Blue went to his battle without informing anyone of his choice. Last night, after his talk with Skyla, Blue had gotten up and scheduled himself for a battle with one of the Center's computers. Two days later, it was the day of his battle.
Pewter Gym's exterior was imposing. It was so large that it could probably fit half the city's population in case of an emergency. Looking at it from the outside, one would think it lacked the modernity of the city around it but as soon as you entered, the thought would be washed away from your mind.
As Blue walked past the simulation facilities, demonstration rooms and auditoriums, many trainers and staff maneuvered through the halls, each walking with a manner of people with something to do and somewhere to be.
He walked with his own form of confidence towards the administration office. The lady at the desk, a beautiful young woman with sharp eyes and a polite smile greeted him.
"What can I do for you today?"
"My name is Blue Oak, here to challenge Gym Leader Brock for the Boulder Badge."
/
The stadium was smaller than he thought it was be–only twice the size of a training room–though it was tall enough for an extremely large Pokémon to fit in comfortably. Blue could most likely guess what Pokémon Brock might use that would require this type of height and felt his fingers twitch in anticipation.
He climbed up the platform that was raised above the ground, placing his Pokédex into the slot beside the engraved screen. It would give I for on any Pokémon released.
He got a great view of the field that was rocky and full of large boulders. Blue looked over it carefully, noting the areas which would be useful to his Pokémon. The railing was cool under his hands but his heart burned warm. The heat of the duct overhead threatened him.
Blue felt the edge of his lips twitch as it tried not to stretch into a grin.
This. This was where he belonged.
His gaze flickered over to the door on the opposite side of the room as it opened and his first opponent walked out. The boy was nothing to look at with a simple jeans and T-shirt and neatly combed hair. He kept his expression neutral as he climbed unto the opposing platform and Blue guessed that this wasn't his first time acting as a tester.
The Gym Leader was responsible for choosing the rules of the battle when challenged. They were not allowed to turn the battle in their favor and could only let the challenge be fair or in favor of the challenger.
Typically, Brock's common rule was for the challenger to use as many Pokémon as they had on their person while he could use only up to two. Though every once in a while–because beginners often tried to overwhelm him with six Pokémon–he switches it up so that the challenger had to battle two or three trainers before fighting him.
It was a method used by almost all of the gym leaders as it was a nice way to wipe out some of the challenger's Pokémon and test their own members' skill. And judging by how his opponent looked, this was mostly not his first time.
"One Pokémon." The boy's voice was steady as he drew out a pokeball. "First knockout wins."
He released a Geodude. The Pokémon came out with a grumble and knocked its fists together.
"Geodude. The Rock Pokémon. A Rock and Ground Type." His Pokédex piped up and Blue glanced down at the image and description on the screen. It gave information such as a Geodude's average height, weight and what it usually eats. "This common Pokémon is typically found in caves or mountains. The skin of these Pokémon appears to be rock and that is partially true. Geodude's skin is actually softer than you think. What you are looking at is actually the shell of the Geodude, a protective layer formed from the minerals it eats."
Blue looked the Geodude over curiously before releasing his Pokémon.
As Spearow emerged with a cry, his opponent tilted his head slightly as he watched the bird soar, though Blue could see that it wasn't in confusion but in curiosity.
"Let's begin." The boy turned his head back to the field. "Geodude. Use Rock Throw."
Spearow was already weaving around the attack as Blue called for a counter. "Use Peck!"
The Spearow dived for its opponent.
"Meet it head on Geodude. Use Double Edge." The boy ordered.
The two attacks met head on. Geodude overpowered the Spearow and it cured as it hurried to steady itself. The rock Pokémon remained largely unaffected.
Blue tilted his head. It's ability must be Rock Head.
As Spearow steadied itself and began to look even more determined to overcome its opponent, Blue felt a little guilty. Spearow was bad match up for the Geodude, move and type wise. But he'd rather the Spearow get the experience with weaker opponents now than completely fail against stronger later. Plus, he could save Squirtle's strength for the real challenge.
"Rock Throw again."
"Wing Attack!" Blue shouted at the bird. It started off just as a rock flew past it. Before Geodude got the order to dodge, Spearow was in front of it and slamming it into a stray boulder.
Spearow cried out in succession of its attack and watched from the sky as Geodude emerged from the rubble. It looked up at him defiantly.
For some strange reason, Blue could feel the battle coming to a close even though no Pokémon was out of commission. "Spearow! Wing Attack again!"
"Double Edge."
The two slammed into each other once again and both winced as the drew back.
"Time for Assurance Spearow!"
Spearow keened lowly as a dark mass of energy surrounded it. Geodude tensed as it got ready to take the blow.
Blue had been surprised when he scanned Spearow after he caught it and saw this move. It must have been how it drew Pidgey into such a state when they came upon it.
"Go!"
Spearow shot off and it drew closer to the Geodude. Said Pokémon eyes widened as Spearow came near before it was transformed into a mass of red energy.
Spearow stopped in startled surprise while Bkue looked over to where his opponent held out his pokeball.
"What are you doing? Your Pokémon wasn't knocked out."
"I can tell when my Pokémon is about to lose." He climbed down the ladder quickly. He walked to the automatic doors, raising his hand in a motionless wave. "Your next opponent will come in a minute. Good luck."
Blue just blinked as the boy disappeared. The interaction leaving him a bit baffled. His Pokémon seemed just as confused but flew over immediately when he called for it.
A ping from his Pokédex showed that sixty dollars was transferred to his trainer account and he grinned before turning back to his Pokémon.
"Good job out there bud." He ran his hand through the tuff of feathers on Spearow's chest. A little bit of red was growing in, warning him of its incoming evolution. Soon, it will start getting more aggressive and Blue will have be stricter on it so it doesn't disobey him when it does evolve. "This is the first step to handling Rock Types. Their skin is hard so you have to hit hard. Got it?"
The Spearow nodded firmly with intense eyes.
"Trainer Blue." His Pokédex piped up and Blue glance at it instinctively. "Would you like me to give you an overview of Spearow's current condition?"
Blue looked over his Spearow. He didn't see any obvious injuries–the two Pokémon were too evenly matched in strength to cause any intense physical damage–but one could never be too safe.
"Yes please."
He might have to battle at least one more person before moving onto Brock. He couldn't leave any holes unchecked.
/
Yellow didn't know where her friends were. When she went to their rooms, no one answered. She asked Nurse Joy who said that she managed to catch Blue leaving in the early hours of the morning and she assumed Red left only a few hours after.
Yellow thanked her for the information before leaving the Pokémon Center. She was tempted to look for them but trusted them to mostly stay out of trouble. Instead, she went to the explore the city. She walked for quite a while before stopping for a snack break.
As she chewed on the corn dog, under the shade of the stall, she was startled when the owner called out to her.
"Are you planning on staying in Pewter City?" The man asked kindly. Yellow smiled but shook her head negatively. "No, just visiting. See, I'm a new trainer from Pallet Town." She rubbed the bulb of her Pokémon gently. "I'm traveling with my friends and we got here yesterday."
"Oh?" The man raised his eyebrows, intrigued. "So you're taking on the Gym Challenge?"
"Nope, that's my friend." She corrected. "I don't know what I want to do together with my Pokémon yet so I busy myself by looking around."
The man nodded seriously. A lot of new trainers come to cities, not appealed to battling but unsure what to do with themselves. Battling was such a popular sport that a lot less good ones were unexplored and not spoken about. It made it hard to find dreams.
"You just need to keep looking." Yellow looked back up at the man. He smiled at her softly. "Don't give up kid. It takes some time."
Yellow smiled wider, feeling more hopeful at the encouragement. "Thank you."
"But since you're just sightseeing, why don't you go down Pewter's Museum? It a popular area for tourists."
Yellow tilted her head. "Pewter's Museum?"
/
Pewter City had a museum. It was actually not that far from the Center, being only a fifteen minute ride on the Tauros Taxi. While waiting in the admission line, she checked over the pamphlet she got at the door.
By the time she was finished reading, she was at the front of the line.
"Hi!" The lady at the desk was a woman with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The pin on her clothes displayed the name Maryanne. She smiled cheerily at Yellow. "Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you." Yellow allowed her nervousness to show. "I'm kinda nervous since it's my first time in Pewter or a museum."
The lady perked up. "Oh!" She smiled softly. "Then I hope you like it. Is there a specific part of the museum you'd like to see? We're sort of busy so some of our regular displays are not open today."
Yellow noticed. The line was long when she got here and now it's even longer than before.
"What's got the museum so busy?"
Maryanne leaned in. "A new display opened up. A new fossil has been collected and this museum was chosen to display it!" She couldn't seem to keep in her excitement.
"Oh, what fossil is it?" Yellow had to ask. Was it a new Pokémon? Her friends would love it if so.
But Maryanne shook her head. "No. It's an Aura Guardian!"
"Aura Guardian?" Yellow felt that she heard it somewhere before.
"Yeah." The lady nodded with an excited grin. "It's really amazing!"
"Hey! Hurry it up! Others want to get a ticket too!"
"Sorry!" Maryanne answered to the man before turning back to Yellow. "So, what's it gonna be?"
"I'd like a ticket to see the Guardian's Fossil please."
Maryanne smiled at her before going on her computer. "Great choice!"
/
Red looked at the art surrounding them as he made his way to the room the fossil would be in.
"Pi!" The Pichu currently on his shoulder pointed to a painting beside the one she was currently looking at. It was an oil on canvas painting of a Raichu. It was on all fours in a defensive stance, cheeks glowing with electricity. The attention to detail was intense. Red could see the passionate glow in its eyes, its silky fur that was standing on end and each bright crackle of electricity that flowed off its body.
Red hummed, walking over to it. "Raichu is a pretty cool Pokémon."
By the awed sounds Pichu was making, it agreed.
"One day, you'll be like just like that." Red said, sure of it. His Pichu was very stubborn so he expected no less.
But surprisingly Pichu's tone when it answered was downhearted and so he shrugged, getting her attention.
"It's okay if you don't want to for whatever reason." He glanced away to look at the painting once again. Pichu's stare was focused on him. "I'm just saying, that as your trainer, you could do it if you really wanted."
He walked away from the painting and Pichu was quite as she thought. Her trainer thought she could? She peeked a glance at him as he tilted his head to try to make sense of a painting. Did he really believe she could become strong? Like her mother was?
At first Pichu felt a little doubt but memories of how he trained with Charmander came back to her and she felt some of it wash away. Maybe she could. He was training Charmander to become strong so maybe he could do the same for her?
Pichu opened her mouth to call out to him-
"Red!"
She felt herself stumble in surprise as someone whispered out her trainer's name from right behind them. She almost fell off but managed to catch herself at the last moment before Red turned to face the person.
It was Yellow and she was smiling widely, totally unaware of the scare she just caused the mouse.
"What are you doing here?"
Red tilted his head slightly, visibly showing his confusion. "Me? I was just gonna come and see the Guardian Fossil but decided to see the rest of the artwork so I came in early after spending two hours exploring the city."
"I came to see the fossil too!" Yellow said excitedly. She then put her hand on her hips. "And two hours Red? Aren't you tired?"
Red just stared at her. "I'm testing my limits."
Yellow folded her arms with a disbelieving expression but Red began walking away.
"Where are you going?"
"To see the debrief about the fossil." He took out a small pamphlet out of his pocket. "It's starting in a few minutes and it's on the fifth floor. I don't want to miss it."
Yellow fell into step with him as they walked to the elevator. She then took notice of the mouse on his shoulder. "Oh, Pichu? I thought we couldn't have Pokémon out in the museum?"
"She isn't that tall. Pokémon half a meter tall and under can roam with their trainers as long as you keep them close. Bulbasaur's a bit too tall but you could take out Pidgey if you wanted."
Yellow shook her head as Red pressed the button to the fifth floor. "He'd probably feel too cramped in the building."
As they waited on the elevator to stop Yellow peeked at Pichu again. "So how did you get her to touch you?"
"I didn't." Red answered. "She climbed on my shoulder after getting tired around half an hour ago. When I asked her about it she ignored me."
Yellow giggled. His Pichu, despite its shy nature, was surprisingly bossy.
Pichu did its best to ignore them talking about her and instead focused on willing her blush away. She was not gonna let them win.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
Red and Yellow both yelled when they were grabbed.
/
Finally, after beating three of the testers, it was time to battle Brock. Blue felt himself gripped the pokeball containing his Rattata tightly. It and Spearow worked hard to clear out the testers' Pokémon and he hoped they could do it once more so that Squirtle could overpower the last Pokémon.
"You have made it here faster than I thought." The man had a stony look and a monotone voice, both giving away nothing as to what he was thinking. "You've broken the record held at thirty minutes and twenty-six seconds, resetting it to twenty-six minutes and fifteen seconds with just a Rattata and a Spearow." A lick of emotion appeared in the man's face as he gave a smirk. "Impressive."
"I didn't know you kept records of that." Blue shrugged. "Cool that I broke it though."
"I keep track of those who set a new record and reward them with a gift if they manage to defeat me also." Brock pulled out something out of his pocket that grabbed Blue's interest immediately. They followed his hands as they rested the device on the platform.
"This is a TM28. It is coded with the move Dig. I know TM28 is one of those of the cheaper value but I think it to be fitting as most new trainers don't have the financial ability to purchase them." Blue looked up as he felt Brock's stare on him. "I'm offering this along with the Boulder Badge if you win. I suggest you try your best."
Blue felt himself grin as he lifted up his pokeball. "I can't give anything but the best. Neither can my Pokémon."
The edges of Brock's lip tugged up in pleasure. "That pleases me." Brock took a pokeball off his belt and primed it. "This is the first Pokémon I will be using. Now-"
"Brock!"
Brock paused before he got to press the button. "Hm? Ms. Winter, I'll have you know that this is an official gym battle and I can't allow you to-"
The black haired woman interrupted him again. "It's the museum sir!" She seemed frantic enough that Brock stopped and listened to her.
"It's under attack!"
/
Yellow and Red peeked into the room from the doorway, bodies of the grunts lying on the floor behind them. They frowned in union as they saw what was occurring inside the room.
"I still think is a stupid plan." It was a different man from the Viridian City Pokémon Center attack. He was pacing as he talked on the phone. "Why not steal the fossil then come back and take over the museum?"
He paused in his pacing with a confused look. "We're not taking over the museum?" He spun before he started to pace again. "He just wants the artifact? Then what the fuck am I doing here?"
He paused again. "Sending a message? If he wanted to send a message then blow up another Center! Don't attack a museum!" He sighed. "Fine, I'll take the fossil, create a little chaos here and be on my way. I'll call you when the job's done."
He brought the phone from his ear and ended the call. "Tch. That bastard better hurry with the equipment." He shook his head. "Fucking fossil."
Red and Yellow looked at each other as the man leaned up on the wall.
'What are we gonna do?' Yellow mouthed to him.
Red frowned as he thought. Currently there were three grunts along with the man in the room. That was too many people in the room for them to take on their own up front with such little Pokémon. But they had to do something now or more of the grunts would soon come upstairs from the commotion.
He backed up from the room silently and motioned for her to follow. She did and when they were a fair distance away, he whispered.
"Like the others we battled, the grunts probably have one or two Pokémon on them. The man who was on the phone probably has more that are stronger. We need to try and ambush them or at least catch them off guard."
Yellow frowned. "But how?"
Red looked down at the Pokémon. Bulbasaur, Pidgey, Charmander and Pichu all looked up at them. He turned back to Yellow with a determined frown.
"I'll do it."
/
"I'm afraid I have a job as a member of the Shadow Syndicate to stop you from entering this building."
Brock stared stonily at the guard that was standing in front of the museum doors.
"Rhydon."
The unmentioned command registered into the Pokémon's mind and it stomped over to the doors. The man quickly became panicked, knowing that he could break more than a few bones if he stayed in its way but would be abandoning his mission if he moved. Eventually, his survival instincts won over and he dodged out of the way as Rhyhorn burst down the doors.
Immediately, there was an onslaught of attacks.
/
Red frowned as he concentrated. This new ability he learnt was underdeveloped and untrained. He had only used it a handful of times after it appeared.
It was Apportation. Apportation was the ability to teleport objects either away from or to himself. Though as the book said, there was usually a limitation on how he could use it. Red hadn't gotten to figuring out the limitations so he had absolutely zero confidence it would succeed.
If it didn't and he was noticed, he hoped Yellow would run away. Someone needed to survive and tell the story.
He withheld his gasp as nine pokeballs appeared within his view and he quickly caught them kinetically before could fall.
Red quickly moved to run away before they could notice their suddenly weightless belt.
"Drowzee! Come out!"
Red couldn't withhold his shock this time as one of the pokeballs completely opened on their own. As a Drowzee was released in front of him, the man who was on the phone walked out of the room with his hands in his pockets.
"Stealing is bad young trainer." He smiled. "Didn't your mother teach you that?"
"Says the man currently stealing a priced artifact." Red watched as the Drowzee walked to stand in front of its trainer. "Didn't your mother teach you to not be a hypocrite?"
The man's smile was not removed. "No, not really." He sighed a little. "But you're gonna really want to release those pokeballs kid. I'll let you go easily if you do."
Red shook his head with a confidence he definitely didn't feel. "No thanks."
"The police are gonna have a problem with this."
"I'm sure they'll let this one slide."
The man sighed heavily and he brought a hand up to dig a pinkie into his ear. "Okay, okay. Drowzee. Hypnosis."
As if magnetic, Red's eyes snapped to the Drowzee and its exhausted eyes locked with his before the world back to warp.
Dark.
Tight.
Fear.
It felt like his brain was encased and the feeling was so uncomfortable that Red flinched. As he did, the presence around his mind was booted away. He panted as he opened his eyes, never realizing when he closed them. He was sweating heavily, feeling as if he had ran a marathon. How long had it been?
Red looked back over to the Drowzee and its trainer. The man had paused in his actions and was grinning while his Drowzee clutched its head. The two grunts behind him had twin expressions of shock.
The boy was confused briefly before being struck with the realization of what he just revealed.
"You're a psychic."
The man stated and while Red knew there was no use denying, his mouth was working on its own.
"No I'm not."
The man ignored him, grinning wickedly. "Now this is interesting." He tilted his head as he walked closer. "How many years have you been a psychic? What abilities do you have?" He hummed in thought. "If you can do mental blocks at your age then you're pretty powerful."
Red could barely listen as the man rambled. His head felt like it was splitting in two. Was this how some Pokémon felt when Hypnosis was used? He internally pitied all Pokémon who have been on the receiving end.
"I think-" Red startled when the man's voice suddenly appeared in front of him. He leaned in to look Red in the eyes. "You'll be my new project."
Then there was pain.
Red felt to the floor with a loud thud as if he was a puppet and his strings were cut. He screamed louder than he ever thought he could, his veins bulging proudly. The world around he was warping, it didn't look real. Was that a pink mushroom?
He could faintly hear the man talking. "Take your pokeballs and let's get out of here."
"But sir! What about the fossil?"
"Leave it. I'll deal with Teddy."
Their voices became faint as the pain increased. The psychic's eyes rolled back in his head as he slumped forward, his body contorting in agony. His face twisted in a silent scream, throat long given up at conveying his pain. His fingers dug into the carpet as if grasping for something to hold on while his eyes were vacant, unseeing. The air around him seemed to ripple and distort, as if the very fabric of reality was being torn apart by the intense mental assault. The sound of his mind was a cacophony of pain and confusion, a maelstrom of shattered thoughts and broken hopes.
"Red!"
The voice of someone calling to him worriedly was the last thing he heard before he fainted.
/
It took them at least an hour and a half to clear the first three floors. It would take them a while to reach the last floor.
"Help!"
Blue's head snapped to the stairs as he saw Yellow run down crying. If she was here then...
"Please help! Red! Something's wrong with him!"
Yellow didn't give any indication that she saw Officer Jenny and Brock walk in. Blue at least had the energy to nod at them.
The nurse that was present bent down before the girl. "The police are here to ask a few questions sweetie. If you're not okay with talking right now, I can ask them to leave."
Yellow shook her head. She looked up at the two adults. "You need to know what happened right?"
Officer Jenny nodded as the two walked in further. The nurse walked out. "Yellow, is it?"
Yellow nodded as she ran her feathers through Pigeotto's feathers. The bird had evolved when they were fighting their way through the grunts to look for help. It hadn't like enclosed spaces much when it was a Pidgey and Yellow was deeply grateful it insisted on staying outside of its ball with her. It calmed her down greatly.
She looked over to bed where Red lay. His Pichu made itself comfortable in the crook of his neck. The electric type usually hated any sort of touch–most likely a trauma response–but right now, it seemed to lean on Red, shivering a little. She guessed it needed the comfort too.
"So can you tell me a recollection of the events that took place? As much details as you can remember. Everything is helpful."
Yellow nodded. "I met Red accidentally in the museum. We hadn't told each other where we were going so." She shrugged. "We were both going to see the Guardian Fossil so we went up to the fifth floor in the elevator. As soon as we stepped out, we were grabbed."
Officer Jenny nodded intensely as she took notes. Brock listened silently with folded arms.
"Pichu had taken them out with Disarming Voice I think. For good measure, Red suggested we knock them out. I had Bulbasaur use Sleep Powder to put them to sleep. We did the same with the rest of the grunts we encountered. Ambushed them and put them to sleep." Yellow's voice was calm as she explained. Totally opposite as to how she felt when in the moment.
"Why did you not leave the building? Or hide? If you knew the museum was under attack?" Brock asked.
Yellow's eyes glanced over to him. His stone face would reveal nothing so she looked away. "Red said that they were most likely after the Guardian Fossil. It would take too long for help to arrive so he said he would try to delay them." She couldn't help but look over to where Red lay. Look where that got him.
"I warned him that he could get hurt but he said that he didn't care. I was scared but I went with him with the thought that even just one more trainer would help."
"Why did he assume that they were after the fossil? It could have been anything else."
She shrugged. "It was the most valuable piece in the building at the moment. Plus, we heard the leader having a phone call. He thought they were to take over the museum but his boss supposedly only wanted the fossil." Yellow stared at Office Jenny. "Besides, we know the real reason behind the Pokémon Center attacks in Viridian and Vermillion."
Officer Jenny frowned, eyes radiating seriousness. "How did you come across that information?"
"Red." Was all Yellow said. She went back to her summarization of the story. "There was too many Pokémon for us to beat on our own so we figured we should unarm the grunts instead. Red said he would do it. He said he wasn't sure if he could succeed so he told me that I should stay put unless he came to me. If he didn't come in ten minutes, I should run away."
"And you didn't do that."
Yellow glared at her, offended. "Of course I didn't." She frowned. "He was screaming so loudly. He was in pain and I couldn't just leave him. When I reached him, he was alone on the floor. I searched for injuries but there was none. I wanted to get him to the hospital as soon as I could so I took all our Pokémon and battled my way through the fourth floor." She rubbed Pidgeotto's feathers again. "That's when Pidgey evolved. I saw you on the third floor and so I asked for your help."
Yellow went quiet as her story finished and Officer Jenny looked over her notes. "I see. Thank you. This will help us greatly. Rest up and I hope you're friend awakens soon."
She took her leave quickly. Brock moved slowly and Yellow looked at him. She was surprised when she saw him looking at her with a bit a sadness and...pride?
"You did good. You and Red. If your friend is as strong as he seems, he'll wake up soon." He looked to Blue. "And Blue, you did great too. You can have a rematch with me as soon as you're ready. The testers won't be needed." He looked over to Red and seemed to bow his head a bit as a nod before glancing back to the awake children. "Take care of yourselves."
They waited until he closed the door before looking at each other. Yellow felt herself shake as she struggled to withhold her tears. As Blue pulled her into his arms, she broke.
Damn it all.
BONUS CUT!!!
Yellow rushed down to the fourth floor, not even thinking about the use of the elevator. Her and Red's Pokémon with the exception of Charmander followed behind them.
As soon as they reached down the stairs, they were attacked. Yellow dived for the floor, grabbing on the foot of a grunt at the same time and sweeping him to the floor. As he fell, Pichu used his face as a landing pad to jump into the air and firing bolts of electricity at several targets at once. If some grunts got hit by the elemental attack, Yellow ignored it. She was too worried about her friend to care about random strangers.
Yellow ducked as a Jolteon was thrown threw the air by Bulbasaur. But when she ducked, another grunt grabbed her.
"Get off me!"
She struggled as he tried to hold her down. He frowned at her as he struggled to contain her movements. The he yelped suddenly.
Yellow saw the reason in the form of Pidgey, who had his claws dug into the clothes of the man but was obviously struggling to successfully lift him up.
The man was halfway through his protests to let go when Pidgey suddenly started to glow. Yellow gasped as Pidgey grew and the weight of the man was lifted off her. Pidgey's head and tail grew and changed color to red and red and yellow respectively. It's underside was the same cream colored, but his brown feathers had lightened.
The new evolved Pidgeotto brought the the man through the air and flung him onto his unsuspecting comrades.
"Thanks Pidgeotto!" Yellow shouted her gratitude with a smile. The bird gave a nod before flying over to help Pichu with number of Pokémon that surrounded her. Though from the bright spark of electricity that came after, it seemed like she didn't need it.
Most of the grunts were cleared out with only a few left. Yellow took the chance to rush down to the third floor. She felt immense relief when she saw a plethora of blue uniforms. She thought she saw Blue somewhere in that crowd but chalked it up as a hallucination.
"Please help! Red! Something's wrong with him!"
BONUS CUT 2!!!
"Something wrong Yellow?"
Yellow looked up from where she was picking at her food to meet eyes with Blue. "I'm fine."
"What's bothering you?" Red asked, totally ignoring her answer and Yellow sighed as she placed down her fork. She should have expected them not to give up.
"I'm just confused." She folded her arms on the table. "I want to post the article but I keep hesitating. I think it's because I've seen what it does to someone when they become a journalist. You completely ignore everything else." She took another breath to continue her ramble. "And I don't want that. I want to explore another things and discover my dream, I want to eat and laugh and spend time with you guys." Yellow frowned. "But doing this is gonna take that from me."
Yellow sighed as she finished. She forgot how great it felt to just get things off her chest. She didn't even know why she tried to keep quite before as she could never hide things from her friends for long.
"You're not gonna lose us." Blue said and she glanced up at him.
"I mean, sure, you could get lost in your work but the only way that you could lose us is if we forgot about you too." He shrugged. "And obviously that's not gonna happen. Right?"
Red nodded from beside him. "Plus, as we've said, you don't have to do it at all. In fact, changing the laws don't have to be your goal. You could just have to make people aware of all the wrongs."
"Right." Blue nodded. "So stop worrying." He went back to his food. "We've got your back."
As Red nodded before doing the same, Yellow sniffled, her eyes watering. She bowed her head just in case they looked up. "Thanks you guys."
"For what? Getting you outside your head?" Blue asked. "Sure. It's a dangerous place to be all by yourself."
A laugh stuttered out of her and she wiped her tears. "When did you become so wise?"
"I've always been this wise."
Blue said it so surely that Yellow laughed harder. Red himself snorted. Blue squawked in indignation as they all burst of laughing.
"Hey! It's true!"