Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 44: Bonding Day.

Bonding Day finally arrived, but it did so faster for Red than for most Team Rocket members. He went to sleep early so that he could wake up before others and be the first person to arrive in the cafeteria. What wasn't helpful was the fact that, despite Green's encouragement, he was worried about the turnout after hearing what other people had to say about the poster he made. Because of that he tossed around in his sleep and after waking up had to spend a good minute with his head under cold water in order to make himself able to operate normally.

At first, the cooks looked at him a little weird, seeing as he arrived before the morning soup was even fully prepared but once they saw him trying to figure out how he should convince people to participate in his party, they couldn't help but smile. Even though they counted as part of Team Rocket they didn't take part in any of the same activities as the other members and the reason they joined was good pay, not negative emotions that ruled the minds of many others. That's why they agreed that they would prepare food for the party. They were worried when Red approached them but after seeing how passionate he was, saying that he would serve as kitchen help to make it up to them, they couldn't refuse his request.

Red ate breakfast before anyone else arrived and waited in silence which was broken a couple minutes later when Green, Nets and Otari walked into the room and made their way towards the table he was sitting at. They weren't the first to arrive. There were a couple people who appeared earlier but none of them paid any attention to the boy even though he looked like a Pokemon eager to play fetch.

Even though the arrival of his friends was a confidence booster, especially after Green once again reassured him that everything will work out, it was only a few minutes later that he felt like his challenge had begun. Angie walked into the cafeteria and, before she even had a chance to pick up her food, Red stood up in order to recruit her as someone who he hoped would be useful in convincing others to join. His friends noticed who he was looking at and started to quietly cheer for him as he made his way towards the Admin. Among them, Green kept glancing at the doors, wondering when one of his targets would walk through them.

Red kept his distance for a while so that Angie could get her breakfast from the cooks but after receiving it she spotted the boy and pretended not to see him as she made her way to a remote table she usually used.

"Are you feeling alright?" Red asked, appearing next to her right as she was sitting down.

He had his goal in mind but since he didn't have a chance to talk to the Admin after she left his hospital room, there were other things he was concerned about. Besides, it didn't feel right to start with a request so he instead went with a general question.

"Ah! You sc… I mean yes. I mean… what? Umm…" the boy's sudden arrival made the girl fumble her words.

"If you don't want to talk about that then it's okay. It's just that I heard from Tarieli about… If you want me to leave you alone, I'll go."

The boy also had trouble with words and since embarrassment wasn't something he was good at dealing with, he wanted to leave in order for it to disappear.

"No!" Angie raised her voice and quickly glanced around in order to see if anyone besides Red noticed it.

She took a few moments to calm down and pulled one of the chairs away from the table, showing the boy that she wanted him to take a seat.

. . .

"It seems to be going good." Nets commented, since thanks to his glasses he was the only one who could observe Red's efforts without being noticed by Angie.

"I'm not so sure. Among the three Admins she's the one I know the least about but hearing Red talk about his mission with her makes me think that…" Green stopped himself "No. I'm assuming too much."

"I also heard about it but I didn't notice anything weird." stated Nets.

"Hmm. Otari, lend me an ear. I don't know if It's okay to talk about this and I feel like we need another opinion."

Green was as concise as he could and the chubby boy kept on nodding, seemingly not concerned about anything he heard which contrasted the words that came from his mouth after he heard everything that Green deemed necessary.

"You're right. I don't think any other Team Rocket member could get such treatment. Nets doesn't usually deal with Admins so that's probably why he doesn't see anything wrong with it."

"Speaking of Admins." Nets said while nodding towards Peter who just entered the room.

"I'll get this done quick." Green announced and went to approach the Admin before he even had a chance to approach the cooks.

Otari and Nets looked at each other with worried faces. The two of them considered Peter to be the hardest target so the fact that Green acted so quickly made them wonder if he had some kind of surefire plan to convince the long-haired man. Before they even had a chance to discuss the matter they saw that Green was returning to them.

"Wha-?" Nets was too confused to react properly.

"That was it? What did you say? More importantly, what was his answer?" Otari asked.

"I didn't give him time to react in order for my words to have a bigger impact. I said "Hey, we're throwing a Bonding Day party so… Ah, I guess It's pointless to invite you". Now the only thing to do is wait a while aaand…"

Just like Green expected, Peter slammed his food tray onto their table and declared "Don't give me that s #t you asshole. I'm going to be part of your stupid party whether you want me to or not."

"He played him like a fiddle. People who are full of themselves must be easy to control." although he was usually blunt, Otari kept these thoughts to himself this time.

While Green started to explain the situation to Peter, omitting the fact that he was using him, Nets once again turned his attention towards Red and Angie.

. . .

"What did Tarieli tell you?" Angie asked Red after he sat down.

"You're not going to get mad at her for telling me this, are you?"

"I don't… I don't think I ever really get angry. Disappointed maybe."

"That's a relief." Red said as a small smile appeared on his face "I already knew about your injuries from the doctor but that wasn't the whole story. I wondered why you were avoiding me and Tarieli told me how you acted during your "mission" to find a cure for me. You saved my life, you gave me a Pokemon… is it possible that our conversion influenced you so much? Because that felt like more than a payback."

"I take that back. I feel like if I met Tarieli right now, I would slap her." The Admin thought.

"What… What did it feel like?" she asked.

"Like maybe I was able to influence you. I don't know if that's a rude assumption but It's a thing that can be easily tested."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. You remember how excited I got when I remembered that Bonding Day was coming up? I'm throwing a party to celebrate and I wondered if you wanted to come."

"So you're really…" the girl quickly went quiet and it was hard to tell whether she was considering Red's offer or if she was thinking about something else.

"Should I come back later?" Red asked since it felt weird for them to sit there in silence once again.

"No." she responded surprisingly quickly "Just tell me something more about this party of yours. I was trying to remember if there was anything in Team Rocket rules that stated that one would need an Admin's approval in order to organize this type of event but I went over all the rules 17 times and couldn't find anything."

"Umm… I'm not gonna ask how you did it so quickly but did you do it because you really wanted to refuse and needed a good reason to do so?"

"No, no. I just don't want you getting into unnecessary trouble."

"I doubt anyone treats the rules half as serious as you." Red said while letting out a sigh.

"I guess you're right." the girl blushed while saying this although it was impossible to judge if she was proud of her extensive knowledge or if she was embarrassed because someone pointed it out.

"So what do you want to hear about the party? The food I've picked? The names of other attendees? With the way I planned it there was no way to do anything too extravagant so I went with safe choices. We couldn't have arranged seating without knowing who would show up but I hope I'll be able to do that before the party if people feel like it's a necessity."

"You're talking about many things and I frankly have no idea what you mean by any of it."

"What?" Red was genuinely surprised "It's going to be different from a regular Bonding Day you would have at home so of course I had to put some thought into it."

"A "regular Bonding Day "... I've never actually had what I think would be counted as a "regular" one. I've seen what's it supposed to look like on TV but it was so long ago that…"

"Do you… Do you want to talk about it?"

"What? No, no. Why would I…"

"It's just that you look kinda sad."

"No. I don't want… I don't need to talk about it."

"Maybe this party is something that could help you out."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look." Red raised his voice a little since he felt that it would be hard to communicate with the Admin if she stayed in a gloomy state "There's just four steps that need to happen. First, people who want to do so will put their name on a piece of paper and then randomly pick someone else's name. Next, each person will go to buy a small gift for the person whose name they picked. After that, we're all going to meet here and have a nice dinner. Finally, we'll give each other the presents we bought. That's all. Honestly, one of the reasons I came to talk to you was that I hoped that your attendance would convince other people but what's more important right now is that I want to see you be happy!"

Angie stared him in the eyes and it took the boy a while to realize that his passion made him stand up. That, combined with the fact that he said last sentence even louder, made a bunch of people look in their direction.

"Alright, alright. I will do it. Just sit down already." Angie spoke through her teeth since she didn't want to attract anymore attention.

"Hey, Red! I saw one of your posters!" the boy heard a familiar voice right after sitting back on the chair.

Alex was on the other side of the room but was able to spot the young trainer almost immediately, even though more and more people started to gather. He moved towards them so fast that it almost looked like he was jumping through the crowd. He pulled up a chair from another table and sat down next to Red and Angie.

"Did you put these up long ago? I was doing some writing after a long break so I isolated myself in my room and had no idea this was happening. I like this idea. Do you think I could help in some way? You may know me as a juice connoisseur but I know a bit about wine so I could take care of that."

"Juice connoisseur? I feel like you just made that up, right?" Red turned towards Angie, hoping that some humor would make her forget his outburst.

"Hmm. That's right." the girl nodded "I don't recall you ever mentioning that."

"It may be true that I never went and said it but you can clearly tell. I'm always sipping on some juice."

"Is it invisible?" the fact that Angie's voice was monotone somehow made her playing along funnier to Red.

"Is what invisible? Oh. I get it." Alex realized what the other two were doing and laughed a little but stopped when it seemed like he suddenly realized something "Hey, Angie. Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah. No. Nothing." he liked the atmosphere they had going on but felt like it was fragile enough for one stupid word from him to destroy it "So anyway, as I was saying before, how can I be of help?"

"First off, we should join the others since I left them with my stuff."

Soon after that, everyone's eyes were on Red. People couldn't help but be amazed by seeing him sitting between the three Admins, while also wondering how he was able to convince them to eat a meal together for the very first time.

Archer arrived in the cafeteria a bit after Alex and even though he was one of the people Green wanted to use in order to convince others to attend the party, the room was so crowded that they didn't see each other at first.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked one of the people from the crowd.

"It seems like those guys, Red and Green, are organizing a party and they got Admins helping them out or something like that."

"It's like all the important people are involved. My influence could probably help them out but…" the blue-haired man thought while glancing towards a group of people who followed him ever since he left his room in the morning.

"I'm going to take a look."

"Do you want us to go with you?" one of the people asked.

"Why?"

"W-why? Because… Umm…"

"The thing is, you know why but You're embarrassed to say it. Don't worry. Just let me tell you that I don't care either way so you can do what you feel like."

Archer left the confused group and made his way through the crowd in order to reach Green.

"Welcome. How does this align with what you were saying yesterday?"

"Oh. You think I'm being a hypocrite?" Green raised an eyebrow while saying that.

"I'm just joking." Archer explained while sitting down "I can see that this isn't something you're doing for your own benefit so I can accept that. What's more, I'm willing to give you my support so that you can see me in a better light."

"Hmm? And why would you care what I think of you?" Green asked while placing one hand between his chin and the table.

"I've chosen you to be my rival. Of course I want mutual respect between us."

"Do you think we've got everyone's attention?" Red asked Nets.

"I think so. Blaine made a great speech yesterday and I think he convinced most of the scientists to take part. I see a bunch of them in the crowd."

"Alright. Then It's time to start this." Red decided before standing up "Hello everyone!"

If someone wasn't already looking in his direction, they definitely were doing it after hearing his shout.

"As you already may have heard, we're throwing a Bonding Day party in the evening. If all you want is to eat some nice food just make sure to be there on time but if you're interested in something more, we'll be holding a gift exchange. If you want to be part of it just write your name on a piece of paper. Well have them distributed soon."

At first no one said anything. There were probably many people who were against the idea or at least undecided and Red's announcement wasn't enough to convince them. The silence was broken by a single clap from the other side of the room. Red and Nets smiled after noticing that it came from Blaine. The bespectacled boy followed suit and, after that, Green and Otari did the same. Alex was the first of the Admins to join them and Archer did it too, thinking that the sooner he did it the more he would impress Green. Angie also did it, although she was reluctant. It didn't look like Peter had any intention of doing it but it wasn't necessary. More and more people joined the clapping and many started shouting in excitement.

"Honestly, I didn't expect this type of reaction." Red said to Green although it was hard to be heard with everyone making so much noise.

Green didn't answer, instead nodding towards Peter who broke under pressure and did a single slow clap, hoping that no one would notice him. When he noticed that they were looking at him, he mouthed to them what looked like "If you say anything, you're dead."

. . .

After everyone calmed down, more than half of the people present wrote down their names and after that each one picked a piece of paper with another person's name on it.

"Did you get anyone you know?" Red asked Green.

"No. I don't recognize the name. There's like 400 or so people participating and I can only name around 20 of them."

"I like this. It's more challenging to try and come up with a gift that anyone would like rather than a gift you know someone would enjoy."

"I guess so. Hmm. Have you thought about how we're going to buy them?"

"I think I can be of help." Alex interrupted them "You're probably going to need help shopping anyway. I don't have either of you on my paper so it's not going to be a problem for us to shop together. I'm going with you under the pretense of keeping an eye on you but the truth is… well…"

"I'll come along." Nets joined in "I didn't expect this to become so big. We're gonna need someone to dress up as Mr. Bonding so we need to find a good but cheap costume."

"Wait. What are you talking about?" Alex asked him, although it seemed that the rest were exactly as confused as him.

"You mean you don't know? It's a story I've been told when I was young. He has a pink suit and a mustache. He climbs through your window, steals any cheese you have in your fridge and leaves you presents."

"That's honestly the most terrifying thing I've ever heard." stated Red.

The others nodded in agreement. The group laughed about it and started getting ready to leave when one more person decided to join them.

"I'll have to wear my old disguise but I'll come with you." said Blaine.

Seeing how their previous conversation went and how invested in the idea of the party the scientist got, Red couldn't help but think that there was a specific reason why Blaine wanted to join them, one the elderly man wouldn't reveal till the two of them could have a one on one.

. . .

In another part of the room, Angie approached Tarieli. As she walked towards her she had an air about her that made others get out of the way as quickly as possible, but once they were alone, it seemed l almost like she was about to cry.

"It's all your fault." said the Admin.

"What? Wait. What did I do?"

As an answer, Angie handed her the piece of paper she picked out. Tarieli was confused but her demeanor changed once she saw the name written on it.

"Oh."


Yay. I can finally return to more regular updates. At least that's what I'm hoping for. I don't have to force myself to fit the entire story in one chapter as I did with each of the color chapters so if I feel like there's a good break point I can just split it into two or more. That means that they're shorter but you also get them faster. If someone prefers longer ones you can wait a bit and then read a couple in one go.

Bonding Day is a lot more chilled out than colors but you can already see in this chapter that's it not going to be just pure fun all around.

It's worth nothing that Red and Green are gaining "friends" in a completely different way. Things really worked out quite easily this time although Blaine was prepared to help out in a big way.

There's not much else to discuss but I just wanted to mention a thing about anime. Without spoiling anything for western viewers, did anyone feel like the battle in episode 18 had similar vibes to the battles in my fanfic? I was like "Hey, wait a second". Of course they didn't take that idea from me and probably many other people used it before but it was still cool to see.

If you're bored because of what's happening in the world just pass the time by reading this fanfic. And then reread it and be like "Oh, so he foreshadowed this part". And then reread again and send me reviews pointing out all the mistakes I made and all the things I forgot.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Pidgeotto, Nidorino.

At hand but not officially his: Scyther.

At Team Rocket Base: Gyarados.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Venusaur, Jigglypuff, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

At Team Rocket Base: Jynx.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher), Electabuzz(Buzz).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash, Seaking.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.