This is the longest chapter I have ever written. Officially 5,384 words. Officially.
I shall present a nice shiny advertisement on my popular story for this. Maybe make my work fruitful.
On another note, I am a bit sorry for how...well general this is compared to my normal writing. And that's considering how chock full of info and building action this is. I appreciate your bearing with me. It is entertaining, but not to the extentI could. I just have a very specific reason for my negligence.
In the meantime, I hate school. College come to me soon so I can stop updating monthly -.-
Oh, and guest reviewer, I literally have no idea what you were trying to say. Sowwee. Just alliterate it in proper English if you can.
Chapter 3
Airtight
*~*~**~*~**~*~*
Gold – Oak's Personal
Airship; en route
to Pallet Town
*~*~**~*~**~*~*
It can be funny how comfortable a tight, compact airship can be when you've been tirelessly walking around without much of a break for a solid month.
All in all, Gold was just happy to be done with yet another blasted world-threatening attack. He was starting to grow sick and tired of all the Tauros it produced, spat, and smeared on his life.
Yes, he enjoyed spending time with Pokemon and his friends. And, ya know, the extra bragging rights to impress the ladies was most certainly always a plus.
But he was sick and tired of it.
Gold sighed and took a moment to scan the room. Green and Silver were sitting in a booth next to a window, seeming to have a great time talking with Green's Parents, tackling the impossible mission of catching up on 16 missed years of parent-child time. Ruby took a moment to smile at seeing the reuniting process, and then continued his extremely one-sided conversation/soliloquy about how awesome his Pokemon were. Yellow seemed pleased just to listen, being the polite and kindly amused girl she is. Red and Sapphire were yelling – well, loudly conversing – about the thrill of their Pokemon battles. Emerald was fiddling with his gadgets, jumping in on conversations every now and again, with Blue right behind him, observing Emerald's tinkerings while spreading a piece of his infinite wisdom on Pokemon Training and fuming about how loud Green and Red were talking. Chris was…
Well Chris was doing her RIF on the PokeGear. Calling the Pokemon House, calling her mom, calling Prof. Elm, doing her rounds so to say. Gold ached to talk to her, but figured it would be some time before she was done.
So he smiled, leaned back against the wall, slunk down, and closed his eyes to rest them for jusssst a moment…
"Gollll-olllllld…"
"…"
"Gollllllllllll-ooooooollllllllllllddddd."
"…"
"Gold, seriously now…"
"…"
"GOLD!"
Gold jolted awake, scrambling all over the place trying to a) configure his balance, b) establish where he was, and c) decipher whom/what was calling him. All at the same time.
Plans like that usually fail.
"Owowowow…" he moaned, rubbing his forehead where he had slipped and fallen on.
Chris facepalmed and then sighed.
"Gold, Oak wants to see all the Pokedex holders together in the Captain's Room for an important meeting."
Gold humphed, "Well, you didn't have to be so loud…you know you could have just lightly tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to wake up and I would have."
Chris just sweatdropped and reached her hand out. Gold shrugged and accepted the offer, lifting to his feet and walking with Chris to the back room.
"Do you know what it's about?" he asked.
Crystal shook her head. "Absolutely no idea. He just now called us all there."
Gold folded his arms and scowled. "So Old Man Oak interrupted my beauty sleep without even letting me know why? This better be good…"
Chris giggled and opened the door the inner chamber. Inside everyone was already seated around a quaint, mid-sized coffee table. They were all hushed, sitting politely at the table in their own unique way (Yellow leaning back with her palms out behind her for balance; Green lazily, and quite frankly a bit coquettishly in the naturally flirty way Green is, supine). Green's parents were not present, so Gold assumed they were still in the main cabin.
Professor Oak was positioned at the head of the table, his arms folded and his head slightly bowed, eyes crossed in thought. When Gold closed the door behind him, he walked forward to an empty spot between Green and Ruby. As he sat down, he twirled his cue around and placed it in his lap.
Green leaned over and whispered to him, "That was smooth, late boy."
Gold snickered and whispered back, "That's exactly how Gold does it."
Oak cleared his throat to signal the beginning of the meeting. After waiting to make sure he had everyone's attention, he commenced it.
"Hello everyone. I am incredibly grateful to say that the Pokedex holders have once again saved the world from destruction and chaos. So let me start by saying 'Thank You' to all of you."
Everyone smiled back at him. Green flipped her hair to the back of her head in a sign of haughty pride. Although, Blue was stoic as per-usual.
"Also, let us congratulate Green on finally being able to actually meet her parents. It's been a long time coming, and way overdue."
Now everyone gleamed at Green as she smiled and held her chin up high. Ruby patted her on the back while Gold playfully poked her with his cue.
Oak continued, "But I'm sure you all know of the fact that I am standing here with you all around me means that there is something a lot more pressing I must address. This is surrounding the large upscale of incidents you all, as Pokedex holders, have had to deal with."
Red frowned and held his wrist.
Oak acknowledged this, "Most especially Red and the insurmountable amount of turmoil he has had to go through."
Not happy with the direction the attention was going, Gold stamped his cue on the ground, "Hey what about ME Professor?!"
Oak shook his head and sighed. "Yes, you too Gold, you and the extremely painful difficulty that you have had to deal with as well."
Gold puffed his chest out and smiled smugly, content with this obscenely fake flattery.
"Continuing on, in light of the most recent incident in the Battle Frontier, I have come to the conclusion that a great deal of our turmoil is due to our separation. Now you all handled the situation maturely, and I must say, and yes I actually mean this, that I am incredibly proud of Gold and the way he led the operation."
Gold, caught a little by surprise by the sudden and real compliment, was stunned for a moment. Then, of course, he went back to his gloating posture.
"But of course, what else would you expect from Johto's most valuable Pokedex holder?"
Silver coughed a couple times and Crystal shot him her super-serious Crystal look.
Oak once again cleared his throat to regain the attention of everyone gathered.
"But to what I was saying, I believe if we were closer together and more able to respond to calls of distress, then these…issues would go a lot smother."
Yellow and Sapphire nodded in agreement. Emerald raised his hand and asked, "So what are we planning to do?"
Oak nodded, "Good question Emerald. My proposition of today is that we all, from now on, must stay in close, and I mean VERY close, proximity to each other."
This caused a little murmuring to spread across the table. Gold looked back and forth from person to person, hearing what people were saying. He sighed, knowing no one else would ask the question, and bit the unintentional bullet.
"But Oak, what about those of us with families that are far away from Kanto?"
Ruby shot him a thankful look while Sapphire raised her voice, "Yeah, Ruby and I live in Littleroot, which is very far away from Kanto."
Oak acknowledged their concerns, "I understand your concerns. I especially understand yours, Ruby, because you want to spend as much time with your family as possible. But unfortunately, even in light of that, I will have to clarify exactly the context of this proposition. When we land, we will arrive in Pallet Town, behind my lab. But unfortunately, until we find a better solution, we must, secretly mind you, live together there. We will still be able to contact your families (technology is awesome), but we must stick close together."
Ruby, worried, leaned back to ponder this while Silver and Green looked at each other.
Blue raised his head and asked, "But gramps, you're not one to make everyone leave their hometowns over a simple ambiguous threat, am I correct?"
Oak nodded. "That leads into my next point, in exactly one year there will be a meeting amongst the ENTIRE Pokemon Association and all its regions. You are all cordially invited (and by that I mean strongly required) to attend."
Sapphire's eyes looked fearful and angry. She spoke again,
"Forgive me, but I just don't see why we need to live so close together for this…"
Oak returned a look of slight pity.
"Valid concern, Sapphire. As I said, it is good to be prepared and near each other for these situations. But most importantly I need you all to train together, to get to know each other. You all are so closely related by your tools and missions, but you barely know each other. It would be vital for you all to become very close friends and allies with each other in order to establish an intimidating force to try and shun all the ambitious organizations that are getting any sort of…ideas in the future. Also, in order for the upcoming meeting to go smoothly, you all must be strong and well versed with each other. You all can be our main link, connecting the nations together."
Green (unphased as per usual, but it would be reasonable to say that she had legitimate concern for her peers) smiled and asked, "Is that all Professor? I know you have something more up your sleeve."
Oak smiled back.
"You're right Green, you always were the most intuitive Kanto Pokedex holder."
He made a not-so-discreet glance at Red and Blue. Red forced a nervous laugh and scratched his head while Blue just sighed and looked away.
Oak continued, "You all are not the only Pokedex holders. We have made 3 new additions to your title."
…
A silence echoed in the room, as the atmosphere was tinted with surprise and marinated with surprise.
"I have heard from my friend and coworker, the man who helped create the Pokedex, Professor Rowan, that there are three more Pokedex holders who have just taken down a world-threat themselves. They live in a region known as Sinnoh. It is even farther from Kanto than Hoenn is."
While everyone was still shocked, Gold wanted to learn more about these people.
"When will we get to see them?"
Oak sighed, "I'm afraid not for a while. They are busy right now putting some missing pieces together in a venture into the Distortion World."
A look of confusion and shock painted most people in the room. Most, except Blue. Of course Blue was stoic. Klink you and your over stoicness Blue.
"I think I've heard of that before. Is that not where Giratina lives?"
Oak nodded, "You are correct. We will meet with them soon after they complete their quest. It will be a while, but we should be able to meet with them after they complete it. We will need to discuss with them about the meeting as well, as Sinnoh joined the Pokemon Association not too long ago."
"I must also admit, no one else knows about this meeting. Not even the Elite Four groups, much less the Gym Leaders. So I ask that you not even make a peep about this to anyone. We can't be putting a deadline for bad guys everywhere out there, saying "HEY THIS IS WHEN ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLES ARE GATHERED! COME MURDER US ALL RIGHT NOW!"
Everyone nodded, but nodded slowly. Emerald was fiddling with his techy shoes. Ruby and Sapphire exchanged a nervous and shifty glance. Blue was stoic (still irked about that Blue). Green's smile had lowered a little when she saw everyone's attitude about the situation. Silver, Red, and Yellow seemed not to mind too much though, so that's a minor plus.
But the uncertainty was definitely more than present.
Oak's face dropped and seemed a little gloomy when he made his final comment.
"I understand this may be too much for many of you. Should any of you not agree to this, you may turn in your Pokedex and drop out of this madness and chaos. No one will blame you, no one will dishonor you. We all understand the pressure and intense craziness wielding this device does for you. So please, if anyone does not want to follow through, please let me know now, so I may start the search for your replacement."
…
"Oh, I will be taking a vote on this as soon as we land and after we have dinner. I must treat you all with the respect and dignity you deserve."
…
…
…
No one moved. Yet.
Gold looked back and forth and saw uncertainty and worry on everyone's face. But most of everyone was Ruby. He just wanted to be with his family, Gold knew that.
Will he drop out? We can't afford to lose anyone…Especially not now.
Ruby started to shift to his pocket, with a look of anguish and shame and…
Oh.
Oh no.
He was going to do it.
Anytime now, he's going to stand, and say—
"I wish to speak."
A serene and graceful voice resonated from Yellow as the pretty and small girl stood up.
Everyone gasped.
She took a deep breath and withdrew her Pokedex.
…
A pause.
A fear.
NO, not her!
Then,
"I understand why any of you would want to leave this," she pointed to her old machine, "behind. I understand why any of you would want to just continue your lives as ordinary kids. Live the lives as the strong trainers I can tell you all are. Conquer gyms, dominate the contests, train the most powerful Pokemon you can…I too am guilty of wishing to spend my whole life protecting Viridian, and learning the thoughts and hearts of the Pokemon."
She closed her eyes, took of her hat and took a deep breath. "But I also understood the responsibility I accepted when I took this," now she jabbed a finger up against the Pokedex, "with me to complete a journey to find Red. I understood what I was giving up to the world when I accepted this. But most importantly…"
Yellow raised her head and opened her eyes, looking right at Ruby. "I understood that by accepting this device I was giving up my life as an ordinary kid. I'm never going back to normal now. And I have learned to not only accept this, but to embrace it."
She bowed to Professor Oak. "Thank you for your attention."
Then she sat down.
Gold noticed everyone taking out their Pokedex, so he did the same. He pulled his out and looked at it's crisp metal. He opened it and ran a finger across it, feeling the cool inside of the glorious invention. He smiled and closed it, stuffing it in his pocket.
He was going to stay right with his responsibility. Even if he was sick and tired of the Tauros it created.
The ladies part more than makes up for it.
He snickered and leaned back, ready for the world.
Gold was currently looking across the room, discreetly and unidentifiably, at Yellow and Red. It was almost hilarious. They spoke so softly and normally but it was clear to Gold that there was still some proverbial flint n' steel trying to spark something between them. He remembered it back from the years ago back when Misty called him and started swooning over the realization that he was alive –
Way melodramatic by the way ladies, don't ever do that to ME…
– and then Green crassly and coquettishly started a blushing festival. Like seriously. Gold could hear the blush from Misty coming through the PokeGear.
"Hee-hehehehe."
He noticed the snickering behind him. Turning to face the giddy perpetrator, he came face-to-face with Ms. Maturity herself.
He smirked. "You noticing it too, Green?"
She turned her attention to him and held her smile. "Of course, dear. Watch this…"
Gold's eyes widened. Oh no, here we go.
Cupping both hands to her face to work as a makeshift megaphone…
You don't need a makeshift, crappy megaphone Green, your voice can be
loud enough to wake a Slakoth.
… Green shouted out, "HEY YELLOW! RED! WE CAN ALL SEE THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM SO JUST GO TO THE BACKROOM AND GET IT OVER WITH!"
Gold slapped his face. Hard.
Ow…ya know I really gotta think these self-inflicting gestures of pain through. Next time, I will be in control of my body and not let it do that.
While now nursing the new red welp on his temple, he turned to the devilishly happy Green.
"Girl, you gotta straighten that act together. You're gonna make the next evil organization die due to insanity from you and your innuendo."
Green shrugged, "Hey, if it's what I gotta do, it's what I gotta do."
They both laughed.
…
"… Hey Gold?"
"Hmmm?"
"I was wondering…you seem to be pretty adept at spotting this whole feelings thing…"
"What makes you say that?"
Gold noticed Green's typically cute smile had faded when she asked the question, and failed to return once he had engaged her in a meaningful conversation. Odd. He laughed to try and lighten things up and bring that smile back, but failed.
Green responded, "Well based on the fact that among everyone, you noticed the whole Yellow and Red thing 2 years back when I thought I was the only one who had. At age 11!"
Gold sighed, "You got me. Arrest me for high treason right now."
…
Green didn't laugh.
She never doesn't laugh.
"Gold, I just wanted to ask you something serious…I –"
"No, Green, I am flattered but I will not marry you. I need to live a little longer before I can accept that proposition."
A chuckle.
Damn I'm good at this. No Green friend of mine is gunna get away with gloomish depression. Gold smiled at his personal little victory.
"Gold, who do you think is right for me."
…
Woah.
…
…Okay, super serious Gold time.
Gold straightened his face to the glowing, leadership-like face it becomes when he focuses on a serious issue. He radiated a powerful aura of compassion and sincerity on a level never seen in his normal life.
"Green, you're a beautiful, talented, strong 17-year-old girl. You got your whole life ahead of you. Now I know what you were inferring in your question…" Gold drifted his gaze and gave a curt gesture towards Silver. "…but matter of fact is that you needn't worry about these things. Aren't you the flirty Green, who can capture the temporary heart of just about anyone?"
"Yes, but I only really do that to gain an advantage over an enemy…"
A crease crept onto Gold's lips as he recalled the stories of how she would use her attractiveness and bubbly charm to infatuate someone, and how often she used it on Red when they were younger.
But that crease disappeared as quickly as it at showed up.
"I understand that, but why do you think it works?"
"It's just because—"
Gold cut her off by jabbing his cue right in front of her. He drove his eyes right through hers.
"Green, you and Silver have chemistry, yes. But you also have a bondage that transcends love in a friendly, sibling way. If you pushed for things too hard, too soon before any real connection became clear, things would be awkward and you would lose a bit of that lustrous connection you two have."
Gold lowered his cue and took a breath.
"Equanimity. It implies a willingness to endure with complete levelheadedness anything life throws at you. Remember this whenever you think of love, Green. Equanimity."
Green was contemplative, lost in thought over Gold's words of wisdom (Yes, I said that right. Hey, Gold has his moments in the spotlight too every now and again). Yet, there was something else she was clearly thinking of. Gold couldn't quite place his finger on what exactly, or how he knew that, but…
…
Ah, that's it.
He nodded to Green and asked, "Now, I see you have something to ask me. What is it?"
Green scrunched her face, squinted her eyebrows, and puckered her lips. She hesitated, as if curiously wanting to respond, and finally deciding to follow through with her orders from Master Gold.
"Gold…" she softly yet assuredly murmured, "…what about you?"
Gold was taken by surprise. "What…about me?"
She looked up and cast her gorgeous eyes at him. "Gold you surround yourself with love daily. You're known as the breeder of this group for Arceus' sake. You work in a Day Care, surround yourself with Pokemon back home, pair up all us Pokedex owners' Pokemon, and most of all, you can identify human love without missing a beat. So what about you and your own feelings?"
Gold panicked a little. He had never before been directly pursued by a question of this sort. No one could take him seriously enough in these love talks without convincing him to do something silly to sneakily change the subject.
After settling down, he tried to sidestep it while answering it at the same time.
I know that I can't change subjects on Green, but maybe if I have a convoluted answer that redirects the attention and quasi-answers it at the same time, then maybe I can avoid this…
"Well…it's fine and all. I'm just a kid-"
"Don't beg the question hun. Answer it."
Gold sweatdropped.
Well there goes that idea.
"Alright…what exactly do you want to know?"
Green stroked her hair as she gave her answer. "What about you? I mean we're going to need to grow even closer as friends with what we just agreed to in there…" she pointed to Oak's back room, "…so since we both are pretty intelligent about this thing, I outta help you out as much as you help me, and that'll give us some common ground to become closer off of."
Gold laughed. "Yeah I suppose you're right…"
He thought for a moment to give a serious answer.
"Well…to start I guess it would only be honest to say I'm probably the most lost person here. I don't really know who is exactly the one I like, and it makes it difficult, really difficult."
He trailed off a little and pondered a little more.
"I have, at the very least, 3+ girls on my radar, all of whom are very sweet and kind, not too mention heart-wrenchingly attractive. And that's if I only include those I meet on at least somewhat consistent a basis."
Green was a bit stunned by this, but it only showed in her confusion.
"Wait, so you don't know who you like? Not even..." Green grinned
Gold got a bit fidgety. Oh please don't scream her name! For the love of all things—
"Not even her?" Green whispered the last part. For that much, Gold was thankful.
"Green, it says a lot about you that I get scared you're gonna do the completely immature thing in the situation we were in."
The perpetrator just giggled.
"But seriously, you don't know who you like?"
Gold sighed.
"It's more than just that Green. It's not a matter of indecision, but rather a matter of having too much on my platter. I just can't pick one person, and leave the rest out. It would feel wrong of me. I normally live by a sort of 'play-it-by-year' philosophy, let things settle out. With that, at least only the hardy one who truly has feelings for me will stick around."
Gold dropped his head, "But the more time I let things sit, the closer all of them become to me, the harder it is for me to make a choice, and the more I just let things go. The more I let things go, the more I just let them sit. It's cyclic and annoying. To slap on to that, I have this inner knowledge that ALL of them will stick through to the end with me."
Then Green gave a very surprisingly honest compliment.
"Gold," she muttered, "you are an incredible young man and any girl who you like who doesn't reciprocate is dam fool and I outta slap the Bibarel out of them."
Gold looked up, shocked.
"Well, I suppose…"
…
"Ironic huh? The leading Pokedex Holder male in the concepts of love can't get his own attraction life settled out."
Green nodded in his direction and reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, we got quite a little assignment on our hands now, don't we."
Gold looked up and got swallowed up by those blasted jaw-dropping eyes. She had the kind and generous soul enough to wink at him, reducing the effects by half.
Still too much.
Gold sneered, "You could swoon a Hypno with those eyes, ya know that? Quit looking at me."
Green laughed and turned her head. "Better?"
"Almost..." Gold pushed her over the couch right in front of them to where he couldn't see her.
"Alright, that's about perfect."
"MMMMFFFF!"
"…I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Green lifted her head and screamed, "BUT YOU COULDN'T HEAR THAT!"
"EXACTLY!" Gold chortled.
With that Gold dashed away before Green could give chase.
Some time after this, but not too long after it, Professor Oak came by and tapped Gold on the shoulder.
"Gold! I need to talk to you!"
Now what could old man Oak want with me now?
He shrugged and turned to face the professor.
"What is it?" he asked.
Oak responded, "I need to speak with you and Blue, I already have him over there,—" he pointed to the characteristically stoic Blue, leaning up against a wall flipping a PokeBall in the air.
That guy is so cool he makes me mad…
"—about a couple things…regarding our soon-to-be friends in Sinnoh."
Gold nodded and twirled his cue around. "Well, show me the way."
After some time Gold, Blue, and Oak were all situated in the same room the earlier conference was held. They were all enjoying a beverage to quench their thirst before the brief little meeting commenced.
Professor Oak set down his cup of Chilee and wiped his mouth with a napkin. After which, he looked at both Blue and Gold and addressed them by name to signal the beginning of the meeting.
"Blue…Gold…"
Both stopped their ravenous engrossment of their delicious MooMoo Milk and looked up to the professor.
Okay, so Gold was the only one demolishing his drink. He was more than covering enough ground for both of them.
Regardless, once Oak knew he had the, at least faked, undivided attention of both persons, he began.
"Well you two know I want to talk to you about the deal with our friends in Sinnoh recently… so let me start by giving you these…"
He handed them both mini cards that had three boxes. In each box was a picture, proceeded by a name.
"Diamond…Pearl…Platina…" Blue mused aloud.
Professor nodded. "Those are the three designated persons in Sinnoh whom have been entrusted with the Pokedex by my partner Professor Rowan…aka the 3 Sinnoh Pokedex Holders."
"Professor, I apologize for my impatience, but how does this concern us exactly?"
Oak laughed.
"You haven't changed much at all, have you Gold?"
He cleared his throat and composed himself.
"Truth be told, they need a little assistance from our side. First order of business involves you, Blue…" he looked over at his grandson, "…you need to contact your sister Daisy and get her out to Sinnoh immediately. They need medical assistance, and they need the top dog in the industry. They had a little clash with an organization known as Team Galactic… I'll fill you in on that later… and the Gym Leaders need help rapidly and urgently. No doctor, not a single one, other than my granddaughter and former assistant will have the capabilities to treat them. Also, the Sinnoh Pokedex Holders have to travel into the Distortion World as quickly as they can, long story short, and need assistance immediately. There are some Pokemon which need vital treatment. Again, as quickly as possible."
Blue nodded.
Oak continued, "And to be honest, your sister would probably only break of her upcoming vacation with Bill if you asked her too. I really really really did NOT want to do this to her and Bill…but they can have their vacation delayed a couple weeks if necessary. Plus it is pretty convenient that Bill has direct contact with Bebe and will be able to set up a meeting between the two. With their combined abilities and smarts, they will get the job done, no question."
Blue seemed to understand this and smiled. "I'll take care of it gramps."
"Now then," the Professor continued, a smirk plastered on his face, "how about you go out there and have some fun with everyone else."
Gold chipped in, "Yeah, make a social life for once."
Blue looked up to glare at Gold, but then saw the look of humor he had come to know so well. He sighed and nodded, accepting defeat.
"Touché."
With that he picked himself up. He shook the hand of the professor and said his goodbyes to Gold.
Gold called after him, "See you later Blue!"
"Now Gold…"
Gold turned his head back to Oak.
"Gold, you must be wondering why I called you in here."
Darn right I am!
"Yes, sir."
Oak laughed and waved his hand in front of him. "Well Gold has changed hasn't he? There is no need to be so polite…"
"Oh, so I can call you Old Man Oak?"
The Professor flinched.
"Let's not get carried away."
Gold shrugged and leaned back, disappointed. The Professor returned to the serious topic of discussion.
"I do wish to pick your brain for some advice Gold…"
Gold raised his right eyebrow.
"Oh really, trust me it's not that tasty."
Even Oak had a chuckle at that one.
"I have gotten some rapid influx of calls to duty from Sinnoh recently, including a heart-wrenching letter, a memo decoding request, and a location search plee of something elusive and un-mappable. Because of this, I am a bit stressed and do not have the proper mindset and wherewithal to accomplish these dubious acts. So I have one question for you, being that you have experienced ancient ruins firsthand…"
He waited for a silence to enter the room so as to emphasize the question.
"If you had to answer a letter that talks about a sweeping sense of sadness caused by human grief dealt upon the world due to the troubles of Team Rocket, Aqua, Magma, and the such, how would you respond to it?"
…ummmmm
…
"I, suppooooose…"
…
"I suppose I would talk about gratitude. Yeah that's it, gratitude."
"Gratitude, you say?"
Gold nodded. "Yes, gratitude."
Oak smiled and nodded, sending the message of "thank you" via gesture.
But as Gold was leaving, Oak caught him mid-knob-opening with an interjection of words.
"Regardless, I do have to say to you about one thing not having to do with Sinnoh. Regarding your ownership of the Pokedex."
That caught his attention.
"Gold, I want to tell you I actually meant how proud I have become of you. You have blossomed into a fine young man with a cool and leading head. Yeah, you go all…well Gold on us frequently, but that's just who you are I suppose. During the fight with Guile Hideout, you instructed the Hoenn Pokedex Holders perfectly and led the charge with such unperturbed grace that I could only listen in awe while Chris told me everything."
…
"I know that's a lot to take in Gold, but know that I can think back to my decision to give the pestering young boy a Pokedex, and say to myself that it was a fabulous idea. One of my best yet."
And with that Oak nodded and saw him out the door.
Gold was too stunned to notice what was happening around him. All he picked up from when Oak ushered him out was the same professor mumbling something to himself about something called shayin…
Huh. Well then. R&R please :) 3