68 Chapter 68: Route 5

Typically when it comes to this stretch that leads to Vermillion City, a few things do actually happen. At least it did in the anime. In the games, it was just one stretch of several trainers, both along the Nugget Bridge that eventually lead to Bill's place, and another string of trainers that would allow one to enter Vermillion City from the north side.

Unfortunately while we were in Cerulean City, we concluded Nugget Bridge did not exist here. So that likely meant Bill's place was the lighthouse that overlooked Vermillion City, much like how Professor Cerise's lab overlooked Vermillion City too.

Bill wasn't a total stranger to me. He is in a very similar position to Bebe actually, who Professor Oak brought up during our call. I even wondered if Bill and Bebe were related. In the games, Bill was known to be the creator of the PC Pokemon Storage system, while Bebe expanded on that, creating the mobile box space for everyone to use. Bebe's system was kept in this world, so will Bill be the same? Only one thing to find out, to meet him in person.

If Bill had his lighthouse, then that would be our next target to arrive at. It would be nice to pay Bill a visit before arriving at Professor Cerise's lab.

Unfortunately this route was split into both Route 5 and Route 6, separated by a long underground passage way. Trainers also had the option of going more east and conquer Rock Tunnel, which would eventually bring them to Lavender Town, a city of ghosts. Should it even exist here.

Unless if we need to, I currently don't have plans to visit Lavender Town.

Bill's Lighthouse wasn't the only area that existed on Route 5 either. There was a trainer prep school, as well as a hidden village. However as we have graduated school completely already, we will skip past that part.

Trainer prep schools served as an alternative method to enter Pokemon Leagues. If one successfully graduated from this school together with their normal school, they would not need to go on a journey to gather a region's eight gym badges. Similar to how my big sis Daisy was, she entered a unique school for breeders. She successfully graduated a few years back and she now has a nice career as a Pokemon Breeder.

And well, these schools served no purpose for us three. One, we already are on a journey and two, we've already secured a couple badges. We long decided to go on a journey together.

So we just passed by that prep school, watching several younger trainers battling one another. It was on this current path we would come across a fated boulder, the one giant rock to where a certain Charmander would lay, struggling to stay alive during a rainstorm. The very same Charmander abandoned by that one trainer.

Well, we passed by it. It wasn't rainy, nor did I see any Charmander. So that probably meant the bastard trainer was still abusing that Charmander, trying to let it be the best Charmander it could be. Well, that trainer would eventually get fed up with it, abandoning it to die on that boulder. Hopefully later, Ash will still take pity on it, and rescues the Charmander.

With that note, we entered a smaller forest while on our walk in Route 5. This was a special forest actually. If one didn't have the proper path like we did, a trainer would likely fall into a trap set by wild Pokemon here. The same Bulbasaur Ash caught was actually the leader of these wild Pokemon here. If one gains its trust, it would them to the hidden village around here.

Unfortunately we did not encounter any traps, let alone any signs of this mysterious Bulbasaur. Since it wouldn't come out to greet us I guess we won't get an invitation to this hidden village. That's fine with me, our destination is at the end of this forest anyway.

There was actually one more thing that's been popping up around here too. A squad of Squirtles that go around antagonizing Trainers. Just in case they did appear for us, I brought out Wartortle. Bringing out Wartortle worked like a charm, and it did not hear any Squirtle coming to our way.

Ash can have fun with these three guys just like he did in the original anime. As for me, well, I already have a Squirtle, which is now a Wartortle. For Charmander, I plan to catch one in Johto. I also have no interest in catching Bulbasaur either. And as much fun as encountering the Squirtle Squad would be, I really didn't want to re-create that squad here. Just naming my Wartortle Raphael is enough for me, haha!

Jokes aside, we eventually came out of the forest, only for us to encounter an upward slope. Not only that, it also started to get a bit darker. We spent around half a day walking through Route 5. Among the Pokemon seen here, most were ones we've already seen. The moment we approached this slope, we could hear the sounds of ocean waves crashing which excited Serena and Lillie.

But there were a couple new finds.

Abra and Meowth.

Serena, Lillie and I went through what Pokemon we had at this time, and catching a psychic type Pokemon would definitely add more coverage. With our conclusion, we decided that Serena was the best one to catch an Abra. To be honest I was interested in a psychic type too. Alakazam was really powerful.

But for me, the psychic type I will probably catch is a Slowpoke, and hold off on evolving it until it get a King's Rock for Slowking. The Slowpoke line are pretty good defensive Pokemon, especially having an ability that heals it upon every switch.

As Serena hatched her plan, she struggled to catch an Abra, but still managed to do so. That's because Abra really likes to teleport around. It wasn't until later on Abra could learn more moves before evolving, but in the past, Abra would generally only know Teleport.

Serena saw her three wiggles, successfully capturing Abra. She became happy as we congratulated her. We also made sure to get Abra's reading into our Pokedex too.

"Abra, the Psychic Pokemon. Abra is a Psychic type. It can read others' minds and it will teleport away when danger approaches. One must have a clear mind while trying to catch it."

Getting to that clear state of mind was Serena's struggle, but she pulled through. After our catch, we hiked the rest of the slope, which appeared as if it was a hill. Once we reached the end, Serena and Lillie became shocked.

In front of us now stood a vast beach, and an endless blue sea and blue sky. Waves soothingly crashed onto rocks as they came toward us. Seeing the ocean, Serena became giddy while Lillie stood still, not speaking.

"Wow, it really is the sea!", Serena happily said. She then took her shoes off right then and there and ran onto the hot sand. She started tp feel the water splash onto her legs. We saw her have fun letting out a few laughs before Lillie spoke out to me.

"This is quite nice. I had no idea we would be this close to the sea. I'm guessing that's our destination further up?", Lillie asked, pointing her finger ahead of us.

Far over our reach was a large lighthouse sitting atop a cliffside, overlooking the sea. A light at its top could be seen constantly spinning around in circles, which served as a navigation light to those who wished to approach the Vermillion Harbor.

That lighthouse further up was indeed our next destination. Bill's Lighthouse.

*

A new week!

Don't forget to drop those power stones!

Let's try to get over 500 this week.