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The radio booth was surprisingly big. Professor Oak said that it was so that trainers with big pokémon would be able to fit inside for an interview. Mary told him that it was big so that it would be able to hold her ego.
Red had heard that she was the Professor's friend. She was a little older than Daisy, he figured, soft faced and stylishly dressed in a green turtleneck. Her hair was pink, curled into two ponytails, and she wore thick glasses. When they first met, she held her hand out to him for him to shake, and didn't seem very offended when it took him a moment to understand what she wanted that gesture to mean. She explained as he settled into the booth that people showed themselves differently- she had odd habits herself, being a radio host, so it wasn't fair of her to complain when someone else acted oddly.
"The interview is really just a formality," she said. Lance and Professor Oak chatted idly outside of the door, away from the microphones. The room itself had soft padding on the side that Mary let him touch, a fancy microphone that she did not let him touch, and a pair of headphones that she helped him place over his hat. As she continued, she settled down herself, across the way from Red. "We like to talk to every incoming champion to see how they got there, and it's been a little while since we've had someone new."
Red tilted his head slightly. "What about Green?"
Mary hummed. "Actually, we did reach out to him, to see if he would want to come to this interview so we could talk to you both. I was told that he said no, but I'm not sure!" She sighed. "It's really unfortunate! You're some pretty remarkable kids. I hope I get a chance to talk to him one day, too." Instead of lingering, though, she pressed on, her face splitting into another smile. "So, when we go live, I'm going to introduce you, then ask you some questions about your journey- your pokémon, your battles, why you wanted to do this, things like that. Some of those questions might be hard to answer, so if you need me to slow down or move on, you can just tell me! Then, after that, we'll move on to live questions from our audience. Is that all okay with you?"
His mind drifted back to Saffron, to the barrage of noise asking him about everything. Mary was just one person, though- she couldn't be that scary. He hadn't known her for very long, but she at least seemed nice. He nodded- but, then, he remembered what Lance had told him before coming in, that his motions wouldn't be able to be picked up on the radio. "Yes," he said, leaning forwards slightly towards the hanging microphone in the center of the room. Pika sang out an affirmative himself, sprawled out over the table, and Mary laughed.
"That's a great start! Keep that up, and you'll do great!" Mary waved out of a nearby window, and the music playing on Red's headphones dwindled down to an end as a red light lit up in the soundbooth. Mary began speaking, her voice taking on a smoother quality than when she was just talking to Red, "Hi everyone, welcome back to the Variety Channel! This is DJ Mary with a very special guest. I'm here with the new Indigo League Champion, Pallet Town native Red Tajiri and his Pikachu! Red, it's good to have you!"
Red stared at her for a minute before realizing that he should probably say something back- he'd already said hi to Mary, so maybe… the people in the radio? "Um, thank you for having me," he eventually settled on, while Pika squeaked loudly enough to be heard. Mary smiled at him and nodded, and Red at least felt like he was doing something right. "I've never been on the radio like this."
"I'm glad that I'm the one that gets to interview you, then!" Mary laughed, and Red couldn't help but laugh a little with her. "There's not a radio tower out in Kanto yet, is there?"
This wasn't something that she asked him before. He glanced up at the microphone, and then at her face- where she wore that same, patient smile. After taking a deep breath, he resolved to try and ignore it- he was just sitting in a room having a conversation. Nobody needed to listen in. "No, there isn't. Professor Oak said that we would need to fly to Goldenrod if we wanted to talk on the radio." He paused for a moment, considering. "It's nice here. I wanted to battle the Gym Leader, but I didn't have time."
"Whitney is an up and coming star, a lot like you!" Mary tilted her head as she thought. "Thinking about you two battling… I think it would really be something worth seeing!"
"Whitney is really cool," Red said. This was something that he read on the plane, and he felt excitement bubbling up in his chest. "She's a normal type specialist. Her signature pokémon is a miltank. It has a reputation for hitting surprisingly hard, and for being hard to knock out."
Mary raised her eyebrows. "You really did your research! Maybe you should be the one asking me the questions!" When Red blushed, she laughed a little. "Speaking of signature pokémon, a lot of people are talking about yours, Red. How did you meet your Pikachu?"
Red looked down at Pika. Pika looked up at him and rolled onto his back. "I went into the tall grass without a pokémon and he tried to kill me," he decided, while Pika crooned innocently. Mary laughed, making Red feel brave enough to continue. "It sounds like a joke, but it happened. I was looking for Professor Oak, but there's grass outside of Pallet Town. Pika was waiting in there. The professor caught him, and he was my friend when I started my adventure."
"He's cute, for being so bloodthirsty," Mary said. She reached out to scratch Pika's stomach, utterly spoiling him. "Now, Pika is so exciting because you decided not to evolve him. What made you choose to leave him as a pikachu, when your rival evolved his eevee into a jolteon?"
"Pika didn't want to evolve." Red remembered Lieutenant Surge talking about the option, unlocking more power if he took that step. It took some time for them to talk it out- he still kept the stone in his bag, for when Pika was ready. "Evolution is a big change. I don't want to force him to do it when he isn't ready."
Mary continued on this path of questioning for a little while, asking about his pokémon, how he met them. He was eager to talk about something other than himself- how Saur liked to pick him up with her vines now that she was bigger, how he had to fight to earn Char's respect once he had evolved, how he stole Vee from the Game Corner. They were more comfortable than him, at least- a safe subject. He noticed, somewhere in the middle of one of the stories, that he'd actually forgotten that the microphone was even there. Even more, he realized that he was talking far more than Mary was.
He had just gotten through a story about Vee biting a Rocket grunt's hand when Mary gently interjected with a slight tilt of the head. "You first got media attention after your involvement at the Celadon Game Corner, but we didn't get to talk to you until later, after you drove Team Rocket out of Silph. It's been a few months since then, so how are you feeling?"
Red frowned after a moment, glancing down at Pika. He remembered his reflection, bug-eyed and flushed in countless cameras, in the doors of the elevator. "I don't think about it very much," he said, after that second of thought. "I'm glad that people aren't getting hurt anymore."
"The leader of Team Rocket… he was a gym leader in Kanto, wasn't he? You had to battle him for your gym challenge. Was it harder, knowing what he'd done?"
"Well…" He almost wondered why she wanted to know, but he supposed that he was the only one that did know. To everyone else, it looked like Giovanni just vanished one day. Red was the only one that knew better. "It was harder because he used his whole team, I think," he finally decided. "He felt like another trainer, when we were fighting. But, that was okay. It's easier to talk with the hearts of your pokémon."
Mary nodded. "You prefer actions to words, then?"
"Words are unnecessary. I think that the things that you do should say who you are, since people say things that they don't mean." Red smiled, feeling his face hurt a little because of the unfamiliar motion. "Giovanni said that he was going to end Team Rocket, but then he did. I haven't seen him since. If he keeps with his words, I think that's enough."
"That's a nice thought, from someone so young." Mary's voice softened, sweet. "If you think like this right now, then I have a lot of hope for your generation!" She turned her attention away from him, glancing up at the microphone. "We'll be right back after these short messages from our sponsors. Stay tuned, because we'll be taking your questions! If you have anything you want Red to answer…" He tuned out as she began to list numbers and ways to get in contact, scratching Pika on the stomach. Was his mom listening? It would be nice if she called in. He missed her, since he was staying on the Indigo Plateau- they hadn't even really had dinner together in a while.
"Red?" Mary was talking again, gently tugging Red out of his train of thought. He looked up at her, blinking as she held a hand out to him. "C'mon. Do you wanna go grab a snack?"
Red didn't take her hand, but he did nod, slipping his headphones off and standing. Pika seemed to notice that they were in motion and jumped, taking his perch back on Red's shoulder. Mary smiled and led him out of the recording booth, where Professor Oak and Lance stood waiting.
"You're doing a good job," Lance said, swooping in over anything that the professor wanted to say. "You're keeping a good message, and being honest. People like that in a champion."
"Are you finding radio any easier than television?" Professor Oak asked. It was true, he didn't need to look at himself here, and that thought helped keep his mind from racing away. Red nodded, and the professor grinned. "That's good to hear, my boy! It's good to get out there and talk about things that are important to you. Maybe one day, you'll get your own radio show, so people all over can hear what you have to say!"
The thought of being heard all across the region made Red's face turn funny colors. He hadn't thought about it when he was talking to Mary, but there really were people across Kanto and Johto that would listen to the show. Would they get mad at him, if he said something wrong? What would he do if they didn't like him? Red frowned slightly and looked away. He heard a little scuffle as someone elbowed someone else, then there was an approach.
Lance got down on one knee in front of him, shifting a little so that he was in Red's line of sight. "I'm not going to tell you that there isn't a weight on your shoulders, because that would be a lie. But it would also be a lie to tell you that this is a burden you must shoulder alone. Regardless of what others think of you, you must stand with your head high, because your pokémon are at your side." Pika crooned at acknowledgment, causing Lance to smile slightly. "You are a remarkable young man, Red. There is nothing in this world that you cannot conquer."
Before Red could answer, Mary cleared her throat. He hadn't noticed her leave, but it made sense- he was just too busy talking to Lance and Professor Oak. He looked up at her, and she waved a small box of cookies. "We'll be back on the air soon, so I wanted to grab you something. Ready to go?"
Pika jumped up and off of Red's shoulder before he could reply, grabbing the box out of Mary's hands. The choice was made for him, and with a quiet laugh, he picked Pika up and tucked into the cookies.
A few minutes later, he was back in the recording booth, the light on again to tell him that his every word was being broadcast across the country. Mary explained the segment to him and the listeners, they could call the designated number and ask their questions, and Red would answer them as well as he could. Red personally wasn't sure what questions people would even need to ask him, but he told Lance that he would go through with it, and Mary seemed excited to have him still here. So, he settled in, idly chatting with Mary until she took the first caller.
The voice on the other line was a woman, older sounding. Her voice was familiar, a little singsong-y. "Hello, Mary! Hello, Red! My name is Hanako. I live in Saffron City- We didn't quite meet, but you gave my daughter a doll shaped like a clefairy, do you remember?"
He never got her name, but she chirped everything that he said back at him. He had the doll in his pocket, and she looked lonely. "She was a copycat. I hope that she's doing well."
"She speaks of you fondly," Hanako said. "She would like me to ask what your favorite pokémon is."
For a moment, Red lost his focus. He began talking about the pokémon he'd seen around Pallet Town. He saw pidgey feathers in his backyard once, and collecting them made him want to learn more about pokémon. When they were kids, Green was bitten by a rattata, and Red spent the whole next day reading about their habits so that it wouldn't happen again. Once, he swore he saw a sandshrew there once but nobody believed him (but it didn't matter, but it was so dry that it almost broke into Professor Oak's water trough). He realized that he was rambling after a little while, and petered off awkwardly. Mary smiled at him though, and he allowed himself to finish, "But bulbasaur is cute, and pikachu was one of my first, so I think those two are my most favorites."
"Thank you for calling, Hanako!" Mary said, gently hanging up and moving onto another. "Hi, thanks for calling, who is this?"
This voice was lilting, a man's voice that Red swore he had heard before, once upon a time. "Jameson. Now, Red, you wouldn't happen to know where the Team Rocket boss has gone, would you? Pretty please, with a cheri berry on top?"
In the background of the call, Red heard a woman snap, something about cheri berries not being very appetizing anyway. And, suddenly, Red realized that Team Rocket had called into the show. …Though, Jesse and James themselves were fairly harmless. "No, sorry. He just disappeared. I think that there are other people that would know what happened before I would."
"Oh, alright! Thank you for trying," James said, though there was a brief pause. "…Wait, that's bad, isn't it, Jessie?"
After a brief struggle, a woman's voice came on over the phone. "Listen here, you twerp! We have to be the ones that know, as soon as you find anything out! You find us as soon as you know, or else that cute little pikachu is going to become pikastew!"
"I'm sorry!" James yelled over her. "My wife is- Jessie, don't break it, you'll make me lose my candy crush scores!- I did not get tampons from the store and she is very angry!"
Mary very quietly hung up the phone while Red buried his face in his hands. "That's radio for you," she said, sheepishly. "You never know who's going to call in! Let's move on, yeah?" Another caller, another greeting, and so it went- though, as they continued, the questions went by faster.
"Do you plan on staying the champion, or are you going back to school?"
"I would like to keep training. I don't like regular school very much, and I think that this is where I'm supposed to be. If someone beats me, though… Maybe I'll quit training and become a pikachu farmer."
"Is your mother alright with you doing this instead of being at home?"
"I talk to her when I can. But, she knows that this is something I like doing. I don't think she'd be mad."
"Were you worried about your pokémon, when you fought Giovanni?"
"I'm always worried about my pokémon, but I trust them to pull through, and they trust me to keep them safe. It was scary, but we made it and I'm proud of them."
"Are you worried that Team Rocket will try to get back at you somehow?"
"Not really. I beat them before, I can beat them again."
"You really should go back to school. It won't do for a boy like you to get too cocky."
"I don't think that's a question."
"What kind of potions do you use when you're adventuring?"
"The ones that taste like pecha berries."
"What are you going to evolve your eevee into?"
"I haven't decided yet. I want her to make the decision, I think. I heard that Johto and Sinnoh have their own evolution options, so I might want to see if she likes those."
"I got a pikachu like yours, but it keeps shocking me when I touch its cheeks! How did you get over that with your pikachu?"
"Don't touch its cheeks."
"Did you just say you wanted the potions to taste like pecha berries? Have you tasted a potion?"
"…Yes? They didn't have any that were bubblegum flavored."
"If your mother's phone number was money, how much money would you have?"
"I… Don't want to answer that."
The questions started to get more personal. Asking about his training style, or his grades, or if he'd been to Johto outside of this, or Green. When Red answered, sometimes someone else would call, telling him that he answered wrong with that same tense energy as a scolding teacher. His battle style wasn't good enough, or he wasn't answering the questions politely enough, and Green should be here, and how could he reign as a champion if he didn't know the region that he would be involved in? Red could feel his focus fade out and away, his answers becoming shorter, more defensive. Lance and Professor Oak wouldn't like it, but they weren't the ones in this chair.
"Do you really think your reign will last longer than a few months?" a man asked through his headphones. Mary looked like she was smelling something bad. "Why don't you abdicate and let the adults handle this championship nonsense? Go back to school and grow up before you try again?"
"I don't want to," Red finally said, his voice shaking from a strain that he didn't know that he was holding. "I want to be a pokémon master. I'm going to be a master, and I don't care what some old geezer that listens to the radio has to say about it."
Mary ended the interview after that, and apologized to Red on his way out for the way that her listeners behaved. He didn't say a word to Lance or Professor Oak for the rest of the day. The next morning, the newspapers called it a tantrum, the fan letters called it an outburst, and the six reporters that made the trek up to the Indigo Plateau asked him if he was competent enough to sit on the throne.
Red left the plateau a month later.
i've wanted to write about whatever happens between the kanto and johto games that lead to red on mt silver for quite some time, and though i won't get into them in a great amount of depth here, i get to play with it in terms of a larger story, which i'm very excited about.
thank you to "the news manual dot net" for holding all sorts of news terms that i can use poetically.
if you like what you read, please leave a comment, i am a creature that subsists on praise. if you don't like what you read, please leave a comment as well, i am also a creature that subsists on spite.
thanks for reading!
