This is a sequel to a story I wrote a few years ago called "Fall of a Champion", which is on my page if you'd like to read it first to understand the context. Thanks! And to all who wrote and requested this sequel, I hope it makes you as happy as it makes me!

It's been years.

I remember when we were two young kids in love, getting our first Pokémon and ignorantly thinking we could be on top of the world. Then, unsurprisingly, we both did reach the top of the world, only for it to come toppling down in a matter of months. For me, anyways. It's funny how you look at things retrospectively, feeling so secure in your decisions in the past, but upon looking at them with matured eyes, you see every single flaw and every single crack. Hindsight is 20/20. At least for me it was a good thing. It saved my life.

When I wrote that note on Mt. Silver, I had every intention of doing it. If I didn't jump off that cliff, I was going to freeze to death and just become a fossil. But obviously—thankfully—that didn't happen.

It was Lance who found me, of all people. Things are pretty bleak from after I signed that note, but apparently he and his Dragonite grabbed me and flew me down to Viridian City and I was admitted into the emergency clinic. When I woke up in the hospital the next day and realized I was still alive, I was mad. Screaming mad. I was sick, I was cold, I was detoxing from the lack of heroin in my system. I'm surprised they even let me stay. But they did. I'm glad I don't remember most of the things I did, because I hate that guy. I'm still embarrassed that I ever reduced myself to that level.

But, that's the lessons that they teach you in treatment. For me, it was Violet City where the doctors and nurses who treated me in the ER sent me off to. There's a treatment center there that prides itself on the cleansed air and frequent trips to the Sprout Tower to get meditation lessons from the monks. I was there for about a week before they realized I wouldn't respond to any of the one-on-one therapy they were trying to give me. At that time, I just didn't want to have anything to do with anyone. I didn't want to be alive, I missed my Pokémon, I missed…him.

So that's why they changed gears and sent me to the place where I lived for 5 months. Solaceon Town, in the Sinnoh Region. It was an outdoor treatment center in the heart of the warm Sinnoh greens. I almost punched the doctor who told me that's where I was going, but I didn't have a choice. Apparently, all of my treatment was being paid for by an anonymous contributor. I just assumed it was Lance, who wanted to have a final act of heroism as he usually does. I used to admire the guy, but after being kicked out of a gym by him and his Dragonite, I can't seeing the white-knight complex he parades around. But, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. At least I was detoxed at that point and I could focus on what they were even telling me.

In Solaceon Town, for the first whole month, I never even talked about my feeling. Nobody asked me to talk about what I had gone through, they just made me work. I worked at the day care, watching, feeding, and being responsible for over 50 Pokémon at a time. And honestly, in my whole life, I've never had a better month. There was something about being responsible—REALLY responsible—for somebody other than myself that really did it for me. I began to understand those old words my grandpa hissed at me the last time we spoke. It's embarrassing for a former Champion to admit, but I had forgotten that side of raising Pokémon even existed.

Up until that point, it was all about the battle. Being the best, going and going until my Pokémon couldn't even move. But at the day care, all the Pokémon wanted to do was have fun. I remember there was this one Happiny who always hid behind the check-in counter during lunch time and made me run around like a lunatic looking for it. The volunteers were always in on the joke and laughed at me. It sounds silly, but it's moments like that I never forgot. And truth be told, it really really made me miss my Pokémon. And miss…him more than ever. But I shook it best I could.

Still, I had figured that this whole forced treatment was Lance's way of making me earn my Pokémon back. I felt like such an idiot for letting them go. After a month of working, I spent the remaining 4 just…relaxing. After the second month, I just stopped counting the days and got used to being there. So many Pokémon would come in and out of that day care, and I would meet every single one of them, learning how they behaved bonding with them. I learned so much about Pokémon there that I'm never going to forget. And even without having a single Pokémon on hand, it was the best training I'd ever gotten. And I wanted to live again. I wanted to see my Pokémon again. And with this newfound perspective, there was somebody I knew I probably needed to talk to.

Then, the week before I was scheduled to leave, I received a visitor.

I thought it would be Lance, or probably my grandpa Oak, if he would ever speak to me again. But no—it was him. Red. And much to my concern, he looked horrible. He looked like he hadn't slept in months, eyes with dark circles and hair very greasy and unkempt. He'd flown in on his Charizard, and he almost fell off the Pokémon when it hit the ground. I'd never seen him like that before.

I still remember the first words I'd said to him that day—"What the hell happened to you?"

He didn't respond, as was his tradition. But I knew how to get him to talk. Before all of this happened, I was one of the only people he would speak to. I didn't think he ever would, but I was going to try.

So I said again, "Red—what the hell happened to you? Is the life of a Champion too taxing than you signed up for?"

I regretting saying that the second after I did—but thankfully he responded this time.

"…I've been up. Worrying."

I scoffed like an idiot and spoke very flippantly, "Why? What happened?"

Red then gave me a look so mixed in emotion that you could have stirred it and baked it into a cake. His eyes looked like they were about to tear, but his eyebrows were arched like he wanted to scream.

He whispered, "…why do you think?"

If I hadn't still had unresolved issues in my head about what happened between us, I probably would have caught on what he meant by then. But I continued to be a jackass.

"I don't know Champion, I'm not a mind reader."

"—it's because of you! You stupid…you stupid…"

I froze. I had no idea how to respond to that. What was he referring to? He was worrying about me? Here I was thinking that I was the last thing in the world he would even consider thinking of.

He continued through broken words, "I…Lance gave me your note."

Red held up a small piece of paper with horribly faded words. It was the letter I had written him months prior—my suicide note. I never thought he would ever read it. And at that point I panicked, because I completely forgot what I even wrote in it.

"You…you really thought…I didn't care?" Red whimpered, this time obviously fighting back tears. I hadn't seen him like this since we were teenagers.

"Well what else was I supposed to think?" I snapped back insensitively, "You just sweep into the Indigo Plateau, kick my ass, and then I never hear from you again?"

Red looked down so I couldn't see his eyes, only the arch from his hat that shadowed the rest of his face. "…You were with Team Rocket. Doing drugs."

"Oh NOW you care?!"

I don't know what came over me when I yelled that at him, but it felt good to finally do it. I couldn't have been entirely in the wrong here. The first thing they teach you when you want to kill yourself is to value your own self-worth, and that's what I did.

There was a long pause before anybody said anything. I wasn't about to try and break the silence, because I was still bitter to the point where I didn't want to make the first move to mend things. I wasn't going to try and justify my actions to someone who claims to care about me but never showed it.

But to my surprise, the next words out of his mouth shook me so hard I could feel my throat being digested into my stomach.

"…I'm sorry."

My eyes widened.

"—What did you say?" I asked, even though I heard him perfectly.

The next words Red said all came out so fast it felt like it all happened 2 seconds.

"…I said I'm sorry," he repeated more adamantly. "I shouldn't have gone on the journey without you. I shouldn't have taken the Champion title from you. I should've tried to help you when you were a Gym Leader. I should have told you that I…"

I waited for him to continue, with my arms crossed.

His words slowed down once more, "…I should have told you," he took a deep breath, "I shouldn't have stopped talking to you. We could have kept…"

I waited for him to finish his sentence, but after a time I just filled the blanks in for him. "…dating? We could have kept dating?"

"Yes," he hastened to reply.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Who was the one going through therapy here? I'd done my fair share of griping to my councilors about what happened with Red, but most of it was admitting to myself the mistakes that I made. I never thought he would never admit to his.

I decided at that point to let me guard down and try and really talk to him, as it was clear he was making an effort to do the same. "So…why didn't we?"

"Why didn't we what?"

"Keep dating?"

"Oh…I…," he whispered, turning away and avoiding eye contact with me still, "…I don't know. I guess…I was too excited. Or…blind. Professor Oak was always telling me that I could become a great trainer if I cared about my Pokémon—"

"—oh trust me, I know." I said sarcastically.

Finally, Red turned his head and looked at me straight in the eye. He had already been crying, even though his voice didn't show it. "That's the point. That's… why we should have journeyed together. I was so focused on raising my Pokémon the right way that I just…blacked out everything else. And…you…"

"—I didn't focus on them enough. I was blacked out by emotion. Bitterness. Jealousy. Spite. You name it."

6 months ago, I never would have had the ball to admit what I just said, especially to Red, but it was the truth. And what Red said surprisingly made a lot of sense. For whatever reason, when Pokémon came into the picture we both shook away from each other and redirected our love for each to become great trainers. Red didn't want the love to show him down, while I just used to fuel myself up. And in the end, apparently neither of us got what we really wanted. I hadn't seen it from that perspective before.

I eventually took a few steps closer to Red, wanting to do more, but still trying to fight back all the anger and pain that he had caused. All I could do was talk. "So…you haven't exactly had the perfect Pokémon adventure you were hoping for either."

"You thought I had?" Red asked deeply.

I shrugged my shoulders sharply, "I mean, it all looked pretty perfect to me. You took off with your Pokémon and never looked back. I didn't really matter to you anymore."

Red shook his head back and forth, clutching the note I had written in his hand and crying, "It's not true! It's…it's not true. I love you!"

"…Love? Or loved?"

We locked eyes again. I'm not sure what we exchanged, but it was helpful. We were looking at each from a fresh perspective each. Me, a recovering addict and depression patient with a new found outlook. Though his I wasn't sure, his eyes said much his words didn't. But, then he did.

Red held up my suicide note and looked me in the eye, "This note…I…I was wrong. If I had known you were feeling this way—"

He paused, and then closed his eyes.

"No…" he continued, "I wouldn't have done anything differently. I was too headstrong. I just wanted to be Champion, like you did. We should have done it together like we always planned to. I messed up."

I took another step closer. We were about 3 feet apart now.

"Red…" I whispered quietly, feeling the Sinnoh breeze our hair, and being momentarily blinded by a stray bang in my eyes, yet unwavering from my focus, "I really never thought I ever hear you say that."

Red readjusted his red hat and put the crumpled up paper into his pocket, "I can't stand here and try to make excuses for how I acted. But…now that we're both Champions, and we don't have to fight anymore, if we could just forget all of this even happened, could…we…"

"Yes." I exclaimed.

"—Yes what?"

I took a few steps closer that we were both locking eyes and our torsos were touching. With my newly toned muscles (courtesy of day care work), I grabbed Red from his back and pull him so close and aggressively that it made him gasp slightly. I grinned, conveying a pleasant expression that he soon followed once he realized what my intentions were.

"—What the fuck else would I say 'yes' to?"

Without asking, I arched Red backwards and kissed him. He submitted to the kiss in seconds, and his arms were wrapped around my neck before I could even think of it. It had been so long since I felt this close to him, after what felt like decades of distance, all the of bitterness and pain melted off of my heart like light a torch next to a ball of snow. We stood there kissing for who knew how long before I broke it away and smiled back at him.

Red snickered at me like we were both dirty little gay teenagers again, "Guess you're getting out of here today."

"Another week, actually…" I moaned, hoping not to kill the mood.

The little fox giggled back at me, "You can't stay here another week if it isn't paid for."

It took me a sec to figure out what he was talking about, but when I did, my cheeks turned bright red. "Wait…you…?"

"I…guess you never got to take part in the Champion's salary," he whispered at me humorously, "So…I guess I owe you one."

Seconds afterward, Red broke his embrace with me and took a few steps back to dig into his backpack, "Oh—before I forget—I have something for you. It's kinda the main reason I came."

At that moment, honestly, all I could think what how glad I was that that wasn't the only thing that was accomplished by his visit here. But what happened next made me almost faint with joy.

Red held out six small, red Pokéballs and extended his hand to give them to me. "Your Pokémon back. And your PC is unlocked, so you can catch more."

I looked down at the six figures sitting in Red's hand and I almost couldn't believe what I was looking at. I had never been so happy to see my own reflection in the redness of the glass of a Pokéball. I grabbed them all and threw them into the air so fast I could have thrown them to Unova.

One by one, all my Pokémon came sparkling out of their Pokéballs. And the second I did, I did something I'd never done before, and I gave all my Pokémon a gigantic, warm hug. Even though they had every right to dismiss me as a trainer, they were so happy to see me. I had to stop my inner demons from telling me I didn't deserve their love in the first place. Exeggutor cackled like a big jolly green giant, and even my Pidgeot was doing spins in midair and flying around me in circles nonstop.

"They missed you," Red beamed happily.

"I missed them," I said through warm tears streaming down my cheek, "I missed you all so much. I'll never leave you guys again. We're going to be the best team anyone's ever seen, okay?"

And now, if I can fast-forward in time a little bit to the present, where I am writing this—my final note—directed at no one in particular, for my own personal reflection. It's hard to believe but as I write this, I'm sitting first class in a luxury airplane with my—can you believe it—husband.

As of today, I have been clean and sober for 10 years. I can thank myself for that primarily, but having Red's support really helped beyond anything I could have ever asked for. He's been my rock through all of this. Quiet and reserved as he is, there's something about him that speaks volumes to who he is. He's caring, he's compassionate, he loves his Pokémon. And he loves…me. 10 years later and I still can't believe he loves me. But he does. And I love him more than anything in the world—and our Pokémon, of course.

We got married a couple days ago. Red wanted something small, which suits him, so we got married in Pallet Town during the spring. All of our Pokémon, Lance, even the rest of the Elite Four all attended. I eventually built up enough courage to thank Lance for all he'd done for us—for me, really. Typical Lance was just happy to help and didn't even need and thank you. Between you and me though, I think he was just glad Red passed on the Champion torch to him so the two of us could go adventuring together.

Oh, and boy did we. Ten years ago, back in Solaceon Town, we decided to make up for lost time and just…go on an adventure together. Like we originally said we were going to. We started in Sinnoh, then Johto, Hoenn, Unova, Kalos (the only word I could learn was "Bonjour!"), and all of them were amazing. Obviously we still had a lot to talk about, but now I don't think there's anything that could break us apart. It's really an amazing feeling.

Gramps officiated the wedding for us. He was probably the hardest person to talk to after treatment. I never actually did until we came back from journeying around Sinnoh, and Red finally just forced me to. He's always had a soft spot for Red, but he told me point blank that he'll never stop loving me as a grandson. It really meant a lot to hear him say that. I'll never tell him that though—and I swear, Red, if you're reading this and you give this to gramps, we're not doing that thing you wanted to try in the bed tonight. I don't care if it is our honeymoon.

Oh yeah, speaking of which, the elephant in the room and why I'm even writing this. We're on our honeymoon! Guess there's been a lot of buzz about the Alola region recently, with them finally getting their own Pokémon league and all. The Professor over there asked a few Champions to come and check out their new cream of the crop. It's funny, despite only being Champion for less than a day, I'm still on the list, and I still get to fly first class to Alola with my husband for our honeymoon. Good times.

I've learned a lot since I was sitting on that ledge on Mt. Silver. First, I learned to give myself more credit where it's due. Second, I learned that even in the bleakest of times, you never know what the future will hold. If you'd told me that I'd be on my honeymoon, with Red, I probably would have just jumped right there and then. But I didn't. And I'm so glad.

I still have that note tucked away in my bag, though. It serves as a reminder of where I was, and how far I've come. But, that's why I needed to write this one. Now I have something to look at when I feel down. Which does happen, but thankfully not as often as it used to.

Red, I don't know if I'll ever end up showing you this, but I wish you could see how handsome you look right now. I can't believe I was lucky enough to marry you. You're looking out the window right now, smiling. I think we're coming up on the islands here pretty soon. It's funny, you always have such a bright look in your eye when you're thinking about Pokémon, or the next exciting battle you'll have in the Alola region. But…I get that same look whenever I look at you.

It's funny what you said back then, about how we should have journeyed together. We both lost sight of what was really important to us, training Pokémon in different way and neglecting one thing or another, but like we both learned journeying together, that's exactly why we're so…great together. It's like we complete each other. I know it's mushy-gushy and stupid, but it's true. Nobody, and I mean nobody can best us when it comes to a tag battle. And now that I have this ring on my finger, I guess we'll be tag-teaming it for the rest of our lives. God, I'm so happy I get to say that.

Oh—I guess the plane is landing now, I'm probably going to have to stop writing. I think I've said all I need to say, anyway. Probably just going to keep this note in my backpack, for when I need a reminder. Of why I'm happy. Because there are so many reasons to be happy now, and I never want to forget them.

I've got my Pokémon, my sunglasses, and I've got Red. So, I think that's about all I need. Look out, Alola, because Red and Green are coming for you, and you ain't seen nothing yet!

Smell ya later!