No, I am NOT doing this again. I don't care how little I do I'm starting before Friday! Hopefully this will be a bit more solid than the last chapter (not that I hate it or anything, I just cut it really close) and it won't get in just under the buzzer. This is also the start of something pretty important, so that's good. Let's just get to it!
Red made his way out of the apartment complex as fast as he could without breaking without breaking into a full run. Girls! What was up with them? Still, it was about time he had to catch up with the others. He made his way to the Pokémon Center, finding Blue and Green outside. The trio went inside for lunch and after Red dropped off his new Eevee in the PC, they set out. Eevee was definitely a Pokémon worth training, but Red would have to think hard about how to raise it.
All three of them had passed by the Gym when they were looking around the city, so they set out for it with no one in particular taking the lead. As they headed there though, Red couldn't help but notice that Game Corner.
Red lagged behind a few steps and Green noticed. She was about ask what was wrong when she saw the Game Corner too. "I guess I wasn't the only one who got a bad feeling about that place…" she said, eyeing the establishment.
Blue gave the place a glance before shrugging. "Yeah, I get a bad feeling about the place too. But it's not like they're doing anything illegal, right? Let's just get that badge and go." Just as Blue was about to turn around, the building next to the main building's door burst open. Some kind of strange pink and blue Pokémon poked its polyhedral head out the door before a pair of hands grabbed it and pulled it back in. The group stood there in silence for a minute. "Nope. I'm not getting involved in this one. Smell ya later!"
"Oh, come on Blue," Green more ordered than anything else as she started to drag him toward the building.
"We don't have to do everything together, you know," Blue returned, pulling his arm free.
"You can't tell me you're not interested in what's going on!"
"I'm more interested in collecting badges and filling the Pokédex!"
In spite of his protests, he walked along with Red and Green towards the building. Red ignored their argument as he walked on. By the time they had gotten to the building, Blue had stopped his protests and the three filed in to the small appendix building to the Game Corner. It was small and nondescript inside. A white, undecorated, unfurnished room with three cashier windows at the far end, a door for them to get in and out, and a few people carrying boxes that seemed to be filled with coins of some kind.
Green walked up to one of the people behind the windows. "Um, I'm sorry for the stupid question, but what is this place?"
"Oh, that's fine," the very ordinary looking cashier said with a welcoming smile. "This is the Prize Exchange house for the Game Corner next door. You can buy coins next door to use in the slot machines there. If you have a lot of coins, come on back here and you can get Pokémon Training Items and even rare Pokémon here. Hope to see you again soon!"
The three left post haste and considered what they had just learned. "See!" Blue said forcefully, "They're just selling Pokémon. Again, kinda dodgy, but not illegal. Let's go!"
Green rolled her eyes, "You don't seriously thing that nothing fishy is going on, do you?"
"So what if there is, Green?" Blue all but shouted, "I'm ten! We're all ten! We're not the cops, and I don't want to get involved in anything dangerous."
"No one's asking you to arrest anyon-" Green stopped herself and looked around and noticed someone was missing. "Wait, where'd Red go?"
It didn't take Red long to decide to leave the old married couple to their bickering. He was already passing the third row of slot machines by the time Green even noticed he was gone. The inside of the gambling house was just as bright, colorful, and flashy as the outside.
At first, everything seemed innocuous; just a bunch of people gambling at some slots. But still, Red couldn't shake the bad feeling he got from the place. And then he saw a flash of an unsettlingly familiar black jumpsuit. Red thought it looked like something the Rockets wore, but he couldn't be sure because whoever it was ducked behind a wall near the back of the building before Red got a good look.
Trying not move fast enough to draw any eyes, red moved to see what was behind the wall. Just before he got to the wall he heard a soft click from behind it. When he turned the corner there was nothing but a dead end. But Red knew he saw someone. He looked around for a second and noticed a poser on the wall. From a distance, or even up close at a glance, the poster seemed completely innocent. But now that Red was looking at it, he noticed it was almost completely blank; just a little color on it to distract the eye from its blankness. The only thing on it was a red R near the bottom. If the logo all the Rockets wore on their chests wasn't enough of a clue, on closer examination of the poster, Red discovered there was something bulging under it. Red lifted the corner of the poster to see a small switch under it. Red pressed it and he heard the click again as a secret door leading to a staircase that seemed to lead under the building.
Glancing around to make sure there was no one ready to throw Red out for his discovery, Red started toward and down the wide but dark staircase. The stairs when down for about a floor and a half before opening up into the hideout below. A glance around the area showed a wide corridor and another set of stairs heading further down off to the side. The place was well lit and furnished and gave off the air of a creepy, mildly sinister office.
Red was about to set off and explore when he heard crashing and shouting coming from somewhere down the long hall. And it was getting closer. Suddenly something – it looked vaguely like a blue snake, but was moving too fast to make out – rounded a corner and made a break for the stairs Red was still on. Right behind it was a Rocket grunt wielding a whip and shouting. Upon seeing Red, the snake-like Pokémon fell over itself screeching to a halt, giving the Rocket a chance to catch up with it.
Red reacted on instinct, moving toward the Pokémon to protect it. He reached out his arm, taking the lash for it. It stung worse than anything he could think of, but Red just glared at the shocked Rocket. "You just made a mistake," Red growled, drawing a Pokéball.
The Rocket did so as well, sending out a Machop. Red smiled; his selection was perfect as it turned out. With a snap and a flash, Red's Kadabra appeared. "Machop, use Karate Chop! Now!" the Rocket ordered his Pokémon.
"Kadabra, Confusion," Red ordered evenly, "Do it in one hit."
Machop tried to leap forward to attack, but Kadabra only had to give a wave of his spoon to send the Fighting-Type flying back to its Trainer's feet. "Wait," the Rocket gasped, "You're one of those kids that have been wrecking our plans, aren't you?" Red just smiled confidently in response. The Rocket growled back, "I'll teach you to respect Team Rocket and get a bonus to boot for defeating you." The Rocket sent out another Pokémon, this one a Drowzee. "Take this! Drowzee, use-"
"Kadabra, Shock Wave," Red ordered, cutting the Rocket off. Drowzee didn't even get a chance to move before it was knocked flat by the invisibly fast bolt of lightning. The Rocket just stood there shocked (metaphorically) for a moment. "You Rockets are just a bunch of weak bullies," Red said, giving the Rocket a death glare, "I suggest you run before this gets any worse for you. The grunt did so, bolting down the same corner he had come from. Surely an alarm was about to be raised, but that was fine by Red. He planned to pick Team Rocket apart right here and now for what they were doing to the poor Pokémon here.
That reminded Red of the Pokémon that that grunt was abusing. He turned to see it cowering behind him. The snake-like Pokémon was a rare and powerful Dragon-Type Pokémon called Dratini found after consulting his Pokédex. It was blue and white with a white muzzle and fins on its head and big purple eye that would be adorable if they didn't look so scared. "Hey there," Red said to it gently. Still, it flinched away when Red reached down to touch it. Red gave it an even warmer smile and keeled down to meet it at eye level. It was almost half as long as Red was tall (meaning it was about halfway grown according to the Pokédex), but it was trying to look as small as possible and hugging the ground. "It's okay. I won't hurt you." Red left his hand close to Dratini. After a minute, Dratini relaxed and let Red stroke its smoothed head.
"Do you need me to help you out of here?" Red asked once Dratini had fully calmed. To his surprise, the Dragon Pokémon cuddled up to his leg. "Are you saying you want to go with me?" Dratini nodded in response to Red's surprise and gave the mark on his arm from the whip a gentle lick. "Well, I usually like catching Pokémon fair and square, but if that's what you want, Dratini. Welcome to the team."
Glad I started ahead. Wish I did more when I had the chance, but I like this. Not my best, but much better than passable. Not really much to say here, so see you next time.