He had conquered it all. He had successfully swept the Championship, and become the leader of one of the most trying gyms known to any cowering trainer. He toppled over any and all trainers they had sent his way since then.
But then….
It's an amazing fact to the green eyed, brunette boy—absolutely unconceivable that he had never thought of it before.
It had never occurred to him that it would be so very boring to be a gym leader. Never before in his short, thirteen-year life had he felt more unnecessary, and inconvenient.
Completely infuriating—it was the only way he could think of it.
In a mere thirteen years he had done what most never could in a lifetime. He had toppled over every adversary, beaten every opponent given to him.
He had finished it all; but where exactly did that leave him? Alone, and secluded in a gym with nothing but the sound of grinding trainers all around him, and the occasional challenge from yet another soon-to-be-loser.
It was a boring existence….
"Wake up, Green," the young boy's older sister, Daisy, groaned as she poked him directly in the center of his forehead, "you'll be late again."
"I wasn't even sleeping, stupid…" Green trailed off as he rubbed the back of his head in an effort to seem more awake then his voice was; but the ever smallest yawn escaped from his mouth, and he knew he had been beat with that.
"Sure you weren't," if possible she rolled her voice as one would do with their eyes, "I swear, you have not grown up a bit, you lazy…" it was Daisy's turn to trail off into her own world as she opened up her purse, and dug out her keys—for her bike lock of course.
"Yeah, yeah, mom, geez…" the thirteen-year-old boy felt even older when his sister spoke to him in this manner. Sure, she was stating how childish he was, but she also stated how grown-up he was supposed to act.
Green realizes that she had only begun to act in such a way after the gym had already been firmly within his grasp.
Yet more proof that it was his over-ambitiousness that lead to his own downfall.
Green wondered what the term for that had been again as he made his way over to the sink, and slowly began to turn the faucet. He waited several moments longer before turning it the last half an inch needed to cause the water to spill out into the metal tub.
'That's right,' he thought as the first drop flew from the faucet.
"Digging one's own grave," he said slowly to the water.
When Green arrived at the gym there was already several would-be challengers waiting outside for his arrival.
"I'm gonna beat you this time, Green!" one of them shouts as he pulls out his key, and unlocks the glass doors of the Vermilion City gym.
"I'll beat you! There's no way I can lose with my Pokemon!" yells another as Green makes his way inside.
When he finally makes it to his side of the gym he doesn't say a word. He merely grabs onto one of his Pokeballs, barely bothering to care which one, and throws it out into the arena.
"Let's get this over with."
It doesn't take long for Green to wipe out the entire lot of them. Each one bitching and moaning about how much their lives suck; some even daring to blame it entirely on their Pokemon.
This angers the generally Pokemon loving leader, but he says nothing. He simply sits down, and watches the madness below him unfold.
It wouldn't matter if he said anything anyway. These people were worthless—gravel beneath his feet.
They provided nothing for him—no entertainment, no enjoyment, no challenge.
It seemed as though there was no more point left for him in this gym. No point left for him in this world.
He had accomplished it all. He had completed what he had set out to do in life, and now that the ever-present goal had suddenly vanished and Green found himself more in the middle of nowhere then when he had begun.
With thoughts of such roaming his mind he absently pet his beloved Eevee whom had curled up in his lap for a slumber after single-handedly defeating all of those babbling idiots.
Eevee yawned, and rolled over onto her back, so that her cream belly showed for the world to see. Green rubbed her stomach idly as he continued to watch the stupidity below him.
One of the gym trainers took out a challenger with nothing but a Magikarp.
Boring.
Green could hear the faint jiggle of something from within his fanny-pack, but he gives it little thought, or care, as he makes his daily motions of closing the gym down for the night—marking it off as nothing more than Eevee squirming around.
For being so lazy in the morning, Green sure was all for the nighttime. Often he would stay in the gym long after all the trainers and challengers had left.
He would sit, and stare out into the endless, starry skies and wonder if there was anything left for him to accomplish out there, or even around here.
The moon was already high in the sky by the time Green clicked the gym entrance closed, and began on his way home.
Most children of thirteen would never be allowed to stay out to such hours, but Green was an exception. Not only was he a trainer which, in it's own rights, granted him special permission; but also it was merely because it was him, and he was far too 'accomplished' to get into any trouble.
He began on his way down the narrow, winding path through the forest, and again noticed another jiggling feeling from within his fanny pack.
He twisted it around to see Eevee's nose poking out of the small-unzipped portion of the pack he had left her to breathe through.
He unzipped it further, so Eevee could stick her head out of the pack entirely. When she popped out Green noticed that she had his vibrating cell phone tucked gingerly between her teeth.
"Crap," Green groaned as he took it from her, and patted her slightly on the head in a partial 'thank you' gesture.
"Hello?" Green answered as he began walking forward again.
"Hey, Green!" Blue was far too happy for her own good at this time of night.
"Oh," Green mumbled as he realized that it was not Daisy calling to rag him out about not answering the phone earlier that night, "what do you want?"
"'What do I want'?" she mocked him, "why I never!"
Green ignored her as she blabbered on and on about proper phone etiquette. Instead he busied himself with petting Eevee, eventually pulling her out of the pack entirely, and pulling her up to his chest.
"Are you even listening to me, Green?" Blue squawked as Green entered his neighborhood.
"'Course," Green lied as he held onto Eevee who had already made herself comfortable in his arms.
"I doubt that," she snorted.
"No, no, I totally," Green paused to open up his front door, "heard everything you said."
"Whatever," Blue ragged as he heard her roll what he assumed to be a pokeball around a table, "anyway, I didn't call to talk about manners; so lets get to the good stuff." She again sounded far too giddy for her own good.
"What?" Green asked in an attempt to sound interested in something that he clearly wouldn't care less about.
"I've got some dirty info for you on a certain strong, silent man you're always so interested in," he could almost see her excited expression. He could tell that she thought that whatever it was she was talking about should have been of extreme importance to Green.
"What are you talking about?" Green asked in confusion as he set Eevee down on the sofa, and unclipped his obnoxiously heavy fanny pack that he had filled to the brim with potions, and medicines he would never have the chance, let alone the need, to use.
"What do you mean, 'what are you talking about?' you idiot!" she shouted into his ear, "I'm obviously talking about Red!"
The instant the name passed her lips Green was frozen.
How could he have forgotten such an important fact? How could such a perfect opportunity shine directly in his face without him seeing it all this time?
He could faintly hear Blue babble on about something, or another; but Green showed little interest in what she was saying.
Without much thought he hit the 'end call' button on his phone, and plunked down on the coach next to Eevee.
He couldn't believe it. He simply, completely could not believe it.
Red was the opportunity he had been searching for. The only thing that he hadn't conquered. The only person who was ever able to better him.
The only challenge left to him.
Green felt a small smirk cross his face at the thought of it.
This was going to be interesting.
The next morning Green was already awake, and halfway down the street before Daisy could even get out of her deep slumber.
He had a reason for getting out of bed that day. He had a challenge, an obstacle to face.
With some begging, and pleading Green was finally able to get Blue to tell him what she had been trying to tell him yesterday when he had hung up on her.
She had informed (or rather, re-informed, as she had told him over and over) him that Red had been seen at the top of Mt. Silver. Apparently he had been training there for sometime, fighting any trainer who dared climb that high up the mountain.
Green left his sister a note informing her that he was going off training for awhile, and that he wouldn't be back for a couple of days.
He also left one on the gym door stating that he was away for training, and that any matches would have to wait until his return.
As he made his way to the mountain on the back of his Pidgeot he found his heart to be racing with exhilaration; and, for the first time in a long time, he was a ten-year-old boy again facing his first opponent.
The thrill of it was near to killing him, and he was enjoying every minute of this.
For the first time in years he felt like he had something to accomplish, a goal to reach.
For the first time he felt that all the money he had spent on medicine hadn't been a waste; that all the trainer battles had their purpose.
Finally, he was able to look forward to the next battle. Get pumped, and try to raise his skills to the next level.
When the mountain was finally within his sights the smirk on his face grew yet again.
"This is going to be interesting."