Shortly after reuniting with my Partner, I returned to the entrance of the forest. The worry was visible on my mother's face-Unsurprising since I'd been gone for so long- but she soon calmed down once I told her I was safe, and got my bite wound patched up.

And so there I was, lying on my bed again after an incredibly long day. I really, really wanted to sleep, but there was a small problem.

The window was pestering me.

Normally it had vanished after a few moments, or once I had finished reading it, but this time it had stayed by my side for the entirety of the trip home, bath, and bedtime. This window had appeared directly after I caught Yeller.

[Tutorial 1: Catching (Complete!)

- Learn how to Catch a Pokemon. (Complete!)
- Discover a Pokemon suitable to be your partner and capture it. (Complete!)

Congratulations! You caught your perfect possible partner! Bonus rewards will be distributed.

Rewards: Gain Type Proficiency + Status Points
{Claim Reward}]

It just sat there, in front of my face, doing nothing. The description had changed to say I'd get bonus rewards, but I hadn't seen any sign of that so far.

Hurry up and distribute my rewards already then!

Well, the window did seem to be prompting me to claim the rewards somehow, but I had no clue how to do that. In the first place, I didn't really have anyway to interact with the window anyway. When I tried to touch it before my hand just phased right through it.

Hm? Wait, that's not quite right, is it?

I stopped and put my head on my hand. I had the strangest feeling that I had been able to do something before... Right, I'd punched the window and it reacted to that. Why had I been able to do that?

Sitting up in my bed, I tried to touch the window in front of me, and I felt my finger hit something. It wasn't like any material I'd ever known, it was just like the air itself was solid where I was touching.

Come to think of it, no-one had noticed this window before, aside from me. Even my Mother and Oak acted like nothing was there the whole time. Was it bound to me somehow?

I slid my finger across it's surface, until my finger was over the {Claim Rewards} message. Once I was touching it, the message seemed to change colour. When I withdrew my finger, the window finally disappeared.

And a moment later a new window appeared.

[Type Proficiency added to your Status Window!
+5 Status Points]

I furled my brow in a hint of frustration. "Seriously, what is this... Status-"

The moment the word status left my lips, another window opening, causing me to jolt in surprise.

[Cyan Hughs

Status:

HP: 16/16
Atk: 5
Sp. Atk: 0
Def: 5
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 10

Stat Points (10)

Skills:

Eye to Eye
Regression System

Type Proficiency 0% {Tap to Expand} ]

I blinked a few times, trying to understand what had just happened. "Is... Is it voice controlled?" I asked. No response. "Close."

Both windows disappeared.

"Status."

The status window re-opened.

"Close."

It closed.

...Status.

The window appeared for a third time. After all this, I finally had an idea of what was going on. These windows were somehow connected to me and my second chance at life. If this 'status' window was showing information about me, then I assumed it had something to do with the 'skill' called 'regression system'.

...Regression System

As I focussed on that skill, it opened up a paragraph of descriptive text beneath the skill name.

[Regression System:

A skill that grants it's user a second chance at their life, with the ultimate goal of preventing *&*?#?/. The owner of this skill will come back to life at an earlier point in history based on their strength, and be granted quests and a status window. Success will be rewarded and Failure will be punished. Good luck.]

Well that's ominous. I wonder what those characters symbolise?

Concerning though the description was, it seemed like something I couldn't really comprehend, so I decided to look at my other skill description for now.

[Eye to Eye:

It's said that the eyes are the window to the soul, but it takes a special kind of talent to be able to see through that window and understand what the soul is feeling. This skill is the culmination of someone with that talent working to understand what they see.

- Allows the user to understand some of what a creature is feeling just by looking them in the eyes. Works better the more familiar you are with the target.]

Ah, this must be the reason why I'd been able to tell what Chee was thinking. Come to think of it, even in my past life I'd picked up on how to read people faster than anyone else. I suppose that must be the 'talent' the system was referring to.

I foggily gazed over the remainder of the menu but I didn't see anything else that stood out, and I was beginning to get very tired. It had been a very long day and I needed to sleep.

Close.

I could think about all of this in the morning, but there was one last thing I needed to do before I went to sleep. Picking up the Pokeball I'd had all night, I released Yeller into the room. The Rattata stretched, shaking it's fur for a moment before looking up to me.

"You prefer to be outside the Pokeball right? You can sleep here."

I gestured to a pillow I'd placed on the ground, but he snorted. Without making a peep he jumped up onto the bed and curled up next to my own pillow.

I chuckled as I lay my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.

"Doesn't hurt to offer."

...

A few days had passed since Yeller and I became Partners again.

I smiled at the sun rising into the sky, my partner by my side. It was still early in the morning, but the army had drilled the habits of an early riser deep into my body. My daily routine consisted of a morning run, some simple training drills in the park, and spending some time in the afternoon trying to get a better idea of the town layout.

It wasn't for a while yet, but I wanted to be ready to help people the moment the stampede happened.

But when I started training at the park today, I noticed something unusual. There were always a few kids playing around, and they'd mostly been ignoring me. But today I saw the silhouette of a young girl hiding behind a tree.

I walked over to the tree and peaked around the corner to find a shivering young girl with shoulder-length black hair and grey eyes. She wore a black t-shirt, and thick white gloves.

"Hey Chee. Did you come to see me?"

She nodded quietly, looking into my eyes. She seemed like she was scared of something.

"Are you scared of the other kids?" I asked, gesturing towards the group of kids playing in the park.

She shook her head.

Hm? Then what is she scared of?

She didn't have her Pikachu plushie today, but her gloved hands were still clasped together tightly in front of her chest.

"...Are you okay?" I asked cautiously. She looked pleadingly into my eyes.

Are we still friends?

"Of course we are."

But... She looked away, shakily pulling out a pen and paper. She wrote something neatly and then presented it to me. The words 'Three Days' were scribbled down on the paper.

"You're wondering why I haven't come to see you, even though it's been three days?"

She started nodding her head vigorously.

"Ahhh... Sorry, I just haven't felt like Professor Oak's lab is a place I can go. He's a pretty important person and I'm just an ordinary villager..." I answered sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck.

Chee pouted at me, handing me another note written on her pad. It read 'I tell them let you in, visit.'

"Alright, I'll make sure to come by sometimes, so don't be upset okay?"

Chee fixed me with a bright smile. I'll look forward to it!

With that misunderstanding resolved, we both went back to the stumps in the park to finish my training for the day, but she stopped walking once she saw Yeller, who had been patiently waiting for me during my detour.

I turned to see what the problem was, but she sprinted past me and caught the Rattata in a dive hug tackle before I could say a word.

"...Wha?"

Chee now sat with the Rattata on her lap, rubbing her cheek against it's as she played with it's paws. Yeller looked almost as confused as I was.

She looked up to me and her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. It's so cuuuute!

I couldn't suppress a chuckle, which got a head tilt of confusion from Chee. "That's my partner, Yeller." I explained.

Chee nodded enthusiastically.

I reach down and pat the rodent's head myself as I continue to explain. "Originally I was hoping to catch something rarer, but that was just me being stubborn. Yeller is the best partner I could ask for."

Chee seemed to frown at that comment. I could tell that she was trying to tell me something, but all I could tell was that she felt I was wrong somehow.

"Wrong? How?"

Chee pulled up her notepad and turned to a new piece of paper, scribbling down the word 'rare' before presenting it me again.

"...Yeah like I said, it's not a rare Pokemon."

Chee shook her head, underlining the word 'rare' several times on the notepad.

"You're saying it is rare?"

She nodded with a look of determination, and a faint hint of envy. She turned the page to show another word, 'yellow'.

"...It's rare because it's yellow?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

Certainly Ratatta were usually purple, but when I looked at Yeller sitting in her lap, I was reminded of the sight of her holding the Pikachu plushie when we'd met. If she liked those plushies it would only make sense that she would like Yeller as well.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." I conceded. "My partner is no ordinary Rattata. He's my super-rare partner Yeller."

As Chee and I were exchanging platitudes, I began to hear whispers of excitement rising from the other kids.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"It's Blue!"

"Think I should ask him to play with us?"

"If we were friends with Blue we could go play in Oak's yard right? That sounds so cool!"

I glanced over to see the brown-haired boy from a few days ago walking over while scowling. He stopped a few feet from me, his eyes trained on Chee, who seemed to be shrinking away.

"Hey loser, Gramps says we gotta be back for training by lunch." He grumbled. "Why are you hanging out with this moron?"

Chee pouted in indignation, but she stayed behind my back, using me as a shield between herself and the abrasive boy.

"You know this guy?" I checked, just to be sure. She nodded softly.

"What a pain..." He glanced over at me and Chee, a look I couldn't quite decipher in his eyes. "...You friends or something?"

"Yeah, we became friends a few days ago." I answered.

Blue raised his eyebrows at me. "Ah, is that so. Well, good for you I suppose." He turned away from us, shrugging dismissively. "You two losers suit each other."

He raised a hand in farewell as he walked away. "Anyway I don't care if you show up or not, but gramps will be mad if you're not there in an hour. Don't be late."

"Are you going to be battling with Red?" I blurted out suddenly.

Both Chee and Blue froze suddenly.

"Well... Obviously?" Blue looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Let me come with you."

I needed to meet Red. The sooner I could train with a talented trainer like Red, the stronger I'd be able to grow. I was trained by Red in my last life-Everyone in our squad was- but we never really got past the basics.

"Forget it." Blue shut me down immediately. "Gramps doesn't let outsiders train with us."

Blue waved dismissively at me and left. As I was opening my mouth to call out to him again, I felt Chee tugging at my sleeve. When I looked at her, I found she was hanging her head, refusing to meet my gaze.

"...Is something wrong?" I asked cautiously. She held up her notepad, the words 'where name' written on it. I stared blankly at the paper for a moment.

"Are you asking where I heard the name Red?" I guessed. She nodded, then fixed me with a glare. Seeing the normally cheerful Chee fixing me with such a death stare sent a chill down my spine. Her eyes were almost looking at me like I'd betrayed her.

Ah-Is it possible that Red's existence is a secret? I hadn't really considered it, but it seemed possible that I wasn't supposed to know about it yet. Especially if Oak really was here to train soldiers... She might be suspicious I'd only been willing to talk to her so I could get close to Red.

I shied away from her glare as I answered the first thing I could think of. "I-I heard some rumours about a super strong Pokemon battler called Red being at Oak's lab after we met. You know, stuff like how he has a powerful Charmander, and being a prodigy. I'm into Pokemon battles, so I'd love the chance to battle with him."

I folded my arms, getting a bit lost in my memories of Red from my past life. "Stoic and intelligent, powerful and strong, a true man!" I concluded, and heard the scribbling of a pen on paper again.

'Red bad person' the notepad read, as she held it up to my face.

"Red is a bad person...?"

She nodded, then flipped the page.

'Pokemon Theif'

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she flipped the page again.

'don't meet'

...Huh?

Chee folded her arms and stuck her tongue out at me.

"I shouldn't meet Red?"

She nodded furiously.

"But..." She reaffixed me with a glare.

And for now at least, I conceded. "Alright alright, I'll give up on meeting Red for now."

The young girl seemed to let out a sigh of relief, and a moment later she returned to her cheery demeanour. But still, I couldn't help but wonder... Why was everyone treating Red with such hostility?

What did he do?