After pulling Leaf and Misty away from Bill, he gasped for breath, exhausted.
"Anything is fine, but why a Clefairy?! I've suffered enough!"
"Why do you seem upset about that? Clefairy is cute!" Brock patted Bill on the shoulder, asking.
"Yeah! Because it's cute, the girls squeezed me to death, I almost died!" Bill cried in despair.
"..."
Red looked around and noticed two machines connected to each other.
"Alright, I want to turn back into a human, help me out here!"
"Sure thing," Brock agreed.
Bill then went inside the machine, reminding Brock of a few things so he could press the buttons correctly.
When the machine lit up and then shut down, the door opened to reveal a young man with brown hair.
"You're... younger than I thought," Leaf and Misty said in surprise, looking at Bill.
"I'm 23, what did you expect? Anyway, thanks for helping me."
He then looked over at Red.
"You're Red, right?"
"...?"
"Oh, Blue mentioned you. He said you're both his rival and close friend, which made me quite curious!"
"..."
"Quieter than I thought. Alright, let me get something for you guys."
Bill went to his desk, took something out of a drawer, and handed it to each of them.
"What is this?" Misty and Brock asked curiously.
"A new wristwatch I made, try turning it on."
Hearing that, everyone turned it on and saw many surprising functions.
But the most special feature was being able to switch Pokémon in the PC!
"This is amazing! It must be worth a lot of money!" Leaf's eyes lit up.
'Is money all you care about?' Red looked at Leaf and thought.
"This is just a prototype, it's missing a few functions that should be there," Bill scratched his head.
[It's quite convenient. If it were sold on the system's Pokéshop, the price would definitely be higher than a lot of things.]
The system appeared in the form of Rotom.
"..."
[What are you thinking?! No matter how cool it is, its price would still be lower than a Mega Stone!]
Brock stared at Bill for a while before realizing,
"Wait, are you the one who created the Pokémon storage system on the PC?! I can't believe I'm meeting you here!"
"Oh? Blue didn't introduce me to you all?"
"He did, but he only briefly mentioned you!" Misty looked at Bill with admiration.
Meeting the person who created the Pokémon storage system was like meeting the person who invented the lightbulb. Thanks to this system, Bill was known across all regions as a genius.
That's why, despite Kanto not having many standout features compared to other regions, it was home to many extraordinary talents.
[So he's that guy?! I really want to ask for his autograph!] the system said excitedly.
"Haha... thanks to creating that, my life has been incredibly stressful, from gold-digging girlfriends to being chased by the media everywhere... haha..."
...he didn't seem to enjoy that at all.
"Enough of the sad stuff! I haven't given you this yet!"
Bill pulled out four tickets and handed them to the group.
"S.S. tickets?"
"Yes! They invited me and sent me four tickets! I wonder who thought it was a good idea to send four tickets to someone who lives alone?" (Author)
"Why are you giving us these tickets? I heard that cruise ship is pretty famous, right?"
"Exactly, but I don't like going to crowded places, especially since being chased by the media has already worn me out..."
"So, I'm giving them to you! Consider it a bonus gift!"
...You're really kind. I already hate that gold-digging girlfriend of yours.
Brock and Misty stayed to chat with Bill, but Red and Leaf, feeling a bit bored, decided to say goodbye and head outside...
...only to see a group of players attacking someone.
"YOU THINK I'LL JOIN TEAM ROCKET AFTER WHAT YOU DID?! POKÉMON ARE FRIENDS, NOT TOOLS!!!"
"SORYUKEN!!!"
"KAMEHAME HAAA!!!"
"MUDA MUDA MUDA!!"
"STOP, YOU LITTLE DEMONS!! I SURRENDER, PLEASE DON'T HIT ME ANYMORE!!!" The man clutched his head, lying on the ground in pain, crying miserably.
Seeing this, Red walked over to intervene, causing a few players to get upset.
"What are you doing?! That guy is from Team Rocket! Villains should be beaten!"
"Exactly!"
Red looked over at the Team Rocket member.
"Yes, I'm with Team Rocket, but I'm not a bad guy! I swear!"
"Don't trust that jerk! He just tried to recruit us into Team Rocket!" A player pointed at him and spat on him.
"Yeah, that's right!" Another player added, along with their Metapod.
"..."
"What's going on, Red?" Leaf asked.
"..."
"TEAM ROCKET?! THEN KICK HIM INTO THE SEA!!"
...She was still holding a grudge from Mount Moon.
"See?! NP- I mean, the girl next to you supports it, why not just kick him out of here?" The players urged.
"..." Red began to sweat.
He wasn't protecting Team Rocket, but at the moment, he didn't know if this guy was guilty of anything.
He would never hit someone without knowing their crime. If they were innocent, he'd regret it!
Just as he thought that, the Rocket member dropped several Poké Balls.
"..."
The players looked at the Poké Balls, then at the Rocket member.
"..."
The Rocket member's mouth hung open, cursing his bad luck.
"..."
Red remained silent, but his expression became even colder than before.
Perhaps the small bit of faith in the idea that "not all Rocket members are bad" had completely evaporated.
After all, joining Team Rocket had already made them worse than many other villains.
"Th-This is a misunderstanding! I was going to return these to their rightful owners!"
...There would be no forgiveness!
Red grabbed Metapod (player: ...huh?) and swung it hard into the Rocket member's face.
...Huh?
"UGAAHHHH, STOP, STOP!!!"
"RED, RED!! STOP! HE'S BLEEDING!!"
"KEEP HITTING HIM!!! MAKE SURE HE LEARNS HIS LESSON!!"
"MY POKÉMON??!!?"
PIKA PIKA!? (RED?!)
After a while, the Rocket member's face was swollen, bruised, and bloodied, while the player who own Metapod were crying his hearts out as he saw Metapod looking as if it had just survived a war.
Leaf and Pikachu were practically frozen, staring at what was happening.
After informing Officer Jenny nearby, Red noticed Leaf and Pikachu looking at him in disbelief.
"Red... I'm going to have to keep you away from them!!!"
PIKA PIKA!! (STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!)
"...?"
What? Stay away from whom? I've been acting normal, haven't I? (No.)
Meanwhile, the players were looking at Red, tears in their eyes.
"He's just like us."
"Maybe from now on, we should call him by his real name instead of NPC."
"Yeah."
The players' respect for Red had increased!
*****
Bruh
It turns out the height measurement at school was wrong, Im not 1.5m tall
I'm only 1.38m tall... (4 feet 6 inches)
AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I cant accept this shit
I will not accept this FUCKING STUPID SHIT
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHWJCJWLCIMSLRNDX