Finding My Voice

Red Vs Blue.

Daisy's green eyes fell on Blue. A dash of shock spread across them as she shook her head. "Blue! Why would you be the Gym Leader? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Just come inside and I'll explain," Blue said sharply. His smugness had been replaced by anger and... sadness. He turned and walked around the gym. Daisy, let's see what's going on here. She didn't look me in the eye as we walked into the building.

The interior of the gym was massive. There was a high roof and a large dirt battlefield. The perfect place for a challenger's final battle. There was a giant display screen on the side of the wall. There were six Poké Balls on both halves of the screen.

"Welcome to the Viridian City Gym!" Blue strolled onto the battlefield and spread his arms. "About time you finally get here."

"Blue," Daisy took in the scene. "What is going on here?"

Her brother glanced at her. "Did you think they left this gym without a leader?"

My friend shook her head. "Of course not! But why you? You're a kid!"

Blue kicked some of the dirt. "Yeah, why me indeed. That's a splendid question, Daisy. It was what Dad wanted. The League was willing to honor it if I accepted. With Joey being around to help."

My rival strode back towards us. "And I accepted, I figured it'd be fun. Nothing was saying I couldn't still go on an adventure when the time came. Gramps didn't understand, of course. So it was off to Johto. Then, when that didn't work out, I showed up back in Kanto. Tried to balance my time, and make sure I still fulfilled my duty as a Gym Leader. It helped that I was supposed to be the final challenge."

I looked him in the eye. So this whole time, you've also been running a gym? Blue didn't acknowledge the question. His eyes were blazing with some sort of passion I had never seen before. "Arceus help me, I hate this job. I hate that I'm stuck here! As everyone marches on, I need to tend to this stupid thorn in my side! I never should've taken it, but I was too stupid to realize I'd be stuck! Stuck under my dad's shadow!"

Daisy put a hand to her mouth. "Y-you're not stuck, Blue."

He glared at her. "You didn't even know. Gramps never thought it apt to mention? Or did you just not care? Was the fact I was gone not on your mind at all?"

"You left! Mom and Dad died, and you left!" Daisy shouted back.

I stepped in between the siblings. Daisy, we're not going to get anywhere with this. "Oh boy, mutey is ready to jut in," Blue scoffed. I looked directly at him, and he smirked. "Yeah, alright then. Let's do this! Give me the best damn battle you can, kid! Four on four. Your best against mine. I need a win, anyways." Blue went to the other end of the battlefield and clutched a Poké Ball in his hand.

"You've got this, Red." Daisy put her hand on my shoulder. I'm going to do what I can. I took a deep breath as I walked to my end of the field. I had battled Blue twice, and he had beaten both times. It was time to battle.

Blue threw the Poké Ball into the air and in a flash of light, a Pokémon appeared. The Pokémon was a floating stone sphere with a few spikes poking out of it. A picture of it replaced one of the Poké Balls on Blue's side of the screen.

I didn't recognize the creature. It must have been from another region. I took out my Pokédex and it scanned the Pokémon.

"Minior. The Meteor Pokémon. Minior is native to Alola. No more information is available." The Pokedex said and I put it away. I grabbed Pikachu's Poké Ball and sent him out. A Poké Ball on the other half of the screen changed to a picture of Pikachu.