The series is complete, yay!

Red

He watched the world move and turn for centuries without understanding why. What was it about humans that made them want to build and fight and destroy? What was it in them that made them want to connect to Pokémon, to use them for their own silly games? What was it about them that made creatures want to be used by them? He had certainly never felt the urge to follow a trainer.

He had always been, and always would be, long before the humans came and long after they turned to dust.

It still made Him wonder.

There was a dead boy in his forest.

The child wore strange clothes and a cap and his Pokémon mourned him greatly.

He watched, long after the others had left for human help, and wondered.

His human form was quite different from the dead boy; He managed to copy the basic anatomy, but His skin was much paler and His hair as dark as His fur. His eyes were red, as with His true form, and His markings were transferred to His cheeks.

He took the boy's hat and the clothes from his discarded backpack, finding a shirt and pants and jacket that had not soaked in blood.

He left the shoes, enjoying the feel of the forest under his new feet, and went for a walk, unsteady at first on his new legs.

He was bound to find a human settlement somewhere nearby.

The town was thrumming with life like a Beedrill hive with humans running this way and that. He was taken aback at the large number of them. How long had He been alone in His forest? Surely not so long as to let the humans progress from small collections of huts to huge towers of stone that almost touched the sky. He wanted to be angry at the creatures encroaching on the land He had sworn to protect, but He couldn't find any emotion in His new body greater than a sense of being overwhelmed. Many humans streamed into the mouth of some sort of cave and He found himself pulled by the flow, unwilling to touch the other humans and beat himself from the crowd. He didn't know the limits of his new body yet and didn't want to draw attention.

The crowd dispersed and He was left standing in a room lit as though a Pokémon had left the ability of flash on permanently. It made Him blink and His new eyes water, and a female took the advantage. Dressed similarly to others in the room she grimaced at Him, showing her teeth and pointing to a platform free of people. He looked around and saw many humans crouched on strange things around similar platforms and copied their examples, sitting gingerly as He expected the thing to buckle under His weight. It didn't and the female grimaced again, handing to Him what she called a 'menu', before disappearing.

The 'menu' was covered with many strange markings, but He relaxed slightly. Years ago when the people of the area worshiped Him they built totems with markings similar. He recognised several of the strange markings they called 'words', but so many more were foreign to Him.

He had much to learn about the human type.

"Hi!" The loud shout was near His ear and He jumped, looking for threats in the nearby area. He found another female, smaller than the last with clothes similar to the child He found dead in His forest.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you new in town?"

He tilted His head, not sure what she wanted. She had the same grimace on her face as the female before her, but almost all humans in the room were giving each other the same look, and no one looked like they were challenging anyone for dominance.

He was beginning to think that the expression conveyed pleasure, instead of the anger He immediately assumed. He was still unsure of what she was asking Him.

On the other side of the room, a male laughed and nodded at the female across from him.

He looked to the young female next to Him and nodded, copying the male's example.

"That's so cool! Are you a Pokémon trainer? Are you on a journey?"

He recognised the words 'Pokémon' and 'trainer', but the rest was merely a mix of soft growls and exclamations. He nodded anyway.

"Me too! I want to be the very best, that no one ever was! I'm on my way to see Professor Oak to get my first Pokémon. He's so nice, and a world famous Pokémon professor. Have you heard of him? You have to meet him. I'm Delia by the way, but friends call me Leaf. What's your name?"

She put the same emphasis on 'Oak' as she did 'Delia' and 'Leaf', the same way a charmander would repeat its own name, but He was not sure which belonged to the female. She stared at Him, silent all of a sudden, and He fingered the sleave of His jacket nervously. Her eyes darted to it, then back to His eyes.

"Red? Is your name Red?" He nodded again because it seemed to satisfy her, and then moved to fiddle with the container left by the previous female on His platform.

Her eyes darted to that object again before speaking.

"Red Ketchup?"

"Hmmm," He tried. His vocal cords were very different in His new form, and He didn't know how to make half the sounds the female was making.

That is not my name, He said telepathically. The female showed no sign of hearing Him, and He could not hear her thoughts either. His new body was very limited.

"Red Ketchum?"

The sound was slightly different and He nodded, hoping the female would stop talking to Him and leave.

She grimaced instead and took His hand.

"Come on, you have to meet Professor Oak. Every trainer stops by there eventually!"

She pulled him to his feet and out the door, back to the crowds and the noise and the world built by humans for humans.

He walked with her and wondered at the name she had given Him, rolled the syllables around his tongue to coax it into pronouncing something similar.

Red Ketchum.

What an odd name.

The lab, as the female kept calling it, sprouted from a hill amongst the scattering of human settlements.

The expanses of tall grass were a definite improvement from the place they had come from, and Red felt his shoulders relax slightly away from the eyes of so many humans.

"You don't like cities, do you?"

Red watched her, watched her mouth move, and tried to find a pattern in her words. It would be nice to know what the humans were saying.

"Don't talk much, do you?"

He stared and she let of a shriek accompanied by the now familiar grimace.

She is pleased. This form pleases her.

She led him past what she called 'paddocks', past Pokémon that watched them with solemn, curious eyes.

They know what I am.

Red watched them back, and the female shrieked again.

"Wow, you really have a way with Pokémon. Were you raised in the wild or something?"

Red watched the Pokémon as some bowed their heads to him, recognising something ancient and eternal, until the female led him into the building.

If they can tell who I am so easily, why do the humans not see?

The lab smelt strange to his new nose, brittle and musty, and the man sitting amongst the paper's looked equally so.

He stood when the female greeted him, gazing at her in a way that a Nidoking would his young.

Oak, the female repeated over and over.

This is Oak.

Oak finally looked away from the excited female to whom she was gesturing at and Red gazed back, eyes calm and steady. Oak's own eyes went wide and disbelieving as he gazed from Red's cap to his bare feet. Red shifted, uneasy.

Does he know? Can he tell? He must be quite knowledgeable for the female to respect him so.

The Oak watched him as if not believing what he was seeing.

"Professor Oak? Are you okay?"

The man watched Red and uncertainty replaced the hope.

"You look just like a young man I once knew; but I was wrong. The eyes are different, and the skin tone. I must say though, with that cap and the marks on your cheeks the resemblance is uncanny. Do you know a Brock or a Misty?"

Red was unsure of the question but shook his head anyway.

"His name is Red Ketchum and he is a Pokémon trainer, but he doesn't have any Pokémon yet."

The Oak nodded and suddenly his face was cheerful again, handing all sorts of odd things to the both of them to "prepare them on their journeys".

Red took what was given to him and put it into the pack that belonged to a dead little boy as he watched the two humans communicate with each other enthusiastically and easily.

"Dad!" The shout came from behind them and Red spun around, crouching defensively. The male was much smaller than the Oak but much larger than the female, his frame broader and more muscular than Red's current form. The human had fur not that different from the female's auburn but his eyes were the blue of the sky.

"Blue!" greeted the female, and Red wondered if this was another naming word. The Blue stopped short, his eyes narrowing at Red, and Red recognised jealousy easily enough. Perhaps the female was the Blue's mate?

"Blue, you are just in time! Leaf and Red here were just about to pick their starter Pokémon."

The Blue was loud and aggressive, quick to mark out his out his territory and show Red that he was considered a lessor opponent. The other two seemed confused by his behaviour, but it made Red relax a little. Finally, this was a human he could understand.

Blue was even more angered by Red's lack of response, but was interrupted by the Oak establishing himself as Alpha male.

"Blue, that's enough. Red is a guest and you will treat him as such. Red, you can pick the first Pokémon."

The Blue growled and tensed but obeyed orders and Red found himself looking down at three identical balls.

They believe I am a trainer. They are giving a Pokémon control of another Pokémon.

He smiled slightly in amusement, the edges of his lips barely twitching in response to commands from new muscles, and reached for a ball.

He picked a bulbasaur, the Blue snatching the charmander from the Oak as soon as Red released the creature, and the female chose the remaining squirtle.

The female ushered him outside after the quickly progressing Blue, and Red was left wondering if becoming human was such a good idea.

"Blue and I, We've been friends since we were little kids; we always said we would be Pokémon Masters together. The very best, that no one ever was. He can be such a child though; he was never good with competition.

Red nodded as he stirred the noddles, a task that Leaf was leaving to him with less and less supervision each night.

"But I don't care that he went ahead; that's his choice. It won't be my fault if he gets himself hurt or…or anything."

The tears in her eyes said different, but she wiped them away hurriedly as if Red would pounce on the weakness.

"I'm glad you're my friend, Red," she said through the tears.

Red watched her cry and nodded.

He was glad to have a friend too.

Pokémon battles were something that came to Red naturally, despite his lack of skills in the area of language, be it Pokémon or human.

He and his Pokémon understood each other.

A tilt of the head. Dodge it.

A nod. Use leaf blade.

A steady gaze. Keep going.

They fought, not because they were forced or felt obligated or knew no better.

They did it so they could test their skills and prove they were the strongest.

They did it because they loved their trainer.

Red let his Pokémon out of their balls at night (something that seemed to surprise Leaf), and when he lay under the stars surrounded by his friends, both human and Pokémon, he realised how lonely he used to be.

Blue's knuckles sunk deep into Red's stomach and he spat out blood, groaning both aloud and in his mind. Human bodies were so limited; so weak. Red had never before given the size difference between himself and the other male any thought, but as the other's fist hit him again and again he couldn't help feel the vulnerability of his new form.

"Stop it, stop it!" Leaf was screaming over and over, but behind her Blue's raticate lay dead and Red couldn't help but feel guilty. He had never felt guilty before.

Then members of the S. S. Anne were hauling the human boy off him and Red's whole body ached and Leaf was there, wiping blood from his face and tears from her own. Blue was crying too, raged gasps that made something in Red want to reach out. He handed him a handkerchief that had once belonged to a dead little boy and Blue stared at him in disbelief. Then he punched him again. Red really couldn't belief how much that hurt.

Becoming Champion wasn't something Red intended when he took human form, and he cheers of the humans made him uncomfortable. Leaf was screaming for him in the crowd, Leaf who had wanted so bad to become a Master but couldn't make it passed the Elite Four. Red did feel something; something that might have been called pride or a sense of achievement. Mostly he just felt pity for Blue, the ten minute champion, who was ignored by both the girl who would have been his mate and his own father in favour of a stranger.

Red left the arena to shouts of dismay, bumping into Blue on his way to find some peace from the noise.

Red held out the trophy to the other boy.

"Yeah, you won that dumbass; you don't need to shove it in my face."

Red shook his head and held the trophy out again, trying to get the other boy to take it.

"I don't want your pity. You are the champion now-"

"No."

Red's voice was dry and brittle like twigs breaking one the forest floor. He almost smiled at the look on Blue's face; it was perhaps the first time he had managed to shut the other boy up.

"You don't want to be champion?"

"No."

"Then why?"

Red didn't answer and Blue stared at him long and hard.

"I'm not going be second choice to anyone," said the boy, rejecting the trophy and walking towards the stadium exit.

He paused once at the door, not looking back but angling his head all the same.

"We should battle sometime."

He left Red standing there, watching the door for a long time after encase he came back for the trophy he obviously wanted.

The more he lived amongst them the more humans confused him.

Leaf let Red stay with her in the house her family left in their will. It was small and bright and flowers covered the front. Red liked it. He liked that he could walk to the Oak's lab where he worked as an assistant, liked the rolling fields of Pallet town, liked the in frequent matches he had between himself and Blue when the other boy took over the running of Viridian Gym. He and Leaf were lying in a field one hot summer day when she leaned over him with a serious expression on her face.

"You know I love you, right?"

He stared up at her and he must have looked confused because she huffed, leaning down to press her lips against his own.

Oh.

Leaf laughed at his expression and kissed him again, longer and wetter and he was kissing her back before he finished thinking it through.

The Oak was delighted at their change in relationship, but Blue's face had crumpled in hurt and anger. Leaf tried to talk with him, but Blue wasn't really the listening type. He had stopped listening when she had dragged Red home at ten years old.

Blue didn't come to the wedding, but Oak and a few of Leaf's friends did. It was small and intimate, and Leaf didn't question the lack of people on his side; she knew how people made him uncomfortable.

Blue came back to Pallet several months later with his new bride, a brunet who worked with Blue as a Pokémon researcher on Cinnabar Island. She was polite and spoke little, something Red appreciated, but he felt a pang of pity as she watched her husband's eyes linger on the form of Delia Ketchum.

"He loves her, doesn't he?"

Red nodded and touched her arm awkwardly as he had seen other human's do when exchanging comfort. The woman smiled at him, grateful for the attempt.

Red wondered why humans had to make everything so complicated.

Gary was the first baby Red had ever seen and he wondered if they were all so ugly. Gary glared at him constantly, something that made Blue smirk and Leaf coo, and the child cried every time someone placed him in Red's arms. Red felt uncomfortable being in the same room with him, but Leaf couldn't get enough of him.

"Twenty is too young children," said Oak on numerous occasions, despite Leaf's continuous rebuttal that he became a father himself at the same age.

Does Leaf want children? Can we even have children?

Red watched her smile as she held Blue's son and imagined her holding their own. He had never told her who he really was.

What if we can't have a child? Would she hate me? Would she leave?

"Do you want babies?" he asked that night, long after they should have been asleep. Leaf looked at him blearily, then more seriously as she realised he had spoken more than a few words. She stared at the ceiling rather than her husband and nodded slowly. Red kissed her and hoped he was human enough to give her what she wanted.

Leaf's pregnancy went surprisingly well. The doctor covered her stomach with a gel, making Red want to growl at her even as he clutched his wife's hand in desperate silence. Once the screen filled with a fuzzy picture his eyes were glued to it, needing to know, needing to see.

Will it have two legs? Four? Six? Would it have a tail? Am I doing the right thing?

"All healthy," grinned the doctor, but Red couldn't see anything in the swirling mass of grey. He loosened his grip on Leaf's hand and she scowled at him, shaking it to return circulation to her fingers. She couldn't be angry with him though.

Red had the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

The baby was perfect. Better than that; the baby was human. Red held the tiny infant to his chest, checking him over for any imperfection. Ten fingers, ten toes. A head of shaggy black hair and grey baby eyes that he hoped would darken to Leaf's pretty amber rather than his overbearing red.

Red ran shaky fingers along the 'z' like markings on his son's cheeks.

"Always wondered what those were," said a tired Leaf from the bed.

"They're birthmarks. I've never seen birthmarks passed through family though."

Red shrugged and continued to stare at the child in awe.

"He's pretty shrimpy," said Blue, earning him an elbow from his wife, and the Oak stared at the baby with the same fond smile he directed at the child's parents.

Gary strained from his mother's grasp at the tiny baby and Red took the flailing fist, placing an open hand on the newborn's cheek. Gary glared at Red, but the look he directed at the baby was absorbed. The small baby stared back, and then turned away towards the window. Gary grunted and hit the child, a small slap on the arm, and his mother pulled him away as the baby began to wail. Red shushed his son, even as he watched Ho-oh create a rainbow outside the hospital to celebrate the child's birth.

Red felt a stirring of uncertainty.

They know where I am.

Red was brought back into the conversation by the Oak placing a hand on his shoulder.

"So, what were you going to name this cute little fella."

Leaf opened her mouth but Red cut in for the first time in his human life.

"Ash," he said to the silent room, looking at his wife for support. "I would like to name him Ash."

"Ash Ketchum," echoed Leaf, a slow smile lighting up her face. "I like it."

Blue snorted and the Oak began to cough as if something caught in his throat but Red blocked them all out, staring into the eyes of his son.

"Hello Ash."

Red distracted the small boy with a Pikachu toy, squeaking it gently and taking advantage of Ash's delighted expression to spoon another mouthful of baby food into his son. Ash didn't really need the encouragement; the boy ate practically anything, non-edible things included. He and Leaf had almost driven the boy to the nearest hospitable when they found Gary feeding their son flowers; they certainly didn't offer to babysit for a long time afterwards. The young Oak was certainly growing to be a handful; Red hoped it was a challenge Blue was ready to face. Ash grinned up at him, mouth covered with puree apple as the baby babbled nonsense noises at his almost silent father, and Red thanked Arceus the child couldn't only say his own name like most Pokémon. He thanked Arceus every day for the family he had managed to create.

They were on a picnic when the wind took hold of Red's cap, ripping it from Ash's hands and into the bushes near the river.

Red smiled at his wife and heaved himself to his feet, feeling the grass sink between his toes. He rummaged for only a minute before locking eyes with a Pokémon.

"Entei," Red breathed, recognising the mighty Pokémon. Entei bowed low as a voice made itself known in Red's head for the first time in years.

'You have taken human form.'

"I have."

'You have taken mortal form.'

"Yes."

'Your forest is dying.'

Red felt as if a cold hand had gripped his heart.

'The world is becoming unbalanced; soon the weather will change, and the land will move, and lives will be lost. You need to return to your true form.'

Red shook his head.

"But-"

If he returned to that form, he wouldn't be human anymore. He wouldn't feel guilt, or love, or understand. He would lose Red Ketchum forever. He would lose Leaf. He would lose Ash.

Entei looked over at the young woman with the dark haired baby in her arms.

'A hybrid; how remarkable.'

Red stepped in the way of Entei's vision and the large Pokémon blinked at him.

'They will be in danger if anyone finds out the boy's parentage; many of our kind will see him as an abomination, and in labs humans are trying to create creatures such as your offspring. You being here with them will only cause them strife.'

Red watched his family and felt a pain unlike he had ever felt before.

"They need me."

'The world needs you. They are no different.'

"Red? Did you find your hat? Ash is getting fussy, I think it's time to head home."

Red nodded at his wife and retrieved the cap, not surprised to see Entei gone. He would stay around until Red had given him an answer; he had all the time in the world.

Red was quiet the next few weeks, which wasn't that unusual for him, but Leaf noticed. He didn't spend as much time with his venosaur or rapidash; in fact, he insisted on keeping them at the lab rather than let them wander around the house. He didn't seem to acknowledge Blue's snide comments and shrugged away the Professors concern.

Ash squealed in his father's arms as a vulpix nuzzled his cheek and Leaf laughed. "He has a way with Pokémon; just like his father."

Red frowned. Pokémon did react well to his son. Like they knew. Like they sensed he was one of them, as they had always sensed in Red himself.

There were creatures who would treat Ash like an abomination if they knew, Entei had said. Creatures that would hurt his son for the sin of being born.

The world would start to change soon. Red couldn't feel it himself, he was too human, but he didn't doubt the words of the other Pokémon. A something big was coming soon. It was his job to make sure his family survived it.

Leaf walked in to find him packing a bag.

"You're finally going?"

He nodded and continued folding clothes.

"I thought so. I've thought so for a while, but I hoped…"

"I don't want to."

"Then don't."

"I have to."

They were both silent, then Leaf kissed his cheek and smiled, a broken smile that was very different than the first one she had given him.

"You were always a mystery, Red Ketchum, but I never asked. Can I ask?"

"No." It's safer for her to never know.

"No," she repeated like she expected it.

"What do I tell Ash?"

Red froze, thinking of the tiny boy asleep in his cot, a thumb in his mouth and Gary Oak sprawled next to him.

"Tell him I love him; that I've gone on a Pokémon journey. That I want to be the very best…"

"That no one ever was?"

The shared a smile, then he held him to her, long and hard. She smelled like honeysuckle and milk and love and he never wanted to let go.

"I love you," he whispered, kissing her one last time, then made his way down the stairs. He was running by the time he got to the door, knocking over Blue Oak in his haste and listening to the swearing as he bolted down the road. He was in the forest when he finally stopped running. He threw down the bag that once belonged to a dead little boy and filled it with the clothes he was wearing, stuffing the lot in a hollow of an oak tree.

Red let his body change and move, let his true form take over, let his mind change and his powers grow. He let out a scream as Red Ketchum died in a little forest far from home and wondered if his Pokémon would mourn him like he had watched others mourn a dead little boy so many years ago.

When Blue and his wife died in their accident He watched with a certain detachment. The Young Oak being raised by his grandfather wasn't a particularly negative turn of events.

I should be sad, thought a distant part of him; but he wasn't. Humans died. He watched as Leaf, Delia as she preferred to be called now, held the hands of two young boys as they watched the funeral. He remembered loving the woman, but she was human and he was infinite. While he remained fond of her, there was no romanticism left in him.

She was my mate. She was my mate and he was my friend, but that was another life.

Ho-oh had taken a particular interest in his son when he charged the bird with watching over him.

'Fascinating', the creature would say about Ash's every movement.

'The boy is fascinating.'

Other's told him of the boy making a name for himself.

'He is special,' remarked Mew more than once.

'Unique.'

Entei was the one who told him of Ash's death.

'The Young Oak took the boy as his mate. He died in the complications of his first litter. I have been informed that the child was named 'Sammy."

He expected to feel nothing.

He always felt nothing.

Instead he felt everything.

He felt an entire world full of people and empty of his son.

Oak had always said twenty was too young for children, and Ash wasn't near twenty yet.

He left his empty forest for Pallet town and waited.

The Young Oak did not take his mate's death well, and decided to bring him back life. He followed, intrigued. It took years. Many Pokémon are hard to find, and those who live forever forget about time, hide themselves in dark forests and sleep the years away.

It took time, but He found them all, and lured in the Young Oak.

'Your memories,' he had said. 'For the world to forget, you must remember.'

The Young Oak agreed, and the world rippled, time and space murmuring in unhappiness as Ash's body was removed from the earth and healed, then aged to the appropriate time. Reality gurgled as his spirit, bucking and fighting, was guided back into his body. The tree breathed life into him, and Ash Ketchum took his first breath in over ten years. The Unknown buzzed, so many memories to change and events to modify, but even as they poured the last of their combined power into straightening the fabric of reality, He smiled.

Ash greeted his long lost husband by giving him a black eye, even as Pikachu sparked angrily on his shoulder. He approved of this action greatly as the Young Oak abandoned his own young, and almost stepped out from His hidden point when the Young Oak merely flipped them and kissed Ash on the mouth. Luckily Delia chose this point to come to the door and spent almost an hour berating the Young Oak on the door step before inviting him inside.

The arguing went on for another two weeks with Ash spending many days in the garden training viciously and the Young Oak spending every available minute trying to seduce him. A tentative truce was reached; and then Sammy came home.

It was obvious that Sammy was not impressed with his father. It was also obvious that the boy sensed something had changed, for he clung to Ash almost constantly. A steady flow of people visited the Ketchum house, all leaving with high spirits, and He heard passers-by talk about how Ash was now accepting challengers for his role as Master for the first time in eleven years.

One boy with spikey hair and glasses challenged Ash to a match not far from where He was hidden.

"You promised me a match when I was six years old, and I plan on collecting today. You know it's funny; whenever I used to think about that promise, I'd get really sad. Not anymore though; maybe cause I know I'm finally good enough to kick your butt!"

Ash's face went strangely blank before forcing a smile.

"Let's see what you've got then Max!"

Ash won, but the strange smile didn't leave his face.

The seasons changed, leaves falling from the trees, and Ash and the Young Oak sit in the meadow where a small family used to take picnics.

"Tell me why you really left."

"I told you; the whole fatherhood thing overwhelmed me, so I stayed away until I was ready to be a good dad."

Ash hummed in his throat.

"Sometimes I have dreams. I'm somewhere cold…and dark. I…Gary…"

"Ash, your arm has gone freezing!"

"Gary, I think something happened to me, but I can't remember; it's all jumbled…"

The Young Oak rolled Ash over and kissed him, long and desperate.

"Don't try and remember Ash; please."

"You did something."

"Please Ash. For once in your life, listen to me. You don't want to remember any of that. It's not important. What is important is you and me, and the life we have here."

"If anything happened to me, you would look out for Sammy right?"

"Ash…"

"I promise to stop asking questions if you promise to make a better effort with your son."

"I promise, I swear, just don't think about the past ok? Think about the future."

Ash was smiling and he took the Young Oak's hand, resting it on his lower stomach.

"Our future."

They kissed again, longer this time, and He moved to leave.

"What's that?"

Ash was staring right at Him, eyes memorising the red of His eyes and the black of his fur.

"I've never seen anything like it; but it looks so familiar…"

The Young Oak glared at Him as if His presence threatened the life of his mate. He looked back at his son, healthy and alive and well, and faded into the forest.

Ash was safe.

For now.

End