Saffron Infiltration
Red woke up early the next day. Much to his dismay, Red had to get up from the quite comfortable bed. After sleeping for days in a sleeping bag, it felt like he was at a day at the finest spa in the world once he lay on the bed. The day he had yesterday contributed to his weariness. Challenging Kuraisora to battle as well as challenging the Gym.
He thought about sleeping in but figured he might as well get up early and get the day started. He took a quick warm shower to help him get rid of his weariness. He exited the shower feeling wide awake, shivering in his towel wrapped around his torso. He swiftly changed into a pair of his clothes.
The trainer packed his things into his yellow pack and had to reorganize some things due to it being a bit messy. Always in a hurry didn't gave him enough time to fix is stuff. He then took his leave.
Red quietly closed the door to his room behind him to not wake any of the others travelers sleeping in their rooms. He slowly made his way through the hallway, his footsteps pounding on the tiled floor that echoed throughout the corridor.
He didn't have to worry about his thumping footsteps because they were drowned by an even louder sound. Making his way into the main lobby of the Pokemon Center, Red heard a loud voice shouting. He turned around the corner and saw it was in fact a girl yelling this early in the morning.
She did look around Red's age. Her red-orange hair with streaks of yellow resembled that of a burning fire and with her hair being put into a spiky bun lead more to the fire illusion...or more like the top of a pineapple. Her blue eyes burned with anger. She wore a black t-shirt that hugged her upper body and a pair of dark blue pants that tightly clung to her legs. She had a backpack that was in the shape of a Pikachu and a pair of clean black sneakers to top off her punk girl outfit.
"How come Saffron City is still closed?!" shouted the girl who stood in front of the counter. She was leaning forward onto the main desk so she was face to face with the tired Nurse Joy.
"I'm sorry miss, but it's still off limits to travelers for now," Nurse Joy tried to calm down the angered teenager at her desk.
"Just call again and try to reach my father!" she snapped back. "I really need to get to Saffron by tomorrow night!"
"Well, if it is really that important, then just go around the gate to enter the city," Red barged into the conversation. "And leave this tired nurse to go do her early duty."
The teenage girl snapped back to see who dared interrupt her conversation. "This is none of your business kid," she barked back. "I handle things the way I want to, so just back off and go entertain yourself with the local playground of this city."
Her rude comment struck a vein in Red's head. "I'm not a kid," Red quietly replied. "I'm Red Ketchum from Pallet Town who will conquer the Pokemon League!"
The tomboy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. The same dream like every other boy I met," she annoyingly remarked. "I'm just wasting my time here so I'll just go through the woods to reach the city." With that she said, she left the counter without another word.
"She sure has a mean attitude," Red muttered once the glass doors closed behind the girl.
Red turned around when he heard Nurse Joy let out a soft sigh. She rubbed her sleepy eyes before returning to Red and gave him the all so familiar Nurse Joy smile.
"And how can I be a service to you, sir?" she kindly asked.
"Oh no, I don't need anything. I'm just here to checkout," Red replied.
The tired Nurse wordlessly nodded, and got to work on the computer. She checked Red off her roster and received the teen's card key.
"Hope you enjoy your stay and I hope to see you again," Nurse Joy bade farewell to the young Trainer. Red nodded and took his leave.
Celadon City was an environmental friendly city so it was no shock to Red that the air he breathed in felt like the fresh air the woods. He stepped into the sun rays that were barely making its way to the Pokemon Center, feeling the warmth from the sun.
Red's mind then drifted to his next destination. He planned to take a route that goes south and then take the route going east to Fuchsia City, the closest city with a gym.
It may be far but it's the nearest gym to Celadon, Red thought. A refreshing breeze blew towards Red. He breathed in the air through his nostrils and sighed at the good smell. It smells like hair conditioner...similar to the one the girl from earlier had...Wait! Something clicked in Red's brain.
She is heading towards Saffron City nearby and it has its own gym! Red realized. I will have to come to face it some time so why not face it now!
Red snapped his head to the direction of Saffron City and squinted his eyes just in time to see a flow of red hair disappeared behind the corner of a building.
Well, maybe I could join her walk to Saffron, Red thought so he went after the girl. She may have seen mean at first but maybe she was just having a bad day or just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. He caught up to the teenage girl steadily walking on the sidewalk. Red slowed down to the girl's pace and walked alongside her.
The teenage girl slightly turned her head to the side and saw that it was Red. She quickly turn back to face forward.
"What do you want?" she harshly asked, picking up a little more speed.
"Hey wait up!" Red ran in front of the girl and stopped her.
"I know we got off the wrong foot but let's just start over," Red said. "I'm Red Ketchum."
The female trainer rolled her eyes. "I don't care what your name is, just what do you want? Are in love with me or something? Do you have a little crush on me?" she mocked.
"What?! No I don't!" Red retaliated his face turning bright red. "I just thought I join you to Saffron City."
"Do I look like a damsel in distress to you?" she angrily replied. "I don't need boys to look out for me. I'm doing just fine." She stepped around Red and went right past him.
"That's what I meant," Red stressed having to catch up to the girl. "Look it seems you know Saffron City more than I do and I could use help finding a few places in a big city. I need to go there as well."
"So, I'm now your tour girl," she starkly replied.
Red shocked his. "No I just wanted to accompany you to Saffron. I want to get in to Saffron as well but those guards won't let me in!"
The tomboy stopped in her tracks. She turned to the Pokemon Trainer. "Fine then, join me if you dare. Just don't get in my way," she said in a discourteous voice. Finally deciding to have Red tag along she went straight to the dirt that lead away from Celadon City.
Her abrupt outburst left a bad taste in Red's mouth but he followed her never the less. The two teens walked on the path for awhile in an awkward silence before Red decided to break the silence.
"So, I didn't catch your name back there," Red awkwardly said.
"I never told you my name," she retorted, not saying another word.
"Well, what's your name then?" Red asked.
The teen girl didn't respond at first making Red think she wasn't going to tell him but she quickly answered.
"It's Emily," Emily said.
"Emily what?" Red pressured for more information.
Emily was getting pretty annoyed by now. "I'm just telling you my first name for now," she replied as she walked off the route and straight into the forest.
This girl is going to be hard to talk, Red sweat dropped. He was right because every time he asked her a question like where she is from or what was she planning to do in Saffron she responded with a blank "none of your business." All of Red's chances to start a conversation were short lived or they were quickly shot down.
They finally arrived at the edge of the forest and the large city was right in front of them. The duo stepped out of the trees to admire the city which was strangely not as busy as Celadon City. Not a single person was seen in the streets which struck strange to the duo but they continued.
"There is the great Saffron City," she dramatically introduced the city to Red. "I'm done babysitting you so you can just go and play."
Red bit his tongue trying not to say anything nasty back. "Fine, I can take a hint," Red snapped back. He walked towards the city and turned back to give the annoyed Emily one final look.
"Don't worry you won't see me after this," Red spat and began a slow jog into the city. He didn't get really far because before he even managed to step a foot onto the concrete, Red slammed into the hard surface of something similar to glass. Red rebounded backwards onto the ground and landed on his back.
The surprised teen clutched his face in agony. It felt like he was just punched by a Machamp. While Red groaned in agony, his "comrade" was bursting out laughing. Emily was hysterically laughing at Red's misfortune.
"Hahaha!" Emily was out of control. She laughed so hard that she held on to her side for it began to hurt. She didn't felt an ounce of empathy in her for him.
Red clutched his nose, opening his eyes slightly to see what the hell he just hit. He could barely see what seemed as an orange-painted glass wall. A small grid appeared on the mysterious glass and one by one the orange squares flipped over as if it where a game on a simple phone and change into transparent glass. In a few seconds, the force field reverted back to its invisible state.
Red had to rub his eyes to make sure his eyes weren't playing trick on him or his brain was messed up by his injury. Still feeling some pain on his face, Red picked himself up and turned around to see Emily calming down from her laughing session.
"Did you see that?!" Red asked, pointing to the place he just hit.
Emily stifled a giggle. "What, see you smash yourself on something and fall on your ass like a toddler learning how to walk? Of course I did and it was hilarious!" she snorted.
Res scowled, quite frustrated that she laughed at him instead of helping him. "Yeah, yeah, thanks a lot," he muttered under his breathe. "No, did you see that there was some sort of invisible barrier. It just turned orange before it morphed back invisible."
Emily casually walked up to Red trying not to burst out laughing again. She didn't know how much she could laugh before she could break a rib but it couldn't have been much more. The teenage girl stopped in front of Red to examine his face.
Red felt nervous when he looked into her big, blue eyes. He saw her extend an arm towards his face. He slowly lowered his head towards to her welcoming hand.
"Boing!"With a single swift flick of her fingers, she struck Red's hurting nose with her finger.
"Oww!" Red pulled back to nurse his nose with his hands. "What was that for?!"
Emily innocently laughed and made her way to where Red ran into earlier. She lifted her hand as she walked and stopped until her hand met a hard surface that felt as smooth as glass. She also felt some resistance against her hand as if there was some unknown force trying to prevent her from touching the mysterious barrier.
Let me try this, Emily thought forming a fist and slammed it into the barrier. The wall turned orange and sent a small ripple throughout the small area if orange. The now visible barrier formed a grid and changed back to its usual state by rotating squares.
"What the hell is this?" Emily asked out loud.
"I don't know what it is, but how are we going to enter the city now?" Red formed a more troublesome question.
"Well, we can use your face to try to break the glass," Emily sneered. Red just rolled his eyes.
"You guys can't get in as well," said a new voice.
Red turned and nearly groaned when he saw who it was. It was his childhood rival, Blue standing behind them with a smug style as if he just won the lottery ticket and was ready to show it of in his face..
"No, we are just waiting for the pizza delivery man to give us our Pizza," Emily sarcastically replied, folding her arms. "Ten more minutes and it's free."
Blue slowly made his way to Red. "Red, you need to get a less bitchy girlfriend," he remarked to his rival.
Emily cursed. "You better not be coming with me because I'm done with babysitting and one kid is more than enough!" she huffed, turned around to face the city surrounded by a barrier.
Red didn't like the way this was heading. "Blue just chill out for once," Red said. "Do you know anything about this invisible barrier surrounding the city?"
Blue scowled at Red's words to calm down. "First, don't tell me to chill out. Second, I been trying to get in there since last night," Blue said. "All I know that with a lot power, this barrier starts to crack."
Red raised an eyebrow at Blue's last sentence. "You got that close to breaking the barrier?" Red questioned hoping to get more information out of him.
Blue ran a hair through his spiky brown hair. "Yeah I almost did but it repaired it self before my Pokemon could attack again. So, don't try your luck on it since it will be impossible for you," Blue said in a cocky tone.
Red just shook his head. "This is not the time to be suave," Red sternly said. "We got to work together and maybe we can bring down this force field."
"What?! No way!" the cocky trainer barked back. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to work with you!" He shoved a rude finger into Red's shoulder.
"It's the only way," Red replied.
"Why don't you just work with punk-rock chick to get inside?" Blue retaliated.
Emily couldn't take any more of all this useless bickering. "Why don't you two guys work together and break this barrier already? I'm a lady so I'll just sit here and watch you guys do your stuff!" she yelled at the Pallet Town trainers. She plopped herself on a boulder that was a few feet away from the arguing.
"You should be less of a slacker and do it yourself," Blue said pointing a straight her.
Emily pushed her hair back. "Why can't you just do it, or is it because your too weak to do it? You just want me and Red to break it for you because you know you can do it yourself," Emily taunted.
Blue gritted his teeth in frustration. "I'm not weak and I'll just show you!" he boldly declared taking out a pokeball to which Emily slyly grinned to. He released his Pokemon for everyone to see.
It had a great resemblance to Blue's Squirtle but only this one was bigger and had darker blue for skin color. It also had two ears which resembled white wings and a longer, white tail.
Red fished out his Pokedex. Emily from her spot raised an eyebrow when she saw the piece of technology.
The blue orb flashed as the pokedex spoke. "Wartotle: The Turtle Pokemon. Its tail is covered with a rich fur. It stores air in the fur before taking extended dives underwater. It can also move its ears to control its balance as it rapidly swims through water."
"You also have your starter evolved," Red remarked as he released his own starter.
Charmeleon yawned as he was sent out early in the morning. He gasped when he saw his old friend from the lab was in his presence.
-"Wow, you also evolved, Charmeleon,"- Wartotle remarked surprised.
Charmeleon couldn't help but smile. -"We both have changed my old friend,"- He responded in a grateful tone.
Their reunion was cut short by Blue's impatience.
"Wartotle, we need to try and bring this barrier again," Blue said.
-"Not this again,"- Wartotle sighed. -"I couldn't break it last time, so what difference would it be to try again?"- He trudged towards his trainer and faced the city.
"Hurry up and attack it with Water Gun!" Blue ordered.
Taking in a deep breathe, Blue's water Pokemon fired a jet of water towards the invisible wall that kept them from entering the city. The water struck the barrier and revealed its true colors. The water was fired with great amount of force but the liquid simply bounced of the barrier.
Wartotle stopped to take a quick break. The second he stopped, the barrier began to repair itself.
It's hopeless, Wartotle muttered, watching the glass repair itself. Then suddenly a stream of fire appeared and struck the same surface that he just attacked. He quickly turned around and saw it was Charmeleon that attacked.
"Red, tell your lizard to stop his fire. My Wartotle can handle this on his own," Blue said.
Red watched Wartotle nod at his starter. He joined him by spurting another blast of water. The sight of their teamwork warmed Red's heart. Their trainers may not like each other but that didn't stop them from pushing aside their differences to work together to a common cause.
"No, I'm not going to tell him to back off," Red firmly said. "Look Blue, we got to work together if we want to get inside. Let's just set aside our rivalry and get through this first."
Blue was surprised by Red's opposition. He thought that his rival will call off his Pokemon and leave this difficult task to himself to prove his strength. Instead he allowed his starter to join his Pokemon and help him.
Is he mocking me by having his Pokemon helped mine to show that I'm not strong enough to do it? Blue's eyebrows furrowed. Or does he just want to help me…?
"Blue, it's starting to give in," Red disrupted Blue's critical thinking.
Blue quickly diverted his attention to the barrier. He noticed the cracks that have started to appear on it and they only grew bigger. He also noticed that both of their starters were weakening their attacks. Their pokemon were losing the strength to keep up any longer. If they stopped then the wall will repair itself before Charmeleon or Wartotle got a chance to attack again.
"Wartotle, don't give up and give your Water Gun all you got! You got this!" Blue cried encouragement out of nowhere.
-Huh? Blue believes that I can do it?- Wartotle pondered over his trainer's words. –If he has that much faith in me then I got to try harder. I can't not let him down!- The turtle Pokemon increased the power of his attack, firing a Water Gun powerful than any Water Gun that he has done before.
Blue watched in awe as he saw his Pokemon try harder than he has ever seen him before.
Red grinned. "Charmeleon, you also don't give up and give that wall a taste of your hot flames!"
-You got it, Red!- Charmeleon said to himself. He widened his mouth and released more fire to join his original Flamethrower. The flames united with his friend's water assault and together managed to increase the cracks in the glass wall.
Even if this wall seem to have be made of an odd material, it was still subjected to the laws of the universe. After being pounded by the combination of fire and water, expanding to the extreme heat and contracting to the cool water, the barrier finally gave in. The sound of breaking glass insured the groups' victory. Orange glass flew everywhere, generating a beautiful scene when the sun's rays hit the glass shards at the right moment.
The fire and water Pokemon seized their attacks and took the time to regain their strength. Red and Blue stood in shock as they watched the glass settled on the floor. The glowing pieces of the barrier disappearing woke Red and Blue out of their trance. The barrier has already begun to repair the hole that was big enough for three people to pass by.
"We got to hurry before it closes!" Red shouted. He ran towards the rapidly closing opening with Charmeleon ahead of him. Blue ran after him with Wartotle behind.
"Ahh! Wait for me you guys!" Emily shouted. She jumped from her rock and ran straight towards the opening. It was nearly done with a small hole left and Emily had no choice but to jump through it. She dove head first into the hole. Her feet managed to make it through with not a second to lose as the opening closed. She wasn't as lucky on the other side as she fell into the concrete street.
The boys quickly came to her aid. They each grabbed an arm to gently pick her back up onto her feet again. Emily jerked her arms from her helpers at the moment the soles of her feet met solid ground.
"Humph, you guys could have at least gave me a signal that you were about to break through," Emily complained, brushing off dirt from her clothes.
"Well, now the only thing that matters is that we are in," Red said, acknowledging the fact that there was not a single person in sight. It was still morning but it wasn't early in the morning.
Emily also took noticed of the lack of people in the streets. "Where's everyone? Usually at this time the street should be starting to get busy," she remarked.
Blue walked onto the back concrete that was meant for cars to drive on. "I'm now starting to wonder that if it was really a good idea to break into the city," Blue told his thoughts to the group.
"Why do you say that?" Red asked.
"I don't know! Maybe this city is off limits due to a dangerous disease," Blue responded.
Red did see it as a possibility but wanted to explore the city to find the reason for all of this. He had to venture deeper into the city.
"Let's just got and find what the hell is going on," Emily said stepping into the street. "Its best if we start with the Pokemon Center which is located in the middle of the city." She took the lead by walking along the road.
The two male trainers had no choice but to follow her since she already knew her way around the city.
"Is this your hometown?" Red asked curious of the girl's past.
Emily answered without looking back. "Heh, my hometown is far from Saffron."
She led them through the streets making a few turns to make sure they were headed towards the middle.
"How longed have you live here?" Red asked. He glanced at his guide and realized she had just abruptly stopped. She had her hand clenched in a fist as it looked like she was trying to concentrate on something.
Before Red could say anything, a small gasp escaped her mouth. She speedily hid into the alleyway between two tall buildings. She pressed her back against the as the two Kanto boys just watched her strangely.
She begged them to come but they wouldn't budge until they got an explanation. She didn't want to waste time so she went up to the boys and grabbed the neck of their shirts. She roughly pulled them into the alley and threw them against the wall.
"What the hell was that-" Red was silence by Emily's small, smooth hand over his mouth. She was leaning close to him clamping his mouth shut.
"Shhhh," was the soft sound that resonated in his ears. Emily had a finger to her mouth to further demonstrated on what she wanted Red to do. She gently got off him and pressed her back against the wall as she turned her towards the street they were just on.
Red and Blue both looked towards the road. At first nothing interesting happen but they suddenly heard the sounds of feet pounding on concrete ground. Judging by the noise, Red could tell that at least a small group of people were coming by.
Red felt more relieved to know that they were in fact more people in this town. He tensed up when heard talking.
"Intruders...west of...hurry up!" were the snippets that Red heard from a voice that he thought belonged to a man. The running of people got closer made Emily tensed up, pressing her back harder onto the brick building so hard she would have suffocated her bookbag if it were a real Pokemon.
Red clenched his muscles as well when he saw the strangers pass by their hiding place. There were five adult men in total, all wearing the all so familiar Team Rocket uniform. They were all sweaty probably due to the physical exercise of running combined with the heat of the sun and including the long sleeved black uniform. Panting hard the group headed west, most likely to the area that they just came from.
Emily didn't move until she was sure that they had left and no more grunts were going to appear. She pealed herself of the rough wall and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Team Rocket must be behind all of this," Red spat, gesturing to the entire city.
"It seems that way for now," Gary said. "I wonder how they managed to get the whole town in some sort of force field."
The two guys turned to Emily for her thought on the current situation. She was biting her lip as she was in deep thought, rocking back and forth on her feet. She woke up from her thinking when she took noticed of the staring trainers.
"What's your input on all of this?" Red decided to ask.
Emily gave them a worried look but quickly changed to a serious one. "Well, I have an idea on why they are here," she slowly began. "They most likely came from the middle of the city which is where the Pokemon Center is located at but also…there is the Silph Co. Headquarters."
"Silph Co.?! As the leading company in Pokemon Technology?!" Red exclaimed. Silph CO. was a major company in Kanto and even in Johto. They are mostly known for having control of all the PokeMarts in the region with their main product being the Pokeball. Advance technology that Team Rocket will definitely want their greedy hands on.
"We got to hurry and stop them from getting any piece of technology or who knows what they can with it!" Red shouted in distress.
Emily nodded. "But we got to be careful, as we make our way to the center of city which isn't far off from here," she warned. "Their might be more of then Ten Rocket guys nearby." She walked to the edge of the alley and slightly poked her head out to scan the area.
"Heh, they don't look that strong to me, Blue," Blue said. "I say let's go teach these criminals a lesson." Blue walked out into the street with no caution.
"I'm now sure that your friend here has an ego as big as his airless head," Emily remarked to Red.
Red chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Well, let's hurry or he'll leave us behind." Red pointed to Blue who was already walking in direction of large building in the distant. Red concluded it was Silph Co. for it had the company's trademark symbol. A large black 'S' with circles in the space between was the logo. It was few blocks away but the size of the building made it looked much closer than they actually appear.
Emily had no choice but to follow the Kanto Trainers or they might get themselves in some trouble. She fixed the straps of her small bookbag and went after the boys.
The men lead for awhile but Emily had to take charge for they didn't much about the shortcuts of the city. They needed to sneak there way around since they did encounter a few Team Rocket members but they hid before they were caught.
"Hide you losers," the teenage girl hissed pushing Red and Blue into another alley.
"Hey don't push me," Blue cried. Emily gave him a glare and pointed towards the sky. They saw a Golbat flapping its wings about. It flew around stopping every moment to look around. It was common sense that this Golbat is a scout of Team Rocket, patrolling the area for any potential intruders.
Holding in their breathe, the trio watched in silence as the flying Pokemon passed by them. They all breathed in some fresh air and decided on their next move.
"The building should be right around that corner," Emily said, pointing to the end of the alley.
Red took off his hat since it would be too obvious in broad day light and slowly poked his head out. It was all quiet except for a guy clad in black standing in front of a building. Red scanned the building behind the man and realized it was the Silph Co. Building. It's black logo shining brightly in the sun that was getting close to noon. It was confirmed that Team Rocket's main goal was Silph Co.
"Is there only one guard?" a female's voice.
Red was a little startled when he noticed that his two comrades were right next to him. Both Emily and Blue were leaning towards him sticking their heads out, trying to get a better surveillance of the all so famous building.
"It looks that way," Red replied.
"Well, how are we going to get past him?" Emily hastily asked.
"Why don't you go up to the guard ...and... I don't know use your body to convince him?" Blue told Emily.
"You want me to exploit my body to that thug!" Emily angrily hissed. She furiously punched Blue in the back of his head and sent him straight onto the ground. She plopped herself on his back and began to aimlessly pound Blue.
"Oww! Oww! Oww!" Blue cried in pain, clutching the back of his head. He couldn't do anything to stop the merciless beating.
"Can you guys shut up?!" Red angrily whispered. "We could get caught if you guys don't pique down!"
The angered teen landed one last blow right into Blue's head. She stood up and moved to Red's side to get a good look at the massive building. Blue eventually limped his way to the group, standing a good distance from Emily.
Red was carefully analyzing the area. His eyes swept over the Silph Co. Building several times. He also looked over the surrounding buildings. He soon came up a plan.
"I got an idea but it may seem a little crazy," Red began. Emily and Blue were all paying attention. "I think we should all go together and attack the guy guarding the front entrance."
"Have you gone nuts, Red?!" Emily objected. "Have you thought about how there could be more of these scoundrels possible hiding?"
"For once I actually agree with that crazy girl." Blue cringed at the sight of Emily's glare.
"I have thought about it which is why I checked the surrounding area. I didn't notice anything off so far so I thought we could just straight up take that guy down," Red stated his observations.
"Teh, fine then! Let's just make this quick," Emily agreed but wanted to make sure they didn't catch the attention of other Team Rocket members.
Blue hesitated but decided to go along. "Okay let's go," he mumbled.
Red nodded and was the first to come out of their hiding place. Emily was after him with Blue behind. The group began to walk towards the guy guarding the front entrance.
The Rocket grunt looked quite bored as he was left to guard a door but all that change when he saw the group of kids heading his way.
"I guess you kids are the intruders," the grunt remarked. He already had out a Pokeball ready to defend his position.
Red, in the middle of the trio, scanned the area once more. Once he was certain that no more Team Rocket would pop out, he spoke.
"I'm not just any kid," Red firmly said. "It'll be best if you just get out of the way,"
The man stood his ground and tighten his grip on the Pokeball. "Tough words coming from child. You're dealing with Team Rocket here. I think it's best if you leave," the grunt retaliated, with a bit of anger in his tone.
Red enlarged a Pokeball in his gloved hand and held it straight in front of him. "And you don't even know who you're dealing with," Red proclaimed. "I'm Red Ketchum, the trainer that has defeated many of your comrades. I even defeated Executive Commanders Proton and Ariana."
The man, who at first stood quite confident coming into the battle, was now slowly backing away from Red. He felt a pang of fright when he figured that he was the kid that has been foiling Team Rocket's plans.
"Err...you may have defeated them but...," the guard was beginning to sweat bullets. "Ahh screw this. I don't to get beat up by a kid and ruin the little dignity I have left." The grown man immediately ran into the front doors of the building he was supposed to be guarding.
"That guy was such a wimp to be intimidating by you," Blue muttered, seeing the sacred man go through the automatic doors.
"Just shut up and let's go," Red said, already walking towards the entrance. The door slid opened in his presence and gave him access to the building. The first floor was the lobby and it was far from being any ordinary lobby. The ceiling was higher than three times his height with large white pillars placed around in some sort of pattern.
The bright ceilings lights reflected on the luminous marble tiling on the floor that was a dark shade of blue with white swirls that resembled to Red as clouds. A few areas where reserved for some pieces of furniture. Large sofas with its color to match the floor and with a large coffee table were the furniture. Small exhibits were placed around the room, each encased a glass box. Each showed some piece of artifact that was important to the company.
The owner of Silph Co. did go all out when he decided to decorate the lobby, Red thought to himself as he walked towards the front desk that was unsurprisingly empty.
"An elevator," Blue pointed out. He left the group to go up to the pair of metal doors. He frantically pushed the white button that had a black arrow pointed up. Nothing seemed to happen as the elevator doors didn't open and also the "Hmm, seems like the elevator doesn't work," Red said.
"No shit Sherlock," Emily rudely remarked. "Team Rocket won't want any uninvited guests snooping around so they will cut off the fastest mode of transportation."
Red looked to his left and saw stairs that led up. Nothing were blocking the way allowing free access to anyone.
"Then we will have to use the stairs," Red said.
"Let's get a move on slowpokes," Blue said walking towards the staircase.
Red and Emily accompanied him and slowly ascended up the stairs. Red was expecting a whole group of grunts to be waiting for them but to his surprise it was just an empty hallway. An ordinary hallway with a more boring atmosphere than the first floor.
"I think we got to make it to the final floor which is where the President located," Emily told the guys.
"Everyone be on guard, we don't how many grunts are in this building so just be ready," Red gave a fair warning.
They tread across the corridor alerted to every sound and everything in sight. The third door to his right immediately caught Red's attention. It were a pair double doors that had a few light turned on. A small glass window in each door gave Red the ability to see inside. What awaited him inside surprised him greatly.
It was a large room with all of the desks that belonged to the workers of this building was pushed to the side of the room leaving a large open space in the middle. There a group of strange humanoid Pokemon sat crisscrossed in a circle all holding their hands towards the middle. A small, green object lay in the center but Red couldn't catch a good look of it.
"What is it?" Emily asked hearing Red gasp. She and Blue went up to Red and took a look through the window as well.
"Oh my gosh! There all Mr. Mime Pokemon!" Emily announced in shock.
Mr. Mime? Never heard of that Pokemon, Red thought to himself. He heard a creak and looked up just in time to see his rival opening the door.
"Blue what are you doing," Red hissed.
"Calm down, Ketchum. I'm just going to take a closer look and get some more info on these creeps," Blue coolly said, taking out his blue Pokedex.
Red bit his lip as he saw Blue enter the room. To his shock none of the Pokemon took notice of him. All clown-like Pokemon had their eyes closed as they concentrated all of their strength into that single strange object in font of them.
Emily barged inside as well leaving only Red behind. Looks like everyone has forgotten the rule of being more cautious, Red sighed. He pushed the metal door open and entered the room which did seem a bit less lit than the hallway.
He could tell that this used to be the office of a few people counting the different desks there were.
"Mr. Mime: The Barrier Pokemon. It is a pantomime expert that can create invisible but solid walls using miming gestures. Its fingertips emit a peculiar force field that hardens air to create an actual wall,"Blue's Pokedex informed the group. Emily was close behind Blue intensely staring at the piece of technology that Blue had.
"So these are the guys responsible for the giant barrier," Blue concluded pocketing his pokedex. "Looks like we can just beat these guys to pulp and everyone will have access to this city again."
Just this small group created a glass wall that could cover an entire city, Red was amazed as he counted seven of them.
"And what is that thing in the middle," Red pointed towards the middle. It was a light green object in the shape of a bean but it was twenty times bigger.
"Its call a Light Clay," Red question was answered by an unexpected voice.
The trio looked back at the entrance and saw it was simply a Team Rocket Grunt, the same one from the entrance. He stood their trying to look intimidating but the anxious look in his eyes failed him.
"Well, looky here. It's the coward that ran away from a kid," Blue mocked.
The guy gritted his teeth. "I was yelled by my boss to come back and stop you at all costs," he said. "I can't let you interfere with Team Rockets plans anymore!"
"Fine we will all take you down," Red said. "Three teenagers beating a man to pulp would definitely tarnish your reputation."
The grunt thought hard as he reached for his Pokeball. He clenched his other hand into a tight fist, his knuckles popping through his gloves. He released his fist and dropped his hand that went to his belt.
"What's the use?" he sighed. "If I get beaten by you kids I will just be demoted and I'm at the lowest I can get so I'll just be kicked out of Team Rocket. Team Rocket doesn't need want any weaklings on their force so I'll just easily dispose off. On the street left alone with no way to defend myself in this cruel world." He slapped a hand on the metal door.
Red felt some sympathy for the poor guy. "It doesn't have to be this way," Red said. The depressed man looked to Red. "I see that you joined Team Rocket because you probably thought you would have gotten some power by being part of a powerful organization."
The man nodded approving what Red said.
"But that won't really help you," Red continued. "Do have a family?"
He slightly nodded. "A …a mother and...a younger sister," he slowly said.
"How would they feel if they found out that you were part of an organization as terrible as Team Rocket?" Red asked. The grunt didn't respond as he simply looked down to his feet. "They wouldn't approve of it. There are other ways to make a living in this world which is beauty of this world. There are careers to choose so why not...start over?"
His hand slid of the door as he thought about Red's proposal. "Start…over?" he repeated Red's words as if he was confused by their meaning. HE shook his head and looked back up to Red with a serious look.
Blue reached for his belt for a Pokeball ready for what will happen next.
"You're right," he said. "I shouldn't have ever chosen this path I've taken. I will return back to my mother and younger sister and think over my life."
Red flashed him a smile as to show support for his choice. "Oh and do you know what Team Rocket is after for in this city?' Red quickly asked.
The ex-Team Rocket member shook his head "I was just a low level grunt. They barely tell me anything on what our missions are all." Red nodded and allowed the man to leave and let him reform his life.
"I didn't you were so good at talking your way out of stuff," Blue acknowledged, retreating his hand from his belt.
Red didn't reply as he returned back to the group of psychic pokemon. He intensely looked at them until he realized something. He slowly placed a hand in front of him and walked forward. His friends gave him a weird looked but he didn't a bit attention to them since he was more concentrated on his task.
He ended his task when found what he was after for. No less than a foot away from one of the Mr. Mimes was an invisible barrier exactly the same as the one outside the city.
"Ugh, we have to break another barrier," Blue groaned.
"Not right now," Red said backing away from the barrier. "We can deal with this later since we have more pressuring matter on our hands. Get to the top and stop Team Rocket from continuing their actions here. They will most likely take these pokemon along with them since they may be important to them."
Blue accepted the response and was making his way towards the exit as him being the impatient one.
"Good I think getting to the top is our top priority," Emily told Red. "Hmm, you may not just be a kid with only the stupid dream of becoming champion." She quickly left the room.
"Heh, I am way more than a kid following every trainer's dream," Red said to himself and went outside to regroup.
"Alright, there is no more to do on this floor," Emily said. "Let's take those stairs since the will take us to the next floor but we got to pick up our pace. We won't make it until next month if we keep going at this pace."
"Yeah, well let's hurry and make it," Red said, making his way towards the next flight of stairs.
"Ugh, I wasn't even finished," Emily cried. She went up to Red to grab him by the neck as if he were a puppy Growlithe. Red cringed by the iron grip but was instantly released.
Emily quickly took out a Pokeball when she heard clatter of feet coming down the stairs. From the steps appeared three Team Rocket grunts. They blocked their way, each with a malicious grin and a Pokeball in their black gloved hands. From the stair case appeared another member of Team Rocket. One that Red immediately recognized.
It was a man who greeted the rescue team with a tip of his beret hat. A sly smile on his face, the guy pushed away stray cyan-colored hair from his face with a white gloved hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you once more in battle," Proton declared, pointing a finger to Red holding it as if were a gun. "I wished for a chance to fight you again to redeem myself and possibly eliminate you if I feel like it." He pulled his hand back in a motion as if his handgun recoiled from firing an imaginary bullet.
"And what makes you think that you'll win this?" Red retorted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Because he is not alone," said a feminine voice. From behind the group of kids, another Rocket Executive appeared from the elevator that they didn't notice open. A woman that towered over the teens with the help of her white boots exited the elevator into the hallway behind the group.
It was Ariana, the red-haired woman that Red met at Mt. Moon. A vicious women who could have something up here sleeve for their ambush.
"This is really unfair," Red said. "Five adult against three kids is just overkill."
"We're Team Rocket boy," a grunt cried. "We never play b y the rules in this world."
"Humph, that's exactly how a coward would have approached this. You think you have power because you have more people," Gary stated. "Cowards seek strength in numbers."
Proton gnashed his teeth in frustration. "You little punks will pay for all the trouble you gave caused. I surely won't let you get away this time!" He loudly declared.
Red and Blue stepped forward each with a Pokeball at hand.
"You deal with those clowns while I deal with the old hag behind us," Emily said in a bored tone. She turned around to face the female Rocket Executive who was burning with irritation.
"Watch what you say skinny brat," Ariana replied with a poisonous voice. "I'll teach you not mess with Team Rocket especially me, the Rocket Executive in Second Command to our boss."
Emily rolled her eyes furthering annoy Ariana. "Whatever, just don't try to hard or you might break a bone at your delicate old stage," Emily sneered.
Ariana's red eyes flashed in anger. She thought it was better to teach her a lesson through battle so she swiftly produced her Pokeball.
"Shall we get this started?" Proton smugly said, holding his own Silph Co.'s famous piece of technology at the boys.
(A/N): I know I keep adding original characters and bringing some from the anime even though this story is following the firered and leafgreen games. So I hope it doesn't bother the readers too much but I just feel like the games don't have enough characters to keep a story interesting. Maybe the fault lies with my ability to keep the orignal characters interesting, yet I hope to keep things in entertaining.
