Of course, Maple had seen many pokemon battles on Television.  Every so often a brave trainer would face the Elite Four and their battles would be broadcast nationwide.  She'd never seen a pokemon battle in real life though, and this was even more exciting.  Sure it may've just been a brand new trainer, his charmander and a ratatta, but seeing the fights in real life was just exhilarating.

"That was amazing!" she called from the sidelines.  "Oooh, let's hurry to Viridian City!  I want to buy a pokeball!"

"Good job, Charmander." Clive patted his partner's head. "Now, let's go! We're not letting Jon and his Bulbasaur get to Viridian before us!" Not that they should worry with that. Bulbasaurs had short legs; not for walking, let alone running!

And he ran after his rival, closely followed by Charmander.

Yes, Viridian City. He had been there, once, even though he didn't remember why.

"Yeah, probably." Jon looked back at his Bulbasaur, exhausted from its struggle to keep up. "Hmm... maybe Bulbasaur too."

With a heavy frown, he picked the pokemon up and held it, so which it replied with a breathy "Saur!" Why wasn't he doing this earlier? They sure were off to a rough start.

Jon pushed the door to the center open, and he was immediately greeted by the pink-haired woman at the table and her Chansey assistant.