Chapter 2
Location: Silver Cave Pokemon Center
Time: 11:47 A.M.
Date: Day Two after the Grand Announcement
Red sat down in a moldy chair in front of the semi-operational P.C. with a groan. He would have to wait two entire hours for Pikachu to get back up to full health, and he had nothing to do except try to operate a mostly ruined computer. He reached his hand down to the power button and pressed it firmly, cursing his already bad luck. The computer hummed internally, and a menu instantly came up on-screen. Red frowned. The power supply surely should have run out by now. He clicked an icon shaped like a battery on the bottom of the screen that brought up the remaining power-about an hour and a half. Red's frown changed to a grin. How could he have ever doubted modern technology?
Red's eyes wandered up to the menu. He had four options he was all too familiar with: 'My P.C.', 'Bill's P.C.', 'Professor Oak's P.C.', or the 'Pokemon League P.C.' Red clicked on the 'My P.C.' option, and a window appeared asking him to log in. He cursed again, this time loudly. He had been stripped of his license, and that no doubt meant that his I.D. was deleted as well. The Pokemon League was quite through in their deletion of trainers.
'Or are they?' Red thought with another frown.
He punched in his five-digit Pokemon Trainer's I.D., and to his surprise, a massive list of items appeared in front of him.
"Looks like the higher-ups here in Kanto don't have a clue what they're doing." Red said with a laugh. "What a surprise."
Red perused the enormous list of items he had stockpiled over his year of Pokemon training. Various evolution stones, healing and status restoring items, and utility items were all still there. Pokeballs, however, were absent. The Pokemon League got something right, I guess, Red thought. He got to the bottom of the list, and found his bicycle to still be there, as well as his fishing rod and his Itemfinder.
"Well, if I'm really going to find Richie and make him suffer, I'm going to need some of these." Red decided. "It's not like I'm going to be able to catch him without some form of transportation. And some of this other stuff will come in handy too."
He pressed the touch screen where the items he wanted were, and looked under the P.C. where the items were teleported through eagerly. After a few minutes of waiting, the machine buzzed and whirred as though angry to have been used, and then half teleported, half spat out his items: his bicycle, folded up into a compact shape, his Itemfinder, an Ultra Rod, as well as a few assorted healing and status-removing items.
"That ought to do it." Red said. "Wait…where am I gonna keep this crap?"
He got up and walked behind the counter, making sure not to touch the healing machine for fear of messing it up somehow, and kneeled down. Behind the counter, Red found several boxes of emergency medical supplies, a few cases of weapons and ammunition, and three large travel packs. Bingo. Red lifted the three backpacks out of their shelf, and two of them fell apart almost instantly. Red stuffed the surviving pack with all his supplies, one pocket for supplies, one for his delicate items, and left the bike out. As he turned to get up he paused and looked back at the items under the counter. He grabbed the box of medical supplies and equipment and added them to the backpack, and rifled through the weapons with interest. Among them was an ordinary handgun, with a small box of ammunition accompanying it, and two other larger cases of the same bullets. Red picked up the gun and examined it. To his eye, it appeared to be fully functional, and with a quick flick of a lever, confirmed it was loaded. He reached back to add it to the pack, but stopped suddenly just as he was depositing it into the main pocket.
'Can I…can I really use this?' Red asked himself mentally. 'Can I use a weapon to harm another person, even if it is Richie?'
Red started to pull his hand back, but then stopped again just as suddenly.
'Yes…yes I can. That bastard took everything from me…why shouldn't I do him the same courtesy?!'
His hand started back to the pack, then froze for a third time just as he had started to let go.
'That wouldn't make me any better than Team Rocket!' he shouted in his mind. 'I can't be like them! I fought them for so long, opposed them!'
Red 's eyes, which had been clenched shut in indecision, snapped open.
'But according to Richie…they don't exist.'
The pistol fell into pack without making a sound. The healing machine behind Red abruptly beeped loudly, causing him to jump up and swing his fists around at nothing.
"Treatment complete." The machine said, the wires and patches on his Pikachu retracting into itself.
"Faulty piece of shit…" Red muttered. "Two hours my ass."
Red approached his Pikachu and found him snoring softly.
"Still asleep? Whatever, it gives me time to check the rest of the computer, I guess." Red said to himself, walking back over to the computer and sitting down.
Red touched the 'Bill's P.C.' option, and a menu of storage boxes appeared. Red selected the first box, and found it empty. He continued to the second-also empty. Red knew that all of his Pokemon were four years dead, but he still wanted to make sure he had no Pokemon left, just in case. He continued this process until he got to the very last box. To his utter surprise, one Pokemon appeared to still be there.
Red pressed the Pokeball icon signifying a stored Pokemon, but to his dismay, the computer couldn't call up data on it. Red pressed the 'Withdraw Pokemon' option hastily, eager to see which of his Pokemon had lived. In a few short moments, the teleporter under the computer came to life, and an ancient Pokeball appeared.
Red lifted the ball up parallel to his face, blowing off a layer of dust. The ball was a standard Pokeball, rusty with years of use nonuse. With a shaking hand, Red dropped the Pokeball on the ground. The ball gave its traditional pop-whoosh sound, and in a bright flash of light…nothing appeared. Red looked at the open and empty ball dumbfounded. He lifted it again, closed it, and polished it in his shirt for several minutes.
When he lifted it again, he saw something that had been obscured before- a small lightning bolt just over the white circle in the front of the ball. Red sighed. This was the Pokeball his Pikachu had first come in, and after Red found that Pikachu didn't seem to want to go back into his home, he had dumped the empty sphere into his last box. The Pokemon League must have left it because it was empty.
"Bummer." Red said dejectedly.
He squeezed the ball, and it shrank down to it's carrying size. Red put it into his pocket absentmindedly as he pressed the next option, which read 'Professor Oak's P.C.'. A message appeared on-screen- 'Pokedex revoked from trainer 'Red'. Professor Oak's P.C. inaccessible.' Red shook his head. He should have known.
Red looked back at his Pikachu. Still sound asleep, just like he thought. The computer beeped loudly, and Red turned back to the screen. A new option had appeared.
'Dispense new Pokedex?' the computer read.
Red lifted an eyebrow. What was this? Either that option was now available for trainers using P.C.s, or the machine was going batty. Last he had checked, there were only two Pokedex in the entire country, those belonging to Gary and himself. Maybe Professor Oak had finally mass-produced them, but no matter what, Red didn't care; it was a brilliant stroke of luck. He pressed the 'Dispense Pokedex' button, and a sleek new Pokedex, just like the one that had been taken from him years ago, came out of the teleporter. Red picked up the device and opened it. He entered his name and trainer I.D., and the machine came to life. Red smiled. It had been so long since he used one of these. He pointed it at his sleeping Pikachu, and read the data that appeared on the small screen.
Red shut the device and slid it into his back pocket. It seemed to fit perfectly. He turned back to the screen for the final option, 'Pokemon League P.C.' Red knew what awaited him, but he pressed it nonetheless. Two messages popped up. The first read, 'Trainer Red, competed in 57th Annual Indigo League. Disqualified in the Quarter-Finals for various crimes against his Pokemon, and the state.'
Red scoffed. He had done nothing to harm the state, unless they blamed him for Pikachu blowing up the R.S.O's headquarters. He read the second message. 'Attention Trainer Red! The Indigo League Circuit has been reinstated. The 58th Annual Indigo League will commence in six month's time at Indigo Plateau. In addition, time will henceforth be dated in the era of either Before Grand Announcement, (B.G.A.), or Post-Grand Announcement, (P.G.A.). The Indigo League hopes to see you in six month's time!'
Red stared at the screen for a few moments before the realization hit him. The Indigo League was beginning again. Richie would be there, without a doubt. He wouldn't be able to resist the chance to finally win the Tournament. Red stood up in shock, his hands trembling at the enormous task he now knew he must undertake. He would meet Richie in battle at the Pokemon League; that fact he was certain of. But to get around Kanto in six months without a flying-type large enough to carry him in order to gather the eight Gym Badges was a nearly impossible feat. He would have to leave immediately to even stand a chance of making it in time.
On top of that, he would have to find some way to round up a new team of six Pokemon at the same time…without the aid or Pokeballs, since he couldn't use them. To tame Pokemon without a Pokeball took an astounding amount of physical and mental strength, and a great deal of luck. But Red didn't have a choice. His path was set.
Red felt the Pokeball in his pocket. He could possibly use that ball…but most likely his fingerprints had been hard-wired into the Pokeball operating system to shut down any Pokeballs he touched before he could use them, so that plan seemed like a bust.
'Now…if I head southeast from here right now, I should be able to reach Viridian City in…'
As Red contemplated his course of action, his Pikachu began to stir…
Location: Cerulean City Gym
Time: 12:57 A.M.
Date: 2-1 P.G.A.
Misty felt her entire body scream out in pain. Richie…that brutal freak of nature had beaten her Pokemon into the ground. And after they were defeated beyond imagining, she herself had been treated no better. Richie approached her fallen body, which lay slumped on the smooth floor near the large pool in the center of the Gym. He looked around in disgust.
"Is that it?" Richie asked snidely. "You'd think that in four years you'd be able to raise better Pokemon than this!"
Richie kicked Misty in unison with his final word.
"Well, that's that." Richie said. "You silly little bitch. You never stood a chance. I'll be taking that badge."
Richie bent down, and tore Misty's badge from it's place on the breast of her wetsuit. The material tore with the force of Richie's action, and it ripped open a tear across Misty's breast. Richie fitted the badge inside a small case, and then eyed Misty with a look of lust in his eye. He was staring right at the tear in Misty's suit. It had left open a window right onto her left breast. Misty flung her arms over her chest quickly, flushing in fury.
"You sick bastard." She cursed. "You have your badge, now get the fuck out of my Gym."
"I don't think so." Richie said quietly.
He started to move in Misty's direction.
"I didn't get all I wanted from that battle," Richie began, "so I'll see what…other uses I can get out of you."
As he got closer and closer to Misty, she struggled to move, but her body cried out in pain every time she so much as twitched. Starting to cry, Misty desperately cried out for her Pokemon, but they too lay limp all over the floor and pool of her Gym. As Richie finally closed down upon her, she let out a bloodcurdling scream.