Finally getting to work on this, it should be a good chapter.


Chapter 2

All Boys Leave Home

All Boys Leave Home Someday Part 1

"So did you pack everything you need? Enough money for food, and your toothbrush?" Red was zipping up his backpack at the door of his house as his mother worried at the thought of her son leaving home. After Red finished slinging the pack over his shoulders, the mother-son family embraced, knowing that this would be the last physical contact they would have for several months as a minimum, "I'll miss you while you're gone on your adventure, but all boys leave leave home someday, and there's nothing I can do about that. Just be safe, and call in every once in a while so I can know how you are doing and remember that I love you."

"Well, Red, are we going yet?" Outside on the brown cobble walkway from the door to the road stood Apollo with what he called one of his 'cool looks', this one being closed eyes and a small smirk on his face, "A brand new adventure awaits us, and don't worry, ma'am, I'll keep an eye out for him." Red walked out, and Apollo jumped on his shoulder to travel in comfort. The two started to wave back at May as they exchanged their final goodbyes during their walk to the road.

"Bye, sweetie! Have fun on your adventure!" "Bye! Hey, dude, your mom is hot," That last whispered comment by Apollo caused him to know the law of gravity more personally as Red knocked him off his shoulder and a tic mark formed on Red's forehead. May laughed at the duo's antics while she leaned against the door frame, "I can't believe he's gone fast so, but it's nice to know you were right. He needs this more than anything. However, I do wonder about Apollo. Do you really think that Pikachu is a good choice?" Oak had watched the farewell in it's entirety while sitting in the recliner with a small smile on his face, "Oh, trust me. Apollo is the best partner your son could ever have. You can't catch it at first glance, but Apollo knows a lot more than he lets on. He... Let's just say he's had his fair share of the pain of journeys. He knows all the risks involved with the endeavor, but even so, he chose to go along with Red. Believe me, Apollo is the best match for your son, and that they'll make a fantastical team together."

"Well, if you trust him, I guess I can too, so thank you. But, I also wanted to ask you, what about your grandson, Blue?" May's smile turned into a frown at the cold and angry teen. Oak thought of how to explain his opinion on the subject for a moment before taking a solemn tone, "Well, his story is similar to Red's, yet still different in some ways. You know his parents, my son... Isn't the best father in the world. Both him and his wife have buried themselves in their work, and left their son all alone. Even though his sister and I do our best to raise him, it's still not enough. The absence of his parents has made him angry, angry and full of angst."

The old man's face had morphed from shining with a smile to downtrodden and frowning through this, not relishing the thought of what happened to Blue. "He was a happy kid at one time. You probably remember him and Red playing together, but, as time went by, Blue's attitude took a sharp turn for worse. He lost all his friends, some one by one and others in groups, leaving him bitter and alone. Blue became edgy, full of despise towards everything and everyone. Much like Red, he needs this journey."

Oak stood up and walked over to the door of the house to look out at the sun in it's eight o'clock spot in the sky, "They both need to face their problem and overcome them, and they can't do it on their own. That's why I gave them their pokemon partners and wanted them to set on this journey. It'll help them recover from their respective pains and find themselves again. I even hope that one day... That they will even achieve something fantastical through this."

Oak then stretched and yawned to show his tiredness with the subject before grinning, "Ugh, that was a little depressing. How about a little trip to Viridian. I have a few errands to run there, but you're welcome to join me." "That sounds lovely." May smiled, glad for the chance to leave the house after staying so much time indoors to make sure Red was okay.

Oak exited the house with his eyes closed, to walk to the spot where he parked his blue first generation Dodge Dart, "Great! Let me just-," At that moment, he opened to notice the vacant spot where he park his car, "ARGHARGLQEWLRKH- WHERE IS MY CAR!"


Route One

Red and Apollo had been following the road to Viridian City for ten minutes when a blue blur flew by them with Blue sticking his head out to call them losers before pulling his head back in and accelerating to even greater speeds. Apollo looked up at Red to question him, "Wait, how come he's thirteen, and yet he has a driver's license?" He interpreted the response stare, leading him to make his next comment, "Oh, uh, this won't end well.


The duo looked out onto the grass prairie that constructed the majority of Route One's landscape with Apollo laying out the plan, "Okay, first things first, let's start building our team up! We've gotta catch every pokemon we can, so that we can have variety to choose from." Looking closer, Apollo caught a ruffling of grass a few yards a way. Jumping off Red's shoulder with a small smirk and jolts of electricity flashing from his cheek sacs, Apollo hollered out, "Ha, here's one! Okay, I'll pummel him up a little, make him a little easier to catch!" Crashing onto the target, Apollo and the pokemon disappeared into an animated cloud filled with the sounds of Thundershock, Scratches, and Tackles while Red simply stared at the scene before, still surprised by sudden turn of events.

The cloud soon cleared out to show that Apollo had a Rattata pinned in a headlock and the Rattata biting down on the offending arm. Apollo looked up at Red with a pained glare and shouted out, "What are you waiting for? Throw one of those damn balls that Oak gave you!" Red, guessing at what his Pikachu was referring, pulled a small red and white ball from his pocket and pressed the button on the front to enlarge it. Apollo could only face-palm with his free hand at the sight of his trainer's dumbstruck face that indicated he didn't apparently understand the concept of throwing a ball, "Yes, that's it! Now throw the damn thing! Seriously, do you want to come over there and throw it myself?"


"You were only dumb, right, Red?" As Apollo licked at his wounds, the yellow mouse hoped that his partner was actually all there in the head when it came to basic motor skills. However, his question was left at the wayside when he looked up at Red's joy-struck face as he looked down at the pokeball that contained Joey, their new Rattata team member. Hopping up on Red's shoulder, Apollo tried to deliver some news to his trainer, "Don't get too excited, Kid. He may be your first official catch, but he's still kinda of useless for us. We need to assemble a strong team right from the start."

Seeing a flutter of moment by a tree in the middle of the sea for grass, Apollo drew Red's attention to it by flicking him in the head and pointing at the pokemon, "Hey, look, another one over there! You stay here while I get it" Leaping from his perch into the grass, Apollo bounded across the field with great agility, all to gain a element of surprise in the coming fight. With one final leap, Apollo finally identified the brown, bird-like pokemon as a Pidgey, "Ah sweet, and it's a Pidgey! We could really use one! Oh, I'm so going to enjoy-" However, Apollo never got a chance to attack, as Red had pulled out his pokeball and had pressed the button to return the mouse. When the red beam hit, Apollo was shocked and yelled out, "Wait, what the hell!" The Pidgey, startled from the sharp sound, flew away into the sky as Apollo screamed from within the ball, "Red, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME OUT, YOU MORON!" Red ignored him, favoring the choice of screwing his eyes shut and snapping away from the Pidgey.

Once he was sure that the Pidgey had left, Red released Apollo again, the mouse shaking his head around with furrowed brows and a frown on his face, "Don't do that again, I don't like that ball. What the hell was that about, Red, we were about to catch that-," Apollo then realized Red's issue and looked up to see Red's stricken face, downtrodden at the memories that were swelling up, "Oh, Pidgey... Uh, sorry, Red, that was my bad. Won't happen again, promise." Seeing that Red, a leveled frown on his face and crossed arms, was still angry at him, Apollo quickly found a solution to the problem, "Hey, I have an idea, how about an agreement? We have a new rule that from now on, we only catch the first pokemon we see on each route, so that fate will decide our team. It'll also mean that we must accept every pokemon, even if it's a Pidgey. Agreed?" Looking to Red for an answer, Apollo was glad to see a smile, albeit a sad one, on his face. "Heh, good, then it's a gentleman's agreement. C'mon, now we have to shake on it." The two briefly shook hand and paw before setting out again, glad to know that they had an understaning.