This is FleshPorygon, now known as SteamPoweredHeart. This is Shades of Red but revamped, restarted and following Pokémon Yellow.
He will have the exact team as he does on HG/SS/Black1/White2 and I will be playing the game so most dialogue will be from the game too. Enjoy and I do not own anything but the story!
Words in Italic will be 'The Voice', which you will learn about later.
Words in Italic and in '...' are Red's thoughts from now on.
Words in normal font are obviously speech text if in "..." and normal text.
All Pokémon moves and Pokémon specifically will be capitalized at the first letter, as will locations.
Red's fingers lazily mashed against the gamepad, saving his game on the SNES, before grasping his red and white cap and pulling the white collar up to guard his neck like a shield almost.
Slipping on his red jacket and black gloves that matched his ebony hair and shimmering ruby eyes, the boy stepped towards the stairs and plodded with a smile on his face downstairs to greet his mother. His looks were, from even a first glance, passed on from his single parent mom, who had long ebony locks of her own with ember-coloured eyes and faint pink lips. Her figure was just enough to call her attractive in a physical way and the vibe she gave off was soothing, and motherly. The way she hugged her son made his smile wider.
He truly loved her but today was the day he would leave her.
She had tears in her eyes as she pulled back from the embrace.
"All boys have to leave home someday... the Professor is waiting for you so eat up quickly."
Red nodded, hugging his mother after he had eaten the fry-up breakfast then leaving to face the challenges that fate threw at him.
Strolling around, Red decided to enjoy the summer weather instead of going straight to the Professor; he also knew the Professor would not even be there because of his irritating time issues, that man seriously needed a watch or something.
His foot brushed against the grass and a daring grin met the world when Red took a brave step into the emerald harmless spikes of nature, then another, and another...
"Don't go in the tall grass!" a voice from far behind bellowed, it sounded breathless and shaky.
Red turned round and saw the Professor quickly scramble into the grass, catching his breath before he resumed his rant at the confused boy.
"That was close! Wild Pokémon live in the tall grass, Red! Now, let's get out of here..."
Just as the Professor tried to drag the boy away, a small yellow rat Pokémon appeared, blocking their path. It had a chubby figure and big black eyes like onyxes with yellow fur and red cheeks. Oak acted quickly, rummaging in his lab coat pocket and pulling out a pokéball, which was a device (Red researched this for years before his adventure) that captured the Pokémon. It caught it straight away.
"Phew..." replied the Professor, wiping sweat off his brow before turning to Red. "A Pokémon can appear anytime in the grass, you need your own Pokémon for safety Red; you should know this!"
Red was about to open his mouth to retaliate until the elder dragged him, proclaiming an idea, towards his lab. Once he was finally let go, Red grinned at his childhood friend, Blue.
Blue just glared at him before snapping at his grandfather, the professor.
"Gramps! I'm fed up with waiting." The boy demanded, arms crossed across his chest. The Professor stopped, staring at his grandson confused.
"Blue? Why are you here already? I said for you to come by later." Blue just frowned even more. "Ah whatever! Just wait there."
Rubbing the back of his neck for a moment, turning to Red, Samuel Oak nodded towards the single pokéball on the table. "Look Red, see that ball on the table? It holds a Pokémon inside... you can have it, go on, take it!" the professor stared eagerly at the boy, who just shrugged smiling before going over. Red hesitated to take the pokéball, as his eyes glanced towards his former friend Blue, who was yelling at the professor.
'Sounds rough...'
His hand extended outwards to take the ball but seconds later, he found himself on his rear end staring up at the paled brunette spikes that adorned his friend's scalp. He slowly met his eyes.
"Uh, Blue? That's my Pokémon, no offense..."
"No way!" Blue snapped selfishly, a look of envy in his brown eyes (speckled with ocean blue) as he clutched the pokéball that rightfully belonged to Red. "I want this Pokémon!"
The elderly man watched his grandson steal a Pokémon away from his new helper, and exclaimed in surprise.
"Blue! What are you doing?" Blue just glared.
"I want this one, Gramps!"
Samuel looked nervously at Red and then at Blue; it was either his prized pupil and grandson, Blue or the young confident boy with a chance, Red.
"But I... Oh, all right then. That Pokémon is yours. I was going to give you one anyway."
Red's jaw dropped. It was as if Blue was almost manipulating him!
Professor Oak then beckoned Red, who dusted himself off and rushed over to the man; "Red, this is the Pokémon I caught earlier. You can have it, though careful, it's still untamed."
Red glanced at the pokéball and latched it onto his belt before heading towards the exit.
"See you two la-"
"Wait, Red!"
Red looked up, and noted that Blue was right close to his face. He flushed a scarlet colour.
"Let's check out our Pokémon, come on, I'll take you on!"
Red gulped, and waited for Blue to step back before they both released their Pokémon. Red only following Blue's actions.
Blue smirked as he ordered his Eevee to tackle, but his smirk dropped when Red's Pikachu sidestepped to dodge and laughed in the face of the normal-type.
"Uh... uh... Pikachu, use... growl?"
The noise hurt the Eevee's ears and caused it to shriek in pain, before recklessly tackling the Pikachu on order, pinning the electric mouse to the ground.
"Use thundershock!"
Red's confidence grew as he saw his Pikachu's thunderbolt hit perfectly and even paralyze the fox-cat Pokémon.
"Tackle, Eevee!" – "Pikachu, use your thunderbolt again!"
The tackle stuck its landing, but Pikachu's electricity hit in a split second after – critically damaging the young Eevee. It wobbled a little bit, swaying before passing out.
Blue seethed in jealousy and anger, mumbling something under his breath.
"Unbelievable... Okay! I'll make my Pokémon stronger! I'll smell ya' later."
Red watched Blue leave, before attempting to place his Pikachu back in its pokéball. After attempting many times, each time failing, he gave up whilst glaring at the Pikachu in frustration.
"Well, look at that!" Oak's voice broke the silence that filled the lab like air. "It's odd, but it appears your Pikachu dislikes pokéballs. Maybe you should just keep it out with you, which should make it happy!"
With that, Red thanked and left the Professor to pursue his dream. No matter how small or big it may be.
Red saw Blue walking up Route 1, his feet dragging a little.
"Hey, Blue!" Red yelled to his former friend, a big grin on his face.
Blue stopped, shooting daggers with his amber eyes.
"What? What do you want, now?"
Red managed to control the impulsive urge to jump in surprise, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"L-Look... I was hoping we were still friends, I mean."
"Mean what?"
"You seem to have been distant for a while... I just hope this whole rivalry or Pokémon journey thing doesn't come between us and we can work things out."
Blue scoffed, turning his back on Red.
"We can never work things out, don't you get that?"
Red looked up from the emerald blades slashing at his trouser legs dealing no damage, and up at Blue.
"Our friendship?" - Blue glanced over his shoulders, anger and sorrow flaring in his eyes.
"It's over."
Red stared after Blue, soaking in the words.
"What...?"
Red trailed behind his Pikachu, hissing at the faint burns the sparks from Thundershock gave him while Pikachu trotted ahead completely refreshed after his mother healed him to full health.
"You're a lot of trouble, you know that?"
The Pikachu just chimed in laughter. Red sighed, but laughed too. The electric mouse ran ahead into Viridian City and Red just noticed how reckless and stubborn his new partner actually was; a lot like Blue.
Red mentally slapped himself; He should be concentrating on his life-long dream! His life aspiration!
"Our life-long dream..."
He shrugged it off again, and saw a few wild Rattatas in the distance, all eating berries they had stolen most likely, as upon inspection; they had the talon marks of a Pidgey or Spearow.
Well, his Pokémon did need training...
"Pikachu, go!"
While he trained his Pokémon to the point of collapsing in exhaustion, he picked up the squirming electric-type and made his way into Viridian City in hopes of clearing his head at the nearest Pokémon Center. After all, it was almost dinnertime.
When the two companions settled down for lunch after a quick nap in the Center, Red was slowly gaining the trust of his new Pokémon, which was allowing him to feed it by hand despite it been able to feed itself. It was a rash little fellow, but Red loved its company all the same, after all, it reminded him of Blue.
"Hey Pikachu, now we've finished lunch, we could check out the Pokémart for some items since we are going to explore the forest after all?"
The Pikachu continued munching his final scrap of food, and made a sort of scoff sound before jumping off the low-levelled chair and started strutting towards the exit on its own accord.
Red laughed faintly, feeling a little shown up, and returned the borrowed bowls to Nurse Joy before following his partner to the door in which they felt a high breeze cool their bodies down.
"It's beautiful..." whispered Red, staring out towards the sky, lost in thought until he was shocked back into reality and pushed (much struggling on Pikachu's part) him towards a metallic building with a blue roof.
"O-oh, yeah! – the mart...!"
The Pikachu sighed but grinned slightly, or that is what Red could make out from its facial expression. Red just grinned back in hopes of making a connection; the pushing halted and the tension between the two eased up.
When the two entered the Pokémart, the cashier looked up from his daydream and beckoned them over.
"You, boy!"
Red pointed at himself, and the middle-aged man nodded eagerly. The dark-haired boy found himself stepping closer to the counter.
"Hey, you came from Pallet Town right?"
Red barely got a word in edge-wise before been interrupted from his sentence.
"You know the Professor right? Well, his order came in and my delivery boy isn't on duty today so do ya' mind giving it to him?" he stated rudely, pushing the packet into the hands of Red.
"Uh... um... Well..."
"Thanks, and say hi to Prof. Oak for me, will ya'?"
Red just sighed and nodded, forcing the large box into his bag leaving little room – he would just have to come back later for potions and other items when he had more room.
It was late when Red eventually arrived back at the lab; it looked like he would be spending a second night at home.
When he walked up to the elder, he felt exhausted, and almost fell asleep throughout his explanation of his parcel. It was longer than Red would have liked it to be.
Until Blue barged into the lab, grumpy as ever.
"He never used to be like this."
Red frowned, causing Blue to stare at him strangely and cough in order to hide the eye contact they shared seconds before he spoke.
"Gramps!" causing the Professor to jump slightly, and turn his attention away from the custom pokéballs. "I almost forgot, so what is it that you called me for?"
The professor stood puzzled momentarily.
"Oh, right! I have a request for you two."
Red felt a glare, like millions of tiny needles, stabbing into his skin.
All Red heard from the next few minutes was something about an encyclopaedia of Pokémon named a Pokénex or something, Pokédex...? That's what it was, he thought to himself when examining the rectangular, thin, book-shaped gadget.
"You need these too!"
"Is he seriously still talking?"
Red groaned a little under his breath and took the pokéballs gratefully from the old man's clutches before looking up to hear Blue speaking.
"All right Gramps leave it all to me..."
"All to... him? He asked me too!"
He turned to face Blue, opening his mouth but was quickly silenced before he even began his sentence.
"Red, I hate to say it."
"Yeah, right. What's with the smug grin then?"
"But you won't be necessary for this."
Red clenched his fist. Blue was been unreasonably arrogant!
"I know! I'll borrow a town map from sis, and hey, I'll tell her not to lend you one. You have your own family to provide for you after all."
Blue walked off, more like storming off, but nonetheless he made Red furious. How could he just say that?
"He doesn't have parents, moron... But that's no reason to be so... so..."
Red's fist unclenched, loosening its grip on anger and faded back into reality.
He sighed, shaking his head and tilted his hat at the Professor, before leaving to return to Viridian City – maybe this time; he'll finally get through to the forest!
He stopped quickly to visit Daisy, Blue's sister, and in return for the kind visit and listening to her short rant about her grandfather's laziness, she handed him her town map; "Score." thought Red who headed out towards Viridian City once again.
Red and his Pokémon went onto Route 24, to train themselves for Viridian City, and even caught themselves a new team member; A Mankey whom separated itself from the group at best. Red had tried reaching out to the fighting type but it just lashed out, causing the young boy to be covered in scratches and bruises. At least, it obeyed his commands... well, most of them.
After an hour or so of non-stop training, he was left exploring the rest of Route 24 with his Pikachu at full health and his Mankey at half health. The Mankey had been scratching at his face the entire time and Red was pulsating with agony as he attempted to read his map – he wasn't exactly sure how to read them.
Stumbling over the tiled pavement that looked like racing orange-yellow cars to Red at the fast-paced speed he was walking at, he felt dizzy and confused. He looked again at the map, getting more frustrated every second.
"I don't do directions!"
Red vexed to himself, mainly in his head, before realizing he was falling backwards onto the pavement with a thud.
"Ow... watch it, loser!"
Dark brown eyes met hazel brown eyes.
The hazel ones weren't happy, to say the least.
Red scrambled to his feet, and attempted to apologize, but as usual, was interrupted and deprived his right to speak.
"Red... you heading towards the Pokémon League? Forget it. You don't have any badges, right? Well, you need them to get through."
Red just shrugged, he already knew that anyway.
"So... have your Pokémon got any stronger?"
Without warning, Red was thrown into a battle. A bird Pokémon known as Pidgey was set free by a red beam of light then it immediately began to glide through the air around them. Red panicked and sent forward Pikachu to deal with the flying bird.
"Quick Attack, P-Pikachu!"
Jolting upwards at top speed, the attack was a quick as its name implied; the bird was tossed to the ground then pinned.
The bird type reacted by tossing sand into the poor electric mouse's face, so it'd let go. The yellow furry critter shook away the dirt best it could before charging up electricity on command, sparks flying on to the Pidgey's feet and lower body, startling it.
"Pidgey!" was the only thing heard in the empty valley.
The bird landed, in a stumble, as paralyzing chains of electricity bound its wings and body before reacting again with another Quick Attack on Pikachu's end.
The Pidgey got up but after trotting around aimlessly, it fell unconscious and was returned to its resting place in its pokéball.
Red picked up Pikachu and spun it round in victory, returning the electric mouse to his shoulder just as quickly before grinning at Blue, as if to challenge him even further. Blue responded quickly, sending out his Charmander to face off with the newly trained Mankey.
The Mankey just sat down on the pavement, scratching at the ground barely.
"Is that your new team member?" scoffed Blue. "It's pathetic. It's just weak."
The Mankey's eyes narrowed in anger and stood up, stomping it's large feet on the ground to emphasise toughness. It ran in at the fire lizard, and kicked it backwards at the knees causing it to stumble and recklessly scratch at the Mankey.
The fighting-type hissed, clutching its right cheek before scratching its lower stomach as a comeback.
"Mankey, Mankey stop – I didn't tell you to do that!"
The Pokémon ignored Red, and slashed and scarred the Charmander to unconsciousness. Blue growled and returned his Pokémon as Red clutched the Mankey in an attempt to calm it down.
The Mankey was panting heavily, its health low and anger subsiding slowly but surely. Red sighed with relief and returned it to its pokéball before looking up from his crouched position at Blue.
Blue just looked away, placing his hands inside his purple trousers.
"..."
"Blue...?"
"I heard the Pokémon League is crawling with tough trainers. I need to figure a way past them, and so I think you should quit dawdling if you are ever to surpass me."
With that, Blue left once again, leaving only a confused Red who felt somewhat betrayed.
"Did I... upset him, maybe?"
Red was talking to the professor over the PC video call, explaining that his Mankey was getting out of hand.
"Maybe you could send him over to me? I'll look after him."
"Would you do that, Professor?"
The professor laughed, nodding eagerly.
"Of course, you're doing me a big favour after all."
"Gee, thanks... I'll send it over right away."
Red turned off the video call, after saying good-bye and placed the pokéball into a machine attached to the PC who was made by a person apparently living in Cerulean City; the name on the machine's copied label was scribbled out and faded so it was hard to decipher who made the BOX apparatus.
Red typed a quick command into the computer, and the Pokéball was sent up a shoot and left for Professor Oak to deal with.
"Bye buddy..."
Red healed up his Pikachu before heading towards Viridian Forest, ignoring the gym, which an old man told him was empty.
Red stumbled, his bag weighing him down as he carried a large TV given to him free by an elderly man. The boy didn't understand the purpose of this gift, but it was against his good nature to turn it down.
"Maybe it'll be nice to watch when I'm camping?"
Red sighed unknowingly, and forced himself to press onwards through the gate entrance to Viridian, he was stocked up and ready to go.
When Red entered Viridian Forest, he was hoping to find rare Pokémon amongst the trees and in the long blades of grass.
Bugs...
Red only found bugs, bugs and more bugs!
He sighed, slumping against a tree as his Pokémon explored the nearby grassy areas.
Pikachu was making it a breeze for Red to get through the forest. The sparks produced enough light to get around the forest late in the evening and afternoon without been in any real danger and it was the best way to set fire to barks of dry wood to provide a fire for the camping for the duo.
After clearing the area of the forest, just two sleeping trainers from the exit gate, the group called it a night, and the electric mouse Pokémon slept against Red as Red twitched and mumbled throughout his nightmare-filled dreams.
Them taunting dreams.
Blue...
Blue...!
I... Blue, I...!
Snapping awake from the dream, Red looked round paranoid slightly. It was light and buzzing with activity of battles and the noise of wild Pokémon.
'It's morning...? I guess, we should go then...'
Red woke his Pokémon gently, and fed it a few berries as he snacked on a candy bar shipped all the way from the Johto region.
"Hey... I wonder, do you think we could ever go to Johto?" the boy asked his Pokémon. They just looked at one another and his Pikachu shrugged, jumping upwards onto Red's shoulder then his head, sitting itself comfortably on his hat.
Red exited Viridian Forest, counting his money he won from battles in the bug-infested hellhole to find himself in a small grassy route with an inaccessible cave due to a large, thick tree in his way. Red shrugged it off, and headed into the rural, grey town of Pewter City to heal up his team, which were tired from the journey.
"We hope to see you again!"
Red smiled at the nurse behind the counter, put off by the fact she looked almost identical to the one in Viridian.
"Creepy..."
The Pikachu perched on his head let off a tone of what would be laughter in response. They made their way outside and looked round.
"Where now then, Pikachu?"
Red's attention was caught by a big, fancy-looking building with a pillared entrance. It had a sign outside stating it was 'Pewter Museum of Science'.
"Hey, that looks cool... let's go in there!"
After spending half an hour staring at meteorites and a strange stone called the Moon Stone and paying a ridiculous fee of 50 Poke just to look at rocks, Red sighed.
"Maybe we should just leav-?"
He saw a blur of brown-orange hair leave a large building, and go onto another route.
"Was that...?"
Red ran after the figure, but was rudely stopped by another child.
"You're a trainer, right?"
Red nodded, irritation showing on his face despite the kid's ignorance.
"Brock's looking for new challengers; he's the City gym leader! Here, follow me!"
The young boy tugged on the trainer's wrist and started guiding him towards the building Red saw previously.
"If you have the right stuff, try take on Brock!" the boy said, as if to challenge Red.
Red took that challenge, and called out to the boy.
"I will take on Brock, and I'll bring him down!"
With that, Red entered the gym and took down the gym trainers in his way with ease. He was going to win that Boulder Badge.
Red stepped towards Brock, the gym leader of Pewter City and rock-type user.
"So, you're here, I'm Brock. I'm Pewter's gym leader."
"I'm Red... Trainer from Pallet Town."
"I see, well my rock-hard willpower is evident even in my Pokémon. My Pokémon are all rock-hard, and have true-grit determination. That's right – my Pokémon are all the rock type!"
"Yeah, well. I challenge you to a battle!"
Brock laughed, it was almost as if he found the challenge funny.
"Fuhaha! You're going to challenge me knowing that you'll lose? That's the trainer's honour that compels you to challenge me."
Red just raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused and nodded, only to agree with Brock so this conversation would be over much quicker.
"Fine, then! Show me your best!"
The tanned, brunette man sent out a bulky rock-type, a Geodude, to face off against the rash and ill-tempered Pikachu.
"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!"
The electric Pokémon disappeared for a split second and reappeared, slamming hard into the slow rock-type and span it round like a morning star weapon before letting go. A cloud of dust appeared on impact when the Pokémon hit the wall and as it faded out; it was easy to tell that the Geodude was in defeat.
Brock clapped, and returned the Pokémon to its pokéball.
"Well done... but let's see how you face off against my Onix!"
The gym leader sent out the long, stone snake into battle.
"Now, Onix, use bind!"
Onix was surprisingly fast, and sped towards the small Pikachu before binding it with its tail tightly, suffocating the poor critter.
"Pikachu, break free! Use Thunder wave then Slam it!"
Pikachu struggled but summoned enough electricity in its cheek pouches to paralyze the Onix and slipped through the cracks of the stone snake before slamming head first into it, repeatedly around the body of the Pokémon until it became too tired to fight back, defeating it instantly.
Brock stared in wonder, shocked at how easily he was defeated.
"...I... I took you for granted, and so I lost."
Red appeared to be smirking for once.
"As a proof of your victory, I confer on you this... the official Pokémon League Boulder Badge."
Red turned round to leave before a big hand pulled him back by the shoulder.
"Wait! Take this with you!"
Brock pushed a TM capsule, containing Rock Tomb, into his arms and grinned giving him a thumbs up.
"You should head towards Mt. Moon, and be careful – the Police have reasons to believe criminals are hanging out there but we can't take care of them in a cave like that..."
Red nodded, and ran off to heal his team before heading to the next route.
On the way to the route, a man in glasses and a dirty lab coat waved at Red.
Red was confused, and went towards him.
"Do I kno-" – "Oh, Red! I'm glad I caught up to you. I'm Professor Oak's aide and I've been asked by your mother to deliver these to you" The aide passed Red a parcel with a note attached before leaving Red with a friendly good-bye.
Red looked at the letter, reading it out loud to himself.
'Dear Red,
Here is a pair of running shoes for my beloved challenger. Remember, I'll always cheer for you! Don't ever give up!
From Mom.'
Red smiled happily to himself before leaning against a mountain edge, replacing the scatty old shoes with running sneakers. Red then ran onto Route 3 and began his journey towards the next city, Cerulean City with his new friends and his new brick red sneakers. He ran towards the trainers, to bring them down and bring himself to victory.
NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS HERE, THESE ALL BELONG TO NINTENDO AND THE CREATOR OF POKÉMON. THEY ARE ALSO NOT TO BE MIXED UP WITH GREEN AND RED FROM POKÉMON ADVENTURES AND NOT TO BE MISTAKEN FOR ASH OR GARY. THANK YOU.