"H-HELP ME!"
Red shoved aside a bunch of vines and found himself in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by more trees with a small lake off to the side. This clearing would have been considered peaceful, if not for the man high up in a tree with three small grey/black dog Pokemon barking up at him!
"Hang on sir!" Red yelled out and quickly went for his belt…only to find no pokeballs! "Oh no…. I left my team back in Kanto!" The man quickly noticed Red and began waving his arms.
"Hello! You over there! Please help!" The man then pointed to a small dusty brown bag a few feet away from the dog Pokemon. "Inside the bag! There's three pokeballs!"
Red nodded and quickly dashed over to the bag and unzipped it.
"Arrgh! Professor!"
Red turned to the voice and watched as a boy wearing a white hat and red shirt ran over to where Red was. "What are you waiting for?! Help me take those Poochyena down!" The boy yelled digging into the bag and grabbing a pokeball. The word TORCHIC was written across the top of the ball. Red nodded and quickly fished around for another pokeball and grabbed one marked TREECKO.
Both boys' reared back and threw the pokeballs.
"Come on out/Battle on, TREECKO/TORCHIC!"
In a flash, a green gecko Pokemon and a small chick Pokemon appeared and glared at the Poochyena pack. Red, with his battle prowess sharpened by four years of battle, instantly made the first move.
"Treecko, get those Pokemon away from the tree with pound!" Treecko instantly leapt forward and knocked all three Poochyena away with a spinning tail smack. Brendan watched with fascination as Red swiftly continued "Lower their guard with Leer then knock one out with Pound!" Treecko quickly bounced off the tree and glared at one of the Poochyena, causing it to back away a little, before bringing its tail down on the dog Pokemon.
Brendan quickly snapped out of it and pointed to one of the Poochyena that was rushing at Treecko "No you don't! Cover Treecko with peck!" Torchic responded to its trainer's energy with amazing speed and halted the attacking Poochyena with its beak. Red's eyes flickered to the remaining Poochyena, who was growling menacingly at Treecko. His mouth quickly curled up into a smirk. "Ready?" Brendan nodded and the two pointed at the growling Poochyena.
"POUND/PECK!"
-Littleroot town-
"And this is the town lab!"
While Red was off battling, Green was being dragged around the town by the little girl, barely able to keep up with the small child. Green followed the child and entered the building and found a lab similar to her grandfather's lab in Kanto. A lone researcher was fiddling with a computer nearby.
"Teacher!"
The researcher jumped slightly, sighed, and turned from his desk. "Natalie, I swear you will give me a heart attack one day!" The researcher quickly noticed Green and smiled "Oh? Did you make a friend, Natalie?"
Green laughed when Natalie's face turned red. "I'm Green, from Kanto. I have a letter for Professor Birch from Professor Oak!" The researcher gave Green a strange look before sighing.
"The Professor is away on fieldwork. Ergo, he's not here."
Natalie began giggling. "Teacher says a lot of strange words!" He didn't seem to hear her as he continued.
"Oh! Let me explain what fieldwork is!" The researcher quickly shuffled over to a large blackboard near the back of the lab and began writing extremely complex words that nether Green or Natalie could understand.
"It is to study things in the natural environment, like fields and mountains, instead of a lab. The professor isn't one for deskwork. He's the type of person who would rather go outside and experience things, than read about them here."
Green watched in horror, as the researcher began drifting into more and more complicated topics as he went on. Unfortunately, he never gave her an opening to interrupt, leaving Natalie and her to listen to the increasingly terrifying lecture.
-Back with Red and Brendan…-
"Not bad." Red said with a smile as he returned Treecko to its pokeball. Brendan sighed, somehow drained from such an easy battle, and sat down. "That was intense for my first battle…"
"First battle, huh? Don't worry, it'll get worse from here on out."
Brendan laughed/groaned in response "What about you? You've got skills that could put a gym leader to shame!" Red snorted and tossed the pokeball into the air a few times. "That was just with a starter Pokemon, a Pokemon that had just begun to utilize its abilities. When it gets stronger, you'll see some REAL skills."
"I thought you seemed familiar!"
Both Brendan and Red turned and saw Professor Birch climbing down from the tree quickly. Brendan shot Red a surprised glance before returning to the Professor.
"What, you know this guy?" Birch nodded and shook Red's hand "It's an honor to be able to meet Kanto's Champion! Fire Red, right?"
Brendan stared at Red in shock for a few seconds, before finally composing himself "Ch-Champion?!" Red gave a nervous chuckle and edged slightly away from the two "A-Actually, I retired to Mt. Silver three years ago. My rival, Water Blue, is the new champion." "If you went to Mt. Silver, then what are you doing in a region like Hoenn? Mt. Silver is in Johto!" Birch asked in shock. Brendan quickly switched between staring at Red and Birch at a rapid pace.
"Mt. Silver? What and where the heck is that?"
Red gave Brendan a serious look as he began "It's a large mountain that can only be entered two ways. The first is flying there, and that's only if your flying Pokemon knows the easiest way to break through the never-ending snowstorm and before you ask, fire won't work."
"The second is by completing at the very least, 16 gyms and getting the approval of not only the gym leaders, but also the Elite Four of both or more regions. And by approval, I DONT mean gym badges. Kanto is a special case because the Johto region's Pokemon League IS Kanto's Pokemon League. Because I was a champion back then, I only had to get the Elite Four's approval since I would be retiring my title."
Birch nodded sagely. "A mountain with wild Pokemon that you could spend years preparing for, and still fall to them. That's how powerful they are. How far did you get during the climb?"
Red shivered as memories of his climb drifted through his mind.
"Well…."
-Flashback: Mt. Silver.-
"PIKACHU, USE THUNDERBOLT!"
Red mentally sighed as he shouted his order over the howling blizzard that tore into him. He hadn't begun climbing more than twenty minutes, and he was already being attacked! He knew this climb would be dangerous, but come on!
Pikachu's thunderbolt was swatted away by a wild Skarmory wing. The Skarmory then quickly retaliated with a steel wing dive bomb. Red barely managed to climb to the next ledge, narrowly avoiding a lost leg or foot.
This is insane! Red snarled mentally Skarmory is a steel type, sure, but it's also part flying! So how can it just shrug off all these attacks?! Are all Pokemon this powerful on the mountain?!
Pikachu quickly scampered onto Red's shoulder as he quickly began climbing again. With luck, the Skarmory would be discouraged after slamming beak-first into the mountain.
"SKAAAAAAAR!"
No such luck.
Red quickly tossed a pokeball up to a cliff higher up and shouted over the blizzard "BLAST BURN!"
There was flash of orange and a huge waterfall of flames came down from above and burnt the skarmory to a crisp. Red breathed a sigh of relief and shot a thumbs up to the cliff above. "Nice one Charizard!
A few thousand more ledges, and more than a few hundred Skarmory, later, Red found himself unable to climb any higher. This meant that he must have reached the top! The ex-champ had climbed the unclimbable mountain in five days, and survived! Now all he had to do was survive another three years.
No pressure.
"SKAR!"
"OH COME ON!"
-Flashback end-
Brendan stared at Red in disbelief, while Birch nodded to Red in respect. "The top. The pinnacle of the mountain never before reached by humans. What was it like?" Red was about to respond when he was quickly interrupted.
"Train me!"
Red turned to Brendan in surprise as Brendan went to his knees before him. "Uh…why are you on your knees?" Red asked having VERY scary flashbacks of fan's swarming him after he became champion.
Brendan just looked up at Red in awe. "I want to climb Mt. Silver too! I want to see what you saw! The only way to do that is to become as strong as you!"
Red groaned and lowered his cap over his eyes in embarrassment "I can't. I got to the top without anyone's help except my Pokemon. Without them, I wouldn't be here. And will you PLEASE GET UP?!"
Birch began chuckling at the two before patting Red's back "Why don't you two keep Treecko, and Torchic? I'm sure you two could raise them right!"
Red smiled and nodded, while Brendan pumped his fist into the air "Alright! My journey starts here! Come on, Master Red! Let's get going!" Red groaned and shook his head "Please just call me Red… and we can't leave yet, I have to go pick up Leaf Green… who should be looking for the professor."
Professor Birch gasped and had a horrified look on his face "Oh, no! My assistant is still at the lab! He has a dangerous habit of long winded lectures! If your friend is at the lab…"
-At the lab… a minute later…-
"And that completes' my theory on the life cycle of a Rattata! Any questions?"
Natalie snored quietly with her head down on Green's shoulder, while Green sat behind a small table, with her eye twitching rapidly.
"Good! Then we can get to my theory on the move Super Fang! You see-"
The door was suddenly blasted off its hinges by Treecko's pound attack. Birch quickly rushed in, followed closely by Red as he ran over to Green and began shaking her.
"Green! Green are you alright?! Snap out of it!"
"Theory…..Rattata….Life cycle….Super Fang….."
Birch tackled the researcher to the ground and pinned his arms down. "Stan, you were warned. You need help. There's no such thing as the 'Super Fang' Theory."
'Stan' began struggling against the large professor while glaring at him.
"You won't stop me Birch! The world will know all the secret's of Super Fang! And with those secret's I will rule the world! IN THE NAME OF TOP PERCENTAGE RATTATA EVERYWHERE!"
"Master Red! Over here!" As Red exited the lab, carrying Green, he found Brendan waving him over near his home. A woman, most likely his mother, was standing next to him looking horrified as two uniformed policemen ran into the lab. "What on earth is going on? Brendan came running into the house, yelling at me to call the police!"
Red brought Green into the house and set her down on the sofa with a groan "Something about a theory. I didn't hear most of it." Brendan's mother nodded in response "Oh, that. Norman and I warned the professor about having Stan as an assistant but he decided to give the poor man a chance anyway. Ever since Stan lost to a trainer named Joey, he spent the rest of his life learning everything he could about Rattata. Must have lost his mind."
Red paused and blinked, unsure if his hearing was working.
"He lost his mind after losing to a Rattata?"
She nodded and sighed "Yes, poor man. He was so sure he could beat anyone with his Magikarp too…"
And Red thought Team Rocket was stupid…
"Enough about that mom! I'm gonna go on a journey with master Red and I need to get packed!" Brendan suddenly broke the conversation, he did that a lot it seemed, and dashed up the stairs to his room. His mother had a look of surprise as she got a better look at Red. "Oh my! The Kanto champion! Please don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing in Hoenn?"
Red smiled on the outside, but on the inside he was groaning. Appearently no one in Hoenn heard about Kanto getting a new champion. "I'm on a training journey. My rival Water Blue is the new champion of Kanto by the way."
Brendan's mother returned Red's smile and nodded. "I see. Well, if you happen to stop by Petalburg city could you give my husband Norman this letter?" She handed Red the letter just as Brendan jumped down the stair with a yellow backpack. "All set master!" His mother chuckled while Red groaned. "Please, enough with 'master'. Just call me Red. And we can't leave until Green wakes up."
"Well, how about this then?" Brendan's mom began (Man that's getting annoying to write.) "Birch's daughter May should be doing research around this time on route 103 which is past Oldale Town. You can tell her about what happened at his lab. I'll have the young lady awake by the time you two get back."
"Alright. Thanks a lot Ma'am." Red replied with a nod. "Come on Brendan. It'll be good training on the way." Brendan was already out the door at the word 'Training'.
-Twenty minutes later… Route 103-
Today was a good day for May. She got her first Pokemon from her dad, he agreed, finally, to let her do some research farther away from Littleroot Town, AND she made a friend! All in one day!
"Remember, memorizing as many Pokemon abilities as possible will help when preparing for a powerful opponent like Gym Leaders."
"Yes master!"
May sighed as a group of Zigzagoon suddenly dashed away in fright of the sudden voices. She was doing so well too! Confrontation time!
"Ex-CUSE me! Would you mind keeping it-" May instantly spotted Brendan staring at her in surprise. A slightly older boy was giving her a strange look. Surprise? Humor? She wasn't sure, and she usually could tell!
"BRENDAN!" She squealed tackling her new friend to the ground. The boy who was with him suddenly chuckled.
"Friend of yours, Brendan? Girlfriend?"
May instantly blushed and quickly got off him, letting him get up and glare at the boy. "This is May Birch. We became friends before I met you."
May bowed apologetically "Sorry Brendan! I was just so excited; I didn't expect to see you so soon!" She turned to the other boy and smiled "And who are you?"
Both Red and Brendan paused in surprise, both having different reasons yet the reaction being the same.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I/HE AM/IS?!"
Red was suddenly VERY happy. He was so used to being recognized by everyone, Brendan, and his mother excluded, May certainly took him by surprise.
May suddenly was very uncomfortable. Was he a celebrity? A gym leader? She knew all of the Hoenn gym leader's by heart and none of them matched Red.
"N-No I don't know you." May finally replied. Red quickly smiled, noticing her discomfort, and held out a hand "I'm Red, from Kanto. I came here to do some training." And to get away from fangirls, but she didn't need to know that.
"Nice to meet you!" May replied shaking his hand "So what brings you out here, Brendan?"
An idea suddenly popped into Red's head. This was the daughter of a Pokemon professor, meaning she might have vast knowledge of Pokemon abilities, tactics, and more. She also looked like a new trainer too; it would be a good chance to have Brendan gain some REAL battle experience.
"He recently acquired his first Pokemon and wanted to have his first trainer battle with you."
Brilliant. Red thought proudly to himself as Brendan shot him a quick look of surprise.
"Uh-"
"Really? Awesome!" May exclaimed excitedly "I got my first Pokemon recently too! I won't go easy on you, Brendan!" Brendan, after a nod from Red, decided to go with it. "I-I won't ether!"
"I'll be around Oldale Town doing a bit more training. Come find me when you two finish." Red suddenly explained before jumping down a few ledges.
"Here we go! Let's rock Mudkip!
"Battle on Torchic!"
-With Red-
So that's what its like to manipulate… interesting. Red thought with a grin. He suddenly frowned and pointed to several Poochyena growling at him. "Here for a revenge fight? Use absorb."
A cry of 'CO!' was heard followed by a small shadow leaping down from the trees, quickly draining energy from every Poochyena, making them faint in a matter of seconds. Red smiled and nodded "Good. You're getting better at hitting multiple targets at once." Treecko stood up and looked proud. "I have a Pokemon back in Kanto you should meet someday." Treecko gave him a confused look and asked "Tree?" Red's smile grew wider "He's called Venusaur. A powerful grass-type like yourself. He could teach you the ultimate grass move." This new information made Treecko a VERY happy Pokemon.
"KO!" It cheered. Red laughed "Slow down. First, you must be able to CONTROL it. In order to do that, you must train!" Treecko nodded and back-flipped over a Zigzagoon that was attempting to sneak up on it and took it out with one Pound.
"Well at least he has the right attitude. I wonder how Kira is doing?"
-Dewford Town Gym-
"Well done! As a prize for defeating me, I present to you, the Knuckle Badge!"
Kira grinned as he took the fist shaped badge from Brawly. Three badge's in a day. A personal best! "Thanks Broly. Before I go, do you know anything about a legendary Pokemon known as Kyogre? Supposedly lives somewhere I can't fish for it? I asked Wattson and Winona and they didn't know anything."
The fighting gym leader frowned at his name being butchered, but nodded "Actually I don't, but near Lillycove City there's a mountain that has two people living at the top. I heard from another gym leader named Wallace, that they know some stuff about ancient Pokemon."
Kira's eye twitched. He had gotten off the ship in Lillycove! He was so close to a potential clue and he didn't even know it! WHY WAS HIS LUCK SO BAD?! "Thanks again." He finally said before walking out.
Kira stepped out of the gym and into a rainy Dewford Town. "Well, that was interesting. Looks like I may have to hold back after all." He said patting the bag on his waist.
"Hey! You there!"
Kira turned to the voice and tried his hardest to keep a snicker from escaping. He really did try. Honest. A few feet away, stood a man dress in what seemed to be a pirate uniform. Blue bandana on the head with a strange symbol, a striped black and white shirt and blue pants.
Yup, pirate. No other explanation.
"Ahoy there, can I help you?"
The man grinned and walked up to him, hand outstretched. "The talk of the town is, you're looking into ancient Pokemon."
Ears perked in interest, check.
Shake the interesting man's hand, check.
"I am! I'm looking for a Pokemon called Kyogre!" The man suddenly laughed and patted Kira's back "Excellent! My group of….researcher's are searching for information on Kyogre too! How about joining us? We can search for it together!"
Join pirates?
"Tell me more…" Kira said with a grin mirroring the man's grin.
-Route 103-
May watched her Mudkip slump to the ground in defeat. "Mudkip! Awww, return!" Brendan gave a sigh of relief as he returned Torchic. It had been an extremely close battle. Scratch attacks had been ordered, Tackle attacks had been dodged, and Growls on both sides had been suffered. Close battle indeed.
"Wow! That was great! Brendan, you're pretty good!" May exclaimed shaking Brendan's hand again. Brendan turned a little red at the praise and nodded "You were incredible too, May. I hope we have battles like that in the future! We'll both be even stronger by the next one!" May blushed a bit, thanking whatever divine power sent him to Littleroot Town.
-?-
"Hey, Arceus, a human girl is praising you and your powers."
"Well send her the regular complementary gift and send her on her way! I'm trying to keep track of that moron speaking with the blue pirate!"
-Back on route 103-
The trees above the two began rustling, usually a sign of a Pokemon leaping through them, and a Rare Candy suddenly fell out of them and landed on May's head. "Ow! What the-" May grabbed the offending candy and, having not recognizing it as a Rare Candy, chucked it into the bushes nearby, which happened to be a nest for a group of Zigzagoon. Many of them were extremely confused during the next moment as one of them ate the sudden gift, and evolved into a Linoone. And that Linoone instantly became the leader of that group.
But enough about them.
"Well, I guess I should be heading back to the lab." May suddenly said, breaking the near minute silence between the two. "Oh yeah, about the lab…" Brendan began to explain only to be cut off by May "Come on! You can come meet my dad!"
"But I already-"
And off the ledge she went. "Guess I might as well go find master Red…"
-Oldale Town Pokemon Center-
"Really? You won, huh? Good job."
"TOR!"
"Alright, alright! You did well too!"
"Thank you for waiting! Your Torchic and Treecko are now fully healed!" The nurse bowed "We hope to see you again!"
As the two walked out of the center, Red sighed. "I swear, they are all twins or something." Brendan shrugged and laughed "Well at least the service is free everywhere. You sure they ALL look the same? Even the Kanto ones?" "Even the Kanto ones!" Red replied "It drives me crazy!" Treecko sat atop Red's hat and took in the sights of the small town, including a woman standing next to a house mumbling about 'saving her progress'.
"You sure it's alright for it to be up there? We're kinda being stared at…" Brendan muttered trying to avoid the strange looks some of the people were giving them. Red shrugged "It's not that big of a deal. I have a Pikachu in Kanto that does the same thing sometimes."
"Well yeah, but-"
"BRENDAN! RED! OVER HERE!" He seemed to be interrupted a lot.
That's fanfiction for ya.
Both trainers searched for the voice and found May waving over at them from the southern entrance. "Over here! Let's go!"
"Well, at least you won't be bored on this trip."
"Shut up master."
-Littleroot Town, Prof. Birch's lab.-
After a few minutes of chasing the infinite energy that was May. All three FINALLY, she really shouldn't have gotten distracted by that Wurmple nest, made it back to Birch's lab.
"Hello there, Red, Brendan, May. Welcome back to Littleroot!" The professor said. Brendan, tired from chasing May, sat down on the large couch nearby with a groan. May plopped down next to him and laughed.
"Dad! Guess what? Brendan beat me on his first try! Isn't that incredible?!"
Birch smiled to his daughter and nodded to Brendan "Well done, Brendan. May has been helping me with my research for a long time now. She already had an extensive history as a trainer, so defeating her was no small thing, I assure you!" He quickly turned and pulled out a small red not-laptop. Red grinned as memories of getting his pokedex suddenly came back to him. "That's a pokedex!"
Brendan eyed the not-laptop curiously as Birch handed it to him "Here Brendan, I ordered this for my research, but I think you should have it." Red pulled out his smaller not-laptop and began explaining how it worked.
"The pokedex is a high-tech tool that automatically makes a record of any Pokemon you meet or catch. Even ones you've obtained prior to obtaining the pokedex are registered. You can use it to check out data on Pokemon like where they live and other functions."
"Wow. This little box can do all that?" Brendan asked opening the pokedex and reading Torchic's data. Am electronic female voice suddenly began speaking.
Torchic
The chick Pokemon.
Inside its body is a place where it keeps a small flame. Hug it! It will feel like a hot water bottle.
"Well… it COULD work…" Red muttered while reading the entry again.
"That's great! You get a pokedex too, just like me! Here, I have something for you too!" May exclaimed holding out five small red and white balls.
"Ah! Pokeballs! The ultimate trainer tool!" Brendan said pocketing the balls. "It's fun if you can get a lot of Pokemon!" She then pulled out a copy of the town maps and opened it "I'm going to look all over the place because I want lots of different Pokemon! You and me, we're rivals now! We'll likely meet again down the road. Let's battle again when we do!"
"You bet! I'm looking forward to it!" Brendan agreed. An invisible pact was made between the two. Like Red and Blue, Brendan and May were now rivals forever. "Come on, Brendan. We better go see if Green's awake." May perked up at the possibility of another friend "Who's Green?"
-In an unknown location-
Kira found himself in what looked to be an underground facility underneath Lillycove City. Many people dressed like pirates were running around setting up large machines, some were typing away, while others trained fiercely against each other in battle.
"This is Team Aqua's headquarters. This is where we research the sea and Kyogre." The same man from Dewford explained as he led Kira through dozens of rooms. "Looks like you guys have lots of money, to be able to run this much stuff at once. The teleport pads are a nice touch." The suddenly serious man simply nodded as they finally entered a small room. The small room simply had a few pictures here and there on the walls and a large desk with an obviously tall man sitting in it.
"Judging by the tall man sitting behind the desk, this must be the leader's room." Kira noted looking around the rather small room. The man leading Kira suddenly snapped into a salute.
"Sir Archie! Admin James reporting! I've found and recruited someone who is willing to join Team Aqua!"
The chair spun around evil-villain style, revealing a tall man wearing the same blue bandana the others were wearing. This man however, wore a black suit with no undershirt, black slacks, and strangely enough, no shoes. The symbol on the bandana appeared on a small metal chain around his neck. What Kira noticed the most however, was the man's BEARD. That's right, his beard.
"Ahoy there, Blackbeard!" Kira said with a grinning wave.
"I'll ignore that on the grounds that what you just said was a merely a quirk of yours, and NOT an attempt to insult me." The man growled. Kira shrugged in response "Whatever helps you sleep. So is it true that you guys are searching for Kyogre as well?" This seemed to brighten Archie's mood, as he instantly began smiling "That is correct! Team Aqua exists to study the sea in the hopes of expanding it with Kyogres power!"
"Good enough for me! I just want to find Kyogre!"
Archie nodded "Well said. In that case, welcome to Team Aqua! My assistant James here has informed me of your issue involving the uniforms. I give you permission to not need to wear the uniform, as long as you wear this ID badge on you." Archie handed Kira a small badge in the shape of the Team Aqua symbol.
"On to buisness, your first assignment will be Rustburo City. We have received information on the general area of where Kyogre COULD be, and Devon Corp, which lies in Rustburo, has the necessary parts needed for our submarine to make it that far underwater. Go there and retrieve the parts by any means necessary!"
Kira grinned and saluted "Aye, aye, Captain Blackbeard!"
Reviews lead to complementary gifts from Arceus! (Watch your heads!)
And now for this chapter's score card.
Name: Fire Red
Team: Treecko lvl 13
Name: Brendan
Team: Torchic lvl 9
