Once again, I really must apologise for such a delay! At least it wasn't quite two weeks this time. I had massive writer's block, and I also had to write a battle, which is what I'm totally bad at. Which sucks because Red has four more, haha.

Guess what? It's my birthday in 23 days (and my last exam in 4 :D). And then I'll technically be able to get my driver's license. But I won't, because I'm still on my Learners, ehehe. I suck at manual, don't judge me!

Oh yeah, thanks for all the lovely reviews guys. I really appreciate them all, and that you've all stayed this long into the story *tears up*

Enough from me, let's get on with it!


Chapter 45: Number One

'Oh, my God. I don't think I've felt any nerves quite as much as I did when I was called into the Elite Four. I actually felt like I was going to faint,' Red laughed silently. 'It was coupled with excitement though, so it's not like I was totally scared or anything. Not at all,'


Red's legs with jiggling up and down in a rather annoying manner, so he placed his hands on them to try and make it less obvious (despite being the only one in the room) just how nervous he was. But oh God, internally he was freaking out. His whole life basically depended on these coming battles...sort of. The passing time wasn't making it any easier either, in fact it was just making the nerves worse as he was able to replay scenarios over and over in his mind until he'd overthought all of them. He'd been brought to the waiting area about twenty minutes ago and from there the stress had just been mounting. Why couldn't they just call him in now?

Okay, so there wasn't much point in him just freaking out, he'd have to find a distraction. There were photos hung on the wall, they ought to be good enough, right? They were rather high up too, which was rather inconvenient, so he had to stand on his toes to inspect them properly. The first photo was in black and white and was of a young man, probably about five years older than him, smiling out at something. Underneath the frame, there was his name and the year - Jean, 1908. Wow, that had been quite some time ago.

He looked further down the wall, checking out all the other headshots. They were all the same, just people smiling with dates and names. None of them really jumped out at him, but there were a few names he thought he recognised - Bridgette, Jonathan, Elizabeth. On closer inspection to their photos, he realised he didn't in fact know them and he'd just heard of the names before. He'd gotten about halfway down the twenty or so when he came across a particular face. He stood there for a moment, staring intently at it. It looked so familiar, but his mind had decided to blank out and he couldn't figure out who it was. He huffed in frustration and then peered down at the name, hoping that it could maybe provide some clue. And well, it did.

Samuel Oak - 1971

That's who it was! The Professor! He mentally slapped himself on the forehead for not realising it sooner as it was so obvious. Looking at it again, he couldn't understand how he'd missed it in the first place. That brought forward another question though, why was his picture up here with all these others? He stepped back and the large lettering on the wall above the photos caught his eye - it read Previous Champions. Well, what? Professor Oak had been the Champion of Kanto at one point. He'd had no idea! Why had no one ever informed him of this?

That certainly explained a lot about the Professor though, like how he knew so much about pokemon and training them. Being a great trainer must have run in the family too, just look at Green. He stepped back and took a seat, and immediately he found the nerves creeping back into his mind with the thought of his rival.

Well, Red certainly wasn't going to let himself get to that point again, he had to stay positive. This was exciting, he was about to fight the Elite Four! He reached into his bag and one by one released his team out in front of him (excluding Snorlax as it was larger than the room). They were all so big now, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud. He'd raised most of these guys from when they weren't even a foot high, and now look! They were about to battle some of the toughest pokemon in the region.

Red wondered if this was how parents felt like whenever their child accomplished anything, even if it was a little silly. It's just...they'd all been through so much together. There was Charizard - or Charmander as it had been, one of the first he'd gotten. It had been so disobedient and tough to control, but he'd won it over eventually (even if it was by taking advice from that man he didn't like to name). It still had remnants of that attitude, but listened to him most of the time. One could now only hope that it stayed that way.

Then there had been Squirtle which was now Blastoise. It had been given to him by that stupid officer who had outright made fun of him. It was worth it though, Squirtle had been great, particularly in that mansion on Cinnabar Island. Bulbasaur had been the quiet one (because every team needed a member like that), never causing him any issues and taking to signing almost immediately. It was a really good battler though, and the intimidation it could cause as Venusaur was unreal. Mind you, he had only battled Green with it, so he didn't have that much experience.

Lapras and Snorlax had been with him for less time, but he still liked to think he valued them just as highly. Lapras had been faithful with giving him lifts across large bodies of water, not complaining once, and was quite vicious when it came to fighting. It had been a lot of fun when he'd battled Blaine and he liked to think they made quite a pair. And as for Snorlax, he'd battled with it once and didn't plan to again unless it was necessary. He knew it was stupid, but he was still just learning to control it. You know, now that he thought about it, he'd been quite lucky in terms of pokemon. He'd only had to capture one, and that was (regretfully) with the Master Ball. But other than that he'd just sort of been given them.

But then of course there was Pikachu. He'd be no where without the little mouse, and he'd actually promised himself that if anything happened to it, he'd stop battling. It was his best friend, though he was still kind of concerned about what had happened yesterday. Now was no time to be thinking about that though. He had to be confident, and that did not involve doubting yourself.

'Now these are some of most important battles you are going to ever have, so I want you to give them everything,' He said, attempting to instill positivity in himself. They nodded in response and he couldn't help but smile - he was so lucky to have such a great team.

"Red, you may come through now," He directed his attention upwards and found a League official waiting expectantly by the door. His eyes widened and all his nerves came tumbling back so fast that he had to grip onto the chair. So much for remaining calm. He recalled his team with shaky hands and cautiously stood up, almost worried he was going to pass out. This was exciting, but oh God was he freaking out.

'Let's go, Pikachu,' He smiled weakly and strode towards the door, pushing it open as he did so.

He took about five steps and then found himself standing on one side of a large arena. It wasn't just an average arena though, it was a large court completely surrounded by water except for two bridges, one of which he was standing on. It was kind of nice and the water calmed him down a little, even if it wasn't quite the ocean. He kind of felt like jumping into it and swimming for a while, but that would probably be a bit inappropriate considering the situation.

There was a clicking noise behind him and Red looked backwards to try and source it. The door he had come from had been closed and locked. The reality of actually being at the Pokemon League hit hard then, and he knew there was really no backing out now (not that he'd want to anyway). He inhaled deeply and stepped forward off the bridge and onto the arena. It was then that he noticed the figure standing on the other side. That was odd, how had he not seen them before? Whoever it was wasn't exactly hidden.

He tilted his head and peered at the person. It was a woman with red hair and glasses, and he could swear he'd seen her somewhere before. He stood there for a moment before it finally dawned on him (his mind was everywhere today). It was that girl he'd met on that island on his way to Cinnabar, Lorelei or something.

"I knew I'd run into you here eventually," She laughed, breaking the silence. "You did fight those other trainers on that island really well after all," Oh boy, did he feel like an idiot. If he'd know she was a member of the Elite Four he would have tried to show off a bit more and you know, impress her. He'd just figured she was some lady who worked in Kanto, nothing special, but she was one of the best trainers. Oh dear, he was so stupid. "I'm glad I get to battle you though, I really wanted to when we first met. But I suppose I should do the introduction thing that I am required to do before each battle," She shrugged her shoulders. "You know my name, but my specialty is ice pokemon,"

Ice, hey? Red had never battled anyone who used the ice type before, so it would be interesting. He hadn't had much experience with them, but he figured that it would probably be weak to fire because you know, ice melting and all. That didn't put his nerves to rest either though and he had to concentrate on his breathing otherwise he was worried he might hyperventilate. Out of excitement too, not just because of the crippling nervousness.

"Shall we battle, Red?" He nodded and swung his bag off his shoulder, placing it by his feet for easy access to his pokemon. He pulled out Charizard's pokeball and released it out in front of him. "Let's go, Dewgong!" She released the seal creature into the water next to the arena, well, that's what it was for. But more importantly, Dewgong was not fully ice. It was a water pokemon, which meant Charizard would be ineffective against it! Red frowned, he'd made his first mistake already and the battle hadn't even started yet. That was why these people were the Elite Four.

'Charizard, fly over to where Dewgong is and use Air Slash,' He commanded. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in battling, nerves and excitement, Red would have realised how significant this gesture was. It marked the first of his fights with the Elite Four, what he had been wanting since he was little and had been working towards for the past eight months. It was quite a big deal, but he didn't notice. He watched the dragon move over to the other creature and was about to draw its arm back.

"Duck under the water just as it goes to hit you," Lorelei shouted, and Red watched in horror as it obeyed. Charizard was left hovering there, looking into the water confused as to where its opponent had diasappeared tp. "Then use Ice Beam when you resurface,"

'Dodge, dodge, dodge!' He signed desperately, but Charizard (and him) wasn't fast enough. It was hit hard by Dewgong's attack and was sent hurtling through the air and almost off the other side of the arena. Red bit his lip in anticipation, finding it hard not being able to run over and help his pokemon up. This wasn't like any other battle he'd ever had, she was the real deal. No amount of gym badges could have prepared him for this either, the Elite Four were tough and had no qualms in showing that either.

It pushed itself back into standing, but Red could tell that it had taken quite a beating. It had been one attack and it was already injured, that wasn't good. Maybe he wasn't ready for this after all. But he wouldn't let himself think about that now, he had to concentrate otherwise he'd lose even worse than what he already was.

'Fly upwards and move whenever it goes to hit you,' He signed. 'Then when its recovering from using an attack, swoop down and use Air Slash again followed by Fire Blast,' The battle ensued in that way for a few minutes after his command. Dewgong would use Ice Beam and Charizard would fly out the way just as it did, and then when it would go to use its attack, evaporating the water a little from the flames, Dewgong would duck under water. Little progress was made and Red was finding it rather frustrating. Eventually Charizard wasn't fast enough though, and it was hit by a Blizzard attack. And because it was flying, it fell straight into the water.

Red knew that it probably wouldn't be able to battle any further, it was pretty much extinguished, but he was clinging to that tiny little hope that it would be okay. 'Use your Blaze ability,' He signed desperately, knowing full well that it was under water and probably couldn't see him. 'Try and evaporate the water!' He'd had the idea when he had noticed that Charizard's Fire Blast was dissolving it earlier. He could just see the top of its head just underneath the water and the end of its tail outside, and after what felt like forever, it broke the surface. Red peered at it intently and then a smile spread across his face. Its eyes were open! It hadn't fainted yet! 'I don't know if you saw before, Charizard, but I asked you to evaporate the water around you,'

It nodded and the water around it began to steam up and dissolve quickly. It was happening remarkably fast and within seconds more than half the water was gone already. Though Charizard could now stand as it wasn't so deep, it still reached its lower belly. But it was continuing on, though it looked like a real struggle now. Red chewed his lip nervously, considering whether to just call it back now so it didn't tire too much, or to let it continue. He decided on the latter and watched as the rest of the water disappeared.

He stole a glance at Lorelei and noticed that she was smirking. He was challenging her after all, and this was just her job. Dewgong had pulled itself up onto the arena and was looking somewhat exhausted, but still seemed alright to battle. Though without water it was sufficiently harder for it, and Red felt like he had done something right for once. He turned back to Charizard, finding that now all the water was gone, as was its ability to battle. The dragon was collapsed on the floor, eyes closed.

Red sighed and recalled it, feeling a little guilty that he'd made it do so much when it was already weak. 'You did really well, buddy. I'm proud,' He hated seeing his pokemon when they had fainted, it unsettled him, especially since the whole Giovanni thing. But what worried him most at the moment was that he was already down one pokemon and Lorelei was the first of the Elite Four. They would almost certainly just get tougher from here and he was starting to feel way out of his depth.

He stopped for a moment, considering his options. If Dewgong was water, then Venusaur or Pikachu would be rather effective against it. And there was no water left, so they'd have even more of an advantage. He didn't want to use Pikachu yet though, just in case something went wrong, so it seemed he really only had Venusaur as a choice. That wasn't a bad thing though, he liked battling with Venusaur.

'Go, buddy,' He released it onto the field in front of him, and the creature noticed Dewgong in the water, it roared. 'Stand your ground and use Giga Drain when you have a clear shot,' He took a deep breath, concentration was the key now. If he lost his focus, the outcome would probably not be in his favour.

"Nice choice," Lorelei shouted from across the arena, nodding approvingly at Venusaur. She then directed her attention towards Dewgong. "Attack with Take Down this time," Venusaur looked at him nervously after hearing her command, which was to be expected I suppose, he had told it not to move when it was being attacked. The poor thing probably thought it was going to get seriously injured.

'Stay right there,' He said, hoping with all his heart that this worked. He was pretty sure that it would, but he couldn't help but doubt himself. She was a professional! But if Venusaur fainted, he'd be completely devastated. He watched it charge towards Venusaur (as fast as it could on land anyhow), and clenched his fists together tightly, nervous about the outcome. It hit Venusaur, but...it wasn't sent flying across the arena like Charizard had. Instead it was just holding Dewgong off him while it was continually trying to headbutt it. Fantastic, it had done just what he'd hoped! Venusaur had a bit more balance than Charizard, being heavier and standing on four legs and all, as well as having an advantage, so the attack really didn't do that much damage. Red smiled, he'd actually made some progress! 'Now use Leech Seed instead, and then follow with Giga Drain,'

He watched on as Venusaur used it against Dewgong, feeling rather proud. He hadn't thought he'd even be able to do this much, but here he was. And not only was Venusaur doing damage, it was also gaining health back - it was a rather handy attack. The best thing though, was that Venusaur had a direct shot as it had been holding Dewgong close to it. Maximum impact! Eventually Venusaur stopped, but it was too late for Dewgong now. It flopped around a few times, attempting to keep its eyes open, but to no avail. Lorelei frowned slightly and recalled it.

"That was very well done, Red," She called. "Now go, Slowbro," Lorelei grabbed one of the pokeballs that were sitting at her feet and released his second opponent. Dang, she had pokemon in her party that weren't dependent on water to battle properly. He should have figured, she was one of the best trainers in region. But Venusaur still had an advantage, so it's not like he lost out completely. "Attack with Psychic!"

'Venusaur, use Giga Drain again,' Slowbro lifted one of its arms slowly and pointed at Venusaur. It then raised it again, but brought the creature with him. Red hated Psychic moves, and this was one of the reasons why. His pokemon was rended pretty much useless as it hardly had any control over itself because of the Psychic! Slowbro was now throwing Venusaur all over the room, and Red knew he had to do something quickly, otherwise his loss would be imminent. But how was he supposed to break out of a Psychic attack?

'I know you can't move much,' He attempted. 'Just have a shot at using Sleep Powder, and try with all your might,' Venusaur stared down at him helplessly while once again it was slammed into a wall. That couldn't be good, it was probably losing health every second. It seemed to squirm a little within the eerie purple glow created from Slowbro's stupid attack, but didn't end up being able to use what Red had called for. It just wasn't able to move enough.

Wait, move enough? If was fidgeting, so it could move a tiny bit. If it kept it up, then surely it'd be able to nudge its way out. It might take a while though, and a lot of energy, but it was worth a shot. And hey, at this point, Red didn't know what else to do. 'Try and push your weight against the attack,' Red crossed his fingers hoping that Venusaur would be able to break out of it. He watched anxiously as Venusaur slowly nudged itself out of the attack. At first its movements were tiny, but bit by bit they were getting larger. Soon it was shaking itself around fully while Slowbro was still attempting to hurl it around the room.

There was a noise that sounded somewhat like breaking glass, and then Venusaur crashed down into the arena, flinching a little as it hit the ground. 'Get back up, buddy. You can do it,' It cautiously stepped up, testing its legs. When it found that it was quite alright, it snarled at Slowbro. Remember Red mentioning that it was intimidating? Yeah, it really was. 'Sleep Poweder again, quickly now!'

The attack went off without a hitch, and soon they found Slowbro curled up, fast asleep in front of Lorelei. Red smiled, finally! He was making some more progress! 'Now use Solar Beam while its asleep,' Venusaur nodded and stepped closer towards the sleeping creature. A gold glow started to extend from the flower on its back, and then Slowbro was hit with the attack resulting.

Lorelei recalled it, smiling, which confused Red. "That was good. But we're not even halfway through yet,"


"Good battle," Lorelei extended her hand out and Red shook it. "You're really something," She grinned. "I haven't had a battle like that in ages, it was fun,"

Shit, man. Had he actually won? Surely not, this had to be a dream. He replayed the battle over in his mind - Venusaur had actually managed to take out three more of Lorelei's team, and then Pikachu had finished it off (and there had been no troubles with the mouse). Neither of them had fainted or anything either, so that was rather helpful. And then he'd beaten her! That meant he could now progress onto the second member of the Elite Four, he was a quarter of the way to the Champion!

All his nerves had disappeared now, but the excitement had doubled and he really hoped Lorelei hadn't noticed his hands shaking when he shook hers. But he was still having a hard time believing he had won, he was just Red from Pallet Town, and he always seriously failed to find anything outstanding about himself. It couldn't be true...

"An official will call you through when Bruno's ready to battle," She said, taking a seat on the ground. "Until then, I suggest you tend to Charizard unless you want to be one member short," Red nodded and sat down next to her, pulling out Charizard's pokeball as he did. He released the dragon out in front of him, cringing slightly when he saw that it was still passed out. He should probably use one of the Revives he had conveniently bought earlier, which was what they were for after all.

He fished through his bag and found the bottle, twisting the lid a little so it would work. He stood up and sprayed it on Charizard twice, crossing his fingers on his spare hand that it would work. He couldn't afford to be one down at the moment. It took a few (anxious) minutes, but eventually Charizard opened his eyes slightly and turned a little. Red smiled and took another seat next to the creature, petting its head to support

'You're okay, Charizard,' He signed, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. 'And you'll be even better in a few moments,'

"Sign language is so interesting," Lorelei chuckled. "Especially the way you use it. It still astounds me how well you're able to battle just by using your hands," Red shrugged, it wasn't anything special to him. Something he'd noticed actually was that most gym leaders seemed to have commented on it. It wasn't that cool, was it? He'd never really considered it in that sort of way, it was just the way he talked, after all. But he supposed he'd not really given the thing much thought. In fact, he couldn't even remember learning it, he'd just sort of always known.

He returned Charizard back into the pokeball as it was looking much better already, and then shifted back a little, so he was sitting next to Lorelei again. She didn't say anything, so they sat there silently, albeit a little awkwardly. Red occupied the time by thinking of the coming battles, especially the Champion one. He was so close, yet there was an immense amount of work still standing in the way. But this is what he'd been working towards for a long time, he would have to give everything his best shot.

He already had, sort of. But that was only one part of the challenge, there were still four more battles.

"This is probably going to come straight out of left field," Lorelei broke the silence, turning to look at him. "But what do you think of the ice type?" He tilted his head in confusion, finding it a bit frustrating not being able to answer properly, but gave her a thumbs up anyway. He had nothing against ice pokemon, they seemed rather cool. "So you do like them then," She smiled. "I'm really glad, because a lot of people don't consider it a real type. In fact, it's the view the majority hold. They think it's just part of the water type, so I get a lot of criticisms,"

Red frowned, that was hardly fair. He'd never realised people thought that way, but then again, he'd never come into much contact with the ice type. No wonder why. It was rather discriminatory though, what was wrong with them? People always found the stupidest reasons to hate, he knew that for a fact.

"The League cops a lot too, but they're awfully good about it. I feel a bit bad about the crap they get, but ice pokemon deserve as much recognition as everyone else," She sighed. "I'm sure you understand what I mean, right?" He nodded and stared down at his hands. She knew about the adversity, even if it was in quite a different way. He had to admire her though, she'd stood up for something when everyone was saying it wasn't worth it, that took quite a lot of courage.

Before he had gotten his trainer license, everyone in Pallet Town had been telling him not to become a trainer. Everyone except his mother, but sometimes he thought she didn't really want him to do it either. Professor Oak had advised against it because he'd thought it would be too dangerous and that he'd get injured, Green had told him he'd never succeed when he had him as competition (but that was just who Green was), and all the other kids just said he'd never be able to do it. It was rather discouraging, he could attest to that, and at one point he'd almost given up on it.

But him sitting right here, 'conversing' with Lorelei provided clear evidence that he hadn't been completely turned off training. And that, you know, he could actually get somewhere. Even if he didn't make it to the Champion, beating one member of the Elite Four was still good, right? He had done much better than everyone else in Pallet, so they couldn't really say anything about him now. He smiled, pushing away the negative thoughts of when he was a kid, because he was feeling rather proud of what he had achieved.

"I'm glad you understand," Lorelei continued. "I haven't really been able to explain it to many people seriously, let alone trainers. There was this kid that came through earlier this morning and I didn't even try and bring it up with him because I could tell he'd just laugh," She chuckled bitterly at this. "He was just too arrogant about his abilities, and I really didn't like that loss,"

Red huffed and punched the ground, surprising Lorelei. She was most likely talking about Green. Stupid Green, he just had to do everything that little bit before him. He reckoned he probably did it just so he could lord it over him and brag about how well he was doing. He sincerely hoped that he had lost to one of the Elite Four members, and he knew it was selfish, but he'd like a chance to do something by himself for once. Something original at least.

"Are you okay?" She asked, peering at him, her brows furrowed in concern. He nodded and attempted a smile. He couldn't let himself get bogged down with thinking about all Green's achievements, this was his turn, and he had to be completely focused. "Oh, look," She directed her attention up towards the door where a woman dressed in the offical League uniform was standing. "They're going to call you through in a moment,"

Red stood up and smoothed his shirt down, feeling the nerves starting to rise up again. He could do this, it was just another battle. Pikachu jumped to its feet and nudged his leg, so he reached down and scooped it up to place on his shoulder.

'Come on, buddy. Let's go,'

"Good luck," Lorelei said, watching him walk towards the door. "You're going to need it,"