Chapter 1: Hey, You!

"Oh, what am I going to do?!"

Professor Oak wasn't used to having important conversations in the early hours of the day. Not to mention, he'd just accidentally put flour in his coffee.

The old Zubat in the room, Agatha, said, "What you do is tell the boy upfront. He's a man. You can't be afraid of having certain discussions with him, Samuel."

"I, it's not that, it's how he'll react!" Oak exclaimed, dumping his ruined coffee in the sink. "I thought I was ready, but I just can't!"

"Grandpa...?" Daisy spoke out from the corner. "You've said that for years."

"That's right," Agatha continued, pointing her cane to the clock. "Let's say you postpone again. And again. And again. What are you waiting for, at least another decade to pass? Until he's married and has children?"

Oak took a photo from his desk. It was a recent one that'd been taken right after Blue had gotten back from Alola; he was hanging off his grandfather's shoulder, flashing that two-fingered salute of his and wearing a huge grin. "Ahhh, I know it's my fault that it's been so long," the Professor sighed. "I just keep wondering if this will change anything between us."

"Of COURSE it will, you know how that boy feels about Violet," Agatha snapped, "so get ready to hear that smart mouth of his. All you had to do was tell him when you were supposed to, but you made it worse by prolonging things."

Daisy was eyeing the door. "Well, it's almost time for him to arrive. So…grandpa? What's going to happen here in a bit?"

"I…I'll tell him," Oak said.

At five minutes to six they heard the laboratory doors bang open and then someone screaming. Blue often startled one of the aides when he came to visit.

"Yo! Gramps!" the younger Oak called. "Gimmie a shout, where are ya?"

"Back here," the Professor called, wiping the sweat off his face with a hand towel. He forced his expression into a painful smile and Agatha snickered at his impression of a Gengar.

Daisy scooted away from the door. With all his energy her little brother had a rough way of entering rooms. Blue popped into his grandfather's enclosed quarters, at least catching the door before it banged against the wall. "Morning!" he exclaimed, staring around in shock. "Finally got around to finishing this—"

He stopped, looking at Agatha in barely-repressed contempt. She sent the same look back.

"...office," Blue finished, dropping his bag. It almost hit Eevee as she trotted in. "Oops, sorry Eevee! What's the word goin' around?"

"I just wanted to get a look at you," Oak said, moving towards his grandson. "Daisy already told me you were fine, but oh my goodness…to wake up and find out what happened in Sinnoh is just tragic. I'm so glad you left when you did."

"Yeah—well, at first, I was going to spend the night in Jubilife City, but I was just ready to get back to Kanto. Ha! Fell asleep several times on the way over here!"

Daisy made a quiet noise of displeasure. "That's very dangerous," Oak said, fidgeting in discomfort.

"I fell asleep, Gramps. Not Pidgeot," Blue said pleasantly. "Hey, nice wall of memories," he remarked, scanning the rows of childhood photos. He cackled, pointing, "Hey, here's the one where Red and I broke the living room window with a shovel! Mom was pissed. Sis, remember that?"

Oak snuck a look towards Daisy, who cleared her throat and glanced towards his desk.

"Er, uh, before I forget what I called you here for…let me see," Oak looked around for his bag. "Oh, where did I put it? I've got a surprise for you."

"Hunh?" Blue asked. "What's the occasion?"

"Too much going on for you to remember your own birthday, huh?" asked Agatha. "Can't blame you."

Oak pulled his bag from underneath the desk, unzipping it. "Agatha..." he muttered. It did not take much for her and Blue to start quarreling.

"Oh, yeah." Blue recalled. "Ah, well you know I don't really do anything crazy on my birthday, Gramps. Really, all I want today is to—"

Oak gave his grandson a Pokeball.

"…sleep…?" Blue's voice went up an octave.

"Come over here, now," Oak moved aside, gesturing to his bag. Blue took his grandfather's place and a yellow shape popped out the bag, paws raised in the air. "Pika!"

"Happy Birthday!" Oak cried. "Your present is a surprise in a billion!"

Blue blinked his slanted eyes, stunned. "Pikachu…?" he questioned, as Eevee hopped up onto the table. "As in, Red's Pikachu?"

He squinted at the top of Pikachu's fuzzy head and saw an old scar that'd been inflicted by his Pidegot many years ago. Pikachu took his chance and grabbed Blue's cheeks, giving him a big mousey kiss on the lips.

"Argh! Cut it out, you little freak!" Blue exclaimed, eyeing the Pokeball Oak had given him. "Oh great, what the heck's in here, then?"

When he opened it a large fiery dragon appeared next to Agatha, bunching her up against the wall. "You did that on purpose," Agatha hissed, trying to pry herself free.

"Uh-uh. I didn't even know who was in there," Blue lied. Years of being Red's best friend made him more aware of the smaller nuances about his friend's Pokemon. Charizard's ball had a faulty button that had to be clicked twice to open it. Blue raised a brow, looking to his grandfather for explanation.

"Oh, I don't know," Oak said fondly. "He dropped in a few days ago, left Pikachu and Charizard here. I was under the assumption he wanted me to take care of them, but something told me to rethink that."

"Just great! I haven't heard from the guy and then he pulls a stunt like this?" Blue exclaimed. "How the heck, okay, him leaving Charizard isn't that crazy. It'd be weird, but not in an alarming sense. But to drop Pikachu off? PIKACHU. I—look, too much crazy stuff is happening on my birthday and the sun's not even up."

"I want to be worried, but I know I probably shouldn't," Oak said, fiddling a pencil in his hands. "We know Red. He's probably fine."

Blue's hair was bristling with anger. "I swear he keeps finding new ways to piss me off. He missed our anniversary meeting, and now this?!"

Daisy looked at him in surprise. "Oh, anniversary? For what?"

"Uh—ne-never mind, that…wasn't supposed to slip out," Blue mumbled. He squinted at Pikachu, who was having a nuzzle-fight with Eevee. Of course he didn't have a single issue with taking care of Pokemon that weren't his, but the lack of context was maddening.

"Did he visit Anya when he came into town?" Blue asked; Anya was Red's mother.

"Mm, I'm not sure," Oak said. "Daisy, did she mention Red at all?"

Every week Daisy and Agatha had tea over at Anya's house. Daisy gave a sad little smile. "No," she said, making Blue scowl. "I'm not sure if Anya even knows he'd been home. I don't want to tell her myself because it might make her upset."

Agatha struck the ground with her cane. "Ridiculous! Boy can't even stop for a second to see if his mother's doing alright."

"Yeah, exactly," Blue agreed bitterly. He toyed with Pikachu's ears, stewing in silence for several moments. Agatha cleared her throat at Oak, who was suddenly interested in a nest of Pidgeys in a tree outside.

"Gramps," Blue spoke up suddenly, causing his grandfather to jump, "have you heard anything from Professor Rowan?"

"Oh, yes, John is alright. We had a video call earlier," Oak chuckled. "He's helping with the efforts in Jubilife but when he's caught a break, we'll have some serious contemplating to do about the situation with Arceus. Oh, dear! I never thought I'd say something like that."

"Mm, that's the exact thing Cynthia said earlier. She said it's really looking like Arceus appeared with no warning," Blue muttered. "Agh...words couldn't come close to describing how horrifying that had to have been for those people and Pokemon. And the biggest thing is we don't know if that was an isolated incident or not."

Even then, how can we solve the mystery about Arceus' behavior if he doesn't even live in the same observable space we do? Blue wondered. The only way would be for him to appear again, but where and when would he show up? He could choose anywhere he wants, at any time he wants, and easily blindside everyone again.

And say we were prepared…how's restraining the creator of the universe gonna go? We'd need a Master Ball. Nothing short of it.

"Uh," Oak said, now seated at his desk. From his expression he could've been sitting on something painful. Blue grinned at him.

"Graaaamps, what's going on? You've been fidgeting like crazy."

"…I'm still waking up," Oak said confidently.

"Ah huh, sure. Well, the opposite's happening to me. I'm running on less than four full hours of sleep. Was that all you had to do, check up on me, then give me a rat and a dragon?"

"I...er…...yes," Oak said lamely, sweating. "That's all."

"Great," Blue laughed. "Then don't expect to hear anything from the birthday boy for the rest of the day."

"You're sure you don't want to do anything special?" Daisy inquired. "No party, nothing like that?"

"Naaah, I'm good. I'm just thankful to be here," Blue said. He clapped his hands several times at Pikachu and Eevee. "Hey hey hey, alright, lovebirds. Let's get ready to roll. Don't smile at me," he added curtly to Pikachu. "Right now I'm not too happy with your trainer, so I don't want any of your normal cheek. Alright…"

He withdrew Charizard and then shouldered the door open, waving, "I'm outta here, folks."

"Get good rest! See you later," Daisy said. After the door shut behind him they waited a few moments before looking at one another. Oak had his hands over his mouth, hiding an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, granddad…!" Daisy lamented.

Agatha was seething. "You missed your chance! Not for one thing, but for two!"

"I didn't want to ruin his mood!" Oak whispered. "I was coming close to telling him about our wedding, Agatha. Maybe I should tell him one thing on one day, the other thing the next?"

"Oh, for...how's this? Let's pick the days. The first day, I'll tell him we're getting married," Agatha exclaimed. "The next day, you tell him that his mother left him a letter in her will."

Blue was half a mile down from the lab when he realized he'd left his bag. He groaned so loudly it scared a few flocks of bird Pokemon out of the trees.

"Awww, c'mon…"

With a sigh he took Alakazam's ball off his belt. He realized then that he could've just used his Pokemon to teleport or fly from Pallet Town to the Viridian Forest where he lived.

"Tch...brain is totally tapped out," he muttered, releasing Alakazam. He called Pikachu and Eevee close to him and they all warped from the spot with a sharp zing!

They appeared right in the middle of the lab. Blue rubbed his face tiredly as he shambled to his grandfather's private office, already thinking about when he should set his clock to get up in the afternoon.

Eevee's ear twitched. She ran ahead and stared hard at the door, listening, and then held a paw out to her trainer.

"Huh? What…"

Eevee arched her back, bristling. Shut up, stupid! she seemed to say, and then put her ear on the door. Always eager for excitement, Pikachu ran up and copied her.

Oh, I get it. She must've heard something weird. Huh, Blue moved as quietly as he could. He leaned on the door carefully and listened in.

As he would find out, it was a terrible way to receive some of the worst news of his life.