Chapter 12

"Vine Whip!" Red ordered.

After Selven grew the slender, lime green vines out from underneath his flower bulb, they quickly struck the enemy trainer's Sandshrew. The vines, upon making contact with the Ground-type Pokemon, seemed to absorb nutrients from the Sandrew's skin. The light colored vines began to grow darker green after hitting it. When the Sandshrew fell to the barren path, the front of its body where it had been hit was dark gray, like it had been severely dehydrated as the moisture had been sucked out.

"Darn it!" the young kid in shorts and a cap said.

After he returned his downed Pokemon to his Pokeball, the Bulbasaur jumped in glee.

"Yeah!" he said. "I rock!"

He's stronger than I thought. Red surmised. Selven was obviously very close to being killed as he was getting too old before his bulb would no longer be tender even under high heat. Glad I got him when I did.

After the young kid sighed, a trainer in a sunhat stepped forward. He took a Pokeball from his waist and opened it. From it came a Beedrill in a flash of light, its gossamer wings buzzing loudly.

"Try your luck with my Beedrill!" the sunhat kid said.

"I think you should withdraw Selven," Cinder said as he stood beside his trainer.

"Yeah," Red said as reached for the Bulbasaur's Pokeball.

"What?" the Grass-type asked. "No way!"

"Beedrill!" the trainer ordered. "Twin Needle!"

Just as Red was about to reach for the Seed Pokemon's ball and Cinder was motioning to protect the Bulbasaur, Selven smiled. He motioned his bulb forward and fired from the opening at the top a small, yellow seed. The seed struck the Bug-type that charged forward, embedded into the Beedrill's chest after piercing its outer flesh.

From the piercing seed came a green stem that sprouted from his chest. The Beedrill fell from midair to the ground as the plant began to grow into taller and taller by the second. Just as it could start sprouting leaves and a flower bulb at the top, the young trainer returned the Beedrill to its Pokeball.

Leech Seed. Red recognized. A Grass-type move that instantly drains the Pokemon's energy upon contact. Despite being shot at the opponent, it's still connected to the user and immediately restores their strength as it absorbs stamina from the foe. It's almost assuredly an instant victory once it hits.

"Darn it you're good!" he said.

"Yeah," a girl said. "He's beaten all of us."

"Yeah!" Leta said.

She flew down in front of Red, her white and black wings flapping with joy. He had brought out all his Pokemon to battle the group of trainers that surrounded them. There were half a dozen in total and he used all of his Pokemon at least twice in a battle. They stood in the mountainous area around them, surrounded by cliffs and plateaus with occasionally patches of grass. The place was barren of most plant life with trees being scarce in favor of stony scenergy.

"We're number one!" the Bug and Flying Pokemon said.

"Yeah," Hurzer stated. "Fantastic. Hey...does anyone else feel a little itchy? Because…ah!"

Red looked down to find the Nidoran growing larger. It's legs thickened and its body immediately gained new muscle. It's horn and ears lengthened until they no longer looked cute on it but rather menacing. When Hurzer had finally evolved, he looked even meaner and more ornery than usual.

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"Heh," he said. "I survived long enough to become a Nidorino. Didn't think that'd happen."

"Dang it," the Beedrill's trainer said. "He's even stronger."

"What?" Red asked. "Do you guys ever bother to train?"

"We've only started a few weeks ago," a female trainer said.

"Yeah," the Sandshrew's trainer said. "We're newbie trainers who have only had a small amount of time to prepare for the harshness of wilderness."

"But now that you've come along we could use your help," a large man in a cap said.

"With what?" Red asked.

"With driving out the wild Pokemon eating electricity at the Kanto power plant," the female trainer said.

"Yeah," another trainer said. "They continually threaten to deprive the entire countryside of energy considering they're naturally drawn to the electricity produced by the captured Pokemon there."

"Many of the trainers that come out of Cerulean City routinely die due to the wild Electric Pokemon," the Sandshrew's trainer said. "Pushing back the latest wave of Electrics is the highest responsibility of trainers in this area as they come month after month."

"We're only here because the last wave of Electric-types killed most of the trainers that came before us," the Beedrill's trainer said.

Red smiled, he couldn't believe how lucky he was. Not only did his Nidoran evolve so it could be a Ground-type that was immune to Electric attacks, but now he had other trainers around him to aid him in his pursuit. This was all but a smash guarantee that Red would have a shot at beating the Cerulean Gym leader.

"Lead the way," he said.

"But Red-" Cinder said. "Why are we-?"

"It'll take a few days to travel there on foot," the female trainer said. "First, let's head to the Pokemon Center before we fight them. The Electric-types arrive in swarms so we need to be at full strength."

"Alright," Red said. "I'll help you guys out."

"Red you need to think-" Cinder said.

"What?!" the trainer addressed his Pokemon.

The Fire-type's face became a mask of pain when Red turned to him. It was clear the Charmeleon was hurt by his trainer's tone of voice as Cinder looked up at him with eyes about to water. He quivered a little while Red stared at him, recognizing that face. It was an expression similar to how he looked when he lost a battle and was jeered by his classmates. He looked at his other Pokemon to see that Leta and Selven were clearly disturbed by his disrespectful tone while Hurzer smiled, as if to say "I told you there was a reason I hated you".

"That-" Leta said. "That wasn't nice. You should have-"

"Are your Pokemon always this disrespectful?" the large trainer in the cap said.

"Yeah," the female trainer said. "If my Pokemon ever asks why we do things I always punish them with no food until they stop misbehaving."

The Bulbasaur whirled around to the female trainer in confusion.

"Disrespectful?" the Grass-type asked. "How?"

"Know your place!" she snapped.

The Bulbasaur's face became an expression of shock, clearly surprised that she was so angry. Red could hear the Nidorino laughing at the cruelty of the trainers, no doubt relishing that his opinion of humans was being confirmed. He quickly put his hand on the Fire-type's shoulder, feeling the warmth emanating from his skin as the Charmeleon looked down in submission.

"What was it you wanted to say?" Red asked.

"I-I just-" Cinder said. "Isn't the Kanto power plant full of Electric and Fire-types transferring the energy they emit to the rest of Kanto?"

The trainer's heart was breaking from the pain in his Pokemon's voice.

"Is that true?" Selven asked. "Who would be so cruel as to do that?"

"Must be the same as the Geodude we freed back in Mt. Moon," Leta said.

"Yes, that's right," Hurzer said. "Because we certainly did free them."

Oh yeah. Red thought. Selven's so sheltered he doesn't know that humans just see Pokemon as chattel and not friends. And Leta didn't witness me shrugging off the plight of the Geodude like Cinder did.

"I mean…" Cinder said. "I just don't like defending a place that exists only off of slavery and extortion."

Red looked around at the trainers surrounding him. They all looked very concerned, some horrified at his Charmeleon's words. He then looked back down at the Fire-type and used his free hand to lift his chin to look back up at him.

"Look…" he said. "The Pokemon there...they are fine. They get...food, water...shelter...much better than being in the wild."

Cinder nodded slowly before sighing. Red looked around to see no one was relieved by him trying to pacify his Pokemon. Even Leta and Selven were looking disturbed. The female trainer was shaking her head while the Beedrill's trainer was standing behind the larger man.

"He gets a little carried away sometimes," Red said. "Let's head to the Pokemon Center already."

No longer was anyone looking relieved but frightened. All except for Hurzer, carrying his smug expression all the way back to the Center. Red didn't lift his head the entire time he traveled back to Cerulean City, too afraid to say a word.

Cinder's right. He thought. I did love Pokemon back when I was a kid and losing battles constantly only taught me to treat them like tools. But...that's what they are...tools...wild creatures with no real purpose beyond just surviving. Humans are different in that they have dreams, feelings, desires and relationships. Right?