Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blue should have been confused by the loud screaming that awoke him in the middle of the night. That was a lie, he was confused— in a way. Yet, what puzzled him was not the screaming itself, but rather the voice that was doing it.

Red’s voice.

Red, who was dead.

So, as any logical person would, he shrugged it off. It was late at night, Blue could have easily imagined it. The night loved to play tricks on one’s brain— Blue knew that all too well. Without a care to learn more about the screaming, he pushed his face back onto the pillows as if nothing happened, and fell asleep. Or so, he would— if it weren’t for the cold hand that tapped on his shoulder. Annoying enough, each tap left little jolts that irritated Blue off to no end.

“Blue? Is that you?” The stranger asked. His voice was Red’s— there was mistaken it.

But couldn’t be Red. Blue knew that much. He killed Red with his own damned hands; watched the life suck out of him. He watched the blood flow out of Red and taint everywhere, covering his own small hands. It couldn’t be Red. Whoever this was either wasn’t Red or wasn’t real.

To add on to his irritation, the stranger continued to tap, tap, tap on his shoulder. Repeating out his name, asking him to get up. How this stranger even knew his name was absolutely beyond him. Blue could only take so much tapping before slapping the hand away and turning up to face him.

“Leave me alone, I’m sleeping dammit!” Blue spat out the last word, too tired to care for polite greetings. On that note, he was never one for such polite greetings in the first place.

In the dark of the night, it took Blue’s eyes a moment to adjust, until he somewhat made out an outline of a face. A very familiar face, on that note. He squinted, blinked and even rubbed his eyes. That hardly changed anything, the stranger still looked exactly like Red. Too much like Red for Blue’s liking.

“Blue?” he asked again, in that stupid tone that Red would use whenever he used to greet Blue.

Blue screamed.

Blue screamed, and continued to scream even when the light flickered on. He could hardly register the loud footsteps that came in— nor the loud shouting that followed it— all he could focus on was Red.

Red, who remained in the room even after the lights were on. Red, who should have been a hallucination, but felt so real. Most of all, he couldn’t stop staring at Red’s eyes. For as long as Blue had known him, Red always had bright ruby eyes. This Red, however, had black eyes. They were a pit of darkness; something about that unsettled Blue.

Red’s eyes haunted his whole life; he knew more than anyone about what they looked like. However this— whatever the hell it was, didn’t have those eyes he knew all too well.

“Red? Is that you?” Daisy, who Blue hadn’t even noticed was next to him until then, asked in a shaking voice.

Red merely blinked.

“You can see him, too?” Blue whispered to Daisy. He had been so sure of this Red being a hallucination— not real in any way. After all, the dead didn’t come back to life.

Daisy answered Blue’s question with a slow, unsure nod. All of the sudden, Red’s face lit up.

“Oh Daisy! I didn’t know you could speak so much!” He clapped his hands together, grinning at his apparent great discovery. “This is so cool!”

Blue sputtered. Daisy brought a hand to her forehead; Blue could just barely hear her muttering something under her breath.

“Oh— and Blue!” Red turned to Blue, beaming brightly; far too much for Blue’s comfort. “What happened to your eyes? They’re so pretty now!”

He reached out to Blue face, to which he slapped Red’s hand away.

“Don’t fucking touch me! What happened to my eyes? What the fuck about you, huh?” He spat out. “They’re supposed to be red! Your eyes are pitch black!”

Red frowned, “Why are you so angry, Blue? Do you not like your eyes?”

Oh great, so his question would get ignored, is that how it is? Blue hated this new Red with a burning passion already.

“Now you listen here…” Blue started, intending to fight. Daisy held him back, shaking her head with a worried look.

“Let me deal with this child, Blue. Why don’t you get some sleep?” Daisy whispered gently. She looked so tired then, Blue wondered how long she would tolerate this Red for— he didn’t seem like he would listen to anything. Not to mention the nonsense he spoke; was he even Red in the first place?

Either way, Blue couldn’t complain about getting a break from Red.

Red could, however. He turned to Daisy with a gloomy face. “But I don’t want to say goodbye to Blue. Can’t I stay with him?”

Blue was quick to bark back a remark of how: no, he really didn’t want to see his damned face again, but Daisy was quicker.

“Blue is tired now, you’ll see him in the morning, okay?” Even with her careful words, Red’s pouting remained. Daisy sighed, and Blue couldn’t help but pity her. “I know, I’ll let you have some chocolate downstairs.”

Red’s scowl turned into a look of curiosity. “What’s chocolate?”

Blue groaned. There was no way this guy was real.

Daisy didn’t seem as fazed, however. “Why don’t you come downstairs and find out?”

With that, although reluctantly, Red followed Daisy away from Blue, and closed the door on his way out. Blue felt a sense of relief wash over him like none he had ever felt before, accompanied with a wave of exhaustion. Although his brain was trying desperately to process everything; to come up with a solution, his body was begging to go back to sleep.

Blue decided to turn off the lights, and give in. Chances were, when he woke up it would have been all a dream. If he asked Daisy about the new Red, she would look at him with a puzzled and concerned face— maybe even ask him if he were feeling okay.

He was sure of that— he would wake up and everything would be fine and normal once more.

It was not normal when Blue woke up.

Red remained, eating chocolate in their kitchen without a care in the world. From the amount of wrappers that scattered around the floor, Blue couldn't help but be concerned at how long he had been eating chocolate. He would be so pissed if there was none left.

Daisy gave Blue a tired smile as she spotted him. “I learned he likes chocolate.”

“I can tell.” Blue scoffed.

Red still had all of his enthusiasm from last night, dropping his chocolate and jumping up excitedly when he saw Blue.

“Blue’s awake! Blue’s awake!” He shouted in that annoying voice of his, and ran over excitedly to hug Blue. Blue pushed him away with a huff, slightly noticing the static feeling that he felt when he touched Red. He wondered why this Red always seemed like he was made of electricity.

That wasn’t his only wonder. This Red was incredibly talkative— it was extremely unsettling. The Red he had grown up would peek one word each month; this one spoke a mile an hour.

“Sorry,” Daisy apologized, picking Red away from Blue, even as Red kicked his legs and argued. “I couldn’t figure out much about him, but I don’t think he’s our Red.”

“I figured that much out.” Blue responded flatly.

“What are we going to do with him?” Daisy asked, sighing at the child who struggled in her arms.

That was the question indeed. Blue had no clue what to do with him. Deep inside, he wanted to kick him out, and never see him again. Although, the real Red was dead; that was a known fact. To have a dead child wandering around again— surely would lead to disaster. Blue wouldn't mind too much, but he was sure Daisy would care. That seemed to be the thing she was best at, and the thing that Blue lacked in.

“First, we should give him a name.” Blue hummed.

Both Daisy and Red blinked at him in confusion.

“Well, we can’t really call him Red…” Blue trailed off. He had been calling the strange child by the name Red this whole time, yet it felt so wrong. Although he looked and sounded like Red in a way, he just wasn’t Red. Therefore, his name couldn’t be Red.

Daisy silently nodded in agreement, but Red still seemed confused.

“Why? Why can’t I be Red?” He asked.

Daisy opened her mouth, but said nothing. She looked at Blue with careful, worried eyes. Blue bet she still thought he was traumatized by Red’s death— blissfully unaware that it was in fact Blue himself who killed Red. No matter, he would rather her believe ridiculous lies than him getting sent to jail.

“Because the name is already taken, dammit.” Blue decided on.

Red fell quiet after that, even went limp in Daisy’s arms like a pouting child.

Blue hummed, what would be a good name for this fake Red? He wasn’t exactly good at naming, yet Daisy made no moves to suggest a name. He figured he would focus on what made this Red different. The black eyes stuck out to him a lot, yet there was also his whole presence feeling like a bolt of electricity. His touches that jolted him, the hair that oddly looked like television static if he squinted. The overall feeling of how unreal he seemed. It felt like this Red was almost a sort of virtual person who came to life— although Blue had never heard of such a thing.

He crossed out the idea of naming him after a video game character— he didn’t think he knew a character that reminded him of this Red, anyways. His other idea was to name him Glitchy, as Red seemed like he came from an old broken glitched up television. That seemed like a badass name; perhaps too cool for this Red, though.

“What about Glitchy?” Blue decided to go with it, and instantly regretted suggesting it as he said it out loud. That was definitely a thought that sounded cooler in his head.

Daisy didn’t seem impressed, but the boy in her arms had a completely different reaction.

“Glitchy! Glitchy! I like it!” Glitchy cheered, accepting his new name far quicker than Blue had expected.

“Unbelievable.” Daisy muttered under her breath.

In his excitement over his new name, Glitchy jumped at Blue— who quickly shoved him off. Glitchy didn’t seem to take a hint, trying to hug Blue again, much to his annoyance.

“Dammit, what’s your issue?!” Blue lashed out while trying to pry Glitchy off him again. Glitchy’s ways of physical affection was yet another way he was different from Red— Red wasn’t fond of physical contact. Occasionally, he didn’t mind a hug or holding hands, but he liked his personal space. Glitchy had no sense of personal space.

“Please don’t fight…” Daisy begged as she pulled Glitchy away. “Blue, why don’t you go to the store? We ran out of chocolate.”

Well, that only made Blue hate Glitchy even more. He just bought that chocolate the other day, hoping to have it to himself. At this rate, he would never get to eat chocolate again— as long as Glitchy was still staying at the house.

“Right, right.” Blue groaned. “I’ll go.”

Despite his complaining, he enjoyed the opportunity to get away from Glitchy. He had only been with the mysterious boy for a few minutes, but it was enough to make his head hurt for the whole day. He couldn’t wait until they found a place to send Glitchy away to.

Glitchy didn’t enjoy Blue leaving as much as he did, whining and complaining as he left the house. Blue completely ignored him, leaving without casting him a single glance.

Daisy could handle Glitchy. Probably.

The fresh air felt nice against Blue’s skin; it had been so long since he enjoyed going outside. After his Pokémon journey, he hardly left the house. Even more so after the incident with Red— he hardly left his room on most days after that.

Although stepping outside of his house gave him a slap of cold hard reality— the reason why he holed up in his room all day. Stepping outside meant seeing Pallet, and all of its misery after the loss of their golden child. The citizens who he grew up with would glance at him with pitying eyes, trying to avoid him in a way. The flowers that used to grow in his backyard withered, no one bothering to care for them. The worst was the house next to his, and the memories it carried.

Red’s house.

Blue remembered.

He remembered the days they were children, and the Red he knew considered him a friend. Those days, he spent many hours in that house, always up to something with Red.

The only thing that house held these days was a lost and broken mother.

Blue didn’t regret killing Red— he didn’t think he ever would. Yet he hated seeing Red’s mother after his death. She was nothing more than a shadow of the woman she used to be, completely overcome by grief.

He hated it. He wanted to close his eyes, and run away from that damned miserable face she carried on her face each day.

So Blue couldn’t help but be nervous as he passed by Red’s old house. Begging, begging that Red’s mother wouldn't come out, and see him. He didn’t want to talk— he couldn’t talk. Especially when he thought of Glitchy, who was probably stealing more of his food back at his house.

He wondered how she would react to seeing Glitchy. Blue certainly hoped he wouldn't see that happening anytime soon.

It seemed his fears of running into Red’s mom were groundless, as he made it to the store without even seeing a glance of her. It was only then that Blue remembered he forgot to ask Daisy for money to buy chocolate. He would have to use his own pocket money.

Dammit.

Now he really was going to get pissed if Glitchy ate all of the chocolate.

With that in mind, he carefully pocketed a packet, with hopes of hiding it in his room for later. Maybe Glitchy would get tired of chocolate one day, and Blue would be at peace again. Until then, he had to be more careful about his snacks.

How annoying, Blue thought to himself for certainly not the first time.

He planned to go straight home quickly— to avoid any wandering Pallet citizens who thought of saying hello to him. Or worse, have a talk about Red’s death.

But somehow, he found his feet leading him to the graveyard. Maybe to visit his parents. Perhaps see Red. Blue wouldn’t know.

The graveyard was completely empty— not that it surprised Blue or anything. It wasn’t exactly a place that was often populated with people; usually Blue would only see one or two other people there.

Blue had never visited Red’s grave before; he only heard it was here from Daisy. Unlike Blue, Daisy came to visit their parents and Red often. Every week with the same bouquet of flowers. Blue wasn’t a flower expert— that was Daisy— so he didn’t even know their names. He couldn’t help but wonder about their meaning, though.

He found Red’s grave way quicker than he imagined. There were already flowers there; they weren’t Daisy’s. It could have been from anyone— everyone in Pallet absolutely adored Red. The same couldn’t be said for him, although Blue found himself not caring much.

Red’s grave felt… Wrong.

It served as a reminded of his death, as proof of his passing to the next life— or whatever the fuck happened after death. Despite this, there was another boy who was so like Red— yet absolutely nothing like him at the point that it hurt.

How could he sit there and look at a grave with Red’s name when Glitchy was still here?

He considered digging up the grave, to check if Red’s corpse really was there. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked away. Red was dead; Glitchy had to be someone else. Maybe a lost cousin of his— no, that hardly made sense. Nothing about Glitchy added up to him, and it frustrated Blue to no end.

He wanted to know.

He needed to know.

He would find out his answers as to who that boy really was, no matter how long it took him. Glitchy couldn’t be Red— not after Blue worked so hard to erase him from this world.

Blue, with no regrets for the sins he had done, planned to keep it that way.

“Say Blue, why are you angry all the time?”

It was Glitchy who asked that, to which Blue felt the strong urge to ignore him. Having nowhere else for the unexpected guest to sleep, Daisy set up a mattress on the floor of Blue’s room. To say that Blue hated this idea was an understatement— he absolutely despised it. Glitchy already bothered him as is, so sharing a room with him? Blue would never survive.

Thankfully Glitchy seemed to agree to stay on his corner of the room, and not come and hug Blue unexpectedly. That is to say, Blue had really not expected him to respect his rules. Not that he was complaining— Blue was fucking relieved, if anything.

However, that didn’t mean that Glitchy would shut up. Hence, came his many questions. Blue ignored most of the stupid ones, such as “What is sleep?”. However, this question caught his attention.

“You weren’t always this angry,” Glitchy continued, despite the lack of response. “Why are you angry now?”

“You say that as if you knew me before.” Blue decided to respond, curious if he would get some information on Glitchy’s background.

Glitchy hummed, and swung back and forth for a while. “I had a rival, his name was Blue. You’re different, though…” Glitchy trailed off, going silent as if he were thinking.

Blue snorted. “I’m sure I am different— we aren’t the same person.”

Despite being such a chatterbox, Glitchy gave him no response, still lost it in his thoughts. He sat with his knees close to his chest, swinging lightly back and forth. Even with him moving around, he didn’t open his mouth at all, completely lost in his mind. Somehow, Glitchy staying quiet was even worse than him talking— it didn’t fit him at all.

“I miss my mom,” Glitchy suddenly said. “I wonder if she’s here…” He muttered the last part to himself.

Blue certainly hoped that he didn’t mean Red’s mother.

He could hardly ask either, for Glitchy had somehow managed to completely fall asleep on his bed in a matter of seconds. Blue didn’t understand how he fell asleep so quickly, but decided to enjoy the silence. Chances were that Glitchy would wake up only ten minutes later and go back to chattering about nonsense Blue didn’t understand.

Blue’s only guess as to where Glitchy came from was another world— likely one that was extremely similar to theirs. A sort of parallel world, perhaps. He would be the Red of that world, which explained why he was so familiar with Blue and Daisy, yet not at the same time.

However, that reasoning made no sense to Blue. Coming from another world? Such things only happened in fiction. This was reality.

Then again, Blue supposed Glitchy’s whole existence wasn’t very realistic: he came out of nowhere, he shared the body of a dead man, he didn’t even look real half of the time. His hair always seemed to have a strange static look, and his touches were always electric. Blue had never heard of any sort of real person like Glitchy.

His head was always buzzing with questions; hardly any of them had answers. He wondered if Glitchy even knew the answers to the questions he held. If anything, Glitchy seemed more confused than Blue was.

He didn’t even know about basic necessities such as sleep and eating— hell, he seemed completely unaware of half of his five senses until recently. He acted like it was his first day being alive, constantly discovering the most basic of things. He was also very afraid of unusual things— speaking of nonsense Blue has never heard of. He had no clue what a soft block was, but according to Glitchy, it was very painful.

It was as if Glitchy constantly expected the world to collapse under him; Blue wondered what kind of life he lived before.

Wondering got him nowhere, though. Not to mention how his eyes felt heavier each passing second. Blue figured it was a good time to sleep, while Glitchy was still down.

Blue didn’t remember when he fell asleep— in fact he didn’t realize he fell asleep at all until he was awoken by someone shaking him.

“Blue! Wake up!”

Blue groaned. This was the second time Glitchy woke him up. Did he plan to do this every morning?

“Blue, I think I died for a second!” Glitchy continued with his daily nonsense. Blue found himself too tired to care, blinking at Glitchy with beady eyes.

“Everything went dark for a minute and—” Glitchy rambled on, but Blue tuned him out for the most part.

Of course Glitchy who doesn’t know what sleeping is would think that he was dead. He wondered why Glitchy had never questioned why Blue sleeps— then again, Blue wondered if he was even smart enough to ask.

“You were just asleep, Glitchy. Now leave me alone.” Blue mumbled out, fighting back the urge to fall asleep right then.

“But,” Glitchy gripped onto Blue’s shirt. “I’m scared.”

Blue scowled. What was he, a child? Then again, Blue supposed they were both children— there was no way Glitchy was older than him. He assumed Glitchy must be around the same age as Red, who would have been eleven. Still, eleven was a bit old to be getting scared in the middle of the night.

Unfortunately for Blue, Glitchy was stubborn. He likely wouldn’t let go of his shirt until he got up.

“Fine, fine.” Blue pulled himself up. “Have you ever played on the N64 before?”

Glitchy blinked. Blinked again. Then shook his head.

“Is Blue going to play with me?” Glitchy suddenly had a huge grin on his face.

“It’s not like I have much choice in the matter,” Blue grumbled in his head.

Red had always been good at games, and made competitive multiplayer games more interesting than when Blue played by himself. Perhaps Glitchy would do the same— assuming he didn’t try to eat the controller while trying to figure out what it was.

With that, Blue turned on the television that stood in the middle of his room. Glitchy sat, swinging back and forth in excitement as he watched Blue set it up.

“This is a newer console so don’t fucking break it.” Blue threatened as he handed one of the controllers to Glitchy.

Glitchy nodded, his face bright with excitement.

Blue inserted Mario Kart 64 in the console. He never played this game with Red before— Red had died around the time it was released.

Turns out, Glitchy was nowhere near as good as Red had been. He should have expected that, watching as Glitchy’s car went backwards for a good minute.

“I think I’m winning!” Glitchy declared.

A statement far from the truth.

Unexpectedly, Blue found himself enjoying himself. For the most part, he enjoyed watching Glitchy fail again and again, and ignored him when he begged for instructions. It was far more fun to watch Glitchy attempt to learn the controls by himself.

Even then, as they played for hours, Blue struggled to get himself comfortable around Glitchy. His voice— his laugh sounded exactly like Red’s. He shared his smile, his frown— Red’s whole face, really.

It felt like playing with the spirit of the man he killed just a few months ago.

It unsettled him.

So as he did when he used to with Red, he kept his guard up around Glitchy. Keeping a careful distance; both physically and mentally. Even as Glitchy reached to him with an open hand— just as Red did all of those years ago.

Blue didn’t accept his hand.

Blue couldn’t accept his hand.

He and Red weren’t friends.

He and Glitchy weren’t friends.

Glitchy started a garden in their backyard.

A very small one— of course, it was Daisy’s idea.

Blue didn’t care for flowers, so he wasn’t particularly interested in watching Glitchy and Daisy grow them. Yet, Daisy insisted that Blue should join them, just to be there with the family. He didn’t know when Glitchy became family, but Daisy considered many people to be family.

Including their own grandfather, who hadn’t come home in months. In a way, he supposed that was lucky of them— with Glitchy staying at the house. Blue wasn’t exactly excited to see his reaction to Glitchy. Red had always been his favorite child, and he showed even more after Red’s death. His reaction to seeing a boy who looks exactly like Red living in their house like a normal kid wouldn’t be a pretty one.

Daisy thought of that before, reassuring Blue that she would take care of everything if that happened. Daisy was more well liked by their grandfather than Blue, he supposed. Perhaps she would have a better chance at dealing with the old man. Blue really didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t involved. He decided to cut ties with his grandfather a long time ago, and didn’t plan to patch things up anytime soon.

Despite his rocky relationship with his grandfather, Daisy insisted family was the most important thing. Which was how Blue found himself sitting outside on a hot day, watching as Glitchy and Daisy started their own little garden. He wasn’t even allowed to bring his gameboy out, which left him incredibly bored.

Still, he would rather be bored than go out in the sun with Daisy and Glitchy. Blue had always hated the heat.

Glitchy asked Blue to join them more than a couple of times. Almost every twenty minutes he would wander his way back to Blue’s chair, and beg him to join them. He could already see Glitchy making his way to Blue; he knew what he was going to say before it even left his mouth.

“Blue! Come plant the flowers with me!” Glitchy grinned as if it wasn’t the third time he came to Blue in the past hour.

“No. I’m not leaving this chair.” Blue sighed. It didn’t matter what he said, Glitchy never listened to him.

“Why?” Glitchy had the nerve to ask.

“It’s too hot out.” Blue responded lamely.

Glitchy hummed like he did when he was confused, as Blue expected. Something like heat hardly bothered Glitchy, for some reason. He mentioned during one of his rambles that where he came from, change in temperatures wasn’t really a thing. He figured Glitchy would be sensitive to heat then, but learned it was quite the opposite. Which made Blue once again the only person in Pallet who hated warm temperatures.

He didn’t know why he was surprised by Glitchy’s enjoyment of the weather, Red had always been the same. Red was even insane enough to live on a snowy mountain by himself for a while. Blue wondered if Glitchy even knew what snow was.

“It’s okay, Blue! You can beat the heat! I believe in you!” Glitchy cheered him on, completely missing the point.

Dammit, Blue was going to get a headache at this point.

Being too tired to struggle, he let Glitchy drag him over to his garden. Blue couldn’t understand what Glitchy found so exciting about the garden; it was nothing but dirt. He vividly remembered thinking the same thing when Daisy tried to start a garden with him when he was younger. Being too small to understand how flowers work, Blue assumed they would grow right away. He lost interest very quickly when he learned it was a long process.

Blue didn’t expect Glitchy to be a flower person anyways— he seemed too impatient for that. Even so, he sat patiently as Daisy explained about the flowers that each seed contained.

“Here,” Daisy handed Blue a packet. “You can plant these ones.”

Blue squinted at the packet in hand to read the unbelievably small handwriting on them. Daisies, of course. What else did Blue expect? Turns out, the whole garden was going to be full of different kinds of daisies. They were always Daisy’s favorite, so she constantly had seeds of them on hand.

Funny enough, Blue felt the exact opposite. He wasn’t too fond of daisies— as a flower, that is. His sister could be okay on most days, though.

Awkwardly, Blue stuck the seeds in the ground. Glitchy constantly leaned over his shoulder and asked him if he needed help, to which Blue would swat him away. He could plant a couple of seeds just fine, dammit. The day he asked Glitchy for help over something was the day that hell would freeze over.

“It’s done! It’s done!” Glitchy clapped his hands excitedly. Blue learned very quickly that Glitchy’s reaction to seeing something he liked was to clap. A bit of a ridiculous reaction, but Glitchy was a ridiculous person in general.

“Good job you two!” Daisy congratulated both of them. “I can take care of it from here, why don’t you two go play?”

Blue really didn’t want to play with Glitchy, but he was grateful to get out of the sun. He quickly began to miss planting flowers though, as the second he stepped back in the house Glitchy started to chatter.

“We should be Pokémon rivals, Blue! It would be so much.” Glitchy blabbered on as he skipped up the stairs to Blue’s room.

Blue wrinkled his nose in disgust. Glitchy as his rival? No thanks.

“You don’t even have Pokémon, Glitchy.” Blue pointed out. He surely hoped Glitchy wasn’t going to make Blue catch one for him. The only Pokémon he had on hand— his Eevee— wasn’t even home. Blue’s grandfather annoyed him into letting him borrow his Eevee for a while. Some stupid research on evolution. Blue finally gave him, and let his grandfather have the Pokémon as long as he didn’t evolve her. He did mention that he would send back Eevee soon, which Blue looked forward to greatly.

“No Pokémon…” Glitchy muttered to himself, as if he had completely forgotten.

Was Glitchy a trainer in the past? Blue couldn't help but wonder. He never seemed surprised by the existence of Pokémon, even listed off his own favorites. He did seem to have a strong dislike for Bulbasaur, although Blue didn’t care enough to ask about it. Glitchy had a strong attachment to Blue’s Pikachu Pokédoll— of course, another thing he shared with Red. Red always loved Pikachu.

“Then Blue should get me a Pokémon!” Glitchy nodded.

Of course, he knew it would come to this.

“Hell no, go annoy Daisy for that.”

Glitchy scowled. “Why not? Daisy said you were champion once.”

Of course Daisy had to open her big mouth. Blue would rather forget about his whole time as champion— it only lasted around an hour or two after all. He wasn’t really a real champion, despite what the Hall of Fame said. Red was the one who was remembered as the champion; Red was the real champion.

“I just can’t right now.” Was all Blue could say.

Glitchy hummed before nodding. “So when you can, we’ll be rivals?”

Did Blue even have a choice in the matter? Knowing Glitchy, the answer was no. Even if he said he wouldn’t be his rival, Glitchy would continue to ask him everyday as if nothing happened. Maybe he would even tell Daisy about it— in that case, he was completely screwed. Daisy had been nagging him about getting a new friend the last few months after Red’s death, she would surely take this as her opportunity.

“Sure, whatever. We’ll see.” Blue shrugged. Hopefully, if he agreed, then Glitchy would completely forget about the whole thing in a week. Or if he was lucky, in a day.

“Yay! Blue and I are rivals!” Glitchy cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. “Since we’re rivals, we need to do cool rival things!”

Blue had never regretted agreeing to something so much in his life. He couldn’t even possibly begin to imagine what ‘cool rival things’ was— he and Red never did anything special when they were rivals. Really, it was Blue who started the rivalry, with a determination to beat Red at the league. Something about the way Red’s eyes burned with a powerful fire each time he fought with his Pokémon.

He wondered if Glitchy had a similar fire, or if he really was completely different from Red.

Glitchy started to list off his so-called ‘cool rival things’ as Blue ignored him. Most of them were hardly related to rivals all— sounded more like a thing that close friends would do.

Could he even call his and Red’s relationship to be close friends? Sure, in the old days they were constantly together, but Blue had never seen Red as someone to be a friend. Has Blue ever had a time where considered anyone to be a friend, really? The only person who always stuck by his side was Red, but he and Red were complicated. Friends, enemies, rivals— none of those words really described how Blue felt about Red. The rest of the world considered them friends, unaware of the truth, but Blue didn’t think there existed a name to explain the sort of the relationship they had.

Glitchy was even more confusing to Blue. A Red who wasn’t Red, how the hell was he supposed to think of that? He wanted to hate him, to fight him, yet all he felt was a weird empty feeling. Not friends, not enemies. Perhaps not even rivals. Just like how he was with Red.

He wondered if he would end up killing Glitchy as well, one day.

“Oh! I know! We should get matching bracelets too!”

Blue suddenly froze. Matching bracelets. Almost like when—

“They’re friendship bracelets,”

Blue covered his ears and shut his eyes. He didn’t want to remember, he didn’t want to remember, he didn’t want to remember—

“Mom said that they connect souls.”

“We are not getting matching bracelets!” Blue suddenly whipped around, snapping at Glitchy.

Glitchy froze, shutting his mouth quicker than Blue had ever seen him done before.

Damn Glitchy— damn him and his obsession with being friends or rivals or whatever the hell he wanted at this point. Damn Red for being the same exact way— constantly living in a fake world where he and Blue were the closest friends Pallet had ever seen.

Did Glitchy tend to get close to him as well? Connect souls or whatever nonsense Red enjoyed? Blue didn’t want that— the thought filled him with a swirling suffocating feeling in his chest that he couldn’t pull out. The suffocating feeling grew and grew, reaching far further than just his chest.

He needed to get out of here.

Stumbling, Blue pushed the frozen Glitchy aside, running out of the room. He tripped down the stairs once, twice— he needed to get out of there.

He hardly made it to the door before Daisy stopped right in front of him.

“What’s wrong, Blue?”

Blue could barely make out her words, feeling like he was stuck underwater. He tried to push her away to get to the door— to get out already, dammit— but Daisy’s grip on his shoulders was stronger.

“Did something happen?” She tried to ask again.

“Fuck off, Daisy.” Blue spat out. Why wouldn't she let him leave? This room— this house was suffocating. He needed to get out, he needed to get out— that was the only thing his panicked mind could think.

“I will not fuck off!” Daisy raised her voice, which caused Blue to flinch.

“Sorry—” she apologized quickly, lowering her voice. “I’m worried, Blue. Can’t you let me in?”

God, Blue hated these talks. The last time Daisy used that voice on him was at the hospital, when he tried to kill himself after killing Red. Daisy, being unaware of Blue’s sins, foolishly tried to help him. She was constantly offering him help— help that he didn’t need.

He knew. He knew it would come back to this after Glitchy appeared. It was bound to happen at some point. He knew he couldn’t keep running away from Daisy, but he wanted to so badly. He wanted to push her away and run until he was far, far away from Pallet and never saw anyone again. Daisy would prefer Glitchy as a younger brother anyways, Blue knew the truth.

“Please,” Daisy moved her hands from Blue’s shoulders to his hands, and squeezed them. “Talk to me.”

Blue said nothing, staring at Daisy’s hands.

“Is it because Glitchy looks like…” Daisy didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t need to, really. Blue already knew.

Of course it was about Glitchy who looked exactly like Red. How the hell was he not supposed to be upset? The person who he was stuck with his whole life, who he killed, only to be stuck with him once again. Blue still couldn’t even wrap his head around the idea of Glitchy being real or alive— what if it was all fake? A hallucination?

Tears poured out— Blue hadn’t even realized he was crying until Daisy pulled him into a hug. He stiffened, feeling awkward.

“I’m so sorry,” Daisy rubbed his back. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Blue stood there awkwardly in Daisy’s embrace, listening to her attempts of reassurance. It meant nothing to Blue; once again Daisy didn’t see the full picture. She only saw her little brother who had lost a friend, and was suddenly given an odd replacement. She didn’t see the murderer who’s victim came back to haunt him— to remind him of what he had done. Daisy wouldn’t be hugging him if she knew, if she saw the truth.

So even as she whispered out words of how she would always be there for him, he knew she was lying. He always knew. And yet, like the foolish actor he was, he played along.

He could do nothing more than play Daisy’s poor innocent brother, after all.

Glitchy was beginning to get antsy around the house, and it clearly showed.

Constantly, Blue and Daisy would hear a thud or a crash followed by Glitchy’s nervous laughter. Each time, Blue and Daisy prayed that it wasn’t something of much value.

For the most part, Daisy was the one putting an effort to keep Glitchy in line. Blue didn’t really care, as long as the house wasn’t on fire. Or if it was one of his things, then he cared very much.

Daisy had more patience than anyone Blue had ever known. Not once did she get mad at Glitchy each time he managed to break yet another vase. She always gently reminded him to be careful, and to watch his step since those vases cannot be replaced. Glitchy would always nod and promise he would be careful, yet he seemed to be very bad at sticking to his promises.

Glitchy constantly talked about how he wanted to go outside again. Even with his ridiculous fear of this softblock thing. Which, according to Glitchy, was a thing that occurred when he went outside. He would constantly assure Blue that it didn’t bother him enough to keep him in, and that while it hurt, he would rather go out and see things.

Blue never really fully understood what a softblock was and how it hurt, but he constantly had to remind Glitchy that: no, he couldn’t go outside yet. To which Glitchy would pout, and maybe even be childish enough to give Blue the silent treatment for the rest of the day. Personally, Blue took that opportunity for some peace and quiet.

Since their little fight, Glitchy hadn’t mentioned the rivalry too much, but he seemed determined to stick to it. The second Blue’s Eevee came back home he begged Blue to go out and get him a Pikachu— to which Blue said no.

Glitchy, being as insistent as he was, would get his way at some point; Blue knew that much. Even then, he didn’t exactly have the energy to go all the way to Viridian Forest just to get a single Pikachu. Daisy seemed to be on Glitchy’s side for that one, reminding Blue that he should get a Pikachu soon.

Glitchy was even insistent on Blue getting a new Pokémon as well, so they both had a fresh start. Blue didn’t really like the idea of using a Pokémon other than his Eevee, who he had grown really comfortable with, but it was true it wasn’t exactly fair. If Blue was going to play along with Glitchy, he might as well play fair. Otherwise, he would definitely get a big lecture from Daisy.

Blue hated Daisy’s little talks.

Glitchy had decided that his mother was indeed here. To make things worse, he was convinced his mother was Red’s mom. Blue supposed he shouldn’t have been too surprised, yet it was really the worst possible outcome.

Glitchy saw her once, passing through the window. He jumped up excitedly with an:

“That’s my mama! That’s my mama!”

It took both Daisy and Blue to hold him back from opening the window and jumping out to see her. Glitchy cried and struggled within their grip, even kicking Blue in the face. Blue scowled, holding back the urge to kick Glitchy back.

It took Glitchy a while before he calmed down, his eyes welling up with tears.

“Why can’t I see my mama?” He asked, his voice shaking.

“Glitchy…” Daisy carefully rubbed his back. Of course, neither of the siblings could tell him the real reason why.

“I promise I won’t hurt her,” Glitchy sobbed. “She’s my mama…”

Blue could do nothing but stand there as Glitchy sobbed, with Daisy offering the very little comfort she could give. Ever since that day, Glitchy spent time looking out the window.

Waiting.

Likely for Red’s mother— Glitchy’s mother to come by.

What were they supposed to do about it? The Oak siblings had that talk almost daily. They couldn’t keep Glitchy inside forever, they couldn’t hide him away from Red’s mom, but it wasn’t like they could do the opposite either. Both of them were completely stuck. Blue wished he didn’t care as much as he insisted he did.

At night, Glitchy hardly slept.

Most of the time, Blue ignored him. He wasn’t like Daisy, he couldn’t comfort Glitchy. He would much rather sleep.

Although, one particular night, he couldn’t sleep himself. Mainly, because Glitchy decided to turn off the television and stare at the blue empty screen. The light was too bright for Blue to ignore and sleep with, so he sat up and turned to Glitchy.

“Would you please turn that thing off.” He hissed.

Glitchy blinked at Blue. “How do you make the game work?”

Blue grumbled. He didn’t trust Glitchy to play games by himself while he slept, so he pulled himself out of bed.

“Mario Kart again?” Blue asked as he powered on the N64.

“The car game?”

“Yes,” Blue sighed. “The car game.”

Glitchy grinned. “I love the car game.”

Blue really didn’t know how he did, considering he always got in last place. No matter, Blue enjoyed beating Glitchy each time, even when the match was clearly uneven.

They played in silence for the most part, with small comments every now and then. Glitchy mentioned he loved the music from the game, and how he could listen to it for ages. So often, Glitchy talked way less when they would play Mario Kart; just so he could sit and enjoy the music.

“Do you have a mama, Blue?” Glitchy suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

“She died when I was five.” Blue responded.

Once again, silence filled the air.

“Do you miss her?”

Blue hummed. Did he miss his mother? He remembered her being sweet, and caring. Yet, as time went on, he completely forgot things about her. At this point, he couldn’t remember her face, or her hair color, or much of anything. Just vividly remembered a warmth that he enjoyed so long ago.

“No.” Blue decided on. How could he miss someone he hardly remembers?

“I miss my mama.” Glitchy said.

”I know.” Blue thought. He didn’t respond.

The last few hours of them playing was in complete silence again. The only reason why they stopped was because Glitchy fell asleep during a race. Blue always noticed that about Glitchy; how he always didn’t go to sleep until he was completely worn out and his body gave up. He never went to bed without a fight.

Blue couldn’t possibly understand, his favorite thing was to sleep. Sleep was an escape from everything. Thoughts, feelings, all sorts of things. Very rarely did Blue have nightmares, nor did he have dreams, so it always gave him a break from the world.

Glitchy, though, was terrified of that.

Blue hardly got any sleep in the end, just barely getting an hour or two before having to get up. He hardly had the energy to pull himself downstairs. Glitchy has plenty of energy though, once again jumping all over the place. Blue was maybe a bit envious.

Daisy greeted both of them with a smile. Blue wondered how pissed she would get if she learned they spent most of the night playing games.

“Good morning you guys! Today all three of us are going out, okay?” Daisy said, as set their breakfast on the table.

“Yay!” Exclaimed Glitchy.

“Oh great.” Grumbled Blue.

Blue didn’t know what made Daisy suddenly decide they could take Glitchy out, but he supposed she had a plan in mind. When it came to these sorts of things, Daisy always knew better than Blue.

“Glitchy needs to dress up special before he can go out, though.” Daisy winked at Blue.

Ah, so that’s how it was. Blue didn’t know how he was supposed to disguise Glitchy so he didn’t look like Red, but it really was their best opinion.

“Fine, I’ll look for something in my closet.” Blue mumbled as he chewed on his breakfast. He really wished he didn’t stay up most of the night.

Glitchy seemed confused, blinking and humming at the two. He never asked, though. The entire breakfast was filled with Glitchy’s happy whistling, as he kicked his legs. The whistling only made Blue’s head hurt more, but hissing at Glitchy to stop would do nothing. He figured he would take some pills and hope for the best for the rest of the day.

Dressing up Glitchy was difficult, to say the least.

He hardly fit in most of Blue’s clothes for one, being just a bit too small for most of them. Thankfully, Blue had some old ones laying around that he found.

Even so, they could hardly cover up his face, which was the part that looked most like Red. They ended up sticking on giving him a new hat and some fake glasses— Glitchy really disliked the glasses. Constantly complaining about how uncomfortable and weird they felt on his face. He would then argue how Blue and Daisy didn’t need to wear different clothes to go out. Somehow, that resulted in Blue being stuck with his own fake glasses.

“So I think we should take Glitchy out to Viridian Forest and catch him that Pikachu he wanted.” Daisy explained her plan.

Glitchy nodded excitedly, while Blue grumbled. He had a feeling Daisy would pull something like this at some point, it was only a matter of time. Of course she would make it a big family trip too; she was obsessed with this so-called family time.

Although Blue couldn’t say he was completely against the idea. Mainly, he was interested in seeing Glitchy’s reactions to new surroundings. Glitchy had hardly given them much information on where he came from, or who he really was. All Blue could do was stick to his idea of Glitchy somehow being a Red from another world.

Going outside would aid Blue with figuring out more of his theory. After all, Red had been born in Pallet Town, so perhaps Glitchy would have a reaction to walking around the town. Blue already expected him to have a reaction to Red’s house, since he recognized Red’s mother as his own.

But what about other sights of Pallet? Other citizens? Red had been familiar enough with a good majority of the people that lived there, although he always had difficulty with names. Glitchy seemed way more social, perhaps he used to be friends with everyone in Pallet where he came from.

Blue was curious— he wanted desperately more than anything to understand Glitchy and where he came from. Since the man himself wouldn’t give much information he could understand, he would simply have to learn on his own.

Though, when the time came for them to leave, Glitchy didn’t want to step out of the house. He stood there nervously with shaking hands. The look on his face almost reminded him of the last look Red ever gave Blue. He suddenly felt dizzy.

“What’s the matter, Glitchy?” Daisy asked, tilting her head to the side.

“If I get soft blocked, then you guys will be gone.” Glitchy explained as he fiddled with the hem of his jacket.

Daisy gave a puzzled look to Blue, who shrugged in response.

“I promise we’ll be right here, okay?” Daisy tried. “If you want, I’ll hold your hand. That way, you can hold on if you feel like I’m going away.”

Blue really just wanted to leave, but he couldn’t exactly push Glitchy out, so he stood there and waited. Glitchy seemed unsure, but he took Daisy’s hand nonetheless.

“On the count of three, you’ll step out.”

Glitchy nodded, gripping Daisy’s hand tighter.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Glitchy stepped out, his eyes screwed shut. It took him a few minutes to open them again, very slowly. Then, he looked around, somehow genuinely surprised that he was okay. Blue couldn’t help but wonder about the kind of hellish place Glitchy lived in before.

“See, you did just fine. We didn’t go anywhere.” Daisy beamed.

Glitchy grinned back. “Thank you, Blue and Daisy!”

Blue had no clue why he was thanking him, all he did was stand and watch. Still, he decided there was no point in saying that, and started the leave. The sooner he got to Viridian, the sooner he would get home.

Blue kept a close eye on Glitchy as they passed through Pallet. Sure enough, he seemed to recognize the place, in a way. He even gave a longing look back at Red’s house, only proving Blue’s theory further. That only made Blue wonder more, though. If Glitchy really was a Red from another world, then why would he end up here? In Blue’s room during the middle of the night no less?

It made no sense to him, and he doubted Glitchy knew much either. It didn’t seem like he came here on purpose, but Blue hadn’t done anything to trigger his arrival either. Perhaps it was his curse. A reminder for killing Red, in a way. The gods of the world really seemed to hate him, after all.

Glitchy started to get nervous again when they went into the tall grass. Each time they ran into a Pokémon, Glitchy would stand back and hold Daisy’s hand while Blue battled with his Eevee. He started to wonder if Glitchy really was a trainer, getting so jumpy at each battle. Perhaps it had something to do with the softblock thing that Glitchy always spoke of. At this rate, their rivalry wouldn’t go far.

Viridian City was close to Pallet, only taking them around a half an hour to arrive. Glitchy seemed to recognize Viridian as well, eying each building they passed by with a look of nostalgia. He would blink in confusion at the things he didn’t recognize— likely, the things that didn’t exist in his Viridian City.

Walking around for a while seemed to build his confidence, though. He even offered to lead the way to Viridian Forest, to which Blue and Daisy followed.

Blue hadn't been to the Viridian Forest in over a year, but the forest remained unchanged. Full of bug Pokémon and bug catchers— not anything particularly interesting. Still, Glitchy had regained all of his energy, bouncing all over the damned forest as he searched for the Pikachu that he would soon call his own.

“Mr. Pikachu!” Glitchy called out in a sing-song tone. “Mr. Pikachu, where are you?”

“If you scream like that, then no Pokémon will come over.” Blue hissed out at Glitchy.

Despite Blue’s words, a Pikachu stumbled out of the grass, staring at Glitchy with wide, curious eyes. Of course a Pikachu would come right when Blue said it wouldn’t— Pikachu had a history of pulling this shit on him.

“There he is!” Glitchy cheered. “Go catch him!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Blue reached for the Pokéball from his belt.

Having a closer look at the Pikachu, he seemed worn out. Perhaps he had just come back from a battle with another Pokémon. It made Blue’s job a hell lot easier, though. His Eevee was a bit too strong to fight the poor Pikachu without instantly fainting him.

While the wild Pikachu stared at Glitchy as if he was the most interesting thing in the world, Blue threw the ball. The Pikachu didn’t even flinch, going into the ball without any struggle. It was likely the easiest catch Blue had ever gotten.

“Yes!” Glitchy jumped up and down, spun in a circle for a while, before running to the ball. “His name is Pika! He’s my Pika!”

Blue froze.

Pika… That was the same name that Red had given to his own Pikachu. Red’s Pikachu was a girl, but she shared that same look of curiosity that day that Red picked her. Blue suddenly felt dizzy— on the corner of his eye he could see Daisy giving him a look of concern.

It was fine.

Glitchy wasn’t Red. Red was dead.

Lots of people named their Pikachu that. Pika was a very common name— it was just a coincidence. Nothing more than that.

“Okay you got to the Pikachu— let’s go heal him and go home already.” Blue said quickly, turning on his heel and speed walking away. He needed a nap, his head was spinning too much.

Glitchy and Daisy hummed in agreement, and followed behind him. Thankfully, Daisy made no comment, but Blue bet she knew. She was familiar with Red’s Pika herself. After Red had passed away, his Pika moved in with his mother. Daisy still visited Red’s mother very often— nearly every week. Blue hadn’t seen her in months.

Glitchy held on tight to the Pokéball that held his new Pokémon as they walked in Viridian City. His grip tightened as he got closer to the Pokémon Center— suddenly all of his excitement and enthusiasm was gone. His face was completely pale when the Pokémon Center came into view.

“Do we need to go there?” Glitchy suddenly blurted out.

Blue scowled. He really didn’t not want to waste anymore time here. “It’s free and it’s quick.”

Blue held out his hand, waiting for Glitchy to give him the Pokéball. Glitchy only clung to it tighter and shook his head.

“But it hurts…” he muttered under his breath.

Blue rolled his eyes. “It’s a damn hospital for the Pokémon, Glitchy. It does the exact opposite of hurting.”

Glitchy shook his head, and put the Pokéball behind his back. “Pika and I aren’t going in there.”

Of course Glitchy was going to be stubborn about this— Red was always stubborn when things didn’t go his way. Before Blue could jump up to snap at Glitchy, Daisy stepped in.

“Nurse Joy wouldn’t hurt anyone, Glitchy.” She explained patiently. “Why don’t you go in and see?”

Glitchy stared reluctantly.

“If you want, Blue will heal his Eevee before you.” Daisy suggested.

Blue really saw no reason in doing that, since his Eevee was just fine. However they would never get home at this rate, so he nodded in agreement. Glitchy looked nervously from Daisy, to Blue, to the Pokéball in his hands.

“You promise it will be okay?” Glitchy rubbed the top of the Pokéball with his thumb.

“I promise.” Daisy smiled. Blue merely tapped his foot impatiently.

Hearing Daisy’s response, Red carefully dropped the Pokéball he was holding into Blue’s hand. Blue didn’t miss how much his hands were shaking then, and the look of pure fear was back in his eyes. God, Blue hated when Glitchy carried that face— it didn’t suit him at all.

Glitchy stuck close to Daisy as he carefully watched Blue walk up to the counter. Blue had to admit, it made him feel a bit nervous. He didn’t like being stared at, and Glitchy’s eyes unsettled him. Nonetheless, Blue greeted Nurse Joy at the counter with the best smile he could give. Which wasn’t a very big one, but it was more than he usually gave.

“Welcome to the Pokémon Center, are you here to heal your Pokémon?” Nurse Joy asked— Blue had that little greeting memorized by now from the amount of times he heard it already.

“Yeah, only one.” He put Pika’s Pokéball on the counter.

“By the way, is your friend okay?” Nurse Joy asked as she picked up the Pokéball.

Blue blinked in confusion, before turning around and seeing Glitchy. His eyes were wider than before, and he hadn’t stopped shaking either. He looked like he saw a ghost— or perhaps even looked like the ghost itself.

“He’s fine.” Blue hummed, not too concerned. “He’s always weird like that.”

Nurse Joy didn’t seem to think the same, the concern never washing off her face, but she did her job nonetheless. Since Pika only had a few scratches here and there, it only took a few minutes before the Pokéball was back in Blue hands. He thanked Nurse Joy briefly before returning to Glitchy.

His face was still pale.

He hardly seemed to notice Blue, staring off into space. Blue wondered if he even saw that his Pokémon was healed— or hell, if he even knew where he was.

“Look, Pika is back now!” Daisy gestured to the Pokéball in Blue’s hands. “See, everything went okay.”

That didn’t bring any color to Glitchy’s face, but he still took the Pokéball and brought it to his chest. Glitchy stayed that way the entire walk back home. With his horrified face and the death grip on the Pokéball, not squeaking out a single word.

Blue stared at Glitchy, wishing desperately he could see what was happening in that brain of his. See what he saw, what made him so terrified. Even when nothing happened, that hardly calmed his nerves at all. Blue was surprised he didn’t start crying.

Blue wished that Glitchy would cry— at least he would be making some kind of noise. No talking, no sobbing, no humming, nothing came out of him. Not even when they arrived back home, where it was safe again. Glitchy merely stumbled up the stairs to Blue’s room and shut the door.

Well, there went Blue’s plans of napping peacefully in his bed— he doubted he could sleep with Glitchy like that. Instead, he set himself up on the couch, with the help of Daisy fishing out spare blankets and pillows from her room.

“Do you think it was a bad idea to take him out?” Daisy asked as she handed Blue a pillow.

Blue didn’t have an answer for her.

All he had were questions— so many unanswered questions. Yet they all resolved around Glitchy; who only gave him more questions. It frustrated him. He hated it more than anything. But what else could Blue do?

Blue drifted off to sleep the same way as he did many nights before; with never ending questions. This time, though, Glitchy's face haunted him. The look he carried— the same one Red did that day.

It seems that no matter how hard Blue tried, he could never really escape Red, in the end.

He would always find his way back, one way or another.

Chapter Text

Glitchy still remembered home.

Home, where his mama sat at the table as she always did. Home, where the same song that followed him everywhere played, silently droning in his head. Home, where he would hear her say again and again:

“Right… All boys leave home someday.”

Mama did not have many words to say, but Glitchy never minded. It had always been that way, after all. Years and years of Glitchy sitting there and listening over and over again as she repeated her lines.

“Red! You should take a quick rest.” Mama would say whenever Glitchy came by with his Pokémon. He would always spend that rest sitting there and explaining the things he saw, even as she didn’t respond.

Even after the world reset and broke again and again, Glitchy would always find himself back home, to his mother’s familiar dialogue. Sometimes, before leaving home to face his whole journey once more, he would linger around at home, sitting next to his mama at the table. Telling her all sorts of stories, even when her mouth didn’t move and her expression didn’t change. It was fine— it had always been this way. Therefore, it didn’t really matter to Glitchy.

He loved home, he loved his mother.

Even as he found himself in this new unfamiliar, yet so familiar place so full of life, Glitchy longed to be back home.

Glitchy missed home.

Glitchy missed his mother.

It had been around a month since Glitchy woke up in Blue’s room. In this new Pallet Town— that was so much, and yet so unlike the hometown where he grew up. This Pallet Town was quiet— no music ever played, and the colors always seemed to be faded and desaturated. Despite that, the people who lived there were much more lively than what he was used to.

Not only did Daisy speak often— but she walked around as well. Daisy cooked, Daisy tended to flowers, Daisy lived. She could even go into other towns, something Glitchy didn’t think was possible. Blue, too, had more words than he usually did. He talked differently from the Blue that Glitchy knew, though— then again, he supposed the same went for Daisy.

Although, there seemed to be a cloud of misery that surrounded them. Blue, Daisy— all of Pallet, really. Glitchy had never seen them sad before, so it came out as quite a shock. He supposed Blue and Daisy had more things to grieve about than the ones he was familiar with, since they had the freedom to go wherever they wished and say whatever they wanted. Since they lived, just as real people should.

He wondered if his mother carried a cloud of grief with her as well. Maybe that was why he wasn’t allowed to see her.

Glitchy asked to see her often. He missed his mother, he missed home. It was the most important thing to him, and it was right there in the house next to him. Yet each time he asked, Blue and Daisy wouldn’t let him. They both would go silent and awkward after that, as if there was something more to it. No matter how many times Glitchy asked for answers, he received nothing.

It wasn’t only that which confused him, but this whole new version of the Kanto region. Glitchy hadn’t run into a single bug, glitch— nothing. Soft blocking didn’t exist according to Blue, but Glitchy was still wary. He would never get used to walking out of the house and being perfectly fine. He couldn’t even go to the Pokémon Center by himself— in fact, he had completely avoided the place since his last encounter.

Glitchy should have been relieved really, to have made it through a month without the glitches causing him pain, and everything he loved getting reset. Yet somehow, it made him more unsettled than anything. Why didn't anything happen? Would it suddenly jump up and catch him while he was unaware? That thought always stayed on the back of Glitchy’s mind. Because of that, he could never really let his guard down.

He couldn’t even bring himself to be fully attached to Pika, who seemed very fond of him. Even as Pika snuggled up to him and purred, Glitchy couldn’t bring himself to trust that he would always act like this. It was only a matter of time that Pika would turn into a pile of pixels; hardly recognizing who he was anymore. That was what happened to the original Pika after all. Glitchy hadn’t seen him in ages— he wondered if he was even still alive, as a miserable pile of pixels that could just barely battle without suffering from intense poison for a good half an hour.

He didn’t want that to happen to this Pika. Daisy assured him it wouldn’t, but he couldn’t help feel it would. After all, Glitchy never had a Pokémon that didn’t suffer that fate, in the end. He hadn’t even seen a Pokémon that didn’t suffer from never ending poison in ages; he had completely forgotten most Pokémon are always healthy.

The little rivalry between Blue and Glitchy was odd. He wasn’t sure if he could even call it a real rivalry, although he would like to think it was one. They couldn’t exactly do the gym battles, as Blue had apparently done them before. According to Blue, you could only do the gym challenge once here. Glitchy never had that problem back at home— the world always reset soon after being Champion anyways. He had redone the challenge more times than he could count on his fingers.

Instead, all they did was train their own Pokémon and battled to see who was stronger every now and then. Sure, it was fun to engage in a real battle with Blue at times, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit unsatisfied. He never thought he would find himself feeling nostalgic for the gym challenges, and a slight feeling of longing to do them again with Blue. He knew, though. He knew in the back of his head that he wouldn’t even get to keep his achievement as champion— there was no point in him trying.

For their rivalry, Blue had gotten a Squirtle. Apparently his grandfather sent him one— although, Blue didn’t seem so happy about that. He silently cursed out that he didn’t need a gift from his grandfather, and that he could get a Pokémon by himself. Glitchy couldn’t help but wonder at his reaction. What the Professor Oak here was like, and why did Blue hate him so much? It had never been this bad before, if Glitchy remembered correctly.

Despite his reaction to the gift, Blue seemed to enjoy spending time with his squirtle. It was a funny thing Glitchy seemed to notice: Blue always seemed to be softer when talking to Pokémon. His face was always scrunched up with anger, but it softened as he saw his Pokémon. He always spoke in a gentle voice when he thought they were alone. Glitchy found it sweet, really. He wondered why Blue would never talk to him like that, though.

Blue even seemed to be nicer to Daisy. There was something about Glitchy that clearly bothered Blue, although he could never really figure out what it was.

Maybe it was just his way of being nice, that was what Daisy always told him. Still, Glitchy always felt like there was more to it.

Since the day Glitchy had left the house for the first time, he had more freedom to explore. He spent much time going from route to route, training his Pika and feeling the nostalgia of being a Pokémon trainer once again. No matter how much he went out, he would never truly feel safe, although he did enjoy his days of wandering around. When the sun went down, he would come back home to Daisy and Blue and wonder. Wonder about how he and Pika managed to go yet another day perfectly fine and safe.

He also wondered about the rumors that followed his every step. Glitchy was always confused why he was never allowed to leave the house without a disguise, although he found himself starting to understand why that is. Everywhere he went there were talks about ghosts, and how he shouldn’t be there. It confused him to no end, but everytime he asked Daisy or Blue, they gave him no clear answer.

They whispered behind his back about it. Glitchy wished they would trust him with the truth already.

He heard the siblings mumble to each other nervously about how Professor Oak was going to visit the house due to this rumor. Glitchy was excited at first, wanting to tell him about all of the discoveries he made. Although, when Glitchy said that, both Blue and Daisy turned pale and shook their heads, saying that he couldn’t see the professor. How it would end very, very badly for all three of them. Daisy mentioned it would be best if Glitchy hid in the closet while Professor Oak came over.

“It would be like a game of hide and seek,” she told him.

Glitchy knew better, but he couldn’t exactly argue with her. So he played along.

That was how he found himself sitting patiently in the closet, with Pika sprawled out on his lap. Glitchy hated the closet. It was dark, cold, and there was hardly any noise in it. It scared him. It terrified him, actually. Glitchy’s hands shook slightly, he brought them down to Pika’s fur to get a sense of some comfort. There was only one thought rotating in his brain: he wanted to get out.

Despite those feelings, he remained seated, petting Pika’s fur and hearing him purr. Pika seemed to bring him some relief in the cold darkness, at least. He was envious of Pika, who could snuggle and purr without any concern of being stuck in such a small and dark place.

He planned to keep his focus on Pika the whole time, but a scream cut him out of his thoughts.

“And why do you care now?! This is the first time you came home in months!”

That was Blue’s voice. Glitchy rarely heard him get that angry— he supposed he really did have a problem with the professor. Glitchy wished he knew why.

The rest of the conversation was muffled. Even as Glitchy pressed his head against the door and strained his ears, he could just barely make out Daisy, Blue and the professor’s voice, but none of what they were saying. Glitchy tsked in annoyance. He wished he could go out of the closet, go out of the room just to take a peak— the curiosity was killing him. But he promised to, and he didn’t want to make things worse for Blue. He didn’t seem to be doing so well, judging by the tone of his voice.

Glitchy waited. He waited even as the voices died out, and it returned to being silent. Did the professor leave? Glitchy wouldn’t know.

He didn’t know, at least— until Daisy opened the closet door.

“Sorry about that Glitchy, you can leave now!” She greeted him with a smile. Pika jumped at the opportunity to leave the closet, and ran quickly out of the room. He supposed Pika really was antsy to get out, after all. Daisy let out a giggle at the sight. Behind her, Glitchy could see Blue laying face down on the bed. He didn’t say anything to Glitchy coming out. He didn’t even give the smallest reaction to it.

“I need to go make dinner now, but why don’t you stay home today, Glitchy? It’s a bit late to leave.” Daisy said.

It wasn’t late to leave, not really. But Glitchy knew it was because of the professor, so he nodded. Daisy left quickly, and it was only Glitchy and Blue.

Carefully, Glitchy walked towards him. Blue still stayed facedown on the pillow, unmoving, without saying a single thing.

“Blue?” Glitchy asked.

Blue gave no response.

“Are you crying?”

Once again, no response.

Glitchy gripped the hem of his shirt, unsure of what to say. He didn’t want to leave Blue alone, but what if he said something and made things worse? He sat down on the edge of the bed, swinging his legs while waiting for Blue to say something. He should have expected Blue to give him absolutely nothing, not even the smallest squeak.

“Do you hate the professor?” Glitchy asked.

“I fucking despise him.” Was Blue’s response, muffled by the pillow.

“Why?”

Blue let out a shaky breath, gripping his pillow harder. There was silence again, for a moment.

“I hate him.” Was all that Blue could say.

Glitchy supposed it was too much to expect a real answer to his question— Blue wasn’t exactly talkative. Especially near Glitchy; it was rare that he ever told him anything. So Glitchy didn’t ask anymore, merely kicking his legs back and forth while humming a familiar melody that reminded him of home. Surprisingly enough, Blue never cursed him out, or yelled at him to leave. He just laid there, his face stuck in the pillow. Glitchy wondered if he was crying, or gritting his teeth in anger. He would never know.

But he would like to think that his song helped Blue feel better, even though it was likely his imagination.

The professor hadn’t visited again— at least, not to Glitchy’s knowledge. Blue never did explain his issue with him, in the end. Glitchy tried to not let it bother him.

Even with the professor gone, the rumors remained. Occasionally, Glitchy would try to listen in to what they were saying, trying to understand where they were coming from. He got no answers to his questions.

It frustrated him more and more each day, but what was he supposed to do about it? The only option he had was to wait for an answer to drop one day.

Even though the professor hadn’t come by again, the citizens of Pallet were still curious over Glitchy. Every now and then they would come over to the Oak household for answers, while Blue and Daisy tried desperately to hide him away. He didn’t know why it was so bad that people saw him, was he really that strange?

Still, Glitchy was fine with hiding away in Blue’s room and waiting until they left. Most of the time, Blue kept him company too, letting his sister do all of the talking. Glitchy preferred those times, watching as Blue explained the games he had on his Gameboy. He wasn’t alone when Blue stayed with him, even if he was a bit snappy. So he really didn’t mind hiding away, at times.

That is, until he heard a familiar voice at the door.

“Excuse me for coming on such short notice.”

He knew that voice from anywhere. That was Mama’s voice.

Why was Mama here?

Suddenly, Blue’s hand grabbed Glitchy’s wrist. “Glitchy. Stay here.” He whispered, his eyes begging.

Glitchy didn’t understand. Why should he stay there? His mama was downstairs, she was talking to Daisy— Mama was talking. Real conversations that weren't just scripted lines, she spoke like a human.

Glitchy wanted to stand up— to run down the stairs and collapse into her arms. Maybe Mama would hug him back, and speak real words of comfort that weren't the only three lines she could say before.

“Why can’t I go? Why are you keeping me away from her?” Glitchy hissed at Blue, trying to break free from the grip on his wrist. For someone who wasn’t very active, Blue had a strong grip.

Blue bit his lip. “She’s just… Not ready to see you yet.”

Why wasn’t she ready? She was his Mama. The one who raised him, the one who cared for him his whole life. Even when her voice was limited, and she couldn’t leave the dinner table— she was still his Mama. She still sat there and listened to his stories, she still gave him comfort and warmth after the whole world fell apart. How could she possibly not be ready to see him?

“She’s my Mama, Blue.” Glitchy’s voice was just barely above a whisper.

“And I said you can’t see her.” Blue’s voice stayed firm.

Glitchy pulled and pulled to get out of Blue’s grip. He needed to see her— he needed to go. In his desperation, he used his free fist to slam down on Blue’s arm, causing him to gasp and loosen his grip on Glitchy’s arm. Glitchy took that opportunity to pull away and run out of the room.

“Dammit, Glitchy! Get back here!” He heard Blue say behind him. Glitchy didn’t slow down.

He stumbled down the stairs as fast as he could, and ran over to Daisy. Except, when he arrived, only Daisy was there, looking at him in confusion.

“Where’s Mama?!” Glitchy asked, looking around the room.

“She left already.” Daisy explained. “I’m sorry, Glitchy— you can’t see her yet.”

“Why can’t I?! Tell me why?!” Glitchy clung to Daisy’s shirt. “It’s not fair, she’s my Mama—”

Glitchy broke down into sobs, feeling Daisy’s hand lightly pet his hair.

“I’m sorry, Glitchy.” She whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Everything wasn’t going to be okay, Glitchy knew that much. It was never going to be okay, until he got his answers. Until the rumors stopped, and he was accepted by Pallet. Until he could finally see Mama again, and melt into her warm, comforting arms. It would never be okay if things stayed like this.

But Glitchy had no strength to say that. All he could do was sob out his frustrations in Daisy’s arms, with a hope for change. All he could do was listen to Daisy’s attempts of comfort, that meant nothing to him. All he could do was wish that the arms that were wrapped around him were his mama’s arms, and that he was back at home.

“I know, why don’t you go see the moon tonight with Blue?” Daisy suggested. “It’s supposed to be a full moon, it’ll be so pretty.”

Moons were no replacement for his Mama, but Glitchy nodded between sobs. He wondered if Blue would even let him watch it with him, after he hit him and all. Glitchy didn’t care much if he missed the full moon, anyways. All he wanted was his Mama.

Glitchy pulled away from Daisy, who gave him one last pat in the head.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?” She told him.

Glitchy merely nodded and hummed in response.

He didn't really want to see Blue yet, so he went to the backyard instead, visiting the garden that he started with Daisy so long ago. The flowers had begun to poke out of the soil and grow. Although it had yet to fully bloom, Glitchy was proud of the process that was made. The petals felt so fragile in his hands— to think that something he spent so long on could be destroyed so easily.

Of course, Glitchy knew that feeling well.

Flowers were like all of the achievements he had done back at home— from the Pokédex to the Championship. He worked so hard for months and months, only for it to crumble apart so easy. After that, he would have to try again. Flowers were the same; they bloomed, they looked pretty for a while, then died.

Even then, he enjoyed tending to them with Daisy. She had so much passion and care for the flowers, even when they were just seeds in the soils. Something about that made Glitchy’s chest feel warm and safe.

After watering his flowers, Glitchy figured he would go back to Blue’s room. It was his room too, in a way. All of his things were there anyways— he wouldn’t find anything interesting to do in Daisy’s room.

Glitchy pulled himself up the stairs, Pika suddenly joining him. He wondered where the small Pikachu went; he was always disappearing from place to place. According to Blue, it was quite normal for Pokémon that stayed at home. Blue’s Eevee and Squirtle also wandered around, most of the time joining Pika. Glitchy couldn’t help but think about how fun it must have been, to travel around with friends during the day. Usually, when he went out, Blue rarely joined him. Maybe Glitchy would try his shot at asking him, one day.

Glitchy walked into the room, seeing Blue curled up on his bed. He seemed to be playing some game on his Gameboy, completely ignoring Glitchy. Or maybe he just hadn’t heard him coming in— Blue always kept his full attention on what he was doing. He didn’t seem as upset as Glitchy expected, yet testing out his theory and asking Blue if he was mad seemed like a bad idea.

So instead, Glitchy went to his bed with Pika, curling in and facing away from Blue. A wave of exhaustion hit him; Glitchy would never really get used to that. Sleep and exhaustion wasn’t a thing back at home, he had only discovered it recently. He wasn’t good at falling asleep, or staying asleep. He wasn’t good at waking up either, his sleep habits were constantly messed up. Or so, that was what Blue told him.

He found himself drifting off the sleep, with no energy to stop it. The fact that Glitchy recognized he was falling asleep in the first place was impressive— usually, he just wore himself out until it hit him before he knew what it even was. He wasn’t good at fighting it back yet, drifting off while listening to Pika’s soft purrs. It would be fine if he slept for a while, he figured. It didn’t really matter if he missed the full moon.

Despite that being his last thought before he drifted off, Glitchy found himself waking up right before it was time. Another thing about sleep that unsettled him: time went by so quickly. Glitchy was completely unaware of what happened in those times either.

He saw the balcony door open, and Blue leaning against the railing outside. There was his Eevee and Pika next to him. A bit curious to see the moon, Glitchy went outside too, standing next to Blue. The moon really was beautiful, so big and bright. Back at home, night never came. It was always bright and day. He remembered how much he freaked out to learn that the sun does set, instead of staying at the same place in the sky everyday.

Glitchy wasn’t exactly fond of the night. It was dark, unsettling, eerie— not to mention everyone slept through it.

Then again, Glitchy supposed the stars and the moon were okay. Daisy mentioned that Blue used to look at them every night through a telescope, although that had been years ago. She mentioned how it was something that Blue used to do with their mother. Glitchy was jealous— he never did stuff like stargazing with his mother. Then again, he supposed Blue could never do that stuff either, having lost his mother at five years old.

“Oh, you’re up.” Blue didn’t turn his gaze off from the sky.

Pika gave Glitchy a more warm cheering, squeaking and climbing up to his shoulder. Glitchy smiled and patted his head, before going back to looking at the sky. For a long moment, there was silence.

“Did you stop stargazing because your mom left?” Glitchy went out and asked. He couldn’t hold his curiosity anymore, and Glitchy was always so full of questions to ask.

“Who knows.” Blue didn’t bat an eye at the question at all.

“You do.” Glitchy thought to himself. He said nothing out loud. Like always, Blue was full of secrets, and didn’t plan on letting any of them out. However Glitchy had nothing else to do, so he figured he’d pry until he got something.

“Did she—”

“What, are you going to ask me about my dead mother just because you can’t see your own?” Blue didn’t let him finish his question.

Glitchy huffed in response.

“It doesn’t matter what she did and who she was. She’s dead and has been for years.” Blue muttered under his breath.

Glitchy could tell that wasn’t true. Why would it not matter? She was still his mother. Daisy talked about her parents all of the time, and how much she missed them. Blue was supposedly close to them too, and became more distant after they died. It was clear how he talked about her too: Blue clearly missed his mother, just refused to talk about her.

“But it does matter, she was your mom.” Glitchy knew Blue wouldn’t listen, but he felt the need to say it.

Blue let out a scowl, and then a sigh. “Okay. Great. She matters. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Not really, but Glitchy supposed it was better than what he could have gotten. So he decided to be satisfied with that answer.

“When can I see my mama?” Glitchy decided to change the subject.

“Whenever she’s ready. Which isn’t now or anytime soon.” Blue mumbled out, clearly not interested in the conversation. Infact, Glitchy was surprised they even made it this far. Maybe seeing the stars made him in a more talkative mood.

“Ready for what?” Glitchy decided to continue pushing his luck until Blue completely locked him away.

Blue didn’t respond, looking away. Glitchy figured he was done talking for the day, until he opened his mouth again.

“She went through something, and she’s not ready to see you yet. It’s that simple.” Blue clearly had enough of looking at the moon and talking to Glitchy, as he made his way back to his room.

Glitchy didn’t really find it as simple as Blue did. If she was suffering, then why couldn’t he help her? Family was supposed to be there for each other, not apart. He wanted to ask Blue more, to push even harder, but he knew it was pointless. Even if Blue did respond, it would be vague, and do nothing to help Glitchy understand.

Glitchy sighed and looked up at the moon. He liked it better when it was full, he decided. So big and bright, he wondered why it couldn’t stay that way forever. He quickly grew bored at looking at it, though. Why Blue found that stuff so interesting was completely beyond him.

He decided to go back and sleep, even when he had just woken up. The night was lonely and boring— there was really nothing else for him to do.

Pika joined him, snuggling in comfortably next to him. Glitchy petted him gently as he drifted off, lost in thoughts of the conversation he had before. He wondered if he would ever get to see his mama— the fact that she was suffering only made him more anxious. He wanted to help her, it was the least he could do after she brought him comfort for all of those years.

He would find his way to her at some point, Glitchy decided as he drifted off to sleep once more.

As the rumors and whispers got worse, all Glitchy could do was focus on training Pika and other Pokémon he caught. When he was training in the tall grass, he was more likely to be left alone. The most he would get was a challenge by a passing trainer that would give a look of horror when they saw Glitchy’s face. Other than that, he was at peace.

Daisy had suggested that they’re rivalry expanded on more than just battles. Being rivals in contests was her idea, but she quickly shot it down. Glitchy was disappointed— he never heard of or seen what a Pokémon contest really was. Doing one sounded like so much fun, but Daisy shook her head and said it really was a bad idea, and it was her fault for bringing it up.

She did tell him about contests, though. Pokémon contests were another thing that Daisy seemed to be passionate about, with her photo books of the Pokémon that competed over the years. She spoke of how she wanted to do them herself as a kid, but since her parents died when she was around ten, she could never really leave the house. Instead, she decided to stay behind and take care of Blue, who was too young to be alone.

She never lingered on that conversation for very long, even though Glitchy was interested to hear stories about when Blue was young. She would always quickly rotate back to talking about contests, and how they sparked her interest in being a Pokémon groomer.

Glitchy had never heard of many of the things that Daisy talked about. Back at home, there were only Pokémon battles and Pokémon that were kept as pets. It never expanded more than that.

He wished he could have experienced them for himself. The Pokémon contests, the Pokémon musicals— all of the new things he had never known existed until now.

He hoped he was able to try, at the very least, one day.

Since he couldn’t he figured he would start to watch the recordings of the shows that Daisy collected over the years. They always completely fascinated him. The way the Pokémon danced and chirped happily in their costumes— Glitchy had never seen such a thing before. He wondered about the amount of training that went into it; if Pika could dance like that too.

The trainers always performed along side with the Pokémon, which made Glitchy doubt a bit. He wasn’t exactly a dancer himself, he never danced at all. The closest he done to dancing was happily twirling around in a circle— which was nowhere near as graceful as he made it sound.

He wondered if Daisy ever danced before. Perhaps he would ask her to teach him, when he was finally allowed to do Pokémon contests.

Feeling the urge to dance was what made Glitchy skip and hum on his way to train Pika one day. Pika got excited as well, chirping along. He was so caught up in his little dance and song, that he didn’t even notice the small boy sneaking up on him, until a small hand touched his arm.

The hand pulled away quickly as if it had touched a burning stove, and Glitchy turned around.

“It’s true! You really are weird!” The kid said, staring at Glitchy with big eyes.

“I’m not weird…” Glitchy mumbled out.

“Nuh uh,” the kid shook his head. “Everyone says you’re a big scary ghost. Is it true?”

Was that what everyone was saying about him? Sure, Glitchy had heard things about ghosts, but he never assumed that he was the ghost that scared them so much.

“I’m human!” Glitchy insisted. “Really, I am!”

The kid hummed suspiciously. “Then why do you look so much like Red?”

Red. That was his old name. He had always been Red, but for some reason since joining this world, he could never use that name. Blue was the one who gave him the name Glitchy, mentioning that he couldn’t use the name Red. It stung a bit, but he didn’t really mind his new name.

“I am Red!” Glitchy answered. Despite his new name, he was still born and raised as Red, after all.

The kid turned pale and ran.

“You really are a ghost!” Was the last thing he said before he left.

Glitchy couldn’t chase after him, his head spinning. He wasn’t a ghost… Ghosts were dead. Glitchy was very much alive in this world— or so, he would like to think.

But, what if he was dead?

Maybe that was why this world was so strange, with no glitches or soft blocks. With people who he knew, yet didn’t know at all. A world that was so desaturated and pale, covered in a cloud of misery and grieve. Could he have been in the afterlife all along?

Did that mean he could never see his real Mama again?

Pika brushed against his leg, attempting to provide comfort. Despite that, Glitchy could only find himself panicking more. He had no proof that he was really alive, after all. If he asked Daisy or Blue, then they would reassure him that he was alive, but could he really trust their word? They could barely trust him with their own little secrets.

Glitchy stumbled along the road, not even sure where he was going. Did it really matter where he was going if he was dead? Glitchy didn’t know. He didn’t know much, at that moment. Tripping around down the road, not paying attention to any Pokémon that might jump out at him. Pika stayed by his side, with comforting purrs— although they barely reached Glitchy.

He supposed the only way to really see if he was alive was to die. But that thought terrified Glitchy like no other— he didn’t want to die. So he couldn't really bring himself to do that either.

Glitchy’s walk led him to Viridian Forest. The forest was nice and quiet, so he found a place to sit, bringing his knees up to his chest.

Glitchy missed home.

Glitchy missed his mama.

He missed so much, and the world spun so badly he was nauseous. The only thing that would help him feel better was a hug from Mama— who couldn’t come to him no matter what he did.

He rocked back and forth, feeling Pika circle around him. He didn’t have the slightest clue what the Pokémon was doing, but didn’t question it. His thoughts were too loud to do that.

Glitchy wondered if he was ever really real— or alive. He was always the weird one, the odd one in each place he went. Back at home, and in this Pallet town too.

Glitchy wished he could be normal. With a normal mama and normal Pokémon. In a normal world where nothing broke or reset, and he felt no pain. He wished he could have that. He wondered why he couldn’t— what he had done to deserve the fate he got.

He must have done something, but his brain couldn’t come up with a single reason.

Glitchy heard footsteps come his way and stopped right in front of him. He curled up tighter and pressed his hands next to his ears. He didn’t want to be called a ghost again, he didn’t want to be called a ghost again, he didn’t want—

“Come on, Glitchy.” Blue’s voice. He felt a boot nudge at his leg. “Let’s go home already. I’m hungry and Daisy won’t let me eat until you get your ass back home.”

Glitchy curled up tighter. “I’m not hungry.”

“Oh yeah?” Blue scoffed. “Well I am. Let’s go.”

Glitchy really didn’t want to. He liked the forest, it was peaceful. For once in his life, Glitchy enjoyed being by himself.

Blue’s boot nudged at his leg again. “Come on, get up. It’s weird when you're all quiet all of the time.”

“Blue, do you think I’m a ghost?” Glitchy looked up. He could see Blue looking down at him with a slightly irritated face. His eyes seemed to sparkle in the light of the forest, the complete opposite of Glitchy's own eyes, which were always pure black.

“Of course I don’t, you can’t touch ghosts.” Once again, Blue nudged at Glitchy’s leg a couple of times, as if proving his point. Glitchy wished he could stop nudging him, though.

“Then what am I?” Glitchy asked.

Blue merely shrugged in response. “Why the hell would I know? You know yourself best.”

Did he really? Glitchy wished that was true. If he knew himself so well, he wouldn’t have doubted the second he was called a ghost.

“I’m too hungry for this shit.” Blue sighed. “Let’s go back. I’ll forcefully drag you back if you don’t move.”

Glitchy jumped up right away. He didn’t want to stay around and learn what Blue’s definition of forcefully dragging him back meant. Pika chirped happily to see Glitchy back on his feet, and climbed up his shoulder.

Still, the heavy feeling in his chest never left, not even when they walked back to Blue’s house, or when he finished his dinner. Glitchy went to bed with those heavy feelings in his heart, hoping they would leave once he woke up.

When Glitchy woke up, he wasn’t in Blue’s room.

No, he was in his room again. The bright, familiar room he had lived in his whole life. A melody played in the background, Glitchy had it completely memorized. He pulled himself up, trying to register everything.

“Blue?” Glitchy asked.

No answer.

Sure enough, when he looked around, Blue was nowhere to be seen. Nor Daisy, nor Pika who fell asleep right next to him.

It was home.

He was home again.

Glitchy didn’t get as excited as he expected he would. All he felt was confusion. Why was he back? After all that happened…

If he was back, did that mean his mama was downstairs? Suddenly so full of energy, Glitchy rushed down the stairs, almost tripping a couple of times.

“Mama!” He shouted.

Yet when he arrived downstairs, his mama was nowhere to be seen. There was only a small flash of green on her chair where she usually sat. Glitchy’s squinted, but couldn't make out what it was. Carefully, he stepped closer.

“Mama, is that you?” He asked with uncertainty.

He stopped cold when he arrived at the chair. It was a Bulbasaur, what was a Bulbasaur doing here?

Glitchy’s mind spun in panic. No, no, no— he couldn’t do it again. The Bulbasaurs hurt him, they didn’t listen to his pleas, they exploded each time he begged them not to. This Bulbasaur was likely going to do the same— Glitchy couldn’t do that again.

He screamed, and ran as far as he could. But once he left the house, there was another Bulbasaur.

And then another.

And yet another Bulbasaur.

No matter how fast and far he ran, Bulbasaurs populated the whole town. Even Route 1 was completely covered in them. Waiting to explode, waiting to hurt Glitchy again.

Overwhelmed by his fear, Glitchy dropped down and curled into a ball.

“Please don’t come here. Please don’t touch me.” He begged with a shaking voice.

Like always, his pleas and begs meant absolutely nothing to the Bulbasaurs, who came closer and sniffed them with interest.

“No—” Glitchy sobbed. “Please stay away—!”

He screwed his eyes shut as tears flooded out. They were going to explode again, they were going to explode again, they were going to explode—

And suddenly, it all went dark.

Glitchy woke up with tears in his eyes.

It was dark— he didn’t know where he was. It took a while for his eyes to adjust and make out certain furniture. It was Blue’s room.

He was back.

Quickly, Glitchy looked around. There were no more Bulbasaurs; the only Pokémon in the room were Pika and Blue’s Squirtle, who slept in his arms. Still, he couldn't relax. What if they jumped back at him?

Glitchy pulled himself up, carefully pushing away Pika that rested against his knee. He went up to Blue to wake him up— then stopped. Blue looked so peaceful then, with his face fully relaxed. It had been scrunched up with anger all day. He stood there for a moment, watching Blue sleep without a care in the world. He really did look his age then, just eleven years old. The same as him, he remembered.

Silently, Glitchy stepped away, and left the room, closing the door softly behind him. He bothered Blue enough, he decided. Somehow, his feet led him over to Daisy’s room. He hadn’t really been in Daisy’s room before; he never had a reason either.

He opened the door slowly, wincing at the small creaking noise that it made. Daisy, too, was sleeping peacefully. He could see Blue’s Eevee resting on the foot of her bed as well. Steeling up his courage, Glitchy reached to tap Daisy’s shoulder.

“Daisy—” he whispered as softly as he could. “Daisy, wake up.”

Daisy turned around and blinked at Glitchy with confused beady eyes. “Glitchy…? Why are you up?”

Glitchy bit his lip. “Something weird happened.”

Daisy blinked at Glitchy for a few minutes longer, before sighing and standing up. She patted Glitchy’s shoulder.

“Why don’t I get you some hot chocolate and we can talk about it downstairs?” Daisy gave Glitchy a tired smile.

Glitchy nodded meekly.

Glitchy followed her downstairs, and watched as she flickered the lights on and began to prepare Glitchy’s hot chocolate.

“So what happened?” Daisy asked. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Glitchy blinked. “Night…? No, I was back at home again— and it was weird and scary.”

Daisy hummed. “Sounds like a nightmare, have you never had one before?”

Glitchy shook his head.

“Nightmares are where we have bad dreams,” Daisy explained as she poured milk into the mug. “They can be very scary, or just weird. Usually you feel bad when you wake up.”

Glitchy hummed. He never heard of such a thing, but that made more sense than him being home again.

“So it wasn’t real…” He felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Daisy nodded. “Do you wanna talk about it? Oftentimes, we talk about our nightmares to feel better.”

Glitchy gave Daisy an uncertain look. Did he want to talk about it? Even though it wasn’t a dream, it felt so real. He felt like he was still back on Route 1, surrounded by all of the Bulbasaur, who were ready to explode. Talking about it seemed… Terrifying.

Daisy placed the steaming hot mug of hot chocolate in front of him. He recognized the red silly straw— he picked them out himself.

“Take your time.” Daisy assured him. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk either.”

Glitchy chewed on the straw, thinking it through. Finally, he took a deep breath.

“I was back at home,” he started. “I wanted to see Mama, but she wasn’t there. There was a Bulbasaur instead.”

“Do you not like Bulbasaurs?” Daisy asked.

Glitchy shook his head quickly. “Bulbasaurs are mean— they explode and hurt me.”

Daisy seemed confused, but she nodded without asking any further.

“I got scared and went outside,” Glitchy continued. “And there were Bulbasaurs everywhere. They were all going to hurt me. And then I ended up back here.”

There was a moment of silence before Daisy nodded. “I’m sorry, Glitchy. That must have been scary.”

Glitchy said nothing, drinking the hot chocolate he was given. They sat there like that for a moment, before Daisy stood up and put her arms up.

“Do you want a hug?”

Glitchy didn’t say anything, but he stood up and hugged Daisy as tight as he could. Daisy always smelled like the flowers in their garden, funny enough. Her hugs were always so warm and safe, Glitchy melted into them. He could feel his eyes watering with tears, and couldn’t stop them from flowing out.

Glitchy didn’t know how long he spent there, clinging to Daisy and sobbing like the for world was ending. But when it ended, he felt a sense of peace and ease. With his mind clear, Glitchy figured he would go search for the glitches when the sun rose again.

Although it wasn’t home, he loved this place too much for it to get reset again.

He would find out if they really were here, or if he was safe like Daisy promised him when she tucked him back into bed.

Glitchy got up early that morning, figuring he would hunt down the female symbol glitch. It was one of his least favorite ones; he always ended up being frozen there, forced to listen to her painful melody that made his ears bleed. Not to mention how huge and terrifying she was.

Unfortunately, Glitchy had a habit of finding her easily— even at Route 1 when he just began his journey for what must have been the hundredth time. The fact that he hadn’t ran into her yet was a surprise to him, really. Back at home he would never imagine surviving a week without seeing her— much less a month.

He figured he should look for her a bit farther— after all, he had never really gone past Viridian Forest. He would go to Pewter City and see if anything out of the ordinary was there.

Or so, that was his original plan. He didn’t get very far, stopping from leaving Pallet when he saw a familiar person go by. A familiar woman, to be exact. He knew that face from anywhere—

It was his Mama.

He froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Blue would get mad— Blue said that she wasn’t ready to see him yet.

But Glitchy missed her so, so much. This was his chance to finally see her again. His head spun. What should he do? What should he do? He wanted to believe in Blue— but she was right there. The person he had been missing, the person he had been longing for all of this time.

Right there at his fingertips. It would be so easy to just reach out, and grab her again. Blue said it would hurt her, but how could it? He was her son, he needed to be there for her.

Not thinking about it much anymore, Glitchy walked towards her. With a deep breath, he called:

“Mama!”

Mama turned around with a snap. When he finally got a good look at her face, he couldn’t help but get taken back a bit. She was so… Different. Her face was completely pale, and she looked exhausted. As if she hadn’t slept, eaten or even lived in the last few months.

The Mama he knew was always smiling. This Mama had a look of horror on her face— it made Glitchy’s blood run cold. He never saw anything that wasn’t a smile on Mama’s face; it unsettled him.

“Who are you?” Mama asked in a shaky voice. She seemed to keep her distance from Glitchy, even as he tried to inch closer.

Why?

Why was she avoiding him?

Wasn’t he her son?

“It’s me, Mama! It’s me, Red!” Glitchy begged for her to recognize him. He hadn’t referred to himself as Red in a while, but Red was the name he was born with. The name that his Mama gave him. Surely, she would remember that.

Despite his best efforts, Mama shook her head.

“No… You aren’t Red.” She said, and suddenly Glitchy felt light headed. “Red— my baby— is dead.”

What did she mean? How could he be dead?! He was right there, right in front of her. He was alive. He was real.

“What do you mean?! I’m right here!” Glitchy asked, clinging to her hands.

Mama flinched away like Glitchy slapped her, and he backed away quickly.

“My boy has been gone for months.” Mama’s voice shook, he had never heard so much emotion in it before. “He’s gone and he’s never coming back.”

That couldn’t be right, Glitchy was Red. He was alive and right here.

Unless.

The Blue, Daisy, and Mama in this place were different— was there a Red that lived here? Was that why everyone thought he was a ghost, why Blue was uncomfortable with him, why—

Suddenly determined to look for an answer, Glitchy ran off, leaving Mama behind. He felt bad, but he needed to know. He needed to know the truth about everything.

He stumbled his way to the graveyard, looking desperately for Red’s grave. It wasn’t a very small graveyard, so he found it quickly.

Along with Blue, who had been sitting there.

“Oh, hi Glitchy.” He said, his glance never leaving the grave.

“Is this—”

“Yeah, this is Red.” Blue gestured at the grave. “He looks like you, y’know.”

Glitchy figured that much. They were basically the same person— although he hated to think of it that way.

The grave terrified him, to say the least. His own full name was slapped onto the stone, along with his birthdate. He really didn’t belong here— Red already existed.

“He died a few months ago— got stabbed to death on that stupid mountain of his.” Blue explained.

Glitchy felt cold all of the sudden. “Stabbed? By who?”

Blue merely shrugged in response.

“Were you there?” Glitchy asked.

Blue blinked at him in shock, but before he could ask, Glitchy pointed at his neck. It was always covered in bandages, but Glitchy had seen him take it off every now and then. There were stab marks there— old ones that didn’t require bandages anymore, but Blue still changed them frequently as if it was a new injury.

“Yeah, I was there.” He turned his attention back to the grave.

“Then who—”

“I stabbed myself.” Blue cut him off. He brought his hand to his neck, which he just barely touched. Almost as if he feared it would bleed again if he did. “I was the one who did this.”

Glitchy turned silent after that. He supposed it wasn’t too odd, really. This Red and Blue must have been close, growing up together if it was anything like his home. To see your childhood friend like that, it was an expected reaction. Still, it made him feel all nauseous and dizzy, along with a heavy rocky feeling in his chest.

“Is that why you don’t like me?” Glitchy asked. “Because I’m Red?”

“You’re not Red.” Blue turned back to face Glitchy. “Sure, you look and sound like him, but you're not Red.”

Glitchy opened his mouth to argue that he was Red, and he just changed his name because it was Blue’s idea, but Blue kept going.

“Red was quiet, Red was good at video games— Red was his own person.” Blue spoke in a weird tone of nostalgia, it barely sounded like he was talking about an old friend. “You’re your own person, too. You’re Glitchy.”

Glitchy turned his attention back to the grave. He supposed he wouldn’t know much about Red anyways, he died long before Glitchy came here. Glitchy wondered if he would have liked to know Red— it didn’t matter anyways. This Red was dead. This Red was gone.

He still could hardly believe it. He felt like he was looking at his own grave, yet it was someone else’s. Someone who had his name, his face, and his Mama.

But not him.

“Was Red a champion?” Glitchy found himself asking. Since his own purpose was to be champion, he figured Red would follow the same route. Not to mention that Blue was one once.

Just as he expected, Blue nodded. “A well known one, in fact. He gave it up quickly though.”

“Why?!” Glitchy didn’t expect that.

Blue shrugged. “How the hell am I supposed to know? I thought it was stupid myself.” Then he let out a bitter sigh. “If he was going to give it up so quickly, he should have let me enjoy it.”

Glitchy blinked. Ah, he supposed that the Blue back at home also lost his place as champion pretty quickly. He remembered it well, as he was forced to do the Champion match over and over again. Everytime he got through the elite four, Blue would be there, having just put his name in the Hall of Fame.

And each time, he would lose to his first opponent: Glitchy. Making him the first champion to have lost his championship on the very first day he got it.

Glitchy never thought much of it though, as he never saw Blue again after that. The world would set soon anyways, and Blue would return to being the stuck up kid from Pallet, who had just gotten his first Pokémon.

He never thought of Blue’s reaction to losing the championship, to have to live with that embarrassment for the rest of his life. He supposed he understood his feelings— no matter how hard Glitchy worked, he could never keep the title as champion. His name would get wiped out of the Hall of Fame again, again, again. No matter how many times he went back and recorded it with a whole new team of Pokémon, it would never last.

Glitchy couldn’t possibly understand why Red would throw that all away, after getting to keep such an achievement. So in a way, he felt bitter himself, although he had never met Red.

“Do you miss Red?” Glitchy asked.

Blue had such a faraway look in his eyes, Glitchy wondered if he even heard him. He stared at the grave as if he was looking at something else— memories of Red, perhaps.

“It doesn’t matter.” Blue answered.

It did matter, Glitchy scowled to himself. Blue said the same thing about his mother, who also died. He was starting to get the idea that Blue’s sense of death was messed up. Then again, after losing so many important people at a young age, he supposed Blue would feel so desensitized to death. The thought brought a heavy pang of sadness in his chest.

“I’m tired of looking at this grave,” Blue stood up, dusting off his pants. “I’m going back home.”

Glitchy watched him leave, unsure whether he should follow or leave him alone. He looked back at the grave. There were some flowers left there, he wondered if Blue brought them. Blue didn’t seem like the kind of guy to bring anyone flowers to their grave, but if they were friends…

Glitchy didn’t know how to go back to Blue’s house and face Daisy after learning everything. Daisy likely knew Red too— this whole town knew him. They probably liked him way more than they liked Glitchy; of course they would find him weird and creepy.

Glitchy clutched the hem of his shirt. He had no energy to look for the glitches after all that had happened. Besides, learning about Red only made him more convinced that he would see nothing. Maybe glitches only existed back at home— clearly, this wasn’t home.

He really didn’t want to go back to Blue’s home, and remind Daisy of Red with his face. Suddenly the subtle but visible look of nostalgia and pain that flashed on her face each time she saw him made sense to him. He bet she always saw Red in his face.

Even then, he had no energy to go anywhere else. The graveyard was suffocating, looking at the grave made him feel unsafe. Like he was next— like he would end up exactly like that soon. So he pulled his feet back home. Perhaps if he was lucky, he would avoid Daisy and hide away in Blue’s room for the rest of the day.

He hoped he could steal Blue’s gameboy and play on it— something about the console made him feel safe and warm. Like he was home again.

Unfortunately, he was not so lucky, seeing Daisy right at the table when he walked in.

“Oh Glitchy,” she gave him a painful smile. “Masami came by.”

Glitchy blinked. “Masami…?”

“Red’s mother.”

Right. Red’s mother. Not his Mama. Glitchy knew— he knew it wasn’t his Mama. Yet he couldn't help but feel bitter about the whole situation.

“I’m sorry, we should have—” Daisy paused. “No, I should have told you sooner. It was the proper thing to do, but neither of us could bring ourselves to say it.”

Glitchy fiddled awkwardly in his spot while listening to Daisy go on. He didn’t really know what to think. It was important— he should have known earlier, definitely. Yet he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Daisy as he listened to her explain. He wasn’t really mad in the first place; he didn’t know if there was a word to explain the emotions that flooded his chest.

“I hope you can forgive us.” Daisy sighed.

“It’s fine.” Glitchy said, even when it wasn’t as fine as he wished he was. He still didn’t bear any sort of hatred for the siblings. Perhaps he should have, most people would be upset after being kept in the dark over something that big. Glitchy supposed he was just a forgiving person.

“What did Mama—” Glitchy paused. “I mean, Red’s mom say?”

It left a weird taste in his mouth to call her someone else’s mother, but he couldn’t exactly call her Mama anymore. No matter how much he wished he could.

“She was curious who you were and where you came from.” Daisy explained. “She knew somebody like her son had been staying here for a while, but we didn’t know how to explain it before.”

Glitchy hummed. He wondered how she felt about the whole thing, seeing Glitchy who reminded her of her dead son.

Blue was right, he did hurt her by seeing her. He couldn’t help her at all— he only made it worse. Glitchy looked down at his hands, feeling more and more unpleasant each second.

“Were Blue and Red friends?” He decided to change the topic from Mama— Red’s mom.

Daisy laughed as if it were a silly question. “Red and Blue were always together. Since birth, they were completely inseparable.”

Glitchy nodded, so it was just as he thought. Red and Blue were just as he was with his Blue, growing up together and becoming rivals.

“They even had a treehouse, although I doubt that Blue visited it anytime recently.” Daisy had a nostalgic look in her eyes. “Maybe you could try to go with him, one day.”

Glitchy was curious to see the treehouse— it sounded exciting. But even then, he couldn’t help but feel odd. It was meant to be Blue and Red’s place, not his. Blue would surely get pissed if Glitchy did anything to take Red’s place— nor did Glitchy even want to do such a thing. He didn’t want to be in the shadow of some dead person he hardly knew, he wanted to be himself.

“If he invites me, I want to see it!” Glitchy grinned. He would wait for Blue’s invitation, though. He wondered if he would ever get it, Blue wasn’t exactly a social kind of person. He couldn’t imagine Blue inviting him to go anywhere— or invite anyone out on that note.

“I hope you’ll have fun then!” Daisy grinned back. “I should go check on Blue—” Daisy stood up from her chair. “He seemed down when he came back”

Glitchy stood up quickly. “I can do it!”

He planned to go back to his room anyways, he wouldn’t mind checking on Blue along the way. Daisy nodded in understanding, and let him on his way.

Glitchy stopped before the door. There was Blue’s nameplate on it, clearly done by a younger child judging by the shaky writing. He assumed Blue made it when he was young— Glitchy wondered if Red had done it as well. Since they were so close, it was likely they did art projects together.

Glitchy shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about Red. It always made him feel awkward and miserable.

Slowly he opened the door, seeing Blue playing on the N64. He didn’t move at Glitchy’s entrance, but he seemed aware of his presence.

“Daisy was wondering if you were okay.” Glitchy said, sitting down next to Blue.

“Well, tell her I’m fine.” Blue responded flatly. “She worries too much.”

Blue hated these kinds of talks, that was something Glitchy learned quickly. He wouldn’t get anywhere further by pushing him, so instead he eyed the controller.

“Can I play?”

Blue grumbled for a while. “We’ll play Mario Kart once I finish up.”

Glitchy was satisfied with that.

Even when he told himself that he shouldn’t think of Red’s his mind couldn’t help but drift back to it. Blue said that Red was good at video games, did they play like this together a lot? Glitchy’s stomach flipped as he looked at the controller in front of him. Did Red hold that same controller years ago? The thought of playing a game that a dead kid played unsettled him.

“Okay, I’m done.” Blue said, snapping Glitchy out of his thoughts. He handed Glitchy the controller.

Glitchy wanted to ask more about Red— if he had played this game before, if he had any favorites. But he kept his mouth shut, focusing on the game in front of him and Blue’s small reactions.

Even if it were just for a moment, he wanted to enjoy a moment with Blue, just as a normal kid would with their friend. Even though it was nothing like that, Glitchy would like to pretend.

For only a moment, that was all that he asked for.