Pokémon Red (Book 2)

The Might Of Metapod

Red's POV

I dialed Oak's number on the PokeCentre PC. The bell rang a few times and the call was answered.

"Red ! I need you to know something. Something I wasn't able to tell Bugsy." Said Professor, freaking out.

"Professor, you alright ?" I asked. "What happened ?"

"Goldenrod City, there is a problem. 20 days ago, a wave of dark matter spread itself over Goldenrod City." Said Professor Oak.

"Dark matter ?" I asked.

"And not even cold, it was hot dark matter. I'm scared but Red, I must ask this, what date is it ?" Asked Professor Oak.

"Wait, you said 20 days ago." I said. "It's 20th April."

"This is exact thing I was afraid of. Red, get out of Goldenrod City as soon as possible. Here, it is May 7." Said Oak.

"How is that even possible. What are you talking about ?" I asked. "Time travel ? Again ?"

"See. The dark matter was limited, luckily, because of that it just spread across that city. Now, Goldenrod's time has slowed down. That means a week in Goldenrod is 3 months in the outside world." Said Oak. "Get out of there. Enough talking. I've spent an hour explaining this to you. Bye."

Professor hung up the phone.

Did he just say, an hour ? - I questioned myself. It was just 10 minutes. We need to leave as soon as possible.

I hurried back to the Goldenrod Gym. This can't be happening. I felt my heart pounding faster than ever. I recalled all the negative things.

I was now 2nd in Indigo League. Articuno was with Team Rocket. And the last 12 hours were actually 20 days. I've been wasting that much time unknowingly.

I had to inform everyone, wait, what happens to people living in Goldenrod City. Should I inform them too ? Obviously, I should.

"Guys!" I shouted soon after I entered the Gym. Lyra was battling against Whitney.

Bugsy and Yellow turned to me. "Something is wrong. We gotta get outta here."

"What?" Asked Bugsy, curious.

"Oak said that some black matter is above this city that is slowing down the time."

"Black matter?" Asked Bugsy. "Oh, you mean dark matter. Wait, it's above the city? Crap."

"Am I missing something?" Asked Yellow.

"See." Said Bugsy. "If it's cold dark matter then it's a problem, cause it'll take time to go. Hot dark matter is fine, it'll be gone in the next 24 hours."

"Okay. But the problem is, twenty days have passed in the outside world."

"Twenty?" Coughed Bugsy. "Oh god. By the time dark matter disappears, this city would be 31 days behind the outside world."

"Should we tell this to other people ?" Asked Yellow.

"I don't think so." Said Bugsy. "Where are these 1 million people going to go ? It's just a matter of 24 hours."