AN: I do not own anything by Nintendo or any other companies involved, otherwise I would've done a few tweaks. So, yeah, I own nothing that is related in any way to Pokémon except the characters I own, which this time around will not be involved. This is basically an attempt to do a battle of opposites.

Pokémon
Champion of the Past

Prologue: The Forgotten Champion

The sun shone quite brightly on a typical summer day in the small town of Pallet, the starting point of all trainers of the Indigo League. But even so, this tournament has come to an end quite recently, and once again, a local boy has again failed to hoist the Champion's trophy, due to the lack of variety of Pokémon. The creatures that roam these worlds, Kanto, Johto, Hoen, Sinnoh and Unova, are in a large variety; almost seven hundred different kinds are known by the greatest researchers. This boy has traveled everywhere and collected every badge, however, despite his greatest efforts, he did not have the skills to win a single league besides the Orange Islands.

"Pika, pi…" The electric mouse that was his companion since the very start, more commonly called a Pikachu, looked at its trainer with a bit of a disappointed look. It was also trying its best to cheer up its master, who was rather disappointed. However, the black-haired, now fifteen year old had turned his head to look at the electric mouse Pokémon of his, and smiled a little before sitting upright on his bed. He brought his hand to pet the top of Pikachu's head, smiling a little.

This trainer wore a black shirt underneath a blue vest, wore blue jeans and some fairly decent shoes also with Pokémon designs on them. He also had a pair of green, fingerless gloves that he used to keep a grip on a Pokeball when need be. On his head was a red cap with a white face; in the center was a symbol that was used to be the main symbol of the Pokemon League, the same one that he had lost in. His hair was jet black, fairly spiky, but the cap kept the embarrassing bits hidden.

"Don't worry buddy, it just means that we'll have to do better for next time, that's all. How was I supposed to know the last Pokémon she was going to use would be a rock-type? Nobody really knew that…" The boy called Ash assured his Pokémon partner, soon enough standing up to look out the window. "We still did better than Gary, regardless, which is always a good thing, if not the best thing. We made sixth place… That's quite an improvement in comparison to our first try." Ash added, trying to look on the bright side of things, though he still wished to have placed first. His Pikachu had felt the same way, but even so, despite their best efforts, they did not make top spot.

Ash was about to turn on his TV when he heard the phone ring; his mom went to Viridian with one of her friends, so it was left to him to watch after the house. Ash got up and left his room, the electric mouse Pokémon following close behind as Ash arrived in the kitchen. He picked up the phone that was hanging on the wall, and set the speaker to his ear.

"Hello?" Ash spoke into the mouth piece, and it was the voice on the other end that caught him off guard.

"Good day Ash, this is Professor Oak here. I must say that every time you contend in the League, you always improve, if only by a little." The voice said, and Ash was smiling a bit to have heard the voice bit.

"Oh, Professor. Yeah, I know, but still, it would seem that I need more training in order to become a Champion. I mean, there's quite a few champions out there that inspire me to do better; Lance is one of them." Ash spoke, and Pikachu was sitting on the table while looking at its trainer.

"You still did better than my grandson, be thankful that you didn't have to face him. But, there's another reason I called you. You see, recently, I've been seen studying the Pokémon league before, and there was one trainer that was surprisingly a lot like you. I didn't know much about him save that he did drop in my lab to pick up a Pokémon; he was the first one, and though he had a choice of the three Kanto starters, Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, he made a stunning choice that startles myself. He chose a Pikachu, like you." Oak explained on his end, and Ash was taken aback, and it was clear Pikachu had heard also, as its ears perked up.

"But, aren't Pikachu supposed to be hard to tame? I mean, considerably, against Brock, surely he would've had problems with Pikachu as a starter." Ash asked on his end, but there was a bit of silence for a moment.

"That's the thing… He knew Pikachu were hard to tame, and yet he chose it as his starter. But after that, I never heard much from him except for his constantly raising reputation by defeating the gym leaders in surprisingly fast succession, especially for a Pikachu as his starting Pokémon. Put it simply, he was like you, to an extent, but he was more silent, and he had a surprising extent of knowledge about Pokémon. I say he should've become a researcher, but rather, he went on, eventually reaching the Indigo Plateau and climbed through the ranks. Surprisingly, even for this league, on his first time, he obtained the title of Champion, however, he was never recorded in the Hall of Fame. He disappeared sometime after becoming Champion, never even hoisted the cup, and no word had come from him since." Oak explained, and even though Ash wasn't much into listening to lectures, learning about an all-powerful trainer who also started with a Pikachu had him a little excited.

"Okay, but… what does this have to do with me? I never became a champion, so how and why should I even be compared to this guy?" Ash asked, while at the same time, was trying to imagine this trainer; he saw someone of great importance, someone who looked like Surge, but at the same time, different as well.

Ash heard Oak breathe for a moment, and then he heard the professor spoke, "Just recently, Gary was granted permission to go to Mt. Silver in the Johto region, just west of the Indigo Plateau, where only the strongest trainers can go. However, he came back last night, with his Pokémon in surprisingly bad shape, and at first, I thought you may have done something. Gary, however, said it was not you personally, perhaps he didn't want to be embarrassed, but explained they were someone like you who used a Pikachu against him along with the fully evolved forms of Kanto's starters; Charizard, Venasaur, and Blastoise, and they were even more of a match than Gary could handle. That was as far as Gary could muster before he had to leave to heal up his Pokémon and returned. As a trainer who did better than my grandson in the league, I would like you to investigate this matter. I need you to get back to me as soon as you have enough information. You have my permission to set out to Mt. Silver, you can bring whomever you find fit to take, but only two friends may accompany you." Ash listened, and after some time, Ash heard the phone hang up on the other end, and Ash hung up the phone.

"Pika?" Ash's Pikachu asked, and the trainer turned to look at his partner, and with that, the boy smiled and looked out the window, gazing out towards the west, assumedly, and thought about this trainer. If Professor Oak ad brought up the champion of old, and then this story concerning Gary, this trainer could only be the champion; it had to be, Ash thought to himself.

Ash turned to face his partner, and thought for a moment. "A powerful trainer that looked like me…? Was Gary hallucinating and just encountered some very powerful Pokémon, while thinking a trainer was commanding them, or was he having a very vivid nightmare…? I don't know, but, Mt. Silver, where only the strongest of trainers can go… I'll give Misty and Brock a call, perhaps they can join me and unmask the identity of this trainer… And I also have to set up my team accordingly… If he has all the fully evolved forms of Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, then… He must have spent a long time to care for his Pokémon." Ash spoke, and when he finished, he picked up the phone, first dialing the number of the Gym Leader of Pewter City…

-Meanwhile, Mt. Silver, several hours later…-

The trainer sat at his small camp set up just outside the cavern, knowing that it gets cold inside, but even so, it was still cold outside, even if it wasn't as bad. A fire was burning in the center, having been made by the large, orange and dragon-shaped Pokémon, more formerly called a Charizard. It had returned to its Pokeball, a sort of home that Pokémon resides in with an environment that suits the Pokémon it's containing. Sitting next to him on the log, with his cap on its head, was a yellow, electric mouse Pokémon, a Pikachu. With him, the two were gazing up at the sky, watching as the stars blink ever so frequently. The moon hung over the pair as the trainer stood up.

He wore a white t-shirt underneath a red vest, his hair black with a spiky look to it, and also wore blue jeans and some reasonably fashioned shoes. On his belt were five Pokeballs, all of which were filled, and then there was his Pikachu, making up a full team of six, the max amount of Pokémon any trainer can hold onto at any time. Despite that, the Pokemon contained within were quite exceptionally powerful, but being an old champion, what could one expect? He looked no older than nineteen, and he became champion eight years ago, but he came here to further his training.

"Pika?" His Pikachu asked him, looking up at its trainer in confusion. It was wondering if there was something wrong or bothering him, but like always, did not respond.

"…" He hummed a little, and then turned to look at his Pikachu, and then tilted his head towards the cave. Understanding, his Pikachu leaped up onto his shoulder, and set his cap back on its trainer's head. But before the trainer left, he reached for a Pokeball, pressed a button to enlarge the ball, and tossed it nearby. In midair, the ball opened, and a bright light emanated from the container, and took on the shape of a large, turtle-like Pokémon that stood on its hind legs.

"Blast…" The Pokémon, this one called a Blastoise, looked at its trainer, watching as he pointed at the fire. The water pokemon nodded, and with its trainer stepping out of the way, the two shoulder cannons it had pointed towards the campfire, and with that, two heavy jets of water blasted out of them, and easily doused the fire with a Hydro Pump. The trainer nodded, his red eyes looking towards the Pokémon with a bit of satisfaction, and with the ball back in hand, pressed the button and pointed it towards the Blastoise.

A red beam of plasma went towards the large turtle, and it soon became enveloped by it, and soon, was sent into the ball itself. With that done, the trainer gave a nod, pressing the button to shrink it down to size, before he set it back in its place on his belt. Turning towards the cave, the trainer reached into his back pocket, and pulled out what appeared to be a piece of ID. On it showed everything from what gym badges he owned, how much money he had saved away, and more especially, his name. His name was, "Red" according to the name; an unusual name, but this trainer never brought up any questions about it before. No last names either, even more unusual, but nobody questioned him, for even if they did, he would not respond.

Now, nobody ever comes up here on Mt. Silver, he knew that much, but that trainer that appeared a while back, the most recent one, perked his interest slightly. That trainer reminded him of his old rival, whose name was also something unusual, "Blue". However, Red was easily able to beat that trainer no problem, it was as if they didn't take too much time to train, as most of the moves they used were more for show and impressing, rather than for battle. Red learned the hard way, a long time ago, that using show for battle was not something needed, and power wasn't an answer either; it's the love and care that he puts towards his Pokémon that pulled him through to victory, and ultimately became champion. His Pokémon, if he would have words to describe them, were his closest beings to family as he could get.

As he walked into the cave, after his Pikachu had used the ability, Flash to light up the cavern, he thought about that trainer. He considered himself "Gary" and not "Blue"… Then, does that mean there was a second individual that looked like him? Red thought about it, and guessed that would be the case. But he didn't spend any time to think of what this trainer would be like and how to act; heck, they could even be a recent champion for all Red knew. A new and good challenge for him, Red thought; he hadn't fought a very well-skilled trainer in ages. And who knows, if they beat him, perhaps they could tell him of any flaws he could have, or whatever.

His Pikachu looked at him, a little confused, but then saw its trainer smile for the first time in a long while when a Pokémon didn't have to do something for him. "Pika, pi? Pikapika!" The Pikachu said as they ventured deeper in the cave; despite being home to wild Pokemon, none really seemed to attack Red at all; could it be that Red was just too powerful that they knew to stay away? Or did they merely accept him as a sort of "roommate" as the closest term would be, here in Mt. Silver? It was anybody's guess, but Red carried on through the cave until he reached the deepest part, which was also a dead end. It was here that he had a bed set up, a table where he could do extra studying when he needed to, and some distance away, on the ground, appeared to be a place where trainers could battle. That is, when trainers, though very rarely do any show up, come to challenge him.

Despite being so far away from civilization, Red never once considered himself to be in "exile"; no, ever since he learned of this place, he made it his home. Nobody really understood how he felt, even though Red never once took the time to open up about it. All people knew about him was that he was, considerably, one of the world's greatest Pokémon Masters, even if nobody really knew about him. After all, he was a long lost and forgotten Champion, or so he believed…