The previous chapter surprisingly got next to no rage. It was surprisingly well received, despite the fact that I scrambled two of the most popular pairings together. Interesting… Perhaps it's because I put Ruby with White and those two are quite similar. Hmm… More data required! … Later.

Primary: Green & Blue.

Friends:

Blue's secret base, classified location, 11 am…

Blue looked up from her sketchbook when her Pokégear began to vibrate. She took the device out of her pocket and noticed that it was Crystal calling. Blue didn't really want to answer right now, since she was on a roll. Sort of. She was currently sketching the sleeping figures of an Espeon and an Umbreon curled up next to each other. Of course, the two figures were just her Ditto, but it was enough to get her to sketch it. And she was in the mood for some continuous sketching.

But Crystal called again. Rats. Blue let out a sigh and set her pencil on the floor. This had better be important. She took a brief moment to make sure she didn't sound angry and picked up the Pokégear.

"Hello?"

"Hi Blue," Crystal said through the Pokégear. "Can you please help me with something?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Can you come to me, please? I need to have something important delivered and I'm currently busy right now. I'm in Cinnabar Island by the Gym, so it won't be hard to find me."

"Can't someone else do it?" Blue asked, not wanting to go all the way over to Cinnabar Island, even though it was only about 20 minutes away.

"No. This document is really important, and it must not fall into the wrong hands."

Blue frowned. "And you trust me enough to deliver it for you?"

Crystal didn't say anything for a little while. "… Of course I trust you. When have I not trusted you?"

That was true. Quite true. "Oh right. Sorry." 'I guess I was thinking of Green…'

"Did something happen?" Crystal asked, concern in her voice.

"No. I was just thinking of something else," Blue said dismissively. "But alright, I'm coming."

She soon hung up and took a picture of her Ditto. That way, once she was done with business, she could load up the photo and use that to finish her sketching. Then the painting would begin and if she completely immersed herself in it, it would take her about 4 days. 4 days of her not thinking about her own life. Which was good. The less she thought, the happier she got.

…

20 minutes later, Blue arrived in Cinnabar Island and returned her Wigglytuff. She walked along the coast and suddenly got an urge to smoke. Which she couldn't right now because she was about to meet Crystal. And as far as everyone knew, she quit smoking years ago. Though she secretly restarted a year ago due to stress.

Drinking alcohol and smoking. Neither of which would help her in the short and long run. But damn it, they were necessary. Alcohol helped her fight off her memories by getting wasted. Or should, if she wasn't so damn tolerant… And smoking helped remove short-term stress in the exchange of a long-term one. Whatever.

Blue glanced over at the coast. The rumored "haunted" coast of Cinnabar Island. Rumor has it, monsters appeared from that coast every now and then to abduct swimmers. Total of over 20 swimmers have gone missing in that coast, and there haven't been any traces of them at all.

Blue shrugged. It wasn't her problem. She didn't live in Cinnabar Island. And having been abducted once before, she doubted that she could be abducted again in a way that would screw her over more than the last time.

She soon found Crystal writing something down on a notepad near the Gym. Blue had no idea why Crystal was in this island, and she really didn't care. It wasn't her concern.

"Hey, Crys," she called as she approached her.

Crystal looked over at her and immediately sighed in relief. She gave her a quick, polite bow before she returned to work. Whatever she was doing, it must've been very important.

"Thank you for coming," she said, sincerity evident in her voice and tone.

"What do you need?" Blue asked.

Crystal reached into her bag and took out a pile of documents. "I need these to be delivered to Green as soon as possible. But I still have an important job to do in this island."

Blue slightly frowned. She didn't like going to see Green, as she didn't want to get her heart broken any more than it already was. Yes, she would love to see him again. But not when he was working. And he was always working. And whenever he was working, he was really cold to her, as if she was there to destroy all of his work. Blue had stopped visiting Pallet Town years ago for this reason. But she couldn't reject her junior's help request either. With a long sigh, she took the documents.

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Oh, thank you so much," Crystal said. "I'm sure Green would appreciate your help too."

'Yeah, right…'

Blue didn't respond and simply sent out her Wigglytuff again so that she could get to Pallet Town.

For the first time in months, Blue had time to think about her life. And she didn't like it. So many problems were present right now… all of which could be solved by one person. But he didn't know and unknowingly added to the problem. Blue shook her head. She really didn't want to think about all this now…

Eventually, Blue arrived in Pallet Town. She used to like this place, as it was her hometown. She really wanted to see where she had lived before she got kidnapped. But there was no way for her to find out. Only if someone would tell her. Her parents didn't like talking to her, and vice-versa. Green didn't want talking to her. Prof. Oak would've most likely forgot, but he would have told Green at one point. And he was never going to tell her because he never talked to her.

Blue shook her head. Again with these darker thoughts. She suppressed her thoughts deep inside and simply forced herself to focus on… her feet. Or her shoes, rather. The ones Silver bought her because she still didn't have a boyfriend who would buy those for her. And most likely, she'll never have one either. She shook her head again. Damn it…

She soon arrived at Prof. Oak's lab and silently entered. She knew where Green's room was. But she really didn't want to go there. He was going to be cold to her again. And she would have to try not to cry.

Blue stopped before knocking on Green's door. She really didn't want to do this. Seriously. She already knew what was going to happen. The moment he saw her, he would get annoyed and ask what she wanted. She experienced this many times already, which was why she just stopped visiting him. But she had to deliver the documents.

Blue groaned silently and knocked on the door. She slowly opened it right after and silently entered. She could see Green typing away at a keyboard and immediately knew that she would be right in thinking that he'd be annoyed at her. Friendship clearly didn't apply-

"Hi, Blue," Green said as he cast a glance at her.

… What?

Blue blinked. "… Huh?"

"I said hi," Green repeated as he cast another glance. He immediately got back to work.

"… Hi."

Blue frowned as she wondered why he was acting like how a friend should act. He wasn't smiling, but he didn't sound cold or angry either. It was something that he never did before. … Interesting… She went up towards him and carefully set the pile of documents on the empty section of the table. She then swiveled around and headed towards the door. Whatever was happening, she didn't want to push her luck.

"Thanks," Green said as he looked through the pile.

Blue stopped in her tracks. She slowly looked back at him. "… What did you say?"

"I said thanks," he repeated as he got back to work.

Blue simply stood in place for a while, taken aback by his… friendliness towards her. What was going on? He was never this nice…

"… Can I… talk to you?" she asked eventually.

"I'll be taking a break in about 30 minutes. Can we talk then?" Green asked back.

"Oh, sure. I'll be waiting outside then."

Blue silently closed the door behind her and left the lab. What was happening? Why was he being… nice to her? Or rather, why wasn't he being cold to her? She had to find out.

She leaned against the wall just next to the entrance of the lab and thought about this. She found it quite… sad right now. But not in a depressed way. It was sad for her to think that having a friend behave like a friend to her was unusual. Oh, she had friends who always treated her like dirt, so why were they being nice? That was one strange concern.

There was no way he was being nice to her because she was a friend. She once believed that, but not anymore. She wasn't naïve like that. … So what? Why was Green suddenly being nice to her?

30 minutes passed and Green soon came out of the lab for his break. He spotted her and walked over to her other side so he could lean on the wall next to her without walling the door shut.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

"Green… what's going on?" Blue asked as she slowly faced him. "Why are you so… … nice to me?"

"We're friends, aren't we? I'm supposed to be nice to you," Green responded.

Blue narrowed her eyes. "… Who are you, and what did you do to Green?"

Green smirked. "Come now, Blue. Do you really think I'm not me?"

"Then why aren't you acting like yourself?" she asked. "Every time I walk up to you, you always just asked me what I wanted. Like you were really annoyed by my presence. So… why didn't you today?"

"I always wanted to apologize for that, actually," Green said with a short sigh. "All this time, I put work above you. I was thinking that I had to choose spending time with you or getting work done. I chose the work option. And I thought that you were always trying to pull me away from work, which was why I was always annoyed. But recently, when you stopped visiting, I got to think during my breaks. If you wanted something from me, you would've said it. But you never did and when I asked what you wanted, you always left almost immediately. So I thought that next time you visited, I should just see how things go. Be more like Crystal. Of course, I'm not putting you above my work, but I see no reason why both options have to be mutually exclusive. I do take breaks every now and then, so I wanted to try what happens if I just told you to wait until my break time."

Blue let out a long sigh. She couldn't help but let a few tears fall. "… Green… for years now… this was… all that I wanted from you. Just you being nice to me from time to time… Or just… not getting annoyed so much. … All these years, I thought you hated me…"

"Of course not. We're friends, and we'll always be friends."

Blue wiped away her tears. "That's all I wanted to hear…" She sniffled a little to calm herself down. "… I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't visit you during your work days, but you always work… So… if you always act like today and just… tell me when it's best for me to visit you…"

Green gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'll stop working in about 4 hours. So if you want to do something then, just let me know."

Blue suddenly frowned again. "… Did I die? Is that what's happening? Am I dead? Or am I dying?"

"No."

"Am I dreaming then?"

"Blue, you're really not believing me here, are you?"

"We've known each other for 12 years, Green. You were never nice to me in all that time. And all of a sudden, you're… acting like this. Like a real friend. I'm not naïve enough to believe all this immediately." She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "… Is there something you want from me?"

"Did the roles swap between us?"

Blue steadily lowered her guard again. "… Okay… I'll… go along with this. I'll… trust you. But if this turns out to be a trick or a joke…"

"Don't worry, Blue. You weren't always this suspicious."

"Years of solitude changes people," she mumbled silently. "I kept thinking that you hated me. I doubted that you thought of me as a friend, which got me to doubt who really did think of me as a friend. Which made me wonder if everyone secretly hated me. And I've been wondering about that for 4 years now…"

Green crossed his arms and looked at her as she lowered her head. She didn't want him to look into her eyes, it seemed. "Tell you what. I'll answer all of your questions and remove all of your doubt."

Blue looked up at him, but in a way that her hat still cast a dark shadow over her eyes. "… How do you mean?"

Green put a hand on her cheek and gently kissed her on the lips. The girl jumped a little, but quickly relaxed as her defenses broke down.

"Trust me," he said after the kiss. "All of your doubts so far were mere misunderstandings. And I'll prove it later today. Pick the time and where you want to go, and I will take you there."

"Like… a dinner date?"

"Yes."

Blue blinked a few times. She put a hand over her mouth as she recalled that kiss. Eventually, she smiled and nodded. "Okay… thank you, Green. I… think I just want to go to where I used to live in this town. Before I got kidnapped."

"That's it?"

Blue slowly nodded. "If you just spend the time with me after you finish working… that'll mean the world to me. All I ever wanted was knowing and feeling that you cared for me. Nothing more. So… just spend the time with me. Can you do that?"

"Very well then."

Blue reached over and softly kissed him on the mouth. "Thank you." She gave him a longing smile for a short while before she pushed herself off the wall. "I don't want to distract you from your work. I'll see you when you finish."

Green nodded at her as she waved and soon entered the lab again. Blue watched him disappear before she sent out her Wigglytuff. She slowly climbed on and headed towards her secret base again. On the way, she thought about her life again. But this time, for the first time in years, she… liked thinking about it. Was this it? Was this the change she had so dearly wanted?

… If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up. She would rather die in a coma if it meant that she could feel this sensation forever. If this was not a dream, then… her wish had come true.

Blue couldn't help but smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. It finally happened. She could… finally be happy now. All thanks to Green. Or Crystal. Whoever had come up with the idea of suddenly being nice to her, because Blue still doubted that Green would have thought of this on his own.

At various points in my stories, I throw in a couple of game-jokes. That shameless shot at RNGing in Destiny, Missingno. jokes for X's baby Kangaskhan (because a few variants of Missingno. evolve into Kangaskhan) in the first chapter of this story, etc. In this chapter? The "cursed" coast of Cinnabar Island. Ever played Red/Green/Blue? That little strip of water contains some funky Pokémon. If you purposely abuse it and name yourself a certain series of characters, you can catch a level 180 something Mewtwo (or Mew), use Missingno. duplicated Rare Candies and stuff like HP Up and Calcium and BAM, level 255 Mewtwo that… can only be used in multiplayer battles.

Next up: Ruby & Sapphire. Let's see if I can't fix the botch up of the last one.

Also, for those who follow every story of mine, you would have noticed that the past couple of weeks have been PACKED with updates. I mean WHOA. It's what happens when I really feel like working on these. They get done within a couple of hours and are immediately published (… which also means I don't proofread, so whatever errors you find are either typos or… oops). Enjoy it while it lasts. This super rapid update rate can't last forever.