Heya, I guess it's time for me to finally contribute to the fandom. Yeah, I hope I can get my beta to look at this...like, next week or so. This is probably going to end up as a two-shot. Not sure yet.
There has been some confusion, so I'm going to repeat that Fire is not an OC of mine. I'm just one of those rare people who see FR/LG!Red as a different person.
Fire needs more love!
Ever since they were babies, it had always been the two of them, together. It had always been his brother and him, Red and Fire.
"What's your name?"
No, it was always Red. Just Red.
Unlike him, his brother didn't speak much. In fact, when it wasn't to a person close to him, he didn't speak at all. Fire found it quite ironic that silent little Red would become everyone's favourite. Even back when the both of them were small children, much too young to be trainers or anything of the sort, and the shy little boy did everything he could to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, he always got all the attention. And even though Fire was always by his brother's side, he felt more like a shadow than a part of the family.
He had always dreamt of making a name for himself in the competitive battling scene, of becoming the Kanto champion and maybe even the best trainer in the world. Their mother often spoke of how high her hopes for her two sons were. "You two do your best!" and "Win all the badges when you start your journeys, okay?" was what she would always say.
But it was never him she looked at in those moments. It was Red. Always Red. Fire could understand it as little back then as he can now. Red didn't even want to become a trainer, much less the strongest there ever was! If it were for him to decide, he'd probably live his life locked up in his room and reading books rather than exploring the region.
Nobody cared about that, however. Everyone in Pallet expected Red to become the very best, while Fire wasn't even spared a single glance.
It made him wonder if they even knew his name.
…
Red decided to start training Pokémon. He had come to his brother one day, nearly breaking into tears as he made his confession, and apologised over and over. Fire had told him that it was okay and that he wasn't mad at him, but he still couldn't keep the anger from rising inside him.
The day where they both had to pick their starter Pokémon before being sent off into the wild came soon. Fire had grimaced slightly as Red was given a Pikachu by the one and only professor Samuel Oak himself. Of course his brother received special treatment. Red didn't even want to be here, and yet the whole town was gathered to see their choices and send them off on their journeys.
Or rather, to send Red off on his journey.
"Become a champion like none before you!"
"We know you can do it, Red!"
Fire thought he was going to be sick. Did the people here even know of his existence? Even their mother was only paying attention to Red. He hated it! Fire knew, however, that Red was just as much a victim in this situation as he was, the expectations of all the people around him forcing him into a role he didn't want to play. His hate was not, could not be directed at his brother.
The boy with the reddish-brown hair grit his teeth and quietly reached for the pokéball containing a Charmander.
…
Red was good with Pokémon. He won his first battle against Green's Eevee with ease, despite never having battled before. It didn't take him long to bond with his Pikachu and by the time they left Pallet, the Pokémon and trainer had already become inseparable. It seemed like he had discovered his passion for Pokémon battles, and a lot of talent.
They travelled together and both took on the eight gym leaders of the Kanto region. Red would always go first, with Fire earning his own badge the next day. He sort of hoped that here, where nobody knew of Red and him yet, he could finally show that he was just as skilled as his brother. The gym battles weren't really challenging to either of them and they both easily defeated every opponent they faced.
Soon, word about them spread. Fire was able to overhear the conversation of a couple seated near them in the Pokémon Centre his brother and he had agreed on staying at for the night. A conversation about this one trainer who would surely rise to fame – the prodigy, Red – and his shadow, that guy who always followed him around.
Fire hadn't spoken a word that evening. He had simply gone to bed, ignoring the worried glances his brother sent him.
…
He had beaten Team Rocket. He alone. Without his brother's help.
They had, by sheer coincidence, been in town just as Silph CO. was being taken over, and since Fire knew Red was very much capable of taking care of himself, he decided to run off and explore on his own.
Every Rocket Grunt he came across fell before him and his Pokémon. He successfully saved Silph CO. and the masterball from the criminal mastermind Giovanni and thought that maybe this was it, just what he needed to finally be recognised for something other than being Red's twin brother. By the next day, his feat was already all over the media. Everyone talked about how 'this one red-eyed kid' had single-handedly stopped the Rocket takeover in Saffron. Their mother even called to tell them how impressed she was.
"See? I knew you were going to be great, Red."
It was that moment and those words that made Fire realise that he would never get the recognition he deserved, that Red would always be there to cast his shadow over him. Because people had expectations of him and he couldn't disappoint them. Fire hated it. But it wasn't Red's fault. Red was just as trapped as he was, the weight of everyone's hopes pressing down on him, slowly suffocating him.
Fire forced a smile and decided to play along, before his brother could say anything.
"I know, right? I'm so proud of him, too!"
…
There could only be one champion.
They were two.
Had it been anyone else, Fire would have battled it out, but he and Red were so evenly matched that each and every one of their efforts to beat each other ended with a double knock-out. One of them had to give up.
"You're going to do just fine, Red. I can't come with you, you have to go alone, but you'll manage, right?"
Fire's words came as a visible shock to his brother. After all, he had always been the one with the dream to become champion, not Red. But Red couldn't just go home and tell everyone that he had given up on becoming the very best and let Fire have the title, even though he really wanted to. They both knew that. Red had to live up to a whole region's expectations while Fire wouldn't disappoint anyone.
As Red approached the door that would lead him to the first of the Elite Four, he was unusually tense. He wasn't scared. The Elite Four were the strongest trainers in the region, but Red would still definitely win. That was a fact, Fire decided.
"Do you hate me?"
This time it was the black-haired boy's brother's turn not to speak. Red did this because he had to, not because he wanted.
…
Fire left the moment the door closed behind his brother. There was no need for him to stay and wait, since it was pretty much clear what was going to happen. Red could probably sleepwalk through there and still come out victorious. He was going to be champion and Fire was finally going to be free.
He boarded the next plane to Sinnoh, wanting to explore a region far away, a place where nobody would address him with his brother's name. He hadn't set foot on Kanto again since then, even though he still kept in contact with his friends and sometimes even his mother.
A few weeks after him leaving his home region, he received a phone call from Green, who told him about how Red had beaten him for the title, only to give it up again right after being entered into the Hall of Fame. Apparently, he had isolated himself on Mt. Silver after that, now refusing to come back down.
Fire suddenly felt bitter. He couldn't shake the feeling that crept up on him, the feeling that it was all his fault for abandoning his brother like he had. He felt guilty about leaving without a single word, right when Red probably needed him most.
But he couldn't convince himself to turn around and go back home, so he asked, no, begged Green to please make sure he stays alive! And he hated it! Because he couldn't stop caring about Red. It was always about Red.
"What's your name?"
They had always been Red. He had always been nothing more than a cheap copy of his brother.
"It's Fire."
Sometimes Fire looks back and wonders if he had unknowingly hated his brother all those years, after all.