It was slightly worrying when Volkner stopped answering his phone, but it wasn't the first time it had happened, either. Sometimes he just needed to isolate himself for a little while to recharge. Flint had always respected that and gave him the space he needed, so this time was no different.
Then the Sunyshore Gym closed for renovations. Again, disquieting, but not new. Volkner always had some new gadget he wanted to rig up, and not only could the gym naturally not be taking challengers while under construction, but the leader usually didn't have the mental energy to devote himself to both battling and engineering.
It was news of the blackout that pushed Flint from merely concerned to outright alarmed. Well, not the blackout itself, but the duration of it. It wasn't unusual for Volkner to accidentally plunge Sunyshore into momentary darkness when he first tried turning something new on, but he was responsible enough to always have an emergency kill switch for his projects to return power to the city – even if he would berate himself for the mistake for weeks after everyone else had forgotten the event.
And of course, with Volkner not answering his phone, the only way Flint could get any explanation of what was going on was to fly to Sunyshore and track him down.
He found him in the darkened gym, working by the light of a battery-operated lantern. Its pale, fluorescent glow cast long, eerie shadows of gears and platforms across the hall like a Spinarak's web. With no power and no people, the silence was unsettling – there were only Flint's echoing footsteps and the sounds of Volkner clipping wires, soldering, and rifling through bags of parts.
The gym leader did not react as Flint approached. He sat cross-legged, staring blankly into the Rattata's nest of wires as his hands and tools danced along almost of their own accord. He looked sickly-pale by the ghostly white light of the lantern.
"Volkner?"
No response.
"Volkner!" he said again, a little louder.
"I heard you the first time," the blond replied, his voice low and tired. He still did not look away from his work.
Flint crouched next to him, resting his arms across his knees. "You okay, man? What happened?"
"I miscalculated."
The Elite Four member blinked. "You miscalculated," he repeated, and waited for an elaboration that did not come. Arceus, this was like pulling teeth. He sighed. "Volkner, why's the power still out? What happened to your kill-switch?"
"Didn't have one."
It took a moment for Flint to process that one. "What? Why? You always have an emergency kill-switch!"
Volkner just shrugged. Like it was nothing.
"You knocked out the entire city's power grid, and you just shrug?!" Flint snapped, waving one arm vaguely in the direction of pretty much everything.
It was hard to tell in that flickering light, but Volkner's expression finally seemed to change – from blank to annoyed. "And I'm working on fixing it. If you're just here to bitch at me, you can leave."
The redhead opened his mouth to yell at him but shut it quickly before any words came out, trying to restrain his anger. Pity and worry bubbled up underneath it. "Volkner, please. I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. What's gotten into you?"
Somehow, his words broke through the wall between them. The gym leader stopped working on the circuit and looked down with an exhausted sigh. "I don't know. I'm just… so bored lately." Volkner's shoulders slumped and he finally turned to look at Flint, and in that strange lighting, his eyes almost looked red and puffy…
He saw Flint's expression and cut him off before he could ask. "Allergies have been acting up," he said, rubbing one eye. The redhead didn't believe him for a second, but now was not the time to press. He let Volkner continue speaking.
"Everything's just so utterly dull. I haven't had a good battle in forever, it feels like. So I thought maybe I'd change a few things about the gym, and then I changed a few more things, and it… got out of hand. And I hadn't really been planning any of it, so I didn't take my usual precautions and, well…" He trailed off and gestured around at the darkened gym.
"All this because you were bored with the challengers?" Flint asked. He first looked confused and even angry, but the expression quickly melted into one of sympathy. "If you wanted a tough battle, why didn't you just call me?"
The gym leader frowned and looked away. And just like that, the walls were back up. "I don't need a pity battle, Flint. Besides, you're a member of the Elite Four. You've got more important things to do."
"Volkner…"
"Leave." Volkner went back to fiddling with the wires as though Flint wasn't there.
Flint gritted his teeth, his patience finally running out. "Volk, I'm not going-"
"Get out of my gym, Flint." Volkner glared sideways at him, unblinking.
"I'm trying to help you!" Flint snapped.
"I said get out!"
Volkner reached for a pokéball, presumably to force the issue. Without another word, Flint stood up and walked away, fists clenched. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard a sob behind him as he left.