Hello, and Happy New Year! Now it's time to start tying things to the canon of G/S/C as best as possible.
Poke-ball 29: Decision
The eruption on Cinnabar Island changed everything. It was enough of a natural disaster to draw in other regions to help, and upon arrival they noticed all the other things wrong with Kanto's environment. Sinnoh in particular took charge of Kanto's recovery, and in chastising its natural practices. It was humiliating, but it was needed. Little sick Kanto wasn't about to turn against the holy land of Arceus itself.
"We're lucky that someone like Cynthia is Sinnoh's Champion," Lance remarked, as he and Red discussed things at the Pokemon League. "Otherwise we might be facing divine wrath instead of just divine intervention."
Or Johto, thought Red. No doubt Johto would have tried to rebel or even overtake Kanto if it weren't for all the international attention and pity. At the very least Johto didn't want to go against world-leader Sinnoh either.
Lance sighed at Red's silence. "These last few months have been nothing but chaos. Chaos toward the better, perhaps, but chaos nonetheless, and who knows how long it will last."
Red only nodded. Originally, he was just going to expose the phantoms and their dangerous effects on the environment, and have everyone unite in purifying the land. But with the unexpected rush of help from the outside, everything got revealed: the truth of the war, Team Rocket, the phantoms, and even Red's naively disloyal plans. A lot of that was because of Sinnoh's top agent Looker. It had robbed Red of all decision, and more than ever he felt powerless in his Champion position
Red's rebellion in particular lit up the press, even more than Cinnabar's destruction. It angered Red only because it distracted from the more important news of the phantoms. Apparently the idea of a child Champion purposefully causing mayhem that resulted in deaths was so deliciously scandalous that people couldn't get enough.
It was no wonder Red had the Champion title stripped from him. And, honestly, Red knew he deserved it. His attempted defiance had changed little. Cinnabar's eruption was what ultimately altered things for Kanto, and what role did Red have in that really? If Agatha really wanted to take him away in particular, which Red doubted, then there were plenty of ways she could have lured him to the island. His misbehavior only gave Agatha an excuse to do so more cruelly.
Agatha...the uncanny laugh of Moltres, before it plunged...Red knew Agatha wasn't really gone. If she could indeed possess anything human or Pokemon, then anyone could be Agatha in disguise. Red swore that he saw signs of her in the new Elite Four members Karen,Will, and Koga, in Professor Oak, even in Blue. And the worst part was, even if it wasn't true, it could become true at any moment. For she had become the ultimate Ghost trainer in all senses of the word.
So much weighed heavily on Red, even without the awkward mantle of Champion. He had seen A Gym burn down because of his own folly, unnatural wraiths rising from the sands, a real person becoming one of those wraiths, a whole island self-destructing because of that wraith, and the shame brought when all those deeds were exposed for the world to judge. Add to that the unintentional body count from both the Gym and the island's eruption, and the fact that his own childhood friend had nearly been another casualty...multiple times...
Red knew he needed to disappear for a while, for his sake as well as everyone else's. He had so much to think about, and he could only do that in the isolated, impartial nest of nature, where all that mattered was strength and adaptability. That, Red and his Pokemon had plenty of. It had been too long since he ambled idly in the wild, silently listening to everything that wasn't a product of humanity. Words were only pointless prattle in the natural world, as were the worries of civilization.
This may or may not be the last drabble on this side. It depends on what Remi wants to do on her end. If this is the last of my drabbles, then thank you to everyone who has come this far! All reviews, favorites, and follows are greatly appreciated! If it's not the last, then all the above still applies, but I will see you again later! Just keep the alerts for this story on until it's declared finished on either my or Remi's side :)