Prologue
They say a cat has nine lives.
They say, with each life passed, the cat grows out a new tail.
He never really understood why, or who thought up of this. He just thought that it was stupid, a tall tale that never needed his attention.
In the first place, cats in his reality were of many different, different types. Meowth, Persians, Skitty, Purrloin. In fact, none of them had nine lives. None of them grow out any tails. And the one Pokemon that had nine tails, did not have nine lives.
It was dumb story. A dumb lie.
Or that was what he thought.
As he found himself staring down, at the colorful spots dashing back and forth on the grey concrete road, he realized how small everything looked like. He was here, looking over the vast city. He felt huge, infinite, superior, but he knew such thoughts were just lies.
He was small. Tiny. Compared to all those little cars and metal buildings surrounding him.
Honking and shouting permeated the air, indefinitely suffocating him as his eyes never bothered to blink. He thought he should turn back, climb over the railing, wear his shoes, and leave. Pretend nothing happened. Pretend he never tried to commit suicide.
But pretending to pretend, was also a lie.
He was Red.
For all his thirty-four years worth of life, he climbed to the peak, before he was pushed down again, and again, and again, by children much younger than himself. He was one of the best in his prime, no, he was the best.
But even that faded into a lie.
The League abandoned him. No one took notice of him. His Pokemon were taken into custody by the League. No one cared that he was still there. His Pokedex was stolen, all the glory recorded within snatched away. No one bothered that he suffered. His trainer license was stripped off. No one stood up for him.
The last straw came when she died.
He felt used. Like a puppet once controlled by strings. And now someone seemed to cut off those strings, telling him he was no longer significant.
A gust of wind blew at his back, forcing him to lose his balance, and he fell.
See, even nature wanted him gone.
His vision went red. He didn't know why, but he was quite sure this was his curse. His red eyes that had stayed with him for thirty-four years closed, as Red waited for the impact to come.
He was quite sure what he wanted.
He wanted to end his lie.
That was all.