Chapter 1: The beginning of the end

*****

A long time has passed ever since team Aquaflare stopped the time paralysis, and ever since, Red and his partner were living their best life in the pokemon world, up until now, they have graduated from the guild, became an independent exploration team, explored what the continent has to offer, and even had a glimpse on what parenthood was like.

Everything was sunshine and rainbows in their perspective, living together in a cozy home and being greeted with a breathtaking view of the beach every morning and going on adventures everyday, and, usually, they find themselves thinking about what they achieved while stargazing every evening, reminiscing the times while they were under the guild’s wing and appreciating the world they had saved. 

Life was good and they savored every second of it. 

*****

The duo had an exhausting day, and so they decided to stargaze that night after dinner. To them, there was no better way to relax. Blue was excited, tomorrow would be Red’s hatchday, the date was picked after the first time they met. 

“Can you believe it Red? Tomorrow’s your hatchday!” The Mudkip said playfully, “Aren’t you excited?” 

“Yeah!” Red giggled “Though…this is my first hatchday as a pokemon and…um…I’m also kinda…nervous?” 

The Mudkip looked at him with a reassuring expression on his face, “Oh come on, don’t be! We’ll make sure it’ll be one of the best days of your life!” Blue said with a warm smile, “Heh, that’s so nice of you, Blue” Red sighed while admiring the stars, he yawned as he grew tired, “…Thanks Mudkip”, he said as he turned his head to look at his best friend, but his smile suddenly disappeared, Blue had vanished. 

“…Blue?” The chimchar said in confusion, in one short second, he didn’t feel tired anymore

 He got up from his hay bed and began looking around, trying to find Blue, “Blue where did you go?” Red let out as he began walking around, he didn’t understand why he went to hide somewhere and do it that quick, it was weird, too weird. His first thought was that Blue was inside the bluff where they live in, however as he moved the bush to actually access it, his face lit up with shock as he saw that the entrance was no more, as if it never existed, his head flooded with confusion in one second, then with worry and anxiety in the next, however, he knew that it’ll be its own problem, and that for now, he has to find Blue.

He stepped foot into treasure town, whilst calling out his partner’s name, “Blue! Are you here!?” He yelled out, with a faint tone of desperation in his voice “This isn’t funny, man! Come on, where are you!?” He looked everywhere he could, yet to no avail, Blue was simply nowhere to be found, Red stopped for a little while, “…I don’t have time to time to deal with this…ughh, I’ll go with the recall orb.” He said with an annoyed tone.

However, as he turned around to go back home, planning to use the move dig to access his house and retrieve his recall orb, he watched in horror as he saw that the path leading home had disappeared, all he saw was floating tiny rocks from the floating island he was in, and besides that there was nothing, an empty dark void that looked like it was calling his name, Red began to fear for his life, he was already standing in the edge as soon as he found out, out of fear, he took three little steps back, one, two, and three, then the ground began to collapse as they fall in the abyss.

Rushing with adrenaline, he made a mad dash to the opposite direction, running with all he had as the ground crumbled behind him every step, but even then, he wasn’t fast enough, the ground collapsed under him, Red was filled with such terror, he’d forgot about Blue in the first place, hand reaching out, tears in his eyes and screaming at the top of his lungs, Red fell onto the abyss, thinking that surely he’d die from the fall in itself.  

But, despite the agonizingly long fall, he didn’t, he felt unharmed as a matter of fact.

Red was confused and scared, he still didn’t know what was going on, he looked around only to be greeted by absolute nothingness, a dark, eerie and empty void in which he has now found himself in.

Red didn’t muster the courage to stand up, not until he at least tried to process everything, Blue’s disappearance, his nonexistent home, and the world collapsing which lead to where he was now. Still trembling, he stood up, not knowing what to do, he began to aimlessly walk in a straight line, alone with his own thoughts.

Out of nowhere, he heard a faint noise behind him, it was enough to send a shiver down his spine. In fear, he slowly turned around expecting some monster or something of the sort, but instead, he saw a Grovyle in the distance, it’s back facing towards him, he recognised the X shaped scar on the back of his torso, it was his old partner’s scar, his Grovyle, feeling his heart sink, Red called his name with a shaky voice: “G-Grovyle…?” The figure heard him and turned his head around in a subtle manner.

Suddenly two big sharp claws covered Red’s view, and before he had the chance to process it, turned his head around in a quick motion, hearing a loud CRACK, his neck was snapped.

 However, it directly transitioned to a concerned looking Blue holding Red’s cheeks “RED! Finally I got your attention!” He yelled “You zoned out for, like, 15 minutes!!” Red did not respond, as he was still processing what just happened, wearing a scared expression on his face, “…and what’s with that face?…are you alright..?” 

Red instantly got back to his senses “Uhh y-yeah! Don’t worry!…I guess that’s what happens to me when I don’t get enough sleep hehe..” He laughed nervously

“Oh, well we have to fix that! Tomorrow’s your big day and I refuse to see you be sleepy all day!” The Mudkip responded with an optimistic tone, “Let’s get back to the bluff then, we both need a good night’s sleep” 

As they got back to their beds, they wished each other goodnight before dozing off. Blue was comfortably sleeping as usual, but Red couldn’t really sleep easily that night. “What…was all of that?” Red wondered, at first he only thought of it as a nightmare, but it felt…too real to be one, besides, he wasn’t sleeping at all, he was only zoning out, and the fact that he still remembers everything in excruciating detail was very odd, usually he’d just forget any of the dreams he has, nightmares included, so the fact that he remembers this one in particular was very out of the ordinary, “…eh, I must be overthinking it” He thought to himself, “A nightmare’s a nightmare, and I’d mostly forget tomorrow so…yeah, not worth the thought”. Red fell asleep soon after. 

***** 

Red woke up the next day, he was greeted with a beautiful sunny day, it was enough to put a slight smile on his face. He remembered that it was his birthday, and his thoughts were split between excitement and nervousness. It was his first birthday in this world, so he didn’t know what to expect. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by Blue, with a plate of berries and fruits right beside him.
“Morning sleepyhead!” He said with a joyful tone “Golly you sure slept for longer than usual hehe”.
“Yeah, deep sleeping stuff you know” Red answered while shrugging. 

“Well at least you got some rest hehe” Mudkip then pushes the fruit bowl closer to Red, “Here! Made ya breakfast for today!” He said with a wide smile on his face.

Red was surprised, usually he’s the one that wakes up first and makes breakfast, so it was a nice change of pace, “Oh! Wow I uhh, didn’t expect you to take my role today hehe” He said while rubbing the back of his head

“Well? What’re ya waiting for? Dig in!” He said with an excited face

“I’ll actually just take some of it on our way” he said as he began to take his leave “We don’t want to be late do we?”

“Okay! I’ll follow you” Blue stored the berries into their treasure bag before making their way to Wigglytuff’s guild, like they do everyday, ready for an honest day’s work.