Green's Free Use Journey

Vermilion City - Part 4

A collage of flashing lights bombarded Green from all directions. A chaotic mesh of sirens, shouts, cries and music made her head spin. The commercial district of Vermilion was a completely alien landscape compared to the quiet fields of Pallet. The wide, paved streets formed highways for people and pokémon alike. Coming together in an intersection where hundreds of shops fought for dominance for your attention with flashy billboards. Green swore she must have seen an ad for every product imaginable by now but still a billboard would catch her eye with yet another new product. They stuck out from the flat, formless sides of the surrounding tall buildings hanging from steel arms, desperately trying to sneak around their competitors or in some cases block them from view. Even in the middle of a sunny summer’s day, the neon lights managed to flash vibrantly around their advertised products. The streets seemed to have a chaotic order to them. Although Green couldn’t see more than a few feet around her, the flow of the crowd guided her along. A sea of people and pokémon, tightly packed together shuffled chaotically through the streets. Machoke’s bulk and height certainly helped as was able to see over most people and pokémon’s heads, using his large frame to cut a path through the endless bodies around them. Green clung to his arm, not sure if Machoke even knew where he was going. The determined look on his face did allow her to have some confidence in him though. In this strange, stressful environment the stress Jackson usually provided seemed minuscule by comparison. Especially now, as he fearfully clung to her arm while fighting to keep a hold of his panicking Golbat.

“Golbat! Golbat!” He cried unhappily, his eyes darting around fearfully.

The city’s use of electricity could only be described as excessive. Wires ran from building to building, hanging over the streets from tall posts. They branched off, connecting to the tops of each building to power everything within. The abundance of electricity frightened off the local wild birds, who kept lower to the ground perched on window sills or darting between the feet of the crowd. If any piece of food hit the ground a Pidgey or Spearow would snatch it up in a flash before darting off into the crowd. Any bird that did feel brave enough to fly near the wires was swiftly reminded why they stayed so low. Wild Pikachu zapped anything unfortunate enough to get near the wires, paralysing them and dragging their victim away. Often when prey was caught the Pikachu would break out into zap fights, channelling huge bolts of lighting to compete for the food. Each time one of these bolts were shot, it would peak up and touch the wires causing sparks to rain down on the crowd. Golbat especially hated this, crying and flailing unhappily.

“Put him back in his pokéball Jackson!” Green had to yell, the roaring city sounds drowning her voice out.

With a shell shocked, wide-eyed stare Jackson nodded quickly and reached for his pokéball. He fumbled the ball, almost dropping it as his elbow was hit by the arm of a passerby. Eventually, he managed to get the ball under control and return Golbat. Again, Jackson was bumped this time by a Poliwrath. He almost lost his footing, stumbling forward. Green caught him, grabbing the back of his collar and wrenching him back to his feet. Jackson turned and clung to her with a fearful whimper. He mumbled something but Green had no hope of hearing it above the noise of the city. Mankey meanwhile was loving every second of it. He was stood on top of Machoke’s head, jumping and swinging his fists at the Pikachu above. They sneered and teased him, hanging from the wires by their tails and poking their tongues out at him. When he realised he couldn’t reach them no matter how high he jumped, Mankey unhappily stomped on Machoke’s head as he screeched defiantly. Machoke turned his attention from the crowd and looked up at Mankey angrily.

“Machoke!” He roared, causing the people around them to shoot concerned looks in their direction.

He swatted at Mankey, who nimbly jumped out the way and bit his hand. Mankey’s teeth sunk into Machoke’s thumb and refused to let go. Machoke raged furiously and flicked his hand, sending Mankey flying off into the crowd. Horrified, Green watched as Mankey flew through the open doors of a small store with a billboard depicting a dancing cartoon piece of jerky made from neon lights. Green broke off from Machoke and dragged Jackson along as she rushed through the crowd, pushing and squirming through the sea of people until she stumbled into the store. A wave of relative calm overcame her as she clumsily entered the empty store. Free from the chaos of the crowd outside, Jackson let go of Green with a baffled look as if he had just been woken up suddenly. He took a few startled steps away from her before the new chaos became apparent to him, demanding his attention.