This is a story.

Maybe.

This is a story repeated time after time, from the beginning to the inevitable conclusion, a vicious circle with no end in sight.

This story doesn't end well. Trying to change it never works.

This is a story about futility.

"Hey, Blue! Wait up! You didn't say anything about going this far!"

Blue looked up at the black-haired boy running behind him and grinned. "What, are you scared? We'll be fine if we avoid tall grass." He started running again. "Come on!"

"I'm trying! Slow down, I can't keep up!"

"You're just too slow!"

Red huffed and glared at him. "It's not my fault you're faster than me!"

Blue laughed and speeded up. "Too bad for you! Smell ya later!"

"Hey!" Red yelled, but Blue ignored him. He kept going forward, arms spread to his sides, enjoying the night breeze on his skin as he half dashed, half leapt along the path. It was as if he was flying through the forest, like some legendary bird pokémon of prey.

After a while, he spotted the verdant clearing he had been looking for, with a wide stream snaking through it. He slowed down to and looked longingly at the water. The shallow stream looked cool and inviting, as well as free of any wild pokémon." After some hesitation, he jumped off the path, tossing his backpack and footwear onto the undergrowth around the stream. That done, he jumped right in and splashed around in the water. The muddy riverbed squished delightfully between his toes.

Soon, Red showed up, his face flushed crimson.

"I told you to wait up," he whined.

"Yeah, well. At least you caught up now."

"Yeah." Red followed suit and plunged his feet into the water right next to his with a splash. Muddy water drops soared into the air and landed on Blue's legs.

"Hey, you got some mud on my shorts!"

"Tough." Red grinned mischievously and kicked more water into the air.

Blue backed away. "Cut that out!"

"Why, scared Daisy will yell at you if your clothes get dirty?" Another kick.

Blue grimaced. If that was how it was going to be...two could play that game.

"Since you're such a big fan of water, here you go!" he said, crouching down and hurling a whole bunch of water at Red.

Red cringed and shielded his face with his arm as the splash hit him. "Hey, no fair!

"Can't take your own medicine?" Blue splashed him again. "You can never train water pokémon if you're that afraid of water!"

"Right, that does it!" Red crouched down to Blue's level, immersing his arms in the water to his elbows. "I use Surf!"

He brought his arms back to the surface, spraying water everywhere in the vicinity, thoroughly dampening both Blue's clothes and his mood.

"You call that Surf?" he growled, shaking droplets of water out of his hair. "I'll show you Surf!"

He prepared to create the biggest wave yet, but Red tackled him with a vicious head-butt before he got his arms out of the water, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing into the stream. A huge torrent of water splashed upwards, but not the kind he had wanted.

"Hah! Gotcha!" Red boasted. "You lose!"

Blue coughed out water, and turned to face Red. Red loomed above him with a cocky grin on his face, arms crossed, certain of his victory

Quickly, Blue pulled his knees up towards himself. Before Red could jump out of the way, Blue aimed a powerful two-leg kick at his legs. It hit its mark: Red staggered from the force of the kick, falling backwards into the stream with a cry of alarm and pain.

"No," said Blue, gingerly standing up. "You lose."

"Oww..." Red grimaced and held his left knee. For a second, Blue thought of apologising. Red looked like he was in serious pain. "I was just messing around. You didn't have to kick like a freaking rapidash."

Blue folded his arms. "And you didn't have to tackle me in the first place." He made his way back to the shore, wiping mud off the back of his head the best he could.

After getting rid of most of the muck, he lay down on the underbrush to dry off his clothes. He looked up. The velvet black sky with its crescent of the waxing moon looked back down, and scores after scores of stars blinked at him from the heavens above.

"Wow, it really looks amazing," said Red. He had crept silently back on shore and now lay down next to Blue, a dreamy look on his face. "You were right, this was totally worth the risk.".

Blue grinned. "Didn't I tell you?" Of course, wandering off by themselves in the middle of the night would get them both into serious trouble if they were caught, but experiencing the best stargazing spot near Pallet Town was definitely worth it. Besides, whatever repercussions they might face wouldn't raise their ugly heads until tomorrow. Who cared about tomorrow when today was here and now with fun to be had?

"Wonder what kind of pokémon live in the stars?" he murmured. It only made sense that even places as distant as the stars above had their own kinds of pokémon. Everyone said clefairies came from the moon, so who was to stay there weren't even stranger pokémon living in space, just waiting for someone to discover them?

"I dunno. We could try drawing pictures of them tomorrow," said Red. "And when we're trainers we can one day go and catch them."

"Yeah, let's do that," Blue said enthusiastically. "Once we finish the league, we can fly to them with a space ship and catch them all" He frowned. "They might require special pokéballs though. Maybe Gramps can help with those."

"Yeah," Red said quietly.

"Speaking of Gramps," Blue said, sitting up and rummaging through his small backpack, "he asked me to give you something." He handed over a crude package the size of a big frisbee. "Happy birthday."

Red took the present and ripped it open without further considerations.

"Wow," he said, unveiling a red and white baseball cap. "This is way better than my old one!" He put it on immediately and grinned at Blue. "Thanks."

Blue shrugged. "Don't thank me, Gramps is the one who bought it. I just picked it out." He put his backpack away. "Only a year to go until he gives us the pokémon he promised us, huh? I can't wait."

"Me neither, it's going to be the best. Have you already decided which starter to pick?"

Blue shook his head. "Not yet." He had given it a some thought, but he could never quite reach a decision. Honestly, he'd be happy with any of the three.

"You should decide before we start our journey. There's only one of each, so what if we both want the same one?"

Blue sighed. "How about we agree you get to pick first? I'll be happy with any of the three." Besides, he thought, knowing which one Red was going to pick just might give him a strategic advantage if – oh, who was he kidding, when – they battled.

"Yeah, sure," Red settled down. The dreamy look returned to his eyes. "It's really going to be amazing, isn't it? Catching as many pokémon as we can, beating all the gyms leaders, becoming the champion..."

"Yeah." Then, after a moment: "Well, we can't both be champions, of course. There can only be one number one, and that's going to be me."

Red frowned at him. "Why not? Wouldn't it be more fun if we both were the best?"

"We can't both be the best. Being the best implies that you beat all the others. There's no room for ties on the top." After a momentary hesitation, he added: "You can be the second best though, and challenge me as many times as you want once I'm the champion. Promise."

"Bah." Red pulled a face. "How can you be so sure you're going to be the one? Maybe I'll be a better trainer than you."

Blue laughed. "Fat chance. Besides, I have longer legs than you. I'll be able to walk the route faster and become the champion first."

"In that case I'll get a bike!"

"If you get a bike, I'll get one too. A better one."

"Then I'll get a car!"

"You can't drive!"

"I'll get someone to drive it for me!"

Blue snorted. "Yeah, I'd like to see that-"

His voice petered out midsentence. A flickering light flashed somewhere beyond the clearing, faint and gone so quickly Blue wasn't sure whether it had really been there. Then, a strange metallic sound, quiet and piercing, sounded through the woods, vanishing without as much as an echo.

The forest fell dead silent. Blue thought it had been quiet beforehand, but only now that the distant cries and droning of pokémon were all gone at once did he realise how potent the noise was. Now, he heard nothing but the sound of Red breathing heavily and his own heartbeat sending blood rushing through his veins.

Red broke the silence. "What was that? Some pokémon?"

"Never heard a pokémon cry like that. None of the ones here certainly do." Blue said, gritting his teeth to keep them from clattering. Was it just him, or was the air getting colder? "Seriously, what was that?"

Suddenly, Red's eyes turned as wide as saucers. He held out his shaking arm and pointed into the distance. "There!"

Blue squinted. There, further into the woods, was a bright green light, unwavering and unmistakably real. Despite valiant efforts, he couldn't make out anything that might possible be its source from so far away.

Blue half shrugged, half shuddered. "Maybe our parents figured out we're gone and came looking for us."

Red swallowed. "You think so?"

"Dunno." He wanted to believe in his own explanation, but couldn't, not really; even if both his and Red's imaginations had somehow turned regular footsteps and calls of their names into something strange and eerie, the distant light was nothing like any flashlights they might use, and coming from the wrong direction to boot. Maybe, rather, their talk about pokémon from the stars had summoned one of them to Earth? "What do you wanna do? Go and investigate, or make a run for it?"

"I don't care, as long as we do something," Red said, eyes darting around.

"Why do you think I asked? Pick something!"

"Dunno." Red shivered and lowered his voice. "Maybe, if we just stay quiet and hide for a while, whatever it is will go away."

Blue shrugged. He wasn't fond of hiding, but if it was really was their parents in the woods after all, it certainly couldn't hurt. And if it wasn't their parents, well...

He followed Red's lead and crouched down next to same bushes. They waited in silence for several minutes, only for nothing to happen. The green light remained, pulsating quietly.

Blue hesitated. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rip his gaze away from the light. Maybe, just maybe, his earlier wish had came true, and they had unknowingly witnessed the arrival of a new race of pokémon onto Earth. Had he been alone and not with Red, he would've sneaked towards the light to see it for himself, no matter the risk. Heck, even with Red on his heels, he was tempted to go and see.

"Hey," he said. Red shushed him, but he ignored him. "I don't know about you, but I want to know what's going on. No way that's your mom or Daisy. I'm going to take a peek."

Red's eyes widened. "But what if it's dangerous?"

Blue very nearly rolled his eyes. "You stay here if you want. Chicken."

"No way I'm staying here by myself!" Red protested, his cheeks flushing.

"Come with me, then. Besides, we'll be careful. If it really is something dangerous, we'll just get away from it as soon as we can."

"I don't know." Red chewed his lip.

"Think about it! What if the thing out there is something like a clefairy? I mean, not a freaking clefairy...some new kinda pokémon, I mean. Gramps told me they're still being discovered all over the world. And maybe, if we go to the light now, we'll be the first ones to discover one! That'd be worth a whole month of being grounded. Heck, a year!"

Red considered this for a moment. Then, he nodded with an apprehensive sigh, a new light in his eyes.

"'Kay, let's go." No point in waffling over the matter any longer. Blue beckoned Red to follow him and slowly made his way towards the light, sneaking behind the trees and rocks.

After several minutes of trekking through the woods, Red tugged him by the sleeve of his shirt.

"Slow down. We need to be careful, especially when it's this close already," he whispered.

"What are you talking about? It looks like it's just as far away as it was before." He nudged his head forward. "Come on."

Red tilted his head. "What, can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"The whispering."

"The only one whispering here's you. Are you trying to spook me or what?"

"I'm serious. And keep it down." Suddenly, Red froze. "It went quiet. I think it heard us."

Blue rolled his eyes. "Very funny. If you're gonna be like that you can go straight back home for all I care. We need to get in closer if we want to figure out what it is."

"Mmhm."

"You okay?" Even in the pale moonlight, Blue could see Red's forehead dripping in sweat.

"I guess. I just got a really bad feeling about this."

"Go back if you want. I'm going on anyway."

He took a few more tentative steps forward, and, when Red refused to follow, turned to cast an irate glance at him.

He then noticed that Red was unnaturally still, his limbs rigid and his face distorted into an expression of slack-jawed shock.

"Hey, Red!" No response. "What's wrong?" He looked in the direction Red's bulging eyes were staring at, but there was nothing.

Feeling a tinge of fear in his stomach, he then grabbed Red by the wrist, finally eliciting a reaction: Red's entire body began to shiver. He still stared ahead mutely, as if he was unable to do otherwise.

"Red!" Blue grabbed his shoulder with his free hand and began shaking him. "Snap out of it!"

Finally, Red blinked. He raised his head, ignoring Blue. His eyes gleamed in the starlight.

"It's calling for me," he whispered.

Blue blinked and pricked his ears. Nothing. So, either Red was going bonkers, playing an elaborate practical joke on Blue, or something was very, very wrong.

"Nothing's calling for you." He waited for a moment for Red to respond and when he didn't, continued: "See, there's nothing. I can't hear anything."

Red still wouldn't look at him. "Of course you can't hear it. It's calling for me, not you."

"Red," Blue felt sweat gathering on his forehead. Joke or not, this was starting to get eerie. He thought of all the ghost stories they had used to tell each other, and his stomach jolted unpleasantly. "Don't be stupid. I already told you to go if you want to. You don't have to make any stupid excuses about voices."

Red shook his head and smiled haphazardly. "I can't go now, it says it needs my help." There was another bout of silence. "It's asking for my name."

"Don't tell it!" Blue yelped. Then, to soften his knee-jerk reaction, he added: "Why should you help it?"

Red shook his head again. "I don't know, but..." his vacant smile widened. "It feels right. Like I was meant to do it." Suddenly, he took off, running towards the green light which, after all this time, suddenly expanded as Red approached it.

"H-hey!" After the briefest moment of hesitation, Blue followed in hot pursuit. Whatever madness had taken hold of Red didn't mean he was going to abandon him, even if the situation had gotten more frightening than he could have ever anticipated when he first set out to come star-gazing in the woods.

Red didn't even seem to notice that he was following him. He let out a strange giggle and shouted happily: "My name is Red! My name is Red! I'm here!"

"Stop!" Blue yelled at him and hastened up. He had been a faster runner than Red from the day they had learned to walk, and if need be, he would tackle his addled friend if it meant stopping him from doing something precarious.

Just as he thought of this, however, Red reached out his hand and ran head-on towards the still expanding light, now mere feet from it. Before Blue could reach him, his fingers came into contact with it. The second it happened, there was a metallic humming sound, and Red was instantly engulfed by the light, vanishing from view.

Blue stared in horror as the light contracted again, until in mere seconds it had been reduced into a shimmering ball the size of a pokéball floating on Blue's eye level.

"Red!" If Red could hear him, he certainly wasn't showing it. Blue felt bile gathering in his mouth. What was he supposed to do? He had no idea what was even going on, let alone how to bring Red back. How was he supposed to explain this the next morning if he returned home alone?

He noticed to his alarm that the ball of light was still getting smaller, if at a much slower rate. Panicked, and without further ideas, he grabbed the ball.

Immediately, he was overcome by a sudden wave of nausea. He released his grip from the ball of light as if it had burned is hand.

"Urgh!" He fell on his knees, covering his mouth as his stomach began to twist and contract, unable to control himself. Nothing came out but dry heaving. After a few moments, when the worst bout of sickness had passed, he forced himself back on his feet. Ghost images of green stars danced in his vision, but regardless he could tell the ball of light had gotten even smaller.

"Red!" he yelled. Still no reply. He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, then reached out for the now pea-sized orb. Another bout of violent nausea immediately overtook him, and before he even knew it, he was lying on the ground as a twitching heap.

By the time he had finally managed to get back up, still shaking, the light was gone. And so was Red.

"Red! RED! Answer me, you idiot!" Blue knew screaming would do him no good, but he couldn't help it. He had to something, no matter how futile. He couldn't give up, not just yet.

Only the wind responded.

Blue's voice died. For the longest time, he stood in place, his mind frozen. The pokémon living in the woods finally started making noise again, and soon the nightly forest was just like it had always been, as if nothing had ever happened.

Once he finally came out of his torpor, he still remained in place for quite a while. Then, slowly, very slowly, he began slouching back towards Pallet Town. There was nothing he could do, no ideas how to save Red, and no comprehension of what had even happened. In the morning, pandemonium would break loose, but he had no way of stopping. All he could do now was return home and pray the following day would reveal the entire night had been nothing more than an insane nightmare, or failing that, at least bring with it some desperately needed answers.

A/N: Special thanks to thechinskyguy for beta reading this.