Chapter 3: The Legends (part 2)

"I used to be a really good, happy trainer like you. I chose Charmander and I started my journey with Leaf and Blue, like this." Red put his hat backwards and pushed the back down so that his hair spiked upwards. "I caught my first six Pokémon pretty quickly. I never evolved them, though. I loved them so much and I thought that evolving them meant changing their personality too. I had a great, happy journey with Leaf until I got to the S.S. Anne. After my battle with Blue, I healed my Pokémon, helped some guy, and the ship arrived. Leaf and I got out and immediately got pushed out of the way by Blue, who was running for some reason. Our next destination was Lavender Town. When I got there, I was utterly shocked. I had no idea Pokémon could actually die if you didn't heal them fast enough. I learned about the old man who disappeared and Team Rocket's ordeal at the Pokémon Tower, so I decided to do something about it. Leaf decided to head for Celadon City and I headed for the tower. As soon as I started my ascent though, I noticed someone crying over a tombstone that was freshly installed. When I approached him, he suddenly turned around, revealing his puffy red eyes and unusually messy hair.

'You.' He said through gritted teeth, pointing at me.

'What are you doing here?' His other hand stayed at his side, gripping a pokéball with white knuckles.

'Your Pokémon don't look dead.'

'Blue, I-'

'I can at least make them faint.' He threw a pokéball violently on the ground, his Pidgeotto appearing with a rather angry cry.

I barely won, and when I did, he just stood there, sobbing. I didn't know what to say or do. I didn't really understand why he was crying until I noticed the tombstone behind him. It read:

Here lies Raticate

Blue's best friend will forever

be in his heart.

R.I.P

It was then that the first blow of life was dealt. I beat Blue's Raticate, and since he was too stubborn to ask for help from the little girl on the first floor, he was too late when he arrived to the nearest Pokémon Center. I remember that I felt like I wanted to vomit at the time.

'I better get going.' He wiped his tears and didn't let me see his face.

'Smell ya later.' His voice cracked as he ran, leaving tears in the air." Red paused, holding Leaf's hand and sharing the same pained look.

"That's also when the trio got separated. Blue was nowhere to be seen and I went ahead without Leaf, not having the courage to tell her about what happened. The final blow that changed me forever was when I got to Lt. Surge Gym. He mentioned he knew my father." This made everyone look up, since everything regarding Red's father was always shrouded in mystery.

'What are those weak Pokémon? Your father would be so disappointed.' I lost the match and ran out the gym, hearing Surge's laughs echo trough the Gym. That comment hit me hard. So hard that I completely changed my way of thinking. I changed my whole team and only my Charizard and Raichu stayed. I asked Blue to give me his Blastoise's egg in exchange for my Executor and I asked Leaf to give me her Venusaur's egg in exchange for my Pidgeot. I fully evolved them and caught a Snorlax along with Articuno. I beat the Elite 4 and Blue with that team. It was then, at the Champion's chamber, that Blue and I forgave each other. I apologized for Raticate's death, and he apologized for the mess at Lavender Town, saying Raticate's death was his fault and that he shouldn't have acted that way. I also apologized for taking Blue's throne as Champion so quickly. He shoved it off though, saying that Kanto was only the beginning. We smiled as we parted ways once again." Red actually grinned, remembering his rivalry throughout all the regions.

"Jeez." Nate laid back on his chair. "Thank god our journey wasn't that hard. Or dramatic."

"We were born during hard times for the world." Leaf gave a weak smile. "We lived in a small town of poverty, so we learned to be humble from a young age. During our childhood, it was impossible not to hear something about the war. Everybody lost something. Everybody was recovering from it. Red had no father and Blue only had his grandpa and his little sister. I was abandoned by my parents, so I was adopted in Red's family. You guys were born much later, meaning that the world was no longer recovering during your journey or your childhood. Your journeys were way easier than ours." She sighed.

Calem thought for a moment.

"One last question, since I didn't directly ask it last time and it's a really simple one."

Red nodded to Calem's request.

"So your father was in the Great Pokémon War. Is that hat the only thing he left?" Red slowly nodded, no expression visible on his face.

"AZ once told me that he met a strange man with piercing crimson eyes when creating his weapon." This perked Red's interest.

"Upon seeing his creation, the man simply shook his head and walked away."

"Typical." Red muttered under his hat just low enough so nobody heard it.

Alright. I'm going to try asking for help from you guys one more time. I need questions for the Never Have I Ever game next chapter. I was going to include it in this chapter but I'm just running out of ideas so I need help. This time the chapter is going to take a bit longer because I want to take things a little bit slower and I want to give you chance to review. :'( pls help

Edit: Thanks to Roy Arisato, I just realized that I didn't include Silver in Krystal's story. Don't worry, he's there, he just wasn't there during the events of her disappearance. I'll include him in the next chapter, so don't freak out just yet. Another really cool thing I forgot to include in this chapter is Gold's battle against Red. I'll put that in the next chapter and I'll reveal who won. Until then, just wait.

[Message from future Ninmai (before releasing chapter 28): You can still give questions in the reviews. Once I have enough, I'll release a better Never Have I Ever chapter with better questions and mention it here. If you have a good question, please don't hesitate to review or PM me. Also, if you want a better telling of Red's story, read the first chapter of The Legend Files!]