Pokemon: The Road to Absolution

Chapter 3

The pokémon center was an easy building for any tourist to find in Viridian City. The spherical roof alone was so massive that it sat on top of the rest of the building like a second red sun floating just above the popping city lights. The rest of the building behind it was a half-submerged bowl tilted at a 60 degree angle.

Nathan tried to look past the city but all he saw was a black sea of trees that he assumed was Viridian Forest. He remembered that the city served as the primary route through which one could travel to the Pokémon League. Memories of wanting to climb into his television screen and battle in the esteemed tournament came rushing back with full force.

He checked himself, remembering that at this particular time, getting Blastoise's full power back was his top priority.

All of the excitement from earlier in the day had left him pretty worn out. He stifled a yawn as he headed down the steep hill towards the city's entrance.

A large brick wall hugged the perimeter, with a wide archway that displayed Viridian City's name.

None of the sights were especially new to Nathan, who had travelled on a number of occasions to Viridian alongside his mother, back when their arcanine was still alive.

That felt like a long time ago.

One thing was for sure - his level of amazement at the sheer size of the city hadn't diminished over the years. Viridian wasn't even classed as one of Kanto's larger cities, but it was enough to overwhelm a country boy who had grown up beside a ranch on the outskirts of a sleepy town.

The city was fairly busy despite the time of day. Several of the people he walked past, he assumed were pokémon trainers, since they either had the likes of a rattata on their shoulder or a clefairy trotting behind them.

He wondered how many actually lived in the city and how many were just passing through, either to Pallet or, much more likely in his estimation, the Indigo League.

He had no illusions about his chances of winning at the Pokemon League, even with a fully evolved pokémon at his side. He had been a Pokémon trainer for all of an hour and more importantly, he had zero badges.

That's going to change, he thought to himself, clenching his fists.

He continued his walking at a slow pace, staring at the endless stream of people. He was overtaken by a group of teens who looked a little older than him. He overheard one of the girls who spoke between her lazy chews of a stick of bubble gum.

"Oh, my gosh, like, guys... have you smelled Erika's new fragrance, yet? Like, apparently its, like, suuuuper exotic."

"Exotic?" one of her male companions snorted. "If it's been anywhere near that vileplume of hers, it probably stinks."

The girl laughed and launched into some kind of counter argument that Nathan could no longer hear.

He saw other youths go by. One wore a belt that was studded with pokéballs, at least four of them, possibly with more that were lost beneath the billowing hem of his jacket.

Nathan took all of this in and thought about how Blastoise was the key to catching more pokémon. He may have been a novice, but even he knew that as a basic principle, if you wanted to catch a pokémon, you had to weaken it first.

Blastoise was certainly capable of weakening wild pokémon, and then some. It would give him a serious head start when compared to the other beginner trainers who would still be teaching their nidoran to sit.

Nathan had made up his mind that he would first take Blastoise to the pokémon centre, then shop for pokéballs while the giant turtle rested and recharged its energy.