Villians Prelude

"...Stay there..." he panted while holding onto his knees to support his tired self. Meanwhile, directly opposite him, Pikachu hissed and got ready to pounce onto the target. Red stared at the flustered pokemon as he cautiously stepped forward, his facial muscles aching from his forced smile. The lime-green pokemon frantically turned to his left and found it to be blocked by Espeon, while on his right was obstructed by Charizard, and all four beings started to close in onto Chikorita.

He yelped, and then hid deeper into the grass, the huge leaf on his head trembling in fear. Whimpering, he simply wished to be left alone by these predators. He could feel the static shock of the yellow fur ball, the psychic aura of the purple cat and the hot breath of the draconic creature. He could imagine his body getting torn into shreds by those claws, electrocuted till his nerves breaks, mind controlled by those psychic waves of terror. A hundred lives will never be enough in the face of such scary species. But even the worse was not among them.

The leaf on his head twitched as he sensed the suspenseful footsteps of the demon king. He dared not raise his head and make eye contact with those bloody eyes of ferocity.

Why did he get such a scary trainer?

When the lime-green pokemon had burst out from the pokeball, his expectations of an innocent ten year old trainer excited him. Balancing himself unsteadily on his four stubby limbs, he turned to get a good look at his new babysitter. Sadly, he drew the short straw.

It was an unexpectedly tall human draped with a cloak of darkness, and he could picture the hooded figure carrying a scythe, all reaper like. His pale complexion aggravated the deathly feel, and the top half of his head was also veiled by the hood. Daunting enough.

But it did not stop there when the human gazed downwards, revealing a pair of flaming red eyes. His trainer's eyes were of a perfect almond shape, the size of the pupils rather large, but it is the color that made everything looked so unnerving. It was like a storm of wind, fire and ice brewing within his stare, and to Chikorita, he was meeting an unbelievable and fearless being of intensity. Immediately after, the starter pokemon had dived into the grass patches of Route 29, and soon the whole team played one and a half hours of hide and seek. At least Red managed to benefit by catching a Sentret during their game of tag.

Exhausted, the trainer decided to end this once and for all. He felt guilty for cornering the tiny starter pokemon, but he had no choice since everyone's stomachs were groaning for lunch. It somehow hurts his pride after getting rejected by a pokemon, but he could only blame his impassiveness after spending the long years on Mt Silver. Red had tried multiple times to soften the stoic look on his face, but his expression was so unnatural that it freaked Chikorita out even more. Even the trio were trying hard to not appear scary. No matter what they tried, it felt like four bullies ganging up on a single helpless victim. The whole team was at a loss, for they had always dealt with tough and high-leveled pokemon during the last few years and suddenly here they have to console a jittery level five pokemon.

Chikorita, I need you to calm down. Espeon said via telepathy. However, it did not make the new pokemon any calmer at all, instead, he buried his head deeper into the grass. Pikachu ceased his hissing, while the eager Charizard got even closer to the fearful grass type.

This won't do, Red, this guy's way too intimidated. Pikachu sighed, and the trainer gave a tired nod. He signaled all of them to regroup and soon no one surrounded the cowering Chikorita. After a long while, the grass type starter raised his neck and observed that the scary trainer had left. Chikorita looked out of the grass, thinking what he should do since he was somehow freed from his trainer. Taking in the smell of nature, he ambled and wandered around, feeling relieved after the scary ordeal. Maybe his trainer had given up and decided to release it back into the wild. It was a new experience for him since he was born in the lab and had been living in the ranch for all his life. He might as well enjoy this relaxing situation before finding his way back to Professor Elm.

Chikorita continued to travel through the dense and tall grass, his leaf swishing left and right to part the long grass blades. Another swish and before him appeared a surprised Sentret, who swiftly propped itself up with its bushy tail. The pokemon stared down at the sudden disturbance, trying to determine whether he is an enemy, and immediately panicked when it did not recognize this queer looking pokemon. The Sentret start whacking the ground hard with its tail and its loud screech shook the air, while the clueless Chikorita simply cocked his head to one side, a question mark floating above him.

The sudden stampede of Sentrets caught the unaware Chikorita off-guard and he started fleeing for his life after a few seconds of comprehension. The troop chased after the poor pokemon, who tried to fend off the army. He thought of the possibility of winning against the scaredy-Sentrets if it was a one-on-one battle, but he was neither experienced in battling, nor good against a whole mob of wild pokemon. His stubby limbs slowed him down, his low speed stat dragging him back, making the situation even more hopeless. The Sentrets were now a lot more braver as a group and Chikorita was sure that he would get caught in no time.

A few violent bumps and scratches on the back coldly reminded the starter pokemon that he was simply a weak pokemon, and suddenly the memory of the scary trainer returned to his mind. Now that he thought about it, the demon king was actually trying to calm him down with his scary minions. Maybe he should have tried to understand what was underneath that intimidating appearance, maybe he should have gone with him to get stronger. But now was not the time for regrets since he was still in the midst of escaping. Ah, they're getting closer, he thought.

I wish he was here.

"...Pikachu... Thundershock..."

A bright and sharp blast of lightning lit up the place behind him, sending strangled cries of the Sentrets up into the air. Chikorita felt multiple jolts along his back, his leaf standing vertically upright. He could smell the smoldering of grass and the static that momentarily paralyzed his limbs. Losing his balance, Chikorita landed softly on his backside as he turned behind. Giving a silent gulp, his pupil-less red eyes surveyed the damage.

All the Sentrets, which was around twenty of them, were all knocked out, their fur spiking out from the attack, spirals replacing their tiny eyes. The grass was scorched, all black and singeing, and he could see the faint strands of electricity shocking the air around. It was as if judgement from the heavens had struck the Earth with a bolt of lightning, or a savior of tremendous power had came to save him.

Are you alright?

Chikorita turned to look and found the chubby yellow mouse from before sprinting towards him with a worried expression. Trailing behind the mouse, was the purple cat and the orange dragon.

Espeon, that's why I told you its a bad idea to leave him like this! The dragon grumbled.

It's fine, I was keeping tabs on him anyways. Replied the feline. Oh, are you alright?

Uh... Yeah, thanks...

You know, it isn't me that you should thank. Chuckled the mouse.

Chikorita tensed up and looked at the faraway figure that was slowly coming over. The grass-type starter widened his eyes in surprise when he finally got the full picture of the scary trainer. The afternoon sun shone over the figure brightly, and this time, it was not a reaper, but instead a human, who donned a black shirt and a bright red vest over it. The white collar of the vest was turned up, sporting a cool look on the trainer. He wore fingerless gloves and held onto another bright red-white cap in his right hand. His messy jet-black hair was flattened on his head, while his pale complexion was no different from before. With a sharp chin and nose, he did not look bad for a human. But what made him look so intimidating was those red eyes.

It was simply red everywhere, as if he represented the color of anger, danger, power, fire, blood and desire itself. Chikorita felt a fiery chill running down his nerves, as he stared at the living legend who is going to be his trainer. This trainer will make him stronger, and the starter knew that there will be a roller coaster to ride on if he joined the team.

Red crouched down, and Chikorita gingerly moved forward, his big red eyes staring at Red's full of wonder and fear. He let out a quick chirp as he scooted closer, and finally he stammered through telepathy.

T-Thank you!

Chikorita awaited the trainer's response with the leaf on his head still trembling, teeth chattering. Red, surprised, paused for a few seconds. Finally, he smile and bent his head forward with a softened look in his eyes.

"You're welcome."

The grass type blushed a little and scooted closer to the trainer, wanting to apologize for his previous actions that made the rest run around like idiots. Before he could speak via telepathy, the red-white cap was pushed onto his head gently.

"... The name's Red, from Kanto..."

Charizard here!

Espeon.

I'm Pikachu.

"Welcome to the team, Chikorita."

The waitress gave a suspicious glance at the cloaked customer. The pokemon society is open about everything, so it was unnerving to have such a mysterious person waltz into their pokemon restaurant. He ordered quite a lot, with two jumbo sized and two middle sized pokemon lunch sets, a bowl of tonkotsu ramen and a strawberry smoothie. Their restaurant provided pokemon food, and the seats were all bigger to accommodate larger sized pokemon. She had worked here for a good two years and this is the first time she had seen such a gigantic Charizard.

She then scurried off to send his order, having wild imaginations of the customer being a terrorist or a runaway criminal.

Meanwhile, Red simply sighed as his stomach growled for lunch. Nevermind that, he don't even know whether it is lunch at four in the afternoon. He had spent a short time in Route 30 and earned a teensy amount of pokedollars from battles, then skipped the boring and bland Cherrygrove City since there weren't any pokemon restaurants, although he managed to get a useful map of the Johto region from a Guide Gentleman. In Route 31, he caught two bug types, battled another trainer, and Chikorita was now at level 9. With his body hungering for food, he had ignored the Dark Cave completely.

Still, he was concerned about his appearance and wondered if it was the right choice to enter Violet City while being shrouded by a cloak. Even the guard had shot a suspicious glance when he dashed past the guard house. And even within the restaurant, he detected a few dubious looks from the other customers.

Sighing again, he did not even notice the waitress placing the food on the table. When he found his whole team wolfing down their lunch, his eyes sparkled when he saw the tall cup of strawberry smoothie and steaming bowl of ramen that was set on the table. Ah, smoothies and ramen, how much he had missed them.

Sipping on the drink, a dreamy expression formed on his face as he tasted the mild sweetness of the red berry. Then he slurped on his noodles, and savored the salty broth, euphoria sweeping over him as he wondered why the hell did he stayed up on Mt Silver when he could just live with such amazing food. Lost in his happiness, he gave a rare silly grin and Pikachu was almost freaking out when he discovered that abnormal expression on his trainer's face.

"-looked like the Champion Red!"

The spit take he just did sprayed all over Pikachu. The mouse almost electrocuted the boy in a fit of annoyance, and Espeon barely prevented her trainer from getting paralyzed by swiftly teleporting Red to the adjacent empty seat. Groaning, Pikachu grabbed a wad of tissue to clean himself while Red coughed and hit his chest violently. What the hell did he just overheard?

Calming himself down, the wary teenager listened to the conversation between the female duo that sat behind him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. My cousin that works at the, you know, Elm Pokemon Lab in New Bark. He told me some guy came to the lab yesterday. Apparently he looked a lot like the Red, and even had the same cap!"

"Maybe it's just a fan dressing up as him. He's still famous, isn't he?"

"But, but, he was accompanied by that Professor Oak! No ordinary person will be accompanied by that professor!"

"Serious? Do you have a picture?"

"No, he isn't allowed to use the phone during working hours."

"Then that's just hearsay, but then again, it'll be cool if that guy make his comeback as a trainer."

"Well, duh. I'm his fan!"

"First time I've heard that. Youngest Champion huh... that sounds pretty awesome."

"Of course! Did you watch his matches during the Kanto League Championship? His Charizard and Blastoise were great! And, and, his Pikachu and Espeon were so strong!"

"Chill, girl, you're shouting already."

"... You guys too..." Red muttered with a dull expression, as the three aforementioned started choking on their food as well. Chikorita looked at the others with a confused expression, not understanding what was happening. All three grumbled and quickly finished off the last bit of their food, with Red trying to hold in his laughter as he covered his mouth. The clueless Chikorita followed suit and hurriedly munch down the last piece of lettuce. Finally, Charizard, Espeon and Chikorita hastily returned to their pokeballs, while Pikachu nudged Red to finish his ramen and smoothie. They need to leave, like right now.

Pulling the hood lower, Red got up and swept past the female duo, who paused their chatter as they gazed at the cloaked figure. The trainer tried very hard to avoid eye contact with anyone, and quickly paid for the food at the counter. Soon, the glass doors of the restaurant clinked as the mysterious person left.

"Hey, what if that was Champion Red?" one of the girls suggested.

Out in the open, Red walked along the streets, his sneakers scraping against the cobbled pavement, while Pikachu enjoyed the city's liveliness on his shoulders. Many passers-by were still giving him doubtful glances, making him feel really uncomfortable. He quickened his steps as he scanned the tall buildings to search for a certain place.

Ah, there it is.

A multi-storied building with Japanese styled roofs stood far off in a distance, and was easily the most flashy structure in the city with its blue-black tiled roofs and a bronze falcon standing high and mighty at the top. At the highest floor, he spotted an open space with many vermilion columns, which was probably the arena. Red walked faster and got closer to the tower, and sure enough, a proud Shinto gate stood at the entrance. On the building itself, a symbol glimmered a shiny metal. It had a squarish U shape, with vertical stripe patterns on the sides. Above it, the Pokemon League logo was significantly larger, with its pokeball shape glinting gold.

Since it is the first gym in the Johto League, it will be an easy battle and Red could use it as an opportunity for leveling Chikorita up. From the looks of it, the Violet City Gym specializes in flying types, so he will have to strengthen the disadvantaged Chikorita. Thinking of going back to Route 30 to start grinding some levels, Red strolled away from the gym. He was then broken away from his train of thought by Pikachu's squeaks and pokes, finally aware of the modulated voice that had been calling out to him.

"Excuse me."

Red turned back and intuitively lowered his head, taking note to hide his face as much as possible. His eyes studied the older person, while Pikachu leaped off his shoulders and settled on the ground.

It was a guy who had neat blue hair, where a part of his fringe covered his right eye, while the remaining visible left iris was of a beautiful marine blue. Complementing his blue features, he wore a denim colored hakama that was shortened at the legs, a short turquoise haori with short sleeves and white buttons worn over the traditional clothing. White socks that reached beyond his knees were worn along with a pair of black sandals. His black wristbands were bordered red, and on a whole, he was dressed very Japanese-like.

"My apologies for bothering you, but might you be from out of town?"

Red nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, but your current appearance is troubling many of the city folk. Would it be alright for you to remove your cloak?" The guy requested.

Red pursed his lips as his mind tackled the current situation. He had predicted that this will happen, since masking himself as a shady character is not a really good idea. Even so, he cannot just expose himself like this since he might be identifiable with his conspicuous red vest.

"... Can I remove just the hood...?"

"Well, it does not seem to be a problem, so please do."

Red glanced sideways, rather perturbed by the increasing masses of people, and most were pointing excitedly towards the blue-haired guy. Sighing, he thought of getting this over and done with, and if anyone managed to identify him, he can only curse his own bad luck and then make a run for it. His hands grabbed the sides of the hood, pushed the fabric down, and immediate silence followed after. A few seconds later, mutters and soft words erupted among the crowd, with a few young girls gasping over his attractive face.

"Red eyes..."

"... Quite the rare eye color..."

"... Isn't he totally hot?"

"... So he's not anyone fishy..."

The teenager fidgeted uneasily, his hands itching to pull down the hood again. The blue-haired guy noticed his discomfort and hurriedly signaled him that he is free to go, and Red nodded gratefully, before he shuffled off. He and Pikachu almost broke into a mad dash when some females tried to approach him, and soon the hooded figure and pokemon disappeared from the main street.

Meanwhile, the blue haired guy got ready to enter the gym when suddenly a huge crowd surrounded him, a couple of them asking for his autograph. The Gym Leader sighed and went along with the fans, questions and comments bombarding him while he wrote his signature on the many pieces of paper.

It did not take a long while and soon he was done. Waving farewells to the bubbling fans, he went up the short flight of steps that leads to his gym. Remembering the mysterious fellow from before, he could not help but feel a sense of familiarity from that face. Red eyes were rare, and he swore he saw those kind of eyes before.

Shrugging his shoulders, Falkner entered the Violet City Gym.

The sky was colored a dark twilight, with white glitter sprinkled across the beautiful background. The sleepy Red trudged towards a pokemart, wanting to replenish his supply of adventuring items. He had spent the last two plus hours training Chikorita, by going up Sprout Tower to battle all the trainers, and running off to Route 31 to pick some fights with the wild pokemon.

The double glass doors of the mart slid open as a programmed voice called out "thank you for shopping with us" and Red plodded out of the mart, his shoulders sore with his backpack filled with stuff. The cashier guy had gave him a despaired look when he arrived at the counter with the countless amount of products. Meanwhile, many people were still judging him with curious looks as he crossed the streets.

It did not take long for Red to find a small inn tucked between the concrete giants of the city. The place did not fit well within the metropolis, the wooden house obscured by the neon city lights and signboards. Pushing a few pieces of cash onto the counter, Red was instantly given a key and soon he ascended the rickety steps to go to his room. He liked staying at inns as compared to the posh hotels, since anyone is welcomed to stay as long as you pay the lodging fees. No questions were asked and practically no one cares where he comes from, making it a quiet and cheap place where he could sleep in peace.

Twisting the slightly rusted doorknob, Red pushed with much force and finally the creaky birch door swung open, the hinges groaning. The room was not all that big, and had a simplistic bathroom fitted at the corner. Red threw his heavy bag onto the bed, released the whole gang, and then headed for the shower. Pikachu yawned and stretched when he was finally out of the pokeball, evidently a little irked about being kept inside the red-white device, while Espeon and Chikorita curled themselves up and slept. Charizard was however, still full of energy as he checked out the constricted interior of their sleeping quarters. He grew bored quickly and soon cuddled beside the rest of his sleeping teammates.

It took a good ten minutes for Red to be done with showering and he came out with his hair damp, wearing a casual set of clothes that served as his sleepwear. The view of his whole team snoozing off together brought a small smile to his face, and soon the teenager went to dry his hair so he could get an early lights out. At eleven sharp, he climbed into the warm covers of the bed, eager to fall back into his dreamland.

Tomorrow, he'll go for his first Johto Gym Badge, and slowly the next one, then the next, and the next and then he will complete the two weeks goal in time. The trainer then faced the ceiling, his eyelids growing heavy from lethargy and soon he fell asleep.

The tall, lanky man's court shoes clacked against the marble floor, the black leather glimmering with every step. He wore a recently laundered suit that allowed no creases on its immaculate material, the branded clothing showing off his wealth.

The sheer darkness of the wide study obscured his face, as the shadowy man walked forward. The shelves that lined the room were crammed with books of varying thickness, fossil and bug specimens filling the empty spaces on the wall. He strode past a classy dartboard, then a display case where a globe made of gold and creepy skull were sitting inside it. He stopped for a moment, his hollow black eyes gazing at the framed painting that occupied the next section of the wall.

It was an abstract painting of only two colors: a black background and a frighteningly bright red that slapped across the medium-sized canvas. The man gave a delighted laugh, as his black eyes went even darker. He continued to walk forward, and finally he arrived at his study table. His fingers lightly touched the finely crafted table, and soon he sat in the huge armchair that was placed right behind the elegant furniture. He then started meditating, fingers interlacing with eyes closed. And over the duration of fifteen minutes, his eerie smile and white teeth lit the room up capriciously.

A knock to the door made him replied with a grunt, and his eyes remained close as a refined butler came in.

"Sire, a good night to you." said the butler.

"A good night indeed, Brutus. Where's my coffee?" The man asked.

"Sire, 's going to be midnight."

"The night's my territory, give me my coffee."

"As you wish."

The butler walked over to the study table, his footsteps silent like that of an assassin. He is a middle-aged man with a physically strong body, and had similar black eyes as his master's, but it lacked the bloodlust the other man possessed. Soon, he set an ornate coffee cup on the mahogany wooden table, and bowed slightly. Serving him for a more than ten years, the butler could observe that the master was in an unusually good mood tonight. He was rarely seen smiling from ear to ear very often, and whenever he did, it was because he had some vile schemes going on in his head. Assuming that he was not needed anymore, the butler got ready to leave.

"The report, Brutus, the report."

"Ah yes, Sire. He left the town just today, and had reached Violet City at late afternoon."

"What else?"

"The plan's going well, and the League is going to take action as well."

"I see, you may leave."

The butler nodded and departed quietly.

Suddenly, a nefarious cackle ringed throughout the room, as the man's black eyes glinted wickedly, his smile getting more and more crooked by the second. He stood up and continued laughing like a madman. His eyes got crazed and more bloodshot, forming a horrendous expression on his face. Body trembling from his excitement, the psychopath danced around in glee.

After five minutes passed, he calmed down and sat back into his chair. Sighily dreamily, the man picked up his coffee and sipped the drink slowly, he then stared into his reflection inside the cup.

The gears were slowly coming together and now he can finally seek out for his goal. The characters will soon be assembled. Swirling the coffee, the man sighed.

"Tonight's a good night,"

A foreboding wind blasted the curtains open as moonlight drowned the study. The man then smirked and purred,

"Isn't it, Red?"