Journey Through Kanto | ✅

Chapter 13: Vermilion City

Zia, Sky, and Emmy are currently standing in front of a sign with visible tears of happiness in their eyes.

"FINALLY!" Emmy cried as she hugged the pole holding the sign up. Sky and Zia both nodded in agreement. "We can have a shower." Zia started. "And eat decent food." Sky continued. "And sleep in a bed!" Emmy ended as she let go of the pole. They practically skipped into the city and made their way to the Pokemon center.

As they made their way inside, they walked up to Nurse Joy. "Can I request a room and a check up for my Pokemon?" Zia asked politely. Nurse Joy turned from her computer and chuckled to herself. "I'm guessing you came from Cerulean from how desperate you look, am I right?" She asked. Zia nodded and scrunched her nose as she smelled her clothes. "Yeah, and we are also in desperate need of a shower as well." She said.

Nurse Joy chuckled again. "Well, I'd be happy to give you a room and place your Pokemon here." Zia nodded and got the room key and put her Pokemon on the cart, showing Joy her card from Professor Oak showing she's allowed to carry above 6 Pokemon. However, before any of them could move, a Chansey, a small boy, and a Rattata on a stretcher came rolling in. "Hold on Rattata, hold on!" The small boy cried as they ran into another room.

"That Rattata doesn't look very good, must've had a pretty rough time somewhere." Zia muttered as she watched them run past. Nurse Joy sighed and stood up. "That's the 15th one this month!" She exclaimed. Zia looked curiously at her and she explained. "A bunch of challengers that went to see Lt. Surge, the gym leader, have been defeated and end up like you saw with that Rattata."

Nurse Joy led her to another room where a group of Pokemon were resting. Zia looked around at all the hurt Pokemon and thought about how strong this Lt. Surge must be. Emmy and Sky also looked around, a bit nervous from the amount of injured Pokemon. Zia turned to Nurse Joy again.

"What type does Lt. Surge use?" She asked. "Electric types." Joy answered. Zia nodded and glanced around again before walking back out with Joy. She continued to do a quick look over of her Pokemon and once she was done, Zia headed to the room she got.

Once there, she let all her Pokemon out and gave them some food she picked up before she got to the Pokemon center. She was deep in thought and looked like she was trying to make a decision. Her Pokemon all noticed and Avery spoke up. "Zia, what ya thinkin' about?" Zia snapped her head up and looked at her Pidgeotto. "Nothing, just about the battle. Though I want to ask one thing, Sky do you think you'd want to do this one?" She asked as she looked over to her Luxio. Sky seemed to think and nodded, "I would like to see how I'd fare against another electric-type."

Zia nodded and smiled. "Great, it's decided. Sky will be taking this one on!" She announced. She looked at the rest of her Pokemon to see some of them looked a bit down. Namely Vinnie, Dimitri, and Kai. Zia smiled at the three, "I'm sorry guys, but how about this. I'll choose all three of you for the next gym battles alright?" She compromised. The three nodded and smiled as well.

"Well, let's sleep. We got a gym leader to win against tomorrow." Zia said and everyone agreed, falling asleep rather quickly.

Next day, with everyone refreshed and finally smelling decent, they made their way to the Vermilion City Gym. Upon arrival, they all looked over the design of the building. "Definitely an electric gym." Zia muttered as she stared at all the lightning bolts.

They finally went inside and were met with two people, a man and woman. They looked her over and asked what she was doing there. "I'm here for a gym battle." She stated as she looked around the place. The man chuckled and called behind him. "Hey boss, got another one for the emergency room!"

Zia twitched at the obvious insult but didn't say anything. Suddenly, a booming laugh could be heard and a man stepped out from behind the two others. Zia's eyes widened slightly. The man was huge! Easily twice her size, maybe more. Anything would look small compared to him. He looked at Zia and came closer. "What's a pretty lady like you doin' here? Where's my challenger?" He asked. Zia rolled her eyes and pointed to herself.