"Stupid Rattata, always getting one shot, always having to be revived." Blue repeated to himself as he walked angrily across Route 6, his face on the ground as he held the Pokeball of his Rattata, a part of him wanting to kick a loose pebble along the path but it would take time and he did not want Red to find Vermillion city before him.
"Stupid Rattata... you should have at least—at the very least took out that stupid Zubat, you were literally two levels above her." He shouted, louder than before, causing many picnickers to look at him, not being able to see the anger in his face.
"Look at that kid, I wonder what he's so angry about."
"I heard he's Oak's grandson, he's probably mad he didn't inherit his grandfather's skills, ha ha."
"He's a kid, he could be mad about the most mundane stuff Julia."
"Whatever, I have better things to worry about than some kid with spiky hair."
Blue could hear every one of those voices, talking about him even if he could not see them, he could imagine the emotions on their face—joy, joy at someone's failures towards his (former) best friend. It nagged at him like a Zubat, Red's Zubat.
Inside the Pokeball, Rattata curled up tighter after hearing what his trainers thought of him, his tiny claws digging into himself, although he knew that his trainers could not see him in the Pokeball, he... felt like he really could see him inside his Pokeball all curled up, waiting to be in a private area to scream about "not being a coward."
Eventually the boy with spiky hair did arrive at the coastal city, the scent of cooked Krabbys and cut Slowpoke tails easily being smelled just when he stepped one step inside it. Some people like his sister Daisy prefer to eat the tails raw but he likes it cooked as the smell gave an illusion of being tastier than it really was.
"Ahh, just what I needed after that unfair defeat." Blue said to himself as he stopped to look around the city in a rapid spin, the scent of the food only making his defeat sting worse. After all, if Red hadn't beaten him, he would still have the money to buy all these foods. For a second Rattata thought that Blue was for once after his defeat at the bridge in a good mood but after thinking about his voice again, he really wasn't.
However he knew complaining to himself about losing to Red was not gonna fix anything so he ran to the Pokemon center with his Pokeballs in his pocket, trying to ignore all the sweet sweet smell of food reminding him about his horrible financial situation. He wasn't sure if the shop owners were asking if he wanted to buy or if they were asking others or anything else but he didn't care! He had to heal his Pokemon and he did not want to risk hearing the same voices that were in route 6.
After 3 minutes, Blue eventually did arrive at the Pokemon center panting, as it turned out the Pokemon center in Vermillion city wasn't as close to the route as it was in the games. He walked towards it and the doors automatically opened, a marvel of technology that his grandfather in his youth would have been amazed by and saw the nurse in her iconic pink hair. Rattata, feeling happy that he was going to be healed, although still unsure why Blue didn't heal his team while at Cerulean CIty.
"Ah, ah, I am finally here." Blue said as he walked towards the nurse and threw all of his pokeballs on her desk, the nurse being visually disgusted by this improperness despite trying to hide it to maintain professionalism.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center! Still hard at work today, are you?" She said, the boy's pants making it obvious that he was but having to stick to the same meaningless words. "Would you like to rest your Pokemon?"
Blue looked up at the nurse, stopping his panting. "Yes... yes, my Pokemon would like to rest." All of Blue's Pokemon—Wartortle, Pidgeotto, Kadebra, and especially Rattata nodded quietly inside their Pokeballs.
"Four Pokemons, that would be 8 minutes." Nurse Joy said as she grabbed the Pokeballs and put them inside her healer. She had seen people with multiple Pokemons but most of the time they were all underleveled or one Pokemon was far stronger than the rest, but this boy had a fully balanced team, the first she's seen other than the gym leader and it impressed her even if he was rude with his arrival.
Blue sat on the yellow chair, his mind drifting wildly to his grandfather Professor Oak, hearing his clear voice in his unclear mind. "A Pokemon master never lets their weaker Pokemons drag the team down, that's the difference between a Pokemon master and a trainer, Blue."
'Perhaps I should release Rattata, stop letting it drag my team down like a real master... like Professor Oak would.' He thought to himself as he looked at the beautiful ceiling light above him, not bright enough to blind him but not dark enough to not light anything in the center, it gave off an easy feeling of comfort. 'Maybe I could trade him but who'll want this stupid mouse!' Blue thought to himself when suddenly something sparked in Blue's mind—people who would trade for his Rattata.
Time could not pass faster for Blue as—"Young boy, your Pokemon has been healed." Nurse Joy said from her counter she put the Pokeballs on her desk, Blue immediately jumped in excitement as he looked back and saw his Pokeballs, walking up to them and grabbing his Pokeballs. Most of Blue's Pokemon were ecstatic to be healed but Rattata... Rattata's mind was still on his failure to even scratch Red's Zubat, he hoped that Blue's mind was not stuck on that like he was.
Blue grabbed all of his Pokemon including Rattata inside his small pouch which was bigger on the inside, his body cooled by the air conditioning of the Pokemon center. Rattata hoped that him being put in the same place as his trainer's other Pokemon meant that maybe—just maybe his trainer forgot about his horrible defeat and would treat him the same.
"We hope to see you again." Nurse Joy said as the boy ran off without even saying something as simple as "thank you" towards her.
The wind outside was stiff unlike the cool air of the Pokemon center, the glass door behind him closing automatically like how it opened. Blue immediately pulled out his map from his small pouch that was easily dwarfed in size and started to look for the fan club building. 'If people in the fan club won't accept my Rattata then nobody will.' He thought to himself as he ignored the house in front of the Pokemon center, thinking that surely the house in front of him would not be the fan club building, right?
An hour later, Blue's eyes were still glued to the map—the detailed Vermilion city map, trying his hardest to find the Pokemon fan club building but to no avail. 'Come on Blue! You have a detailed map of Vermillion yet you still haven't found it!' He thought to himself, his face sweating as he looked at the map when suddenly he felt pushed by someone from the left.
"Ah ah ah!" Blue said as he flailed his arms around, his left nearly went to the sky to a high jump kick but using the last portion of his strength he managed to fight against the air, pushing his left leg to the ground creating a small sound that could be hurt by Diglets below but if that wasn't enough his flailing arms felt grabbed by a cold hand.
"Apologies young man." He heard a voice say making him turn to the left, seeing an average looking gentleman, the sun behind him different from before which could only mean that... he spent an hour trying to fan a building!
Blue threw off the gentleman's hand, managing to stabilize himself as he looked at him angrily. "What do you want?" He said, his voice sterned and young yet angry, not just at the gentleman but at time itself.
"Oh young man, I do not wish anything from you." The gentleman replied as he put his right hand onto his cane just like his left hand. "I was merely attempting my daily walk—we gentlemen like to walk in the evening, young man." He said as he looked at the sun behind him, Blue clutching his map. "You look like you are lost, how may I help you young man?"
Blue looked at the gentleman in the eyes. "Gentleman, I just wanted to find the fan club building, you know it right?"
"Oh I have been there quite a few times—lovely place."
"Great, take me there then." Blue said, managing to perfectly hide his embarrassment at taking someone else's help. He already felt like he cheated by having detailed maps of each city and town while his rival didn't but this felt worse even if it was less unfair.
He followed the gentleman to the fan club house, the green roof a significant departure from the usual orange roofs and it was at that moment that he realized... the fan club house was right in front of the Pokemon center, just separated by water. He felt like an idiot, searching for a building while eliminating the building he was searching for from the map. He stood there and took deep breaths but then—
"Hey are you coming or not?" He heard the gentleman's voice say again, startling the boy.
"Ye—yes, I am coming!" Blue said as he rushed to the front of the building with the beautiful green roof where the door was. It was wide open, clearly by the gentleman for him although he was weirded out that the owner allowed some random gentleman to keep the door wide open but as Professor Oak said "there is a time and place for everything" and this wasn't the time to be suspicious, he had a Pokemon to trade.
He entered the building and closed the door, the wooden floor being unfamiliar to Blue. He then looked around more, seeing paintings on the wall right in front of him—one was off a Rapidash and another was off the gentleman? Perhaps the gentleman was allowed to keep the door open because he was the owner, him sitting on the couch further proves it—at this point, it's practically confirmed.
Inside the ball, Rattata slowly curled itself from its formation, thinking it's safe and getting tired of it's small claws scratching himself, looking at what's going on around him, seeing the fan club building in all it's glory.
Blue walked up to the table with a confident smile and slammed himself on it. "Hey wanna trade your Pokemon? I have a Rattata"
A fat man turned around to face him, a Pikachu right below him. "Really? Just a Rattata? What are you, a youngstar? Go back to route 4." He said just as smug as Blue himself, making him fume while Rattata gulped and curled himself to his formation again, his small claws hurting himself.
"Hey! I don't just have a Rattata." Blue shouted as he grabbed all of his Pokemon from his Pokeballs and threw them out, forming red energy that changed to each Pokemon—Rattata, Pidgeoto, Kadebra, and—
"Wartortle!" Blue's Warotrile announced as he faced the fat man as if it was the leader of the group, imagining himself to have sunglasses. The fat man smiled as if just a little bit impressed.
"Wow, you got all that Pokemon yet you are still only gonna trade your Rattata?" He said, moving his chair to face the spiky hair boy and his Pokemon. "What a horrible trader."
Blue fumed even more, not noticing his Rattata curled up behind him. "Fine if you don't want my Rattata, I won't trade it to you." He said, retrieving all of his Pokemon back to his pokeball, Wartortle resenting it as he wanted to show off some more. "There's probably more people who want my Rattata than who don't."
He then asked all other people in the fan club including the gentleman if they wanted his Rattata.
"No thanks, my Mewoth would kill it." A boy in a simple shirt and pants said.
"Buddy, my Dragonair can do anything, I don't need any other Pokemon." A girl with purple hair in a braid said
"Oh, I am sorry young man but I do not want your Rattata. Did you come here to merely trade your Rattata?" The gentleman said to which Blue did not answer.
"No thanks." A youngster simply said.
"No and stop asking, please." A lass girl said.
After that moment, Blue became tired and decided to give up on trading his Rattata, a part of him feeling weird that he even thought anyone would even want his useless mouse.
He grabbed the ball which contained Rattata preparing to release it at the pc in the fan club room when suddenly Rattata released himself out of his pokeball, the red energy light startling the spiky haired boy who regained composure easily.
"Hey come back here!" Blue shouted as he ran after his Rattata who ran towards the exit but then the same purple haired girl walked across it, stopping him mid tracks and making the girl look back at the Rattata.
"Gotcha." Blue said as he stepped near the Mouse Pokemon who curled back into a ball, not paying any mind towards the girl when suddenly his Pokedex started beeping, distracting him.
"It's fortunate nobody traded your Rattata, it seems wild." The girl said, condescending with her Dragonair behind her.
Blue took out his Pokedex and it recorded a new species—Dragonair! It told him about the usual stuff, evolving at level 30, where it lives, blah, blah, blah. He was only interested in getting a new species.
He exited the species menu, taking him into the "info about Pokemon in front of you menu" as Blue nicknamed, showing info about the girl's Dragonair, Serious nature, level 16, nothing import—"Wait, level 16?" Blue shouted out loud.