Ttar decided that seeing what the "Nugget Bridge Challenge" was all about before taking on the Gym. With his Pokemon fully healed, he headed to the north side of town, to the entrance to Route 24. As he was about to set foot on the brigde, a familiar person came running towards him. Ttar knew who it was, and groaned to himself.
"Yo, Ttar!" Blue called out. "You're still struggling along back here? I'm doing great! I caught a bunch of strong and smart Pokemon!"
'Good for you,' Ttar thought.
"Here, Ttar, let me see what you caught!" Blue said. "Let's have a battle!"
Without waiting for a confirmation, Blue took out a Pokeball. "Go, Pidgeotto!" he said. Out of the ball came a fairly large bird.
'His Pidgey must have evolved,' Ttar thought. He pulled out a Pokeball of his own and tossed it up, saying, "Go, Arceustar!" The small Pokemon came out of it's Pokeball, ready to fight.
"Pidgeotto, Sand Attack!" Blue commanded. Arceustar was hit in the face by a bunch of sand, but he stood strong.
"Water Gun!" Ttar ordered. Arceustar shot a pulse of water, nailing Pidgeotto in the face.
"Sand Attack again!" Blue shouted.
"Dodge it, and use Water Gun!" Ttar cried out. Arceustar jumped out of the way of the burst of sand, and shot another Water Gun, hitting the Pidgeotto again.
"Hit it with Quick Attack!" Blue said to Pidgeotto. Moving at high speed, Pidgeotto slammed into Arceustar. It appeared to score a critical hit, as Arceustar fell over from the force, and didn't get back up. Arceustar had fainted! Ttar called back his defeated Pokemon. He pulled another Pokeball out.
"Finish this, Doomed!" Ttar yelled. Doomed the Nidorina came out of the ball, ready to fight.
"Sand Attack, just like before!" Blue said. Pidgeotto whipped up sand, but before Ttar even gave an order, Doomed jumped high into the air.
"Hit it with Scratch!" Ttar shouted. Doomed dropped down onto Pidgeotto, it's claws glowing. With one quick hit, the Pidgeotto collapsed to the ground. Pidgeotto fainted!
"Come back!" Blue said. "Go, Abra!"
A small yellow Pokemon that appeared to be sleeping appeared. Ttar called Doomed back, and sent out Angry Nerd the Spearow, wanting it to get some action too.
"Fury Attack, go!" Ttar commanded. Angry Nerd rushed to the Abra and poked it with it's beak four times. Already, the Abra fell over. It's defenses must have been low, because it fainted in one hit!
Blue called his Abra back, and called out his next Pokemon, a Rattata. Ttar withdrew Angry Nerd, and sent Doomed back out. The Rattata used Quick Attack, but it barely damaged Doomed. On the other hand, Doomed only had to use Scratch twice, and the Rattata fainted.
"Your Pokemon are pretty strong, Ttar!" Blue complimented. "My last Pokemon; go, Bulbasaur!" The familiar plant Pokemon appeared in a flash of light. Ttar called Doomed back, figuring that Angry Nerd had a better matchup against Bulbasaur.
"Use Peck!" Ttar called. Angry Nerd rammed straight into the Bulbasaur, and the Bulbasaur was clearly hurt.
"Use Leech Seed!" Blue said. Bulbasaur's bulb opened slightly, and it shot a seed at Angry Nerd. It hit square in the chest, and expanded with vines, covering Angry Nerd! Ttar had no idea what was going to happen, but figured that his best plan was to just faint the Bulbasaur.
"One more Peck!" Ttar said. Spearow charged again, beak held out, and hit the Bulbasaur straight in the head. That was the final hit; Bulbasaur crumpled. Ttar had won the battle! Blue called back his defeated Pokemon, shaking his head.
"Your Pokemon are seriously tough, Ttar," Blue said with a smirk. "You should visit Bill's house. He lives up on Route 25. He's got a ton of rare Pokemon! If you're still working on the Pokedex, it would be worth your time. Anyways, I'm out. Smell ya later!"
With that, Blue walked away, seemingly headed to the PokeMart. Since Arceustar had fainted, Ttar went to heal his Pokemon, then returned to the Nugget Bridge, ready to take on it's 'Challenge.'
There appeared to be five people on the bridge, waiting. The first trainer explained that the challenge was to take on all five trainers in a row. Ttar figured this would be good training before the Cerulean Gym, so he accepted.
Ttar's Pokemon were clearly leagues ahead of the competition. None of the five trainers gave him any sort of challenge. After defeating all five, a man on the other side of the bridge approached Ttar.
"Congratulations, you beat our five trainers!" the man said. "Here is your prize!" He handed Ttar a Nugget of gold.
"Thanks," Ttar said. He started to walk on, but the man stopped him.
"By the way, would you like to join Team Rocket?" the man asked. Ttar shook his head. He had no interest in the scum of Team Rocket.
"I'm telling you to join!" the man shouted. He removed his jacked to reveal a Team Rocket uniform! "I'll make you an offer you can't refuse! Go, Ekans!"
The man sent out the small purple snake Pokemon. Ttar responded by sending out Angry Nerd. He commanded it to use Fury Attack, which took out the Ekans with four hits. The man followed up by sending out a Zubat. This too was doomed to failure, as a 3-hit Fury Attack followed by a Peck was enough to take out the Zubat, and all it did is steal 1HP with Leech Life.
"Argh! You're good!" the Rocket Grunt shouted. "You could've become a top leader in Team Rocket! Now, you're on our shit list! Watch out, kid! We'll get you someday!"
The man then ran off. Ttar laughed to himself. 'That was the power of Team Rocket, huh?' he thought. 'No wonder they're never accomplishing things.' He then went to the left of the bridge. He saw some tall grass. Since Blue had four Pokemon, Ttar decided that he too should catch a fourth Pokemon.
As soon as he walked into the grass, he noticed an odd flower. It appeared to be wiggling back and forth. Ttar thought this looked odd. 'It must be a Pokemon,' he thought. 'If I just toss a Pokeball while it isn't looking, maybe I can catch it!'
He did just this. He tossed a Pokeball at the wiggling plant. Sure enough, the plant went inside, the ball shook three times, and just like that, Ttar had caught another Pokemon! A scan by the Pokedex revealed this Pokemon's name to be Bellsprout. Ttar didn't care for that name. Being a Grass-type, Ttar decided to name it 'enviro.' This new Pokemon would be sure to help against Misty's Water-type Pokemon!
With his new Pokemon on-hand, Ttar decided that it was time to train it some. He proceeded onto Route 25, where many trainers awaited! Thanks to it's Grass-type move Vine Whip, enviro was able to make quick work of the Rock/Ground type Pokemon used by the Hikers. enviro was leveling up fast! It learned Poisonpowder and Sleep Powder along the way!
Before too long, Ttar found himself in front of a small house on the cape at the end of Route 25. The sign outside said, 'Sea Cottage! Bill lives here!' Obviously, this was the right place. Ttar walked inside.
The only thing he saw when he walked in was a Clefairy, working with a machine on the wall. Hearing, Ttar's footsteps, the Clefairy turned around, and quite to Ttar's surprise, it started talking!
"Hiya! I'm Bill!" the Clefairy said. "I screwed up an experiment, and got fused with a Clefairy! My machine is set up to turn me back to normal. So, help me out here, ok?"
Ttar was speechless. 'Bill' took this as a yes, and it walked into one of the pods of the machine. "Just run the Cell Separator!" 'Bill' called. Ttar walked over to the computer, and activated the Cell Seperator program. He was convinced he was dreaming, so doing this couldn't hurt.
The machine whirred into life, accompanied by flashing lights. The Clefairy disappeared from the first pod, and moments later, a human appeared in the other one! Ttar knew this had to be a dream now.
"Thanks, pal!" the man said, smiling. "I'm Bill! I've got a huge collection of Pokemon! But I should thank you in some other way.... I've got it!"
Bill pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Ttar. It said 'S.S.Ticket' on it. "That's a ticket to a fancy party on the S.S.Anne in Vermilion City!" Bill said. "Vermilion City is south of Cerulean. I was invited to the party, but I can't stand fancy do's. You can go in my place!"
As odd as this was, Ttar had always wanted to go on a ship. He was so happy, he forgot about this being a 'dream.' He thanked Bill, and left. While he wanted to challenge Misty, Ttar decided that going to the party on the S.S.Anne was more important. Ttar returned to Cerulean City, healed his Pokemon, and prepared to venture to Vermilion City!