Chapter Three: The Returning Wave

…

There was a concept in traditional martial arts and karate that existed for moments like these: never go looking for a fight, period.

Whether it was justified, or deserved, it didn't matter.

Likewise, many techniques were centered around returning an opponent's size and aggression right back towards them. A decent grappler or judoka would be able to flip a person twice their size to the ground using the proper technique and sense of momentum.

If someone put out aggression and malice out into the world according to traditional martial arts, typically, it would be returned at one point or another in some way shape or form.

The owners of the bar were a bit surprised to see us try to enter their bar, being monks, but they ultimately didn't mind after we told them we were looking for someone.

"Keith. Uh," I paused. "Keith Richardson."

"He's inside." the couple bowed to us when they bowed and the husband waved a hand, letting us in.

We bowed back and walked in.

This tavern was probably the only place to get a real drink in the entire town, so it was really run down, but it did look a decent bit like most Japanese bars out in the countryside I'd visited the time I went in my past life.

A few picture frames of past towns, as well as a few people gambling and drinking using games the bar already had.

Keith was rather easy to spot.

He looked someone who hadn't bathed or showered that regularly. He sat at a barstool naturally, several empty beer cans next to him.

The man was well built, and a bit tall, and was calmly drinking alone.

I walked up to him and asked. "Keith?"

He didn't even glance at me. "Yeah?"

It was him then. I cleared my throat. "Your son threw some fruit at my head earlier today. I'm not mad but um, I think I figured out why he did it."

Now he looked at me.

Keith drank from his beer with a shrug, glancing up at the TV playing in the bar. "So can I, you had it coming." he chuckled.

"Look, I don't mean to meddle. But your family needs you, the state of your house just, isn't right."

"You tellin' me how to help my family kid?"

"No. But your son shouldn't act out like that, not when it's not his fault."

Keith sighed. "You know your group of sages up on the mountain claimed to be among the best healers in the world. My brother went up all those steps once."

The light chatter of a few men drinking, eating, and playing cards nearby continued for a bit.

"And he never came back down." admitted Keith painfully.

I spoke kindly. "I'm sure we did all we could."

"How could you be? I asked them what happened. I was told it was out of their hands, and now I lost my brother, my farm, and everything I ever had because I put faith." He sipped from his beer. "In a group of people who always need our help, but refuse to ever give it back."

"Elder Toji isn't perfect, but I know him well. He'd never let your brother die, my Pokémon is one he rescued from its dead mother in the wilderness."

Keith shrugged again. "Quite frankly I don't care about your business, and I don't get why you do either about mine. Next time your lot is in town, I won't let my kid throw things at anyone. Problem solved, now scram."

"That's not the point. You've abandoned them, you've-"

"You think I can see them after what I let happen?" slightly raising his voice, Keith shook his head. "I couldn't find the help my brother needed, and with him gone, and his family in another town. I can't run my farm at all, I have to find work wherever I can around town doing odd jobs."

I got it. "So out of shame, you barely see your family."

"I'm way too busy working elsewhere to help too. This is the only opportunity I have. You're too young, and too blinded by your useless clique of monks to see it."

I still refused to let him aggravate me. "All I ask is that you return to your family. Your wife and child need you, and you-"

"And then what? Let them starve? I can't run a farm like that with just three people in the state that it's in."

"You should at least try."

"What do you know about farming? All you do is eat food you were given as a gift, in fact, I bet almost all the rice you're carrying in that pack is from this village. Isn't it?"

I glanced from Inoru, our backpacks, and then Keith.

"The one purpose of your entire monastery is to help us. Protect us from spirits that have been a myth basically for thousands of years." Keith crushed his entire beer can with just one hand with ease. "Pray for better crop yields that never come! The only thing I've ever seen you all do, is fail to save my twin brother!"

His words were loud enough to shift the air of the entire bar.

The barkeep even stopped cleaning his glass, changing the TV station casually with a raised eyebrow.

"Your brother didn't deserve to die, but your family should not suffer further from the loss of an uncle, as well as a father."

"Who are you to tell me anything? How old are you? Thirteen?"

I looked aside for a moment, then back into Keith's clearly brown eyes. "Fourteen."

"You're a fourteen year old monk raised in a cozy little mountain shrine. Never had to work on a farm or have a real job in your entire life. And you think you can tell me where I need to be and what I need to do?"

"I promise you. Drinking and isolating yourself from your own family, it's not helping anyone. That won't bring your sister in law and her children back to your farm to help. And it won't bring your twin back either Keith."

A bar patron almost jumped when Keith rose out of his bar stool, almost a full head taller than me.

"I'd leave this town, I'd leave right now and never come back kid. If there's one thing you don't do, it's tell a man how to live his life when you've already ruined it."

"There has to be a way I can change your mind."

He balled his fists for a moment, I wasn't scared, but he relented exhaling quickly. "I was raised in a pretty traditional household, it's not right for me to discipline another man's child. But I don't have to put up with your out of place suggestions in my life any more."

That was it, it was out of my control then.

I had asked politely, I had tried showing him that punishing himself would only punish those he'd care for.

I felt nothing but pity for this man and his family, and above all, this town.

An important member of this village was drinking himself to death finding whatever work he could around to scrap together what money he could to barely feed his wife and child. Living on a slowly deteriorating farm worth less and less every year.

I couldn't look Keith in the eyes with how sorry I felt for him, and I walked outside with Inoru.

…

"You did all you could." said Inoru kindly.

"He's right, I shouldn't have meddled."

"We should find a place to sleep for the night. It'd be smart to just hike for two days to Kamarino, we've left our Pokémon long enough at the Richardson farm anyway."

"Wait."

We turned around, Keith and a few other local men had left the bar, speaking to us. They walked down the steps to our place in the dirt path leading out of the inn.

"You went to my house?"

I nodded. "I had to understand why Mikey was acting so scrappy. I could tell he was hurting most likely."

"He's eight years old, kids act out when they're that age."

"Is that why he hates the monastery as much as you do?"

This was why I left my Pokémon back at the Richardson farm, I couldn't let them see the mess I had to solve before we moved on from this town.

"You don't talk to my wife or my kid when you've got a problem like that." Keith said, looking right at me. "You talk directly to me, you got that? Me."

"Is there a particular reason you came out here or?" Inoru said.

Keith pointed to the other end of the village. "Your time's up here gentlemen. If you're not collecting food for the shrine, there's no reason for you to stay."

He wasn't wrong. That was the only reason monks came by here, but it was wrong.

We didn't talk to these people, we didn't help these people, we didn't even seem to know or acknowledge these people.

One wouldn't be remiss to think we didn't even like these people, when they were not at fault, for anything going on in their lives.

I sighed. "I'm sorry Keith. I'm sorry your brother died, and I'm sorry my temple aren't exactly the most social or transparent or clear of people." I'd been there and almost still was. "But I promise you, nor you nor the rest of your town deserve what happened to it."

Suddenly, Keith shoved me back onto the dirt.

"I didn't make myself clear apparently. You, and the condescion of yourself and your teachers is over here. I won't let anyone see you all anymore except if it's to give the rice you all never earned."

Inoru helped me up. "You know we can't fight you, why bother?"

"To prove a point," said Keith bitterly. "I'll escort you out myself if that's what it takes."

"We were just leaving." I admitted truthfully.

"I mean I'll drag you out of here right now, whether you want me to or not."

Keith looked strong enough to pick up both Inoru and myself right now by the scruff of our necks and dump us on the road to Kamarino. But I respected both him and myself too much to let him do that to us.

"My Slakoth and your son are probably playing together back at your house. Calm down Keith."

"A Slakoth?" one of Keith's drinking buddies spoke up. "Could've sworn I heard a Slakoth threw some fruits right back at your kid earlier."

Keith glared at me with fire in his eyes, so mad he could barely speak for a moment.

I had seen this exact anger before, a rage to grab and hurt me. Men in my previous life had shoved me around out of either ignorance or boredom, perhaps a complete lack of care to take their meds that day or something. I had been bullied plenty of times, at least harassed physically, but this adult man had no right to do and say what he did.

But the last time I was genuinely afraid for my safety, at least scared for my life, was when I ran from the Vigoroth over six months ago.

But I wasn't afraid anymore. I was done with running, no matter if the price meant disregarding pacifism.

"Final warning kid. Get out of here."

I shook my head.

A monk needed to be stoic, and never look for a fight. But this was my pride challenged, I didn't care if Keith was twice my size, a full head taller than me, and was this village's tough guy.

Elder Toji had studied karate for decades, as had the entire temple. If they determined I was wise and skilled enough to handle myself on the road, I wouldn't back down.

I'd never back down until I had proved myself right, and that Keith was wrong.

"You're not a good listener."

Keith's friends backed off when he began to trudge forward to grab me.

I used a simple technique I learned from my first classes ever when someone tried to shove me or hold my shirt. I instantly turned to the side, used Keith's momentum while grabbing his right wrist and holding my forearm hard against his elbow.

I turned to my right as fast as I could in a semi circle pulling Keith downward.

The man tripped over his own feet and his own weight and tumbled over.

Inoru was about to step in, but then Keith chuckled, wiping some dirt off his chin.

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"I'm gonna leave you knocked out on the side of the road. When I do, you two better not come back."

Inoru spoke up as Keith slowly took his jacket off. "This has gone way too far." said Inoru.

Just because I'm a nice guy doesn't mean I'm weak. This journey had provided me a test as soon as I started it: a fight.

And I wasn't going to run away scared, showing the Order were cowards who didn't care or didn't clean up their messes.

Keith didn't come running at me, instead he threw the most predictable thing someone in a street fight would do:

Hook punches.

I dodged easily, weaving away, and then ducking beneath his wild strikes, quickly grabbing the man from behind.

I pushed him away pulling out my staff tucked between my cloth belt and my sage's robes. I tossed it away and waved a hand towards myself.

Keith grunted and lunged forward, and threw a random football kick to my stomach.

As I turned at an angle again and parried I threw a back fist with my left hand, an uraken zuki, as hard as I could directly to Keith's nose. The man was more than tough enough to shrug it off but it succesfully damaged his face.

People began to gather and watch, and then I heard a sound of a small bit of thunder.

Best rain always knew when to fall.

As Keith began to run towards me like a bull to tackle me to the ground, I stood my ground, ran forward a bit to meet him and jumped upwards, hitting him right in the chin with my knee.

He staggered for a bit and wiped some blood off his face, as I bounced around him calmly in my fighting stance. He appeared to turn around and almost think for a second when he knelt to the ground.

But the next thing I knew I couldn't see anything, and my eyes were stinging.

Keith scooped up some mud from the nearby ground and flung it at me.

Props to him for fighting smart too-

He had tackled me to the ground, I covered up hopelessly for a minute, feeling Keith all but break my forearms under his knuckles before I grappled with him for a moment.

I pulled him into my guard, tying my legs around his waist and pulling him closer, the mud helping my complete lack of physical strength in comparison to him.

The rain helped me too, I was able to use some of it to wipe the mud out of my eyes, and see a little better. Still partially blind, I continued to struggle with Keith.

Grappling was common back on Takujimi temple, and despite Keith's strength and fighting experience, he couldn't just tear me off and throw me away. I held onto him for dear life.

I threw a wild elbow that caught him directly on the eye, disorienting him for long enough to pull away and stand up.

I caught my breath for a moment and cleaned more mud out of my eyes, realizing how bruised my face and arms were after a bit. Unable to register the face punches I took due to the adrenaline and how incompleted Keith threw them as opposed to my own strikes, I was on better ground.

Keith was shaking his head in disbelief I had put up a fight as long as I did probably as I raised my fists again.

He came running at me again with his hands up trying to time me with straighter and cleaner punches this time, but with less than a second to counter, I used ushiro geri.

The spinning back kick.

I kiai'd at the top of my lungs, throwing all my weight behind the blow, knocking the wind right out of Keith.

He dropped, all of his weight and strength being his own downfall as he ran directly into a foot to the stomach.

Keith gasped loudly, eyes widening.

I made sure my next action would cement the fact that I hadn't run from a challenge for good. I was never scared, the temple taught me that the Vigoroth who almost killed me was a symbol, a symbol for men like Keith and the challenge they posed.

Strong, dumb, loud, but wrong.

I picked up my staff out of some nearby mud and rested it against Keith's temple, he was about to stand up but I forced him back down to the ground with a leg sweep with my feet, de ashi barai, and looked right at him.

"He had it coming kid." someone said.

Keith's drinking buddy, the same man who told him my Pokémon had thrown some random produce straight back at his son was now rooting against him.

"The man challenged you, that's the way of things," he said.

It kept raining, Keith didn't seem to argue against his fate of being knocked clean out.

Then, I looked at Inoru for a moment, he hadn't moved from by the entrance of the bar for a second. Technically by choosing violence I had already gone against an extremely important creed of the order:

The best way to win a fight, is to never look for one.

I looked back at Keith, and I realized by looking into his eyes how broken this man was.

The sages had taught me one thing, that people like this only fell further when reaching their lowest point.

I frowned.

Unless they had help.

I lowered my staff and sighed, pulling him up from the mud.

"I'm sorry." I said honestly.

Keith sighed too, nodding, the crowd that had gathered too shocked to react as well.

"Same here."

Then he knocked me clean out in one punch.

…

I realized where I was as soon as I woke up.

I was back at Keith's house, laying on his sofa, at daybreak apparently.

My Slakoth was laying on my stomach, snoozing quietly.

With a slight headache, I stood up slightly and saw a strange sight. Inoru and Keith were having a conversation like civilized people. No arguing, no insults like last night, the man seemed to be cooking some sort of breakfast calmly.

Inoru saw that I had woken up and gestured in my direction.

Keith turned towards me, raised a slightly disgruntled eyebrow, slid all of his food off the frying pan he was using, and then shoved a bowl of rice and eggs towards me. The spoon clattered in it from how quickly he served me some breakfast across the coffee table in his living room.

"Where's um, Mikey and your wife?" I asked quietly while picking up the bowl.

He explained quietly. "They're outside, I told them I'd help do what little we can to try to put the farm back together."

Keith was back with his family. He'd seen the error of his ways to some degree at least.

I ignored the stinging pain in my head as I chewed my admittedly well cooked breakfast.

Keith crossed his huge hairy arms and fixed his plaid red button up shirt. "You did the right thing, but I wanted to teach you something too before you left."

I nodded silently, looking up at him.

"Never let your guard down until the fight is finished. You won, technically." Keith chuckled. "But you don't stop until you're sure whoever you're fighting is done. Be it that their wrist is broken, or they're sleeping on the sidewalk. Got it?"

I understood why he decided to reward my mercy with none of his own last night.

"I don't think I can remotely forgive the monastery for failing to save my brother just yet. Besides the fact that he was family, he was crucial in helping me and feeding my family and letting me live the normal life I had. But, I sort of owe you a favor."

Keith uncrossed his arms and shrugged. "I can't give you anything useful for your trip to the next town, but I can make sure you get there quicker. I worked for the butcher in Kamarino for nearly six years now. He's about as broke as everyone else around these parts so he can't pay me close to what I'm owed."

I nodded again.

"However, I think he'll be more than able to do me a favor. That truck he sends every week? I'll make sure you can get on it with your friends here," he threw his head towards my Slakoth and then Inoru. "Should be enough to settle our debt."

"It is, thank you."

Before Keith stepped outside of his house to go help his family do the first bit of farm work they probably had in ages, I spoke out.

"For what it's worth. I think your brother would be proud that you helped us."

He paused for a second, but left.

Inoru approached me, as if holding his words in this entire time.

"Did I just kick myself out of the Order?"

Inoru shook his head. "Keith had that coming to him, he'd been wrongfully blaming the temple for problems it had nothing to do with for the entire night. While neglecting his family for years."

Inoru rubbed his eyes and smiled. "I'm proud of you Nico, you helped this family what little anyone could. And for it, it helped us greatly on our journey."

"I think I'd have traded a two day hike over my headache now." Pressing my hand to the bruise on my temple where I'm sure Keith hit me.

Inoru chuckled deeply and loudly. "Without last night's fight in the rain, I don't think you could have ever learned what we both need to in order to make you a great Pokémon trainer. Let alone the greatest. Fighting and training to fight, are the only ways our Pokémon will improve at battling."

I smiled.

"The truck shows up early tomorrow morning. I'd suggest we help that poor old woman running her shop a bit, I don't think she's had anyone sort food or clean for a while." Inoru suggested, waiting for me to finish my breakfast.

…

She ended up appreciating our help a bit, but was unfortunately so broke she couldn't give us a meal for helping her. Not that it mattered, as this part of the Pokémon world was so poor that I wasn't surprised it took so long to drive to part of Johto I remember from the games and anime.

The old woman ended up letting us stay in a small storage unit among some boxes with some air conditioning and blankets in the back of her store before she closed up shop.

When the sun rose again the next morning, it was barely six in the morning.

Inoru and I had to get up early and had actually used an alarm clock, the only form of payment the woman could give us for our help, to get ready for the truck's arrival.

Kamarino's butcher truck arrived selling meats to the few people able to afford so in the entire town, including the old lady who we helped.

The truck was among those exact delivery trucks I saw dozens of times in Japan in my old world, small and white, with a wooden barrier lining its cargo area, now filled with boxes of meat.

She tried explaining. "These two monks are-"

The man driving the truck smiled and nodded. "My boss already told me who they are. It's all fine."

"Thank you very much." all three of us bowed to the driver.

As I helped unload a few boxes the woman spoke. "You two boys should get going." her crow's feet wrinkled as she bowed her head and smiled. "You've already helped enough."

"Thank you for giving us a place to stay tonight."

"Better here than out on someone's farm land or on the side of the road." she smiled back to me.

Inoru and I bowed to the elderly shopkeep and then left to get on the truck.

…

About four minutes since leaving the village at the bottom of the mountain, I heard a small sound.

"Waiiiiit!"

I looked into the sideview mirror on my left, Inoru was kind enough to stay with all the boxes of meat with his Bellsprout.

Mikey Richardson was running at full speed, waving and panting along the old and worn roads out of his town as I drove away.

"Stop the truck." I said kindly.

The driver kindly nodded and lightly pressed the brakes.

I got out of the car and watched Mikey take his hat off, smiling.

"Thanks for-" he gulped, still panting. "Thanks for-"

"There's no need for thanks," I said.

"There really isn't, we're not about that." chortled Inoru.

Mikey took a deep breath. "I needed to give something to you."

Out of the few pockets of his shorts, Mikey drew a letter and handed it to me. "My mom told me to give you this. It'll tell my aunt to give you a place to stay for what you did for us."

The card described where to find the lady's house in Kamarino.

The theme these parts of the country told me continued to humble me: no one around here had much. But if you helped them, they'd acknowledge it and help you in return what little they could.

"Thank you Michael. How'd your dad feel about your mom's decision?"

"She didn't tell him, I didn't too. But wait-" Mikey smiled up at me. "My dad beat you up didn't he?"

I shook my head. "I lost my first fight, not a great start to my career as a Pokémon trainer."

"My mom thought you were just trying to reach Johto to start traveling to another shrine."

I shook my head. "My Slakoth might be kind of young, just a baby actually. But I promise you, I'll be the best trainer from Johto's northern mountains in history."

"More like the only one!" laughed Mikey. "No one can ever get out of here to compete!"

I smiled, kneeling to the kid. I saw the look in his eyes, the same one probably too many people his age around the world had to start their Pokémon journeys too.

I had seen this before watching Gravity Falls, and found it as a kind way to say goodbye.

Looking around in my backpack, I pulled out and handed a spare piece of cloth in case I lost my current belt to Mikey.

"Hey!"

I took his hat from him, every good trainer needed one. It was light blue and simple, why not use it?

"Here."

I tied the cloth piece around Mikey's head like a bandana.

"You wanna be a trainer too right?"

"Yeah!" his dissapointment at switching head coverings with him dissapeared instantly. "They're the most rich and famous people ever! And train the strongest and coolest Pokémon in the world! Everyone I know wants to be one."

The driver of Kamarino's meat shop honked his horn lightly.

I gave him a quick nod and kept speaking to Mikey. "I heard you and my Slakoth actually became friends right?"

"I mean we stopped fighting and played with my trains a little bit." he said shyly.

I smiled and nodded. "Shows you might become a decent trainer if you can go from enemies to friends with a Pokémon."

Mikey nodded a little bit, smiling and putting his hands on his hips with pride at himself. "Yeah! I can, I can, can't I?"

"Anyone can be a trainer. No matter what anyone tells you, it's the trainer that makes the team, not the other way around."

I stood up and turned around.

Mikey spoke I almost got back in the truck. "I'm sorry for throwing stuff at your head. If I knew my dad was wrong about monks, I never would've done that."

"He's not entirely wrong. Most of us never really see or do much outside of our mountains, but I do think we're trying our best."

"Keep trying your best."

I nodded back to Mikey. "You should keep trying your best too, at, being a Pokémon trainer someday right?"

He nodded yet again with another smile.

I got back into the delivery truck, and I saw Mikey waving at me through the rearview mirror, his reflection getting smaller and smaller by the second.

I waved back, seeing the tiny Rattata sitting on the ground by his side chitter and crawl up onto his shoulder when he turned to walk back to the village.

"You're the weirdest sage I've ever met." admitted Inoru.

The delivery driver and I both chuckled as I spoke. "Yeah, I'm not afraid to fight or solve other people's problems."

"It's not that Nico." he said. "Everything about you is odd, even you know, besides the obvious."

Yes, I'm not from your dimension. Thanks for the reminder man.

"Elder Toji can't expect me to make the best team in Pokémon battles if I can't even battle a person myself. A good trainer leads by example."

"Good way to live." Inoru admitted.

I turned to the delivery driver. "So, how exactly do I get into competitive battling?"

"I don't know too much myself but I do know the basics." the middle aged guy said in his deep but calm voice. "My cousin tried it a few years back."

"How'd it go for 'em?"

"Terrible, and she wasn't even half bad at it either. She was a bit younger than you, had a way better Pokémon. Think she had a Rapidash or something."

Hey, Slakoth's still a baby alright?

I kept listening as he kept driving along the road to Kamarino.

"According to the new rules, each subregion within each region is allowed to enroll a certain number of competitors depending on their population count. Technically, our region is so unpopulated we can only enroll a single person in WCPL, I think it's a minimum of a few thousand people per competitor or something, depends on the subregion too, they change the rules every year."

The World Competitive Pokémon League, right.

"To even qualify for a battle to get your trainer's card, you have to win two matches sanctioned by an official Pokémon League judge. The only one in our entire region is nearing retirement, so you better hurry to get ready."

I would.

"Once a month in Kamarino, people from all the villages nearby bring their kids to watch and compete in a small tournament. They get a medal and some pictures, and everyone gets a participation ribbon or something, little kid things really to celebrate the history of the town. Point is, this is where you qualify. You win this tournament? You can qualify."

I got why he knew so much, his cousin had actually won this.

"Now Violet was a pretty good trainer, managed to somehow train with her Ponyta long and well enough to get it to evolve, and had battled from ages ten to twelve. And she failed to win the qualification tournament in Blackthorn City three times in a row. That was a while ago, now she helps me work for our boss in Kamarino every once in a while."

I could guess well enough who that was, the owner of the butcher's shop who owned this truck.

"So, right now, to qualify to be a trainer, you not only have to be the best Youngster, yes I know you're a teenager. I said Youngster," the meat delivery truck driver laughed a bit, seeing the look on my face. "In your entire subregion, but you have to place in a tournament with the other best Youngsters in the entire Johto region to get your trainer's license."

"How often do they hold this tournament?" I asked as we passed through the far northern farm lands and countryside between the mountains north of Johto.

"Also once a month."

"So wait, Johto only has a few dozen new trainers a year, what if too many people from your subregion are qualified for a trainer's license?"

"They make the lowest ranked of them all battle with the challenger. And the winner gets the spot."

I laughed in disbelief, Inoru was shaking his head too. "Why is it this hard? I get a competitive Pokémon League is supposed to be you know, competitive. But still."

"Why do you think?" the driver said. "It's the number one most desired job in the entire world. Every kid grows up wanting to be a world champion in Pokémon battling but only a single one in history was young enough to do it."

Red.

"You think kids dream of having my job?" the meat delivery guy scoffed, waving a hand to his truck's steering wheel. "Or wanting to be a banker or a doctor? No. They want to battle at the top for as long as they can, and then retire and start a Gym in their hometown. The reality of the world is, there are simply too many people trying to do the same thing all at once. And that's battle Pokémon."

This was a scary prospect and it made too much sense.

Even if you had above average talent, a pretty good starter, and a few years of experience, you might not even be one of the lucky few to even become a trainer. I get why Red set up the WCPL like this, he had to create a fair, quick, and efficient funnel system for the tens of thousands of people around the world trying to become the best, to the one who really was.

This was just the amateur league to reach the Pros, actual WCPL was probably far more competitive and difficult than this.

"Let me guess. No one's seen Red in ages."

He chuckled. "Of course not. Last I heard he went for some kind of search to catch Pokémon towards Mount Silver, and rarely anyone comes back from there. Even he didn't, and that was eight years ago."

"How old would be now then?"

"By now um, twenty four. One of his friends from his hometown took over his spot after a few years of trying, girl named Leaf."

I sighed.

"So how did Red exactly set up this league?"

"Jeez you really are a monk aren't you? Everyone knows this." the driver smiled and I just shrugged it off. "Uuuum." he stroked his slight beard. "Red became Kanto champion at ten, Johto and Kanto technically had the first Indigo League tournament to challenge the Elite Four the next year, so he won it at eleven."

I kept listening. "The next five years he went around the entire world winning matches at the highest level almost non stop until he disappeared shortly after helping everyone make the League in the process."

Calling Red a legend, a literal myth on par with Mew or any legendary Pokémon was an understatement. As a teenager, he became the best trainer who ever lived. For all I knew, Ash Ketchum wasn't even born yet, or was currently trying to climb the ranks after the same title Red had acheived.

The games had made the challenge of being a trainer so easy, even the anime did too.

But now I knew the little Slakoth I had resting on my arm had a long way to go, as did I.

I had promised the monks the chance they took on me wouldn't fail. Even beating Keith into the mud would mean nothing, next to competing on the grandest stage of all.

...

...

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