Flying on the back of Charizard was nothing new, but it felt so alien after such a long time on the mountain. Looking down at Pallet Town once again flooded Red with memories. When he first learned how to ride his bike. When he and Blue played tag well before their adventures as Pokemon Trainers. Pikachu bounded to the top of Charizard's head, looking down on his own home town. The moon had risen since they left Mt. Silver, yet the town was still awake. Lights were on in homes as the quiet buzz of life reminded Red of just how long he's been away.
Red placed his hand on Charizard's back and tapped twice. He looked up at Red expectantly; Red points towards the edge of Pallet Town and the forest; just in front of the laboratory.
As Red jumps down from Charizard's back, he sees the town undisturbed by his presence. He pulls out Charizard's Pokeball and quietly returns the mighty dragon. Red takes a step towards his old town. Some things never change. His standard white and red house still neighbored Blue's identical house, standing just before Oak's glowing laboratory.
Strange, Oak's laboratory seemed unusually loud. As Red gets closer to the town, the noise from Oak's building seemed to be growing and growing. Red strides more confidently towards the building, aware that his footsteps must be well masked.
Opening the door was a mistake. Inside seemed to lay a full blown factory. Scientists in coats were bustling around, talking amongst each other about different Pokemon theories and experiments. Pokemon were littered throughout the place. Alakazam's psychic powers were being examined with a strange device. Bundles of Raichus were huddled together and producing mass quantities of electricity powering an even stranger machine. Hitmonchans were off in another corner being prodded and probed by other scientists in lab coats. Red staggered back, almost tripping over his own two feet. Years of isolation, and now this. It was a bit much.
No one seemed to pay any attention to the new comer that walked in, putting into question this lab's concern on safety. Red meandered around, managing to go by unnoticed by the hustle and bustle of the lab.
He eventually came across a massive room. Within it held a habitat that stretched for acres; Red could barely see the walls on the other side of the building. Red looked down at Pikachu and snapped his fingers. Pikachu's ears perked up and waited for Red's next command. He made a circle with his finger then made a fist on his chest. Recon, interest point signaled by change in electrical field. Pikachu disappeared instantaneously despite the vast savannah that laid before them.
Red wouldn't ever be caught unprepared again. Pikachu learned that by spreading out the force of his Thunderwave, it can change the overall electric field of the environment. Most Pokemon and humans can't feel the change in this environment, but Red doesn't need to. The change in electric field was enough to cause rarefaction, tugging on his arm hairs ever so slightly towards the northeast side of the room.
"Ruby, for the last time, no more using Blizzard in your little brother's room," Oak chided the little rat in front of him. Oak turned to his assistant next to him, complaining "Honestly, Raticate being able to use Blizzard must be some sort of universal error. His cheeks shouldn't have the capacity to cause ice build up of that level. And no one has any idea where the ice comes from! All of the sensors we tried to use broke halfway through the test. Pretty soon I'm just gonna stick my head into his mouth ..."
Oak's rant continues as Red slowly approaches the professor. Red snaps his fingers, calling out to Pikachu wherever he may be. Pikachu appears by Red's side, climbing on top of his shoulder, all without Oak noticing. He rambles on for about another minute. Red waits. Oak rants. Red waits.
"There are some Pokemon powerful enough to freeze the opponent solid! Solid! The atmosphere around the Pokemon actually becomes a solid! Yet the path of the "blizzard" doesn't freeze at all! The laws of thermodynamics were fundamentally ..."
And he stopped. He saw the young man standing to the side with a Pikachu on his shoulder, waiting.
"Max, can you give us a moment alone please?"
"Who is that Professor Oak?" Despite himself, Max was feeling slightly intimidated by the imposing figure. The stranger's jacket may have been red at one point, but now looked more like a worn out pink. His eyes were uninterested, yet seemed to be alert; his eyes darted randomly at random intervals, tracking the noises around the room. His Pikachu seemed even more unnerving, the yellow of it's skin was much darker than normal, the tail's edges much sharper, and the Pokemon's red cheeks were nearly double the size of an average Pikachu.
"No one of great importance. Just an old friend."
Max walked off towards a group of Pidgeottos, leaving Red and Oak alone. Neither was entirely sure what to say. Both had changed remarkably since their last encounter with each other. Both had seen things the other couldn't possibly imagine. Both had lost.
"Have you visited your mother yet?"
He didn't want to ... not yet. What would his mother think? Would she even want to see him after abandoning her? One man already left her at the drop of a hat, losing another couldn't have been easy for her. Red shook his head.
"I see ..." Oak's frown deepened; Red could see the disappointment in the professor's eyes. "Red, you need to go see her. Now. After what we've been through, she needs some good news." Red wasn't sure what he meant, but it was clear Oak wasn't going to let Red go anywhere else. Reluctantly, Red followed Oak out of the habitat.
The front door loomed in front of Red, the pressure on his chest grew as he quickly scrambled to think of anything to say. An apology, a breakdown, anything. He kept drawing a blank, unsure of what to say, as Oak patiently waited behind Red. Red mentally kicked himself; hesitation gets you killed in the real world; this isn't any different.
Red reached out and knocked on the door. Silence. Maybe she isn't home? But where would she be at this hour? Maybe she moved? But why did Oak bring him here? The door swings open, and before him stood his mother, glaring at whoever was at her front door.
He hadn't seen her in four years, yet she looks 30 years older now. Her once light brown hair now looks entirely gray and horribly kept. Her skin, once bright and glowing, seems sickly and pale. And her eyebags looked the size of craters, as if she hadn't been able to sleep in years. Between the two, Red's mother seemed to have been the one training on a snow covered mountain.
"Red"
And a single year was taken off her face. Her eyes shined just a little brighter, her face relaxed just a small amount, and she smiled a half decent smile. And she collapsed into her son's arms. He was alive. He was here. He was doing better than she was. Nothing could have ruined this moment for her.