Celadon City
Goldilocks planet (plural Goldilocks planets) (astronomy) A planet which orbits in the habitable zone around a star, where temperatures like those on Earth occur, allowing for the possible existence of liquid water and of life. There are two known in our local galaxy. One of them was deemed unsafe because it was radioactive, but that didn't stop the world from rushing to colonize it...
It was over before it started. The crowd knew it, the trainers epecially knew it, and so did little Red. His slim hands looked like they were stuck to the glass, eyes staring straight at the TV with a tag on it screaming “SALE”. They were showing the Pokemon League Semi-finals, and the trainer stupidly called out his weepinbell and sent out a pidgeotto. The other one had a Kadabra.
Red yelled at the TV like any sports fanatic would:
“Hey stupid! A flying type isn’t as fast as a psychic type with stats THAT high! Stick to the wing attacks, not the gusts! They’re too weak! Don’t use physical attacks when his REFLECT is up!”
“Hey kid! Quiet, will you? I wanna watch this!”
There was another man there, equally as glued to the glass, with a fake Pokemon League Hat and a charizard on his shirt. Definitely a fanboy, Red scoffed to himself.
“Besides, where is your mother?”
“She’s inside, heckling down an electric fire pit. This is far more interesting.”
The man looked down at the boy. From the side, he looked thin, with matted black hair, a jutted nose and big cheekbones.
“Shouldn’t you be at school, kid?”
The boy looked up at him with his green eyes jutting back between the screen and the portly man next to him.
“Not yet, buddy. School doesn’t start for another half hour.” He spoke maturely for his age.
The man paused. “This is a rerun, isn’t it?” He didn’t seem that interested anymore. Something told him he saw it already.
The boy answered matter-of-factly, “Yeah, so what? I’ve never seen this battle before.”
The fan boy gave him a weird glance. The kid must be a beginner. He was just spewing out anything he could think of to make sense.
“Hit him with that again! No! Why did it hit itself with confusion?! WHY DOES ANY POKEMON DO THAT?!?”
“Hey, kid. What’s your name?”
“Red.”
He was taken aback. “Red? Why would your mom-”
“She didn’t call me that. I gave it to myself.”
“Why?” Was it his favorite color?
Red took a deep breath. He was used to being picked on for it, but this guy was a stranger.
“Because, Red is the highest color-coded level you could achieve in the pokemon league. It means you’re a master. I want to be Red, and calling myself that seemed like the best way to not forget.”
The fanboy turned away from the messed-up little black haired kid and headed further down the open-air mall. Celadon City was a small minded metropolis surrounding the huge walled area for a clear glass scaffolding overhead and enumerable kiosks and small offices. There were plans to build a huge vertical mall, but the building committee lost funding.
As expected, the trainer’s Kadabra made quick work of the pidgeotto and weepinbell. By the time his mother came out of the store with the pit in a box, the Kadabra was wiping the floor with a gloom.
“Red, let’s go. We just need one more thing before we can send you to school.”
“But MOM, the match! It’s almost over!”
“Red, let’s go NOW.” His mother was used to the snobby tone- she tended to ignore it to save energy.
Sharing the pit’s weight, they continued down the massive alleyway that crossed the entire complex, fragrant flowers and small fountains gracing the center pieces along the way.
“After we get the groceries, can I see the new cards?”
“If we have time, Sato-”
“Red.”
She gave an exacerbated sigh. “Right. If we have time, Red. You still have to change into school uniform.”
He had to oblige. He needed good grades to make it to the Pokemon Academy. They teach kids to be trainers there. That’s what he wanted to be, ever since he saw the magnificent “Trevor Owens vs. Lance”. It’s regarded as one of the greatest battles for a reason. He always wanted the card of Lance’s Dragonite. Maybe he’d finally get it.
Then he heard a noise. It was faint, but it was there. Like a small pitching sound. He turned to his mom, who seemed oblivious to it.
Was he going crazy? Was he finally what all those kids thought of him?
The noise got louder, then fainter. They must have been passing it. He put down his load and rushed to the noise.
“Red? Red! Where are you going?!”
He had to find it. Something was wrong. He had been in this place too many times to hallucinate.
The pitch grew as he got closer.
What was he looking for? A bomb? A key or something? He didn’t know what to expect.
Then it got even louder. People nearby were looking around now. He wasn’t alone. There wasn’t any time for breaths of relief now. He had to keep looking.
Then it got even higher as he found where it was.
It was... in a trash can. A dinky, ugly trash can in the middle of the plaza. The pitch grew to almost unbearable decibels. He looked inside amongst the terrible din.
It was a pokeball, vibrating violently and blasting out white light from the cracks. Something was trying to get out.
But he reached in. The pitch would’ve damaged any older person’s hearing if they were that close.
Then the light burst out so hard that it broke the ball in two. The beam of light morphed into something terrifying. It was a massive snake, with ocean blue scales and fins, huge white teeth and a defeaning roar. And it was PISSED.
“G-gyarados!”
