Little Leaves
The thicket had always been an object of fascination. The squawks from birds chasing one another between the thick grass to the towering trees. Tiny figures that could be seen curling up among the foliage, nibbling flowers, stirring up the forest silhouette. The boys in town were mesmerized by something that, to their parents, seemed so trivial. They would spend afternoons in the flower patches bathed in honey sunsets watching the creatures dance about the wilderness just outside of their reach.
"Hey, Red?" One of the boys would ask. He perched himself atop one of the garden fenceposts, clutching a plush creature in his skinny little arms. It was rotund and baby blue, sporting large canons on its shell. "What do you think's out there?"
The other boy gazed up at his friend, his deep brown eyes half shut and glistening with calm, golden shine in the setting sun. He blinked slowly. "Pidgey."
The first boy snorted in protest. "Well duh! I mean… farther out! The rest of the world!"
Red watched as his friend dismounted from the fence and jolted to when he was yanked from his spot among the flowers. He didn't dare let go of the hands that tightly held onto his, even if the boys were getting dangerously close to the overgrown grass around their town. "Green. You want to leave someday, don't you?"
That sudden question made Green's toothy grin fall a bit. "Doesn't every kid? We get to go on a big adventure once we turn ten! That's super cool, isn't it?!" He attempted to raise the energy back up by shaking their clasped hands violently. His laugh could have shaken the buildings around them. "I've always wanted to be the best Pokémon trainer ever! Me and my best buddy Blastoise… and you'll be my rival!"
Red's cheeks flushed. "Y-your rival? I mean," He nodded solemnly, beaming at his friend. "If that's what you want, Green. I'll go with you."