Kanto Champion

personal | pokettodex | headcanon I'm Red.

[-verdigris]

Here.

Follow these numbers, in whatever order, and you’ll bag some chicks.

Trust me.

[-verdigris]

Here you go, Archer.

And anyone else who needs my genius.

[-amaranth]

[-amaranth]

Red, did ya hear about the dance? [She nudges his arm half heartedly.] Who're you thinking of going with?

"The dance? I wasn't really planning on going at all..." He returned her nudge, not failing to notice her lack of enthusiasm. "You alright?"

[pokettodex-blog]

[-verdigris]

Oh yeah? What about us same sex couples?

[-amaranth]

[sway-leaf-blog]

“How is pikachu? And Charizard?” Leaf remembered the first day Red had come back from the Lab to show us his new Charmander. Back then, Red had been so happy and excited to have the fire type, even Pikachu had gotten jealous.

“Has Fire been good?” she pestered, wrapping her arms fondly around her friend’s waist, squeezing him tight, but not too tight. Leaf came back different than before. She was wondering if her team had been getting stronger to make her more… Warm to her friends. Then again, Red and Green and Silver were her favorite boys. So, opening up wasn’t a chore.

[-amaranth]

"They're good." His Pokemon had been seriously enjoying themselves since coming down from Mt. Silver. He hadn't stopped training them completely, but they seemed happy to at least be away from the cold. "They'd probably be happy to see you, if you came over." Pikachu, especially, had always loved Leaf. Similar to how he'd always hated Green.

Red didn't quite hug her back, but he did put a hand on her shoulder, appreciating her closeness. Coming back from his own travels and having her be gone had been a little... disconcerting. Like home wasn't home until she was there. Especially with how Green had been acting lately, it was good to see her again.

"Fire's good, I think. I'm pretty sure he has a girlfriend... What about you? You're doing okay?"

[sway-leaf-blog]

Red?! [She kept in a squeal as she whirled around to face her friend.] Red..!! How’ve you been?

[-amaranth]

Red smiled. He was used to Leaf's enthusiasm, but it was still nice whenever she got excited to see him. "I've been... Alright." It was probably a bad idea to unload everything right off the bat. "What about you? Where have you been? It's been lonely without you."

[-amaranth]

sway-leaf started following you

Hi, Leaf.

[-amaranth]

"..."

Well. This was odd.

[princeof-grim-deactivated201208]

“So you were on a mountain! I always knew you were an adventurous type!” Surge laughed. Despite the kid’s lack of visible emotion, he’d always seen the fire in Red’s eyes. (Not his brother, just the BURNING PASSION OF THE HEART.) Grinning, he rested a hand on the top of the boy’s hat. He was still kinda short, too. “Ever thought of joinin’ the army?”

“Me? I’ve been working over at the Powerplant some days. When the challengers come, I just head back to the gym. It’s not very adventurous, but bloody exciting all the same, y’know?” 

“How’s that Pikachu o’ yours? Still the sparky little guy from all those years ago?”

[-amaranth]

Red shrugged. He didn't think of himself as particularly adventurous. He'd heard it a lot, since people found out he'd been living on a mountain, but adventure hadn't been what sent him there. It was more that Mt. Silver just... suited him. Cold and quiet and lonely. Wow. That didn't exactly make for light-hearted conversation. "The army?" he looked at Surge in surprise. "Uh, no. I can't say that I have." Oh. A hand on his head. ...Okay. Red didn't think of himself as particularly short, but compared to Surge, he guessed he was. He would have sighed, but that seemed a little rude.

Red nodded along as the Lt. spoke. "Does your gym still have the hidden switches?" He remembered those really well. It had taken him at least an extra few hours to figure out just how to get to him, much less battle.

Red smiled again, a little more genuinely, at the mention of Pikachu, and nodded. "Maybe even more. He kinda bosses me around, haha. .. How are your pokemon?"

[princeof-grim-deactivated201208]

-amaranth started following you

Well look at that. If it ain’t mister Red. I haven’t seen you in quite a while, kid. Where’ve ya been? On a mountain, last I heard. I’m surprised you ain’t lookin’ like a caveman yet. Then we’d have a serious problem, ahaha!! 

[-amaranth]

Red blinked up at Surge, a little disappointed that he was still so tall. Not the giant he'd seemed to be when Red was ten years old, but still a good bit taller than he was. Even so, Surge had always been friendly, in his loud way.

He smiled slightly. "It has been a while. I was on Mt. Silver, but I'm back in Pallet now." A caveman? He barely had to shave. "I guess so.. What have you been up to?"

[-amaranth]

Alright. See you soon.

Red probably didn't have much room to complain, but was that seriously all Green had to say? After making a huge deal out of him leaving, then disappearing himself, a little more might have been nice.

He stood up from where he was seated on his bed, grabbing his hat from the top of his bookshelf. All the books he had were from before he'd left home when he was ten... He'd have to fix that. Eventually. He'd never been much of a reader, anyway. He stood for a minute, looking at his old Pokemon picture books, before snapping himself out of his reverie. Green. That's what's important right now.

He thought about glancing in the mirror, to make sure he looked at least presentable, but thought better of it. Because frankly, who gives half a fuck what Green thinks. (He didn't stop too long to think about the answer to that.) He grabbed his backpack and slung it over one shoulder before heading downstairs and outside. He didn't even bother grabbing Pikachu. If things went the way he was expecting, he wouldn't be gone long.

He swallowed hard before knocking on the Oak's door.

[reckless-fire-deactivated202006]

Fire scrunched up his nose. “Am not! I’m a good liar!” Oh. Whoops. He walked right into that one. Darn it. “Aha.. well you know…” He started, buying time and trying to figure out how he could get himself out of this one. But his brother didn’t really seem to be letting go of this one. “Um… you and him kinda… Gee, I dunno.” He really didn’t. Whenever they were in the same room together, he would always find himself shifting his eyes suspiciously between the two. ‘Cuz there was something… he just didn’t… really… know…

[-amaranth]

Red listened, his smile gradually fading. Unfortunately, Fire wasn't lying now, nor was he wrong. There always had been something. For a long time, he'd written it off as awkwardness, because, in all honestly, Green had been horrible to him. It wasn't something he liked to acknowledge, because that only meant he'd been hurt by it, but it was the truth. He didn't really remember when that stopped, but it had certainly been a relief. Any friendship they had after that was very tentative, at least on his end.

Even now, he wasn't really sure what that thing was. It didn't help that he hadn't heard from Green in weeks...

"Yeah. I don't know either."

[reckless-fire-deactivated202006]

“Scare myself? Naw, naw, not me! I’m not scared of anything!” He lied, putting his hands to his hip bones and puffing his chest out. “Those elite four guys got nothin’ on me, bro, promise!”

Fire shrugged, kicking the dirt a bit. “Yeah… maybe.” He then blinked when his brother asked him the next question. Geez. Hawkward… How could he even begin to explain why he doubted Red? It was a weird thing to even bring up. “Aha..ha..” Fire let out nervous laughter, for a second, shrugging. “Well… you guys used to be best friends and all, y’know?”  Great, great. Maybe he had dodged that bullet. Hopefully. 

[-amaranth]

Red shook his head, resisting the urge to laugh. It was practically possibly to read Fire's mind, from the way he moved and the expression on his face. "We were best friends when we were, what, nine? Not for a long time." Now he did laugh, not looking at his brother's face. "You're the worst liar." He pushed the brim of his own hat up with his thumb, glancing at Fire. "What's the real reason?"

[bespectacledleader-deactivated2]

Oh? Oh. 

That’s right. You’re Red. Kanto’s Champion, correct? I had read in Trainer Weekly that you spend most of your time on Mount. Silver. 

What kind of training do you get up there?

[-amaranth]

[Red frowned slightly. Did people still recognize him? At least it was taking longer. All the same, he nodded.] On Mt. Silver? It's... it's quiet. It's easy to focus. [He shrugged, tugging at one of his gloves.] Easier to hear yourself think.

Who are you?

[reckless-fire-deactivated202006]

“Dude, of course I can! I’m so totally ready! I’ve been ready! I was like, practically born ready!” Fire assured, his hands balling up into fists in front of him excitedly. 

And for a moment, Fire smiled back at Red. Good to know his brother wasn’t so deep in the dumps that he couldn’t smile. Which was great. His brother ought to smile more. 

“Anyway, I guess. I’m not really sure though, it’s you talkin’ for one thing, and to me, he doesn’t seem to have changed too much.” He responded seriously, but then he offered a small smile to Red, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat awkwardly. “I guess I should go say Hi to him or somethin’. I haven’t seen that guy in ages.” True, he couldn’t remember the last time he actually seen or spoken to Green. Must of been ages ago. But he didn’t really care. Last he saw of his childhood friend, he was a grade A asshole. 

[-amaranth]

"Then you should go for it. Maybe after the new year, though, I'm sure they're busy... You'll only scare yourself if you wait too long. They're not as bad as you probably think." Fire was pretty high-strung, too. Of course, it's possible he just kept forgetting why he was on Victory Road.

The continuing conversation about Green was a little uncomfortable. How much did Fire know about their... relationship? Was that even the right word? Probably not, at least not anymore. A wave of guilt threatened to crash down on him, again. But now really wasn't the time.

"Maybe you should. He's grown up a lot. I don't even know when we were last all together... It's been years, right?" Wait. "Why wouldn't you trust my opinion on Green?" Maybe Fire knew more than he let on. If he'd talked to Leaf at all, he'd probably heard something about it. Shit.

[bespectacledleader-deactivated2]

I like to train in complete solitude most days. 

Caves are usually the best option. Easiest to hide in. 

[-amaranth]

[Red looked at the younger boy in surprise for a moment, then nodded.] I completely agree.

[-amaranth]

It’s very… uncomfortable…

[bespectacledleader-deactivated2]

It’s generally why I spend months on end in caves by myself. 

[-amaranth]

...What?

[bespectacledleader-deactivated2]

I understand your sentiments entirely.

[-amaranth]

It's very... uncomfortable...