"What? The Gym's closed? How can a Gym be closed?"
Even Storm was backing away from Dave, he was so ferocious.
The clocks of Vermilion had struck 7PM, the time we had planned to skip on over to the Gym and beat Lt. Surge into a speck of nothing. But our joy had been in vain: a fat sign had been pasted onto the door, with a 'CLOSED' screaming out at us in red letters. I didn't know anything about Kanto's Gyms other than the fact you went in and fought a Gym Leader, but apparently they were open every minute of every day according to Dave's angry pacing around the place. I was sat on the pavement near the local Mart, which was cheery and bright inside and people were filing in and out. Ace sat next to me, looking a little acceptably disappointed in contrast to Dave's psychotic rage.
"I didn't even know Gyms were open all the time," I admitted rather unnecessarily, shrugging.
"They are!" Dave cried, snapping Ace back to reality. "They're open 24/7. The Leader's not there all the time, but you can go in whenever you want and just train. Even at 4AM, there's at least someone there willing to battle! But it's never closed!"
A trainer from the Mart had obviously overheard Dave's ridiculous shouting and was about to walk past us when he stopped. He looked a bit like Gary which frustrated me a little – why must he be everywhere? – but he was actually greeting us like humans, which made certain it wasn't Gary. He was in a blue jumpsuit of sorts with spiky brown hair.
"You guys here about the Gym?" he asked, rather politely. Dave calmed down, and nodded. "It's lame, isn't it? Lt. Surge says it's for the best, though. It's only going to be for today, perhaps tomorrow. It depends."
"But why? What's going on?" Dave demanded.
The trainer sighed. "You haven't heard, have you?"
He walked off. Just like that, he fucked off, and Dave didn't bother shouting after him. We just exchanged each other curious and confused looks, and read each other's minds: what in the name of fuck is going on here?
"Please help! Please help!"
"Oh!"
Well, damn whoever had disturbed my daydreams, but I was willing to let it go. Dave and I had dragged ourselves to the Center for some chilling time; we also were debating over whether or not to go to Diglett's Cave for some training. The Gym being closed meant that we were bored almost to tears, and my phone had died, so there was no way of contacting Joel for some laughs. It was currently charging but it took centuries and I was about to commit suicide.
Some little boy had blasted into the Center, holding a Vaporeon in his hands, and only until the nurse quickly took it away that I realised the poor little thing had been soaked in blood. The little boy was currently crying, comfortless, and we took it as our responsibility to help. We ran over to him and sat him down with us. He didn't protest. That was a good sign.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Dave gently asked, shaking him a little to coax him.
The boy wiped his eyes furiously and then looked at us both, red circles around his electric eyes. "There…th-there was…me and Vaporeon, w-we were out t-together…I was h-heading h-home! And th-this guy…in b-b-black…h-he…he wanted to b-b-battle…"
And completely destroyed your Vaporeon, was what Dave didn't say but I could tell it was lingering on his lips. But in that sobbing, almost unintelligible sentence, we figured out what was going on, and were about to ask when the nurse returned. The little boy perked up and ran up to the counter.
"Is Vaporeon okay? P-Please say she will b-be!"
"Her injuries are quite bad, honey," she sighed, but we knew what she really meant. She might not live. It's serious. Really serious. She might not live. She might not live. "Come on, through here. My Chansey will take care of you, and I'll be with you in a minute."
She led him away to the mystical door of dreams, perhaps one similar to where I had recovered from my Viridian Forest adventure of joyous joy. She came over to us, and I bit my lip.
"We're just looking after him," Dave quickly said. "We couldn't…not, you know?"
She sighed. "It's not looking good. I've had so many people run in here like he did today. There's some rogue trainer about, who's battling and having no mercy. I don't know who he is, but Lt. Surge has recommended that people stay at home…"
"Have any of them…?" I didn't need to finish it. To my relief, and to Dave's as I could feel, she shook her head.
"No. Thankfully not. They've all got here just in time, miraculously. It's beginning to get overwhelming, though, and I'm just worried that…"
She didn't need to finish it.
Dave shrugged before he spoke, but not in a rude shrug. "We could maybe help out. I live nearby."
A smile took over her pretty face and I felt myself blush and gasp a tiny bit, she really was pretty. All of the nurses in the Centers were damn pretty. Shame that none of the Pallet Town girls were quite the same – they were either stuck-up their own asses, or too young for me. It sucked. While Dave kept talking to the nurse about how we could help her out with the Pokémon, I had my mind on another way, and I felt my brain start to whir.
I tried to put the pieces of the jigsaw situation together. This had been happening all day. Some dude in black completely obliterated that poor Vaporeon. The Gym was shut. Clearly, there was some rogue trainer about who belonged either in jail or in a mental asylum. You could be imprisoned for killing another Pokémon, or abusing your own in all kinds of ways. Exploitation of their powers was one of them. They were damn powerful things, and could easily kill another human…but because of the love and trust humans gave, they gave it back, and did only what they were told.
I began to understand it all more. I feared my Storm a lot of the time because, come on, who wouldn't fear a giant fucking dragon? But I trusted him, and although he couldn't exactly say he trusted me back, I could just feel it in some of the things he did. Hell, if I let him into the water to splash about – the biggest understatement; Storm didn't splash, he caused tsunamis – he would always come back to me. There had to be something in that, right?
But I didn't get how it happened so quickly.
And this rogue trainer had clearly gained his Pokémon's trust so quickly that they were powerful enough to get the Gym shut and to have every trainer in Vermilion living in fear.
Well, Darrell was going to do something about that.
"I've got an idea," I said, feeling in my pocket for Flame's Poké Ball. He was the one I needed most of all right now. "Dave, you can stay here with the nurse and look after anyone else that comes in."
"What're you doing?" he raised an eyebrow, his arms folded. But he didn't sound stern. He understood. "If it's what I think you're doing, say goodbye to your damn team."
Defiant Darrell was here to save the day. I released Flame and he growled and hissed, expectantly looking around for something to maul. I petted him and he let out a small growl, rubbing his face against my leg. "Not until he gets the fuck out of here."