The Girl with the Straw Hat
"Wait up, man! I can't run that fast!" a voice giggles from a few yards back. Her figure is hidden by the forest trees and green, but it is obvious she is zipping through it at a speed that seems almost unreal.
At a speed outmatching the previous, a boy runs through the forest with a practiced grace. He dodges roots and ducks branches as if each foliage was mesmerized down to their exact location. He hears the voice screaming to him, but he continues his pace unflinchingly, grabbing and swinging from vines before seeing them, and landing flawlessly on a branch, positioning himself in a bend that perfectly fits him. He sits there for a moment before the girl appears below him, out of breath, but otherwise okay.
"I know you heard me", she gasps out as she sits on the earth directly below him and pulls out a red and white metallic ball and plays with it in her hands. As it rolls back and forth in her palms, she pricks the small button as it passes over points.
"Hmph", the boy grunts in response, staring at his own gloved hands. The leather on the gloves had to be replaced and fixed several times, but he could never get around to replacing them, they meant too much to him at this point. A ray of sunlight shines through the spaces in the branches. The sun had just started to rise, and he fully noticed how early it was when they left to come to the forest.
"So… being silent again, huh?" the girl started before tucking the pokeball back in the straw hat she wore. Once it was securely fastened behind the yellow ribbon she turned and looked up at the boy sitting in the branch above her, "So what is it this time?"
"Memories", was the simple word he returned to her, before adjusting the hat on his head to block the annoying light. When he got it just right, he massaged the hem, which was now frayed and worn. He chuckled; the hat carried the same amount of importance as the gloves, if not more. He could never replace or fix any part of it. Not a single strand of it. If he wanted to, he could take it off and tell a story for every misplaced thread or small hole, but he didn't want to, not now. He had done it many times before, and honestly, he was getting tired of repetition.
"I see…" the girl said, fiddling with the straw hat on her head as well. She knew her hat held many memories in its weavings as well, some as exciting as cap the boy wore, but none as diverse, "Tell me some of your stories, I never get tired of them", she said as she removed the hat from her head, brushing her blonde hair from her eyes. She waited a bit for an answer, but eventually accepted the silence she already saw coming. The boy never said anything much anymore. Not ever since… well… since he was in the position she held now. She didn't know why before she accepted the position from her mentor, but she was slowly starting to see it. Her job never required much talking, and the people she saw never had much to say… not to her anyway.
A wind started to blow, and the two people started to shiver. The boy pulled his jacket, now a couple sizes too small, up. It was more like a windbreaker now, barely protecting his t-shirt from the elements. The jacket too, had its fair share of tales to tell, none of which he particularly wanted to recount. He dug into a small hole in the tree, hoping it would block the wind like it used to, but now he was simply too old, and too big, for the protection it once gave. He was about to move from the branch he found so many years ago when the girl dropped on him from above, shaking the branch, daring it to break under their now combined weight. She lay on top of him and snuggled into his chest, seeking warmth from the now dying wind. Without hesitation the boy wrapped his arms around her, trying to take some warmth from her as well.
"So I guess I'm carrying the conversation today?" she asked, not moving from her spot. When she received no answer she continued, "I was so lonely without you here… you know? When you left… nothing was the same, even the Ratatta were unsettled…" she stopped as she felt the boy rubbing her back. It was comforting, so she just continued, "Blue took your position as Regional Champ for a while… At the time he really was the only one strong enough to be it!" she giggled, tracing circles on his black shirt while she talked, her hands were restless. "But… his battles were so… lifeless… I guess he didn't really want to be a Trainer anymore… I guess that's why he started training me. He saw my passion for battling before even I did… I guess he will make a fine Professor then, huh? Haha!" she said, trying to sound cheerful, but the sadness still lingered in her voice. She could feel the boy's embrace tighten. The memories were hard for him as well. "We needed a Professor for Kanto anyway… yet another position only he could fill… when it became open…"
Tears threaten to fill her eyes, but she was determined now, "Don't worry, I made you proud! On day one I scaled and mastered Mt. Silver! Are ya proud of me? Are ya?" she asked cheerfully. His response was ruffling her hair.
"Blue… he's becoming almost as renowned as… as he was…" she choked, her voice leaving her throat before a name was muttered, "but anyway… I haven't been beaten yet! Not even by the new Viridian Gym Leader! You know his name… umm…"
"Silver"
"Yeah him! The one from the Giovanni incident… how is he doing, anyway?"
"Fine, makes great smoothies"
"Haha… I'm sure that is what you would remember" the girl laughed. For some reason only he ever made her laugh this hard, even though he rarely spoke a word.
"So…" she continued, not missing a beat, "Pika is doing well with Chu, and I hear Gold even let Pichu evolve into Raichu! I will ask him the next time I see him… the Regional Champion of Johto…"
The girl turned and lay with her head against his chest, her eyes on the sky as she continued her story, "Sapphire, Diamond and I shared many stories about you last we met. We were supposed to be exchanging battle tactics, but as soon as your name pops up, nothing goes quite according to plan… does it?" she sighed, her eyes starting to grow heavy. Almost knowingly, the boy embraces her again, attempting to lull her back to sleep, she refuses this, however, and continues her story.
"It's funny really, all of us want to battle you. But our pokemon seem to get tense whenever we try to spar with Pika… At first I thought it was coincidence, but it happened with the other Champs as well. Pika is always so laid back until he springs into battle. Then a spark lights in him, no pun intended. He fights as if you're there again, and suddenly the air seems tensed. He misses you a lot." She squeezes his hand. "I could never reproduce that feeling you give others when you battle, do you really not feel it?"
The boy shakes his head.
"I see… well… We all want to fight the man whose position we took over. Until we beat you… well our roles as Regional Champions and strongest trainers in our nation wouldn't really be true… would it… Pokemon Master Red?"
The boy named Red chuckles before kissing the back of her head. He turns the girl back around, and she gives no resistance as he pulls her in for a short kiss on the lips before proceeding to kiss her neck, making her scream and blush.
"Not here!" she giggles, her face red.
"You call me 'Husband', Regional Champion of Kanto, Yellow" he chuckles.
