Push The World Away
Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact words said to the protagonist by the rival during the Silph Co. part of the storyline in Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen. Hopefully what I have written is similar to what he said. If anyone can provide to me the exact quote, that would be greatly appreciated as well.
Embraced Unity
The room was still dark when he woke. He sat up from the bed, slipping out from under the covers. His body shivered slightly as bare feet made contact with the wooden floor; he paused for a moment to let himself used to the strange feeling once again.
Pressing lightly onto the walls, he made his way out of the bedroom and out into the living room; his focus flittering from the empty shelves, to the blank walls, to the sofa. A hand reached towards the blinds of the window, gently pulling on them until it revealed the glass of the window and the world outside.
The sky was painted a pastel gray from the chill of the morning; the falling rain creating an almost hazy scene before him. Red sat on the floor cross legged; elbows locking his arms straight; hands splayed out behind him to prop himself up. The sleepy city outside brought to him a sort of melancholic nostalgia – despite having been gone for three years, it looked almost exactly the same as he could remember.
… Had it really been three years? He knew he had been gone for a while, but was it really for that long? Red vaguely remembered checking the date and time every so often on his pokedex – that is, when he remembered- but without the battery of it being able to be recharged up in the mountain, it had stopped working sometime past the seventh month.
He glanced at the device that now sat on the counter in the kitchen; the pale green light radiated from it, notifying its owner that it was now fully charged. His cream yellow coloured backpack sat next to the shiny red object – a sheer contrast, scuffed and dirty.
Crimson eyes shifted back to the window again. The streetlamps were still lit; soft balls of light in the fog. Shallow puddles on the street reflected that golden light, its mirror-like surface obscured by the rings created by the droplets of rain. The street signs – namely the ones of the gym, the mart and the pokemon centre glowed dully; the intensity of their light dulled and scattered as the rain fell. A gentle and constant patter enveloped him in a hypnotising pace, almost threatening to lull him back to sleep.
Red smiled – as much as he loved the views on the mountain, he had to admit he also missed these moments as well. Inwardly, he was also slightly surprised – he had thought returning to the world he had left would throw him into more of a panic, but right now; he wanted this peaceful solidarity to last forever.
And as he stared; as the rain continued to fall, Red could feel his vision beginning to unfocus; the lights outside grew blurrier and blurrier.
Crimson eyes had widened in shock when he first saw the flash of emerald the night before; the shadow of the person who stood infront of him – hands pressed against the wall, arms locking him in like a cage. His ears picked up on a voice that he would have given up his life for to hear again, and he flinched at the sudden warmth and wetness that fell onto his face.
Had he not wanted this? Had he not wished for this? Was this not who he wanted to see? What then, did he come back for?
Despite all this; despite it was that person in front of him, he was afraid. Pale hands rose up, still hidden beneath the blanket that was wrapped around him and he watched as his body pushed the other away. He watched himself as he picked himself up, dropping the blanket; stumbling to keep Pikachu in his arms; trying his best to keep his balance as he ran, unused to the speed of his movement. His feet slipped and slid as they changed contact from pavement to grass, nearly causing him to fall.
And try as hard as he could to stay upright, Red found himself falling forwards when he suddenly felt something slam onto his back; something strong lock tightly around his waist. They tumbled onto the grass, a tangled mess; silent except for the soft cries of their companion pokemon, asking if they were okay.
Pikachu wiggled out of Red's arms, hopping onto his shoulder where he felt another set of feet and a soft tail brush across his face. There was the sound of a soft groan as the pressure on his waist and back lifted; the sound of something shuffling on the grass. The lighter points also vanished – sets of two at a time, replaced by a hand that gripped his shoulder. It yanked him down sharply, rolling him onto his back where he once again stared into emerald orbs.
"You… why…" The voice that spoke was breathless, slightly panicked, but pained.
Under the dim light of the distant streetlamps and the shadow of night, Red could not quite make out the strange expression on the other's face. The person took a couple deep breaths before speaking again.
"Where have you been… why are you here? Why now?"
Red shook his head. "Silph Co," he replied quietly, hoping his interrogator would remember. The softening of his facial features told him that he indeed did.
"'If I stayed here to wait for you, you would show up eventually', huh," he mused. The crimson-eyed one did not answer, unsure of what to say as the chestnut-haired one collapsed entirely on top of him.
"Since when did the roles reverse…" whispered the voice, the breath of his words ticking his ear. The raven shook his head, lifting his arms slowly to embrace the body above.
"Never."
Red shifted his gaze from the other teen to the sky. The air had gotten chilly and damp, and through the dark sky, he could see ghosts of slate clouds rolling in, obscuring the luminescence of the moon.
"We've been always waiting for each other."
/
The room Green had moved into at the gym was too small for the both of them, so they had decided to return to the apartment. The place was still as empty as it had been when Red first arrived earlier, but they made with what was there – the blanket was thrown haphazardly on the bed; grass-and-mud covered clothes on the floor.
His reminiscing of the night before was cut short when he felt arms forcefully wrap around his shoulders; the warmth of skin against his bare back. He could feel the pounding of a heart behind him and hear the barely audible sounds of soft yet slightly panicked breaths by his side.
Chestnut locks spilled over his shoulder, and after a moment, Red felt his companion's tension loosen before he slumped completely against him.
"Green," he murmured softly, raising a hand to finger through the mess of hair.
"Don't ever leave me again," came the murmured reply.
The distant beep of the dryer announced their clothes were clean – Red noted that Green must have put them in the wash some time when he was in the bath. The raven figured he must have fallen asleep soon after that, since their clothes now sat on the top of the dryer, neatly folded. He nudged Green gently to get him off so he could go collect his clothes.
By seven, he could see that Green was completely awake. The weather had not improved at all, though the rain now fell as a light mist of fog instead. The kitchen was still empty, and despite not quite wanting to go out, he could see that both Pikachu and Eevee were already growing restless indoors. He glanced at the chestnut haired one who stood by the white lacquered steel machinery in his boxers.
"We should get something to eat, and maybe move some stuff back here, if you're going to stay again," Red heard him call, his voice accompanied by a soft "whump" sound as he straightened out his khaki cargo pants from its folded state. Red said nothing, and another, but gentler "whump" was heard as he watched him walk towards him, shirt in hand.
"Oh yeah, want to see what I've done to the gym while you're at it?" Green asked as he pulled the now clean white t-shirt over his head.
Red shrugged, but nodded. It had been a while since he was there, and he figured it would be nice to go visit. From Green's expression he could tell he had most likely done something to it; and while he knew it was probably nothing good, he had to admit, he was slightly interested.
It was Green we were talking about, after all. He most likely had done something potentially outrageous that he could deem as, "cool".
After a light breakfast at a nearby café – in which Red had no memory of its existence until Green told him it had only opened after he left – the two of them headed towards the gym, entering through the back door. The raven followed the leader through the hallway towards a large steel door; what looked like an electrical panel sat beside it. He watched Green open the panel, flicking a switch before turning to him with a smile.
"Ready?"
Red raised an eyebrow when he stepped foot into the Viridian Gym. From the leader's podium, a large grid lay before him. Cyan, blue, red and orange panels glowed brightly, colour coded in the direction of which way the arrow on the panel was pointing. Titanium barriers were placed every so often to stop the direction of flow. Red assumed that would be where some of his trainers stood when there was a challenger present. Other than the brightness from the panels, and the spotlight over the podium, the overall lighting of the gym was dark.
Green raked a hand through chestnut hair and grinned widely. "You like it? It took me forever to design properly."
The raven tilted his head slightly – it was not that he disliked it, but it was indeed a complete change from what it had been before. "…'s different."
"Isn't it? The old layout was getting a bit boring and so I decided to switch it up a bit."
Red simply nodded, unsure of what to say. He figured its former leader would probably run away crying again if he had seen what had happened to his gym, and smiled faintly. That, he admitted inwardly, he actually wanted to see.
The slight creak of the doors behind him caused the two of them to turn. Five trainers, dressed in similar outfits stood at the entrance. Red raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Oh, you're here fairly early for once, boss", the first said dryly. "Or rather, the fact you're actually here is amazing."
"Good morning, boss!" Chirped the second. She cast Red a glance and waved at him slightly with a small smile.
"Your vacation over, huh," asked the third, glossing over Red with a puzzled look. "He a souvenir?"
The last two stood together, hands clasped as they looked the raven up and down. "He looks like a trainer actually, you know," the girl said. She smiled at her companion. "Trainer? Challenger?" The boy nodded. "If he's here, it's for a challenge, right?"
Green could see Red's grip on his bag strap tighten from the corner of his eye. He sighed. "I don't know about th—"
"No way, boss. He's a trainer, and he's at a gym. Challenger or no, we're gonna battle, right guys?"
The other four nodded to the first- excitement in their eyes. Well, Green supposed, they really hadn't battled anyone since the boy with the ultra-balled cap; months ago. So he glanced at Red one more time and shrugged. "Go all out. Do your best."
The battles lasted for less than five minutes each.
The evening air was clean and crisp when the two trainers left the gym for the night – the clouds had begun to disperse, leaving a velvet canvas with a luminescent full moon. While the sight was fairly common for Red, Green was awed by what he saw; a foggy ringed halo; bright and white around the night sun, fading out into a radiant soft pink before melding seamless into the sky.
The remainder of the day - after what Green's trainers called a "humiliation" was over, at least - was spent moving all of their belongings, however little and simple, back into the apartment. The photos were hung back on the walls, the clothing back into the closets.
Under the soft lights of the place they had called home, they would start again. Make up all the time they had lost, all the pain and the misunderstanding that they had both gone through. They would rebuild everything. With each other, they would be all right.
There was no longer a need to push the world away.
After all, their worlds were right there with them.
End.
Well, after a little under a year and a half, it's finally over. Thank you all for reading up to this point and accompanying not only Green and Red on this journey, but myself as well. I'm honoured at all the views, favourites and comments I've gotten, honestly, I'm not worthy.
Apologies to the fairly short ending – I originally had intended the ending to be last chapter, but wanted to give a little more than just a slight insight of what would happen after their reunion. Somehow that had become an attempt to try to break in a little more subtle humor with the mention of the gym redesign from HG/SS and a little commonly seen (since I'll admit I've seen this in other fics as well) hint of a battle between Green's trainers and Red.
I hope I'll see you all again in a [hopefully] comedic epilogue, coming up next.