Red couldn't help being a sore loser. He had beaten all the Kanto Gym Leaders, basically took down the mafia of the Kanto Region, swept through the Elite Four, and defeated his childhood rival, Blue, becoming the Champion of the Indigo League. But that wasn't enough for him, so decided to try catch all 149 Pokémon, and guess what? He did it! He even caught the most powerful Pokémon in the world, Mewtwo. And after he did every single thing there was to do in Kanto, he decided to go to Mt. Silver, a frozen mountain on the outskirts of the region. There he trained and trained, until he was sure that he was the strongest trainer in the world. And things just went downhill from there.

Some random kid named Ethan challenged the overconfident Red, and beat him to a pulp no less. It was his first loss since his initial battle with Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, the criminal organization he had taken down three years before.

He was so humiliated he left Kanto and explored the regions of Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. He battled every trainer there was, including the Champions of those regions. But then, his winning streak stopped in it's tracks. At the First Annual Pokémon World Tournament, he was beaten again by Nate, the recently proclaimed Champion of Unova.

And that was the last straw. With his confidence shattered, Red did the one thing no one ever thought he would do: he quit his life as a Pokémon Trainer. Fast forward one year. He moved back to Pallet Town, married a girl named Leaf, raised a family, and became a proud father. He had a quiet life in for him, a life that pleased him. But a nagging fear remained: that his former life would come back to haunt him.

As he was thinking, he heard a loud, persistent knock on the door. Red scampered over to the door, and asked, "Who is it?" "LET ME IN, NOW!", a familiar voice said, but Red had not heard it that way since it's owner had run away screaming from a ghost ten years ago in Lavender Town. He quickly unlocked the door, and a tall young man with a black leather jacket and spiky auburn hair scrambled into the entryway, panting. "Blue…?", Red asked, but he was quickly interrupted by the man. "GRAMPS!" he yelled, but then burst into tears, "He's having a heart attack!"

Red had seen Blue do a lot of things, crying was not one of them. But in this moment, Blue was crying. Now he knew why. "Where is he?!", asked Red, now frantic as well. "Pokémon Center…!", Blue stammered, "Viridian City…!" "Leaf! Take care of Jack for me, I need to visit an old friend," said Red as he grabbed a Repel on the counter and sprayed it onto his arms and legs.

A year ago he would've hesitated to spray it, being the trainer that he was back then. He would've fought his way through the tall grass and either catch or knock out every Pokémon that dared to attack him. But now he was different, and he wouldn't battle any wild Pokémon, even if it was a weak Magikarp flopping along the route. His days of being a Pokémon Trainer were over. He suddenly felt a longing to wait for the Repel to wear off, and battle the Pokémon like he once did, but he brushed it off.

Blue was almost to Route One, and Red was barely out of his house. He pedaled faster, quickly catching up to Blue. Professor Oak was one of Red's good friends, but more than that, the old man was his mentor, the one who sent him on his journey ten years ago. If Oak died of this heart attack… He didn't want to think about it. As his bike shot along the trail, he saw flocks of Pidgey fly away, and a pack of Rattata scurrying into the longer grasses.

He reached into his backpack for his Pokédex, only to remember that the backpack was in a storage box at Professor Oak's lab. He thought of he the man, probably coughing in pain on a hospital bed in Viridian City. He thought of how much Oak had done for him. And he thought of Blue. If the professor died, the boy would have had no living relatives; Blue's parents died when Team Rocket first attacked the Silph Corporation Building. He pedaled harder, and into Viridian City.

He dropped off his bike at a rack by the Pokémon Center, and the ran right into the sliding doors before they could fully open. Quickly recovering from the collision, he scrambled into the hospital. At the counter, Blue was talking with a kindly young nurse with hair dyed bright pink. "I'm here to see Samuel Oak!" he said. "What is your relation to Doctor Oak?" asked the nurse. "I'm his grandson, Blue Oak," he replied. "Wait up!" yelled Red. "And this is Red, and old friend of the professor," said Blue. "You may go and see him," said the nurse. "We hope to see you again!" "Is it me?" said Red, "Or does that 'We hope to see you again!' stuff creep you out." "You and me both," remarked Blue, as they entered a room.

In the room, Oak was lying in bed, clearly not well. Every few seconds, he would jolt forward, and his pulse would drop before returning to normal. "Gramps?" said a worried Blue, "Are you okay?" "I don't have much longer in this world Blue," said the sickly professor. "No!" cried Blue, "You can't! You just can't!" "I can't control when I die," said the stern professor. "I hope you'll except that. But I do have something for both of you."

Blue was crying on his grandfather's hospital bed, while tears had just started to stream down Red's cheek. "For Blue, my grandson, I give you something I wanted you to have long ago," said the professor as he handed him a Poké Ball. "This contains Eevee, a Pokémon with much potential. It can evolve into many Pokémon of many types. It could be Vaporeon, the Water-type; Flareon, the Fire-type; Jolteon, the Electric-type; and even more. And to evolve this precious Pokémon, I give you a necklace. It has three stones: A Water Stone, a Fire Stone, and a Thunder Stone. But be wary, there are even more ways to evolve this Pokémon than a few stones, and if you want a more rare evolution, you'll have to discover them for yourselves." Blue took the Poké Ball, his hands trembling.

"And for Red, I have something I believe you will enjoy," wheezed the professor. He pulled up a tattered map showing an unknown island. "An old sea map?" asked Red. "Why would I enjoy that?" "It's not just an old sea map," said the professor. "It's THE old sea map. Give it to an old man named Briney, and he'll sail you to an island with a Pokémon I believe you wish to acquire."

"YOU!" yelled Red, as Blue scrambled away. "You had this map for so long, and you kept it from me!" The professor jolted forward, and his eyelids were flickering. "I was just waiting for the right moment," he said, and then his eyes closed as he entered the spirit world.

This time it was Red who was crying, while Blue just stared in disbelief. "Holy mother of Arceus, he's dead." And as they wiped the tears from their eyes, the two boys simply walked out of the Pokémon Center and into the heavy rain. Fitting, Red thought. Blue ran on ahead; it seemed that his arrogant personality still lingered even after his grandfather's death. Red just walked, through the houses, buildings, and trees. Then Red saw the man, and was flooded with memories.

The man smiled, and Red was scared, for he hadn't seen that man for a long, long time. Red saw his piercing black eyes staring right at him. Red saw his black suit glisten against the moonlight. And on that suit, there was a bright red R. "Hello Red," said Giovanni.