Kris never liked battling much. She didn't want to be champion—she was settled down in her world of papers and research, and didn't need anything more. And—and she always knew that she would be left behind by her friends, anyway. They dreamed of Pokemon and the Indigo Plateau and things beyond her mind—
So she was always expecting to be alone.
She didn't think it would hurt this much.
hush, hush
i've had just enough time.
Every Wednesday, Silver calls. "How are you?" He asks her, over the crackling reception, and tells her of his latest adventure. "Gold is in Hoenn now. He said he would call."
Kris laughs, a little bitterly. "Well, he hasn't. Where are you right now?" she says, sitting out by the water. Her legs are bare, skimming the surface. It's days like these—sunny, beautiful—when she starts wishing she was with the boys. Her boys.
It's odd, that she misses them most when the weather is perfect. Funny, she thinks. On the other side of the conversation, Silver curses. "I've got to go," he mutters. "Bye, Kris."
"Bye—" she starts, but he's gone.
She brings her legs up to her chest and buries her face in her knees. "Bye."
It doesn't take long for Silver to stop calling, too. She hasn't heard from Gold in two, maybe three years—he's travelling the world, training and battling. Kris convinces herself that's why he doesn't call her—he's busy, much too busy to call.
Her excuse is pathetic, silly, but it means that she can sleep a little better at night.
Except, she doesn't sleep anymore. She stays up, and reads. Sometimes her Pokemon curl up on the bed and watch her—they're worried, she supposes. Professor Elm is worried, too, when he sees the bags under her eyes and the glances she sends at her Pokegear—
She knows all of this, of course. Kris isn't stupid, not in the slightest. Everyone in the town is worried for Elm's Assistant.
A year passes, and Kris decides to go to Kanto. Professor Elm smiles at her, ecstatic, and gives her a list of places to go, Pokemon to find, people to see.
"You have to visit Oak, of course," he rambles, and she nods along at his words. She doesn't plan on visiting anyone—all she wants to do is take her mind off of all the work and her boys, and perhaps she will fall in love along the way.
Again, she thinks. Fall in love again.
Kris has fallen in love many times, but not with people—with the setting sun, with the smell of paper, with the crisp autumn wind blowing through her hair. Now, she wants to see what there is to love in Kanto.
Sometimes, she wonders if she'll ever come back to her tiny hometown.
She doesn't. Kanto is beautiful, and she settles down in her own little niche—she helps Professor Oak now, and Kris likes it much better in Pallet Town then in her old region. On days when it's too cold, she sits in front of the fire and reads—
And she can sleep now. Her Pokemon are back in Johto, but she doesn't care much. Elm will look after them and perhaps one day she'll go back to get them.
Day by day, she starts to forget about Gold and Silver and her mother, waiting for her. It's a simple life as Oak's Assistant, and she likes it too much to let herself be plagued by memories. When Gold calls her, she doesn't pick up.
His message is hasty, reception crackling. "Hey, Kris! I'm sorry I haven't called you, I've been so busy challenging the gyms and all. Unova is great, you'd love it! There are so many new Pokemon. Anyway, I heard you're in Kanto. Could you go say hi to Red for me? I challenged him a few years back, remember that? I told him I'd visit next week but I'm super booked, I've got to get to the Elite Four and I don't have time. Could you be my messenger?"
She almost cries when she hears it. Not because of his deep voice, but because all he wants is for her to run an errand. He doesn't say how are you or i hope you're ok, he says could you be my messenger.
Kris visits Red for him anyway. The raven-haired man is silent, with crimson eyes and the greatest Pokemon in the world and she thinks he could be a ghost. Maybe he is, she thinks as they sit together by a fire. But she is intrigued anyway.
"May I come again?" she asks him, quietly, and smiles when he nods. Perhaps this is not an end, but a beginning.
lol guys another prize, except this time for second place. anyway, this was originally going to be pure kris/red but haha yeah i can't stick to my promises. hope you like it anyway~ i love kris so i hope i did her justice. and maybe this'll turn into a two/three-shot?