Viridian Forest

Viridian Forest (Japanese: トキワのもり Tokiwa Forest) is a forest which lies between Viridian City and Pewter City in the middle of with both the north and south entrances of Viridian Forest open to the route. The deep and sprawling forest is said to be a natural maze as many people get lost inside. The trees in the forest are so thick that little light gets in, and because of this the forest is full of Bug- and  that attract s and other Trainers.

In Generation II, Viridian Forest no longer exists as a standalone area and has been replaced with a maze of standard trees, containing items and Berry trees, which is now a part of Route 2. The maze forms roughly the same design as before and the items are placed similarly to those located in Generations I and III. However, in the Generation IV remakes, the forest is re-expanded into the state of an actual dungeon, with five Trainers added, and with Pokémon similar to those of Pokémon Yellow.

Geography
Viridian Forest is a deep and sprawling woodland expanding across reaching to Pewter City in the north and to Viridian City in the south, giving the forest its name. The trees in this area have grown so dense that light has trouble getting through, and because of this the forest seems dark and gloomy. The path across to each terminus winds its way around the dense layers of trees, creating a giant labyrinth many liken to a natural maze, as many people get lost inside. The entrance to the forest seems to be light and airy: the trees are not as thick and sunlight is able to get in fine. The trees stand tall and the grass appears to be long and unmaintained, while trees in the distance appear to be shadowed.

Because of its dark and shady environment, Viridian Forest hosts a large array of different Pokémon. They are not particularly powerful, but they will cause status conditions such as paralysis and poison. It is advised from sign posts and even from other Trainers that Trainers should buy status condition healing items such as Antidote and Parlyz Heal before entering the forest. Pokémon such as, , , and inhabit trees and tall grass, allowing themselves to stay hidden from predators. Viridian Forest is also one of the locations where Trainers can seek wild as well as under-leveled, making the forest a very exclusive place to find Pokémon. s, that own common Pokémon such as  and, come here in groups from Viridian and Pewter to battle and train.

In Pokémon Pinball
In, Viridian Forest appears on the Red and Blue tables. Catchable include, , ,  and.

In the main series
Viridian Forest has appeared in multiple episodes of the Pokémon anime. It was first shown at the end of Pokémon Emergency!. While traveling through the forest, and  encountered a, and Ash decided to throw a Poké Ball at it to try and capture it.

The forest was seen again in Ash Catches a Pokémon, where Ash caught his first two : and. Ash effortlessly caught the Caterpie by tossing a Poké Ball at it, and was caught the following day after a brief battle with. At the end of the episode, after defeating in a battle, Caterpie evolved into.

The forest was also the setting of the following episode. While traveling through the forest, Ash spotted a and decided to catch it. He used Pidgeotto against it, but another Trainer named Samurai arrived on scene and challenged Ash to a. Meanwhile, the Weedle escaped and Samurai rebuked Ash for it. The two then engaged themselves in a Pokémon battle, which got stuck for hours as their Metapod were unable to do anything but use. All of sudden, a swarm of arrived and carried Ash's Metapod away. Samurai took Ash, Misty, and their other Pokémon to a safe place, but not before running into group of which promptly evolved and attacked them. The next day, Ash went and saved his Metapod from under the very same tree, having noticed him there the day before. Due Team Rocket's loud entrance, the Beedrill woke up and started chasing Ash. He apologized to Metapod for leaving him in trouble like that, after which he saved his Trainer from a Beedrill's attack. Afterwards, he quickly evolved into a and saved Ash, Misty, and the samurai by putting the Beedrill asleep with. At the end of the episode, Ash and Misty left Viridian Forest.

Later in the series, Ash released his newly evolved near Viridian Forest in Pallet Party Panic. As the group went through Viridian Forest, Ash and his friends were attacked by a flock of. The flock's leader was a, which apparently evolved from the Spearow that Ash hit with a rock on the first day of his journey. Ash climbed a tree to escape and found Team Rocket with a flock of and  who were in a turf war with the flock of Spearow. After sending Team Rocket falling from tree as a bait for the Spearow, Ash sent out his own Pidgeotto to tell the other bird Pokémon that it was safe to leave. The Fearow then came back, however, and started attacking bird Pokémon. Ash's Pidgeotto tried to fight the Fearow, but was badly hurt. Instead of giving up, however, it then evolved into a. Pidgeot and Pikachu then teamed up to defeat the Fearow and its minions. Ash also tried to catch the Fearow but failed, forcing them just to chase it away. Ash decided to Pidgeot in the forest to look after the Pidgey and Pidgeotto.

In Pokémon Generations
Viridian Forest made an appearance in The Adventure, where was seen encountering a. After sending out his, he caught with a single. Afterwards, Red used Pikachu to battle a wild as  flew by.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Many important people were born in or near the forest, including Lance,, and. It is said that once every ten years, a child is born possessing the mysterious powers of the forest. Lance and Yellow both share the power to heal using physical touch as well as the ability to read the minds of Pokémon. In addition, Yellow can also move inanimate objects, namely Poké Balls, as well as raise her Pokémon's levels using the power of Viridian Forest (although this power seems involuntary and temporary). Giovanni has yet to display any special powers.

The forest is first visited in The Secret of Kangaskhan in the by  and. In their search for Pokémon, they encounter a wild and its baby. Upon Red's return to Viridian City via the forest, he saves a young Yellow from being attacked by a wild.

In the, the forest was the first place Yellow visited after she had assumed guardianship of Pika. She met inside the forest, and not long after, both were attacked by Lorelei. However, helped them escape. Much later, Green also revealed that she was the one who set Yellow off on her journey after meeting her at Viridian Forest, recognizing her as not only having met Red who had disappeared, but also as the one that fit the criteria given to her by. After teaching her the basics of battling, Green gave a straw hat to Yellow, telling her to disguise herself as a boy and not to reveal her name.

Trivia

 * In and,   can be found in the forest, most likely to represent the events of the anime. However, they are level 9 and 7, respectively; normally  evolves at level 18.
 * Despite the forest returning as a standalone area in, the background music is a remix of Viridian Forest (Japanese: ) from Generation II, used on , with Route 2 in HeartGold and SoulSilver given Route 3 (Japanese: ) as the background music, which is also used for most other routes in Kanto on both Generation II and HeartGold and SoulSilver. Incidentally, Generation II's version of Viridian Forest, used on Route 2, was in itself a remix of Viridian Forest (Japanese: ) from Generation I.
 * The internal layout of Santalune Forest in Pokémon X and Y is nearly identical to that of Viridian Forest.
 * In addition, every Pokémon found in Viridian Forest in and the international version of  can also be found in Santalune Forest.

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