Chapter 32: Lavender Town!
Gan looked Arlo up and down, he was still dressed in his Team Rocket uniform as usual. He held his head up high with pride. Gan couldn't understand what this guy was so proud of, he had a lot to work on.
"Ah, you're Arnold, right? What do you want?" Gan asked lazily.
"Damn you, you forgot my name already, my name is Arlo!" Arlo fumed a bit and said.
"Oh, yeah." Gan turned back around and started working out by lifting weights.
"...." Arlo was speechless.
"I'd like to let you know that I've been training myself, I've been beating down Pokemon on Route 3. I had even managed to catch a few and sell them to the Merit Hall for points." Arlo smiled smugly; this was his indication that he was catching up to Gan.
"That's good, but you should catch more than one Pokemon for your Team. One will not help in the long run, so you better choose wisely." Gan said as he pumped weights.
"Those Pokemon were all garbage, they aren't what I'm looking for." Arlo shook his head.
Gan stop lifting weights after a set, then pointed his attention towards Nidorino and Nidorina. They seemed to be slowed lifting the weighted vest, he simply told them to jump and exercise.
"Maybe you need to explore a little, you've only been in this city with limited Pokemon. Ekans is a good first choice, so you made the right call picking it." Gan started to do push-ups while speaking.
"Hmm, I have been in the City for a while, I originally lived in the slums of Viridian until joining Team Rocket." His horizon was small and had only reached Viridian, Pewter City, and Route 3; there wasn't much in these places as they were merely starting points.
"Well, you have the chance now while Team Rocket is laying low. This is the perfect time to train up because things won't be as quiet for long." There was a warning in Gan's tone, things wouldn't be quiet for long as he had a strange feeling.
Arlo thought for a moment, it was indeed a good time to train. This was why there were so many Grunts training here; the place was virtually packed.
Before Arlo could reply, Gan's satellite phone went off. Every Team Rocket member had one of these, Gan had sat his down close by to work out.
"Just a second." Gan picked up the phone by pushing a button.
"Aye, bro, where are you right now?" It was Warren, he was the only one that had his number. This was besides an emergency summoning call from his superiors. He had covered the Team Rocket logo on the back of his phone with a sticker of Golem.
"Goodness, I was looking for you. I'm in the training area of the Pewter City Branch, are you close by?" Gan asked in reply.
"On my way, I've been doing a little training myself since I have some free time." Warren hung up right after.
"Okay, guys, you can rest; have a drink to restore your energy." Gan handed them some fresh water and some Raspberries to eat.
"Wow, you really go all out with these guys, even feeding them such good berries." Arlo scratched his head, in his mind, they were only useful for fighting and defending himself from danger.
But he recounted Gan's words on that day and started to understand briefly. In fact, he always thought about those words, so tried this approach. He even tried complimenting Ekans and patting its head, at the same time.
Ekans was even shocked that he was doing that!
"Of course, but I've already explained that to you." Gan only smile and took a seat on the floor.
"Hoho, there you are, aka, Agent X!" Warren walked in with a grin so deep across his face; his training must have seen great results.
"Well, well, I see you're out there training hard, as it should be, haha!" Gan stood up and greeted Warren with a swift and clean handshake.
"It looks like you added two Pokemon to the Team, you're really moving up fast." Warren gazed landed on both Nidos. "But I haven't been slacking myself, I was training my Zubat a lot in Mt. Moon, I even challenged a few trainers out there."
"Wow, you've really been putting in work!" Gan was also surprised, he really wasn't slacking.
"Of course not... hmm, who is this guy?" Warren noticed Arlo, who was staring blankly at the 2.
"Some guy I met on the street, he was begging for raspberries but I gave them to my Nidorino and Nidorina instead," Gan said firmly.
"W-What? Don't talk nonsense, I've never asked for berries, and I'm not a beggar!" Arlo's eyes went wide, how could Gan lie like that with a straight face?
"Hmm, he really does look like a beggar though, just look at his face. When was the last time you took a shower?" Warren looked at Arlo with disgust, did this guy not keep up with his hygiene?
"....."
Arlo couldn't refute it, it had indeed been a while.
"My man, you might wanna invest in deodorant, hahaha!" Warren mocked and broke out in wild laughter.
'Damn, this guy is such an a**hole!' Arlo cursed but it was sadly true.
Gan held in his laughter, so he didn't laugh.
"Oh, man, I crack myself up. Phew, anyway, are you having any plans on visiting somewhere? If so, which city will we be heading to this time?" Warren wiped his eyes and asked with a straight face.
Gan wanted to head for Celadon City, but he was thinking of just heading to Lavender Town. After that, he could just go towards the Rock tunnel from there.
"Hmm, let's head to Lavender Town; there are some pretty interesting things in that town," Gan concluded his decision, he could just head to Celedon afterward.
"Hmm, Lavender? I heard some of the higher-ups have had their attention on this for some reason." Warren had only heard a little but not much, so he really couldn't be sure.
"Who knows, we might find out when we get there, so let's check it out." Gan was eager to explore, he had become very adventurous coming to this world.
Warren couldn't agree more, he was still young himself so he wanted to check a few things out as well.
"Hey, I want to come too so take me with you." Arlo wanted to do some exploring as well; he had only been in his small shell this whole time.
"You? I don't want you stinking up my Helicopter!" Warren looked at Arlo coldly and said.
"You really do need to take a shower daily, I can't smell you now but I'm sure you don't smell pleasant either." Gan somewhat agreed.
He didn't want to smell anything bad in a secluded space, his Grimer was already a challenge when it came to this.
"You can open a window, I won't even sit on the seats of your helicopter. If you can't take it, then I'll just take a shower if you wait for me." Arlo really wanted to go, both of them could see it in his eyes and face.
"Warren, what do you think? I mean, I don't think there's a problem if he goes off and cleans himself now." Warren was about to deny him no matter what, but after hearing Gan's suggestion he started to rethink.
"Alright, we'll let him go, he just needs to change into a different set of clothes, we don't need him running around in his Team Rocket uniform. Oh, and take a shower too!" Warren scoffed and said.
"I know that. I'll be right back so don't leave me!" Arlo hurriedly ran out.
Gan and Warren did the unexpected and waited for Arlo. At this point, the sun was starting to set, but over time Arlo came out with different clothes. He wore average everyday clothes, so he wouldn't stick out.
"Wow, you guys actually waited for me!" Arlo was a bit surprised.
"If you took any longer we would have left you!" Warren shot him a contemptuous look.
"....." Gan said nothing.
Sometime later, they arrived on Route three; nighttime had already fallen. Warren thought that this was the perfect time to train his Zubat. He usually had to train it in dark places like a cave, but during the nighttime, it was open season.
However, this wouldn't be a problem if it evolved into a Golbat, it wasn't bothered by the light at that point. They all walked through the forest before arriving at the golf cart that Warren and Gan had used before.
They talked on their way to the Team Rocket Outpost; particularly about the Legendary Birds. Warren spoke of the rumors about an Ice Bird appearing in Seaform Island; as for the others, he wasn't sure.
The place was dangerous and extremely cold, just falling into the water could cause Hypothermia to occur in a matter of minutes. Team Rocket had opted to not check these places out, Giovanni's main target was on a certain Pokemon and not the Birds.
Lance himself ignored the Legendary Birds, but he would hop right on it if he knew Giovanni was after 'that Pokemon'. Gan would never disclose information about 'that Pokemon', he wanted it to himself later. However, people like Professor Oak, Blaine, Giovanni, Lance, and a few others were aware of it.
Eventually, after an hour of flying the Helicopter, they finally arrived at Lavender Town. The City was still lit up with lights, but Warren flew over it towards the forest to land his Helicopter. There was no Team Rocket Outpost or Base around Lavender, so he could only land it in the wild.
Once they all got out of the Helicopter, Warren took out a large Blanket to cover his Helicopter. With the help of Warren's Zubat and Gan's Pidgeotto, they were able to cover the Helicopter faster.
In standard fashion, they cut through the forest to reach Lavender, it was dark so Warren pulled out a flashlight. After five minutes of walking; they finally made it to Lavender Town, it was a town so it wasn't as big as the cities.
There were still several tall buildings and many people walking the streets.
"As much as I want to train my Zubat, I'm too tired for that. I'll head toward Rock Tunnel tomorrow to train." Warren sighed and said.
"Same, I wanna check that Rock Tunnel out tomorrow myself." Arlo thought the same.
"You guys go on, I'll check out the Pokemon Tower to see what's going on with the place," Gan said thoughtfully.
"Pokemon Tower!?" Both Arlo and Warren showed a change in expression, who didn't know about this place?
"This place is way too dangerous, they say the place is haunted. I would advise not going there." Warren tried to sway Gan; this place was where they usually put away dead Pokemon. There were rumors that Ghosts roamed the Tower, and would drain you of your life force!
"No worries, I won't go onto the high floors, I'm just going there to talk with the people about those rumors." Gan waved his hand and said.
"That's good, but you still need to be careful. I'm going to rest at the nearest inn close to here." Warren and Arlo gave Gan their goodbyes before walking off.
Gan only smiled after they left, Ghost Pokemon wasn't a joke but nighttime was the best time to find them. Moments later, he arrived at Pokemon Tower, he was going to find a certain Ghost Pokemon if he could.
"Let's do this!"
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