Chapter 9: For Her Heart

August 12, Viridian City, Kanto, 1 pm…

Yellow looked up at the sky, wondering if the others have arrived yet. She had heard from Crystal what happened over in Johto, with the train being derailed and Platinum and Y ended up getting kidnapped. It was all very concerning and shocking, but there wasn't anything she could do about it, since by the time she found out, it was all over. All she could do was just keep her guard up in case something like that happens to her or anyone nearby.

She was really worried about Red. She wanted to know if he was okay. From Crystal's account, everyone seemed to be fine, but Yellow wanted to see for herself. And while she could head on to Pallet Town to visit Red, she found out that everyone in Pallet Town were on their way to Viridian City, so she could just meet up with them here. And since Pallet Town wasn't that far away, everyone would be getting here any time now.

She waited by the Pokémon Center, pacing around, until she could hear familiar voices in the distance. And it sounded like… screaming?! Yellow quickly ran towards the source of the sound and could soon see what was going on. She immediately stumbled in her steps and almost tripped as the tension and concern immediately left her.

For some reason, White was riding Platinum's Rapidash, holding onto it for dear life as it galloped around at its top speed, while its trainer looked on in amusement. The Rapidash lifted its front legs and suddenly kicked upwards, sending White flying off backwards and into Black's arms.

"Ha! You suck!" Y said with a laugh.

"Ugh. One day, I'll be better at this," White said with a huff. "And then I'll wipe that smirk off your face."

Y stuck her tongue out at her. "Not until you can do a handstand on top of it, like I can!" She glanced over as she noticed Yellow walking over and waved at her. "Oh, hi, Yellow!"

"Hey Yellow," Red said with a wave as well.

Yellow waved at everyone and quickly made her way over. "I heard White screaming and I thought something bad happened!"

White scratched at her cheek embarrassedly. "Um… whoops."

"So… are all of you okay?" Yellow asked, glancing at everyone but looking at Red the longest. "I heard what happened yesterday."

"We're all doing fine," Blue said with a smile.

"Now, we're going to need to do some shopping here before we move on," Red said. "Half of us are going to be touring Kanto while the other half tours Johto. Want to come with us?"

"Oh, that sounds pretty fun and I would absolutely love to, but I need to take care of the Viridian Gym," Yellow said with a frown. "Maybe I can get permission for a little break, though. I'll have to ask…"

"I don't see why he wouldn't let you," Red said. "Give it a try."

"Hmm… yeah. Okay. I'll give him a call," Yellow said. "And I'll meet you back at the Pokémon Center?"

"Sure. We'll wait for you," Red said.

Yellow nodded and headed towards the Viridian City Gym, while waving. This was great! Come to think of it, she had never actually traveled anywhere with Red before, and now was the chance!

"So… who does what, now?" White asked.

Blue fished out the shopping list. "Okay. Some of us are going to need to go to the grocery store and get food supplies. And some of us are going to have to go to the general store for things like flashlights, blankets, and other stuff we'll need for camping."

"We'll take the food shopping," Diamond said immediately.

"Then Y and I will take the general store," White said.

Blue glanced at the list again. "… Okay, I guess that's it, then. The rest of us will just wait by the Pokémon Center." She split the list in half and gave one to Diamond and the other to White.

"Okay then. See you soon! Come on, Y. And you too, Black. I need you!" White said as she headed towards the general store.

"Huh? … Okay," Black said as he followed.

"Wait, why did you pick me for this?" Y asked.

"Because you have more money than I do!"

"What?! … Hey! We're splitting the bill!"

Platinum watched her juniors heading towards the general store and stepped towards her friends. "Well then. Shall we get going as well?"

"Sure thing, Miss Lady."

The Sinnoh Dex Holders left towards the grocery store, leaving Red and Blue by themselves.

"Well, that was fast," Red said with a chuckle. "Come on, then. Let's just… get something to drink or something while waiting."

"Yeah… all right," Blue said with an awkward smile. 'I'm all alone with him. Is it my chance now? … But… isn't this still too sudden?'

…

For a long while, Red and Blue waited outside the Pokémon Center, leaning against the side wall and chatting amongst themselves. They were mostly talking about the various things they'd do while touring Kanto with Black and White, as Blue was careful to not let the conversation steer into a particular direction. But the conversation was pretty stale, as Red wasn't exactly participating in it, as if his mind was elsewhere at the moment. Blue considered it a good thing for now, as it meant that there was no risk that Red would ask about what happened this morning. And she wasn't ready for such a question.

Red glanced in the direction Platinum had gone, wondering when the heiress would be coming back. There was something he wanted to ask her, and in private. Of course, he could ask Blue as well, but given what happened this morning, he was pretty sure that she wouldn't tell him the truth anyways. But Platinum wouldn't lie to him. So his plan was to talk to her first, and decide then what to do next.

His curiosity and hastiness soon got the better of him. If Platinum was on her way back, he'd intercept her. If she was still in the store, he could find her and drag her outside so that he could talk to her in private. Either way, he wanted to go and talk to her right now.

"Hold on, Blue. I want to get some kind of snack from the grocery store," he said, interrupting whatever Blue was currently talking about. "Do you want something too?"

"Huh? Um… no, that's okay," she said with a slight shake of her head. "You go ahead. I'll just wait here by myself."

"I won't be gone long," Red said as he started to jog towards the grocery store.

By the time he got close to the grocery store, he could see the Sinnoh Dex Holders heading back towards the Pokémon Center. Perfect. The three Dex Holders saw him approach and looked at him, as if wondering why he was jogging towards them.

"Hey Platinum, can I talk to you for a moment?" Red asked once he was close enough.

"Oh? Yes, of course, senior." Platinum gave the shopping bag she was carrying to Diamond and followed Red as he led her away somewhere. "Is something wrong, senior?"

"No, no. I just wanted to ask you something in private," Red said, once he was far enough away from the grocery store. "I've been thinking about this for a while now. This morning, you said that Blue had something important to tell me. But she didn't tell me anything. She just asked me a really weird and difficult question and that was it. So… can you tell me what exactly she wanted to say?"

Platinum looked quite surprised at the question, but also deeply troubled at the request and squirmed on her feet. "Um… I am terribly sorry, senior, but… I do not think this is something you can hear from me. I believe you must hear this from senior Blue before anyone else." She let out a short sigh. "… I must not intervene in this matter either. … It is of vital importance and I am not sure if senior Blue can manage to tell you, but…"

"Are you sure you can't tell me yourself?" Red asked again with a frown. "I won't tell anyone, and no one's listening, so…"

Platinum put on a pained expression as she slowly shook her head. She lowered her head and cast a quick glance at his expression. He seemed to be quite worried now, as expected. It seemed that she was steadily becoming quite an actress, as she learned how to exaggerate, hide, or fake expressions properly. "… Are you worried, senior?" she asked abruptly, aiming to catch him off guard.

As expected, Red looked surprised from the question. "Well… of course I am. It sounds like she has something really important she needs to say, but she can't for whatever reason. If that kind of thing eats away at her from inside… who knows how bad it'll get. And why can't she just tell me? Is it something related to me? Does she want to move out again?"

"Are you concerned that she might move out?"

"Yeah. I know she has nowhere else to go. I didn't want her to live alone in some rundown shack of a secret base, so I offered her to live with me. I did that so she could be happy and safe. If she wanted to move out again… did I do something wrong, or what?"

Platinum carefully gauged her senior's expression. "… Do you like living with her, senior?"

Red was briefly stunned yet again from the question, as he had been too concerned about the possibility of Blue wanting to move out. Not that that was confirmed, anyways. "… I never thought about it, but…" He thought for a bit about the time he spent with Blue in his house once she moved in. Sure, the first few days were a bit awkward, as they figured out who does what around the house and who gets to shower when. The last thing he wanted to do was walk in on Blue taking a shower or when she was getting dressed. And so far, thanks to vigilance on both their parts, no such incidents occurred. Then there was a bit of a mess involving clearing out the basement to build Blue's little workshop down there, but that little renovation was pretty fun.

Red focused on his memories, but he couldn't think of a single time when he was annoyed that he wasn't living alone anymore. He was actually very glad that she moved in with him. He was happy. And as he remembered, he could tell that Blue was very happy too. Her smiles and laughs were genuine, instead of having a sense of exaggeration from before. Years ago, he'd often see her looking very depressed, but then quickly lighten up when someone talked to her. But now, he always found her happy. And seeing her so happy made him feel… great.

"… Yeah. I'm really happy to be living together with her. I don't want her to go. If she was to move out… I'd be very worried about her but also… it'll be awfully empty at home and I would miss her greatly."

Platinum briefly considered in asking the critical question, but decided against it. It wasn't her place to interfere, and asking such a question would tell Red too much as well. She simply smiled brightly and looked up at him. "Then I believe that you have nothing to fear, senior. Senior Blue wishes to stay with you. But if those are your true feelings, then you must talk to her, and convince her to be honest."

Red let out a sigh of relief. "Should I go talk to her now?"

"The sooner you do, the happier you will be, senior, and happier she will be as well," Platinum said enthusiastically. "I wish you good luck, senior. And please make her happy."

She gave him a polite bow and walked off to go find and intercept White and Y, while also sending a message to Diamond and Pearl to get away from Blue so that she could have a private conversation. Red watched her walking away and slowly shook his head with a chuckle. Did the heiress get him worried for no other reason than to get him to say his feelings? She had gotten him worried and then told him that he had nothing to worry about afterwards. Was she learning how to manipulate others, now? Interesting…

Red headed back towards the Pokémon Center to find Blue, and found her standing by the wall where he left her a few minutes ago. It appeared that Diamond and Pearl had gone inside the building for whatever reason, leaving Blue alone and thus allowing Red to have a private conversation with her.

"Hey, I'm back," he said as he leaned against the wall next to her.

"Welcome back," Blue said with a smile, turning to face him. "Did you get what you wanted?"

"No. They didn't have anything I wanted," Red lied with a wave of a hand. His expression suddenly turned serious, making her feel a bit nervous. "But Blue, I wanted to ask you something. I've been thinking about this for a while now… What was it that you wanted to tell me this morning?"

Blue jumped in surprise and looked even more nervous than before. "I – It's nothing, really!"

"It's clearly more than nothing," Red said, observing her expression. "And the weird question you asked me… that clearly wasn't what was on your mind, back then."

Blue pressed her hands over her chest as her heart started to race. She started to feel kind of sick as the anxiety ate away at her. "Red… I… i – it's nothing… really…"

Red put his hands on her shoulders. "Look, whatever it is, it's clearly eating you up inside. You can't keep this bottled up inside forever."

Blue looked into his eyes with an incredibly pained expression. "… Please… don't make me say it…"

He slowly grabbed her hands and gently massaged them, much to her surprise. She seemed to be relaxing a bit, but still looked like she was going to be sick. "This is really hurting you. I really do care about you. And I'm worried about you. … I want you to be happy, Blue. And I want to see you happy."

Blue closed her eyes shut and lowered her head. Her breathing rapidly became erratic as her fears grew bigger and bigger, to the point where she was about to have a panic attack. "… I… can't…" she choked out, trembling quite a lot as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Red frowned as he certainly didn't expect her to react like this. … What was so hard about what she had to say that she was breaking down like this? What was she so afraid of? He contemplated whether he should abort and try again at a later date, but… there was no guarantee that Blue would ever say what was on her mind, regardless of when he brought this up again. And this was clearly hurting her deeply. The longer he waited, the longer it would hurt her. No. He had to resolve this now.

…

Yellow lightly hummed as she skipped towards the Pokémon Center. She had been given permission to take a break, and so she was allowed to go with Red on a journey! She didn't know what exactly she'd be doing with him and who else would be with them on the journey, but that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that she would be able to spend a lot of quality time with him, and have a lot of fun too.

She turned towards the Pokémon Center and immediately stumbled as she rapidly tried to stop. She could see the structure in the distance and Red and Blue standing outside, leaning against the wall, and holding hands. Yellow quickly regained balance and hid behind the nearest building. She carefully peeked around the corner and focused on her vision. She couldn't hear what was going on, but she had to see this.

She had never seen Red holding anyone's hands before. And had never seen Blue with this kind of expression before either. Which meant… something absolutely unprecedented was happening. And Yellow could only hope that this wasn't going where she feared was going.

Meanwhile, Platinum peeked around the corner from afar, and could see Red and Blue talking closely by the Pokémon Center. Yep. Things seemed to be going as planned. Now it was all up to them. With a content smile, the heiress turned away as she didn't want to spy on her seniors, and waited for White and Y to arrive. The two girls would be returning from this street from the general store, and she intended to block them so they did not interfere or spy on their seniors.

Sure enough, White and Y soon appeared from around the corner, with their pack mule Black carrying a dozen shopping bags in his hands.

"We're back, Lady Platinum," White said happily once she was close enough.

"Sorry we took too long," Y said as well. "Red and Blue must be tired of waiting for us. Come on, let's go meet up with them."

Platinum raised a hand to stop them. "Not yet."

"Huh? Why?" White asked. But despite the total lack of information, she immediately caught on. "Oh, is something big happening?"

"Then we have to see!" Y said excitedly, quickly catching on as well. Only Black remained completely oblivious, staring at his senior with a blank expression.

The two girls quickly brushed past their senior and peeked around the corner. They grinned and snickered as they saw Red and Blue talking in the distance, standing very close to each other, while even holding hands. Platinum let out a sigh and grabbed her two juniors by their ponytails and pulled them back.

"Ow, ow, ow!" White complained as she was forcefully pulled away.

"No, not my hair again!" Y complained as well.

"Do not spy on our seniors, please," Platinum said coldly.

"But this is an important moment!" White whined again.

Y twisted her body and put an arm around Platinum. She quickly overpowered the heiress and dragged her towards the corner as well. "Let's all watch together!"

"What? No!" Platinum tried to say, but she found herself pinched in between her two juniors, who forced her to spy on their seniors. "This is unacceptable," she grumbled, but couldn't do anything as both of her juniors were physically stronger than her.

Black sighed as the three girls in front of him pressed themselves against the wall and peeked around. He wondered if they had completely forgotten about him, and the fact that he was carrying all the shopping bags so his arms were going to fall off pretty soon. … Was this what White was talking about when she said that she'd need him? Ugh…

…

"Why are you so afraid, Blue?" Red asked, gently gripping her hands.

"It's just…" she mumbled out, unable to make eye contact with him. "… You…"

"Me?" Red repeated in surprise. "Did I do something wrong? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

Blue suddenly flinched a bit. "N – No, it's not that, but…"

Red thought about what Platinum had done to him a couple of minutes ago and decided to use that. He let go of Blue's hands, making look up a little in surprise. "I really care about you, Blue. And I really like living with you. To be honest, I'm really happy that you're living with me. And I enjoyed every moment we spent together. But… I want you to be happy more than anything else. I don't want to force you to stay with me if you don't want to…"

Blue let out a gasp and quickly looked up at him, tears still welling in her eyes. She hastily grabbed his hands and held tight, as if she was terrified of letting go. "N – No! It's not that! Please don't get the wrong idea…" '… I… hurt him… After all that… … This has to end now. … I have to tell him…' She gripped his hands tight and took a shuddering breath. She clenched her eyes shut as if she was afraid to look at him and lowered her head. "Red… What I wanted to tell you before… … What I always wanted to tell you, for years now… … And what I was always afraid to say… is that… I… … love… you…"

Red's eyes widened momentarily in surprise. But he slowly smiled, as all of his concerns and worries melted away. … Platinum was right. He did have nothing to worry about at all. "Blue," he tried to say, but she wasn't listening, as she was busy blurting out everything that was pent up deep inside her, as if she was rambling an explanation. He smiled warmly, but she didn't even see it, as she had her eyes clenched shut.

Blue trembled violently for a while, as she desperately fought the thoughts in her mind that was yelling at her that she had messed up everything. "… I love you so damn much… … But so many things have gone wrong for me… I can't bear the thought of this failing too… I can't bear the thought that I'd darken your life… You've done so much for me, and yet… if I end up hurting you in any way, I… I just… can't… … And what if you don't like me like that? I can't lose you. You're my first friend… my first true friend… if I lose you because of what I said…"

Red freed his hands from her grip and immediately, she felt her voice get caught in her throat. … She had pushed her luck too far. She rushed things too much and she had ruined everything now. … That was it. It was all over now. The happiness, the peace… it was all a thing of the past now. If Red was pulling himself away at a time like this, then…

Blue's eyes snapped open when she felt his arms wrapping around her body for a warm embrace. Her breath got caught in her throat and her mouth fell open in shock and all the panicked negative emotions crumbled away as Red pulled her in close. And just as her mind was starting to pick up the pieces, Red pulled back just a bit so that he could kiss her lips.

Blue's eyes widened in sheer shock and she couldn't even think about moving an inch. She remained very tensed as her mind refused to accept what was going on at face value, and kept coming up with pessimistic explanations.

"You have absolutely nothing to fear," Red said softly after pulling away. "And you have absolutely nothing to worry about either. Because I love you too, Blue. And I always will."

He pulled her in close once again for a tight embrace. Blue began to tremble again as a new surge of emotions filled her whole. All of her fears, worries, and anxieties finally melted away in Red's warm embrace. And with a sob, she wrapped her arms around him to return the hug and buried her face into his shoulder and began to cry in happiness.

…

August 14, Tapu Village, Alola, 1 am…

…

Moon stared blankly at the night sky. She had finally managed to "convince" the others to let her go, and she had come to Tapu Village on Ula'ula Island so that she could train on Mount Lanakila. … By "convince", all she did was simply board a ship and tell the Aether pilot to take her to this island, or she'd inject him with an incurable poison. And now, here she was, in Tapu Village, with Mount Lanakila to the north. But the problem was that it was pretty late right now. She couldn't see much, so training on top of the mountains wasn't going to work too well. And so she had allowed Sun to convince her to at least sleep in the Pokémon Center, and train in the morning.

Moon let out a long sigh and looked up at the silhouette of the mountains. If she recalled, Platinum had come here not too long ago with White and Y, as she toured around the islands of Alola. Moon hadn't been with her in this island, but she had heard that the newly hatched Eevee had wandered off in Mount Lanakila and had evolved into Glaceon. Moon wished she had been there. She wanted to be with her senior, and to see her happy.

… But perhaps she could use this situation to get closer to her? With Toxapex and Vikavolt no longer with her, she had plenty of room in her Pokémon team. … Maybe she could get a Glaceon of her own. And maybe another Ice type while training in the frozen depths of Mount Lanakila. The Aether uniform she was still stuck wearing was at least good for heat insulation, so she would be able to stay warm in there. … But… what if she was such a failure as a trainer that her new Ice type Pokémon would be lost too? That loss would-

Moon suddenly snapped to the right. … Something had just said her name just now. But not in a voice she recognized. … Not even in an audible voice. But she could still feel that something had said her name. She took out her bow and Pokéball arrow and lowered herself to a crouch. But unfortunately, she couldn't exert too much strength in her knees right now, so crouching was impossible. She could hunch over a bit and that was as low as she could get.

Moon held her breath and glanced around in the darkness. … There it was again. Something was calling for her. She narrowed her eyes and began to walk just as Sun came out of the Pokémon Center.

"Miss Customer! Where are you going?!" Sun asked, running towards her.

"Something… is calling for me…" she said quietly, her tone ice cold. "Something… out there…"

Sun glanced at where she was looking at and could see absolutely nothing but darkness. He gulped in terror and stood right behind her. "I – I'm going with you then."

For a while, the two slowly walked forward, Sun simply following Moon while the girl followed where she was being called.

"… There… it's coming from up ahead…" Moon said as she pointed forward.

Sun looked at where she was pointing and jumped in surprise. "The Thrifty Megamart?! No way! That place is haunted!"

"… It's calling for me," Moon said again as she walked up the natural stairs to reach the destroyed abandoned mart.

Sun gulped again. "W – Well… maybe since Franc is with me, it'll be okay?"

Moon opened the door to the abandoned mart and Sun hastily ran after her. And immediately, a box fell over from the counter nearby and there was a faint snickering sound coming from ahead.

Moon aimed her Pokéball arrow and steadied her breathing. "… Where are you…"

"Miss Customer! Look out!" Sun cried out in terror.

Moon looked down and could see a long shadowy claw extending out of her own shadow. She hopped away and winced at the pain caused by the sudden exertion. She clenched her teeth against the pain. This was training too!

Another box fell off of the counter to the right as a Haunter woke up from its sleep and wandered off deeper into the mart. A Gengar glanced over at the two invaders before wandering off towards a bookshelf in the far left of the store, to look at some of the remaining magazines.

Moon narrowed her eyes. The Ghost type Pokémon were revealing themselves to her as she became accustomed to this environment. But none of these were paying attention to her. But there was clearly one that was calling for her, and trying to reach out to her. … Which one?

She suddenly felt a little chill and let out a faint gasp. But this chill was coming from her mind, and not her body, as if something was feeding off of her thoughts. But where was it going…

Sun suddenly tapped her shoulder and pointed up. Moon didn't look up yet. She held her breath and after a mental count of three, jumped backwards, aimed up, and shot her arrow…