Red the Conqueror 6

"That is actually genuinely scary," Johanna said.

"You get used to it," Blue said, taking a bite out of a snack bar "He just kinda does that."

Red meanwhile recalled his pokemon, looked upon the massacre they had wrought upon the population of wild pokemon outside of Pewter, and he saw that it was good. He gestured forward, and at his call, his two female companions followed after him, as he marched towards the City.

"At least we don't have to deal with the wild pokemon," Blue said, finishing her snack bar.

They chatted mostly about meaningless things, as they entered the city, and after a quick rest and resupply stop, they decided what each would do.

"We're going to go face Brock, we're both on our league run and all," Blue said, gesturing to both herself and Red. "What about you?"

"If you guys don't mind, I can book us a hotel so we don't sleep on the dirt tonight. Unless you don't want to keep traveling with me? I've got a few business things to attend to," she explained, "but I should be done waaay before you two are."

Blue nodded.

Red hummed, stroking his chin, then he looked at Johanna and looked her up and down, with a suspicious look on his face.

"Ah, nono, none like that," she said, shaking her head. "I'm done getting on my knees," she spoke, "well, unless you want me to," she added helpfully. "Should I book two rooms or just one?"

Blue was thoughtful for a moment. "Well two would be-"

Red looked at her.

She giggled. "Of course just one," she said, "why pay for two when we're not gonna use one?" 

Johanna smiled and nodded. "You know this is not how I expected I'd be traveling across Kanto," she said, "but I think it might be better," she said with a nod and a smile. "Good luck, you two, I've heard Brock is a tough one."

Blue pumped her fist. "Don't worry about it, I've got just the thing!" she said. "And Red is..."

Totally unconcerned, Red nodded. 

"Red is Red," Johanna said, finally, cutting off Blue before she could answer. "Right?"

"Right!" Blue replied with a smile. "Alright, then we'll leave the hotel to you, do you need money or-"

"I've got some," Johanna said, "but don't worry about it, we'll split the bill when we get to it."

"Fair enough."

Red nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we'll meet... afternoon sound good to you guys?" Johanna asked. "You should be done. We can get something to eat or go do something fun."

"I've heard of a good bar around here, it's called On the Rocks, it was in a travel brochure," Blue said. "I think if it's good enough to be a tourist attraction it should be easy to find, worst comes to worst if it's too packed we just meet out front."

"Deal," Johanna said.

Humming, Red pointed at himself. 

"Yeah... we'll have to hope they don't think your ID is fake. I forgot about that," Blue admitted apologetically.

Seeming frustrated, Red turned around and began walking away.

"H-Hey, wait for me!" Blue said, then turned to Johanna. "Alright, see you in a bit! Red, Reeeeed!"

Johanna watched with a smile as Red walked way, while Blue made a short dash to catch up to him. She nodded to herself and decided she'd add a little bit of a shopping trip to her list, she had some good ideas that she wanted to test out.

And for their part, Red and Blue, well...

"All I'm saying is," Blue said, "light years are a measure of distance, not time, and I can see Brock from here, there's definitely not light years between us."

"Alright, fine, I fucked up, I just, I just wanted to sound badass for a minute alright?" the junior trainer, a trainee under Brock, looking to one day become an ace, said, one finger tracing circles in the packed dirt of the Arena. He had just lost not once but twice, the first time a hard fought battle against Blue, and the second, a completely one sided beatdown, also against Blue, when he dared imply that he'd taken it easy on her.

Needless to say, he did not try his luck at facing Red.

"So you are the latest challengers!" Brock called, from the far back of the Arena, standing there shirtless, exposing his upper body, tightly corded muscles apparent for all to see. He was oiled up, glistening even, and it was clear he was trying to look as impressive as possible.

He did cut a bit of an impressive figure so he had succeeded somewhat, but at this point, Blue was well beyond being misled by initial appearances.

"Yeah, we are!" she said.

Red nodded and stepped up, sizing Brock up.

"I see, I am Brock, the Rock Hard leader of Pewter City's Gym!" he said, "and I'm talking about my pokemon and not those muscles, I know what joke just went through your heads!"

Blue giggled. "Sorry, sorry!" she said, raising her hands as if in surrender, then she cleared her throat. "I'm Blue, and this is Red," she said, gesturing to him.

Red looked at her for a moment then nodded, stepping up first, taking the lead and immediately grabbing for one of the pokeballs on his belt. 

"Wait! Before we begin, may I ask, how many badges you guys have?" Brock asked.

Red shrugged. He didn't have any badges to show yet.

"Ah, none then?" Brock said with a nod. "Alright then," he said, pulling his own pokeball. "Then let us have a fair and just match!" he said. "Go, Geodude!"

Red tossed his pokeball in turn, and out came his female Nidoran, ready and raring to fight.

The ensuing battle would be one of epic proportions... if epic proportions was a really disappointing bout where Brock's Geodude was unable to use its superior strength to actually hit Nidoran, instead it just swung around wildly, its gray rock fists finding only air, only to be kicked repeatedly by the Nidoran until it was knocked out.

"Alright, then how about this, my ace," Brock shouted, tossing a pokeball forward, revealing his thick, girthy and long snake-like ace pokemon taking form.

"Oh. Wow. Nooooot playing into the jokes at all here," Blue commented.

Red turned to look at her for a moment.

She gave him a beatific smile, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. 

Brock glared. "This is it!" he called. "Now, show me what you've got, Red!"

And Red would indeed, recalling his Nidoran and letting out his own ace.

Onix would try to bring down its wrath upon Charmander, but would find instead the mighty metal claws of a monster fully prepared to fight its lesser foe... The fire pokemon's claws rent the rock, and through a short but brutal melee, would claim Red the victory and the badge.

Blue did not have much in the way of trouble either, Brock's team was particularly well suited for her as an opponent.

They did meet in front of the Bar, and as suspected, it was both a bit too packed, and they did not want to believe that Red was very much of age. The trouble of being just barely over five foot tall... Unfortunately the bar lacked the means to prove the ID was real. They just assumed it was a really good forgery.

In the end... this meant that the celebration for the first badge would be held in their shared room.

"It's better this way, I should really avoid alcohol anyway, I can't hold my liquor at all," Johanna said. 

Blue huffed. "I wanted to see Red drunk..."

Red shrugged.

"Ah, right!" Johanna said, placing her hands on Blue's shoulders. "Red, darling, can you wait outside the room for a few minutes? I got us a surprise!" she said, "you're g onna love it, I promise!"

Red looked at her, with a frown of deep thought on his face. Then he nodded.

"Alright! Great! Now come here, Blue..." she said, pushing the younger girl into the room, "it'll just be a few minutes, hold tight!"