Vermillion Gym (Red)

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The day was dull and the big black clouds covered the city. But fortunately, it did not rain. The day was too unpleasant which denoted bad luck.

I had an intuition that I was going to lose the gym battle. There was a periodic rise and fall of the sea level that lifted up the boats gently and then took them down with it.

Suddenly, a water droplet fell on my shoulder and I looked up, it started raining. The rain persisted for a while and then stopped without any further surprises.

'Red', said Leaf, calmly.

After hearing her voice, my depositions hid in my subconsciousness.

'We shouldn't think that Blue was on the ship and something happened to him. Just think positive', she continued.

'I know he'll be fine, besides, he has a Wartortle who can breathe underwater. He may have escaped', I said. 'In the news, a trainer is referred who had Pikachu, Blue do not have a Pikachu'.

'I guess you're right', said Leaf. 'I think we should go battle the gym leader'. Her mood was getting better.

'Yes, we should. The third gym match, it's going to be fun', I said.

Leaf turned on the Pokedex and selected the map option. My Pokedex's map only showed the Kanto Map but her Pokedex had Town Map too. An exact and accurate map of Vermilion City.

She looked at the map and started walking, I followed her. I walked watching my steps to avoid stepping in puddles that were made during the rain.

Finally, we reached outside the Vermilion City Pokémon Gym. There was no special thing about the architecture of the Pokémon Gym. It was just like the one in Pokémon Yellow game.

I loved playing Pokémon Yellow when I wasn't a Pokémon Trainer. I had full Pokedex, the game had the precise locations of Pokémon, so I remember where to find all Kanto Pokémons.

The gym had an orange roof and an automated door. We walked inside.

The gym was big from the inside, bigger than the other two. It had many trashcans placed in a grid.

'This, this is a gym ?', asked Leaf in disgust.
The trashcans gave a really bad smell of peeled of thrown away fifty year old Bananas.

There was a board on the right hand side which said Welcome to Vermilion City Gym, as you can see, there is an electronic gate which would only open when you find two switches in these trashcans. After pressing the buttons, the gate will open and you can battle the gym leader.

'It is easy', I said.
'Is it ?', asked Leaf.

There were at least thirty dustbins full of garbage. There was no way anyone could find a switch inside that thing.

I was about to put my hand inside when Leaf said,' Hey, I found one switch'.

I ran towards Leaf. The switch was on the outside of the trashcan. The button was red in colour and about the size of my finger tip.

I searched for the other one and found one on the trashcan next to the first one.

Leaf pushed the first button, nothing happened. I pushed the second one, a small rectangular part on a wall flashed and changed its colour.

It was a door, I pushed it open and it was a small gym inside. Gym, where you exercise not the one where you battle. A man was doing some weight lifting. He was probably Lieutenant Surge, just a guess.

'You finally made it', said Surge.
'We want to battle you Lieutenant', said Leaf.
'Lieutenant ?', he said with a laugh. 'I am not Surge, kids'.

'So where can we find the gym leader ?', asked Leaf.
'Follow me', he said.

He walked towards a wooden rack with cassettes in it. He pulled out a cassette on which Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back was printed. It was the cassette of the first Pokémon movie which was released fourteen years ago.

The rack automatically split into half and made a passage in the wall. It was very dark, I could barely see three meters inside.

'Okay, follow the maze and you'll end up in the gym', he said.
'Did you just said a maze ?', I asked.
'Yes', he said. 'The gym was reconstructed five years back'.
'Right', said Leaf.

He pushed us in and the door got closed. There was no sign of light. I couldn't even see Leaf, not even the walls. It was a bad idea making a maze that was impossible to even see.

We started walking to nowhere. Literally, I couldn't see anything. But still we walked straight and I bumped into the wall.

'Carefull, sleepy Red', said Leaf. It gave me a cringe.
'I am', I said.

I looked left and saw a stadium. There was a man in green clothes polishing Pokeball with a cloth.

I was pretty sure that he was Surge.

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