Morning came quickly. Just as fast as I had fallen asleep the night before, I got up in the morning. I woke up pleasantly refreshed and, to my great surprise, completely free of the muscle soreness that was usually an ironclad rule for me after this kind of exertion. I quickly prepared breakfast for all of us. The pleasant scent of burning wood, damp dew, and fresh morning air soon mingled with the aroma of our food.
Bran got up almost at the same time as me. We all ate quickly, and immediately after, as agreed, we packed up the tents, completely cleared the clearing, and thoroughly put out the fire. Wartortle was overzealous about it. He ended up overdoing it with the water, so instead of damp grass, the area around the campfire was left completely soaked. Fortunately, we were already leaving, so I didn't really care.
"Ready to go?" I asked Bran, who already had Poliwhirl and Geodude standing behind him like an elite personal security detail.
"Sure, let's go," he nodded in immediate agreement. "Honestly, I can't wait for a soft mattress and some proper food in civilization."
"We've had proper food every day, Bran," I smirked at him, amused. "A hearty steak is much better for your health and muscles than some pancakes."
"True, but I was thinking more along the lines of a nice cheesecake, a proper omelet, spaghetti, or lasagna... or a crispy pizza..." he fantasized with such passion that at that moment, he strongly reminded me of Houndoom. Any second now, I expected him to start drooling from hunger. "Let's go!" he ordered determinedly and set off ahead.
With an amused smile, I followed him along with my motivated gang.
"War, Wartortle!" the turtle chimed into the conversation with a clear undertone in its voice.
"Yes, you'll get your eggs, don't worry," I smirked at him.
"Hound, Houndoom!"
"Yes, and you'll have great meat again," I nodded in agreement toward the dog. "Even though you had it the day before yesterday, yesterday, today for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."
"Houndoom!" he barked happily and loudly, whipping his long tail just over our heads with incredible joy.
"I agree with you, boy, you can never have too much meat," I nodded understandingly and looked around. "By the way, has anyone seen Haunter?"
"Mach, Macho!" Machoke replied with a dismissive shake of his head, while the dog and the turtle were still mentally drooling over the thought of dinner.
"Then he'll probably join us later; he knows exactly where we're headed," I noted pragmatically. "He's either still training like a total workaholic, or he's currently feeding on some poor soul somewhere in the forest."
The only one safely tucked away in his Pokéball at the moment was Aron. With his short legs and heavy armor, he simply wouldn't be able to keep up with our new pace. I quickened my step to close the distance to Bran and suggested, "How about we jog a bit? Get to the city a little sooner."
"I was honestly starting to think you'd never ask!" Bran smiled, instantly livening up.
"Geooooo..." his Geodude let out a deep, pained, and desperate sigh.
The other Pokémon, however, looked more than determined for another solid workout.
"Geodude, you can do it! This is exactly the kind of cardio you need more than anything," his trainer motivated him uncompromisingly. "Let's hustle!"
"Alright, we keep a light jog, and everyone stays in a steady, matching pace," I announced in a raised, firm voice to everyone around us. "And keep a sharp eye on your surroundings. We don't want anything catching us off guard on the way."
With affirmative cries from most of our gang, we set off along the well-trodden path of Route 4. In a smooth jog, we ran through the darkish forest, where the trees grew so densely in places that they merged into long, cold shadows, while a bit further down, warm, pleasant sunbeams filtered through them. This early in the morning, it was truly refreshing.
We were all silent, focusing on our breathing, and although I didn't have the best sense of smell in the world, I could clearly perceive the sharp freshness of the forest—the scent of damp wood, soil, and the fine dust kicking up from under our feet as we covered meter after meter.
At the start of the run, Bran and I set the pace at the front, while the others kept obediently behind us. After a while, however, Houndoom clearly grew tired of staying in the middle of the formation. He dashed past us and, like a loyal, devoted dog, started running ahead, falling back, and circling around us. He looked exactly like some giant sheepdog conscientiously watching over his flock of sheep. It was incredibly cute of him.
Well, of course, until he started bark-baiting poor Geodude, who was dragging himself at the very end of the formation like a complete pile of misery. This rocky cousin of Haunter's, as I mentally dubbed him, was levitating forward in agony, just a tiny bit above the ground. From his desperate expression, it was clear that levitation didn't come cheap in this world. It exhausted him with every passing second, which, in the end, made for a really great workout for this lazy Pokémon.
The others took it completely in stride. Wartortle ran determinedly side-by-side with Poliwhirl. As a Water and Fighting type, Poliwhirl had absolutely no issue with cardio, so I was genuinely pleased that my turtle was keeping up with him comfortably. Though, let's be honest, this balance would probably break down quickly if we switched to a full sprint.
It wasn't until around noon that we stopped for a bit. Like true pros and a completely synchronized team, we managed to set up an emergency camp and safely start a fire within a few minutes. It was during this lunch break that Haunter suddenly rejoined us out of nowhere. With a quiet greeting, he immediately slipped into my shadow. As a hungry trainer, however, I just kept eating alongside the others without interruption.
I'll ask him about his nightly wanderings and forest training tonight in the city, I thought, while mechanically chewing another piece of hearty steak.
"Patrik, how much do you think I could get on the market for a regular Pidgey?" Bran suddenly spoke up, staring intently at a small feathered creature perched on a tree close to our campfire.
"The absolute minimum," I stated bluntly. "I can't give you an exact amount, but considering how many of them fly around everywhere, I'd guess around a hundred net. That's already deducting the price of the Pokéball itself. But I could be wrong, their eggs sell pretty well in cities for cooking..."
"Too bad. I was about to catch a few right away," Bran shook his head in disappointment and went back to his food.
"Maybe we'll run into something significantly more valuable along the way," I smiled at him. "Since Houndoom brought me that Exeggcute yesterday, it's your turn to get lucky."
"I know myself. With my luck, the most we'll run into on this route is some wild Ekans," he smirked at me skeptically.
"An Ekans is actually pretty decent for quick cash. I caught and successfully sold one a while ago. According to the P.E.X price list, their market value usually ranges between six hundred to nine hundred Poké Dollars. They're heavily used in medical fields, and an Arbok is actually a quite strong fighter once it evolves," I shrugged indifferently. "It's definitely worth taking a shot at."
After eating, we packed up our camp just as quickly as we had set it up, and immediately pushed onward, starting with a fast walk. After just under an hour, once our muscles had somewhat digested the heavy food and our stomachs had settled, we picked up a steady jog again.
I only had one thing on my mind. I was incredibly curious about Cerulean City... and honestly, after running through the woods, I had a massive craving for a few ice-cold beers at some bar.
After a couple of hours of continuous jogging, we finally made it out of the forest onto Route 4. It was quite a surprising moment—for a long time we had been surrounded by nothing but dense trees, and suddenly we found ourselves on a flat, open grassy plain, split only by a clearly trodden dirt path. Taking a deep breath, I immediately sensed the increased humidity in the air. At that moment, I was a hundred percent sure we were very close to our destination, even though the city itself was still hidden behind the horizon.
We kept up our steady jog. After about half an hour, we began to notice the riverbed on our left, stretching towards the city. It originated directly from the massive rock face descending from Mt. Moon, though from our position, it looked more like a giant, endless stone wall bounding almost the entire Kanto region.
After another hour of running, the river widened significantly ahead of us. When we stopped by it for a brief moment to catch our breath, the water's surface suddenly splashed violently. A white-and-orange fish with a sharp, dangerous-looking horn on its forehead leaped out of the water—a Goldeen. There weren't many of them back in Pallet Town, so the sight genuinely caught my interest for a moment. Our entire gang stopped and watched the restless river surface as if hypnotized.
After a moment of watching, a smaller, defenseless Magikarp also jumped above the water. At first, it all seemed completely peaceful, a serene river idyll. But that only lasted until the aforementioned Goldeen shot out right behind it. Its sharp, horn-shaped spike missed Magikarp's scaly body by less than a centimeter.
I knew Goldeen was an omnivore, but I honestly doubted it would be capable of eating a Magikarp, even though this particular one was very small. My musings, however, were quickly cut short by reality. A few meters downstream, I saw crimson blood spreading across the surface, rapidly carried away by the swift river current and lost to the depths. It looked like Goldeen had either severely injured or outright killed its prey underwater.
Neither fish surfaced again. After a few seconds of silently watching this uncompromising spectacle of nature, we picked up the pace again and continued our jog forward.
After a few minutes of jogging along the flat road, the terrain began to slope gently downward. Beyond the crest of the landscape, the view of Cerulean City itself finally opened up before us. In the distance, its layout was somewhat reminiscent of Pewter City, but at first glance, it felt much livelier and visually more striking. Along its left edge, a wide river shimmered with refracting light, giving the entire urban scenery a natural, beautiful contrast.
With every step, the city's silhouette grew sharper. Above the main entrance rose a massive gate whose construction resembled solid fortress fortifications rather than a standard entryway for travelers. And as we approached, the typical hustle and bustle of the streets gradually began to rise from the previous silence of the surrounding landscape—initially just a faint, distant hum that slowly turned into the clearly audible, pulsing life of a major city.
A short distance before the gate, we transitioned from a jog into a calm walk so as we wouldn't needlessly startle the rangers, who had been conscientiously tracking our presence from afar. When we were barely a few meters from the entrance, a ranger in a dark blue uniform stepped out of the guard booth at the side of the gate. Walking close behind him was an alert Growlithe.
He was a young guy with curly black hair, roughly as tall as Bran, with an athletic, lean build. He smiled at us with a laid-back, carefree surfer vibe, while his four-legged partner stood in sharp contrast—exceedingly solemn and serious.
"Hello," I greeted as soon as we got within reach, smoothly pulling my identification out of my pocket.
"Hello," Bran joined in immediately with a smile, holding his own ID ready.
"Hello, boys. All Pokémon back into their Pokéballs, please," the ranger requested, without losing his smile. "According to the city's new security regulations, all Pokéball spheres must be scanned by a device before entry."
We both obeyed without argument and recalled all of our Pokémon without any trouble. Growlithe immediately wagged his tail in a relaxed manner. His trainer professionally scanned our IDs first, followed immediately by the promised check of our spheres.
"Do I need to recall him, too?" I asked just to be sure, nodding down toward my feet. I was more than certain the ranger had noticed those constantly shifting shadows on the ground right from the start.
"No, you can leave the ghost as is," he shook his head with a casual smile. He pulled a small steel tray with a digital display out of his bag—it had exactly six circular slots for Pokéballs—and nodded to Bran.
Bran didn't waste any time and carefully placed all the Pokéballs he had on him into the designated slots. After about half a minute of quiet buzzing from the device, the check was successfully complete.
"Great, everything looks good," the ranger smiled. "You can take them back."
Immediately after, it was my turn. First, I placed all the spheres of my active team into the slots. Next came the Exeggcute on my belt, which I pressed into the fifth slot, and finally, I had to fish out an older Pokéball containing a captured Mankey from the depths of my bag.
"Hmm, mm," the ranger muttered under his breath, intently studying the data flashing on the screen. He frowned slightly at one of the lines. "The first five are completely fine. The sixth one, Mankey... has been kept inside his Pokéball for quite a while, buddy."
"He attacked me just before Mt. Moon and isn't a proper member of my team," I began explaining the situation immediately. "I plan on selling him right here in the city at the P.E.X branch."
"Then make sure you get that done as soon as possible," the ranger nodded understandingly and gestured for me to take my spheres back. "Scan complete, identities registered. Just give me one signature here, please."
With immediate relief that everything had gone smoothly and without pointless questions, I took my Pokéballs, and we both signed the digital scan protocol. I was just about to take a breath to release my entire gang back into the fresh air, but the ranger cut me off with a swift hand gesture.
"For safety reasons, you're only allowed to have one single Pokémon out in the city," he warned us in a stern voice, with no trace left of his previous surfer-style smile. "And by the way... that Aron you have with you is completely banned in urban areas. The only exceptions are official training centers and battlefields."
"What about his evolved forms?" I couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Only the final stage, Aggron, is permitted free movement in the city, and even then, only if it obeys. Arons and Lairons aren't allowed on the streets. Period," he informed me, back to his professional, neutral smile.
"Understood. Thank you for the information," I nodded in understanding.
While I had Haunter safely hidden inside my own shadow, meaning he technically took up no street space, Bran summoned Poliwhirl to his side. With a final friendly wave from the ranger on duty, we finally stepped beneath the massive gate. We had arrived.
Cerulean City was finally opening up before us in all its beauty.
***
Author's note:
We've finally made it to Cerulean City. I had a bit of fun showing Goldeen hunting a Magikarp—those poor Magikarps are really having a rough time in my story.
Also, I think we can all relate to Patrik's ultimate motivation after a long, exhausting jog: the promise of a couple of ice-cold beers.
What do you think about the city's security regulations and the ban on certain Pokémon?
***
Step into the Restricted Section
The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
Enter the Restricted Section here: you-know-what/PatrikWriter
Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(15):
36. Boiled Lobsters and Double Beds
37. Cerulean After Hours
38. Shadows, Sparks, and the Bro Code – 18+
39. The Cost of Power
40. Of Iron and Fists
41. No Mercy
42. The Girl in the Pink Cap
43. The Price of Arrogance
44. Of Bro Codes and Psychic Radars
45. Where the Forest Meets the Sea
46. Sun, Sand, and Cerulean Waves
47. Not on the Menu
48. Blood in the Water
49. Beneath the Surface
50. Gearing Up
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