Latest Update:July 25, 2014
Summary: Having lived in isolation for years and being almost forgotten by the rest of the world, a master decides to venture back into society. A series of related one-shots follow his adventures.
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/9447488/1/The-Adventures-of-the-Forgotten-Trainer
Word Count:41k
Chapters:10
Chapter 1: Twice
"Haven't you had enough Sir?"
Blue glared at the bar-tender before gulping down yet another shot. He slammed the tiny glass down and looked at the bar-tender expectantly. Said bar-tender shook his head in disbelief, as he poured the young man another shot of his strongest drink. Blue made to grab the drink but his hand was stopped from doing so.
"Listen that'll be your ninth and last shot. I and the bar refuse to sell you any more. And take this as well, you'll need that recipe for tomorrow morning."
Blue grunted as he took that scrap of paper, pocketing it in his jacket. He looked down at his shot of absinthe welling in his sorrow.
Twice. He put his first defeat to that insufferably boy down to luck. Even he admitted that he had underestimated the boy when he first showed up, he had paid little heed to their first battle, expecting it to end quickly.
And quickly it did end, but he was not victorious. To say he was shocked when he was defeated would have been the greatest understatement in the history of mankind. At first he refused to believe it, no one could beat him that easily, the boy must have cheated. For weeks he analysed the battle, trying to pinpoint where his opponent had got an unfair advantage, but ultimately Blue had to concede that the boy had beaten him fair and square.
From that day Blue trained. Never again would he take an opponent lightly, never again would he judge an opponent on their looks alone. He vowed to meet that boy again someday and reclaim his rightful spot. And so when the opportunity presented itself to him, he was nearly overcome with giddiness. This time would be his, he would be the one standing triumphant and that boy would be forced into humility.
But the result was the same. His poor valiant Umbreon lay beaten in the dust. He had lost for a second time. Now here he was drinking his sorrows away, how had he lost again? He had done his homework, he had studied his opponent and devised a near perfect strategy, the boy was down to his last Pokémon, yet it wasn't enough. He growled to himself, scaring a couple of women near him, as he desperately tried to figure out how his opponent got the better of him for a second time. While he argued with himself a small part in the back of his mind knew that he had participated in the second greatest battle of all time. At least he had one over his opponent, he had participated in the greatest battle as well.
"The CHAMP is HEEEEEREEE!" Blue swivelled around, snarling at the sight in front of him. There standing at the front door of the bar was the reason for his demotion. A girl under each arm, a stupid disgusting smirk on his face and that stupid cap on his head.
"Yo barkeep! I'd like to open up a tab. Got a victory to celebrate after all. Oh and a round for everyone in the bar cos I'm just that dam awesome."
"Sure thing champ!"
"Cheers keep. Now where the girls at? Your big dog is here. And he's one eager dog!"
Blue turned back around in disgust. How on earth did that guy become champion? He sneaked a glance at the new champion, who had made his way to a table where he had been joined by yet more girls, all of which the champion stroked, patted and ground up on. Even the way he dressed annoyed blue. What kind of champion wore shorts? The baggy jacket looked ridiculous, adding to the boy's overall scruffiness but the worst thing was the cap. That black and gold backwards cap infuriated the gym leader.
"He is quite something isn't he?" Blue didn't bother to look up towards the red head that had just sat next to him.
"If you say so Misty." He replied before draining his shot glass once more.
"Awww. Sounds like someone's jealous." He didn't even try to get away as Misty ruffled his brown spiky hair.
"Don't feel too blue Blue." She giggled to herself. "You put up a hell of a fight. Best fight I've seen in a long time, I don't think anyone has challenged Ethan like that before. But there is a reason why he's unbeaten. He's simply the best and probably the best ever." Blue's face shot up to meet her, eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape in shock. Surely she had not just uttered those words.
"Oh c'mon Blue. Ethan's never been defeated and had an easier time beating you than he did. Your battle with him was better yes but it was also closer. Ethan is a freak, that boy is the most naturally gifted trainer we've ever seen. You just have to face facts, if Red were still around, he'd loose as well."
Blue continued to stare at her, his face unchanged. In part due to the alcohol and mostly in shock at her words. Misty's face softened, she smiled pitifully at the man in front of her. She leaned towards him and gripped his shoulders.
"Hey. It's OK. We all miss him. But you're still the second best trainer in the world." He almost fell backwards of his seat as she stole a quick kiss.
"Now if you excuse me I have to congratulate our new champion." She winked at him before making her way over to Ethan's table. Blue followed her form, still reeling from her actions. He soon regained his composure as she sat down on Ethan's lap, giving the young boy a peck on the cheeks. His face soon set into a glare as Ethan began stroking her inner thigh.
"I need another drink." He snapped at the bar-tender.
"I told you Sir. You've had enough already."
"Fine." Blue barked getting up from stool and throwing down some money. "Keep the change." He muttered as he staggered his way out.
He rambled around, swaying slightly as he searched for more alcohol. After hours of questing, and well past any respectable time, he found the objects of his desire in an off-licence convenience store that also sold cigarettes.
"Maybe my luck is heading up. Or maybe it's not." He corrected himself as he saw the prices that he would have to pay for the off-licence alcohol. In the end he settled upon the cheapest six pack and pack of cigarettes he could find.
He made his way out with his booty and headed towards a bench that he remembered passing on his way. After a few minutes he found the bench, he sat down and lit himself a smoke. He took a long draught on it, letting the heat fill and warm him up. Shortly after he broke open the first of his six to quench his thirst.
His mind wandered but it kept coming back to Misty's words. Never in his life would he admit it to anyone, but definitely missed his rival, he missed Red. He missed those epic battles, those silent yet amusing taunts. He missed his measuring stick, his goal, his reason to get better as a trainer. But most of all he missed his friend.
Blue stared into the darkness, even if Red were still here, he doubt they would be friends. They had ceased being friends almost a decade ago. He had cast Red away, rendering the mute of his only friend all in a quest for strength. Of course he regretted it now, Red would probably be here sharing a beer with him, his mere presence helping Blue through his solitude and depression. He doubted that Red would smoke with him though, he was too much of a goody two shoes for that.
But another part of him didn't regret his decision. The animosity between them at that time resulted in them always trying to one up each other, it made them into the two best trainers on the planet , if not ever (in his own humble opinion they were). Looking back on it Red's methods were obviously better and quite understandably led to better results but without Blue himself belittling Red all those years ago, maybe the great master would have never got the internal fortitude that he had.
Comparing the past to the present, Blue wondered whether Red felt the same way about him then as he did with Ethan now. He wasn't as cocky or in your face as Ethan. Sure he had quite the female fan base but he didn't make that much of a deal about it nor was he perv like that freak. No he definitely wasn't as bad as Ethan is but he was still an awful person to Red.
Then that prick obviously had to leave before they could repair their friendship though. A year after Blue had lost his crown, Red's mother died from a freak accident. The funeral would be the last time he would see Red. Almost the very next day he vanished without a trace. A massive man hunt had started for their missing champion, they called it off after ten months, declaring him dead but Blue refused to believe that, Red was out there somewhere just not wanting to be found.
"Hey can I bum a smoke?" Blue's attention was captured by a short girl with shoulder length brown hair wearing a red top and blue shorts with a puffy white hat covering her head. She looked relatively attractive but too young for his tastes and vaguely familiar.
"Aren't you too young to smoke?"
"Aren't you too young to be a Gym Leader?" Blue snorted. He liked her comeback and offered her a smoke and lit it for her.
"Thanks. You don't mind do you?" She pointed to the seat next to him on the bench. He nodded his head and she sat next to him. It wasn't long before she started to shiver. 'Not surprising. What is with people and ridiculous shorts?" Blue thought to himself before offering his jacket to the girl.
"I'm OK thanks." She politely refused but after a more vigorous shiver and a raised eyebrow from Blue she finally accepted the offering. They sat there in silence for a while, puffing on their cigarettes and in Blue's case taking the occasional swig from one of his drinks before suddenly they heard the roar of a car approach them. A gold convertible zoomed past them screeching on the brakes as it went past. The convertible reversed back towards them revealing six girls and Ethan at the wheel, all of them quite intoxicated.
"Yo Lyra babe. Let's head back to my place. We're gonna have ourselves some mad fun!" Lyra, now he recognised her, he had seen her hanging around Ethan at the tournament. She was with him so often that he thought that she was his girlfriend.
"No it's OK Ethan, I have a place to stay already."
"C'mon babe. My place will be such a party!" She shook her head again.
"At least let me give you a ride back."
"I don't think you have enough space in that car." She joked "Don't worry I'll make my own way back."
"Tsk. Don't be like that babe."
"Ethan. It's OK" she said more sternly this time.
"Grrr. Oh hey Blue." Ethan finally spotted the gym leader. "Sorry about whooping your ass red and raw back then. Hope that spanking didn't hurt too much. But you know, got a record to maintain and all that. Best there is, best there was and best there ever will be, you feel me? Gotta keep my swag levels beyond swagpossible. Anyways catch ya later brav." With that Ethan sped away leaving a near boiling point Blue crushing his can into an intangible state.
"Hey I'm sorry for…."
"You don't need to apologise for you boyfriend. Maybe you should leave and go with him!" Blue sighed as he turned and saw the girl. She was staring at the ground sadly, her eyes slightly watery.
"Look I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry." He said tentatively, cautiously patting her on the shoulder.
"He's not my boyfriend." She mumbled out. "I hope.." she stopped mid-sentence. Blue didn't press the matter, there was obviously some kind of issue and it wasn't his place to pry into it. They sat in silence for quite some time before Blue offered to walk her home to which she simply nodded.
She cheered up on the way back as she asked him a few questions about his life. He wasn't that surprised that she knew quite a bit about him already, being the grandson of arguably the most famous person on the planet did put you in the media spotlight but he enjoyed the fact that she didn't fawn over him nor did she spew facts out to try and get on his good side. In turn he learned about her, a trainer as well though not an overly remarkable one, he got the feeling she had become a trainer to try and impress a certain someone but had found firm friends in her Pokémon along the way. Eventually they found themselves in front of the hotel where she was staying at.
"For what it's worth, you're actually a decent person." She said as she faced him.
"Thanks I guess."
"Best of luck Blue." She offered her hand which he shook before. She turned and walked towards her hotel. Just before she got inside she turned back to Blue.
"I don't know if I should be telling you this or even why I am but he can be beaten. In fact he has been beaten." Blue looked at her quizzically.
"He got really drunk one time and told me he had lost badly to someone, I don't think he remembers telling me. I wouldn't have believed him if he hadn't shown me his stats on his Pokédex. And there it was a ridiculous number of wins, zero draws but one loss." Blue looked at her dumbfounded.
"Are you sure? You're not lying to me are you? When did he loose? Who to?" His questions rapidly flew of his tongue.
"I'm not lying. I suppose you can ask you're grandfather, he can probably access Ethan's stats on his Pokédex. It happened not long after he beat you for your gym badge. He went away somewhere to do some training by himself, he came back bawling and hit the drink hard. I don't really know who he lost to though. All Ethan said was that all his Pokémon got knocked out by the one Pokémon the trainer used, a Pikachu."
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/9447488/1/The-Adventures-of-the-Forgotten-Trainer