Alfred was nothing less than a prodigy when it came to training pokémon. Along his journey, he'd developed a fondness for dragon types, and set out to catch them. He collected a Dratini, an Axew, and a Goomy all in his first six months, and within a year, he added Deino, and Bagon. He'd even said goodbye to what was now a Chameleon, and took in a Gible.

With six dragon types, he was pretty strong against almost anything someone challenged him with. Soon, it was easy to win, borderline tiresome. Alfred set his sights on the Elite Four, paving a path for himself by barreling through gyms and trainers. As far as he was concerned he had no rival, because no one was good enough to beat him. The more impressive he got, the more his reputation spread, and soon all of Kanto knew of him and his strength. Alfred was even beginning to get fans that would follow him to his gym battles, sitting in the sidelines as they watched. Half his team was fully evolved now, and half were in the second stages.

He was in Celadon city now, and after receiving his Rainbow Badge, he allowed his fans to come up and speak to to him, standing with his hands in his pockets. Alfred looked around with a confident smirk, answering questions with a sort of drawl.

"Well, y'know, when ya have a great team and an amazing trainer, it's pretty easy to win," He spoke in response to one of his fans. Alfred stood around, and stayed until he got bored. Then, he waved the crowd back. He went towards the door, and then turned as someone touched his arm.

"Alfred-" The stranger began. It was a boy about his age, maybe a little older, with freckles and shaggy blond hair. He had thick brows and bright green eyes, and for a moment he seemed familiar. There was a Bulbasaur at his feet, and he boy held a bag of berries in one hand. Alfred smiled politely, snatching them from him.

"These for me, darlin'?" He asked.

"Wha- no! My Bulbasaur-" He gestured, but Alfred was already walking away.

"You're a peach, really, maybe if you work real hard you'll make that thing something useful." He pointed to the pokémon, and as he walked out of the gym, his fans crowded him, leaving the boy behind. He turned to face the crowd, giving a confident smile.

"Alright, everyone, thanks for comin'! I have to get going, I'll see ya at the next gym- which'll be soon, I'm gonna be the champion before I turn eighteen, I swear it!" He announced, and then went down the path on his own. Once he'd gotten out of town, he let a few of his pokémon out, and tossed them the berries he'd been 'given' as they walked.

Whoever said pride came before the fall was wrong, in Alfred's opinion. Sure, he supposed he could be a little bold, but, you could be bold if you had the skill to back it up. And he did, so there wasn't anything to worry about.

He approached his final gym with a sense of importance, as he was here a whole four months ahead of schedule. At this rate, it'd be easy to become a champion before he turned eighteen, hell, he could get there before he was seventeen and a half.

Walking up the steps to the Viridian Gym, he looked around, brushing his hair out of his eyes with a hum. He opened the door, and looked in, whistling at how empty it was, compared to his past battles, all of which had been filled with his fans.

"Hello..?" Alfred called, and then went inside. The lights came on, revealing different paths that he could take. There was a sparse amount of trainers in position, down each of the paths. He breathed a sigh. "Great. I'm gonna have to battle some of you, aren't I." Alfred drooped his shoulders with an immature pout, and then shrugged. "Whatever.."

Alfred could see the end of the gym from where he was standing, and was eager to face the leader. However, one trainer still stood in his way. A boy his age, with shaggy blond hair and green eyes and- wait. Alfred knew this guy.

"Hey- you're the guy from Celadon! The one with the Bulbasaur!" He exclaimed, crossing his arms. "Are you like, stalking me or something? Seriously, we both know I'm gonna beat you, just let me pass already." Alfred walked forward, and the boy held out his arm, blocking him from going past. "We're battling. Those are the rules. And, and I'm going to teach you a lesson."

The boy's expression sharpened, and he stepped back, getting into a battle stance and sending out an Azurill. He seemed determined, and, for a brief moment, Alfred thought this might actually be an entertaining battle.

But, that's all it was. A brief moment. For all of this boy's talk, his pokémon just weren't on par with Alfred's. He took out his Azurill, his Bulbasaur, and his Eevee all in one shot each, and then collected the prize money from him.

"Now, see? You should have just let me past. Woulda saved you a lot of trouble." He went to ruffle his hair, but the stranger's hand gripped his wrist, stopping him.

"Just...hurry up and leave already." He spoke, voice cracking as he let go of Alfred, looking down at his pokéballs with a worried and vulnerable expression. "It's true. I lost, but..I know everyone gave it their all. I'm leaving now. I want to get them healed." He talked in a hushed, sharp tone, turned away.

And then, he left. The trainer was cradling the pokémon's containers in arms as he hurried out of the gym. Alfred watched, for a moment, and then moved on, making quick work of the Gym Leader and collecting his eighth and final badge. After that, it was off to the Indigo Plateau to take down the Elite Four and the current champion, and take his place as the best trainer in Kanto. And then, it was down the path he went, like he had when he'd left home, with a Garchomp at his side rather than a Charmander.