Risk it and battle the boy.

Chapter VI - The First Battle

"Fine!" You agree to his terms. How hard could be right? Just tackle and avoid any attacks. The boy turns back and grins as you both grip your Pokéballs in your hands. Almost synchronized, you both throw the balls to the ground and each of your Pokémon surface from the light. Both of them look determined and ready for battle.

"Okay, I'll give you a heads up." The boy holds his Pokéball out for you too see. "See this ring around the center?" You glance at yours, noticing the glowing green ring around the center of it. "This is your Pokémon's HP." He explains. "Once it's gone, your Pokémon will faint and you lose." You're quite surprised you didn't know this already, you just kind of figured there'd be some bar in the sky telling you the status of your Pokémon. You nod as you watch the kid countdown. "3, 2, 1, GO!" He yells.

"Squirtle, use tackle!" You command. Squirtle sprints towards Pidgey, strafing as he goes to avoid any incoming attacks.

"Pidgey, sand attack!" The Pidgey hovers in the air and flutters its wings, kicking up the dust from the ground into Squirtle's direction. You're certain that Squirtle had missed but the sound of Pidgey screeching verified the hit. You smirk as Squirtle leaps back, now looking very pleased with itself. "Alright Pidgey, that's the only one they're hitting." The boy shouts as the dust clears. "Use gust!" Wait, no! The Pidgey is a higher level than you thought, at least level 9 if your knowledge serves you well. There's no way your level 5 Squirtle can defeat a level 9, even if it is a Pidgey.

The Pidgey flutters its wings again, this time with more ****, causing two small tornados of dust to head straight for Squirtle. You panic, not knowing what to do. You flinch as you see Squirtle kicked back by the attack. Why didn't it move? Squirtle gets back up, still eager to fight. "Okay, Pidgey again!" The kid yells.

"Squirtle, Tail Whip!" You retaliate. Squirtle leaped into the air and span rapidly, before throwing its tail out sending a pulse of energy towards Pidgey. It cut through the gust attack and hit Pidgey, lowering its defense. If you could land a couple more hits, you'd win. From then on, the battle was pretty even, until the last minute. The boy and your Pokémon are on low HP, one attack will finish either one.

"Pidgey, Gust!" The boy commands.

"Squirtle, Tackle!" You yell. The battlefield is hidden with sand. The sound of a slap confirms someone landed a hit. You wait for the dust to settle. You see the silhouette of Squirtle and no Pidgey. You can't help but smile. Did you win? Did you actually win? But at the second you're about to celebrate, Squirtle collapses onto the ground as Pidgey hovers down to a visible eye level. You glance at the Pokéball. There's no ring, it's gone. You lost.

The kid yelps with a cheer before returning his Pidgey. You do the same with Squirtle though less enthusiastic. You clip the fainted Pokémon onto your bag with your head hanging low. Your hair hides the tears forming in your eyes. You can't believe you lost, and Squirtle got hurt because of it. You aren't left with your tears for long though.

"Alright, pay up." The boy chuckles. Oh god, you had completely forgotten about the deal you both made.

"Listen, kid, can I take my Squirtle to a Pokémon Center first and then do this?" you plead, but the boy is having none of it.

"Pay up, and then I'll give you the directions to the city." He grins. You let out a disappointed sigh as you raise your scarlet red skirt and flash the kid your tanga panties. "Not gonna' lie." He giggled. "I kinda' hoped you were wearing nothing under there." He beamed, admiring the pink lined underwear. You felt your entire face going red. A sick feeling in your stomach. Your tears now running down your cheeks. You're humiliated. How is it in the past day more people have seen your underwear than in your whole life? You try to keep the display as short as possible, hoping he can't see anything in too much detail. He marveled at them for around 15 seconds before you let your skirt back down.

"Here." You say, giving him the $200 prize money. "Now tell me how I get to Viridian City."

"Just follow the path straight on." He smirked, stuffing the money into his shorts pocket. You notice something sticking out in his shorts. Did he seriously get hard from this? That's disgusting.

"Are you kidding me?" You yell, frustrated that a kid would do something like that to you.

"Nope, it may seem like a maze but its just one continuous path." He laughed and turned to walk the other way.

"Screw you asshole!" You yell at the boy.

"Nice meeting you, thanks for the view." He chuckled as he kept his head forward. You watch as the boy disappears into the night. Maybe you should have found your own way there, how hard would it have been? You trek along the winding path for a while, luckily the length of the battle had taken most of the night so morning seemed to come pretty quickly. Humiliated and sadened by your fainted Squirtle, you see the skyline of buildings rise from the hill you spent a while climbing up. Viridian City, you made it. It was now a straight path to the entrance and it wasn't far...