A story of Pokemon

Viridian Forest

Ash had just resumed the course of his adventure. Since his victory against the kid in shorts, he felt like he was flying, euphoric, as if in a dream. He had that feeling of freedom and satisfaction, that one feels when you finally manage to take a good dump.

He was now walking along the vast paths of the Viridian Forest, carefree. Normally, he was naturally grumpy and questioned everything, but he had nothing to say about the dubious geography of Viridian City. To get to the Viridian Forest, one had to pass through a large house, and even less about the fact that the inhabitants of said house seemed completely indifferent to strangers entering their door at any time of day (it's crazy how quickly humans can get used to things). Moreover, he wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings; otherwise, he might have heard the cries of despair from young children coming from the grass or behind the bushes, as they encountered wild Pokémon for the umpteenth time, ready to make them regret their childish decision to go Pokémon hunting.

"Sniiifff Humm, 5000 Pokédollars," exclaimed Ash, bringing the wad of Pokédollars to his nose to smell it.

"Well done, xxPokemonSlayerxx," said the Pokédex cheerfully. "With that, you'll be able to stock up at the next Pokémon Mart."

Ash glanced at the Pokédex while continuing to walk.

"5000 Pokédollars, it feels good to see that this little bully made good use of his time and extorted the most kids who were unlucky enough to come across him. How many children fell under his rule?"

He sighed and continued, "It's unbelievable, what a coward! He stationed himself on that road and ambushed young beginners like me. It's unacceptable."

The Pokédex was staring at Ash silently. Certainly, he had every reason to be indignant and outraged by the behavior of that young boy in shorts, but now, seeing him rejoice while counting his money (which, in a way, was also the result of extortion), he began to wonder deep down if Ash, at some point in his adventure, might also become the next bully with a red cap, stationed there, around a corner, ambushing inexperienced young trainers. But maybe he was wrong. Maybe two weeks were too short to understand the complex personality of this young boy. Yes, maybe, but deep down, the Pokédex didn't want to think about such a possibility.

"Hey you, you're a trainer, right?"

Ash froze. For a moment, the words he had just heard brought him back to reality. He felt the fresh, earthy scent of the forest, the light breeze that made the leaves of the trees dance, the flickering and speckled shadows of the canopy reflecting on the ground, but he also felt his body tremble slightly.

Oh no! No, not that, not again, he repeated to himself.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, are you deaf?" said the voice again, the one he didn't want to address.

"No... no... no no no no no no no," murmured Ash.

"So, you're not going to answer me? No matter, it's too late, we're going to fight now."

"Nooooooooo!" screamed Ash, as for a brief moment, he heard a sort of battle music start, or maybe he was just hallucinating. Too late for him, the battle had just begun.

Whether he wanted it or not, Ash was now facing his challenger. He glared at the young trainer. He knew that the road to Pewter City would be filled with these little troublemakers, but still, couldn't a Pokémon trainer enjoy his victory for two minutes before getting dragged into another battle? Unfortunately, that was impossible, not in the Pokémon world.

Ash was unhappy. No, actually, he was furious. He was so angry that he hadn't even noticed one thing (perhaps not surprising for the creators of this game, I mean world). In fact, the young trainer who had just challenged him and who now stood proudly in front of him was a spitting image of the one who had inflicted his defeat just moments before. He looked so much like him that one could definitely believe it was a glitch in the matrix (or just developers endlessly duplicating the same characters to artificially extend their game's lifespan, but now we're digressing).