So, uh, I think is a bit buggy because apparently none of you have received notifications saying I've updated. But hey, here's two new chapters, so hopefully you get an email for this one!

Gah, school! I hate it, it gets in the way of my writing. Waaaaah :( Especially drama and history, yecccchhh.

Chapter 34: Home

"Red's surprise visit home was one of the happiest days of my life," His mum smiled wistfully. "I hadn't seen my son in six months, and then he turns up at home out of the blue! It was just like old times, and well, hearing about all his travels made me so proud of him,"

Red was about to run straight through his front door and go crashing into the house just like he had done all throughout his childhood, but as he approached the door he got a sudden onslaught of nerves and froze in his position. His mother wasn't expecting him home, and it'd be a little embarrassing when she opened the door and just saw him standing there. This had been his home, but was it still? Something just didn't feel quite right anymore.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself and then raised a shaky hand to knock on the door. The sound echoed around the neighbourhood (not really, but Red imagined that it did) and he waited nervously for his mother to open the door. Each second seemed to drag on forever, and he wondered why he felt so worried. This was his mother he was going to see, not some stranger. Speaking of, when he did have to visit unfamiliar buildings, he didn't get nervous at all, but with this confrontation he was. He figured that it was probably because he hadn't been home in six months, but it was still unsettling.

He could hear his mother's footsteps approaching the door, and he clenched his fists up nervously. The door opened slowly (once again, his imagination) and then swung open, revealing his mother, looking exactly the same as she had the day he'd left. Her eyes widened, and then a smile spread across her face.

"Red!" She pulled him into a hug and strangely enough, he found himself hugging her back. He'd missed home, he hadn't realised just how much though. His nerves were now completely gone and he felt at ease again. That was nice. "You've finally come to visit!"

He pulled away but was grinning, he was so glad to be back here. 'It's a bit hard to visit often when I'm across the other side of the region,' He laughed.

"And who's this little guy?" She reached out to stroke the top of Pikachu's head. It purred softly, making her laugh.

'This is Pikachu,' He replied. 'And Pikachu, this is my mother,'

"Hello there," She said softly, shaking it's paw. She then let go and directed her attention back towards Red. "Oh, I've missed you," She sighed. "You didn't call me enough while you were out there," She motioned for him to come inside and Red went and took a seat at the dining table. Being here after being away for so long felt strange and he found himself remembering all the times he'd spent just sitting here with his mother, talking about travelling and pokemon. It seemed like only yesterday, yet so much had passed. He'd beaten six gym leaders, defeated Team Rocket and met a new...friend. Speaking of Mia, he'd been meaning to ask his mother about her.

'Mum, remember how I told you about that girl I met in Celadon who speaks sign language?' He couldn't help smiling when he thought about Mia, and that worried him. He didn't like not knowing what was happening like this.

"Yeah, Mia, right?" She answered.

He nodded. 'I saw her again in Fuchsia City, and we played basketball and it was really fun. She has this really long hair that she usually wears in a ponytail and it looks cool because it matches her eyes. Did I tell you this already? Anyway, her family works for these organisations for deaf kids, so that's why she can sign. That's where we went in Fuchsia, to one of the schools. I got caught in the rain and she let me use the dryers there so my things wouldn't stay wet,' He knew that he was blabbering and he felt like a fool, but he couldn't help it. 'What does it mean when you get butterflies in your stomach around someone?'

Her face softened when he asked the last thing, and he couldn't work out why. "Do you get butterflies around Mia?"

'Yes!' He said, throwing his arms up in the air. When he realised how enthusiastic he'd been, he lowered them sheepishly, a little embarrassed. 'I've never gotten them around any other person before, so why is Mia different? I mean, it's not a bad thing, I just don't get it,'

"Do you maybe like this girl?" She enquired, chuckling slightly at her son who's face was now flushing red.

'I do not!' He insisted, and then realising how immature this sounded, continued quietly. 'I mean, surely that's not it, right?'

"Well, why not?," She shrugged, teasing him lightly. "But that's okay, I trust your judgement,"

Red was confused. He'd never had 'feelings' for anyone before and as such had no idea how to act on them. He knew he wasn't very romantic and would probably end up stumbling over his words and then making an idiot out of himself. The thought alone made him shudder and he didn't think he'd ever have the courage to ask her out. 'But what do I do then?' His mother didn't answer though, she just smiled and shook her head slightly. Real helpful, mum.

Red stood up and wandered out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He opened the door to his room and stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the sight. Nothing had changed whatsoever besides his bed now being made. He laughed at that, remembering how he'd left it unmade when he'd rushed out to see Professor Oak the day he got Pikachu. His mother usually told him off for not making it himself, but he supposed that that was an exception. She knew how excited he had been about it. But besides that, everything was still in the same place. His books were strewn across his desk and the photos he had hanging up on his wall had gathered a little dust.

'This is my room, Pikachu,' He said to the little creature who was observing it's surroundings a little warily. 'I lived here before I met you,' He took a seat on his bed and Pikachu followed, immediately snuggling into the pillows. Red looked around, it was lovely to be back in his room after being away for so long - everything was his again. His eyeline drifted to the view outside the window. He'd chosen this room purely for that, because it overlooked the ocean. If you craned your neck fair enough left you could see Oak's lab, but if you just looked forward, it was the ocean. This made him smile - no matter where he went in the world, he'd always believe that Pallet had the most beautiful sea.

He saw a flash of red in the corner of his eyes and he turned around to find the source. It was a colourful book sitting on his desk. He picked it up and inspected the cover, it had always been his favourite and he'd almost forgotten all about it while he was travelling. It was a story about pirates that sailed all around the region, fighting with their pokemon and finding all sorts of treasure. He opened to the first page and swung his legs onto the bed so he was leaning on his pillows. How many times had he read this before? He had a feeling it was around thirty-two times, but he couldn't be sure. He never got sick of it though, and found himself as swept up into the mystique of the story as if it was the first time.

Red closed the book, completely satisfied. He'd finished the whole story and made a mental note to take it along with him when he left for Cinnabar otherwise he'd want to read it but be unable to. He placed it down on his desk and nudged Pikachu awake. The little mouse whined at having to move, making Red laugh. It was so lazy, he wondered how it kept up with him sometimes. Maybe that's why it was so tired? It did have to do an awful lot more walking than he did. But he decided it didn't matter because it seemed healthy enough.

They made their way downstairs and Red stole a glance out the window. It was dark now, how long had he been reading for? It hadn't felt like that long. He wandered into the lounge room and found his mother sitting on the couch, reading something herself. If there was something that his mother and him did have in common, it was that they both liked reading. He blamed her for it actually, because she would always read to him before he went to bed each night when he was a little kid. Well, not blame as such, because he didn't really consider it a bad thing.

"Good evening, sleepy-head," She looked up when she saw him enter the room.

'I wasn't sleeping,' He answered, taking a seat next to her.

"Yes, you were," She replied, laughing. "I came into your room two hours ago and you were fast asleep on your bed,"

Red shook his head. 'No way,' But it would make sense as to why it was so late now, that book didn't usually take him five hours to read. But even if he had fallen asleep, it couldn't have been for more than a few minutes otherwise he'd remember it. He decided not to argue though, it wasn't really something worth wasting his breath on. They fell into silence, his mother had resumed reading and he was staring out the window in front of him. He was glad to be home, but for some strange reason, he kind of wished he was in some unknown town, maybe even sleeping in the uncomfortable Pokecentre beds (or even the foyer, God forbid!). That had been his life for the past six months, so it was only a little natural to miss it, right? Right?

"You know, I saw you on the news a little while ago," His mother looked up from her book. "I'm really proud that you were able to defeat Team Rocket singlehandedly like that,"

'Thank you,' He replied. She had said something nice, but he knew that this was going to go somewhere bad and would probably result in him being told off.

"But I told you not to go after them, but you did it anyway," Yeah, there you go. "Usually I'd be disappointed, but you're fine and that's all that matters," Red's face broke into a grin, he had got off lightly for something that was so serious. His mother was the best. But then he remembered the burn on his leg and his face fell slightly, surely he'd get in trouble if she found out about that. But Red couldn't hide anything from his mother, they told each other everything, so he found himself rolling up his right leg of his pants despite the repercussions.

'I got a burn though,' He mumbled. It had almost healed over now, but his skin was still red and shiny, and still hot to touch.

"Red!" Her eyes widened. "What? How...how did this happen?"

'I was fighting against a Team Rocket member and when I won, he got angry and pushed me against a boiler,' He replied, unable to meet his mother's gaze. 'I fainted a little while after and Green found me and took me to the Pokecentre, but I was stupid and rushed back out to defeat Team Rocket despite it really hurting,' He sometimes wished that he did have a filter when he talked to his mother because he would often say too much that would get him in more trouble than he would have otherwise.

But his mother's reaction was a little different than what he thought it would be. She pulled him into a hug, shaking her head. "Sweetie, why didn't you call me and tell me this?"

'I survived, didn't I?' He chuckled. 'It did hurt a lot, but I'm okay now,' He still hated the look of the burn and he was finding it hard to accept the fact that he would have a scar there for the rest of his life. Not even a small scar, it was really big. At least his pants covered it, it would be worse if it was on his arm. That he was thankful for.

"I'm glad you were able to beat Giovanni though, I think that man needed to be taken down a few pegs," She laughed, but something in her expression appeared nervous. Something Red couldn't quite put his finger on.

'How do you know Giovanni?'

"Please don't let him get to you," She answered, dismissing his question. How did she know about him? It was ever stranger than him knowing all those things about him. He didn't like it, why did his family have such an affiliation with Team Rocket? "Actually, just don't get involved in Team Rocket's business again,"

'How do you know Giovanni, mum?' He tried again, but before he had even finished asking, she had stood up and was moving towards the kitchen. Why was she ignoring the question? Did she know him somehow? But she'd never mentioned him before... And hey, she was the one who had brought up the subject, so she shouldn't be trying to avoid it.

"It's about eight, Red," She called. "I came to get you for dinner before, but you were asleep so I left you. So you can have it now," He sighed, accepting the fact that she wasn't going to answer, no matter how many times he asked.

Red stared down the road to the beach, almost ready to leave. It was the following day, and that familiar uneasy feeling was back. This time is was about leaving. He wanted to travel again and get to the next gym, but he was going to miss home and the comfort of it. It had been so long since he had been here, and now he was just going straight away. He knew that he was being hypocritical, as yesterday he had wanted to be out travelling again, but he couldn't help how he felt. He was just a stupid teenager after all.

Pikachu was perched on his shoulder, it's ears twitching in the wind indicating that it obviously wanted to get a move on. Of course it wanted to go as soon as possible, it hadn't spent fourteen years here.

'We'll go in a second, buddy,'

"Must you go so soon?" His mother's voice made him jump and he spun around, finding her now standing behind him. Had she been there very long? "You've only been here for a day,"

'When I come back from Cinnabar I'll come visit again,' He answered, hoping that his shaky hands (and thus gestures) wouldn't give away how worried he was. If there was something that annoyed Red about himself, it was that his hands shook whenever he got nervous, stressed or angry (and strong emotion, really). Normal people didn't shake like he did, and he felt like he was weird because of it. But it wasn't something that impacted on his life greatly, so he didn't have to worry too often. 'That will only take a week or so,'

She nodded and hugged him quickly. "Bye, Red,"

'Love you, mum,' He stood up onto his toes and kissed her on the cheek and then quickly started off down the road. He was worried that if he stayed any longer then he wouldn't actually be able to leave, and that wouldn't be very helpful in getting to Cinnabar. But for some reason it was harder leaving now that it had been the first time, so the best way to get it done was fast.

He hadn't really walked through Pallet since getting home, and it felt a little odd traipsing through the familiar streets. It was that same feeling of being home, but not being home that he couldn't quite work out. Nothing had changed in the little village, yet everything had. Maybe it was just him. It just seemed that everyone here were stuck in their same old routines and not actually seeing the rest of the region. Actually, scratch that. Red had just been through so much that coming back to his sleepy little village was...boring.

He'd been walking for all of two minutes when he heard someone calling his name from across the street. He knew who it was straight away - that Tom kid that he had so hated when he was younger. Of course he would run into him, the one time he was back home. He wanted to ignore him and keep walking to the beach, but his feet wouldn't let him and instead he turned around to face him.

"We missed you around here," He said, crossing the street so he didn't have to yell. "With you and Green around, it's been boring," Red sighed, trying to not let Tom get to him. Oh, and shaky hands again. "I would suggest a battle, but I don't want to discourage you when I win,"

A battle would be nice, Red would finally get an opportunity to show everyone how much he'd accomplished. And hey, Tom wasn't even a trainer, so he didn't know why he thought he even had a chance. Red pointed to the pokeball hanging from Tom's belt, and the latter shrugged, unfastening it and releasing an Eevee. That was weird, had Professor Oak given them to everyone besides him?

'Pikachu, use Volt Tackle as fast as you can,' For some reason, this was one of the most important battles to him, because one of his driving forces during his travels so far had been to show all those kids in Pallet Town how good a trainer he could be, and now, well, he was getting the chance (and with the worst kid too!). Of course the main drive during travelling had been his dream to be the Champion, but there were lots of little reasons as well.

"Eevee, use Tackle," Red sniggered. Yeah, Tackle would get you far.

Pikachu began to spark and the sprinted towards the little creature sitting in front of it. It collided at full force, knocking the poor thing out cold. Tom recalled it angrily, muttering to himself while Pikachu walked calmly back and sat at Red's heels. He had never felt so satisfied in his whole life (actually, that's a lie. Once before he felt like this, and that was when he beat Tom up all those years ago), but he wasn't finished. He needed to do one more thing to show off. He fished around his bag and pulled out his trainer case, showing him the six badges. You know, he wasn't a proud person usually, some people just brought out the worst in him.

"Yeah, well, Green has seven," Okay, so some people never change, no matter what happens. Obviously Tom was one of them, and Red didn't like it. Instinctively (without really thinking), he took a step forward and punched him in the face. Once it was done, he immediately regretted it because he really didn't want to get in another fight and his mum was just around the corner. So he took off down the street, Pikachu close behind, heading straight towards the ocean.

He could hear Tom's footsteps behind him and he was getting closer. But he was almost at the beach, and he only had to get there and then he could jump onto Lapras and be safe. He was guessing that Lapras could swim faster than Tom could, so he'd probably be alright.

He was on the sand now and he fumbled for Lapras's ball in his bag and pulled it out, releasing it into the water. It seemed to know what was happening as it stayed near the shore, allowing him to jump onto it's back before swimming a little deeper into the water. Red couldn't help but grin and laugh as he watched Tom yelling profanities to him on the sand.

When he couldn't see Tom anymore, he finally allowed himself to catch his breath and think about everything that had happened. Well, the only thing he could think about was what he had said. Green has seven. Of course he did, because Green was good at everything and got all the advantages. Yeah, he'd beaten Tom, but would he beat Green next time? Probably not, Green would end up being the Champion, not him. He could just picture it now.