Yellow continually asked passersby for directions, obtained the specific route, and hurried toward the eastern side of Viridian City.
Before long, a vast forest came into view in the distance. This must be the Viridian Forest, and without hesitation, Yellow plunged right in.
Inside the forest, towering trees stood tall and lush grass stretched everywhere. Countless Bug-type Pokémon lounged carelessly on the trees or crept along the main path.
Yellow caught a Caterpie, and then a Weedle—those were essentially the only two Pokémon to be found in Viridian Forest. While rare Pikachu occasionally made an appearance here, Yellow hadn't encountered one and had no intention of wasting time.
The Pokédex suddenly chimed with a system notification:
[Trainer detected carrying more than six Pokémon. Please handle this promptly. Excess Pokémon can be transferred via the Pokémon Center computer to the research institute corresponding to your activation code. The excess Pokémon have been locked and cannot participate in battles.]
Yellow nodded to herself. She had barely taken two steps when she spotted the kneeling back of a girl.
The girl had long white hair and wore a red baseball cap and a white tracksuit. She was crying over something, waving her hands about.
Yellow hurried over to the girl, only to find a green Metapod lying flat on the ground.
"What happened?" Yellow asked.
The girl raised her head, and the sight of her face instantly made Yellow blush.
They say you can tell a beauty from childhood, and that saying was entirely true. The girl possessed delicate, ethereal features, yet retained a certain upright, handsome quality in her face.
Yellow wasn't smitten; she was simply overwhelmed by how cute the girl was.
The girl was crying her eyes out, while a Squirtle stood nearby, scratching its head helplessly.
Squirtle: "Squirt, squirt?" (She's faking it! Yellow-hair, say something!)
"This Pokémon is dead."
Seeing that the Metapod on the ground still had its eyes open, Yellow couldn't help asking, "Dead? Isn't it still alive?"
Whenever she defeated Pokémon with her Charmander, they only ever fainted from near-exhaustion; she had never encountered a situation where a Pokémon was beaten to death.
"It's dead! This Pokémon's body got so, so hard, and it won't react at all. I wanted to give it CPR, but I can't push down at all."
Huh?
Yellow felt somewhat helpless and explained, "Could this Metapod be scared of you and used the Harden move? Wild Pokémon are generally low-level, and at this stage, Metapod only knows the Harden move."
The girl stopped crying and asked, "Really?"
Yellow sent out Charmander and said, "Metapod's Harden move increases its physical defense, but against Pokémon with special attack moves, it's completely useless."
"Charmander, use Ember on Metapod!"
Charmander opened its mouth and spat a ball of flame, and the Metapod's eyes instantly rolled into dizzy spirals.
A faint aroma of charcoal-roasted Metapod drifted into the air.
"That's how you defeat it. Pokémon generally don't die in battle; they just faint. Fire-type moves have a double advantage over Bug-type, so a single strike is enough to win."
Admiration filled the girl's gaze as she looked at Yellow and asked, "You know so much! Are you a Trainer who just started traveling too?"
"Yeah. Understanding Pokémon type advantages and battle techniques is a science, you know. Don't be so foolish next time."
Yellow turned to leave, but the girl suddenly stood up and called out loudly, "I won't be like this next time! My name is Baiyin. May I know your name?"
"My name is Yellow." Yellow didn't even look back, displaying a rather childish coolness.
"Yellow, can I come with you on your adventures?" Baiyin's tone carried a hint of excitement.
Yellow froze. Could this be the legendary companion who drops right into your lap?
"Sure. Has your Squirtle learned Water Gun yet?"
"It knows it!"
"Then let's have a Pokémon battle! If you can beat me, we can team up! I certainly don't want to drag along someone who's useless!"
Baiyin wiped away her tear tracks with her sleeve, looking exceptionally determined.
"Squirtle, go!"
"Squirt, squirt!" The bald monk looked equally battle-ready, showing not a shred of fear in front of the Charmander, which was a size larger than it, as they stood facing each other.
Squirtle: With a type advantage, how could I lose?
Charmander: With a size advantage, how could I lose?
"Squirtle! Use Water Gun on Charmander!" Squirtle took aim at Charmander and spat dozens of high-speed bubbles from its mouth.
"Charmander! Dodge it, and use Scratch with everything you have!"
Charmander smiled with confidence and closed in on Squirtle at blistering speed.
However, they were too close; it couldn't dodge in time. Charmander took the full hit of a Water Gun, but at the same time left a deep claw mark across Squirtle's belly.
"Squirtle! Don't be scared, use Water Gun again!" Baiyin shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Why aren't you using Tackle?" Yellow asked, a question straight from the soul.
"Huh? Oh, is that so? Then Squirtle, use Tackle instead!" Baiyin foolishly believed her.
The next second, however, Baiyin snapped back to reality and hurriedly corrected her command, "No wait, Squirtle, use Water Gun!"
Baiyin looked at Yellow and smiled, "Even though I don't know much about Pokémon type advantages, I do know that Water-type attacks are super effective against Fire-type Pokémon! I'm not some idiot who attacks with a disadvantageous type!"
Ash, who was walking through Viridian City, suddenly let out a sneeze.
"Do you feel cold, Pikachu?"
Pikachu shook its head. "Pika."
"The weather's so nice, why did I sneeze?"
The battle between Yellow and Baiyin concluded swiftly. Although Squirtle had the type advantage, the gap in individual values, effort values, and level was simply too vast, and it suffered a regrettable defeat.
Baiyin scooped up the unconscious Squirtle with a heart-wrenching expression and asked herself helplessly, "What should I do? The Pokémon Center is still so far away. Hang in there, little turtle!"
Charmander turned its head to look at Yellow, looking as though it felt it had done something wrong.
Yellow crouched down, rubbed Charmander's head, and said softly, "You did great. Go back and rest."
Yellow retrieved a Potion from her backpack, saying, "Don't be so upset. Your Squirtle has only lost its ability to battle. Pokémon bodies are much tougher than we Trainers are. Here, take this Potion."
Baiyin took the Potion and sprayed all of it directly into Squirtle's mouth. Squirtle snapped awake instantly.
"Yellow, thank you for the Potion! I've got a thousand yen here, take it all. Is that enough?"
Yellow was momentarily speechless, but figuring that Baiyin was only a ten-year-old child, she let it slide and said, "Handing your entire life savings over to someone else—you really are an idiot. Consider the Potion a gift from me. Let's go?"
Baiyin came to her senses and asked with a trembling voice, "But... I didn't beat you. Are you still willing to let me travel with you?"
Yellow smiled and said, "You're so pretty and yet so silly, you'd probably be in a lot of danger on your own. Hurry up and call your Squirtle back; a Poké Ball is much more comfortable than the outside world."
Baiyin nodded dazedly, recalled Squirtle into its Poké Ball, and beamed with a bright smile as she fell in step beside Yellow.
"By the way, where are you from? You made it all the way to Viridian Forest with just a Squirtle."
Baiyin suddenly curved the corners of her mouth and began playing tour guide, introducing proudly, "My home is right in Viridian City! The scenery there is so nice, with tall trees..."
After listening to just a few sentences, Yellow felt her ears growing calloused and interrupted, "I literally just came from Viridian City. The scenery and architecture are indeed quite nice. I'm from Pallet Town."
"Pallet Town? What kind of place is that?" Baiyin asked, full of curiosity.
"A small place." Yellow didn't elaborate further and walked on by herself, with Baiyin following closely at her heels.
"By the way, why is your hair white?" Yellow asked. After all, this little girl looked to be just a little over ten years old and was just starting her journey.
Baiyin touched her hair and gave a silly laugh, "People are different. Everyone in my family is like this. It's just a hair color different from normal people, it doesn't affect anything. The doctor said it's not contagious."
Baiyin pulled her hat down a bit lower to hide a few more strands of white hair.
Yellow didn't press any further; a white-haired cutie wasn't necessarily unlikable. After walking two or three hundred meters, three or four Trainers suddenly came sprinting from the opposite direction, yelling, "Run! Run for your lives!"
Yellow grabbed a boy in shorts by the arm and asked, "What's going on ahead?"
The boy shook her off instantly and left behind only a single sentence: "A Scyther has gone crazy! Run already! Don't just stand there like a pair of idiots!"
"Scyther?" Baiyin had no idea; she had never seen one, nor even heard of one.
"Scyther? Why would there be a Scyther in Viridian Forest?" Yellow was equally baffled. Scyther was a Pokémon found much later in the Kanto Region registry; how could one possibly be in a place like this?
"Let's go take a look," Yellow said.
"Let's go!" Baiyin appeared exceptionally courageous.
"Aren't you scared?"
Baiyin patted her chest and declared, "If a Trainer shrinks back during a journey, how can it even be called an adventure?"
Yellow smiled knowingly and gave her a thumbs-up.
The two of them set off. Today, they were going to see what was up with this rampaging Scyther.