Gene stood outside the tall grass.  It was too thick to see very far into it, but ever once in a while he'd see part of one of the pokemon hidden there.  "Ok, Ratatta," he said when an unsuspecting bug got near the edge of the grass and stopped.  "Go tackle that Weedle and then run back here."  He hated using a tactic like that, but Ratatta was too weak to survive a normal fight.  "When he runs away, I want you to use poison powder on it." he said to Free-free.  "Ready, go."

Ratatta ran into the grass and jumped, landing on the weedle.  Once it was down, Ratatta turned to run, but Weedle got up and hit it with a poison sting.  Ratatta managed to escape, however, and Free-free flew in to dust it with poison powder.  That was apparently all that was needed, as the weedle soon fell over, unconscious.

Gene picked up Ratatta and realized that it was getting weaker.  "Come on, girl" he said, "I'll take you to the pokemon center and get you patched up."  He set Ratatta down and put it back in its ball, then raced back to the pokemon center as fast as he could go.

"Oh, no," the nurse said.  "Your Ratatta's passed out.  Don't worry, though, I can fix it."  She placed both of the balls on the machine and soon they were both back to full health.  "Thank you, come again." said the nurse.

"I'm going to have to train you harder," Gene said to Ratatta.  "I can't afford to send you to the daycare, but I'll make you a deal.  You get strong, and we defeat those trainers in the park, and I'll buy you another lemonade.  We'll even take a boat to Olivine instead of walking there.  "Sound good?"  Both of them looked excited.