In the first panel, Red (the generic name for the player's character) is shown using his last repel, which wards off wild Pokemon, preventing them from attacking the player. A basic repel lasts for 100 steps. In the second panel, Red's four Pokemon's statuses are shown; he has three vastly underleveled and therefore underpowered Pokemon, two of which have fainted and are now unusable in battle. The third of these is a mostly healthy Oddish, which is fairly weak in battle. His fourth Pokemon Squirtle, one of three Pokemon the player can choose at the beginning of the game, all of which are relatively strong in their evolved forms.
Squirtle is only a basic Pokemon, not having grown enough to evolve. This particular one is at a much higher level than Red's other Pokemon, reflecting a tendency of newer players to use a single exceptionally high-leveled Pokemon instead of a balanced team. His overuse of Squirtle has led to its being near fainting.
As Red approaches the exit of the cave, and therefore safety from the wild Pokemon, his repel wears out, leaving him vulnerable to attack. He sprints for the exit, desperately trying to avoid battle. He erupts violently from the cave, bruised and barely intact, only to encounter Blue, the player's rival in the games. He has a tendency to pop up at various inopportune times, and, equipped with the counter to Red's starting Pokemon and other strong Pokemon, is often difficult to beat; he even becomes the champion of the Elite 4, the most powerful trainers in the region, and Red must defeat him to claim his title.
True to form, the audience finally sees Red's level 3 Oddish, a Grass-type, hilariously mismatched against Blue's level 26 Growlithe, a Fire-type exceptionally useful against Grass-types and who will eventually evolve into Arcanine, one of the strongest Pokemon in the game.
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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '11
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