Chapter Three: City of Violet
After finally getting through the tall grass, Gold silently made his way to Professor Elm's lab. Honestly, he just wanted to go back home and collapse into tears that desperately wanted to be let loose, but his obligation was stronger so he pushed the door open and went inside. He walked up to the professor who was talking with a policeman. The policeman noticed him almost right away and turned to him. "Who are you?" He demanded. Without letting the dark haired teen speak, he continued, "We are investigating the case of the missing Pokemon here..." He puffed his chest proudly, "Rule number one! "Whoever did it will come back to the site."" While Gold mentally deadpanned, the policeman stopped short, staring at him, "Oh my...so you must be...the one who did it?"
Gold opened his mouth to deny when Lyra came running in. He grimaced, Arceus, that girl was annoying. The brunette looked defensively at the policeman, "Hold on a second! He has nothing to do with it! I saw it. There was a red-haired boy looking into the building!" Gold tensed up something the policeman noticed right away, "What? You saw a boy like that?" Mutely, Gold nodded slowly. "He must be the one who did it... Did you happen to get his name?" The policeman asked. It didn't take long for the teen to speak. "...Platinum." Gold lied. Like hell he was going to tell on Silver! Even if the boy had be cruel, he'd still cover for him. "I see! So Platinum was his name. Thanks for helping my investigation! My next assignment is to search for this red-haired individual." The policeman tipped his hat to the other three and left briskly.
"Gold! I'm glad they understand you are innocent." Lyra cooed making Gold want to smack something. "See you later!" She said cheerfully before scampering out. Gold rolled his eyes and turned to the professor who seemed still a little nerve-wracked. Gold this is terrible..." Gold nodded slightly as Elm collected his thoughts. "Oh, yes, what was Mr. Pokemon's big discovery?" He asked. Gold silently held out the pokemon egg causing Elm to look startled, grasping the egg, "Huh? This is an...Egg, isn't it? This Egg may be something I've never seen...still it's just an Egg." He shook his head with a wry smile, "Mr. Pokemon is always fascinated by Eggs. Well, since he gave it to us, we might as well find out what secret it holds. I'll keep it for awhile to find out about Egg."
"There's more Professor." Gold said quietly. He held out his pokedex, "Professor Oak gave this to me." Elm's eyes widened, "What? Professor Oak gave you a pokedex? Gold, is that true? Th-that's incredible!" He gaped. "He is superb at seeing the potential of people as Trainers." He grinned, "Wow, Gold. I knew you were a little different. Things are going to be fun!" Gold let a small grin flicker across his face. "Your Pokemon seem to really like you, so why don't you...take the Pokemon Gym Challenge? If you manage to defeat all the Gym Leaders, you'll eventually challenge the Pokemon League Champion!" Elm paused. "Or not! Ha ha ha! Becoming the Champion is not all that easy, but you can certainly challenge Violent City's Gym." Gold nodded, "I planned on that." "...Gold. Challenging the Gyms scattered around will be a long journey. Before you leave, make sure you talk to your mother." Elm advised. Gold nodded again before bidding farewell and turning to leave.
"By the way, Gold." Elm called out. Gold turned around curiously, "Hm?" "Did something happen? You seem down..." The professor said in concern. Gold dropped his gaze, "...It's nothing, professor. Just a little run in with the past." He turned around again and left, leaving a bewildered Professor Elm behind.
()()()()()()
Gold soon found himself back on the route to Violet City. He passed Dark Cave, resisting the urge to check it out. 1) He didn't have the Technical Machine for Flash and 2) even if he did, he needed the gym badge from the city before he could use it. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he headed through the entrance of the city, marveling at the old yet modern look of it. Recalling Cynder to his pokeball, Gold headed into the Pokemon Center to let his team, which now consisted of Cynder, Pidge (female pidgey), and Bells (female Bellsprout) heal up from their training. He overheard some of the trainers talking about how the leader in the Bellsprout Tower held the HM Flash. The dark haired boy decided that he would head there and get the HM first before he battled the Gym Leader. Being handed back his pokeballs, he turned around and left with a small smile. Cynder, who had been released again, followed his trainer, squeaking happily.
As they walked towards the tower, Gold could have sworn he saw another red flash and that sent a bunch of Beautiflies off in his stomach. 'Is Silver here too?' He felt torn. On one hand, he really wanted to see his friend again. On the other hand he didn't think he was ready to face the once-warm-turned-cold boy again. He tugged on his hat, a small frown of determination on his face. Cold or not, he was going to face Silver and find out just what the hell happened.
