Over the next few weeks, Red's behavoir became increasingly strange. He stopped speaking completely, which worried his mother immensely. He barely left Pallet Town and Green was sure he saw him stood in the sea up to his waist for hours at a time, stood stock still. His mother fretted, eager for him to confide in her what could have happened to make him start behaving so strangely.

In a whisper, with a voice that sounded robotic and alien to her, he told her that he had to leave and that he'd be back when he was feeling better. She told him he mustn't- he told her that he had no choice. Taking his Pokémon, he left with very little by the way of goodbye. He headed west, looking for somewhere far away from Cinnabar and as far away from the taunting voice of the creature he'd met.

He found a suitable place. It was on the border of Kanto and Johto and the weather was poor. A cave, almost at the summit of the imposing Mt. Silver. No one would think to look for him, here, so he could get the creature's song out of his head by himself. More importantly, the creature would never find him here.

Red entered the cave. It was wide and flat and opened up nicely so he could shelter from the blizzard that fell so silently outside. Although to Red, the snow appeared to be falling in tidy squares and the cave entrance appeared almost rectangular, as if made of pixels.

But that was alright. That would go, soon enough, he was sure. At least here, he was safe from missing numbers.