AN: Hello again, not much to say here other than I don't own Pokemon.

Cynthia returned to Kanto soon after her she had finished her talk with her father. Her intention was to climb Mt Silver once again so that she could talk to her mystery man; so that she could talk to Red. She didn't know why she wanted to talk to him or what she was even going to talk about; he barely said a word the whole time that she was up there. 'I could ask him why he's up there.' She thought to herself. But she already had a hunch as to why in the first place. The deaths must have had an effect on him and caused him to go into isolation; but why for so long and why did he not look for help to deal with his grief, surely being around others would help him. She didn't no why she cared so much, all she knew was that she wanted more. More of him.

Unfortunately for her though the roads to Mt Silver had been closed. A recent storm had engulfed the mountain and the surrounding area. A layer of snow, which came up to waist height, covered the roads and underneath that layer was another couple millimetres of ice. Even Silver Town itself seemed as though it had been covered by a blanket of snow. This had meant that all the guards were busy trying to clear roads and reconnect with the last Pokémon centre that stood near Mt Silver. It was not a total disaster though; she took the opportunity to watch a small friendly tournament that was being held at the Indigo Plateau. There were a few Gym leaders competing as well, who could easily be entering the Pokémon World Tournament, so she was able to scout her possible opposition and see how the local conditions affected battles.

She was particularly impressed by the trainer that she was watching currently, he had just beaten his opponent, winning the tournament, and not losing a single Pokémon in the process; in fact no one had knocked out a single one of his Pokémon she found out. He looked in his late teens, had spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes. Cynthia noticed that there were quite a lot of empty seats during the competition despite a flyer stating that all tickets had been sold already, but whenever this young man battled the stadium was always full, with most of the crowd being female. They screamed at him constantly, many asking him to marry them. 'He's quite handsome, but defiantly not my type.' She thought to herself. Unlike her he enjoyed the attention as he played the crowd whenever he could, waving and winking at them when he entered and left (sometimes even during a battle), signing autographs, blowing kisses and even taking his shirt of and throwing it to the audience.

"And the winner of this match, BLUUUUUE!" she felt that she had seen or heard his name before, but she couldn't place when or where she had seen or heard of him. She sighed as she saw him lap up yet another interview, he really did seem to love the media and they loved him by the looks of it. She looked over to her right and was surprised to see Professor Oak. 'What is he doing here?' she thought. She would pay him a visit tomorrow to ask him plus she could talk to him about Red as well, she smiled at the thought and looked over towards Mt Silver. She couldn't wait to meet her mystery man again.

The next day she took the short road to Pallet town and to the Professor's lab. It didn't take her long to get there, as she knew the route quite well now. Before long she found herself in front of his lab, she walked in; almost immediately noticing that it wasn't as busy as the last time that she was here. It was quieter and there were less people than last time, probably due to a hang over from the tournament she thought. She made her way to the Professor's office stopping outside the door as she heard voices coming from inside. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." she heard the Professor's familiar voice as she opened the door. She was shocked to see a young man, who appeared to be in his late teens, with spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes lounging on a chair, his feet up on Professor Oak's desk. Blue was wearing a black shirt and bagging blue jeans with six Pokéballs attached to his belt. He had a bored look on his face; he didn't even acknowledge that she had just entered the room.

"Why hello Cynthia." The Professor spoke to her dragging her attention away from Blue. He was standing near the door, seemingly about to exit the room before she had knocked.

"Cynthia this is my grandson Gareth."

"Oi!" Blue turned to Professor Oak with an annoyed look on his face.

"He prefers it if you call him Gary or Blue" he sighed as Blue's face retuned to its look of boredom.

"He is the current Gym leader of Viridian City. Gary this is Cynthia the champion of Sinnoh." So this was the infamous Gym leader that spends the least possible time in his gym. She smiled waving at him while he simply gave her a curt nod, not even bothering to look at her.

"So Cynthia to what do I have this pleasure of seeing you again?" Oak continued.

"Oh…I just wanted to talk."

"OK, could it wait until I fetch a package for Gary, it won't take that long I promise."

"Of course Professor." she replied nodding.

"Thank you, I'll go get it now. While you wait I'm sure that Gary will entertain you." He smiled at Blue who returned it with a frown of resignation before leaving the room. For a while there was an awkward silence before Cynthia finally spoke up.

"So…uhm… Gary…"

"Blue, call me Blue." She looked at him confused, was it his blue eyes that gave him this name? He seemed to sense her confusion as he continued.

"It was my nickname growing up, suppose it still is, HaHa. And yes it is partly due to my awesome eye colour but also to solidify my rivalry with another trainer." She was still confused, how could a colour be part of a rivalry? But more importantly who was Blue's rival.

"Hey aren't you that chick who disappeared up on Mt Silver some time ago?" He asked a grin appearing on his face. She blushed giving the answer away.

"Bet you thought that as champion you could easily climb it, didn't ya?" she didn't answer him but he continued on anyway, not waiting for one as he laughed.

"Lance thought like that, he tried to fly up to the top on his Dragonite. Could only get half way up. He had to climb the rest of the way. Apparently took him nearly three weeks to just climb half the distance. What an absolute idiot! You never catch me do something that stupid! I actually value my own and Pokémon's health, even if we were still champs."

"Wait you were the Kanto champion?" she looked more confused than ever.

"Yeah, bout eight years ago now. Number one trainer in Kanto, and I was the youngest trainer ever. Between you and me I could still take old dragon boy if I really wanted to. But that would be too much responsibility for me; Gym leader is fine with me. Lance should be grateful as well. He only ever has to face Johto trainers now." He laughed as he said his final sentence while she frowned at him. If he was so strong then why not challenge Lance even if it meant more responsibility, he would have more media attention and from what she had seen he loved that. And what did he mean that he was the youngest champion ever that title belonged to someone else. And then it her, she remembered a photo she had seen in the Hall of Fame.

"You're Gary 'Blue' Oak!"

"No shit! Have we not been introduced?" he asked sarcastically.

"Are you all right in the head? You ain't got a mental condition or something?" she ignored his insult and continued.

"You lost your title to Red!" His face became expressionless as she spoke.

"Yeah. I did." He said, his voice near silent. He got out of his chair and picked up a photo on Professor Oak's desk.

"He took my record away from and gave me an unwanted one which still have to this day. Shortest reign ever thank to that son of a bitch." He laughed as a smile appeared on his face.

"Well at least I can claim to be the only person to beat him legit. He always let her win whenever they battled." Cynthia noted that he seemed to be talking to himself as stared into the photo. A small tear seemed to form by his eye but turned away just as he did so. She was intrigued as to what was in the photo as he turned back around (the tear mysteriously disappeared) placing the photo back on the desk.

"You know almost everyone goes to gramps when they want info on Red instead of me, even though I grew up with the guy. I probably know more about him than anyone else … alive. It's not like I'm complaining though, I don't think I be good at talking about it." She noticed his small pause before he said alive, she had wondered why he had done that and she saw that his face seemed to sadden as well. As for the not being able to talk about, she doubted him as from what she could tell he was a very good speaker, the more likely reason was that he just plain didn't want to talk about it.

"So where do you think you'll come in the Pokémon World Tournament?"

"Quarters, Semis" she said humbly, truth be told she expected to make it to the final and to win, but she did notice his sudden change of topic.

"Yeah I'll be disappointed if I don't make the final. The qualifying stages will be way too easy; honestly I don't know why they're making me qualify. I'm a former champ after all. It's not like I'm as weak as the other Gym leader is it now? Then it's just a couple of easy Elite Four members before I reach the semis where hopefully I meet good old dragon boy. I can't wait to whip his ass and embarrass him again." He laughed.

"Who knows it might even battle you in the final, but I doubt it." He said again laughing; paying no attention to Cynthia, who gave him an evil glare, not amused at the chances that he gave her to reach the final. He was interrupted from continuing further as Professor Oak returned carrying a package in his hands.

"Here you go Gary; this should power those spinners inside your Gym."

"Thank gramps! Smell ya later!" He took the package and left nodding goodbye to Cynthia.

"I hope he wasn't too much trouble. At least he's more responsible now that he's a Gym leader. You should have seen him before, he was quite a handful." Oak asked her as he took a seat behind his desk; Cynthia taking one in front.

"No he was no trouble at all."

"Good to hear. So what is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"Well I saw you at that small tournament yesterday at the Indigo Plateau. I was going to ask why you were there, but I guess that's already been explained. But I do want to talk about something else anyway."

"Yes, I had some time to myself so decided to show my support to Gary not that it looked like he needed any more." He laughed while Cynthia smiled, giggling slightly as she remembered the army of girls that had followed Gary.

"So what else do you want to talk about?"

"Red is the Shadow of Mt Silver isn't he?" She noticed the surprise and shock on Professor Oak's face. He tried to cover it up quickly but the damage had already been done.

"What gives you that idea?"

"His eyes. Deep brown with a small tint of crimson. Exactly the same as the eyes that Red has in his Hall of Fame picture. There were a few other things which gave it away as well but that was main one."

"You haven't told anyone have you?" Oak asked frowning at her.

"No, except for my sister who's promised not to tell anyone. So Red is the Shadow then?"

"Well I'm not going to lie now, so I'll say no comment on the matter." A small smirk appeared on his face but she knew that was as good as a yes.

"May I ask how you saw his eyes?"

"Uhn….well you know that little accident I had." She said as she began to feel embarrassed.

"Yes."

"Well, it wasn't quite so little. I fell. Quite a long way, I was knocked out, had a couple of cracked ribs, a hairline fracture in my right upper arm and my right leg had more cuts and bruises than I could count. And all this while a storm was coming in. He well… saved me. He took me in and looked after me while the storm passed. I managed to get a glimpse of his eyes while I lived with him during that period."

"Oh."

"Yeah." There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Cynthia finally spoke up.

"Blue, I mean Gary said he grew up with Red and he was Red's rival."

"Yes he did."

"He also implied that he didn't like to talk about it."

"Hmm."

"Why? Were they not friends then?"

"No. They never were, they weren't exactly mortal enemies but the two didn't like each other almost as soon as I brought Red here nearly fourteen years ago. Though they did grow to respect each other after Red defeated my grandson to become Kanto champ."

"Why didn't they get along?"

"A lot of reasons to be honest. They were the exact opposite of each other. My grandson was rich, a bit on the louder side and the most popular kid growing up. Red was poor, near silent and nobody really cared about him at all. My grandson used to be a bit of bully when he was a child, he frequently picked on Red. There were many a time when I caught Gary and his little gang pestering poor Red as he walked home from school. The only thing they had in common was Pokémon, both being extremely interested in them but here again they differed. My grandson initially wanted to use them to achieve his dream of becoming the strongest trainer in the world; Red just wanted to make friends. After his defeat, my grandson came round o Red's way of training, thankfully."

"Professor can I take a look at that photo?" He looked at her with an intrigued look, curious as to why she wanted to take a look. Carefully he handed the photo to her. She recognised Red and Blue almost instantly. They looked much younger, around thirteen if she had to make a guess. Blue wearing a dark blue shirt and black trousers, his arms folded a cocky smirk on his face. Red in his signature clothes and a half smile on his face. In between the two was a girl of similar age, her right arm over Red's shoulder. She wore a white hat, blue top and red skirt; she had wavy brown hair with a clover placed above her right ear and sparkling green eyes. She looked the happiest of three in the photo, a broad smile on her face and her left hand making the victory sign.

"Pallet Town, the sleepy town of champions. That's what they used to call this place back then." The Professor said more to himself than to her.

"She easily could have been the champion herself if Gary and then Red hadn't beaten her to it. You should have seen Lance's face, three defeats in one day. I don't think he still believes it himself."

"Who is she Professor?"

"Lucky Green, but she preferred to be called Leaf. Her parents used to work here in my lab but they left about three years ago. She was the only true human friend that Red made growing up here; they formed a very close bond. Brother and sister you could say. She was another reason why Gary bullied Red." Cynthia gave the Professor a confused look so he continued.

"Even now he won't admit it, but he had a crush on her. However, she spent most her time with Red, possibly making him a bit jealous. Despite having nearly every girl in Kanto fawn over him, he fell for the one that didn't. And between you and me, my grandson isn't the best when it comes to dealing with the opposite gender." The Professor chuckled.

"Where is she now?" Cynthia already knew though, as soon as she saw the picture she had known. As Professor Oak's face fell, full of sorrow, it confirmed to her that the girl who died with Venusaur and Snorlax was indeed Leaf. Her father was the reason that Red had gone into seclusion. Her father had taken away Red's closest friend. Her father was a killer.

"I'm sorry Professor." She truly was, a member of her family had ripped their lives apart and she couldn't help feel responsible for it somehow. He nodded as tears flowed down his cheeks.

"He blames himself for what those bastards did. That is why he's up there." Cynthia was shocked at his anger and his choice at words. The Professor was known for his cool and calmness, seeing him in this state rocked her.

"When he defeated Sektor, he came to me bloodied and battered. He told me where he was going; he told me he needed to be punished for letting her die. He asked me to look after his Pokémon and was about to leave before that marvellous Charizard and Pikachu stopped him and forced him to take his team with him. And I haven't seen him since." He was crying hard now, Cynthia got up and placed her arm over the Professor. They sat in silence save for his sobs for a while until he had recovered.

"Thank you." He said politely.

"Any time Professor." She smiled back at him.

"I'd best be on my way now. Thank you for everything." He nodded and she made her way out. As she left the lab she looked up at Mt Silver. She had two goals now. Win the world championship and to make up for the sins of her father. She had to help Red.

AN: So this chapter was the hardest to write so far, especially trying to follow what I think was the best chapter so far. But anyways, rate, review and subscribe please.

Cheers