"Red" Normal Speech
'Green' People's thoughts
"Charizard" Other being's speech
'Mewtwo' Other being's thoughts
[Pokedex] Pokedex entries
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. It belongs to The Pokemon Company, Nintendo, Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri
Warning: This fanfic contains spoilers of the Pokemon Adventure (Up to the Emerald saga) manga. You can easily read this fic without having read the manga though, and this is just for those that want to avoid spoilers from it
Chapter 2
Viridian Memories
Viridian City
With a gasp Red's eyes opened wide, a frantic expression on his face, his breathing becoming even harder with each second.
A sound repeated itself in Red's ears. It repeated itself faster with each second it passed, and while it would normally annoy Red his mind was too worried right now to think of anything.
What the hell had been that? A nightmare he guessed, but there was something a lot different. This one felt too real for his taste, and even now he could hear that same twisted voice mocking him.
Bile rose to his throat once he remembered the screams of his friends and fellow Pokedex Holders. He slowly sat up and tried to control his breathing while moving his right hand to his face. He could feel the cold sweat that was now on his forehead.
'It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare…' the former champion repeated on his head, trying his best to calm himself down. It took him a few minutes but he was finally able to breathe normally. He would love to say that by now he was used to it, but even after months of the same dream it still made his whole body shiver every time he woke up.
He didn't even understand why he was like this. It had started as soon as his first day in this world, but even know he couldn't make sense of whatever was plaguing his mind. It was as if every time he woke up the memories became as hazy as they could.
But even so part of the nightmare always stuck on his heart. Not enough to understand it, but definitely more than sufficient to have him wish he could come in contact with anyone he knew, even if just for a second, just to confirm they were alright.
'Just a nightmare' honestly at that point that thought was the only thing keeping him sane. It was a nightmare, nothing else, his friends were fine and he would see them again as soon as possible, and then they will just laugh up all of this as just another adventure.
They were fine.
They had to be.
And it was a few seconds later that he realized where he was.
He recognized the place as one of the rooms that Pokemon Centers had for trainers that needed a place to rest. With his eyes he inspected the place, which was really basic to be honest, with white walls plastering the room, a couple of chairs and a bed, in which he was now on.
He also realized that the sound from before, which has now become slower, was some sort of machine that was connected to him. He wasn't even wearing his clothes; instead he had some sort of gown.
Confusion made itself present on his mind, his expression mirroring it. The last thing he remembered was seeing Ho-Oh after the fight against the Fearow, so how did he get here? Where was he anyway? He got that he was in a Pokemon Center but where exactly?
His mind didn't have mucho time to process these questions though, since just a second later the door of the room opened, a woman and a Pokemon that he both recognized easily entering the room, both with relieved smiles.
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Meanwhile
On the lobby of the Pokemon Center that resided in Viridian City there were 3 individuals, two girls and one Pokemon, currently sitting around a small table, each one with different expressions and thoughts storming their minds.
One of them was none other than Pikachu, the small rodent that was officially Ash Ketchum's starter Pokemon. The electric type was currently looking down, his expression one of both confusion and worry.
If someone had told him that he would ever worry about the health of a human he would have just laughed at them, after all he had always disliked humans. Pikachu liked his freedom, and just the thought of one of them coming and taking that away from him by capturing him like he had seen plenty of times was enough to make him see red.
This was why when that old man had caught him he had felt both angry and scared. He hated being confined in small spaces, and there was nothing smaller for him than a Pokeball.
Sadly the next time he had gotten out it had been to greet his trainer. A boy named Ash Ketchum. He had made his displeasure very obvious to him of course, and honestly he had been thinking of ways to escape during the whole day he had spent with Ash.
But then the Spearows and Fearow attacked, and that damn boy he had wanted to ditch had actually risked his life to protect him. Not only that but he had even stayed to face the Fearow alone just to give him and that girl time to escape!
Pikachu didn't know what to believe anymore. There was a part of his head that was telling him that it was all a trick somehow, and that Ash just wanted to take advantage of him, but then there was a bigger part of him telling him that the boy was different.
He didn't know what to do, but one thing was for certain. He was worried about Ash, and right now he only wanted to see him alive and well, hoping that seeing him would sort out his feelings.
Meanwhile, just besides the electric mouse there sat the only girl from the trio of childhood friends that had started their journey yesterday, and just like the Pokemon besides her Leaf was looking down, a gloomy expression present on her face.
There were so many thoughts on the girl's mind that she felt like steam would escape her ears at any moment, but all of those thoughts had something in common, and that was the boy she had practically grown up with: Ash Ketchum.
She had known him for practically her whole life, and in all honesty she couldn't say the two were too close. He was too immature for her taste, and while she could tell he was a good boy, especially with how kind he was, she still found him rather obnoxious.
Especially when he argued with Gary about everything. God did she show them what a mean punch she could pack when they started going off at each other.
But now she found herself more than a little confused. Yesterday she had seen a side of him that she thought didn't exist. He had appeared when she honestly thought no one would help her, and then he had stayed to fend off the Fearow in order to protect her.
He had saved her life. She wasn't dumb, she knew what might have happened if Ash hadn't appear when he did. In fact the first thing she had done after getting here and making sure Ash got some treatment was to call her mom and dad.
She didn't tell them what had happened since she didn't want to worry them, but just hearing their voiced had been enough to calm her down. She wanted to tell them about Ash too but she just didn't know what to say.
However what had shocked her most had been Ash's eyes. The look he gave her after Fearow had attacked him had not been one of fear, but one of determination. It was as if he was used to putting his life on the line.
But that couldn't be, of course, but there was one thing she could say without a doubt, even though she would never admit it.
Ash had looked, for a lack of better words, cool.
It was the third member of the group the only that didn't actually know Red, or Ash as he was known here. This person was another girl, slightly older than Leaf, with orange hair tied in a side-ponytail, green eyes and a yellow outfit with blue highlights.
Her name was Misty Waterflower, the current Gym Leader of the Cerulean City Gym every since her sisters dumped the job on her. Not that anyone there knew that of course.
If someone had told Misty how her day yesterday would end she wouldn't have believed them. It had been kind of surreal actually. She had been fishing in a small river, simply minding her own business when a younger girl with a Pikachu had appeared, begging her to help them.
Of course she had told yes almost immediately. She hadn't been able to get many details from Leaf with how frantic the girl had been, but she had gotten the gist of it. Apparently a Pokemon had attacked her and a boy named Ash had stayed to fend off the Pokemon.
She had to admit that the first thing that had come to her mind was that Ash Ketchum was either really brave or really dumb to do something like that.
They had found the boy lying on the ground passed out, with a few wounds, the most noticeable one being the cut that ran through his left arm. Between her and Leaf they had been able to carry the teen as quick as they could to Viridian City, which was thankfully not very far from where they had been.
Once they reached the place they had met Officer Jenny, who had, with the help of her motorcycle, brought them to the Pokemon Center, where both Nurse Joy and Chansey had quickly started attending the black-haired teen.
That had been yesterday, and now she, alongside Leaf and Ash's Pikachu, were waiting to hear something about the boy's condition. She didn't know him personally of course, but she still couldn't help but to worry.
All three of them were taken out of their thoughts once Nurse Joy appeared in front of them, holding her ever present kind smile.
"How is he? Did something happen?!" Leaf was the first one to speak while standing up, with Misty doing the same while Pikachu got his whole attention on the pink-haired woman, who in response simply smiled a little bit wider.
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With Red
A now dressed Red stood to the side of his bed, a stunned expression on his face. Nurse Joy had basically given him a resume of what had happened while he was unconscious, along with a new set of his clothes that were on is backpack.
She had also gave him the two Pokeballs that had owners already, one of them belonging to Pikachu, which was empty, while the other held the Fearow that had attacked him yesterday. She had also told him to take it easy, and that while he had been treated with the best they could offer he might still feel a little hit of soreness from his left arm.
Of course he had quickly got dressed, and it was at that moment that he had entered in full panic mode. The reason of that being simple enough: He had no idea where Charizard's Pokeball was!
Nurse Joy hadn't given it to him, and it wasn't with his other stuff! Just the thought of Charizard's Pokeball being somewhere in Route 1 was more than enough to make him go pale. Heck he could practically feel Blue's glare at the back of his head.
When he gets back to his world he would omit the part when he lost Blue's Pokemon, for the sake of his health.
He would have continued panicking but the door of his room was suddenly opened with a lot more force than before, getting the former champion's attention.
Then his eyes met the ones of Leaf, prompting a small grin from the black-haired teen. He already knew that the girl was fine, but it was good to see it for himself.
He also noticed how Pikachu was also standing there, just besides Leaf. The yellow mouse was looking up at him, looking a lot less grumpy that before. In fact his expression looked more confused and curious than anything else.
"Yo!" Red said in greeting, with his right hand up. In response Leaf simply blinked owlishly at him, the brown-haired girl slowly moving closer to her fellow Pallet Town trainer.
Then without a warning the girl threw a punch at the teen's face. Without thinking Red closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, waiting for the punch to hit him, but instead the only thing he felt was a finger smashing into his fore-head, causing him to yelp in surprise before rubbing the place in which he got hit.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the glare Leaf was throwing at him, her hands now on her hips. Had he been a lesser man he would have probably cowered in fear, but at this point he was far too used to glares like that.
Glaring was Blue's default expression after all.
So he simply raised both his hands in defense while giving a step back, chuckling awkwardly, trying to ignore the cold sweat that once again was going down his brow.
Oh right, he sucked at dealing with girls, as Green liked to point out every time she could.
"You better not try to make another stupid stunt like that, Ash Ketchum!" Leaf yelled, catching the boy by surprise. She kept glaring at him for a few seconds more before sighing, a softer look appearing on her eyes "Still… thank you… for saving me I mean"
"No problem!" he answered with a smile, making her huff while looking to the side. Then his eyes focused on his first Pokemon in this world, who was still looking up at him almost in wonder.
"What about you, Pikachu? Feeling better?" Red asked just before kneeling down and extending his right hand to pet the electric type. He honestly expected to be either shocked or getting a glare from the Pokemon, but instead Pikachu just let him pet him, clearly not used to someone doing that to him.
"Pika…pi?" Pikachu asked while looking straight at Red's left arm. Ash understood the question almost immediately, and in response simply grinned at the rodent.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Nothing that a night of rest didn't fix!" the black-haired trainer answered while patting his left shoulder with his right hand, immediately cringing a little bit in pain but still trying to maintain a smile to not worry Pikachu or Leaf.
"So you finally woke up, huh? You had us all worry for a second there, you know? Specially your girlfriend here" another person said from the door in the room, with a voice that Red recognized perfectly. His eyes widened in shock while his attention was quickly brought to the person who had just talked.
While Leaf was now blushing and trying to deny what he had just heard Red just looked at the newcomer, a rush of different feelings invading his heart.
"Misty…" the former champion whispered, easily recognizing the orange-haired girl. How could he not? After all outside of the Dex Holders Misty was his closest friend. They had traveled together for a short time, she had saved him countless times, and it was her that gave him one of his most trusted Pokemon, Gyara.
His feelings for her were more than just friendship. He trusted her with his life. Heck, one could even say that she had been his first real friend, back when he and Blue were nothing but rivals, Green just a sly girl that could trick him easily and when he hadn't met any of the other Dex Holders.
And now, seeing her, even though he knew it wasn't his Misty, it was still enough to stir his hearth. Nostalgia filled him, and in that moment he wanted to do nothing but hug the orange-haired girl.
He remembered actually doing it when he had seen Leaf for the first time, thinking it was Green. That ended up with him getting knocked into submission.
"Eh? You two know each other?" Leaf asked after calming down, her eyes going from Red to Misty. She could see that her childhood friend was looking at the girl with a weird amount of focus, while the girl simply looked confused at him.
"Not that I'm aware off" Misty answered while crossing her arms over her chest. She had never seen neither of them in her life, so how did this boy know her name?
Once Red realized he was the focus of the two girls he quickly shook his head, cursing himself on his head for messing up like that.
"No! I just, I mean, she reminds me of some I knew…kind off, and her name was Misty! Just like yours apparently… what a coincidence, right?" the former champion finished lamely with a chuckle, simply getting narrowed eyes from Leaf and a raised eyebrow from Misty.
"Well as long as you're ok, mister big-shot" Misty continued, trying to dispel the awkward silence that had covered the room. After that the water-type specialist left the room, living Red, Leaf and Pikachu alone.
Leaf kept her eyes on Red with a suspicious look on her face. In response Red kept chuckling, trying to pass it as a joke.
The brown-haired girl ended up just sighing, curious but deciding to not push it right now. She would have enough time to do it later anyway.
Suddenly remembering something the girl started looking at her own backpack, earning the attention of both Red and Pikachu.
"I almost forgot! I don't know why but you had this toy with you when we found you…" the girl said while taking out an object that made Red's eyes to go wide. He quickly snatched it from Leaf's hand, looking at it with a big grin.
In response Charizard just glared from inside his Pokeball, pleased that the boy now looked better than before but not liking to be handled by anyone except his own trainer and those he considered close to said trainer.
Leaf didn't know why Red was so happy. She also had one of those little toys of course, fake Pokeballs that were see-through so you could see the small figurine of a Pokemon inside. Her dad had given her one, but instead of a Charizard it had a small Venusaur inside.
For his part Red felt a massive weight leave his shoulders. He had already planned running towards Route 1 in order to look for Charizard but now he had the Fire/Flying dual type on his hands! Not only that but both Pikachu and Leaf were now actually acting a lot friendlier towards him.
Maybe seeing Ho-Oh actually gave him good luck!
If only he knew.
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Next Day
Red released a big yawn, his feet dragging him towards the small arena that was just behind the Pokemon Center. Just in front of him were both Leaf and Misty, talking to each other with smiles about things that honestly didn't matter much to the black-haired teen.
Just besides him was Pikachu, also looking quite tired because of how early it was. Still, Red couldn't be more relieved about the fact that Pikachu didn't seem to hate him anymore. He was still very wary of both Leaf and Misty but at least he had stopped shocking him for practically nothing, so progress was progress.
Sadly Pikachu still refused to any nicknames Red had managed to come up with for the small rodent. It was just a thing he liked, naming his own Pokemon. It made him feel closer to them.
Blue had said that he found it unnecessary, which was why Charizard didn't have a nickname, while both Green and Yellow had also nicknamed their own Pokemon.
The reason for all of them to be up so early was that yesterday Leaf had explained how she had gotten into that mess with the Spearows to begin with, and after a little bit of talk Red had convinced the girl of letting him help her with her Bulbasaur's nervousness by having the Kanto started battle against Pikachu, who had actually agreed once Red had asked him for help.
This was why all of them were standing on one side of the field, which was quite normal, with white lines making the area around it and the middle of it.
"Alright Bulbasaur, get out!" Leaf said while opening her only Pokemon's Pokeball, the small Grass/Poison dual type appearing in a flash of light.
The Seed Pokemon smiled up to her trainer, having no idea of what had happened two days ago. She also smiled toward the two other humans that were looking at her with kind smiles, but once her eyes met those of Pikachu, who was waving at her with a small smile of his own, her eyes widened and with a cry she ran towards her trainer, hiding behind her leg and practically using her as a shield from Pikachu.
"See? This is what I mean" Leaf said with a sigh before kneeling and rubbing her Bulbasaur's head in a attempt at calming her down.
Both Red and Misty nodded, each one looking at Bulbasaur with curiosity. Of course both of them had seen shy Pokemon before, but this looked a lot more serious than that.
"Why don't you show us what your Pokedex says about Bulbasaur? It might help us" Misty suggested, earning a nod from Leaf and a raised eyebrow from Red.
The brown-haired girl quickly took out her Pokedex and aimed it at her Bulbasaur, while the Grass/Poison dual type looked up in curiosity and wonder. Both Misty and Red moved closer to Leaf in order to see what the Pokedex say, although the later already pretty much knew it by heart, but maybe this world's Pokedex would have some different info?
It didn't take long for the device to speak.
[Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokemon. Bulbasaur can be seen napping in bright sunlight. There is a seed on its back. By soaking up the sun's rays, the seed grows progressively larger]
Both girls then looked deep in thought, trying to come up with something that might help Bulbasaur. Red on the other hand simply moved to the other side of the field, Pikachu following quickly.
"Well let's try a battle then!" Red declared with a smile, earning both girls' attention.
"I don't think that's a good idea…" Misty said while looking down at the Bulbasaur that once again was using her trainer as a shield as soon as she heard the word battle.
"We won't attack. Bulbasaur can focus on the offensive while Pikachu and I focus on dodging. It should be easier that way I think" Red shot back, deciding that baby steps were needed. The first thing should be for Bulbasaur to stop being afraid of other Pokemon, so maybe attacking without fearing a counterattack would help.
"What do you say Bulbasaur? You want to try? I promise you won't get hurt!" Leaf said with a smile, truly hoping that her starter Pokemon would at least try.
"What do you say Bulbasaur? You want to try? I promise you won't get hurt!" Leaf said with a smile, truly hoping that her starter Pokemon would at least try.
Bulbasaur for her part just looked up at her trainer with obvious nervousness on her eyes. Then her gaze went to both Red and Pikachu. She had to admit that the Pikachu looked harmless enough, and he was even waiving at her with a smile, while the other human obviously knew her own trainer, so he couldn't be that bad.
Bulbasaur ended up giving a determined nod to her trainer, which got a huge smile from the brown-haired girl. Then the Kanto started moved slowly to stand in front of Leaf, while Misty moved to watch the fight just besides the field.
"Alright we'll do this slowly. You focus on attacking and Pikachu will focus on dodging. Pikachu, you're ready?" Red said, and then asked the electric mouse, which simply got a nod from the rodent. In all honestly Pikachu still didn't feel quite comfortable following orders from a human, but there was no harm in trying, right?
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A few hours later
Even after everything he had seen Red was still amazed at how similar yet different this world was to his. A good example was the place he currently was, Viridian City. Back in his world it was more of a town than a real city, the place not being that big anyway.
But here? He had already got lost twice just today while walking! The city was so big he didn't recognize it at all!
Maybe he should have followed Misty and Leaf, at least that way he wouldn't be so lost while walking through the city. There were a lot of people walking on the streets, and seeing some of them with their Pokemon wasn't weird either.
The reason for him not being with the two girls was simple. Their little training session had ended rather quickly. It had started rather slow, with Bulbasaur attacking from distance and Pikachu dodging every move, although it had been obvious that the electric mouse was not used to following orders.
The session had ended when Pikachu had gotten too close to Bulbasaur, who had in panic throw a much powder from her seed as she could. That had made Pikachu fall asleep as soon as it hit him, stopping the training session with him releasing an awkward chuckle while Leaf just cheered.
Misty had offered to help the girl with her Bulbasaur, and after a little talking both decided to go to a small river just outside of Viridian, Misty saying it would be a better place for training. They had wanted Red to join them but the former champion had declined, saying that he had some stuff to check first.
He wasn't lying. He did have a few things to check, something that he told himself he would do as soon as he got here. He would have done it sooner but he underestimated how big the city was.
At least he was close to the place he wanted to check, if the map he got was telling the truth of course. Red wasn't alone though, since certain yellow mouse was sleeping on his backpack, his head sticking out.
Red had thought of waking up the electric mouse, but considering how tired he obviously was he had decided to just let the electric type sleep while he did his stuff.
The young trainer took a turn to the right in a corner of the busy street, his eyes landing on a familiar building that brought both good and bad memories to his head, his eyes narrowing at it.
It was an impressive building, the trainer thought, his eyes focused in it while his body moved to the front. There weren't many people here to the point it was almost desert. Once Red stood just in front of the building his eyes went between the two statues in front it to the massive doors of the building
This was the Viridian City Gym, the same Gym he had once tried to become leader off, the same Gym that Blue had become leader off, and finally the same Gym in which he had, for the first time, faced the leader of Team Rocket: Giovanni.
His hands tightened into fist, a glare directed at the building as soon as he remembered the man that used to control it, his first battle with the man still fresh on his mind. He had been pushed over the limit during that battle, while almost dying through it, after all Giovanni was someone that didn't mind killing.
His reason for coming here been simple, he wanted to get more information about this world, or to be more precise, about certain organization.
Team Rocket.
He had asked Nurse Joy about it, but the woman said that she had never heard of them. Did that meant that there was no Team Rocket in this world? Or were they just really good at hiding? According to her the Gym was empty too, its leader disappearing many years ago.
That had motivated Red to check it even more, and with one resolute breath the young man moved towards the doors, his right hand slightly pushing it as soon as he got within reach. The massive door opened slowly but surely, making a sound that proved it hadn't been opened in a while.
He slowly entered the building, the whole place being darkened by shadows, the only source of light being the sun rays entering from the entrance.
The black-haired teen looked around but wasn't able to really see anything with how dark it was. With narrowed eyes he ventured further in, his whole body ready to spring into action. He really doubted he would just find Giovanni sitting at the middle of the gym or something like that, but he couldn't help to be worried a little bit.
Then suddenly a massive light shined on the trainer, forcing him to close his eyes and to shield them with his arms, a grunt escaping his lips. When he was finally able to open his eyes he was able to get a good look at the gym, although his eyes were scanning everywhere, trying to see who had turned the lights on.
The place looked fairly simple, with him now standing just in the middle of what he guessed was the battlefield. There were statues of different Pokemon in each corner of the field, but it became obvious to Red how no one had entered here in a while.
The building just looked worn out. The statues had cracks on them, the field looked really worse to wear and even the seats that some people would use to watch the battles looked really old.
The place simply looked abandoned.
"Ash? What are you doing here?" a familiar voice spoke from behind the teen, making him to quickly turn around with a yelp, not expecting anyone else to enter the gym.
Said voice belonged to Misty, who was looking at the former champion with a confused frown. She had seen the boy walking towards the gym and decided to follow him out of pure curiosity.
"I was…" Red started, and for Misty it was easy to read the young trainer. She wasn't an expert on people but even she could easily see the turmoil of feelings on the trainer's eyes.
"I just wanted to explore for a bit" Red continued with sheepish smile, one that didn't fool Misty at all, which just made her narrow her eyes at the younger trainer.
"Where's Leaf anyway? I thought she was with you" he tried to change the subject, and while Misty was still curious she wasn't going to force the boy to tell her if he didn't feel like it, so she simply released a sigh before talking.
"I had to check a few things with Nurse Joy so I left Leaf with one of my Pokemon, just in case she fished something that wasn't a Magikarp" she answered with a chuckle, remembering how frustrated the younger girl had been when they were both fishing and the only Pokemon she managed to caught were Magikarps.
Considering how much work it took to raise them it was probably better for Leaf to find something else, at least in Misty's opinion. That was why she left one of her own Pokemon with her, just in case her Bulbasaur wasn't able to fight because of her fears.
Red didn't answer back though, as his attention was back to the inside of the gym, while Misty had finally joined beside shim, her eyes more focused on the boy besides her though. She honestly was very curious in the young trainer.
Maybe asking one more question would be ok? She practically saved his life after all, so it wasn't like he couldn't answer some of her questions.
Right?
"Hey!" the orange-haired girl said while waiving her hand in front of the younger teen, earning his attention almost immediately "Why don't you tell me more about that friend of yours? You know, the one that apparently looks and has the same name as me?"
As soon as she asked that question Misty regretted it, as even a blind person would have noticed the pain that quickly flashed in Red's eyes before he turned around, avoiding eye contact with her.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"
"No, it's just…" Red said, a gloved hand coming to his head, rubbing his hat "I haven't seen her in a while now" he continued with a shrug, putting on a smile that, in Misty's opinion, couldn't be more fake "I guess I just miss her"
Misty frowned at this, wondering what Ash Ketchum's story was. Leaf had said that the boy didn't have that many friends in their town besides her and another boy called Gary, but whoever Ash was talking about it was obviously important to him.
"Why don't you tell me more about her?" she knew she was pushing it here, and that was none of her business, but Misty was a believed that you shouldn't keep stuff bottled up so much.
Red just looked at the older girl, his eyes meeting hers as her question resounded on his mind. Telling her about Misty? He was sure there was a joke there somewhere, but his troubled thoughts couldn't think of one right now.
He opened his mouth slightly, honestly considering her question. Maybe telling her a little bit wouldn't hurt? He would definitely love to get some stuff out of his chest, as long as he kept the whole 'guy from another world' thing hidden.
He almost snorted at that thought. God did he got spoiled by Yellow. That girl always seemed to know whenever something was bothering him, and was more than willing to listen to him about it. Not that she was the only one of course, Green had definitely done that during the whole Deoxys fiasco, and of course there was also Misty…
That last thought had him clamping his mouth shut in an instant while slightly shaking his head. What was he trying to do? He had to remind himself every time he saw them, even if this people looked like his friends, they weren't them. Even if this Misty even acted like the one he knew, he had to remind himself, this wasn't his Misty.
This wasn't his world, and playing friends with everyone wasn't going to help him get back. Hell, how could he even be friends with anyone when this wasn't even his own body?!
The smile that plastered itself on Red's face was so fake that Misty actually felt a little bit insulted if he really thought that was going to fool her.
"It was no one, really!" the younger-looking trainer said while walking towards the exit of the building, feeling the accusing stare of the girl aimed at the back of his head and hoping she would just drop off the subject "Now that I look closer you two don't even resemble that much anyway, sorry for the mixing"
A frown made itself present on Misty's face, the girl wondering just what was wrong with the boy. Had she touched a nerve with her question? She honestly couldn't tell, but if he really thought he was fooling her with this then maybe he needed more time at the Pokemon Center.
"C'mon, we should go and find Leaf, with her track record so far she's probably being bullied by a group of Psyduck or something" well at least he wasn't ignoring her, so with a sigh she simply moved to walk alongside him. There would be more time to wonder about it anyway, so she might as well give him today to rest.
That didn't mean she didn't notice the last look he gave to the building before leaving.
How could someone give such an intense look to a building they had apparently never seen before, she would never know.
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Next Day
"I don't remember agreeing with this…" Red said under his breath, his eyes narrowed at the two girls in front of him, both looking more than ready to finally continue their journey.
Together.
With him.
"You know, you should be graceful that two cute girls want to travel with you instead of complaining about it!" It was Misty the one that spoke, a smirk on her face, getting nothing but an eye-roll from Red, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips while his Pikachu looked at him with a frown, the yellow rodent resting on his shoulder.
Apparently whatever animosity Pikachu still had towards him couldn't beat not having to walk everywhere by himself, not that Red would complain.
"Yeah!" Leaf was quick to follow up to Misty, her hands on her hips as she glared as her childhood friend "Besides I bet that if I left you alone you would just get lost somewhere!"
Red had to really bite his tong to not make any comments on that. Sure, none of them had any more business on Viridian, but that didn't mean they should just go and travel together.
Well, they could if they wanted to, but they didn't need to drag him on with them!
If circumstances were different he might not have a problem about it, but right he would really rather to just go alone. He would faster that way, and he could let Charizard stretch his wings from time to time, while also not having to act as if he was a complete rookie.
That and he just wasn't used to travel with someone. Sure, back on his early adventures Misty had followed for a while, but that bad been pretty much it. Besides that he mostly traveled alone, with the occasional encounter with Blue or Green.
But these two weren't taking a no for an answer it seems.
"Fine" and with another sigh he gave one last look to the Pokemon Center before moving to the front, not even having to look at the girls to know they had victory smiles on their faces. He simply scratched behind Pikachu's ear, earning a content cry from the Electric type.
Besides, Misty would probably stay at Cerulean City once they got there, which he would honestly prefer. At least Leaf acted different enough from Green, but seeing this Misty just made him miss his Misty even more.
No time to brood around though, his, or rather, their next stop was Viridian Forest, and step closer to Pewter City and his first badge.
Baby steps yes, but he was going to find a way to get back no matter how long it took.
He already became Champion once.
And no one will stop him from doing it again.
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Bet you thought this story was dead… and you would be right, it pretty much was, but then I remembered this chapter was almost done so I finally moved my lazy bump to work on it. Slow chapter, but next one (yes there will be a next one) will have more action.
Also I decided to just remove the move limits. Just like with my other fic I'll use the quantity and quality of the moves a Pokemon use as a way to gauge their strength, so you can expect strong Pokemon to have more moves than others.
And about Team Rocket. Now while I don't mind Jessie and James' antics, they just wouldn't fit into this story. Not to say they won't appear, but they won't go around chasing a kid just for a Pikachu, even if it is funny sometimes, especially since I'll try a more serious route with Team Rocket.
Thank you all for your patience, and I will try to get the next chapter a lot faster.
Next Chapter: We Bare Bears.