Red to Crimson

by The Light's Refrain

Did Red's ultimate victory over the Pokemon League, and his long-time friend/rival Blue, unlock his ultimate downfall and isolation? A series of drabbles on Red and his life between becoming Champion and becoming a silent Trainer in the frozen Mount Silver. Co-story with reminiscent-afterthought's After Being Blue. COMPLETE!

10. Relationship

Well it's a short one this time, but it says something essential about Red.

Poke-ball 10: Relationship

Red was never a people person. When he met someone new, he tended to put them in one of three categories: weak, strong, or deceptive. The weak were either annoying or amusing, the strong were revered or despised, and all the deceptive were dangerous because he couldn't read them clearly.

Pokemon weren't so different. The weak served him no use in battle, and the deceptive were unreliable because he couldn't predict their reactions. He only wanted the strong, and those were the only ones that he allowed to stay on his team. He never cared about the Pokedex. What was the point of capturing a Pokemon he knew he would never use, except maybe for trading purposes? Let Blue brag on and on about having forty or sixty or whatever Pokemon and do his gramps proud.

Blue was different. He was opposite yet equal. Or had been. Surely he would rise again now that he had been properly challenged, right?

Red left most of the organizing to Giovanni, and the recruiting to Sabrina. He didn't have the time to do much of it himself, for one. He still had his Champion duties, and he needed to pretend to care, at least for now. But even with all the time in the world, he wouldn't have involved himself much in it. He just didn't have the patience to oversee that many people all the time. He was not a microphone, but the spearhead that would pierce the strongest walls. The others would swarm through the holes he left behind, to devour and overwhelm what was left of the League.

And then…what would he do after that? Hmm. Leadership wasn't really Red's thing, but he didn't trust Giovanni to run a whole country. Sabrina wasn't really a leader type either. Guess he needed to find a leader-to-be too, while this was all getting set up, so he didn't get stuck with the job.

Because, honestly, when this was all over, the first thing he wanted to do was to take a vacation somewhere away from it all. Someplace without humanity and relationships, so he wouldn't have to say a word to anyone.

IIIIII

So now we're starting to see how Red thinks, and how that thinking starts to lead him down to where he is in the G/S/C era. But it'll still be a little while before we get there...10-15 drabbles maybe? We'll see.