Chapter Text
Red felt uncomfortable. He did not like the way people were looking at him. He did not like the whispering gossipers switching ideas as he walked past them. He hated being the centre of attention. His whole being despised feeling helpless as he made his way through the narrow, unorganized, crowded streets of his hometown.
However, a kind request was a kind request. And Red, although annoyed, was mesmerized to find Professor Oak had gone through the job of finding his exact location to send a single letter requesting his presence. So there he was, hurrying to the lab as the villagers either whispered to each other, or obnoxiously called him out while snapping a picture.
It felt weird to be back. Red just hoped he would not run into his mom or, worse of all, Blue . Blue brought back the memories of a huge pang of sadness on one of the happiest moments of his life. They had not spoken for over six years, save from the one time Blue had appeared on Mount Silver with a pissed off expression and a demand to know what the heck Red was doing up there. Until that day, Red still didn’t know what had possessed the boy to do so. They had argued after the championship, and from then on their relationship was strained. So you could imagine Red’s confusion once the boy appeared there, all hisses and stomps.
Red sighed, almost sprinting to the lab as it came into view. He decided to forget that memory for the moment and almost punched the lab’s door open, running inside and shutting it behind him with excessive force. The sound echoed through the lab, accompanied by a few seconds of silence where Red tried to catch his breath.
"Red? Red! It's you! My son, it's been a while, eh?" Professor Oak exclaimed, coming towards him, arms raised for a hug. Red gulped and shrank against the wall, holding in his breath.
The hug was quick, Oak probably feeling how stiff his body was. After the greeting was done, Oak gave him a small smile, his eyes gleaming. Arceus , the man was old. It had been so long since he last saw him. A small stab of joy filled his heart, his cheeks warming in embarrassment. Great. What a time to feel nostalgic.
"Still not very talkative, I see. Caught any new pokemon?" Red nodded. Both of them started to walk inside the lab, the Professor moving his hands wildly as he talked "Amazing! Ah, son, come in! The lab's a little untidy, but I'm sure you won’t mind. I have great news for you!"
Oak stopped, turning around with a grin and taking a paper out of his pocked. Red grabbed it, scanning over the letters with mild interest. He frowned as the words sunk in, looking up with loss in his eyes.
"I know right? Alola, having a League? It's such an innovation!" No , that was not Red's question at all ! "And all the champions get a free ticked for the inauguration! Isn't it marvellous?"
Oak twirled on his feet, grabbing a book from his messy table.
“Ah, I still remember when I was a little kid. I used to go there on vacation. I have a cousin about my age there too- But that’s out of the point. The thing is-“ the Professor opened the book, scanning through the pages “-you’re a champion. You too received a ticket, and your mother ran here as soon as she read it. I’m sure you understand the situation, after all-“
Red stopped hearing afterwards. He was glued to his sit, mind running miles per hour, one hand gripping at Pikachu’s pokeball. Like, going to Alola? A place packed with people, especially young children , dying to battle him? Just that alone was enough to make him forget all about the cool pokemon. And oh boy did he know there were cool pokemon on the islands: he may have spent six years on top of a mountain, but certain news managed to make their way up there too. And damn it all if Red didn’t want to see the Alolan form of Marowak.
However, it had been too long since he last walked through crowded places with ease. Before he became champion, people just sort of ignored him, you know? Sure, he got into battles once in a while and was stopped by a grunt every two weeks, but actually getting attention? No. Red never got it. He was just another trainer on the run for a title.
And then he won it. The world turned harsher. He barely had time for himself between journalists and crazy photographers who couldn’t grasp the idea that a kid wanted space, not a camera glued to their face. He hated the attention. He just wanted to prove Kanto that his pokemon training skills were great! Celebrity life was not made for him! Going to Alola would just overwhelm him-
"Uh, something's wrong, Red?"
Red snapped out of his thoughts, the Professor's worried expression materializing in front of him. The old man was frowning, looking at him like a dejected Growlithe. Red almost felt bad, until he realized Oak was expecting a reply. Then his brain could only see one word:
Crap.
Red had no idea how to tell Professor Oak his problem. The man didn't know sign language, and even if he did, Red himself didn’t know how to put it in in a way that would not break the man's heart.
That is, until a door opened and a deeper, yet recognizable voice came out of nowhere like in some cliché movie. All coherent thoughts left Red's head, leaving him frozen on the spot.
"Yo, gramps, did you-" His footsteps stopped abruptly "... call?"
Silence reigned in the lab for a few moments. Red felt awkward as hell, but tried to keep his cool and leaned back against the wall, staring at a rather peculiar dirty spot on the wall instead of facing towards Blue's general direction. Blue was apparently speechless, stuck on the spot he spotted Red and probably looking at him as if he were a ghost or something. Even Professor Oak was silent, although something on his face told Red he had planned the whole thing.
Eventually, Blue broke the silence. It was always Blue who spat shit out of his mouth before thinking twice after all, and, apparently, that fact wasn’t planning on going away any time soon.
"What in the actual fuck are you doing here?"
It felt like a stab.
"Blue! Watch your tongue!" Oak shrieked, turning on his heels and staring at Blue with fire in his eyes.
"Watch my tongue? Watch my tongue?! You know very well how I feel about- wait, even better! How did you even find him?! The guy's been living under a cold, icy rock for the past six years, and you suddenly bring him back?!"
"Don’t talk about him as if he's not in the room." Oak said sternly.
"Oh-how-! Ugh !"
Blue threw his hands up in frustration, stomping all the way inside the lab and throwing his body on a chair. He crossed his arms and pouted like a petulant child, keeping his eyes glued on the ground. Red did the same, his fingers messing with the insides of his shirt.
Professor Oak sighed, pacing around the lab.
"You two should have solved this… conflict of yours a long while ago, don’t you think?”
“We did. He became champion.”
“It apparently didn’t solve anything, did it, Blue?”
Blue didn’t answer. Oak sighed again.
"Look, the reason both of you are here is the same. Red, what I was telling you right now is what Blue has known for over a week. And if both of you have at least one inch of brain, you'll understand how necessary your presence is in Alola."
" His presence." Blue muttered.
"Both of you," Oak emphasized, shooting a glare at Blue "-will go. It's not just about helping Alola. It's about not breaking the hearts of young trainers who want to battle you. It's about not making Kanto trainers look irresponsible. So you two are going, without questions!"
Red's head snapped up to meet Oak's determined eyes. His heart was thrumming in his ears, his blood cold and palms sweaty. He had the courage to look at Blue, who was equally agape.
"Grandpa-"
"Your plane leaves in six hours, you can catch it in Viridian. It's a public one, and as you can guess, the League doesn't have money to send each of you in separate vehicles. They were, however, kind enough to let you go on Class A." Oak said, beginning to shuffle the books scattered across his table as a way to not face the situation. Red felt like punching something.
"Grandfather! You can’t be serious! Viridian is an hour from here! And what about the bags?! I don’t have one ready, he probably left all his stuff inside his cabin in the frozen woods, and on top of it all! I can’t leave my sister alone. Because I care about my family ."
Red's blood went from cold to boiling. He glared at Blue with venom, boring holes in the man’s skull. Blue glared back, as if not giving less of a crap about how insensible he had been. Red felt his eyes starting to burn in anger.
"Your sister knows. I warned her two days ago. Why do you think she bought all those potions and Ultra Balls?" Oak said, as if not realizing the meaning behind Blue's words.
Blue shouted something back, to which Oak only rolled his eyes and started to grunt, as if trying to force the positivity of the situation down Blue's throat. Blue only kept on biting back, moving his hands wildly as he talked. Some things never changed, did they?
Red leaned back against the chair, staring at both of them with a certain fidgety on his soul. He felt like a mere spectator to the argument, although the whole thing was technically about him and demanded his insight. He couldn't talk, he did not have the will to find out if Blue still knew sign language, and even if he did, Red would rather dig a hole and hide than talking to him. He felt like utter crap. He wanted his pokemon. He wanted to go back to his frosty, welcoming mountain.
"Blue Oak, you're grabbing your stuff, helping Red grab his, and you're going." Professor Oak finally snapped, his voice rough and final.
Blue groaned, hiding his face in his hands. Red gulped.
"And you," Oak said, still stern "You'll accept his help, get on top of Pidgeot, grab your stuff and go. Okay, son?"
Red lowered his gaze, pushing his cap a little lower on his face. Professor Oak seemed content enough, and with one last glance, he wished them farewell.
"Go on. It'll be just a month, okay?"
"Whatever!"' Blue shout, stepping out of the lab.
Red was about to follow, but Oak placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. Red nodded, half understanding the meaning behind it.
"Their orders. You understand, right?"
Red really didn’t care, but nodded nonetheless. Oak smiled and fiddled around with his pocket.
"Here, give this to Blue once you're on the plane. He always loved these...”
Red grabbed the small green sack and hid it on his bag. Oak patted his shoulder and wished him good luck, his sorry expression doing nothing but adding guilt to the long list of negative feeling Red was having right now.
The next hours came in a blur. Blue scoffed and landed him his Pidgeot, whispering something on the pokemon's ear. Pidgeot clucked and turned to him, offering its head for Red to pat. Afterwards, Red was on top of it, crossing the skies towards Mount Silver.
Red remembered a certain pang of sadness once he started packing, but he wasn't completely sure. In a blink, the few pairs of shirts he had were crumpled inside his bag, along with a spare pair of trousers and a few potions.
Between flying back to Pallet and sprinting in awkward silence along with Blue towards Viridian (Pidgeot apparently got too tired to carry the two of them to the city), Pikachu had ended up outside its pokeball and perched on Red's shoulders, glaring daggers at Blue. Blue ignored both it and Red all the way towards the airport, only sparing them a timid glance once a few photographers and pokemon fanatics appeared in view.
Eventually, they arrived to Viridian and got inside the plane with a few other trainers. Red was still recovering from all this overwhelming information when Blue spoke for the first time, just after Red fitted himself on his sit and placed Pikachu back inside the pokeball.
"So...."
Red looked at him, as if finally coming to the conclusion that yes, this was happening, he was here with Blue, about to go to Alola.
"How did he find you?"
Red shrugged, not sure where this was leading.
"Not a single idea?"
Red turned his body towards Blue. The other boy - or rather, man, damn it had been so long - was avoiding eye contact, although his body was sprawled on the chair and showing no traces of irritation or whatsoever.
Red raised his hands, biting his lip as he prayed Blue still remembered at least some signs.
[How did you find me?]
Blue raised a brow, staring at the window behind Red. Wrong question, apparently, but damn it all if Red wasn’t curious about how the man had managed to trace his location all those years ago.
"I had my ways. My grandfather doesn’t have my stealthy skills though."
Red chuckled, crossing his arms.
[He offered Gold a Dratini. Gold told him, then.]
Blue gasped, leaning forward on his seat. His face was like an open book, a faint reminder of the younger Blue with a superiority complex and an emotional, dramatic attitude. However, his deeper voice and stronger features were enough to not fool Red's mind for too long, and the fact that now Red himself was taller than Blue was still making him feel kind of smug.
"That bastard! He told me nothing, even after I oh so kindly let him beat my gym, and then goes around loosening the tongue for a pokemon?!"
Red raised a brow, slightly amused.
"Don’t look at me like that!” Blue shrieked "I feel cheated on!"
Red shook his head, straightening on his seat and pulling his cap down to cover his face. He then leaned back, crossing his arms and missing Pikachu's weight on his lap.
Blue, obviously, wasn’t happy about the sudden posture change.
"Hey! Don't ignore me! I'm-"
He was abruptly cut off by the captain's voice announcing the flight was about to take off.
Red sighed.
This would be a long month.