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Author’s Note: This is something I’ve wanted to write for a very long time. The story is pretty much inspired by all of the crime thrillers and mystery novels I love to read. Also, the SCP Foundation. So I guess if you like shadow organizations, detectives, or creepypasta there’s a chance you might like this as well. Hope you enjoy, and if not please tell me why?
I’m not sure how to start this… whatever this ends up becoming, but there isn’t really any other place to put it. I wouldn’t even think of doing this if it weren’t for the help of some computer savvy friends of mine; INDIGO already has the Pokecenters and Bill’s servers under surveillance. People never stop to question why our Pokemon are healed for free or the reason the Box System never charges a fee. They track everything because they fund everything. Silph is their pet project too. Brilliant idea really: mass market Pokeballs, take the billing information from the sales to set up an account, and slip in a bit of code to register the vitals of whatever is caught with it. It was hell trying to remove the gps tracker from my Pokedex. But you’ll know more about that later.
I doubt any of you will believe me. Conspiracy theorists always seem to have issues, trust me I have plenty, but this is real. You are being watched right now. They know exactly what Pokemon you’ve captured; worse yet, with the press of a button your precious monsters become theirs. I don’t blame Bill, or any of the other Box admins. Their dream of uniting the world through Pokemon is noble, but the people who funded it are evil. That word isn’t hyperbolic. Blaine, Giovanni, Mewtwo, even Deoxys didn’t frighten me like INDIGO does. And it was with that fear that I bombed the Global Link facilities.
You’ll find talkshow personalities discussing my early life with neighbors on all the Holocaster networks. Some of the people I met on my journey will say I was a quiet, strange child. Others, like Misty, will say I had a hero complex. All of that is skewed by their perspective. To really understand why I did this you have to know it all, from the very beginning. There’s no telling how long it’ll be before this is taken down, but I have faith people will find a way to get it out into the world when that happens. My name is Red, and this is my story.
Thanks! Yep, this is THE Red, or a blend of the game and manga versions of him at least. Glad you like the format, that's what worried me the most when putting this up (and the first person, nobody seems to like writing in it). It's supposed to resemble forum or blog posts, something that was inspired by John Titor, a guy who showed up on a forum claiming to be from the future. I'll be sure to send you a message as soon as the next chapter is up!
Well that's what I was curious about, whether every chapter will be formatted as blog posts? Or is this something where you'll experiment with various social media styles to match the online nature of the content?
Well that's what I was curious about, whether every chapter will be formatted as blog posts? Or is this something where you'll experiment with various social media styles to match the online nature of the content?
I haven't decided concretely yet. It'll mostly be blog posts, though a lot longer than the prologue, and there should be some newspaper-style parts (like the Daily Prophet in HP) or the records of chat room conversations within chapters. There won't be a lot of texting or cellphone formatting until we get closer to Gen II and the PokeGear.
I’m sure most of you have heard of Pallet. Mostly because of Blue and Leaf, though I guess I might have had a hand in it too. Anyways, Pallet is what you’d expect from a leafy little hamlet. No Pokemon Clinic or ‘proper’ retail center. Yeah, we’re real backwoods. The only real export we have is the multitude of berry species that grow in the uniquely fertile soil underneath our town. I find it kind of weird really; plant a seed in the ground and within a few days a fully bloomed tree stands in its place. There are dozens of theories about why this happens. The mystery would probably have been solved a long time ago if Professor Oak took an interest in anything besides studying Pokemon. My favorite is that the overpopulation of Tangela spurs on some miracle in the berry seeds, though my mother being a certified Tangela breeder might have something to do with it.
People like to leave home. Running away to have adventures in the forest is apparently common in children. I had a thirst for seeing faraway places, but mom was a single parent after dad’s job took him overseas so if I left it’d just be her alone in our house. It took a lot of convincing to get me to leave on that stupid ‘mission’ of Oak’s. I still regret getting so caught up in travelling that I didn't visit very much. I miss her.
The stairs squeaked. A few seconds later my mother was standing at the entrance to the living room looking at me with an all too familiar exasperated expression. I shifted nervously on the sofa.
“Red, when did you get up?”
“Just a minute ago.” I kept my eyes on the television.
“I asked you to make your bed yesterday. You never make it without being reminded. Funny thing, it was made when I went to wake you up. So try again, kiddo.”
“…”
“What was that?”
“I didn't go to bed,” I mumbled.
“I thought you were going to sleep right after Lance’s match?”
My face lit up like a Squirtle tickling a Voltorb. “I know mom, but the match didn't end until thirty minutes ago! Second longest match in the League’s history: 9 hours and 37 minutes!”
“You know Professor Oak wanted to see you this morning, right? Being dead tired isn't going to do you any good.”
“What did he want?”
Her smile was predatory. “I told you it’s a surprise. Now get cleaned up, and please take Thorn with you. She’s still not house-broken.”
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
I left the house thirty minutes later with my hair still a little bit wet and a small Tangela trudging along behind me, stopping every few feet to jump in a puddle with its red boots. If she kept this up all day she might become part
ground type.
We lived on the far west side of town, only a block away from being considered the outskirts. It usually didn't take long to get to the Pokemon lab in the center of town, especially on my bike, but baby Pokemon aren't known for their punctuality. The clock tower in the modest park outside town hall was finishing its chime as I stopped in front of the lab, on the opposite side of the park.
Wedging the front door open with my foot, I reached down grabbing Thorn and then walked deeper into the front lobby. Everyone says Oak’s lab looks like a library. That’s because the front half is technically the town’s entire compendium of knowledge, discounting the magazines sold on a stand at the marketplace.
A throat cleared to my left. Someone with a copy of Breeder’s Digest was behind the counter, though they looked only a little older than me.
“Excuse me, but can I help you?”
“I… Professor Oak wanted to see me at 8 o’clock?” When I’m nervous everything sounds like a question.
The magazine dropped and from behind it appeared the prettiest girl in all of Pallet, Daisy Oak.
“Hey, Red! So he wanted to see you too? That’s neat.”
“Uh, what are you doing here, Daisy?”
“Oh, you know, just busywork. I needed some spending money for the Pokemon contest in Celadon. Stardust is going to win the beauty division, I know it!”
“Yeah, good luck. Uh, what about my appointment?”
“Hmm, let me check, let me check. Oh, right! Grandpa should be back any minute now. He had to take care of some business at the house.” Daisy smiled. My heart went for a drum solo.
“You okay, Red? Your face is all…,” she didn't finish the sentence, instead descending into an adorable fit of laughter.
More blood rushed to my face. “I… can I wait in the lab?”
“Sorry, sorry! Go through the door in back. You know the lab door? I’ll tell him you’re here when he gets in.”
“T-thanks, Daisy.”
“No problem, sweetie, and don’t touching his things!”
I strolled through the aisles toward that door, though if anyone were to get hold of the film it might look more like an awkward 11 year old boy running away with a struggling shrubbery wearing shoes in his arms. The only thing on then-me’s mind was how to woo the oh so mature 13 year old female Oak.
The Professor’s lab smelled like bleach. The smell attacked your senses as soon as you entered the room; it even overpowered the mechanical whizzing of bland-looking machines that would have fit perfectly in old science fiction movies. The boring gray kind with bulky, monochromatic back lit buttons.
Running the length of the left side of the room were shelves and display cases with any sort of trinket you could imagine. Evolution stones were collected in a circular pattern like petals of a flower. Even the ones that weren't native to Kanto like Dusk, Dawn, and Shiny stones. Nearly a dozen types of incense in special painted boxes of delicate ceramic. I clutched Thorn tight and walked over to a particular piece that caught my attention every time I visited. It was a rock in the shape of a crown, or maybe an actual metal crown so old the rust made it look like stone. The one Oak had was found in the tomb of some old Sevii island king from long ago. My hand slowly crept closer toward it.
“Red! What are you doing?” I quickly scratched my nose and returned to holding my Tangela two-handed.
“Yo loser, Gramps asked you to come here too?”
I had been too enthralled by the King’s Rock to notice my neighbors Leaf and Blue had showed up. Before I had time to respond, Leaf was already invading my personal space tickling Thorn and making that god awful cooing sound people think babies like. This one enjoyed them if the hard shoes kicking me in the gut were anything to go by.
“Your Grandpa asked my mom to have me be here,” I glanced at Blue, “do you know why?”
“Sure do, not going to tell you though. That’d take all the fun out of it.”
Leaf twirled on the spot and marched in front of him, batting her eyelashes. “Will you tell me?”
“Being all cutesy won’t work on me, not like it does Red. One smile from Sis and he glows enough to evolve a Growlithe.”
“Shut up, Blue!” Yeah, eloquent, I know. Banter wasn't my thing back then.
“Put your Pokemon where your mouth is, why don’t you?”
Thorn cooed in my grip. “She’s just a baby, and you don’t even have a Pokemon.”
“Not for long, dweeb. And I wasn't talking about your little houseplant…”
“Boys.” Leaf sighed.
“What? You’ll get your chance too.”
“Blue Oak! I’m not ‘borrowing’ one of your Grandpa’s Pokemon to battle with. Remember last time? We were banned for months!”
“Be patient, Gramps’ll be here any second and everything will make sense.”
I had returned to snooping around the lab with my eyes. Those two always fought like an old married couple. A lot of the kids from elementary had a bet about which one of them had Leaf Oak scrawled into their notebook. It would have been the only place you’d ever find that name.
“Ahh, children! You’re all here on time, fantastic! I knew I picked the right ones for the job! Early birds get the worms and so forth.”
“Gramps, you’re losing me here. Can we hurry it up?”
“Enough of that, Blue. This is important and exciting and there’s no need to rush through it. A day of celebration, even.”
Leaf cleared her throat. “Professor, what did you ask us here for?”
“Right,” he spoke grandly as he moved to the back of the lab, setting rectangular box down on a table against the wall, “I've asked you three here today for one simple reason: I want you to be the beta testers for a new invention of mine! It’s really revolutionary, if I do say so. Imagine it, a device nearly the size of a wallet that stores up-to-date information on any Pokemon in the Kanto region. It even has pictures!”
“Aren't normal books enough? They make new ones every year,” I asked.
“No, no! This is instantaneous. People in the field can input new information as they discover it! Access to footprints, habitat maps, and mutations within a species at their fingertips!”
“How are you going to get dial-up out in the Fuchsian Forest? Won’t Pokemon eat the wires? You know, like that Pikachu you caught a couple days ago?” Blue was tapping his foot against the linoleum.
“This doesn't need any wired connections, it’s wireless!”
“Wireless? Are you using dead Galvantula cables,” Leaf asked shakily.
“No wires. Like the telepathy of psychic Pokemon, but using machines instead. We've gotten off track, though. I’d like to ask the three of you to use my device out in the field where it will be up against the elements. The technology is quite expensive to take to Silph for mass production, so it’d be best to have something that will last for a long time to come. The photo recognition also needs tested, it works fine here, but wild Pokemon aren't known for stopping for you to snap a picture. So are you interested?”
“Gramps, you forgot the other thing.”
“Hmm? Yes! As an incentive, I’ll also be giving you each a monthly stipend as interns for my lab. That should cover the cost of travel supplies and a modest amount of Pokeballs. Also, I've recently been to Floe Island in the Sevii chain and had three of my favorite Pokemon breed eggs. You may each choose one of the hatched offspring to help you on your journey. Sound good?”
“Hell yes, Professor!” I clasped a hand over my flushed face. Stupid over eagerness. The others expressed more restrained approval. Barely.
“Very well! I’m going to ask that you go by seniority, to keep things fair, so Leaf will be first. Go ahead, dear.” He pointed at the box he’d placed down earlier.
Leaf strode forward and opened the box. Blue and I were attempting to look inside from a safe distance away, far enough that Oak wouldn't shoot us disapproving glances. There were three Pokeballs spaced evenly within the box, all with the same solid white bottom and see-through red top. What was inside each of them was entirely different. A grin spread across all three of our faces. They were some of Oak’s rarest Pokemon, in cute child forms: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Leaf didn't even hesitate, sticking to her namesake she gingerly pulled out the Bulbasaur’s capsule and giggled down at its tiny form as she walked back to our group.
“You can give them nicknames from your Pokedex anytime you wish, though once it’s been registered with the Box System changing it is a hassle.”
I scrunched my eyebrows together. “Pokedex? Box? What’s that?”
“Zip it, doofus, you’re next! I want to choose one this century!”
“Blue, enough.”
Hearing Blue get chastised was a fun pastime, but I did want a Pokemon. As I looked down between the two, one of Thorn’s tendrils moved toward the Squirtle. Probably some kind of territory marking, or it could sense that it was stronger as far as types went. Squirtle would be a good choice, though not the best. Thorn wouldn’t like what I was about to do. Plucking Charmander’s capsule from the box, I grinned down at it.
“Hey, buddy. Let’s have fun together, okay?” Thorn shrank in on herself a bit.
“Well that took forever. Shove it.” Blue nudged me out of the way, Thorn falling to the ground and running loose toward the library door. Oak swiftly dropped a Pokeball from his lab coat onto her head, capturing her in it. Blue turned back around with Squirtle clutched in his hand.
“Manners, boy,” Oak sighed, “now that you've all chosen I’d like to give you your Pokedex and some Pokeballs to start you off with. Come now, it’s best you pack your things and leave off before it gets too late.”
When Leaf and Blue had already received their gifts and left, I approached the professor.
“Sorry about Thorn, sir. I don’t think she took me picking a fire type too well.”
“I should think not. Why did you choose that one, if I may ask?”
“Uh, Leaf had a grass type and Blue’d have to get a water type if I took this one,” I said smiling at Charmander, “so once Thorn is trained up a bit I’ll have an advantage over both of them.”
“Don’t get tied up in type matching, son. That’s only a small step from sorting these wonderful creatures as weak and strong, or important and useless. Pokemon, like people, are more than a surface value, and if you give them a chance who knows what they’ll grow into.”
Back then I interpreted Professor Oak’s response as a sign of approval, that his words were directed at Blue, but thinking on it I’m sure it was disappointment aimed at me. I was a dumb kid, still am sometimes.
“I won’t.”
He gave me the last Pokedex, a bright red one to go along with my name like he did with Blue and Leaf. Then he handed me four empty Pokeballs and the one that contained Thorn, who was officially my second Pokemon now.
“There’s a gym in Viridian, if you want to take on that challenge. No doubt that’s where Blue will head first. He’ll want to battle you as well, so be prepared advantage or not.”
“Sure, Professor.”
“Good luck, Red.”
I was so wrapped up in everything that had happened, I almost missed Daisy asking me to stop by her house as I left out the front door.
I walked home in a dazed state. Professor Oak wanted me to travel the country testing out his invention. And I’d get paid! Most of it would end up paying for food and lodging, but the thought of having a job at 11 was still pretty cool. One nagging thought kept tumbling in my head though: my mother couldn’t be left alone. I knew she’d try to send me off; the fact that she pushed me into meeting up with Oak was evidence of that. It didn’t matter. Dad made me promise to watch over the house while he was away on business. I could still hold onto the Charmander for the rest of the day and return it tomorrow.
As I reached home I saw my mother waiting on the front porch with a silly grin. This was going to be tough.
“So which one did you pick, Red?” She had to yell because I’d just gotten to the picket fence of our big front yard.
I held up one of the Pokeballs and yelled back, “Charmander.”
“A fire type? Oh dear, Thorn didn’t like that did she?” She smirked.
Something clicked in the back of my mind. I ran up to her.
“You made me take her on purpose! How’d you know I’d go for Charmander?”
“Deduction, sweetheart. Choosing a grass type would be redundant and Blue was guaranteed to pick the one strong to yours. I figured Leaf would go for Bulbasaur.”
“Blue could’ve gone first, that’d mess with your theory.”
“Which is why I suggested to the professor that ordering you by oldest to youngest would be the fair way of doing it.”
“That’s cheating!”
She shrugged it off. “Perhaps, but if you really want a water type there are plenty of ponds around Viridian teeming with Poliwag.”
My chest felt heavy again. Mom shuffled me into the house and sat me down on the same sofa I’d watched the Elite Four matches on all night. I rubbed my eyes a little and noticed a slew of items lying across the coffee table.
“What’s all this?”
She could tell what I was doing; she read it on my face.
“These are all the things you’ll need to start your Pokemon journey. You can’t worm your way out of this so don’t even try.”
“I can’t go, Mom. Dad put me in charge of protecting you!”
“Your father forgets that I’m plenty capable of fending for myself. I survived his Interpol training alone and the pregnancy with you.”
“Yeah, but I promised him.”
“Fine, guess I’ll just have to use my secret weapon.”
I stared at her confused.
“He’s coming back to Kanto in a few days on business, like the long-term kind. So I won’t really be alone, Red. Any more excuses?”
“I want to see Dad too…”
“Oh, you will. He’s investigating something to do with rockets in Pewter. His flight landed three days ago. Better get going if you want to meet up with him, huh?” She was most likely thinking something along the lines of ‘Checkmate’.
I sighed in defeat, but a good type of defeat. “So what’s all this stuff?”
Mom launched into explaining all the items she’d ordered over the past few weeks and found leftover from her and dad’s travels: human snacks, pokemon snacks, assorted berries, one of their old fishing rods, and a few other odds and ends. I’m telling you, the invention of item capsules saved me a lifetime of back pain. As she stored things inside the yellow tinted versions of a pokeball, I fiddled with the pokedex Oak had given me on the way out of his lab. It took a while to decide on a nickname, but finally Coal and Thorn were listed as my very own pokemon in the index of species. A little capsule icon even appeared next to their names. If only my username was changeable, dx_red is a stupid handle.
When I glanced back up she already had everything packed neatly in the backpack that until today was used for my school books. I remember thinking in that moment that someday I’d return and finish through high school, maybe even get a degree from Celadon University. Now stuffy professors will diagnose me in sociology classes. Messiah complex, paranoia, repressed anger at an absentee father, the whole nine yards. Screw them.
Mom tossed the backpack at me. “Come on; let’s go get your bike out of the shed. I want to snap a couple pictures before you leave.”
It was hell. She kept sarcastically barking at me to strike weird poses on and off my bike. Its shiny blue metal did kind of look cool against my red hoodie, I guess. Things got dicey when she wanted one of me with my pokemon. There was no telling how Coal would react. We decided on placing them on either side of the bike in the hopes they wouldn’t notice each other.
Coal came out first on my left. He was smaller than I expected, his head barely reached my waist when I sat on the bike. I held my hand out like Mom had taught me. Coal stared at it then cautiously approaching and giving it a slimy lick. I could hear him purring deeply.
I scratched under his chin. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m Red, your trainer. Do you mind if I call you Coal?”
He didn’t understand anything I said so I released Thorn on my other side. Thankfully she wasn’t used to being put in a pokeball, the disorientation rooted her in place long enough for Mom to take three photos. I recalled Thorn, gave Coal another scratch, and returned him to his capsule as well.
“Well, little man, you ready?”
“Are you crying Mom?”
She sniffled. “No. Something in my eye.”
“I’ll visit soon, I promise. It’s okay.”
She tugged me in for a tight hug. A minute passed then she let go.
“That’s not why I’m sad. You’re growing up bit by bit and it’s difficult to except. I won’t be around to see most of it. Just call every chance you get.”
“I will, Mom. Love you.”
I pulled the bill of my baseball cap further down on my face. There was something in my eye too.
“Get going, pokemon master. And set up camp before it gets too dark, you don’t need to be walking around the woods at night!”
I pedaled away. The April wind blasted my face as a raced down the hill back toward the center of town and up the road leading to Route 1. Professor Oak’s house bordered the outskirts of Pallet to the north. A quick stop and then I’d be off to see the world.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
dx_gray has signed on…
dx_brown: Ah, a new user! Welcome! Please feel free to ask if you require any assistance.
dx_clear: hey fresh meat
dx_gray: Hiya
dx_gray: The registration said I have to make an account to post updates so I did it
dx_gray: What am I supposed to do now
dx_clear: whatever you want
dx_clear: chat is for troubleshooting and crap
dx_brown: Yes, basically. Clear has a working knowledge of the hardware and I am testing the network connectivity. Depending on how you fill out the feedback form it will be sent to one of us.
dx_gray: Oh I thought grandpa would get those :/
dx_clear: working knowledge of the hardware my *** i practically built the prototype
dx_brown: C, she’s a kid! Watch your language!
dx_gray: I’m 13 that’s not a kid
dx_clear: he’s giving it out to teenagers now arceus
dx_gray: Well grandpa handed 3 out to 11yo’s this morning xP
dx_clear: bill it emotes burn it
dx_gray: At least I capitalize >_>
dx_brown: Neither of you punctuate.
dx_gray: Meanie :3
dx_brown: Please don’t use my name, C. This is an anonymous channel.
dx_clear: come on it’s not like we don’t know who each other is/are (pick the right one)
dx_gray: You don’t know me
dx_clear: daisy oak granddaughter of doc oak address 19 pomeg street pallet, kanto
dx_gray: How do you know that are you stalking me :O
dx_clear: kid i was building computers before you were born i can do anything
dx_brown: Don’t worry, Daisy, he’s not a stalker. He just likes frightening children on the internet as a pastime.
dx_gray: I’m not a child Mr Bill
dx_gray: Ohh sorry someone’s at the door
dx_gray: It must be Red
dx_gray: G2g ttyl
dx_clear: fffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
dx_gray has signed off…
[chat log retrieved by pry_goonz]
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
I dropped my bike on the front lawn and knocked on the front door. It felt like eternity waiting for Daisy to respond. There was no telling what she wanted. The door opened.
“Red! Come in, come in. Want some tea?”
I walked in carefully.
“Uh, sure Daisy.”
“Let’s sit in the kitchen, ‘kay?”
Tea wasn’t my favorite beverage, but Daisy obsessed over it and always experimented with blends (usually on Blue or I). People thought of her as a weirdo for liking tea in a town famous, relatively, for producing near sixty percent of the region’s berry wines. I liked the way the steam rising from her cup never failed to make her cheeks rosy-colored.
I slouched into a seat at the table and dropped my bag against my feet. Their kitchen table was one of those kinds that never got much use. You could tell because the place mats and flower arrangement in the center were always in the proper position. I never understood that about the Oaks, how they functioned not seeing each other every single day. It became easier to grasp once I had a family of my own. But spoilers.
My eyes moved back to Daisy as she moved efficiently from a cabinet to the stove and half a dozen other places in the room. She pushed the vase of flowers to the side and set down a tea tray in its place. It had everything: saucers, delicate cups with prancing eevee painted on the side, a dispenser with sugar, and fancy silver stirring spoons. Like I said, she liked tea.
I cautiously lifted a cup and saucer after she poured me Bello Leaf tea, placing it on my mat letting it cool a bit.
“So, umm…”
“Now, now, Red! First things first, show me your pokemon. You left with your head in the clouds and I didn’t get to see which you chose.”
“It’s too dangerous to let them out.”
“Keep them capsulated. Setting them on the table is enough.” She smiled.
I tugged on Coal and Thorn’s pokeballs until they released from the magnetic strips on my belt. Daisy leaned in close as I lay them on the table.
“Charmander, that’s great! What’d you name him?”
“Coal.”
She reached under the table and came back with a pokeball of her own. This one had Stardust, a pink furball that resembled a five-point star if you stared long enough. The baby pokemon pressed her face on the wall of her capsule and made faces at Coal and Thorn. We were all hoping she might mellow out by the time it evolved into a clefairy.
I gulped down half of the tangy Bello Leaf in my cup.
“Why did you want me to stop by?”
“Always in such a hurry, aren’t you?” She finished off the last of her tea. “I wanted to give you something of mine. Blue is too hard headed to ever accept advice from me, but not you. Here.”
She passed me what seemed like a folded up map. Scribbled notes dotted the page facing me; no doubt the rest was covered in it as well.
“Those are labels and tips for when you’re traveling. Where to camp, shrines to visit, things like that. Oh,” she tapped on a spot near water, “Cape Cerulean, you should go there. It’s so romantic.”
“Have you gone?”
“Yep, after the Cerulean Contest this summer. It was a picnic with a boy I met in the competition. Very fun.”
I didn’t say anything. I felt a lot of things.
Ten minutes of nonsensical chatter and I was out the door. Daisy’s map would come in handy, but I had pride or something to uphold. That’s what I told myself as I roughly threw it in my bag. I rode my bike quickly out of Pallet’s border, racing over the brick path that twisted through Route 1. It’s probably kind of gross, but I remember being worried about wild pokemon attacking me when I eventually would have to urinate. Turns out I was right to worry. Spearow are perverts and jerks. But I’ll save that story for my next post.
A/N: Interpersonal relationships suck. No matter how close you feel to someone, there’s always a wall or a gap or something in the way. You can know them all your life, you can read them like a book, but that secret little corner of their being will elude you. Maybe it’s an evolutionary safety; if we really knew what other people were thinking it would turn us into something ugly, disturbed. Definitely not a coincidence most of the psychics I know have a bucket full of loose screws. And the ones who aren’t sociopaths tend to have wacked out moralities paired with the power to shape reality and surf time.
I write all that in the hope to dissuade you from applying preconceived notions to me from how the media has portrayed me in the past. I know I’m famous. There have been two cartoon series made of me. Over a dozen live-action movies (why do they keep recasting 10 year olds for my part?). My friends and I have had video games made about us. And then another series of video games after Leaf campaigned against the company for not localizing her version outside of Kanto and for not having a female player character in it. They even ‘let’ her make decisions on the development, which is why Blue didn’t get a new game. The point is I want you to realize that no matter how well you know of me, you don’t know me in the slightest.
Enough of that, you’re just here for the story.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
As I pedaled past the ‘Welcome to Pallet’ sign, the brick path gradually tapered off to dirt road. I’d been out of the city a few times before, but it was on the small commuter train that ran from Pallet to Viridian. This was different. There weren’t going to be any adults popping up and telling me not to go into the tall grass. I could stay up all night without Mom reminding me of bedtime. It was perfect.
Route 1 followed a nearly straight path, making it an excellent place to practice buneary hops. I tried out a few other tricks as I went; it was much more fun when Blue wasn’t there to heckle me. And it wasn’t like there was anything else to do. For an area heavily populated by bird and rodent pokemon, the route was absent of life. Maybe some big, ugly monster had scared them all off.
I pulled to the side of the road to make way for a delivery van headed to Pallet. When it was gone I saw someone waiting just up the road. Him.
“Hey slowpoke, I didn’t think you’d ever show up!”
I reluctantly pedaled toward him.
“What are you doing here, Blue?”
I came to a stop next to where he was leaning against his bike.
He smirked. “You know what I want. We’ve waited for this day since forever. Me. You. Battle.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Can’t you wait until I’ve got more pokemon?”
“No. Don’t be a wimp. Come on, we can battle here.”
“Why don’t you fight Leaf? Then after you two can kiss!” Smooching noises were made.
His small fists tightened. “We already did!”
I blinked.
“No… I mean… we already battled! Shut up!”
“She won didn’t she?”
“Leaf had a stupid bulbasaur otherwise she’d lose. Besides, everybody knows girls can’t win battles unless they have advantage.”
“You want to fight me because you have an advantage though.”
He growled and kicked up a bit of dirt.
“Send out your pokemon already!”
“Fine. If you stop yelling.”
He smirked.
We spread out on the path, about 20 ft apart, and stared each other down.
“We count to three,” Blue said.
“On three or after three?”
“What does it matter?”
“I don’t want you to cheat,” I said.
He sighed. “On three.”
“One.” Hands grasped pokeballs.
“Two.” A soft tug, they left the belt.
“Three.” Two beams of red light shot out to meet at our feet.
Coal shook the drowsiness from his mind and glanced around. When his eyes found me he waddled over and nudged my leg. His small arms waved toward his mouth.
“Hey Coal. I’ll give you something to eat, but first can you fight that squirtle?”
He didn’t understand any of it.
I pretended to pick something up and place it in my mouth. Then I pointed to Blue and his pokemon. Coal turned his eyes toward them and his expression tightened. A deep rumbling issued from his throat.
Blue yelled, “Charge, Tide!”
I guffawed. That was a stupid name.
The two pokemon now saw each other and their actions were locked. One took a step forward and the other did too. One made a sound and it was repeated back. They stopped for a moment when only a few feet separated them, then ran at each other and fell to the ground in a mass of twisting bodies.
“Coal, scratch at its face!”
“Smash it with your shell, Tide!”
“Whip your tail at it!”
“Uppercut! Uppercut!”
The truth was neither of our pokemon was listening to us. Why should they? Back then we thought capturing them in pokeballs made them domesticated. It was more like a calming agent, when it worked at all.
We both stared as the charmander and squirtle rolled around fighting to see which would end up on top. It took us a good minute to figure out what was going on.
“They’re playing,” Blue screamed.
He was right. I wasn’t going to say it though.
“I guess they have been friends since they were born. It makes sense.”
“What are you talking about? We’ve known each other since we were little and I want to beat the snot out of you all the time!”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t count. You’re crazy.”
“Shut it, Red! I wanted a fight!”
The two pokemon continued to tumble around in the dirt. Suddenly, they stopped. Both glared at a spot just beyond the road where trees and tall grass led to the meadows scattered between here and Viridian. A flash of purple fur peeked out.
“Rrrrrr.”
“Woah, a rattata. I saw it first, Red!”
The sound spooked it, sending it scurrying back into the trees.
Blue grinned. “How about we fight another way? Whoever catches that rattata wins.”
I sighed. It was going to be a long day.
A few hours after the initial confrontation with Blue, I found myself wandering through open fields and small groupings of trees. I had no clue how so many people caught pidgey and rattata. I got close to a pidgey earlier, but it angled itself so I couldn’t ever get a clear shot through branches and leaves. Any other time I found one there were others perched in nearby trees near it chirping loudly, no doubt warning the rest of the flock that I was on the prowl.
Don’t even get me started on that freaking rattata. Blue and I split up after ten minutes of chasing it in the thick brush, each of us believing we were on its tail. I ended up veering to the west and most likely would have found myself in Johto if a decent-sized river hadn’t shown up. I decided to follow its bank north. Hopefully that would get me to Viridian or close to the Indigo Plateau.
I spotted the sun and estimated it was about 4pm. Still some time before camp needed to be set up, but I needed to pee really badly. Quickly, I ran into a grove of trees and found an open area. With the press of a button Coal came out of his pokeball and his big eyes were focused on me. It was really unnerving.
“Hey, Coal. I have to go to the bathroom. I need you to look out for other pokemon, okay?”
He held both his stubby arms out like he wanted something. Food. All he did was eat. I dug into my backpack for the container with berries in it, opened the plastic lid, and set it down in front of Coal. Then I positioned him facing away from me. He’d stay in place because of the berries and would growl if anything tried to steal them. Even back then I knew the easiest way, though not the best, to get a child to behave the way you wanted was bribery. I didn’t have a television or toys so food was the only option.
I finished relieving myself when something white and gunky fell on my shoe. Bird poop. That was my chance to catch a pidgey. I unclipped an empty pokeball from my belt and slowly glanced up. Not a pidgey. Spearow. More than two dozen spearow, and they were all staring at Coal and his berries. I turned my head slowly to make sure he was okay.
My brilliant plan to use him as an alarm ended up being crap. He was sitting on the ground, oblivious to his surroundings, licking berry juice off his clawed hands and wiggling his tail against the grass; there was already a small fire burning around his backside.
That might help me escape. It was just a matter of getting Coal back in his pokeball and running as fast as possible. I stowed the empty capsule back on my belt, turned around cautiously, and recalled my charmander back to his capsule. As I was about to hightail it out of there a gust of wind swept the growing fire sideways enough that I could see a rattata frozen in place, its beady red eyes darting from one bird to another.
“Hey. Psst, hey, over here.”
I stretched my arms down to catch it. The pokemon didn’t want to look at me, but couldn’t help it when I motioned for it to run over. A minute of its tiny brain searching for options must have come up with nothing, or maybe it was one of the spearow hopping down a few branches and spreading its wings to intimidate, because it darted past the smoke and launched into my arms. I clutched it to my chest and booked it out of there.
Some of what happened is still blurry to me. I can’t really tell you how long I ran or what direction or anything like that. All I know is that there was tall grass that slowed me down more than I would’ve liked and that those damn spearow kept dive bombing me to get ahold of rattata. They didn’t get to it, but my arms had a few cuts in them, some looked pretty deep. Just to get the thing wriggling against my chest to calm down I had to tell it over and over that we’d get out of this, that we’d be okay.
I think it was about ten minutes of running and ducking and weaving when this large shadow cast over me from behind. For a moment it felt good, until I realized the sun was below the cloud line so whatever this thing was it was close. Really close. And judging by the size of the shade it created, I didn’t want to waste time trying to see it.
The near dozen spearow that had been chasing me began to caw, but to me it seemed like laughter. Like they’d won.
The shadow got bigger and bigger quickly and then two large scaled bird feet clutched my shoulders. My body jerked a bit and then I was lifted off the ground.
The fearow, which I identified by the ugly brown feathers and giganticness, changed course toward the west where the sun was setting. It was probably taking me back to its nest to feed to baby spearow. Or it was going to drop me on some rocks and eat me like a broken apricorn. I remember crying for a long time, thinking of all the things I wouldn’t ever do because I got eaten on my first solo trip outside of town. Because no one had warned me not to go in the tall grass.
Sometimes I wonder how things would’ve turned out if I’d really died back then. I wouldn’t have had to go through all the suffering and fighting. Someone else would, not me. But then I wouldn’t have lived through a few good things either. Like meeting all the people and pokemon I love. Or becoming famous through no merit of my own, at least for a while.
Finally snapping out of my morbid thoughts, my mind raced trying to find a way out. I could use a pokeball on fearow, but then I’d fall far enough to break a bunch of things if not die. I couldn’t release any of my pokemon, none of them were strong and there wasn’t a platform for them to fight on. The gashes on my arms were still trickling blood and the giant bird’s clawed toes pressed tightly against my chest and back. Rattata shook violently in my arms. It was my fault it was in this mess. Or maybe it was rattata’s fault I was in this mess. Either way I promised to protect it. There was one way to do that now. I clenched the empty pokeball I’d taken out back in the grove and looked down at rattata.
“I’m going to put you in a pokeball,” I shouted, “and throw you down there. It might take a bit for someone to find you, but at least you’ll be safe, okay? So don’t fight the catch. You won’t be with me for long, anyways.”
It stopped shivering and looked at me. Seconds felt like eternity. Then it head-butted the pokeball.
Once rattata was inside I stared at its pokeball then chucked it down. I couldn’t tell how far up we were; the sun was directly in front of me in that annoying bright sunset mode. It must not have been too high because I distinctly remember hearing someone cry out in pain like they had been hit by it.
My heart beat louder. I might not die. I might not die on my first day away from home. I might not die before beating the crap out of Blue in a battle. I might not die before going to the Cerulean beach with Daisy.
But then she hit fearow with a thunderbolt. It set a current of electricity through me.
The bird’s talons let go.
I fell.
And everything faded to black.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
dx_brown has signed on…
dx_brown: Clear.
dx_brown: Clear!
dx_brown: Celio, respond! I know you’re online, get off Voip!
dx_clear: what i was busy
dx_brown: Is it worth the effort it takes to type like that? This chat client has autocorrect. You literally had to retype the ‘I’ to get it to show up lowercase.
dx_clear: im dedicated to my craft bill senpai
dx_brown: …
dx_brown: Nevermind! Have you seen it?
dx_clear: seen what
dx_brown: Go check out the dex photo recognition queue.
dx_clear: could you be a little more specific
dx_brown: Trust me; you’ll know it when you see it.
dx_clear: why is that pic here its clear as day
dx_clear: dex should have pinged it
dx_clear: oh ****
dx_brown: You and Cassius act like the polar opposite of how you dress. Are you sure the two of you didn’t swap brains that one time in computer club?
dx_clear: naw cas is just tsundere once he got close to bill senpai he warmed up
dx_brown: We’ve gotten off topic. The picture.
dx_clear: yeah i think its the same mon from the old man’s expedition
dx_clear: it definitely matches the fossil i saw
dx_brown: I’m going to send dx_red an email. I really need to know more about the situation.
dx_clear: yeah the little probably wont remember to upload a field report
dx_clear: just dont write some creepy invite to your out of the way lighthouse lab on the cliffs next to the ocean outside of town
dx_clear: its like the setup for some b rated mad scientist horror movie
dx_clear: and no cosplay still weird no matter how many times people see it
dx_brown: It’s not weird, it’s research!
dx_brown: Go back to writing poems for xicequeensupremex. I’ve got science to do.
dx_clear: hey dont hack my account
dx_brown: It’s hardly hacking when you use trixie for all your passwords.
dx_clear: okay do it again and ill send lanette the audio of you professing your like of her
dx_brown: She knows I like her as a person. Nice try with the blackmail, Celio.
dx_clear: oh but i have a recording of it
dx_clear: graduation party when everyone got a bit tipsy and you told them i cant swim
dx_clear: do they have a word for karma in johto or is it just karma
dx_brown: You were drunk too…
dx_clear: nope what’s the point of hanging out with drunk people if you’re too drunk to remember it
dx_brown: What did I say exactly?
dx_clear: log into my accounts again and everyone finds out
dx_clear: except amarita fennel would kick my *** if wunderkind heard it
dx_brown: If you did release it, I’d be forced to tell Blaine about your girlfriend. I wonder how obnoxious he’d be about that. Truce?
dx_clear: truce senpai
dx_brown: That’s what I thought. Time for research, talk to you later.
December 10th-13th: An audio version of each of the current chapters will be released each day from the time of this post until the 13th. The chapters of this story aren't that long and it's something different for people who don't like reading on computer screens (or don't like reading (or can stand my voice)).
December 14th-25th: A new chapter of Indigo will be posted each of the twelve days leading up to and counting Christmas (or Winter Solstice). Each new chapter from here on out will have a simultaneous audio version released as well.
A cloud of pink hovered above me, moving occasionally only to stop again. Parts of it I couldn’t see poked and prodded my body. If I didn’t feel like crap I would have reacted; I’m usually quite ticklish.
I blinked crust out of my eyes.
It wasn’t a pink cloud. More like a pink blob. A chansey.
I gurgled out nonsense that was supposed to be ‘where am I’.
The egg-shaped pokemon waddled away, returning a short time later with water in a paper cup.
Gulping down the water, I took in my surroundings. Once my throat was cleared of phlegm I tried talking again.
“Where am I?”
She waved her hands in intricate circular patterns I didn’t understand.
“That doesn’t mean anything to me. Can you go get somebody?”
“She’s trying to tell you you’re in a pokemon center,” a new voice said. The person speaking had pink hair tied in intricate hoops and a nurse’s outfit.
“Nurse Joy? I’m in the hospital? A-am I okay?”
“It’s Doctor Joy, actually. Nurse Joy would be my sister, and my aunt, and my mother, and a few other relatives as well. As for your condition, we were able to feed you a liquid nutrient mix made from chansey’s eggs. Do you remember what happened to you?”
I’m going to interrupt really quickly to talk about the Joys. That’s still one of the great mysteries of the world I haven’t worked out. Are they clones? Did one of their ancestors lay with a ditto and create the genetic template that copied from mother to daughter over the generations without changing? Are they robots? Seriously, if anyone reading has a clue give it to me. Please. Anyways, back to the story.
“I remember running away from a giant fearow and then it flying off with me and I was bleeding from all my cuts and something zapped me with a thunderbolt.”
“Yes, the person who brought you in said basically the same thing. You fell into Viridian River after falling; you’re quite lucky she knew how to perform CPR otherwise you’d be dead right now. Flesh wounds are one thing, but bringing the deceased back is something even we can’t do yet.”
Some might focus on her inclusion of the word ‘yet’, but being a boy stuck in that awkward time before puberty and after girls stopped being gross I zeroed in on ‘CPR’ and ‘her’.
I don’t remember exactly how I got dressed on my own in the bathroom or how I made my way to the human ward’s front desk to collect my things, but I did somehow.
The woman across the counter wasn’t a Joy, which must’ve taken me out of my… well, obsession really.
“Here are your pokemon, sweetheart. We went ahead and healed them for you, though only the rattata needed a bit of attention. And here’s your backpack and your calculator.”
I attached the three pokeballs onto my belt, held the backpack by its top loop, and stuffed the pokedex into my pocket. One thing was missing.
“Where’s my hat?”
The nurse didn’t know what I meant.
“Hat? You weren’t wearing a hat when you came in, dear.”
“Oh.” I thought it must have been lost in the river.
“You’re free to go now,” she smiled brightly, “and we hope to see you again!”
I turned around, marched right to the elevator, down two floors, and didn’t stop until I got to the front lobby. If it weren’t for the girl being a little taller than me blocking the door, I’d have made it clear to the edge of town before taking a break. This hospital was full of crazies.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The voice dripped condescending. The girl wore jean shorts, a sleeveless yellow hoodie, and carrot orange hair poking out in spots underneath the very hat I had lost.
“Hey, that’s my hat! Give it back!”
“It’s mine now, think of it as payment for saving your life, Mr. Pokemon Expert.”
“You take my first kiss and now my hat, what kind of spawn of darkrai are you?”
“W-what are you talking about, first kiss? I gave you CPR, idiot! And if you feel so bad about it, I’ll trade you something for your hat, okay? I’m not a thief!”
The receptionist coughed next to us. “Um, could you two keep it down? Otherwise I’ll have to ask you to leave.” She then scurried back to her desk before we might explode again.
“Fine.” I started to head for the door.
“Oh no, you don’t. I’m not letting you go until you call your parents and tell them what happened.”
“You’re not the boss of me!”
“Just because these people have warped ideas of serious injuries doesn’t mean you can shrug it off. You almost died. I’m not leaving your side until you call them.”
I growled out a breath. “Then I guess you’ll have to marry me then cause I’m not calling.”
What did I say?
“What did you say?” She pointed a shaky finger at me.
“Nothing. Just go away already.”
“No.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“I’ll forget about the hat if you just leave!”
“N.O.P.E.” Each letter was punctuated by a jab to my side.
“Fine!”
She smiled triumphantly.
I wasn’t going to call mom. She was close enough that she’d take the train and make me come home. Yeah, she wanted me to go and have fun on my trip, but any mother would lock up their child if they got themselves abducted by a huge bird that wanted to eat them and then almost died from drowning. She’d be so concerned she wouldn’t even make fun of me for kind of being kissed like Selene in Sleeping Gardevoir even after me telling her it wasn’t a kiss for the millionth time. No, the best bet would be to call dad. He felt guilty for working away from home so much that he tried too hard to be the fun dad.
The redhead whose name I didn’t care to ask for stood perched behind my shoulder.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Click.
The computer screen went from a phone symbol to the grainy video feed of my dad’s face. His unruly brown hair and smiling face was a welcome sight.
“Red! Your mother said you’d already left home. I thought you’d call before now.”
The video feed froze every couple of seconds, but the audio sounded great.
“Dad? What’s wrong with the video? Why does it look so dark?”
“Oh,” he said looking at his surroundings off-screen, “I’m doing some recon in a cave. My calls are being forwarded to this mobile device I’m testing out for a friend from Hoenn, a PokeNav. It’s still got some glitches to work out. How are you, feel good being an official pokemon trainer?”
I grinned.
“Yeah! I’ll have to show you my pokemon when I get to Pewter, I don’t think the pokemon center wants me taking them out here. Thorn came with me, and Professor Oak gave me a charmander, his name is Coal. I caught a rattata too, but I’m going to release it.”
“You don’t like it? Those are pretty fast, might come in handy someday.”
“It’s not that… it’s just something I have to do.”
The evil girl behind me cleared her throat.
“Tell him,” she whispered. Her breath was hot against my ear and made me feel weird.
“H-hey, dad? There’s something I need to tell you. I sort of had an accident after I left Pallet, that’s why I’m in the hospital right now. They just released me.”
He groaned. “What kind of accident?”
“Well, you see, Blue and I had this contest to see who could catch a certain rattata first and I got lost and ended up in this forest with all these spearow and my charmander caught the grass on fire and they chased me and pecked me and this huge fearow swooped in and carried me away and I threw rattata’s pokeball at the ground and then I got thunderbolted and fell into a river and some girl gave me CPR.” I gulped as much air as I could at the end of my ramble.
“That reminds me, that pokeball hit me in the head! I had to have it checked out… and I’m not some girl!”
Dad probably didn’t know how to respond to my revelation yet, so he jumped at the opportunity to speak with the red monster.
“Oh, and who are you?”
“I’m Misty Stern, sir.” She smiled cutely. I didn’t think so at the time, but might as well put it in since she’s reading this over my shoulder. That’s like her favorite spot, I guess.
“Stern? You’re not one of Sebastian’s girls, are you?”
That grabbed her attention.
“You know my dad?”
“Of course, what was that…,” sounds of pages being flipped could be heard somewhere unseen, “ah, yes! ‘A Study in Sink’. I’m still working on the case name.”
He seemed disappointed at our lack of reaction to his title.
“So how’s Sebastian doing these days? He make it back to Kanto yet?”
She frowned. “No, his expedition found an underwater cave or something like that so he’s staying longer.”
“That’s too bad. How are things at home? Your sisters still running that contest hall?”
“I guess. They change their mind every five minutes about it.” She didn’t want to stay on that subject too much.
Dad focused back on me.
“Red, I’m glad you’re okay, but you need to be more careful. Normally, I’d tell you to go back home until you learn to be responsible, but seeing as Misty is with you… when you get to Pewter wait for me in town before you venture off. You’re on your way home, aren’t you, Misty?”
“Yeah, I came here to fish, but it’s probably time to start making my way back. I don’t want to be in the forest at night alone though… so I might leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
He smiled.
“Red just so happens to have a charmander capable of burning down forests if you run into any nasty bugs or bad guys. Why don’t the two of you travel together? Pewter’s on the way to Cerulean.”
“Dad! I’m not going anywhere with her! She stole my hat!”
“I noticed she was wearing it; I assumed you gave it to her as a thank you for her kiss of life.”
I had a horrible father.
“She stole it!”
“It wasn’t a kiss!”
“Alright, alright. Calm down. And, Red, be careful.”
“I will be, this was bad luck. That’s all.”
“You better train hard if you plan to take on the Earth Gym there in Viridian.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”
“You might even ask Misty to help you catch a water pokemon. I don’t think Thorn will cut it against ground types.”
“No way, I can catch one on my own!”
“Fine, I’ll do it since you asked so nicely, Mr. …” Misty said too sweetly.
“Boon. Hunter Boon. Thank you for taking care of my boy, Misty.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Bye dad.”
“See you soon, Red.”
The video shut off and the screen returned to the normal desktop.
I spun around in my seat and got up.
“You know,” Misty said, “your dad is really handsome. Do you get your ugliness from a great uncle?”
“What, I couldn’t have gotten it from my mother? Not that I think I’m ugly. Or that my mom is.”
“No, Red. All women are beautiful like flowers. Some are still buds waiting to bloom and others—“
“Are cut at the stem and pressed between the pages of a book?”
“I hate you.”
“I don’t care. And don’t call my dad handsome, I already have a mother.”
“When did I ever say I want to be your step-mother, idiot? He’s just handsome, like rocks are heavy and birds fly. It’s simply a fact.”
“Yeah, yeah. He’s so handsome the detective agency calls him Looker. People always look at me and wonder when I’ll grow into mine like I’m some kind of mix-and-match freak or something! So just shut up, okay?”
“Sorry…”
“I have to go do stuff. Come with me or don’t, I don’t care.”
She followed behind me. In a few minutes we were off on our bikes, mine metallic blue and hers a burnt orange, headed toward the south entrance into Viridian. Towards home.
When I got to the edge of town where trees got thicker and there weren’t any buildings I stopped and put up the kickstand.
Squatting a few feet from my bike and with Misty behind me somewhere, I pulled a pokeball off of my belt.
Red light shot out in a straight line, materializing on the ground before me. It shaped itself into the form of my first catch, technically, a rattata. The small rodent crouched down and jerked its head around every second latching onto new smells and trying to find familiar ones.
“Hey, buddy. Remember me?”
It locked its’ eyes on me and waited.
“A promise is a promise, right?”
I reached my left hand out and held it palm up. The rattata backed up at the movement, but didn’t run away so I kept my hand where it was. Rattata slowly crept closer and cautiously pressed its’ cold nose against my hand. It licked the surface with a rough tongue, and then dashed off down the path and deep into the overgrowth.
Misty walked up next to me.
“Why’d you catch it if you didn’t want it?”
“I did want to catch it. I wanted to beat Blue. When we got chased by those spearow I carried him… I didn’t want him to get eaten. And when the fearow had us he was scared just like me, probably thinking he’d never see his family too. I chose to leave, but he didn’t get a chance to decide.”
I stayed silent for a while. Then I felt a buzz in one of the pockets of my jeans. The pokedex. I had forgotten to check if it even worked anymore. I pulled it out, flipped open the front panel, and read the screen. ‘1 New Message’. I pushed the directional buttons until blinking cursor hovered over the notification and clicked enter.
Dear dx_red,
I hope you find yourself in good health. The gps locator in your pokedex stopped at a pokecenter in Viridian earlier today and hasn’t moved for a few hours. I’m writing in response to the picture your pokedex snapped of a certain pink pokemon. You see, it wasn’t recognized by the photographing software and a few of us are particularly interested in the circumstances behind you seeing it. I ask that you respond to this message as quickly as your health allows. If the owner of this device is deceased, I ask that the staff of the Viridian branch of the pokecenter notify me immediately so that I might have my kadabra scan the brain for any vital information before it deteriorates.
Sincerely,
dx_brown
Ten year old me didn’t know how to react to that. I don’t think I ever responded to that particular email because it was just so creepy. He still ended up finding me, though it wasn’t for a solid month. Bill is kind of like a weird uncle who gives you free cruise tickets and rare pokemon so you sort of feel obligated to talk to him and do stuff for him when he asks for your help.
I glanced up from the screen to see Misty staring at me.
“Why are you holding your breath?”
“What,” she asked like I was stupid.
“Your face is all red like you’re holding your breath.”
“Boys.” She let out a deep sigh.
I chuckled.
“Did I say something funny?”
“No, you just act like my friend Leaf. You’re a lot louder though.”
She ignored that.
“Come on, Mr. Pokemon Expert, if you want to take on the Earth Gym you’ll need to catch a water pokemon. And all the luck in the world.”
“Sure, whatever you say Misty.”
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
‘Number seven did not yield the results we hoped for, though it brings up an intriguing path. Does the council wish to explore it further?’ [Ayin]
‘No. Fossil Revival. Not. Same As There. Safari Park. Why Do.’ [Mem]
‘We can use it to predict further divergences once our plan is enacted. Foresight only allows us to see the future potential of a current action. Even if our earth never degrades to the point of AU-7, knowing how the populace reacted to violent global disaster could prove beneficial.’ [Res]
‘responding… {radio signal identified stop survival log stop bill macintosh stop} waiting…’ [He]
‘Member He is right. Each alternate Bill Macintosh gives us insight into his capabilities. Until now we’ve only observed his mental faculties. Seeing him in a more physically demanding route is curious. It could show us how he might respond once he discovers what we’ve done to him.’ [Ayin]
‘Waste Time. Need. Find How. Humans Long Ago. Travel Over. Multiverse. That Our. Purpose.’ [Mem]
‘Do it.’ [Sin]
‘Four to one, Brother Mem. AU-7 is added to the list. Now I must go, my human requires me for battle.’ [Res]
{Memories of telepathic conversation extracted by Dr. Fennel from a heavily sedated Golduck}
Sorry if this felt like a revelation avalanche, but it serves as an end to the introductory 'journey fic' stuff and sets up the Viridian/Pewter arc. After I'm done with my yuletid fic, I've got a fun sevii island spy thriller one-shot set within the indigoverse. Thanks for reading, and it might take me a while to do the audio chapters because of 'sudden relative showing up syndrome' and December just being hectic all over. There will be more chapters though, and they should come out relatively faster since the standard stuff is done and the actual weirdo plot can come out of hiding. (And if you can figure out the identity of each of those oddly named speakers in the final segment I'll answer any single question honestly and mostly not sarcastically. Hint: if you want to get ahead in understanding these words, you'll have to go back to the first letters. And even then it's really freaking cryptic.)
