41 Ch. 39 - Bob's Situation

<Bob's POV>

*Pant**Pant*

Why am I panting? Because I am running.

Why am I running? To catch someone.

Who am I?

I am Bob, the first player to have crossed the 'Viridian Forest'. I mean I think I am the first player.

When I successfully crossed the 'Viridian Forest', I was very happy to have achieved what others couldn't. But even after achieving something like this, something was missing, I felt unsatisfied.

Because of that, I went online and made a post about how I crossed 'Viridian Forest', and even included a guide for other players.

I felt content. It could be because I helped other players, or maybe because I was now famous. But whatever it was, It felt good.

I became somewhat of a celebrity online. My family boasted about me, and my colleagues grew friendlier.

It was perfect, PERFECT, everything down to the last minute details.

So, where do things start to go wrong?

Yes, It was when he appeared.

"Dipper, That is what his name is, Dipper."

His first appearance was when he defeated Brock, the Gym Leader of 'Pewter City'.

He came like a Storm and left like the Wind.

He walked into the Gym, got past Camper Liam, and defeated Brock. All of this happened in front of me and other players.

But this is not what surprised me; but what surprised me was how he walked past Camper Liam.

You see, Just as I posted the guide to cross 'Viridian Forest', players started appearing in 'Pewter City', and naturally, many of them found the Gym.

And since then players began to challenge the Gym, but so far, none succeeded in defeating Camper Liam.

So if no one succeeded in defeating Camper Liam then how did he get past?

Because if some did manage to defeat Camper Liam then the news of it would have surely spread throughout the players.

But there was no news of anyone defeating Camper Liam. So then how did he get past Camper Liam?

The answer was simple; he had already defeated Camper Liam, way before I and other players reached 'Pewter City'.

How can I be sure that he reached 'Pewter City' before me?

I don't know, But I had this feeling when I watched him defeat Brock that there is more to him than what meets the eye.

The way he handled the battle and how abnormally strong his Pokemon were, something is definitely strange about him, and I think I know how he got this strong.

"Quests"

That's right, Quests. I don't know if many other players know about this, but you can get Quests if you do something specific.

I found that after receiving a quest myself.

It was during the time when I was trying to cross the 'Viridian Forest'. During one of my attempts, my starter Pokemon got poisoned just as I had entered 'Viridian Forest', so instead of waiting for it to faint later and starting all over again, I decided to head back to the Pokemon Center in 'Viridian City'.

I was frustrated by repeated failed attempts to cross the 'Viridian Forest', and that's when my eyes fell on something unnatural.

Just like me, many other players who had been on 'Route 2' probably didn't notice anything strange on 'Route 2'.

But that day, maybe because I was frustrated by constant failure and couldn't see any way to cross 'Viridian Forest, or maybe it was luck, I noticed something strange along the line of trees on the side of 'Route 2'.

Must be because players were in a rush to enter 'Viridian Forest' or maybe because of the Tall Grass, but no one noticed a small section occupied by a relatively small tree between the long line of big trees.

Weird, right?, What is a small tree doing in between the line of big trees?

Curious, I made my way to the small tree, and that's when I discovered something amazing.

There was empty space behind the small tree; there was a whole other side to 'Route 2' than what we know. A new and unexplored area.

That's when something occurred to me; maybe the players weren't meant to go through 'Viridian Forest', and maybe that's why there are NPC trainers in 'Viridian Forest' who battle any player that comes into their sight.

Maybe we had to get to the other side of 'Route 2' in order to continue our journey.

This has to be. Because I don't think it is possible to cross 'Viridian Forest'. I mean why else would the other side of 'Route 2' even exist? Right.

Coming to a realization, my anger because of the failed attempt was replaced by excitement to find out something that no other player had found.

But there was a flaw in my logic which I didn't account for, and that was the Small Tree.

Moving closer to the seemingly ordinary small tree, I tried to get past it, but I was stopped by the red barrier.

And that's when everything changed as I received a quest called 'No Viridian Forest 2 {Unique}'.

Just looking at the quest name made by believes that players aren't meant to go through 'Viridian Forest' even stronger.

Long story short, I spent a whole day 6-hour limit trying to find ways to cut down the Small Tree or get past it.

I even found another Small Tree on 'Route 2' which gave me another quest called 'No Viridian Forest 1 {Unique}'.

Both of the quests had the same description as well as the same reward which is a 'Random Box'.

But what troubled me was that there is a deadline to the quest which is 'Until someone else cuts the Small Tree.'.

So, If someone else cut down the Small Tree before me then I would fail the quest.

If I can notice the unnatural sight of a small tree in between big trees then other players can too. And surely they would also receive the quest to cut down the Small Tree.

I couldn't let other players get ahead of me and cut down the Small Tree. I had a perfect opportunity to get ahead of everyone else. So, I decided to dedicate complete focus to finding a way to cut down the Small Tree.

I spent a lot of time looking for a way to cut down the Small Tree but I couldn't find anything in 'Viridian City' that could help me.

That's when something occurred to me, maybe the clue to cutting down the Small Tree is not in the 'Viridian City' but in 'Viridian Forest'.

I mean, it makes sense that a way to cut down trees will be found in a forest.

This must be why 'Viridian Forest' exists; players will have to go to 'Viridian Forest' to find a way to cut down the Small Tree and then come back to 'Route 2' to cut down the Small Tree to get access to the other side of 'Route 2' in order to continue their journey.

So, I decided to search through 'Viridian Forest' in the hope of finding a way to cut down the Small Tree.

Since my objective was to find a way to cut down, I chose to focus on exploring the 'Viridian Forest'.

I chose not to waste my time on wild Pokemon encounters by running away from every wild Pokemon encounter and also tried to avoid possible forced Pokemon battles with the NPCs.

This was the decision that changed everything.

I didn't find anything related to cutting down the Small Tree, but I was able to cross 'Viridian Forest' and reach 'Pewter City'.

Looking online, I found that I was the first player to have reached 'Pewter City'. And the rest we all know.

Back to where we were, I think the reason why Dipper is so strong is probably because he must have completed some quest which allowed his Pokemon to grow so strong in such a short time.

So, After all this, you must be wondering what is my problem with Dipper.

It is because of what happened after his battle with Brock.

When Dipper faced off against Brock, He used a Pokemon called Bellsprout while his other Pokemon were also high-leveled.

Players who were able to scan Bellsprout with their PokeDEX were able to find that you can encounter a Bellsprout in 'Viridian Forest' and on 'Route 2'.

This led to some players going back to 'Viridian Forest', and the players who went back into 'Viridian Forest' were able to level up their Pokemon faster than other players because of high wild Pokemon encounters.

The player who re-entered 'Viridian Forest' shared this with others on the internet which led to the speculation that Dipper must have leveled up his Pokemon in 'Viridian Forest' where he caught his Bellsprout.

This led to more players going back to 'Viridian Forest'; so What is the problem with that?

As more players head back to 'Viridian Forest', conflicts start to occur between players.

And amid all the chaos, someone pointed out that it was Bob who told everyone to avoid Pokemon Battle with NPCs and run away from wild encounters. And if he hadn't told others to do so then we would have had high-level Pokemon and would have caught Bellsprout.

Because of Bob, our Pokemon are low-leveled, and we have to waste our time going back to 'Viridian Forest'.

And just like that, I became the public enemy of every player.

It was so difficult to clear my name, that I even had to stay outside of 'Pewter City' just to avoid any other players.

While outside, I got another quest called 'Other side of Route 2 {Unique}' which was similar to the previous quests.

Though the description of the quest 'Other side of Route 2 {Unique}' revealed something called 'Diglett's Cave' which should be the name of that structure that stands on the other side of 'Route 2'.

Many players noticed it but because of the indestructible wooden fences which were blocking the access to the other side of 'Route 2', players lost their interest pretty soon.

Why did I say indestructible wooden fences? Well, some players tried to jump across the fence which didn't work as they were stopped by the red barrier; then they tried to use Pokemon to destroy the wooden fences which also didn't work.

No matter what hit the fences, nothing left a mark or even a scratch on them.

Anyway, Even though I accepted the quest, I was at a loss since my initial assumption was that players need to go to the other side of 'Route 2' to continue their journey and that it is impossible to cross 'Viridian Forest'.

But ultimately I proved myself wrong by crossing 'Viridian Forest', so now I was at a loss as to what to do after accepting the quest.

So, instead of wasting my time looking for a way myself, I thought of getting some help. And the only person who I think might be able to help me is Dipper.

So, I began looking for him, but I was not alone as just like me almost every player of the 'Kanto Region' was looking for him.

But just like I said, He came like a Storm and left like the Wind.

There were no traces of him; we looked for him all over 'Pewter City' as well as 'Route 3', but we couldn't find him.

The only place that was left was 'Mt. Moon' but just like 'Viridian Forest', it was very difficult to progress in 'Mt. Moon'.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N - The suggestions that you guys have given:

> Make Nidoran ♂ an HM slave

> Replace Hoothoot with Spearow

> Replace Ponyta with Abra

> Replace Rhyhorn with Cubchoo

So, Based on the Suggestions, the Team would be:

1 - Charmeleon

2 - Victreebel

3 - Spearow

4 - Cubchoo

5 - Abra

6 - Gyarados

7 - Nidoran ♂ {HM Slave}

What do you guys think? Please tell me if I should change anything else before I proceed with the Story.

That's All, Thank You for all YOUR support.