Pokémon: Midnight Blue

The Hideout

"What are you guys doing here?" I did not hesitate to ask Robin and Kylie.

"We've been noticing some suspicious stuff going on around the city," Robin responded, "Rocket grunts everywhere, and they all seem to be going in and out of the Game Corner. We were trying to get down there to check it out."

"That's ridiculous, how can two peole take down an entire operation?"

"Well, what about that one guy?" Kylie interjected, "Who wipes up the floor with Team Rocket everytime he comes into contact with them?"

"That one guy is Kira Fakir," I explained, "and he's not just any guy. He's the Pokémon League Champion. He's the greatest trainer to ever walk the face of the Kanto region. People are scared to even look him in the eye. Of course, he can knock Team Rocket clean off their feet!"

"That makes no difference," Robin interrupted me, "The point is we have a way in. We make a great team, guys, and if we all work together, we may actually stand a chance against these guys. Brian, are you in?"

I let out a huge sigh and agreed to join the two lovebirds. We walked into the Game Corner completely nonchalantly, and slowly but surely found our way to a back door in the building. I assumed this led to an alley, but instead, it made way for a downward staircase. Robin cautiously stepped down, as if trying to avoid any booby traps. I watched aggravatedly as Robin kept creeping down the straicase slowly, like he was in kind of some kind of Indiana Jones movie.

"Hey!" I heard a voice at the bottom of the flight yell, "What are you doing here? Intruder! Intruder alert!"

Robin immediately yanked a Pokéball out of his vest and released his Graveler yelling, "Rollout!"

Graveler broke out of its Pokéball, rolled itself up into a ball, tumbled down the stairs, and bowled over the grunt. An alarm went off. I figured there was no point in trying to be sneaky now, and I flew down the stairs, Pokéball in my hand and Kylie following right behind. Three more grunts ran in from different parts of the hideout.

"Butterfree!" I heard Kylie summon from behind me, "Confusion!"

I froze, but not by my own will. It felt like a wall of nothing had surrounded my body, inhibiting me from movement. I rose, and I became more and more unsettled as I did, until I realized this was Kylie's doing. I noticed that she and Robin were rising as well. Why she would immobilize the three of us and suspend us in the air was beyond me. Then I realized what her intention was with Robin's next words.

"Graveler, use Earthquake!"

Graveler planted its feet firmly on the ground and slammed down on the floor with the palms of its hands. The floor evidently shook violently as the grunts were put into a state of disarray and eventually knocked off their feet by the tremor. Robin, Kylie, and I were completely unaffected, however. As the last grunt fell, Butterfree began to telekinetically put us down again.

"You can't be such a hothead with things like this, Brian," Kylie patted me on the back as she walked passed me. She turned around and looked at me with a cutesy and cheeky grin, "There's gotta be strategy in the things you do. You can't just up and run at things head-on like you always do, or just try to make up a solution on the spot. That's how you end up getting hurt. It's not all about brute strength, you know."

These words repeated in my head as the three of us advanced deeper into the chamber. I was not too pleased with Kylie's comment, but it made me wonder: Was she right about my general approach to things? Did I really focus on little more than force and improvisation to achieve my goals?