Trials of a Champion - Kanto [Pokemon x OC]

20 The Road to Celadon

With our detour to Lavender Town finished, I cheered and raised my fist in the air, very excited for our next destination. "Look out, Celadon City! Rosa is on her," my stomach suddenly roared as loud as a Gyarados, "way..."

Paul tried extremely hard not to laugh. "Someone a little hungry?"

Embarrassed, I folded my arms and looked away. "We never ate lunch."

"Well, if we're talking about food, I could go for a quick bite myself."

Luxio and Pikachu made starved expressions; Cubone had gone inside his Poké Ball for a nap. "And the Pokémon need to eat, too." I checked the time on my Pokétch. "Why don't we stop here and eat something?"

"Actually, let's get through that gatehouse first." He pointed to a small building just up the road. Several guards posted outside the front entrance. "We can eat once we get past it."

The heavy number of guards made me a little uncomfortable.

"Why is it so heavily guarded?"

"I'm not sure, but it can't be for a good reason. That's why we should cross first and then get to a safe distance before taking a break."

"Agreed."

We proceeded towards the gatehouse. The guards at the entrance wore uniforms reminiscent those of minimum-wage security cops. They never acknowledged our approach, not even turning to look in our direction, though I still felt a little unsettled by their presence. Luxio continuously growled at them. Holding him and Pikachu in my arms, I stuck close to Paul as we went inside.

The gatehouse appeared bigger than we initially thought. It had two stories. Stairs to the upper level sat on our left. On the ground floor, a gate split the room in half, and on the opposing side of it, we found an open doorway leading out to the rest of Route 7.

A single guard sat at the counter. He kicked back in his chair, arms folded and a hat covering his face. "Is he...?" I muttered.

The man emitted a snore louder than a Snorlax.

"Yep. He's totally asleep," Paul replied.

The room divider had been locked, with no way to climb over or go around. We also found several ominous signs posted around it. "Official business only? No travelers to Celadon City?" I read. "Is this supposed to be a checkpoint of some sort?"

"These signs aren't very old, meaning this divider got put up recently. Weird."

I looked at him. "Well, how do we get through this? There's no room to climb over, and we can't go outside and around. There was a fence going for miles."

He shrugged. "We don't need to go around. We just go through like normal."

"How? It's locked, and I'm guessing only he can open it." I gestured at the snoring guard.

"Can I borrow Pikachu?"

He caught me by surprise with that one. "What do you need her for?"

"I just need her. Please?"

Before I could respond, Pikachu leaped onto Paul's head.

Being left with no other choice, I grinned. "As long as it's okay with her."

"Thanks."

Paul stepped over to the counter. Without waking the guard, he leaned across and searched around for the mechanism to open the gate. Once found, he used Pikachu to climb over and press the corresponding buttons, whose smaller body wouldn't make as much noise.

Suddenly, the gate opened up. "They did it," I said to Luxio, quickly rushing through.

Paul and Pikachu hurried to our side before the gate automatically shut. Pikachu jumped back onto my shoulder. "Nice espionage work, Pikachu." She brilliantly grinned at me. "And you too, Paul. Ever thought about being a spy?"