Chapter 32: Cold

"I know it was really tough for him," Red's mother stared down into her lap nervously. "But it was tough for me too. I didn't tell him about all the crap I received about Red not talking. All the other women thought I was a bad parent and that I had no idea how to raise a child, and that was really a harsh thing to go through. Even the strongest people can be broken down by the petty judgements of others if they persist,"

Red took a cautious step along the pipeline, holding his arms out so he would balance and not fall into the water below. After defeating Koga, he didn't know what to do with the rest of his day, so he just came down onto the beach. It was from here that he spotted the long, wide pipe that ran about fifty metres into the ocean and then dipped below said water, finishing underground most likely. He didn't know where the beginning was, and when he turned around to have a look for it, it just seemed to stretch into the distance. He wondered how he hadn't noticed it before, it ran right through Fuchsia. Actually, that was a lie, it was on the outskirts, so he probably did have an excuse not to have seen it before.

But for some reason (boredom, most likely), he'd decided to walk along the pipe and see how far he could get. He was about halfway out now, and each step he took was becoming more unsteady than the last. It was probably because he had started to think about how far he'd actually come out, and was now super concentrated on not falling into the water. It was winter, not the ideal time for swimming. But if you overthink something, you're bound to do it.

Pikachu was walking behind him, but the little mouse wasn't having nearly as much trouble as he was. He figured it was because it was a whole lot smaller than he was, and it walked on four legs, not two. He took another step, and this one was the worst yet. He felt his feet slip and he wobbled, shaking his arms up and down to try and re-gain his balance. He was aware he looked incredibly goofy, but he didn't mind because it was better than getting wet. He managed to get his footing back, but unfortunately Pikachu hadn't been watching him and did not see him stop. So the little creature had walked right on into him, bumping his legs and making him lose his balance again.

This time it was too large of a nudge to steady himself, and he fell straight into the ocean below. Oh well, he sighed as he hit the water, it was probably inevitable anyway.

But that didn't mean that it wasn't cold, because it was. It was freezing. Seriously, it felt like ice or something. Red resurfaced, pulling his bag over to him which had fallen off his back and was beginning to float away. Well this was great, everything was wet, all his clothes, items and the pokeballs. He'd have nothing to do until it all dried, which really wasn't helpful. And he'd have nothing to change into, again. He looked up at Pikachu who was watching him from the pipeline, smiling sheepishly. Red frowned back at it - he felt like pulling it into the water with him.

Once the initial shock had worn off, Red found himself not so annoyed anymore. It had been quite a while since he'd gone swimming in the ocean, about seven or so months actually, and he'd missed it. Even though it was awfully cold and he was shivering like mad, he liked it. He let himself float on his back for a moment, closing his eyes and letting the waves bob him up and down. He could fall asleep like this, it wouldn't be hard. But that probably wasn't a good idea.

'Come on, Pikachu,' He called to the creature who was still watching him nervously. 'We should probably head to the shore, it's kind of cold,'

Red began slowly swimming towards the town, a little frozen because of how cold it was. He liked to downplay these things, but really, he was freezing. But there was one good thing about this which he noticed, and that was that his leg didn't hurt anymore. Whether it was because of swimming or just because it was getting better, he didn't know, but also didn't mind. As long as nothing was hurting, then everything was okay with him.

After about twenty minutes (which really should have taken him about ten if he had been going at a normal pace), he managed to drag himself up to the shoreline. He sat on his hands and knees for a moment, trying to catch his breath and warm up. He thought that the constant swimming would have at least done something to warm him up, but if anything, he'd just gotten colder. That probably wasn't healthy, but he disregarded it. The important thing was that he was now out of the water. He stood up, and looked out into the distance, watching the horizon and shaking. He tried to hug himself around the waist to try and trap any sort of warmth in, but it just made his wet shirt stick to his chest in an uncomfortable manner.

"Hey, kid!" He whirled around and saw a man running towards him, waving his arms frantically in the air. He had a Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, and this surprised him a little. He hadn't really come across any other trainers with a Pikachu (besides Surge). "Are you okay? I saw you fall into the water," Red stared back at him, not really sure how to answer. The man seemed a little put off (well, he took a step back, so it was somewhat obvious) when he didn't receive an answer. "Er, you look cold," He mumbled, taking a note of Red's blue lips and chattering teeth. "I'm the lifeguard here, do you want to come and warm up in my station over there?" Red nodded, willing to try anything that would warm him up. He felt awful, walking along that pipe had been the stupidest idea he'd ever had.

He followed the man to his cabin along the beach, and when he was let inside, he felt this sudden warmth flood through him. He was still cold, but the temperature of the house was so nice. He'd never been more grateful for somewhere warm in his life, and he didn't think he ever would be again. Once he'd thawed out a little, he looked around the building (as he was able to concentrate on something other than shivering) and noticed all the surfing memorabilia. There were trophies and medals on his mantleplace, and along the walls were photos of the same guy holding a surfboard, shaking hands with different people. One of the photos was different though, it was the man standing with a kid that looked a few years younger than him (perhaps eleven), both holding surfboards. They looked similar, maybe they were related? But judging from all the decorations, Red had a slight hunch this guy was a surfer.

"I'm Victor," He said, sticking out his hand for Red to shake. He took it nervously, worried because his hands wouldn't stop shuddering. "Oh, Jesus," He exclaimed suddenly, making Red jump. "Your hands are freezing. Stay right there, I'll get a towel or something for you,"

This whole time, Red couldn't help staring at his Pikachu, and he knew his was watching it too. It's eyes were bright blue and were almost eerie. Quite different to every other Pikachu he'd run into who all had dark brown eyes. But that wasn't the only thing that was different about it - it was more...rugged? Just as if it had experienced many years of living by the ocean. Living right on the shoreline like this was sure to ruffle up anyone, pokemon or person. The creature just looked wise, was that the right term?

Victor rushed into another room, and then came back out a few moments later, holding out a towel for him. He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders. It would be soaked through soon, but as long as he was feeling warm now, then it was okay, right?

"It was pretty impressive that you were able to swim back to land from that distance," Victor commented. "Most people can't manage even ten metres, and the waves were pretty high today. You must be a surfer," Red knew that he was trying to make conversation, but he also knew that it wasn't going to work. So he just looked up at him still because he couldn't answer. "Are you okay?" He asked when once again, when met with silence.

Red nodded at first, but then thought better and pointed to his throat and shook his head. Victor didn't seem to understand, so he tried again, making larger gestures to his throat and shaking his head very purposely. Eventually realisation seemed to dawn on Victor, and his eyes widened quite noticeably. Finally!

"Oh, you can't speak!" He commented, his hand flying to his mouth. "You can, uh...use the whiteboard over there to write down what you want to say, if you'd like," He tilted his head towards said whiteboard which was hanging very obviously on the wall. Red wondered how he hadn't noticed this before, but walked over to it and picked up the marker. "I run a surf school here, so that's why I have one," He chuckled absentmindedly.

Well, now he didn't really have anything to say. So he just wrote 'I'm Red,' on the board and then grinned. Though he found this latter part difficult, his teeth were still chattering. Surely that wasn't a good sign, he was in a warm house now, wrapped up in a towel.

"Hey, Red,"

'I've never surfed before,' He wrote sheepishly. God, his writing was awful today. He blamed it on his shaky hands. 'I've just lived by the sea my whole life, so I suppose that's why I could swim back today,'

"I can tell," Victor had taken a seat in one of his armchairs and his Pikachu had jumped off his shoulder and was standing opposite his, watching it cautiously. "It's not going to hurt you, Puka," He directed his attention down to the two creatures, smiling gently.

'Go on, Pikachu,' Red switched to sign language and was really relieved to have. Writing was so much more inconvenient. Pikachu nodded, and made a small noise that indicated greeting. Puka (Red assumed it was called that) replied and soon the two of them were nattering away in their own language.

"So, where are you from, Red?" Victor turned back towards him.

'Pallet Town,'

"Dude, seriously?" Red nodded, but it wasn't really a question, just more of a statement. "The ocean there is killer, no wonder you could swim back so easily today!" Red chuckled silently at this because Victor's speech pattern had changed. It seemed that whenever he talked about the sea, then he'd become less professional, and more of a 'surfer'. It was entertaining at least. "You can sit down if you'd like," He pointed to the other armchair opposite him. Red was rather hesitant because he was still soaking wet, but Victor insisted. It was nice to be able to sit down though, he'd been standing up for longer than he'd thought.

There was silence now, because Red couldn't talk to him without the whiteboard (which was on the other side of the room). But it was a little awkward and Red wanted to break it as soon as possible. He didn't like awkward silences at all. He glanced around the room for a conversation point and came across that picture he'd seen earlier of him and the kid. That ought to have some sort of story attached to it. He pointed towards it, and a big grin came across Victor's face.

"That's me and my son, Leslie," He said. Wow, that was surprising. Victor only looked like he was in his late twenties, and he had a child already. Mind you, his mother had been in the same situation, so he did keep an open mind about such things. But that was why they looked so similar. "He's eleven right now, and him and my wife are over in Cinnabar. He's competing in a big surfing competition. I would go, but I have to stay here because of my job," He looked a little sad when he said that, and Red could tell that he really wanted to be out there surfing with his son.

It was nice to meet someone likeminded about the ocean though, even if they couldn't really talk about it together. Victor was still chatting away about surfing competitions and his son, and Red was glad for this. It meant he didn't have to try and make anymore conversation (he didn't like doing that), and plus, he liked hearing stories about the ocean. They made him almost as happy as being near the water himself, and right now he had both.

His clothes had were just about dry now, but he was still shivering. He wasn't cold, yet he couldn't stop himself from shaking. That couldn't be healthy, could it? He sighed, just as he was starting to feel better after getting a burn, he had to go and get hypothermia or something. He really knew how to look after himself, didn't he? He blamed it on his inability to judge the consequences of his actions, because whenever he did something, there always seemed to be a negative effect from it. He had told himself before he left Pallet that he would start thinking about the choices he would make, but so far he hadn't. This was made evident by his run-ins with Team Rocket and the several times he got caught out in the rain.

But shaking so much had tired him out, and he suddenly felt sleepy. Maybe it was because the room was so warm and the quiet crashing of the waves outside was almost hypnotic as well? Whatever it was, it made him feel exhausted. Victor was still chatting away about some giant wave he'd "caught" once, and Red accidentally (he couldn't help it, his eyes closed themselves) slipped into sleep.

Red awoke with a start because Pikachu had nudged his leg. He looked around the room, trying to remember where he was and then remembered he was in Victor's house. But Victor wasn't in the room with him. Well, now he felt a little silly, he'd just fallen asleep in the middle of some guy's room he hardly knew and created puddles of sea water on his ground. What a polite guest. But he wasn't shivering anymore, and the goosebumps that had been on his arms were gone. That was nice.

He stood up and stretched his arms out, trying to cover his embarrassment of just crashing into this guy's house. It was getting late too, it was dark outside and he guessed it was probably around seven. He should be getting back to the Pokecentre. He grabbed his bag and made his way over to the whiteboard, planning to write goodbye to Victor before he left. He grabbed the pen and then looked up at it. It was already covered in writing that wasn't his. He stepped backwards so he could read it properly.

Red, you asked for the quickest route to Cinnabar from Fuchsia in your sleep, so I've drawn a map for you below. It might take about a week to get there, but it's the shortest way.

Also, you spoke in your sleep. You spoke.

- Victor

Red studied the diagram below. Apparently he had to go east from Fuchsia until he got to a large bridge across some water. From there he'd have to go north into Lavender, then west until he got to Saffron again. From Saffron, he'd have to travel south to Vermilion. In Vermilion, there was something called Diglett's cave, which would lead to the route just below Pewter City. Then he'd just have to go south through Viridan until he got back down to Pallet. It was quite a hike, and he was little annoyed that there was no shorter way. But at least he'd be able to visit his mother for a while, he knew she missed him. And though he'd never admit it (he was a teenage boy after all), he missed her a little too.

But what concerned him more was that apparently he had said something in his sleep. No one had ever told him he'd talked in his sleep before, so surely it was just that time. He hoped so, he didn't want to talk, he liked being silent. So why had he talked?

Why?

Thank you for your hospitality, Victor. I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry I fell asleep. I didn't mean to, I just couldn't seem to help it.

See you around.

- Red

He quickly scrawled that underneath Victor's message and pulled his bag back onto his back. It had slipped down without him noticing. 'Let's go, Pikachu,' He whispered and the two of them quietly crept out the lifeguard station/Victor's house and out into the night air. It was a little creepy being here at night, and he soon found himself running towards the town, his sights set on the Pokecentre.

Okay, Victor! He isn't an OC, he's actually from an episode of the anime! He's from the episode with the giant wave, Humungadunga or something, and he wants to surf it. It's called the Pi-Kahuna, look it up if you don't believe me :P

Also, in Yellow, he actually has a house on that route below Fuchsia, so none of this is made up!