Short Stories

18. Game Corner

A/N I wrote this for my NaNoWriMo on November 10, but since I was only supposed write then, and not edit, I left it to bake here. And then I actually forgot about it. So here I am, on January 4, 2022, making an excuse for the delay. Hope you enjoy!

Note: Leccy is Sam's Pichu and Aqua is his Wartortle.

~*~*~*~*~10 November, 2021~*~*~*~*~

Walking in the Celadon City Game Corner, Sam could think of only three words to describe it: bright, noisy, colourful.

The room was huge and yellow, with dozens of columns of Arcade machines. People, irrespective of their age, were sitting in front of the  machines, eyes glued to the screen, their brows furrowed in concentration. The scene unsettled Sam, though he wasn't quite sure why. 

If almost everyone hadn't recommended Sam to come here ("If you go to Celadon City, it is a must to visit the Game Corner. Trust me, you don't want to miss it!" Evan had said) he would have already left the yellow room.

Leccy tugged at his hair, successfully plucking out a few strands

"Ouch! What was that for?" Sam growled.

She simply pointed towards the counter at the far end of the room where two ladies sat,  one was writing something while the other was explaining the rules to a bunch of beginners.

He strode towards them. "Excuse me." The lady with the curly brown hair and freckles looked up from her desk. The tag pinned on her dark blue shirt showed that her name was Rhonda. "I am new here, can you tell me the Rules and Codes?"

Rhonda nodded and bent down to pull something from underneath the desk—and she froze. Slowly, she straightened and pinned him with a stare. "What did you say was your name?"

Sam exchanged a glance with Aqua. "I didn't say. Everyone calls me Sam, though."

Rhonda's eys widened. "Sam, did you say?"

He nodded.

"Then you should have told me that earlier!" She quickly snatched a calander off the wall and tore December out of it. "Here you go. And don't show this to anyone, obviously. Do you have a fire type with you? Magby, rapidash, the like?"

"Um, yes. I have a magby, yes," he said as he took the torn piece of paper.

"Good. Memorise the paper and burn it afterwards. You see the poster to my left—no, don't look!—there's a button behind it; press it, but be discreet about it, and follow the corridor. Go to B2 and tell Zoff that—Hello sir, what's your name? how may I help you?" 

Rhonda smiled sweetly at the old man who had appeared out of nowhere, and was standing behind Sam.

"Garrison. I want to exchange the coin for prizes," he said shooting curious looks between Sam and Rhonda.

"Next door, please, Mr Garrison," Rhonda replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice as she gestured leftwards. She didn't say a word till the old man was out of hearing distance. She opened her mouth to tell Sam something—and quickly closed it as a kid, about 8 years old, scampered to them.

"I won the game, gimme my prize, you Slowpoke!"

Rhonda glared at the boy, "Next door, you slimy...er...smiley faced cutie."

"But the old man with the hat told me to come here."

"Well, he ain't running the business here, dear," she snapped, "I say it's next door. So go now."

"Liar, I know you are doing this to steal my prize!"

Rhonda let out an exasperated sigh, she shot Sam a look and nodded her head inconspiciously to her left. "I will not, sweety, just go and check next doors, yeah?" she said through gritted teeth. 

As Sam walked away from the squabble, he looked at the page. It was decorated with staryu, jinx, and delibird. A christmas cap on the D of December. 

He turned it around. Instead of the month of June, a small map of sorts was there. Looking harder, he found that it wasn't a map. There were five floor maps squeezed in the paper, which made it look, on first glance, like a large single map.

"What's this?" Sam whispered. Leccy looked at the map over his shoulder, and Aqua from his other shoulder. 

Leccy squeaked something to Aqua, who nodded in understanding.

"What? What is it?"

Aqua, as an answer, pulled the map out of Sam's hand and, after making sure nobody was watching, darted towards the poster Rhonda had mentioned. Leccy  jumped off Sam's shoulder and followed the Wartortle. After a moment's hesitation, Sam went after both of them.

The corner of Game Corner was surprisingly unappealing, even though nothing was wrong with it. Maybe it was because there was no arcade machine here, or because there was third wall that did not allow the gamers a view of the corner and made a small corridor of sorts. Whatever the reason, Sam hadn't noticed it. He had assumed that it was restroom or something.

He approached the poster. It was an advertisement of the Game Corner, promising rare pokemon, cash prizes and pokemon food as reward for winners.

Sam reached out and pulled the bottom of the poster up. Only the top was glued to the wall. Behind it was, as Rhonda had said, a small red button.

"Dare we push it?" Sam asked Leccy and Aqua.

They didn't answer. Instead, Leccy climbed up his shoulder and pushed the button.

Nothing happened.

A second later, Leccy's ears twitched. In another second, Sam could hear it too. A low rumbling. It carried on for a minute—and a door appeared beside the switch. Sam stood there, stock still, until Leccy pulled at his hair again. Tentatively, Sam reached out to the door—there was no handle—and gave it a push.

It opened without a sound.

"Holy Moltres!" Sam whispered, goosebumbs rising on his arms as he looked inside. Flights of stairs were leading to a cellar. Midway through, darkness engulfed the steps.

"A hidden basement!" he breathed.