Pokémon: Midnight Blue

Celadon City

Training Gastly to be up to snuff with its teammates was a cinch, and pretty soon, Gastly became Haunter. Meanwhile I was starting to work on training for my next Gym battle against Erika.

I had a Fire-type at my disposal, and Haunter had recently learned the Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo, which would be extremely useful considering most of her Pokémon would also be Poison-types. On top of that, Gyarados's Ice Beam would be very effective against her Grass-types, and despite the fact that Gyarados is a Water-type, its secondary Flying-type made it less vulnerable to Grass-type attacks.

Now it was just a matter of strengthening up my team so I could receive as little damage from Erika as possible. I trained out on Route 7 for a decent amount of time, or at least until I was sure that any one of my Pokémon could take out any wild opponent with one hit.

As I walked back into Celadon, I spotted two Rocket grunts. Remembering the last time I had a run-in with the Rockets, I tried to stay out of sight. Then my heart sunk as I noticed someone walking toward them.

"Hey, you!" a grunt caught Robin's attention, "Where do you think you're going?"

"The Game Corner," Robin replied nonchalantly, "Thought I'd do a little gambling."

"You're too young to be gambling, kid. Do you even have a coin case?"

"I don't see how that's of any importance to you."

There was something different about Robin. I found it strange, seeing as I had only spoken to him two days ago. He seemed to be more sure of himself. I could tell right off the bat he was up to something, and I suspected that something had to do with antagonizing Team Rocket.

"Why don't you show us your coin case, and we'll tell you whether or not it's important."

Robin reached into his red vest, as if he was going to show the grunt his coin case. I noticed that he then suddenly clutched something in his vest. The grunt noticed this and instantly responded by grabbing Robin by the arms and holding them behind Robin's back.

"This kid's trouble!" the grunt said to his colleague as Robin struggled to escape his grasp, "Search him!"

The second grunt instantly began patting Robin down and searching through his pockets. He pulled out three Pokéballs.

"He's got a Graveler, a Pidgeotto, and a Wartortle," the second grunt reported.

I sighed at how easily they had detained Robin, but now a more alarming question arose in my head: Where was Kylie? Unfortunately, my question was answered soon thereafter.

A third grunt appeared dragging Kylie along the same way the first grunt was restraining Robin and said, "Lookie here what I found hiding behind the bushes."

The second grunt looked at her and said, "Did she have any Pokémon on her?"

"Yeah, she was carrying a Primeape, a Jigglypuff, a Butterfree, a Cubone, and an Ivysaur."

The first tightened his grip on Robin, "Your little girlfriend there came better equipped than you did. Now, tell me, who else have you got working with you?"

By this point I had had enough of watching my friends being harrassed and interrogated by these mooks. I jumped out of my hiding spot holding a Pokéball and responded, "Me."

I bowled my Pokéball onto the floor and released Haunter. The second grunt tried to draw a Ball, but I was too quick for him.

"Lick," I commanded.

Haunter took a huge swipe at the second grunt with its tongue and left the adversary paralyzed. Robin took advantage of this moment to elbow his restrainer in the solar plexus. As the first grunt doubled over in pain, Robin dove for one of his Pokéballs and opened it up.

"Graveler, use Dig! Robin screamed as the Rock Pokémon popped out of the capsule and dove into the ground. Before long, a hole appeared below the third grunt. The goon collapsed under the hole and released Kylie from his grasp in the process. The first grunt was starting to pick himself up from Robin's attack, and as if by reflex, Kylie snapped her hand into her jacket and expertly flung a Pokéball towards the grunt.

"Butterfree!" she almost shrieked, "Use Sleep Powder!"

I had never seen Kylie like this. She was usually so calm and quiet. Her eyes flared with determination and just a little bit of frustration. Butterfree sprinkled its green dust on the grunt, and he fell asleep instantly.

The three of us returned our Pokémon to their capsules and admired the work we had done against the grunts. Finally, Robin looked at me, and I looked back with my usual smirk.

"Alright," Robin let out a relieved chuckle, "I guess we're even."