This is probably not what you were expecting. I don't have a lot of time to write even though I have many ideas on what to write. It's more appropriate to explain this here than after the chapter. First off, this is a third format next to regular chapters and special chapters, a side story. What that means? How is a side story different from a special chapter? Probably length. I don't think any side story will be extremely long.

But the most important factor is that side stories don't fit in the main story. They exist as supplementary material which isn't necessary to understand the flow of things. They can take place anywhere and be about anyone as long as they are not about the main character in the present. Examples: A day in the life of Professor Oak, how did Green get his starter, what did Jon and Fille do after parting ways with Red(I'm not saying that I'm necessarily going to write any of those stories).

I knew that I wanted to do side stories but didn't really have any planned out. But I started writing the chapter in which Red catches up to Blue and stopped midway because I felt like there was not enough on the line. They haven't had any proper interactions for months so I somehow assumed that people wouldn't care. So what I'm gonna be doing for now is writing a couple short side stories which will show various moments from Red and Blue's travels for which there wasn't really place in the main story. It's also kinda more focused on Blue's perspective.

There may be up to 6 of them and the last one will probably be the only one that contains any realy plot. So if you feel like you have a good enough grasp of what Red and Blue's relationship is, you don't need to read most of them. But there still won't be a regular chapter for some time so you might as well. I'm not sure how long they are going to be. I will put numbers at the beginning to signify between which chapters each story takes place. That's all I think. If you're still confused(I'm kinda confused myself), then me.

Recommended music: Made in Abyss Ending


Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 1: B-Side Part 1.

4.5

Blue was walking forward, her eyes trying to find something interesting to focus on. Unfortunately, every tree, every rock, every bush she passed, all seemed to look the same and she wondered if it was possible that she wouldn't die of boredom. Especially since her new travelling companion, Red, kept quiet as he walked in front of her. She looked at him from an angle to see if he was as bored as her but, to her surprise, he seemed to be in deep thought. It was weird that he was still able to choose the accurate path, even though his eyes were looking almost straight down. Curious about what he was thinking about, Blue picked up her pace so that she could walk roughly next to him, even though sometimes trees would get in the way.

"Whatcha focusing so hard on?" she asked while bending a little to get a frontal look at his face.

It looked like if he was taken out of a trance, since he blinked twice and slowed his step for a bit.

"I'm just doing the stuff I usually do to fight the boredom." he explained quickly.

Blue wasn't satisfied with the answer so she inquired further "And what would that be?"

"Oh, I'm thinking up strategies for my Pokemon."

Blue found that hard to believe "But... We've been walking for like 5 hours. How many strategies can you come up with?"

"Well... A few. But it's not like there is anything else to do." he looked at her as if what she said was completely ridiculous to him.

"We could... I don't know... Talk or something."

"Well, we're talking right now."

"That's not what I mean!" she wasn't too happy with him turning her words around.

"If we're gonna be talking all the time, we'll just get tired more easily." it seemed like he wanted to be as rational as he could.

"Speaking of getting tired..." she made a short pause to take a bigger step over a root sticking out from the ground "...Why are we walking through the forest and not on the main road?"

"It's so we can be closer to the stream."

"The stream?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure how many days it will take us to reach Pewter City so it would be good to have a place to refill water."

"But... How can you tell that there's a stream nearby?" she asked as she looked around in confusion, making sure that she didn't miss the thing they were talking about, but alas, it was nowhere in sight.

"Ever since I was young, I spent a lot of time in this forest. I never got this far but there were a lot of things I learned." he said before stepping next to a tree "You have to learn to listen to nature,"

He put his forehead against the tree and closed his eyes. After a while, he pointed a finger towards a bush.

"There's a Pokemon there... I think a Rattata... No, a Caterpie. He's eating something."

Blue went over and, by parting the leaves, was able to see the bug Pokemon munching on an apple.

"Wow." she said as a show of being impressed before turning to Red "How does that work?"

"It's not "magic" if that's what you think. It's just, when you spend a lot of time outside, you can focus to discern certain sounds, smells and feelings. I could probably tell you how old this tree is just by knocking on it 3 times."

"Really?!" she shouted so loudly that the Caterpie took its apple and ran away.

"Of course not. That's just a joke."

She made a pouting face since she felt disappointment when being made fun of.

"Here, you try it." He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her towards him before leaving the rest to her.

She did the same thing as he; put her head against the tree, closed her eyes and tried to focus.

"Let's see if you can find the stream."

"I'm not going to suddenly be able to do something which you learned over the years."

"Just try. I believe in you."

She tried putting any thoughts that came to her mind away and just concentrate on her attempt to hear the sound of water. She was about to give up since for a long while there wasn't anything besides silence, but it seemed like she finally heard something. It was faint but there was definitely something.

"I heard it!" she opened her eyes with excitement "Red, I heard..."

Blue was immediately overcome by a mix of confusion and disappointment when she saw that the thing that was making that sound was Red's mouth. He was standing a short distance away and lightly blowing wind with his mouth.

"What are you doing?" she asked while hoping that he would find a good reason for her not to get mad over what he did.

"Ah..." Red took a step back while looking at the girl's twitching eyebrow "...I just thought that I would give you confidence this way. Like a placebo? That's what they call it?"

"I don't need that!" she shouted while taking a couple quick steps in his direction.

It was so sudden that he fell on his bottom. She was about to punch him but stopped herself and calmed down. She looked towards the tree and went back to it.

"What are you..." Red began but was immediately interrupted.

"I'm going to learn it!"

"But... We don't know how long it's going to take."

"Then we'll stay here until I learn! And don't you dare make any sound!" she pointed at him before placing her head against the tree and closing eyes.

"Alright." Red responded.

He sat there for a couple minutes before deciding to take a nap.

They left that spot the next day, with Blue still unable to hear the voice of nature, although Red was forbidden from ever pointing that out.


Hey. At least with this type of side story, there aren't a lot of things to explain. The title "Side B" is a double pun. It's based on the fact that casettes have two sides, A-side and B-side, and here we see the other side of the story, Blue's side, so B-Side. Yeah. No one ever accused me of being clever. I wonder if people even care about the titles and the stupid amount of thought I put into them(imagine me shrugging).