"Stay still, Red!"

"Oww! But Mom, it stings!"

"I have to clean the wound before I put a bandage on it, Red, or else it might get worse and make you really ill."

The young boy's cheeks paled. "How ill?"

Red's mother raised her hands to the sides of her face and made the best imitation of claws she could with a cotton patch and a bottle of disinfectant in her hands.

"Well, there was one stubborn boy who wouldn't let his mother touch a wound on his knee and two weeks later the leg fell off. Clean off, just like that."

"Can that really happen?" Red's best friend, a brown-haired boy who had been watching the proceedings in surly silence until then, suddenly gasped.

"Of course, Blue. That is why it's so important to take care of all cuts and scrapes as soon as possible."

Blue digested this for a moment, biting his lip in thought. His eyes brightened. "That sounds really cool! Red, you should totally let it fall off! Think about how neat it'll look!" He turned to look at Red's mother. "Is it the whole leg or just the bit from the knee? Will he have a huge scar where the leg was?"

"Shut up!" Red snapped, looking slightly green. "Have your own leg removed if you want to find out, I want to keep mine!"

"Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat!" Blue chanted sotto voce. Red's mother shushed him quiet, then grinned victoriously at her son. "So, will you stop wriggling while I apply the disinfectant?"

Red still didn't look entirely convinced. Finally, he sighed. "Fine," he said, leaning backwards on the porch and extending his damaged leg forward. "But don't rub it in this time."

"I'll try," Red's mother said breezily before getting back to work.

Blue continued watching, his chin resting on his knees, reverting back into uncertain awkwardness. Red whined and pouted, but stayed perfectly still as his mother painstakingly cleaned the dark red spot on his left knee, leaving it looking eerily bright once all the dirt and grass stains were gone. She then opened a tiny package that had so far laid on the grass unattended and selected a colourful Band-Aid from it (one with tiny pictures of Bulbasaurs on it, Blue noted enviously), plastering it over the wound.

"There, that should do it," she said, putting everything back into the first-aid kit she had brought outside when Blue had rushed over to tell her of Red's predicament. "How does it feel like now?"

Red gave his leg a few tentative shakes before jumping to his feet and letting out a satisfied laugh.

"It doesn't hurt at all!" he exclaimed giddily. He made a few bounces to emphasise his point.

Red's mother was smiling as well. "The cut isn't very deep at all. It'll be gone in a few days. Just make sure you don't bump your knee into anything else until it's fine."

"Right," said Red.

A light frown appeared on Red's mother's face. "Exactly how did you hurt yourself? Did you fall down while you were playing?"

Blue cringed and looked away. He had half-hoped he'd be able to avoid this part, the one he had secretly dreaded. Why had he stuck around, anyway? He could have slunk away after alerting Red's mother…

At least Red's mother didn't notice Blue's discomfort, only having eyes for her son.

"Yeah," Red said quickly. "We were playing Pokémon, and I was a Pikachu. So, I tried to use Tackle on Pidgey, but I accidentally tripped on a rock and fell."

Blue felt a wave of relief wash over him. With relief, however, came embarrassment at his trepidation over something so minor. What was the worst that could have happened? A glare? A light scolding? He didn't know. For some reason, the prospect of disappointing Red's mother, no matter how mildly, always filled him dread.

"Next time, watch where you're going when you're running," Red's mother chided him gently. She gave her son's messy black hair a tousle and smiled. "So, you two are still playing Pokémon together?"

"Of course!" Red said, now grinning widely, his pearly whites gleaming in the afternoon sun. "We have to practise for when we become trainers!"

"Is that still your plan?" Red's mother asked, and for the first time in several minutes cast a glance at Blue. He nodded, still feeling shy.

"Mooom," Red whined. "Of course we're still going to be trainers!" He too turned towards Blue, a sparkle of enthusiasm in his eyes. "We're going to travel together and capture every single Pokémon there is. We'll be the best trainers there are!"

"That's right!" Blue agreed, now smiling as well. He couldn't help it; Red's excitement was infectious. "And we're going to find brand new Pokémon too, ones no-one else has ever seen before, and we'll capture those too!"

"Yeah!"

Red's mother looked at the two of them as they started to loudly come up with new plans for their journey, each one more ambitious and outrageous than the last. Blue couldn't read the expression on her face.

"Well, my future champions," she eventually said, after Red and Blue had finished planning their itinerary to outer space to find interstellar Pokémon, "I know you two are in a hurry, but maybe you still have time for a little snack break before you set off on another adventure?"

Red and Blue looked at each other. They didn't need to be asked twice.

"Thanks for not ratting me out," Blue mumbled in between biscuits. Red's mother had brought a basketful of them outside, along with some berry juice. He and Red were sitting side to side on the porch, happily munching away and basking in the warm sunlight. The surface of the lake towards the south of the village rippled gently, and at one point Blue could have sworn he saw a Magikarp's golden crown poke above the surface.

Red swallowed loudly and wiped crumbs away from his mouth before taking a swig from his glass. "No problem," he finally said. "It was an accident, after all."

"Yeah." Blue looked at his sneakers to avoid Red's eyes, sipping at his drink. The juice wasn't very sweet, but it was cool and refreshing, and made him feel a little better.

"Besides, it was the best Tackle I've seen!" Red continued brightly, waving his legs in the air. He was a short kid, nearly a head shorter than Blue, but so swift and tenacious their make-believe Pokémon battles still often ended in a tie. He wiped his chocolate-covered fingers on his black t-shirt and took another biscuit. "You might have won if we hadn't had to stop."

Blue nearly choked on a biscuit crumble. "Might have?" he gasped. "You were down to Pikachu, and I still had Pidgey and Eevee at full health. Of course I would have won!"

"Not necessarily. I could have beaten them both with Pikachu like that one time."

"That time didn't count! I was distracted when Sis called me inside for lunch."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

After the brief scuffle that ensued, accompanied by laughter and friendly yells, they poured each other another glass of juice from the plastic pitcher Red's mother had left outside and hit them against one another vigorously, mimicking the way they had seen the grown-ups of Pallet Town toast on New Year's Eve. A little spilled on the porch and their clothes, but so what? The sun would dry it up in an instant.

"Your mom is really nice," Blue said after a brief silence. He meant it, too – Red's mother, while sometimes cross, was usually really easy-going and often allowed Red and Blue play for hours on end, sometimes even outside of the town, a surefire way to win Blue's heart. Plus, she told great stories, and while he wasn't going to tell this to Red, he thought she was really pretty, for a grown-up at least. That, and the biscuits she gave them were delicious.

"Yeah, I guess," said Red. "I just wish she didn't always rub in the disinfectant like that. How did your mom put on bandages?"

Blue's brow furrowed as he tried to remember. He had to shake his head. "No clue. I'm not sure she even put any on me; I can't remember her."

Red looked a little disappointed. "Oh, okay. You really can't remember anything at all?"

Blue set the empty glass next to him on the porch and began to think again. Was there anything he remembered about his mother, something he could say to sate Red's curiosity? No. As hard as he had tried to remember, no memories had been rekindled, not even of what she had looked like. Of course, there was the photograph Gramps kept in the living room: a simple picture in a silver frame of a long-haired young woman with a beautiful smile, her arms around a taller, somewhat shy looking man with light brown hair and a nose like Gramps'. Both Gramps and Daisy had told Blue they were his parents, but he had never been able to associate the picture with the concept of parents in his mind.

"Nah, sorry, I really can't remember. Neither her nor Dad." He paused for a moment, then added as an afterthought, "Do you remember your dad?"

Red squinted his eyes and began to scratch his bandaged knee.

"Well, not really," he said after a short pause, his eyes fixed in front of him. "But Mom has told me about him."

"Oh yeah?" Blue said, mildly curious and a touch jealous. "What was he like?"

Red scrunched his face up in effort. "I don't know if I remember all of it, but she said he was a great trainer with tons of rare and strong Pokémon."

Blue's eyes widened. "For real? Did he have an Eevee?"

"Yeah, for sure. And he had a Flareon and Vaporeon and Jolteon too, all at the same time!"

"No way!" Blue gasped. He wasn't entirely sure whether to believe Red or not, but the mental image of four of his favourite Pokémon in the same place won him over. "For real?"

"I bet he even had dragon Pokémon!" Red continued boisterously. Then, his voice dropped a little. "Mom said he had to go to another region after I was born to become a champion there. It must be a really tough place, he hasn't come back yet."

"Hmm..." Blue took another biscuit and munched at it. "Do you remember when he left?"

Red shrugged his shoulders. "Nope. I think Mom said I was two or something."

"Four years ago, huh? That's one really tough league." A beat. "I guess he doesn't want to come home until he has made it."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Reeeeed!" Red's mother's hollered from inside the house. They both gave a jolt and turned to see her stomping over, smiling at them with her eyes closed, arms firmly crossed.

"There's a certain young gentleman who has forgotten to make his bed this morning," she said, her voice deceptively cheery, except that it fooled neither Blue nor Red. The latter gulped. "And the same young gentleman has apparently also emptied half of the contents of the closet on the floor as he was dressing. And the same young gentleman—"

As she said this, she opened her eyes. They gleamed.

"—isn't going to receive any pocket-money for a very long time if he doesn't go upstairs this very instant and clear up the mess he has made."

Red let out a cry of dismay and quickly jumped on his feet. He shot an apologetic glance at Blue.

"See you later," he said.

"Yeah, later," said Blue. He grinned. "Just hurry up."

Red smiled hastily back before dashing into the house, rushing past his mother to the stairs.

"No running on the stairs," she called behind him.

Blue hurriedly got up before remembering his manners.

"Thank you for the juice and biscuits," he said to Red's mother, nodding politely.

"You're welcome, Blue," Red's mother said warmly, leaning over to give his hair a ruffling, too. "And you're welcome to come back whenever you want... and when Red's not supposed to be cleaning his room." She winked.

Blue nodded again and dashed off.

He walked along the edges of the town, practising cartwheels and pretending to be riding on a bike, but on his second time around he slowed down and sat down on the soft grass. He was bored. Usually, playing alone was just fine and dandy, but he had expected to get to play with Red the whole afternoon, and the sudden change in plans left him a mite disappointed. It was fun pretending to be an Eevee, but it was even more fun pretending to be an Eevee and ramming headfirst into Red's Pikachu. He sighed.

Speaking of Eevees...what Red had said about his father floated back into his conscious mind. Had Red been fibbing him, or did his father really have four Eevees? Eevees were rare enough in the first place, but four of them, each a different evolution... Blue sighed dreamily and promised himself he would accomplish the same feat once he became a trainer.

Anyway, Red's father was fascinating. Not only was he a trainer (which already meant he was worth looking up to), if what Red said was true he was also a good one. And, better yet, he had gone on an adventure to some faraway region, too! He had overheard his grandfather's lab aides say that the Pokémon of distant lands were completely different to the ones in Kanto. He and Red would go there one day and see for themselves, for sure!

He tore up a few blades of grass and stuck them behind his ears to have something to do with his hands. He wanted to know more about Red's father, but Red was MIA (and probably didn't know any more anyway), and Red's mother had just told him not to show up again until Red was done clearing up whatever mess he had made.

Fortunately, they weren't the only people in town he could ask.

"Gramps?" Blue asked, propping his head on the lab table to see its contents properly. It was stacked with all sorts of scientific equipment both big and small, white and metal and green. Blue longed to tinker with them, but after having been scolded several times for doing just that in the past knew better than to touch the equipment. Professor Oak didn't immediately avert his eyes from his work, but once he did, he gave Blue a haphazard glance and picked up a notepad from the edge of the table.

"Where's Red, then?" he asked. His words were rather blunt, but the tone was friendly enough. "I thought you two were attached from the hip."

He had to clean his room," Blue said, shrugging and attempting to look nonchalant. "So I thought I'd come to see what you're doing instead, Gramps."

"Is that so?" Professor Oak chuckled dryly. "Well, now that you're here, care to take a look through that scope and see if you can recognise the Pokémon you see?"

Eager to show off his knowledge, Blue jumped to it, tip-toeing on his feet to get a better look. The creature was all hunched up with its eyes closed, but there was no mistaking its plate mail-like hide and large horn.

"Easy, it's a Rhyhorn!" he exclaimed proudly.

Professor Oak nodded, satisfied. "Very good, Blue." He turned back to his research and patted the gleaming white five-foot high machine the scope was attached to. "This machine here is a scanner that allows us to view the Pokémon inside a Pokéball."

"I see," said Blue. Once he tilted his head, he could see that the machine was transparent from the back and that there was a red and white Pokéball nested inside of it.

Professor Oak had already gone back to being fully absorbed in his work, making notes at a furious rate and humming short snags of various tunes, forgetting Blue was there at all.

"Hey, Gramps," Blue said to break the silence. "Did Red's dad have a Rhyhorn?"

Professor Oak didn't even avert his eyes from his work. "Who had a Rhyhorn, Blue?"

"Red's dad. Did he have a Rhyhorn? Red says he's a really good trainer, so I want to know what kind of Pokémon he has captured."

A slight frown appeared on Professor Oak's face. "I don't remember."

"Oh?" Blue hesitated for a moment before continuing: "Well, did he have an Eevee? Red said that he had four, but—"

He paused when Professor Oak suddenly raised his free hand up, its palm towards Blue. "Really now, Blue." There was a touch of exasperation to his tone. "I'm in the middle of a very important project, one that requires my utmost attention. Is this really that important?"

"Um..." Blue bowed his head. "Well, I guess not. I just wanted to know..."

"In that case, let's leave this till later."

Blue nodded, feeling miserable. He knew what his grandfather meant when he said "later" – it was code for "never." By evening, Gramps would have most likely forgotten they had had this conversation. Seeing no point in remaining in the lab any longer, he left.

Well, that was a bust.

He wasn't even an inch closer to finding out something new about Red's father. He kicked a small stone away in his frustration; it bounced off and hit the wall of the lab.

Blue sighed and slouched towards home. There was still one person he could ask.

He kicked his shoes off his feet and walked into the kitchen.

"Sis! Hey, sis!"

Daisy was sitting by the kitchen table, her long hair partly obscuring her face. She was engrossed in some magazine that Blue at a closer glance recognised as "Coordinators' Monthly." Upon hearing her brother's voice, she raised her gaze and smiled at him warmly.

"How are you, Blue? Would you like a snack?" Then, she frowned a little. "Did you go outside without your hat again?"

Blue pulled a face. "I don't like wearing it."

Daisy left the magazine on the table and crouched down to Blue's level. "It's not a matter of whether you like wearing it or not, it's a matter of your health. You don't want to catch a sunstroke, now do you?" She placed her cool hand on his forehead. "Well, it looks like you've avoided it so far, but there's no point in taking needless risks. And you should really use a shirt that covers your shoulders properly."

"Yeah yeah," Blue looked away, pouting. Sometimes, Daisy paying attention to him was nice. At other times, it was overbearing and annoying. "I'll be fine. Red doesn't wear a hat, either."

"Well, he ought to as well." Daisy straightened up. "So, would you like to have something to eat? I made some triangle sandwiches earlier."

Blue was just about to decline, having already stuffed himself earlier with sweet treats, when the words fully registered. Triangle sandwiches were his favourites. Besides, he could always use more energy in preparation for his next battle with Red.

"Yes, please!"

Blue sat down at the table opposite of Daisy and eagerly accepted the plate she offered, digging in without further ado. As he ate, he thought about how to ask Daisy about Red's father. She was eight years Blue's senior, and if Red had been two when his father had left, she must have met him. Besides, Daisy never forgot a single Pokémon she met, so she would surely be able to tell him about Red's father's companions.

"Hey, sis," he began after gobbling down two big sandwiches, topped with a tall glass of water. As usual, Daisy had stared at him the whole time he ate, full teacup in front of her, hands on her cheeks. Blue had never understood why she did it, but since it seemed to make her happy, he wasn't going to mind. "You remember every Pokémon you encounter, right?"

"Hmm... well, I do try. I cannot say that I remember all, however."

"Well, you don't have to remember all of them," said Blue as he wiped his fingers on a napkin (he would have used his shorts, but Daisy was still watching him), "but do you remember what sort of Pokémon Red's dad had?"

Reading expressions had never been Blue's forte, but even he could tell that Daisy's expression wasn't one of fond remembrance. What was it, though, he wasn't sure. It seemed rather blank.

"I'm sorry, Blue, what did you ask again?" Was it just his imagination, or did Daisy's voice sound strained? Blue frowned. Why would she react like that?

"Well, Red's dad, he's a trainer, right? So, I just wanted to know what sort of Pokémon he likes to train. Red said he's really strong, so I figured that knowing what he used might be useful for when I become a trainer." No point in mentioning the Eevees in front of Daisy. She might pinch his cheek and call him adorable or something else gobsmackingly embarrassing like that.

Daisy didn't reply. She stared mutely at her teacup. Blue got restless. He might have understood if there had been really interesting swirls of steam coming from the cup, but the tea had already gone lukewarm. "Sis? Do you remember? I already tried asking Gramps, but he was useless."

Daisy seemed to come to from her reverie. She cast a serious glance at Blue, much different from her usual one. It was almost unnerving. "Red is—" she hesitated and started over. "Did someone tell Red that or did he come up with it by himself?"

Blue frowned. How was he supposed to know? "He said his mother told him. He was too young to remember him by himself."

"I see." Daisy let out a long sigh. Blue stared at her. Why was she so depressed all of a sudden?

"I'm sorry, Blue, but I really don't want to talk about it," she finally said.

"What? Why?"

"I'll...we'll explain it to you once you're a little older." She looked away, out of the window. "The weather's really nice right now. Why don't you go play outside?"

Blue stared at her silently, then slid onto the floor. He wanted to argue, raise some hell and ask over and over again until he'd get a satisfactory answer, and he would have done so if he had been against anyone else but Daisy. Daisy, as gentle as she was, had the gift of taking a "no" and turning it into an impenetrable wall of steel, one which would bounce off all pleads and whines.

"Make sure you wear a hat this time around," she called out after him.

Blue turned to look back. Daisy was still staring out of the opposite window, unmoving. He forewent the hat, leaving it hanging on its peg and stepped into the inviting fresh air outside.

He stomped around, feeling even more vexed than earlier. Why was it so hard to get an answer to such an easy question? First, Gramps had completely ignored it (and, now that Blue thought about it, maybe avoided it on purpose), and now Daisy just flat-out refused to talk about Red's father. What was going on? What was so strange about him that they wouldn't even answer a few simple questions?

The only clue Blue had was what Daisy had said just before clamming up entirely: they'd tell him when he was older. So, what could there be that they thought he was too young to comprehend?

Maybe Red's father was dead? But if that was the case, there was no reason not to tell Blue now. He already knew about death. Heck, his own parents were dead, and they hadn't tried to sugarcoat that to him since he was five. Blue frowned and thought about it again. Maybe they feared that he'd tell Red and that he'd be really sensitive about it? But even that sounded a little weird. He knew that Red was aware of death, too. They had found that unmoving Rattata together, after all. So what was it, then?

He spotted Red's mother and Gramps standing by Red's home, talking to each other. He didn't pay much attention to them. They were always talking to each other, after all. It was kind of funny that Red's mother and his grandfather were best friends just like he and Red were. Not that he minded – it meant that they were all the more happy to see him and Red get along.

He found himself slowly drifting towards the grown-ups despite his lack of real interest. Maybe he could ask Red's mother how well Red's cleaning was going.

"—sudden curiosity. We should decide exactly what we say to make sure the st—" Professor Oak stopped speaking as soon as he saw Blue approaching and gave him a ponderous look. Red's mother, on the other hand, beamed at him.

"Hello, Blue," she said. "If you're looking for Red, he already finished up with his chores and went out to find you."

Blue perked up. "Great!" He ran off. Who cared about grown-ups and their boring discussions when he could play instead?

Red wasn't far away, only at the other side of the house. Grinning, Blue sneaked forward quietly and tried to tackle him from behind. Unfortunately, Red chose just that moment to move, and what was supposed to be a full body tackle turned into a light push. It was enough to startle Red, but not enough to get him off-balance. In fact, Blue was the one who ended up losing his balance, and he quickly threw his hands over Red's shoulders to stay on his feet.

After the initial surprise, Red actually had the gall to smirk at him before attempting to shrug him off. "It's not fair to attack someone when they don't see you."

"Bah." Blue detached himself from Red and did his best to look haughty. "Like I couldn't beat you head on."

Red pulled out his tongue. "If that was a sample of what you can do, I highly doubt it."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Much pushing and laughter ensued after that. Blue managed to successfully trip Red and ran off behind the corner to catch his breath. However, Red followed behind him much sooner than he had expected and suddenly head-butted him in the small of his back. Blue flew forward headfirst and crashed into the ground. He somersaulted forward and landed on his back, seeing stars.

"Boys! Boys, calm down! Don't be so violent!" Red's mother called out, her voice eerily distant.

"I'm fine, it didn't hurt," he called back, although he wasn't sure Red's mother heard him. Meanwhile, Red had made his way to Blue and had gotten him into a chokehold.

"No fair," Blue whined, trying to remove Red's arm from his throat. "You're the one who just said sneak attacks are unfair!"

"You knew I was behind you. That's completely different from attacking out of the blue!" Red's breath was ragged from the earlier exertion. "Just admit it, you lost!"

"No way!" Blue continued struggling, but he already knew Red had gotten a ridiculously good hold of him. If he could sit up properly, shrugging Red off would have been no big deal; sitting up, however, was easier said than done.

"Yeah way" was Red's idea of a snappy retort. He tightened his hold. "Come on, say uncle!"

"Grr!" Blue tried to hit Red's head with his own, and when that didn't pan out, flailed to the sides in an attempt to throw him off. It didn't work. It looked like he had no way out of the situation besides biting down on Red's arm, and with grown-ups so close by and possibly watching them, that could land him in huge trouble.

"Okay, fine! Uncle, uncle!" he spat, his cheeks reddening. Then, as soon as Red slackened his hold of him, he wrenched himself free and grabbed Red's arm with both hands. He crouched down on his feet and saw the triumphant smirk on Red's face turn into a surprised look as he threw him forward. Red yelped and landed on the ground with a thud.

Blue let go off his arm and stood up to strike a pose, laughing. "I win."

"No fair!" Red's face was as flushed as Blue's felt like. "You had already lost! You said uncle!"

"It was a Feint Attack, stupid!" Blue turned his head before Red could say that wasn't how Feint Attack worked, and was more than a little surprised to see Red's mother and Gramps staring at them, twenty feet from them at most. More surprising than their stares, however, were the looks on their faces.

Gramps' eyes were slightly downcast, the rest of his face as though carved of stone. Red's mother looked more surprised than anything, her eyes as round as Pokéballs and her mouth hanging slightly open. Blue hesitated. Had he gone too far with their game? Would he have to listen to a lecture about violence and fair play? But when neither of them said anything even after ample time to do so, Blue decided the stunned silence had to be about something else. But what?

He squinted his eyes to catch some more hints. He couldn't see anything that would give him a clue. There was something similar in both the expression of Red's mother and the eyes of his grandfather, some shared emotion, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Meanwhile, Red had gotten up, and ignorant to the change in the atmosphere, gave Blue a light push.

"Hey, that didn't count!" he said. He was grinning widely, a hint of his competitive streak lurking beneath his smile.

"Uh huh?" Blue muttered back, not really listening. He was too busy staring at the grown-ups, trying to figure out the enigma on their faces.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Red gave him another push. This one hurt a little. "What are you staring at? I thought we were supposed to be playing."

Reluctantly, Blue pulled his gaze away from the grown-ups and to the familiar flame burning in Red's eyes. He smiled faintly, trying to return to the enthusiasm he had had a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, let's play," he said. "How about playing Pokémon and trainer?"

Red looked pleased with the choice. "Yeah, sure! Which one do you want to be?"

"I dunno, you can pick."

"Huh?" A wry smile crept on Red's face. "I thought the winner of the previous game always gets to choose. Does that mean you admit you lost?"

Blue pulled a face at him, uncertain whether Red was serious or just joking.

"Of course not! It means that in my immense graciousness, I'm letting you pick even though you're a loser!"

"What?!"

Blue laughed and ran towards the edge of the town, Red firmly in tow. The grown-ups were still looking at them with the same strange expression frozen on their face, but he had stopped caring for now. The puzzle could be solved later; what really mattered now was the warm summer afternoon to be spent with a great friend and the land of make-believe.

THE END

A/N: Revised as of 14/6/28. Special thanks to TJ Robinson for beta reading and excellent advice.