Blue readjusted the positioning of his backpack and brushed a few loose strands of hair back into place. It was winter and the frost was beginning to settle over the ground. He glanced over his shoulder. Red was still following, a few paces behind, that Poké Ball hat he always wore bobbing on his head.
The two weren't friends. They never had been. Rivals was the most accurate description, though Blue didn't consider Red up to his standards. He would usually try to keep away from him, unless there was some competition going on or they were forced together. The second option happened all too often, as they lived across the street from one another and his Gramps was friends with Red's mother.
Daisy had taken a liking to Red too. She'd treated him almost as a second brother ever since they were little. Blue stuffed his hands in his pockets. Although he'd never admit it, he got kinda jealous when her full attention wasn't on him.
"Daisy?" Blue said.
She turned to him. "What?"
"When do I get to be a Pokémon Trainer like you?"
Daisy laughed. "You ask me this every day, Blue. You know Gramps'll give you a Pokédex and a Pokémon when you turn sixteen."
"I know… but that's a two whole years away! Why can't he just give them to me now?"
Daisy was about to give the answer she always did, about how he was too young to look after a Pokémon properly, let alone become a trainer, when something caught her eye. "What's that?" she said.
Blue spun round. A greenish radiance hovered above the path, shedding light into the dark corners of the houses. It grew, twisting and spiralling into a luminous orb and a man fell from it. Well, his hat fell first. A yellow cap that buried itself in the snow with a puff of frost. The man picked it up, brushed off the snowflakes and pulled it onto his head, his black hair pushing out from below it.
He turned back to the light. "So it did work…" he said, then louder, "Well? Aren't you coming through?"
A Pokémon fluttered through the light. At first, Blue didn't notice it, as its body was the same colour as the glow, but the cyan eyes were quite striking. He heard Daisy gasp. Did she recognise it?
"Thank you," the man said. He took a Poké Ball from his pocket and pointed it in Red's direction. "And it seems," he said, "you brought me to the correct place as well."
Red just stared at him. He was never the most talkative.
The man pushed the button on his Poké Ball, letting the Pokémon within spill out. It was taller than Daisy—or even, Blue suspected, his Gramps. Cream coloured fur spread across its front and navy along the back. Fire burst around its neck, dancing and crackling in a shimmering collar.
The man met Red's eyes. "I'm sorry about this," he said. "I truly am. But it must be done. Typhlosion, Slash."
The fire Pokémon leapt forward and Blue didn't see any more, because Daisy ran in front of him, towards it.
"No!" she shouted.
The Pokémon stepped back into Blue's line of vision, its fur splattered crimson red. It took him a moment to register what that meant, and by that point the Pokémon was back in its ball and the man was gone the same way he came.
Red laid against the wall of a house, his hat upturned in the ice by the side of the pathway. Daisy was cradling him in her arms, and jealous was the last thing Blue felt. He knelt beside her.
She had taken off her jacket and wrapped it across Red's chest, but that wasn't why she was shivering. "Come on, Red, come on," she was saying. "Hold on, please! Remember how Professor Oak said he'd get you a Pokémon? That Bulbasaur you wanted?"
Red's eyes flickered. "I- I-"
Daisy was rooting through her bag, presumably for her Poké Gear. "No," she said, "don't try to talk. You'll be fine. Everything'll be fine."
Daisy pushed in a name and held the device to her ear in shaking hands. "Just breathe, Red. Just breathe. Eyes open, that's it."
She began talking to whoever she had called. "Hello? This is Daisy Oak. Please, put me through to the hospital, I've no time to explain."
"Red?" Blue said. "You're gonna be okay, all right? 'Cause if you're not-" He swallowed. Couldn't let his voice crack. "'Cause if you're not, who's gonna be my rival, huh? Who am I gonna battle against as— as a warm up for my gym battles?"
A faint smile formed on Red's face. "N-not if… I beat 'em first."
"Yeah? Well, even if you do I-I'll be first to the champions seat. I'm gonna need you to be my first victory!"
Red's smile began to fade. "S-Sorry…"
His eyes closed.
Blue grabbed his shoulders. "Red? Red! Wake up!"
Daisy lowered her Poké Gear. "Red? Oh, Mew… No… No! Red!?" She wrapped her arms around him, rocking back and forth and sobbing.
Blue stood up and took a few paces back. Red couldn't be… he couldn't really be… They had never really been on good terms, but Red had always been there. It had always been the two of them, fighting and arguing, sure, but…
The drone of a siren cut through the air. An ambulance. Two doctors clambered out, carrying a stretcher. One ran over when he saw Daisy. He disentangled her from Red, pressing a hand against his neck. He turned back to the other and shook his head.
No. No. Blue had seen enough movies to know what that meant. They lifted Red onto the stretcher and loaded it into the ambulance, but Blue knew they weren't gonna be able to help him. Daisy hugged him, shaking and crying, but Blue barely noticed. What had just happened?
Daisy scooped Red's hat from the ice and pressed it against her chest. She grabbed Blue's hand. "C'mon, Blue," she said, her voice quaking, "We— we can't just stand out here in the cold. Let's go home."
She led him through the frost covered road, not saying a word. A trail of glistening tears spotted the ground behind her.
That man… he had appeared from nowhere, and disappeared right after ki… after doing what he did. Why? Red… he wasn't anyone super important. Not like Lance or Steven Stone or even Blue's Gramps. Who would want to… to do that to him?
Daisy pushed through the door into their house. Gramps was sat at the dinner table in the centre of the room. He turned as they entered. "Ah, Blue and Daisy." He frowned. "Daisy?"
She rubbed the tears from her eyes and sat down hard on one of the chairs. "Gramps! I- Oh, it was horrible…"
Gramps stepped over to her, kneeling to meet her eyes. "What happened?"
Daisy clutched the edges of her chair, attempting to speak through the sobs. "R-Red he… I mean… Oh, Mew, he's actually dead! He- he-" She burst into tears again.
Gramps wrapped his arms around her, staring over her shoulder at Blue, who was still leant against the doorframe. He didn't want to have to do the explaining.
"Red?" he said. "What do you mean?"
Daisy detached herself from her grandfather and took a few breaths. "S-sorry. It all happened so fast. This man sort of… appears from nowhere. He had a Typhlosion. I-I couldn't do anything, he just told it to attack and- and-" She stifled another sob. "By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late."
"Daisy…" Gramps said, after a few moments of silence. "You of all people shouldn't have to deal with something like this."
Daisy glanced at Blue. "Hey," she said. "Wh-Why don't you go up to bed. Me and Gramps, we'll-"
"Talk about me while I'm not around to hear?" Daisy's silence told Blue all he needed to know. "I'm not going! I'm not a little kid this time."
Gramps sighed. "I know how you must be feeling, Blue, but—"
"I'm not old enough to understand? 'Cause I get exactly what's happened. Red's gone, just like mum and dad." Blue didn't know why he was being so aggressive. In the emotional turmoil, anger seemed to be coming out on top. He stepped over to the door. "I'm going to… out."
Daisy sat up straight, fixing her eyes on him. "No!" she said. "Please, don't."
Blue hesitated. Without a word, he turned and went upstairs. But not quite so far that he couldn't hear what was going on below.
Daisy gave a relieved sigh and sunk into her chair.
"That boy…" Gramps said. Blue scowled. He hadn't done anything wrong.
Daisy shook her head. "This… it's how he deals with it. He doesn't like showing 'weakness', as he'd probably put it. Just leave him. He'll work through it in time."
The two were quiet for a while. Blue was contemplating returning to his room, but then Gramps said, "Have you spoken to Red's mother?"
"No," Daisy said. "I assume the hospital will have… informed her."
"I should probably go visit. See if everything's okay."
Blue heard footsteps, then the squeaking of the door handle. "The Celadon trip we had planned for the school holidays…" Gramps said. "I'll see if I can move it forward a little. I'll invite Delia too. She'll probably want to get away from everything for a while."
Daisy took a shaky breath and stood up. "I'm going to get some sleep," she said. "Goodnight, Gramps."
"Yes. Goodnight."
Blue stood up and crept into his room. How could they be acting so calm about this? He brushed away a tear that escaped his eye. There was no way he was gonna be able to sleep tonight.
Clouds clung in wisps to the peaks of the mountain range that separated Pewter from Celadon. The rail tracks wound their way through like a sleeping Ekans, twisting up and down through the slopes.
Blue stared vacantly out the window. Daisy wasn't talking. Red's mum wasn't talking. Gramps wasn't talking. The sombre atmosphere was starting to get to him.
A screech resonated from the tracks as the train ground to a halt. Blue heard Daisy stand up beside him. "Blue?" she said. "We're here."
He nodded and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah."
The four of them stepped out into the city, the twilight air brushing against them. Blue shivered, but his coat was stuffed in his bag and he didn't want to bother taking it out. Their hotel couldn't be that far away.
The silence continued all day. When bedtime came, and still nobody would speak to him, Blue decided enough was enough. They couldn't all just sit around acting sad. That man had come out of nowhere and ki— and Blue wanted… needed answers. If nobody else was doing anything about it, this was up to him.
Blue pushed himself out of bed, picked up his backpack and crept over to the door. After a gentle tug to get it open as quietly as possible, and a few silent seconds to make sure nobody heard the creaking, he snuck across the hallway and into his grandfather's room.
A brown satchel bag lay on the floor by a set of slightly cracked hotel drawers. Perfect. Gramps always kept some Poké Balls on him, in case he needed them. Right now, Blue definitely needed them. He grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his pocket. That should be enough.
Blue left the room and shut the door behind him. Now to— Blue froze. Footsteps. Someone—from the sound, probably Daisy—was coming up the stairs. Blue rushed over to his room, grabbing the door handle.
"Blue?"
Too Slow. "Y-Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"I… had to go to the bathroom." Blue pushed against the door, hoping she wouldn't notice the straps of his backpack behind his shoulders.
Daisy rubbed her eyes. "Right. Well, I'm off to bed now. Night."
"See you tomorrow." Blue spun into his room and leant against the door. He felt his pocket, making sure the Poké Balls were still there. Good. If everything went to plan, he wouldn't be seeing her tomorrow.
After waiting a while to make sure Daisy was asleep, Blue slunk back into the corridor. He took the stairs one at a time, keeping creaks to a minimum, and walked slowly past his sleeping Gramps. Blue stepped through the door, down the hotel corridor and out—through the fortunately alarm-free fire exit to avoid the receptionist—into the night. He looked up and down the row of streetlights and realised that he didn't exactly know where to start.
Celadon in the winter was a little colder than Blue had expected, and the stoneish clouds massing in the sky threatened rain. He frowned. Might as well just go forward. The underground path on Route 7 would be safe in case a storm broke, at least.
Blue sat huddled behind the door on the Route 8 side of the underground path. The rain had begun just as he reached Route 7, and despite the fact that it was good hour later, the downpour was still going.
A gust of wind sprayed a shower of raindrops into the stone building, some of which impacted Blue's face and clothes. He shivered, wiped his hair dry and glanced back down the tunnel. Maybe he shouldn't have just run away like this. Gramps always said that going out alone was dangerous, after all.
Blue pulled one of the Poké Balls from his pocket and activated it. Then again… that man was still out there. Who knew how many other people were at risk? Blue was the only one who had seen him other than Daisy, and she hadn't battled in years. He couldn't just back out now.
The screeching of tires sounded from Route 8. Blue jumped up, just in time to see a black van with tinted windows speed down the road and through the gate into Saffron. He stared after it. Where was it going this late at night? And why so fast?
Blue was about to brush it off as unimportant and go back to waiting for the storm to clear, when he heard something else. An anguished yelp followed by the patter of tiny footsteps. Blue stepped out into the rain and squinted at the pathway from Lavender Town. Something was approaching him. It was small—about knee height. It's head was white. Or… was that a mask? It clutched a pale stick of some sort, dragging it along the ground behind it.
Blue wished his Gramps was further along with the Pokédex he was working on. Whatever this was, Blue didn't know it. "Hey," he said.
The Pokémon turned to him and gave a wary sort of coo.
Blue smiled. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."
Blue noticed that the Pokémon seemed to be leaning on the stick—on closer inspection it seemed more like a bone—it was carrying. "Are you all right?" he asked. Blue recognised it now. A Cubone. But weren't they supposed to live in caves?
The Pokémon stumbled, crying out, and fell forwards. Blue leapt, catching it before it could hit the ground. "Hey! Are you hurt?"
"Cuu…" It's voice was weak.
Blue jumped to his feet. "I-It's okay, you'll be fine. I'm gonna get you to a Pokémon centre."
The rain no longer even registering, Blue set off running towards Lavender Town. He had to save this Pokémon. He couldn't let it die while he just stood there and watched. Not again.
Blue's foot caught something lying in the road and he tripped, rolling forward. He clutched Cubone in his arms, trying his best to shield it from the impact. When he finally stopped moving, Blue placed the Pokémon on the ground in front of him and pushed himself to his feet. "Sorry," he said. "I—" but then he noticed what he had tripped over.
It was hard to make out through the rain and the dark, but in the middle of the road was the still form of a Marowak. Cubone watched it mournfully. Was that it's mother? Blue placed his hand on Cubone's head. "I'm sorry," he said. "Did… did Marowak get hit by that truck?"
Cubone shook its head and trailed its bone along the ground. It held it up to Blue. The end was covered in purple gunk. A telltale sign of some kind of poison attack. Blue's eyes widened. "The people in that van did this on purpose?"
Cubone nodded.
Blue didn't know whether it was Marowak or Red or the rain or the cold or the fact that it was almost 3:00 in the morning, but something snapped and he just couldn't take it anymore. He buried his face in his arms and began to cry.
Blue wasn't quite sure how long it lasted, and by the end he was still tired and still scared, but he was also a lot more ready to deal with that. It had stopped raining as well.
He tried to stand, but realised that, at some point, Cubone had sat itself in his lap and seemed to have been crying along with him. Blue rubbed the tear streaks off of the Pokémon's mask. "I-I'm better now… I think," he said. "Thank you." He lifted Cubone into his arms and stood again. "Hey, Cubone?"
"Cuu?"
"The people who did this… They might be strong enough to do stuff like this, but that just means we gotta be stronger. My friend Red got killed too. I'm here 'cause I wanna know why. So, what I'm really asking is…" Blue pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket. "Wanna come along with me? I need to get stronger if I'm gonna stand up to these people. And I think you could really help me."
After only a couple of seconds for consideration, Cubone pressed its bone against the ball, disappearing in a flash of white light. The ball shook once, twice, then clicked.
Blue grinned. "All right!" He opened the Poké Ball, materialising Cubone on the road. "It's you and me now," he said. "We'll be the strongest team in the world. Stronger than even the Pokémon League Champion! Now let's find that Pokémon Centre."