Prologue
It has been four years since Pokémon Trainer Red has conquered the Elite Four of the Indigo League at the young age of only 11. Shortly after this feat, he disappeared to continue his training to become the Pokémon Master; a trainer with the prestige of triumphing over every Gym Leader, Elite Four, and Champion of each known league as well as the recording of data from every Pokémon known on something called a PokéDex, a device invented by renown Pokémon Researcher Professor Samuel Oak in Pallet Town.
Thousands of trainers have since then aspired to become like the renowned trainer, though, most of them disappointingly failed at doing so; not being able to get past their first Gym Leader. Numerous have thought to have sighted him in around the different regions of the Pokémon world but most of them turned out to be just rumours and hoaxes.
One of these rumours, however, turned out to be true. Three years after Red's sudden disappearance, Ethan, a trainer from New Bark Town and Johto Champion of the Indigo League has been in contact with Pokémon Trainer Red. "After I beat the Elite Four, the Gym Leaders from Johto as well as Kanto, and became the Champion, I went to go train some more at a place Prof. Oak allowed me to access. I then saw him. He was just standing there looking toward the sky." Ethan goes on to speak of the skirmishes they have once in a while but doesn't state where, as Red specifically told him to keep his whereabouts a secret.
He later adds that Red doesn't want to bout just any trainer. "According to him, a trainer who chases their dreams of becoming a great Pokémon Trainer are strong in their own regard, but that isn't enough. Red says he only wants those with solid conviction for becoming a better trainer and those who have an intense amount of passion and love for Pokémon will be able to endure any battle with him. "A couple times I almost thought that I won, but he was just the renowned trainer everyone says he is." Ethan later returned to his home, New Bark Town, to live with Lyra, his travelling companion on his journey and to help Prof. Elm with his Pokémon research.
Another encounter with Pokémon Trainer Red was from the Champion of the Hoenn League. Around half a year after Ethan's reported battles, Littleroot Town Trainer Brendan received a challenge after he completed and won the Super Contest and he had this to say, "I thought it was a prank from a lousy amateur bug catcher or something, I get that a lot actually, but it was Red, and it was one of the most exhilarating battles I had in a long time."
According to Brendan, Red told him that they both were becoming the best Pokémon Trainer of their respected regions around the same time. This was shocking news to Brendan, but after a while he agreed to what he heard. "When I was battling the Elite Four so was he. When I was officially known as the Champion of Hoenn, Red became Champion of the Indigo League." The interview was then cut short. Brendan had told the interviewers that he needed to meet up with his dad, the Gym Leader of Petalburg City, Norman. He would leave with his dad on a journey to other regions to train so his status was changed to inactive champion.
What is an inactive champion? An inactive champion is officially a trainer who has defeated the reigning active champion of a region but doesn't assume the responsibility of being the person who accepts the challenge of a trainer after he/she has beaten the Elite Four of that region. An active champion is someone who has defeated the champion of a region and assumes the role of being the person a trainer defeats to be the next champion. The people, however, still call them just "champions" for short. An inactive champion can become active by defeating the reigning champion. The role of active champion of the Hoenn League was transferred back to Wallace, former champion of the region.
Even after all this, people always referred to him always as an Indigo League Champion. Red never assumed the title of champion for the other regions and has never spoke of it ever nor revealed his intentions. He is known to already possessing all the badges from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and is possibly in the Sinnoh region where an aspiring trainer named Lucas is making a name for himself.
Not only did Pokémon Trainer Red make becoming the Pokémon Master his life goal, he also left everything behind in his dream of becoming the Pokémon Master. His status of Kanto Indigo League Champion was changed to inactive champion after his disappearance.
A Dragon Master from Blackthorn City, Lance, soon became the next active Johto Champion of the Indigo League and was shortly defeated by Ethan later on. Ethan didn't stay as the champion for a long period of time so the status of active champion handed back to Lance.
In addition to this, his sister, Leaf, has been worried about him since he left home. "When he left he gave me a letter and a parcel addressed to Green, the current Gym Leader of Viridian City and is now known as the official Indigo League Kanto Champion." she says in an interview. "After that, he tipped his hat and left, never coming back."
An interview with Green later revealed the contents of the letter and the parcel. "The letter…is private. I don't want to talk about it. The parcel was his first PokéDex from my grandfather, Prof. Oak. It contained information from every native Pokémon from the Kanto region… all 151… I was never able to do that, caught around 140 different species and just… stopped….don't remember why…"
When asked about what he thought of Red he laughed and remembers what he was like when he first started his journey. He was a "chatty gossip", said Green sarcastically. "I bet he is doing just that, going to every region, catching Pokémon, beating Gym Leader after Gym Leader, defeating the Champion of other Leagues and so on." Green then goes on talking about the rivalry they had between them. He reminisced about the time they were younger and how the journey changed them completely. A call came for him and he leaves to answer a challenge from another trainer, mumbling about the lack of any good Pokémon Trainers nowadays.
Prof. Oak is known by many to still be in his little lab in Pallet Town organising the information from his other PokéDex users. "From Kanto, to the Sinnoh region, my disciples have been giving out new versions of the PokéDex to record the many species of Pokémon in the world. I have over three hundred Pokémon in my database so far! It is so overwhelming trying to take this information and moving it into stored databases." Shortly after saying this, Prof. Oak told the interviewers he needs to prepare for his television, and perhaps radio, show and leaves.
Although this is what transpired in the Pokémon World, this story, however, isn't about these amazing trainers and their adventures. It is about a mysterious, caring young boy and his journey to become not a Pokémon Master, but to make a future where people and Pokémon will be able to live in harmony. But to do this, his unknown past must be revealed to him and he must endure the hardships that accompanies this adventure. His journey begins at the same place Pokémon Trainer Red started his, Pallet Town.