Chapter 10:

Community Effort

The rain poured down in huge waves, urging every living Pokémon and man to find shelter inside. Despite the beating he took from the weather, Blue was hesitant to step through the door of the Pokémon Center.

They produced a loud ding when his feet crossed the boundary, alerting everyone inside of his arrival.

Still, in spite of his reluctance Blue held his head up high and entered it.

The air inside the Pokémon Center was nice, calming in a way yet there was a cold undertone of clinical sterility. It was a place that would never feel like a second home to anyone.

Blue walked deeper into the Pokémon Center until he reached the front desk. Behind it the nurse sat quietly, tapping away at her computer. The choice not to look at Blue must have been a deliberate one. Blue wondered whether it was him dripping water all over the polished and clean floor, or his 'associate' unfortunate arrival.

"Hello," Blue spoke. The nurse didn't move her head away from her screen but Blue did see her eyes subtly move upwards, giving him the barest and most minimum of attention.

Her silent response indicated to Blue that he could state his reason for being here. "My name is Blue Oak, I'm here for Red."

The nurse answered with a monotone voice. "In the corner of the medical backroom."

"I see," Blue said, feeling unsure what he was supposed to say in this kind of situation. "I apologize for any inconvenience my friend has caused."

This time there was no response from the nurse, either verbal or non verbal. This conversation was over.

Blue nodded to himself and walked around the desk into the hallway that led deeper inside the Pokémon Center.

Vermilion City's Pokémon Center was relatively small compared to the town's significance, yet Blue could imagine someone getting lost inside these hallways with ease.

Using the markers on the wall, Blue found the medical backroom, and by extension Red.

Red sat in the corner with his back against the wall. A blanket was haphazardly tossed over him but it barely covered him.

The young boy stared at the wall in front of him with a vacant look. The skin around his eyes was streaked soft pink and he clutched the edge of the blanket with his fingers.

"Hey Red," Blue greeted his friend.

No reaction came from his friend.

"So uh yeah." Blue bit his lip and looked around for a bit of inspiration that could help him to get a conversation started. Surrounding Red were nothing but metallic cabinets and shelves filled with boxes stacked upon boxes. A dreadful and miserable place by most definitions.

"So, this is where they put you huh?" Blue tried to make a lighthearted jab but the miserable atmosphere made it difficult even for him to laugh.

Blue got closer to his friend, again unsure how to act in a situation such as this one.

He'd gotten the call yesterday. Or well, Professor Oak, Red's official sponsor. Red was found outside, malnourished and on the verge of passing out.

They had dragged him inside the Pokémon Center and left him there, expecting him to get better within half a day and be on his way.

But he hadn't gotten better, whatever plagued the young kid, it wasn't something the doctors could fix. No one managed to get a response from him, all he did was sit in the corner and blankly stare at the wall.

Blue sat down next to Red in the dark miserable room. "It's really hard to keep up with it."

Red didn't respond. Deciding he had nothing to lose, Blue kept on talking. "Seriously, I feel half of the time you're not even speaking the same language as I am."

"The run's dead." Red muttered.

Run? What run? Blue sighed. "I have no clue what you're talking about, as usual. But I guess you don't plan on coming home."

Red shook his head slowly. He still refused to look Blue in the eyes. "I was too fast…I failed."

Blue turned his gaze on Red. His friend's eyes were watering up.

"Too fast?" Blue asked. "What do you mean? You're faster than anyone I've ever seen. It's even really annoying how fast you are."

"Not fast enough, or too fast." Red dropped his head into his hands. "My plans failed Blue. I'll never be champion now."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Blue asked. "Are you doing drugs? Oak warned me about doing that."

"No," Red sighed. "I ran too fast. I outran my own simulation and missed the boat."

"Boat?" Blue asked. "Wait, you mean the S.S Anne?"

Red again, shakily, nodded. "It's over. My dreams are crumbling. I can already see the future. I'll be sitting in a crappy apartment, drinking from a can of soft drink, and on the TV will be someone else."

"Because you missed a boat?" Blue wasn't entirely sure if Red and he were talking about the same thing.

"It's not just the boat," Red whispered. "It's my attitude. I thought I had remembered everything correctly, calculated and computed all the data within the right time schedule. And the horrible thing is, nothing about that was wrong. I was the error within my code."

Again it all sounded like gibberish to Blue. But one thing that stood out to Blue was that his friend was hurting.

"Okay…" Blue tried. "But if you're the error, then you're also the only one in the world who can fix it. So why don't you?"

"It's too late." Red muttered in defeat. "I already did the math. The timeloss is huge. 3 full days."

"3 days," Blue muttered.

"Yes. That's an eternity."

Blue got up from his spot and stared at Red. "3 days?! JUST 3 Days?!"

"I'm done for."

"That's nothing!" Blue spat out. "Seriously, just 3 days is your problem! I ran around half of Kanto and you're here sulking over a 3 day time loss! Your mom keeps calling me everyday to check up on you."

Red looked at Blue with a confused gaze.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"3 Days is absolutely nothing!" Blue knelt down in front of Red. "I have no clue what you're exactly trying to do here, but I won't let you quit your stupidity over just a mere 3 day timeloss." Blue grabbed Red by the arm and forcefully dragged him up.

"Now listen up Red you annoying ass," Blue glared. "First thing we're going to do is get you to eat something, you look starved. Next we're going to call Oak and your mom to explain you're okay and after that together we'll discuss how you're going to progress your run."

"B-but my run, I-"

"You think any great run just came into existence? Every champion I know has a team of supporters and friends." Blue shook his head and hauled Red back into the hallway. "You're trying to do this alone, but luckily for you, I won't let you do this stupid thing on your own! You're going to become champion! I refuse to chase after your sorry ass for anything less."

A smile passed Red's face. "Thanks Blue, you're a great Rival."

A/N A Speedrun is almost never done in one go or without failures. Every world record run has been built by an entire community, with people who work on planning routes, glitch hunters and runners who take all these dreams and put them into a concrete record.

-CaptainMoonShine-