By the riverside, a pretty girl with short orange hair tied up with a cord sat cross-legged, fishing rod in hand. She wore a light and breezy outfit, a beige sleeveless crop top exposing her midriff and a pair of ultra-short denim shorts held up by red suspenders.

"I've heard there might be Gyarados here, hope not to encounter one... hope not to encounter one..." she muttered anxiously while fishing, her eyes darting across the water surface, fearful of a Gyarados suddenly appearing.

Her fear of Gyarados wasn't just because it was a massive Pokémon; past incidents had left her with a deep-seated phobia of the creature.

"Something's happening!" Suddenly, her eyes brightened, then confusion clouded her face as she stared at the bobber on her fishing rod. She sensed movement beneath the water, yet her bobber remained still. What was going on?

"Wait... is that—a flock of Spearow?!" While puzzled about the underwater situation, she noticed a large 'cloud' approaching in the sky. Standing up abruptly, she realized that this 'cloud' was Spearow!

"What's going on? Why are there Spearows here? There aren't supposed to be any in this part of the river!" Her face clouded over with concern; she had researched the area thoroughly before coming to fish.

Just then, she felt the underwater disturbance growing stronger. A shadow in the river drew closer, causing her to panic.

"Huff...ah..." In her moment of panic, the shadow suddenly breached the water surface. It was a boy around her age, with a Pikachu clutching his clothes tightly on his shoulder!

The girl and the boy locked eyes, both showing expressions of astonishment.

"Pika, Pika Pika!" As they looked at each other, Pikachu suddenly spoke up, tugging at the boy's hat. The boy snapped back to reality and looked up to see the approaching Spearow, his expression turning grim. He quickly made his way to the shore.

"Run, the Spearows are coming!" Instead of fleeing immediately, the boy grabbed the girl's hand, snatched up her backpack from beside her feet, and started running with her.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? Are the Spearow chasing you?!" Initially caught off-guard by the sudden flight, the girl quickly regained her composure and demanded answers.

"It's my fault, I'm sorry for dragging you into this. But now's not the time to explain; we need to keep running. If the Spearows catch up to us, it's no joke!" The boy apologized even as they kept running.

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"Wait, wait!" However, the girl tugged at the boy, trying to get him to stop. "Running like this, they'll catch up to us again!"

"We have to try to get as far as we can. There's a Gyarados in the river; we can't hide there!" the boy quickly explained.

The girl's face stiffened. She had intended to suggest hiding in the river until the Spearow dispersed, but the presence of a Gyarados, her most feared Pokémon, ruled out that option.

"Is that... a bicycle?!" After climbing a slope, the boy spotted a bicycle parked at the top and brightened up. He pulled the girl toward it, placed her bag in the front basket, and mounted it. However, the bike had no rear seat since it was a mountain bike.

"You really..." the girl muttered, quickly retrieving two small devices from her backpack and attaching them to a rack beside the rear wheel. She then stood on them.

"Hold tight!" Relieved to see that the girl had found a way to hitch a ride, the boy warned her once and then began pedaling hard. The bicycle shot forward with impressive speed.

"Where are you planning to go? Head towards Viridian City! That way!" The girl, seeing the boy heading in a random direction, tugged at his shirt and pointed towards the north, where Viridian City lay.

"Sorry!" The boy hadn't thought of escaping to a city but took her advice and turned the bicycle towards Viridian City.

"Really..." The girl muttered under her breath. She held a fishing rod under one arm, using one hand to maintain her balance by gripping the boy's shoulder and the other to fold up the rod, all while glancing back at the Spearow. The distance between them was not widening but slowly closing.

"How exactly did you manage to upset those Spearow?" the girl finally asked after stowing her fishing rod, her curiosity piqued by the Pikachu now perched on the boy's head, looking irresistibly cute.

"It's a long story, but in short, we were battling a Pidgey, and that startled the Spearow..." The boy explained briefly, still catching his breath.

"You guys are really... unlucky," the girl remarked, seeing his disheveled state and deciding against saying anything harsh.

"Pika pika..." Pikachu glanced back at the girl, somewhat sheepishly, clearly aware that this human girl had been inadvertently dragged into their escape.

"If we keep going like this..." The girl glanced back repeatedly. The flock of Spearow was drawing closer, and at this rate, they would catch up before they could reach the outskirts of Viridian City.

"How far are they now?!" the boy called out without looking back.

"About a hundred meters..." the girl replied, her voice tinged with worry. She hadn't faced such a situation before and was only slightly more experienced than a rookie trainer.

"A hundred meters..." The boy paused briefly, then suddenly commanded Pikachu, "Then keep it up, Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!"

"Pika—!" Pikachu responded without hesitation, and while the girl was taken aback by the boy's command, she knew that Pikachu's capabilities seemed limited to a novice level; a hundred meters was surely too far for its power to reach.

But the next moment, Pikachu's performance astonished her. The Thunder Shock precisely hit a Spearow a hundred meters away, a feat beyond what a novice level Pokémon should be capable of. Yet, it happened right before her eyes!

"This... how is this possible..." The girl stared at Pikachu in disbelief. This defied all her knowledge about Pokémon capabilities. How could a novice Pokémon attack from such a distance?