I adjusted my hat, looking at myself in the mirror. Convinced my hat is the straightest it would be, I gave my small body the once over. I was what most people called a 'youngster.' I wasn't completely sure I liked the term, but I put up with it. No one ever really bugged me too much with it. I slid down the railing, jumping from the second floor to the first floor, grabbed my jacket off of the coat rack, and made my way towards the door.
"Honey, where are you going? It's Saturday, there's no school!" My mother called after me. I gave her a quick glance, noticing her Saturday attire was already covered in dust from cleaning the house.
"I know mom, I'm going to visit Red." I said, giving a smirk. She returned a warm smile, and went back to her work. Red was always my hero from the day I moved into Pallet Town. He was everything a kid could dream to be. He was a tall, handsome twenty year old, who was one of the few in the entire world to be called a Pokemon Master. He lived in a house that was erected not a hundred feet from his mother's, with his pretty young fiancé. It was rumored for a while that he was going to marry the redhead gym leader from Cerulean, and while it was true they dated for a while, they were never bethrowed to be wed. Instead, however, Red hit it off with another gym leader, a girl named Sabrina, from the city of Saffron. They were a happy couple, both having put their pokemon training on hiatus for the time being. They couldn't bare to be away from one another, so Sabrina left the gym to her number one pupil for the time being, and Red no longer explored the regions of Johto and Hoenn.
A lot of people ask me how come I know so much about Red, but living across the street from him will do that. He always gave me a little brother attitude, and as humble as he was, he wasn't hesitant to brag from time to time. He was always quick with a story, whether it was about some amazing battle he had with some renown master, like Lance, or how he caught some incredibly rare pokemon. Professor Oak, who was slowing down much more in his old age, also clued me in on a lot of Red's more unknown past, right up to the first day the pokemon professor gave Red a pocket monster of his very own. I was quick to store away all of the information, soaking it all in with gleeful delight.
The late morning sun made the grass in my front yard shine with a healthy glow. I turned onto the dirt path and glanced over at Red's house. A large, shimmering blue bird circled in the sky, and took it's perch upon the roof. Articuno was one of the rare legendary pokemon that was hardly ever seen, never mind caught. Red was lucky enough to find the amazing bird in the Seafoam Island caves. He told me time and time again how hard the battle was, never having faced a very strong ice type before, and how he wasted almost twenty-seven ultraballs trying to capture the beast, but that's another tale entirely.
That's another thing I noticed about Red: he never kept his pokemon in their respective balls unless he was traveling with them. He loved to have them out and about, living side by side with him. He always enjoyed being able to spend time with his pokemon. I suppose it was his love for them that made him such an amazing trainer.
Another amazing trainer I met was Blue: Red's old rival. They had been competitors most of their young lives, and Blue was also one of the few to be crowned pokemon master. He, however, was beaten by Red. Blue was still one of the world's best trainers, though, and ended up taking residence in Veridian City, becoming the gym leader there, after the old gym leader, who I hear was actually a criminal turned strait by Red, retired. Blue kept a well balanced team, and had become much more intelligent and wise after his loss to Red, or so Professor Oak said. I had always wondered why Blue and Red were enemies for so long, but they were close friends now, and that's what mattered.
As I walked up to his house, the large bipedal cat creature at the door shot me a glare. Mewtwo was another one-of-a-kind pokemon Red had caught. Mewtwo was a mystery to me, and only Red really knew his past. I smiled wide at the tall monster, and he closed his eyes and turned his head away, too swelled with pride to admit he liked my company. I gave him pat on the arm, and walked past him through the door, only to be greeted by a monster who was about my height, wielding double bent spoons. Sabrina's Alakazam was a pokemon I liked, although I couldn't help but hate him sometimes for beating me in chess all the time. He didn't even need to use his psychic abilities, but that's another story. I gave him a wave, and he greeted me with a telekinetic hello.
I looked around a hallway corner to see Sabrina tidying up with her mind alone. I had always wanted to have her teach me how to tap into my psychic abilities, but between school for me, and marriage planning, housekeeping, and having a love-life for her, the time never really was found. I walked away from Sabrina, to the other side of the house, glancing at the pictures that almost wallpapered the walls. I saw pictures of Red with almost every gym leader I knew, from the teenage Brock, who Red was still very close to, to the bald-headed Blaine, who sported a pretty wacky hairpiece in the photo. I saw pictures of Red with different professors, with photographers in crazy machines, with the extended Elite Four, in all of their incarnations, and even with some cute, red-haired nurses. One of the most captivating pictures on the walls though, was the picture of Red, on one knee, slipping a ring on to Sabrina's finger. He had given the camera to his Chansey to take, which explained the pink blotch in the upper right-hand corner that the frame only partially concealed, but the picture still struck a string in my heart.
After some walk through the photographic history of Red's friendships, I found Red himself collapsed on the sofa, catching some midday sleep. I wanted to laugh at the sight of the unshaven man, who had found himself home in the world, who had found himself at the top of every ranking list, was really just an ordinary guy who was really just like the rest of us, but I stifled my humor. Professor Oak, who I assume had also come to visit, sat on a chair near him, reading silently. His old face looked up at me, and smiled, for he knew why I had come. He knew what I had come to see. Just behind Professor Oak, on a shelf on the wall, a glass case stood, showing off twenty-four shiny objects. My eyes glimmered as I looked upon them, knowing exactly what they were and exactly where they were found. Behind the old professor, twenty-four gym badges shone in the artificial light of the happy homestead; a tribute that paled in comparison to the greatness of the gym leaders that had owned them, and the greatness of the man that had won them.