Johto, Mt. Silver
Blue was soaking with Red in the hot springs at the top of the mountain. The two had a look of enjoyment on their faces, and no one was talking.
Red had been recuperating in Mt. Silver after he injured his hand, of course, it was also to exercise his strength in Mt. Silver, after all, the Pokémon in Mt. Silver were all of a very high rank. There was no lack of Elite Four ranked or even Champion ranked existences.
It was only that these Pokémon were still quite inferior in front of Red after all.
After all, Red had already left the Champion level of strength, and both he and Blue had reached Legendary strength. Of course Blue is still a bit worse than Red after all, Blue also used a lot of effort in the researchers.
Only as opposed to the original Blue who was ready to inherit the mantle of Professor Oak didn't show up because of Rope, Blue did have an interest in the research side of things but that interest was always lower than that of a trainer.
"Red, have you heard?"
Coldly, Blue suddenly spoke up.
Red didn't open his eyes and said with a lazy face, "Heard what?"
"News about the otherworldly you."
Blue didn't beat around the bush, and simply said.
"I heard, Rope told me something."
Red said still lazily. He wasn't usually a talker, and could only seem lively when he was talking to Yellow, Blue, Rope and the rest of them.
He just didn't feel like talking a lot to strangers.
Rope kept saying that he and Ash were alike...where was the resemblance, clearly Ash was such an active kid. Lively to the point of envy.
"Don't you ever want to get him in a fight?"
Blue was big on watching the fun.
After all, those who were more familiar with Red knew that Red was just looking for another person who could go and fight with him at full strength during this period of time. But he's been looking for someone who can go all out with him for a while now, and if there's anyone who can really compete with him, the top champions barely count.Blue counts, and Sakaki is the only one who can make him go all out.
But Sakaki, the only one who could make him go all out, is now a semi-retired old man at home taking care of his son and looking forward to his grandchildren.
But Red is still young. He also doesn't have any other hobbies like Steven, Cynthia, or even Blue.
Professor Oak had given him the title of Fighter.
That title was true at all. His only hobby was sparring. What he was best at was also sparring. The fact that he would occasionally accompany Yellow to some other activities now would be considered a change in temperament...
Wasn't the reason for this change because this guy was still on the verge of not having an opponent?
Now that he had one, what opponent would be stronger than a self that was going all out!
Red opened his eyes, looked at Blue in front of him, and smiled, ''No, what's wrong with you today, why did you suddenly persuade me to find someone to spar with? You won't even spar with me anymore."
Red said this out of a few moments of teasing, but there were also a few moments of grudges in.
After all, Blue was a guy who was running away when he was not doing anything, and it would be nice to fight him once a week in a proper sparring match.
Blue rolled his eyes, he wasn't stupid. Now for some reason Red's combat prowess was quite a bit above his. It was true that he enjoyed sparring, but really, if he was to be abused with a single mind, what was that if not difficult?
"Naturally I have my reasons, doesn't it take time to nurture a team?" Blue and Red had been together for such a long time, words like this to fool him into not sparring with him really just came out of his mouth.
"It's not because I care about you! Seeing that you've really been idle lately. And what a great opportunity to have a good fight and do Rope a favor."
"So you came to me for Rope!"
Red said with a light chuckle.
"Are you funny or not, seriously!"
Blue is also helpless, in front of others so cold and arrogant strength strong sparring legend-Red. in front of them these acquaintances become just a few similar to Rope's character in front of outsiders.
Lightly bitchy, catching people's words.
"Hahaha, no kidding."
Looking at Blue with some hint of exasperation, Red laughed aloud.
As the laughter died down, he looked at Blue and said, "Rope mentioned this to me a long time ago, and at the very beginning when he knew that the so-called Mr. 'Arceus' was me, the first thing he told me was."
Red caught Blue's somewhat mischievous look.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm the one involved, Rope should have told me first."
"I'd like to go up against 'him' too. But now's not a good time..."
"Or rather, I shouldn't be able to deal with him."
Red's words were spoken lightly, but they did sound somewhat serious to Blue's ears.
"You're not confident you can beat him?"
Red shrugged, then nodded, "Rope said that he came to our world because he wanted to revive his world. Green, do you think that if I were in such a context, my strength would be intact?"
Blue wasn't a stupid person, he didn't feel anything when he didn't say anything, but when Red brought it up, he could of course visualize the situation...
How powerful should a Red carrying such a mission be?
Blue was a bit uncertain for a moment, or perhaps the fact that Red, who was already this strong, could be even stronger was outrageous enough in itself.
"Can't tell." Red raised his head and looked at the sky, "I don't know exactly how strong I would be in that situation."
Red certainly didn't need to be modest about anything, after all, this guy was just too strong. For him to be humble would be insulting.
"But after thinking about it carefully, I still think that I can do without being that strong."
Red looked at Blue in front of him and smiled, "At least this way you guys don't have to go and trade your lives for my strength..."
"More than those strengths, I still wish I had you guys around me as friends."
Red had a genuine smile on his face.
"I pity him because he lost everything we loved most. I'm also hostile to him because he wants to take those he lost away from me."
"So, if I had the chance, I would beat him!"
Blue looked into Red's eyes, and as he said those last words, Red gave Blue the same feeling as Red had then during that final title fight.
Cold and stern as Scyther's arm blade.
——————————
"Young man, you look familiar to me!"
In some unknown small village, an old woman looked at the youth in front of her, the youth was handsome, only to have that handsome beauty spoiled by a narrow scar. But added a sense of iron blood.
Especially the melancholy and perseverance that flashed in his eyes from time to time. As well as that faint but unmistakable cold temperament. These all made the old lady extremely emotional.
If she could be thirty or forty years younger, she would definitely be the one to follow such a man to the ends of the earth without looking back. Even if he was unwilling, she would still follow him.
Only... judging from her current age, she had no intention of introducing the younger members of her family to such a person...
That sense of detachment from everything...just couldn't give a mature person a sense of security.
Especially from them, the outsiders of love.
It was a nice young man, but unfortunately a million times not a good match.
"They all say I look a lot like that legend, Red."
Otherworldly Red said with a faint smile.
He took a big mouthful of the old lady's cooking, looking very excited. Only the bashfulness under his eyes didn't fade at all.
"En! When you say it like that, I also feel that it is very similar!" The old lady scrutinized for a while, and then recalled in her own mind the face of that youth who had been very famous all these years, then nodded rather seriously.
"By the way, young man, you're a trainer too, aren't you? "
"En, I am, but my strength isn't too good, so of course I can't compare it to Red's Great God, haha."
A not so funny joke was told, and Red himself felt the same way.
This old lady was very warm, seeing him walking alone in the village she brought him to her house to cook for a while.
It was also true that Red hadn't had a hot meal in a long time. What's more, the old lady was really warm.
So he came and ate the meal.
Bite by bite, the meal was eaten. Memories came up drop by drop.
He himself often encountered such things when he was traveling outside back in the day. The people of the Elven world were always simple and warm. Even amongst Leagues and clans that fought for power, they would not be stingy with their warmth and generosity towards others.
But...that world that belonged to him had been destroyed.
Every touch now was a knife poked in his own heart.
"But it's rare to hear about Red these days, instead it's Professor Rope news that's heard quite often."
The old lady said thoughtfully, "Recently that Professor Rope has made a big splash, as if he had dealt with some dispute between the gods and tossed all of them into submission."
"Oops! The young people nowadays are just awesome. Old woman I grew up listening to the legends of those gods. What with Lugia sending the wind, Ho-Oh and the Bell Tower... Aiya, I didn't expect that these gods in the legends really existed, and even more so, I didn't expect that there were people amongst us humans who were capable of suppressing these gods!"
The old lady was getting a little excited herself as she spoke.
Red still had a smile on his face.
"This is indeed Professor Rope's unique ability!"
Red said with great emotion.
But what about our Professor Rope? What about our world's Professor Rope? The same is facing the crisis of extinction. Why are the gods of his world like headless flies. And they don't listen to human command.
But in this world, there is a Professor Rope who can make the gods listen to him...
If humans and gods had worked together in the lead-up to the extinction crisis, wouldn't there have been a different ending?
Thinking of this, Red couldn't help but smile to himself, and then, continued eating.
Over the years, he could not help but think about this kind of thing whenever he ran into anything relevant. But what was the point of thinking about it? Things had already happened, and nothing would change.
He had already decided to sacrifice this world to restore his own. That being the case. Then there was no need to think about anything else.
And so his eyes regained their initial determination.
For so many years, this was how he had come to be, hesitating and questioning himself over and over again, but having the ability to convince himself over and over again, to be firm.
It was painful. But his life had been like that.
Putting down the bowl, Red got up and bowed towards the old lady before saying, "Thank you for your hospitality."
"You're welcome, it's just a meal. It's not easy for trainers to go out, and once something happens, we people will still have to count on you trainers for protection. So there's no need to be polite with the old lady."
The old lady smiled kindly.
"En, thanks anyway."
After saying that, Red turned around and left.
The old lady looked at Red's back as he left, and inexplicably felt that the upright figure was a bit hunched. It was as if it was being pressed by something very heavy.
But such a feeling was only for a moment.
"It's probably an illusion."
The old lady laughed to herself with a remark about her old eyes, and then returned to the house.
——————————
Rope sits in the campground, looking at the campfire in front of him in dark disbelief...
"What's wrong?"
Whitley looked at the dazed Rope with some confusion.
Honestly, although Rope would usually be lost in thought, it was rare for her to be lost in thought like today.
Like there was something on his mind. Though he always had a lot on his mind.
"Whitley ah, you say, if even the parallel world of me doesn't exist, then can I really become a person of this world?"
Rope said doubtfully.
Whitley stopped talking all of a sudden...this was a question that she would not be able to give an answer to at all.
The parallel world itself already involved a knowledge blind spot, and with the addition of Rope as a variable.
This question was over the top ah! Coach!
Of course, Whitley couldn't believe that Rope was feeling a bit of a headache because of something like this.
Rope saw Whitley's helpless face and smiled, "Alright, don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing in my own mind."
Whitley once again rolled her eyes widely before handing Rope the paper she was holding.
"This is Noivern's and also Tonkatsu's physical stats, the advantages... basically not much, the disadvantages are a lot, the good thing is that most of them are able to be corrected. It does take some hard work though."
Rope took the checkup, then nodded, "You did a really good job, but the bias is a bit wrong."
"How so?"
Rope took the pen in her hand then said, "Neither Diana's Noivern nor Tonka were bred to our standards. There's little point in you insisting on changing them over now."
"Noivern is to be strengthened for load bearing, which means body size and upper body strength. Tonkatsu is to be strengthened for sense of smell and body strength. As for combat...that shouldn't be their responsibility."
"Along the way, let's help Diana find a suitable battle elf, one that's flight-oriented and capable of aerial combat. Three Pokémon is kind of enough for a researcher."
Rope said casually, then told Whitley about the knowledge related to these breeding.
Whitley listened quietly, resting her cheeks and asking questions every now and then.
And so it was a peaceful evening.