Just a note that this story is not losing its direction at all, and there's an update on my profile. You are advised to check that out, but not obliged to, of course.

Chapter 8: The show goes on

"That was actually quite impressive."

Green turned his head. Having focused so much on the last battle, he was not quite focused on observing his surroundings just yet. He really did not expect anyone to be here at this hour, and so did Giovanni. However, the Rocket boss' leaving after quarrelling with a twelve year old trainer might not have given the best of impression for said trainer in the eyes of the observer.

"Oh…" He immediately recognized who it was that have been secretly watching his fight. He was actually impressed that he was not able to tell who it was just my listening to the voice, but it could be attributed to being caught by surprise. That said; Green was still not quite sure whether he should be letting go of his guard just yet. He knew that Giovanni had his people within the Pokémon League, holding a strong enough connection to keep him among the Gym Leaders even though he disappeared for what seemed like years on in. "What are you doing here so early, Sabrina?"

"I…" The female psychic suddenly hesitated. It has been almost a week since she had first heard of this meeting, and she was promised to be here. However, ulterior motives were always present, and this one could not just be blurted out to just anyone, especially not to someone who she actively disliked. "It is none of your business."

"Very well, I do not plan on dedicating my time to find out, either way." Green shrugged. As long as the female gym leader did not want to cause him any trouble, he would stay out of her way. He knew that she had no good impressions of him, ever since she saw his Alakazam beating hers. It was just another obstacle in the road to fame for him, but he knew that it must have hit the psychic hard to be beaten in her own game. Regardless, it was not his problem to worry about. "What did you get from that engagement?"

"I am a psychic, you know." Sabrina held a taunting smirk on her face. She, for the first time, felt like she finally had something over this boy. However, there were many things she was still curious about. Perhaps knowing the full truth would make her feel better about herself. "I do know that you have ranted Red out to Giovanni in order to get a short cut at the Elite Four without having to get the Earth Badge."

"…You are quite observant indeed." Green gritted his teeth a little. Sure, he might have earned his badge just now, but no one else would be able to know or credit his win, and would rather just disqualify him through Sabrina's testament, especially since it was the truth. Perhaps it was time to start salvaging what was left. "So now, what are you going to do?"

"Don't give me that look boy, I know what it meant." Sabrina narrowed her eyes, taking Green's glare head on. The two of them right now had some kind of mutual respect for each other, but really was just focused on coming out of this on top and unscathed. For Sabrina, it was for getting back her pride, and for Green was to hide his dark past where it belonged: lost and never found. "Now, I would be willing to let this slide, if you tell me just what had been going on with you and Red."

"Why do you want to know?" It was another one of those things that Green simply hated admitting. Sure, everyone knew that Red beaten him just after he had become champion and took the title right from his hands, but that was not even the part he was trying to forget. He did not mind losing to his rival; in fact, he had been doing just that several times during the course of their two years adventure across Kanto and gathering Badges.

"You and Red are the only two who ever got through my Gym, and both of you got through all of the Elite Four and into the champion chamber, I know that much." Sabrina seemed rather bent on showing her position of power at this point, but she was still very curious and interested in hearing the story that Green was willing to tell soon enough. She could just hack his mind to get it out of him, but even though she was a psychic, doing something like that was especially exhausting if the subject resisted and it was simply too much effort for virtually no solid gain from her discovery. "However, I also heard you two were childhood rivals from Pallet town, you being the obvious favorite, as the grandchild of Professor Oak. There was something wrong between you two, considering how you ranted Red out, but he never said a word."

"Fine…" Green sighed. He did not want to do this, but there really was no other choice. He could pretend like it never happened, but perhaps letting it off his chest was the best decision. He never told a soul about this, not even his sister. "As you know… I am Red's childhood rival, as far as that term went. It meant there was not much more between us that a few lost marbles and childish banter. It was at least a mutual relationship. However, things changed between us when we entered the trainer business. I do not know whether it was because we were getting older or just the stress of the matter that impacted our association. I can tell you that I once lost my Pokémon because of him."

"Lost as in released or…"

"Dead," Sabrina narrowed her eyes at that notion. Usually Pokémons would just at worst faint in battle or poisoned. However, she had heard of cases of them dying too an unusually strong attack when they were already in critical conditions. Those were extremely rare, but from a large sample size, it was enough to fill the entire Lavender town. That also was something she did not want to be affiliated with. "He and I retracted from whatever was left of my friendship after that. I hated him so much that I was willing to rant him out to the Rockets, even though beating Giovanni by my own effort was not entirely out of the question. He knew, but he felt so guilty that it did not even cross his mind to tell me off."

"That sounds quite tragic." Sabrina was not sure how serious she could take that story with, but by reading Green's expression, she at least knew he was not lying. That in itself was terrifying, considering how this turned out to be real, and no one else ever knew it. "Yet you two were barely twelve at the time."

"Yes, stupid kids would be stupid kids." The boy chuckled a bit painfully at the psychic's consensus. He knew that he did a lot of wrong, but who really could blame him. As one of the ten years old trainers among thousands, he was not supposed to succeed. People only expected him to make a name for himself some time among the twenties, not to years after his debut. "Then it was our meeting within the champion chamber. No one else but the Elite Four themselves knew this, but I was the one who won."

"What?"

"Don't be so surprised. I beat him the first time." Green, his back against the wall, breathed out his words. It was something people would deem as crazy, yet he felt it made so much sense at the time. "However, I gave him a second chance to prove his worth. We agreed the one who won the best out of three would have the pleasure of declaring themselves the winner. So he ran the Elite Four the second time, something previously unheard of, I suppose. To my surprise, he beat me in our second engagement, and my grandfather came just at that moment. It was so ironic…"

"Green, you…"

"Yes, I perhaps was a fool. Grandpa gave me a good scolding, then escort Red towards the last chamber without even consenting what the two of us would say, not like I would sound anything more than a sour loser in his eyes." His voice still bitter, Green tried his best to give out the last of his secrets, in hope to get everything off his regrets. "So just like that, Red was declared champion, even though his chances were just as good as mine. He then disappeared off sight, as you might have heard, as he felt that he did not deserve the title. Where he is right now I do not know, as you might have overheard from my little conversation with Giovanni, but I knew he would probably return one day so we can finish what we started."

"That was a lot to take in." Sabrina finally gave off a smile. She knew for sure that the boy was not lying, and somehow she was able to understand his position. It was not one of the saddest story ever been told, but it certainly was unexpected. It went without saying that after hearing this, she no longer had any plans to come clean with her testament, and burying all of that in the past was probably the best decision to make after all. "Rest assured I have no intentions of disowning you."

"I appreciate it." Green also gave her a weak smile. Sure, he was mature for his age, but he was still only twelve. It took him two years to finish his first league run, and he really did not seem to want to do it again. However, before either of them could say something, they spotted a transportation unit up on the cable line, descending towards their position. It was the preferred ride for gym leaders, and it was also a signal that either one of them or one of the Elite Fours were coming. It was moderately silent, all leading up to the point when they saw a familiar face.

"Sabrina!" Just like that, the black haired botanist burst out of the transport and came onto her friend who was standing nearby, greeting her with a warm embrace. It embarrassed the psychic to no end, not to mention Green staring at them with a very strange look in his eyes. He was not sure what to make of it. "I've missed you."

"Greetings to you too, Erika." Sabrina was honestly not been expecting this. She was not sure how to react to this situation, even though it would have been much better if Green was not here. What she failed to mention that she only came here early to be able to see Erika in and spying on Giovanni and Green's battle was simply a complication that emerged. She greets her friend back, but tried to divert her gaze towards their audience. "How… how are you?"

"Oh, hello Green." Erika noticed the trainer being there, and waved at him with her left arm. Her right one still had no trouble clinging on Sabrina, or at least it would if Sabrina had not extend her own to support the weight of the botanist. Green knew nothing else to do but wave back awkwardly. "How's it going?"

"I… think I would leave you two alone." Green might not have any experience in much of anything except his grandfather's line of work, but he clearly was not dense. If he felt like he was intruding, he would leave. If he felt like something was there, he was going to hold on to that thought. "Sorry for the intrusion."

...

"Why haven't you called me?" Next thing she knew, Erika was pouting at her. Sabrina's eyes went wide open. She did not recall promising to call ever, so she was really not sure what was going on. However, just because Erika looked like that, the psychic felt both flustered and awkward, even though they were sort of a lone now. "I have been waiting for six days!"

"I… did I promise to call you?" She stalled a bit of time with that question as her memories raced back to that last day. Erika left the next morning on the return trip of the S.S. Anne, and the night before that ended with the two of them watching the stars. She had no idea when it was implied that she was going to call. "I don't remember that at all."

"No, you didn't promise." Now Sabrina was even more confused, but Erika seemed to not wanting to let go of her pout at all, or her hurt expression. "But aren't we at least close friends now? Close friends are supposed to call and to check up on each other!"

"But you didn't call me either did you?"

"I was at your place for a full day!"

The psychic decided to stop the vicious circle and just stayed quiet. Erika seemed like a child, but it did make her friend feel rather guilty. Sabrina had no other option, so she just sighed. It was not something she was used to do, but she would be willing this time.

"I'm sorry Erika. I would remember to call once in a while at least."

"Great!" Just like that, both of their moods were lifted. Sabrina just realized that she had just admitted them to be close friends, though somehow that was not as annoying and troublesome as she had expected. Sure, Erika was really hyper active and upbeat, but it never really gotten on her nerves, as it was actually rather enjoyable for such a downer type like Sabrina. "Let's go, people should be here soon!"

That said; the botanist dragged her friends into the inner chambers with her. They had not been here in a while so Erika took the most use of her time to look around and admire the changes, and she never forgot to pull Sabrina with her. She was like a little girl in the museum for the first time, getting her older sister to go with her anywhere she wanted. Time flies when you are having fun, they said. It was not long before the nine o'clock bell rung up on the League's halls, signaling everyone on duty to report to their respective station and everyone else to be at the meeting hall. It captured the attention of the duo as well, and they complied with arriving.

Soon, the meeting hall was densely populated with people who were called to be there, and those who were not.

"Settle please, people." Blaine, the bald scientist, was apparently the League's representative this time around. Unknown to a lot of people, the Pokémon League is actually a very profitable organization ran by the board of directors. However, since they knew more about marketing than Pokémons, they chose one gym leader as representative in order to get their ideas across in meetings like this. "As you all know, another round of the league run has concluded, and we are faced with even more problems."

"An update on the situations would be nice." Said Brock, the young man in jerseys. He, along with most of the people here, was called to the meeting, not briefed, so he was rather skeptical of what it would achieve, although it would not be his problem regardless.

"Ah yes, Miss Lorelei, would you please?" Lorelei of the Elite Four, also the organizer, was the woman in the black business dress sitting next to Blaine, with all sorts of documents in hand. It seems she had been busy for the last couple of weeks, and people could tell if it were not for her sunglasses that she preferred to have on at all times. "How are fixing the problems going so far?"

"Well, Blaine, and the rest obviously, we have some that have been fixing themselves at the moment, but I am going to read the causes first." Raising the glasses just a bit more above her nose, she put the document down, which was obviously something no one had expected. "Well, Red as our current champion has decided to step down from doing any League work or obligations. Lance, as one of our Elite Four has also stepped down his position for family reasons, at least that was what he told us. Kohga, our Fuchsia Gym Leader, has already stepped down. Also obviously Giovanni has been revoked of his position as Gym Leader of Viridian due to criminal charges and status. That seems to be all."

"Quite the long list there, actually." Agatha, the old woman sitting at the corner of the table, chuckled lightly in an amused tone. Anyone who knew her knew that she was also very skeptical of everyone else's work, and it should not be too strange for her to simply scoff off opinions. Of course it was still annoying nonetheless, and people did not appreciate it. She never really was a part of the discussion, simply being there as if to piss people off. "How are you going to fix that mess?"

"Well, Agatha, we already covered most of it." Blaine, as the representative, hated her attitude. It was not only defeatist but elitist and never really helped anyone. He and the rest of the league had been working hard to figure out a solution after all, and he would very much rather people appreciate his work. "Red leaving was unfortunate, but it really was also not much of a hole that we need to cover, so it should be fine. Kohga has literally disappeared off the face of the earth, but not before recommending to us that his daughter would be more than gladly to fill the job. Is that right, Janine?"

"Yes." The female sitting across from him replied. People could clearly see the resemblance between her and her father, both being ninjas and obsessed with the color purple. "I am ready to display my qualifications should it be needed."

"Very well, let's leave that for now, moving on." Blaine continued down the list. There were people he needed to get decisions across. "While the authorities go after Giovanni, we have a gaping miss in his position. Today, I invited Mr. Green Oak, grandson to Professor Oak, here in order to nominate him to fill the position."

Green was sitting by his lonesome in a corner, as he heard his name being called. He was not quite sure of how to react. He was not actually informed of why he was being called here in the first place, but he had nothing against replacing Giovanni at Viridian, not to mention how close that city is to his own home. It was a win-win at least, and since the league would not have another run for two more years, he could still continue his travels and be back when he needed it. He was for the proposal, but other people might not be.

"No." That was Agatha, as people's attention was immediately drawn to her. She did not approve of this nomination at all. "The kid's twelve, what would he able to do? At least Giovanni was half way decent for his age. Who is to say this kid would be able to fill his shoes."

"Giovanni was also a villain, Agatha."

"My point stands."

With that, small discussions started to erupt around the conference room. Even though no one liked Agatha, she did bring towards a good point. A citizen that young cannot be verified of his responsibility and ability to lead a position in a big cooperation such as this.

"Alright, we shall have a vote of majority for this." Blaine shook his head slightly. He just wanted to have this over with, but he should have known that since this is Green, Agatha would be against it. Not many people knew, but the old woman had quite the personal vendetta against Green's grandfather, but that was not for the public to be aware of. "Anyone who would like to state their case before we get to voting please do so."

"I say I'm all for voting the kid up." Sabrina finally said something. She had been called to meetings before, and none of those times were anyone else but Erika had gotten the slightest of positive impression of her. Most of the time she just liked to argue for the sake of the argument, and needless to say people did not like it one bit. "Sure he's twelve, but some of us here is not even half way as responsible as he is."

"Who are you to talk for him, Sabrina?" Bruno, the man in karate uniform, stated. Even though it might have sounded offensive, everyone knew he was one of the calmest and most indiscriminative minds in the whole league.

"Well I battled him, wise guy." Sabrina simply scoffed his question off as silly. "I am also a psychic, I can read him."

"Aw, are you in love with this young brat or something?" Agatha was pushing her case. It had always been one of her greatest pleasures to disclaim Sabrina's opinion, and this was just the case. "I should have known."

"You better watch what your mouth you old fart." Sabrina was going to lose it soon at this rate. She knew that nothing good would come of a meeting like this, but she just had to bite that old woman off. "You are just obsessed with going against the Oaks, aren't you?"

"Why you little wench…"

"Stop it!" Erika screamed off the top of her lungs. She had enough of this, and she just wanted it to end. She was putting her foot down for the first time in her life. "Stop fighting over this nonsense. I am with Sabrina on this, and Agatha, just sit down!"

Silence befallen the room, as not a single one of the people present, all having talked to Erika before, was quite ready for such an outbreak from one of the most loveable people they have ever met, and to defend one of the least likeable as well.

"Let's just skip to the voting then…"