tunnel.
While Mount Moon hadn’t been fun, it’d been necessary, and she’d at least gotten something out of it. This is a detour she shouldn’t even have to be making in the first place, but with Saffron City still off limits, the fastest way to Celadon City is through a tunnel near Lavender Town.
The brief pit stop she’d made back to Cerulean had improved her mood somewhat, but any additional pep in her step had long disappeared after a few hours in the dark. Mount Moon had been dark, but Rock Tunnel feels borderline pitch-black. It makes the occasional screeches of Zubat a bit more startling. Ivysaur stands at attention the whole time, choosing to stay a step in front of Leaf instead of a step behind.
Meowth is the only one of her Pokemon that doesn’t seem to mind the dark. If anything, he thrives in it. He sharpens his claws on the walls and swipes at any wild Pokemon that get a bit too close.
He isn’t able to do much damage to the local Geodude and Onix, but it doesn’t stop him from trying anyways.
Meowth is nothing if not persistent, and he evolves into Persian after a bout with a hiker and his Onix. Together they exit Rock Tunnel tired, but triumphant.
Lavender town is… unsettling, to say the least. She’s only been here once before, and she didn’t remember liking it then, either.
(Venusaur is gone and nobody will tell her why. Grandma is crying and Grandpa is silent and where is Mom where is she where is she where is she—)
The less time she has to spend here, the better.
She makes a quick stop at the Pokemart to restock on food and supplies. It puts a bit of a dent in her wallet, but considering she hasn’t spent much on Pokeballs, she’s still got more than enough to get by.
Lavender Tower reaches towards the sky as an ominous reminder of the ghosts the town is known for, but Leaf doesn’t care much to look into it. She doesn’t need any more Pokemon right now, and even if she did, catching them in a graveyard feels… disrespectful. Not right.
A boy runs into her on her way back to the Pokemon Center. He looks a bit worse for wear with dirt on his cargo pants and bags under his eyes, but doesn’t seem slowed down by that in the least when he runs into her at full speed. Ivysaur quickly extends a vine to catch her fall and helps her up.
“Sorry.” He seems slightly embarrassed as he dusts himself off, hands clenched tight around a Pokeball. “I...” His eyes pause on Ivysaur for a brief moment and his grip tightens. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
He pauses and for a brief moment looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t. Leaf doesn’t give him the chance.
One night, she reminds herself. She only has to stay here for one night, and then she can leave and never come back.
Celadon City, Leaf thinks, is fairly underwhelming when considering all the effort it took to get here.
The department store, while not lacking in choices, is heinously overpriced, and for once Leaf finds herself grateful for her trip through Mount Moon. The prices they charge for Moon Stones here are absurd. Truthfully, she’s still hesitant about even using the one she’d found, but if she ever wants to, she at least has the option.
She’ll wait and think on it a little more. Nidorina won’t be able to do much in the Celadon City Gym anyways regardless of whether or not she evolves. For as much as it’s a Grass-type gym, it might as well be Poison-type too, with all the Gloom its trainers tend to favor.
Unfortunately, this means Ivysaur doesn’t have much of an advantage either. Poison does resist poison, though, so at the very least it means they won’t be at a disadvantage. Persian is an option, but he’s been moody lately and is picky about things getting in his fur. She’s not sure how well he’d cooperate while getting hit by an acid attack.
Butterfree… she would use Butterfree, but he’s not as spry as he used to be. His eyes are losing some of their shine and his wing colors are becoming more washed out by the day. He gets dizzy spells and sometimes can’t fly straight.
(Do you see that, Leaf? Those are Butterfree. A lot of Bug-types grow really fast. Most of them don’t stick around for very long, but they sure are pretty, aren’t they?)
No, it’s definitely better to leave Butterfree benched. Ivysaur can handle things. It won’t be easy, but he’s not her partner for nothing.
The first thing Leaf notices about the Celadon City Gym is that the whole place reeks of perfume. She had known that they make perfume here, but seriously—it smells like she’s walking through the beauty section of the department store all over again. They could tone things down a little.
The second thing she notices is the humidity. The whole place feels like a giant greenhouse, littered with plants and pokemon alike. Ivysaur seems to be completely at home, relishing in the sunshine and the humid air.
She’s quickly guided through the greenhouses to an arena once she tells a gym trainer that she’s here for a battle. They stop a few times to battle and make sure that she’s “good enough to face Lady Erika,” but otherwise, they’re largely uninterrupted.
When Leaf finally meets Erika, Erika takes one look at her Ivysaur and smiles.
“You’ve raised your Ivysaur well. He looks healthy and happy.” She reaches into a pocket and pulls out a Pokeball. “From one Grass-type trainer to another, I am looking forward to our battle.”
Ivysaur steps forward and takes his place on the battlefield and shortly after a Vileplume materializes on the opposite side.
It’s a difficult fight, but Leaf walks out of the Celadon City Gym victorious with a Venusaur and a Rainbow badge.
Butterfree curls up at her side in their room at the Pokemon Center and struggles to get himself airborne. His eyes are cloudy and his breath is strained.
(Where do all the Butterfree go? That’s a good question, honey. They fly off somewhere far, far away and live happily ever after.)
Venusaur looks at his dinnertime cookie and splits it out of habit. He looks at it for a brief moment, hesitates, and then eats the whole thing himself.
She rents a bike for the day to take the Cycling Road down to Fuchsia City. It feels strange traveling without Venusaur right behind her. He’s big and heavy and can’t keep up with a bicycle, but that doesn’t stop her from wishing that he could.
(Venusaur isn’t quite as fast as you are, so you might need to slow down a little for him sometimes, okay? Play nice with the other kids. Love you.)
It’s not a sensation she has to get used to forever, and she returns the bike as soon as she can, but still. Venusaur isn’t Ivysaur anymore. That means no more weaving through store isles together and no more sneaking him food under the table at restaurants. The indoor ones, anyways.
Persian is quick to pick up the slack, weaving his way around her legs at the Pokemart and stealing table scraps usually reserved for Venusaur, but it’s just not the same. It’s not bad, but it’s not what she’s used to either. She adjusts, though. She always does.
She makes sure to rent a slightly larger room once she arrives in Fuchsia City and allocates more of her budget to food.
Nidorina might be ready to evolve soon, now that she thinks about it. Leaf will offer her the choice before they tackle the gym. If she decides to evolve, they’ll just have to adjust the budget again.
The Safari Zone is just as wild as it sounds, packed head to toe in Pokemon she’s rarely seen. Herds of Tauros, small groups of Pinsir, swarms of Venomoth. It’s a Pokemon trainer’s heaven—or it would be, if tickets to get in weren’t so expensive and you were allowed to catch anything with your own Pokeballs.
Safari Balls are ineffective at best, and without anything to weaken a Pokemon, it makes catching anything of substance damn near impossible. She gets why it’s so hard, for conservation and all that, but still. She needs another team member, badly, and this isn’t helping.
She tries catching a Scyther, but it hisses at her and flies off. A Poliwhirl comes close to joining their team, Safari Ball shaking twice before it breaks free and swims off. An angry Dodrio knocks her Safari Balls to the side with an irritated squawk and looks like it wants to chase after her before getting distracted by a nearby Venonat.
It doesn’t take long for Leaf to find herself growing frustrated and she throws a few Safari Balls to the ground with a huff. She has five of them left before she needs to buy another ticket in. This whole thing is starting to feel like a scam.
The bushes behind her rustle and she throws a Safari Ball into it on instinct. At this point, she doesn’t care what she catches. She loves her Pokemon dearly, but a three-man party won’t cut it from here on out. Four was enough to get by, but now… she needs something. Anything.
There’s no sound of a Pokemon breaking free, so Leaf walks over, squats down, and starts digging through the brush. A distinctive click leads her to a closed Safari Ball with a blinking red light and Leaf lets out a small laugh in disbelief. She’d caught something. Finally.
The Pokedex she rarely uses lights up as it registers her new catch, and Leaf almost drops the Safari Ball she’s clipping to her belt when it confidently announces: New Entry: Dratini.
Dratini is shy. It makes sense considering they’re rarely sighted, but even given that she seems quite wary at first—both of Leaf and the rest of her Pokemon.
She slithers under a blanket the first time she meets Venusaur, screams the first time she stands in front of Persian, and Nidorina… Dratini seems somewhat okay with Nidorina, actually. Maybe it’s because Nidorina were a familiar sight around the Safari Zone, Leaf isn’t sure. Either way, she makes sure to take advantage of that fact.
Leaf offers Nidorina extra treats while Dratini watches, holding out a hand towards Dratini after with a few spicy snacks and a piece or two of sour-sweet candy she had bought for herself. Hesitantly, slowly, Dratini sniffs at her hand before snatching the candy. This is repeated day by day, piece by piece, until Dratini doesn’t seem as scared anymore.
Dratini is young. Leaf’s no expert on Dragon-type pokemon, but she knows a recently-hatched Pokemon when she sees it. Judging by the information she could get from her Pokedex, Dratini is a few months old, maybe half a year at most. So young, and yet so full of potential.
It doesn’t take long at all to bring Dratini up to speed with the rest of her team and Leaf quickly finds Dratini running circles around her opponents.
Dragon-type Pokemon are strong, she knows, but even if they weren’t, Leaf’s not sure that she would care. Dratini’s addition doesn’t fill the empty Pokeball that she doesn’t have the heart to take off her belt, but it helps.
For now, that is enough.
Nidorina eagerly evolves to Nidoqueen before Leaf challenges the Fuchsia City Gym.
It’s a decision that Leaf quickly finds herself grateful for. Having a Ground-type makes fighting a gym full of poison enthusiasts far easier, and she quickly finds herself the proud owner of a Soul Badge.
Venusaur isn’t out of his Pokeball to immediately celebrate the win, but Dratini chitters from around her shoulders, curled around her neck like a scarf.
Leaf buys them all a nice dinner that night and sells her extra Pokeballs to fund it. She doesn’t need them right now anyways. And if she needs some later, she’ll buy them then.
The sky shines in shades of orange and pink as they eat dessert. Leaf has four Pokemon and five badges. She looks to the sky, past the clouds and the setting sun, and wonders if Mom would be proud.
(You’ll be a great trainer one day, if you want to be. You’re like me. Smart, determined, stubborn. We can even get you a Bulbasaur, once you’re old enough. Wouldn’t that be great? We could make it a Greene family tradition, you and me.)
Venusaur’s grumbles echo in her ears and she passes Dratini an extra piece of candy. Persian meows by her feet and she passes one to him too.
Leaf heads towards Saffron once more and fully expects to be turned away like she had been before. She’s surprised to find the guard posts empty, but is just as wary as she is happy about it.
There’s always gate guards. Rain or shine, snow or hail, hell, even on holidays—no matter what, gate guards are always on duty. For there to be no gate guards at all, something is very, very wrong.
Going in would be a very bad idea, but Leaf has a gym badge to earn, so against her better judgement, she makes her way through an unattended gate into Saffron City.
If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it’s a ghost town. Streets that should be busy lie empty, no people, no Pokemon, just the wind and the faint sound of a car alarm going off in the distance. She reaches for the first Pokeball on her belt and releases Venusaur, who senses her unease and moves to walk by her side without a word.
She makes a beeline for the Pokemon Center. Her gym challenge can wait.
The lights are on and although the blinds on the windows seem to be pulled down, the Pokemon Center is definitely running. She moves towards the automatic doors, only to find herself puzzled when they don’t open.
She knocks and the blinds briefly open enough for suspicious eyes to give her a once over. The doors open with a small hiss, and Leaf is met with the sight of the boy who had ran into her in Lavender town. A Blastoise sits behind him.
“Get inside,” he hisses, “quickly. Before anyone sees. It’s a miracle you haven’t been spotted yet, there are Team Rocket goons hiding around every corner.”
Blue Oak, as she learns his name is, is both Professor Oak’s grandson and one of the two kids from Pallet Town who had been occasionally setting her back.
His... friend? Rival? Is a boy named Red, and he is currently working on clearing out the Team Rocket members occupying the Silph Co. building.
“I was originally helping,” he tells her, seeming somewhat bitter, “but my Pokemon are tired. Someone needed to defend the Pokemon Center in case Team Rocket decides to retaliate, so I told him to keep on going without me.”
He glances at Venusaur, and then at Leaf. “You’re not from Pallet Town.” It’s not a question, but Leaf can read between the lines.
“No,” Leaf agrees. “I’m not.”
He looks at her as if waiting for more. She indulges him, but only slightly.
“Viridian City. Pretty sure I started a little after you.”
“Ah.” He purses his lips, clearly not quite satisfied with the information, but doesn’t push it further.
They sit in silence for a little while before he speaks up again. “You know, you kinda remind me of him.”
She glances up, curious.
“Red,” he clarifies. “You guys look a little alike. It’s the eyes, I think. And both of you don’t talk much. You’re quite a bit more chatty than he is, but still.”
She shrugs before turning her attention back towards the door. They have bigger things to worry about.
Red, as it turns out, is the same boy she had ran into outside of Mount Moon. This time, his Pikachu is nowhere to be seen.
Blue gets up in an instant, recalling Blastoise into its Pokeball. “You did it? They’re gone?”
Red hums, then nods. He turns his eyes towards Leaf before raising an eyebrow. Blue must read something in his expression, because he seems to know what Red is asking without him saying a word.
“That’s Leaf,” he explains. “She started a bit after us. She’s from Viridian City.”
“We’re somewhat acquainted,” Leaf cuts in. “I ran into him by accident at the Pokemon Center in front of Mount Moon.”
“Ah.” Blue nods. He glances at Red and frowns. “Is Pikachu injured? Normally he rides on your shoulder.”
A nod.
“C’mon. I’ll show you where Nurse Joy is. She’s been crazy busy in the back with everyone holed up in here, but since you cleared all those suckers out of the Silph Co. building, people should be able to head back home soon.” Blue waves at Red to follow, turning away before he pauses. “I almost forgot to ask, Leaf, do you have a Pokegear?”
She shakes her head. She’d wanted one, but they’re expensive and not a necessity. Food and supplies come first.
Whatever he had been about to ask dies on his tongue and he shuts his mouth. “Ah. Nevermind then.”
Red, who seems impatient, nudges Blue.
“Yeah, yeah, jackass, we’re going.” Blue glances over his shoulder and sends a small wave Leaf’s way. “Later, Leaf. Maybe we’ll see you around.”
“Maybe,” she agrees, but they both know it’s an empty promise.
Saffron City’s gym is a dizzying maze. Without any Psychic or Ghost-type Pokemon to help see through the walls, Leaf more often than not finds herself walking in circles. Several of the gym trainers seem amused by this and they occasionally offer hints as to which way to go. They don’t seem surprised by her struggles at all. Getting lost must not be an uncommon occurrence here.
She doesn’t expect the actual battle to be all that much of a challenge considering Persian has an arsenal of Dark-type moves at his disposal and Dratini is all-around hardy, but if those two can’t handle things… then she’s a bit stuck. Both Nidoqueen and Venusaur will have a decent amount of trouble with Psychic-types, and unlike in Pewter she doesn’t have the sheer brute force to simply push through the type disadvantage.
(That thought reminds her of painted wings and cookie crumbs. It’s quickly pushed to the back of her mind.)
Dratini, luckily, has no trouble carrying her weight in battle. She switches between taking care of her opponents with ease and curling up on Leaf’s shoulders. After a particularly tough battle with a Drowzee, Leaf notices Dratini’s scales growing duller.
She’s worried about this at first until Dratini evolves mid-battle with the gym leader and leaves a small husk of shed skin behind. Dragonair is not Butterfree, and her scales growing duller and eyes going cloudy does not mean what it did with him. Dragonair is not Butterfree; she likes sour candy and playing chase with Nidoqueen instead of cookies and perching on Venusaur’s back while he naps. Dragonair is not Butterfree, and she earns Leaf her sixth gym badge.
The empty Pokeball on her belt feels heavier than it should. She still doesn’t take it off.
Getting to Cinnabar island is a bit difficult. Leaf doesn’t have any Water-types big enough to ride on (or any Water-types at all, for that matter), and the next ferry over is far later than she’d like. She’s left with a few choices: wait, catch a Pokemon that can take her over, or find someone willing to let her hitch a ride.
Waiting is something she’d rather not do, so that option is off the table except as a last resort. Catching a Pokemon is a possibility, but catching one solely for a ride across the water doesn’t feel right. She will need another team member soon, but not one caught for the sole purpose of being a water taxi. No—her best, and easiest option, is to hitch a ride.
It doesn’t take her long to find a boy on the coast near Fuchsia City with a Gyarados who’s willing to offer his assistance in exchange for some Pokeballs she had found on the road and a bit of money. It’s a far better deal than Leaf had thought she’d be able to get. She takes it in a heartbeat.
Dragonair swims alongside Lapras and jumps in and out of the water as if she was born for it, briefly gliding just above the seafoam before diving back down under the surface. The trip is long and it would have probably been faster to find someone near Pallet Town, but eventually, Leaf makes it to the shores of Cinnabar Island.
The gym is closed when she gets there. Two Pallet Town kids had come through and gotten their badges the day before.
Her extra time is spent exploring the area. She peeks around the old abandoned mansion and spends a few hours training against the wild Pokemon that live there before deciding to investigate the local research lab.
The lobby is littered with information about fossils and local history. There’s even a small exhibit about the island’s volcano. A glance at the bulletin board hanging on the wall offers little, but one flyer does catch her eye.
Fossil Revival Research Study looking for volunteers. Get your very own piece of ancient history brought back to life! Bring your fossils to room 2-C if interested.
After a quick bit of searching through her bag Leaf pulls out the chunk of amber she’d found in Mount Moon and makes her way towards room 2-C.
It’s easy to find, and at the sound of the door opening a man turns and looks up from his notes, instantly perking up at the sight of the fossil in her hands.
“I see you have a fossil there. Are you interested in getting it revived?”
She nods, and he gets to work. A few legal documents are passed over and signed, after which her fossil is measured, then taken and slotted into place into a machine in the back corner. It comes to life with a loud hum and the man turns back towards her.
“It’ll take most of the day for the process to work,” he explains. “I forgot to ask earlier, but I’ll need a Pokeball as well, if you don’t mind?”
He holds out his hand and Leaf hesitates. She had traded away the extra Pokeballs she had in order to get to Cinnabar. The only unused Pokeball she has left…
Her throat tightens.
Slowly, surely, she reaches for the Pokeball on the third slot of her belt. Pokeballs are meant to be used, and Butterfree isn’t using it anymore. He’d understand.
She loved Butterfree, but Butterfree is long gone. It’s time she moves on.
Aerodactyl is rambunctious and wild and at first he doesn’t seem to get the memo that battling isn’t a life-and-death thing anymore. Every bit the living-fossil he’d been hyped up to be, he doesn’t take it too well when Nidoqueen runs him into the ground during training—sometimes quite literally. He’s not used to not being the best, and that makes it quite easy to keep him motivated to train.
On a good day, Aerodactyl is stubborn and rash. It takes quite a bit of work to get him up to speed with the others, but he works hard and is quite an asset against the Fire-types the Cinnabar Island Gym is famous for. She wins her seventh gym badge easily with his help, and although he doesn’t win it alone, it’s clear he carried the fight.
Leaf buys Aerodactyl an assortment of treats and he delights in modern goodies like candy and spicy snacks. He reluctantly shares some of his chips with Nidoqueen and snaps at Persian when he tries to steal some of his candy.
After packing her things, Leaf thanks the boy with the Gyarados and pays him for his time. With Aerodactyl to fly her back she no longer needs a ride back to shore, but she’d made a deal and she’s not going to go back on her word.
She takes out her badge case and flips it open. One badge left. It’s time to go home.
For as long as Leaf can remember the Viridian City Gym has been fairly inactive. The gym leader is mysterious at best and absent at worst, so arriving to find the lights on and the doors unlocked is a pleasant, but not unwelcome surprise. She had anticipated having to wait.
She enters the gym to find it largely empty but for a man smoking a cigarette by the door. He looks at Leaf, first up, then down, and laughs. It’s a tired, wheezy sound.
“You look just like your mother did when she was your age,” he says.
Leaf swears the blood in her veins turns to ice. She wants to say something, but no words come.
“If you’re anything like she was, you’ve more than earned the badge. You kids these days are something else.” He shakes his head and reaches into his pocket. For a moment, Leaf thinks that he seems almost wistful. “Here. Take it.”
She blinks and looks out at his outstretched hand in disbelief. He’s… just offering her the badge? Without a fight? Everything about this screams wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Leaf scrambles for words, wants to move, to do—to say anything, but only one question manages to make it out of her mouth.
“You knew my mom?”
He chuckles. “You could say that.” The badge drops to the tile below with a metallic clang. He moves and walks past her as if she isn’t even there. “Turn off the lights when you leave. I don’t think anyone will be using this place for a while.”
The man stops for a brief moment to throw the butt of his cigarette towards the floor and stomp it out, but leaves immediately after. The doors shut behind him with a small thud.
Hesitantly, Leaf makes her way forward and picks up the Earth Badge from the ground.
Grandma ushers Leaf inside with a disapproving click of her tongue at the scrapes that line her arms and legs, but not before wrapping her in a crushing hug, as if checking to make sure she’s really there at her door in one piece.
Shortly after Leaf sets her bags in her room she finds herself ushered towards a seat at the counter and Grandma starts prepping a fresh batch of cookie dough. One by one, balls of dough are shaped and placed neatly onto the pan.
Leaf tells Grandma about her travels. She tells her about Butterfree, about Nidoqueen who came before him and the others who came after. She tells her about the Safari Zone, the sunrises on the beaches of Cinnabar Island, and the caves she’d hated trekking through. She tells her about her gym battles and the one badge she didn’t have to battle for at all.
“There was a man,” Leaf says, leaning her arm on the counter and propping her face up on her hand, “at the Viridian City Gym. He said I looked like Mom did at my age.”
Grandma freezes, shoulders tense. Slowly, methodically, as if trying to keep her hands from shaking, she sets down the little ball of cookie dough she had been shaping. “And what else did he say?”
“Not much.” She shrugs. “He gave me a badge.”
Grandma braces both hands on the counter and looks Leaf in the eyes. “I need you to listen to me closely. That man is dangerous. If you ever see him again, I want you to turn around and run far, far away.”
Leaf raises an eyebrow. “Why? He’s the gym leader, isn’t he? I wouldn’t have gotten a badge from him otherwise.”
“He was, once.” Her gaze hardens in an instant. “He stopped upholding that duty—and what it meant—a long time ago.”
“He knew Mom,” Leaf says, both a statement and a question. Who is he?
“He did,” Grandma agrees. “And I knew him too. Trust me when I say it is far better for all of us if he never knows you.”
Why? Leaf wants to ask, but she knows that she won’t get an answer. Not from Grandma. (And by extension, Grandpa either.) She holds her tongue.
Leaf leaves for Victory Road with a fresh supply of homemade cookies. Venusaur is delighted to get access to his favorite snack again. He had liked the store-bought shortbreads, but his favorite cookies, it seems, will always be homemade. She doesn’t blame him.
One by one, badge after badge, Leaf is let through each gate until all that’s left is to climb her way up to the Pokemon League. This, unfortunately, means another trek through a cave.
Dragonair looks around with cloudy eyes, the crystals on her neck and tail lighting the way. Nidoqueen pushes away stray boulders blocking the path and Aerodactyl carries Leaf across the occasional crevasse; Persian keeps an eye out for wild Pokemon behind and Venusaur watches the front.
Getting through Victory Road is an exercise in teamwork and even though they find themselves tired as they near the top, she and all her Pokemon are still in one piece and battle-ready. Leaf had trained her Pokemon well, and it shows.
By this point in their journey, most trainers have six Pokemon. Leaf has five, but she manages. The extra attention and time she would have given to a sixth party member is instead split between the five Pokemon she already has, and they are stronger for it.
The Pokemon League building looms in the distance. After some time spent resting at the built-in Pokemon Center, she’s sure they’ll be more than ready to rise to the challenge.
Dragonair evolves to Dragonite by the time she reaches the entrance.
When Leaf checks in to her room with her ID card, the receptionist pauses for a moment upon reading her name. “Leaf Greene?” he asks.
“Yes,” Leaf confirms, with a slight raise of an eyebrow. Usually they just hand over the keys when she checks in.
“A package arrived with your name on it about a week ago,” he explains, passing her ID back before turning around to rustle under the back counter. He pulls out a neatly wrapped box and places it on the counter next to the key to her room.
She quickly shoves the key in her pocket and picks up the box. It’s small, but not overly so, neatly tied up with twine and brown paper. Her name is—as the receptionist had said, written on the top in neat cursive, but there’s no return address.
She makes a beeline for her room, sets her things down, and places the offending package on her bed. Taking a seat in front of it and crossing her legs, she grabs it and places it on her lap.
The knotted twine is quickly unfurled with work from deft fingers and the brown paper peeled off. Leaf pulls open the top of the box only to find… a Pokeball. There’s a note with it, too, but she’ll deal with that later.
She reaches in and pulls the Pokeball out. After inspecting it for a brief moment, she pushes the little button on the front to open it. Surprisingly, it’s not empty. A Rhyhorn materializes on the floor of her hotel room with a small grunt. It looks around curiously but otherwise seems largely unphased.
She reaches for the note. In the same neat cursive that had been on the outside of the box, it reads:
For all the birthdays I missed, and everything else.
-Uncle
Leaf glances at the Rhyhorn and then back at the note.
She doesn’t remember having an uncle. She’ll ask her grandparents about it the next time she stops at home.
Rhyhorn, being a last-minute addition to her team, is not able to get the same kind of individualized training Leaf’s other Pokemon had gotten when they first joined. There’s simply no time. She only has a few days before her League challenge is scheduled to begin, and she can’t afford to be late.
Luckily, he doesn’t seem to need it much. He’s serious and no-nonsense, and a complete powerhouse in a fight. Whoever had owned him last, whoever her uncle is, had done an excellent job of training him. Rhyhorn takes whatever food she gives him without complaint and adjusts to the hectic comings and goings of the last few days of pre-challenge preparations with ease.
She takes the time to stock up on supplies, the largest of which is medicine. Medicine isn’t perfect, and it’s no substitute for rest and a trip to the Pokemon Center, but the latter won’t be an option. Once she starts her bouts with the Elite Four, she won’t be allowed to stop. She’ll have time to heal her Pokemon with her own supplies, but no more than that. Medicine isn’t perfect, but if she buys the right stuff, it’ll be good enough for her to get by. The right stuff is anything but cheap, and Leaf spends an absurd amount on Full Restores.
Six Pokemon, Eight badges, and a dream just within reach, close enough to almost touch it. Leaf thinks her mom would be proud.
(Work hard, and you can be anything you want to be, sweetie. You want to be Champion? It won’t be easy, but I think you can do it.)
She closes her eyes and dreams of success.
Lorelei’s Ice-types prove a challenge, but the shared Water-typing of most of her team gives Venusaur and Aerodactyl a sorely needed edge. The rest of her Pokemon Nidoqueen deals with by using some fast, well-timed Stone Edge attacks. All three Pokemon are tired and scratched up by the end of the battle, but nothing bad enough that it can’t be fixed by a Full Restore.
Dragonite takes the lead against Bruno’s Fighting-types. She does well until Hitmonchan manages to scrape her with an Ice Punch. Aerodactyl quickly takes over where Dragonite left off and manages to take down Hitmonchan, but at the cost of getting hit with a Thunder Punch himself. Luckily, Rhyhorn is able to rather efficiently deal with Bruno’s Onix, and Leaf is able to move on and heal up after.
Ghost types, Leaf finds, are rather annoying. They’re wily and hard to hit and it doesn’t help that Agatha is more than prepared for Normal-types like Persian. Persian has to dodge more than his fair share of Focus Blasts, but he and Nidoqueen make it out in one piece with a win.
Leaf has used two thirds of her supply of Full Restores by the time she’s ready for her fourth Elite Four battle. She’ll need to make it out of this with at least one Pokemon untouched in order to have her full team battle ready after. She’d heard rumors of a boy taking the previously vacant Champion spot just a few days before, and if he’s either of the two people she thinks it might be, she’ll need all of her Pokemon in fighting shape.
Dragonite walks by her side into the next chamber and Lance of the Indigo Elite Four takes in his newest challenger with a smile, eyes pausing on Dragonite for a brief moment. His grin widens. He reaches for a Pokeball and his own Dragonite appears in front of him, determined.
With a nod of her head, Leaf’s Dragonite steps forward to her side of the battlefield. She looks at her matching opponent and roars.
She loses to a boy from Pallet Town with dark hair, dark eyes, and a Charizard. She comes close to winning, so, so very close, but Dragonite falls to his Pikachu and she finds herself out of Pokemon.
One step forward, two steps back. Even here, she lags behind him.
Red looks at her afterwards and offers his hand out in respect. It was a close battle and he knows it. She takes his hand, grip firm, and shakes it. He is the champion, she is not.
A few weeks later, Red leaves the position vacant, gone off to who knows where. Blue, who had apparently been Champion just before Red, temporarily takes up the spot in his stead.
Leaf challenges the Pokemon League again. Rhyhorn is now a Rhydon and she needs far fewer Full Restores to get herself through the Elite Four.
This time, she wins.
Blue gives her a bittersweet smile and steps aside, offering her passage to the room beyond that Leaf knows holds the hall of fame.
“Second time I’ve had someone take the Champion title from me recently,” he tells her, as he follows her in. “But I’m not surprised it was you. You gave Red a run for his money, I hear.”
Leaf steps forward, places her Pokeballs one by one into the machine at the center, and watches as her name and Pokemon are recorded.
Her picture is placed right next to Red’s, whose picture is right next to Blue’s. Next to Blue’s picture is a young woman with a Venusaur and a smile Leaf would recognize anywhere.
(If you want to be Champion, you’ll need to beat me.)
Ivy Greene, the caption underneath reads.
Leaf returns home on a Tuesday morning to a tight hug from Grandpa and an empty kitchen. Grandma is nowhere in sight. She plays Mahjong with her friends on Tuesdays, and today is no different.
“Grandpa,” Leaf asks, “do I have an uncle?”
He pauses slightly as they separate. “Why do you ask?”
“He left me a package at the Pokemon League. He gave me a Rhyhorn.”
“A Rhyhorn. Why am I not surprised?” Grandpa shakes his head with a sigh. “Yes. I told Magnolia you’d figure it out eventually.”
“I have an uncle?” Leaf pauses, taking in the information. “And Grandma knew?” And she never told me?
“Of course she knew.” He chuckles, and it is a bitter, haggard sound. “A mother never forgets her son, no matter how much she would like to.”
Grandpa sits her down on the living room couch, pulls out a photo album he had hidden away somewhere, and tells Leaf all about a boy named Giovanni Greene.
He shows her photos of a little boy with a Charmander, polaroid pictures of a man and a Rhydon in front of the Pokemon League, pictures of Giovanni’s appointment to Gym Leader and Mom standing proudly by his side. The rest of the photo album is empty plastic.
“Giovanni was a good boy, but a terrible, rotten man. Got mixed up in all the wrong things. Your grandmother blames herself for it,” Grandpa explains.
Her fists clench. “And neither of you ever thought it would be a good idea to tell me I have an uncle? That Mom had a brother? I deserved to know.”
“It was safer that way. You were so young, Leaf, when it happened.” Leaf glances up at Grandpa and he suddenly looks so much older, gaze distant, tired. “Your mother was so very brave, and wicked stubborn. She never let anything get in her way. When she was asked to look into what her brother was up to, she didn’t even hesitate to agree. She said it was her duty, and that brother or not, she would stop him.”
For a brief moment, his voice trembles.
“And then she never came back. A parent should never have to bury their child, Leaf. We didn’t want to—couldn’t risk having to bury a grandchild too.”
Leaf doesn’t think their decision was fair, but she understands it. She stays the night, but no more than that. She’s Champion now. She has places to be.
Blue takes over the Viridian City Gym. Truthfully, Leaf isn’t sure how to feel about that, but she’s too busy to think on it much.
As Champion, she has responsibilities. Between defending her position, attending conferences, and helping out in dealing with regional issues, she’s constantly doing things. By her third month in, she’s starting to understand why Mom had taken so many work trips and why Red had apparently decided keeping the position simply wasn’t worth it.
Taking care of the remaining pockets of Team Rocket activity on the Sevii islands is a welcome respite to her usual humdrum, and Leaf finds herself longing for the road again. So much so, actually, that she quits. She buys herself a Pokegear and a bike and rides around Kanto trying food she hadn’t had the money for before.
Blue gives her his number when she stops by the gym at home. He tells her about how Red’s been camped out up on Mount Silver waiting for challengers, about how he had been bored as Champion, and about how the last real challenge Red had apparently had was fighting her.
Leaf climbs Mount Silver, one step after another, to find the boy she couldn’t beat. He waits at the summit, snow swirling around him and wind howling, and smiles when he sees her approaching.
Like last time, their battle is close, so very close.
(This time, she is better prepared, and there is no Elite Four to wear her down first. Dragonite does not fall to Pikachu.)
Red offers his hand out just like he had a year ago, plugs his number into her Pokegear, and flies off on the back of his Charizard.
A trip around Johto sounds nice, she thinks. There’s been rumours of Team Rocket activity there that are worth looking into, at the very least. If what she’d heard is true, she might have a cousin out there somewhere.