Chapter 37: Desperate Alliance
September 7, Lumiose City, 5 pm…
Red leaned against the rubble wall and tried to make sure that he was as concealed from the outside as possible, so that he could avoid detection from any random wanderers… or mind controlled victims.
And now that he was perfectly hidden, he could divert all of his focus into the matter that was bothering him right now, which was understanding precisely what Blue had said to him. For a while, he mentally repeated what she had said to him. He thought about her expression and how much she had cried when she thought that he died.
Then when she told him to avoid all danger, she had said something very important that he didn't fully understand.
'How much I mean to her…' he thought. 'What could that possibly mean?' He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Once he was perfectly calm, he slowly recalled the past and thought about his friendship with Blue, starting from when he first met her.
She was actually really, really bad at first. And even though Red had briefly thought that she wasn't actually as bad as she behaved, until the Pokémon League when he first learned of her past, she hadn't done anything to confirm his thoughts. But he had figured that she would change, and had tried to be nice to her, and treat her as an actual friend. Contrast to Green, who was genuinely annoyed at her at the time.
She didn't really change at all until she received her own Pokédex. But once she did, she changed drastically. She kept her promise and didn't steal from anyone. She was still super-focused on her objectives, though, doing whatever it took to achieve her goals. Except that now, Red actually understood a portion of her motivations.
Once she had gotten her revenge for the kidnapping, she changed again. She was actually happy, and friendly to the other Dex Holders. She seemed to be relaxed for the first time in her life, and now spent her time and effort trying to live like a normal girl, fixing her life, so to speak.
Red sighed a bit as he thought about how Blue had to see her parents get kidnapped right in front of her eyes just before she finally reunited with them after over a decade of separation. The final piece of her life that she had to fix, taken away from her at the last moment. She was obviously devastated, as she even passed out shortly after. It was the first time he saw her so upset… He felt quite mad at the situation, and did his best to fight for her sake. Which… didn't work out at all.
Blue woke up quickly and to her credit, didn't complain about her situation. Instead, she… thanked him for fighting for her sake, and did her best to comfort him when he was down, even though by all consideration, she needed more comforting than everyone else put together.
And after finally reuniting with her parents, she… sort of dropped out of contact. He rarely saw or heard from her, and every time he did, she didn't exactly look happy. And now the whole Zygarde/Mega Hunter thing happened.
Red opened his eyes and frowned. … That was nice and all for reminiscing about their shared past, but… didn't give him any information as to what Blue had meant by his meaning to her. Red glanced at his Pokégear. … Damn it, what a tragic waste of time… Blue was out there, getting the Mega Hunter's attention to save the Dex Holders, and here he was, failing to figure out what she had meant. She had told him to wait approximately 10 minutes. He still had about 5 left, so he still had a bit of time. And based on experience, it was generally better to follow her instructions to the letter.
But now a different approach was necessary to fully understand her words. … Blue had said that she would rather lose everyone else than lose him. Why? Clearly, she felt that he was very important to her. But why? He wasn't her only friend. Green was her friend too, even though he had messed up recently and so there was a falling out between them. And there was Yellow too, who was very friendly to Blue. And yet, Blue said that she would rather lose everyone else, which included Yellow and Green, than lose Red. … Why?
Red decided to compare himself to Green, from Blue's perspective. Or as close to her perspective that he could get. For a long while, both of them were her closest friends. Sure, it took Green a lot longer to be actually nice to her than Red, but… both were her friends until recently.
Blue wasn't the type to let the falling out make her say such drastic things. Sure, she'd say that she preferred Red over Green because of this, but not that she'd rather lose everyone else.
Red sighed as he struggled to find anything that Blue would deem to be significant. But what?
'Damn it… what could it be?' he thought in frustration. 'I mean, the only thing I can think of is that I'm the first one to be her friend. And out of all the other Dex Holders, I'm the one she met first. … Other than Silver, of course. But… how is that important?'
Red leaned back and accidentally bumped his head on the rubble, and winced. But just as he brought his hand up to rub the back of his head, a thought suddenly occurred and his eyes snapped open.
'First friend… Maybe that's it? … First friend… First… so the start of something…' Red groaned again as he felt like he was close to grasping an understanding, but it was just out of reach.
Red snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud explosion in the distance. He carefully peeked around the rubble and watched the thick column of smoke beginning to rise around Prof. Sycamore's lab. He directed all of his focus into his hearing. He could occasionally hear various Pokémon attacks being used, though the sounds were faint thanks to the distance.
Red glanced at the time, and saw that it was time for him to move. He rose to his feet and after carefully stretching his limbs, left the safety of the rubble and jogged towards Prof. Sycamore's lab.
As he jogged, he could hear a commotion leading away from the lab, and assumed that Blue was successfully luring the Mega Hunter away from the other Dex Holders. Red clenched his jaw a bit and sped up. He couldn't leave Blue alone to face the Mega Hunter. He was going to do as he was told and save the others, and then he'd mount a rescue to save her. Or at the very least, move to a position where he could assist her if necessary.
Red could hear a loud rumbling in the distance and a cloud of dust rising into the air. He quickly realized that it was coming from Prof. Sycamore's lab, and quickened his pace. He had heard this type of rumbling before, and that was when a building fell on him in that fight against the Mega Hunter. He could only assume that the professor's lab building was falling apart, and hoped that the other Dex Holders weren't still in there.
By the time he approached the lab area, the building had finished collapsing, and a group of Dex Holders were running towards him. Red jogged up to them as they stopped running.
"Ah, Red!" Crystal began. "You're okay!"
Red glanced at each Dex Holder and frowned. For one thing, Diamond and Platinum were still unconscious. Blue had told him about their injuries, and being carried around like this probably wasn't going to help at all. But also importantly… where were Yellow, Black, and White? … Were they still in the collapsing building?
Green quickly walked towards him. "Red, here. Take Platinum. And quickly, lead everyone out of Lumiose City."
Red carefully received Platinum in his arms. The girl was completely limp, as if she was dead. Red briefly held his breath and pulled her up closer so that her face was directly below his ear. To his great relief, he could hear her faint gasping breaths, indicating that she was still alive. … She had to get to a hospital quickly, though.
"Wait, Green, where are you going?" Crystal asked.
Green looked off to the side. "… I'm going to help Blue. Now that Red is here, you should have no problems getting out of this city. So I'm going to find Blue. If she needs help, then I will join her in battle. Otherwise, I'll just keep an eye on her until she evades the Mega Hunter completely."
"Great plan," Red said immediately with a nod. Now, he could save the juniors as Blue wished, and ensure her safety as well. "You just make sure that she's safe." He carefully repositioned his arms so that Platinum would be more comfortable and looked at the other Dex Holders. "All right, everyone. Let's get out of here. Gold, take the lead. Crys, defend our back. We're going to Camphrier Town to the southwest. Let's get going!"
Gold and Crystal gave Green one last glance before beginning to move again. To allow the group to move faster, Crystal assisted Pearl in carrying Diamond.
Green watched the others all leave before he sent out his Charizard. Even though it was still very worn out and thus couldn't participate in any battles, it was still able to fly, and that was all he needed for now. He quickly hopped on and got it to fly straight up so that he could locate Blue and determine if she needed his assistance as fast as possible.
Red occasionally glanced at Platinum in his arms as he ran. She still hasn't moved yet, and he briefly wondered if that was a good thing. Given what happened, maybe it was best if she just remained unconscious and didn't try to physically strain herself by moving too much.
Gold suddenly stopped in his tracks, forcing Red, Crystal, and Pearl to do the same. "… Do you feel that?" he asked as he quickly scanned the ground below.
"What?" Crystal asked. But she soon felt it as well. "Oh… that doesn't feel good…"
Red was about to ask what they were talking about when he began to feel a tremor in the ground below his feet, as if something was traveling underground. … Like a burrow charge that the Mega Hunter's Ground type Pokémon liked to do a lot.
"Spread out!" he ordered quickly, so that everyone wouldn't be hit by one attack.
But even as the other Dex Holders were beginning to move, the ground split open right in front of him, sending him backwards and off his feet. Red crashed into the ground and in that moment he realized that the impact had sent Platinum flying out of his arms. The girl hit the ground a couple of meters away and let out a pained gasp.
Red scrambled towards her as Gold and Crystal's Pokémon began to attack the large figure concealed by the cloud of dust created by emerging out of the ground. Red looked at the figure as the thick cloud of smoke steadily dissipated as the incoming attacks blew them away. The enemy became clearly visible, and it appeared to be a large green and black slug-like Pokémon with many tentacles and appendages, and many hexagonal eyes all over its body. … Zygarde?
Zygarde began to vibrate and the ground shook in response. Red could see ripples moving across the ground at a rapid rate, striking Gold's Typhlosion and Crystal's Meganium. The two Pokémon lost balance and fell over as the ground shifted below their feet. The constantly shifting ground prevented them from getting back up to fight back. Zygarde prepared another attack to hit the Dex Holders' Pokémon while they were down.
Red quickly reached for his Pokémon. Even though Blue had told him to stay safe… she technically told him to avoid the Mega Hunter. She didn't say anything about Zygarde… And given the circumstances… she'd have to understand. He'd have to fight.
Red was about to throw his Pokéball to send out his Venusaur when there was a loud howling noise from the vicinity. He looked around for the source but didn't see anything. Everything around him suddenly became dark, as if the sun was suddenly covered by a thick cloud. Zygarde seemed confused at the sudden change as well, as it aborted its attacks.
"Get down!" Pearl yelled abruptly.
Gold and Crystal quickly returned their Pokémon and jumped backwards just as a huge Moonblast seemingly fell from the skies and hit Zygarde. The hit knocked Zygarde down with enough force to bury it underground.
Red looked around for the source of the Moonblast, and soon spotted a large blue figure floating down from above. A large blue deer-like Pokémon… Xerneas? He was about to send out his Pokémon in case Xerneas attacked, but Platinum's pained gasps caught his attention. He crouched over her and gently pulled her so that she'd lie on her back. She gasped and grunted from that little contact, and she appeared to be in excruciating pain. She kept her eyes clenched shut and her arms wrapped around her side. The sudden impact with the ground seems to have worsened her internal injuries…
Gold and Crystal shook off the effects of Thousand Waves and attended their Pokémon. Crystal's Meganium got back up first, as it was more resistant to Zygarde's attack. Crystal and her Meganium stepped in front of Gold and his Typhlosion so that she could fight the Xerneas first and give time for the others to recover or retreat.
The Xerneas landed on the ground and stared directly at Crystal, but didn't look hostile. It soon ignored her and looked at the hole in the ground created by the Moonblast.
\ \It has left…\ \ it said after a moment. It then returned its focus to the Dex Holders. It walked towards Red and Platinum and looked down on the heiress, who appeared to be having severe difficulties breathing. Xerneas began to glow bright blue as it channeled some of its energy into the girl.
Red watched as Platinum's pained expression soon got replaced by a peaceful one. She stopped gasping for air and her breathing returned to normal. Red gently put a hand on her shoulder and she didn't react, indicating that she had fallen into deep sleep.
"What did you do?" he asked after a sigh of relief.
\ \She was dying. I restored her life force,\ \ Xerneas answered.
"Can you help Dia?" Red asked, glancing at Diamond.
\ \He is not dying,\ \ Xerneas answered nonchalantly.
"Wait… why did you help us?" Crystal asked. "I thought you were on Zygarde's side."
\ \I am not.\ \
"So… does that mean you're on our side?" Gold asked.
\ \No. But I am not against you. There is only one human I will side with, and that is-\ \
"Y…" Crystal muttered. "… You were once on Y's team, weren't you? But… when X and Y found you, you attacked them."
\ \I did not attack them,\ \ Xerneas replied calmly. \ \I merely empowered their enemy. I was not in full control of my newfound powers. I was not in a position to rise against Zygarde and its puppet. But I am in full control now. And Zygarde is losing control. This is also why Zygarde has chosen to retreat right now.\ \ Xerneas looked off into the distance, towards Ambrette Town. \ \There is a reason why I came to help you. But time is short. But know that as long as you oppose Yveltal and Zygarde, you have no reason to fear me.\ \
Crystal looked over at Red. "What should we do, Red?"
"I see no reason why we shouldn't refuse," Red said after a moment of thought. "Y was our friend and junior. And Xerneas was on her team, and was on good terms with her. And it seems that right now, we'll both benefit from working together. So let's cooperate."
Gold returned his Typhlosion. "Okay then. Let's get going."
Red gently lifted Platinum into his arms again. "Gold, take her," he said as he walked up towards him.
"Huh?" Gold received Platinum in his arms and looked up at Red in confusion. "Why give her to me?"
"There's something I need to check," Red answered as he took out the Pokédex Scanner. He turned it on and soon nodded. "… As I thought…" He showed Gold the scanner's screen. "Look. There's a Unova Pokédex and a Kanto Pokédex around the lab area. And I don't see Yellow or Black or White around here. So I'm going to go save them. And afterwards, I'll regroup with Green and Blue and try to catch up to you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. We can't leave anyone behind. With Xerneas, you should have no troubles reaching Camphrier Town. With Zygarde gone and the Mega Hunter worn out, I'll be okay too."
Gold hesitated, but soon nodded. "Okay. Good luck."
"Pearl, lend me your Luxray, would you?" Red asked.
Pearl quickly understood the intention and dug into his pockets to find his Luxray's Pokéball. After checking that he fished out the right one, he tossed it to Red.
Red caught the ball, nodded back as a thanks, and headed towards the collapsed lab as fast as he could manage. Gold watched him disappear around the corner before he put Platinum on top of Xerneas. Pearl placed Diamond next to her before climbing on as well. Gold and Crystal sent out their aerial transport Pokémon so that they could all get to Camphrier Town quickly.
…
Green watched from his Charizard as the other Dex Holders made their way out of the city. When he heard that explosion as Zygarde popped out of the ground, he contemplated whether he should go back to assist the others. But even as he considered it, Xerneas appeared and hit Zygarde with Moonblast, forcing it to retreat.
The new development momentarily confused Green, as he was under the belief that all the Kalos Legendary Pokémon were hostile. But based on what X and Y have said about their journeys… it was possible that Xerneas was going to be an ally. For now, at least. But given the current situation, any help was definitely welcome.
Green resumed scanning the streets below. Now that he didn't have to worry about the others anymore, he could direct his focus to finding Blue and helping her if necessary.
A sudden motion in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He soon spotted Blue running towards where Zygarde had emerged a short while ago. She must've heard Zygarde's emergence and was running back to help the other Dex Holders. But she had been luring the Mega Hunter away from everyone. Running back towards the others would-
Green quickly got his Charizard to swoop down when he saw Blue turning a corner around a building, only to run directly into the Mega Hunter's Flygon. The Flygon lunged at her, and she quickly rolled to avoid the attack.
Green sent out his Scizor once he got close to a rooftop near Blue. The Scizor jumped off of the roof, kicking off of the walls of buildings to rapidly descend to ground level, while using its wings to control the speed of its descent.
Green cursed as Blue was held immobile by Psychic while the shiny Flygon hit her with Outrage. The girl dropped to her knees and was soon hit by a Shadow Ball from the shiny Reuniclus. She collapsed onto the ground and the Flygon approached her to finish her off.
Just as the shiny Flygon lifted a foot to stomp on her head, Green's Scizor charged forward with Bullet Punch. The Flygon felt the rapid motion and turned around just as Scizor's claw smashed into its face.
The Flygon stumbled back from the Bullet Punch, and the Scizor quickly moved to stand in front of Blue in a protective stance.
Green's Charizard swooped down and landed right next to the Scizor, allowing Green to hop off and quickly pull Blue off of the ground.
"Blast Burn!" he ordered as he lifted Blue onto his arms.
The Mega Hunter's Flygon and Reuniclus didn't react to the attack and instead, tried to attack first. Green noticed the lack of reaction, and figured that Zygarde was currently not paying attention to the Mega Hunter, and thus was not directly controlling him.
The shiny Flygon attempted to attack Charizard directly, but got pushed back by Scizor. And by the time Reuniclus tried to attack, the Charizard's Blast Burn hit first.
The moment the attack hit both Flygon and Reuniclus, Green hopped onto his Charizard and returned his Scizor. "Go, go! Before Zygarde starts paying attention!"
The Charizard complied, but struggled to fly quickly, as the Blast Burn had left it exhausted. Green glanced down at the ground while flying away and saw the Mega Hunter returning his downed Pokémon.
But it seemed that Zygarde was now directing its focus to the Mega Hunter now, as a shiny Salamence soon appeared and immediately Mega Evolved. The Mega Salamence quickly took off and chased after Green.
Green noticed that the distance between himself and Salamence was rapidly decreasing, as Mega Salamence was much faster than Charizard. The Mega Salamence suddenly shot a Hyper Beam at its target. The attack narrowly missed Green and his Charizard, forcing the Charizard to try to make more drastic evasive maneuvers, suddenly swooping down and flying very close to nearby buildings.
For a while, it seemed to have worked, as the Mega Salamence had difficulty in trying to hit the Charizard with any ranged attacks. The erratic movements made it nearly impossible to predict the next movement, and various skyscrapers and other tall buildings that the Charizard was weaving around also served as great cover.
Green looked back at the Mega Salamence. Even though the Dragon type Pokémon was faster than Charizard, it was also very worn out from the massive battle earlier. And constantly using powerful attacks like Hyper Beam and Dragon Pulse tired it out even more. It had stopped gaining on him and instead, started to trail behind. Before long, Green would be able to lose it entirely and safely escape.
But a sudden motion from the side caught his attention. He quickly looked over and realized that it was just his Charizard's shadow being cast against the skyscraper that was just a couple of meters off to the side. But as he stared at it, he noticed that the shadow was moving very differently… and faster.
Even as Green tapped his Charizard to fly away from the building, the shadow suddenly leapt out of the wall right in front of the Charizard. Green saw the ghastly white body of the shiny Mega Gengar extending out of the skyscraper wall.
The sudden appearance made the Charizard quickly swerve to the side and divert its focus on the new threat… which provided the pursuing Mega Salamence a predictable movement arc. Green hear the Hyper Beam from behind and knew that he couldn't dodge it this time. All he could do was embrace the unconscious Blue in his arms tighter as the Hyper Beam struck him and the Charizard, sending him plummeting towards the ground.
…
Yellow slowly opened her eyes. She still felt so sleepy… she could fall asleep again at any moment. She blinked a few times and soon noticed that the ceiling was very… unfamiliar. And looking very, very destroyed. … What?
She slowly sat up and winced at the pain coming from her arm. And only then did she realize that she was currently lying on what appeared to have once been a window.
"Where… What…"
She looked at her arm and saw lots of glass shards stuck around. But her thick clothes protected her from all of the shards except for one, which was big and sharp enough to piece the thick sleeve and stab into her arm.
Yellow carefully pulled out the big shard and brushed away the little ones before slowly rising to her feet. She could see that she was inside a collapsed building, and thought about the last thing she could recall. She had spent so much energy healing the other Dex Holders' Pokémon after that battle against the Mega Hunter. But as everyone was recover, the Mega Hunter returned to catch them off guard, so everyone had to escape the lab building. And while doing so, she had fallen asleep, so Black and White probably had to drag her along…
Yellow quickly looked around for Black and White. The two Unova Dex Holders were "tasked" with looking after her during the escape. So if she was stuck here in a collapsed building, then either Black and White have failed to escape as well, or they lost her in the chaos.
Since the building had toppled over and was destroyed in various places, large pieces of the wall and ceiling fell inwards, greatly limiting what Yellow could see. And in the little space she had to roam, she couldn't find any traces of Black or White. She could only hope that they escaped safely.
But not a new problem arose. How would she get out of this mess? The only door she could see that was accessible was really high above her. And she couldn't climb up anything to reach it.
There was a sudden loud smashing noise from right behind her, making her jump in surprise. She momentarily thought that the wall was breaking even more, and feared that she'd end up getting buried alive.
But a new bigger fear settled in. What if this was the Mega Hunter? It was possible that his Pokémon had detected her, and he was here now to finish her off.
Yellow frantically looked around for something to hide behind. But the large pieces of debris that were all over the place didn't have any space for her to climb around. All she could do was inch away as much as she could from the crumbling wall.
The wall suddenly broke and a huge white gloved fist punched through, showering Yellow in dust. She shut her eyes and held her breath to avoid breathing in the dust and did her best to brush away the dust on her face as fast as possible.
"Ah, Yellow, there you are," came a very familiar voice.
Yellow quickly opened her eyes and much to her joy, saw Red and his Poliwrath looking at her through the large hole in the wall. Next to him was a Luxray, with Black lying face down on top of it.
"Red!" Yellow exclaimed happily. She practically jumped through the opening and hugged him tight. "You came for me! Thank you so much!"
Red coughed a bit from the sudden dust cloud that got pushed into his face from her lunging at him, but patted her on the back nonetheless. "No worries. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Yellow said, breaking the hug.
"Hm? You're bleeding," Red said worriedly, noticing the crimson patch on Yellow's outer clothes.
"Oh, it's nothing," Yellow said, looking at her injured arm. "It's just a cut."
"Let me see."
Yellow carefully rolled up the sleeve on her arm until the small wound became fully visible. Red crouched to get a close up view and examined it carefully.
"Hmm… doesn't seem deep," he said after a while. "I don't have any first aid kits or anything, so for now, all I can do is get Poli to clean that wound with water. But you should be all right."
The Poliwrath gently doused the wound with a stream of water to clean the blood and dust. Yellow rubbed around the wound with her other hand to thoroughly clean around the wound and rolled her sleeve back down once the stream ended.
"Thank you," she said sheepishly, looking into Red's eyes.
"No problem," Red answered as he stood up to full height.
For a while, Yellow simply stared at Red, thinking about what to say next. And Red stared at her, wondering why she was looking at him like that. Yellow took a deep breath and tried to muster up her courage.
"Listen, Red…" she began just as Red turned to look over at Black lying on the Luxray.
Seeing his unconscious junior suddenly reminded him of the task at hand. "Oh, that's right!" He quickly took out the Pokédex Scanner and refreshed the screen. The other Unova Pokédex was rapidly moving out of Lumiose City, but not towards Camphrier Town or Ambrette Town. Instead, the signal was heading straight east. Red frowned as he wondered where White was going. But he'd deal with that issue later, as there were more pressing ones in the vicinity. There were two Kanto Pokédex signatures right where he was, which were obviously his own and Yellow's Pokédex. But there were two other Kanto Pokédex signatures not moving within Lumiose City. Since Green still had Blue's Pokédex, Blue's whereabouts were unknown. But since Green went to look for Blue, if both Pokédex signatures were not moving that meant that Green had found Blue and was likely with her.
"… Is something wrong?" Yellow asked, noticing the change in his expression.
"Green and Blue are still in Lumiose City, but… they're not moving," Red said as he focused on the other two signatures in the scanner. "They seem to be in the northern Pokémon Center. Let's go meet up with them. They might be in trouble."
"Why are they still here?" Yellow asked.
"Blue volunteered to lure the Mega Hunter away from everyone while they retreated. And when I met up with Green and the others, he said he was going back to help her. And if they still haven't gotten out of Lumiose yet, then we should head to them and see what's going on." He let out a sigh as he thought about Blue. "… I hope she's okay…" he muttered quietly.
Yellow frowned at the mention of Blue, but didn't say anything. Her smile quickly faded as she watched Red's worried expression, and started to get a bad feeling slowly creeping up. And when Red began to move towards the northern Pokémon Center, she remained standing still for a while before running to catch up.
…
Blue slowly woke up from unconsciousness and immediately winced at the blinding pain in her side, where she had been stabbed with Ice Shard before. But once the pain eased, a sudden realization made struck her. … She wasn't dead. The last thing she remembered was losing consciousness after getting hit by Flygon's Outrage, and watching as the Flygon lift its foot to crush her head.
… So someone must've saved her at the last possible moment. … But who? … … Red?
Blue quickly tried to sit up and almost screamed from the pain. She clutched at her wound and tried to regulate her breathing. … … Was it really Red who saved her? … But she had told him to-
"Blue?" came a familiar voice from behind. … But not Red. … Just someone who she didn't really want to talk to, ever. But really had to.
Blue quickly opened her eyes. But she couldn't see anything. Everything was pitch black. She carefully felt around her with her hand and soon found her bag lying next to her. She reached inside for a flashlight.
"Are you okay?" Green asked again.
Blue turned the flashlight on and pointed it directly ahead of her. Since she was still lying down, the flashlight illuminated the ceiling of what looked like a large storage room.
"… What happened? Where am I?" she asked instead.
"I met up with Red and while he led the others out of this city, I went back to see if you needed help," Green replied. "And… I'm sorry. I got to you too late."
Blue took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "… Thank you… for saving me," she said eventually. She already had enough things with Green bothering her. She didn't need "lack of gratitude" to be added to it.
Green remained silent for a while, likely surprised by her gratitude. "… We got shot down, though. We crashed into a Pokémon Center, and I moved you down to the basement so we'd be safe."
Blue opened her eyes again. "… Shot down? … Crashed?" She looked down at her body and noticed there were new patches of blood on her clothes. "… Then how did we…"
"Listen, Blue," Green said, interrupting her. "I wanted to talk to you for a long while now. And I know that you have a lot of things you'd want to say to me. … But there's not much time left… … Just know that you should be safe down here. Zygarde is getting more and more distracted, and it has no reason to believe that we survived the crash. So the Mega Hunter won't be around here for long. Once he's gone, you should have no problems in escaping."
Blue blinked a few times. "Not a lot of time? … And I should no problems in escaping?"
She craned her neck "upwards" to look at Green and pointed her flashlight at him. And much to her shock and horror, he was covered in blood as he sat weakly by the corner. Blue momentarily checked over her own body, to see if it was her blood that had gotten onto him. But it wasn't. Even though her previous wound had been ripped open again, she wasn't bleeding that much, as the gauze she had placed on the wound was still mostly intact. But that meant…
"Oh no…"
Green grimly nodded. "… Sorry, Blue."
Blue clenched her teeth and forced her body to sit up. She could feel her vision tunneling from the pain and effort but she managed to sit up and crawl towards Green. "How… how did this…"
"Crashed through the Pokémon Center roof," Green said slowly.
"But… my injuries…" Blue trailed off as she realized what had happened. Green must've protected her with his own body… "… Why…"
"After all that has happened… I had to save you at all costs," Green answered. He slowly reached into his pocket and took out something from his right pant pocket. "Before it's too late… here."
Blue looked at his hand and saw that he was holding a Pokédex. … Her Pokédex. She simply stared at it for a long while until Green's hand started to shake from exertion, and reluctantly took the device.
"I've been meaning to give it back to you ever since you gave it up," Green said with a sigh.
Blue gripped her Pokédex hard as frustration coursed through her. "Then why wait until now? Why didn't you look for me the day I gave it up? I was there, damn it. I saw Red coming out to look for me, but you…"
"I didn't know you were angry at me at the time," Green said. "I… didn't remember what happened the last time we met. I thought you were just there for a visit. So I just waited for you to come in while Red went out to greet you. And when Red didn't find you, I thought something was wrong. I only remembered what happened once I saw your hidden message that Crystal managed to find. … I went to your house in One Island to look for you. I looked everywhere. I just couldn't find you. But then the Mega Hunter attacks happened, and I didn't have time to continue the search." He let out a long sigh. "… I'm so sorry, Blue. … I know I said things that I should not have said, ever. And I know I haven't been treating you the way you deserve. And I'm really sorry."
Blue began to tremble as a mix of emotions flooded her. She still felt angry, but… just not at anything or anyone in particular. She felt sorry that Green had to sacrifice himself to save her, and felt ashamed that he did that for her when she had been just terrible to him. And most of all, she was absolutely heartbroken, knowing that someone who she once thought of as a friend was dying right in front of her. … And it was her fault.
"No… … no… you can't…" she managed to choke out as her tears welled in her eyes. "… Don't you do this to me…"
"It's too late," Green said weakly.
"No… Silver already died in front of me… don't you dare do that as well…"
"Sorry. … But maybe… it's better this way…" He slowly closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Blue… please… be happy."
Blue reached forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, just as his head fell lifelessly to the side.
"No! You can't die on me!" she yelled as she began to shake him. "You bastard! How could you!" Her anger quickly faded and she began to sob violently. "No… no… It's all my fault… My fault… I'm so sorry…"
Blue gently pulled Green closer and hugged him for the first time in her life. She rested her head against his and silently cried, fully knowing that this would also be the very last time she hugged him. For a long while, she didn't let go of him and simply cried.
…
For a long while, Blue remained sitting curled up in the silent darkness. She had shut off her flashlight so that she didn't have to look at Green's dead body any longer. And right now… she preferred to be in the silent darkness, as it helped calm her down. She would've opted to smoke a cigarette, but she didn't even want to move an inch right now. She felt so drained of strength… she didn't think she even had enough to reach into her bag for a cigarette and a lighter. Not to mention, both Red and Green disapproved of her smoking, and it would be highly disrespectful to smoke right in front of Green's body.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she suddenly heard some loud noise from directly above, as if the walls of the Pokémon Center were being smashed in. But she didn't even look up, as she didn't want to. She simply remained curled up, burying her face in her arms.
The smashing noise got louder and louder, and seemed to be moving towards the side. Blue finally looked up at the source of the noise. … Was it the Mega Hunter's Pokémon finally coming to finish her off? … Probably not. The Mega Hunter's Pokémon had shot down Green a long time ago. They had plenty of time to break into the Pokémon Center to finish off everyone. But they didn't do anything. So why now?
The ceiling began to break apart as the smashing became stronger and stronger. Debris began to fall piece by piece until a stream of light filtered down from above. Blue squinted as the sudden bright light reached her eyes. More and more light began to illuminate the basement as more of the ceiling broke.
Once a large section of the ceiling fell off, Blue slowly looked up and saw a silhouette of a person crouching by the hole next to a silhouette of a Poliwrath.
"… Red?" Blue muttered in surprise.
"Blue, are you okay?" Red asked hastily as he jumped down into the basement. He crouched in front of her and began to check over her for injuries. "All this blood… Are you hurt again?"
Blue shook her head a bit. "No… not really." She was about to say that it wasn't all her blood when she suddenly realized something. "… Oh no… no, no, no…"
Red quickly looked at her again, wondering what was wrong. Just then, his Poliwrath finished breaking off another large piece of the ceiling, allowing the light to fully illuminate the basement. Red glanced at the corner of the basement as something caught his attention and froze the moment he saw Green sitting in the corner.
Red quickly ran over towards his best friend. He crouched in front of him and shook him a few times, but got no response whatsoever. Red frantically looked around a bit before checking Green's pulse. He slowly lowered his head and cursed under his breath when his fingers registered nothing.
"Oh no… no…" came Blue's voice from behind. She sounded extremely distraught, and not just because of Green's death. "This is my fault… all my fault…"
Red frowned at that comment and returned to crouching in front of her. "… Blue…"
Blue couldn't look at him, however. She lowered her head and began to sob as her tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Red… It's my fault. … Because of me, your best friend… …" She clenched her eyes shut as she tried to avoid breaking down completely. "I'm a bad omen… I – I shouldn't even… be near you anymore… … I should… stay away from you… from now on…"
Red put his hands on her shoulders, noticing how cold her skin was and badly she was trembling. And even though he was right here, Blue began to weep.
For a brief moment, Red watched her cry, and her tears falling off of her chin and hitting the ground between them. And suddenly, something clicked inside Red's mind. He slowly reached up and grabbed her hands with his, pulling them down so that he could see her face. She kept crying with her head lowered, as if she was terrified to make eye contact with him.
Red moved a hand up to her cheek and gently lifted her chin. Blue steadily calmed down to a quiet sob, but still kept her eyes closed. And without warning, Red leaned in close and kissed her on the lips.
Blue's eyes snapped wide open and she froze in shock. She momentarily tried to resist out of sheer shock, but her body refused to comply. Instead, her eyes closed on their own and she let out a satisfied moan as her body relaxed.
For a while, she remained in a trance like state and simply enjoyed the kiss. When Red broke the kiss and pulled back, she instinctively leaned forward, subconsciously longing for the second kiss. She slowly opened her eyes and the last of her tears rolled down her cheeks.
"It's not your fault that he died," Red said quietly, gently wiping away her tears with his thumb. "… He chose to save you even if it meant that he'd die. … While he was my best friend, you are also one of my closest friends. And after everything that happened, it would hurt me far more to lose you. … The only thing I can do now is honor my best friend's wishes and keep you safe… and happy." He pulled her close and gave her a warm embrace. "So please. Don't blame yourself for this… It's not your fault."
Blue trembled a bit in his embrace but quickly loosened up. She rested her head against his and took a deep shuddering breath. She slowly raised her arms and didn't hesitate to hug Red back. "… Thank you… so much…"
…
Yellow watched with shock and horror as Red gently kissed Blue. The shock and horror of seeing Green's dead body got replaced with the new one, and… it hurt her far more than anything else. She put her hands over her heart, as if to make sure that it was still there. Because it felt to her as if her heart had shattered into a million tiny bits.
She could see Blue's expression changing from that sudden kiss. She too, looked very shocked, but also… pleased. She quickly relaxed and her pained expression changed into that of unparalleled joy and pleasure. And seeing that expression hurt. Yellow winced as she felt so… betrayed.
But Blue didn't see her devastation, as she was way too focused on Red and the kiss. Yellow felt her tears rolling down her cheeks. … But maybe it's better this way… … If… if this meant that Red would be happy… and Blue could be happy too… then… Yellow should be happy with this outcome too, no matter how devastated and heartbroken she may be.
Yellow watched as Red gently lifted Blue onto his arms and carried her out of the basement of the Pokémon Center, through the staircase that his Poliwrath had opened up. Once he got close to her, he set Blue down on her feet so that she'd remain standing.
"Are you okay, Yellow?" Red asked, noticing her expression.
Yellow quickly wiped away her tears. "Y – Yes. … It's just that… … Green was very close to me too. … I'll miss him."
Red let out a long sigh. "… Yeah…" He looked down to the basement once more and watched as his Poliwrath carefully carried Green out. "… Come on, Yellow. … Let's give our close friend the burial and respect that he deserves before we regroup with the others."
"Okay." Yellow turned away from Red before her façade fell apart. She took a series to deep breaths and turned around once she was ready. She winced as she watched Red holding Blue's hand to keep her steady on her feet, but soon forced herself to smile. '… As long as she makes you happy, Red… I'll be happy too. … And I know that you will make her very happy too. … There's nothing more I should ask for… Both of you… please just be happy…'
"Maybe it's better this way." Indeed.