It had been normal. It had been good. Back when Red was naive to the plight inflicted on him since birth, everything had been okay. He hadn't known anything. He had been so ignorant, so pathetically blind to the truth, that it sickens him to remember. What a damn blind fool he had been for allowing it to go on as long as it did...

He had no clue his so-called "parents" were merely a foster family, watching over him and monitoring his growth. He had no clue that his friendship and rivalry with Blue was carefully structured and set in place. He had no clue that every aspect of his childhood was carefully controlled, or that he was a guinea pig to those same doctors who had torn him out of his mother's arms just after his name had been given to him. His real name. Not Red. It was the scientists who labeled him "RED". The name he has never known.

However, his childhood is when he started noticing things were a little strange. His own reckless streak justified the cuts he kept finding on himself, but Blue had always been a voice of reason. The adults would never answer if they asked about it. However, those little cuts and incisions had only been the start. They were only minor back then, the beginnings of the horrible experiments Red would have to suffer, but they were only the beginning. Only the beginning of the experiment. Only the foundation of the Surrogate Project.

Life went on. The time came for his dreams to come true: The day when he would begin his journey as a Pokemon trainer. He chose his starter, a Bulbasaur. Everything continued as expected. Everything was fine. Everything was normal. Everything was good. Everything was okay.

Except it wasn't. Nothing was good, or normal, or fine, or okay. But Red didn't know it. He didn't realize it. He had no clue what was going on around him. How could he, when they tried so painstakingly hard to keep him in the dark? Neither he nor Blue realized the horrible things being done to them. What they did realize eventually was that things simply didn't add up. Red began noticing it fairly early. He had always been a camper, but sometimes, increasingly more often, where he fell asleep wasn't where he was when he woke up. He would fall asleep in the wilderness, but wake up in a hospital bed, often covered in bandages, his things neatly packed and his Pokemon healed. He would be free to go, but he never got any answers when he asked what had happened to him. No real answers, anyway. Nurses with plastic faces and silicon grins would cheerily feed him one excuse after another. What an idiot he had been for accepting them. Even after he lost count of how many times this had happened, he believed them.

He had been a blind fool to never realize something was wrong. The scars weren't fading, and they were too precise. Even when he took a bandage off early and popped the stitches, seeing something like a computer chip inside, he accepted the excuse that his injuries had just been that bad. Even though more and more cybernetics replaced more and more of his body, he never questioned the smiling nurses. He went on. He became the Champion of the Kanto region. He was the greatest trainer who ever lived.

And then he woke up. No, he hadn't been dreaming, he had simply started anew. His memories, gone. His team, gone. He was back to normal, without knowing anything had been wrong. His second "life" went much the same as his first, though he started with Charmander this time. No, it went worse. The process by which he would be torn apart and put back together, having been practiced, improved, and perfected, occurred far more frequently. History repeated itself, with Red always ignorant of the puppet's strings controlling him.

It wasn't until he won the title of Champion again that he learned anything. He went exploring in the Pokemon League, although he wasn't supposed to. He found labs, and records rooms. He found the record of his first "life". Every day was detailed. That was how he learned what was happening. What had been done to him and Blue. He was horrified. He didn't want to believe it. He was in denial for a long time, although it explained everything. He found his Venusaur, from his first life, and held onto him. He found a record of others chosen for the Surrogate project. He held onto it, on the off chance he came to realize he had discovered the truth. That would take true proof.

That proof came, eventually. Red made regular trips to those hidden labs under the Pokemon League, for the sole purpose of trying to prove they weren't real, that it was fake, that those terrible things he'd learned were figments of his imagination. But the final trip he made brought the proof he needed. That day's route led him to an observation booth over one of the labs. There, he saw Blue, his friend and rival, unconscious, and shackled to a lab table. The scientists and surgeons filed in, surrounding the table. Red could see what was happening. He knew what was happening. The process had been detailed in full in one of the research journals he'd read. It was real, and it was happening to his friend. Red watched the entire process, horrified, disgusted, but unable to look away. His epiphany paralyzed him, he couldn't do a thing to help. He watched as they tore his friend apart, then pieced him back together, replacing some parts with cybernetics.

Red couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't live in that lie, that fabricated reality anymore. He burst through the door to the lab just after they'd finished. He fought, tooth and nail, to get through to Blue. He managed to get to the table, releasing his Pokemon to keep the scientists at bay. Red unshackled his unconscious friend, slung his arm over his shoulders, and ran. They would get out of there, he would get them out of there, they'd be free...!

Alas, it was not to be. He neared the Western exit to the Pokemon League, but security was catching up. Blue had regained consciousness, although he couldn't support himself yet. Red tripped on the doorjamb, and the scientists caught up. He and Blue were wrenched apart, despite trying with all their might to avoid getting separated. They were being dragged back to the labs, the scientists decided they knew too much and it was time for their third "lives" to begin. Red couldn't get free of the strong arms around him. But then, at the last moment, Blue fought free in a burst of desperate strength. Red had an opening, he could get to freedom...! But Blue was still fighting, he couldn't leave him behind... Until Blue shouted,

"Red, go! Head for Mt. Silver; go, just go! I'll be right behind you, just get out of here!!"

So Red ran. He escaped. He left his friend behind, but he escaped. He reached the peak of Mt. Silver, and has found it to be a safe haven. No one is brave enough to follow him there. But Blue hadn't been right behind him. Red hasn't seen him since. He only leaves the mountain to get the other Surrogates out of their home regions, to steal information from the Project, and to try to save other children before the Project claims them. He worries about Blue most, as he has no idea what's become of him. He's holding onto a single member of Blue's team -- The Blastoise from his second "life".

If Red has anything to say about it, the Surrogate Project will end soon, forcefully, and he will personally see to it that their demonic puppeteer can never destroy the life of any other child again.