The start of a new journey (open)

[Josh Dragomir]

He listened as Red spoke, revealing his identity. It seemed Red had figured out from Josh getting pulled back inside that she had recognized him. Well, the jig was up he supposed. No problem. It wasn't like he was going to treat him any different. Red wasn't some snooty, arrogant and annoying celebrity that thought the world revolved around him. Instead, he seemed just like anyone else, with a good heart and an obvious love for Pokemon that he couldn't help but admire. Part of him said to treat him as an equal, another said to at least treat him with a respect that comes with his position, but the other wondered if Red would get offended if he did.

He smirked and watched as Red took out his Pokedex with interest. He'd never seen one close up before. It definitely looked old though, it was showing it's age for sure. But it was still something Josh couldn't help but envy him having, despite the fact that modern technology was a suitable substitute for a Pokedex if you had the right phone.

"So I hope you don't expect me to treat you any different just because you're a worldwide celebrity and Champion" he suddenly joked with a cheeky grin toward Red. "You don't want me to anyway, I once met this woman who thought herself a real hotshot just because she had this big internet following from an internet unofficial commentary show. I don't think she was expecting a smartass asking for directions in the middle of a sea of obsessed drones and zombies that played like putty in her hands" he cracked, laughing a bit.

Then Red made the offer. The one to tag along with him awhile, show him around Hoenn, maybe take the gym challenges together. Traveling with Red was a very rare and tempting offer indeed, one that Josh personally was honored to have been offered. Josh's expression went right to a poker face, out of surprise, shock. On one end, Josh would be happy to. Having someone to travel with again so long after losing Maxine would be a relief for him, as well as a joy. Josh's sense of adventure tugged at him, knowing that not only could he learn a lot from this, but it likely wouldn't be boring either, knowing the events that seemed to happen around Red.

On another end, he knew that these events would likely be dangerous. Now, Josh feared no adventure, he was ballsy enough to tackle whatever challenge that presented itself head on. What struck him though, was that his skill level, especially in comparison to Red's, might only serve to slow the Champion down. Having a Trainer with a much lower skill level in comparison might put the both of them in danger, and only serve to make things harder for Red if Josh became a liability, not something Josh wanted to put on him.

But yet... If Red thought he'd be a liability, he wouldn't have offered, Josh knew that. If Red had confidence in him, then he needed to be confident in his own abilities. Josh closed his eyes, taking a moment as he relaxed, taking a breath and thinking it over.

"I suppose" he said as he opened his eyes, shooting a wide grin. "I'm in, let's do it" he said. Despite the fact he was nervous, he was kind of excited to do something like this. Something new from aimlessly traveling alone and catching Pokemon. He knew he'd likely learn a lot, and so would his Pokemon. That was more then anything he could ever ask for.

"I don't know how I'll do, taking on the gyms, since as I said I'm... Not exactly a great battler when it's Trainer to Trainer" he admitted, scratching his head. "But I'll do my best"

He sighed. Red had told him the truth, it was probably best he did himself. He didn't like speaking of it, but Red trusted him with his identity despite the fact Josh could have told the whole town and then the whole region would have mobbed Red like moths to a flame, and criminals would likely give him trouble at every turn. He deserved to know where he came from as well.

Josh started walking toward the edge of the backyard, out of earshot of the window. "I suppose I should probably be honest with you, since you were with me, huh?" he finally said to Red as he looked back at him.

[Deleted]

Red smiled and pocketed his hands, awaiting the response from Josh as he considered the offer, much to Red's relief, not going into a fanboy rage when he heard who Red was. He watched as Josh considered the offer, and understood the apprehension. Back when Red began his journey, he was more or less given a specific mission to see and catch lots of Pokemon (although that particular quest was all but halted with the involvement of Team Rocket and their shenanigans. When Josh accepted his offer, Red smiled broadly and nodded. Josh stepped forward, and brought to Red's attention that, due to his honesty, Josh would have to be honest as well.

Red didn't mind this, mainly because of the fact that they were teammates now, and that meant that they would have to be honest. Red was partially reminded of the times he and Green worked together, the memories swimming back.

"I don't mind. What's on your mind?" Red inquired, looking back out to his Pokemon.

[Josh Dragomir]

He sighed and relaxed against the fence. "I wasn't really honest with you about where I came from" he explained. "You see, Kotaku is a faraway region, word from it doesn't get out in this area, and nobody around here would really know about it. Actually, I was supposed to keep this under wraps, but you deserve to know. You see, back before I was born, my parents were hotshot Pokemon Trainers. Real hometown heroes back in Kotaku. You wouldn't know it from looking at her, but my mother was one of the best. That Arcanine you saw is hers, that was her partner. But nobody beat my dad. He was considered the man to beat, the closest thing to a Champion they had since gyms weren't really a thing. Then they married, settled down, started a family. Retired as full time Trainers and started dabbling in breeding and Pokemon research. They became extremely wealthy and started a ranch from a large open area they bought, where the pokemon they took care of, researched, and even the ones they caught themselves before could roam free in something close to their original habitat. When I was a kid, I used to work on that ranch when I wasn't in school, I grew to love Pokemon more then anything, and I was promised that when I was 10, I could go out on a journey"

"Of course... If it was that easy, I probably wouldn't be here right now" he said with a laugh. "You see, about 13 years ago, there was a team of scientists committed to trying to make Pokemon without weaknesses. Fire Pokemon that were impervious to water. Water Pokemon that had no problem with electricity. That sort of thing. They developed this serum that would give them the ability to learn any move, and have no weaknesses to any sort of type. It was madness, but nobody knew about it, and that was their goal. They used wild Pokemon they caught as their test subjects, and experimented on them. But every version of the serum seemed to fail, but they kept working and working toward what they felt would be the future of Pokemon everywhere. Eventually, they thought they succeeded. One of their test subjects was impervious to anything that it should have been weak against. But the problem was, the Pokemon itself just.... Wasn't right. It's skin became raw and decayed, it's colors faded into grey like the soul had been sucked right out of it. It's eyes changed to these beady, evil, soulless red.... No offense to your name of course" he said, the last bit being a dry attempt at a joke which he gave with a sad smile.

"But the thing is, it was insanely powerful. And it listened to nobody. It broke out of it's containment chamber and attacked the scientists, murdering most of them. But that wasn't the worst part. Somehow, it actually infected the other Pokemon in the lab with the same disease, the same plague. They escaped from the lab and started wreaking havoc. They invaded the wilds, where the wild Pokemon lived. They attacked, they killed, they pillaged, and they infected hundreds more. It didn't matter who you were, human or pokemon, they would kill you, and they'd make your Pokemon one of them. And it was so easy, every attack from them ran the risk of infecting your Pokemon, and they could never find a cure. Soon enough, word got out and the government commissioned scientists, while they couldn't find a cure, began developing a vaccine. And it succeeded, but problem was, it was so difficult to make that they made it incredibly... INCREDIBLY expensive. Nobody could afford the damn thing, and they had nobody to fight off these things so government started giving a limited supply to Professors, and telling them to use it on the eggs of pokemon they might be breeding to give to starting Trainers, and assign them to fighting these... Things and driving them away from our homes"

"I didn't know that. We lived and worked in that ranch, we were never at home. The ranch was so far away from corrupted areas, that I didn't know what it was about. We never encountered it, we never dealt with it. But... My parents knew about it, and when I turned 10, they had to break their promise. They forbade me to have a Pokemon of my own because they knew if I did I'd go out on a journey and I wouldn't survive what was to come. But they didn't tell me why, they only told me that being a Pokemon Trainer was too dangerous. It... Didn't settle well with me, obviously. I'd grown up wanting nothing more then to become a Pokemon Trainer and have a Pokemon of my own, and travel and have Pokemon battles and become a great Trainer like my folks, that they could be proud of. I wanted to show them I could do it so badly that I stepped up my work on the ranch, I got close to the Pokemon they took care of and owned, I took drastic measures to return any that ran off or got into trouble. I climbed fucking mountains, I swam through heavy currented rivers, I did things my parents WOULD NOT do to protect and keep the Pokemon from harm. It did me good, sure, it kept me in shape, some might say I have the body of a greek god thanks to that, but none of that mattered to me. All I wanted was to prove myself to them so I could go and be a Pokemon Trainer they could be proud of. But... They still never did. When I graduated from the private school I had been going to, they pressured me into shipping off to a university in a region far off called Sinnoh, to study human and pokemon psychology so I could help people and Pokemon with mental issues. I've proven to be good at reading people, body language, emotions... And I loved Pokemon so much and had studied so much about them, that they promised me I was a perfect fit. So I put my dreams to the side and left. Sinnoh had no knowledge of Kotaku, and this plague... The Scourge it was called, had no place there. So again, I was left in the dark. So I spent a year there, studying" he explained.

"Well.. Obviously, I wasn't there long. After I finished my first year of schooling, I surprised my parents by coming home afterword to take a break and help out at the ranch for awhile before I went back. I was dropped off at a port city, where I'd been told they were, picking up some supplies... That's... Yeah, that's where I got my first glimpse at the world I'd been shielded away from for so long. They weren't happy to see me, that was obvious. So I got told the whole story, and finally found out why they'd kept me from pursuing my dreams for so long. But I was there, so they told me to be careful and come with them on their supplies run"

"Now... You see, my dad's partner when he was a Pokemon Trainer was a Pikachu, just like yours and mine. By the time he finished and settled down though, he was a big bad Raichu, who never left my dad's side for a second. He was like my guardian when I was a kid at times though, and tended to be the one to bail me out of a jam, which was usually the only time he'd leave my dad's side. They were inseparable, my dad loved him like he was one of his own kids. And this time was no different. Raichu went with us to escort us back home when... Well... They struck. We were ambushed by a flock of the infected wild Pokemon, and they attacked us savagely. Dad's Raichu stepped in to hold them off, and forced my dad to run when we were surrounded. Even shocked him when he refused to go. He sacrificed himself to hold them off while we ran, and despite the fact dad spent near every waking moment of the next month looking for him desperately, it was obvious he was gone, they'd got him. We got home safe, but dad lost his partner, his friend, and a key part of our family"

He took a breath as he tried to relax. These memories weren't things he liked to recall, but Red deserved to know...

"He... Wasn't the same after that. These things had taken everything away from him. He slipped into a depression, and he walked as if he were one of them. He just had... No soul anymore. He'd stopped eating most of the time, he didn't sleep very much, and he was just miserable. I.... Couldn't stand to watch it anymore. I was angry. I was determined. I didn't care about my own dream anymore, I wanted to make those things pay for what they did to my family. What they did to my dad, what they did to Raichu. I snuck out one night, left a note saying I was leaving to become a Pokemon Trainer and help take out the horde, whether they liked it or not. I took time off from my place at Sinnoh U so I could become a Pokemon Trainer. I managed to make it to the next town in one piece on my own, and happened to chance on a Professor who gave me a Pokemon that had just hatched not too long ago.

He pointed over at the Combusken, who was oddly colored, but yet still so social and energetic. "They had genetically altered his DNA with the vaccine when he was still an egg, and that's why he's so strangely colored. But.. That was my first Pokemon, Vulcan, my Torchic. Since the scourge was too dangerous to train with, and the fact they'd kill Vulcan very quickly if I went out and fought them then, he had to be trained in another fashion, with a training facility. We didn't have Pokemon Battles, all the Trainers agreed to save their strength and their Pokemon's for this... Horde. This Scourge. That's why I'm so inexperienced in terms of Trainer Battles, I'm not used to it. I'm so used to taking on Pokemon with no trainer to strategize with and train with, that I don't know a lot of the mechanics and strategy that come with taking on Trainers and their built up and competitive-driven team, especially the ones that breed their Pokemon for nothing but battle. Regardless... We trained our Pokemon by hand, and eventually Vulcan was strong enough to start taking on this... Thing. So we went out, it was pure hell. I never slept, I couldn't. Every moment was spent being on the lookout for these things as we traveled across the region, every day was a fight for survival and trying to take out as many as these things as we could. Along the way, I ended up capturing three wild Pokemon that managed to survive the infection, but wouldn't have lasted much longer before I showed up" he explained.

"Two of them were a Pidgeotto and a Furfrou. Both were in pretty bad shape when I found them. They're at the ranch my folks own right now, wandering free and without fear of those things ever hurting them. Ever again. And... Then there's Lightning" he said, sighing as he motioned to his Pikachu.

"Lightning was the first Pokemon I ever caught. Vulcan and I were walking through a forest when we found the body of a Pikachu, female. It looked to have been dead about a day or so, killed by the infection instead of being infected itself. In the bushes nearby was it's child, a Pichu that was maybe a week or so old at the most. It was starving to death, it was freezing to death, and it was wounded badly but had somehow managed to escape infection. I carried him with me to the nearest Pokemon Center, not caring if he'd been infected or not. Of course, the power was out in the fucking Center, so they couldn't do a damn thing besides do a checkup, which proved he wasn't infected, but I had to nurse him back to health myself. So I... Did just that. I spent days just working on nursing the dying Pichu back to health, since the nurses were too busy and everybody was too wrapped up in their own issues with this stupid thing to help me" he said, he cracked his neck. He wondered if he was boring Red at this point, or just being overdramatic. This sounded so much like a sob story to him, but he'd been through a lot, he had to admit. He didn't want some kind of pity party, he didn't want sympathy or sadsies. He just wanted Red to know the truth, to prove that Josh had nothing to hide from his friend, and now traveling companion. 

"I managed to pull it off, and Lightning hasn't left my side since. I... Guess I'm kind of like his guardian figure. I'm all he's got, but I love him all the same and I know he loves me just as much" he said, smiling as he saw how happy Lightning looked as he socialized with the other pokemon... So different from the frail and dying baby he'd met. "We've been together ever since, haven't even swapped him out when I'm traveling. I don't know how he'd act if I was gone for very long, but the few times we weren't together, he'd sense I wasn't taking him and steal my scarf. I'd find him later asleep, and all cuddled up in it, and he did that until I went and made a new one to fit him. I'm pretty sure he just took it as a reminder, but the matching scarf seemed to make him really happy and he stopped stealing mine, and he refuses to take his off unless it's bath time"

"Of course... I couldn't use Lightning as much as I'd have liked there. Even a simple touch could mean infection, and I've had several close calls with Lightning before, which only made us even closer. The vaccines were so damn expensive that even my folks couldn't afford them, even if I'd kept in contact with them. So I stopped using Lightning in battle, but the fucking Pichu kept letting himself out of his Pokeball whenever I got in trouble and risked himself anyway" he explained. "He's as stubborn as I am" he said, with a sad smile.

"Normally, besides my Pokemon, I was all alone. I always traveled by myself except for a time where I traveled with a girl named Maxine, who had a similar plight with her family and was having a difficult time surviving in that hell of a world. I taught her all I'd learned and helped her survival skills, and we traveled together for a long time. Then she got a call to come home, her mom had begged her to go with her to Unova. They guilt tripped her, and she was forced to go. Thing is, she had no phone, and they'd gotten her when we were at a Pokemon Center, and they'd been calling each one in the region to try and find her. So I had no way to keep in touch but she promised she'd find a way. The next day, the area she'd have been traveling to in order to get to her town, by what I heard, had seen a major surge in infected Pokemon, and some travelers had been killed. I assume that's... Probably why I never heard from her again" he said, biting his lip. "I never traveled with another human being after that, but... I gotta admit, it'll be nice to do so again for the first time in forever" he said, laughing nervously as he scratched his head. But, finally, his face fell solemnly.

"But... Thing is, despite all the Trainers running around trying to push this thing back... They only pushed harder. More of them appeared by the day no matter how many of them died, despite the fact that instead of fainting, they'd just... Die. Decay into nothing. But they were so strong that it didn't matter. For every single one that we killed, two more took their place. Finally, entire towns and cities began to get overrun with not many survivors escaping. These things were savages, murderers... They never left anyone standing if they could. Finally, my parents got ahold of me. It was the first time I had spoken to them since I left, and they'd managed to track me down and get a phone call with me. They told me the status of the region and the infection, and they told me they were moving. Not only that, they wanted me to come with them. I declined, said I was going to keep fighting. They did the same thing Maxine's folks did to her. They told me to think of the safety of my Pokemon, the four I had with me. Only Vulcan was vaccinated, and they all still had chances to die. They told me to make the choice that benefited them the most, instead of what I want, so... I..." 

He sighed. "I took the bait. I made my way home, and we left Kotaku behind for Hoenn, settled down here in Littleroot Town. Not too long after that, Kotaku was ruled a quarantine zone. Nobody got in. Nobody got out. Extermination teams were sent all over the place, and I'm sure to this day, no pokemon still there will survive from that. They've tried to keep it quiet, make sure word doesn't get out about it. I... Guess I owe my life to my folks. They saved me and my Pokemon, whether I like to admit it or not" he said, sighing.

"But... There's a silver lining. What I did out there impressed them, and when we moved they knew I'd have the itch. And I did. So I sidelined my school tenure and they gave their blessing to go out on a journey, to become a true Pokemon Trainer. I lost a lot of friends back in Kotaku, good ones too. I met people just trying to get by and survive, and many times I watched them die. And I'll remember that for the rest of my life. But... It's a new beginning for me now" he said, with a small smile. "My Pokemon are happy. I've never seen them this happy, the look of joy on Lightning's face when he sees other Pokemon that are just as friendly brings so much happiness to my heart, that I don't think anyone would understand the magnitude of it"

"Heh.. Uh... Sorry... That was a bit long-winded, wasn't it?" he admitted, scratching his head. "I've been through a lot. But I'm stronger for it. Since you were honest with me, I felt it unfair to hide this sort of thing from you"

[Deleted]

Red listened intently to Josh's story. Experimentation. He knew all too well that unnatural experimentation could create abominations and monsters (and in rare occasions, good allies like Mewtwo), and this didn't sound any different. As a matter of fact, it sounded like a horror movie... Undead Pokemon. Not just Ghost types, but literal zombies. The thought sent a chill from the pit of his stomach. Josh lived in a land of horror. A literal horror story. And Red couldn't blame him for feeling the way he did.

He looked over to his friend and nodded slowly. "I can respect your strength. Such things... They toughen you up, y'know? There were a few times during my adventures where I thought I wasn't going to make it. Frozen Solid. Turned to stone. Nearly eaten by a bunch of plants..." he laughed. "I guess you can die in pretty absurd ways. I have to say, I guess I lucked out. Been through more in my teenage years than most grown adults... But, it does make you stronger."

He looked out towards their Pokemon, Pika and Lightning playing a friendly game of shock tag. Red smiled, nodding. "This is one of the reasons I left home again. So much of the world to discover. New Pokemon. New friends. And honestly, I could go for a few near death experiences. I mean, really, you don't know what it's like to live if you don't live on the edge, once in a while!"

[Josh Dragomir]

He nodded a bit as he looked over at his Pokemon. They were so happy... It was so different from the miserable, wary faces they had in Kohaku... Those expressions of fear, of paranoia... Not knowing if something might swoop out to try and take their friends away, take them away from their Trainer... But here, they were so happy and carefree. Not a worry in the world for them. That was the greatest gift you could ever give Josh, after all... And he thanked his lucky stars every day for that.

Frozen solid... Turned to stone... Nearly eaten by a bunch of plants... Red had certainly had quite a few near death experiences. Josh had as well, though not as... Colorful as Red's, he supposed. Nearly eaten by a horde of Gyarados, nearly killed by mutated Pokemon, stabbed, shocked, blasted... It was a neverending whirlpool of circumstances. Even here, these experiences just didn't stop. But they made him stronger. They made his Pokemon stronger.

"I suppose you can" he agreed with a faint laugh. "We've both been lucky, it seems. I kind of envy you, being able to go out and see the world at the age of 10... It's what I had wanted to do for so long, and to have that ripped away from me broke my heart. I understand now why they did it, but... Well, regrets are regrets, I suppose" he said with a small smile. "I think we can agree that we've both aged beyond our years with the shit that's happened to us. The best we can do is use that experience to help others before they get hurt themselves" he added.

He laughed a bit as he saw Pika and Lightning playing shock tag. Seeing Lightning with a Pokemon of it's own kind was a sight to see, something Lightning hadn't had in his life since he was just a baby tagging along with his mother. And here, he seemed so happy being able to be with his own kind again. He smirked then, at Red's last words.

"Aye, I suppose it isn't" he said with a chuckle. "They liven things up, that's for sure. But yet..." he trailed off, scratching his head. "There's regrets, again. I wish things hadn't happened as they did sometimes. Like Dad losing his partner. Sure... I probably wouldn't have been able to prove myself like I did and go out on a journey, but... He hasn't been the same ever since. And now he's disappeared entirely" he said quietly as he stared down at the grass. "I know mom's managing it on the outside, but I can tell that inside she's crumbling. It makes me feel horrible for going out on a journey and leaving her to handle the ranch on her own, yknow?" he said.

"Yknow, speaking of the ranch... Maybe soon enough we could head over there, you can check it out? There'll be tons of Pokemon for you to meet" he said with a smirk. "Mainly, a lot of mine. I have many more then just these guys here" he added. He would peek into the window to see if dinner was almost ready after that.

[Deleted]

Red nodded cheerfully. "Yeah, my experiences all led up to where I am now... mainly, just coming out of my early retirement. Everything was actually pretty peaceful for a while... anything else that had happened were pretty well isolated in faraway regions, like Sinnoh and Unova. Either way, it's pretty nice to be out and about again." he crossed his arms as Pika turned and looked towards him, sprinting over and climbing up his pants, up his back, and popping up on his head, nuzzling the top of Red's cap. Red reached up and scratched Pika on the head. "I want to catch more Pokemon. My original mission was to fill the Pokedex with all Pokemon date, but, it seemed like every time that I wanted to continue that journey, some villain would come out and make trouble. Me and my friends more or less became heroes instead of the researchers that the Professors wanted us to be. Sure, all the collaboration from other regions has allowed us to keep up a comprehensive database, but... to go out and document like Professor Oak did a long time ago... He's the leading expert for a reason!"

Red looked over to Josh when he offered to take Red to the ranch. Red nodded eagerly, his smile widening. "I'd love to meet your Pokemon! Maybe we can even train, then? I need to get these guys stretched out. I'd only get overzealous trainers and the occasional battle with Green back home... I wouldn't mind knowing how I'd stack up against a trainer today."

[Josh Dragomir]

"You sure sound excited to be out and about again" he commented as he nodded to his mother in the window. "Sounds like you've just never gotten a chance to really get out and enjoy yourself. Must be difficult" he said, sighing. "Kind of reminds me of my first journey. Never had time to have fun, I was always fighting for my life. Now I'm out traveling here in Hoenn and it's different. I'm getting to enjoy myself and do what I wanted to do in the first place" he said with a small smile.

At his answer to his offer, he smirked and nodded. "Sounds like a plan" he said. "But by the looks of mom in the window, supper's ready. So we'll go to the ranch right after. I'm sure you're going to love mom's cooking" he said with a laugh as he opened the door. "She'll bring out food for the rest of the Pokemon in a second too, so you can leave your Pokemon out here while we eat inside" he said as he walked in, motioning for Red to follow. "We can head to the ranch and then train as soon as we're finished" he said as he went. Inside, he was excited, pumped and ready for the new adventure that was sure to follow in time.


-End Thread-