Okay, chapter 3! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review so far, much appreciated! Just in warning; this chapter has a LOT of talking. Not much happens to be honest, but there is quite a bit of character development. Again it's longer than the last, i just can't seem to break the habit! Anyway… enjoy!

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The next thing Green remembered was waking up. He realised quickly that he was in a hospital bed, his hand plastered and a certain familiar someone standing at the foot of his bed, arms crossed and a wide grin on her face.

"Leaf?" he murmured, words slurred from the painkillers he had been pumped full of. "Whad'ya doin 'ere?"

She grinned. "You know, I'm starting to be really glad I came to see you Green; this visit has been positively hilarious."

"Wh-Why does my hand hurt so bad?" He asked.

"Well, shattering pretty much every bone in it by hitting a solid oak door in a blind rage will tend to that. The doctors say it should be okay in the long run but they had to perform some pretty serious surgery on it, and you're not gonna have any use of it for a fair while." Leaf explained nonchalantly, the superior smile never leaving her face.

"So why are you here?" Green asked sullenly.

Leaf's face hardened slightly at the question. "Believe me, it wasn't so I could come and nurse you through your time of need, that's for sure. To be honest," she said, "I just felt like having a bit of a laugh at you. Considering what you put Red through when we were little, I'd say a broken hand is the least you deserve."

"So you delayed your trip up Mt Silver just so you could taunt me about punching a door?" He asked incredulously. "I may have been cruel when we were little leaf but Goddamn! I think you've taken over my position pretty nicely." He was trying to get her to feel guilty, but to his annoyance Leaf just laughed.

"Perhaps." She replied. "But the difference between you and me is I only bully people who deserve it, I don't pick on little kids who can't speak." Green had nothing to say to that, so just remained quiet. Leaf continued. "For what it's worth, I planned on bringing you down pretty brutally with this visit, but I've found I just can't bring myself to do it anymore than you have yourself." She said airily. "I'm just here to say see ya since I'll be heading up Mt Silver pretty much straight away."

In typical Leaf style, with these words she swept out of the room and into the hospital corridor, but a shout of "Wait!" from Green made her pause. After briefly considering continuing on as though she hadn't heard him, she shrugged and turned back into the room, figuring that she may as well hear what he had to say; after all, Red wasn't going anywhere.

Green let out a sigh of relief when she returned, and made the most of his brief window of opportunity. "Leaf." He began. "Please don't leave like this. I know you've hated me for a long time; but please believe me when I say I've changed. After Red beat me for the championship I started looking back on what I'd been, and I realised it was my attitude that had always kept me from beating Red, so I did my best to change myself. I admit I only did it in the beginning because I wanted to beat Red so badly, but after a while I started to like what I was becoming. I wasn't cruel or condescending to my challengers, I faced everyone politely and people began to respect me for who I was. I finally realised why everyone seemed to always love Red, while treating me like I was beneath them; it was because that was how I was treating them. I couldn't expect to be loved and respected if I didn't treat anyone with respect in return, and in the end I reaped what I sowed. It took a hell of a lot for me to realise that but when I did it really changed who I was."

"And yet when I told you how I hated you you acted as though the news was a complete shock." Leaf replied in a bored tone. "If you'd gone through such a period of self-reflection, how come you weren't able to see what a terrible person you'd been to Red and how I utterly despised you for it, hmm?"

Green though for a moment before replying, doing his best to convey his thoughts coherently. "I don't really know." He started slowly. "I suppose it was because I was so hopelessly in love with you I just did my best not to think about how my old assumptions might be wrong. I didn't want to lose that illusion I'd created for myself because it was the only positive thing I had left from my old life. It was so painful remembering what type of person I'd been; but I really did love you and even though it was a fool's fancy, believing that you loved me back was all I could focus on. I didn't consider the alternative because if I did, it would have torn me apart… just like it has." He finished eyes downcast as yet more tears pricked at his eyes.

Leaf appeared stunned for a moment. "Wow…" was all she managed to choke out after a while. "I have to admit Green, that was pretty powerful. But don't think that makes everything fine between us, heaven forbid you get it into your head again that I do have feelings for you after all. Still, I-I suppose I believe you when you say you've changed, and I'm glad."

Green smiled; happy for the first time in what felt like forever. It wasn't love, but forgiveness was as much as he was willing to hope for at the moment, and it seemed as though he had it.

Leaf frowned again, apparently unwilling to let the matter rest just yet. "Do you know why I hated you so much Green?" she asked. Green nodded, he was pretty sure they'd just gone over this... Leaf continued. "It wasn't just because of how arrogant you were, you know. If you'd always been like that, then I don't think I would've hated you… strongly disliked, maybe, but not hated. The reason I hated you so fiercely was because of how you used to be. Remember when we were really little? You, Red and I: the three musketeers. Everyone always said how they'd never seen kids with such strong bonds between one another. We were the perfect trio. But then you had to go and change, and all of a sudden that trio was a duo and I felt like I was missing a great big chunk of who I was.

"You see Green, I did love you once. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but I loved you just as much as I loved Red, and I thought you loved us in the same way. It nearly broke me when you changed, and I think it hurt Red even more. You wouldn't know because you never had anything to do with him after you ditched him, but for ages after you changed he was just so… so sad. Devastated even. You broke his spirit then, and the only thing that got it back for him was beating you at the game that you seemed to have decided it was necessary for the two of you to compete in. That's a terrible way to have to regain your sense of self-worth you know, having to destroy the one who destroyed you. I hated you for doing that to him, and I hated you for breaking what we had. Most of all, I hated you for not being what I was so convinced you were." Her voice broke, and her speech stopped.

If Green had ever heard more poignant words than the ones Leaf had just spoken, he couldn't remember them. The tears were flowing freely now, but he made no move to stop them; he knew he would be unsuccessful anyway. Through the moisture that covered his vision, he looked at the girl he had though he had known so well. He felt sick inside: he hadn't known her at all. She was so much more than he had ever imagined, and so much more deserving of the worship he had laid at her feet. Her revelations hadn't negatively affected his feelings; on the contrary they had only made them stronger, because at last he understood the type of person she was.

There was no more room for words, that much was clear. Anything he said now would be superficial; an unnecessary extension now that they had both bared their souls so starkly to one another. Green was aware of how much he desired her, but his feelings were, for the first time, tempered by the fact that he was considering her wants over his own. He knew explicitly that Red was the one she loved, had always loved, and barring some miracle, would always love. Strangely, the realisation left him feeling not angered, but instead rather hollow. The feeling was not unlike the one which had made its presence felt to him during the long years of Leaf's departure, but now if felt somehow heavier, more final, and altogether much harder to bear.

Leaf finally spoke after several minutes of heavy, suffocating silence. Her words were brusque, and contained none of the eloquence and wittiness that she usually conveyed. "Seeing as that's out of the way, I'll think I'll be going to Mt Silver now. Take care Green, and try not to turn into the dickhead you used to be. For me?"

For the second time, she made to walk out of the ward, but for the second time, Green stopped her with a hurried, "Wait!"

Leaf sighed and turned back to the boy. "What now Green? I know red isn't going anywhere in a hurry but I would still like to get up there before this decade is out if at all possible."

"Let me come with you."

That certainly floored Leaf. Just when she thought she had regained her composure, this infuriating individual had to go and throw a curve ball like that. "W-what?" She stammered. "After everything we just said? You can't be serious!"

Green made to explain himself. "Please, it's not because I want to try on a move with you or anything. I just think it's about time I saw Red again. I vowed I'd never lay eyes on him again until I could beat him, but after battling you I know that's never gonna happen. Besides, I never realised just how awful I was towards him until today, and I think it's my duty to try and make some sort of amends, don't you?"

"Well duh. Of course you should do something about it, but why should you travel with me? Why not wait until I leave and then go up by yourself? Red's waited five years for an apology; I don't think another few months will make any difference. Besides, I'm not going to see Red just for a social call you know. Five years' worth of unspoken feelings are about to be unleashed upon that poor, unsuspecting boy, and I know you'd hate to feel like a third wheel."

Green tried a different tack. "You said the reason you hated me was because I broke what we were back in the old days." He began. Leaf nodded, indicating that he should continue but altogether unsure about where his train of thought was headed. "I never realised it until today, but I've hated myself for a long time for the same thing. 'The perfect trio.' You said we were. Well why is it necessarily too late to be that again? I know there's a decade's worth of bad blood built up between us but I'd like nothing more than to break that down and recover what we had. If I was the one to break what we had, then I should be the one to try and restore it, shouldn't I?"

Leaf considered his words, completely unsure how to react. It was true that she had missed furiously the way things had been between the three Pallet trainers originally, but it had been so long since any kind of bond had existed concerning the three that she was quite unsure whether or not she wanted it back now anyway. She remembered just how happy she had been travelling the region with Red, back when they had first started out. How she'd slowly began to forget the role Green had played in their group all that time ago, and started instead to see him as nothing more than a rival, present for the sole purpose of being beaten. Did she want him back as something more? A friend as he had once been; reliable through thick and thin and steadfast against all foes… not that there had been many when they were young.

It didn't take long for Leaf to make her decision. Of course she wanted him back in that way. She wanted nothing more than to be able to trust him as she had trusted Red for so long, and to have a relationship akin to what she had always thought they were meant to have. She only wished that he had proven himself capable of all this and more back in the day, but he had failed utterly in that simple mission. Which was why:

"Sorry Green. I want to trust you again, believe me I do, but I can't forgive what you did so quickly, as much as I want to." She told him with a sad smile, hoping that it would convey the regret she was feeling to the boy. "Maybe in a year or so, if you try really hard, then perhaps I might be convinced to give you a chance. But even if I do, I can't promise anything for Red, and to be honest if you manage to make him forgive you after everything… well, you've got my admiration."

Finally, for the third time that day, Leaf turned on her heel and strode from the room; this time without a call from Green stopping her in her tracks. Unmolested, she made her way past reception and out into the car park, where she released her Aerodactyl. Random strangers stopped and stared at the ancient rock type which, since it had been resurrected from a piece of old amber, was the only example of such that most anyone had ever seen. Leaf payed little attention to the amazed gasps and poorly concealed whispers; instead, she leapt onto Aerodacty's back and rocketed skywards, heading towards the Pokémon centre which marked the entrance to the caves and grottos of Mt Silver.

Green sat in his hospital bed for approximately twelve seconds after Leaf took her leave. It took around 4 seconds for him to decide on his next course of action, and a further eight for him to work out how to do it. Gingerly, he slipped out of bed, pulling the IV drip from his arm and ignoring the frenetic beeping of the machine at his bedside as it alerted the entire hospital to his apparent death. He knew he had only moments before the room was swarming with doctors and nurses, so he moved quickly. First, he pulled off the standard issue hospital gown he wore and threw on the clothes which lay folded on his bedside chair. His standard attire had been washed and ironed, and the staff had even made sure that his signature necklace was among his possessions; just another perk of being the most powerful gym leader in Kanto, the job came with a certain level of respect.

He moved rapidly after that, ducking out the door and into a neighbouring ward just as a swarm of personnel came bustling along the corridor. He heard pandemonium erupt as his empty bed was discovered, but before the first person could leave to search for him elsewhere, he had moved down the hall they had come from and left via the same entrance as Leaf had just minutes before.

To his relief his pokeballs were all present on his waist, and he quickly called out his Pidgeot. He vaulted lithely onto the faithful bird's back, being careful not to knock his arm, and murmured for it to head towards the Indigo Plateau and Mt Silver. His escape was completed in mere moments, and with that he was headed up the mountain, to try and make amends for a wrong he wasn't even aware of performing until that very day. Oh yes, Leaf might have tried to keep him away, and she certainly hadn't found it within herself to forgive him just yet, but Green had put into motion the gears of reconciliation, and he was damned if he was going to let the opportunity stagnate.

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Okay, chapter three is done and dusted. I'm pretty happy with this chapter even though not much happens. I thought I'd answer the questions of a certain reviewer since I want to encourage reviews as much as possible.

A Random Reviewer: To your first question, they're actually 17 as I consider the original story to have taken about a year, and this story is set five years after the end of the games. I'm not sure why I made them 11 and not 10 for when they started out, but what's done is done…

As for your second question; I'd say Leaf fell for Red because… well, he's the hero! :P They've been friends since childhood and Leaf is all Red has really, so it's natural that there would be a deep bond between them. As for since when: I would say since sometime before the second flashback, but they're only kids then so it's not really a relationship in the typical sense, it's just a childhood crush. I would go with the theory that their relationship develops somewhat over the course of their journey, but it's not until Leaf leaves and they start to mature emotionally that they really work it out.

I hope that helps and anyone else with a question or two just let me know in a review and I'll do my best to answer it.