Ash rested a hand on Ming's shoulder. "Your Sandshrew's trained really well. This isn't its fault."
"…Yeah." Ming's reply was weak.
He plainly didn't believe it yet.
"Under normal circumstances," Brock added quietly, "your Sandshrew should absolutely be able to earn the first three badges."
"This isn't your failure, Ming. This is Lt. Surge breaking the rules."
"Huh?" Ming knew Brock was trying to comfort him, but the words still didn't properly sink in.
"You can trust him," Misty said, stepping in. "He's a very capable former Gym trainer from Pewter City."
No need to spell out that he'd also been the Gym Leader himself.
He didn't like boasting.
"Huh?!" That got through to Ming a lot more effectively.
Right then, Nurse Joy reappeared at the lobby doors.
"This Sandshrew is in the worst condition of all of them," she said, eyes tightening as she looked at Ming's Pokémon.
"You, come with me first."
With everyone watching, she brought Ming straight past the line and into the emergency room.
There were now two treatment tracks working in parallel—one for lighter injuries, one for critical cases.
"See you…" Ming still managed a polite farewell before disappearing behind the doors with his partner in his arms.
Ash watched him go, silent for a few moments.
He turned.
All across the Center lobby, trainers and Pokémon lay slumped in chairs, leaned against walls, or sat on the floor. Burn marks. Bandages. Bruises. Hollow eyes.
A forest of quiet pain.
Every one of them carried injuries.
Every one of them had failed to take their badge.
"Let's hope he can get through this," Brock murmured.
"Poor guy…" Misty frowned. "Why does Lt. Surge have to be this brutal?"
"Let's check in first," Ash said at last, cutting through the heavy air.
He tugged his cap brim down, but his eyes were very clear. "We'll stay here for today."
They made their way through the lobby, the smell of disinfectant mixed with a faint, lingering hint of burned fur and skin.
The Center had more medical staff than just Nurse Joy; she was the chief, but not the only one on the front line. Assistants in pink uniforms dashed between rooms, arms full of freshly sterilized instruments or stacks of charts.
Check-in took a while in the noisy chaos, but eventually they were assigned a temporary room.
Once they'd dropped their bags, Ash headed straight for the room's videophone terminal.
First, he dialed home.
The screen flickered, then showed the familiar interior of his house in Pallet Town.
Delia's gentle face appeared, full of relief the moment she saw him.
"Ash! I'm so glad to see you safely in Vermilion City!" Delia's voice always seemed to carry a kind of warmth that loosened the knot in his chest. "How was the road? Are you eating properly? How's Pikachu doing?"
"We're all doing fine, Mom." Ash smiled, keeping his tone light.
He talked briefly about the journey: some fun bits, some small troubles, carefully trimming out anything that would make her lose sleep.
Especially the part about meeting a giant Dragonite.
There was no point telling her that.
It'd do nothing besides multiply her worries.
Report the good, hide the terrifying—that was enough.
"Oh, right, Mom," he added, as if suddenly remembering. "On the way, we ran into Professor Bill. We stayed at his lighthouse for a few nights and learned a bunch of stuff."
"My, with that Professor Bill?" Delia's eyes lit up. "That's quite the experience."
"Make sure you thank him properly for taking care of you."
Delia Ketchum had once been a student of Professor Oak herself, and a very talented one.
If she hadn't chosen to come home and inherit the family restaurant—a famous place in its own right—she might have become a researcher too.
After a warm but carefully edited call with his mother, Ash cut the line and immediately dialed another number.
The background that popped up this time was stacks of books and equipment.
Professor Oak sat hunched in front of the screen, flipping through data with one hand and slurping instant noodles with the other.
The moment he saw Ash, he put the chopsticks down, eyes brightening.
"Oh! Ash!"
"You made it to Vermilion already?"
"Well? That guy Bill didn't spend the whole time bragging about his latest discovery, did he?"
Very clearly, Oak already knew about the giant Dragonite incident.
"Yes, Professor." Ash's face grew serious. "We saw it."
"I still can't believe it."
"When I saw that Dragonite…"
"I finally understood how incredible the Pokémon world really is."
Just thinking of that size made his scalp prickle.
A giant shadow like that…
If a director yelled "Cue Ultraman!" he wouldn't even be surprised.
Close contact with a creature that huge—it wasn't something you forgot.
Not in this lifetime.
Oak straightened in his seat, the casual look wiped from his face.
"You've grown… Ash."
Up until now, he'd always found the boy just a bit too flippant—an odd, floating light-heartedness that didn't fit the weight of a trainer's path.
But that feeling was gone now.
"I don't know if you can completely understand how I felt…" Ash said slowly. "We were right outside the lighthouse."
"The giant Dragonite answered Professor Bill's call."
He succinctly described what had happened: the overwhelming presence, the peaceful yet ancient voice in their minds, the puzzle of that "neither alive nor dead" answer.
Oak listened with rapt attention.
He forgot his noodles entirely.
Every now and then he'd interject with questions or little exclamations, pen flying over a notebook.
By the time Ash finished, the noodles had gone cold and soggy.
"…All these years, and they finally paid off." Oak exhaled, half a sigh, half a laugh.
"That blockhead Bill… he actually did it."
"Direct contact with a being on that level…"
"And 'neither alive nor dead'… I imagine Misty must be happy."
He looked up sharply, gaze sudden and intense.
"Ash, you just witnessed history."
"Has Bill sent me the detailed data yet?"
"No, he's probably still analyzing… I'll have to prod him!"
He was drifting into excited muttering now, half to himself, half to Ash.
Ash chuckled helplessly and waited for him to calm down a fraction.
Then he shifted gears.
"Professor, Vermilion City… something's off here."
He described the scene at the Pokémon Center—the long line, the severity of the injuries, Lt. Surge personally taking challenge after challenge, and the way he was hammering rookies with Raichu.
By the time he finished, the excitement in Oak's expression had receded, his brows drawn together.
"That guy Surge…" he muttered. "He's always been the hardline type, but this is pushing it."
"Is he under unusual pressure? Or…"
He trailed off, then shifted tack.
"Since you're already in Vermilion, go pay a visit to Professor Sakuragi."
"He's my student—he's in charge of the research lab there. He'll have a better grasp of the local situation."
Oak had students all over the region.
More than a few had already reached "Professor" level themselves.
"Professor Sakuragi…" Ash repeated, committing the name to memory.
"That's right." Oak nodded. "He's an excellent researcher, and a decent man."
"His lab is still fairly new, though. He's probably buried in work… he doesn't have time to manage every little thing."
"Tell him I sent you. He'll be happy to see you."
"He may be able to give you some advice on how to deal with Lt. Surge."
When the call finally ended, Ash slumped back in his chair and let out a long breath.
Outside the window, the neon lights of Vermilion were flicking on one by one, turning the industrial port into a mesh of shadows and color.
Beneath it all, currents were moving.
"Professor Sakuragi, huh…" he murmured.
Pikachu hopped up onto the desk and nudged his hand with a tiny paw.
"Pika pi?" (So what now?)
Ash blinked, then smiled and ruffled his partner's head.
A sharp glint flashed at the corner of his mouth.
"What else can we do?"
"We're not turning tail and running just because things look bad."
"We rest tonight."
"Tomorrow, we go pay Professor Sakuragi a visit."
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