Blue has a routine that is dictated by his class schedule and his health. In the morning, he gets up ungodly early every day of the week, even Saturdays, because he has an ungodly early class on Tuesday, and his migraines necessitate that he keeps a regular sleep schedule. He pads into the kitchen in the buff and medicates with a glass of water while overlooking the green space across the street through the window sitting high above the sink. Most mornings are damp and overcast. That is, if the sun is even up. His thyroid medication comes first because it has many interactions and so cannot be taken with anything else but must be taken with a full glass of water. He leaves his other medications for breakfast.
He pads to the bathroom. He showers, shaves, and saves brushing his teeth for last. He dresses for the day, frequently professional for the expectations of his school, and Umbreon is finally willing to be awake at this hour because of its nearness to breakfast. He cooks, mainly simple, fast dishes, and scoops some of this into Umbreon's bowl along with her kibble because she is spoiled, and he is lax.
After breakfast, they head down to the common area out back and the rest of his team stretches free from their poké balls and has their own meal. Tyranitar plays Godzilla with Pidgeot and Arcanine. Pidgeot squawks and generally acts victimized. Arcanine plays the hero, but Tyranitar will sulk if he doesn't win the day, so Arcanine happily plays second best. Blastoise goes sniffing around with Umbreon, each of them turning up their noses at the discoveries of the other, but they bicker companionably. Alakazam watches the others with dispassionate disapproval and will deign to listen to Blue vent if he needs someone to talk to.
Eventually, the fun is over and is habitually cut short on Tuesdays. His team returns to their poké balls, and Blue and Umbreon go back home. Blue packs his bag for the demands of the day, making sure to stuff in his glasses for reading and his rescue migraine meds. He says goodbye to Umbreon and heads out.
School is one continuous block of time where he dedicates his whole self to the expansion of his mind, so that others might one day benefit from his expertise. He TAs for a class or two and handles his students' needs with reserved enthusiasm. It is a privilege to be someone that others come to for help, and Blue has worked tirelessly for years at the thankless task of being a student in order to be this respected.
In the evening, he comes home to Umbreon's unconditional love, puts his keys in the same place every time, and dresses down for a quiet night indoors with the exception of escapades for the care of his team. He usually calls Leaf or Yellow after dinner, and sometimes Kris will answer one of the other's pokégears. They complain loudly about their days, but Kris wants to be told stories about his thesis. Yellow nags him to take better care of himself and socialize more, but Blue opens up his schedule book and sees school, turns a page and sees school, turns another page and sees school. She proposes radical solutions from online dating to pen pals. Blue makes few concessions—doesn't want to. Yellow broke up with him but has never separated herself from the part of their relationship where she assumes undue responsibility for him. Blue feels babied and patiently rejects this side of Yellow, like she rejected him romantically.
The night ends with sleeping pills and a pitch-black room.
***
Blue raises both eyebrows when he gets another letter from this Red character. In between grading undergraduates' tests at his desk in the evening, he pulls out the letter opener and settles in for a read.
Blue,
I notice you're still writing to me, so you can't be that offended. Yes, I'm a man. Sorry for calling your friend a guy. No, I don't actually own a map. That defeats the purpose of exploring. My team and I find all sorts of amazing places when we get lost.
Why can't you put "Red" on an envelope? It should be fine. That's what everyone knows me as.
I've thought of an answer to your question about what Hoenn is like. It's cramped. There's people everywhere, and the sea routes are surrounded by rocks, so you're closed off from the open ocean and can't travel as far as you want.
Slateport is just a city. We're moving on. Please send your next letter to: 4-1-2 Memaru, Mauville City Kumamoto 861-3672
By the way, getting out of your apartment is not the same as "getting out." Are there any cool places to explore in the Galar region? Wherever it is?
-Red
Blue finds himself reading with his head in his hand and wondering what kind of traveler doesn't own a map. He takes note of how Red describes an entire region as cramped, and looks around at his apartment, which often feels too huge for him to conquer in the mornings. As he reads the last lines, he thinks to himself, Fine, you have my attention. He sets the letter aside, fishes the other out of the shred pile, and goes back to grading papers.
***
On Saturday, they do something unspeakable. Blue neglects the reading he normally does for his thesis, and he and Umbreon take the train to the wild area. It's a bowl of verdant nature carved out in the middle of human civilization. Motostoke's and Hammerlocke's impossibly high walls close it off in the distance.
Umbreon stumbles around for a bit, acting like an incautious Eevee years younger than she is, while Blue sets his other pokémon free like this place is a pokémon resort. Then Umbreon raises up her hackles like a black Jolteon and headbutts a tree in a method of getting wild pokémon to appear that is from a lifetime ago. She looks confused and disappointed when nothing shows. Blue has to catch his breath from the nostalgia. They move along.
Tyrogue challenge them endlessly, until the point where they're buffeting off an exasperated Tyranitar, who refuses to battle them on principal but caves and does so anyway out of desperation to get them to stop. Blue learns that he's half-forgotten the move sets of his team and that they have forgotten how to respond to him efficiently.
They take a much needed break after a while and try out a little picnicking. Alakazam loves his cucumber finger sandwiches but won't admit it. Pidgeot forces him to throw his food in the air, so he can catch it in his beak and squawk about it.
After lunch, they wander for some time. The lakes and waterways in this space are vast, but they don't have Gyarados with them and Blastoise doesn't want to swim. Umbreon prances on ahead looking for trouble. They come closer to the city walls and reach a place where archways tower above them into the sky and divide the land between their side where it is dry and the other side where it is raining. They watch the downpour through the arches for some time. Blue takes out his pokégear and photographs the scene. The spray coming off of the curtain of rain casts little rainbows in what muted sunlight there is.
Blue decides to give one good battle a go forUmbreon's sake, who's still acting like a foolhardy Eevee. They find a goodcandidate in a determined-looking Gallade, but they quickly realize they'reoutmatched from their lack of practice, and when they try to run, they getchased. Blue gets in some excellent cardio and curses Red's name. He writes theman a reply on the train ride home, buys him a map of Hoenn in the station, andprints him off one of the pictures he took when he gets home.
YOU ARE READING
Letters to You (RedxBlue)
FanfictionAlola!Red and Blue have never met and just became penpals. Read to see how their story turns out. Excerpt: "Trying not to think of Blue, Red reasons, is like trying to hold your breath."
