You better feel lucky, I'm skiving off studying to write this :P Well, I'm just procrastinating it, ech! Also, sorry about slower updates, as I've said, school gets in the way and I have my final year exams coming up soon. Stress, eeeeeeeee.

Also, I've been not looking forward to writing this chapter at all, filler ones are so boring to write and they really don't have anything interesting happen in them. But I slog through them and hopefully they come out alright. The next chapter ought to be a bit more interesting.

Chapter 33: So Much Travel

"When travelling, I learnt quite a bit about the world," Green said. "Good things and bad things. I figured out that it's not very nice to behave arrogantly and to always boast to everyone you meet about how good you are, because that will not make you very well liked. So in that respect, I think I changed a little," He laughed. "I also learnt that most people are genuinely nice, and that they do want to help and be as hospitable as possible. Of course there are not so nice people, and that was the bad thing I learnt. The unacceptance and intolerance was the worst, and I got to understand Red a little better through this. I think trying to take on Team Rocket was really the learning curve for me,"

Day 1

Red placed everything back into his bag, but paused when he picked up his trainer case. There were six colourful badges sitting inside, gleaming whenever they caught the sunlight streaming in through the window. He couldn't believe he had six, six! It didn't seem real yet. Surely little old Red couldn't have beaten three quarters of the toughest trainers in Kanto, it just didn't seem right. Yet these badges were saying otherwise. And another thing - it had gone so quickly! It seemed like it was just yesterday that he had left Pallet Town, complaining about being given a wild pokemon and not sure what to do. But look how far he'd come now, he'd visited most of the region already.

He was really proud of himself though, there was no doubting that. He just couldn't believe he'd gotten six of the qualifying badges, he only had two left. In his mind, he still couldn't see himself progressing beyond Viridian City, even though he was just about to leave Fuchsia now. He still had this mental image of not actually being a decent trainer, even though he did have six badges. Even though he didn't have a lot of confidence in himself, he figured that was okay because he didn't want to be arrogant. If he did believe he was a great trainer, then maybe he'd be like Green. Whenever he thought about the gyms, he remembered how close he was to the Pokemon League, and that always made him jump up and down in excitement.

Speaking of that, Red found himself so close to what he wanted, yet still so far at the same time, because now he had to travel all the way back to where he began, and then even further south than that. It had taken him six-odd months to get to Fuchsia, and now he was trying to get to Pallet in a week (he wanted to get to the next gym as soon as he could). It didn't seem possible, but he consoled himself with the fact that he had taken a very roundabout way to get here (with many detours). He'd get to Pallet eventually though, and that's all that mattered, right?

Red had mixed feelings about returning to Pallet. It was his home and he was really looking forward to that familiarity and comfort of knowing everything around him (and where it all was, getting lost in a city frustrated him to no end sometimes). As much as he did love travelling, he would get a little homesick occasionally (he was only fourteen, remember?), and he would never admite it, he did miss his mother sometimes. But on the other hand, the town had been rather cruel to him over the years and he didn't much feel like returning to the stares and judgements. Mind you, he'd been on the news, so they would have all seen how far he'd come.

With that final thought he smiled to himself. It would be nice to return home for a little.

He placed his trainer case into his bag and then swung it over his shoulders. It was about ten in the morning and about high time he actually made a move on. Sitting around the Pokecentre would not get him any closer to the next gym. He stood up, ushering Pikachu to do the same and then made his way outside. Okay, so the Pokecentre was facing south and he had to travel east for quite a while. That meant...he spun around and pointed towards the big pipe, that he would have to walk in that direction.

Day 2

Red sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes. Sleeping in the middle of a forest in winter wasn't very pleasant, especially when you didn't have a jacket or anything. If that wasn't strange enough, what weirded him out the most was that he had dreamt he was playing basketball with Mia. Since their very first meeting, she'd always been on his mind. Maybe she wasn't always the first thing he was thinking about, but she was always there, just in the back, smiling. For some reason, he had wished that she would just stay with him and travel, which was strange because he usually preferred to be alone. He'd first pinned the reason down to just being so far away from home and wanting company, but now he was a little worried it was something else. She was a good friend, but a different sort of friend than Green was. In his mind, he thought of her differenly. He just couldn't figure out what constituted such difference.

He stood up and took his mind off such troubling thoughts by rolling up his sleeping bag and placing it inside his regular bag. From here, he continued exactly where he had left off yesterday, and that was walking through the masses of trees. It was quite a lovely area, and even though there wasn't much to do besides walk, he had been enjoying it. It hadn't been as dull as he'd expected and it had given him time to think. He'd replayed all his gym battles over in his mind, judging where he had gone right or wrong. Training and Mia were really the only things on his mind at the moment.

Such things played on his mind so often that he didn't realise that he'd been walking for about three hours without taking much of a break. His legs were hurting and the grumbles in his stomach were ever increasing in volume. He hoped to get to Lavender Town by the end of the day and get some proper to eat, but so far there was no water in sight. Surely he should have gotten to Route 12 by now? He stopped in the middle of his pathway and stared into the distance. He saw trees just stretching on and on, so he concluded that he was lost.

This discovery frightened the poor boy and visions of just endlessly wandering around and never being found played around in his mind. This started to stress him out and he could feel his hands shaking and his breathing becoming rapid. He didn't want to die alone and never be found! Of course, in hindsight, this was a silly thing to think, but he always jumped to ridiculous conclusions.

'Deep breaths, Red,' He told himself as he slumped against a tree, forehead resting on the trunk. He didn't know where to go or what to do, and this just seemed to further scare him and he felt like crying. Never before had he felt so alone, and he didn't know why he was now.

After about ten minutes of breaking down, he shakily told himself that he was being stupid and he wasn't helping the situation at all. He'd just get stuck out here if he didn't keep walking, because the forest didn't just go on forever, it had to lead somewhere. Slowly and nervously, he took a step away from the tree and turned away from it. Nothing had changed, but the trees suddenly seemed so much taller and he felt really daunted. Pikachu nudged his leg in concern, so he smiled worriedly at the creature before picking it up and placing it on his shoulder.

'Which way should we go, buddy?' He asked figuring that whatever way they went, they were bound to get somewhere. Pikachu pointed a little more north than where they were headed now and Red shrugged in response. He might as well.

Almost there! Just about at the top! Red took a few unsteady steps (he was breathless, he'd been walking for too long!) and then finally rounded the top of the hill. And well, now he wasn't so lost because he could see a city below. It wasn't Lavender Town though, like he'd orginally planned to go to, it was...Celadon. He could tell this because of the huge department store just sitting there. It was a lovely view though, all the lights were on because it was evening and people were out and about walking the streets. It seemed so alive, and Red had never been gladder to see a city in his life.

He wasn't lost! He wasn't going to die! And he'd found a rather handy path between Celadon and Fuchsia.

Day 5

Red could see the Vermilion harbor now. He broke into a sprint without really thinking about what he was doing and headed down to the shore. As he was running along the sand, he pulled out Lapras and Wartortle's pokeballs and released them into the water. He then threw their balls onto the ground, pulled off his own shirt and dived in with them. It was freezing (not as cold as Fuchsia though, that was further south and therefore colder), but worth it. He'd missed the water.

You would have thought he'd have learnt from falling into the water in Fuchsia, but no, he seemed to forget how cold he had been that day. He dipped his head beneath the water and kicked his feet, swimming over to where Lapras and Wartortle were. Whenever he took them to some water he always felt a little guilty for not taking them more frequently, because they just looked so content floating around. Well, Lapras was floating and Wartortle was swimming in circles. He grinned, happy for them, and Wartortle smiled back.

He was only able to stay in the water for about ten minutes or so before it became too cold and he had to get out and wrap his vest around him. He wished he had a towel, but was glad that this time all his clothes weren't wet. He was uncomfortable, but it had been worth it. Not only had he liked being in the water, it made him glad to see his pokemon enjoying themselves so much.

He took a seat on the sand and Pikachu sat on his lap. Together they watched Lapras and Wartortle fool about in the water, appearing completely at home. It was times like this that Red really appreciated his team, they were all such good friends and (even though he sounded like a sap) he felt really lucky to have them. People often underestimated pokemon as companions, often seeing them just for battling and not for company. Sure, Red did fight with them, but he was also friends with them and that, he felt was the key to being a decent trainer. It saddened him a little when he thought of people not treating their pokemon as friends.

Eventually (because he got too cold) Red picked up his things and recalled his pokemon into their balls. He felt a little bad tearing them away from the water like this, but he really needed to go change because he was freezing. Involuntarily, he began jogging again and made his way to the familiar Pokecentre. Being back in Vermilion was really weird as he'd thought it would be. Wherever he went, he just kept thinking of all that time ago on the S.S Anne and fighting Lieutenant Surge. It seemed everywhere he went to more than once on his journey felt odd like this, and he hoped that when he travelled in the future it kind of didn't. It was an unsettling feeling.

But he just figured it was because he hadn't beaten all the gyms and it felt like somewhat of a regression.

Red walked up to the front counter of the Pokecentre and pointed to the sets of keys hanging on the wall behind it. It was still the afternoon so there were several rooms left to rent. Thankfully the nurse understood what he meant (it was so frustrating when they didn't) and she handed him a set. He smiled in thanks and then headed up the stairs towards said room. He unlocked the door, walked inside, closed it and then hopped around awkwardly trying to change his pants. They were still soaking from the ocean and made the room smell like salt.

Once he'd pulled a dry set on, he suddenly felt really tired. He curled up on the bed, fully intending just to "rest his eyes" for a minute, but when he opened them again, it had been about five hours.

Day 7

He was so close to home, he could see the oh-so familiar trees in the distance. Just a few more steps up the path until he reached the top of the hill and...there! He was overlooking Pallet Town now, and the feeling was strange. It was so familiar, yet it didn't seem quite right anymore. It was his home still, right? There was Professor Oak's lab, and the park that he and Green had spent so many hours at! And then the beach, he could see the water from here, and it was the only thing that felt the same. At least he had that.

And then he fixed his gaze onto his house. He stared at it for a moment, and then began running at full speed down the hill. His pulse was rushing, but he felt almost electric, excited. He may not have missed the town, but now seeing his home again, he realised how much he had really missed that. He had been homesick sometimes, there was no denying that, and now, well, he was here!