Disclaimer: I wonder if these things would be more interesting in a foreign language? 私が所有していないと、この物語、それが参考にした知的財産のお金をオフ作っていないです。 Oh! It is~
By popular demand, a continuation. And there will be yet another after this. Again, I apologize for the extremely short chapter - this is more of a drabble series than anything (and it wasn't meant to be a series at all, so :p). I'll get around to part three eventually (probably not soon) but here's this, hope you enjoy.
The chase was still on, but it was, finally, drawing to a close – or so Leaf hoped.
Because now it was the final test to see if she was ready. To see if all that work, all that training and running and dreaming had been enough. Leaf was standing at the entrance to the Indigo Plateou.
She was about to take on the Elite Four.
And Red was at the top.
As she battled, one by one, the strongest trainers in all of Kanto, she felt like she was in a daze. These tests of her and her Pokemon's bonds should have been the foremost thought in her mind, should have been a memory forever impressed on her soul with it's importance to her future. But it was all hazy, like a dream. She fought through a fog, taking down the Elite Four one by one without feeling the least bit of fear or pride.
Her mind was always on the room ahead, taking that next step, being so close...
Until, finally, those big double doors opened and she walked that long hallway to the Champion's platform.
He was standing there, waiting.
Leaf saw him, looking for all the world just like the boy in the Pokemon cap she'd grown up with and not at all like he'd been as far away from her as he had. He wasn't smiling – Red saved his smiles, he made each one special – and anyone who didn't know him would think he was bored.
But he was looking at her, right at her, for the first time in so long that Leaf felt like she could die right there, at his feet, and she would have been happy. When she had started this journey, she definitely would have. Yet now...
Now, she felt this driving urge for more. She'd worked so hard, and following in his shadow, chasing after him like a lost puppy, just wasn't enough anymore. She hadn't come all this way just to see his face.
Leaf had traveled from Pallet Town to Viridian City, through Viridian Forest to Pewter City. Hiked across Mt. Moon to Cerulean City, traveled to Saffron, Vermilion, Celadon. Through the Rock Tunnel to Lavender Town, through the Diglett's Cave, to Fuchsia City, and down the Cycling Road. She'd swam through the Seafoam Islands, been to Cinnabar, came back home and challenged Victory Road to reach the Indigo Plateau, the Pokemon League Headquarters.
She was one battle away from being the Pokemon League Champion. She wasn't little Leaf, childhood friend, anymore. She was on his level, his equal.
She'd come this far, not for fame, not for glory, not for fun, a challenge, or some title that meant nothing to her.
Leaf had come all this way for Red.
She was sick of waiting.