Grey's POV
After that night's rest, I continued my journey toward Cerulean City.
For some reason, both Exeggutor and Cloyster looked completely exhausted. Their eyes were half-closed, and neither seemed interested in moving. Whatever they had been doing all night, it clearly wasn't sleeping. Deciding not to question it, I returned both of them to their Poké Balls and called out Persian instead to carry my bag.
The trip through the Underground Path went surprisingly smoothly.
I didn't encounter any notable trainers on the way there, and once inside, the journey became little more than a long walk through the tunnel. The path itself was massive. If I had to estimate, it would take around four to five hours to cross on foot. At least that meant I would reach Route 5 by the end of the day.
The problem was that there was almost nothing to do.
There weren't many trainers around, and the scenery barely changed. The walk became so monotonous that I eventually started whistling to pass the time.
Persian immediately stopped walking.
The cat turned toward me with an annoyed expression before swiping a paw through the air as if ordering me to stop.
"...Was my whistling really that bad?"
Persian's deadpan stare answered the question.
Apparently, it was.
During the journey, Persian did manage to find a few useful items lying around the path. We picked up several Burn Heals and a couple of Super Potions, which was nice. No evolution stones, nuggets, or anything particularly valuable, but free supplies were free supplies.
Near the end of the Underground Path, I ran into an interesting trainer.
The guy approached me and asked if I happened to own a Haunter.
When I told him no, he looked disappointed before explaining that he was a Poison-type specialist trying to evolve his Golbat and eventually obtain a Gengar. Since Haunter evolved through trading, he had been asking random trainers whether they were interested in making exchanges.
Honestly, I doubted many people would trust a complete stranger enough to trade Pokémon with them, but I kept that thought to myself.
We chatted briefly before going our separate ways.
Eventually, I emerged from the Underground Path and arrived at Route 5.
After walking a little farther, I decided to set up camp and check my map.
Based on my calculations, I should reach Cerulean City by tomorrow if I maintained my pace. There wasn't much to explore on this route anyway. Aside from the Day Care located near Cerulean, there weren't many notable landmarks.
After setting up camp, I released all my Pokémon so they could eat.
Exeggutor and Cloyster were officially exempt from training for the day.
I still had no idea what those two had been doing all night, but judging from their bloodshot eyes and sluggish movements, rest was the only thing they needed right now.
Not that they were getting away with it.
The moment we reached Cerulean, I planned on putting both of them through training again. In fact, I probably wouldn't even use either of them in the upcoming Gym Battle.
It would be overkill.
As things stood, both Exeggutor and Cloyster were far stronger than anything a fourth Gym should reasonably handle. Instead, I wanted this badge to focus on Axew and Charmander.
Axew needed battle experience so he could continue progressing toward evolution.
Charmander, meanwhile, needed experience fighting against unfavorable matchups.
Cerulean Gym specialized in Water-types.
If Charmander could perform well there despite the disadvantage, it would be invaluable for her growth.
For today's training, I instructed everyone to continue working on the goals we had established back in Vermilion.
I also had a plan forming for the Gym Battle.
Specifically, I wanted Exeggutor to teach Charmander Sunny Day.
Charmander possessed Solar Power, an ability that became significantly stronger under sunlight. More importantly, harsh sunlight would weaken Water-type attacks, reducing one of Charmander's biggest disadvantages in the Cerulean Gym.
It wasn't a perfect solution.
A Fire-type would still be at a disadvantage against Water-types.
But if I could reduce that disadvantage even slightly, it would be worth the effort.
While my Pokémon trained, I browsed PokéNet looking for ideas.
Mostly, I searched for moves that my Pokémon's species could naturally learn without needing expensive TMs. TMs were useful, but relying on them for everything wasn't practical besides I would be getting 3 from bill every month I need to do some training for my pokemon for the rest of the month as well and on those said TM moves.
After a few hours, I decided everyone had trained enough for the day.
If I wanted to reach Cerulean by tomorrow, I still needed to cover a decent amount of distance.
So I packed up camp and continued down Route 5 with Persian walking beside me.
The trainers on this route were... underwhelming.
If Route 6 had been filled with weak trainers, then Route 5 somehow managed to be even worse.
Most of the opponents I encountered were using Pokémon like Oddish, Bellsprout, Nidoran, Pidgey, or their evolved forms.
As a result, I mainly used Charmander.
The little lizard was tearing through teams surprisingly easily.
What impressed me most wasn't her Fire-type attacks. Flamethrower was already strong.
No, what impressed me was how often she successfully incorporated her Dragon-type moves into battle.
Dragon Pulse and Dragon Claw were still noticeably weaker than Axew's versions, but they were becoming reliable options. More importantly, Charmander was growing comfortable using them in actual battles instead of just training sessions.
That would be useful against the Cerulean city Gym.
He was also getting much better at using Dragon Dance.
After receiving guidance from Axew who seemed to possess a natural understanding of the move, Charmander's execution had improved dramatically.
By the time the sun began to lower in the sky, I had covered most of Route 5.
A short while later, I finally reached the end of the route.
In the distance, beyond the trees and rolling hills, I could see the familiar blue rooftops and waterways of Cerulean City.
After weeks spent in Vermilion, my journey was finally moving forward again.
———————————————-
Before I could properly explore the main area of Cerulean City, I came across the famous ledges leading into the city.
In the games, those ledges were mostly one-way obstacles, but reality was far more practical. Proper pathways had been built around them, allowing trainers to move between the routes and the city without having to perform acrobatic jumps every time they wanted to travel.
As I followed one of those paths, I spotted the Pokémon Day Care in the distance.
Normally, I would have been interested in checking it out. A place dedicated to raising Pokémon was exactly the kind of location that would catch my attention. However, at the moment, I had more important priorities.
I was exhausted.
The long walk from Vermilion through the Underground Path and Route 5 had finally caught up to me.
More importantly, I wanted to register for a Challenge Mode Gym Battle as soon as possible. Challenge Mode battles required scheduling, and Gym Leaders were busy people. If I delayed, available slots could fill up before I even got my name on the list.
So I merely glanced at the Day Care from afar before continuing toward the city.
After another stretch of walking, I finally entered Cerulean City.
The moment I stepped into one of the main streets, an Officer Jenny approached me.
"Trainer, may I see your identification?"
I blinked in surprise but quickly handed over my Trainer ID.
At the same time, I showed her the Police Honor Commendation I had received previously.
The effect was immediate.
The suspicion vanished from her expression.
"Apologies," she said, handing the ID back. "We're conducting additional security checks. Ever since the S.S. Anne incident, security has been tightened throughout Kanto."
Honestly, I couldn't blame them.
If Team Rocket could attack one of the largest civilian ships in the region, then every city would naturally become more cautious.
Jenny looked down at my Trainer ID again before her eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, you're—"
I immediately raised a hand.
"Please don't say it out loud."
She paused before understanding dawned on her face.
Right.
Most people associated my name with the tournament.
The police probably associated it with the fact that I had been one of the trainers caught in the middle of the attack.
Jenny nodded professionally and lowered her voice.
"My apologies."
With that awkward moment avoided, she proceeded to give me directions to the Pokémon Center.
I thanked her and headed there immediately.
The moment I entered, I approached Nurse Joy and requested accommodation for several days.
Thankfully, there were plenty of rooms available.
After a few minutes of paperwork, I officially had a room booked for my stay in Cerulean.
With my lodging secured, I didn't waste any time.
I left the Pokémon Center and headed straight toward the Cerulean Gym.
The sooner I registered for a battle date, the sooner I could start planning exactly how I wanted to earn my fourth badge.
Author's Note : Hope you all are well ,tomorrow will be uploading a poll chapter as I had promised for the 75th chapter and you guys will get to decide what to choose , this is for a future pokemon but it wont be immediate and based on the option selected it might not even be in the Kanto arc if it becomes too unbelievable for Grey to catch . Again for WN users I dont really have a good poll mechanism so Patreon might be it I will be uploading the link as well as the poll page in the chapter so feel free to choose. As for quality of this chapter ,I am getting a lack of time so there might be some issues , I found some issues in a quick read and corrected them before uploading , hopefully there arent any more.