Vermilion City Pokémon Center
The usually spacious Pokémon Center was now packed to the brim.
A crowd of trainers filled the lobby, waiting anxiously.
"What's going on? Why are there so many people?"
Nozomi blinked at the sight before him. If it weren't for Nurse Joy standing at the counter, calmly processing a trainer's registration, he might've thought he'd walked into the wrong building.
Despite the crowd, the line itself wasn't long. Before long, it was Nozomi's turn.
"Hello there! What service do you need today?"
Nurse Joy's voice carried its usual gentle, soothing tone — the kind that could heal even human fatigue.
"Pokémon treatment, please."
Nozomi handed over the Poké Ball containing his Ivysaur.
"Alright."
Nurse Joy accepted the Poké Ball and placed it into the scanning machine. But moments later, her expression hardened — her eyes narrowing in sudden anger.
"This is outrageous!"
"Huh? What is?"
Nozomi was momentarily stunned. Outrageous? What was outrageous?
"Oh—my apologies! I didn't mean you," Nurse Joy said quickly, realizing her outburst had startled him. "I was talking about Lt. Surge, the Vermilion Gym Leader. Your Pokémon was injured by him too, wasn't it?"
"...What?"
Nozomi froze. His Pokémon, injured by Lt. Surge? He had just arrived in Vermilion City!
Nurse Joy caught his puzzled expression and flushed in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were one of the trainers who recently challenged the Gym and lost to Mr. Surge."
"..."
Nozomi resisted the urge to sigh. I haven't even fought him yet, and you're already cursing me to lose?
Still, she clearly hadn't meant anything by it, so he let it go.
"I know who Lt. Surge is," Nozomi said mildly. "But what makes you think he was the one who injured my Pokémon?"
Lt. Surge — the Gym Leader of Vermilion City — specialized in Electric-type Pokémon. His signature partners were Raichu, Electrode, Magneton, and Electabuzz.
He was also Nozomi's next intended opponent.
As Nurse Joy arranged for Ivysaur's treatment and a room in the recovery ward, she explained:
"Here's the situation: Recently, a large number of trainers have come to Vermilion City to challenge the Gym. Normally, Gym Leaders hold back against rookie trainers so as not to injure their Pokémon too badly.
"But for some reason, Mr. Surge has been fighting at full strength lately — seriously injuring the Pokémon of many new trainers. Just today alone, we've already had seven or eight brought in!"
She glanced at Nozomi's Poké Ball again.
"Your Pokémon's injuries looked similar, so I assumed you were one of his defeated challengers. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
Nozomi waved off the apology. But her words echoed in his mind.
"Lt. Surge seriously injured rookie trainers' Pokémon?"
He vaguely remembered seeing something similar in the anime before he crossed over — but this was worse. Much worse.
His eyes scanned the crowded lobby — at least twenty or thirty trainers were waiting, each with worry etched across their faces.
"Are all of these trainers...?"
"Most of them, yes," Nurse Joy replied, her voice heavy. "Some of their Pokémon are still in critical condition. It's... just too much."
Anger and distress flashed in her eyes.
A Gym Leader was supposed to test and guide new trainers — not destroy their confidence and leave their Pokémon broken.
"Something's not right here," Nozomi murmured, frowning.
In the anime, Lt. Surge was arrogant and overbearing, sure. But living in this world, Nozomi had learned to look beyond surface-level personalities.
A Gym Leader acting like this — constantly injuring challengers' Pokémon — was simply abnormal.
If Surge kept this up, no one would dare challenge Vermilion Gym anymore.
And the Pokémon League would never allow such behavior to continue unchecked.
Gym Leaders were meant to nurture trainers, not crush them. A single complaint to the League would bring investigators to Surge's doorstep.
Lt. Surge had been a Gym Leader for years — he couldn't possibly be that reckless.
Which meant... something deeper was at play.
"Lt. Surge has been a Gym Leader for quite a while, right? Did this start recently?"
Nurse Joy thought for a moment.
"He's held the position for... maybe five or six years now? Everything was fine before. This change only began recently."
Her answer made Nozomi's suspicions grow stronger.
Something had definitely happened to Lt. Surge.
While he was pondering, Nurse Joy hesitated — her lips parting slightly before she spoke again.
"Um... Are you planning to challenge Vermilion Gym yourself?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?" Nozomi replied, sensing there was more to it.
"Could I trouble you with a small favor?" she asked earnestly. "When you face Mr. Surge, could you please... ask him to stop going so hard on the challengers? So many Pokémon have been injured that we're running out of staff to treat them."
Her eyes pleaded with genuine concern.
"We're completely overwhelmed. If this continues, the Pokémon Center won't have enough hands to handle all the wounded."
"I understand," Nozomi nodded. "When I go to challenge him, I'll talk to him."
"Thank you — on behalf of the Vermilion City Pokémon Center."
"Think nothing of it," Nozomi said lightly. "Please take care of my Ivysaur."
He had only said it in passing — but truthfully, he'd already intended to investigate. Something about Lt. Surge's sudden change of temperament needed an explanation.
And then—
[Random Quest Issued: Investigate the cause behind Lt. Surge's behavior.]
Reward: 1 Silver-tier Lottery Draw
A familiar mechanical voice echoed in Nozomi's mind.
"A silver-tier reward?" he mused, eyes narrowing. "Looks like this might be more complicated than it seems."
The system never handed out silver-tier rewards for something simple.
As he recalled, he still had an unused bronze-tier lottery draw waiting.
Nozomi smiled faintly.
"Interesting... Guess it's time to see what's really going on with Lt. Surge."