Somehow, it felt like they were fresh trainers again. Going off to explore the new world, and praying that Leaf didn't get lost. Granted the paths between towns were fairly linear, but the dungeons were relics of times of war. Were mazes and traps meant to confuse and ensnare.
It was fairly easy for him to make the path forward, to make sure that the road ahead was safe for her. Because no matter how much of a brat he was, it was Leaf. Leaf who still stuck by him at his brattiest, at his most rude, who always knew him, like he knew her.
Only now, she was the trailblazer, setting off to parts unknown. And he was still here in Kanto. Doing his best to live his life, and doing a good job, he thinks. He was a gym leader, a well-respected gym leader, a volunteer rescuer.
Making his own path was something spontaneous. When she decided to make her own way, he needed to find something to hold on to. When he could only see her back, could no longer smell that perfume she used to wear even back then. When the cold threatened to freeze it and he couldn't stay near her when all it seemed to do was add on to her own inner frost.
The light floral fragrance that lingered in his memories as he went to Kalos and learnt more, and found a firmer footing underneath him. And maybe, in this city of lights, he could find a way to see her face light up in a smile again. Like it once did, like how that scent was instead of being buried under the sheer cold of Mt. Silver.