CHAPTER NINE – The Hands of Fate

"Welcome to your new home, Red!" Deliah said cheerfully as she stepped inside her modest, two-story home on the west end of Pallet Town. She flipped on the entryway light switch, the sun had gone down and dusk had fallen upon the region, and held the door open for Red as he took his first tentative steps inside his first home outside of the orphanage. He stepped a little further into the house, then frantically turned around, dropping his backpack on the floor, and took his shoes off.

"Sorry, I almost forgot to take them off. I wouldn't want to track dirt all over your floors." Red said apologetically.

"Red," Deliah replied reassuringly, "This is your home now, so they're your floors too. You don't have to worry about that, but thank you for being so considerate." She smiled and knelt down, picking up his shoes and opening up a closet door that was adjacent to the front door, setting them inside. "I know these are new surroundings for you, Red. Take your time to look around; I'd be happy to give you a guided tour."

"Thank you..." he paused, stopping himself mid-sentence. He almost said 'mom', but he couldn't do it out loud. Not yet. He told himself. I need to earn that privilege. "I would really like that."

Deliah led her new son from the entryway through the rest of the house, starting with the kitchen. The kitchen was large, for a smaller house, with an overhang which held a collection of variously sized pots, pans, and skillets. The appliances were all kept clean, matching the rest of the room - which was near spotless. When Red mentioned how clean it was, Deliah jokingly replied that it was easy to clean a kitchen when you're only cooking for one. While the rest of the lower floor was primarily wood flooring of an auburn color, the kitchen had a patterned tile that Red could feel was cold even through his socks. After the kitchen, she showed Red the main room, which had a seating area with a single large couch and a reclining chair. There was a large television mounted on the wall opposite of the front of the house, the largest that Red had ever seen; he recalled there only being a few small televisions at the orphanage that they used for weekly movie nights. After completing the tour of the lower floor, Deliah led Red up the staircase located in the front of the house, in between the kitchen and living room, to the second level of the house.

"Ok Red," she said, "the last stop is your room." The two ascended the stairs and turned the corner to the first door on the right-hand side of the hallway. Deliah stopped in front of the closed door and motioned for Red to close his eyes. Tentatively, he closed them and then covered them with one hand. Then Deliah, holding his free hand in one of hers, and opening the door in front of them with the other, led him inside. She held her breath as they stepped inside the room; she had spent almost the entire time since her first visit getting the room prepared for him, having hoped and prayed that she was going to be able to take him home. After several steps inside the room, she said, "You can open your eyes now."

Red didn't know what to expect when he opened his eyes; most certainly he didn't expect what he saw: the room was roughly 30 by 16 feet in dimension, with its four walls painted a rich red color. The room had an uncommon amount of open space, with nearly half of the room, on the closet side, being free of anything except a single large throw-rug in the image of a Pokémon Battle Stadium. Noticing Red's reaction to the open space and the stylized rug occupying it, Deliah commented on it. "I think that you, Vulcan, and Ashgar could use the extra space." Red was very grateful for this.

In the far corner of the room, adjacent to the window, was a large, queen-size, captain's style bed with an oak frame and boards on either end. The captain's bed sat higher than a normal bed would, with the mattress sitting atop several drawers for clothes, this was typically done to conserve space in smaller rooms. The white sheets smelled freshly washed and spread out neatly on the mattress. On top of the bed, against the headboard and wedged against the corner of the walls, lay a massive pillow version of a Snorlax - a very large Pokémon of the Normal Type variety, that was nearly all black with an off-white underbelly and face and was widely known for eating and sleeping all day long.

At the foot of the bed lay three more Pokémon pillows; one, which Red recognized right away, was a Charmander, and the others he knew to be a Bulbasaur, a rare Grass/Poison Type Pokémon that was reptilian with a large bulb on its back, commonly given to select new trainers in the Kanto region, and a Squirtle, a small blue tortoise Pokémon of the Water variety; it too was an uncommon species that a few lucky new trainers received each year. Red's eyes widened at the display; he had never owned toys of any kind, but he recalled many of the children at the orphanage possessing many various Pokémon-themed toys and pillows, many of which had been donated to the facility to give to the children on holidays or birthdays. He remembered one of the lucky children had been given a large Pokémon pillow, like his Snorlax, that was of a water type Pokémon from a far off tropical region. Wailmer, from Hoenn, I think it was, Red thought to himself.

He returned his attention to his new room. In the corner opposite of the bed and window was a simple oak desk with a few drawers and shelves; to the right of that was a large bookshelf of the same make with a small collection of books resting on it. Red walked over to the piece and pulled one of the books off of the shelf. It read, The Trainer's Journey by Prof. Samuel Oak; he flipped through the first few pages, his eyes wide with excitement, before closing it and placing it neatly back where it had been. He then pulled down another book, which appeared very much like a journal, with its spiral binding, brown leather cover, and slightly tattered pages.

Turning the first couple of pages, he realized that it was, in fact, a journal; there were no signs of any signatures or initials to give him an idea of who wrote it, so he promptly shut the journal and replaced it in his hands with a hardcover volume bearing violet binding. The dust jacket read, The Bond Between People and Pokémon by Deliah Knight, with a preface by Prof. Samuel Oak. Opening the book up to the inside back cover he saw a small, smiling portrait of his new mother. Red looked back at Deliah with an excitedly inquisitive expression. Deliah smiled and knelt down on the oak wood floor, and placed her hand on the book Red was holding.

"I wrote that what seems like forever ago after I had been studying under and researching with Professor Oak for some time. I'll never forget the feeling of pride that came over me when he offered to preface it for me. The look of pride in his own eyes made it all the better. Professor Oak always did tell me that I should go on to teach at an academy, or go into the research field like him; he told me I would excel at either."

"Why didn't you?" Red inquired.

"That's a good question, Red. Why didn't I? Hmmm…Perhaps I wanted to settle down and have a family; in order to do that, I had to put my own ambitions and dreams on hold. Then, when my one love went missing…I don't know. Maybe I lost the fire."

Red scowled. He knew that there was nothing that could ever stop him from chasing after his dream of becoming the greatest Pokémon Trainer in history, and he didn't like the sound of his mom giving up on something she loved and was good at. Deliah watched him sort things out in his head for several moments before he spoke up.

"That settles it then." He said at last.

"What settles what, Red?" Deliah asked with curious amusement.

"You will be my teacher." He proclaimed.

"Me? Red, I'd love to, but I've never taught before; I've only ever been a student."

"That's perfect, then. I heard someone say the best teacher is a student!" Red grinned wide, and his crimson eyes smiled along with the rest of his face. It was captivating, entrancing, and it seemed to spark a fire somewhere deep inside Deliah.

"Alright, you've got it!" Deliah announced as she stood up proudly. She stifled her tears of joy as she looked down on the smiling Red. She could think of no better thing to bond with her son over than their shared greatest passion: Pokémon. "Are you hungry for some dinner? I can fix something for us if you'd like."

Red pondered a moment as he pressed the palm of his hand to his stomach and felt a low rumble coming from within. "Yes please." He said with a nervous laugh.

Professor Oak let out a heavy sigh as his assistants all left his lab for the evening. As the last one exited the large lab on the southern cape of Pallet Town, the professor closed and locked the door behind him. Turning back to his lab, which still required a bit of tidying up, the professor began to sort through any loose papers he found on the desks and file them away appropriately. He was just a few minutes into this task when he heard his lab phone ring. He casually walked over to the receiver, tired from a long day's work, and placed it against his right ear, holding it in place with his shoulder as he continued his prior business.

"Pallet Pokémon Lab; this is Professor Oak speaking."

"Good evening, professor; my apologies for calling so late in the evening. This is the Viridian City Orphanage." The woman on the other end of the line said.

"Ah, hello, what can I do for you this evening?" the professor cheerfully asked.

"Nothing at all, professor. I'm calling because you requested that you be notified when the young boy you left in our care was taken in by a new family," she offered.

"Why yes, yes I did. Has he been?" asked Professor Oak, beginning to feel an anxious excitement.

The woman continued, "Yes, he has been - today in fact. A young woman from Pallet Town adopted him late this afternoon. She had come to look at the children before and had become quite taken with the boy. She visited multiple times and by the end of the afternoon today she was rushing to fill out the paperwork and take him home with her as soon as she could. The young woman seemed very charming and caring, and quite motherly despite not ever having had any children of her own."

"That's great news! Thank you very much for the update. This will definitely allow me to sleep better; I was beginning to worry if that little incident three years ago really had hampered his chances of getting adopted by anyone after all. Three years is a long time to live in an orphanage, even one with facilities as complimentary as yours." The professor beamed.

The orphanage representative concurred with Oak, "No, I understand entirely; the boy deserved to be in a real home. The woman who picked Red up today was a Mrs. Deliah Knight."

When he heard the name, the professor brimmed wide with a giddy sort of grin. He hadn't anticipated his own former graduate to be the one who would adopt Red, but the idea of it seemed so perfect that it fell just short of being unbelievable. With all that he had seen so far in his lifetime, however, Samuel Oak knew better than to doubt a miracle. With that, he thanked the woman on the line again and hung up the phone. He went back to his cleaning, which didn't take him much longer, and then sat down at his desk, quickly browsing through any new e-mails he had received and responding to any that couldn't wait until morning. He was about to log out of his computer when he got a second thought; quickly pulling up his e-mail again, he began composing a new document:

From:

To: rowan_lab , , .lab , juniper_research

Subject: The Child of Fire

Document:

My dear friends and colleagues,

Three years ago, we all journeyed to the Silver Mountain Range together in search of knowledge and adventure; what we found instead was a mystery that could very well go far beyond what any of us could hope to comprehend - at least at the present. That mystery came in the form of a young boy, whom we all know to be 'Red'. As difficult as it was to do, some more so than others, we decided that it was in the boy's best interest to leave him in the care of the Viridian City Orphanage here in Kanto. I am writing this message to inform all of you who shared in this mystery with me that a representative from the orphanage has just called to inform me that Red now has a new home and mother who will take utmost care of him.

The young woman, much to my surprise as fate's plan for things tends to be, is a former graduate and research assistant of mine, Deliah Knight (you may recall her remarkable work The Bond Between People and Pokémon). This was unexpected for me, but I believe that I am beginning to see the threads of fate in all of this. I see no coincidence in the boy being found, along with the two infant Pokémon, by us five Pokémon researchers from five different regions. For him now to be adopted by a former apprentice of mine who herself was a brilliant researcher and trainer as well, this tells me that Red has the word 'destiny' written all over him.

I know you'll all agree with me in this as we've had many talks together over the nature of this incredible world we live in and a plan for everything. With that I ask this of each of you: I know that someday this boy we found is going to start a journey of his own. It is clear that he is destined to do great things, and apart from that, he'll be searching for answers to mysteries of his own. I ask that when he comes to each of you, whenever that time comes, that you aid him however you can. I too will do the best I am able. As I speak, I am working on plans for incredible new tools as likely you all are as well. I'm sure you're all just as excited as I am to see what lies ahead for our young charge, so let's each of us put our best foot forward and strap on our lab coats; I think we're in for one wild adventure in the years to come.

- Prof. Oak

With that, Oak sent out his notice to his colleagues and logged off of his computer. He stood up and turned his attention to a large set of blueprints that were labeled: Electronic Encyclopedia spread across one of the laboratory's tables. He smoothed them out with his flattened hands and stared at them for several moments. He made a few quick notes in the upper left-hand corner of the designs, copying the notes into a pocket-sized notebook which he then slipped into his lab coat pocket, and then stacked them neatly to the side as a priority item. Done for the night, the professor shut off the lights as he exited his lab. Placing his hands inside of his coat pockets, he said aloud to himself as he looked up at the starry night sky.

"Deliah, huh? What sort of adventure does fate have in store for the two of you?"