Today, she decided, is not an extremely good day to hunt for berries. Firstly, she did not have her Pokemons by her side, and although Viridian Forest was like a home to her, one can never be too careful of dangerous wild Pokemons. Secondly, she couldn't find her straw hat this morning and her rubber band which she used to tie up her ponytail snapped on the way here. However, she had gone too far to turn back, and she needed the berry ingredients to bake a cake for Blue's birthday, which is tomorrow.

A cluster of Chesto berries was hanging on the topmost branch, probably the last batch of the season. Standing at the foot of the tree with a cascade of long, golden and silky hair, Yellow craned her neck to estimate how high she must climb to get them. Usually, she would have rendered Kitty's help to get it but today she had left all her companions at the Pokecenter to rest after an extra tough training battle with her senior Red the day before. With a small sigh, she started scaling the tree.

Climbing trees used to be second nature to Yellow when she was younger. Back then, her small size and light weight allowed her to reach any part of the tree. But she had grown a lot since then. At eighteen, Yellow is taller and her limbs are longer, making the climbing slightly awkward and much less comfortable. She is still slim and skinny though, so it wasn't as clumsy as she thought it would be. With a bit of hassle, she managed to reach the top branch.

The cluster of berries still dangled a few inches away beyond her reach. Hugging the tree trunk, she swung one leg free of the branch she was standing on and stretched out her other arm.

"Just a….little bit more…" she mumbled to herself, face frowned in concentration at she touched the berries.

"That looks extremely dangerous."

The sound of a slightly familiar and concerned voice took Yellow by complete surprise as she jumped violently on her spot. With a small yelp her foot slipped and in her panic she had let go of the tree trunk. She had just enough time to register in horror that she is going to fall and probably break a leg –or worse—before she started plummeting down, eyes shut tight as she braced for the unpleasant impact which never came.

Strong arms caught her bridal-way and broke her fall. Still in shock, she snapped open her eyes and gasped.

"Arceus, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. That was pretty close." Her saviour apologised fervently. She became aware that he was wearing a lot of red and as her view travelled to his face, her green eyes met with a pair of golden.

Swept back red hair, a strand of loose fringe, cape.

When the picture clicked into place Yellow let out a louder gasp than before as she blindly scrambled off his arms, which he obligingly let her down, and tried to walk away, but realizing that somehow her left foot could not support her weight as pain shot up her leg and she stumbled, only to be caught by the arm again.

"Oh no, I think you sprained something." Lance said.

Yellow bit her lips nervously and trembled with slight fear as she remembered that this is the man whom she had defeated eight years ago on Cerise Island, and that the fact that she does not have a single Pokémon with her right now is putting her in a very precarious spot. Furthermore, it seems like she is immobile now as well. Panic rose in her as she tried to fight down her imaginations of possible things that could happen to her. However, when she looked at Lance again, his face was more of a questioning one than recognition.

"You shouldn't walk, or I can carry you out of here?" he offered.

"I-It's fine! I c-can manage by myself!" she stuttered as she tugged her arm away and tried walking in the opposite direction, only to lose strength to the pain again and flopped onto the forest floor.

"O-ow..." Her ankle was hurting more than she hoped for.

Lance was beside her again, helping her up. "Even if you insist on walking, at least let me help you out, there is no way you can make it out of the forest by yourself in your condition."

Yellow sighed and scolded herself silently for not bringing a single Pokémon with her, but it is true that in her current situation, she has no choice but to accept his help. Lance put her arm around his shoulders as he heaved her up and they started walking slowly. They were silent for a while as Yellow's head flooded with questions and confusion. It seemed like Lance did not recognize her, which is little wonder since she had disguised herself as a boy back then. She also didn't wear her straw hat nor even tied up her hair and on a whole look extremely different from the small "boy" eight years ago. But what is Lance doing in Viridian Forest again? Back to seek revenge? So he was alive after all (she was surprised to find herself feeling somewhat relieved), but where had he been all these while?

Timidly, she stole a peek at him. The years had turned him into a fine young man, she admitted, with a calm and quiet aura. He doesn't look too different from the brazen youth he was when he fought her, but his features are softer now and the hatred that she remembered seeing in his eyes is gone.

If Yellow had changed a lot in these years, so had Lance.

"May I ask your name?"

The question almost made her jump. "B-Blue!" she said the first name that came into her mind, and felt like kicking herself because she knew her senior had crossings with the Elite 4 too, but she prayed that he doesn't remember her since they never actually seen each other face to face.

"Blue huh? That seems rather unbefitting of your yellow hair though" he mused, evidently unaware of her lie. Yellow responded by looking at the ground anxiously.

"Actually," he said. "Do you happen to have a brother?"

She managed to shake her head.

"Ah well, just asking questions. You reminded me of someone." Yellow swallowed as she was perfectly sure who that "someone" is. "You look a lot like the person, yellow hair and green eyes. Almost had the same look, but he is a guy. I nearly thought you two are related, but seems like I was wrong."

"Is he a friend?" Yellow feigned ignorance, searching his face for any signs of anger, hurt or disgust.

Lance however, looked as unperturbed as before.

"A friend? I doubt I can consider myself that to anyone." He said with a soft chuckle. "Let's just say I stirred up a very huge amount of chaos here many years ago."

I know very well how huge that is. Yellow thought.

"It was wrong and extremely reckless on my part, and I think it caused a lot of trouble for him and his friends. It could have led to really disastrous consequences if they didn't stop me. So although rather overdue, I came back to apologise. Even though…" he trailed off and looked away.

Her eyes widened at this unexpected turn of events. Lance is apologizing? Of all possible reasons she guessed about his return, this was certainly not the first few she thought of.

"Even though?" she prompted him to continue, her curiosity now piqued. After so many years of wondering, she wanted very much to find out what happened to this man, whom if you look past the fact that he tried to eradicate humanity (although that is quite hard to look past) , was actually really gentle-hearted with Pokemons.

"Even though I don't really expect myself to be forgiven." He shrugged. "What I tried to do was reprehensible, so I am not demanding much this time. But I needed to ask for forgiveness in any case."

"W-well, I am sure if you are sincere about it, he will not hold any grudges!" Yellow was unsure what made her say it, but the sentence was out before she could stop herself.

Lance regarded the girl with earnest determination on her face with interest.

"You know," he said after a while. "You are really alike him. I don't usually talk about this to anyone but it somehow seems like I have no problem telling you."

Yellow flushed scarlet as she quickly looked down at the ground again.

Lance diverted the topic after that, asking Yellow about things that happened around Viridian City recently.

"I was born and grew up here, until pollution took over this place and I moved to Blackthorn City in Johto."

"Viridian used to be polluted?" Yellow asked incredulously. As far as she could remember, her hometown was always lush with forestry.

"For a while, yes. There were some attempts by Team Rocket to demolish the forest to build manufacturing plants. They didn't succeed in the end, but contaminated this area a lot. I lost two of my Pokemons because of it." He said quietly, recalling that day when his found his Magikarp and Dratini lying in an oil-stricken stream. Despite his healing powers, he was unable to save them and that was when his hatred towards humanity first started.

"What…Oh no.." That was new to her, and suddenly she understood a bit more about his irrational fury and desire to destroy humans. If someone killed her Pokemons, she couldn't be certain what she would have done either.

"I used to hate humans, thought they were really selfish and horrible. But the boy made me realize I was barking up the wrong tree. So after that I decided to stop Team Rocket and their advances instead of causing mass destruction" He smiled sheepishly. Again, Lance was aware that he started talking about it to the girl again. Perhaps it was her looks and perhaps it was her demeanor, but something about yellow-head made him feel that he could trust her.

Yellow glanced at him and their eyes met briefly, which she quickly averted again when she felt her cheeks warming. For some reason, her heart was pounding really hard, though no longer out of fear and anxiety.

They reached Yellow's house. Thanking him profusely, Yellow insisted on inviting him in for a cup of tea. She was thinking she should tell him her true identity, but has no idea how to go about it without making the atmosphere incredibly embarrassing and awkward.

To her panic she had forgotten that the table in front of the sofa was cluttered messily with baking ingredients and equipment. Lance half-smiled as he watched the girl hastily swept them up to bring them to the kitchen, hobbling as she did so, before he stepped in to lend her a hand.

"Ah thank you, it's Bl-my friend's birthday tomorrow, so I thought I would surprise her by making her a cake. Please take a sit."

But before she could take out the teapot, there a knock on her door.

"Hey! You in there?" Blue's voice came from behind.

"Oh no! You are not supposed to come in today! Go and find Green or Red please!" Yellow opened the door a little bit and said hurriedly. She couldn't let her find out about the surprise cake she is baking for her.

"Awww am I being rejected?" Blue laughed good naturedly with a twinkle in her eye showing she knows Yellow is up to something. "But I am here to return your hat, you left it at my place yesterday you forgetful thing! Ah well I will pop around tomorrow then. See you, Yellow!"

Yellow thanked her and took her beloved straw hat, closing the door. Then her hands flew up to her mouth in dismay when she took in the last word Blue said, and at the sight of Lance looking at her and her straw hat with realization.

"O-oh dear.."

"I thought something was amiss." He said softly. "But I honestly didn't expect you to be a girl, 'Blue' of the Viridian Forest."

"I-I, well, um.." she stammered but was unable to find any words.

"It's okay, I understand. Given your situation just now I would have lied too for safety sake. But well.. This is awkward, so you should know why I am here already?" he ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling more edgy than he liked. It was his turn to be surprised, that the little brat that took him down that time was actually now this pretty, gentle-looking girl. That suddenly made things a bit more nerve-wrecking.

Yellow nodded, leaning against the door.

"I just hope you would have told me eventually, Yellow, since I really wanted to say sorry to you."

"I-um..didn't know how to, but now you should already know my answer too right?" she fidgeted blushingly with her hat. Then on a whim, she stretched out her hand towards him.

"Not enemies anymore then?" she said shyly.

Lance was slightly taken aback by the gesture, but relief and gladness flooded over as he smiled and took her hand.

"Not anymore." He replied.

The girl who thwarted his grandiose plans and the man who tried to destroy her precious hometown shook hands after eight long years. People can change and even the rustiest hatchet can be buried. Their hands lingered in connection for a while as Yellow stared into Lance's eyes, momentarily frozen by the tender depth that wasn't there last time. Then abruptly she pulled her hand away before another blush could form and turned, limping towards the kitchen.

"Ah so it's finally settled then! I need to start baking Blue's cake too now. You can help if you want to but if you are busy then I shouldn't hold you back. Oh dear where did I put the cake mold? Do you suppose she like Aspear flavor more or Chesto? Actually I think it should be Chesto, she mentioned it a while back when we went shopping. Ah…." She blabbered quickly to hide her embarrassment, wincing a bit when she accidentally leaned her weight on the wrong side.

"You shouldn't move too much with that ankle of yours. I can help with the cake." He said, holding her by the arm again.

"Oh thank you then..I think the mold is in the cupboard there. Oh and, um, Lance?"

"Mm?"

"Welcome back."