Shō was shopping in the Vermilion City market for berries and food for Pokémon. Suddenly... a Pikachu with a berry in its mouth ran past him. There were many people chasing after it.
"You dead thief, don't run!" One of them chased after the Pikachu and caught it with a net.
"Hey, now we got you! Let's see where you go!"
"Excuse me, what happened here?" Shō curiously asked the person with the net.
"Hm?"
The Pikachu saw its chance and took advantage of the moment to escape the net.
"Hey! Don't run!" Everyone chased after it, and Shō followed closely behind.
Finally, the Pikachu was cornered, with the berry still in its mouth. It nervously looked at the crowd that wanted to harm it.
"This Pikachu looks like a wild Pokémon." Shō took out a Poké Ball and walked in front of the Pikachu.
"Everyone, I'll take care of this Pikachu." When the crowd saw the boy was a Pokémon trainer, they moved to the side, leaving a spot for them to battle.
"Charmeleon, use Ember!"
Immediately, Charmeleon spat a ball of fire at the Pikachu. The Pikachu calmly dodged it, and then, with a speed that the eye couldn't keep up with, rushed towards Charmeleon. That's right, it was Quick Attack. Charmeleon was pushed back a few steps by this great power.
"This Pikachu is quite strong. Charmeleon, use Scary Face."
Charmeleon used Scary Face to forcefully lower the Pikachu's speed by one level. Charmeleon saw that the Pikachu hadn't reacted, and used its sharp claws to scratch at the Pikachu. The Pikachu wanted to dodge, but because its speed was lowered, it was hit by Charmeleon's "Slash".
The Pikachu immediately got up from the ground and used Thunderbolt on Charmeleon. At this time, Charmeleon had a paralysis effect.
"Charmeleon, use Dragon Rage."
Shō nervously watched Charmeleon, afraid that it couldn't use the move because of paralysis. The air was condensed for a few seconds. Then, Charmeleon successfully launched an attack on the Pikachu, causing 40 damage. The Pikachu, who was already very tired, suffered more damage. The Pikachu let go of its mouth, and the berry fell on the floor. The Pikachu also lost its ability to battle and was lying on the ground. Shō immediately threw out a Poké Ball, and the Poké Ball shook a few times before stopping.
"Come back, Charmeleon."
Shō happily held the Poké Ball that contained his new partner. Then, the crowd dispersed.
Shō called out the Pikachu. When he was about to touch it, the Pikachu bit Shō's hand.
"You really are a stubborn fellow. Let's be friends, okay, Pikachu?" Shō quickly retracted his hand. There were already obvious tooth marks on it. The Pikachu turned its head to the side, ignoring Shō's conversation.
"Right! I saw that you weren't willing to let go of the berry in your mouth at the end. You must be hungry, right? I happen to have a bag of berries I just bought. Eat to your heart's content!" Shō took out a paper bag filled with berries and placed it in front of the Pikachu. The Pikachu turned its head and immediately bit one. It ran not far away and gobbled it up.
"It looks like you caught a new Pokémon too." Gary walked over. There was one more Poké Ball next to his belt.
"Why are you here?"
"To catch something. How about it, want to have a battle?"
Shō of course agreed to Gary's request. He used his new partner to get used to a real battle.
"Go! Pikachu!"
The Pikachu looked at Shō with a resentful expression. Then, it reluctantly ran onto the field.
"Go! Kangaskhan!" At this time, the Pokémon that was standing on the battlefield was very rare in both the game and the anime. Before, Professor Oak said that there seemed to be one living in the depths of Viridian Forest. He didn't expect that there really was one, and Gary caught it.
"So you caught Kangaskhan."
"This is the result of me working hard to wait in Viridian Forest all night."
Gary smiled foolishly at Kangaskhan.
"You can make the first move."
This time, Shō didn't use the protagonist's privilege and let the other person make the first move. His goal was to observe how strong that Kangaskhan was.
"Kangaskhan, use Earthquake."
"Pikachu, quickly dodge."
The Pikachu jumped into the air to avoid Kangaskhan's attack.
"Kangaskhan, use Mud Shot."
Kangaskhan's mud hit Pikachu's face. At this time, Pikachu's sight was covered by mud.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt in front of you."
The Pikachu didn't launch an attack according to what Shō said.
"You still hate me?"
"Kangaskhan, Earthquake."
Kangaskhan stomped on the ground forcefully. The ground kept shaking. Because Pikachu's sight was covered, it stood in place and didn't dodge at all. It was directly hit by the ground type move. Because of the type disadvantage, double damage was dealt to Pikachu. It flew out.
"Pikachu!" Shō didn't care about his own safety as he rushed forward to catch the flying Pikachu.
"Trust me this time. Let me be your eyes." Shō firmly said to the Pikachu in his arms.
"Pika..."
Then, the Pikachu stood on the field again.
"You can't trust each other. Maybe I can win this time. Kangaskhan, use Stomp." Kangaskhan quickly ran towards Pikachu, preparing to use the move.
"Pikachu, dodge and use Thunderbolt in the northwest direction."
This time, the Pikachu finally listened to Shō's words. After dodging Kangaskhan's attack, it used Thunderbolt and hit Kangaskhan.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack."
After Shō saw Kangaskhan's health drop a lot, he immediately added a Quick Attack.
"Fine, I lost this time. Shō, you're really strong. However, I'll become stronger. See you in the Kanto League."
Gary took back his Pokémon. Then, he drove his sports car and left with a bunch of girlfriends.
"Pikachu, thanks just now." After Shō wiped the mud on Pikachu's face, he smiled friendly at Pikachu.
"Pikachu~~" Pikachu also responded to Shō. It directly jumped onto his shoulder, showing that it didn't want to enter the Poké Ball. It wanted to follow Shō around.
"Let's go. Head to Cerulean City to obtain the second badge."
Shō brought his new friend to the next destination.
To be continued...