It didn't take a long time for Arthur to reach Virdian city. He practically rushed through it as he had many things to do in the city and it was already close to evening.
As soon as he reached the entrance point, he saw many police officers blocking it.
Normally, there would only be some guards, but today, it was different. Arthur wasn't surprised by this as it was again something that had happened in the anime.
"Hey, who are you?"
One of the female police officers approached Arthur with a Growlithe on her side.
"My name is Arthur and I'm a Pokemon trainer who started his journey today." He said, recognizing the female officer as Officer Jenny.
Unlike the anime, All officer Jenny's weren't identical in looks. This was the same for Nurse Joy's. The only reason Arthur was even able to recognize her was because of the Growlithe by her side.
It was common knowledge that the Jenny clan's signature Pokemon was Growlithe. They practically supply the whole police force with Growlithes, making them one of the strongest families in the world.
The only way an ordinary trainer can even get a Growlithe was through Jenny's clan.
"A trainer? Are you one of the new batch trainers from Pallet Town?" Officer Jenny asked as she looked at him.
"Yeah, I'm one of them."
"Can I see your pokedex? We have gotten reports of criminals going around stealing trainer's Pokemon. So, we are doing an inspection."
"Sure, here is it."
Arthur passed his pokedex to Officer Jenny and she quickly checked his trainer ID. Then, she nodded her head and allowed him to go inside.
"Sorry for the inconvenience. You can go in now and yeah, be careful of any suspicious people. Those criminals are suspected to be from a criminal organization called Team Rocket. If you find anything suspicious, please report to us."
Officer Jenny warned and Arthur nodded his head while trying to hide his inner thoughts.
'It seems like those three also exist in this world.'
Arthur thought about the three idiots who form the comedic trio of Team Rocket. It seems like they would still go after Ash's Pikachu in this world and keep blasting off.
But he didn't care too much about them.
It was better for him to avoid them and go according to his plans. Getting involved in meaningless things would just slow him down.
Soon, Arthur reached the Pokemon center.
It was one of the biggest buildings in the city and he saw many trainers sitting around at the entrance. Like in the anime, Pokemon centers give free healing services to all Pokemon and it was also the place where trainers can exchange information.
It was free, so all traveling trainers stay at different Pokemon centers through their journeys. Moreover, one can even use video phones and trade machines free of cost.
It was the perfect service for a trainer.
"Hello, are you here to heal your Pokemon?"
A young nurse with pink hair greeted him as he reached the counter. There was a Chansey by her side and Arthur easily recognized who she was.
She was Nurse Joy, a part of the famous Joy clan, and same as Officer Jenny, all Nurse Joy's were not identical to each other and like the Jenny clan, they had a monopoly over Chanseys.
"No, I'm here to register for the Indigo League." Arthur didn't bother healing his Pokemon as they were not in a bad shape and quickly inquired about the registration.
"Oh, then please pass me your pokedex."
Nurse Joy said and gestured to give her his pokedex. He passed it to her and she connected it to the computer next to her.
Soon, the computer registered him officially in the Pokemon league and his face and name were displayed on the big screen in the center.
Just like that, Arthur was registered in the Indigo league and he can finally start aiming to collect gym badges.
"You will need 8 gym badges to qualify for the league. If you can't collect 8 in time, then your registration will be annulled. You should start with Pewter city as most new trainers get their first badge from there."
"I understand."
"You need to cross Viridian forest to get to Pewter city, but it's already night. Why don't you stay in the Pokemon centre today and leave tomorrow? We have free rooms available."
Nurse Joy asked in a professional manner. It was her job to give advice to new trainers and Arthur can see that she was really professional in her conduct.
But he rejected her offer.
"Thanks for the offer, but I have something to do."
"Is that so? Then, I hope you will succeed in qualifying for the league."
"Thank you!"
Arthur said his thanks and left the Pokemon center. He was not a fool to stay at a place that was going to blow up in a few hours.
As he had already confirmed that anime events were happening, he knew that the idiot trio will attack the Pokemon centre and Ash's Pikachu will blow it up.
Although unlike in the anime, there were safety measures inside every Pokemon centre in case a fight between two Pokemon breaks out, still, Arthur didn't want to get involved in that.
He had other things to do.
His main training would start once he entered Viridian forest. He needed to do preparation for that and one of the most important things was to get a thorough map of the whole forest.
There was a map in the pokedex, but it only displayed the official pathway to enter and exit the forest.
What he wanted was the information about every ethnic Pokemon group living in the forest and where to find them.
'There's only one place to get this information in this city.'
This type of information won't come cheap, but Arthur had enough money that he had saved from childhood.
That's why he headed towards the Viridian city gym and one of the hideouts of Team Rocket.
Author/note:
Hello, the author here.
Thanks for the great response and just want to clear some things. MC will get involved with the cannon, just he's avoiding it cause it will just waste his time currently. He's focusing more on his goals and that will obviously affect Ash as they are practically rivals. So expect character development for him too. By the way, he won't get Ash's Charmander as he already has one of its own.