It's almost 5 o'clock, and in a small town in eastern Johto, a bus pulls up at the small transit center, and clumsily halts at the curb.
"We have arrived at New Bark Town," the bus driver calls into a small mic. "Next stop, Tohjo Falls. I repeat, we have arrived at New Bark Town."
In the back of the bus, an older businessman gently taps the shoulder of the sleeping passenger across the walkway from him. "Excuse me, young man. I think this is your stop."
The "young man" drowsily opens his eyes, and shakes his head to drive the sleep away. Checking outside, he nods his thanks to the businessman, and grabs a small shoulderbag, which he slings across his shoulder.
"Oh, young man, you forgot this..." a voice calls as he takes a step down the walkway. Turning, he sees it's the businessman again. He's holding out something green, and sparkles as it catches the light...
"Oh! Sorry, yes, that's mine," he says hastily as he awkwardly grabs the emerald from him. The businessman smiles and waves him goodbye as he makes his way down off the bus.
"Here, this is your bag, righ'?" The young man turns as he steps on to the concrete, and sees the bus driver offering him his suitcase.
"Ah, yes," the young man nods graciously, and takes his luggage. As the bus driver gets on, he waves back to the young man.
"See you!" he says, closing the bus doors and driving off. The young man puts up a hand and waves, waving until the bus turns the corner and disappears.
"Huh. What a buncha nice people," he says to himself. Looking down at his hand, he sees the emerald, and smiles. Lowering his head, he puts one hand on his giant crescent-shaped blond hair, and fixes the jewel onto the middle with his other hand.
"Ah. That's more like it!" he grins.
"Yo, junior!" a voice shouts from above. Looking up, the young man sees a figure in a red jacket and goggles riding on a flying white Pokémon, his messy black hair waving wildly in the wind.
"Hey, Gold, took you long enough. I've been standing here for ages!" the young man lies, grinning as he watches the other boy land. Smoothly dismounting his Togekiss, Gold smirks back.
"Pffft. Yeah right, I've been waiting here for hours!" he lies back, walking up to his friend. Now a distinct size difference is apparent as Gold stares down at his friend.
"You, uh, grow a few centimeters since last time we met, Emerald?" he jabs, swiping his hand just over the top of his friend's ridiculous hair.
"Say what now?!" Emerald growls, pulling out a Pokéball, a murderous look on his face.
"Whoa, man! Just a joke, sorry," Gold chuckles. "Geez, must've gotten it from Super Serious Gal..." he mutters to himself. "Anyway," Gold says, turning back to Emerald's glaring face. "We gotta wait for Silver, that bastard, always coming to my house to watch that damned show of his-"
"Who's a bastard now?" A shadow drops behind Gold and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"WAAAAK!" Gold screams, leaping several meters into the air. As he lands, Silver sticks a foot out, and trips him, making the raven-haired boy land on his face.
"What the hell! I told you to stop sneaking up on me!" Gold yells, quickly getting back on his feet. Silver responds by patting Gold on the shoulder.
"Let's get to your house already. I don't want your mother's curry 'n rice to get cold," he says, walking off on his own.
"Curry 'n rice?! I love curry 'n rice!" Emerald grabs his bags and hurries off to join his red-haired senior.
"Wha-! Hey! That's my mom's cooking you guys are looking forward to! Consider this a huge privilege!" Gold shouts, running to catch up to them.
"Yo! We're home!" Gold shouts, opening the door to his house.
"Ah! There you are! I was starting to wonder when you would be arriving," Gold's mother appeared in the hallway, carrying a tray full of food on mittened hands.
"Oh please, when have I ever been late coming home?" Gold smirks, kicking his shoes off at the doorway and runs down the hall to the bathroom in his socks.
Behind him, Silver neatly takes off his shoes and dons a pair of house slippers, and steps into the hallway. "Excuse me for disturbing your home again," he says meekly, as he makes his way to the bathroom as well.
"Ah, it's always a pleasure to have you around, Silver," Gold's mom says as he passes her. Looking towards the doorway, she sees another figure, shorter than the other two, also taking off his shoes and putting on slippers. "Oh! I almost forgot! Emerald, right?" she exclaims apologetically. "Dear, I'm so sorry. I'm Gold's mom, but you can just call me-"
"Auntie! Just call her Auntie, alright?!" Gold says in a loud voice as he stomps back through the hall. "Here, lemme help you. Hand me your bag, the big one," Gold says. Taking the suitcase, Gold grunts as he hefts it securely into his arms. "I'll take this up to your room, so head into the dining room for now. And Mom, show him the kitchen and bathroom and stuff, thanks!" Gold shouts, heading upstairs with Emerald's bag.
For a second, Emerald stands in the hallway, stunned. "He...has he always been this loud and um..."
"Oh, yes, ever since he was little." Gold's mother answers, looking up at the flight of stairs that her son disappeared into. "I don't mind it, and I guess it's lucky that you two put up with it, too. Goes to show he has a knack for making friends with good people," she says. Facing Emerald, she smiles warmly. "Now, how about showing you around?"
"...pulling the poor Octillery off of old Jerry, so now he's got a buncha ringlets all up his arm!" Gold laughs, and shoves a mouthful of rice into his face.
"Tch. I just don't get why you guys don't conduct experiments in separate rooms. We did it that way during my internship in the Sinnoh region, and it is an excellent system," Silver commented, sipping some Cheri juice.
"Oh really?" Gold remarked sarcastically. "Well, maybe I should jus' ask old man Elm if I can take a month off and get an internship in Unova or something, oh, but wait, I don't want to turn into some stuck-up-!" The two boys' squabble descended into meaningless argument over the table.
"Ahaha...oh, Emerald, what's wrong?" Gold's mom looked over at the younger boy, whose face was downcast as he barely even touched his curry. Looking up, he smiled and shook his head.
"Oh, nothing," he reassured her, but Gold took a gulp of water and swallowed, staring at his junior.
"Hey, I know you've only been here a few minutes, but it's alright to tell us if something's on your mind," Gold says with a caring smile on his face.
"Well, uh, I...heh, this is gonna sound stupid, but I guess I'm just really glad that I finally got adopted," Emerald said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I used to never think I would even have any friends, and now..." He clvoice caught in his throat as he recalled memories of times past.
"Oh, Emerald..." Gold's mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Gold leaned over and patted him on the back.
"Hey man, don't worry, we're here for you now. Me, my mom, heck, even Silver!
"Wha-! Don't bring me into this!"
"Point is," Gold continued, ignoring Silver, "you might've been some nobody-orphan before, but now, you got us. You got more than friends, you got family. Alright?"
Thoughtfully, Emerald slowly looked up at his senior Dexholder, and smiled.
"Right!"