The cold air washed over his body as the door automatically closed right behind him. He tried to look around to see where the auction was taking place, he couldn't waste more time yet he couldn't see anything unusual, just people going about their day.
'Where is he!? Where is he!?' Blue thought to himself as he ran wildly from one corner to another, causing people to look at him weird. That's when he finally remembered something.
'Oh I forgot, Joy mentioned a basement, that must be where but… where's the basement? I guess it might be hidden.' He thought to himself as he stopped and looked around, spotting someone coming out of a corner. But that didn't make sense, he never saw him going there and what reason would he have to go there in the first place?
That someone walked closer to the main area, allowing the light to shine over him and revealing that he's wearing a jacket but he could vaguely spot some type of red underneath that jacket—like the red in Team Rocket uniforms.
'Maybe he's the one but ugh it's too early and hey maybe I just didn't see him going to the corner.' Blue thought to himself as the man went over a poster and pressed it. 'Why did he touch the poster? That doesn't make sense.'
Then the man in the jacket walked towards the spiky haired kid nearly making Blue jump. "Um, what do you want?" He asked as he could spot the red underneath becoming more visible and more similar to the Rocket uniform, he could even spot that it was over black.
"Where are you doing here, kid?" He asked, his voice low as he looked down upon the boy. "This place is for real adults, not kids like you."
Blue sighed, he didn't want to do this but he also didn't want to waste time talking to him when his Wartortle was on the line. "None of your business." He said as he waltzed rightwards then ran towards the poster, confusing the man.
The someone in the jacket looked on, confused at what the boy was running for, but suddenly had a realization. 'He must have… no! I mustn't fail Giovanni!'
He ran towards Blue as he pressed the poster and looked rightwards seeing a staircase down, that must be the basement where the auction was taking place! He smiled at maybe finally getting to save Wartortle and ran downwards, nearly tripping on the stairs as he does so while someone ran after him.
The first thing he saw when he arrived at the base was an empty arena looking place with… Wartortle at the center—his Wartortle. But that's when he realised, he didn't really plan this well and didn't know how was gonna retrieve his starter, But he had to think of a plan fast as footsteps could be heard from above—from the man in the jacket.
He grabbed Wartortle's pokeball and held it towards the Pokemon, trying to withdraw but despite how many times he pressed or how hard he pressed it didn't work as his sweats soaked his entire clothing beyond repair.
That's when suddenly he felt a kick towards his back from behind, causing him to fall down. Blue rolled away just as another foot hit his ground before looking at his attackers who was for sure that someone from before.
"Get out of here or you will die!" The man screamed as he kicked towards the boy again who narrowly rolled just in time as he pushed through his momentum into a standing position.
He panted quickly be knew he had to adapt, another punched was thrown towards his face which narrowly ducked in time as he then did his own kick towards his attacker's stomach making him roar in pain and giving him enough time to rush and retrieve his Watortle but his pokeball did not work, perhaps Joy switched it but he had to do something as the man started to rise again.
But he didn't think fast enough and he felt a kick towards his legs, making him fall down as the man in the jacket stood over him before kneeling down a second later and punching his face into the ground, then repeating it again… and again… and again, denting the floor as his face went red as blood came out of it. But at the last punch, Blue's face nearly independently jumped up, grabbing it and throwing him towards the empty arena looking thing, causing people to mumble in confusion.
The man stood up, he didn't want to let everyone of his failures but now it was a lost cause to keep it a secret. "Hey everyone! A kid had broken into our base!" He screamed, causing Blue to gulp as he could hear even more mumbling—probably about him. He really didn't think things through and now he didn't know what to do.
Blue grabbed two pokeballs from his bag and threw out Pidgeotto and Kadabra who both stood towards his starter as grunts started to jump down to the floor. "Kadabra, teleport to save Wartortle. Pidgeotto, distract them!" He roared.
Pidgeotto rushed towards Wartortle but before it could reach the turtle Pokemon, Kadabra appeared into existence, blocking his path before a large hyper beam was shot onto the psi Pokemon, throwing him into the wall and catching everyone off guard.
A Tauros would land in the arena afterwards, seeming as if it was the one to shoot the hyper beam. 'Oh no.' Blue thought to himself as he saw Kadabra knocked to the ground as the man in the jacket stood up and threw his jacket away revealing his Team Rocket uniform.
"This is your last chance, leave!" The man shouted as another person in the same Rocket uniform landed on the arena—the Taurros's trainer clearly.
For a second, Blue contemplated leaving—after all if he loses then both Pidgeotto and Kadabra would be auctioned as well and he didn't want more of his Pokemon to be held by Team Rocket but then he stopped himself after seeing his starter in pain, hating himself for thinking of giving up saving his own Pokemon—he wasn't about to let them down a third time.
"No! I will never surrender!" He said, definitely as he walked towards his Pidgeotto who stood opposite of the Tauros confidently, the bird showing it's full wings and the wild bull Pokemon moving it's hooves on the metal floor, ready to ram it with it's horn.
"Very well." The Tauros's trainer said as he walked right behind his Pokemon and motioned the man now not in the jacket to go away to which he obeyed. "My name is Andrew and let's end this with a Pokemon battle, this area already looks like an arena anyway."
The crowd whispered with excitement of a Pokemon battle in this arena—they didn't know who Blue was but they knew that he wanted Wartortle for whatever reason—maybe he's a thief just like them, maybe he hates thieves and he was retrieving him for the original owner.
Blue simply nodded. "Wing attack!" The bird Pokemon's wing flashed white with pure flying energy before actually flying towards it's opponents at mach speeds.
"Tauros, use Thunderbolt!" Andrew commanded. The horns of the wild bull Pokemon flashed with electricity, flowing from it's hooves to it's horns and just as Pidgeotto was about to arrive, the electrify shot at it at hypersonic speeds, hitting it right in it's stomach and throwing it towards the wall behind it.
Blue ran towards his Pokemon and right as it was about to hit the ground, he narrowly grabbed it, causing a blunt pain inside his hand with some electrical shocks before it flew out of his hands, ready for another round. "Change of plans, Pidgeotto, sand attack!"
The bird Pokemon searched for sand to attack with but couldn't and looked back at it's trainer in confusion, making Blue realize last minute but by that point it was too late.
"Tauros, use Blizzard!" Andrew commanded. Tauros slammed it's hooves onto the metal floor, causing a sharp cold wind flew from Tauros towards the bird Pokemon who jumped out of fear.
"Fly up!" Blue commanded. The bird Pokemon finally regained it's composure and just as the sharp wind was about to hit, it managed to fly just 1 centimeter away from where the blizzard attack ended, feeling a little cold. This was something Blue wanted—a dodgeable move or he thought.
As Pidgeotto flew to the ceiling, Blue finally realized something. 'Oh no.' He thought to himself as the sharp wind threw him into the wall, causing a loud explosion as some of his bones broke on impact.
He tried to get up but his mouth and nose felt close and his body felt the coldest it has ever been, if it had been an official match up, Andrew would have been disqualified but since he's Team Rocket he gets to ignore it and even laugh about it.
"Ha ha ha, what a dumb trainer—getting in the battle's way. I told you to leave before because now you can't, now you;'ll die." He said as he moved closer to the spiky haired kid but before he could touch him, the bird Pokemon flew ina nd tackled him to the floor, face first onto the metal floor as it's talones started penetrating his body.
"Ah!" He screamed wildly, causing the audience to whisper in shock, some wanting to help the grunt but some just wanting to see what that spiky haired kid was gonna do next, trying to motion his Tauros to help him—to do something yet it simply stood there, not doing anything without knowing what it's trainer commands.
Blue stood up, summoning the last of his strength and ran towards Wartortle in his cage, causing the audience to mummer both in excitement and fear. The starter looked at it's trainer with watery eyes, seeing that he went out of his way to save him when he was about to die. It tried to make some water to thaw Blue's coldness but it merely managed to make a spit.
Blue grabbed the cage, causing the price tag to fall out and slammed it to the floor with unparalleled strength, causing the starter to scream in terror but when the dust settled, the cage was broken and Wartortle simply walked out.
Andrew finally overpowered Pidgeotto, throwing it to the floor as he stood up, his head filled with blood. "I will admit, you were tougher than I thought." He said before collapsing to the floor, the crowd murmuring as the man in a suit stopped the man without the jacket from going down.
"It'll be more entertaining seeing him die to the cold." He simply whispered, causing the man without the jacket to smirk as he looked down to the arena just like the audience, seeing a spiky haired kid retrieve all his Pokemon except Wartortle who he held tightly, almost as if to keep warm.
"It… It's okay, I a-am sorry." He simply said as Wartortle snuggled with him as if to keep him warm, not caring about any of his words. Blue pulled Wartortle back and looked at his watery eyes, he had been an idiot. If he hadn't try to hold Pidgeotto perhaps he would still be alive enough to… to leave th-this place. Pidgeotto curled itself into a ball, blaming itself for what had happened.
Blue closed his eyes getting ready to "go to sleep" but that's when suddenly footsteps—running steps echoed to the arena, causing Blue to snap out and look around in confusions, they only thing he knew that made those sounds were this base's stairs and the only one who would ever look for him was…
Red! Blue looked to the stairs and saw his rival come down in his signature red cap and jacket who looked as confused as he was as he saw Blue holding Wartortle, clearly hit by a blizzard.
"Blue…" Red simply said as he simply looked on, grabbing his pokeball. Now that he thought about it, the Wartortle in the news did match the appearance of Blue's Wartortle. He wanted to ask his rival why he ran off and why he surrendered so quickly but he stopped himself, knowing there was still a threat.
The man in the suit jumped towards the ground, causing a loud "click" sound as he walked towards the two trainers, revealing the metal being dented. "So it appears I will get to see two kids dead." He said, his voice filled with joy disgusting Red whose focus was still on Blue.
"Blue, what happened to you?" He asked, his face stiff with shock as he touched his face, feeling the coldness in his hand—colder than his father. Even though Blue did bully him and ruin his life, he was still once his friend and he didn't want to see him like this, once he surrendered for no reason and now he was nearly dying.
Blue wanted to push Red away but his arms were weak from the blizzard. Red tried to search for an ice heal or a full restore when suddenly.
"Nidoking, horn attack." He heard a voice say and he knew instantly what it meant, he went to the Pokemon section and grabbed a pokeball and just as a horn was about to strike, he threw the ball onto the ground, hitting it's feet and releasing his own Nidoking!
Red's Nidoking blocked the horn attack with ease, partially helped by the distraction from his pokeball hitting his leg. "Don't worry Blue, I'll take care of them now!" He shouted as he walked away from his rival and towards the battlefield, his voice narrowly making it to Blue's ears as he slowly fell unconscious, wondering if he was gonna die or not and if he did die then at least he slowed the auction down enough for Red to save his starter.
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Blue woke up inside a Pokecenter, the smell, the sound—everything all too familiar. He merely laid there, his limbs being too frozen to even move. 'I…. I am alive?' Blue thought to himself as he held back his instinct to sit up and leave this, knowing it won't work and would just hurt him.
After hours, there was nothing, he merely just laid still in the bed, looking at the light still but there was at least one thing different, he could feel some sort of heat from beside him—left or right he couldn't tell but it was there. However his mind didn't focus on that, all he could think of was… Raticate and if he should tell Red about it.
That's when suddenly he heard some footsteps nearly going to his ears but he quickly reminded himself that it was more likely to be just people going about their day and not people visiting him. 'Nobody would want to visit me.' He thought to himself but he was wrong… very wrong.
He saw something different for once and that was… Red's cap, causing him to jump in shock or rather he would have if he could. Red walked to in front of him and knelt down. "Blue, I… would never want to see anyone like this but here we are." He said, his voice different from before, not the usual coldness or maybe he simply wasn't able to hear him correctly when they were in the basement.
Blue tried to move his mouth—to speak but all he could muster was a soft, quiet, almost not being able to be heard grown. Red moved closer to his rival, managing to hear it despite all the obstacles.
"I know how much pain you are in but I assure you it will get better. I heard it would take a week for you to be normal but it will end." Red said as he walked away from his rival, leaving Blue with nothing again but he wasn't mad about it, Red probably has better things to do like take care of his Pokemon, probably better than him. Come to think of it, he regretted not telling his rival about why he really surrender so quickly—if he had, Wartortle never would have been ina ny danger and
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A Week Later
Blue woke up yet again and laid there just like before, staring at the ceiling but it felt weird to do so, his limbs felt as if they were spaghetti and he didn't know how to feel about it. Thinking maybe just maybe that this time he was back to normal, he moved his right hand upward and… it worked!
Blue rotated it and rotated it again, trying to see if it hurt to do something but no it didn't, he was surely back to normal. Blue put his right hand back to his bed and pushed it along with his left hand, sitting up in the hospital bed and looking around to see… that it was the same as the Cerulean City Pokemon center.
However that wasn't what he was focused on, Blue quickly ran towards the door, arriving at the main room and saw Nurse Joy in her counter going about her day—people going about their day but no sign of Red anywhere.
He ran around wildly, causing people to look at him weird but he still did not find Red. 'Oh come one, do I have to wait another week?' Blue thought to himself but it was at that moment that he remembered a forgotten feature of the pokedex. He felt like an idiot for running around wildly and not using one of it's features.
Blue grabbed it from it's bag and pressed the phone button, allowing him to call any other Pokedex Holders which… was only him and Blue so he didn't think it'll be that useful but here he was. He waited a couple of minutes and heard a "click" sound, clearly Red answering him.
"Is it you, Blue?" He heard Red's voice say, a little muffled by the dex. If he was in the state that he was a week—no a day ago, he wouldn't even hear anything from it.
"Yes, it's me. I would like to talk to you in person please. The dex isn't that great at calls." He said as he closed the call and looked at the door, waiting for his former friend to come.
Red arrived thirty minutes later.
The door automatically opened, causing Blue to turn around and see… that it actually was Red, quite a few people had come to the door and a lot of them weren't Red so he was thinking about not looking there everytime it opened but perhaps this time sticking to his guns worked.
"Nice to see you… Red." Blue muttered as he stood up from his chair, part of his mind still wanting to delay the inevitable.
"Nice to see you too, Blue." Red replied, confused a little which confused Blue as well.
Blue walked towards him and looked towards the ground before looking up and seeing… Red's face was no longer the cold stoic one that he had seen before, it was more like the one that he would make when he was younger.
A little part of Blue's mind battled to keep Raticate's death a secret as he looked back to the ground when suddenly…
"Blue, what do you want to talk about?" Red asked, simply.
This startled Blue and caused him to look up and see his former friend again. "Well… you remember in the tower, I surrender really quickly?" He asked, his voice low as if a part of him wanted Red to not hear it.
Red got closer to his former friend. "Yeah, I find it weird too, didn't you also run away?"
"Yeah, I did and it was cause…" Blue said, taking a massive pause in the middle as he looked closer to his former friend's red eyes—that he was named after. "It was cause I accidentally killed my Raticate, well you techni-nevermind."
Red stepped backwards, just as Blue expected. "You… what?"
"I accidentally killed Raticate." Blue said as he took a deep breath and explained everything from the beginning—meeting Megan up to… where they were right now, sweating intensely as he repeated a lot of lines, afraid that he might get one thing wrong and some part wanting to delay what has been set in stone.
Red got closer and grabbed Blue's arms. "Look, it wasn't your fault Wartortle ran away." He reassured him, startling Blue who didn't expect him to act that way, he expected him to attack him, arrest him, anything but this especially with what he did to him.
"Yes it was, I should hav—"
"Wartortle shouldn't have ran away." Red stated, causing Wartortle to curl to a ball inside his ultraball. "You might have accidentally killed your Raticate but you can't redeem myself by moping and crying all day."
"Redeem myself? My last chance at redemption was at the Rocket basement and guess what? I threw it all by going there recklessly, if you weren't the—"
"If you weren't there, I probably wouldn't have found the base in the first place."
"Wait… really?" Blue asked surprised, he didn't think someone as good as Red would need assistance from him—someone who accidentally killed his own Pokemon.
"Yes, someone I went there and found the basement open, from what I've heard, you distracted the grunt enough for him to forget to close it and now all the auctions—all the experiments have been closed, because of you." Red said as he saw Blue