Fun fact: These first three chapters, including the prologue, weren't actually in my original draft. The story was supposed to start with Red inviting a certain Gen II protagonist to his secret resort on Mt. Silver but I felt there would be too many unanswered questions with that setup. So instead of just writing a boring exposition dump, I figured I should take some creative liberties regarding Red's actions during the three year time skip between games. Along the way, I figured I'd also explain why Red was at Mt. Silver in the first place, why he cut off all contact with the outside world, and also the big mystery as to why he didn't have Mewtwo with him during the famous mountaintop battle.

Anyways, I feel like I could have done a much better job regarding these three chapters, especially this one. However, I did promise to update at least once a week so I didn't want to go about rewriting this for another week or two. I'll probably come back to rewrite all of these when I get the chance so any constructive criticisms before then would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and before I forget, thank you once again for the reviews and favorites. I know it gets annoying seeing these before every chapter so I'll only put these up every three or so chapters from now on. However, just know that every chapter is made possible by your support. You guys are the best!

Ch 2: Cooking Up a Plan

"You know Pikachu, life just doesn't get much better than this," Red declared as he lay on the sofa with a martini glass filled with soda in his hand. A strange anime about card games was playing on the large TV in front of him while Pikachu was currently sitting on the coffee table while munching on a large bowl of cheese puffs.

"Pika Pi…" Pikachu dryly commented before burying his head inside the cheese puff bowl once again.

"Yeah, I guess it would be better if there was something better to watch." As Red said this with a sigh, the spiky-haired protagonist on-screen began his tenth consecutive monologue about something called 'the heart of the cards.' "You know, I really miss the old classics like Dragonite Ball Z, Tauros Bebop, and Mobile Suit Magneton. Those were the good days. Oh, and regardless of what Blue says, Sailor Clefairy was an awesome show as well!"

Pikachu rolled his eyes as Red began his daily speech on why Sailor Clefairy was not just for little girls. Deciding that the exposition about Egyptian voodoo magic on TV was a tiny bit more interesting than Red's rant, Pikachu grabbed the remote next to his cheese puff bowl and upped the volume.

It had been two and a half weeks since Red had taken refuge in Blaine's secret vacation home. During that time, Red had finally been able to unwind and relax for the first time in nearly two years. Due to the distance separating the Seafoam Islands from the mainland, visitors were far and between which gave Red some much needed peace of mind. Food was also no longer an issue as Blaine made sure that the house's fridge and cupboard were always full with constant trips to Fuchsia City's market. Much to the Gym Leader's amusement, Red had nearly cried tears of joy when he found out he no longer had to scavenge for food at shady liquor stores and isolated dumpsters to survive. Even the fact that he had to sleep on the sofa was not an issue for Red as he much preferred the comfy cushions to the rabid Raticates of his landfill hideouts. In short, Red had finally managed to find his long-sought-after sanctuary that was beyond the reaches of his demented fan club.

"…thus further proving the fact that Sailor Clefairy was meant to be a hero for all," Red finished after twenty agonizing minutes. During this time, the card game protagonist on the TV had managed to play one card before going through two existential monologues, nine irrelevant backstories, five different variations of the exact same friendship speech, and finally a detailed history of Egypt's card game rituals. By this point, Pikachu was almost regretting his decision to pay attention to the show instead of Red.

Oi! Keep it down you idiots! Mewtwo suddenly shouted out telepathically from inside his room. Some of us have actual work to do!

"Oh I'm sorry," Red shot back. "Did I just interrupt your oh-so-important work of insulting a bunch of ten year-olds for posting their opinions online? What will we ever do without your colorful profanities on the internet?"

…I'll give you five seconds to reconsider your position before I literally melt your brain inside your skull.

"I'll shut up now," Red immediately answered as he grabbed the TV remote to lower the volume as well. Pikachu didn't pay much attention to any of this and simply went back to munching on his cheese puffs.

After several relatively quiet minutes, the card game anime finally ended prompting Red to stretch as he put down his now-empty martini glass on the table. As if on cue, the sound of a motorboat was heard approaching the island.

"About time Blaine got back from his Gym Leader meeting. I thought I would have to cook dinner tonight." Pikachu immediately shot up with a shocked expression upon hearing Red's words. Seeing this, Red folded his arms as he sent a glare at his unsupportive partner. "Oh come on. You can't seriously be holding that against me still. We'd been on the run for three days straight and we had to eat something."

Pikachu visibly turned green as he remembered the impromptu 'meal' that Red had cooked up in the past. Thinking back on it, even Red couldn't help but feel a little queasy as he recalled that terrible day.

"Alright, fine. I suppose that my Weepinbell salad wasn't the greatest idea considering it was a Poison-type but you have to admit that my Caterpie stew wasn't terrible…ish."

Pikachu didn't answer as he felt all of the cheese puffs he ate trying to get back out. As Pikachu sprinted over to the bathroom, Blaine entered through main door that was disguised as a plain rock wall on the outside.

"Ugh. You would not believe the amount of information the Pokémon Association dumped on us to-" Blaine cut himself off when heard the sounds that Pikachu was making from the bathroom. Taking a quick glance at Red and seeing his sheepish expression, Blaine just slowly shook his head as he headed towards his room. "I'm not even going to ask…"

xxx

Thankfully for everyone, Blaine cooked dinner that night as usual. Red, Pikachu, and Blaine were eating at the dining table while Mewtwo had wordlessly taken his plate into his room like he always did. The rest of Red's Pokémon were on the neighboring island as they feasted on the gourmet Pokémon food that Blaine had bought for them. Seeing as how most of them were too large to fit in the house, Blaine had let them camp out in his currently-unused gym for the duration of Red's stay. The exception to this was Pikachu who had spent one too many nights outdoors and preferred to stay inside with all the comforts of a modern day house.

After few minutes of silent eating, Red suddenly spoke up.

"By the way, has anyone ever questioned the fact that we actually eat Pokémon?"

Red held up the large drumstick of the roast Farfetch'd that they had been eating to emphasize his point. Blaine simply let out a sigh and helped himself to some of the barbequed leek before answering.

"Is there a specific reason as to why you're bringing up that topic right now?"

"Well, it's just that… isn't it considered cannibalism if a Pokémon eats another Pokémon?"

Pikachu immediately froze with his handful of Farfetch'd meat halfway to his mouth.

"It's not cannibalism if they're not of the same species," Blaine quickly explained after noticing Pikachu's reaction. "Seriously Red, even my jokes aren't that terrible."

Red was too busy laughing at Pikachu's priceless expression to even bother hearing the last part. The electric rodent on the other hand was feeling pretty fed up with Red's antics for the day and decided to dish out some well-deserved justice to the still-laughing trainer.

"Ha ha! I really should have taken a photo of your face Pika… What are doing with that knife? And what's that wishbone for?"

Pikachu simply chose to leap towards his trainer with bloodlust in his eyes as a response. As vengeful justice was being served and Red's screams began to echo throughout the room, Blaine casually finished his dinner before heading over to the sink to wash the dishes.

"I need better friends," Blaine muttered as Red's tattered hat went flying into the air behind him.

xxx

An hour and a half later, Red and Pikachu were sitting on the sofa while Blaine was at his usual recliner. Red was currently covered from head to toe in bandages giving the impression that a cheap mummy replica was on display. Much to Blaine's relief, Pikachu had managed to tone down his torture so that minimal amounts of blood had been spilt. After all, it would have been a pain trying to get bloodstains off of the carpet.

"So… I got good news and bad news," Blaine eventually announced to the mummified trainer and his Pokémon. "Which do you want to hear first?"

"I'll take the good news. I could use a bit of good in my life right now," Red painfully said.

Pikachu seemed to disagree though as he shook his head before giving Blaine a commanding look.

"Bad news it is then," Blaine obeyed as Red gave a disappointed groan.

"Well, I'm sure I told you this several times after you got here but the Pokémon Association has been having a hard time getting through the paperwork regarding Cinnabar's destruction." Pikachu nodded while Red wiggled his only responsive toe to affirm. "Turns out they finally managed to finish their work today. They told me at the meeting that they want my new gym to be open in three weeks' time."

"Nice! Now you can get back to battling trainers instead of being bored all afternoon," Red congratulated.

Blaine shook his head at this. "Unfortunately, this means that you need to move out before that deadline."

"What?!" Red exclaimed in surprise. "But… but… I like this place! No one tries to kill me here! Well… asides from a certain pair of certified psychopaths in the house." Mewtwo suddenly sent a telepathic vision of him flipping Red off while Pikachu's cheeks began sparking. Seeing this, Red quickly rephrased his sentence. "Er… what I actually meant was that it was nice not having the fan club attacking me. Seriously though, can't I just quietly hide out in here for a couple more months until fan club activity drops? I can just return all of my Pokémon hanging out in your gym back into their Pokéballs."

"Sorry but sticking around here is probably a bad idea." When Red gave him a questioning glance, Blaine elaborated. "One of the job requirements is that I need to make a public announcement whenever I relocate my gym. Seeing as how there hasn't been anything really newsworthy lately, these islands will be guaranteed to be flooded with reporters. Knowing just how… dynamic that you tend to be with Mewtwo and Pikachu, it would be quite easy for a wandering reporter to hear the ruckus and guess what's going on. If it comes to that, there's no doubt that your fan club will immediately try to kidnap you and most likely end up destroying my poor house in the process."

"Believe me, they'd sink the entire island if it meant capturing me." Red couldn't help but shudder underneath his bandages as he remembered his various close calls.

After a few seconds of silence, Red finally asked the question that Blaine had been expecting.

"So where am I supposed to go then? According to the news, there's been an increase in fan club members which means all of my hideouts are even riskier to use."

"Why not just go back home? I'm sure it would be one of the last places they'd look at this point," Blaine suggested.

"They have guards around my house 24/7," Red replied immediately as he recalled the close call he had experienced. "Trust me, I checked. Besides, I much prefer Pallet Town not being turned into a smoking crater with the words 'We love Red!' spelled out using the remaining rubble."

Blaine winced as he remembered the poor, unnamed village that had suffered this horrific fate a year or so back. If he recalled correctly, that destruction had been caused by a simple rumor that Red had been in the area. It was hard to imagine the Armageddon that would occur if Red had really been found hiding inside a small town that didn't have a large police force.

"Well, I guess this is where my good news comes into play," Blaine said after the uncomfortable silence. "I might have a way to get you away from the fan club for good. The only question is whether you have the money for it."

"Money's not an issue for me," Red answered with a confused look that was mostly hidden by his bandages. "I didn't really make any large purchases in case it was tracked back to me so most of my winnings as Champion are relatively intact. Why are you asking though? Cause if you're trying to hire a private military company to take down the fan club, it's pointless. I've contacted every single one and they all refused saying they don't take suicide missions."

"Even the one with the katana-wielding cyborg?" Blaine asked in spite of himself.

Red nodded. "Even that one."

Blaine couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. "Looks like I've been severely underestimating your fan club."

"You have no idea."

Seeing Red's crestfallen face, Blaine couldn't help but give the young trainer a reassuring pat on the shoulder (which was a lot more painful than reassuring due to Red's recent wounds). "Don't despair yet. My plan wasn't to eliminate the fan club but to hide you from their eyes until their obsession dies down."

Red's eyes lit up. "And how are we going to do that?"

"By setting up your own secret base." Saying this, Blaine walked over to his room before bringing back a small stack of papers. "I've called the people who built this place for me and they've agreed to do the same for you. If you've got the money, then the only thing left to do is figure out where to build your safe house and sign these building contracts."

Both Red and Pikachu seemed very much for this plan as they practically leaped towards the forms that Blaine had set down at the table. Unfortunately for Red, his body was still mostly paralyzed from Pikachu's torture session and he merely ended up flopping around on the sofa like a giant mummified Magikarp.

"Er… you can get to the form signing at a later date," Blaine said after Red nearly toppled onto the floor. "For now, why don't we try to figure out where to put your secret base at?"

Red just gave a small nod in agreement while Pikachu gave an amused grin at his trainer's suffering.

"Now then, are there any good locations that you have in mind already?"

Red thought about Blaine's question for a few moments before answering.

"Well… I would like the base to be somewhere close to home so I can easily go back once the fans decide to torment someone else. Actually, now that I think about it, there is a nice landfi-"

Pikachu immediately smacked Red's still-aching arm to shut him up. It was quite apparent that Pikachu had reached his limit of camping out at landfills and would not tolerate Red setting up their one safe haven anywhere near one.

While Red was screaming in pain at his newly reopened wound, Blaine gave some thought to what the Champion had said.

"Someplace close to Pallet Town… Hmm… I think I might have the perfect place for you."

After spending several minutes recovering from the pain and then getting into a pointless argument with Pikachu, Red finally decided to ask what Blaine was talking about. In response, Blaine asked a question of his own.

"Red, do you know about a place called Johto?"

"Johto…? Wait a second, are you talking about that lame country region that doesn't even have its own Elite Four?"

"That's a rather rude way of putting it but… yes. That Johto."

Red raised an eyebrow as he realized what Blaine was driving at. "You're joking, right? I'm not going to go live out in the boonies just because of my fan club! I'd rather stay a fugitive here than be forced to wear a dress and worship spirits at a shrine!"

Blaine couldn't help but facepalm before answering. "One, not everyone in Johto is a spirit worshiping monk. They might be a bit more… old-fashioned in their customs but they're still a modern-day society just like us. Two, it's not a dress but a traditional garb known as a kimono. It's common knowledge that people in Kanto wear it to festivals as well so I don't understand why you didn't know that already."

"I left on my journey when I was ten," Red pointed out. "There are a lot of things I don't know. And besides, the only festival we had in Pallet Town was the annual hot pot celebration. In hindsight, I really don't know why we kept holding those cause they always ended with the entire town getting food poisoning thanks to Daisy's 'ingredients.' Seriously, who puts chopped Ekans liver and Koffing extract into a hot pot?"

The exasperated Gym Leader could have continued on with this conversation but he was starting to feel rather tired. Knowing it would be far more constructive to just skip ahead to what he had actually been meaning to say, Blaine chose to simply explain his original plan.

"Alright, look. What I was trying to say was that I know of a rather isolated area that's just a few miles west of the Indigo Plateau. It's a place called Mt. Silver and it's officially closed off to the general public due to the relatively strong Pokémon there. With your rank as Champion though, you can easily get yourself and the construction workers through security. As an added safety measure, you could build your secret hideout underneath that mountain so that even the most determined fans can't find it. Given your situation, I would say it's the safest and most practical area for you to settle down in."

Red silently processed Blaine's words and took his time to consider it. While he still had qualms about moving out of Kanto (even if it was just a few miles past the border), Red could tell that this Mt. Silver place really did cater to all of his needs. After a few more minutes, Red seemed to make up his mind and turned his head to face Blaine and Pikachu who were waiting for his answer.

"Alright. It seems like the perfect-"

"Excellent!" Blaine cut in after breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll contact the workers first thing tomorrow. You can finalize the layout of your house with them once they're done inspecting the area."

"Sounds great. But I still have a question though."

"And what's that?"

"Do I need to wear a kimono once I enter Johto?"

Blaine just buried his head into both of his hands while Pikachu decided it was time to give his hopeless trainer some electric shock therapy.

xxx

Several hundred miles away in a quaint little town, a young boy wearing a gold and black hat sat in his room watching TV. As the documentary program went on to show Red standing before an enormous crowd of people who were all clamoring for him, the boy suddenly got a determined look in his eyes.

One more year and that'll be me, the kid thought to himself. After I get my Pokémon, I'll become even cooler than that guy! I'll be the most awesome Pokémon Champion who ever lived and everyone will want to be my fan!

Unfortunately for the kid, his attention was glued solely to the crowds of adoring fans and didn't happen to notice the look of sheer terror that had been on Red's face. Neither did he notice the subsequent clips showing Red being mauled by fangirls due to the fact that he was too busy imagining what his own glory days would look like. By the time the documentary had ended, the only thing left in the boy's one-track mind was a burning passion to become the most famous Pokémon Champion ever. And as Red and several others would eventually find out to their great dismay, absolutely nothing would stop him from accomplishing this dream. Even if that meant destroying all of reality in the process.

But that, of course, is a story for another time…