Chapter 36: Cycling Road

The next leg of the journey took us west from Saffron City through the gate into Celadon City. Even in the short time since Erika's retaliatory strike in the Game Corner, the city had recovered remarkably. The Game Corner had been rebuilt and refurbished. Trash and bums from the street were nowhere to be seen, presumably in their new jobs that their gracious leader had found for them. Erika's gym was back.

Erika herself was not.

"She's traveling," said a girl at the gym unhelpfully. She had spent the better part of our conversation flirtfully twirling her hair upon recognizing my face, a fact that Leaf accepted with disquiet.

"What about Gym challengers?" I asked her, wondering how Erika could abandon her post while forgetting this glaring fact.

The girl giggled. "There's only one Gym challenger," she smiled coyly, "and he's already been through here."

We left the next day, after restocking at the department store. Everyone we spoke to agreed that we were not misled in believing that Cycling Road is the quickest way to get south to Fuchsia City. I felt eyes on me everywhere I walked, and once again resented the part I had to play to get what I wanted. How much would I really change by keeping this up?

"Do you both have bikes?" asked a pimple-faced boy at the desk as we entered the gatehouse leading to Cycling Road. He didn't even look up at us.

I shared a brief glance with Leaf. She had a bike. I did not. I told the boy as much.

"No entry without a bike," he said, still looking down at what looked to be a handheld videogame. I sighed inwardly, and slipped on my mask.

"I don't need a bike," I said sternly.

"No entry without a bike," he repeated.

"Look at me."

The boy glanced up, then back down again immediately. In the shadow of a second, my face registered, and his gaze shot back up, suddenly mortified. "Holy shit!" he yelled.

"I don't need a bike," I said again, slower.

A pregnant silence passed, then cowering slightly, the boy buzzed open the door. "Yeah, yeah, alright…just don't tell anyone, ok?" He sounded genuinely afraid, and for a moment I felt bad. Reassuring myself that I didn't actually cause him any harm, I said "You have my word," and a minute later, the doors were far behind us on an endless stretch of steel road. We hovered a hundred feet over a forest floor, so that Cycling Road looked like a surgical scar on Kanto's grassy belly. Mt. Silver was shrouded in the distance behind a cover of fog, yet I felt it loom nevertheless. I could probably feel it loom anywhere in the world. The mountain's shadow had no respect for the vastness of space.

I relaxed the tautness in my mind. Mewtwo, I probed. No answer came. I reached out again, and felt nothing. The area of my mind where the alien presence nestled remained, but it was walled-off, as if I was no longer a welcome guest in this corner of my own brain.

"So…what did Dad want to talk to you about?"

The question blindsided me. That conversation was so long ago now that I had forgotten it ever took place. Clearly Leaf had been wondering it for a long time, letting it brew within her, and firing it inopportunely.

"Just…," I stalled, wondering how much truth I owed, and how much she wanted. "…just the future, I guess. Ours," I added lamely.

Leaf's lips continued to press into a thin line, but I saw the faintest rise of color in her cheeks, and knew that my answer appeased her. And against her better judgment. I moved closer, put a hand around her waist, inadvertently keeping her steady as she slowly, slowly, turned the pedals of her bike, and we walked.

He should've told me more, and he should've told me sooner. I don't care what he thinks, I have a right to know what is being said about me, especially between my father and my boyfriend.

But the way he said "ours" pushed everything away, and I slipped into the umpteenth daydream of exactly what that word meant, what "future" meant, and this dream was as wild and unpredictable as all the others. Our adventure so far had been just like that; why wouldn't it continue to be?

So as we descended, southbound on the steel of Cycling Road, we talked about the dreams that, I was relieved to find out, we shared. The upcoming gym battles, of which there were only three left. The challenge of the Pokemon League, and how would make headlines the world over when he was declared. And he was there, and so was I, and with things like that to keep my mind busy, it was hard to stay mad at him.

Other cyclists were sparse, but they all turned their heads as they passed us. I wondered how many of them actually recognized the distinctive cap-and-jacket look that had become his trademark, or how many were simply surprised that somebody was walking on Cycling Road.

"Have you ever thought about…," I twirled my hair nervously, wondering whether I should proceed, "…about kids?"

Red stopped suddenly.

Oh no, I blew it, I blew it, I blew it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sai-"

"What's that?" He was staring far ahead. His brows were pushed together in concentration, and the finger of his hand twitched forward, as if he wanted to point with his whole arm but his body vetoed the decision. I looked ahead and squinted.

A line of polished blackness stretched across the width of Cycling Road, a quarter of a mile ahead of us. The weak sunlight that poured through the fog reflected at random from silver spots in the black mass. Specks of bright colors, green and purple and pink, milled around the edges.

"It's a…gate check?" I said, unsure.

"It's a gang," he said, convinced.

I shivered. The word 'gang' immediately conjured up images of Team Rocket thugs.

"They're blocking the way," Red continued. "On purpose."

The more I stared at the mass ahead, the more I realized that he was right. Motorcycles were clearly arranged in a blockade. The bikers were leaning against seats, turning their heads idly to chat with each other, careful to always be watching for someone to want to pass. There seemed to be as many as fifty bikers, and over a dozen bikes.

Unwillingly, I suddenly grinned. Red noticed it, and caught my eye.

"They'll let us pass," I said.

"Damn right they will."

We continued the descent towards the biker gang. The smells of tobacco and alcohol rode on the wind towards our nostrils, and my nose crinkled at the stink. Before long, we were spotted, and the catcalls and hollerings started. Red gripped my hand, and I knit my brows together in what I hoped was a fearsome expression, despite the uncertainty inside.

"Hey, Kirby! Lookee who it is!" one of the male bikers shouted, sitting sideways in the shining black leather seat of an intimidating two-wheeler whose front end was fashioned into the open mouth of Gyarados. "Kirby, it's the red kid!"

The faces in the crowd turned towards a bald dome in their midst, atop an equally rotund body. I turned to look at Red, but his gaze was set on the big man in front of him, pointedly avoiding the sausage-like fingers jammed into rings fashioned into skulls and bats and looking instead into the eyes that glowered at him from behind suspiciously rosy cheeks. He found his target, and he looked professionally bored by it.

"Mr. Kirby," he began, with an air that everybody understood to be feigned politeness. "You likely understand that you are currently blocking my way forward. I'd like to negotiate with you a way around this predicament."

"Pay," Kirby growled. There was snickering from the roughnecks. One woman with neon blue hair laughed.

"How much?"

Kirby shrugged. "How ever much you dare. If it's not enough, we'll boot you over," he jammed his thumb to the side, indicating the conspicuous absence of a rail over a precipitous drop. I gulped.

Red yawned. "How much?" he repeated, more firmly.

Kirby's eyes narrowed. "Half a mil should do it."

Oh no…between the two of us, Red and I only had about 5,000, all of which we would need for supplies to keep going. I tried to look at him pleadingly, but Red didn't budge.

"Sorry, I'm afraid we can't meet that demand."

The bald man shrugged again. "Then we'll lighten your load and take the girl off your hands." He snapped his fingers. In less time than it took to react, I felt myself wrenched from Red's hand and into iron-studded gloved paws of the people in the crowd nearest to me. Four pairs of hands pulled me away, and Red's one wasn't enough to put up a fight. I screamed and kicked out, but they saw both coming, clapping a palm over my mouth and dodging the blow. The smell became overwhelming, and I began to wonder if I lost consciousness as I found myself being dangled slightly over the edge. Kirby smiled maliciously at Red, who continued to look as expressionless as ever. I was appalled. Was this an act? How could he stay so calm? A path opened before him, and Kirby spoke; "You can go."

He jerked his head to the side, towards me. "That seems unnecessary," he said in slow measured tones.

I realized then that, despite how he acted, he did care, and it was an incredible sight to watch him handle the most stressful situations with the most steadfast character. I tried not to smile as I saw his fingers twitch.

I was freaking the fuck out.

How did it get this bad? One second, I felt completely in control. The next second one of the was dangling Leaf over the edge. It was surreally sudden. Every neuron in my brain was firing so fast I thought my head would burst into flame.

"That seems unnecessary," I said slowly, carefully. My tongue rattled like a dying Ekans against the inside of my dried cheeks. My throat clicked with the lack of moisture, as if I had just swallowed sand. Don't look at her, it'll make you even more nervous and you'll break. I could just barely see Leaf in my peripheral vision. I tried to flex my fingers, and realized they felt icy.

"I'll decide what's necessary," said Kirby.

Mewtwo, please, help me! I practically screamed in my head, prodding the impenetrable black sphere resting in my brain. As always, when I needed it, there was no answer.

"Pass," Kirby hissed. I became hyper-aware of a bead of sweat trickling from my hairline down my neck. I twitched my fingers again, trying to get the blood back in them.

"Not without her," I answered. That did it. Kirby cracked his knuckles and sneered.

"Fine," he replied calmly. "Then we'll take the both of you, and see how much you're really worth, Red." My name hit me like a storm, rushing towards me like a charging animal. In an instant, I had made my decision.

My hands flashed at my belt, whipping it off and slapping it as hard as I could against the ground. The Pokeballs lining the leather exploded open, and the bridge burst and rattled with the roars and shrieks of angry colossal beasts, not all of them mine. The thug holding Leaf panicked grasping at his own Pokeballs, and she slipped…

"SNARE!"

He was way ahead of me. Blindingly fast, a pair of thick vines careened over the edge of the railing and, for an immortal second, were limp. Then they tautened in a snap that pressed through the air like a lightning bolt, tightened by the catch of a girl's body, hurtling toward the forest floor.

In my relief, the silence washed over me. I took a single, long, slow, deep breath. Time to party.

As soon as Leaf's hair came up over the edge of the road, I turned my attention where, I was surprised to find, it wasn't needed. While Snare was busy, my other five Pokemon were facing down what looked like twenty others. And were winning. Without me. Midas choke-slammed a pair of fearsome looking bird Pokemon. Saphira echoed his triumphant roar as she doused a Rapidash on the opposite side of the road, knocking her into and over a parked motorcycle. Jupiter swatted at a pair of airborne Pokeballs with his tail and sent them into the treeline over the edge. In the chaos, I spotted Ali dealing blows left and right with blinding fury against a hulking blue creature with four arms. A kick to the thigh, a double-punch to the armpit, a knee to the chin, and it was down. Ali sprinted right ahead to do battle with an overlarge crab, busting through its shell in two deadly-precise punches.

Finally, Charon. She hadn't even seen battle yet since I received her, and her powers were beautiful and terrible. A thin arc of blue light streamed from her jaw, trapping six opponents in ice. A stray fireball from a humanoid flame creature caught a motorcycle's gas tank, and exploded. A line of fire quickly spread across the bridge. Several of the thugs caught, and one fell over the edge trying to put out the infectious burn that spread over his jacket. I winced as I heard a tree branch snap below.

"Enough!" I yelled. "Saphira, the fire!"

A torrent of water did nothing to help. Gasoline fire…right…

I turned to Leaf, who looked in a mix of excitement and horror at the scene. "We need Feu," I told her, and saw her surprise at my voice finally having a sense of urgency.

"Right!" She released her Ninetales. "The fire!"

The ghostly fox pawed over to the line of flame and, with a flash of violet light from her eyes, it evaporated. The pool of gasoline remained, but the fire that had been dancing over it simply melted into the air, as if it were just a mirage.

Kirby locked eyes with me from across the way. He was breathing hard and clutching his shoulder. I motioned for my Pokemon to return to me, and they did, assembled around me in what I hoped was a menacing mustering. I took another deep breath, and settled into my character.

"You've been an inconvenience. I won't have my time wasted. You'll let us pass now, or we'll do this again."

Kirby huffed and looked ready to say something, but I cut across him.

"Count your Pokemon. Now count mine. Doesn't add up? It shouldn't. I'm bigger than you." For the first time addressing anyone truly as Red, I let my sentence carry as much rage as I could put into it. "We're going to Fuchsia City."

Snare gave a roar behind me and I saw the eyes in front of me widen.

"Any questions?"

There was muttering from the crowd. Finally Kirby turned his back on me, raised his healthy arm, and they walked forward.

"Boss, what are you doing…" I heard the punk with the blue hair ask, sidling up to the round bald man. "We can't just let him through…"

"We're not just letting him through," Kirby growled back. "We're escorting him. Finally someone who knows what the fuck they're doing around here, because I sure as hell don't…"

Every muscle in my body relaxed and euphoria streamed into my blood.

"Thanks for your help, guys," I said to my team, as they all returned to their respective Pokeballs. I looked at Leaf and saw she was smiling, awed.

I smiled back. "Yeah, I've thought about kids."

Again, all of my excuses for this one. This chapter was written and rewritten a grand total of four times. I simply didn't know how to do it; it's the biggest block I've had in this story so far. Ultimately, I just resolved to give it one last try, and just deal with it. I can't spend so much time on one chapter anymore. If it was seriously bullshit, then I'm very sorry, but the story has to continue; I've stalled it long enough, but now it's time to take the bad with the good and press on.

The good news is that, the next chapter is actually the first one I thought of. When the idea of a gritty Pokemon world following a constantly challenged and alienated Red came to me, the upcoming Chapter 37 was the one I felt the best about. I think it's going to be very easy to write and very easy to enjoy. I'm looking forward to sharing it.

To recap: Snare is a Venusaur, Saphira is a Gyarados, Midas is a Snorlax, Ali is a Hitmonchan, Jupiter is a Dragonair, and Charon is a Lapras. The more observant of you may notice what I'm doing with the team at this point (if you haven't already), but since it's still 3/6, I'll understand if you don't.

As a side note, one of my readers, Ydream08, has taken it upon herself to create a spiritual successor to my story, the creation and writing of which I am only marginally involved in. The work is exclusively hers, and she's very excited about being able to write and share it, and I would be horribly remiss if I did not mention it to you. The story is called "Tale of Her", and features the female protagonist of the Hoenn series games embarking on their own Nuzlocke quest. You can find it here on .

Thank you again for your patience, your readership, and your willingness to accept my crappy chapters along with my good ones. Cheers to all of you! Stay awesome.

-Curse