By the time the duo had finally stopped running, they were already in the center of Cerulean city. They'd looked back several times but never saw anyone chasing after them, however they didn't exactly want to wait around for someone to finally come along if they were going to.
"So," Jack breathed heavily as he tried to talk, gasping for air in between his words, "I guess, this is, Cerulean, huh?"
Lappe swallowed hard, falling onto the ground as he tried to regain his breath. "Yeah, guess so."
The two laid on the ground for several minutes, trying to regain their composure. Jack rolled over onto his back and looked up at the sky, then at the people who were staring at them curiously while going on their daily business.
"Hey Lappe," Jack whispered, only just now realizing the point to which his lips were chapped, "isn't this supposed to be a sort of beach-y city? I mean, the water-type gym is here isn't it?"
The Pokemon shook its head, trying to fire out a stream of water from its maw but only managing to call forth a few droplets which sprinkled across its face. "Nah, from what I heard on the news, a few months back the old leader retired so she could do some kind of aquatic adventure thing for kids or somethin'. Now it's apparently some chick around your mom's age who uses ice types."
The two fell silent. It had only just happened, so it was hard to remember until it actually came up. The Viridian City bombing happened only four days ago, and the loss of his mother still tugged on Jack's heartstrings every time he thought about her. Lappe's mouth opened, as if he'd wanted to say something. Perhaps an apology for forgetting. But nothing came. The sun shone overhead and after roughly half an hour, the two finally rose to their feet and dusted themselves off.
"Don't get too upset, there's still some hope she's around." Jack muttered to himself, clenching his fist. "We'll go to the Pokemon Center first. I still don't have a ton of money, but we need to stock up on supplies and you need to be healed up before we fight this new leader. My backpack is getting a little light for my comfort, especially when we don't know just how long we're going to be out here. There's a possibility that this could go on for a month, so we might as well get used to it."
As the two entered the Pokemon Center, they were met with a chilling breeze and a room filled with sculptures of what seemed to be a woman surrounded by various ice type Pokemon. In front of each statue, a sign had been placed which described the particular sculpture that it stood in front of. Jack slowly walked up to the nearest statue, his body shaking due to his torn jeans and t-shirt not exactly being meant for travelling in colder areas.
'Sculpture's name: Kris, Our Chilling Heavenly Goddess
Sculptor's name: Matt Prond
Dedication: I give this statue to my symbol of perfection, Kris, in hopes that she one day returns my affection.'
"Oookay. Weird." Jack laughed uneasily as he walked over to the next statue nearest to him and read a similar description. "Are all of these like this?"
Lappe nodded his head as he waddled from the back of the Pokemon Center. "Yeah, seems that all of these are dedicated to this Kris woman in one way or another… and almost every sculptor appears to be a man."
"This is… really, really cringey."
An old man came up from behind Jack and slowly read the description of the statue that he was standing in front of. "Ah, looks like the day's batch is in. This Matt guy, he's really something else. Sends in a different statue every day and the quality and detail to attention just gets better with each one. He's one of the more devoted fans of the new leader."
"So this Kris, she's…?"
"Oh yeah, she's really something else. Far more beautiful than anything I've ever seen. Some say that the reason Misty was so popular with the boys was because of the swimsuit she always wore, but getting later in years it just wasn't doing her justice anymore so she gave up her position cold turkey. I say that's a bunch of Tauros dung though. See, Kris is nearly the same age as Misty, but she's almost always fully clothed. There's just something about her that was missing in Misty y'know?"
Jack's eyebrows raised as he stared at the man from the corners of his eyes. "You sound like a real expert on the subject."
The man chuckled. "Of course I would be, I am after all the one who keeps sending her these statues."
The man turned and faced Jack. On his chest was a rather lazily placed name tag which read 'Matt'. Only after really taking the man in could Jack tell just how unlucky he was to get caught up in conversation with him. For one, Matt's clothes were completely soiled. There was no real telling just how long he'd been wearing the same outfit, although he did well to somehow mask the odor until he was right in the boy's face. Secondly, this Matt character was obviously well into his fifties with numerous grey hairs across his body. He struck Jack as the type of person who his mom would have warned him about approaching a few years back.
"That so?" Jack tried to turn away and walk to another statue, hoping to lose his tail without being too rude. Truth be told, he was somewhat afraid of what this man might do if upset. The man of course followed closely behind Jack, watching over his shoulder as he read the inscriptions on each of the signs in the Pokemon Center. Eventually, the boy had given up getting rid of Matt by passing the time. "Look, is there something that you want?"
Matt smiled, showing the handful of orange teeth that he had left. "You're a trainer, aren't you?"
Jack shook his head. "Nope. I don't own a single Pokemon."
The man looked at Jack, puzzled. "But isn't that Totodile yours?"
"Nah, Lappe is my friend. We're travelling together and helping each other out."
"Huh, I see." Matt bit his lip, looking more than a bit disappointed. "I suppose there's nothing you can help me with then. See you around kid."
Jack and Lappe both let out a sigh of relief, finally being rid of the stalkerish old man. After they'd ensured that Matt had indeed left the building, they made their way up to Nurse Joy. The boy lifted his friend up onto the counter and motioned for Joy to come over and help him.
"Finally, we can take care of what we came here to do. Let's get you healed up and I'll buy the food and potions. Let's beat this leader and get out of this town as fast as we can. I really don't want to come across that guy again if I don't have to."