Kanto Champion

Here you go, Archer.

“How is pikachu? And Charizard?” Leaf remembered the first day Red had come back from the Lab to show us his new Charmander. Back then, Red had been so happy and excited to have the fire type, even Pikachu had gotten jealous.

"They're good." His Pokemon had been seriously enjoying themselves since coming down from Mt. Silver. He hadn't stopped training them completely, but they seemed happy to at least be away from the cold. "They'd probably be happy to see you, if you came over." Pikachu, especially, had always loved Leaf. Similar to how he'd always hated Green.

“So you were on a mountain! I always knew you were an adventurous type!” Surge laughed. Despite the kid’s lack of visible emotion, he’d always seen the fire in Red’s eyes. (Not his brother, just the BURNING PASSION OF THE HEART.) Grinning, he rested a hand on the top of the boy’s hat. He was still kinda short, too. “Ever thought of joinin’ the army?”

Red shrugged. He didn't think of himself as particularly adventurous. He'd heard it a lot, since people found out he'd been living on a mountain, but adventure hadn't been what sent him there. It was more that Mt. Silver just... suited him. Cold and quiet and lonely. Wow. That didn't exactly make for light-hearted conversation. "The army?" he looked at Surge in surprise. "Uh, no. I can't say that I have." Oh. A hand on his head. ...Okay. Red didn't think of himself as particularly short, but compared to Surge, he guessed he was. He would have sighed, but that seemed a little rude.

-amaranth started following you

Red blinked up at Surge, a little disappointed that he was still so tall. Not the giant he'd seemed to be when Red was ten years old, but still a good bit taller than he was. Even so, Surge had always been friendly, in his loud way.

Red listened, his smile gradually fading. Unfortunately, Fire wasn't lying now, nor was he wrong. There always had been something. For a long time, he'd written it off as awkwardness, because, in all honestly, Green had been horrible to him. It wasn't something he liked to acknowledge, because that only meant he'd been hurt by it, but it was the truth. He didn't really remember when that stopped, but it had certainly been a relief. Any friendship they had after that was very tentative, at least on his end.

“Scare myself? Naw, naw, not me! I’m not scared of anything!” He lied, putting his hands to his hip bones and puffing his chest out. “Those elite four guys got nothin’ on me, bro, promise!”

[Red frowned slightly. Did people still recognize him? At least it was taking longer. All the same, he nodded.] On Mt. Silver? It's... it's quiet. It's easy to focus. [He shrugged, tugging at one of his gloves.] Easier to hear yourself think.

“Dude, of course I can! I’m so totally ready! I’ve been ready! I was like, practically born ready!” Fire assured, his hands balling up into fists in front of him excitedly. 

"Then you should go for it. Maybe after the new year, though, I'm sure they're busy... You'll only scare yourself if you wait too long. They're not as bad as you probably think." Fire was pretty high-strung, too. Of course, it's possible he just kept forgetting why he was on Victory Road.

I like to train in complete solitude most days.