It didn't take long for Red to collect the ingredients. Red got the Caterpie string after skimming through a few old tree trunks. Dens that Caterpie or Weedle would use when getting ready for evolution, wrapping themselves in webs for safety.
Red was finished collecting a handful of it in ten minutes.
"Get back here, you little rat!"
Cyan wasn't as lucky.
"I just need some hair, you big baby!" Cyan snarled as he jumped after a wild Rattatta and missed. Cyan's chin slammed into the dirt as Red watched from the sidelines. His head tilted, amused as Cyan grumbled something like 'oversized gerbil' before chasing after the laughing Rattatta again.
Red chuckled as he walked past the comical chase scene, heading back to their base. Cyan would catch up once the Rattatta had its fun and let Cyan pluck a few shedding hairs from its fur. Red had listened to that Rattatta before, and he always struck him as a jokester. Red figured Cyan was the new punchline.
They should be busy for a while.
Red hummed as he traveled back to their base, glancing at a few Metapods resting on the bark of nearby trees as he went past. It was a peaceful little trek, one he expected to end with the shouts of a Pidgey and the girl he saved from the river. They had left them together at her request to get ingredients for the medicine, but that didn't mean the Pidgey didn't fight that decision.
When Red and Cyan left, Yellow had been fighting to hold the enraged Pdigey. Only Pidgey's injury and reluctant trust in Cyan and Red let her stay in Yellow's grasp, albeit with a blatant sense of unwillingness.
When Red returned, he saw a more mellowed-out version of the original scene. Pidgey's feathers were still ruffled slightly, indicating her slight annoyance, but she sat in Yellow's arms without fussing. She might have just gotten it all out of her system, going off all the minor bruises and red marks that lined Yellow's skin, which was still raw from the bites and scratches Pidgey left.
"Pretty sure I've healed Beedrill's less hostile than you, you know?" Red heard Yellow say good-naturedly. To Red's surprise, it looked like she didn't hold any grudges about the previous incident. She held Pidgey carefully, avoiding her injured wing in a way that even the Pidgey couldn't fault her for. Red was pretty sure the Pidgey was fighting not to fall asleep in Yellow's lap before the Pidgey's head perked up and flicked over in Red's direction.
Red smiled as the Pidgey jumped off the startled girl and waddled towards Red. He gently scooped her up, giving her a soft smile as he walked over to Yellow and held out Caterpie string expectantly. Eventually, shaking it in front of her nose when she didn't get the message, "Oh! Thank you." Yellow said, grabbing the string and placing it on a long bark she'd pried off a nearby tree.
Red watched quietly, petting the Pidgey's feathers as she preened under his touch. Red tilted his head to listen to Pidgey's words before turning back to Yellow and tapping her shoulder. He directed her confused gaze towards the ground as he wrote Pidgey's question in the sand. 'How long will it take to heal her wing? She wants to fly soon.'
It was uncertain how much of that desire was attributed to Cyan's constant hope, but the pidgey truly did want to fly. She wiggled restlessly in Red's grasp, her eyes practically glued to the sky, constantly wanting to explore it.
"It'll only take a few minutes." Yellow replied almost instinctively, seemingly startling herself with her unconscious answer as she added hastily, "But I still need to be alone when I make it! I can't be distracted, or I might mess up. Okay?"
Yellow grimaced as he tilted his head, glancing at the unpleased Pidgey before shrugging. He seemed to relieve whatever Yellow was worried about as her shoulders slumped, and she looked back with a new curiosity: "So... Cyan said your name is Red, right?"
Red nodded.
"Thank you for saving me from the River."
Red nodded once again.
"Did you guys make this base yourself?"
Red nodded.
"Was it hard?"
Red shook his head.
"Oh... that's... nice." Yellow shuffled awkwardly. Red rolled his eyes as he dusted off his previous message and wrote a new one on the dirt: " You can ask, you know? It's not like I'm going to yell at you." Red chuckled as Yellow's face flushed. She huffed before kicking a stray pebble and asking, "Can you not speak? At all?"
Red shook his head before reconsidering the question and then using his finger to carve a new message in the dirt: " Technically, I should be able to. Physically, there's no damage to my vocal cords, but I've never been able to. I don't know why. Neither do my parents. They took me to the doctors as a child, but they couldn't figure anything out."
Red tried not to frown at the somber expression that passed Yellow's face. It wasn't new. Most reactions to his condition teetered between sadness, sympathy, or pity. Red wasn't a fan of those looks, so maybe his dislike of it pushed his finger back to the dirt, carving a new message before Yellow could comment on the old one: "My dad's a scientist. Cyan's parents and Professor Oak are, too. They seem to think it's just how I'm wired."
"Do they know how to treat it?" Yellow asked curiously and rather bluntly. Red stiffened in surprise before he tilted his head. He appreciated how upfront she was, even if he didn't have much of an answer. Eventually, he shrugged and kept writing in the dirt: " Not at the source, no. Professor Oak offered to give me an Abra so I could have a translator and teach it to read my thoughts like his Alakazam, but I declined. I don't want a Pokemon before Cyan and I become trainers."
Red noticed Yellow's eyes quirked with interest as she asked, "You two want to become trainers?" Yellow frowned, her eyes narrowing as her voice became slightly colder. "Why?"
Red blinked in surprise, shrugging as he wrote: " I want to meet a lot of Pokemon."
Red was pretty sure Yellow's brain short-circuited, "That's it?"
Red nodded. Shrugging again, he wrote in the dirt: "There aren't many different types of Pokemon in Pallet Town unless you include the ones on Professor Oak's ranch. I want to meet a lot of them." Red hesitated, shaking his head as he scrapped what he would write and scribbled something else: "I've never left Pallet Town. I like watching the Rattatta and Caterpies, but I want to meet other Pokemon. There are so many. Being a trainer is the best way to do that."
Red tilted his head, adding on as an afterthought: "Plus, it seems fun."
Red looked up expectantly-awaiting Yellow's reaction. He saw her eyes widen before she beamed and crouched in front of Red's eyes like it was her birthday. "That's wonderful!" She said, bouncing excitedly, making Red unsure if he was conversing with the same girl. She seemed less reserved: "Hey? You said your friend Cyan wants to be a trainer, too. Why?"
Red tilted his head, confusion twisting to consideration as he felt Pidgey's head perk to the right. Red turned his head to see a Rattatta scurrying past with flakes of hair shedding off its back. Followed by a triumphant declaration: "I finally got it! Take that, you furball!"
Yellow and Red turned back in surprise. Stunned. The timing of everything as Cyan ran into the open, purple hair clenched in his fist victoriously. Cyan cheered, laughing joyously, before he noticed their silence and asked, "Hey, what's wrong? I got something on my face?"
Cyan touched his face absentmindedly as Red and Yellow shared a look, Red tilting his head in a way he hoped conveyed: 'There he is. Ask your question.'
Yellow seemed to understand because she nodded and turned to Cyan, "Hey, Cyan. Why do you want to become a trainer?"
"It looks fun."
"Ok, but more specifically, why? Like the most important reason." Yellow replied, unimpressed, as she watched the gears turn in Cyan's head. Cyan scratched his hair before he shrugged and said, "Well, if I had to choose one, I guess I'd say it's because I want to explore. I've never left Pallet Town. I want to see what else is out there."
"You aren't doing it to battle? To be the best." Yellow asked with a growing smile as she repeated the most basic mantra of any trainer. Red glanced curiously as she leaned forward expectantly. Cyan didn't notice the strange reaction and shrugged: "Well, I'll still go through the circuit, and I'm beating my sister's record," So I could rub it in her face went unsaid, "but no. It's not the main reason I want to become a trainer. I want to leave this place and see the world." Cyan smiled wistfully as he looked up at the sky. "It's so big. It has to be if all these Pokemon are in it. Right, Red?" Cyan asked, and Red grinned.
Red nodded as he let the Pidgey go, watching it run up to Cyan happily. Cyan grabbed the Pidgey and smothered it affectionately before asking, "Why did you want to know?"
"No reason," Yellow said cheerily. Her thoughts were betrayed by the skip in her step as she walked past Red and grabbed the Pidgey out of Cyan's arms. Taking their feathered friend, along with the Rattatta hair Cyan had managed to grab, before disappearing into the fort and closing the entrance behind her, "Give me a few minutes! I'll have this Pidgey flying in no time!"
Red heard the Pidgey cry in protest, as a series of squeaks and wrestling from inside—Red glanced at Cyan. The two were seemingly as dumbfounded as the other before shrugging, with Cyan turning back to Pallet Town. "Let's go then, Red. I still need to tell gramps we found... well, a person, I guess." Cyan mumbled as he tried to figure out a better way to word it. Red chuckled as he got up before hearing a muffled grumble from the fort and thinking better of it.
"I'll stay here. In case something happens." Red wrote in the dirt, tilting his head as Cyan's lips thinned. Cyan's momentary consideration interrupted as they heard a commotion back in the fort, and Cyan caved, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. See you, Red."
Red waved goodbye, watching quietly as Cyan walked back to Pallet Town. Red was sitting alone outside the fort as he wondered what they would do with the girl from Viridian Forest.
"Stop moving, you stupid bird! I'm trying to heal you!"
Assuming she and the pidgey didn't kill each other first.
The walk back to his house was relatively uneventful. A mulling Metapod here. A cheery Butterfree there. Nothing was out of the norm, barring the Rattatta he'd stolen some hair from, coming back for vengeance as it scurried in his path and made him trip over his feet. Falling to the ground in an ungrateful heap: "You jerk!"
"Tatta, Tatta!" The Rattatta laughed, because Cyan just knew it was laughing, before vanishing into the thickets around them. Cyan groaned as he got up and dusted himself off, refusing to let the sore loser ruin his good mood. There was still the whole 'finding a human' he had to explain to his grandpa, but even that wasn't enough to overshadow the grin on Cyan's face. If what the girl said was true, their feathered friend would fly soon, and assuming she agreed to become Cyan's first Pokemon, he would have his first party member. Right there. 1 of 6.
Gramps will have to come around after I catch my first Pokemon, fair and square. Nursing it back to health with only a teensy bit of help.
That was the hope. Plus, even if Gramps wanted to say he hadn't done enough by nursing the pidgey back to health to warrant a sponsorship, then at the very least, he would have to admit they deserved it after saving Yellow. She was drowning, for Wooper's sake. Red and Cyan saved her, a joint effort, and now she was back on her feet. That had to be a trainer-worthy feat.
"Gramps! I'm back! I need to talk to you!" Cyan announced as he kicked the door open, tossed his shoes to the side, and began scouring for his grandpa. He excitedly smiled as he closed the door behind him and looked around the empty living room. He was already envisioning the start of his journey, catching his first teammates, minus Pidgey, because her spot was already secured. It was perfect.
"Hey, gramps! Where are you?"
Now, if only he could find his grandpa, his vision could become a reality.
"Gramps! You out in the ranch again?" Cyan's thoughts echoed through the house as he tilted his head to the second floor. His hand slid up the railings. He took a few steps up to check the master bedroom before he heard muffled shouting from deep in the halls below. Cyan tilted his head curiously, descending the few steps before walking down the various halls of the first floor. They didn't live in a giant house; it wasn't a mansion or anything, but it was pretty big.
There were only two floors. The second was connected to the first-floor living room by a staircase only a few yards from the front door. The dark brown oak wood splashed against the various colored doors, with about six rooms, disregarding the bathrooms. Four bedrooms. Two were master bedrooms located on opposite sides of the house. His parents slept in one, and his grandpa slept in the other. Cyan and Daisy's room sat in between. An old office was there, while the last room was a guest room that quickly became Gary's.
The first floor consisted of the main living room by the front entrance with the kitchen to the very back of it. Two halls lead back to various smaller rooms, most filled with research. Some were filled with old Pokeballs his grandpa still needed to fix up. All the multiple rooms of cabinets and hours lost to research culminated in the central lab at the back of the house. Quickly taking up most of the space that the first floor was dedicated to.
Cyan quickly realized the shouting was coming from that direction and headed towards it. The shouts became more evident as he quietly inched closer.
"That was NEVER what we discussed!" Cyan flinched as his grandfather's enraged voice hit his ears. His eyes widened, his breath quieted, and he tip-toed toward the lab door. It creaked open and was supposedly left ajar because his grandpa had forgotten it during his rush to answer whatever call he was taking. Cyan peeked in and saw his grandfather pacing around the room, running his hand through his hair with an expression of rage etched on his face. He looked furious.
"You were supposed to burn those notes just as I did! We both agreed that the experiment wasn't worth it! We're lucky it didn't blow up in our faces the first time! When we created something that was in so much agony, it melted so it could become anything else! Did you forget!?"
He sounded utterly ballistic.
"We were given a warning not to play god, Blaine! Why didn't you listen!" Oak roared, a vein bulging in his head as Cyan heard this Blaine (His name sounded familiar) speak from the other line. The words were too muffled for Cyan to listen to but sounded like 'funds.' Cyan leaned in closer to understand better what was being discussed.
Only for his grip on the doorframe to accidentally slip and nudge him into the door. The door creaked open, alerting his grandfather to his presence in an instant as Cyan froze. His breath caught in his throat as he saw his grandfather's glare move for an instant before he seemed to process where it was being aimed. Oak's eyes softened momentarily before the muffled voice on the phone caught his attention, and they hardened once again. Oak spoke into the phone, "This isn't over." Then hung up.
"Come in, Cyan. Sorry for the mess." Oak sighed as he slumped down in a chair. Cyan noticed his grandfather's heavy shoulders and the exhaustion that his grandfather barely bothered to try to hide. A glance told him that his grandfather had a rough day. Papers were thrown across the room, and vials that had been so pristinely organized were now shattered. Cyan did his best to ignore the scene as he coughed and awkwardly walked inside, "Hi, gramps. Are you busy? Red and I have something we-"
"Please tell me this isn't about a sponsorship again," Oak sighed. Cyan stiffened at the exasperation and downright irritation in his grandfather's words. Cyan gulped, "No." before sputtering, "Well, technically, but not how you think it is."
"I think I've already told you two no." Oak frowned as Cyan flinched. Cyan shuffled nervously as his grandpa began tapping on the chair impatiently, "Countless times, might I add. My answer won't change. If you're here to ask me again, please return later, Cyan. I have an important call to take."
"But this time is different."
"How, Cyan? How is it different?" Oak asked callously. Cyan stiffened. Unused to the humorless tone directed his way. He choked on his words, "W- well, we found an injured Pidgey and nursed it back to health. I thought it could be my-"
"Pokémon. That's wonderful, Cyan, but that hardly constitutes becoming a lab trainer." Oak countered flippantly. Oak turned back to his desk and began mindlessly reorganizing the papers, "It's admirable that you nursed it back to health, and I don't mind you picking up a stray Pidgey. If it wants to stay with you, that's fine, but it can do so here. Not on some godforsaken journey you and Red are far too young to be on."
"But, Daisy-"
" Daisy went when she was 12." Oak hissed. Cyan flinched back as he heard the venom in Oak's words, "And it was only because I went along with her for it. I would never have sent her alone, much less two years earlier than I had to."
"But I'm allowed to go at ten! There's a rule for it!"
"Yes, there's a rule for it, but it isn't good. The only reason Pryce still keeps it is because he's stuck in the goddamn past." Oak grumbled as he pinched his nose and muttered, "It was made for reasons I don't expect you to understand, but that's irrelevant. My answer is no. You can go the same way Daisy went. When she was 12 and with me along for the ride."
"But Red and I-"
"Enough, Cyan! Enough! You're not going! That's final!" Oak snapped, slamming his hands on the desk as Cyan flinched back. Cyan's eyes were shaky as the phone rang. He watched Oak turn, mouth thinned, bottling his irritation, "Go to your room, Cyan. We can talk about this later." Oak picked up the phone and went out the door to the backyard.
Cyan was left alone in the lab, stewing in confused anger as the back door clicked shut. Cyan growled and stomped out. He headed upstairs, towards Gary's room, and swung the door open. He took in the decorations strewn across Gary's bedroom. Posters of Charizard, Blastiouse, and an Arcanine that could give Tiny a run for her money. Cyan ignored it as he slammed the door shut behind him, his anger mounting as he paced around the crib in the center of the room.
"Please try not to wake Gary with your brooding. I just put him to bed." A voice echoed inside Cyan's head, startling him to a stop. He glanced to a nearby window and saw his grandfather's Alakazam floating slightly above the sill. Different from Tiny, Alakazam never got a name. When Oak offered, Alakazam refused.
"What are you doing here, Al?"
Cyan still called him Al for short.
"I figured you'd be with Gramps handling... whatever that was," Cyan said as he recalled the phone call and the messy lab he had stumbled upon. Cyan sat on one of the nearby boxes to not wake Gary, sleeping soundly in the crib. The cute baby snores filled the room as Al did his weird psychic thing and thought into Cyan's head.
"I would rather not be included in that particular conversation. Besides, I was there when Samuel raised little Leo. It's truly astonishing how much trouble human infants can get themselves into when left unattended."
Cyan had known Al since forever, being the only other Pokémon of Oak's that stayed in the main house, but it was still strange. The ability to talk, or think technically, with a human was solely reserved for the strongest psychic type Pokémon, and it was just different than what Cyan was used to, even after all these years.
A trainer usually communicates with their Pokémon by bonding, getting used to their little tells, and forming a connection.
It was what Cyan did with Tiny. The lovable furball he'd known since he was in diapers. It was how he knew her 'I want Bouffalant Bones' look from her 'I want belly rubs' look. He's spent enough time with her to know those things intuitively.
It was different from actually holding a conversation with Al. No matter how close Cyan got to Tiny or any other Pokémon, he'd never understand what they were saying. Their words would always be some variation of their name to his ears. It was the same with everyone. No one could actually understand what a Pokemon is saying. It's impossible.
That's why powerful psychic Pokémon were so rare and sought after. They're the only Pokémon able to communicate with humans directly. Al was one such Pokémon, and to Cyan's knowledge, one of the only ones in the entirety of the Kanto region.
"Now, enough about me, you hormonal child. I know you just got scolded for something. You have that look that Leo used to have."
It kind of sucked that he was such a jerk about it.
"What did you break this time?" Al said, thought, whatever with an unimpressed frown. Feeding fuel to the coal, Cyan was standing. "I didn't break anything! Gramps is just being a... a jerk!"
"Wow, so descriptive. Care to elaborate?"
"He won't let me become a lab trainer." Cyan fumed. "Even after Red and I nursed a pidgey back to health! All on our own, too, sort of. Not important. The point is we're good enough to be trainers. I know we are, but Gramps won't listen to me."
"He's simply being protective of you."
"I get that, but come on, even you have to admit it's not fair. I've done everything right." Cyan complained as he started pacing around the room again. His mouth was like an open window that spewed his grievances to the only one willing to listen.
"Red and I are the best in our classes."
"To which I commend you for such a wonderful achievement. Although, Red was expected."
"We've studied loads for the gyms and their typing."
"It's always good to plan for future opponents."
"We even have our first Pokemon waiting to join," Cyan grumbled as he thought of the pidgey waiting for him back in the forest. The pidgey who would be stuck in this middle-of-nowhere town for the next two years until they could finally set out. With gramps chaperoning, no less.
That wasn't how it was supposed to be...
Cyan knew that Gramps had gone with Daisy on her journey, but he thought it was just because Daisy didn't have a lot of friends. She did now. College and joining the Pokemon scientists' family business helped her make connections, but there weren't any kids her age when she lived in Pallet Town. Cyan thought Gramps went with her so she wouldn't feel lonely.
Instead, he joined her, keeping an eye on her and holding her hand the whole way through.
"What do I need to do to show Gramps I can go? I don't get it..."
There was no way Cyan was getting a babysitter on his journey.
"It's like he doesn't trust me," Cyan grumbled as he stopped by Gary's crib. He reached down and started playing with a tuft of Gary's brown hair. Using it to feel less bummed, as he recalled, he hadn't even gotten a chance to tell Gramps about the person now in their possession.
There's really gotta be a better way to say that...
Cyan frowned as he internally tested ways to tell Gramps—no, he didn't want to talk to Gramps—how to tell Al they'd found a person—saved a person, that was better—in the woods. Cyan flicked his head to talk to the resident psychic/babysitter before Al's thoughts hit him: "If it's any consolation, I don't believe his trust in you is the problem. It's his trust in the world."
"The world?" Cyan balked, "What does that even mean?"
"It means things weren't always as nice as now." Al projected, his head tilted as Cyan began to feel like he was under a microscope. "There was a time, far more recent than you might realize, where the idea of a 'fun' journey was nonsense. Samuel..."
Al paused, hesitation a new look on the usually confident yet uptight Pokémon. "Samuel has lived through the worst times of this region. I'm sure it is better now, and he knows that too, but I'm still certain that if he had it his way, you wouldn't see it until you were 15, at least. No one would."
"Because he thinks we're too young?"
"Because he thinks you're not ready." Al corrected, "For the world and the unfairness that might come with it. Unfairness that he knows is a possibility because he's experienced it. You may think Pallet Town is boring, but it is also safe."
Cyan looked down at Gary, his finger stuck in his brown hair, as Al finished his telepathic speech: "That is a luxury Samuel never had."
Cyan frowned, toying with one of Gary's growing curls as he tried to rationalize what he was told. Gramps didn't want him to go because he thought he wasn't ready. Not for what could go wrong once he was out on his own. At his core, Gramps was worried about Cyan. Cyan could swallow that pill easily.
"I... I understand it. I guess."
Cyan loved his gramps. He did, and he knew he was lucky he had someone like that to worry about him. To worry about what he would do if the world didn't hold back. Cyan was lucky. He was happy.
"I won't ask him about it anymore... but just one more question. Hypothetically..."
He was happy, but he wasn't satisfied.
"If I were to prove I could handle it. If I could handle whatever the world threw at me... What then?"
Pallet Town was safe, but it was small. The ranch was cool, but it was cornered. The forest was close but closed to all the other places and Pokemon waiting out there. Pokémon he wanted to see—places he wanted to visit in a world he wanted to travel, even with the risks involved.
"Do you think he'd let me go?"
In a world bigger than Pallet Town, Cyan wanted to see it. He couldn't wait two more years. He just had to prove to his gramps that he could do it. Right now. Then he'd get to go, and his gramps wouldn't have to be worried anymore. Everyone's happy.
"Well... Without making any promises..."
All Cyan had to do was prove he was ready to take on the world.
"It is possible he would."
And he already had a genius idea of how to do it.
