Red could feel the moment he entered the White District. It had an entirely different feeling that felt like spiders crawling on your skin.

As he walked, the people he saw was few and in between and even then, they watched him blankly.

"Talk about creepy." He whispered.

"Char..." Charmander agreed from where it was resting on his shoulder. Red reached up to pet its head, both to reassure Charmander and remind himself that he's not alone.

When he reached the shelter, he was already thinking of going back to the Center, the creepy feeling getting to him. But he shook his head slightly to rid himself of the thought. He came here for a reason so after he erased most of his discomfort, he bravely knocked on the door.

It opened and an old woman came into view. She had a full head of white hair and a wrinkly face. Her eyes squinted as she tried to make out his features before grabbing the glasses on the top of her head and putting them on her face. "Yes?"

"My name is Red." He introduced himself. "I was told I could come here to adopt a Pokémon."

A second pair of footsteps came closer to the door.

"Grandma, who's at-?" The door was pulled open wider by a younger lady who looked to be in her twenties. She had dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Oh hello!" She smiled. "Come in!"

Red entered and she closed the door behind him. She smiled. "I wasn't expecting any visitors today. You don't look from around these parts at all."

Red chuckled. "No, I'm a trainer from Pallet. It's a few ways from here. I came here to get a Pokémon."

"You're here to adopt?" The lady seemed excited. Red nodded. "Yeah, but I wanted to see what Pokémon you have available."

The lady nodded. "That makes sense. But before we get to that, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Tina and that's Abigail, my mother. We're the founders of this shelter."

"You're the founders? Then has it not been around for long then?" Red asked.

"No." Tina shook her head. "Just nine years. We were trying to help all the Pokémon that were being abandoned after the events of The New Evolution Era."

Red had heard of it. "When Mega Evolution was discovered?"

The lady nodded and her eyes glazed over as she seemed to recall the memories. "Yes. Many of the Pokémon could not access this type of evolution and trainers became dissatisfied. They abandoned and abused them because of this."

She looked back up at him with an intense stare. "That's why I want to protect these Pokémon. If you have any intention to wrong them with ill-will, I will have to ask you to leave."

Red smiled slightly. It was clear that this lady was afraid. He assumed it was because of past customers who had bad reactions to this very speech. But she still said it to him even though she knew he was a trainer. That gave her points in his book.

He raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not here to harm anyone. Trust me."

Tina looked at him warily and he sighed. Yellow would be much more better at this than him. "I'm being completely honest. I was looking for a Pokémon to battle with. But all the Pokémon here have been scarred in some way and are in no mental shape to battle. Looking at this from a logical standpoint, I have no reason to come here. So why would I?" Red shrugged,"Simple. I want to help." Tina gasped a little in shock but he kept talking. "I can't promise anything like huge donations as I'm still a newbie with almost zero dollars on me but I heard Felix say he helps around and figured I could offer my services." He scratched his temple. "Sorry about lying before."

Tina nodded and smiled. "You're a good person."

"No I'm not." Red countered casually. "A good person would have donated no matter how poor they were instead of worrying about themselves."

Tina chuckled. "I don't care. As long as you're here not to harm but to help, no matter how little, you're a good person in my book. Plus, Felix trusts you and he's usually a good judge of character."

She led him through a hallway to the last door. "This is where we keep some of our Pokémon. They've been through a lot so don't feel hurt if they don't warm up to you immediately."

Red nodded and waited for her to open the door and go in before following her inside. While some of the Pokémon had made noise after Tina went in, they quietened after Red came into view.

Red waved a little as Tina introduced him. "This is the usual time when we feed them. Would you like to help?"

"Sure."

After they went and brought back the food which was simply all-purpose kibble, they had to open the cages and give them one by one. When Tina had opened the door to a Caterpie's cage, it allowed her to pour the food and even get a few head pats in. But when Red opened the door to a Growlithe's cage, it moved back into the cage as far as it could go, whimpering.

"Keep your movements slow." Tina whispered a tip to him. "It also helps if they can see your hands at all times."

Red nodded a little. He waited until the pup stopped whimpering before moving. As ordered, he kept his movements slow and in Growlithe's vision. After he closed the door he moved on to the next cage, smiling when he heard Growlithe eating.

They continued this way until they reached the last cage which held a Pichu. Tina tried to feed it but it refused, even releasing electricity in warning. Red had offered to leave the room but Tina said it wasn't him.

"This little one has been here for a month now. I found it near the Red District." Tina explained.

"Where the-?"

"Yeah." Tina said. "At first it was super enthusiastic about food and shelter and I thought it be one of those special cases where they tend to steadily recover. But then about five days ago it started to refuse to eat. I've tried everything but it never works." She looked sadly at the Pichu. "She's gonna die if this continues."

They stayed there on the floor until Tina said she had to feed the Pokémon in the next room. She asked if he wanted to come but he said he would stay here with Pichu for a while.

He stayed there with Charmander to keep him company. An hour passed and Charmander got bored so he gave it a Pokedoll to play with. After, he fed the fire type some treats while playing with it.

He checked on Pichu to see that it still had not ate anything. Red frowned before taking off the drawstring backpack he carried to work and taking out an Oran Berry. He placed it into the cage then went back to playing with Charmander.

After two hours, it was get really close to six and he absolutely had to get going so he collected his stuff and picked up Charmander who had fallen asleep.

He looked into the cage to see that the Pichu was also asleep but what made him paise was the state of the Berry he threw in there. It was only half eaten but it was enough to make him smile.

Small victories.

/

Red was visiting the Local Shelter once again. He had been visiting for the past five days to make sure Pichu ate, no matter how little. Some days he would stay for a short while and others he stayed until he had to leave. The Pichu still didn't even dare look in his direction but at least it was eating.

When he made to knock on the door, a loud snap from a nearby alley made him pause. Both Charmander and Red looked to each other, suspicious and as Red moved towards the sound's direction, Charmander crawled off his shoulder to get ready in case of a battle.

They kept as quite as possible before peeking around the corner simultaneously. A man in a dark coat stood there while another one was seeing just turning the end corner, walking away.

As they stepped out, the man seemed to notice him and turned him slowly,"Oh hello."

"Hello." Red said hesitantly. "Are you okay? That person didn't hurt you did they?"

"Ah, no." The man chuckled softly. "We were just talking." The man tilted his head. "You don't look like you're from these parts of the city. Are you?"

Red shook his head. "No but I'm visiting. For business."

The man seemed to relax. "You too huh? It's hard to recruit new members isn't it?"

Red shrugged. "It is. But the ones here are too hurt and sad to actually muster any courage to battle so I'm just helping them a little before I leave."

The man chuckled. "Tell me about it. But you seem like the good type, to care about these people so much. I like that."

"People?" Red cocked his head. "I thought we were talking about Pokémon?"

"No, we're going to steal the-" The man gained a look of realization. "Ah you're-" A ringing came from the man's pocket and he dug out a phone, answering the call before bringing it to his hear. "What?" The man turned his back to Red. "Is everything ready?"

Red watched as the man walked off further into the alley, feeling slightly shaken by the conversation for a reason unknown to him. "Maybe I should of read his thoughts?"

He shrugged before going back to the shelter. Tina greeted him as he walked in. She was dragging two bags of kibbles. "Hello Red! I was just getting to feeding the little ones. Mind helping out?"

Red nodded. "Sure."

He took one bag of kibble from her and followed her to the room. They were quiet as they served the food to the hungry Pokémon.

"Is she still not eating?"

Tina smiled sadly. "Nope. The only thing she eats are those berries you give her. I would try to buy some for her but one bag of kibble costs less than three berries."

Red hummed. "I can leave you some money."

Tina waved him off with a scoff. "I couldn't possibly ask that if you. You've already wasted so much of your time here when you could have been doing something else."

Red shook his head,"I choose to come here. Plus, I've got some money to spare."

"Even if you did give us money, that would not buy enough berries to last Pichu long." Tina countered.

"The money isn't for the berries." He gestured to the direction of Viridian Forest. "Plus, there's berries in the forest, why not go there to get some?"

Tina shook her head. "The forest is too dangerous for me. I don't have a Pokémon to keep me safe. Besides, I can't just go wandering around in a search for berries, I could get lost!"

Red frowned with a pensive look on his face. Then he snapped his fingers. "It sounds like you need a Pigey."

"A Pidgey?" Tina's face twisted in confusion. How would getting one help her?

"Yes." Red nodded. "They can fly and spot berries for you. And since they evolved from avians, they can use magnetoreception and be able to lead you back home."

She seemed more confused. "Magneto-what?"

"Magnetoreception." Red repeated. "It's a sense that allows organisms to detect the Earth's magnetic field. It is mainly used for orientation and navigation. Fish, Birds, mammals and others from ancient times had these abilities and when they began evolving into Pokémon, they kept these abilities."

Tina nodded blankly, a bit spaced at the information. Red smiled. "We can go get one right now."

"We?"

"Yes, we. I'm not the one going to train that Pidgey, you are. So you need to be the one to catch it."

Tina blinked at him.

"Eh?"

/

"This is not what I expected."

Red and Tina watched from the cover of a bush, a Pigeotto.

"I can't catch that!" Tina whispered. "It'll kill us!"

Red didn't respond to her panic. "Have more faith in me ok? I'll let you borrow Charmander for this. Here."

She accepted the pokeball from him. "Throw this when I tell you to ok?"

Tina gulped. They were really going through with this. She nodded. "Ok."

"Now...go!" They both jumped out of the bush. The Pidgeotto glared at them but didn't move. It knew why the humans were here and while did not plan to get caught by a human child, it would not disgrace itself by fleeing. Those that yearned to be a valiant Pidgeot were honorable and do not flee away from a challenge.

"P-Pidgeotto!" Tina screamed looking a weird combination of terrified and determined. She showed it the pokeball. "I challenge you to a battle!"

Pidgeotto screeched at the challenge, flying up into the air and forcefully thrusted its wings at them, creating a wind.

Tina yelled as he covered her face. "That's not fair!"

"Tina! It isn't gonna wait for you to say go! Attack!"

Tina nodded. "Right! Ember!"

Charmander inhaled sharply before firing small flames at the Pidgeotto. It weaved around the attack before going for a dive with a glowing white beak.

"D-Dodge!"

Charmander jumped into the air to dodge and Pidgeotto pulled up as to not get stuck into the ground.

"Use Scratch now!"

Charmander spun midair and this time its brought its elongated claws up to strike Pidgeotto in the back.

Red watched as the battle progressed. Despite being nervous, Tina seemed to have some sort of talent for battling. He knew she had a license but didn't have a Pokémon but he didn't ask why and didn't try to find out himself either. It was her own business.

He smiled as she landed a Ember. It didn't stop him from wondering.

In terms of culture, Pokémon Training was viewed by both Kanto and most of the world as a professional sport and a sort of coming of age ritual. A trial to set their kids on the right path. Even so, few kids rarely ever succeed at it. Sure, plenty of trainers got famous and many more were praised. But those are only a fraction of the numbers sent out every season. Pokémon Training was brutal and a very difficult profession to be in. In a sea of endless people, most just...didn't stand out. You're just another trainer. He figured Tina was one of those.

Red frowned. Was he destined to be one of those trainers?

He watched as Tina threw the ball at the falling bird.

Just another nameless face?

They waited as the ball twitched, Pidgeotto fighting to get out.

Unappreciated and unremembered?

The ball finally clicked and Tina squealed, running to pick it up. Charmander instead ran over to Red and he crouched to praise the fire type who smiled happily. In the fire type's opinion, receiving praise from Red was something that never seized to remain priceless.


Blue walked into the room to see Red on the ground with a new book he was sure was too big to fit in his backpack. He threw the towel that was around his neck on the bed before making his way over to his bag to take out his hairbrush.

"I thought you were going to the shelter today?" He asked.

"I'm planning to. But Yellow borrowed this book from Nurse Joy explaining electric type Pokémon and I took a peek." Red didn't look up from the book as he explained.

Blue stopped spraying his hair to glance at the open book which showed that Red had read more than half the pages. "It looks like you took more than a peek though."

Red didn't respond to him, only looking pensively at the pages. "We could be completely wrong..."

Blue paused. "About what?"

"Electric type Pokémon." Red finally looked up. "It's said in the records that Electric Pokémon collect electricity from power plants and other sources."

Blue nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"

"I'm just wondering if it's actually wrong."

Blue frowned. There has been no changes to the records of Pokémon physiology in years. Why was Red questioning it now? "Why?"

Red turned the page. "There's a Pichu at the shelter I visited. It's been there for days and it doesn't like to eat. But whenever someone gets too close, it never fails to shock them. If Electric type Pokémon collected the energy, isn't Pichu supposed to be running out by now?"

"I guess that makes sense." He raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to experiment?"

Red sighed, dropping the book softly. "I want to. But I would need an electric type Pokémon and I would have to wait until we're at least halfway through Viridian Forest to even encounter one."

"And the Pichu line is very hard to find." Blue nodded along. "Plus we probably won't encounter another Electric type naturally until we're leaving Cerulean."

"Tch." Red clicked his teeth and Charmander looked to him worriedly. Blue chuckled. "Don't worry about him Charmander. He just gets ticked off when he can't complete his research when he wants to."

He faced back to Red. "Why don't you have a battle with some trainers?" Blue offered. "A lot of them are at the meeting area just waiting for a challenge."

Red shook his head, getting up off the floor. "Nah Charmander already battled a lot today. I'll just go see how Pichu is doing. See ya at six?"

Blue nodded. "Sure."

Red grabbed his drawstring bag before leaving with Charmander on his tail. He started to look for Yellow to tell her he was leaving.

He didn't see her in the cafeteria so he assumed she was helping Nurse Joy with the Pokémon. He went to the lobby and ringed the bell as Nurse Joy was not at the counter.

A pause showed no one answered and Red looked around. No one was even in the lobby at this point for him to ask where they went. He sighed and ringed the bell again only to jump by a sudden alarm blasting from the overhead speakers.

"Attention all trainers." Nurse Joy's voice came over the intercom. "We have been notified of a physical security breach. To prioritize the safety of the Pokémon and yourselves, we will now enter a Level 2 lockdown." The windows and doors connecting them to the outside where shut off by metal doors. "Please remain where you are and be calm. We will try our absolute best to return the Center to its former safety."

There was a little feedback as she turned it off.

Red stared at the intercom before moving to sit on one of the chairs in the lobby. He wondered who would try to steal from the Center anyway. It's not like it has anything wort-

A man in a long coat flashed through this mind.

Red shot up, startling Charmander. It was a bit farfetched but not impossible and Red would rather be safe than sorry.

"The storage room." Red hopped over the counter and began looking through the stuff. A map of the whole Pokémon Center wasn't available to the public for safety reasons but if he could find one in here then-

He made a sound of victory as he found one. Red's eyes scanned over the piece of paper urgently. His eyes light up when he saw the room he was looking for. "Found it."

He opened the door in front of him. "Let's go Charmander."

/

Yellow was moving as fast as she could to help Nurse Joy transfer the pokeballs over to Pewter City. Bulbasaur was using its vines to collect them into a large sack.

They yelled in surprise when the door and wall surrounding it was suddenly smashed through. As the dust settled, a man was revealed. He had on a long dark coat and had dark blue hair with bright purple eyes. A Pokémon stood in front of him. It resembled a dog. Judging by its coloring, Yellow guessed it was a Normal type. Possibly a dual with the Dark typing.

The man stared at them. "Hand over the pokeballs."

"No." Yellow answered for Nurse Joy. "Keep transferring the balls Nurse Joy, I'll deal with this."

"I really don't wanna battle but-" He shrugged. "If you insist. Herdier, use Shadow Ball."

"Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!"

A fairly large cloud of smoke was created after the collision of the two moves and Yellow narrowed her eyes, trying to keep them on the man. Unexpectedly he suddenly dashed at her.

"Ah!"

She stumbled as she dodged his hand grabbing at her. Bulbasaur came to her rescue, headbutting the man who was caught by his Herdier. The man brushed of his coat. "Tch." The man mumbled under his breath. Yellow couldn't make out all the words except 'annoying'. "Herdier, use Work Up."

Herdier's face which was neutral this whole time became twisted in rage as it growled. A red glow surrounded it before bursting, resembling what would happen if you released a Pokémon.

The Herdier's stance seemed to get tense, resisting the urge to move and Yellow cursed internally. If only she had spent more time teaching Bulbasaur status moves, she could possibly wear it down but since she hadn't, the only thing to do was to attack it head on.

"Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!"

"Play Rough."

Herdier jumped over the Razor Leaf, landing in front of Bulbasaur and hitting him with a rising headbutt. As Bulbasaur flew, Herdier jumped above him to kick it to the floor.

"Bulbasaur!"

Bulbasaur stood up shakily and shook its head to get rid of the dizziness as it stood. It growled at the Herdier who growled right back.

"Can you give up now? I think we can see where this battle is going." The man said with a voice full of boredom.

Before Yellow could deny, Nurse Joy spoke up. "Don't listen to him Yellow. I'm almost finished."

The two battlers looked over to see the sack having only about two dozen pokeballs left. The man held his head, ruffling his hair forcefully. "Agh..." He groaned. "I better take this seriously. Boss is gonna kill me if I don't at least bring one Pokémon to him."

He pointed lazily to Yellow, turning away. "Use Giga Impact."

Yellow's eyes widened as Herdier jumped at Bulbasaur, a purple energy surrounding it. "Bulbasaur, dodge!"

Yellow didn't get to see if her Pokémon managed to heed her orders as she had to look away from the smoke. She coughed as she waved her hands to clear her vision.

It took a few moments before she could finally see but she gasped when she saw her Bulbasaur laying on the ground. There was a large dent in its bulb that seemed to be bruising and its limbs twitched in pain. As it looked to be in extreme agony, Yellow recalled it. Even though she felt immense relief that it wasn't dead, she couldn't help but be filled with fear as to how close it had become.

She looked at the man through teary eyes. He was now slightly frowning at her,"I'm sorry but I really need those-"

"Boss!"

A girl came to the hole in the wall, covered by black from head to toe. "We need to leave! There's a trainer taking out some of our members and they called the police!" The girl seemed to be nervous. "And sir, I think the gym leader's on his way here."

The man seemed to get more tired as he sighed. Yellow looked at him, wondering and fearing what he would do.

"And done!" Yellow almost forgot Nurse Joy was here. Said lady turned around. "Now, as the owner of the Center I will have to ask you to leave. You have caused enough damage as it is."

The man stared at Nurse Joy clearly unthreatened but the nurse didn't budge in the slightest.

"Sir." The girl at the door urged.

The man finally looked away with a sigh. "Fine." He turned back to the hole in the wall and the girl moved so he could step through. "Let's go. I need some coffee anyway."

Yellow body sunk to the floor in pure relief as soon as they came out of view. Nurse Joy came up to her immediately rushing out reassurances and praises. It's only when Nurse Joy began wiping her tears did Yellow realize she was crying.

/

Red panted as he ran to the storage room after taking out another batch of trainers. He began to run faster as he could see a hole in the wall where the door should be but hurriedly stopped himself as someone came out of it. Charmander instantly started growling at the man who didn't even glance at the lizard.

Red's eyes widened as he recognized the face. "It's you..."

The man stared at him passively. "So you're the other pesky trainer. Because of you I'm going to get scolded." He glared at him. "Tch." The man clicked his teeth and turned away.

Red made to run after him.

"Red!" He paused as he heard a familiar voice calling him. He went back to the hole and saw Yellow on the floor caught in a hug from Nurse Joy.

He quickly moved to them, the man now erased from his mind. He kneeled down and tried to spot any blood. "Did he hurt you?"

Yellow shook her head. "But Bulbasaur-" She cut herself off with her own sobbing, throwing herself in his arms. Red's arms moved on autopilot, wrapping them around her. He rubbed her back as she tried to calm down. Charmander also came closer to pat her back. "It's okay. Nurse Joy will be able to fix Bulbasaur right up."

Yellow shook her head and Red's heart dropped, imagining the worst. He relaxed when he heard her next words.

"Need to get stronger." She mumbled.

Red's arms tightened, determination flowing through him as he was reminded of another reason to become one of the best.

"Right." He agreed, nodding. "Much stronger."

/ / Elsewhere / /

Tina had not been worried initially. There were times Red arrived late after taking detours on the way here.

After feeding all the Pokémon, she took her bag of berries and went to Pichu's cage. The Pichu looked up when she heard her footsteps but seemed to sulk before lying back down.

"He is a bit late today isn't he?" Tina said to it. "I wonder what he's doing?"

/

The media had arrived quickly, the sirens drawing their attention. Officer Jenny and her officers tried their best to get the crowd under control, but was clearly failing.

They all cried out in surprise as a powerful wind washed over them from above.

"It's Gliscor!"

"And the gym leader."

"Let's get out of here before he attacks us!"

People dispersed quickly with only a few brave souls staying behind to take pictures. The trio watched from inside the building.

"Why'd they run away?" Yellow whispered curiously. Red stared at the scene. Officer Jenny was currently thanking the gym leader for managing the crowd while the man accepted the gratitude with an awkward smile.

"They're afraid of him." He informed her. "Giovanni became Viridian's gym leader ten years ago when he was sixteen."

"Sixteen?" Yellow said shocked. "Isn't that a bit young?"

"He had no choice. His father disappeared and he had to take over. His mother became a drunkard and he had to take care of her too." Red informed.

"Disappeared?"

"No one knows what happened to him but people theorized that Giovanni killed him to take the spot. New trainers began saving his gym for last so they could easily crush his Pokémon and humiliate him."

"His gym was shut down for two months after that." Yellow looked over to Blue who had spoken. He had his arm crossed with an irritated expression on his face. "People celebrated it like it was the coming of Arecus not even showing any sympathy that his mother died within those months." He closed his eyes. "Disgusting." He spat.

"It's must had been really tough for him." Red said. His eyes were uncharacteristically soft, pitying. "He was alone since he was sixteen and still is."

Yellow frowned as she watched Giovanni. He was bowing to Officer Jenny as they ended their conversation for them to each go back to their respective jobs.

Giovanni went to go in to the building when one of the reporters got the courage to go up to Giovanni. He smiled at her slightly and thrust the mic into his face,"Are you still grieving over your father's death and how does it feel to be responsible for your mother's demise?"

The smile on his face froze and Yellow frowned. Not only was that question rude, it had nothing to do with the current situation.

Officer Jenny seems to share the sentiment as she gasped and grabbed the reporter,"The Gym Leader is currently not accepting any questions. And I told you before, we are unsure if the criminals have fully left the scene so we advice you to-"

She was interrupted as another reporter came up, seemingly getting brave from the first one's actions. "How do you plan to handle the city's crisis, given your history of poor decisions and tragic outcomes?"

Yellow's jaw actually dropped in shock. This question was related to the situation but that didn't make it any less rude!

As she felt her friends move, Yellow held them back before walking towards the entrance. Even though those reporters deserved what her friends probably wanted to give them, she knew that was not the approach they needed.

Both the reporters and the gym leader was surprised when she weaved her way in front of him,"This is a serious situation so the gym leader has no time to take questions. If possible, please return tomorrow. Thank you."

She turned, nudging Giovanni forcefully until he got the hint and started walking. Red and Blue joined them as they walked and they stopped when they were a good distance away from the door.

"Are you okay, Mr. Giovanni?"

The man smiled at her reassuringly but it was shaky and small. "I'm alright. Thank you for the help."

"Of course. They were being so mean."

"Why don't you charge them?"

Yellow nudged Red but he just glanced down at her before looking back at Giovanni, waiting for his answer.

Giovanni sighed, seemingly getting himself back in control. He towered over them as he stood to his full height. "People are meant to have their opinions. I shouldn't charge them for that."

"They shouldn't if it hurts someone." Yellow couldn't help but saying.

Giovanni frowned and his eyebrows creased. "Someone got hurt?" He asked, voice full of worry.

"We're talking about you Mr. Giovanni. There words are hurting you." Yellow clarified.

The man chuckled before waving his arm stiffly. "I'm used to them. They don't bother me anymore."

"Seemed to be a bother just now." Blue muttered. Yellow nudged him. A little more harshly this time. Doesn't her friends know how to read a room?

Giovanni chuckled awkwardly,"That was..."

"Giovanni!" Nurse Joy called out with a sweet smile as she came out the doors. "It's nice to see you. You're doing okay?"

Giovanni nodded with an easier smile. "As always. It's good to see you unharmed."

Nurse Joy nodded. "Yellow did a good job watching my back." She looked around him to peer at the trio. "Speaking of, I need to perform a checkup on you three, too make sure everything's alright. You don't mind do you?"

Yellow shook her head. "Not at all Nurse Joy. We'll be right there."

As Nurse Joy went back, the trio looked at Giovanni who suddenly seemed uncomfortable again.

"I still think you should charge them." Blue said and he and Red walked off.

As Giovanni sighed, Yellow smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry about my friends. They really do admire you. They're just really angry about how the public treats you. Please don't take their words the wrong way."

"I think they're more angry about how I let the public treat me."

Yellow smiled again in the same way and she bowed. "I'm really sorry."

The gym leader shook his head. "It's okay." He gestured to the hallway. "You better go get your checkup. Nurse Joy might be nice but she takes her patients very seriously."

Yellow nodded and moved to leave before hesitating.

"Take care of yourself."

Giovanni watched her leave before sighing.

"I'm really trying."