Me: Ello all! I'm baaaaaaaack!

Gardevoir: *wearing bunny ears and holding a basket* Ya. Hey.

Me: Oh don't look so down! It's Easter!

Gardevoir: *glare* So where're Max and Carlos?

Me: *major sadface* The weather finally cleared up so they had to go home...but this isn't a time to be sad! It's a happy day!

Gardevoir: -_- For you, you mean.

Me: *takes a picture* Wink! You bet!

Gardevoir: *rolls eyes* Disclaimer: Eon does not own Pokemon in any way. The only things belonging to her are OC's and the plot.

Chapter Seventeen: Green

Charizard's wings were great when it came to blocking out noise. But even then I could hear the restless footsteps from beyond the edge of my darkness.

Giving a slight yawn, I stretched my arms over my head. My skin barely brushed against the soft underside of Charizard's wings, and they unfurled to reveal a golden morning sun. Light was filtering profusely through the thin belt of forest trees, catching on a few remaining drops of dew. Letting my arms fall back to my side, I looked up from my seat on the grass to find that the steps belonged to none other than Blue.

The brunette was pacing along the edge of the tree line where the dirt smoothed out into the finer sand of the beach. Her shoes were touching down just on the boundary between the two landscapes with enough dirt for the ground to be firm yet the right amount of sand to muffle her marching. I turned my head to look around our campsite and found the reason for her anxiety when I saw that Red was the only other person there with us.

Sighing slightly, I stood up, cracking my back before returning Charizard. As I put his Pokeball on my belt, I saw Blue's Ditto, still in its tent shape, morph back to normal and make its way to her. She was pacing with a fingernail dancing on her lips nervously, and the Ditto waited until she was close enough before jumping on her back and climbing up to sit on her head. Blue stopped momentarily. Reaching for the Pokemon on her hat, she pulled it down in her arms and smiled. Then she hugged it to her chest and resumed walking to and fro.

I started walking towards her but paused at a safe distance away. I had no doubt she was still angry at me, and although I was still a bit tired, I didn't feel like starting the morning off with a Wake-Up Slap.

Blue heard my feet crunch on the underbrush and promptly turned to find me leaning against a tree with my hands in my pockets. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she turned her head and went back to anxiously walking.

I sighed. "Stop worrying. I'm sure they'll be back in no time."

There wasn't even the slightest pause in her pace. She didn't answer me and just kept up her walking.

I took my hands out of their pockets and crossed my arms. "Oh, so we're not talking anymore, eh?"

Her lips were angled down, and her eyes were closed as if she were frowning in distaste. She spun on her heel, and I rolled my eyes as she walked away to pace farther down the tree line.

I bowed my head in yet another sigh and lifted off the trunk to follow her. "Come on. You can't stay silent forever."

Her eyes whipped around to glare at me, and she didn't need words to voice her objection. Slowly turning the rest of her body toward me, she stood with a cocked hip and raised eyebrow as Ditty sat comfortably in her arms. By the way her gaze was boring into mine, I had a feeling she was waiting for me to break the silence.

I scoffed and put a hand to my forehead. "What do you want me to say, Blue? I won't know unless you tell me."

"Why, Green."

I stiffened a bit and took my hand from my face. "What?"

She sighed and stalked over to a fallen tree before plopping down on it. "You said I'm a bother and only bring along trouble." She looked up at me as I followed and stayed standing in front of her. "If that's so, then why would you care to keep me around and worry about me so much?"

I was frozen at her accusation. She seemed to notice it and gently placed Ditty on the trunk beside her before returning it. "And why is that you refuse to accept that I'm going to get hurt?"

She turned back to me and rose to her feet. "Not to mention, you practically freak out nowadays whenever I so much as have a drop of blood on me." She tilted her head. "Something I've never noticed you doing in the past…"

I gulped as she started walking at me, my feet carrying me backwards.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And even more confusing, you don't seem to express the same degree of concern towards Red or Yellow—two of your closest friends."

My back hit one of the few trees that remained between us and the ocean. My mouth dropped open a little as her blue eyes narrowed further.

"Why is that?"

Blue stared at me hard before she bowed her head, her hat just barely brushing my jacket.

"I'm going to ask this again," she said quietly, "And I hope you won't dodge the question like last time." She looked back up at me. "Green. Do you care about me?"

I didn't say anything. I couldn't say anything. For some reason, my mind shut off on me then. I made an attempt to say something, but it was like the connection from my brain to my mouth was severed. My jaw slowly closed, and my eyes widened as I looked at her.

Her hair was billowing in the sea breeze, and she didn't even seem to acknowledge it as the wind blew off her white cap. It fluttered to the ground, but she didn't dare turn away. Her blue, blue eyes were full of some emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I just knew it was something important and fragile that I had to be careful with.

My hands hung limply at my side as I found myself unable to tear my gaze from hers. I could only stand there staring into her eyes as a single thought echoed in the empty expanse of my blank mind.

Why…why would I care about you?

After a long and heavy silence, Blue sighed with a wry smile and stepped back. "I should have known…"

I blinked as she gave a low chuckle and bent over to pick up her hat. "I don't know why I was expecting anything different. Deep down I had a feeling you'd continue to 'withhold judgment.'"

My brain finally reconnected to my mouth, and I scoffed. "Why are you making it seem like I'm the one at fault here?" I folded my arms. "I'd like to see you answer the same question you seem so set on having me answer."

It was her turn to look like she'd just seen a ghost. "Eh?"

I took a step forward and felt a hint of satisfaction when she straightened up and took one back. Soon enough the tables had turned, and it wasn't my back that was pinned against a tree anymore.

"So how about it? Do you care about me, Blue?" I raised an eyebrow, arms still crossed. "Want to answer?"

She smirked. "Of course. I'll come right out and say it."

Her hands pushed her off the tree trunk so that she was standing right in my face. I'd always been a few inches ahead of her, but that had never affected her, and it didn't do so now as she looked up at me and opened her mouth.

But…nothing came out of it.

In less than a second, the conviction in her eyes gave way to uncertainty, and the confidence in her body language just a moment ago was completely lost. Her head fell, and I watched as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"What is it?" I asked, alarmed at the abrupt change. "You look pale all of a sudden."

"I-I'm fine," she managed to say.

From my view, she didn't look fine. She'd gone stiff, and for some reason or another, she wouldn't meet my eyes. I called her name, and when she didn't respond, I grabbed her wrists and made her look up at me. However, as soon as I got a glimpse of her face, she pulled out of my hold and backed away, side-stepping the tree behind her so she wouldn't hit it.

My eyebrows scrunched together. "Blue…?"

She put her hands at her side and shook her head vigorously. "I-It's nothing. I just, uh…just give me a minute."

She started walking away before I smirked and held fast to her wrist. "Who's running away now?"

My grip fastened tighter as she fought to escape. "Seriously, Green. I'm just…confused."

"You don't fool me. I know this is just a ploy to get out of the question." But even as I said it, my smirk fell at the look in her eyes. "Besides, since when do you get confused over a simple question?"

She turned away again, and when she pulled her wrist back, I let it go. "I…I need some time to think."

I tilted my head. "About what?"

She didn't answer me, though, for the sound of beating wings reached her ears, and her head snapped up to find Yellow and Silver landing back at our campsite. Immediately her feet sprinted in that direction just as Aero's wings retracted and revealed Red who was rubbing his eye and beginning to wake up. I stood alone for a moment, watching Blue run, before shaking my head slightly and calmly following after her.

I was able to catch up in time to hear her worried voice. "Are you guys alright? Did anything happen? Did you run into any trouble? Wait a second…where have you been?!"

Yellow and Silver focused on returning their Pokemon before the latter lightly poked her on the nose. "Calm down, Nee-san. It was late so we just stayed at Yellow's house."

"You went all the way to Viridian?" Red asked drowsily as he finally started standing up.

The blonde and redhead only nodded, and no one bothered to push the subject further. Finally on his feet, Red joined our group as Blue pulled a Town Map out of her bag. She opened up the sheet of paper, and everyone crowded around to see it. The places we had already been to were crossed out with a black X, and Blue pointed to the shoreline south of Fuchsia City.

"This is where we are at the moment," she explained, "And we need to find out which city to head to next before Melany and Amber decide to come looking for us again."

Silver motioned at Lavender Town. "How about there? We haven't gone there yet."

Blue smiled uncertainly. "Well, it's quite near the other cities we've already visited."

Yellow took a turn and went for Vermillion City. "There's a port there so we could escape by water if we needed to."

Blue closed her eyes. "It's still a bit too close for comfort, and it might be a good idea if we knew of a place we could go to as soon as we arrived."

Red's ears perked, and he pointed at Cerulean City. "How about there? I'm sure Misty wouldn't mind letting us stay with her for a while."

Yellow stiffened a moment, and I was about to smack him upside the head. That dense idiot.

Blue glanced at Yellow and immediately shook her head. "Again, we might not want to choose a place by Celadon and Saffron. Besides," she said while gesturing at the gap between Cerulean and Fuchsia, "that much air travel might get us noticed."

Red nodded in agreement, and Yellow let out a silent sigh. As we all went back to studying, I looked at where we were. Shifting my gaze slightly to the left, I saw our answer.

"Cinnabar Island," I said with a small nod.

They all looked up at me, and Silver frowned in thought. "It is a shorter distance, and we're in the perfect place to follow that path. But it's still a bit long for a flight."

"We'll be over the ocean, so it'll be harder for them to find us since there's not a certain path we have to follow. They'll have no idea where we're flying," I reasoned. "Plus, once we get there, I can get a hold of Blaine. I have no doubt he'll have a place for us."

Blue took out a marker. "So are we all agreed on Cinnabar Island then?"

Everyone nodded, and she circled its location on the map. "Alright. Let's be off!"

She tucked the map back into her bag, and one by one, our Flying types were released, save for Aero who was already outside his Pokeball. Once we were all situated and ready to go, we lifted off and headed west.

As we made our way across the ocean, the five of us gradually settled into a pattern. Yellow quietly stayed next to Blue, and Red decided to stick with me at my side. Of course due to recent events, Blue and I wouldn't go near each other, so in the middle of it all was Silver. In reality, he was the only thing separating our two groups, but it seemed like there was some other unseen divide between the four of us. I wasn't too sure what it was exactly, but even Silver noticed it. He glanced from side to side uneasily and watched as we all became lost in our thoughts.

It wasn't all that hard to do so, either. An expanse of blue stretched out above and below as far as the eye could see, and it didn't take long before my mind drifted off to—not surprisingly—Blue. I found it quite odd how she'd responded earlier to that question. It wasn't all that hard to answer, simply yes or no.

I grimaced. So why was it so hard for me to answer it?

Blue

"Especially since you're going with Green."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Lulu loves Green!"

I shook my head roughly in denial as the ocean swept by beneath my feet. Copycat was wrong. People loved me; I didn't love people.

That was how it'd always been. I could not remember a time when I had chased after a boy. Mostly because there had never been a time like that. I had always flirted with boys and found them pursuing me, but it was never the other way around.

But now…I wasn't so sure.

When he'd asked me my own question, I'd been so sure. I'd known what my reply would be and was going to show him how simple it was to answer. The NO had been right on the tip of my tongue. But when I'd opened my mouth to release it, it wouldn't come out. Because then I'd remembered something. I remembered sending Green off with the others when the hotel room caught on fire. And doing the same with Abra in Celadon. And the time I told him to go ahead in Viridian so he wouldn't follow me to my confrontation with Melany. I'd remembered all the times I'd sent him away and left myself to fight alone. And after I'd remembered them, I couldn't help but ask myself why. Why had I done that? Over and over, why had I never let him help me?

And then I had been thoroughly confused.

That is, until I remembered something else.

I closed my eyes sharply as the conversation with Yellow came flooding back with alarming clarity.

"No! He's the one who doesn't understand!"

"Understand what, Blue?"

My fist clenched.

"The fact that you never call on him for help because you don't want to see him get hurt? That you actually do care about what happens to him?"

I jumped suddenly as I felt a touch on my arm. Opening my eyes, I looked to the side to see Yellow pointing down at the sea. "We're here, Blue."

My thoughts slowly shifted as I saw the boys lose altitude and aim for an island coming up ahead. Tapping lightly on Jiggly's side, I braced myself as we too dropped out of the sky and prepared for landing. After another ten minutes of carefully maneuvering the air currents, the five of us touched down and returned our Pokemon.

"So where's the Gym?" I wondered aloud.

Green and Red both turned to the road on the left. "This way."

They started off down the street, and Silver, Yellow, and I just shrugged before following them. For a Sunday, the town didn't seem all that busy. We passed maybe five people along the way before Green and Red stopped in front of the Cinnabar Gym. They were about to go inside when the doors suddenly opened outward and the man they were looking for stepped out into the sunlight.

"My, my, Red and Green," Blaine mused aloud. His Growlithe was standing beside him and let out a bark as he shut the door behind him. "I haven't seen you two in quite a while. What can I do for you?"

"We need somewhere to stay, Blaine," Green said simply, getting right to the point.

The man tilted his head. "Is there something wrong at your Gym?"

Green rubbed the back of his neck. "Something like that."

Blaine nodded and returned his Growlithe. "Well let's not waste time talking out here. Come in, come in."

The five of us followed him back in through the doors. The Gym itself looked much like the inside of a volcano, but we didn't see much of it as we headed down a different hallway. Just like how Green had his office at the Viridian Gym, Blaine had a separate section of the building that was for purposes other than battling. He led us into what looked to be a lounge area and shut the door after we had all filed in and sat down.

Blaine turned around and seemed to notice Yellow, Silver, and I for the first time. "Ah! Yellow, it's good to see you again, too. Not to mention you, Blue, and…"

"Silver," the redhead answered for him.

Blaine shook his head in acknowledgment and turned back to Green. "Now, what appears to be the problem?"

Red and Green immediately started in on what all had happened to us over the past month. Blaine listened to it all with a slight frown and only nodded at certain points. For the most part, he refrained from saying anything until the two had finished and he observed the five of us with an air of interest.

"You kids have certainly been dealing with a lot haven't you?" He stood up and walked out of the room. When we didn't follow, he popped his head back in and beckoned to us. "Well come on! If you'll be staying here, I'm not just going to make you sleep in a room like this! That's what the guest bedrooms are for!"

Red's eyes widened as we got up and went after the man. "Wow, Blaine. It's like you have another house here."

Blaine chuckled from ahead. "Oh, but this is my house, Red."

Red's eyebrows went up, and Blaine stopped in front of a door in the hallway. "It helps save on property payments and all that. Okay! The girls can stay in this room," he informed us and pointed to another door just on the other side of the hall, "and the boys this one. They should be big enough for you all."

A small inspection showed that the rooms were indeed big enough, and when a call sounded from the front of the gym, Blaine apologized to us and went to answer it. There was a brief second of silence before we all filed into our respective rooms and shut the doors behind us.

Yellow collapsed on a bed on one end of the room, and I did the same to the remaining one on the other side. The beds stood facing each other, and my eyes met Yellow's as we lay on our stomachs with our chins in our hands.

"So is this it?" She asked quietly. "Are we just going to keep running away all the time?"

I knew she was talking about Melany and Amber, but I couldn't help thinking of Green and gave a tired sigh. "I don't know, really."

Evening crept up on us, and before we knew it, darkness had begun to devour the land. Yellow and I had spent the day sleeping even though we'd gotten plenty the night before. This whole ordeal was pretty exhausting so neither one of us was surprised to find that it was already near 9:00 pm when we finally woke back up. The sun had already gone and disappeared out the window, and we both looked up when there was a knock at the door.

Scratching the back of my head, I got out of bed and slowly trudged towards the door. Whoever was on the other side of it must have been getting ready to knock again for when I turned the knob and pulled, a fist came down and rapped on my forehead. It sent me back a step, and I glared as I found Green standing there with his hand still poised.

"Oh, sorry," he said flatly.

I growled sleepily and rubbed my forehead. "What do you want? Yellow and I are trying to sleep."

He raised an eyebrow. "It looks to me like you guys just woke up."

I sighed and put my hand back at my side. "What is it, Green? Or are you just going to leave me standing here without answering yet again?"

His jaw clenched. "Silver told me to come get you. He's got something planned." He started to walk away before stepping back and glaring at me. "And I'm not the only one who left without answering."

I glared back at him as he stalked off and slammed the door shut. "Jerk."

"What's going on?" Yellow asked with a little yawn.

I waved a hand at her and helped her up from the bed. "Nothing. I guess Silver's got some surprise for us. We better go see what it is."

"Okay," she said softly, still affected by sleep.

There was a mirror on the wall, and I fixed the little crazy strands in our hair before opening the door and leading the way outside. The hallway led into the living room, and from there it wasn't that hard to find our way back to the front doors. Once outside, we found Red standing there waiting for us in the dying light.

"You guys ready?" He asked with a smile.

I stretched my arm out. "I guess."

Yellow tilted her head curiously as the three of us began walking off the road into a small pocket of cottonwood trees that towered over the small houses that populated the island. "Where are we going?"

"There's a field on the other side of those trees," Red explained, pointing off into the distance.

"…and?" I asked when he didn't elaborate further.

He smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Yellow's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, and I simply sighed. Red chuckled a little and led us through the large trunks. Twilight had finally taken hold of the sky, and we had to pick our way through the forest carefully. The ground was covered in the soft green grass of July that muffled our footsteps. Up in the trees, Pidgeys and other Pokemon were settling down for the night and paid us no attention as we finally broke through the foliage.

Ahead was a rolling plain that stretched out in a long flat expanse before curling up slightly into a hill. In the distance on that hill was a single figure, and another was on the ground not that far from us on the flatter part of the field. As we got closer, I could make out the familiar spikey hair of the person sitting down and did nothing to stop the frown that formed on my face.

We reached the edge of the blanket the figure was sitting on, and Red reached out to poke his back. "They're here, Green."

The brunette simply nodded and shifted something around in his lap. Red told Yellow and I to sit with them, so we settled down on the blanket while Green held something up. I was about to ask what he was doing when a flame suddenly clicked on above a lighter, and I watched as he lit the sparkler in his hand. It instantly started flashing with colorful light, causing him to hold it away over the edge of the blanket.

"Um, Green?" Yellow asked quizzically. "Why do you…?"

"Just wait," was the only thing he said.

Suddenly, another flare appeared from way out on the hill for a second before it was snuffed out. Green nodded and put his own out in response. With the fizzing noise gone, the air settled into silence. Then we heard the sound of thumping footsteps, and I squinted my eyes to see someone approaching in the dark.

"Okay, it's all set," came Silver's voice.

I almost jumped in surprise when he sat down next to me in the darkness. "What's all set?"

I had a feeling he was smiling, and a second later, the sky exploded in a burst of dazzling green and blue sparkles.

My eyes widened as they faded away. "Fireworks?!"

I sensed him nodding. "I told you we'd make up for missing the Fourth of July."

Another one went off, and I could see the slight grin on his face. "But when did you have time?"

He smirked. "While you guys were sleeping. Green and Red came with me to go find some at the PokeMart. You have no idea how hard it was to find them after they'd been ransacked for the holiday."

I smiled broadly at him. "Well thank you, Silver!" I hugged him around the neck, and he pulled away in embarrassment. I only giggled at him and watched as the show began to unfold. As the sky continued to light up, I noticed Red and Yellow had moved to a less crowded blanket further into the field in front of us, leaving Silver one my one side and a silent Green on the other. Eventually the fireworks went out, and I heard a cry of protest from the duo ahead.

Silver smirked again and stood up. "Don't worry; I've got one more set ready! Although, I'll have to light these up one at a time. I don't have another rig system."

I nodded as he ran off, seeing how he'd been able to set off all those fireworks without having to be up there before. It wasn't until I saw another ignition flare from the hill that I realized he'd left me alone on the blanket with Green. As soon as that thought entered my mind, I looked out of the corner of my eye to see the forest-eyed boy watching the sky for the next display. It wasn't long until it came, and neither one of us spoke a word. More and more rounds went off until the silent atmosphere got to me and I cleared my throat.

"So, uh, good choice on fireworks," I said as another one of them exploded in the air. I half-hoped he hadn't heard me, but the idea was abolished when he turned towards me with wide eyes. He didn't say anything, though, and when he went back to watching the sky, I scoffed.

"Look who's not talking now," I muttered to myself.

I knew he'd heard that one when he whipped around with a glare. "I was simply trying to comprehend the fact that you were actually trying to be nice."

I crossed my arms. "At least I'm trying! That's more than you can say!"

He frowned and leaned back on his elbows. "Why do you keep making me out to be the bad guy?"

"It's not my fault," I mumbled, looking to the side. "You're the one who keeps avoiding the question."

"Oh no," he snapped, sitting back up. "You can't use that excuse anymore. You proved that this morning!"

I glared at him. "I was not avoiding it!"

He raised an eyebrow. "That's not how I saw it."

I turned so that I was fully facing him. "I told you! I was simply a little confused is all!"

His jaw clenched. "What's so confusing about it, Blue?!"

"Because I knew exactly what I was going to say!" My fingers curled into fists. "I was going to say no!"

His eyes widened in shock, and my own did the same as I realized what I'd just said. His gaze fell, and I stumbled to my feet as he swiftly rose and started walking away.

"Green—!"

"Why?!" He'd stopped, but his back was still to me. "Why didn't you just say that?!"

"Because." I bit my lip as he paused. "Because, I couldn't."

He turned around, doing nothing to mask his confusion.

"I couldn't…" My breath caught in my throat. "I couldn't say that because…"

He took a step towards me, but I took one back, my head curled into my chest. "It's because…"

Green tried taking another step but stopped when I finally brought myself to look at him in the dim light of the fireworks.

"It's because I do care about you, Green."

He froze.

"I-I do care about you, Green," I repeated softly. "That's why I couldn't say no."

He seemed to be struggling to find his voice. "Then…why didn't you just say that?"

I felt weak in the knees but refused to be deterred. "Again, I couldn't."

He tilted his head. "Well, why not?"

My teeth clenched slightly, and another firework lit up his face. "You obviously don't care about me, Green. I've asked you twice now, and you still keep 'withholding judgment.'"

I heard him growl to himself and facepalm. "Blue, no, that's not why I—"

"That's," I said sharply, cutting him off, "why I couldn't."

Green's mouth shut, and his eyes remained wide. Without a word, I stiffly stepped past him and started heading for the forest so I could go back to Blaine's Gym. I didn't look back once; I just left him standing there, listening to the heavy silence that hung in the air long before the fireworks were swallowed up by the dark night.

Me: *looking around* Gardevoir...where're the eggs?

Gardevoir: *innocent whistle*

Me: *gasp* Gardevoir! Those eggs were for all the readers!

Gardevoir: *smirk* Guess you'll just have to go find them all then.

Me: *grumble grumble* *goes off to look*

Gardevoir: Ah...that should keep her occupied-

Me: *from the bottom of a hole* Found them!

Gardevoir: What?! I even buried them!

Me: Tehe! Can't hide anything from me when it concerns chocolate!

Gardevoir: Sigh you and your chocolate...

Me: Haha! Well, chocolate eggs for everyone today! Thank you for reading and reviewing! I know I've been gone a while and I hope that doesn't happen again! DX Sigh it was about time Blue or Green finally said it, but don't worry! Green won't be left out of the confessions! His will be soon! Actually...*looking at plans* Wow. There's probably only a few chapters left! Garsh! Well, Happy Easter everyone! Have a good day regret not a second! Review and return!