The Road Ahead
"Char. (We're here.)" Charizard said as they touched down on the summit. Leaf climbed off and immediately felt the sting of cold after leading the fire pokemons back.
"This is where Red has been for the past three years?" Leaf asked in disbelief. It sent an unnatural chill down her back causing her some discomfort.
"Char char? Charizard zard zard. (It's crazy right? I think it's made him a stronger trainer though.)" Charizard sighed.
"I guess, you certainly seem much stronger then when I first met you." Leaf said with a smile.
"Char, char charizard (Yeah, those Squirtle twins were jerks though.)"
"Ha! The one that I have still is." Leaf chuckled.
"Char, charizard char, charizard char char, char? (Well, it's been fun Leaf, but I'll bet you want to meet Red now, right?)" Charizard asked.
"I guess that would be b-best." Leaf said, shivering from the cold.
"Charizard. (Follow me then.)"
"Okay." Leaf replied with a nod.
Charizard lead Leaf over to a small cavern in the rock. The opening was fairly large, and nearly double her size in height and width. Her and the flame pokemon walked into the cavern to Leaf's surprise to be the size of her living room, if not bigger. It amazed her to see how Red had been living. There was even an area that grew berry plants, which somewhat explained why nobody had seen him in three years.
"Char! Char charizard! (Red! Come and meet your guest already!)" Charizard said in a booming roar.
"I was just helping out Blastoise and Lapras with the berries." Red sighed as he fastened his signature cap onto his head.
"H-hello Red." Leaf said with a patient smile.
"... Uh, hi, Leaf…" Red said in a form of disbelief.
"It's... been a while, huh?" Leaf asked, lightly kicking the toe of her left shoe into the ground out of nervousness.
"... It's been too long, Leaf." Red sighed.
"So, what have you been doing up here for so long?" Leaf asked trying to break the awkward silence beginning to grow between them.
"That's quite a long story." Red sighed.
"Well, I'm fine with listening to long stories." Leaf smiled.
"Oh, uh, okay, where should I begin?" He scratched his head for a moment, "So, you remember our Pokemon League story, don't you?"
"Yeah, that was interesting. We couldn't decide who would get to battle Blue to become champion first, so Lance, being the Johto champion, decided that we might as well double battle for the title." Leaf said recalling the memory.
"Well, after that, my goal was to complete the National Pokedex by any means necessary. I heard a rumor that the legendary Mew could be found up here. My pokedex was pretty much complete, I just needed to catch this Mew, and I would be happy." Red turned away from her and looked up at the cave's ceiling.
"You've been up here for this long, based on a rumor?" Leaf asked in a questioning tone.
"Don't think that I'm dumb, I've seen the pokemon multiple times while up on this mountain. However, I only ever saw it when I felt like giving up on finding it." He sighed.
"I think I get it. It's not exactly easy to understand, but I get it." Leaf said.
"But, that's not why I called you up here." Red said, turning to face her again.
"Okay, what was the reason?" She asked curiously.
"Despite how long it's been since we've seen each other, despite the harsh road ahead, despite everything that's happened between us. I don't want you to be my enemy." Leaf tried to intervene, but Red just held up his hand, causing Leaf to silence herself.
"Leaf, by enemy, I don't mean like team Rocket, but I don't want this tournament to split us apart anymore than I already have. I don't want that childhood friendship to be all for nothing." Red said placing his right hand on Leaf's left shoulder. She was speechless to say the least.
"Red, I-" Leaf stopped herself and gave a sigh. Red's hand dropped off of her shoulder and he let it rest at his side. The same hand suddenly formed a fist, and it appeared like a tear had just rolled down Red's cheek.
"I know that I'm a jerk, I know that I've hurt people from not seeing them for so long. I've hurt you, but I want to redeem myself. I want us to be friends again." Red said defensively.
"I'd like that Red. So let's both do our best in this tournament. We can catch up more and more after it. It'll be fun." Leaf smiled.
"Thank you, Leaf, I agree, let's both do our best in the tournament." Red smiled happily.
"Speaking of the tournament, it starts soon! If we don't hurry, we're going to miss the opening ceremonies in Sinnoh.
"You're right. Okay, guys! We've got to leave now. Everyone take three berries for the trip, Charizard, you take five since you're going to be the one flying there." Red said, causing all of his pokemon to mobilize.
"Hey Red, once we get there, we should let our pokemon see each other again. Just like old times." Leaf suggested.
"Good idea, but after we get to Sinnoh." Red stated, grabbing his backpack.
"Okay, so how are we getting there? I'm not sure that both Pidgeot and Charizard can fly all the way there." Leaf sighed.
"Well, does your Lapras know Surf?" Red asked with a smile.
"Yeah, she does. However, even with that, I don't want to make her swim all the way to Sinnoh." Leaf sighed.
"Don't worry, our Lapras can take turns carrying both of us." Red explained, having his Lapras return.
"Oh, yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense." Leaf said with an unsteady smile.
"Okay, everyone's ready. You got Pidgeot with you?" Red asked hopping onto Charizard.
"Yeah, I do." Leaf said with a nod.
"Okay, we're going to Vermillion city. I'll meet you the-" Red was cut off by Leaf grabbing onto his arm, stopping his words in their tracks.
"Wait, let's go back to Pallet town first." Leaf asked with a concerning look.
"Why? Don't have your Pokemon for the tournament on hand?" Red asked with a grin
"Well, I want you to say hi to your mom." Leaf said. She could practically feel the tension between them knot up at the mention of it.
"I-I guess that's something we can do." Red sighed.
"Okay, I'll meet you there." Leaf said with a soft smile.
"Charizard, let's go home." Red said smiling back at her.
Charizard jumped into the air, and flew away from the mountain. As Red and Charizard began to disappear from sight, Squirtle popped out of his pokeball and began to pound its fists on Leaf's leg.
"Squirt, squirt, squirtle, squirtle! (Stupid, stupid, idiotic, idiot!)" Squirtle said with a fire burning in its eyes.
"Whoa, Squirtle, what's wrong?" Leaf asked, picking the tiny turtle.
" Squirt squirtle squirt, squirtle squirtle squirt squirt tle squirt squirtle! (Red was talking to you, and you didn't even bring up the fact you have feelings for him!)" The Pokemon said in a fit of rage.
"Squirtle, why do you care about that so much?" Leaf asked patting the Pokemon on the head.
" Squirt squirtle, squirtle, squirt squirt tle squirtle squirt squirt. (I just want you to be happy, now come on, let's go chase that boyfriend you want so much.)" Squirtle sighed.
"You're a mystery and a half, Squirtle." Leaf sighed.
"Squirt squirt squir, tle, squirtle squirt squirtle squirt tle tle squirtle. (You're the mystery, Leaf, you're not going to seduce anybody by wearing some simple white underwear.)" Squirtle said bluntly
"Okay! That's enough of you for today!" Leaf said, while her face turned to a deep red.
She whipped out Squirtle's pokeball and recalled the tiny turtle pokemon. She placed the pokeball in her bag, and swapped it out for Pidgeot's. She threw the ball up into the air, and the large bird appeared from a red light as it took shape.
"Pidgeot! (It's Freezing up here!)" Pidgeot shivered.
"I know bud, but let's go back to Pallet town." Leaf shivered as she climbed on. Pidgeot flapped its wings and leapt into the air. Leaf took one last glance back at the cave, and gave a sigh. She shook her head to clear her mind, and focused on the goal ahead of her.
Pidgeot had begun to descend toward pallet as it appeared in visual range. Leaf noticed Charizard flying around in a circle, quite high above the town. Pidgeot kept descending, and before long, Leaf could see her own house. She gave a warm smile as they landed in front of her house.
"Okay Pidgeot, I'll be right back. Rest up a bit." Leaf said, hopping off of the bird pokemon's back.
"Geot (Sounds good.)" Pidgeot said, stretching out its wings. Leaf smiled, and turned toward her house. She walked up the steps and opened the door.
"Mom, I'm back." Leaf said as she walked in the front door
"Oh, welcome home Leaf. I thought you'd left for the tournament already." Her mother said in a surprised tone.
"Nope, I just got a letter from someone that I know, asking if they could talk to me, so I went to go see them." Leaf said.
"I take it that you're on your way to Sinnoh now?" Leaf's mother asked as she walked into the open area.
"Yeah, I'm probably not going to be back for a while." Leaf sighed.
"I know. Leaf, do the best you can in the tournament. Just remember that if you win or lose, you were invited as one of the best trainers to participate, and you'll always be a winner in my book." Her mother said pulling Leaf into a hug.
"Thanks mom, you really know how to calm my nerves." Leaf smiled.
"Now then, you should get going, or you're going to be late." Her mother said.
"I'll do my best." Leaf said as she walked out the door again. She looked back at her mother, who just gave a simple wave and a smile. Leaf waved back and ran at Pidgeot.
"Okay, do you know if Red's ready yet?" Leaf asked, hopping on the birds back again.
"Pidgeot pidge (He just took off on Charizard a few seconds ago.)" Pidgeot stated, allowing her to climb onto her back again.
"Alright, let's follow them." Leaf said, she turned to face her mother who was standing in the doorway, and gave her a wave as they took off into the air. Pidgeot soon spotted Charizard in the air and dashed toward it. Red gave her a wave, and pointed downward. They began to dive toward Vermillion City, and the tidal winds were not helping them out one bit. The finally managed to land in front of the pokemon center, where they both gave their pokemon a rest.
"Come on Leaf, I have an idea." Red said as he began walking toward the docks. He lead them down to a dock with a small passenger boat docked. They were stopped by one of the sailors, but Red flashed a ticket of some kind, and he let the both of them pass.
"What's this about?" Leaf asked curiously.
"Well, when I got home after talking with my mom for a bit, she gave me these." Red said holding out two tickets.
"What are these for?" Leaf asked before answering her own question by looking up at the passenger boat.
"This way, our pokemon don't have to swim there." Red smiled with a hint of optimism.
"Well now, I never thought I'd see the day where two pokemon champions would ask me to take them to a different region." A rather large sailor said cheerfully in a scottish accent.
"I know that this is kind of short notice, sorry about that." Red said with a sigh.
"Don't worry about that lad, come on, the sinnoh region awaits!" The sailor said with an odd laugh to follow.
"Okay, we're ready." Leaf smiled.
"Oi, Righty! Let's set sail for Canalave City!" The sailor said walking onto the boat. Leaf and Red followed them, and the boat's horn blew out, signaling their departure to the Sinnoh region.
"I wonder who we're going to meet, and all the new pokemon to see!" Leaf said sporadically.
"Who knows, but this is going to be a long road ahead of us." Red sighed, and they looked to the horizon, and vast amount of sea standing between them, and the Sinnoh region.
A/N:
*There is silence where once there were notes from the author. The quiet is so eerie, so desolate, so soul crushing that you feel the overwhelming urge to-
-Okay, so there was a little Hiatus break, I'm sorry! I was doing very important research to the story when I could by coming up with battle strategies for each trainer by playing through almost all of the games I had. It was worth it! Trust me! Just to not keep you guys hanging for the next one, I'm going to let you know what's going to happen (without major plot spoilers). I'm planning on doing at least one more setup chapter, then the opening ceremonies will be starting. I've already planned out the first six battles, so there shouldn't be too much waiting now. The tournament is Write around the corner guys! I hope you're hyped for it!
*Puns are punishable by stoning according to the glorious Nox.
Then why is Yang still alive in Beacon of Hope?
*rwbyfan5 thinks you misunderstand him when he says "stoning".
There are only two kinds of stoning that I can think of, both of which can kill you if you acquire too much of the substance needed for each one.
*rwbyfan5 thinks you underestimate a certain blonde's fortitude.
YANG IS GETTING A STERN TALKING TO WHEN I GET BACK TO THE AUTHOR'S NOTES OF THE NEXT RWBY FANFIC
*rwbyfan5 thinks a certain blonde will be too high to care. Which reminds him, you still need your punishment.
I guess you need your punishment as well then, huh?
*rwbyfan5 is perpetually stoned, your words carry no weight. (Pulls out large syringe full of...something)
DON'T DO DRUGS KIDS! OR YOU GET CRAZY PEOPLE LIKE THIS ON YOUR DOORSTEP!
*(Jams syringe into the author's right eye and depresses the plunger)
I need to end this AN before this stuff kicks in! AND WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE MY EYE?!
*Matthew 5:29.
But he never asked himself, what if you practically live in hell already?
*Then you should worship Nox, so that hell comes with more perks.