Red's POV

I dialed Oak's number on the PokeCentre PC. The bell rang a few times and the call was answered.

"Red ! I need you to know something. Something I wasn't able to tell Bugsy." Said Professor, freaking out.

"Professor, you alright ?" I asked. "What happened ?"

"Goldenrod City, there is a problem. 20 days ago, a wave of dark matter spread itself over Goldenrod City." Said Professor Oak.

"Dark matter ?" I asked.

"And not even cold, it was hot dark matter. I'm scared but Red, I must ask this, what date is it ?" Asked Professor Oak.

"Wait, you said 20 days ago." I said. "It's 20th April."

"This is exact thing I was afraid of. Red, get out of Goldenrod City as soon as possible. Here, it is May 7." Said Oak.

"How is that even possible. What are you talking about ?" I asked. "Time travel ? Again ?"

"See. The dark matter was limited, luckily, because of that it just spread across that city. Now, Goldenrod's time has slowed down. That means a week in Goldenrod is 3 months in the outside world." Said Oak. "Get out of there. Enough talking. I've spent an hour explaining this to you. Bye."

Professor hung up the phone.

Did he just say, an hour ? - I questioned myself. It was just 10 minutes. We need to leave as soon as possible.

I hurried back to the Goldenrod Gym. This can't be happening. I felt my heart pounding faster than ever. I recalled all the negative things.

I was now 2nd in Indigo League. Articuno was with Team Rocket. And the last 12 hours were actually 20 days. I've been wasting that much time unknowingly.

I had to inform everyone, wait, what happens to people living in Goldenrod City. Should I inform them too ? Obviously, I should.

"Guys!" I shouted soon after I entered the Gym. Lyra was battling against Whitney.

Bugsy and Yellow turned to me. "Something is wrong. We gotta get outta here."

"What?" Asked Bugsy, curious.

"Oak said that some black matter is above this city that is slowing down the time."

"Black matter?" Asked Bugsy. "Oh, you mean dark matter. Wait, it's above the city? Crap."

"Am I missing something?" Asked Yellow.

"See." Said Bugsy. "If it's cold dark matter then it's a problem, cause it'll take time to go. Hot dark matter is fine, it'll be gone in the next 24 hours."

"Okay. But the problem is, twenty days have passed in the outside world."

"Twenty?" Coughed Bugsy. "Oh god. By the time dark matter disappears, this city would be 31 days behind the outside world."

"Should we tell this to other people ?" Asked Yellow.

"I don't think so." Said Bugsy. "Where are these 1 million people going to go ? It's just a matter of 24 hours."

"You gotta be kidding. Right ?" I argued. "We are talking about a whole month over here."

"You know we're wasting time right now." Said Bugsy. "One hour in this city is one and a half day."

"I think Bugsy is right. We don't know what will happen if we tell everyone that they'll lose a month if they don't go out." Said Yellow. " And I don't think they will believe us."

"Absolutely." Said Bugsy. "That's what I'm saying."

I couldn't say anything, Bugsy and Yellow both had the same perspective. They thought it would be chaotic. I had no option but to agree, just a matter of 24 hours and everything would be fine.

"Mareep, use Charge." Said Lyra. Mareep's wool started producing electricity.

"Miltank, Rollout."

Miltank rolled towards Mareep, suddenly Mareep projected a ball of lightning towards Miltank.

Miltank was electrocuted.

Mareep glowed and flashed blue. She grew in size and changed her color to pink. Her body stretched, making her taller. In a matter of seconds, she was something else.

Lyra pointed her Pokedex towards her evolved Mareep.

"Flaaffy, a Wool Pokémon. As a result of storing too much electricity, it developed patches where even downy wool won't grow."

"A Flaaffy. Now someone's getting stronger day by day." Said Bugsy, patting Lyra on her bag as he complimented.

"And you said you wanted to quit. Huh." I said. "Now hurry we gotta get out of this city."

"But why-" Asked Lyra, while putting her TM and badge inside her bag.

"Never mind." Said Bugsy, walking towards the door. "I'm going, anyone who wants to come can come."

Bugsy walked outside of the Gym along with Yellow without the hesitation of leaving us behind.

"Uh." I mused. "Like he said." I started to walk out. Lyra followed, just as I thought.

I pushed open the door and walked outside. Bugsy and Yellow were busy in their chit-chat. I walked past them and said, "Hurry up", while I started to run towards Route 35.

"Let's Go, Marill." Called Lyra. Marill hopped and climbed her shoulder, then fixed Lyra's hat.

Bugsy and Yellow later realised that we needed to exit the city, so they started to follow. Typical Bugsy and Yellow.

Route 35 felt better. It was short Route with an S-curve that could be clearly seen, leading to the gate of the National Park. It felt better only because we were not in Goldenrod City.

Moreover, according to Bugsy's calculations, it was May 5 today. Let's just look at the positive side, time was no longer slow.

"Now we are free!" Bugsy shouted.

Marill jumped down Lyra's shoulder and started to run in wild grass. "Marill." Squeked Marill.

"At least someone's enjoying." Complained Lyra. "I hate being a trainer."

"I think I should go." Said Yellow. "I don't have much to do with you guys to be honest. I don't even have Orchid now."

"Don't talk that way. You sure have other Pokemon. You're a bug catcher. Bug types are-", said Bugsy, placing his hand gently on Yellow's shoulder. "Amazing."

Yellow blushed. "I have a Venonat, a Paras and a Metapod. Ah, I evolved the Caterpie that Red helped me catch."

Bugsy stared at me. "For how long have you known Red ?"

"Last year, September. But I still don't know how to battle."

Bugsy walked towards the tall wild grass. "Okay, let's teach you how to battle then."

"What-" Yellow was eager to know what Bugsy was upto.

"Send out your Pokemon." Bugsy insisted. "Let's battle."

"Uh, alright." Yellow mumbled. "Go Metapod."

"I have a perfect challenge for this." Said Bugsy, he grabbed his Pokeball and tossed it on the ground. "I choose, Metapod."

The two Metapods stood face to face with nothing but anger on their faces. I thought they'll kill each other with that much anger.

Then Bugsy attacked first. "Metapod!" Bugsy ordered. "Use Harden."

The move was no use, it just increased Metapod's defense but did nothing to lower Yellow's Metapod's health.

Yellow was certain of which move she was going to use. "Metapod. Use Harden."

"Wait, what" I said. "Attack, both of you."

"I can't, Metapod just knows how to Tackle." Explained Bugsy, rubbing his hands.

"Uh, same." Yellow giggled. "I evolved him using Exp share."

Ugh. I'm outta here." I said. "Wait, where's Lyra." I looked around, just to notice Lyra playing with Marill in the tall grass.

Bugsy face palmed. "And you say this battle was weird."

I was tired. I could've used some sleep at the moment. Is this because of the dark matter thingy ? Only because I skipped 20 days, does this mean I needed to sleep accordingly ? No. I was not going to sleep that amount of time. Obviously, I was just tired after the battle against Team Rocket and staying up all night. Others must be feeling the same, they looked tired after all, especially Yellow.

Yellow tied her open checked tiffany colored shirt from the bottom that she wore on her white cami. Her denim blue shorts had stained and her flip flops were muddy.

"Yellow ?" I said, looking at her as she turned to me and smiled. "If you want we could rest."

"No, no." She said, politely. "No need. Plus, National Park is just 2 kilometers from here. We can rest there."

National Park ? Is it supposed to be a place where people rest ? Sounds more like a place where people take their Pokemon for battles. Not a bad idea though.

"I thought I was teaching you how to battle." Bugsy cried.

"You were." Said Yellow. "But, both of us can't attack, so it's of no use."

Bugsy was hurt, I could feel it. He tried his best not to show his feelings and smiled unstoppably.

I looked at Lyra and saw another trainer walking right towards us. Meanwhile, Lyra ignored everything else and ran after her Marill, who surprisingly ran faster than my cousin.

"Yellow, you can battle her." Said Bugsy. "That trainer looks like an amateur."

The trainer stared at Bugsy as soon as she heard what Bugsy just said. Amateur. Nobody likes that word. I was sure the girl would've killed Bugsy but with Yellow standing right next to him, what could've went wrong.

"What did you call me ?" Asked the girl. She wore a proper bug catcher outfit. What Yellow used to wear before she started wearing casuals.

"Uh, nothing. I said Yellow here can defeat you in a Pokémon battle."

"Can she ?" Asked the girl, confident. "I'll be using my bug types. Show me what you got."

"Um, I'll be using bug types too." Yellow mumbled. "Go Venonat."

"Kantonian Pokémon ?" Asked the girl. "Fine. Go Ledian."

"Venonat, use Confusion." Yellow was so calm. She kind of reminded me of Sabrina.

"Stupid move." Grinned the girl. "Ledian, use Supersonic."

I hate to say this, but Venonat was confused. I wanted Yellow to win, and I believed that she could easily do that. Lyra joined us.

"Yellow! Yellow!" Cheered Lyra.

Yellow ignored everything, she changed her expressions from calm to serious and was now a part of the battle. Her eyes sparked like a twinkling star.

"Venonat, Secret Power."

"Ledian, finish this with a Swift." Said the girl. Swift attack never misses. Venonat fainted.

"Venonat ?" Yellow cried. "Come back. Go Metapod."

"It can't attack." Said Bugsy.

"Ledian, use Poisonpowder." Said the girl. The Poisonpowder filled the air surrounding Metapod.

Metapod was poisoned.

"Metapod, Harden." Yellow pointed her index finger towards Ledian with her arm outstretched.

Metapod's shed skin ability evaded the affects of poison.

"Ah, come on." Irated the girl. "Ledian, use Poisonpowder again."

Ledian was out of usable moves. It used Struggle. The attack was unexplainable. Also, it hit Metapod critically giving a recoil back to Ledian.

Ledian fainted.

"Ledian, come back. I can't believe I lost to you." Said the girl.

Suddenly, Metapod started to grow and flash blue in color. It's skin opened revealing a pair of wings. Metapod evolved into Butterfree.

"Whoa!" Exclaimed Bugsy. He put both his hands in his pocket.

"A Butterfree!" Lyra was surprised.

"Okay, then. I choose, Yanma." The girl sent out another bug type. This one could fly. But I knew I didn't have to watch the battle anymore, Yellow was about to win.

How did I know that ? Cliche story content I guess.

"Butterfree, use Gust!"

Easy peasy, Yanma fainted.

"The only thing I learned from the day was – Metapod didn't even know a single attack, still he managed to defeat the Ledian. That means if he knew how to attack, Ledian didn't even stand a chance. Sometimes, we need to accept our power and stop underestimating it. If we start something, we have to finish it. Be a Metapod." Lyra read the last page of my diary.

We sat inside a small restaurant, surprisingly air conditioned as we ate Shawarma.

"It's good." Yellow said, chewing the last bit in her plate.

"Just like I said." Bugsy smiled, he finished his glass of water. "Yum."

Lyra looked at my diary. "Do you write it everyday ?"

"Uh, yes. One page a day."

"That's so good. You've been writing it since ?"

"August 7, last year. And now it's finished. I need to buy a new one." I said, taking the diary back and unzipping my bag.

"No no no. Can I read it ?" Asked Lyra.

"Um. Okay." I said. "Just try not to ruin it."

"I won't" Lyra winked.

"This tastes so good." Bugsy said. Overjoyed after eating his favourite dish.