Ethan noticed that the Viridian City gym leader looked melancholic at times.
He first noticed it when he first met Green Oak on Cinnabar. When Green Oak met his gaze, Ethan caught a glimpse of profound loneliness in his eyes and it would disappear in the next second.
The second time was when he battled the gym leader for his gym badge. When he was handed his due prize, the same fleeting sadness comes and goes on Green's face. It unnerves Ethan to see someone so full of justified arrogance break away from that facade, to reveal a raw human emotion untouched by the young boy.
The third was during the Annual Party at the Indigo League. Green had been conversing with Lance, with Ethan standing not too far away from the two ex-Champions. The young boy merrily munched the delicacies, his ears picking up bits of conversations from the people around him. There was laughter, idle talk, and a grim voice saying a name Ethan was all too familiar with.
He turned and looked towards Lance and Green, the same name being uttered again. Ethan watched, as once again, the furious exhaustion reveals itself on the lonesome face of Green Oak.
The fourth was when Ethan told Green he was going to climb and explore Mt. Silver. Unlike the others who would disapprove of the young boy's absurd goal of trying out the impossible, Green Oak had been silent.
"Go ahead," the gym leader finally said. "But you won't come back."
He sounded so certain that Ethan had no way to retort. The forsaken smile on his lips and the subtleties of sorrow on his brows were enough to make Ethan turn away, the young boy second-guessing the decision that he had been so set upon.
The fifth had been when Ethan informed him of a mysterious figure he battled against on the summit of Mt. Silver. Green Oak had appeared surprised for a split second before his habitual smirk dies away like smoke, his eyes narrowing in mocking disdain and solitude.
He finally patted Ethan on the shoulder. It was a firm pat, out of gratitude and desolate loneliness.
"At least you came back,"