PART ONE: AGE OF INNOCENCE

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"So I said to him, 'Look. There are two fossils here. How about you take one, and I take one?' And, for a while, he just ran around in circles, babbling incoherently. But his Pidgey—it sort of pecked one of the fossils. So he took that one, and he said—I'll never forget this—he screamed, 'THE HELIX FOSSIL HAS BEEN CHOSEN! PRAISE THE MOON STONE!'"

—Anonymous fossil enthusiast

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Start Time: 0d 0h 0m

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Let's start at the beginning…

…Well, let's try. I wasn't actually there for the beginning. No one was, except Abby K.

She told me some things, though, during that grueling night in the Rock Tunnel. We didn't have much else to talk about. And we were losing our minds. So Abby put on a smile, and told us about the beginning. She had a way of keeping us sane.

Ah, man. We're just getting started, and I'm already nostalgic.

Well, I won't dawdle. I'm sure you've seen The Oak Interviews. You know that Red was troubled from a young age. You know that his condition got worse and worse. And you know that, by the age of ten, he could hardly control his own body.

Or maybe not. Maybe you don't know anything about Red at all. Don't worry—you're welcome to listen, too! In fact, I'm excited for you. This is a story everyone needs to hear.

It's a tale of glory and sacrifice, of heroes and villains, of gods and kings. It's a tale about courage, and rebellion, and revolution.

Most of all, it's a tale about a ten-year-old boy who keeps falling off a ledge.

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Red's mother was worried about him. He kept wandering into tall grass, you see. Which is a big no-no, if you don't have a Pokémon companion.

So, she let him have a Pokémon companion.

Actually, it was Blue Oak's idea. Yes, that Blue Oak. The ex-Champion. He was Red's childhood rival, back when Red could still form coherent sentences. Blue was about to set off on his own Pokémon journey, and I think that, in spite of everything, he still believed in their rivalry. So he convinced his grandfather—the famous Pokémon Professor, Samuel Oak—to give Red his choice of Starter.

Red chose Charmander. Well… maybe "chose" is the wrong word. Red ran around the room, banging on random objects, until he accidentally opened Charmander's Poké Ball. That was how he "chose" most things. He also "chose" his Charmander's nickname: ABBBBBBK(. Get it? Yeah… neither do I.

By this point, Red was out of control. No one was surprised when he ran away.

At least he had a protector.

~·~

Abby never told us how she beat Brock. Whenever we asked, she'd just smile slyly and say, "Trade secret." I… don't think she knew what that meant.

In fact, she was probably embarrassed. I think Brock went easy on her. Here was a ten-year-old boy who didn't seem right in the head, and who was fighting a rock-type gym leader with nothing but a Charmander. Brock was probably so weirded out that he threw the match.

But that's just speculation.

After earning his first badge, Red went east, to Route 3. There, he caught a wild Pidgey. His second Pokémon—and, by far, his most famous. Back then, though, he was just Pidgey. Hard to believe, I know.

Red went north, and fought his way through the caves of Mt. Moon. At some point, Abby evolved. At some other point, Red found a Moon Stone. He took quite a liking to it.

Those caves, as it happened, were filled with Team Rocket grunts. Red battled many of them, and defeated many of them. They underestimated him—as many others would.

Apparently, those Rocket grunts were looking for something.

Apparently, someone else found it first.

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Eventually, Red made it past Mt. Moon. He traveled east, through Route 4. He reached Cerulean City. He battled Blue on the Nugget Bridge…

…Blah, blah, blah. This is all third-hand information. I don't have any new details.

Sorry, but they aren't called "The Lost Days" for nothing. They're lost. Even to me.

But now the beginning is over. The rest of the story, I know better. Some of it, I heard from others. Most of it, I experienced personally. And I've kept every memory.

I am the Keeper, after all.

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End Time: 1d 11h 25m

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Current team:

PIDGEY, lv.16

• Pidgey (Normal/Flying)

• Gust, Sand-Attack, Quick Attack

···

ABBBBBBK(, lv.24

• Charmeleon (Fire)

• Scratch, Bide, Growl, Leer