Alchemist Knight Lucina

Gaiden 1- Brushfire

Alchemist Spirit Knight Gaiden

Story One- Brushfire

Red and Leaf were seated on Green's bed, listening to him harp on about why the Silph Corporation was evil and responsible for "Government Corruption", something neither of the siblings knew the meaning of, when the PokèGear on Green's dresser rang to herald the news that would change the three friends' lives forever.

Green was the one to pick up the PokèGear; it was his grandfather, renowned Pokémon Professor Oak who was calling with the news. Though neither of them could hear it, Red knew something was wrong from the astonished, pained look on Green's face. "No, that's not possible!" the spiky-haired boy affirmed in disbelief. "That couldn't happen, right Gramps?"

Leaf looked at her brother. "What's going on?" she asked. "Why is Green so upset?"

"I don't know," Red muttered, grabbing his sister's hand. "But whatever it is, I'm sure everything will be alright."

Green simply repeated "Uh-huh," into the phone a few times as the conversation dragged on, before finally exploding into a shout of "How could you let this happen!" that finished the conversation.

"What's wrong?" Leaf asked, her brown eyes filling with fear.

Shaking his head, Green turned away from them. "G-gramps. He said- he said Silph bought out Pallet Town," he spat out with great difficulty.

Red felt his heart stop for a moment. "What does that mean?" his sister asked.

Red squeezed his sister's hand. "It means that they own Pallet Town now," Red explained, knowing his friend should be spared from explaining the worst of it, trying to keep his voice steady. "They can do whatever they want with it now, and we'll probably have to move."

The young girl began to sob into her brother's sleeve. "B-but I love it here!" she whimpered. "I don't wanna leave! Big brother, isn't there anything we can do?"

"No, there's not," Green stated somberly. "It's already been done. We'll have to leave as soon as possible so they can begin using this place for research."

Leaf locked Red into a hug as tight as a Tangela's Constrict while Green hit his head aginst the wall in frustration. "Stupid! I should have known this would happen!" cursed the boy. "This place is the most rural place left in Kanto! Of course they'd use it for research! Not to mention it's close to Viridian and the Indigo Plateau, so it's perfect for them!"

Red tried to turn out of Leaf's hug to grab his friend's arm, but failed. "Relax, Green. It's upsetting, I know, but it isn't your fault," Red reassured.

"Red, what are we going to do?" Leaf wailed. "Are we going to have to live in the woods?"

"Silph is giving the citizens of Pallet free housing in Saffron," Green explained bitterly. "So we'll probably end up there."

Letting go of Red, Leaf looked up, eyes still red and watery, and suddenly smiled. "So everything will be okay!" she exclaimed, her voice cheerful, yet cracking. "As long as we're still friends, and we're all together, we'll be fine, right?"

Red shot his friend a glance. "Please, no matter what the truth is, just say yes!" he thought.

Green grunted. "I suppose so," he stated, not sounding convinced of Leaf's optimism in the least. Red sighed in relief. "You two should go tell your mother. Would you like me to come help explain it?"

"Sure," Red agreed, standing up. "Just don't freak her out with all of your... er, opinions on Silph, okay?"

Green nodded, and Red tugged on his little sister's hand. They exited Green's house and started towards their own, but Green stopped dead in his tracks upon almost reaching it. "Red, look over at Blue's house."

Red glanced towards the house belonging to the young woman that had always been his role-model, even if she was, perhaps not the best one. A two men in black uniforms were situated in front of it, Blue being held at gunpoint by one of them.

Red heard the shouts from the men. "You know too much!" one of them cried. "We can't let you spread anything!"

"I don't know anything!" screamed Blue. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"We need to help her!" whispered Leaf pointedly.

"No!" cried Green. "Leaf, they're dangerous. Red, please, get your sister somewhere safe. I'll stay behind and protect Blue."

Red grabbed his sister's hand and ran. Leaf was sobbing in fear, but silently; she didn't want the men to notice that they had overheard part of their conversation either.

The two children hid behind a house, far from Blue's. Red held his crying sister and struggled to hold the tears in himself. Green had not said anything of it, but he knew why they'd been sent away. Not because of danger for them, but because of the danger Blue was in. The young woman had always been a friend to the three of them, a mentor that would always help them out, despite their age difference. Red had admired the woman for much of his life, and always had begged his mom to hire her as a babysitter whenever she went out. She wasn't that much older than them, but she had always seemed cool and independent, but whatever was happening to her, Red was sure she wouldn't survive it.

Green found them a few moments later, and he told them what he had overheard. Apparently, Blue had accidentally overheard some Silph executives talking about a plan of theirs; apparently the one that had led them to buy out Pallet. Apparently, it had involved luring the Legendary Pokémon Mew to the area with some technology to capture it and use it to gain power. Blue had attempted to tell some authorities about this, but Silph had gotten wind of this and decided that this knowledge of hers was to valuable to allow her to stay alive.

Green admitted to having fled before the gunshot was fired, but knew regardless that the woman had likely died. Not even Leaf attempted to add positive outlook to it.

That was when Red knew what the future held. Green had always said Silph was capable of terrible things, but that was the moment he truly knew it. Murdering an innocent individual just for accidentally overhearing something; it was unspeakable. Such things could not go unchecked, and Red vowed he would do his part to avenge this woman, and any others that had fallen to their hand.

Of course, it never occurred to him that he didn't know the whole story behind Blue and her fate. No, that wasn't something he would learn until much later, when he'd looked death in the eyes and became the bearer of a deadly, yet heroic weapon that had nothing to do with the Pokémon he'd grown used to using.

Yes, he'd be the Knight of Blood before he knew the truth.

AN- Gosh, that got dark! It's not as bad as it sounds though; Blood is the proper name of the Pomegranate core that Red wields, so Knight of Blood just means he's an Alchemist Knight by that point. This is five years before the main story with them, so Red and Green are about thirteen, and Leaf is about ten. So, thanks for reading! -Twilight Joltik