Chasing After A Legend

Not-So-Calm Before The Storm

"Human talking"

'Human thinking'

"Human talking in flashback"

"Pokémon talking (present time or flashback)"

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Seven years ago...

Charizard didn't even fully touch ground when Green hopped off and landed on the dirt road. Without even sparing a glance back, he pulled out Charizard's Poké Ball and returned his flying companion before sprinting off northwest.

'There's no way,' Green told himself as he ran. 'There's no fucking way.'

He could barely register a female voice shouting his name behind him, but he ignored it, thoughts preoccupied by a certain crimson-eyed individual.

'I know I was outta line. I know I said some things I probably shouldn't have said, done some things I probably shouldn't have done...'

After just under a minute of running, Green could already see two of the houses in Pallet Town come into view, sitting side by side to each other. The one on the right was his own, but it was the one on the left that he was there for...

'But there's no way that Red Akai, that headstrong, goody-two-shoes, self-righteous idiot would run away...!'

As he approached the front yard of the Akai residence, he saw that someone else – a girl – was already there, staring at the porch and the closed front door. She wore a white bucket hat with a half of a Poké Ball logo; underneath it, her luscious, silky brown hair reached just above the small of her back. She wore a turquoise tank top and a candy-red miniskirt, along with celeste stockings and white shoes with a single blush-colored stripe across each of them. Even in the fading light of the evening sky, her smooth and creamy skin glistened and added to the already alluring effect of her curvy, enchanting figure. By all accounts, she was nothing less than drop-dead gorgeous.

But Green knew this person – he had traveled with her for three months prior. And in that time, he learned how to pick out the finer details of her posture; that is, the hints of weakness in it. For instance, if one were to look as carefully as he did, they would realize that the woman was shaking oh-so slightly. Her grip on the strap of her yellow satchel bag was so tight, her knuckles were turning white. And as Green got close enough, he realized that what he was used to seeing in those azure irises – twinkles of playfulness, along with passion comparable to the depths of the sea – were no longer there. All that was left were a pair of dull, blank eyes, accompanied by a slightly open mouth and quivering lip.

"Blue..." Green tried to get her attention. "What happened...?"

The young woman blinked, only just registering that Green was there. "I... I don't know..." a timid, choked voice escaped Blue's throat – nothing like the confident, melodious high-pitched sound that Green was used to. "I just... I knocked on the door and Mrs. Akai opened it, but... as soon as she saw me, she just... froze..." After that last word, she gasped, as if unable to believe it herself.

"C'mon, talk to me, Blue..." Green urged. "What then?"

"And then I..." Blue sniffed. "And then I told her I was there to see Red, and she... Green, she was so angry! She went absolutely crazy and started screaming at me to get out...!" She shuddered as she recalled what transpired just moments ago. "I think... I actually think she would have tried to hurt me if I didn't back away...!"

Green bit his lip and shot a glance at the Akai home, suddenly feeling a sense of danger just by standing in the front yard, when he heard a bout of sniffling from behind them. The grandson of Professor Oak turned around to see that a short, blonde girl wearing a straw hat had caught up to him. Her manner of dress vaguely resembled that of a fisherman, consisting of a pair of purple boots, blue trousers, and a yellow dress that she wore over a black long-sleeved top. As she looked at them, tears were spilling out of her brown, gentle eyes.