Running So Far Away…
You wonder who's going to be the one to finally slow you down after years of relentless training sessions. Sessions that start at the crack of dawn, lasting well into the night. Running mile after mile around the region, not caring where you're going to end up so long as you can push your Pokemon to be the best they can be. Yes, you realize that as long as they trust in you and you vice versa, you can accomplish anything. But your mind doesn't work like that in the heat of the moment; You want to be able to have the satisfaction of being able to KO the opponent in a blink of an eye without damages to your team. That's who you are, and no matter how you preach differently to Silver, you're never going to change. It's in your blood to be number one.
Maybe that's why Silver has been challenging you more recently; He eyes you warily throughout each battle you have, becoming more and more worried about how easier it is for your Pokemon to make his faint without a sweat blossoming on your forehead. (Those were the days, you recall, when you had to pull potion after potion out of your bag just to make it through one of his Pokemon. Especially his Totodile.)
"Kotone!" He yells just as you turn away from him, "You have to slow down!" And that makes no sense to you. You've never even known the concept of being slow; Not since your first pair of running shoes. It's always been fast, fast, fast, in your life. Always chasing down the bad guys to save the world, always sprinting towards your next goal with no intention of ever slowing down.
"I don't know what you mean, Silver." You pause in your tracks, confusion spreading throughout your body. You've always lived like this, no one stopped you then, why now?
"Kotone… I just mean…" Silver walks towards you, acting as if you'll sprint away from him at any moment (highly possible, you rationalize). His bright eyes search yours, and you can tell immediately he's afraid of who you are at this moment. "You don't have to keep living your life like this."
"Yes I do, Silver, it's expected of me." You answer him, letting the coldness in your heart seep into your words. You don't want to, because throughout this long journey, he's been the only constant within it, and you don't want to chase him away.
"You don't mean that, Kotone?" He asks, hurt evident in his voice. You can't trust yourself to speak anymore, so you just nod in response. "What people expect of you, is to be happy, to be a good role model for kids, and to live your life the way you want to live it!" And now, you're wondering when the two of you switched personalities because it's obvious as hell that you two aren't the same kids who first met outside of Professor Elm's lab. You glare at him, taking in every detail about him; His eyes are twinkling with worry and life, he has actually gone to great lengths to clean himself up with brand new clothes and combed his hair out. It's weird to see him living his life with no pressures surrounding him, while you have dropped so low.
"Then why was I the only brave one to take on Team Rocket when they resurfaced?" You shout, your voice breaking in the middle, because you're so tired of having to be the only one who stands up to people. He says nothing, and you know that you've managed to hurt him the tiniest bit. "Why me! I only started this journey to make friends with Pokemon, and to travel the Region! I didn't sign up for having to save the world again and again!" You slump down to the floor, ignoring the hot prickling beneath your eyelids, because if you open them, you're going to come apart and you can't handle that at the moment.
"You're crazy." You open your eyes in confusion (and anger, though you're trying to not portray it.) and look at him, waiting for an explanation. "You're everything that people around here want to be. You're brave, you're talented, you're beautiful, and you're just throwing it away because you're tired of being someone everyone love." He shakes his head in controlled fury. You consider something; If this speech had come from anyone that wasn't Silver… You would've snapped about how, "No, I'm not.", but it is Silver, and coming from him, it means the world to you.
"You're right." You whisper, not because you necessarily see all the traits in yourself that he does, but because you are just throwing your life away by not slowing down. And, as much as it hurts to think about, you can't imagine disappointing all those little kids who idolize you.
"I know." He smirks in a cocky and confident way that's so familiar that you want to hit him. So you do, and to your satisfaction, you land a pretty hard punch to his shoulder. "Ouch! Really, Kotone, you're going to hurt me badly one of these days and be sorry about it!" He winces as he touches his soon-to-be bruised shoulder. You just smile in an innocent way.
"Come on, you can show me how to be slow." You mock, adding air quotes around the word slow. Secretly, you're terrified to death about having to make a change to your life, but you know that as long as you have Silver with you, you'll be just fine.
"I was thinking we could do that another day…" He trails off in speculative thought, and you have no idea what he's thinking. "I'll meet you in Jubilife City!" He shouts, and suddenly you're standing at the Pokemon League's front steps watching him fly off on his Crobat.
"YOU SO SUCK, SILVER!" You yell, while also grabbing your Noctowl's Poke-ball and getting ready to fly off after him.
"I KNOW, KOTONE!" You can barely hear his response, even if you have managed to get up into the air. You laugh despite the fact that he's going to beat you (for once!), and you don't mind it one bit.
I promise I'm going to stop writing this pairing soon... NOT. :] I love 'em to death. I've got quite a few more planned out. Be on the lookout! Let me know what you think? I'll write you a giftfic with your choice of pairing from any book/movie/tv show... Must I go on? Bye lovely readers!