"Thanks for letting me borrow this room, Green. I know you're busy and all."
"No problem," his friend replied with a smile. "I never use all the guest rooms at the same time anyways. I do have a waiting challenger though, so just make yourself at home."
"Sure, I haven't really been able to check out how the gym looks, apart from the combat areas, so I'll give myself a tour," Red replied.
"I can get someone to show you around, if you wish," Green offered, but Red shook his head.
"No need to disrupt someone, I'm sure I can find my way around."
"Right. See you soon then."
"See you," Red replied, unlocking his suitcase. "Oh, by the way. I'll be going out with Yellow tonight." Green nodded to acknowledge that he had heard, then disappeared around the corner and down to the combat arena. After making sure his friend was really gone, Red popped open the suitcase and withdrew a slender device. While humming softly, he turned the device on and connected it to his Pokégear.
Still humming, he slowly spun around, taking care to aim the device at the walls around him. The indicator on his Pokégear remained quiet and still. With a sigh, Red shut off the device and put it in his pocket. "No survelliance at all then Green," he mumbled to himself. "So trusting..."
With the detector once again online, he walked around in the gym, stopping every now and then to hide tiny microphones and spy cameras. Being state of the art equipment, the bugs would not be detected by electronic scanning or psychic Pokémon... or so the Team Rocket scientists claimed, at least. It would most likely take Green a long time to find the things, since he would not be looking for them specifically.
Once he had finished placing the microphones, he went downstairs and to the battle area. Green was easily beating a youngster that was trying to use a Charmander with little success. The battle ended quickly, and Green shook hands with the youngster.
"Just come back when you have more training," Green told the kid. "Try to take on some other gyms first, catch some more Pokémon, travel a bit more. Just a Charmander and Rattata you barely have gotten to know yet will not be enough here." The youngster nodded determinedly and rushed from the gym, cradling the Charmander in his arms, no doubt headed for the Pokémon Center.
"Reminds me of us," Red commented, as Green turned to face him.
"Reminds me of you," Green shot back, smirking. "Not lacking enthusiasm, only the skills and training to match it."
"Very funny," Red replied, smiling back. "I beat you in the league, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but-" Green started, before being interrupted by the door opening again. Yellow entered, smiling and waving.
"Ah, my girlfriend arrives," Red said, causing Yellow to blush slightly. Green nodded and placed his Pokéballs back into their holders at the back of the gym.
"Great. I've got a couple of things to talk to her about," he said, indicating for her to come.
"Oh? What?" Red asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Local town event, nothing special," Green said, giving a dismissive wave. "Can't tell you, as it's supposed to be secret. Me and Yellow are on the planning commitee."
Yellow opened her mouth to ask what Green was talking about, but shut it again when she saw his stern gaze. "Could you wait outside, Red?" Green continued. "I'm afraid this is another thing I can't tell you about, for now. You'll get a formal invitation to the event if we manage to pull it off."
"Yeah sure," Red answered. "I'll be right outside."
After exiting the gym, he seated himself on a bench a few meters away from the door. After making sure no one was watching him, he plugged a couple of headphones into his Pokegear and set it to recieve transmissions from the newly planted surveillance bugs in the gym. Thankfully, he had been lucky.
"- not going to spy on him, I refuse! He's my b-boyfriend!"
"I'm not asking you to spy on him. Just tell me if you notice any suspicious behavior, something out of the ordinary."
"And that's not spying?"
"Yellow, it's for his sake as well! He seems a bit... off balance, distracted. I'm concerned something might've happened. I need his help in the coming months, and I need to know I can still trust him."
"Why don't you just ask him?"
"Sure. And because he's Red, he'll just tell me he's fine no matter what."
There were a few moments of silence before Yellow replied.
"Fine. If he acts weird, I'll tell you. Nothing else. Nothing."
"Thank you, Yellow. I should let you get back to your date night. Have fun."
"Yes, thank you. Bye."
Red pulled the earphones out and put them back in his pocket, then strolled over to the door to wait for Yellow to exit. Green was using his own girlfriend to spy on him, no matter what he wanted to call it. He should have expected it. Neither Green nor Yellow could understand what he had to accomplish, not yet.
Hopefully they would come to realize he was doing the right thing when he eliminated the Masked Rockets and brought the nation firmly under his own control, stopping all the petty gang wars that had threatened to pull the regions apart, sometimes literally. When he was done with the sneaking and had brought peace, they would understand. He was sure of it.
"Red?"
"Oh, Yellow. Sorry, I was thinking about other things," he answered, laughing. "You and Green done with your meeting?"
"Yeah, let's go," she answered. Red took her hand and smiled. Obviously, she didn't like what Green had told her to do. That meant he was still the primary influence in her life. He hoped she would join him in bringing peace. If it came to it, he didn't think he would be able to kill or even imprison her... Even if he had to.
"What do you want to do, then? Dinner and a movie?" he asked, pushing away all negative thoughts. There would be a time for that, but not now. Right now, Yellow was all that mattered.