Chapter 45: Vermilion City
After Nurse Joy took Brock's Pokédex, she immediately began the registration procedures. After a moment, once Nurse Joy had finished the procedures, she looked at the name on the Pokédex – "Brock" – and as she handed the Pokédex back to Brock, she remarked, "Your name is Brock? There's a girl looking for you."
"That's right, I'm Brock. Who's looking for me? Does she need something?" Brock asked as he took the Pokédex back from Nurse Joy.
Hearing Brock, Nurse Joy replied, "I'm not sure either. She probably needs something from you!"
While putting his Pokédex away, Brock asked Nurse Joy, "Then do you know where she is?"
Nurse Joy replied, "She should be at the Pokémon Center's training field!"
Hearing Nurse Joy, Brock headed towards the Pokémon Center's training field. Ash and the others saw Brock going to the training field and were about to follow him, but Melanie, standing nearby, stopped them.
By now, Brock had arrived at the training field and saw a familiar back. He walked towards that familiar figure. As he got close, the figure suddenly turned around and saw Brock walking towards her.
"You bastard! You finally showed up! I've been waiting here for you for months! Today, I'm definitely going to teach you a good lesson!" the figure said upon seeing Brock.
When Brock saw the figure turn around, he quickly blurted out, "It's you! I almost had it! You look so familiar! Sorry... I forgot your name, can you tell me?"
Hearing Brock's words, the figure stomped her foot angrily and retorted, "You bastard! Back when you tricked me, you certainly didn't act like you didn't know me!"
Hearing the figure's words, Brock quickly explained, "Miss! I didn't do anything to you! Don't falsely accuse people! Although I feel like you're very familiar, like I've seen you somewhere before..."
Hearing Brock's response, the figure yelled loudly in anger, "Brock! You bastard! You're shameless! We met at Pokémon Tech!"
Hearing the figure mention Pokémon Tech, Brock closed his eyes and recalled the events that happened there. Perhaps because Brock had a good memory, he immediately spoke a name: "Giselle!"
After saying the name, Brock addressed the figure, "You're Giselle, right?"
Hearing Brock, Giselle replied, "That's right! I've been waiting for you here, ready to settle the score!" After speaking, Giselle immediately commanded the Cubone beside her, "Cubone! Beat this bastard to death for me!"
Hearing Giselle's command to Cubone, Brock's face darkened, and he quickly said to Giselle, "Giselle! You mustn't do that! Besides, I didn't trick you about anything!"
Hearing Brock's words and seeing his expression, Giselle thought, Does he really not know about how he tricked me? This doesn't look like an act... Whatever! He nearly harmed me! I just can't forgive him! I'll just teach him a lesson! That'll make getting that Pokémon from my sister worth it.
Having thought things through, Giselle explained the matter of the 'secret method' Brock had told her about. She then pointed at Brock and said, "Now you understand, right?! Send out your Pokémon! I'm going to battle you!"
Hearing Giselle, Brock said helplessly, "Giselle, calm down first! You want to battle me, but I don't have any Pokémon with me right now! All my Pokémon were sent to Nurse Joy for treatment! Giselle, how about we battle tomorrow?"
Hearing Brock's reply, Giselle thought for a moment and agreed. She then left with her Cubone.
Seeing Giselle leave, Brock also left the training field. By now, Brock had returned to the Pokémon Center's lobby.
He saw Ash and the others sitting on one side of the lobby. He walked over to meet up with them. Seeing Brock return, Ash asked, "Brock, you're back! Who was looking for you?"
Hearing Ash, Brock replied, "It was Giselle, the one we met at Pokémon Tech."
Hearing Giselle's name, Ash answered excitedly, "You mean that girl I battled against, the really pretty one?!"
Seeing Ash's expression, Brock chuckled and replied, "That's right."
Just then, Misty, sitting beside Ash, heard his words and disliked his expression. She reached out and pinched Ash's thigh.
Just then, a sound came from Ash's mouth, "Ahh! That hurts! Misty, let go quickly!"
Brock and the others saw this happen but didn't go over to help; they just stood nearby laughing.
After a little while, Brock said to Ash and the group, "Ash, Misty, Daisy, Melanie, I'm going to the shopping mall to buy some things. Do you want to come?"
Hearing Brock, Misty and the other girls quickly nodded and agreed. Ash originally didn't want to go, but Misty ended up dragging him along anyway. And so, Brock's group went to the shopping mall.
Brock's group arrived at the shopping mall. After entering, they split up. Brock found himself in a place selling Poké Balls. Looking at the prices, he was shocked: Regular Poké Ball - 500 currency units each. Heavy Ball - 5000 units each. Insulation Ball - 5000 units each, etc. There were many other types of Poké Balls, but uniquely, there were no Master Balls for sale.
After seeing the prices of those Poké Balls, Brock thought, These Poké Balls are so damn expensive! No wonder so many people can't afford to become Pokémon Trainers! After finishing this thought, Brock continued wandering through the shopping mall.
After an unknown amount of time, Brock and the others had all bought the things they needed. They paid and returned to the Pokémon Center. When Brock's group got back to the Pokémon Center, there was a notification: their Pokémon had been healed. Brock and the others put away the items they had bought, then went to retrieve their Pokémon.
That night, as darkness fell and the moon rose, the people of Vermilion City were asleep. Only Brock, in the Pokémon Center, remained awake. He lay in bed, tossing and turning, thinking about what he had done at the shopping mall today.
Feeling uneasy about what he did at the mall today, Brock entered his mindscape, then checked his system points balance: 1200 points. After seeing the points, he asked Bell worriedly, "Bell... No one should know about that matter, right?!"
Hearing Brock, Bell replied, "It's fine, they won't find out. Even if they discover you took them, there's no evidence! Besides, with so many items, you couldn't possibly carry them all away by yourself!"
Hearing Bell's reassurance, Brock sighed with relief and replied, "Okay, then I'm relieved. After all, this was my first time doing something like that... I was a bit scared."
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