With a fully healed party of Pokemon, Ttar headed to the northern exit of Viridian City. He passed by an old man, who asked him if he knew how to catch Pokemon. Ttar held up his three PokeBalls, nodded, and walked on.
Route 2 was another short route. However, unlike Route 1, Route 2 was split in half by a large forest. As Ttar walked through the gatehouse leading into the forest, a woman warned him not to get lost in Viridian Forest. As she put it, the forest is a 'natural maze.' Ttar smiled and nodded, and walked through the door into the forest.
The first thing that Ttar noticed was that the road immediately forked three ways: straight, left, and right. Ttar had no idea which path was the correct one, so he went with his gut: take the left path.
The left path went a short way, and then curved to the right. A short way further, there was another fork. One path curved to the left, and the other turned dead right. Ttar decided to take the left path again, but soon found out that this was not the right way. The road ended in a few tree stumps and thick grass. Ttar found a PokeBall on the ground, however, so it wasn't a waste. He turned around and went back the way he came, and this time, he turned left onto the other path.
This path curved to the right shortly. Ttar followed the path, and before long, he realized that his gut had been wrong. He found himself face to face with the gatehouse he had entered the forest from. Shaking his head, Ttar went down the only remaining route: to the right of the gatehouse.
This path was clearly the correct one. There were several signs along the path, and several trainers as well. Some of them even challenged Ttar, but their Weedle and Caterpie were no match for Ttar's Pokemon. They gave some nice experience, though. Now that Ttar had found the right path, there weren't many forks, and the ones there were led to the same place. The rest of the forest was easy to navigate, and before too long, Ttar found himself at the exit gatehouse. The rest of Route 2 was very short, and Ttar found himself in Pewter City, the site of the first Pokemon Gym in the region.
Ttar healed his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center. He noticed the Gym was right around the corner, so he headed there immediately. Having done his research, he knew that the Pewter Gym specialized in Rock-type Pokemon. This meant that Arceustar the Squirtle would have an easy time with it's Water-type attacks.
The Gym had a very simple layout. One trainer guarded Brock, the Gym Leader. Strangely, the trainer used Diglett and Sandshrew, two Ground-type Pokemon. So much for Rock-types, huh? They still fell easily to Arceustar's Bubble, and Ttar went on and approached the Gym Leader.
Brock awoke from his meditative state. He eyed Ttar, and then began speaking:
"I'm Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader!" he said. "I believe in rock hard defenses and determination! That's why I train Rock-type Pokemon! Do you still want to challenge me?"
"Of course I do!" Ttar exclaimed.
"Fine then!" Brock shouted. "Show me your best. Go, Geodude!"
Out of a PokeBall came a Pokemon that appeared to be just a rock with a face and arms. It floated in the air, clearly anxious to fight.
"Come on out, Arceustar!" Ttar cried. He tossed his PokeBall in the air, and the small Pokemon appeared before him.
"I'll let you have the first move, challenger!" Brock said.
"An honorable, yet very poor decision!" Ttar replied. "Arceustar, Bubble!"
Arceustar shot a flurry of bubbles from it's mouth. They all struck the Rock and Ground-type Pokemon, very clearly nailing a weak point. However, Geodude was still standing, much to Ttar's surprise.
"Geodude, Tackle!" Brock called out. The Rock Pokemon charged Arceustar, knocking it over, but Arceustar didn't seem to be hurt.
"Use Bubble again!" Ttar commanded. Another flurry of bubbles shot from the turtle Pokemon's mouth, and after they connected with the Geodude, it fell to the ground, unable to take any more.
"Geodude, return!" Brock cried out. "Not bad, but I still have my faithful partner Pokemon left. Go, Onix!"
Out of the PokeBall came a gigantic Pokemon that Ttar hadn't been expecting. It appeared to be a huge snake made entirely of rocks. It was certainly menacing, but Ttar thought to himself, 'This probably won't be too hard. A few Bubbles and it should go down.'
"Onix, brace yourself!" Brock shouted. "Use Bide!"
Onix coiled itself up, forming a giant spiral of rocks. It was preparing to tank attacks. However, Ttar knew this was in vain.
"You know what to do, Arceustar!" Ttar yelled. Arceustar turned around and nodded at him, and then unleashed a stream of bubbles at the Onix. Like with the Geodude before it, Onix seemed really hurt by it.
As Onix was using Bide, it was unable to attack. Ttar took advantage of this, and simply commanded Arceustar to use Bubble again. The bubbles hit their target, and just like that, the gigantic Pokemon collapsed to the ground, defeated.
"No, my Pokemon!" Brock screamed. He called his Onix back into it's PokeBall, then turned to address Ttar, who was celebrating his victory with Arceustar.
"I took you for granted," Brock said. "As proof of your victory, here's the BoulderBadge."
He handed Ttar a small metal badge, which appeared to be an octagon, segmented into nine parts. This was Ttar's first badge; his first step towards the Pokemon League!
"Thank you so much!" Ttar said joyously.
"That Badge also enables the use of the hidden technique Flash," Brock said. "And here, a little bonus from me." He held out a small disc to Ttar, who took it from him.
"That's TM34, Bide," Brock said. "It's one of my favorite moves. Use it to teach the move to a Pokemon. It can only be used one, though, so choose wisely!"
"Thanks a lot," Ttar said. He didn't plan to use the TM, but he wasn't going to tell Brock that.
"You should head to Cerulean City in the east," Brock said. "That's where the next Gym is. My good friend Misty runs it. You may have beaten me, but I bet you won't beat her!"
"I'll look into that," Ttar said. "See you later!"
With that, Ttar left the Gym and returned to the Pokemon Center. He got his Pokemon healed, and decided to rest there for a while. He had a long day, and both he and his Pokemon had earned their rest.