Captured

Gym Leader Grievances

Blue~

The kid's diglett fainted on the ground with a thud, the remnants of flamethrower fading into the dust of the field outside of Viridian City Gym.

He recalled his pokemon back into its ball, tears in the corners of his eyes, as I did the same for my Charizard.

"G-good battle," he said. I could tell he was trying his best to hide his disappointment, although he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Good battle," I replied, accepting the hand he was reluctantly holding out. 

He started to walk away, his shoulders slumped.

"Hold up, kid."

He turned around, quickly swiping his eyes and smudging dirt on his face.

"You did great today."

"Really?" The look on his face was somewhat skeptical.

"Really. Most people don't try to challenge me at your experience level; you did very well for your amount of training."

"Th-thank you." He stood up a little straighter at the compliment.

"You've got great potential, kid. Work hard and train yourself alongside your pokemon, and you'll be good enough to win our rematch."

"I'll try my best." The scolded puppy look was out of his eyes, replaced with a newfound determination. He walked away with more confidence than before, although less so than when he had first come to demand a challenge.

 I couldn't help but smile at the expression on his face; it reminded me of when Red had been my rival, before we had matured enough to be friends. 

 The smile couldn't last long, though. I'd been trying to keep in touch with Red on a regular basis, especially after he had gone missing because of the Elite Four. And I had been able to, for several years, in fact. But he hadn't responded to me, or any of us, in months.

I didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to worry me.

"Blue! Blue! There's been a rampage!" The tone of urgency in the voice pushed the thoughts of Red out of my mind.

I turned sharply to see a woman running towards me, her eyes wide and her steps flurried. I instinctively reached for Charizard's pokeball, knowing that becasue he hadn't taken much damage during the battle, he would be perfectly capable of fast transport.

"Where is it?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"North of Route 22, in central Viridian Forest. Please- I'm pretty sure some people have been badly injured." Her voice was verging on hysterical.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure they're tended to." I jumped onto Charizard's back.

"Yes, of course, but I meant- be careful, Blue. We haven't seen pokemon act like this- not since our previous Gym Leader."

I turned my head to meet her eyes, which were filled with worry and fear.

"You don't need to worry about me. I need you to make sure people know what's going on, okay? Tell them to keep their families and pokemon inside until the threat is contained. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I- I think so."

"Good." With a small prompting from me, Charizard leaped into the air, wings beating furiously.

I could see the problem almost immediately. Trees and foliage were flying up and crashing into one another. Charizard and I swooped closer and realized that the source was a ginormous nidoking.