Chapter 59 - North Viridian Forest!

Rapidash ran through the forest pathway unhindered and unprovoked. There were some Pokemon looking to provoke Rapidash, but when they saw those flames and sensed its power; that all changed quickly.

Their instincts got them knowing that it was best to not bother Rapidash and the Human duo. Gan spotted several Pokemon peeking out of bushes or just standing in the forest in general. They all stared at them as they passed by, while some even ran away.

"Now, this feels good, huh? Going through the forest unhindered and unchallenged." Royce laughed when gazed at those Pokemon avoiding them.

"It does, it seems they know what they would be in for it if they tried anything." Gan had long noticed this.

They keep going and going, roaming and roaming. It was then that they came across a fork in the path that led into three different directions.

-North, East, and West-

Of course, without hesitation, they took the Northern route. The trees were starting to get thicker and greener, and different Pokemon also started to appear here.

Gan spotted some Weepinbells and Glooms so far, but Gan was certain he would see some newer Pokemon. Royce stopped and Gan got off to battle these Pokemon and catch them for his Pokedex entry.

Gan used Kadabra to fight these Pokemon, even though their levels were clearly higher. Kadabra could teleport and use Super-effective moves on them. Defeating such Pokemon landed Kadabra a lot of experience points, so it leveled up quite a bit.

Afterward, they continue up North. It was the deep North within Viridian Forest, but this didn't mean it was going to get cold here, in fact, it was getting warmer.

Pikachu's could be seen in trees eating fruits they had picked from them. They must be a family or something because there were 5 to 6 of them. Gan wanted to capture one at least, but he was certain that it would fail, so he could only wait.

As they continued up North, the trees changed again into tropical island palm trees. Gan was stunned at the sight, he never could have imagined that something like this was in Viridian Forest. And there, they saw a large reservoir, it was a huge body of water; pretty much a lake if you didn't know.

Gan turned and spotted a duo of Bulbasaur's eating berries off a bush. Many Exeggcute were spotted near the water drinking from it. Not even Royce was expecting such a scene, every Pokemon seemed at peace here.

However, Gan's expression showed great change once he saw a certain group of Pokemon near the water.

|Name: Squirtle

|Type: Water

|Level: 14

|Gender: Female

|Ability: Torrent

|Potential: ★

|Nature: Rash

|Moves: Tackle| Tail Whip| Water Gun| Rapid Spin| Withdraw| Bite|

...

|Type: Water

|Level: 15

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Rain Dish (Hidden Ability)

|Potential: ★★★

|Nature: Impish

|Moves: Tackle| Tail Whip| Water Gun| Rapid Spin| Withdraw| Bite|

...

|Name: Wartortle

|Level: 20

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Torrent

|Potential: ★★

|Nature: Quiet

|Moves: Protect| Water Pulse| Tackle| Tail Whip| Water Gun| Withdraw| Rapid Spin| Bite|

...

Their talent wasn't exactly good, but adding them to the Dex was the most important. After all, Gan still had a mission to complete pertaining to the Pokedex.

There were 2 Squirtles and 1 Wartortle hanging out on land near the water. They appeared to be stuffing their cheeks with some type of fruit, perhaps it was just large berries; Gan wasn't sure.

With that, they leaped in the water and swam away. Exeggcute's group quickly scurried away towards the forest.

"Cowards!" Gan was upset seeing them run away so fast, but this was to be expected.

"I think we came in a little too hot, haha!" Royce chuckled, he meant hot in more ways than one.

They could be considered to be in the Northern Hemisphere of Viridian Forest. This part of the forest had many different types of Pokemon. Pokemon that Gan wouldn't have thought would appear.

Unknowingly to them, they were being watched by a pair of eyes. Afterward, the silhouette turned around and left into the distance. At this time, Royce and Gan got off of Rapidash once they reached the large reservoir.

In the middle of the reservoir, there was a little piece of land with Pokemon sitting on it. Gan couldn't tell what Pokemon they were, but he was sure some of them were Slowpokes.

"How deep do you think the lake is?" Gan looked at the lake that revealed his reflection. His red and blue eyes and black long hair were on full display.

"I'm sure it's really deep, it should house many different water-type Pokemon. I believe the deeper you go, the stronger the Pokemon become. I could be wrong, but I'm not for water-type Pokemon, at least when it comes to fighting them."

Royce only speculated, but this made the most sense when Gan came to it. The more dangerous and weirder things lurked in the depths.

Gan summoned Gyarados, who appeared in the water and gave a roar upon being called forth. Royce scratched his head, he was wondering if his counting was wrong or something, but he didn't comment about it.

"Gyarados, just like you did near that lake before. I need you to draw out some Pokemon that are weaker looking, and don't go too deep." Gan gave out his orders carefully, he didn't know anything about this place.

This wasn't something that appeared in the anime or the games, so he was unsure about their possible strength levels. Gyarados nodded before turning and diving into the lake to seek out the inhabitants.

"I really will have to teach this girl some TM's later, she will be useful for traversing the seas and oceans." Gyarados was currently at level 22 and she had learned the Waterfall skill, which was a high-powered water-type move.

"This would be a good place to camp from the looks of it, but when it boils down to it; you have to remember where you are." Royce was surveying the area when saying this, making sure to remind himself that this place wasn't exactly safe.

"Yeah, I don't plan on staying here, I'm only here to train and catch wild Pokemon." Gan turned towards the tropical trees, bushes... the forest itself. He could see a small mountain in the distance behind the forest.

There were mainly Bug, Grass, Rock, and Ground types in this part of the forest, but Gan didn't know that. Rapidash's head turned towards the large lake as if it had sensed something there.

"That was fast." Gan saw many ripples surging on the surface of the water.

Water splashed wildly into the air when two figures emerged. Gyarados was obviously one of the figures, but she was carrying a wild and aggressive Pokemon in her jaws. She couldn't for long, when she was hit by one of it powerful claw strikes, prompting her to throw it away and roar.

...

|Name: Kingler

|Type: Water

|Level: 28

|Gender: Male

|Ability: Shell Armor

|Potential: ★★

|Nature: Lonely

|Moves: Water Gun| Leer| Harden| Metal Claw| Mud Shot| Protect| Bubble Beam| Stomp|

...

It was already amazing that Gyarados was able to bring such a Pokemon to the surface. This was a new sighting for Gan, and boy, this crab was huge!

Kingler was enraged from being disturbed by Gyarados, who suddenly attacked it out of nowhere. There was a bit of frost on its shell, but nothing serious that would hamper its ability to fight.

"COO-KIE!!" Kingler said something that made it sound like it was saying cookies, before shooting a thick line of bubbles at Gyarados. Once these hit a target, they would explode on the foe's body, causing damage.

Gyarados didn't need to think about this, it quickly dove into the water and dodged.

"Machop, you're up!" Gan didn't have any viable electric Pokemon. The only electric Pokemon he had was a Voltorb he caught from back then, but Machop could use an electric move.

"Chop!" Machop stared at the crab that was clearly bigger than him in size. Machop was currently at level 26, it wouldn't be long before it could evolve.

"Coo-K..." With Gyarados' leave, Kingler's gaze wandered before spotting Gan and his group.

"Machop, go, charge him but beware of those claws. I want you to jump on its back and hit it with a Thunder Punch!" Gan hurriedly and commanded.

Machop charged over. Seeing the incoming threat, Kingler's target had swapped to Machop. It once against sent a thick funnel of bubbles to attack; this was clearly Bubble Beam.

"Dodge to the side, don't let it hit you," Gan said.

Machop moved to the side to dodge the beam of bubbles, but Kingler began to aim the beam sideways to hit Machop.

"Slide under it!" Gan hurriedly and said.

Machop quickly did what it was told and slid under the beam of bubbles. Kingler was forced to stop its attack, it couldn't continue holding up the attack for such long periods of time. Machop grinned and kept running towards Kingler.

Kingler struck out with its claws, which had turned into a metallic chrome silver. Kingler was clearly using Metal Claw in this situation. Machop jumped over Kingler's attack Zone, its fist erupted as strands of yellow lightning flashed over it.

Machop flipped and landed on the top of Kingler's body shell and slammed his lightning fist onto its back. Kingler screeched out in pain before it started to frenzy around from the lightning penetrating its shell.

"Jump off of it and give it a low kick! Finish it up." Kingler had taken minor damage from Gyarados, but that Thunder Punch must have brought his health down by a lot. Kingler usually had good defense, but due to its nature, it was minus defense instead.

Machop rolled off of Kingler's back before sending a reversal low kick toward Kingler's legs. Kingler was flipped up and into the air momentarily before falling on its back.

Its eyes looked to have some strange whirls in them.

It was a clean victory!

Gan tossed a Pokeball at it and caught it.

"Amazing! Very well done!" Royce watched the battle process closely, and couldn't help but commend Gan.

"Thanks, I haven't really trained with them personally, so it'll be really interesting once I really do that." Gan had not taken the time to do this for any of his Pokemon except Mankey and Sandshrew, really.

"Oh, I guess you guys just click then," Royce smirked.

"Yeah, I think that's it." Machop walked over and handed the Pokeball to Gan. He hadn't leveled up from that fight, but Gan was sure Machop was close. Gyarados was watching the fight taking place onshore, so it was aware that Kingler was defeated.

Gan summoned Kingler and again and revived it. He gave it some potions to restore its health back to normal. This process wasn't instantaneous, it took sometime to fully heal.

"Alright, Kingler, you'll be joining Gyarados there in bringing or drawing Pokemon to the surface. Don't go too deep, you should know these waters, so you should be able to find a lot of Pokemon."

Gan explained everything to Kingler. Kingler was quite annoyed by Gyarados earlier, but that had changed.

Kingler jumped into the water and Gyarados followed him by diving deeper.. Gan wondered what pokemon they would bring to the surface next.