Professor Oak hummed a soft tune as he walked by to collect Daisy's paperwork. Even though she was a former coordinator, she found that the work at the lab was just as fulfilling. Part of her suspected that one day she would take over her grandfather's legacy because of it. Especially since Blue had rashly decided to take over the Viridian Gym. Which, of course, was a decision she still didn't understand. Daisy squinted and sighed. She didn't know what she'd do if he didn't turn up at home before 10:30.
"Daisy?" said Professor Oak. "You look unfocused. Is everything alright?"
She looked at her grandfather. "I'm just worried about Blue. But I'm sure I'm just being overly concerned."
"I heard you guys last night," Professor Oak replied. "We'll change the locks tomorrow if he doesn't come in by 10:30."
She gave her grandfather a look. "That's harsh."
Oak sighed and put his papers down. "The boy needs to learn his lessons."
Daisy blinked and handed him her paperwork to add to the stack. She was in complete and utter disbelief at what her grandfather just said. While she knew he wasn't always the most sentimental, she was shocked at the disregard that he had paid to Blue. Did he not know something was wrong?
She worked for a few more hours that day, until she was compelled to walk to Viridian City. It was rare, now, when she left Pallet Town. But today was with a good cause. She wanted to see the gym that Blue was leading. It was the only clue she had into his crazed, desperate mindset.
When she got to the city of shingles of emerald shingles, she was surprised. Instead of the peace she remembered from previous visits, there was a symphony of chatter and gossip. Daisy was confused, until she saw the mind-numbing line in front of the gym.
It was like a tapestry of a circus. There were ace trainers in orange, guys with karate belts, and girls with flowy dresses. There were cheerleaders shouting his name, and women screaming how much they hated him. It was loud, a cacophony of terror, yet somehow the line of challengers moved in an automated cycle, like that of the Castelia Cone stand. Daisy was horrified by the crowds, and, she suspected, with a loss like what happened between him and Red, deep down he was too.
So she waited on a bench and watched as the long shadows of the golden afternoon stretched and expanded into night. The line got shorter with each passing hour, but by 9:30 Daisy began to understand why Blue had come home so late for the last month. This was depressing. Why was he keeping the gym open so late? It was a 45 minute walk from Viridian City to Pallet Town, which meant that if he didn't close down in 15 minutes, he'd be late. Daisy wasn't going to have it. She was upset that he was going to break her promise to her, even if he had a barrage of challengers.
Anger enveloped Daisy as she began to push through the line. People complained as she said a chant of 'excuse me, sorry, and I'm his sister'. It took her over 20 minutes to push her way through. The whole time her mind told her how wrong this all was and how her brother needed to be stopped. She heard the roar of a Blastoise as she finally reached the door.
"Excuse me," said Blue as she tried to shove her way through. "But I can only have one challenger in the room at a time, unless you're a spectator. For them, there's a separate entrance."
"I'm sorry, but no," she shouted as she shoved past a young kid and his Rattata that were about to be pounded by a former champion.
Blue gave her a genuine look of surprise. "Daisy..."
"You broke your promise," she said, with a sudden tremble. She began to hyperventilate. "Stop this! Stop battling right now."
"No," he said. "I still have challengers."
She stepped out onto the battlefield, in an act of defiance. But, she was bewildered by the giant water-tortoise that towered over her. Daisy wanted to run and hide as this was an action against her normal nature. But she stood true and gave him a deep glare. She couldn't let him battle anymore.
"Stand down," she ordered.
Blue shook his head. "No. It's my job now to determine whether people are worthy or not. Nobody is going to tell me to stop, or tell me I'm unworthy. I am the rightful leader of this gym!"
"What in the world Blue?" Daisy shouted.
He took a deep breath. "You're in the way of my official duties as gym leader. Blastoise, you know what to do."
Blastoise began to squirt water at Daisy's feet. She stared at Blue, who turned away from her. If he was going to be this way, she was going to take it. She let the beast squirt her, until she was dripping with water. Blue turned around and she found herself in an interesting situation. He glared at her, and she tried her best to hide the fact that she wanted to cry. Just like yesterday, but reversed. And, after a moment of staring into those painful eyes, she took a deep breath, turned around, and patted Blue's challenger on the shoulder as she walked out. It hurt that he would do that to his own sister.
The walk was miserable on the way home, but, somehow Daisy had even more energy to fix this. The chafing her hurt, but the time alone sharpened her mind. Her brother was going to be alright. She was going to make sure of it. It didn't matter if he was being a butt. This was her job.
As she stepped in the house and her grandfather gave her a look for her soaking outfit she said, "Change the locks on the doors tomorrow. If he loves that gym so much, he can go live in it."
She would have a little revenge too.
