For The Longest time

Chapter 8: A Tense Reunion in Cerulean

It had been weeks since Leaf won her first gym battle at Pewter city. It took a long time, but Red managed to arrange a date for Leafs next gym battle against the Cerulean gym leader. However, from the day it was revealed that Leafs next gym battle would be against the Cerulean gym leader, she was noticing that Red was acting kinda strange around her. He never wanted to talk about the match and started acting really nervous all the time. Leaf figured that since Red had finally managed to arrange the match, that he would be happier. But instead, she noticed that Red was growing increasingly more agitated as the date for the battle drew closer and finally, the day of the gym battle was upon them.

Leaf yawned as she crawled out of bed and held up her partner "Today's finally the big day Jigglypuff!" she stated with joy.

As Leaf made her way downstairs to the living room she saw Red frantically pacing back and forth.

Leaf just shook her head; this wasn't the man she knew

"Good morning Red" she greeted.

Red didn't even look up "Morning…." He blurted.

Leaf couldn't take it anymore "Would you stop pacing! You look like a damn fool!" she stated as she walked over to him

"What's wrong Red? You've been acting weird ever since you found out I was challenging the Cerulean gym next"

"I'm just nervous that's all!" he yelled back

"It's just…this gym leader and I, we have….history together"

Leaf raised her eyebrow "What kind of history?"

Red looked down at the floor and Leaf understood right away what he meant "Oh….that kind of history"

Red sat on the couch and put his face in his hands "I'm going to be honest with you Leaf, right now I don't know what makes me more scared: Having to face her again after all these years, or the fact that she never called me back until I mentioned you…."

Leaf gave him a puzzled look "Wait, What?"

Red rubbed his head stressfully "Yeah, I must have tried calling her like 20 times and it wasn't till I left a message saying that you wanted to battle her, that she actually responded"

Leaf rubbed her head as well "We're off to a great start aren't we?" she thought.

"Well, if it's that bad for you Red, I can just go myself, I'm not afraid!"

Red shook his head "I HAVE to go! One of the pokemon I'm looking for to complete the pokedex is suspected to be in a cave near Cerulean city"

He stood up and looked out the window "And the only person who has the authority to give me the information about that cave…..is the person who oversees all the affairs in Cerulean….the gym leader"

Leaf sighed, Red was always so confident in himself and it broke her heart to see him like this. This was the same guy who stood up to the law with no fear for her sake and now he looked so frightened over this simple matter.

"So…..what time's the match going to be?" Leaf inquired

"I was told to be there at 12 o clock sharp" Red looked up at the clock "So we should leave soon"