Chapter 4:

Backtracking

It was a normal day at Viridian's Pokémart.

Well, mostly a normal day. It had been a normal day up till the moment a brick hit the front window and shattered it to pieces.

It had been even relatively normal up to that point, but then the boy in the red jacket burst through the window frame.

Even that could've been explained away as some kind of emergency. Maybe someone who needed urgent medical attention.

But then the boy looked at the girl behind the cashier and spoke with the most chilling voice. "I came here for Professor Oak's parcel."

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" The girl had squealed, raising her hands in the air. "We don't have a lot of money!"

"Parcel," the boy spoke with an uncanny calmth in his voice. "I need it now."

The girl hastily nodded, trying to remember what to do during this exact situation. One thing she distinctly remembered was that she had to cooperate with the criminal at all times, to stave off further damage to either her person or the store.

While shaking still and on the verge of hyperventilating, she managed to grab the parcel designated for a certain Professor Oak and put it down on the counter.

The boy swooped it up with one arm and accelerated out of the broken window, vanishing just as quickly as he had appeared.

The girl felt her heart thump in her throat, she had been staring at the shattered glass on the floor for at least a full minute before the sound of the other customers stirred her free from the shock.

She dialed the number she was told to dial in any case of emergency. "Hello sir. I think there was just a robbery." She paused, awaiting the answer from the other side of the phone. "No, I don't think he took anything aside from that parcel meant for Professor Oak."

Giovanni put down the phone and muttered some vague obscenity. Which criminal thought it was a good idea to rob a Pokémart in his city? Whoever did this, they must either be completely unaware about who ran crime in Viridian, or they were actively taunting him.

Considering the speed, efficiency and lack of mistakes made by the thief, they must be an expert. Someone who doesn't flinch to steal from Team Rocket and actively was out to undermine his hard work.

No, he wouldn't allow that to happen. This plan had taken him multiple decenia to work toward and it was close to its completion. No criminal mastermind, no matter how well trained, how daring or how fast, was going to put an end to his ambitions.

Giovanni picked up the phone again and dialed another number.

On Route 1 a bug catcher witnessed a boy jump off a ledge. Although the drop wasn't enough to mortally injure people who dropped down, it took some timing and skill to jump down and traverse Route 1 backwards.
It was for this exact reason extremely surprising that the boy charged full speed off said cliff and dropped down.

He then witnessed the boy get up to his legs again, as if pulled and puppeted by invisible strings, and then do it again.

The rookie winced as he saw the boy jump off another cliff and then another.

The trainer turned around to look the other way. He'd been looking for someone to battle against today, but a person who was willing to run off a cliff like that, no sir.

He'd just wait for some rookie from Pallet town to come by.

The doors of the lab slid open with a loud hiss.

"Hold on, wait a second." Professor Oak connected the final wire to the circuit board he was working on. He heard footsteps behind him, clearly whoever just got here was very impatient.

With a loud thud, something heavy was dropped on his desk. It caused a small tremor and the little contraption he was working on broke down.

"Damnit-" Professor Oak saw the cold eyes of Red gaze upon him.

He swallowed as the boy almost stared intensely into his. He'd heard this morning from Red's mom that the boy had woken up strange today, and he'd acted strange this morning at the lab.

Maybe this was his puberty finally catching up to him?

"The Pokédex is in the bottom drawer of the left closset." Professor Oak said, sensing Red's impatience radiate off him.

Red turned around and headed straight to closest in a direct line, almost as if he was magnetically being pulled into that direction.

With one swift motion the drawer was opened and the drawer opened and the Pokédex was retrieved with a smile by Red.

Ping the lab doors announced.

Red nodded. "Right on time."

Behind Oak, the doors slid open with a loud hiss. Oak turned around and saw his grandson Blue walk into the lab. "Okay Gramps, I said goodbye to everyone I think I am ready to-"

Red ran past him.

Blue felt a chill as he and Red's eyes met the moment he charged past. Red's eyes seemed to glow, and although no words left Red's mouth, Blue knew exactly what those eyes were saying.

"Thanks for keeping the door open for me."

And then Red was gone.

A/N Heya. Be sure to follow and favorite this story if you haven't! I am trying to reach 40 followers and favorites and it would be super cool if I could.

Anyway, thanks for reading and to the reviewer Delta, I don't think that buying Magikarp is a viable strat due to how long it takes to level him up. If you're playing Pokémon Blue, it is beneficial to get the level 24 Dratini (not in Pokémon Red though since she'll be at lvl 18!)