Chapter 1: Tales of the Past
A/N: So…. I guess I've revamped the first chapter… Enjoy… I honestly don't know what to say right now, not in that shocked like oh my god what do I say now that I've achieved this thing blah blah blah way, I'm just generally stumped. I'm literally furrowing my brow as I write this. Now sections of it may be changed, or unchanged, and I honestly don't know how much/little of it I intend to change as I type. I guess maybe it's just to strip away some of the crude aspects, as well as other thing you. I'll look over Chapter 2 and see if I want to edit it soon. I may. Chapter 3 is literally fresh off the press and I'm not editing it. Enjoy. Spironax
Two years before present day…
Red caught the ball as his teammates circled around him, the four guarding him like a pack guards their leader, which he was, as he dribbled the ball slowly, taking his sweet time to drag on the game as for the hundredth time, their guard didn't let the opposing team in. He walked forward as the opposition made numerous attempts for the ball, lazily reaching the three point line and shooting, his team dissipating the moment the ball was in the air in case there was a rebound. There wasn't.
Red smiled as the ball went in, the buzzer going moments after, signifying that they had won the game, 74-40. His team rushed towards him, picking their captain up and carrying him to the trophy for the season. Red grimaced for a moment as he saw half the girls in the school screaming and trying to get to the team. He hated it when they all did that. But it looked like the coach didn't care, and truly he didn't. He only cared that they let the team practice and play without tearing them limb from limb between each other. It was going to be hard trying to get out.
The next morning…
Red lowered his cap over his jet black hair and walked towards the massive school building, his laptop in the satchel by his side. He looked up at the red and gold banners hanging from between the post on the way to the school, a cylindrical stone platform with a huge piece of glass and machinery in it between each post. He looked at the banner hanging from the school entrance at the end of the cobblestone path, bearing the words, 'Winchester Scythers, Undisputed Champions 3 Years Running!'
Red lowered his cap to darken the things he could see as the holographs came into view even from where he was standing. In each of the stone cylinders, which were each about as midway between his waist and his knee, and wide enough to stand on comfortably, was a large lens making up most of the top. The red and gold hologram of each player of any team which won was displayed on it until the next game. His team had been there since the start of the season. At the end of the stone path was a set of stairs, leading up to the massive doors, each about ten feet tall. In front of them was the last stone pedestal, for the captain.
Red sighed as he walked up to his image, staring through it before walking into the school as every head turned towards him. For crying out loud his image was fixed in front of the school doors every day for every win in the last two years since he had enrolled, which meant twelve weeks a year, and if you added the winter break where they didn't bother to shut the projectors, it was sixteen weeks.
"LAWSON! LAWSON! LAWSON! LAWSON!" every person in the school started chanting as he lowered his head.
Lowering his head was the only way to avoid the stares of the entire school, but it also left him susceptible to being snuck up on. He walked quickly to his locker, turning his back to the school as his neighbor, one of his teammates, offered him the courtesy of keeping an eye out for him.
"How about that game last night Red? Best use of the guard we've had this season I'll say! Forty minutes, seventy four points!" He began. He was a tall, broad shouldered boy by the name of Brecken. His eyes were mismatched, one blue the other gray, and his hands massive. His skin was tanned from practicing in his driveway without skipping a single day.
"You know. There are people who say you don't play for the game the same way the rest of the team does. But let these naysayers fall face-first in their own bile! They don't know you like we do. If you didn't love the game more than any of us, you wouldn't waste that tactical brain of yours on it. Well… See ya, I've got a literature seminar in the auditorium." And with that Brecken lumbered off, knowing Red had his face to the school now.
Red nodded vaguely in his direction and set off for his own class, his head swimming. Brecken was an odd person. Strong as a smith, and built like one, and having built things like grandfather clocks in wood work with ease, Red wouldn't put it past him to know how to hammer away at a blob of molten iron and make a sword out of it. He was an average student in every subject, except literature, where he exceled in every which way, but amongst the students he was known for his easy going, sunny personality. He was probably the most likeable person in the building.
Red looked up to find his path blocked by a girl, three more in his peripheral vision. Standing in front of him was Alicia Varus, the captain of the cheer squad, girls' volleyball team, girls' basketball team, and one of the best students in the school. Someone Red had bookmarked as untrustworthy from the opinion of her he had gathered over his two years at Winchester. Behind him was a gaggle of her own friends, or rather lackeys.
Brecken was the most affable person in the school, but Alicia was by far the most popular. For multiple reasons. The favorite of every teacher whose class she graced with her presence, Alicia's popularity for the most part came from her looks. Long auburn hair that reached her waist tied up in an intricate braid, skin that was tanned but not dark, and green eyes. Her voice was like siren song, sweet as honey but as deadly as a bullet. She was of average height, for a girl, and her body had developed beyond her years, but beneath all her looks she was cunning, wily, and above all, ultimately did nothing for anyone but herself. She was so…. Plastic. And Red despised her.
"Aw Red, can't I get a hug from you?" she pouted, spreading her arms, tilting her head, moving one hip to the side and smiling as Red pushed through the wall her friends were forming around him, picking up the pace as he made for his next classroom.
"Not even a hello?" she pretended to sulk, catching up to him and inching closer to him with every second.
Red simply kept walking. She wasn't in his way so he wouldn't say anything. Unless she tried to pull something. He determinedly walked through the open door of the classroom as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, a head press against his neck and a hand drift up his chest.
"Get off of me!" He wrenched Alicia's hands off of him, stepping forward and turning to face her as she reached for him again.
In a flurry slipped to the floor of his arm and somehow slid forward as he took her by the arm and held her back.
"Miss Varus, I say this without any thoughts of taking it back, take your personal attendants and leave my student and my class!" A young man with sharp features was standing behind his desk, his grey eyes blazing, brown hair standing up from the front as he picked up Red's bag and placed it on his double desk which was purposely kept empty apart from him.
"Thanks professor." Red wheezed, sitting down and trying to normalize his breath as everyone poured into the classroom.
"Anytime Red. Assault isn't allowed in my class without a reason on par with exacting revenge for someone beating up a sibling." The man sat back down, turning to a pile of marked papers and flipping through them.
Professor Sinclair was tall, young, smart, and a very good teacher. After all, he did teach law, trainer theory and math, and still managed to get a 3.5 GPA or above from all his classes. He only accepted those with aptitude into his courses anyway. Pale skin highlighted the focused grey eyes through which he saw everything that went on in the class, unlike most teachers.
Standing beside the professor was a young girl with aqua blue eyes, skin that looked like it had never seen the sun, and honey blond hair falling halfway down her back in a wave tied at the bottom. She was a bit shorter than most girls, but she made up for it with a look of fierce determination.
The bell sounded as Red looked up, pulling out a notebook and a pen, one of the few classes where they didn't use computers being math. He watched as the class filed in slowly, until every seat was taken, with the exception of the seat next to his, from where the seat had been unbolted purposely, and the bolts themselves were lying under the lid of the desk where Red had stowed his bag. The teachers had heard indirectly what put him on edge so much, and whilst he was far from unstable, emotionally or generally, they had decided that with his guarded nature, sometimes it may be better to keep him alone.
Red looked up to see the girl form earlier standing with the teacher quietly as the professor waited for everybody to settle down.
"Everybody, this is Serena Alaric, she's a new student here at Winchester and I hope you'll all make her welcome. She's moved here from Hoenn to live with her mother again. Serena why don't you take a seat over…." Professor Sinclair stopped mid-sentence as his eyes roved the classroom, seeing no empty places except next to Red.
"Wait here a minute. Red, could I have a word with you in the hallway?" he gestured towards Red, who stepped out of his seat quietly and walked out the door to the professor.
"Sorry Red, but she'll have to sit with you. She's new here, so even if she is the type to go crazy over the stars of the school, she won't know you yet. I'll have an extra seat added tomorrow if she is." The man whispered to Red, the fifteen year old staring at him.
"Of course sir. However I'm going to ask that you don't expect me to get along with her if she tries to talk to me at all."
"Oh, and one more thing Red, starting from lunch, you're her mentor for the semester."
Red swore under his breath as he nodded grudgingly, heading to the store room and dragging a seat out from it to the classroom, taking it to his desk and bolting it down.
"Serena why don't you go sit next to Red." Sinclair suggested as Serena nodded, taking in the boy she was going to sit next to as she walked over to her side of the desk.
He was tall, around 5'11", built like a runner with a fair bit of muscle, pale skinned, and his jet black hair wasn't exactly tidy. It wasn't made untidily on purpose, but it was naturally messed up. In her opinion, it looked good. He was quiet, serious looking, his hand over the red cap next to his pen on the desk. But what stuck out the most were his eyes. They were a deep, blood red and they had a liquid-like quality that captivated her as she sat down.
Red examined the girl he was supposed to guide, no doubt she had been told. She was thin, and she had a few curves where her clothes were hugging her body. Red stared into her eyes for a moment, lost in them before he returned to his natural state, jaw clenched, face a blank slate and thoughts guarded
The lessons passed by quickly without anything particularly out of the ordinary happening. Serena tried to make conversation a few times, rebuffed by simple one word answers from Red, focusing on her studies the rest of the time until the lunch break.
Red made his way to the cafeteria, Serena behind him, filing into line and taking a small helping of the steamed fish on offer. He found an empty table for two, tucked away in a corner, and made a beeline for it, seating himself with his back to the wall. Serena, following him, drew up the other chair and sat down, drawing stares from everyone in the cafeteria, including a glare from Alicia.
"So….. You're going to be my mentor for the first semester?" Serena asked timidly as she started into her own food, unable to tear her eyes from his piercing crimson ones.
Red nodded gruffly, continuing to eat.
"Um… is your name actually Red?" She continued, slightly confused by why someone who was supposed to be her friend and help her was being so gruff and moody.
"Lawson. Red Lawson." He replied, looking up and noticing her staring at his eyes as she blushed deeply.
"So what do you like to do with your spare time?" she asked, trying to start up a conversation.
Red stayed silent, looking up and realizing she wasn't going to stop. He stood up, picking up his tray and heading over to the recycling bin, trashing the paper plate and leaving.
Serena stared at him, gulping down the remains of her food and grabbing her bag, running after him. She found the teen standing on a brick terrace overlooking the wooded area near Pallet Town.
"What is the matter with you? Why can't you even reply in a civil manner! Is it one of your instincts to not trust people! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Serena shouted at him as he sighed, turning around and looking at her, her cyan eyes, catching his own.
"You know, there's a part of me that wants to trust you, to have a friend. But I won't. I can't." Red replied softly, staring at her.
"Why!?" she shouted again, staring at him.
"You really want to know why?" he laughed, leaning against the brick railing. "It's because in my experience, the ones who you love, who you care about, the ones you think actually give a damn what you think lie to you! They use you, and everyone else, and they deceive you, hurt you, and break you!"
Red's voice had dimmed to a whisper with the last sentence as Serena's expression changed from one of anger to one of shock, silence, curiosity, and above all, kindness.
Serena could see that he wasn't going to relent, so the only thing she could do for the time being was probably to just stay quiet and get along with him. He seemed like an okay person. He hadn't neglected his duties as her mentor, explaining to her what had needed to be explained. But some part of her wanted to crack him open, help fix whatever was tormenting him and then stitch him back up together.
Weeks had passed since the first day Red had met Serena, and he had thawed a little bit, replying more readily, but he was still living in his own guarded manner, unwilling to let the walls around him down. There had been times when he'd slip; He'd smile or laugh, and there'd be a twinkle in his eyes that would mesmerize Serena. She had taken it upon herself to get Red to open up to her, else what chance did she have with him.
It was the middle of the day, a particularly sunny Wednesday. They were in the same balcony where Red had first answered her as to why he was so on edge, an open corridor behind them. The railing was cemented over the brick structure, and wide enough for a person to sit on. Which was exactly what Red was doing, sitting there, reading through a free class.
Serena was sitting there, content to stare at him from the other end of the balcony. Red looked up from his book, as he did habitually, catching her gaze and locking his eyes on her.
"Why are you still tailing me everywhere? It's not like you're going to make any friends this way. Go. Find people you can enjoy the next few years of classes with!" He grunted, halfheartedly glaring at her.
In all honesty Red didn't mind her that much since she didn't really do anything to him. She just hung around, staring at things wistfully on occasion. Occasionally at him.
"I'll give you an honest answer. I want to know what made you this guarded. Your first answer makes it evident that something, or rather someone, did this to you. I want to make you understand that I'm only here to help you. I want to. I want to be your friend." She answered, noting the form of a person she had grown apprehensive of approaching.
The sound of Alicia Varus's footsteps became audible as she walked onto the balcony, clearly oblivious to what had just transpired, her back to Serena.
"Hey sexy. Come here!" She leaned forward, trying to wrap her arms around Red. Instinctively, Red leaned back, lost his balance and fell off of the balcony.
Alicia's eyes were closed, her lips pursed for a kiss, her mind swimming with the fact that she might trap Red once, failing to notice what had transpired, despite the shriek Serena let out. Then she saw his hand. He had grabbed hold of one of the brick pillars with one hand, and the ledge below them with the other.
Serena ran over to the railing as Red pulled himself up, flinging himself over the railing and knocking Alicia over in a very un-romantic way.
"Alicia Varus. I have a mind to report you for sexual misconduct right now, but I'll let you go this once. If I hear anything from Red, then that's it for you. Go. Red please stop sitting on railings." Red looked forward to see Brecken's older brother, head of house for the both of them, standing in front of him, and Alicia scrambling away.
"Sure." He replied, nodding at him gratefully as he walked away. Emotions were welling up inside of him, the years of bottled up rage and trauma pushing through a crack in the wall that guarded him and destroying it.
"You want to know what made me like this… I'll tell you… but it's only for your ears." Red remarked, walking off as she scrambled to follow him through the corridors to the basketball courts, the massive rooms empty.
He pulled out the first layer of the bleachers, strain visible on his face, and sat down. Serena took it as a cue to sit down next to him, staring intently into his eyes.
"It all began two years ago, a while after I joined Winchester…" he began, preparing himself for a long tale.
Two year's prior...
Alexander Fitch opened the door to the small, one bedroom house he had called his home for the past fifteen years, the condition of the house testament to the meager amount of money that went its construction and care. Paint was chipping of the walls on the outside and inside, and there was a colony of termites occupying the tree in the yard, becoming an increasing threat to the house as one or two might drift away from the colony. The steps up to the door were creaking and threatening to break, even under his small frame.
The rest of the house was fine, nothing lavish. One bedroom he shared with his wife, a loft in which their thirteen year old son lived. A small kitchenette and lounge joined together as the main entrance. He could smell a Spearow roasting in the oven and he caught sight of Vanessa, his wife, standing behind the counter, an apron tied around her waist. She was covering something in flour, what it was he had no clue.
Hearing his footsteps against the groaning floor she turned to him, still holding a skillet, her brow furrowed. What neither of them had noticed was that thirteen year old Red had crept down the stairs and was standing, back pressed against a wall, next to the fireplace.
"Vanessa honey! How was your day?" Alexander feigned a smile as he walked towards her arms open.
Vanessa raised the skillet in return, holding it out at him as the fury in her eyes became evident.
"Don't you say that you dirty little double crossing liar!" she shouted, shoving the skillet in his direction before letting it drop to the counter with a clatter, exchanging it for a knife.
"Honey what's wrong?" He asked, gritting his teeth after he asked that, trying to ramp up the empathy, all whilst Red crawled around the floor by the wall, still unnoticed, an iron poker from the inactive fireplace in his hand.
"You left your phone at home. Your boss called… Smith was it… he said he had another assignment for you…. For half a million dollars… taking someone out and making it look like an accident…." She shouted at him, Red noticing the bulge in the back of his waistband and reaching for it slowly. Alexander's face went through a flurry of expressions, starting with shock, moving to panic, then calming down and going back to feigned shock, all in the span of two seconds. Yet it had still betrayed him.
"So it really is true…. You make a living k-k-ill-ling people." Vanessa choked on the words, her hands trembling as tears formed in her eyes. Meanwhile, Red had his hand firmly around the gun, ready to pull it out.
Alexander took Vanessa's moment of weakness as his chance, reaching for his Beretta in the moment Red whipped it out, pointing it at him and hitting him in the leg with the poker.
"What the! RED!?" He shouted, pulling his shin up and cradling it against his thigh. Then his face contorted into a sneer. "That thing's empty anyway."
Red's heart nearly rose to his throat as he realized Alexander was speaking the truth. Steeling himself, he spoke.
"Get out! Get out and don't come back! I can get ammunition for this faster than you could get a new one, even if you got it illegally." Red shouted, keeping the hand with the poker steady. He pulled a knife out of the knife block, slipping the gun into his own waistband.
He felt his heart sink as Alexander started to laugh, doubling over. "You know what? I think I may just do that! I have seventy four million dollars in savings, in an account which I very thoughtfully didn't give you access too! Enjoy the rest of your lives without half the money you were earning. I'm just cutting off a sand bag here! You can be sure you'll never see me again!" he doubled over laughing once more as Red held the poker out towards him warily before stumbling out of the door, still laughing. Red followed him out, watching as he stumbled out.
"Oh Red honey!" His mother burst into tears, embracing him from behind as he found himself paralyzed, watching his father pull a wad of cash out of his pocket and walk down to the docks.
An hour later they found themselves inside, a cup of hot cocoa in front of each of them as Red tore through his father's checkbook to see if there were any stubs with his signature on them. He had had no luck so far. He had managed to forge his father's handwriting, writing out a check for seventy three and a half million. His father could easily get rich again. But right now Red wanted help his mother out. He had been right when he had said they would have trouble without his half of the income. He had pretended to make a living by making paintings and selling them, occasionally joining lumber crews when they had space. Paintings… Then it occurred to him. One of those paintings was in the house.
Filled with energy, Red sprinted through the door of his mother's bedroom finding the painting he was looking for and scribbling down what he hoped was his father's real signature from it. Smiling, he dashed back to his mother and tore the check off, putting it down in front of her. She had been forced to take any work she could get, washing clothes, cooking, babysitting, for fifteen years. Now it was time for them to live like royalty.
Red was sitting in one of Professor Sinclair's three classrooms, in law, the table exactly like that of the defendant in a court. As were the seats, which were of course, not able to be taken to another desk, but movable none the less. He was sitting with Serena, whom he had asked for as his partner when half the teachers in the school had said that the remainder of their courses, and the following courses, would be pair work. She had become the only person apart from his mother and the basketball team that he could trust. When he had first looked into her aqua eyes, there had been a part of him that had automatically decided that she was trustworthy, that she actually cared about others, and had let down the walls earlier.
"Each of you has a partner, and the case files are stored in your desks. Everyone's case file has a marker on the front page. Green means defendant, yellow means opposition. You have one hour to come up with a way to win today, and you will present your case in tomorrow's class. Both of you will work on this together, both from the perspective of a lawyer, and from that of the defendant or the opposition. Tomorrow, both of you will act as lawyers on behalf of your clientele, I will be your judge as usual, and I will find to students to come on stand as the defendant and opposition. Get to work!" Sinclair's voice rang through the classroom as Red pulled out his computer, plugging in the USB wire that was coming out of the desk.
"Defendant." Serena whispered to him as he nodded, passing the files along to her when there was a series of short raps on the door.
"IN AND OUT!" Sinclair shouted, signifying that he wanted whoever was at the door to make their announcement and get out.
Red looked at the door, feeling sorry for whichever poor soul was behind it, watching as it opened. His eyes widened as not a student, nor a teacher, but rather the famous Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town, the Pokémon professor, walked into the room, walking down to the teacher's area from the amphitheater like rows of seats where the door was.
"What do you want?" Sinclair asked, still not looking up from a pile of papers he was checking.
"Professor, perhaps you might be interested in this as well." His calm voice sounded through the classroom as Sinclair's neck snapped up, his eyes widening as he saw his old teacher in front of him.
"Students and professor, there will be a talk regarding Cinnibar Island's predicament and how Pallet's charities plan to deal with it later today in the laboratory. Any of you who wish to attend are welcome." The old man announced, his squarish jaw not moving much as he spoke, leaving immediately after.
"You going?" Serena whispered, turning towards him so that no one would overhear them not conversing about the case.
"Probably. I'll put my allowance savings into their efforts if they need donations." Red replied, opening an empty page to start work.
After school the same day…
Red walked out of the building as Serena ran up to him, grabbing his shoulder.
"Hey, where do you live?" she asked, slightly out of breath.
"4O Redwood West End Drive, Redwood Enclave, why?" he asked, turning toward her as they walked down the steps from the school entrance.
"Oh, then can you walk with me back home, I don't really know my way around Pallet yet, and I live next door to you." She replied, blushing slightly.
"Sure, but then how do you get to school?" Red asked, mildly confused as they walked out of School property, the banner still hanging there.
"Um... my mother used to drop me off. Now that she's started working again though, she's a bit busy." She replied, blushing again as Red nodded, leading her through the town and all the way to the suburbs, where he stopped in front of a gated community, Redwood Enclave.
He and his mother had moved from the small worker dock area house to a large manor in the suburbs after he had taken the lion's share of his father's money for his mother and sent him off, living more comfortably, but not in excess.
He walked up to the guard house inside the thick brick wall next to the gate which cut Redwood Enclave off from the rest of the city, tapping on the window as the guard inside motioned to the new number pad on the side, sitting back as his Arcanine walked around outside.
Red dialed in a code, walking inside as the gate opened for him. Serena walked after him, but the gate closed itself, waiting for something.
"Brilliant, I forgot to tell you!" Red half smiled, half grimaced. "They finally installed the new dial pad. Anyone who enters has to enter their house's code into the pad, one time for each person, and the gate has a pressure sensor under it. It shuts after the correct amount of people are in. type in your house code and come in."
Serena nodded, pulling out the piece of paper her mother had given her earlier that day and typing the code in before walking the rest of the way with Red.
They walked down Redwood Crescent and Redwood Drive West, making their way down the long street as it tilted farther and farther apart from Redwood Drive East, where in the beginning you could see the houses on the other side easily, and soon there was a thick forest between them. They followed the road to the end, the houses being on their right side as they made their way all the way to their houses, the last two on the right, 39 and 40. Serena's house itself was a largish manor with white walls and a blue roof, two floors and a large garden and driveway leading up to it.
Red's house, a large white manor with a slate gray roof, two floors, a not too large garden with Redwood trees on the front and the side next to Serena's house behind the metal fencing swaying in the wind ever so slightly.
On the left of Red's house, the road didn't end. It went further enough to make a ninety degree turn and remain as wide as it was, turning through a large gate, not unlike that at the entrance to Redwood Enclave, and going down to what looked like a shallowish mountainside reservoir, but was actually a swimming pool for the residents of Redwood Enclave's West End Drive, a large park running in front of the houses on the other side of the road.
"When's the talk in the lab?" Serena asked Red walked her to her driveway, stopping at the entrance.
"In an hour." Red replied, smiling slightly. "Do you have a bike? The lab is much farther away than the school."
"Yeah, again, do you mind if I go with you?" she asked, blushing slightly again.
"Sure, meet me in one hour." he replied, waving and walking towards his own house.
Red sat down in the lab, near the back as Serena shuffled through the seats, sitting down next to him as Professor Oak began speaking.
"I'm going to keep this short and simple. The volcano on Cinnibar Island is going to erupt within a day or two. Blaine has initiated evacuation. But they're waiting for ships to get there to take them. Unluckily for them, it isn't tourist season, so there were only two boats harbored there, both small speedboats, which were personally owned and have already been taken. Anyone with a flying Pokémon has escaped. The minute the volcano starts spewing ash, I will depart with a fleet of five ships, as large as I can get, and a team of volunteers for each ship to help evacuate people, children, and Pokémon. For those who wish to donate materials to help us, the donations will be accepted by the three receptionists after this talk until tonight. Anyone who wishes to volunteer should come to me after the talk." He announced, leaving as everyone began murmuring.
"I'm going to go make a donation Red, you coming?" Serena asked, standing up as Red stayed sitting for a moment.
"Go ahead. Wait for me at the ice cream parlor outside. I want to ask the professor something." He replied as Serena nodded, making her way out.
Red stood up, walking through the crowds of people headed towards reception. So nobody here wanted to volunteer yet. He walked after the professor picking up his pace to keep up with the fit old man. He slipped through a door after him as it was about to close, and near death awaited him.
The minute he slipped through the door, he ducked, his survival instinct kicking in as a huge Charizard snapped at where his head would have been seconds ago, seeing his chance and reaching up while its head was still down, scratching it behind the horns.
It gave a happy roar and lay down as Red proceeded to cautiously keep going to the man at the desk, who was clapping.
"Amazing. Nobody has ever been able to tell when Magnus has been about to attack in the last forty years, the last being a psychic! What do you want child." He questioned, sitting down at his desk as Red walked up to it, standing in front of him.
"I want to volunteer." He replied briefly as Oak smiled.
"For the Cinnibar rescues?" the old man laughed, before realizing that Red was serious.
"Fine. Ask my assistant in the room to the left of this one for a slab of Tauros meat, and go leave it on the cliff in the ranch. The Pokémon in the ranch won't hurt you. Just leave it on the cliff for one of my Pokémon in particular to find when he's hungry and come back. Then I'll decide." The old man instructed him as Red nodded, suspecting something and heading over to the room next door and asking the man for a slab of Tauros meat.
The man tossed it to him without question, sighing as Red walked out and through the labs to the ranch, making his way for higher ground as many curious Pokémon flocked around his legs from time to time. His suspicions only grew when he passed by a large Arcanine, who after smelling the slab, gave him a toothy grin.
Red walked on for another five minutes, finally reaching the top of a huge face of rock. He stopped to catch his breath, still holding the slab of meat. He let go of it, letting it fall to the ground as he instinctively ducked again, falling against the ground as a shadow possibly as big as his old house passed over him, the magnificent, membranous green wings of a large, scaly Dragonite all he saw for a moment until it stopped and stared at him.
Red scrambled to his feet, holding his palms out in a gesture of peace as the dragon approached, sniffing his hands before deciding he was friendly and turning to the meat, charring it evenly and eating it.
Red grimaced at another near death experience. The Dragonite's wings would have sent him flying across Pallet Town and into the ocean easily. Oak had wanted to test him, to see if he could survive on an island full of hostile fire types with a volcano about to explode.
He dusted himself down, malice in his eyes, and walked back to the lab, entering it and making his way first for a restroom to wash of the smell of Tauros meat from his hands with liquid soap, and then to the professor's office where this time Magnus just stared at him lazily.
"I left the meat there." Red stated as the professor looked up, his eyes wide when he didn't even spot a scratch on the fifteen year old. He stared for a minute until he broke out into a grin.
"Good. Leave me your name and phone number. Your personal one. I'll call you an hour before we depart." The man replied as Red wrote down the number and his name, walking out and making his way to the ice cream parlor where Serena was waiting, having just gotten herself a cone.
"Hi." Red greeted as he got himself a cone and sat down with her, moving the vase with flowers in it to one side so he could see her.
"What were you doing? What did you want to ask him?" Serena questioned him between licks, the ice cream slowly diminishing.
"I'm going to Cinnibar." Red replied, taking a bite out of his own cone.
"Good one Red!" Serena laughed, before noticing his expression. "Wait, seriously!? He's letting you go!?"
"Yes." Red replied, understanding why she wouldn't believe it.
"Why the hell is he letting you go!?" she nearly screamed, setting her cone down as Red told her about the entire process.
"If you die it's not my fault." Serena finally teased, licking her cone again.
The next morning, around six a.m. (Saturday)
Red sat up for a minute, unsure why his phone was ringing before he checked the caller ID, nearly swearing as he rushed to change and fix his hair a little bit, gathering a few things he might need and filling his pockets with them as he wrote out a note, telling his mother that he had got the call, and taped it to the front of his door, running outside and biking as fast as he could, reaching the lab within fifteen minutes.
"Son, why are you out of breath?" Oak questioned as Red locked his bike at the harbor next to the lab, walking onto the ship Oak would be leading.
"I biked here as fast as I could sir." Red replied as the man stared at him.
"Where do you live?" he asked finally, trying to figure out whether he was unfit or suffering of a respiratory disease.
"Redwood Enclave sir, last house on Redwood West End Drive." He replied as Oak's eyes widened, staring at the boy. It should have taken him half an hour to get to the lab.
"Eh… you remind me of myself when I was young. My grandson is nothing like you. I wish he was though." The old man remarked as the ship set off, picking up speed as they neared 175 knots, making their way to Cinnibar as Red watched ash spew from the mouth of the volcano in the distance, a red hue lighting up the early morning sky from the south, the volcano outshining the rising sun.
They were approaching Cinnibar Island when it happened. It was something Red could never, and would never forget. His eyes were fixed on the volcano, trying to keep track of a wild Magmar to keep himself busy when the earth shook, waves surging over the deck of the ship and tilting it dangerously to the sides, rocking it in every direction as the first blast of lava exited the crater of the volcano, some of it falling back down the side of the volcano and pouring down, most of it raining form the sky like hell fire.
"IT'S HAPPENED PEOPLE! OUR PRIORITY IS TO SAVE AS MANY PEOPLE AND POKEMON AS WE CAN! GET BACK TO THE BOAT WHEN THE TIMER ON YOUR VEST RINGS, OR YOU HAVE AS MANY BEINGS AS YOU CAN GET THERE! THEN ITS ROUND TWO UNTIL I BLOW THE HORN!" Oak shouted, his brow furrowed as they stare at Cinnibar, docking and letting down a large gangplank.
Red slipped on his vest and sprinted through the chaos on the island, weaving through the people who were fine and could make their way to the ships and finding those who couldn't. He spent so long herding young children to the ships who said their parents were missing and giving them to the captain, who listed their names and announced on a loud speaker to the island so their parents could hear that they were safe, that he didn't know what time it was. All he knew was that the sun would be high up but the ash clouds were blocking it. the buzzer on his vest buzzed and he took the last people he had to the ship before running off again after taking a quick drink form one of many bottles of water kept there for the people running on and off the ship.
He sprinted towards a young man with what looked like a dislocated shoulder yelling for help, a young woman unconscious next to him, presumably his wife, and his two children, a little boy and girl crying next to him.
"Sir is your arm broken!?" Red shouted over the chaos as the man nodded, noting the vest.
"You kids, get on our backs, one each, piggyback ride! It's all going to be okay! Sir, with your uninjured arm, help me carry your wife to the ship!" he called out as he bent down, taking the little boy on his back and taking he woman's back, her husband taking his daughter and helping red to carry his wife as they stumbled their way to the ship.
"Thank you sir!" The man shouted as Red noticed the people not going back this time. He could see a little girl wailing on the island, holding a Teddiursa doll, and he ran for her, grabbing her and bringing her back to the ship as he watched the families of Charizard fly by, holding their younglings on their backs and in their arms. He watched as a baby Charmander that he had watched hatch while the mother carried it off fall.
"It's going to come back for it." Red whispered to himself tensely. Then he realized that the mother was abandoning one for the safety off the rest. He heard a horn sound in the distance, and he vaguely remembered Oak shout that the volcano was going to erupt again as he sprinted off the rising gangplank, running towards the falling Charmander and jumping, catching it in his arms, falling against the rocky surface of the island. He grunted and got to his feet, starting to run again.
It stared at him with its big, sea green eyes as he ran for the gangplank, jumping and catching one end of it with his hand as it rose up, lifting him onto the deck as it lay down against the floor, the sailors closing the gate as helping him up as Oak stared at him, the volcano erupting again as they set off.
"Never leave a man behind. Especially not a youngling. The heaviest coffins are the smallest." Red uttered the words as he cradled the baby fire lizard, soothing it and bringing it a little bit off water to drink as he sat down, pain flaring as he realized he had broken his own arm earlier when he dove.
He walked over to the medical area, getting his arm checked, and then having the Charmander vaccinated. It had just been born after all. He sat down, rocking it to sleep as he too fell asleep soon after, waking up as they made port in Pallet Town, rested enough that he could bike home at a relaxed pace, having given the baby Charmander to the professor.
He entered his home, walking pas this mother with a small wave, dead tired and going to his room to collapse on bed as he looked at the time, which was around three in the afternoon.
Around six in the evening…
Red woke up, his bones aching, his arm screaming in pain in its cast as he removed the cloth layer, revealing the water proof layer so he could take a shower. He dried himself off as he heard his mother call out to him from his room.
"WEAR SOMETHING NICE! WE'RE HAVING A FEW PEOPLE OVER FOR DINNER!" she called out as he nodded to himself, knocking on the door to signify his hearing it and turning back to the closet, pulling out a pair of black jeans and blood red shirt, slipping them on and heading out to his room to pick up his watch and phone. He slipped the latter into his pocket and the former onto his wrist, checking the time and walking down to find a woman he assumed was Serena's mother due to the striking resemblance, and his own mother cooking for what seemed to be more than a few people as he saw Serena running in and out to the garden with the dishes, setting them out.
He walked out of the house, his mother too busy to notice him, his eyes wide as he saw a table with enough food for a fifty people. He looked at the seats which indicated around twenty four people and sighed, sitting down on one.
He sat with Serena as the dinner started, people like his closer neighbors, his mother's friends, and professor Oak arrived, settling in and eating away.
He stared at his watch, to see seven forty five when his mother tapped her glass for attention. Serena passed him a bottle of cola as he grimaced. His mother's toasts were always long.
"People, thank you all for coming. Now we toast to the real purpose of this celebration. Red Lawson!" she called out, causing Red's head to jerk up, his unyielding crimson eyes staring into her own.
"Red proved himself worthy of going to Cinnibar for the rescue with Professor Oak, and saved as many people as anybody else, before going back for a little girl that everybody else had abandoned, and after that, risking being stranded on Cinnibar to save a newborn Charmander which's mother wasn't going to save it. Red Lawson!" she called out, tears in her eyes as she raised her glass, drinking.
"Red Lawson!" everyone called out, including Serena and the professor, drinking, Serena sticking a straw in his bottle of cola and siphoning some of it before he himself raised it to his lips and tilted his head back, drinking from it.
He remained quiet as the party went on, people walking all around the garden and chatting, until Professor Oak came up to him.
"Erm… Red, we tried to get the Charmander into rehabilitation so Magnus could raise it, but it didn't listen to us. I think it only wants to listen to you. So until you're seventeen, if you choose to become a trainer that is, it will be registered under your house, and if you do choose to become a trainer, I will then register it under your name when you are off age. Now you'll want to raise it for a year and a half before you start training it for battle in the least. You shouldn't even train it then. You should only let it learn what battling is. You should train it when you're on your journey." Professor Oak explained, taking a transparent red and white sphere, the sleeping form of a minimized Charmander visible inside, and holding it out to Red.
"Wait, you're giving it to me?" Red asked, startled, as he stared at the ball in Professor's hand.
"Yes. Now take it before I change my mind." Oak sighed as Red grinned and accepted the ball, looking into it.
"Charmander, welcome to the family." The orange fire lizard was scratching about in the ball, and Red could tell it could hear him.
"You want a name?" he whispered to the ball, looking through the transparent half to see Charmander nodding as it tried to shake the ball as violently as it could. He knew he wouldn't always see Charmander through the pokeball, only for a few days whilst the pokeball analyzed it behavior patterns and designed a synthetic habitat for it.
"How about Hurycayn?" He asked as he saw Charmander nod violently again. "Welcome home Hurycayn."
Present day…
Red stood in front of Serena's house as the mover's finished loading the boxes into the truck, waiting for her and her mother.
"Red, can we please stay friends?" Serena asked, holding both of his hands and staring at him with wide, pleading eyes.
"Of course! Why would you even think otherwise?" Red smiled sadly. Serena's mother was forcing her to move with her to the Kalos region to start her Pokémon journey, and Red's recent plans of travelling Kanto with his only friend had gone down the drain.
"Good. I'll text you when I get a Kaloasian number. Goodbye Red." A single tear rolled down Serena's cheek as she leaned forward and stood on her toes, kissing Red on the lips, causing him to blush as she let go off his hands and got into the moving van, waving as her mother closed the doors.
"Goodbye." Red whispered softly, watching the truck drive off to the airport to make the sixteen hour flight to Kalos. He stood there for a minute, his own bag slung over his shoulder as he waited for his mother to come out of the house.
She walked out, tears in her eyes, apron and oven gloves and as Red approached her. She wrapped her arms around him suddenly, not leaving him with any breath as he whispered goodbye into her ear.
"Bye Red. Come back to visit as soon as you can fly here." She replied as he nodded, mounting his bike and setting off for the lab, making his way across town at a good pace.
Red reached the lab as he parked his bike, standing there for a minute as Magnus greeted him. after saluting the dragon, he walked into the lab, making his way through the lab to his Professor Oak's research rooms, where the old man was waiting with a young man his own age, spiky brown hair, a black shirt and purple pants.
He looked arrogant, you could see it in his eyes. Arrogant and cold. He stood there, waiting for his grandfather to say something, fiddling with the two poke balls on his belt.
"Well boys, first off, congratulations on becoming trainers! Red, this is my grandson, Blue Oak. Blue, this is the boy everyone was celebrating two years ago during the Cinnibar crisis, Red Lawson. I have a job for both of you. Regardless of how widely I have studied Pokémon, or for how long I have studied them, there is just data we can't get without examining them up close. That's where your phones come in. Blue, I promised you a new cellphone for becoming a trainer, even though you said you didn't need one, from Silph. Red, you said you received one made by Devon from your grandfather in Hoenn recently?" Oak began as both boys nodded.
"Well for both phones, I will give you two a new cover each, which is made of transparent solar panels. Completely transparent. And extremely durable. They charge your phone as you go, so you won't be travelling without a means of contacting others. I will upload onto your phones, a program mad by us, which when you capture a Pokémon, you point the camera at it once, and it will scan every bit of data we can get on it. I don't want you to catch every Pokémon in the world, or even Kanto. Only catch the ones you want to raise. And you will have access to our database on every single Pokémon in the world, as far as the data goes. And I'm not telling you how it works. Dock your phones please." Oak finished as both boys silently took out their phones and docked them, their screens lighting up as the professor loaded the programs onto them and handed them glass like covers. Red's was the same color as his eyes, and Blue's was Blue.
Ironically. Red unlatched the rigid cover and fixed his phone in it as it filled up the missing five percent of its battery slowly.
"OFF WITH YOU LOT! I HAVE A MEETING WITH THE ELITE FOUR!" Oak shouted suddenly as Red jumped, startled, heading out of the building, Blue walking out behind him.
"So you're the famous Blue Oak." Red turned to face him, on guard as he spoke up. This was one person he definitely needed to know as much about as he could.
"So what if I am." Blue replied in a cold manner, turning to Red.
"Care for a battle?" Red asked, wanting to analyze him.
"I'd rather not. Frankly I'm surprised gramps even gave someone like you the software." Blue commented, his expression cold as he walked off.
Red couldn't help but smile. Here was someone who was just as on edge as he was, if for different reasons he presumed. A rival.