Chapter 3: Strike, You're Out

The day had turned overcast and gloomy. Blue stepped through his front gate, wiping his eyes with a sleeve.

His property was in one of the rare spots where the Viridian Forest's trees didn't cluster together tightly. Wanting to change the natural setting as little as possible, he and his Pokemon hadn't done much to the two acres of meadowland. It was a bit of a walk down the white-brick path, which started at his front gates and trailed all the way to his porch. Blue hadn't been able to resist making his house out of oak wood; it was two stories tall, built and painted in a way to where it blended in with the landscape (especially if one had a bird's eye view of it). Blue had learned very early on that he had obsessive fans and didn't want to attract attention to where he lived.

And, attached to the east side of his house was Arcanine's doghouse. It was nothing short of glamorous with all the amenities it had, but Arcanine deserved it for being the best guard dog he could ever ask for.

"ROARF! ROARF!"

Arcanine was racing through the meadow, tongue out and mane flowing. Blue held a hand out to pet him. "Hey, Arcanine," he said thickly. The big dog took a moment to nose at Pikachu in confusion, and then whined at Blue. He was always so very sensitive to how his trainer was feeling.

"No, it's alright. I'll be fine."

Blue kept a hand on Arcanine's warm hide, staring down at the letter as they walked. He kept thinking about the question he had no answer to.

How could they? How could they?

He and his remaining family members were very close. He thought there'd been nothing to hide. Now he felt foolish, and there was no other feeling he hated more. The people he loved the most caused him to feel the thing he hated the most. It just made his soul hurt.

Eevee sped up, ducking into the house using her little Poke-flap. Pikachu quickly scrambled in behind her; there was a light thud and a scrabbling of voices.

"Hey, don't you two be up to any funny business," Blue called, fumbling with his keys. When he stepped in his home he stood in complete darkness for a few seconds. It was like closing his eyes to think. He couldn't stop rubbing the letter with his thumb just to make sure it was still there. What was he going to do with it?

He had it. It was his. And it was one of the last material things that'd been in his mother's hands before she passed. Of course he wanted to see what was inside, but it was so special that he also wanted to preserve it just the way it was.

Something fuzzy bumped into him. Arcanine pulled the rest of his large body through the front door and knocked over Blue's umbrella stand.

"Oh, Arcanine...whoa!"

WHOOSH!

The door hurtled shut from a powerful gust of wind. Blue set the umbrella stand back up, trying to remember what he'd heard on the weather report that morning.

Was it supposed to rain today?

…well, good. I want it to rain.

He leaned on the windowsill, glaring up into the stormy heavens. His chest was so heavy that it hurt. In his mind he replayed everyone's reactions when he had burst in, then bitterly remembered that Agatha had been there too.

Ever since he'd been a baby, Blue had never seen eye-to-eye with Agatha. Literally—she'd been so annoyed by his crying that she would use her Gengar to scare him into shutting up.

Much of their history was full of petty spats and shouting matches, but their relationship turned for the worst the day he beat her at the Indigo Plateau. She had never let it go that a child had beaten her and Blue always had the satisfaction of knowing that. On top of that, he may've said some things he shouldn't have said to her at the time.

As he grew and matured, they stayed in a cycle of being cordial to each another for a while. Then, one of them would instigate (usually over something minor) and they'd be at each other's throats again. It was usually his poor grandfather who had to stop them from bickering.

Serves him right, Blue thought spitefully. He's the one who keeps tolerating her, and for what reason?

And now there were more questions he didn't have the answer to, questions that made resentment well in his chest.

How come she got to know about Mom's letter? What's so special about her?

How could they do this to me?

I just…

What do I even think? What's the point?

He collapsed on the couch, trying to use his anger to boil the tears out of his eyes. He wanted so badly to open the letter and show them all…something. But Blue was scared because he understood the truth of the matter. He knew in his heart that his sister and grandfather would never hurt him on purpose.

They were afraid of him reading Violet's letter. Blue was, too. He had a feeling that whatever his mother had written to him may've been something he still wasn't ready for.

Kra-KOW!

Blue lurched up, banging his head on the table. He clutched his temple, swearing. He'd fallen asleep and rolled off the couch. Pikachu was nearby, staring at him blankly. Knowing him, he was still feeling sorry for Blue but wasn't sure if laughing was appropriate at the moment.

"Too soon," Blue warned him. "Ah, where…!?"

Eevee was curled up on the couch arm with Violet's letter in front of her. Blue reached for it, glancing at the clock.

"Oh, shit!"

It was four in the afternoon. He'd missed breakfast and lunch for his Pokemon!

Oh, and himself, but he put his Pokemon well before his own needs. Sometimes they were all he had and that couldn't have been truer now. He couldn't talk to his family. His best friend in the whole world was gone again, right when Blue needed someone's big, broad shoulder to cry on.

I hate you sometimes, Red.

What's more important than me?

You promised you wouldn't do this to me again.

Grouchy, Blue collected the bowls and food out of the cabinet. His Pokemon usually ate on the yard, but it was raining outside. He pushed all of his living room furniture to both ends of the room and began setting up feeding tables. He noticed Eevee staring up at him thoughtfully.

"Eevee? What's up?" Blue asked, straightening the legs of a table. She squealed lowly in discontent, but he was suddenly distracted by a thought. Pikachu and Charizard! He had almost forgotten that he had two more Pokemon to feed.

"Oh, for…Red, I SWEAR I'm gonna kick…hey, you! Pikachu!" Blue fumbled for Charizard's ball and stuck his head in the kitchen. Pikachu was on the countertop with his head stuffed in a jar. "Yo—first of all, get outta my sugar! Secondly, go into that cabinet and tell me what food you want."

He had plenty of options to choose from. Charizard stood at the cabinet for a moment before gently taking a bag of plain fire-type food out.

Oh, he didn't even pick the deluxe brand, Blue thought. Plain tastes made for less headaches, but Pikachu's life mission was to get on Blue's nerves at almost every possibility. So, the former spent a suspiciously long time rummaging through the cabinet, knowing full well (as did Blue) he was the least picky of all of Red's Pokemon.

"Pika…chu…" Blue hissed, hair rippling in agitation.

"Chuu-uuu," Pikachu exclaimed.

"What?"

Pikachu indicated he wasn't interested in anything in the cabinet. Blue was moments from exploding when Eevee ran in and bit Pikachu on the ear, dragging him into the living room. Blue went to check on them. They were both sitting at Eevee's bowl, looking at him like he was the slowest-moving human on the planet.

"Oh, don't even," Blue groaned. "Fiiiine! You both better not be doing any kissing over there, got it?"

Several minutes later…

"Okay," Blue sighed, watching his Pokemon eat. He was about to go make himself something when he noticed Arcanine patiently sitting on the doorstep; his food was kept in a storage shed next to his doghouse.

"Shoot, I'm an idiot! I'm sorry, Arcanine!"

Blue ran to get his coat and boots, startled to see how harsh the weather had turned. The wind was chaotic and blew thick sheets of rain around with amazing force. Blue hesitated before grabbing an umbrella. "Uh, okay, I'll be back," he stepped outside and immediately slipped up on the porch. Arcanine pushed up next to him. "Thanks, Arcanine…oh, you're coming too? I was just going to bring your stuff back here."

He held onto his loyal dog as they both pushed out into the heavy storm. His umbrella didn't help much and Blue was already soaked within seconds. He kept his head down and clutched Arcanine tight, going by memory than sight. They didn't have far to go but it felt like forever with the elements lashing at them.

Arcanine stopped. Blue cracked an eye open and felt around for the side door. He forced his way into the shed, gasping.

"Here we are!" he exclaimed, hefting up an open bag of food as Arcanine ducked in. "Hey, looks like the amount left in this one is just about right. Might be a little more, but whatever…wanna eat out the bag?"

For some reason Arcanine liked eating out of the bag. But this time the big dog just stood there.

"Eh? No, I'm not leaving you out here. It's raining way too hard," Blue said, looking outside. "I can't remember a last time it rained this hard!"

He became lost in thought and didn't notice at first when Arcanine eventually tried getting his attention.

"Wunh!" Blue exclaimed, when the big dog bumped into him from behind. "You're done already? Alright, hold on…agh, I'm soaked…"

The weather hadn't let up for a second. Blue felt heavy in his rain-soaked clothes and focused on keeping his footing. One hand held the umbrella and the other was full of Arcanine's warm but wet fur. He felt like if he'd let go, he'd get blown sky-high from the wind, carried off by his umbrella. He was beginning to get concerned about the possibility of flooding.

…agh! What's with me? I haven't been thinking today, Blue thought, peering out of one eye. I could've just asked Alakazam to teleport the stuff into the house. But he was eating. I wouldn't have wanted to disturb him.

That was just an excuse. After all, Alakazam only had to do was snap his fingers and make it happen.

…oh—! Blue noticed a glint out the corner of his eye. What was—

Brak-KOW!

In a flash of white, Blue was soaring through the air. He crashed into the side of his house and slumped to the ground, unconscious.