The day was about to turn into the night when the seven friends arrived in Viridian City. They had walked through a long, dark forest and Mew was afraid of bugs, so she was in her Pok�ball now. Before walking in the city, Sephia turned around.
"Ok, is it alright if you go into your Pok�balls now?", she asked and the Pok�mon nodded. Sephia grabbed the ball and the five Pok�mon disappeared in the red light. Then, she walked into the city. Sephia was hungry, but the first building she spotted was the big building with a 'Viridian City Gym' on it, so she walked there. Only a few people were outside at this time when she walked through the streets. Finally, she arrived at the gym. The big wooden doors were locked. Sephia knocked on the door and a girl with long, black hair and a green dress opened.
"Sorry, this gym is closed!", she said. Sephia sighed.
"Ok, I'll come back tomorrow."
"Oh no, you don't understand. It's closed until we have a new gym leader. The old gym leader is in prison now. He was the boss of an organisation called Team Rocket."
"Giovanni?!"
The girl blinked. "Yeah. You know him?"
"He stole..my Pok�mon!"
"Oh...but you have them back now?"
"Yes." Sephia pointed to her Pok�balls. "So, when will you have a new gym leader?"
"I don't know. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the gym will be closed forever!"
Sephia gasped in shock. If the gym would be closed forever, there would be only 99 badges she could win! And Sephia was sure that Lugia would just accept 100...
"But...I need the badge! I need it!", she begged. The girl looked at her.
"I can't help you. I just clean the gym."
"PLEASE, do something!"
"It's very important for you, isn't it?"
"Yes! I need the badge."
"But there are many more gyms in the world..."
"I need every badge!"
The girl gasped. "EVERY badge!? This will take a lifetime!"
"I don't care! I just need the badge!" Sephia fell down on her knees. "Please!"
The girl looked down. "Ok, maybe I can help you. In fact, I've found the box where Giovanni kept his badges for the winners. Oh well, my Pok�mon need training. Let's battle, if you win, I'll give you the Earth Badge, ok? But don't tell anyone, it's illegal!"
"Oh thank you!", Sephia shouted and hugged the surprised girl.
"Whoa, calm down. Come in before someone sees us. My name is Rhea."
They stepped in. "I'm Sephia." Sephia looked around. They stood in a big hall with many Pok�mon-pictures on the walls. On a balcony was an empty chair.
"Giovanni always sat there!", Rhea said and looked at the chair. "But I think I'll stay here." She went to the other end of the battle field. "We'll fight with two Pok�mon, ok?"
"Huh?", Sephia asked confused.
"This is your first battle?"
"Yes."
"Ok, I mean that you send a Pok�mon out and if it gets beaten you can replace it with another one. Of course, you can switch Pok�mon even when your first one is still fine. If both Pok�mon lose, I've won. So you have to beat two of my Pok�mon for getting the badge."
"Ok, sounds good." Sephia looked at her Pok�balls which she had on her clothes now. In fact, she had no idea which Pok�mon was in which ball. So she grabbed one ball and released the Pok�mon. Mew appeared.
"Oh, hi Mew. Will you fight? I have no idea in which ball Mewtwo is."
Mew nodded and turned to Rhea. The girl looked at Mew.
"That's a cute Pok�mon. I dunno what it is, but it's sweet! Ok, I choose you, Beedrill!" She threw a ball and a Pok�mon which looked like a hornet appeared. Sephia took the Pok�dex out.
"Beedrill, a bug Pok�mon. Its stings can poison. Beedrill evolves from Kakuna.", the Pok�dex said. Sephia opened the book she got from Prof. Oak. She flipped through the pages until she found a schedule.
"Let's look...Mew is psychic....Beedrill is bug....damn it!" She turned to Mew. "Hey Mew, the book says that you are weak against bugs. But I think that your level is better, so we'll try it, ok?" Mew nodded and flew in the air.
"A psychic Pok�mon!", Rhea shouted. "That's good! Beedrill, use Pin Missile!" The Beedrill flew to Mew with immense speed, its stings pointed to the little Pok�mon.
"Mew, fly up!", Sephia shouted. Mew flew higher just in time to avoid the fast strikes from the Beedrill.
"Beedrill, use Poison Sting!", Rhea shouted.
"Mew, careful!", Sephia shouted, but it was too late. The Beedrill hit Mew when it flew straight up. Mew screamed in pain when the sting hurt her.
"Good, Beedrill! Now use Twineedle!" The Beedrill followed the orders and flew towards Mew again.
"Mew, Recover! Quick!", Sephia yelled. Mew was surrounded by flashing light and her wounds healed. "Mew, now use Metronome!" Mew waved her small hands and suddenly a large fire appeared.
"Beedrill, that's Fire Blast! Quick, flew up!", Rhea shouted. Beedrill followed the orders, but it was too slow. The fire hurt it and it fell down, unconscious.
"Beedrill, come back!", Rhea shouted and called it back in the ball.
"Mew, we've won!", Sephia shouted and Mew flew in Sephias arms, nuzzling her. "Can you find out where Mewtwo is?", Sephia asked. Mew flew to the balls and pointed to a ball. "Thank you!", Sephia said.
"Not bad, Sephia! But you won't beat my second Pok�mon! Go, Rhydon!" A big, grey Pok�mon came out. It looked like a rhinoceros on two legs.
"I'll switch as well!", Sephia said. "Come back, Mew, great job! Go, Mewtwo!", she threw the ball and Mewtwo came out. He looked around.
"Ah, finally! Is this my opponent?", he asked, pointing to the Rhydon. Sephia nodded.
"That's a ground and a rock Pok�mon. No problem!", Mewtwo said. Rhea stared at him. "That...can't be....Mewtwo...", she whispered. Mewtwo grinned.
"Oh, you know me? So you now that you'll lose!"
"I...I'll do my best! Rhydon! Fissure!", Rhea shouted.
It came running towards Mewtwo, the ground shacked under its heavy steps. The horn started rotating.
"Ha! A worthless try!", Mewtwo shouted and raised his hand. Suddenly the Rhydon started glowing in blue light and crashed in the wall. Mewtwo laughed. "This was more than easy!", he smiled.
"Ah...Mewtwo?", Sephia said. He turned around. "If you wanna be my Pok�mon, I think you have to follow my orders."
"You said nothing. And I've won, right?"
"Yes...but..."
"If you don't give orders, I can't follow them, right?" Mewtwo looked a little angry.
"I was about to say something!"
"Say it faster the next time."
Suddenly, Rhea stepped to them. "You've won. Here is the badge." She gave Sephia a small metal plate which looked like a leaf from an oak. "This is the Earth badge. You can win the next badge in Pewter City."
"Thank you very much, Rhea. Please, don't tell anyone that I have rare Pok�mon, ok?", Sephia asked. Rhea smiled.
"Of course. Wow, a real Mewtwo!" She looked at Mewtwo.
"The one and only!", Mewtwo smiled proudly.
"I'm sure you'll get the 100 badges!", Rhea said. "Will you show me the badges when you have them?"
"Of course!", Sephia laughed.
"Do you know where to stay at night?", Rhea asked.
"Outside, I think. We get used to it.", Sephia answered and Mewtwo nodded.
"Why don't you stay here? The gym has lots of rooms and there is even food here."
When Rhea mentioned the food Sephia remembered that she was very hungry. "Thank you, Rhea, We accept. May I let my Pok�mon out?"
"Sure. I can't wait to see them!"
"Ok, come out everyone!", Sephia shouted and released all Pok�mon. Rhea gasped when she saw them.
"This...is...impossible!", she whispered. Suddenly, she hugged Suicune. "I'm your greatest fan! I never thought I would meet you!"
"Um...ah...thank you...", Suicune mumbled.
"You speak!?", Rhea gasped.
"Oh, ah, yes", Suicune said. The whole situation was very embarrassing for her.
"I'll get some food for you!", Rhea shouted and ran away. Suicune sighed.
'What happened?', Articuno asked. Mewtwo showed him the badge.
'We've won!', Zapdos shouted happily.
'Hey Mewtwo, is it nice to follow orders?', Moltres smiled.
"I just did it without orders", Mewtwo answered. Everyone was quiet.
'You have a trainer now. You have to follow Sephias orders!', Zapdos said and the other Pok�mon nodded.
"It's ok, I think. Maybe I wait too long before I give the orders. This is why we have to train together a lot. We have to learn from each other. If I train with you, I think I can learn how to give fast and correct orders. What do you think, we can say that we train one day, on the next day we get a badge and then we'll train again. So we would have every badge in less than a year. And if the way from one gym to the next one is too long, we train while walking."
The Pok�mon agreed. "Ok, fine. So we'll stay here for the night and tomorrow we buy food and look for a place where we can train."
'Cookies! Cookies!', shouted Mew. Sephia laughed.
"Yes, Mew. We can buy cookies, too." Mew nuzzled Sephia.
"The meal is ready!", Rhea shouted suddenly from a door. Sephia and her Pok�mon walked to her. Sephia looked at the badge. The first step was made. But there was still much to do. Her Pok�mon were strong, but Mew got hurt from a Beedrill, maybe a Beedrill on a low level. Lugia would laugh about something like that. And Mewtwo was right, she was too slow. She had to learn what her Pok�mon were thinking. Is she would know that, she could give better orders. Maybe there was a way to do this with telepathy. Maybe. She sighed. The future seemed to be difficult, but Sephia would do her best to solve every problem.
To be continued...
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