Wartortle bashed it's head towards a trainer's Nidorino, hitting it's spikes and throwing them into a cliff, causing a small cascade of rocks. The trainer—a lass girl immediately rushed towards her Pokemon. "Nidorino! Are you okay!?" She asked as she rolled her Pokemon to face the sun, careful not to touch it's spikes and yep, the swirly eyes made it clear it truly had fainted.
Wartortle smirked as he stood confidently, hands on hips as the trainer withdrew her Pokemon. Feeling fulfilled that he finally defeated one of the Nidoran lines even if it wasn't a Nidoking.
However as he looked at the trainer running away, something horrible started to happen to his body. It started small and Wartortle quickly ignored it, going back to the grass but then it became more noticeable everytime he walked—moved, he felt something stinging inside his body.
He tried not to move as much as possible, lying his belly towards the ground even if it made him unconfident—not the great Pokemon that slayed legendaries but ugh it just hurt even if he did not move a single muscle though it was considerably less.
Behind him, the bright morning light shone a certain pink haired girl looking at the grass, smirking as if it was the first time she felt free in her entire life. 'Huh, looks like I won't even need to use my Pokemon to weaken it, things truly are working out perfectly.' She thought to herself as she slowly walked towards the grass, careful not to encounter unwanted Pokemon.
Wartortle started to hear some footsteps behind him as he laid on the ground, startling him and forcing him to stand up. 'Blue is gonna punish me.' He thought to himself as he started to run before tripping on some small rock in the grass then feeling... his body turned into red energy and then into a pokeball.
However, even a second after he was sucked in, he noticed that it wasn't usual—it wasn't like the one he was in for his entire life. It felt bigger and stronger, but he quickly ignored it, putting his entire strength both physical and special break out of the wall but the ball was stronger than he expected—it might have felt stronger but he didn't think it'll be that strong.
Nurse Joy pulled out an antidote and used it on the turtle Pokemon, not wanting it to faint and put the ball—yellow and black inside her pouch in her black jumpsuit with an R on it. It might have been possible for Wartortle to break out of a regular pokeball but the ultraball was a much bigger beast plus the poison had already weakened it severely.
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"Yes, I still have a Pokemon left." Blue responded as he handed the Day-Care man two of his Pokemon. He didn't want to be a trainer anymore but at the same time, he couldn't leave them in the wild—they were far too strong and selling them felt... inhumane. If the last day had taught him anything, it's that Pokemon are friends first. He felt saddened the Wartortle wouldn't be with his friends but perhaps that nurse would find him, he still kept hoping even if the majority of his mind knew he would not be found.
"That's great, I hope you have a wonderful day." The gentleman—not the guy at the fanclub or the ship said as he took them from the spiky haired kid. He had heard stories of this boy but he didn't seem to resemble them in any way in person. 'Perhaps those stories were just made by people still angry, he beat them.'
Blue waved goodbye and closed the door behind him, putting his hand inside his bag to teleport to the city but after 3 minutes of searching... nothing absolutely no pokeballs. He eventually closed the bag but that was when he realized... he didn't have a teleporter anymore. He left Kadabra with the Day-Care man.
The boy took a deep breath and sighed, he had to walk all the way back to the city. He remembered how long it took originally when he wanted to battle trainers here and he didn't want to relive that experience once again.
Blue walked forwards towards the city, looking at the ground, contemplating his life decisions when suddenly he heard a voice echoing from this route.
"Hey Blue! I challenge you to a battle!!" He heard a young voice say—most certainly a youngster. Blue turned right and saw the kid rushed towards him in his shorts. "Remember our legendary battle in this exact route." The kid continued, his eyes on him as if he killed his Pokemon.
Blue shook his head. "No and I am busy, I got-"
"Don't think you'll get one over on me now." The youngster said, walking up to the spiky haired kid, grinning as he squeezed his ball. "You might have one last time but I have grown stronger—far stronger! My Rattata evolved into a Raticate and it will whoop your nepotistic ass!"
Blue took a step back and realized he was that kid with the Rattata that his Wartortle one shot, just thinking about Wartortle made him feel horrible though not as much as Raticate "Look, I am bus-"
"That's bullcrap! You are just scared of me, don't lie." The youngster said, circling him as he grinned harder than before as if he had already won the battle before it had started.
Blue frowned, he had to think of a lie somehow. "Well, all my Pokemon have fainted so I gotta go to the Pokemon center."
"Ha, I thought so too." The youngster smirked, laughing maniacally. "For a treat, you'll get to see my Raticate—far stronger than yours." He said as he threw his pokeball that he had squeezed so tightly and out came his Raticate.
Blue took out his pokedex and saw... it was level 20, where it should be to evolve. A youngster was able to evolve his Rattata naturally yet he couldn't but he couldn't show that face so he simply stared at the ground as the youngster circled him with his Raticate.
"Meh, you are boring." He said as he withdrew his Raticate and walked away, making Blue sigh again but this time out of relief.
Blue made his way to the city, the tree thankfully not growing in time as he stepped inside. He could see trainers going around, playing with their Pokemon, people going on their normal way and even selling food on the market. The only ones he saw were Krabbys and Magikarps much like Vermillion but they seemed to have a much... much weaker smell.
However he wasn't here to buy food despite how much he wanted, he couldn't afford it even if he sold all his items, he had to find a job somehow. Blue immediately looked around to see where he could work at.
There was a caretaker of Pokemon with her Oddish that seemed to want an assistant and he could always work at the center but after what had happened, he simply didn't want to take care of Pokemon. He wanted something simpler.
Blue looked at a Pokemart far away from him and a sign saying "Assistant needed" and immediately knew what to do. He rushed towards the mart and into the backdoor where they interviewed people looking for employment—he knew this at least from playing the games.
He knocked on the door and waited a few seconds which felt more like hours to him but eventually it swung wide open and revealed a man in a simple pokeball themed apron and a white shirt and black pants.
"Hello, I am looking for a new job as an assistant of this Pokemart." Blue started out confidently as the man simply stared at him as if he was seeing a Gastly. "Hello? I am right here." He reminded him as he walked closer to the man and inside the room, causing the man to shake his head.
"Sorry boy, it's just I feel like I have met you before." The man said as he took a stepback and sat on his chair. "Come in, sit on my chair. Ya, you're here for the interview, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Blue replied as he walked up to the chair and sat on it after closing the door, he had to admit that there was almost no light coming out of the light bulb above. "So what do you want in an employee, I can give you anything you ever want."
"You're confident that's good to hear, but what is your name, young boy?"
Blue gulped, seeing visions of the man scolding him for getting his Pokemon killed before reminding himself that he couldn't know. The man started to speak as Blue quickly gained back his composure. "Oh, my name is Blue, Blue Oak."
With that the man's eyes widened as if he had just seen a legendary. "Yo-you are Blue Oak?"
Blue was taken aback, he didn't know he was that famous considering how everyone else treated him and he didn't even think he deserved to be that famous and at the same time he didn't know if that was good or not, yet he had to tell the truth—on this one. "Yes, I am Blue Oak."
The man jumped and walked towards the spiky haired kid causing him to turn around. "You're Blue Oak, you don't need an interview. Oh my Arceus, you are literally Blue Oak, the man who defeated the undefeated Misty." He said, trying to give him a hand.
Blue grabbed it and stood up, the man shaking him like crazy, annoying him. "So when will my shift start?"
"Tomorrow, take this paper." He said, as he walked away from the boy and to a drawer, pulling out a piece of paper made out of the finest wood... that an average Cerulean could find. Blue walked up to the man and grabbed it, the first words reading. "Rules and schedule of a Pokemart assistant."
"You said my shift is tomorrow, do I leave now?"
"Yea, I would be honored if you could work not but unfortunately our business doesn't allow it. Hope you have a wonderful day."
Blue nodded and walked towards the door opening, feeling kinda strange he closed it only to open it again and stepped into the outside once again. No matter how many times he reminded himself, he had to eat, it still felt wrong to use his fame for... well anything.
He quickly bought himself some cooked Krabbys with the remainder of his money, however there was something else he had to do before he could say the day was over. He walked towards the Pokemoncenter and opened the door, surely enough time had passed that they would have found Wartortle by now. The first thing he saw was the nurse—the substitute, surely meaning the original hasn't found his starter.
Yet despite this, the Pokecenter was still the best place he could be—it had great air and was free. It would be uncomfortable without a bed but sleeping on the chairs shouldn't be that much worse, right?
He ate the cooked Krabbys—worse than the raw Slowpoke tails and not even tasty but at least it was edible and filled his belly. Having nothing else to do, he then started to read the paper but despite how hard he tried to focus, he could not keep his focus on the paper and not Wartortle, who was still lost, trying to keep hope that he would be found.
After a while of reading, he did not know anything it said, his mind still on his starter and not the paper when suddenly the door bursted open. Blue turned around and saw a pink haired girl in a brown overcoat with the same pink hair as the nurse that saved him.
He immediately rushed towards her, his heart both filled with fear and joy. "Nurse Joy, did you find Wartortle!?" He asked loudly, startling the entire center.
Joy simply looked at the floor. "It is unfortunate that I have to say it, however I must tell the truth; I was unable to find you Wartortle. I tried everything I could, asking people, searching using satellites, however I was still unable to find him."
Blue looked at the ground just like Joy. "I understand you did your best." He simply said as he closed his eyes to not show any tears before hopping back into his chair.
'Everytime single time I had hoped that maybe just maybe things would go my way and I would be a winner and my friends would be a winner, the cruel reality decided to stomp on it but I suppose I can't just blame the world, I can't blame them for the majority of my problems.' He thought to himself as he curled into a ball just like his Raticate, trying to keep himself from showing his tears.