“Pika!” Chu-Chu said as Aoife carried her along the path to Viridian City.  “Pikachu!”
 “What’s wrong, Chu-Chu?” Aoife asked.
 “Chuu!” Chu-Chu said, pointing behind them.  But Aoife looked and there wasn’t anything there.
 “Chu-Chu,” she scolded, “quit trying to trick me.  It’s not going to work.”
 “Kachu!” Chu-Chu protested, gesturing wildly at the path behind them.  “Pika, chu!”
 Aoife looked behind them, and she saw what Chu-Chu was pointing at.  A female Nidoran was on the path behind them.  “Nido!” it squeaked.
 “Cool!” Aoife said.  “Um…what is it?”
 A light blinked on from inside her backpack, and her Pokedex’s mechanical voice said, “Nidoran.  Although small, its venomous barbs render this Pokemon dangerous.  The female has a smaller horn.”
 “Wow,” Aoife said.  “I’m gonna catch it!” she decided impulsively.  She pulled an empty Pokeball out of her backpack and threw it at the Nidoran, yelling, “Nidoran, you’re mine!”
 “Nidoran,” the tiny Pokemon said nonchalantly, kicking the ball back to Aoife with its hind legs. 
 “Huh?” Aoife said.  “But you’re supposed to go in the Pokeball!” she yelled at the Nidoran.  “How am I supposed to catch Pokemon if they won’t go in the Pokeballs!”
 “Ran-ran!” the Pokemon cried, scampering off into the bushes.  Aoife sighed.
 “Having trouble?” a voice said behind her.  Aoife turned around to discover that the owner of the voice was an older man who also had Pokeballs on his belt.
 “Um…yeah,” Aoife admitted.  “I can’t catch that Nidoran.  I threw a Pokeball at it, but it just went running off.”
 “You started out by throwing a Pokeball at it?” the man laughed. 
 “What?” Aoife asked.  “What am I supposed to do?”
 “Here, I’ll show you,” he said.  The man took one of the Pokeballs off his belt and threw it, yelling, “Pokeball, go!”
 Out of his Pokeball popped a small mole-like creature, who burrowed into the ground, saying, “Diglett!”
 “Poison Pokemon like your Nidoran there are weak against ground Pokemon,” he explained to Aoife.  “See, you have to have your Pokemon fight the one you want to catch, and once it’s weak, then you throw the Pokeball.”
 “Ohh,” Aoife said in understanding.
 “Diglett, dig now!” the man ordered his Pokemon.
 “Dig!” the Diglett responded, burrowing under the ground.  It came up beneath the Nidoran and popped up underneath it, throwing it into the air.  “Nidooooo!” it said, crashing down to earth.
 “Now try to catch it,” the man said.
 “Oh, I can’t,” Aoife said.  “Your Diglett did all the work, you should have it.”
 “Don’t need one,” he replied.  “I breed Pokemon.  I already have two Nidoran, a female and a male.  I’m hoping they’ll mate so I can breed more.”
 “Okay,” Aoife said.  “Thanks!  Pokeball, go!”  She threw an empty Pokeball at the Nidoran, and it bounced off and the Pokemon was drawn inside.  “Yeah!” she cheered.  “I caught my first Pokemon!  Yahoo!”  Aoife did a little victory dance, and so did Chu-Chu, who was bouncing around saying, “Pichu!”
 “Hey, thanks mister!” Aoife said, turning to thank him…but he was already gone.  Aoife just shrugged and went on her way. 
She went a little way down the trail, then heard a familiar female voice from in front of her yelling, “Left!  Left!  Left right left!  Come on, what are you guys, Slowkings?  Move!”
“Sounds like…” Aoife tried to think where she had heard that voice before, when it dawned on her.  “It’s Fawn,” she groaned.  “I have to catch up to her!  Gotta make it to the first gym before she does!”  She and Chu-Chu ran up the path to see Fawn, riding on a platform carried by three identical-looking boys.
“Come on, guys, move your butts!” she yelled at the boys. 
 “Hey, Fawn, give the poor guys a break,” Aoife said, sidling up to Fawn’s chariot.
 “Stop,” Fawn commanded the boys.  “Aoife Ketchum.  What are you doing here?  And what is your Pikachu doing out of its Pokeball?”
 “It doesn’t want to go in,” Aoife said.  “And I don’t want it to either.  I like having company while I travel.”
 “A Pokemon not in its ball is the mark of a poor trainer,” one of the boys said.
 “And who are these, your harem?” Aoife smirked, indicating the boys.
 “My fans,” Fawn replied.  The boys set her down and lined up to introduce themselves.
 “Bert,” the one with green hair said.
 “Charlie,” the red-haired one said.
 “Steve,” said the one who had blue hair.
 “They’re trainers too,” Fawn said.  “Show her your Pokemon, men.”
 They each threw their respective Pokeballs: out of Bert’s came a Bulbasaur, out of Charlie’s popped a Charmander, and Steve threw out a Squirtle.
 “Cute,” Aoife said, mocking the tone Fawn had used when she first saw Chu-Chu.
 “Up,” Fawn ordered her fans.  They picked up her riding platform again.  “Got any other Pokemon yet, Aoife?”
 “A Nidoran!” Aoife said proudly, holding up her Pokeball.
 “Hm.  Nice,” Fawn said.  “Good job, I guess.  I thought you would never have gotten the hang of the whole catching Pokemon thing.  I have six…no, seven Pokemon already.”  She smiled self-importantly.  “You’ve got catching up to do.”
 Aoife glared at Fawn.  “That’s what you think,” she said.  “I’ll be the one becoming a master, and I’ll leave you in the dust!”
 “Oh?  How about what’s happening in reality?” Fawn retorted.  “Come on, men, run!”  Bert, Charlie and Steve took off, literally leaving Aoife in the dust. 
 “Grrrr…” Aoife seethed.  “I’ll show you!” she yelled after Fawn.
 “Pika, pikapi!” Chu-Chu said, trying to sound threatening, which was hard for it with its cute, high-pitched voice.  Aoife picked her Pikachu up and went off down the path again.

(Who's that Pokemon?  It's Nidoran!)

 While Aoife was traveling to Viridian City, other things were going on in the city itself.  Two members of Team Rocket, Bonnie and Clyde, were in the Pokemon center in Viridian healing their Pokemon. 
 “Here you go!” the nurse said, giving them their Pokeballs (and Clyde’s Vulpix, which never wanted to go in its Pokeball).  “Your Pokemon are back to normal.”
 “Thanks, Miss!” Clyde said.  Bonnie shot him a dirty look and snatched the Pokeballs away from the nurse.
 “We’ll be going now, thanks,” she said brusquely.  Clyde grabbed his Vulpix and they left the Pokemon center.
 Standing outside the center was an old man wearing a hood that covered his face.  “Hey you!”  Bonnie and Clyde turned.  “Yeah, you two!  Wanna buy a Pokemon?”
 “Bonnie, if we buy a Pokemon the boss will love it!” Clyde said.  “We can just tell him we caught it, he never has to know the difference!”
 Bonnie grinned wickedly, then turned to the man and said, “All right, you got yourself a deal.  What Pokemon is it?”
 “A Magikarp,” the old man said, proudly showing them the Pokeball.  “It’s the greatest fish Pokemon!  People even call it the King of Carp!”
 Bonnie’s eyes shone.  “We’ll take it!  Name the price!”
 “Um…Bonnie?” Clyde said.  “Maybe we shouldn’t…”
 “Shut up,” Bonnie said, shoving him aside.  “How much?”
 “300 bucks,” the old man said.
 “Excuse me?” Bonnie said in disbelief.  “A little steep for a Pokemon, isn’t it?  I could get one in Celadon City for—”
 “300, take it or leave it,” the man said, sticking the Pokeball back into the folds of his cloak. 
 “We’ll take it, we’ll take it!” Bonnie eagerly cried.
 “But Bonnie…” Clyde began, but Bonnie shut him up by throwing a rock at him.
 “Here you go,” the man said, handing them the Pokeball, and in exchange Bonnie gave him 300 dollars.  She walked away, looking proud of herself.
 “Bonnie, Magikarp is the weakest known water Pokemon.”  Clyde decided to break the news to Bonnie.  “All it can do is Splash, and that has no effect whatsoever on other Pokemon.”
 “What?!” Bonnie roared.  “Why didn’t you tell me before I spent my entire month’s salary on it?!?”
 “I tried to,” Clyde said. “You kept interrupting.”
 Bonnie sighed.  “Great,” she muttered.  “How are we ever going to be great criminals like our parents were if we keep getting lousy Pokemon?”
 “I have an idea,” Clyde said.  “How about we trade it to a novice Pokemon trainer who wouldn’t know the difference?  Novice trainers usually start with Charmander, and the boss said he wants one…what do you think?”
 Bonnie considered this for a while, then said, “Okay, we trade.  There are some novice trainers coming up from Pallet Town, and they probably will have gotten their Pokemon from Professor Oak.  He gets all his Pokemon from the best breeders, so if we trade with one of them we’re sure to get something good for the Boss.”
 “Here comes someone,” Clyde said, pointing to the road.  “Four trainers!”  It was Fawn, Bert, Charlie, and Steve.
 “Excuse me!” Bonnie cried, running toward Fawn and company.  “Are you a Pokemon trainer?”
 Fawn looked over her shoulder at Bonnie, then commanded the boys to stop.  “Yes,” she said.  “Why?  Do you want to fight?”
 “No, we want to trade,” Bonnie said, taking out the Pokeball containing Magikarp.  “We’ll trade you our Magikarp for one of your Pokemon.”
 Fawn made a face.  “No way,” she said.  “I’m only interested in collecting the best Pokemon, not dumb little fish like that.  Besides, I don’t like fish.  Come on boys, let’s go.”  The boys picked up her platform and started running for the Pokemon center.
 “Hey!” Bonnie yelled after them.  “Come back!  If you don’t want to trade, we could at least battle!”
 “Here comes another one!” Clyde said.  “It’s a girl, and she has a Pikachu!”
 “Pikachu?” Bonnie said, turning to look.  It was Aoife, who was coming up the path from Pallet Town.  “The boss has a Raichu, what would he need a Pikachu for?”
 “Maybe she has some other Pokemon,” Clyde said.  He pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked at the Pokeballs on Aoife’s belt.  “Darn.  She only has two, and one of them probably belongs to that Pikachu.”
 “But maybe the other one is a rare Pokemon,” Bonnie said.  “Then we can trade, or just steal it and the Pikachu!  Let’s go!”  They ran over to Aoife. 
 “Hey, you want to trade?” Clyde asked Aoife.  “We have a Magikarp.”
 “Cool, you train too?” Aoife said.  “Yeah, let’s trade.  I have a Nidoran.”  She took out the Pokeball containing Nidoran and let the Pokemon out.
 “What about that Pikachu?” Clyde asked, gesturing to Chu-Chu.
 Aoife shook her head.  “Nah, that’s my first Pokemon.  I’m not interested in trading it.”
 Clyde looked disappointed, but Bonnie said, “All right, your Nidoran for our Magikarp.”  She let Magikarp out of its Pokeball, and it flopped around saying, “Karp, Magikarp.”
 Aoife took out her Pokedex, which flicked to life, saying, “Magikarp.  A fish Pokemon.  In the past, it was stronger than the horribly weak descendants that exist today.  Its only attack is Splash, which has no effect in battle.”
 “Uh…no thanks,” Aoife said.  “You can keep it.”
 “How dare that stupid little machine insult our Pokemon!” Bonnie raged.  “All right, girl.  Pokemon battle.  I choose…Growlithe!”  She threw her Pokeball, and out popped a dog Pokemon with orange and black stripes. 
 “Cool Pokemon,” Aoife said.  “Why didn’t you want to trade that?”
 “Come on, let’s battle!” Bonnie said.
 “All right!  Nidoran, go!”  Aoife sent her Nidoran into battle, her first Pokemon battle ever.
 “Growlithe, ember attack!” Bonnie ordered.  The Growlithe breathed fire at Nidoran.
 “Nido…” the Nidoran said, weakened by the attack.
 “Hang in there Nidoran!” Aoife urged.  “Poison sting!”  The Nidoran shook its head, then passed out.  “Nidoran, return.”  She recalled her Nidoran, and Chu-Chu hopped off of her shoulder.  “Chu-Chu, quick attack!”
 “Pikka!” Chu-Chu said, charging at the Growlithe.
 “Growlithe!” Bonnie yelled to her Pokemon.  “Fire Blast!” 
 “Grooooooowl!” the Growlithe howled, as fire in the shape of a Japanese kanji blew at Chu-Chu.
 “Chu-Chu!” Aoife cried, running to her hurt Pokemon, who said, “Piiii…”  “I forfeit,” she said.
 “Good,” Clyde said.  “You won’t mind if we take this weakling off your hands, then…”
 “No!” Aoife picked up Chu-Chu and ran full speed to the Pokemon center. 
She rushed inside, placed Chu-Chu and her other Pokeball on the counter, and pleaded to the nurse, “Please heal my Pokemon.”  The nurse took Chu-Chu and Nidoran, healed them, and brought them back.  Aoife thanked her and left the center.
“So where will we go next, Chu-Chu? Aoife asked.  “Pikachu!” Chu-Chu replied.  “How about…the Viridian Gym?”
“Pikka!” Chu-Chu said, eager to fight its first gym battle.
Aoife checked her map.  “The gym should be around the corner here.”  She turned the corner, and as her map had told her, there was the gym.  It had been rebuilt since Ash fought there, and had been remodeled to look like a palace.  Fawn and the guys were standing around the door.
“Come on guys!  Can’t you open this stupid little door?” Fawn yelled at them.
“We’re trying, Miss!” one of them…Charlie, Aoife guessed, said.  He and the other two tugged the handle, but it wouldn’t open.
“You weaklings!” Fawn shouted.  “Maybe I should find some other, stronger guys to travel with.  Obviously you aren’t fit for the job.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get it open!” they said, saluting her, then turned back to wrestle with the door again.
“I feel sorry for those three,” Aoife said.
“Cha…” Chu-Chu agreed.
“Why don’t you try to open it yourself?” Aoife asked Fawn, wandering over to the door.
“Because I can’t,” Fawn said.  “I’m not strong enough.  I would have thought these three could, but…”  She sighed.  “Oh well.  Guess it’s locked.”
“So I can’t earn my first badge here?” Aoife asked.  “But that’s not fair!”
“Well, there’s another gym in Pewter City, and—” Bert started to say, but Fawn kicked him to make him shut up.
“You idiot!  Don’t tell her!” Fawn yelled at him.
“Pewter City, huh?” Aoife said, grinning.  “See you later, Fawn.  I’m off to earn my first badge.”  She ran off down the path to the Viridian Forest.
“Aoife, wait!” Fawn yelled after her.  “The Viridian Forest is scary!  It’s dark and there are dangerous Pokemon, and it’s a maze and…Aoife!”
Aoife and Chu-Chu didn’t stop to wait, but they found out soon enough that what Fawn said about the Viridian Forest was true.

***

 As for Bonnie and Clyde, they had found a solution to their Magikarp problem.  A girl named Rose was willing to trade with them.
 “Sure, I’ll take it!” Rose told them.  “I train water Pokemon.  It would be a good addition to my Pokemon team.”
 “It’s yours!” Clyde said, quickly handing her the Pokeball, as if he couldn’t wait to get rid of it. 
 “And you can have my Oddish in exchange,” Rose said.  “I don’t know why I caught this thing.  It’s literally not my type.”
 “All right!” Bonnie cheered.  “We finally got a Pokemon!”
 “Looks like Team Rocket’s in the business again!” they both said.
 

Author's notes
Guess who Rose is?  You'll see her later in the show. (hint: she's a gym leader and she's related to Aoife...) It's foreshadowing, isn't it fun?  And in case you didn't pick up on this, Bonnie's and Clyde's parents were on Team Rocket too.  They're Jessie and James and Butch and Cassidy, so they're not brother and sister (which I did so that if I decided to do a Rocketshippy thing it would be PC).
 
Pics:
Bonnie
Bonnie, Clyde, and someone else (you'll find out who in a later ep.)
Fawn
another Fawn pic

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