Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 42: Color of Future.

"Angie! Angie! Wake up!" the Admin was woken up from her sleep by Tarieli who kept calling her name.

Even though she was a bit disoriented, she taught herself to be able to quickly gather herself in such situations. By throwing her legs up and putting her hands behind her head, she was able to get herself to a standing position in one swift motion. She immediately scanned the area for signs of danger before even hearing out what the other girl had to say. Since there was no obvious threat she could notice, she glanced at Tarieli, hoping that it would be enough indication of the fact that she wanted to learn the reason of her needing to be waken up.

When the red-haired girl didn't say anything, instead staring at her with confusion after seeing her reaction, the Admin asked in order to speed things up "Why did you wake me up? Explain."

"I think there's something wrong with Red." she answered while pointing at the boy.

Angie turned her eyes towards him and immediately knelt down after seeing the state he was in. She couldn't exactly tell what he was going through but he was lying on the ground, looking like he was barely conscious. His skin turned pinkish-red and he was breathing heavily. After getting closer, the Admin looked at his face and his hands which were the only parts of his body that weren't covered by clothes. She gently lifted one of his arms because she remembered him scratching it before he went to sleep. It turned out that it was badly swollen, the origin of it all being probably some kind of bug biting him. She would be able to tell if it was the doing of a Pokemon but it must have been a regular bug so she wasn't sure how bad his condition was.

"We need to help him." she said after standing up.

Her first idea was to find a nearby body of water and wet a piece of cloth in order to deal with his fever. She was worried about leaving him with Tarieli who also wasn't in the best condition after receiving the leg injury but with how far they flew on Dragonair, there was hope that they were outside the territory Darkness Gang would want to search in order to confirm their deaths.

"I already used the band."

"What?" She looked at Tarieli with a dumbfounded expression.

"The snowstorm is over so I used the band to send a distress signal even before I realized that Red was in a bad condition. But we still can't be sure if the pilot will come here to help us."

"He will." Angie stated confidently "He must."

"Wait. What are you doing?"

"If he's in range, I need to use my communicator to get him here as fast as possible. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to get you two inside the helicopter but..."

"Wait! What if Darkness Gang intercept the signal and you give away our position? You could compromise the mission."

"I..." Angie didn't know how to respond to that.

Once again she looked at Red, imagining what kind of pain he was in but the point Tarieli was making was also a good one. She didn't know if what the boy was going through was so dangerous that she should risk all three of them getting captured or even killed. She finally settled to agree with Tarieli but she wasn't able to respond to her in anyway. She walked towards the end of the cave. When she was next to Red, she felt as if his eyes were following her every movement even though he probably wasn't able to see too clearly. She tried to convince herself that she did so because she was creeped out. Even the other girl was able to notice that it was something else but despite what she said, she also was conflicted about their course of action. That is why she thought that it would be best to sit in silence, not bothering the Admin.

"If he's going to come, it should take him about half an hour. I'm not sure what we're going to do after that." the red-headed girl said as if she was talking to herself but the other one still could hear her which caused her to slouch more in her sitting position.

. . .

Angie has been pacing anxiously in front of a set of doors for what felt like an eternity. Although it's been only a couple minutes, the time they spent waiting in the cave and the time they spent flying to the closest Team Rocket base caused her anxiety to build up so much that if she were to stop walking and sat down, she would probably pass out, however after allowing Red to go through what looked like extreme pain, she didn't feel it would be right for her to rest until she knew what was his condition. She could probably be in the room with the boy and the doctor examining him but she couldn't stop blaming herself for what happened to the boy, even though she couldn't have predicted him getting that bug bite and everything they did after that was what she would have considered to be the right course of action when it came to anyone else.

She wasn't able to properly organize her thoughts but the only reasoning that seemed to rise up was that she felt indebted to him after he saved her and like she should repay him by ignoring the rules. She's never done it for anyone and that always turned out to be the right decision so she should be thankful to Tarieli for pointing out that what she was doing was planning to do was the wrong course of action but she just couldn't. If Red were to die because of that half an hour of delay, changing the rules to accommodate for such situations would be the least of her worries.

"Angie... Angie! Angieee!" it took a really loud shout from Tarieli to get the Admin's attention.

The red-headed girl pointed towards the doctor who came out of the room to inform them about Red's state.

"How is he?! Is he going to be okay?!" Angie's voice cracked a little and she had to restrain herself from grabbing the doctor by the arms.

"Okay is a relative term. He's not going to die for now."

"What do you mean "for now"?!"

"Angie, calm down! Let him speak!" Tarieli tried to calm down the Admin since she was afraid the other girl would attack the doctor if she heard the wrong words.

"I mean that the condition he's in right now is bad and it will get worse with time. I don't know if we will gain anything from having that time. It wasn't just a normal bug bite. The bug carried a rare disease and since it's so rare no one ever tried to develop any medicine that would be able to get rid of it." it looked like Angie was about to punch him so the doctor said the next words as quickly as possible "There is a way! There's an equally rare plant and if I had it I would be able to prepare a drink that would destroy the virus in that young man's body!"

"Why didn't you start with that?" the Admin asked after letting out a sigh.

"Didn't you hear me? It's a very rare plant. It prefers warm climates so even during the summer it's almost impossible to find it in Kanto. It's the middle of winter. We would have to order a delivery from another region but it's hard to tell if the boy would be able to last till its arrival."

Angie controlled herself enough not to hurt the doctor and instead went over to a small table next to the door and kicked it, causing a vase with flower to crash on the floor.

"Angie!" Tarieli raised her voice again.

"What?" the Admin's tone made it clear that her anger hasn't subsided.

"If you just calmed down you would be able to realize that there's still one place in Kanto where you could be able to find this plant. Let's order one from another region anyway as a precaution but there's still another way."

Angie tried contain her emotions in order to allow herself to try and understand what Tarieli meant before the other girl would explain it and she needed only a couple seconds to reach what was definitely the same conclusion "Of course!"

. . .

In another part of Kanto, two girls were eating their breakfast in a large but mostly empty room. Despite most building around having modernized insides, the ones belonging to Koga looked more like the inside of his Gym, with scrolls on the walls, beautiful flower vases and sliding doctors guarded from the outside by lower ranked ninja. Normally one would be impressed by all of it but Blue didn't say anything and her behavior began to worry Janine.

"Are you going to eat that? I didn't ask what you liked and had this prepared but I could ask the cook to make something else." Janine said after noticing that Blue was staring at a piece of sushi she was holding with chopsticks for a long while.

"Oh no. The food is great." the other girl replied and quickly ate it, not wanting her actions to be perceived as rude "I just can't focus on food after hearing all those things from your father."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I knew that my father was hiding some things but I didn't expect them to be something like this. Anyway, it seems that he feels somewhat responsible for what happened and since I'm his daughter the burden of that is also on me."

"You kinda remind me of myself." Blue said out loud the first thought that came to her after hearing Janine's reasoning.

"In what way?"

"I... I ate enough. I'm gonna go for a walk. Maybe it will help me clear my mind a little."

"Do you want me to come with you? You now know as much about Team Rocket as the leaders. That could make you a potential target." the ninja said while standing up and clenching fists while moving her hands back.

"I'll have my Pokemon with me. Besides, unless you have a spy in your clan there is no way that Team Rocket would know about me being in on their "secrets"."

"I guess you're right." Janine said while rubbing her chin "Still, promise me to be careful."

"I feel like I've been careful for a long while." Blue responded before leaving the room.

. . .

Blue tried to focus as she wandered the city and even though it seemed like she was completely in her own world, she was able to respond with a nod after hearing the security guard outside the walls wish her a nice day, but she probably wouldn't have realized that she was leaving the district if not for that.

"Where am I even going? It's not like I know this place well enough to know where I would like to... Maybe I just don't want to look at Koga and Janine after hearing everything?" she thought as she continued walking.

It took about half an hour for her to reach a part of the city she could recognized. She noticed the Pokemon Center where she was to stay before getting invited to the Gym Leader's home. Not far from this place was the Safari Zone where she caught Dasher.

"I was thinking about a change of scenery and that would be the furthest thing from all this snow..."

The Safari Zone was an area of around 20 square kilometers surrounded by massive walls and a big, glass dome that had to be supported by giant pillars scattered throughout the facility. The place had a system that created an artificial, jungle-like climate inside, allowing species of Pokemon, animals and plants to exist there even though the forests, mountains and water of Kanto weren't suitable for them. The entrance was a little pricy and people weren't allowed to bring their own Pokemon in but in exchange for that they were given a batch of special safariballs that would make it easier for them to catch the unusual species of Pokemon inside. Blue hadn't thought about what her sixth Pokemon should be but she thought that instead of walking around aimlessly it would be good the get focused on something and hoped that this focus would remain as she would turn her thoughts towards the things she wanted to work out in her head.

. . .

After paying for entrance and using the dressing room to change into clothes appropriate for the place she was about to visit, Blue left her Pokemon with the staff who handed her 20 safariballs. She attached a bunch of them to her belt in case she had to use one of them suddenly. She still didn't have a plan to catch anything but the balls could also be used for defense. If for some reason a Pokemon would attack her, throwing the ball at it, and capturing it even for a couple seconds, could help her escape the danger. She started walking forward but if she remained near the entrance a little longer she would overhear a conversation between members of the staff. One person approached the main desk while holding a tablet and pointing at the screen even though they were too far for anyone else to see.

"There's something wrong!" the person, a young man in a khaki uniform, yelled as he reached the other members of the staff.

"Calm down! What is going on? Don't go causing a panic." another person said while looking around to make sure that there weren't any guests nearby "We don't have anything weird happening on cameras. Did we miss something?"

"The glass! There's no cameras pointed at the glass ceilings but I just got an alarm that a part of it was destroyed."

"What?! I mean... I know we have a system in place to alarm us about something like this but I never expected it to actually..."

"I mean... It's so strong. It wouldn't happen unless something or someone attacked it on purpose and with a lot of power, right?" said a third person.

For a while the staff members stood around, unsure what to do in this situation but one of them stood up and hit the front desk "Alright! We'll have to check it out! We have drones. Send them out."

. . .

"It sure is nice to spend some time in this warm climate." Blue said to herself while wondering why no one came up with the idea to use the technology that made this place possible in order to create a summer resort that could be open year-round.

Sevii Islands were warmer than Kanto but they never got as hot as Safari Zone. Thanks to her last visit, the girl knew a little about what to expect. She could use panels placed on the pillars holding the glass ceiling in order to check planned times for artificial rain to fall in case she would need to avoid it. Additionally, the paths were laid out in such a way that one would have to stray from them quite a bit to run into the really dangerous Pokemon. She unconsciously went another way than during her previous visit but when she realized that she had a quick look around and surmised that this path was probably as safe as the one she took last time.

"Hey, young lady!" a male voice called out to her.

She turned towards it and saw a middle-aged member of the staff sitting inside a wooden booth with the words "boat rental" written on it. The next thing she noticed were a lake behind the booth and the boats advertised by it. They were wooden rowboats. Any boat with an engine would probably disturb the Pokemon.

Since she still wasn't sure what exactly she was doing in this place, she approached the booth and spoke to the man "Yes?"

"How about it? Want to rent a boat? Of course you don't have to pay. Just make sure to come back with it or leave it at a similar rental place on the other side of the lake."

"I guess I could."

"This is your first time renting a boat in this place, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's not much to it but watch out if you see a spot with a lot of bubbles because that means that a Pokemon is going to come up to the surface. This is a warning but it works in two ways. It allows you to avoid danger but also if you're lucky and a Dragonair flies over your boat it's possible to see a small rainbow above you. I've never been so lucky but who knows if it'll happen to you."

"Alright. I already planned to be careful and... Well, no point talking about it. Do I just choose whichever boat I want?"

"Well, they're all the same so there's not much "choosing"."

"Yeah. I just..." she was about to say that she had a lot of things on her mind but words like that could lead to him not wanting to allow her to use the boat since it would make it seem like she wouldn't be able to concentrate enough on spotting the bubbles he mentioned, so she withheld the truth.

The man gave her a couple pointers about rowing so that she wouldn't tire herself out and the girl went on her way.

. . .

"I..." Angie hesitated to say what was on her mind but the look she was giving Tarieli was enough to make the other girl understand what it was.

"You don't have to thank me."

"What? Thank you? No. It's exactly the opposite. It would be better if you stayed behind and kept me informed on Red's state."

"He's in good hands. Besides, this place is enormous and we have only a handful of clues to go on." Tarieli pointed out while stretching her hands outwards towards the exotic trees surrounding them as if she thought that the Admin wasn't able to see them until that moment "It'll be easier to search with two people. More than that... With all due respect, your authority should have allowed you to bring two hundred people here."

"This isn't an official mission. We both took a day off to this." Angie said, hiding however that it was the first time she used that privilege and that she was definitely the member of Team Rocket with the most vacation days accumulated over the years "I don't want to force too many members to do something like that. Besides, there's no way that it would go unnoticed."

"Unnoticed by the other Admins or ...?" Tarieli stopped herself because she quickly realized how ridiculous it was that they were even talking about that "Should it matter what we do if we try to save someone's life?"

"It's not "someone". It's Red."

Tarieli thought she had the Admin figured out but there was still a lot she didn't understand and it would be pointless to try and question her about it so she let the matter go and looked around once more "I'll try going in that direction. These giant pillars are numbered so if it turns out that we can't communicate with each other for whatever reason we should choose one of them to meet up."

"The 23rd one looks the closest. Alright. Let's try to get in contact in an hour. If we can't then let's meet there in two."

Tarieli nodded and the two went separate ways.

. . .

Blue quickly got the hang of handling the oars and could make her way through the lake without thinking too much about the movements of her hands which allowed her to put her mind to matters that she was concerned about.

She was worried about Red. Besides the fact that he got tangled up with Team Rocket in a major way, there wasn't much that she knew about his current situation but the information she had about this organization and the impression she got when she met them a couple months ago led her to believe that the boy was in some kind of danger, an opinion shared by Koga and others who knew as much as them.

The thing she had to ask herself regarding the situation her friend found himself in was if her involvement in it could affect what will happen in a significant enough way that she should try to help out. When Koga told her what he knew it sounded like he was considering lending a hand to the other Gym leaders because he would feel responsible for whatever Team Rocket planned to do. She didn't get all the details but the ninja claimed that he let Team Rocket's boss continue growing the organization because the original reason for its creation was one that Koga could sympathize with, but things were clearly getting out of hand and for quite some time the poison type trainer was allowing his pride to prevent him from joining forces with others.

In a way, Blue considered the two of them to be similar in that aspect. She didn't know how much influence she had over Red when the two of them traveled together but she was always worried that he liked to put himself in too much danger. If she remained his traveling companion there could have been a chance for her to stop him from getting himself into this kind of trouble. The problem with that logic was that when considering her own choices, ones that were always more carefully thought out, she kept thinking about how none of them were the right ones. It could be that if she was with Red, not only would she not be able to stop him but possibly she would even get in his way. Even when doing insane things, Red always would come out fine.

"Am I wrong? If I am... maybe there's another way of thinking. Nothing like Red but just something different… Why am I only realizing it now? Don't tell me that I'm so pathetic that I would be unable to do it without hearing about Red. He may have had some influence but more than what is going to help me change I should focus on… I… Is changing the right thing? I have a reason for why I did things a certain way. I can't just ignore it. That's…"

Her thoughts were interrupted when something hit the side of the boat and she noticed that she was so preoccupied with her problems that she didn't her that she reached one of the spots she was warned about by the rental shop man. After the boat was hit just once she immediately became completely aware of her situation and knew she had to get out of there before it would repeat. Whatever attacked her probably would be less dangerous once she would leave the lake. She quickly surveyed her surroundings and realized that she wasn't too far from the shore but she would have to pass her attacker in order to get there and avoid being hit again on the way.

She glanced at the place the Pokemon struck and concluded that it used something sharp that allowed for piercing attacks. It could very well be the horn of a Dragonair she was told to watch out for. Despite the perilous situation, she tried to remain calm and began to row. After traveling a couple meters, she tried looking back to see if she was being followed but that only allowed the Pokemon to surprise her when it attacked the side of the boat once again, although this time it was the opposite one. Her body reacted instinctively by trying to swat the attacker with the oar but the Pokemon noticed it and jumped over the boat to avoid. At that moment, Blue was able to finally see that she was dealing with a Seaking. She surprised herself when she suddenly felt a little relieved after realizing that the Pokemon could attack her easier if it tried using special moves. That didn't mean that she wasn't in danger. If the fish would keep on striking the boat with its horn, the holes would eventually allow water to get inside and cause it to sink, leaving Blue in a even more dangerous situation.

The girl began looking around, hoping to spot her opponent before it would reach her again. She saw her opportunity and struck with the oar at the right time, hoping to at least make the Pokemon dizzy enough to allow her to reach the shore, but the wood wasn't strong enough and the two forces pushing against each other caused the oar to split in half, making it even harder to control the boat.

"Hey! Do you need help?!" a voice suddenly called from the shore.

. . .

Knowing that the plant she was searching for grew in damp places, Angie decided that her course of action was to be on the lookout for any bodies of water in order to search their surroundings. She didn't have time to research the Safari Zone enough before coming there so she wasn't sure if there were any rivers or streams that could also prove to be good places to search. If she wasn't in a hurry to find the cure, she would most likely try to better understand how this place was build. For example, were the plants there before the walls that surrounded them or were they brought from somewhere else? She bit her lip to force herself to forgo all useless thoughts and kept on searching until she heard what sounded like splashing water. She walked in the direction the sound was coming from, by squeezing between trees and jumping over some bushes, and quickly reached a lake. A girl in a boat, struggling against something, immediately came into her view.

"What is she… No. I shouldn't concern myself with her. I found a lake so I should begin the search." she thought as she approached the water "Would the plant be growing on the shore? But isn't this too bright? Maybe… No. I can't stand it. That girl is making too much noise."

Angie wanted to tell her to be quiet but when she lifted her head in order to do this, she saw the girl break one of her oars while fighting a Seaking.

At the time she attributed it to Red having a bad influence on her but she couldn't stop herself from shouting "Hey! Do you need help?!"

Blue looked at the Admin with a confused expression. She was so bewildered because of the fighting that her mind expected another opponent despite the words she heard being friendly.

"Yes, please!" she yelled back after a short while but putting her hands next to her face made it hard to keep her balance when the next attack came.

Seaking repeated its pattern and Blue fell down, thankfully inside the boat. She hit her elbow which began to bleed a little but everything was happening so fast that she didn't really notice any pain while getting herself up in order to be able to see what her mysterious helper had in plan.

"What am I even… Ugh. Go, Dragonair!" Angie called upon her Pokemon who spiraled out of the pokeball and floated above its trainer while awaiting an order "When you see Seaking attacking the boat, use Dragon Tail on it!"

The water type Pokemon didn't realize that it became someone's target and tried to hit the boat once again, only to be spotted by Dragonair which quickly flew at it and send it upwards by hitting its underside with a tail infused with shining energy. It would be a good couple seconds before Seaking would hit the surface of the lake and that was enough for Blue's trainer instincts to kick in and make her throw one of the safariballs at the fish. Right after that, she reached for the unbroken oar and used it in order to catch the ball before it would sink to the bottom of the lake. Once it was in her hands, she realized that it must have stopped flashing while still in the air and that it meant that she managed to catch Seaking. She felt like sharing the news with her savior even though the other girl probably saw everything that happened. When she turned around, she saw that Dragonair sloppily grabbed onto a part of the boat with its tail and was pulling it towards the shore where Angie was awaiting their arrival with a stern expression on her face.

"What were you even doing in a place like this without a Pokemon?" the Admin asked once they were finally in front of each other.

"A better question is; what you were doing here with a Pokemon?" Blue responded although immediately realizing how rude it must have sounded, especially after the said Pokemon saved her "Uh, sorry. I'm grateful that you helped me out."

"So this is what I get for helping others. He really is a fool…" Angie said out loud what she was thinking.

"Sorry?"

"Oh. You're still here. Hmm. Pay up."

"Excuse me?"

"I saved your life. Is your life worth only a "sorry"?"

"I can't say that I ever stopped to consider my own worth. Not in this sense at least. How about… this?"

Blue gave Angie the safariball with Seaking inside.

"I want a sixth member for my team but I already have Tori so I don't need another water type."

The Admin attached the ball to her belt and reached towards Blue with her hand before saying "More."

"What do you mean "more"?"

"You basically just said that this Pokemon is useless for you. Surely you can offer something better."

"I… I don't really have anything else but… If you're here then that means you're probably after some Pokemon. I could help you catch it. I already did catch one for you. How about it?"

Blue didn't even notice that the danger she found herself in and the conversation after that were perfect distraction from her worries, even though that wasn't exactly what she hoped to achieve by visiting the Safari Zone.

"I'm not searching for a Pokemon." Angie hesitated a little about whether she should reveal her goal but the clothes she was wearing, after leaving the winter ones near the entry point, didn't have Team Rocket logo anywhere on them so she thought it would be safe to try and get a free helper "I'm trying to find a rare plant. I need it in order to cure… someone."

Red couldn't exactly be called her underling which left the Admin a little confused how she should have referred to him.

"Oh." Blue das a little surprised by this reveal "I don't know much about wild plants but I traveled with someone who tried to teach me about them so I may have some helpful insight. Pleased to be working with you."

Blue noticed that this other girl was a bit grumpy but it was probably because the plant was meant for someone important and that was something that she could sympathize with. That is why she wanted to proceed with the "kill them with kindness" type of attitude.

"My name is Blue, by the way."

The Admin blinked quickly a couple times while wondering if the weird name was a coincidence but she didn't want to take too long and make the other girl suspicious so she responded "I'm Angie."

. . .

"Of course. Caves. Now that you said it, it makes complete sense." Angie complimented Blue after she pointed out what kind of places would be humid and dark at the same time.

"No problem. I'm happy to help." Blue answered and immediately felt that there was something wrong with the way she responded.

She felt like it has been quite a while since she went out of her way to do something for someone else and that in turn she was the one being helped out all the time. When she considered that on a bigger spectrum her whole journey was actually meant to help her parents but until she reached her goal of being able to support them, she couldn't stop feeling like she didn't really do anything of matter. She thought that maybe doing small favors, like the one she was doing for Angie, would allow her to feel better about it.

"Is there a map of this place? It would be quicker than just trying to blindly search for caves."

"I'm not sure. The person handling the boat rental seemed to have some interesting tidbits about the lake but I wonder if they're supposed to know only about a certain area or if one of them would be able to give us some pointers."

"What do you mean by "one of them"?"

"There is another place like that on the opposite side of the lake. Actually, that's where we've been walking towards. Besides trying to get hints, I need to inform someone that the boat was too damaged to use it any longer."

"Huh. You sound like you're well put together. I like that."

Blue stopped and looked at the Admin with a worried expression "You're not hitting on me, are you? Because I've already disappointed a couple people…"

"Hitting on you. Wait… You mean like in a…" Angie stuttered after feeling that this girl she just met did what seemed impossible and made her blush "No! No way! Hitting on people is the absolute last thing I want to do!"

"Okay. But you probably shouldn't protest so much. Kinda makes me think that you're not being exactly truthful."

"Don't test my patience for jokes."

. . .

After visiting the boat rental booth and borrowing a rough map of the Safari Zone, the two girls went on their way. They managed to search two caves and not find what they're looking for when Angie realized that it was time for her to contact Tarieli. She decided that trying to do it discreetly would seem suspicious so she did in front of Blue.

"What was that?"

"Well, you didn't think I would try to search such a big place alone? I have someone else helping me."

"Yeah. That makes sense. Maybe we should also try to split up."

Angie looked at her with surprise and asked "Do you think I trust you enough to do that?"

"What? I'm sorry if this sounds wrong but, what kind of attitude is that? You're immediately assuming that I'm going to leave even though so far I gave you no reason to think that way."

"I'd much rather go with "doubt and verify" than trust. I gave people enough chances in the past and… Well… It doesn't matter. We're not splitting up. End of discussion."

Blue didn't appreciate the last phrase. She didn't necessarily want to learn more about Angie but it seemed like stopping a conversation in such a way was worse than not having it at all. Then again, she thought about various times during which she chose to hide her own thoughts from others and felt that she couldn't judge Angie for her behavior. But maybe that was a step in the right direction. Speaking her mind instead of putting things off and hoping that they'll work themselves out later.

"Alright then. If you don't want to split up then we won't. Let's just try to find the next cave which should be somewhere around there." Blue said while pointing towards what looked like a rock spire high enough to be visible above the trees.

It took them less than a minute to get there but when they arrived, Blue immediately put her hand in front of Angie's chest after noticing that they weren't the only ones there.

The spire was part of a bigger rock formation with various parts reaching different heights. A lot of them were flat making the whole place look like a weird set of stairs. It looked like the entrance of the cave was halfway up the spire. Not only would the girls have to climb up in order to get there, but also face the groups of Scythers and Electabuzzes gathered in front of the rock formation for some kind of ceremonial battle between the leaders of each pack.

"Damn it. Even if I use both Sandslash and Dragonair I'll have trouble against this many opponents. Seaking isn't going to be of any help in this terrain."

"Maybe we'll just try another cave and come back later?" Blue suggested while peeking at the battle from behind a shrub.

"No. Time is of the essence. It's not just the two of my Pokemon. There's also me and you. With four of us there must be a way to get up there and look for the plant."

Blue surveyed the area and her immediate thought was "Well, I know what Red would do in this situation but that's not something I would do."

She corrected herself a second later. It wasn't the matter of her not wanting to do it but rather feeling like she couldn't allow herself to do it. There was a chance of her getting hurt in the process and while she wouldn't mind a broken bone or two, since that happened to her a couple times while she was living on Sevii Islands, it could lead to her having to stop her journey in order to recuperate and she didn't know if she could waste any time, especially since she was already considering a detour regarding Red.

"You have a plan." Angie announced after realizing that the other girl was in deep thought "Tell me what it is. I'm prepared to do the hard part."

"Well… I… I wouldn't say that any part is easy… It's just…"

Angie let out a sigh and stood up.

"I guess you already helped me out quite a bit. You went through some bad stuff earlier and you're not ready for any more thrills. That just means that I'll have to deal with them directly."

"No. Wait. I want to help."

"I don't mean to sound rude but damn it… decide already what you're gonna do!"

. . .

A couple years ago, on the Sevii Archipelago, a certain accident happened. It was a summer festival so people from each island gathered on Island Two in order to celebrate it. Since everyone wanted to share their happiness with other people, almost all adults prepared some kind of dish made from their own crops, seafood or animals. Blue wanted to help her parents but everything was so busy that they told her to stay away, afraid that she would be trampled by all the people running between cooking stations. She quickly noticed that all the other children were in the same situation as her.

Another girl proposed that until the food would be ready, they could go play at the beach. Blue wasn't really interested in that but she didn't want to be left alone so she went there with her and a bunch of other children. Even though she was there with them, she didn't really engage with any activities. She didn't even talk to anyone. The most she did was smile a little when she saw a boy her age get embarrassed when an older girl took off her shirt in order to reveal a bikini top underneath it. She took a look at a group trying to make a sandcastle and then at others playing with a ball. There wasn't too many people in the water since the water was still kind of cold and some probably just didn't want to eat the dinner while wet.

She stared off into the distance and by proxy at the people trying to swim in the waves. Her eye was caught by a boy who suddenly went underwater. She thought of how stupid it was to dive without regarding how big the waves were that day. A couple seconds passed and the boy didn't surface. Even though she didn't bring a swimsuit, even though she wasn't a good swimmer, even though she could yell for someone else to do it, she started running and after that swimming. The children noticed her moving past them but no one was sure what she was doing, not even herself. People sometimes say that their body moved on its own during a perilous situation but the truth is that the initiative to do something always come from you.

Blue remembered finding the boy underwater, grabbing him and swimming towards the surface but after that her mind went blank. When she finally came to, she could see her parents, a local doctor and a couple of kids looking at her. The doctor stretched her eyelids and opened her mouth before allowing her parents to talk to her while also telling the other children to give her some time.

"What happened?" she asked.

"From what we've been told, you tried to save a drowning kid. He's alright now, by the way…" said her father "…But you couldn't hold your breath long enough. Thankfully, after you went to save that boy, other people noticed that something was wrong and helped both of you."

"Are you angry?"

"Well, yes and no." answered her mother "Of course we were worried about you but if you didn't decide to take the risk that boy could have ended up dead."

"We're not saying that taking a risk is necessarily a good thing but sometimes It's better to throw caution to the wind and just do something." said the father.

"I don't get it. Do what?"

"Whatever it is you want to do." explained the mother "You're still young now and you want to spend time with us and help us out with everything but this is an example of you turning your thoughts into actions."

"But I… I didn't know if I should do it and I did it and I almost…" Blue was on the verge of tears.

The father picked her up and while holding her above himself said "That's why you have to ask yourselves if what you're doing is worth the risk. More often than not the answer is going to be "yes", if today is anything to go by."

. . .

"When did I become a coward?" Blue thought as Angie was preparing to attack "I've pushed Red away two times. I've chosen an easier way towards money while fighting the guardian. I justified all these things by thinking I was doing it for my parents but… they wouldn't want for me to torture myself in order to help them out. They want me to be happy, I want to be happy, and right now I want to help Angie get that cure."

"Can you serve as a distraction?" Blue asked the Admin who first looked at her with surprise but decided not to question the other girl anymore.

"Let's hope this works. Dragonair, Sandslash, Let's go!" Angie announced while running out of the bushes and throwing her pokeballs so that they would land next to the fighting Pokemon.

Both of the groups turned their attention towards their surprise guests but it seemed like most of them preferred to stay put until they would receive a signal from their leaders. That made Blue's part a little harder. She ran between the trees and approached the rock formation from the other side. She started climbing it, at first completely hidden from anyone's view. She could hear Angie shouting commands at her Pokemon so she knew that at least the other girl didn't allow herself to get hurt. After a while she reached a place that she judged to be at the same elevation as the cave, which meant that she had to make her way around the spire in order to get inside.

She wanted to keep her eye on what was happening below in case something would happen to Angie but she also had to be careful not slip up and fall. She managed to get inside the cave seemingly without being noticed. Considering that it was inside a rock formation high above ground there wasn't actually that big of a chance for the plant to grow there and the cave itself wasn't as big as she expected it to be. On the other hand, it was definitely dark and damp which were the conditions the necessary conditions for it to grow even though it also needed a tropical climate.

"I should somehow signal to Angie that… Wait a second. This is it!"

Blue picked up the plant and a small amount of earth it was growing in and quickly hid it inside her storage pad so that it wouldn't get accidentally damaged. What she didn't realize was that her excitement caused her to yell after finding it and when she turned around in order to leave the cave, she saw one of the Scythers climbing inside. There was no time judge the Pokemon's intentions since, if they were bad ones, even a second of wasted time could lead to her only way of escape getting blocked. She ran straight at it, dropping down to the floor of the cave, hoping that she could slide past it and avoid its blades if it tried to stop her with them. She managed to pass it but she had to get up in order not to fall after reaching the exit. The bug couldn't completely reach her but it was still quite fast. It moved its blade horizontally when spinning around and the tip managed to catch Blue's arm. The pain was so sudden that the girl stumbled and fell. She barely managed to grab onto a protruding piece of rock about two meters down from the entrance of the cave but she still had around five times as much distance to the ground and she couldn't traverse it with just one hand.

"Looks like this time the risk wasn't worth it. At least I finally got over it at the end…" she said to herself as she saw the Scyther approaching from above and felt her hand lose grip on the rock.

She let go and felt at least one of her ribs break as she landed. However, she suffered less pain than Angie who, unexpectedly for both of them, broke the fall. She didn't break anything but she dislocated an ankle and damaged one of her arms when Blue's weight caused her to hit the ground with it. Her back also didn't feel too well but the two girls had to somehow get up since the Admin's Pokemon weren't able to keep all their opponents at bay. Angie was mad at herself for doing something that led to so much pain but even more at the fact that she couldn't comprehend why she did it.

"I have another plan." Blue stated, taking a break to cough up some blood before continuing "Do you remember which ones are the leaders?"

"That one and that one…" Angie pointed out two Pokemon "But what are you…"

Blue flung her bag so that it would open in mid-air and create a rain of safariballs above the two Pokemon, making it so that they would be hit even if they tried to dodge. Since they were already fighting before the girls arrived, they were more weakened than the other ones and were easy catches. When their leaders suddenly disappeared, the two groups fell into disarray and became easier targets for Dragonair's and Sandslash's attacks. They didn't even have to beat them all. Once a bunch of them passed out, the other felt it would be better to retreat into the forest. The girls waited a couple seconds, breathing heavily, waiting for their enemies to come back but when they didn't, the two of them quickly sat down.

"The plant?" Angie asked with a worried tone.

"I have it."

They couldn't help but smile after seeing what they were able to achieve by working together.

Sandslash picked up the bag and safariballs containing the caught Pokemon and brought them to Blue. She took out the pad, which thankfully wasn't damaged when the bag hit the ground, and took out the plant before giving it to Angie.

"Well, I'll be on my way." Blue said while slowly standing up.

"Wait. That's it?"

"I helped you out just as I promised. As much as I would want to stay and get to know you a bit more, I think I need to visit a hospital. I'll try to find someone from the staff and if anything happens I can use these new Pokemon to protect myself."

"I see. I probably should call Tarieli and let her know where to find me. I don't think I'll be able to walk by myself and you're in no condition to help me out."

"I wonder… Will we see each other again? You're a strong trainer. Does that mean you're gonna participate in the Pokemon League?"

"Well, no. I'm a different type of trainer. But the league… It's about half a year away… I wonder…"

Blue looked at her for a while, confused about the concern she could see on Angie's face.

"Good luck either way." the Admin said, not wanting to take up more of Blue's time.

"Thanks. And I hope that this plant will be able to help whoever you're gonna give it to. Bye."

Angie watched Blue's back until she disappeared between the trees before going "Okay. Now to contact Tarieli and… What is it, Sandslash?"

She noticed the armadillo standing amongst the safariballs with a confused expression and after seeing its worried face she quickly realized what it meant.

"Oh… I wonder which one it is."

. . .

Blue suspected that she could encounter another antagonistic Pokemon but she actually avoided it as much as she could. She was nearing the boat rental booth when a visibly angry Pinsir noticed her and decided that she was the perfect target for its fury. The girl grabbed the two safariballs and it was then that she noticed something was wrong. It was a small difference so sometimes it was hard to realize but one could tell if a pokeball contained a Pokemon or not because of a slight change in weight between a full and empty ball. One of the safariballs was empty so she threw only the other one. The Pokemon that came out was Electabuzz. It gave her a weird look which made her suspect that it wouldn't want to listen to her immediately after being caught, but when it looked at its opponent, it suddenly became ready to face the bug in battle.

"Ah. I haven't checked what attacks you know! " Blue panicked a little when seeing Pinsir running at her new partner "Just show me what you can do!"

Electabuzz did a backflip, right as Pinsir was about to grab it with its horns, and used Iron Tail to send its foe flying. Not giving the bug a chance to rest, it ran up a tree and from there jumped toward Pinsir to deliver a Thunder Punch that sent it into the ground, causing it to pass out.

"Wow! You're not only strong but also fast and nimble! You'll be a great addition to my team, Buzz!" Blue praised the Pokemon which had to turn around to face away from her since until that point it didn't know that it could blush.

. . .

Later that day, a worried Janine jumped between rooftops and reached the hospital, where Blue was residing, in record time.

"Are you alright?! What happened?!"

"It's a long story, but don't worry. My broken rib should heal in a month as long as I don't act too wild and they should let me out of here tomorrow."

"I was right to worry about you. You said that you wanted to clear your mind!"

"I did do that. I know what I'm going to do from now on."

"Yes? May I know…"

"If your father is going to join forces with other leaders then I want in. If not then I'll try doing it on my own. Either way, my current goal is to find out what happened to Red and help him in any way I can."

"But… What about collecting badges? You don't know how much of time this will take you?"

"Don't you worry. I'm not giving up on trying to win the Pokemon League. It may sound greedy but I'm not going to give up anything anymore."

"I respect your resolve." said the kunoichi "If It's going to be necessary, I'll help you to convince my father."

"Thanks." Blue said, showing a honest smile.

. . .

Meanwhile, in another part of Kanto, Tarieli once again was observing Angie's impatience as they sat in front of the room where the doctor was working on healing Red. The boy's condition got worse during the time they were gone so the two of them were glad that it didn't take them too long to find the cure and bring it back although Angie was so anxious that she would probably be pacing once again if not for her ankle and the back pain.

After half an hour, the doctor came out. He looked at them in silence before giving them a smile and a thumbs up. Disregarding the pain, Angie rushed inside.

"Is he awake?" Tarieli asked.

"That's right." the doctor answered.

"Then it's best we give them some time alone."

. . .

Angie's breathing was sped up after she stormed into the room but when she saw Red lying in bed and looking at her with confused eyes, she calmed herself down and decided to try using a nonchalant tone "So, you're awake."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"W-wha…?"

"The doctor told me that you and Tarieli went out of your way to find the cure for me."

"That damn old man…" Angie said quietly while clenching her fist and side-eyeing the doors.

"I'm not even an official Team Rocket member so I'm glad…"

"I guess anyone would be happy to be alive."

"No, silly. I'm glad that I misjudged you. After we had our conversation I was conflicted about whether that was what you really felt but if you did then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you're a good person. Maybe not "nice" but definitely good."

"It's not… I just did because you saved me in the past!"

"But you didn't seem to feel that you owed me anything. Isn't this just an excuse you made up to justify why you would get yourself so beat up for someone else?"

"No! This happened because I was trying to save someone els…"

"What was that?"

Red couldn't help but have a big smile on his face after seeing that Angie realized that she couldn't pretend anymore.

"I… Here, take this."

"A pokeball? But It's all green and brown."

"I have some bad memories regarding this Pokemon so I'll let you keep it. Like a get well soon gift or something."

"Gift?" Red asked, wondering if there was something he was forgetting "Wait. Speaking of gifts, when is Bonding Day?"

"Umm… I guess It's this less than a week away but besides it being a free day, there's nothing going on. And I Don't even take free days… with some exceptions."

"We can't have that. I'll try to do something. I don't think many people that would go along with it but I'm sure Green, Nets and Otari will agree to throwing a small party."

"But, are you okay? You don't need to rest?"

"No worries. I'm more durable than I look." he said and tried to prove it by getting himself up to a sitting position in order to strike a confident pose.

Angie didn't have a response for him. The girl stood up, turned around and left the room looking like she was in a hurry to get somewhere. Red wondered what caused her to act in that way, not realizing for a while that he wasn't wearing anything on the upper part of his body and that him getting up revealed his naked chest to Angie who wasn't prepared for such a sight.

"He's right. He's not that big but he's surprisingly muscular." the Admin thought while standing outside the room.

After that, she quickly looked around, worried that she might have said it out loud.


After over two months the next chapter is here. I was a little sick during December so I didn't write anything and most of this chapter was written in the last week or so. I hope that there isn't some big contradiction between what happens in the first part of the chapter and the rest since I took such a big break.

I don't want to say that this is my favorite chapter since I probably enjoy the battle oriented ones(this one had a bunch of battles but I wasn't as descriptive as usual since they weren't the focus), but this is from what I remember the first chapter where I cried during writing it. This may be a lie and I could have probably cried already when writing another Blue-centric chapter but I can't remember. It's not that this story is anything special and I don't expect anyone else to have the same reaction but I've gotten attached to this character and whenever I was writing her I knew that it still wasn't the time for her to realize what was wrong with her so it was taking it's toll on me. Add to this Angie's development over this and the previous chapter an I'm a complete mess while writing at four in the morning.

I don't want to bore you so I'll try talking about only a couple things that bothered me. First off, Blue's parents. Even though Red is important for Blue and her current goal is related to him, I didn't want him to be the one to cause the change in her. Then I thought about making it about her parents and I kinda did, but it was more about how she herself was misusing the love she had for her parents and if they didn't have a big influence on her she probably wouldn't have this problem in the first place. I don't want to say that that scene where they talk with her was cliche but at least I felt a little weird having them saying basically only the right things. I needed that for the chapter but I try to stay away from that as much as possible. My characters rarely have cool one-liners or sound profound because that always seems fake. Most of the conversations are how I talk with my friends, just with less mean humor.

I wanted to do something more with the Safari Zone staff and the drones but there wasn't a right place to do it but Tarieli probably fought some of them off-screen.

If someone wants to reread this chapter after going through the quintessential Blue chapters(maybe there is someone who wanted to start reading from this chapter for whatever reason) then it goes something like this: 4, (10), 11, (S1), SS1-5, 17, 18, 30, 31, 32, (37), 40. You could probably skip the ones in brackets.

I don't want to jinx it but let's hope that the next chapter doesn't take me so long. And what can you expect from it? Of course Bonding Day is drawing near, but after a chapter focusing on Red and another one focused on Blue it's time for Green to "shine". He played second fiddle in Alex's arc but he's a big boy now and can take on a chapter on his own. But don't worry, he won't be alone.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Pidgeotto, Nidorino.

At hand but not officially his: Scyther.

At Team Rocket Base: Gyarados.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher), Electabuzz(Buzz).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash, Seaking.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.