A Pokemon Tale, Part II: The Rise of Team Rocket

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The Next Step

 

Saffron City Pokémon Center:

            Even though he wasn’t supposed to be, Red was out of his makeshift hospital bed.  The doctors had said they had no real reason to fear for his safety, but they advised rest after they couldn’t find anything really wrong with him.  He told the doctors how he remembered his muscles twitching violently.  Of course, there was no trace of a typical lightning strike.

            Lance had arranged private rooms in the Pokémon Center for him and Green, who was still unconscious.  The doctors had said he would make a full recovery as well.  When he woke, Red looked over at his rival remembering the battle on the rooftop.  He remembered Charizard, the great flaming monster of a Pokémon that was seemingly unbeatable, even for a water type Pokémon like Wartortle. 

            Instinctively, Red reached for his Poke-balls in his pocket, to check on his friends.  Thankfully they were sitting on a tray on the bedside table.  They must have healed them while I was sleeping.

            He had released Wartortle and Pikachu and together the trainer and his Pokémon helped Silph Co. employees who had escaped the collapse of the tower.  Many other local trainers had also sought out the Pokémon Center for shelter as well as a large band of trainers that Red learned Misty and Surge had brought with them from Cerulean City.  The lobby was packed like sardines in a can with trainers and their Pokémon.

            Wartortle was dribbling some water on scrape on a child’s knee while Pikachu waited with a bandage and Red talked with the child’s mother.  The family had come from Olivine City in the Johto region to the West of the Indigo Plateau, where the Pokémon League Championship tournament is held.  Red was talking excitedly with the boy’s father who was an accomplished Pokémon Trainer in his own right.  He was taking his family on vacation when Team Rocket attacked.  His family had hidden in the hotel while the man went out with his Pokémon to fend off the Rockets. 

            “Hey, kid.”

            Red and the man stopped talking and he turned to find Lieutenant Surge with his arm in a sling. 

            “Follow me,” he said.  Surge looked strange without his sunglasses.  “The old woman wants to talk.”

            The little boy had a fresh Band-Aid on his knee now and he was scratching one of Wartortle’s fuzzy ears.  “What do you say to the nice trainer and his Pokémon, Brendan?” his mother asked.  “Thank you!” the little boy responded, giving Pikachu a great big hug.

            Red recalled his Pokémon and followed Surge back up the stairs.  Maybe they found Blue, he thought.  Blue had been missing for hours, but Red wasn’t really worried.  He checked the GPS on his Pokedex and he knew she was well away from the Silph Co. building’s collapsed rubble. 

            He followed Surge into a room full of Gym Leaders and Elite Four members.  Instantly humbled by the presence of so many great trainers, he waited by the door until he was spoken to.

            “Sit, child,” said Agatha.  There was a tiredness in her voice.  She motioned to a chair at the foot of one of two gurneys.  Red recognized Bruno, an Elite Four member famous for his Fighting-type Pokémon as well as his own martial arts skills.  He was sleeping soundly like Green.  In the other bed a beautiful young woman was resting.  Agatha sat in a chair beside her pillow.