Rapture

Denied

The Darkness stretched on seemingly endless. Nothing existed but black below, black above, and in every direction. From beyond the blackness a horizon began to glow. Cutting through the endless night the sun rose over the oceans south of Pallet town as a Charizard flew above the thick morning fog, allowing its master to take in the view.

Blue sat calmly on the back of his Charizard and watched in silence. Sometimes he would do this, fly out early in the morning while all the others of his small village still dreamed in their beds. He breathed in the crisp morning dew that could be felt above the clouds. The perfect way to forget everything else…

The fog had a tendency to sit so low over the night making the surface seem dark and murky, but from a seat in the sky, the rising sun helped Blue feel alive. Fighting back the yawn that threatened to overtake him after not sleeping the entire night before, Blue prepared himself for another long day. He’d spent the last week mostly in Saffron roughing up anyone he thought may have had some information on Team Rocket. Of course no one knew a thing… even the gym members knew nothing of the whereabouts of their leader only that she’d left days prior and hadn’t been seen since. It was so frustrating…

These early mornings were the only time that Blue still reserved to let go, be free, and not go completely crazy. The boy actually grinned slightly to himself as he watched flock of Wingull and Pelipper below him as they glided over the surface of the fog preparing to search for their morning meal. Flying in lower Blue joined their altitude. If he reached down with his hand he could have scooped up the thick foggy moisture.

The Wingull all suddenly scattered in random directions in an apparent panic. Blue stood immediately scanning over the area to figure out what would have scared all the Wingull so badly. Looking around, Blue couldn’t see any other birds or predators nearby.

Blue almost fell off from surprise as his Charizard’s gliding was halted by a strong upward thrust. A loud oceanic roar echoed in the sky and Blue noticed the jaw of a Gyarados sinking into his Charizard’s sides. The sea monster arched in the air and began its plunge back through the mist below, Charizard held firmly in its mouth.

“Charizard, slash!” On command the Charizard began to flail its claws against the face of the Gyarados. This only seemed to cause Gyarados to bite down harder and make Charizard scream in pain. Charizard’s blood dripped into the air from the punctures of the Gyarados fangs mixing into the dark thick clouds they were plunging straight down toward the sea water.

Blue didn’t have time to react; his Charizard wrapped its wings around his body to protect him as they collided with the surface of the ocean and were driven deep under water by the Gyarados’ dive. Opening his eyes Blue saw his Charizard floating helplessly under the water unconscious. He immediately recalled it to its Poké Ball and withdrew another summoning his Golduck. Taking immediately to its master’s plight, Golduck grabbed the boy and swam up to the surface.

The moment Blue’s head punctured the Ocean’s surface he drew in a deep breath and coughed out the water he’d taken into his lungs. Golduck instinctively used Surf and allowed Blue to climb on top of it.

Blue took a look around. Just as he thought… not much sun was penetrating the fog leaving it very dark down here still, “That Gyarados could still be around here… be careful Golduck…” Blue gritted his teeth knowing no Gyarados would naturally jump a thousand feet into the air to pluck a Charizard from midflight. There had to be a trainer around here somewhere. Since being crowned the League Champion though, Blue had become used to ridiculous challenges coming at him from out of nowhere.

“Well come on out then! I don’t have all morning!” Blue shouted into the mist.

A flapping sound became audible but Blue couldn’t see anything yet. The sound was moving, coming from his right, then from his left. It was circling around him like a Fearow descending upon its prey. From the beat of its wings Blue could tell he was up against a larger bird. No the sound was of the beat of leathery wings like a dragon or bat; there was no ruffling sound of feathers on the upward flap. The sound then stopped entirely. Blue listened harder realizing the flying Pokémon must be gliding.

Quicker than he anticipated, Blue was descended upon. Sharp talons dug into his shoulders lifting him from his Golduck’s back. “HEY!” Blue shouted, but was quickly quieted as his body was shoved underwater. Blue was dragged quickly under the water’s surface. He was lifted out of the water only to be dunked fiercely again, and again, and again. Golduck was starting catch up to them and the attacking Pokémon took notice and flew up into the sky a good ten meters before letting Blue go, letting him fall back into the ocean.

Golduck quickly retrieved its master again. Once above the water’s surface Blue hacked uncontrollably. Once able Blue stated aloud, “This guy’s trying to kill me…”

Looking up Blue made out a small falling object. A bright light was emitted from it and then something fell from it splashing into the water. “Great… another Pokémon to deal with…” Blue climbed back onto Golduck, “Come on, we can’t just stand still, Surf!”

Golduck started quickly cutting through the water. Without his flyer and no other water types, Blue realized he was going to have to find some kind of land to launch a counter attack from. A small island came into view only a few hundred meters away. “It will have to do!” Blue told his Golduck and they rushed to make it.

Only half way there and water exploded upward from in front of them. Golduck screeched to a stop but wasn’t able to before it was in range of Mega Punch from a Poliwrath. Blue fell off the Golduck as his Pokémon was rocketed upward.

Blue floated on the surface of the ocean and waited for Poliwrath’s next move. Instead of making another move as Blue thought it would, the Pokémon just floated in front of him, staring him down.

The flapping sound returned, and from the fog the Pokémon came into view. Blue now recognized it as an Aerodactyl, “You’re not giving up already are you?”

Blue’s eyes widened in shock and stared in disbelief at the source of that voice. Circling around again, Red looked Blue down from over his shoulder. Blue’s world slowed to a crawl as he took in Red’s dark clothes, several articles of which had Team Rocket’s “R” emblem.

“But why Red… why would you actually join them?” Red was barely able to make out the words from the low tone Blue used.

The Aerodactyl flew in closer and the Poliwrath leaned forward onto its face creating a platform for Red to hop on to. Red got down on his haunches to get within better speaking range to Blue who only had his head above the water.

“Why?” Red gave Blue a look as if the answer should be obvious. “You’re seriously asking me why?”

Blue nodded in the water.

Red’s shoulders shook as he looked as if he were trying to contain his laughter. Not able to anymore he fell back onto his Poliwrath and laughed loudly for a few more seconds, “Where else are there people who treat me like a family? With love… like I belong and am a part of them?”

Blue squinted his eyes trying to comprehend the response, “But Red… You were loved… and you were part of our family…”

Red’s glare shot down to meet Blue’s face, his expression changed in an instant to rage, “FUCK YOU!” he shouted loud enough for his voice to echo for miles. Blue blinked not knowing what to say to that reaction. “A family… you call what we had a family?! Let me ask you what is it that makes a family a family?”

Blue stared at Red mournfully before piecing together his words, “A family are the people you go to who you know you can trust, who urges you to be a better person and to do the right things, who you know will never hurt you, who will help you through anything, and who will always be there for you…”

“SO WHERE WERE YOU THEN?!” Red shouted again.

The outburst made Blue stiffen in the water. For the first time in his life Blue was having difficulty forming words, his composed demeanor fading, “I… I looked everywhere for you… Tore through mountains, and caves, and abandoned buildings looking for any trace of you…”

Red chuckled to himself, “Yeah… it must have been rough becoming the champ and not being able to gloat to me about it…”

“THAT TITLE IS WORTHLESS TO ME!” Blue shouted back for the first time. “…The entire tournament was completely pointless to me without you there to challenge me for it…”

“So that’s why you all competed in the tournament instead of coming to save me… because it was pointless to you… it all makes sense now!” Red smiled sarcastically at his old friend.

“That’s not how it happened! No one even knew anything had happened to you… we all just thought you were running late…” Blue prayed for words to make Red understand.

Red was quiet for a moment as he stared at Blue. He bit his lower lip as his mind replayed his memories from that time, “Do you know what I was doing the day of the tournament?” Red started laughing again. “I was watching it on TV actually. I got to see you standing there in all your cocky glory, winning match after match with so much ease as if just to prove how awesome you are. Yeah…” Red stood up on top of his Poliwrath, “Yeah… I watched it alright… I watched while suspended on an iron plate as three Magnetons electrified me to the brink of death as punishment for trying to escape! The entire time knowing that as long as you were on that TV that there was no one coming to save me from it…”

Blue couldn’t shut his mouth as he stared at Red in horror and shock as he listened to the story, “Team Rocket did that to you?”

Red shook his head, “No… you did!” Red whistled into the air, and while Blue was still too shocked to react, the familiar talons of two feet bit into his shoulder and roughly pushed his head under the surface of the water. Blue struggled frantically, waving his arms about for anything to try and pull himself out with. After about a minute the struggling slowed, and then stopped completely and the boy’s arms sank beneath the water. Red made another whistle sound and his Aerodactyl lifted the boy out placing him next to Red on top of the Poliwrath. Red kicked Blue hard in the diaphragm forcing out the water he’d taken in and restoring his breathing.

A skimming noise reached Red’s ears causing him to look up and see Blue’s Golduck had woken up and was storming toward him. Red smirked as a wave built up on Golduck’s side and Gyarados emerged. Howling loudly, the larger Pokémon bit down on the duck as it passed by and violently flung it up into the air where Aerodactyl swooped in and caught the duck lifting up into the sky. Aerodactyl flew higher and higher, breaking past the clouds, and taking it far into the clear blue sky before he tossed the duck.

Aerodactyl charged for Sky Attack as the Golduck fell helplessly thousands of feet. Once ready, Aerodactyl bolted straight down cutting through the air and gained on the falling Golduck at an incredible velocity. The attack impacted its target crunching the wayward duck and forcing it to fall at an increased speed. From such a high altitude, Golduck impacted the ocean with force considerable to crashing through a solid brick wall. Aerodactyl returned to its master’s side and Red petted it gently on its rocky beak. With another whistle Red hopped back onto Aerodactyl and had it grab onto Blue with one talon before recalling his other Pokémon to their balls and flew off back to Saffron City.

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