Uncontained

We made it to Celadon City later that day.

It was a beautiful city with lots of hotels and departments stores. Fountains spurted water from cement sculptures. Somebody was selling art in a courtyard. People ate meals in nearby cafes.

"I wonder where the gym leader is," I thought aloud.

We ate some early dinner in one of the cafes before wandering around again. I carried Rose on my shoulders because she "wanted to be tall." Thankfully Czeslaw and Uriah didn't say a word to each other and everyone was mildly okay. Summer just touched Czeslaw's face with a vine, and the caress seemed to soften him, but not by much. I considered putting Rose in her ball to keep her out of the drama. She seemed alright, though; she was blowing bubbles.

Then we made it to the bad part of town. This time I returned Rose and beforehand she didn't like the idea, or understand why I was being wary. Afterwards I was harassed by a couple of prostitutes. There were a lot of bars opening and strip clubs advertising things. At this point I was ready to turn back and give up on the gym leader for the day.

But I found something else instead.

A man dressed all in black was walking into a Game Corner, and I immediately recognized him to be the Rocket I saw at Cerulean. My heart leaped into my throat. "Wouldja look at that," I said, and Florence shivered. "Let's go."

I followed him at a brisk pace and as soon as I stepped inside the gambling center I was blasted with a wave of heat and a bitter smell of coins. Then I realized I was the youngest person in the room. People were busy looking at their slot machines and card games so they didn't notice me, even with my abundance of Pokemon allies. The man disappeared behind a row of machines. I hurried after him.

He stopped at the very back and peeled the corner of a poster up on the wall. It spelled "Game Corner," but the middle "R" looked uncannily like the "R"s on the Rocket's shirts. The man noticed me, flinched, and stopped.

"What the fuck do you want?" he snapped.

I raised my eyebrows. "You should step aside from the poster. The Pokemon with me are a lot stronger than yours."

Then his eyes shifted to something past me. Before I could look, a familiar voice said, "He's right. And I'm not afraid to tag team with him if you don't believe it."

My heart skipped a beat. "Malachi?"

And just as I expected, Malachi, my best friend, took a stand beside me. That was what made the grunt go bug-eyed. "You'd better b-back off," he stammered. "If you follow me, I'll call the others!"

Then he ripped off the poster and slammed a switch from underneath it. The wall beside it shifted, and a trap door opened from the wall. The grunt dove into it. It was like some corny crime movie, and then I looked at Malachi. "What brought you here?" I asked.

"I saw you and my morbid curiosity got the better of me." He shrugged, and then grinned. "Let's crash this party, buddy."

---

We ran in after the Rocket.

Immediately after, I knew I was doing a very bad thing. More dangerous, really, but at that moment, I knew that Malachi and I had stumbled upon a Rocket HQ.

Plain white walls and tiled floors covered the area. It smelled of smoke and chemicals. The grunt we just saw had disappeared down a hall, but I could hear him shouting. "Do you think their boss is here?" I asked. I didn't know how to feel all of the sudden.

"I would assume so," Malachi said. "Let's go."

We charged through, but two grunts intercepted us and threw their pokeballs. "You've got some nerve barging in like this!" one yelled. A raticate screeched from its capsule and a koffing burst from the other. Malachi flicked a pokeball from his belt and in a white light, a massive version of a spearow appeared. It evolved, I realized.

"Summer, are you ready?" I asked.

But to my surprise, Uriah stepped forward. "Uriah?" I questioned.

He didn't answer and flames sparked at his jaws. I realized I would probably never understand his motives. "Okay then," I said. "Toast them."

Uriah blasted flames from his jaws and Malachi's Pokemon backed him up. I thought Uriah would have a fit battling with another Pokemon, but it worked surprisingly fine. Uriah was a fierce and fluid battler, he always was. With Malachi's Pokemon, a fearow I later knew, he used his partners advantages to his disadvantages and vice versa.

Uriah crushed the raticate under his foot and sent it unconscious. We defeated them easily.

Something like fire exploded in my chest and I stalked to one of the grunts and grabbed him by the collar. His smoking Pokemon lay motionless on the ground. "Where's your boss?" I demanded. My arms were shaking with adrenaline. "Take me to him!"

"I-I-I don't know!" the Rocket shrieked. "He's on the bottom floor! You can't get there without a lift key! I don't have one!"

I shoved him away. My breath rasped in my throat. "Where can we get one?" Malachi asked coolly.

"I don't know who has one," the grunt stammered. "Please don't fry me, please!"

I looked at Malachi. "It seems we have some searching to do."