Brock recalled his fallen Onix, the pieces of its body returning in a flash of red light. He was used to people defeating him with a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle, but was surprised that the small Charmander guarding its trainer was able to defeat him. Well, he thought, it's a good thing I'm not allowed to use my personal Pokemon in a Gym Leader match.

"Congratulations, Blue." Brock said slowly, walking towards her, being careful to avoid stepping into the pool of blood around the large rubble where the Mankey lay buried. "You've just defeated your very first Gym. That Charmander of yours is pretty powerful, despite being so young."

Blue raised her head and stopped petting Coal. Her eyes were red and puffy and there were dried tearstains on her cheeks. The girl said nothing and looked back to the floor, her mouth tipped into a frown.

Brock sighed and kneeled next to her. "Was this your first loss?"

"No..." A whisper was all she could manage. Coal softly pet her hair.

"That Mankey was no ordinary Mankey. I've seen it wreck havoc on the outskirts of Viridian City. It's vicious. You must be a pretty skilled trainer to catch it." Brock picked up her hat and placed it on her head and past her eyes. Blue grumbled, and he smirked, putting her hat back in its rightful place.

"Killed..." Blue stopped and swallowed. A big lump was in her throat.

"What was that?"

"He killed... Sting." Blue looked at Brock, her light blue eyes filled with tears. "I didn't even get a chance... I didn't even get a chance to get to know her..."

Brock was silent as she let the girl sob once more. After a few minutes, Blue ran out of tears and was softly sniffing. "Listen, I know it's tough, but you have to be strong." He lifted her chin up with his hand. Her eyes shone like sapphires. "You shouldn't beat yourself up for what happened here today. That Mankey... Don, was it? He lived to fight."

Blue looked long and hard at Brock's face. She was certain that he was telling the truth. Then she looked at Coal, who was lying next to her, his tail wrapped around her backside. Brock removed his hand from her chin and straightened himself, holding out a hand to her.

She grabbed his hand and noticed that it was strong as he hoisted her up. He reached into his vest and brought out a small metal badge. He held it up to the light, and it shone brilliantly. "This is the Boulderbadge. With it, your Pokemon become more powerful. It also allows you to use the move Flash out of battle." He handed Blue the badge, and she placed it in a small light blue case.

"Thank you..." she murmured.

"You can have this, too. It's TM39: Rock Tomb. A TM can only be used once, so choose who you give it to carefully." He paused and looked at Blue. To him, she seemed to carry herself a little more differently than she had when he first met her in Viridian City. "You know... there are all kinds of Trainers in this huge world of ours. You appear to be very gifted as a Pokemon Trainer."

Blue blushed and shuffled her feet. "I'm not gifted," she said. "I... I did awfully back there. My Pokemon... went wild and killed your Geodude... And Coal... he did the same!"

"Things like that happen."

Blue was caught off guard. "What?"

"It happens! Just like people, Pokemon die all the time. They willingly give their lives for the trainers and love them unconditionally, regardless if that person is 'good' or 'bad' in character." Brock was getting impatient. "You're gifted because you caught a Pokemon who is, for all purposes, a 'monster'. You caught him and YOU TRAINED HIM. I saw him look at you during the battle! If it were any other Trainer, he would have run away, never to return. But he stayed."

Brock grabbed both of Blue's shoulders and stared at her. "Do you understand? He stayed." He let her go with a light push. "Let me make a suggestion to you. Go to the Gym in Cerulean City. Test your abilities. Then come back and tell me you're not gifted."

Blue hesitated as she listened to Brock. Then it hit her: he was right. Pokemon, people, everyone dies eventually. She knew that Coal would be with her through thick and thin, and that her other Pokemon would do the same. They were a team.

"You're right."


Two hours later, Blue was sitting on a bench inside of a Pokemon Center just outside of Mount Moon, reorganizing her bag. Man, it's gotten messy, she thought to herself, sticking her tongue in her cheek. Her trusty Pokemon was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bench. She continued on for a few more minutes. And there's the last of it!

"C'mon, Coal, let's go back to Route 3. I thought I saw a patch of grass back there..."

She backtracked to Route 3 and walked inside, thinking about the strange trainers she saw. Not only did they say the strangest things, but she could have sworn she saw each of them flicker when she defeated them, but Blue shook it off, thinking it was a figment of her imagination.

Blue wandered through the grass with Coal scurrying right behind her, humming. Just then, a small blue Pokemon entered her line of sight. The Pokemon saw Blue and froze. "Why hello there..." she cooed. The Pokemon's small horns trembled slightly.

Coal caught up to his trainer and saw the frightened Pokemon. He clucked and made a shooing motion with his small paws. Blue took a few steps backwards. Coal turned back to the Pokemon, who gave a quiet "Nido..." and started talking to it in Pokespeak.

The Pokemon, over the course of a few minutes, gradually became less scared and looked over to Blue. It seemed interested in her. It walked over to Blue, sniffed her shoe and started nibbling on it, content.

Blue remained silent and noticed Coal nodding at her. She knelt down, patted the small Pokemon on the head once, and placed a Pokeball on its snout.

Ding! The Pokemon was caught. "NIDORAN FEMALE," the Pokedex stated. "LEVEL THREE. LONELY NATURE."

"Such a scared little girl... My little Birdie. Coal," she said, smiling at him. "You're such a good Pokemon."

Coal looked smug and puffed himself up.


A man dressed in all black briskly walked around the inside of Mount Moon. A black cap was on his head, his scarlet hair sticking out underneath. He put on a pair of sunglasses to hide his eyes.

As he walked, he looked on either side of him, searching for something. At last, he saw what he was looking for. He came to the edge of a small cliff and looked at the giant white machine that was somehow rigged into its wall. He leaped off the cliff, using its rugged wall to keep his balance and he slid down it.

Reaching the bottom, he quickly pat himself down and inspected the machine. There were many brightly-colored buttons and monitors of all sizes. One of the monitors was beeping slowly: 1... ... ... ... 2... ... ... ...

"You! Grunt! What are you doing over there!" A voice shouted at him.

The man froze, then turned around and raised his hands apologetically. "Who, me?"

The voice who shouted at him was a man who wore the exact same outfit, however with some minor modifications. His sleeves had two red bands across them. He was soon joined by a thicker man, whose shirt was ripped in the chest, revealing muscular pecs. The red Rs on their chests reflected off of the artificial light of the white machine. "Yes, you. Grunts aren't allowed near the Capacitor."

"Archer sent me over here to see what the holdup was," the scarlet-haired man lied.

"Archer sent you?" The man who spoke had his dark red hair slicked back.

His companion crossed his arms. His dark brown hair, feathery mustache and beard were cropped close to his face. "You can tell Archer to go fuck himself, because we're moving as quickly as we can. This fucking mountain has been screwing with the signal."

"Archie, it's not the mountains' fault. It's the electromagnetic field underneath the mountain that-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, Maxie! Face it: if this fucking mountain wasn't here, we'd have the right readings and be out of here. This whole mission would have been easier if it had been at the bottom of the ocean!" Archie stamped his foot.

"It would? Did you forget that the deep sea ocean floor has enough pressure to rupture even the most strongest of metals?" Maxie countered.

Archie opened his mouth, about to speak, but then closed it. He grunted his displeasure.

The scarlet-haired man took his cue to leave, silently slipping by the duo as they had their verbal disagreement.


"Wow, Birdie, you've gotten so big!" Blue said in awe at her Pokemon, who was now much bigger, her horns protruding even more. She stood on her hind legs and flexed her front claws. Birdie had evolved into a Nidorina.

All of Blue's Pokemon were out in front of her: Pudge, Bolt, Birdie and Coal. "I'm very impressed with all of you. We... experienced some tough times recently..." Blue referred to the Paras, who she had caught on her first attempt into Mount Moon named 'Shroom'. She had just lost him after five levels against a weaker Spearow. "But I promise I won't give up on you.

No matter what happens."