This chapter takes place after SE #016: Distress. It has no relevance to SA whatsoever. SE #016: Distress is the SE version of SA #0?6, but this chapter has nothing to do with SA.
Speaking of SA/SE relations, (this may bust many theories and shatter hope) just because someone appeared in SE, it doesn't mean that that person won't die in SA. In SE, the Sinnoh trio is 3 years younger than Gold and Crystal while in SA, they are 4 years. In SE, Soul exists, and in SA, she does not. Thus, characters of SA and SE are not related. I can kill off, say, Gold in SE (or a story-branch within SE, like Platinum was for a short while) and he'll still appear and kick ShadowNet's ass (and Crystal's, says the first preview scene) in SA. Similarly, I can kill off like half the Dex Holders in SA but they'll still appear in SE like nothing happened. Besides, SE has multiple story branches. Platinum was killed in SE #004: Nightmare and was revived in SE #015: Revival, but she still appeared alive and perfectly well in the chapters between. So, in conclusion, Winona appearing in SE says absolutely nothing about her fate in SA. Sorry to bust the theory and hopes about Winona's survival in SA, for those who give a damn about her fate.
I do realize that there are a few moments in SA that mention events within SE (like in SA #005: A Day at the Beach, when Crystal recalls talking to Green about always being stuck with Gold, which she actually says in SE #016: Distress). Those are just for fun. An advertisement, if you will. I'm advertising SE in SA, and vice-versa. If I were to start a third story based on Pokémon Special (which I might), I'll be advertising that thing in SE and SA.
Also, no more Red & Yellow. SE #025: First Date will be the first and last attempt. Once again, Red is too oblivious, and Yellow is too nervous. As a result, it's difficult to have that pairing in primary focus.
Primary: Green & Blue.
Recovery:
Blue looked through the window of her hospital room. It was such a nice day outside… and here she was, stuck in her bed because she couldn't leave the room on her own power. She wanted to open the windows, but she couldn't reach. She could press a button to call a nurse, but the hospital was packed with people in horrible pain that day, and she didn't want to distract a nurse from tending patients. Apparently, Cliff Cave collapsed, and everyone inside and nearby were injured. No one died, thankfully, but many people were seriously hurt.
Blue glanced around the room. She noticed that her bag was on the floor to the right of her bed. Since her right arm was broken, she tried to reach her bag with her good arm. But when she twisted her body, she felt extreme pain from her ribs, as her broken ribs have not healed yet. It had only been a week since she was mauled by a pack of Tauros, after all.
"Ungh… where's Green when you need him?" Blue muttered.
She considered in pressing the distress button on her necklace pendent, but decided not to. The distress calls were for emergency only and she didn't want to abuse it. With a sigh, Blue forced herself to ignore the pain and reach for her bag, which meant that she had to lie face down on the bed. The moment she turned, she regretted her decision. The uncomfortably firm bed was now pushing against her broken ribs, and the firm pillow was now pushing the wound on her head.
Blue clenched her teeth and managed to reach and grab her bag. She quickly pulled it towards her and rolled onto her back again. For the next few minutes, she lay perfectly still, trying to ease the pain and steady her breathing. Once she felt okay, she reached into her bag and found her Pokégear. She noticed that there were 25 voice mails.
"Huh… Platinum sent me 5 voice mails," Blue muttered as she checked the list. "10 from Silver, two from Yellow, and one from everyone else except Green."
Blue found it odd that Gold had sent her one and played it first.
"Hello, senior, this is Gold. I heard about your accident and I hope you get better soon," came the goggled boy's voice in monotone. Blue had no doubt that Silver forced him to send a voice mail; a thought that was confirmed in the end of the message. "There! Now let go of-"
After playing all the voice mails, Blue called Green. The Gym Leader didn't pick up, but instead, the door to her room opened and he appeared in the doorway.
"What do you want, Blue?" he asked.
Blue put the Pokégear back in her bag and sighed. "You know, it took me a lot of effort to get to my Pokégear. You could've at least answered my call."
"So what do you want?"
"Not in the mood to talk?" she asked with a pout. She smiled a second later. "I'm just kidding. I called you because I want to see my friends again. But not here."
Green crossed his arms. "So what you're saying is that you want to get out of here."
"Yes, that's it. I want some fresh air, and I want to be near my friends."
"No," Green said without even thinking. "You're still not healthy enough to leave the hospital."
"But… come on! I've had worse!"
"No you haven't."
Blue crossed her arms (as much as she could with a broken arm and ribs) and pouted again. "You know, even Pryce took it easy on me whenever I got hurt."
"I'm still not convinced."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
The Kanto girl sighed and thought for a few seconds. "You do know that I'm the oldest Dex Holder, right?"
"By a little, yes."
"I'm years older than all of my juniors. And they've sent me many voice mails asking if I was alright. I have to show myself to them to let them know that I'm fine."
"You can show your juniors that you're perfectly fine once you are perfectly fine," Green said. "Also, no one's stopping you from calling them."
Blue sighed in exasperation. "Fine. If you won't help me, I'll just have to do this myself." With her good arm, she removed the blanket off of her and tried to inch her way off the bed. It was very hard, seeing how both of her legs were broken.
Green sighed. "Fine… just don't come crying to me later." He then walked over to her side and lifted her onto his arms rather roughly.
"Ow!" Blue yelped out. "Be careful!" Once she was stable in the Gym Leader's arms, she put her good arm around his neck. "You know, you need some practice with this," she said with a smile.
"What?"
"Carrying girls like this. Red does it in a much more comfortable way."
"And I should care, why?" Green asked as he exited the room.
Blue sighed. "Sometimes I don't even know why I bother…" She looked where the Gym Leader was going. "Hey, where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere where I can get a wheelchair."
"Are you going to carry me all the way, sweetheart?" Blue asked with a mischievous smile.
Green rolled his eyes. "I was planning on it, but now that you're feeling better…"
"No, no. Carry on."
"Maybe it's because of all the casts, but you're a lot heavier than I remembered," Green said.
Blue glared at him. "You have 5 seconds to rephrase that statement." She threatened to hit him with the cast on her arm.
Green simply remained silent while Blue started the countdown. When she counted to 1, the Gym Leader spoke. "Must be the casts."
The Kanto girl sighed and lowered her cast-arm. She knew that it was the best she was going to get out of him. "Yes, well… these casts weigh like 10 kilos, you know."
10 minutes later…
Green pushed Blue and her wheelchair out of the hospital. The Kanto girl took a deep breath and let out a contented sigh.
"Great, so now where do you want to meet the others?" Green asked.
"Pallet Town," Blue replied.
"… You do realize that we are in Cianwood City?"
"Yep."
"And you want to get to Pallet Town…"
"Just send out your Charizard," Blue said. She sent out her Ditto afterwards. "Turn into seatbelts, would you please?"
The Ditto looked at its trainer and moved onto her. It then wrapped itself around her and the wheelchair, effectively forming a multi-layered seatbelt that would prevent Blue from falling off during the flight.
"You and that damn clay…" Green muttered. He sent out his Charizard and hopped on. "Carry the pesky girl and her wheelchair," he commanded. The Charizard looked very confused, but soon nodded and carried the wheelchair.
Two hours later, the Charizard landed in Pallet Town. It had to go a little slower than usual since it was carrying a person on a wheelchair. While Green left to contact the other Dex Holders, the Kanto girl pulled out a small mirror to check her appearance.
She didn't like how the bandages stood out. With the bandages wrapped around her head, neck, chest, waist, arm, and legs (well, casts around her arm and legs), she was bound to get her juniors (well, those who cared) really worried. She withdrew her hat (which some genius folded and crammed into her bag, Green) and put it on to cover most of the bandage wrapped around her head. She then got her Ditto to change into a coat to cover the cast on her right arm and the bandages around her chest and waist. Blue then withdrew a foldable fan from her bag and used it to gently blow wind to her face. She was going to use that fan to appear calm and also use it to hide the bandages around her neck. She checked into her mirror once more and satisfied with her appearance, waited for Green to return.
The Gym Leader returned in a few minutes and he took a few moments to note the changes in Blue's appearance.
"What did you do to yourself?" he asked.
"You like it?" Blue asked with a smile. "It makes me look less hurt, don't you think?" She blew some air into her face slowly with the fan. "So…"
"They're coming. But it's going to take the Hoenn and Sinnoh Dex Holders two days to get here. Until then, I recommend that you stay in the hospital in Viridian City."
"No, I'm not going back into a hospital. I wanted to come here to get out of the hospital."
Green sighed. "So where are you going to stay?"
"What about your house?" Blue asked slightly nervously.
Green sighed again. "Fine."
"Hey, what about the other Dex Holders? You know, Red, Yellow, Gold, Crystal, and Silver?" the Kanto girl asked as the Gym Leader began to push her towards his house.
"Red and Yellow are in Hoenn right now. I sent Gold and Crystal to Sinnoh. I've also sent Silver with them, seeing how Crystal keeps complaining about working alone with Gold."
"I'm sure Crys likes the idea of working alone with Gold," Blue said as she put her fan back into her bag. She got her Ditto to change back to its normal self and returned it to its Pokéball. "And I'm sure Silver won't like being put in between those two. He prefers to work alone."
"I know that."
Once the two Dex Holders arrived at the Gym Leader's house, Green took a brief look around.
"So… what are we going to do?" Blue asked.
"I assume that you'll be staying here until the others arrive," Green started. "The best thing would be for you to lie on a bed and rest until that time."
"How about some lunch?" the Kanto girl asked. "I need some good food. Hospital food suck, you know."
"Fine," Green said with a sigh.
He forcefully lifted Blue onto his arms again and moved her onto a couch. While the Kanto girl grumbled about him being so rough, he went over to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat. He returned within a few minutes with a bowl of soup (nothing else to eat, apparently). Blue carefully sat up and had her Ditto form into a tray for the bowl. She thanked Green for the soup and tried to eat, but had some difficulties.
Green noticed that Blue was unsteady with her spoon, as she was right-handed and her right arm was broken. She had to use the utensil with her left hand and she wasn't good with it. The Viridian Gym Leader sighed, wondering why he chose to stay with her in Cianwood earlier that day. Maybe if he wasn't there, then she wouldn't bother him like this…
"… Need help?" he asked after another sigh.
"No, I think I'm good," Blue replied, despite the fact that all the soup was spilling out of the spoon before it even left the bowl. To her surprise, Green took away the spoon and the bowl. "Hey, what are you-"
"Just shut up and open your mouth," the Gym Leader commanded as he held a spoonful of soup.
Blue looked embarrassed at the fact that she had to be fed. She knew that Green was embarrassed for having to feed her too. "… Sorry…" she muttered. Seeing the impatient look on his face, the Kanto girl opened her mouth.
Green put the spoon in her mouth and dumped the soup. "The soup is hot," he said when the Kanto girl appeared to be in pain.
"Oh, now you tell me…"
A few minutes later, Blue finished with the soup (and burned her tongue, thanks to Green). As per her request, Green helped her back on the wheelchair so that she may head to the washroom to brush her teeth. Luckily for the Gym Leader, the Kanto girl required no assistance.
Later that day, Blue remained perfectly silent as Green carried her to his bedroom. The Gym Leader looked tired and stressed from having to do just about everything for her. For the first time that day, the Kanto girl wished that she stayed in the hospital. She was bothering Green way too much.
Green set her down on his bed and tried to leave. Blue quickly grabbed his hand before he was out of his reach.
"What do you want, Blue?" the Gym Leader asked with a sigh.
"I just… want to say that I'm sorry," the Kanto girl replied quietly. "I should have stayed at the hospital… Because I didn't, you have to take care of me…"
"It's okay."
Blue pulled the Gym Leader closer and kissed him. "Thank you Green. And I love you," she said once the kiss ended.
The Gym Leader cleared his throat and turned away. "Don't mention it."
Blue smiled as Green walked away. She made a note to herself to be less needy from now on; the Gym Leader was already busy enough with research and challenges from horribly weak trainers (by comparison). She got into a comfortable position on the bed and tried to get some sleep.
Next day…
Blue woke up after a long night's rest and stretched as much as she could without hurting herself. She slowly sat up and checked the clock; it was 10:30 am.
"Yikes, I overslept!"
She considered in calling Green to help her onto the wheelchair, but decided not to. Once again, she was going to be less needy that day. She sent out her Ditto and some of her small Pokémon so that they would carry her onto the wheelchair instead.
Once she managed to get onto her wheelchair, she got her Pokémon to push her towards the bathroom. Within a few minutes, she had brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got ready for the day. With her Wigglytuff's help, she managed to get down the stairs with her wheelchair and before long, she was in the living room. But to her surprise, Green wasn't in the house.
"Huh… I wonder where he is…" she muttered as she began to look around. "Green, where are you?"
Suddenly, the front door of the house opened and the Gym Leader appeared. He saw her in the living room and looked very surprised.
"What the… How did you get down here?" he asked as he shut the door behind him.
Blue returned her Wigglytuff back to its Pokéball and smiled. "I am capable of going up and down staircases without help, you know." She put the Pokéball back in her bag and crossed her arms. "You should have woken me so I don't oversleep, Green."
"You're still crippled, and you were asleep. It's common sense to not wake up patients when they are resting."
"Fair enough. So Green… what are we going to do today?"
"If you're ready, then my grandfather would like to talk to you."
"Oh… okay." The Kanto girl put her Ditto-coat and her hat on and pulled out the foldable fan from her bag. She straightened out her clothes and smiled at Green. "I'm ready now."
Green withdrew his Pokégear and made a call. "Blue's awake. I'm taking her over to you right now. … Okay, I'll be there shortly." The Gym leader put the Pokégear away and began to push Blue's wheelchair out of the house. After shutting and locking the door, he began to push her towards his grandfather's lab.
Blue calmly fanned herself as she approached Professor Oak's lab. When the front door opened, she noticed that all the lights were off, and that there was absolutely no sound or movement. It was almost as if someone was preparing for a-
"SURPRISE!"
Blue jumped in surprise as Green turned the lights on and all the other Dex Holders (except Diamond and Pearl) popped out of hiding. Blue looked confused for a second, wondering how everyone arrived at the lab so quickly. Then everything fell into place and she smiled brightly at all of her friends. Green pushed the wheelchair to the center of the room and all the Dex Holders gathered around Blue. It appeared that the Dex Holders had been preparing a surprise party for the day when the Kanto girl would be released from the hospital. But since she decided to leave the hospital early, the party was never fully planned. And while pretending to be calling the other Dex Holders yesterday, Green had told everyone (who were already in the lab) to get ready for a small surprise. And the call to Professor Oak a few minutes ago was actually to inform everyone that she was coming…
"Wow. Thanks, everyone," Blue said happily.
"Senior, how are you doing?" Platinum asked.
Blue fanned herself a little. "I'm doing great, thanks." She took a look around. "Hey, where are your friends?"
"Diamond and Pearl are in the kitchen, preparing for the feast we have planned for you," Platinum replied.
"Oh, that's really not necessary," Blue said.
Silver and Crystal approached the Kanto girl, dragging Gold behind them. Silver handed her a rather large package.
"Sis, this is a gift from Gold," he said as he glared at the goggled boy.
"Isn't that right, Gold?" Crystal said from beside as she joined Silver in glaring at him.
"Uh… yes," the goggled boy replied as he cowered away from Crystal. "That is 60 000 PKD worth of medicinal food."
Blue gasped. "60 000?"
"It was Gold's idea. He wanted to buy 80 000 PKD worth, but we convinced him down to 60 000. Isn't that right, Gold?" Crystal said with another glare.
"Y – Yeah… they convinced me to lower the money spent…"
"What do you mean by medicinal food?" Blue asked.
"It's a variety of food that helps you heal and recover faster," Silver replied.
"Wow. Thanks, Silver and Crys!" the Kanto girl said as she took a look inside the package. "You too, Gold."
"… 60 000 PKD… and all I get is a thanks…" the goggled boy muttered silently as he walked away. "60 000… I'll get you for this, Silver, Crys…"
"Did you say something?" Blue asked from behind.
"No, no," Gold replied. "Just plotting against Silver and Crys," he added quietly.
While everyone was helping with the feast, Blue talked to Yellow and Crystal. From them, she found out the truth about the party. Gold had initially planned to get her a 4000 PKD gift certificate, but was forced by Silver and Crystal to purchase the medicinal food, which cost the goggled boy 15 times the amount he was willing to spend. But more surprisingly, Blue found out that the whole party had been Green's idea. Apparently the Gym Leader had contacted the other Dex Holders the day after Blue was hospitalized to plan for her return.
Blue smiled and got Crystal to push her towards Green, who was overlooking the Dex Holders in the kitchen. The Kanto girl then gently pulled the Gym Leader's hand from behind, and when he turned to look at her, she pointed at the door.
"Let's take a walk, Green," she said quietly with a bright smile. "… Just you and me…"
Crystal let go of her senior's wheelchair and smiled at Green. The Gym Leader took her place and pushed the wheelchair towards the door. But as he passed the Johto girl, he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Mention this to anyone, and I'll triple your workload."
Next up: Gold & Crystal.
Note: the end of this chapter was done rather hastily.
I hope I don't have to prove the SA/SE relation from above, because in order to prove that the character-fates of SA and SE are not related, I'll have to kill someone important in SA. And by 'important', I mean the Dex Holders. Am I going to kill any Dex Holders in SA? The answer is… I don't know.