Soon, Wee Red realized that it wasn't just that errant rodent in the woods. Suddenly, inexplicably, it was like they were all watching.
The class pet. The delivery birds. Hell - Red swore a dead Seaking's eyes followed him throughout the seafood aisle at the market.
But their gaze never lingered. It's like every time he looked away, they all couldn't take their eyes off him.
There was only one school in Pallet Town, and it catered to students from toddlers to young adulthood. There was only one library in Pallet Town, attached to that school. Though public services like this one were a rarity in such a small town, Pallet's library was surprisingly well-equipped.
Young Red sat, seemingly alone, beside a stack of books on paranoia and mental disorders.
"How about some light reading?" came that unmistakable sneer before Red felt his face violently shoved into his book and then swiftly followed into the table. The cartilage of his nose smashed against the front of his skull and sent booming shocks of pain throughout his head. His vision went red, as did the front of his nose and mouth.
"Owwww, you fucking dickhead!" Red shouted, much too loudly for a library. "I think you just broke my nose!"
"Smell ya later, shit-for-brains," Green cackled, "Reading is for nerds!"
Before the librarian had time to issue a harsh rebuke for Red's loud and vulgar language, the Oak boy was gone. Red stared at the bloody mess before him, and the fresh red stains covering dense, academic descriptions of symptoms like "a persistent feeling of being watched."
It was fine. He wouldn't have known how to pronounce "schizophrenia" anyway.
Home life was typical, or as typical as life could be for a child in a time of war. Most of the adults in town, save for the elderly technophile who lived down by the beach, were women. All the dads, uncles, brothers - gone. And at their age, they didn't really understand much more than that.
Where were they? They went to fight the bad guys overseas. What if they get hurt? They're the best, they won't get hurt. When will they come home? Soon, baby, soon. Once the bad guys are defeated.
Once the bad guys are defeated.
Red stabbed absentmindedly at his chicken and noodles. He'd just failed a test that day. He'd failed a lot of tests lately. He started to think maybe he wasn't cut out for learning. He knew he would be grounded for it. He ought to get out of the house before that happened. One last night. Maybe the boys were out at the World Tree again. Hopefully, Green wasn't invited if they were. If he was...ugh.
Red left his food uneaten and without a word, slipped out the back door.
When he arrived at the World Tree, he found that the boys were all there - naturally, including Green.
With a sigh, Red turned his cap around and put on a smile. As he did, hidden amidst the branches of the World Tree, a Pikachu took notice.