After his first major victory on his Pokémon League journey, Matthew rested a few days in Pewter City before continuing on. With the excitement of earning his new Boulder Badge, and the idea that he might not be a total failure when it came to pokémon training, he felt that his partners needed the relaxation as much as he did. But eventually, he knew, he would have to leave Pewter and continue this challenge his mother had forced him into.

As far as he could tell from all that he gathered around the Pokémon Center, the nearest town with an official gym was a place called Cerulean. It would take him several days to get there, as he would need to travel the extensive Routes 3 and 4. And not to mention making his way through Mt. Moon.

Matt had heard legends about the caves under the mountain, just as everyone else in the region had. But as he looked up at the ten foot arch that was the entrance to the tunnel system, all courage left him. It was like a deepening void, an all consuming pit that he would never return from.

Two days it had taken him to get here. And though it had not been as terrifying as the forest, Matt still wasn't sure he liked the idea of camping outside. The open grassy fields were perhaps even worse than the secluded little nooks one could find in heavily wooded areas. But the route did not feel dangerous at the very least, and he had dealt with it.

So far the worst he had to deal with was a few trainers that had challenged him to battles, but Bulbasaur and Rattata had no issues dealing with their pokémon. It seemed that the majority of people in the area only had things like pidgey, rattata, and the bugs that were common in Viridian Forest.

Wringing his hands at the sight of the dark aperture, Matt turned around and ran back into the Pokémon Center located on the northern end of Route 3. He had spent the entire day in the center, too afraid to make the plunge into the caves. This was his third time returning. Fire filled his face and he attempted to hide his embarrassment by covering his cheeks with the collar of his vest. But it seemed that only one person in the hospital was paying any attention to him.

Sitting alone at a table in the left corner of the lobby was a man that, apart from obscuring his face, would have looked rather ordinary to Matthew. Matt, after all, knew what it was like to want to hide himself away from the world. But the way this man was staring at him so intently, the boy knew that he was hiding his face for a totally different reason. What that reason was, he did not know. Perhaps he had heard about his gym battle? Maybe he thought he recognized Matt behind the upturned collar?

No matter the reason, Matt did not want to speak to the man and so walked to the other side of the center. There were a few other people at this part of the lobby, mostly children about his age. But they had ignored him well enough the past few times he had sat with them. He sat down at the far end of a long lunch table and folded his arms across his chest. His legs were just shy of long enough to reach the ground, and so when the tears began trying to force their way out of his eyes, he tried to distract himself by kicking at the air.

He was so afraid to do anything. Why was he this way? As a child Kayne and Matt would explore all around Pallet Town. Several times they had even tried to go out on Route 1 to play with the wild pokémon before inevitably being caught and dragged back by an adult. But even that had been scary now, and he had a partner of his own with him!

His ears unintentionally picked up on the conversation of some of the other children, and after a flash of white light they had his full attention. A girl with long brown hair had sent out a small, blue-purple rabbit-like creature and was now petting it. Matt noticed that she was being ever-so-careful of the small horn-like protrusions on the creature's body, something he knew to be a smart choice.

Slowly, Matt pulled the Pokédex from his pack and inconspicuously took a snapshot of the poison-type. He cited that, although small, the venomous barbs that lined nidoran's body were very dangerous. Even so, he had the strong urge to pet the nidoran himself, though didn't dare ask the girl for permission.

"Oh, a female!" said another one of the kids. This one was a boy wearing a simple t-shirt, shorts, and a ball cap. He looked to be one of the short pants fanatics he had met along Route 3, but couldn't be sure. "She should meet mine!"

The boy opened a poké ball, releasing a second flash of light. Another poison pin-covered pokémon appeared on the ground. This one was a violet-red, and the spikes that covered its body were much more pronounced. Matt noted in the Dex that it stiffened its ears to listen for danger and h;ad larger horns than its female counterpart.

Matt smiled at the two poison-types, wishing that he could lay down on the floor and play with them like he had been doing with his own two partners the past few days. But it was good enough that he had added two new entries to Oak's index, something he felt he was doing a poor job on. Kayne had probably seen at least thirty different pokémon by now, and Matt has barely seen more than ten.

The other children showed off their partners, all species that Matt had already seen and added for Oak's task. Within the hour they were finished chatting and relaxing, and left the center, still not acknowledging that Matthew was there. A tinge of regret lingered as the last boy walked away. Not because Matt wanted to talk to him, but because he thought it would have been nice to let his own partners play with the stranger's. But it was too late now.

"Hello there, kiddo," said a deep yet hushed voice. Matt turned to see the odd man from the other side of the center now sitting beside him. "That device you have there, what was it? A camera?"

"A c-camera?" said Matt. It was a camera in a way, but also other things. "It's a… a thing for a r-r-researcher. S-someone that l-looks into p-p-p-"

"Pokémon? Nice. Very interesting. Are you a fan of pokémon, I wonder? A trainer, perhaps?" asked the man. He reached into a pocket of the long, black trench coat he was wearing and pulled out something a shimmering metallic gold. "Yes, of course you are! I am too, you know. But a special kind of trainer. I train up pokémon for other trainers. It's a sort of business, you see. And what I have here, well, it might just be my best work yet!"

"You t-train for others? Th-that's very n-nice of you," Matt said, and the man's head jerked strangely. Instinctively Matt stood up quickly, slamming his knee into the table. But he ignored the pain. Something was telling him to get away from this man. "I n-need t-to get going though! W-wanna get h-hom before dark," he lied.

"It's already dark out, isn't it? Where do you live? You've spent the entire day here on your own. Don't tell me you walked all the way out to this hospital in the middle of nowhere for that! Come on, you're here for the pokémon, aren't you? Yes, yes. Hey, how about we go outside. I can show you something real nice! A real nice pokémon." The man flashed the golden object, and now Matt could clearly see that it was a poké ball.

Matt nearly slammed his palm into his face. Of course that was what this man meant. He was a pokémon salesman! "Oh! A n-nice pokémon? S-sure! I'll see it!" If this man was trying to sell Matt a new partner, a new friend, why should he say no? There was nothing wrong or scary about a salesman after all.

When they left the center, Matt found that the sun had indeed already gone down. He must have been watching the other trainers for several hours and not realized it. But the lights around the building were enough that he could see the man lead him around the back to a medium sized pond, likely belonging to the center to treat and hold water-types.

"Alright, kid! You're gonna love this, I swear! It'll only cost you ¥500. With this, you'll be a master in no time! Yes, a bona fide master!" Matt's heart began to race. Just what could this thing be, this creature powerful enough to make him a master trainer? Was there really such a pokémon?

The man pressed the button at the center of the golden ball and a light erupted from it, sending a shower of sparks onto the edge of the pond. What appeared was nothing like anything Matthew Red could have expected. Splashing about in the pool's shallows was an orange-red fish with long golden whiskers. Despite being in water, the creature seemed to be struggling to breath, or move, or do anything other than flop about. Matt's heart sank.

"Here it is! The ultimate addition to any team! What ya say, kid? More than worth that ¥500, eh? Or if you couldn't afford it, we could make a deal another way." asked the man, smirking at Matt as he stepped down on the floundering fish in some attempt to mask the creature's futile attempt to survive. Matt's sunken heart suddenly lifted. But not in excitement or hope. Seeing this pathetic creature being crushed and suffering filled him with an anger he had not felt since the incident with Kayne so long ago.

Matt pulled out his Pokédex and began to enter the creature into it, making sure to speak aloud what he was typing. "Magikarp, the Fish Pokémon. F-famous for being very unreliable. It c-can be found swimming in lakes, rivers, and shallow puddles."

"What?"

"Y-you can't trick me! Th-that's a magikarp! I'm not paying for it, b-but you better get off! You're hurting it!" Matt cried, lunging at the man's legs. The man stumbled back and the magikarp was able to flop further into the pond.

"Why you little—"

"You, over there!" cried a voice from behind Matt. He turned around to see a woman dressed in a fine blue uniform rushing over to him. "I knew it! I knew what you were up to the moment I laid eyes on you!" Matt's attention returned to the man who was now attempting to pull himself up off the ground. His trenchcoat has slipped off his body, revealing a deep black uniform. A red letter "R" was embroidered on the chest, and about his waist were several more golden poké balls. "Rocket!"

"The police? You called the police, kid?" the man cried, now scrambling across the ground. "I thought you were cooler than that!"

"Wh-what? I—"

The man began running off, dodging past the police officer and moving in the direction of the cave. Matt looked on, stunned at shaking at what he had just done. He had attacked someone. Yes, the man had been stepping on the magikarp, but did that mean he needed to physically shove him?

"Kid! What are you doing?" the police officer said, reaching Matt.

"I— I j-just… I didn't m-mean to! He j-just was h-hurting!"

"Yes, yes! I saw!" she said, bending down slightly and putting a hand on Matt's shoulder. The boy recoiled, but only for a moment. "That was a very bad man. Did you see what he was wearing?"

"Y-yes," said Matt. "He had a r-red letter, I think."

"That's the insignia of a notorious gang we've been having trouble with lately. You've heard of the Rockets, right?"

Matthew didn't answer, instead he looked back into the pond and the fish pokémon that was still flopping about. It seemed to be doing better than before, but Matt's heart still felt for it. "Magikarp…"

"We'll take care of the pokémon, don't you worry!" the officer said. "You were very brave there… what was your name?"

"M-Matthew. Matthew Red."

"Okay, Matthew. Are you a pokémon trainer?"

"I am," answered Matt, turning his attention back to the woman in front of him. "He was going to give me magikarp."

"I'm not so sure about that, Matthew. The Rockets don't usually give out pokémon. They steal them."

Matt clenched his fists.

"St-steal? They steal people's partners, their friends?" he asked and the police officer nodded. Matt felt the same rush he had felt before when he had shoved the man. "Why? Why would someone do that! If I lost Bulbasaur and Rattata, I'd… I'd…"

And Matthew bolted off, leaving the officer behind to call his name. Matthew Red entered the cave that he had been so afraid. But that fear was now replaced by something he could not describe. It was more than anger. It was a need. A need to help or stop or do something. He would do something.