SL's main focus has changed once again. This time, to the original starting segment of Green & Blue. Yes, SL is going all over the place, but all the storylines WILL converge.

This chapter took quite a while to complete because I was trying to decide whether I should a) scrap the Kanto and Johto storylines entirely and keep only the Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova storylines for the sake of acceleration, or b) continue as originally planned. I picked… the second choice for now.

As this chapter was supposed to be the very first chapter of SL, its pace is… slower than the others.

Segment: Green & Blue.

Chapter 5: Solitude

April 21, Pallet Town, 8 am…

Green sat on the chair in his room reading the news, like he did every morning. Sure, he was supposed to be at his Gym by 9 am and stay on duty until 10 pm or so, but there weren't any challengers. Or at least any challenger that was worth his attention. The only challengers were all so pitifully weak that even Yellow could beat them without her special ability triggered.

So nowadays, all Green did was travel to an isolated area and train. He came back home once every now and then, hoping that there would be something exciting waiting. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. The entire region of Kanto seemed to have nothing exciting to offer. Even the news was dull and boring. In fact, the only interesting news article of that day wasn't even based in Kanto, and it wasn't even all that interesting.

With a bored sigh, the Viridian Gym Leader started to read the article out loud (not loud enough to be heard outside his room).

"The Pokémon Talents Company in the region of Unova known as the BW Agency is facing its fourth consecutive lawsuit within seven days from various trainers who claim that…" Green sighed again and tossed the newspaper on the floor near the door. "Damn it, this is boring…" He rose to his feet and stared out through the open windows. "What should I do today? I could sleep like Yellow, but that's a horribly inefficient method of spending time. I could train like Red, but I've been doing that for the past year. How the hell can he train for 3 years without a vacation? Doesn't that guy ever get tired?"

Eventually, Green headed downstairs for breakfast, as he had finally made a decision. His decision was to… train. But luckily for him, when he arrived at the dinner table, there was something new waiting for him. Professor Oak was sipping coffee at the table, looking at an invitation card of some sort. When Green came to his vision, he waved at him and showed him the card.

"You have been cordially invited to the wedding ceremony of Bill and Daisy," Green read out. "So sis is getting married? When did that happen?"

"The ceremony is going to be held at May 5, so it clearly hasn't happened yet," Professor Oak started. "If you're wondering when Bill summoned the courage to propose to Daisy, that was back in February."

"Interesting," Green muttered. "Maybe I should give my future brother-in-law a visit and make sure he knows that he's lucky to have sis."

"Oh, I think he knows," the professor said with a chuckle. "I think he also knows that if he makes one mistake, he could end up in the obituaries."

Green smirked as he prepared his breakfast. Although he really would bury Bill alive if he treated Daisy wrong, he had decided a long time ago that he'd just let his sister and the ingenious Pokémon researcher/maniac sort out their issues on their own.

Half an hour later, once Green finished with his breakfast, Professor Oak gave him a folded sheet of paper.

"What's this?" the Viridian Gym Leader asked as he spread the sheet out.

"It's the list of desired wedding gifts," the professor replied. "As the bride's younger brother, you should definitely get her something nice. Of course, I'm going to buy gifts too, but since I'm quite busy, I sent one of my assistants to purchase them for me. So once you scare Bill, why don't you go over to Celadon City's Department Store?"

Green simply shrugged. He stored the list in his pocket and after finishing preparations (brushing teeth, etc), headed outside. With his Charizard, he headed straight towards Celadon City. He wanted to meet the assistant and see what his grandfather was getting.

Half an hour later, Green arrived at the department store. He soon began scanning around to see if there was anything that would catch his eye. There wasn't anyone that he recognized however, but there was someone covered by a huge box that she (clearly a girl given the visible portion of the lower body and the choice of attire) was trying to carry while maintaining balance. Green approached one of the clerks to see if he saw anyone who looked like an assistant to Professor Oak.

"Um… can anyone please help me?" asked the girl behind the huge box.

Green looked at the box and sighed. He might as well help out… He had no choice either. As a world-famous Dex Holder (or at least very famous within Kanto), if he was to refuse or ignore an assistance request, there would be… many problems arising from bored news editors and reporters. His reputation could plummet within days and he'd look like a complete jackass to everyone. Also, the girl's voice sounded quite familiar.

"Sure, why not," Green muttered as he lifted the other side of the box.

"Oh, thank you very much," the girl said after a short sigh of relief. "… Wait… you kind of sound familiar… Are you… Green?"

"And you are?" Green asked. "Don't tell me you're one of those annoying fans…"

The girl managed to peek around the box and looked at the Gym Leader. "It is you! Oh, it's so nice to see you again!" she exclaimed happily. Green slightly squinted, trying to see if he recognized the familiar looking girl. The girl had bright blue eyes and dark blue hair that was tied and bent upwards into two side tails. That hairstyle seemed awfully familiar… Same with those star earrings… Seeing him battling his memories, the girl decided to give him a helping hand. "It's me, Crys! Don't you recognize me?"

Thanks to her help, Green instantly remembered. 'Crys? Oh, right…' "Crystal…"

Half an hour later, Green found himself looking over at his junior across a small table at a café. The Viridian Gym Leader had sent his Charizard and Scizor to transport the huge gift box to Pallet Town. He was sure that they could handle it. If not, then clearly, the two Pokémon weren't fit to be in his team. A harsh reality…

"It's really nice to see you again," Crystal said with a happy smile. She took a sip of iced tea. "But don't tell me you didn't recognize me back at the store! I know it's been a while since we last met, but…"

"You did seem familiar," Green said.

"But you didn't remember my name, right?" Crystal asked with a slightly hurt expression. "I guess that's what happens if I don't see you for a year…"

The two Dex Holders sat in awkward silence for a short while before Green spoke up.

"So Crystal, how is everyone else?"

Crystal sighed. "I don't really know. The only ones I see on a regular basis are Gold and Emerald. Why is it that the Dex Holders only communicate with each other during a crisis? I think we should have some sort of a routine gathering once a while so we can keep in touch."

"Hmm… that could turn out to be interesting," Green muttered. "It would be nice to see how much everyone has changed."

"I guess before we start the whole Dex Holder meetings, we should catch up first," Crystal suggested. "So… what have you been up to?"

"Nothing," Green answered shortly.

"You're not… going to share anything?" Crystal asked, rather surprised. Her expression darkened slightly, under the impression that her senior didn't trust her.

Green thought for a second. "I would share if there anything to share. I've been training for the past year and nothing else."

"Oh," the Johto Dex Holder muttered. Her expression brightened again and she smiled. "I guess I'm not the only one doing nothing interesting."

Green raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you doing research for my grandfather? I never expected you to say that research isn't interesting."

"Well… I meant I wasn't doing anything new," Crystal explained. "For the past year, all I've been doing was working for Professor Oak and volunteering my spare time at Earl's Academy. Sure, there are four particular orphans who are the worst troublemakers I've seen all my life who pull off new pranks every day, but… my daily activities are too… routine, you know?"

"I understand what you mean," Green answered. "Hmm… You said that all you do is work for my grandfather and volunteer at the orphanage. Yet you said that the only Dex Holders you regularly come in contact with were Emerald and Gold. I understand where Emerald comes in, but what about Gold? He probably won't be anywhere near the research stations, and he wouldn't be in the orphanage either."

Crystal suddenly appeared embarrassed. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and she nervously swirled her cup of iced tea. "That's… um… not important," she stammered out. "S – So, what are you getting your sister for her wedding?" she asked in an attempt to change the topic.

Green stared at her nervous expression suspiciously for a few seconds before he decided that it was not his business. "I don't know yet. I came to see what my grandfather was getting his assistant to buy. Since that assistant is you, I suppose I should ask you. What did you buy?"

"Oh, it was an unassembled dinner table and two matching unassembled chairs. Apparently Bill only has a work desk for his computer and he eats at the same desk. Clearly, Daisy didn't like that, so she added the dinner table set as a desired wedding gift." Crystal gave him an embarrassed smile. "I guess there was no way that I could've carried that box all the way back to Pallet Town by myself."

The two Dex Holders continued to talk for a few minutes until Crystal received a message on her Pokégear. She looked at it and noticed that it was from Professor Oak, saying that he needed her back in the lab.

"Looks like you need to get going," Green said as he rose to his feet.

Crystal nodded. She reached into her bag for her wallet when Green already walked up to the counter to pay for her drink.

"Green, why are you paying?" she asked as she quickly walked up to her senior.

"Because something tells me that I shouldn't let my juniors pay," the Gym Leader answered. "Except for a few of my juniors, that is."

"If Gold was here?"

"Then he'd be the one paying."

"Silver?"

"We'd split it into two."

Crystal smiled and bowed to her senior. "Well thank you very much for the drink, then."

The two Dex Holders headed out of the café and stood next to the door. Crystal sent out her Xatu and prepared to leave while Green waited for his Charizard and Scizor to return.

"Alright, Crystal. I might see you later when I get back to Pallet Town," Green said.

"Okay," Crystal said with a nod. Once her Xatu perched on her shoulder and lifted off, she waved to her senior goodbye.

Green watched his junior fly away and let out a short sigh. It was nice to have an interaction with a human being that did not involve any beat-down in a battle. What was this feeling… loneliness? He thought that he was used to solitude, but apparently not.

He stood lost in thought for a while, and only snapped out when his Charizard and Scizor returned. Without a word, he returned his Scizor and jumped on top of his Charizard. He simply pointed towards Johto, intending to go to Goldenrod City. Though Bill's cottage was in Route 25, nowadays, the researcher/maniac stayed at his house in the heart of Johto.

An hour later, Green arrived at Goldenrod City. But instead of charging straight into Bill's house, he stopped by the Department Store first. He felt he needed some time to think of a clever threat and he needed to restock his supply of Pokémon related items. He was going to do both in Celadon City's Department Store, but ended up forgetting about it thanks to Crystal. Unfortunately for Green, he wasn't able to fulfill his needs in the heart of Johto either.

The moment he arrived at the second floor of the store, he was detected by a small group of girls near the food court. Green saw them as well and recognized them to be members of a 'notorious' fan group of quite-possibly-insane girls that seemed to be after ALL the famous male members of the Elite Four, Dex Holders, and Gym Leaders who were close to their age. Since Green was both a Dex Holder and a Gym Leader, he was pretty high up the group's 'want list'. He immediately swiveled around and headed for the exit when the small group of girls started to make a mad dash towards him. One of the girls started to talk through her phone. She was alerting the others to Green's presence…

As Green took the escalator down to the first floor, he could see more members of that sanity-deficient group gathering around the end, literally waiting for him to enter their grasp. He glanced backwards and saw some of the girls charging down the escalator towards him.

'Ah, hell…' Green thought with a sigh.

Before the girls caught him, he jumped over the handrail of the escalator and started to sprint. The girls chased after him as fast as they could, shouting/screaming their 'love' messages.

"Green! We love you!"

"We want to talk to you!"

"Please give me an autograph!"

"Sign my ass!"

Green sent out his Scizor. He wasn't going to fight the incoming horde (that would cause more problems than it solved), but he was going to use it to escape. He grabbed onto the Scizor's shoulders.

"Jump!" he ordered.

The Scizor glanced back and saw the horde of crazy girls charging closer. With a look of utter panic, the Pincer Pokémon jumped as high as it could. It couldn't use its wings, but it still managed to jump from the first floor of the Department Store and onto the second. Once it successfully jumped over the glass railing on the second floor, Green returned it back to its Pokéball. He was about to resume running when a little girl walked over to him with a pen and a sheet of paper.

"Can I have your autograph?" she asked.

Green glanced around. None of the insane girls were nearby (yet), so he crouched down to meet the little girl at eye level and gave her his signature. Though the process took 10 seconds at best, it was still enough for the group of crazy girls to spot him and mindlessly charge towards him. The way they were flailing their arms reminded Green of a certain type of zombies he saw in a video game at one point…

Green resumed running. He took a glance around and saw that there were roughly 50 of them scattered around the second floor, running towards him. Apparently, this insane group was having a group meeting of sorts in the Department Store…

He turned a corner and immediately ran into a small group of them who were waiting for him. They instantly latched onto him, each one hugging him and trying to take him.

"Green! I love you!" one screamed. "Have me!"

"Stay back, you lunatics!" Green yelled as he forcefully pushed them away. One came particularly close and he pushed her away by her face.

"He touched me!" the girl shrieked in joy.

Green struggled himself free from the group's grasp and resumed running yet again. Luckily for him, he didn't have to run far this time before the situation was 'resolved'. As he ran past a particularly old jewelry store around a corner, a hand shot out of the open door, grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him inside.

Green quickly crouched and hid behind a shelf and peeked through the window. The crazy group ran past the store, continuing their blind pursuit without realizing that they were passing the Gym Leader.

Once the group disappeared from sight and their mad screams faded into the distance, Green sighed in relief and turned to look at the person who saved him.

"Thanks for saving me," he started as he stood back up. "… Blue…"

Some of you may feel that waiting 7 more chapters for further development of the Sinnoh storyline is way too damn long (which it is. Quite absurd, really). Don't feel too bad. Starting now, SL will be able to have faithful reviewers (SL has now hit the 5th chapter mark). And as listed under the Faithful Reviewer category of my profile, they can 'force' me to start/develop a particular storyline. Majority vote style, within 3 days upon update, but every other chapter. From this point on, every even numbered chapter will be the result of the faithful reviewers' requests while the odd numbered ones will be just my own choosing.

So, 9 faithful reviewer candidates… take your pick. Options are as follows: 1) Black & White. They headed back towards Nuvema Town, so… will White do okay? Will she adjust and find a solution for her problems? 2) Diamond & Platinum. How will Diamond handle the metaphorical Super MAC round in the form of Platinum's confession? Will Pearl find out? 3) Gold & Crystal. Crystal mentioned that she sees Gold regularly despite her daily schedule not having Gold anywhere. Elaborate! 4) Ruby & Sapphire. What the hell are they doing in Unova?! Explain! 5) Green & Blue. Continue this storyline! Blue finally appeared!