In this part of AGAPE, Red faces the horrors of *gasp* social interaction. Also, there’s angst and Inkay. Why do I mention Inkay? Oh, child. Read to find out.

Comments are appreciated, by the way. I am still a complete amateur at writing so by giving critique you’ll (hopefully) help the world have one less bad fanfic author to worry about.

and if you dont comment ill write descartes eight visions 2 and it will make even less sense than the first one

Anyway, enjoy!

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Boarding the train had been surprisingly easy. Red’s money had been enough for a ticket, and enough was left to get him back as well. He didn’t have to talk to as many people during the process as he had expected, since it turned out that most of the things had been automated. Red didn’t like machines, but at least they were straightforward, sometimes even convenient.





Traffic was light, as the commuting hours had already ended a while ago, and most of the passengers were elderly. This meant no one sitting next to Red and an overall quiet atmosphere. The humming of the train itself continued to be the loudest surrounding noise, occasionally accompanied by a cough or two. Every now and then, the train stopped and the station was announced. For now, Red ignored it, for he knew Celadon was still far away.





Red kept watching as the numerous buildings and trees slid by. He could even spot a few pidgey perched on the branches. Red remembered what Abba had looked like when he had still been wild. He was so full of himself nowadays. Nothing like when Red first had met him. He was a lot bigger and stronger now, too…

But what about Red? After the voices had left, he’d thought it would get better… and for a while, it did. Most importantly, They were together, no voices, no adversaries. He didn’t have to worry. The world was going to be Theirs.

Then along came AJ.

AJ and his ideologies.

AJ and his mon.

Especially that unsightly lizard of his.

Its teeth pressing down on Him.

The snow dyed blue from His blood.

The light leaving His eyes.

Even then, Red could feel the image carving itself into his brain. He knew he’d never be able to forget it.





Of course, later on, Red found out it was downright routine for Him to reincarnate. But it changed nothing. Since then, he’d made his mission to always be by His side every time He died. No matter the pain it brought back. At least then he got to say goodbye and see Him leave in peace.





Where was Red now? In Kanto, living in his mother’s house with an all new brother from a different world, his mother working two jobs and spending her days at a hotel - not because she needed to, but because that way she wouldn’t have to see Red every day. Of course, she’d never admit it, but Red knew it. Abe said it wasn’t true, but Red knew it. What would Abe know? He was the good son.





And where was AJ? In Johto, with his friends. Unregretting. Alive.

Though being around AJ, no matter how infuriating, was also… easy. He knew Red. He knew how Red felt - he didn’t understand it in the slightest, but he knew. Unlike Abe, he didn’t believe in Red. Never had.





“Next stop: Celadon Station!”

Red jumped in his seat. That was his stop. He’d better stop thinking and get ready to depart.





As Red had expected, the hotel wasn’t too far away from the station. Having reached the building, he didn’t wait around. He walked in through the sizeable automated glass doors and headed for the stairs.

“Can I help you, sir-” tried the receptionist, but Red interrupted her by politely raising his palm.

“Thank you, but I know where to go,” said Red and began ascending the steps.





Red made it to the third floor. Room 331, wasn’t it? He was standing next to 399. He’d have to search a bit, it seemed.

After a few turns, Red spotted a large, white, hairy mon wearing a black suit and sunglasses. As he got closer, he could feel the cold aura emanating from its fur and icicle beard. He still didn’t recognize the species, but it looked silly in its clothing nonetheless.

Red looked at the number on the door it stood in front of. 331.

“This is where Ms ShirLee is staying, correct?” Red asked the mon.

The mon took a brief look at him, then rolled its eyes and sighed. It pressed its earpiece and waited.

“Yeah?” Red could soon overhear from the speaker.

“There’s someone at the door. Do you know him?”

“Hold on a sec,” the girl said.

Some moments passed. Red wondered why he couldn’t hear any noises from behind the door, but then he remembered how inkay moved around.

“…No, I don’t think so,” the voice responded after a while.

The mon looked down at Red again.

“Sorry, kiddo. No entry for you. Now beat it,” it growled.

“Wait, hold on. Is that a human male?”

“Uhh…”

The mon eyed Red from head to toe.

“How should I know? I’m not a bloody anthropologist,” the mon grunted.

“I’m male,” Red sighed impatiently.

“Is he a fan?” the girl asked.

“Are you a-”

“I’m a fan,” Red responded.

”He’s a fan.”

“Let him in,” the voice said.

“Ms ShirLee, are you sure? He could be dange-“

“Arktos, we’ve been over this,” the girl groaned. “I’m an adult mon, I can handle a human.”

“But Ms ShirLee, your father specifically told us security-”

“To hell with daddy dearest! You work for me, not him.”

“Miss…”

“Don’t keep him waiting, Arktos!”

The mon sighed and unlocked the door.

“Go ahead, kid,” the mon said, looking at Red. “But don’t try anything funny, alright?”

Red looked back, expressionless, then walked into the room.





Immediately after stepping over the doorframe, the smell of perfume surrounded Red. Something about the aroma seemed familiar. It must have shared an ingredient or two with the product she’d had on her. The sixth one, or maybe the seventh.

“Don’t be shy, sweetie, just get over here,” the voice called from further forth.

Red took off his coat and gloves and left them in the rack. He walked out of the entrance into the main room, and saw the inkay sitting across a desk. Or levitating. Red couldn’t tell from his angle.

“Welcome!” greeted the inkay. Though her light organs were dark, her wet bluish skin sparkled in the lights from the room’s many lamps. One of her two longer tentacles was wrapped around a glass half filled with an amber liquid.

“Hi,” replied Red in an indifferent tone. “I’m hear to talk to you about something.”

“Well, aren’t you a straightforward man,” giggled the inkay. “Why don’t you tell me your name first, honey?”

Red was quiet for a moment. Giving a false name seemed like the safer option at first, but if they later were to find out his real name, it would look alarmingly suspicious.

“My name is Red,” he decided to answer.

“You know, Red,” the inkay began, stirring her drink, “It’s not often I get human visitors.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah,” the inkay continued. There was a strange hint of… something in her voice.

“And the ones I do are nearly always female.”

Red stared into the inkay’s big, dark eyes. Where was this going?

“They think I’m cute,” she continued. “You know, eevee kind of cute.”

None of the eevee Red had met had been cute. Only obnoxious.

“But you don’t look like you’re into cute things,” she said. “So, could it be that you find me…?”

The inkay looked upwards at Red with a coy expression.

So that’s where it was going.

The inkay waited for the answer, but Red couldn’t come up with one. He decided to let her draw her own conclusions. He wasn’t there for that, anyway.

“Miss,” he spoke, breaking the silence. “If I may ask… Who is your trainer?”

“Trainer?”

The inkay let out a bright, brief laugh, sliding back on the desk.

“Doesn’t it show, sweetie? I’m a free mon.”

Red nodded in understanding.

“In any case,” he said, “I did come here to ask for something.”

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“I need you to end your career.”

“Wh-?”

The inkay burst into laughter. It sounded a lot more authentic this time.

“Why on earth would you want that?” she chuckled.

How would he put this…

“You are too… distracting,” Red said, slowly. He made sure not once to break eye contact with her while speaking.

The inkay beamed.

“What is it?” asked Red, annoyed, but hiding it.

“That’s the most flattering thing I’ve heard all week,” she said. “And I read fan mail daily.”

As the inkay took a sip out of her drink, Red could hear a strange static. His left wrist felt tingly, too. It seemed the inkay used telekinesis to drink from the glass, which made sense, considering inkay had no lips on their beaks. But it wasn’t like inkay needed to drink excess liquids anyway - they got all the fluids they needed from their diet. She probably just liked the taste. Or how it looked. She wanted to be a human, or at least a warmblood.

“Miss. I’m serious,” Red added.

“Aw, honey,” the inkay giggled. “It doesn’t quite work like that. I can’t just give up my whole career just because it ‘distracts’ you-”

“It’s not me you’re distracting, it’s…”

Red stopped. He didn’t need to say that. He looked away, hoping that the inkay wouldn’t have heard.

“Oh… it’s your boyfriend, isn’t it?”

“W-well, no-”

What boyfriend? He barely had any normal friends. He was here for his lord and his lord alone.

“What’s his name?”

No, no, no. His own name Red could give, but he’d never give His name to just some stranger like that. He’d have to think of something-

“AJ,” Red blurted.

Anything else would have been better! You idiot! You didn’t even need to answer that question!

“Well, anyhoo, sweetie - the fact still remains that there are millions of folk out there who wanna see me do my thing, and I don’t wanna let them down-”

“What if I paid you?”

How could he pay her? He had money, sure, but in no way superstar levels of it. There would also surely be questions about where the money came from. It was enough trouble keeping the dealers in the dark about where the products came from.

“I highly doubt you could match the amount,” she laughed and took another sip, causing another brief round of buzzing in Red’s ears.

Well. What now, huh? Had he really just come here expecting a pop sensation in her prime to drop her career because some stranger asked her to?

Of course not. Red knew things weren’t likely to go according to plan A, and if and when that was to happen, he was going to improvise.

Now was the time to improvise, but Red couldn’t come up with anything. There were no cameras, but security was right behind the door. And the disappearance of a celebrity as big as her would not go in any way unnoticed.

Damn. Looked like the situation was definitely going to take more than today to resolve.

“Look, sweetie, I gotta cut this short,” said the inkay, “But thanks for coming, anyway. You certainly were an interesting person to meet. And…”

She opened a drawer on her side and pulled something out. She handed two colored pieces of paper to Red.

“Have a nice show tomorrow. Bring AJ. I want to meet him,” she cooed with a wink.

Red looked at the papers closer. Tickets. For tomorrow’s show in Viridian.

Just like that, a plan started to form. A seedling of one, at least.

“No need to thank me,” she added. “Now, will you see yourself out or will Arktos have to show you what I pay him to do?”

“I’ll just leave, thanks.”

Red got up, stuck the tickets in his pocket and grabbed his clothes on his way out. Before opening the door, he looked back once.

He wanted to say something, but it would have been to risky - no matter how fun.

He exited the room and looked at the mon still guarding the door.

“Arktos, was it?” Red asked.

“That’s what my momma named me,” the mon grunted, disinterested.

“Thought so,” Red muttered, and was on his way.





Waiting outside the station building was unpleasant. The wind had gotten stronger and even more biting since before Red had entered the hotel, making the cold considerably chillier.

Still, Red preferred the outside to the inside, for the building itself was crowded with school-skipping teenagers and dropouts seeking refuge from the freezing streets who, instead of showing gratitude and respect for the public space, made it their mission to be as obnoxious in their speech and motions as possible. They reminded Red of the punks he’d bumped into on the way there.

Well, honestly speaking, the inside wasn’t exactly crowded, for there were still only a couple dozen people there in total - but the heightened percentage of them is what really mattered. Red couldn’t risk getting into another incident.

Or could he? He looked back at the glass-walled building. He was in Celadon now, and he wasn’t planning on coming back anytime soon. Couldn’t he go there, wait for one of them to turn a corner and then-

No, he couldn’t. He had a train to catch.

He forced himself to turn around. Out of sight, out of mind, as people sometimes tended to say.

Soon, however, he heard the voice of a young woman behind him.

“You see him anywhere?”

Immediately, another young woman responded.

“Nahh… You think she was just making it up?”

“I don’t wanna think so, Brittany, ‘cause it’s a dream come true!”

They had to have been the daftest sounding women Red had heard that entire month. He sighed. He hoped they wouldn’t find the person they were looking for and leave for somewhere else, where they could annoy some other bystander.

“Oh my gosh, Brittany, I think that’s him!”

“R-really?”

Well, dammit.

“Yeah, just look at him! He’s hella cute!”

“Hella! And so tall, too!”

“Yeah, hella tall!”

Who were they even talking about? Red couldn’t see anyone.

“Well, what’re you waiting for? Go for it, ya liepard! You can reel him in!”

“Oh, no, no, I couldn’t-”

Wait. Could it have been…

“Ugghhh, fineee, I’ll ask for you.”

Red turned to the direction of the voices to see a pair of inkay floating just a few meters away, both wearing scarves. One began to approach him.

Oh…

Red turned his head away. But it was no use, was it. She’d soon start talking, no matter what.

“Uhhmmm, sooo, my friend Jenna was wondering if you-”

“No thanks, I’m busy,” Red quickly muttered and took a few steps to the side. To his irritation, the inkay followed, this time approaching even closer. Red could hear a ringing. Modern inkay weren’t stingy with using their powers, it seemed. Perhaps she was using some powers to keep herself warm. A simple scarf didn’t seem like it could provide enough resistance to the cold and the wind by itself.

“But, like, it’ll only take a few minutes or so-”

“The answer’s still no.”

Red glanced at the tracks. Still no sign of the train.

“Just hear me ooouut,” the inkay whined. “My friend Jenna thinks you’re cute, but she’s a total wimpod, so she couldn’t ask you for a cup of coffee herself.”

What the hell was a wimpod? Some new idiotic slang term?

“I’m not interested. Go pester someone else,” Red growled, taking a foreboding step towards the mon. Another humming joined the one before. What was she doing now? Was she trying to influence his mind?

Red looked at the other inkay in the distance. She noticed him and hid behind the pillar she was leaning onto.

“Hey, look at me!” the inkay next to him snapped. Red could see from the edge of his vision that she was starting to glow, but paid it no mind. The humming grew louder. Red realized it wasn’t any interference, but merely the sound of the train. Finally. He looked back at the inkay - Brittany was what the other had called her, wasn’t it - and saw her flashing her lights. Was it a habit of hers? Was it her trying to daze him? Whatever it was, it was annoying.

“Don’t ignore me!”

The train was close now, Red could feel it.

He should grab her and push her onto the tracks. In a split second, she would die, and the train’s front would get a nice coating of a pleasant shade of blue.





No, he shouldn’t.

He should just walk away and board the train like a normal person.

“Excuse me, but my train’s just arrived. It was a displeasure meeting you. Don’t talk to me again,” Red proclaimed, and slipped into the now stationary wagon between people leaving. The upset inkay and her friend were left floating above the concrete. Red heard them protest, but moved deeper into the wagon and turned away from the window. The murmur of the crowd soon drowned out their voices quite effectively.





Word sure traveled fast. ShirLee must have told her friends or fans - whomever those two were - about him. Was it really so unusual for humans to enjoy the company of coldbloods? Of course, they could be seen as “gross” by some, but Red could think of a number of “gross” things that had their fans as well, both men and mon. And himself. Though he was an exception in many regards…

It got Red to think back to how this whole mess had started.





One day, He had just felt… weaker. He’d said He’d been getting older and remarked on how cumbersome it was. Reincarnation was annoying, too. It took a long time, and all the other fossils were there, always cracking jokes about him, He’d explained. Red had realized that it was the perfect opportunity to finish what They once had started. He’d remembered the things he’d read about the true potential of a divine member of the omanyte family. He’d remembered the evening when he’d been reading some new ancient scriptures he’d recently found. Exhausted from the hours of decrypting, but still indescribably eager - he’d turned that page, and he’d seen that image. Without even reading the text, he’d understood it completely. Perfection.





As he’d more closely studied the pages in question, he’d learned about just how to make it happen. It sounded very, very painful, but it was a cheap price to pay for the perfect deal - he would get His mind, He would get his body, and together They would become something magnificent. They’d finally fix the world. But more importantly, They’d be one.





But of course it had to go wrong. Something happened during the process, and the merging was left incomplete. They were replaced by some sort of animal hell-bent on reproducing and creating more bizarre man-mon hybrids like it - though Red didn’t know that back then. In the seconds before his consciousness switched off, he thought he was going to bleed out right there, right then. And die as a failure to his lord, himself and the entire world.





But it was a good thing, wasn’t it? In the end, He’d been rejuvenated, just as He’d wished. Sure, it’d been awkward for Red afterwards, after everything that had happened, but then again, He didn’t seem like He remembered. And as of now, He was too busy thinking about the inkay to even be bothered about the missing hours in His memory.





The train slowed down to another halt. Another station, but still not Viridian. Red looked at the clock. It sure had taken a while…

It…

Sure had taken a while! It was long past three in the afternoon. How could he forget? He hadn’t been there for their return!

Red began to rapidly tap his fingers on his knee, but there was nothing he could do to get there faster, was there. Time started moving about ten thousand times slower than it had just a few seconds ago. Was He okay? Was He safe? Did He have enough food, was He cold? Oh, how could he have let this happen? He really should have thought this through. All of this. The plan, the schedule, everything.

Although, He maybe wouldn’t be so upset if…

Red dug the tickets out of his pocket. His lord would surely love one, and Fonz could be the one who took him there. Red had experience, he didn’t need them to get in. But he did need a plan - this time, a working one. But, for now, he needed to get home.





“I’m back!” Red shouted, barging in. “I-Is everything alright?”

“Oh, hey, Red,” responded Fonz casually from the living room. “What do you mean?”

He seemed relaxed. Things couldn’t be that bad. Red exhaled deeply. What a relief…

“I am so sorry,” Red began. “I couldn’t make it back on time…”

“Back in time for what?” Fonz said, coming into view from behind the corner. “Oh, yeah. You probably wanted to be there when we got back, like you always do…”

Fonz sighed. “Look, Red,” he started. “I don’t know why you’re so worried. He’s doing fine, even if he’s a bit out of it right now. And we can use the fridge, Red, you don’t always need to prepare the food.”

“But I…”

“It’s fine, Red, seriously,” Fonz assured. “You’re allowed to have your own life too, you know.”

Red humphed quietly. All these years and Fonz still didn’t understand.

“Fine, then. Where is He?” Red asked.

“Living room. Still sighing about the inkay. Been doing that the whole day.”

Oh, right, that. Well, He’d just be glad to hear about his little gift, then.

Red walked over to the couch, where Helix was currently watching a music video - no mystery about whose - on Fonz’s smartphone. He had headphones on his shell. Red crouched in front of Him.

“I’m back, my lord”, Red said, smiling.

“I’m watching something,” the omanyte mumbled. “Talk to me about it later.”

“Even if it’s this?”

Red pulled out the tickets. Helix glanced at them once and ignored them, but then glanced again after He realized what He’d seen. Instantly, He slapped off his headphones and, with a euphoric expression, grabbed Red’s hand with His tiny arms. Red knew He was just after the tickets, but for a second, he pretended otherwise.

“Oh, Arceus! How’d you get these?” He squeed.

Arceus, huh. His classmates were a bad influence on him…

“Well-”

“Nevermind, I don’t care,” He quickly added. “ShirLee tickets! Eeeee!”

“I’m glad you like them,” Red said, but saw that his lord was already busy with typing some kind of message. He moved away slowly, trying not to disturb Him any longer.

“Hey, Red, that’s pretty nice of you,” said Fonz, startling Red.

“Wha- uhh, what do you mean?”

“Well, you didn’t really seem like you were a big fan of ShirLee yesterday…”

“Oh, well… I’m not, but if it makes Him happy, you know…”

Fonz nodded, smiling, and walked off.

Red sighed and headed for the basement door. He was about to open it, when Abe entered the room and noticed his bandage.

“Whoa,” he said, stopping Red. “What happened to your arm?”

Red raised his left wrist to look at it. “An accident,” he said, lowering it again and trying to move past Abe, but Abe blocked him.

“And…” he began, looking at the shining pieces of paper Helix, now carried by Fonz, had His tentacle wrapped around.

“…Where exactly did you get those tickets?”

Red was silent, only glaring at Abe’s eyes.

“Those were sold out weeks ago,” Abe continued.

“A friend gave them to me,” Red said.

Abe stared back with sceptical eyes, saying nothing.

“No one got hurt, Abe.”

What a rare occasion. Those words were actually true.

“…Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Red grunted and pushed Abe to the side. Not aggressively, but not very gently, either. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a shower.”

“If you’re sure…” Abe muttered and walked off.





Viridian, tomorrow. The time and place for the actions that would return control to Red. He grinned. He couldn’t wait.