Not Human

Carnage and destruction lay upon the hallowed grounds of the Pokemon World that night. Shaken, disturbed but very much alive, the blood trembled and froze upon the ethereal cliffs of Mount Silver, a place so isolated and sacred that nothing moved. Nothing dared to move. Struck between two open worlds, the mountain was always a scapegoat to what the world truly was: a nightmare ready to explode into darkness and pure chaos. Terror and screaming would become words and communication, death and the afterlife are seen as pleasant and relieving. It doesn't take a scientist to understand the concepts of life, but it takes an idiot to play with death. You can taunt it, shake it around your world and even dive within it, but death may never come true, it's not a constant at all, but an ongoing disaster with infinite possibilities. Will you awake in the afterlife? Or will you be left alone in the darkness with no sense and care for all eternity, and you'll be stuck there, trapped between what could have been your potential and what you failed to achieve.

Charred stone mixed with burning wood and the frozen wasteland began to merge together into an orange flare of finality and desperation. A boy was left towering over the peak of Mount Silver as he breathed, his heart barely wanting to continue pumping blood, and his brain freezing as it fought back threatening survival. Living was a threat, and he didn't want it. Nobody needed it now, so why did he? His head dangled off the edge, gravity pulling it into the abyss of white and purgatory below but yet no other limb moved. Inhumane this was. He wanted to die, but his body resisted, his mind resisted by his soul craved for death and disappearance. Blood continued to increase, his hands warming the cool liquid of life as each finger scratched one another before transforming into a fist that was never thrown. A punch at a world that needed him more than he needed it, this was no place for life anymore.

Footsteps disappeared into the distance, those of an opponent vanishing below in the world and nearby into danger. The boy did not care, he had won. Of course he would win though, since when was losing ever an option when you are invincible in so many ways? Never had the boy considered what losing meant, how it would affect someone or something emotionally, and how losing can be a life or death situation. Pokemon would fight all the time, over food and to protect their species and kind…but the losing one would always die eventually. Winners stayed alive, losers would pass away without a catch and without care. The boy was neither, even if he loses he would still win because that was what made him function. That was him: the boy who never lost.

Newspaper clippings from what seemed an eternity before flashed back in front of him. His eyes were not closed, they did not have to be with a genius mind exploding into potential and ideologies. The front page had had his image on for what seemed months now, applauding his ability and battling prowess as he decimated Gym Leaders and any poor trainer who stood in his way. There would have had to be nearly a thousand losing individuals to his sword and might, but he didn't care about them. Some say knowledge was power in the world, but for Red it was always through power. Who cares if you knew something? It's about what you do with it! Do you stand around like a smart-ass at school, or do you use your extensive knowledge to defeat your enemies? The boy chose the latter, always, but now he was the one at the end of the stick and dangling off a cliff into pure agony and despair.

Tables had turned, and it was his turn to feel oppression and the weight of losing. But he didn't lose, he won! Decimation and easiness but so much had been lost, and nothing seemed to remove the feeling of disgust and relegation from his body. Blood increased in his hands as he threatened to throw himself off the cliff limb by limb, tearing himself apart without care and allowing his frostbitten neck to split in half to the blizzard. But nothing happened, he just lay there completely still and powerless. Like a coward.

A coward!

The boy didn't blink with more images appearing into his mind…

…

Searing fire shot from the mouth of the orange lizard that was Charizard, cutting through the air like a hot knife in butter. But it was ineffective, the blue turtle of Blastoise palming it away with its smaller arms before taunting its opponent once again. Type disadvantage, hilarity to the victor and pure frustration for the one losing. Blue was having the time of his life once again in battle, and as a Champion this was exactly what he had always wanted to see. An opponent suffering as they tried their best, and he would remain above them always no matter what happened. Blue was at the top, and he deserved this more than anyone else in Kanto. Throne to the world, King of the heavens and now it was time to make this little boy pay for even standing before him.

In fairness, the battle had been difficult, pushed to the limit was nothing Blue had not seen before, but this felt different somehow. A brand new experience in battling after a career of constant victories and crying trainers at his wake. Blue had made a Gym Leader cry after his Blastoise had destroyed the Gym, Celadon City would never be the same again after he trampled his way through with pure domination and a stride of arrogance and greed. That was what won you Pokemon Battles and success, infinite power and the swagger to mock your opponent afterwards. This boy would be next on the list of hundreds, maybe thousands, to feel the wrath of a Pokemon team built for constant success and pain.

Another shot of fire thundered through the air, but Blastoise already pushed it away, spinning around arrogantly to aim its tail in the right direction to shunt it up towards the sky as the crowd began to turn and chuckle. Even the commentators had gone silence as they already knew the winner of this duel would be the Champion himself, who else? Blue had gotten more and more excited, his first battle at the top would be a victory now despite a tough route of affairs and close calls. Nobody cared about that, everyone just wanted the results and this was a Champion performance from a true possessor of power. He held the key to victories, and it was about time he unlocked yet another trophy for himself.

Commanded with finality, Blastoise shuddered, aiming its cannons directly towards a paralysed and heavily bruised lizard in front and powered a jet of pure steaming water. Applause rained down as droplets appeared from the sky and shattered into oblivion with children dancing in the light sprinkle after a warm day. Charizard disappeared within the onslaught and its entire body began to lighten instantly as it screeched in pain, its monstrous fiery tail bursting out first to avoid the wet, its trainer devastated and hiding in the shadow of his own cap. Another burst of water, and it surely was over with Blue now feeling the euphoria well up inside him and the pride of a Region basking in their new leader and idol.

The boy looked up, his piercing green eyes shining with tears and exhaustion as he steadily stretched out and coughed lightly into the palm of his burned and charred hands. Blue observed him carefully before another cannon of water exploded from Blastoise's cannons, blocking view apart from a hint of red that shone between it all. Blue blinked and it was gone, but happened next went down in history as the largest shock in Pokemon battling history.

Blastoise was pushed back by something enormous as the turtle shoved into Blue with a heavy and brute force behind it, powering both into the ground as they remained completely shocked and broken. Nothing else was ever seen from the battle.

It was something everyone had chosen to forget.

…

Professor Oak's hair had always been grey, from what the legends and stories had said, and every image of his childhood was burned and destroyed. His choice of course, to avoid any idea of who he was in the past, and what he was going to be in the future. However, the duty was now to induct the most unlikely of challengers into the Hall of Fame, a place a young boy shouldn't be in and a place that most that age would dream. However, this boy didn't seem to want to dream at all, the ceremony was quick and distasteful with Oak talking with a young boy tucked away in his own world. He didn't celebrate the victory, he just stood there and waited for it all to happen to him as if expected and known. Professor Oak placed his Pokeballs on the machine as lights whirled around the mirrored room to reveal images of past Champions, including Blue, as they moved aside to reveal a new image of the boy as it reflected back at them.

He still didn't speak, choosing to remain silent as Professor Oak attempted to get something out of him apart from a mere grunt. No explanation and no emotion, was that who this trainer was? He had just pulled off the most astonishing of league victories in a single swipe, and without proper command, and yet he did not seemed thrilled but in fact wanting to leave as his eyes turned towards the exit door. But why? Why did this mean so little to him?

Not even a party crashing from Blue stirred the boy's mind at all, the former Champion appearing amidst security officers to blurt out words of revenge amongst his own tears and distraught. They were only children, and this was something too much for them to take. They would cry and would dance, but this boy did not want to do either. He just stood there, motionless as the world passed him by no matter how chaotic and how much in trouble it would cause him. Strange and mysterious, but Professor Oak should have seen this the day they had met all those months ago in Pallet Town with a young Charmander being passed across. The boy had appeared out of nowhere, his parents unseen and assumed to be travelling with their son ready to move on into the world alone and unencumbered. He had no friends, no allies and no family so where did this talent come from? Nobody had ever seen him train or reach out to anyone else to hone his skill, in fact nobody had heard his voice.

The room of the Hall of Fame returned to its quiet ways as the boy left first without a hint of gratitude or meaning. His image on the wall staring back like a lost figure, but where would he go now? Oak chased him down for what seemed weeks at a time, finding him in the most horrid of places in Kanto but the boy avoided him at all costs. Ignoring all challengers completely as the public soon began to forget about him, calling him an urban myth as his locations began to spread diversely and his appearances loosening into nothingness. He was going to be forgotten, but for Professor Oak, he would never forget what was seen that day and who this boy was.

In all honesty, there would be little chance they would both ever meet again.

…

Now with both arms leaning over the frigid cliff, the boy slowly regained balanced and leaned forwards into the wasteland of snow and ice around him. True solitude despite the blood and broken Dusk Ball to one side, the boy breathed a sigh of relief and dug out his red hat from the ground, placing it gently onto his messy jet black hair. Silence returned as nothing dared to move, and every step the boy took in all directions, another murmur of fright seemed to shake from the world.

He was not human, and he was not right. This world seems to shake, but yet he didn't need to die. Red stood on top of Mount Silver, calling down from his mind as he coughed and opened his mouth wide. He called, "Who am I?"

A voice that nobody had ever heard before echoed down towards the world as it rebounded back towards him in a single response, "Alone."