Chapter 9:
Rubberbanding
Red ran. He ran faster than he had ever before, running faster than he had ever dreamed he could ever run. The ground underneath him became a blur, his surroundings became a haze and his thoughts in turn seemed to become sharper than ever.
The rush of victory carried him like a wind and blessed him with flight. Nobody could keep up with him, safe for his own thoughts and shadow, and those two even struggled.
The vague shapes of houses warped into view around Red. A town, maybe? Perhaps it even had inhabitants. Just as quickly as they came into view they faded away.
The rush of his speed carried him faster and faster, his own movements almost became strange to him. He could vaguely recall a guy stuck in a Pokémon suit named Bill. Red had barely paid any attention to him.
Another blurred memory crossed through his mind. A gym with water? It was all a haze.
At times it felt like he was merely watching his own memories in real time, and maybe he was.
He had spent days upon days memorizing the path. Studied photos, maps, weather patterns, trainer accounts, layouts of buildings and the economic wealth distribution in every place he'd have to visit on his road to championship.
Every single point of data that could be collected had been stored in his mind. That alongside his ability to simulate the world around him and practically predict what an opponent would do, meant that his life almost lived on its own.
Maybe it was. Red was moving so fast that he could barely remember the actions he did. He believed he caught some more Pokémon? According to his own data, he should have 4 Pokémon at this point in the run.
He had memorized every step he had to take and could dream them if he had to. In fact, he had dreamed about the run many times that he could do it in his sleep.
Maybe that was it? He had been sleeping through some parts of the run. How long has it been? He didn't recall falling asleep, yet he also knew that he had to have slept at some point. Human beings required sleep to operate at max efficiency and despite his desire to be pure inertia, his weak flesh had its limits.
Maybe his own momentum was moving his body independent of his mind and soul.
It didn't matter, the run was going perfectly. He was moving faster than even his mind could keep up.
Red smiled as he could already see the world record in front of his mind's eye. Underneath him the ground changed again.
More memories pushed themselves into Red's mind. Memories of selling all the items he didn't need, another brick against a grunt, talking to some people on the road?
Automatically, Red noticed, his body began to slow down. Future muscle memory puppeted his present body into going slower.
Good, very good. Red was proud of his body.
Red moved his hands to his pockets and fished out a crumpled ticket to the cruise ship he needed to board.
Sadly the ship had been the fastest way to cross the waters and get to where he needed to be. He didn't like having to leave a part of his run to someone else, someone who could make mistakes, but it was a part of the run he couldn't control.
Red's footsteps slowed even more until he was at a walking pace.
Around him the world slowly faded back into existence. Either he became just aware of his surroundings, or maybe the world really did disappear without a conscious observer. Red had studied many quantum theories before starting his run, so he didn't discard the idea immediately.
The sound of sea Pokémon and crashing waves was the first thing he noticed. The second was the salty air that worked its way up inside his nostrils and the final thing was the lack of solid foundations under his feet.
Ah, Red immediately realized where he was. He was on the path to the SS. Anne.
He needed to enter the S.S. Anne and reach Lieutenant Surge's Gym. That meant he had done Misty and the Vermillion tunnel at least, though his memory was far too hazy to make a certain statement about that.
He was surrounded by the ocean blue waves. The only thing that prevented him from drowning, aside from his swimming skills, was the long pier that split the ocean into left and right. Or was it seaboard and starboard? No, wait, that was boats only.
Red clutched his head. The fact he wasn't immediately able to distinguish sea language from land language was disturbing. He didn't spend an entire month learning cardinal directions for nothing, right? Yet in this instant his thoughts were too slow.
Red clenched his fingers. This wasn't a time to fall into despair. He was still far ahead of the current world record. He'd have to keep his head up high and keep on running.
Red confidently strode forward across the doc. That was when he realized the there was something missing from the image.
S.S Anne.
The ship was missing.
In that instant, Red's horizontal and vertical momentum became exactly 0. He could only look at the open ocean in front of him and notice the distinct lack of a ship.
All the data he had accumulated over his 10 years of studying indicated there should be a ship right in front of him, waiting for him to board it and take him to his destination.
There was no ship.
Impossible, perhaps the archives are incomplete?
Red noticed a man wearing a sailor's uniform sitting at the end of the dock.
Hesitantly Red moved forward. His feet felt unexpectedly tired. He tried to predict the man's movements but instead of seeing the future he saw black spots dance across his vision.
His eyes felt too dry.
No. This shouldn't be happening. Red stumbled forward.
Oak's First Law dictated that an object in motion stays in motion. Red had stopped being in motion and he could feel it. The pain in his feet, the drowsiness, the groaning hunger inside his stomach.
"NO!" Red stumbled another step forward. "This isn't supposed to happen."
The man sitting on the dock turned around in surprise. "Hey kiddo, are you alright?"
Of course not, Red angrily thought. He was in pain and worst of all, something was wrong with his run. Did unforeseen RNG influence some event in his run?
"s.S ANnE!" Red coughed between rapid breaths. "WHere's it?!" He turned his gaze up to the sailor.
"S.S Anne?" The sailor seemed to think. "I think you must be mistaken, it leaves three days from now."
Red's world shattered.
3 days off! How could that happen? Teardrops fell onto the wood. "No, it can't be." Red quietly muttered to himself, "something went wrong. This isn't how I envisioned it."
How could this happen?
Then Red realized it.
It wasn't RNG that altered his routed run. No outside influence was the cause of this.
Red's heart chilled. He felt sick to his stomach as he realized the truth.
His run had been planned perfectly, the only thing that was different was Red.
Red had been too fast, too eager and too greedy to be the fastest, that he had abandoned his set up and scripted route. He had outrun his own plans.
Tears streamed down Red's face.
The problem with being faster than light was that you had to run in darkness.
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