Chapter 5 - Sickness

Red called his Pidgeotto back into its Pokeball as he won yet another Pokemon battle - against his rival at that. It remained a bit of a marvel for Derrick to watch the trainer's powerful team take on others with such vivid reality. He had been wishing over and over for this environment to be a reality in his world; that way he would be able to have a less restricted sense of communication. Thus far he had not seen one mouth move from the numerous people he had encountered, aside from Red, the extent of his emotions ranging from a thin smile to the softest of furrowing in his brows. No-one spoke, either, which made everything deafeningly silent. It was almost as though the existence in the world, aside from Pokemon, was shared entirely by Red and himself. He didn't particularly mind it, though.

So the captain of the ship is sick...?


"Unfortunately. But, hey! This gives you the chance to get the Cut HM. It comes nicely in handy...ugh.." Derrick suddenly felt a wave of nausea reverberate through his body. He wrapped his arms across his stomach and leaned against one of the corridor walls of the S.S. Anne, letting his head swim for a bit.

Are you okay?


"M'fine...just a random stomach pain. It must be from this ship, but I can't feel any rocking." Another wave of sickness, more powerful than the last one. Derrick's gag reflexes jumped in his throat. What was happening? He closed his eyes, trying to calm anything in his body long enough for him to think straight again, but to no avail. Something was going to fight its way from his body, whether he liked it or not. When he opened his eyes again, all he could see was darkness. Panicking, he tried to cry out, but his heaving insides stopped him. Before he knew it, he was falling off of his bed, catching his ankle on the wood of the foundation and finding the floor. As it dawned on him that he kept a wastebasket near his bed, his eyesight returned just in time for him to find it, draw it to his chest and allow his throat to disperse sickness into the wastebasket's depths.

"Derrick?"

Derrick flinched at the sudden sound of a human voice, recognizing it as his mother's and leaning against the side of his bed to take in what had just happened.

"Yep?"

"Are you okay, sweetie? It sounds like you just got sick." Derrick spat remnants into the wastebasket, mumbling.

"I did. I'm all good, though."

"You sure? Maybe you should come down and let me check you out."

"It's fine, mom. I'm going to Scott's today and he'll be irritated if I tell him I can't come. It was just erratic sickness." Derrick let his own words sink in for a moment before pouncing from the floor to his bed, searching his messy sheets for his cell until he found it. What time is it? How long did I sleep? He unlocked the phone's screen, pulling his text message inbox into view and finding his most recent text to Scott. "Seven minutes ago...huh, I must have been dreaming, then. That was one vivid dream."

"Looks like I see him pulling up now, Derrick. Are you sure you're feeling fine now?" Derrick pocketed his cell phone, when he saw his SP open and the green light shining on the side. He glanced at the screen, and saw Red, standing in the corridors of S.S. Anne. He shoved down yet another wave of nausea, tapping the START button and quickly saving his game before closing and pocketing that as well.

"Yeah...I'll be fine."

Chapter 4 - Divine Intervention

Derrick hurried after Red as the trainer began to once again make his way across the bridge.

"Wait a minute!" he shouted, slowing as Red stopped abruptly in place, similar to how he remembered the pixel version of the trainer would stop. "How did you know my name? I never told it to you." Red made the gentlest of gestures in shrugging his shoulders, his eyes dead in front of him. As Derrick followed his gaze, he saw people lined up on the edges of the bridge, waiting for passersby to battle.

Should we begin crossing the bridge?


"What do you mean, should we? Isn't...that where you're going?"

I don't know...is it?


"Well, I mean, yeah!" he exclaimed, pointing beyond the bridge toward a patch of trees obscuring a house in the distance. "That's Bill's house. You'll eventually need to visit him to get S.S. Anne tickets and get the Cut HM, but you'll want to heal your Pokemon before crossing this bridge, because after the 5 trainers and a Team Rocket member to defeat, you have another variety of trainers waiting." At that, Red's eyes suddenly widened. He hesitated, before turning another static 90 degrees to face the boy.

...You're God.


Derrick stared at him blankly. "Wait, what?"

Are you certain that what you said about this bridge and the route that follows it are true?


"Well...yeah. I mean, I know this place. You have to get the ship tickets from Bill so you can get on the S.S. Anne in Vermillion City and get the Cut HM to be able to take on Lt. Surge for your third gym badge." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck as Red's eyes dropped to the wood of the bridge beneath them for a moment. "W-What'd I say?"

If what you say is actually true, Derrick...then let's go.


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"Your Pokemon are really powerful, Red," piped Derrick, partially fishing for a topic as he saw the trainer emerge from the house beyond Nugget Bridge. He had hastily left Bill's laboratory when he saw the Pokemon creation he had made of himself. Red flashed a small ticket in his hands before dismounting his bag from his back and nestling the item inside of it.

Are you going to be okay?


"Yeah...the less realistic version's not as unnerving..." he muttered beneath his breath.

Well...I got the tickets from the man named Bill, like you said.



"Alright, good. Now we can take the long way to Vermillion City and work on your third gym badge, unless of course you haven't defeated Misty yet."

...No, I have the Cascade Badge...why must we take the long way?


"Because guards won't let you through the threshold between cities right now. You need to make them not thirsty anymore." Derrick began off toward the bridge, looking behind him to see Red standing still, looking at him. "Don't worry, I'll show you the way!" Still, Red didn't move. Derrick stopped, turning back to him."What's wrong?"

You're God.


"What!? What are you talking about?"

You act as though you just dropped into this city, yet you know where everything seems to be, who everyone seems to be, and everything that I need to be doing to become a Pokemon Master...you know everything. You even know who I am. You're God.

Derrick furrowed his eyebrows, processing what had just been said to him. He wasn't sure what to say. In a way, he supposed he could consider himself Red's controller, but the name of God? "I don't know how he'll react if I tell him what happened...maybe I shouldn't." He found Red suddenly joining his side, looking at him intently.

You were showing me the way to the next city...?


"...Y-Yeah, I was. Let's go."