The pokémon center was an easy building for any tourist to find in Viridian City. The spherical roof alone was so massive that it sat on top of the rest of the building like a second red sun floating just above the popping city lights. The rest of the building behind it was a half-submerged bowl tilted at a 60 degree angle.
Nathan tried to look past the city but all he saw was a black sea of trees that he assumed was Viridian Forest. He remembered that the city served as the primary route through which one could travel to the Pokémon League. Memories of wanting to climb into his television screen and battle in the esteemed tournament came rushing back with full force.
He checked himself, remembering that at this particular time, getting Blastoise's full power back was his top priority.
All of the excitement from earlier in the day had left him pretty worn out. He stifled a yawn as he headed down the steep hill towards the city's entrance.
A large brick wall hugged the perimeter, with a wide archway that displayed Viridian City's name.
None of the sights were especially new to Nathan, who had travelled on a number of occasions to Viridian alongside his mother, back when their arcanine was still alive.
That felt like a long time ago.
One thing was for sure - his level of amazement at the sheer size of the city hadn't diminished over the years. Viridian wasn't even classed as one of Kanto's larger cities, but it was enough to overwhelm a country boy who had grown up beside a ranch on the outskirts of a sleepy town.
The city was fairly busy despite the time of day. Several of the people he walked past, he assumed were pokémon trainers, since they either had the likes of a rattata on their shoulder or a clefairy trotting behind them.
He wondered how many actually lived in the city and how many were just passing through, either to Pallet or, much more likely in his estimation, the Indigo League.
He had no illusions about his chances of winning at the Pokemon League, even with a fully evolved pokémon at his side. He had been a Pokémon trainer for all of an hour and more importantly, he had zero badges.
That's going to change, he thought to himself, clenching his fists.
He continued his walking at a slow pace, staring at the endless stream of people. He was overtaken by a group of teens who looked a little older than him. He overheard one of the girls who spoke between her lazy chews of a stick of bubble gum.
"Oh, my gosh, like, guys... have you smelled Erika's new fragrance, yet? Like, apparently its, like, suuuuper exotic."
"Exotic?" one of her male companions snorted. "If it's been anywhere near that vileplume of hers, it probably stinks."
The girl laughed and launched into some kind of counter argument that Nathan could no longer hear.
He saw other youths go by. One wore a belt that was studded with pokéballs, at least four of them, possibly with more that were lost beneath the billowing hem of his jacket.
Nathan took all of this in and thought about how Blastoise was the key to catching more pokémon. He may have been a novice, but even he knew that as a basic principle, if you wanted to catch a pokémon, you had to weaken it first.
Blastoise was certainly capable of weakening wild pokémon, and then some. It would give him a serious head start when compared to the other beginner trainers who would still be teaching their nidoran to sit.
Nathan had made up his mind that he would first take Blastoise to the pokémon centre, then shop for pokéballs while the giant turtle rested and recharged its energy.
He was thinking all of this when he heard yelling coming from the alleyway he had just passed. He took a step back and peered down the narrow space between two tall buildings. There were three children running down the alleyway towards him, and also what looked to be a pokémon. The pokémon, that he presently recognised as a raticate, overtook the leader, who stopped dead in their tracks and pressed themselves up against the wall. The other two boys caught up and shouted at the third. They stood with their arms crossed, obviously at ease, in stark contrast to the boy who had glued himself to opposite side of the alleyway as the raticate inched towards him.
"Hey!" Nathan called out, running towards them as he fumbled for the pokéball inside of his jacket pocket.
"What are you boys up to?" he demanded. "You look like you're up to no good!"
The boy nearest unfolded his arms and pointed at Nathan.
"Keep outta this!" he said. "This ain't none of your business!"
The raticate pivoted towards Nathan, its tiny nose quivering. The giant front teeth were bared in a wicked sneer.
"Leave that boy alone, or I'll... I'll..."
"Or you'll do what?"
Nathan's reply was to lob a pokéball at the ground and watch his blastoise appear in its place.
The two boys who had given chase were now backing away. Nathan watched the raticate standing firm. It looked like it was up for the challenge. Its owner was not. The boy recalled his pokémon and he and his companion raced down the alleyway. Nathan returned Blastoise back into its pokéball.
He grinned at the boy who had been left behind.
"My blastoise doesn't even have any water left anyway," he said. "It could have been a pretty even fight. What's your name?"
The boy regarded Nathan with a wide eyed look of sweaty unease. He slipped past just as Nathan was about to say something else.
"Hey, wait!" Nathan cried, as the boy sprinted up the alleyway and ducked into the crowd. Perhaps he too had been frightened by the blastoise. But the boy hardly seemed like some kind of desperate street urchin. He had probably run straight home. He began theorising about what he had just witnessed. The boys could have been schoolmates, threatening the other for their lunch money. No, that didn't seem right. He had seen his fair share of childhood bullying, but his experience of school, being from Pallet as he was, amounted to very little.
He remembered only fragments of his early days at Pallet Primary. Beyond that, his town didn't put a whole lot of emphasis, or funding for that matter, on education when compared to the bigger cities. Most kids ended up helping their parents who had come from generations of farmers. This extended to those who helped out at the Oak ranch, where some of those who appeared more likely candidates for academia took positions as research assistants and quickly found their way into the scientific community. Nathan's mom had wanted him to apply for such a role, but he didn't have the aptitude nor the desire to be craning over a series of test tubes in a soulless laboratory. He was also certain that he would never work on Oak's ranch. Not after what had happened to his father.
The rest of Pallet's small population could be forgiven for thinking that they had been overlooked when it came to a more thorough education. The people of Pallet had long become known for their simplistic and rural ways. It still didn't stop Nathan's mom from buying a barrel load of textbooks and all but locking him in his room in the evenings. In all that time he learned more about safely jumping out of his window than he did about trigonometry and the Alolan language. He was never going to be a great academic like the professor. He knew that his purpose lay firmly somewhere else.
***
Fighting his way through the dense crowd, he arrived at the pokémon centre. The smooth and curving design of the building blocked out his view of the sky when Nathan neared it. The automatic doors seemed to be permanently open. Through them, he could see a long pink carpet stretched out in front of him like the flattened tongue of a gaping mouth. It led him to the reception desk, where a young woman dressed all in white was slouched behind it, fanning herself with a nearby pamphlet on how to treat minor injuries.
Her focus locked onto Nathan and she set the paper down. She gave him a tired smile.
"Welcome to Viridian Pokémon Centre, how may I help you?"
Nathan plucked the pokéball from his pocket.
"Hi, I'm looking to get my Blastoise treated. I think he's low on energy."
The girl a terse nod. "Mm-hmm, please pass me your pokéball and we'll have a look. The waiting time is around two hours tonight, depending on what the problem might be. I'd say that if your Blastoise is in an otherwise good condition, we shouldn't be too long with it."
"Ok, well that's good. I'm a pretty new trainer," he confessed. "Is there a place for me to go whenever I'm waiting for Blastoise to be treated?"
"Of course. There's seating over there, a cafeteria in the west wing. Also, pokémon trainers can stay the night for a small fee. There are lots of rooms in the east wing. Most of them should still be available. Would you be interested in one?"
"Yes, I would. I'm a traveller out of town, so I definitely need somewhere to stay."
Nathan paid with a single banknote and was given a small plastic key card in return.
The receptionist held up her hand in a placating gesture. "Just let me double-check with our lead nurse for how long it might be before your Blastoise can be returned. Oh, there she is!"
She turned to face another woman who had shimmied her way through a swinging door, balancing a clipboard and stack of paper in her pale arms. This woman was clearly a good deal older. Beneath the thin creases that touched her eyes, Nathan could tell that this had once been a beautiful woman, before the stresses of her work had left their mark on her. Thick curls of strawberry hair crashed down in waves from the edge of her pristine hat.
"Nurse Joy, how long do you think the waiting time will be?"
The nurse regarded her with a distracted look, then her gaze washed over Nathan and the pokéball he held in his hand.
"I'd say at least 2 hours, Marie," she said in an almost apologetic tone.
She lowered her face like she was inspecting her white shoes.
"I had to perform a minor procedure on a tangled ekans and right now I'm going to try taking a red cell count from a geodude."
Nathan fought to control an outburst of laughter. "That sounds like getting blood from a stone," he said.
Nurse Joy's head swung back towards the young trainer. He thought she was scowling at first, though her face cracked into a weak smile.
"You know your biology, young man. You should train to become my assistant. We could use a helping hand around here."
"I'm flattered, but I'm on a mission to be the best pokémon trainer in the land."
"That's what every trainer seems to say who comes through those doors. Never mind. I had to ask, at least. I'll try to get around to your pokémon as soon as I can."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
The receptionist perked up and said: "Pass us your pokéball and I'll see about getting Blastoise put onto our waiting list. Take a seat over there, if you'd like."
He rolled his Pokéball over and made his way towards the soft fabric chairs, his hands buried in his pockets.
At the particular spot he chose, there were three chairs in a row. He picked the one furthest away so that he could see out of the large glass window and watch the people passing by. He wanted to see if any of them were carrying strong-looking Pokémon.
"You must be a great Pokémon trainer to have a Blastoise," a voice came from his left.
He tore his gaze from the window and settled it on the girl who was suddenly sitting in one of the chairs, the very chair next to him.
The first thing he noticed about her was her eager smile, as though the two of them had just been laughing about some secret that the whole world had forgotten except for them. Dark hair cascaded down her shoulders, a handful of strands kissing her cheeks.
"I'm an alright trainer, I guess," came Nathan's guarded response.
She grabbed his upper arm in a way that might have been threatening if her touch wasn't lighter than a feather.
"And a pretty modest, too!" she giggled.
"Who are you?" Nathan asked, frowning slightly.
"My name's Alice," she replied, not wincing at all in the face of his bluntness. She flashed the same smile a second time.
"Mine's Nathan. Have you got sick Pokémon, too?"
"What, sick Pokémon? Oh, no, I'm just staying for the night. I'm new to this place. See, I'm originally from Cerulean."
"Cerulean City?" Nathan repeated. "Isn't that where they use a lot of water Pokémon?"
"It sure is. Well, that's not exactly true," she added, knowingly raising her index finger. "The gym leader in that city uses only water type pokémon, and we love Misty, but there are all kinds of trainers who use all kinds of pokémon types. But looking at you, since you have a Blastoise, you'd get along just fine there."
"I wouldn't mind visiting at some point," Nathan said. "But speaking of gym leaders, I'm really just focussed on getting badges."
Alice clapped her hands together as if in prayer.
"Oh really? That's so cool!" she gasped. "How many badges do you have so far? I have two!" She produced a fashionable Celadon purse and pulled out a small case. It opened with a muted click and she displayed its contents with a sheepish grin.
"I'm only a beginner trainer," she added.
Nathan looked up and peered at the sparkling badges, one pale green and the other a deep red. He waited for the dreaded question.
"You probably have way more than me!" she giggled. "So... how many do you have?"
"None, at the minute," he said darkly. "See... I'm a beginner too. Just a few days, in fact. But I'll get a badge really soon." He stood up as though the seat had given him an electric shock. Firmly gripping the end of his hat, he levelled his stare at the reception desk. Once Blastoise is 100% we're gonna start training for the Viridian gym."
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but the Viridian gym isn't open."
"What?" he said distractedly. "What do you mean, it's not open?"
"The gym leader has gone away. It says so on the sign outside it. Real drag. I was gonna challenge the gym leader, too."
"Did it say when they'd be back?"
"No, I don't think so." She sighed and continued, "Now that I think about it, I don't even know who the Viridian City gym leader is. They must have been gone a while."
"But that's -that's going to make it impossible for people to go to the Pokémon League, isn't it?" he said, eyes widening.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, if that gym is closed, how will people ever get eight badges? They can only ever hope to get seven if it stays shut."
Alice's face brightened. "There are more than just eight gyms, you know. Those eight that you've probably heard of just happen to be the most famous ones. There are smaller gyms that exist that are fully league-accredited. They're found in smaller towns. Besides, if you really want to battle in these big-name gyms, there are eight of them in Johto, too."
"About these smaller gyms..." he inquired. "Are they really that different to the main ones? Are the badges, well, worse?"
"Not really," Alice scoffed, waving a hand. "Some people think that they're less of a challenge. Maybe the badges don't look quite as shiny and impressive as the others, either. They think that you're taking the easy way if you go to those gyms. But I'm talking the die-hards, the Pokémon League fanatics. Most think that a win in those smaller gyms is just as valid. The truth is that those places are constantly fighting to move up the ranks and be among the eight gyms that are considered the best. But any gym that wants to get there has a long way to go to get such a reputation."
Nathan scoffed. "I think Viridian City gym is going to get demoted if it's not even open."
"You're probably right.... Say," she said suddenly, resting the palm of her hand over her chest. "Do you want to come with me and my friends to Pewter City gym? We're just waiting on Naomi to finish up in the Poké Mart. She always takes forever when it comes to buying vitamins for her psyduck. That poor thing has the most terrible headaches."
Nathan shifted uncomfortably. Naomi, he thought to himself. He imagined himself surrounded by a flock of girls, all chattering away and laughing along with Alice, holding up their hands to cover their gaping mouths. He shuddered.
"Thanks, but I think I'm going to go my own way for a bit and train some more."
"If you're sure," she said. "Well, I'll probably see you around. It was nice meeting you, Nathan."
"And you," he said.
She hopped out of the chair with the grace of a dancer and glided towards the automatic doors at the entrance to the pokémon center. Then her lithe figure dissolved into the night.
Nathan remained in his chair and was shortly called to the reception desk. He was told that his blastoise's check-up would be completed by the time he woke the following morning. It was getting late anyway, so he didn't particularly mind.
The excitement of the day had left him fatigued and he felt himself being drawn to a warm bed. He flexed the room key card in his hand, deciding that he would explore more of the city tomorrow. Everything could wait until he was back with his prized pokémon.
Squinting down at his room number printed on the plastic, he made his way down a corridor that was coloured much the same as the reception area.
The corridor was very wide and featured a variety of potted plants. There was also the occasional framed picture on the wall, often of aquatic Pokémon, such as a goldeen flapping its wide tailfin like a flower in a storm, or a staryu sagging against the ocean floor.
The door to his room welcomed him with a warm bleep as he held the card near it. Inside, his eyes scanned a room that looked as though all of the large objects had been bleached in tones of vanilla whilst the objects small enough to wriggle their way through some kind of gigantic sieve had splashed into a pool of red paint. The borders at the bottom of the walls were black, giving the room the same colour scheme as a pokéball. The design of the table and chair was similarly curved. A single bed hugged the groove of the wall, maroon sheets spilling over a snowy mattress.
There was a small bathroom attached, coated with gleaming turquoise tiles. The sink featured taps with a twistable squirtle head for cold and a charmander for hot. Nathan leaned over it, wrenched at the squirtle until cool water slipped over his waiting hands like a pair of transparent gloves. He splashed the clear liquid onto his face and thought about the squirtle that his blastoise had once been.
He floated over to the waiting bed and crashed down onto it. He wondered if Professor Oak had always trained that squirtle, through to its evolution to wartortle and finally to the powerful creature that it had become today.
He tried to imagine who Blastoise would ultimately obey, if the professor was to confront him. His last thoughts were of the sink and of the plastic squirtle that rested on top of it.
In his dream, the tap was molded differently and resembled the head of a blastoise. Water was rushing out, filling the basin. It quickly sloshed over the edge of the sink and stretched a deep puddle over the floor. He stared down at the water that had already risen to his ankles, seeing his reflection gaping up at him. Beside his own pale face was the wobbling image of Professor Oak.
The mouth was working at a furious rate, opening and closing as though shouting a barrage of words. Nathan was so fixated on it that he hadn't noticed the water level rising to his knees. He felt something pull him downwards as though someone had tied a sack of coal around the back of his neck. His face plummeted into the water and he gasped at how cold it was, how it froze his cheeks and stabbed at his brain. Water rushed into his mouth, slipped into his chest and set him on fire from the inside out.
He woke up, nearly having rolled out of the bed, moisture dripping from him as though he had somehow carried over some of the water from his nightmare. It was sweat, he realised.
He staggered to the bathroom, at first afraid of what he might see. Only the same tiles, the sink, the charmander, the squirtle. He showered as quickly as he could, barely towelling himself dry. He threw on clothes that still half stuck to him, burst out of the door and raced down the corridor, frightening an unsuspecting young woman and her jigglypuff.