asteism

vvolfesbane

dyinginferno

As soon as he was let go, Fire could feel the air rush back into his lungs. Oh, sweet as it was, he knew he had to move away from the duo as quickly as he could. His room might not be salvageable, but he certainly was. He backed up against the wall behind Leaf, which was probably the safest place at the moment.

There wasn’t an inch of sympathy he held for Green’s treatment. Even he’d seen that was coming from a mile away, and there was no stopping a rampaging taurus like Leaf can be sometimes.

Hopefully, she’d stop soon.

Maybe it was due to how long she’d held him in her grip or his sheer inability to deal with these situations or maybe even both – either way, he felt very tired. His eyes were heavy, and he found himself leaning against the couch, still sitting on the floor. 

He closed his eyes.  

Maybe when he woke up again, he’d find it was all just a dream. He’d fallen into some pit of water and wake up in a hospital or in bed. All fine. Maybe the magazine wasn’t even a thing. Maybe he was still in the middle of a battle, dazed and lost by a pokemon’s attack. 

Leaf wasn’t even fazed by Green’s eventual response to her display of violence. As far as she knew, he deserved every single second of pain that he was going through. It was her own brand of justice, served piping-hot and just right. Fire had disappeared from view - probably behind her, huh? - but perhaps, it was for the better.

She knew where to direct her anger at. It wasn’t Fire’s fault that her face was all over a magazine with regionwide circulation. And as far as Kanto publications were concerned, they often made their way onto Johto shelves as well. That alone was something Green could never hope to atone for.

Had he even asked her permission?! No.

Had he asked Fire? Probably, but did he ever ask Fire which pieces were okay to publish and which weren’t? No. Green probably just scooped a couple of sketchbooks up into his arms and picked the single piece that Fire put most of his heart into creating.

A picture of her and Charizard mid-battle with her messy hair – ARGH!!! Just thinking of it again renewed Leaf’s anger.

She took a deep breath before she lost it again.

Any more kicks, and Green would probably need a hospital. Right now, he could suffer as he was.

“Green. The next time you pull a stunt like this, you’re going down harder than you did today. And I’ll make good on that promise, you hear me.”

No more exclamation marks.

Leaf wasn’t joking this time.

Red was good at many things.

Like pokémon training, pokémon battling, not getting in people’s way, doing as people told him to … amongst others.

But there was one thing he was never good at, and that was doing the right thing at the right time.

Just yesterday, Fire had made his art debut in an art magazine of some sorts, and Green wanted to celebrate the occasion by reuniting the Route Raiders in Unova. That sounded like a great plan, and Red looked forward to seeing everyone in the flesh. Especially Leaf – she was as elusive as wind. She came and went as she pleased, but that was how she was.

Green had handed him three things then: The keys to Fire’s apartment, a good amount of money, and reusable shopping bags for when he bought food and drink for the party.

Now, he had spent the money getting fried chicken, pizza, soda, and some sort of sparkling white grape juice that looked like champagne. He swapped the shopping bags all onto one hand, and turned the key to the apartment.

It was all quiet from the outside, so Red figured the big reveal wasn’t done yet.

He stepped into the apartment, and closed the door behind him with a soft click.

Oh hey, everyone was there already.

Leaf was just standing there with her fists clenched like always. Fire was napping. And Green was napping too, with a magazine over his face and his hand on his stomach. Maybe he passed out from hunger. 

Oops, was he late? That figures. He did get caught up at the pizza place due to a mixed-up order even though he’d ordered it prior to getting there.

Apologetically, he dropped the shopping bags and tossed his hands in the air in some sort of celebration.

“Guys …………………………. party time!”

Had Professor Oak been around to witness Red’s gross miscalculation of the situation at hand, he would have had an aneurysm.

Green dragged his hand down his face slowly, pulling the magazine along with it to fall onto his lap. He let out a small groan, from both the pain of the beat down and Red’s very accurate assumption of the situation before them.

“Impeccable timing as always, Red ol’ buddy.”

It probably wasn’t a good idea to stand just yet, not until Leaf decided to help Red or leave or just not stand in front of him with those fists of hers. He really wasn’t looking to get knocked down again. Gawd, was she an underground boxer or something, that actually, really, hurt!

“Mind if you could, uh.”

Wow, speechless for once?

it was probably the pain.

Definitely the pain.

He pushed himself up into a better seating position, moving the knocked out clock away from his lap, along with the magazine.

“Start us off, yeah?” 

He jutted a thumb over to Fire. 

“I don’t think that one is anywhere ready to be as much as a trendsetter as you just yet.” 

dyinginferno

Why was he the one dragged into the middle of their fight? The way Leaf was shaking him has his head in a tizzy. As the collar tightens, so does the airway he has. Air’s becoming more and more like a dream and having it literally shaken out of him as Leaf’s agitation grows–

He just wanted to spend the day off sleeping.

Maybe sketching.

Or traveling outside with Pika and just enjoying what little time left before winter comes at full force.

Instead, there has to be this.

The sad part was, he didn’t even reach up to loosen Leaf’s grip. Fire let himself dangle there, pulled and shaken much like a toy caught in a lilpup’s jaw. He doubted that even Green’s arcanine was ever this terrible to his chew toys as a growlithe.

His teeth clenched together after a while as he struggled to get some semblance of normalcy in this … thing. Whatever it was. Battle of the green aesthetic.

“Leaf … I need to breathe.”  

Leaf would never kill a friend, but boy could she hurt them like no tomorrow. And hurt them physically she would, especially against someone as infuriating as Green Oak and his stupid shit-eating grin and know-it-all attitude and thinking he was smarter than her which was so, so unforgivable.

She yelled, dropped Fire, and rushed Green with the force of a great typhoon.

With her sights set on Green, nothing could stop her as she angled herself for a kick to his abdomen. Lea F. Wolfesbane’s kicks were backed by years of training. No piece of plywood ever stopped her cold. No door would stand after she was done with it.

Even Charizard knew better than to stop her when she threatened to kick him. Even Mewtwo once said if Leaf were reborn a pokémon in her next life, she would know BRICK BREAK.

No mere human would ever stand in her way.

THEY WOULD ALL GO DOWN LIKE BOWLING PINS.

Green was about to get himself wrecked for not checking himself.

She had always lightly punched him in good fun, but this was the first time he was about to get a kick. Not just any play-kick, but a real hard kick. 

“MY POSTER, HUH?!”

—— and then she kicked him.

“Try that on for size, Green! And take this with you!!”

She picked the magazine up, and for good measure, slam-threw it down on his face.

He expected a kick, a playful one like usual, something that he could easily catch, slide back a few steps, and be done with it. 

What he got was his back slamming against the wall and that stupid, plastic clock falling from its place in the ceiling onto his head as he attempted to recover. Seeing stars would have been a nice thing compared to how his stomach felt. At least she didn’t get him in the ribs. He needed that a little more. 

And he coughed, just in time to get hit in the face with the magazine.

It wasn’t blood that spilled, but he was thankful that he hadn’t eaten yet.

Still, the magazine was the last straw. The last bit that rendered him completely speechless for once in his god-damned life. He was lucky in that regard, anything thing he would have said would be likely purposefully anger her.

Green was completely innocent here! 

His intentions were entirely pure! There was nothing here that he’d lied about. It was just Leaf and all of her --- Leafness --- overreacting to every little thing. Come on, anyone would be thrilled to know they ended up in a magazine like that. It’s like modeling without the pay and the work but with all the fame!

At the very least, she could spare Fire’s feelings.

dyinginferno

He let out a half choking sound at the sudden movement. If it wasn’t for that, maybe, just maybe he would have said something about not being a rag doll. Just what was he doing here between these two other than getting caught up in their fight again.

Man, he wasn’t any better than a cub caught by the scruff of his back. He could barely move from her grip, wriggling seemed like a very bad idea at this rate, so he kind of just hung there.

Waiting.

Just drop him already, Leaf.

“… ?”

This poster that Leaf was looking for. Green couldn’t have mentioned which of the paintings he’s done. Just that he’d taken some out of his “journals” and gotten them published, and knowing how he was, he didn’t even check which Green had decided to throw out there.

He could feel his face heat up at the sudden realization.

It was her poster, so it couldn’t have been that picture, could it?

“ … … you didn’t …” 

He tried to reach for the magazine. To open it up or throw it out the window, he wasn’t exactly sure at this point which would be the better option.    

Look in the magazine for what purpose, exactly?! Green was in one of his dumb mysterious moments, like he was Tuxedo Mask or something. Actually, Tuxedo Mask was probably a good way to describe how he was acting right now. Dude did nothing except show up with roses and sparkling teeth and wave his stupid cape around against a fancy background.

Totally Green.

“You said I was supposed to look –” she took a deep breath, “– for a poster!! Nothing, no mention of a magazine. How was I supposed to KNOW –” another deep breath, “– that it’s in the Upcoming Mysterious Small Town Artist copy of so many other copies of magazines that is practically scattered around –” Leaf shook Fire by the collar, as if he would magically drop another copy of the art magazine out of his shirt, “– THIS HOLE OF AN APARTMENT?!”

She seethed.

And then she grabbed the magazine off the couch, and flung it right into Green’s face. Right on the centre spread. Right where the headline off in the corner repeated what it said on the front page. Right at the page that UPCOMING MYSTERIOUS SMALL TOWN ARTIST in block letters off in the corner.

Right where a familiar face was.

Her face.

Her goddamn face and wind-tousled messy hair and Charizard and the baby blue vest that she had three of but only worn two because she kept the third for very special occasions.

It looked up at her from the magazine that slid off Green’s face and landed face-up on the floor.

Leaf’s hand tightened around Fire’s collar.

“……… Green Oak.”

Sure, getting hit in the face with a magazine was slightly painful, but no more annoying than how she was acting. Just look at her. If she had actually paid attention, he hadn’t lied at all. 

She was practically a model! Just look at her figure. Definitely a teen girl’s ideal --- at least, one they’d like to be. Yep. Who wouldn’t want to be portrayed as a strong, independent woman with a blazing charizard to match?

The fact it was all painted by her bestest best friend in the whole wide world made it even better!

That shit eating grin he was well known for only grew as she called his name. A normal person might have been just a touch scared, but him? Nah. They were friends, and she wouldn’t kill a friend.

He placed his hands on his hip, laughing. 

“You see? What’d I tell you? Your poster’s in a magazine at Fire’s place.”

Throwing his hands up, he continued, shaking his head. 

“Did I lie? Nope!”

Then he held his hands out towards the poster, palms upward. 

dyinginferno 

Palkia come and swallow him up right now. 

He wouldn’t mind getting swallowed by legendary from another region as long as it saves him from this nonsense. Just what in the world was going on? How did he even get the key here? Did the landowners just give it to anyone who claimed to be his friend at this point? Or did they just use their powers as hall of famers to get whatever they wanted.

Okay, maybe she didn’t need to do that.

She could just sniff out his melancholy and find him anywhere, but Green?

Don’t tell him that Red was somewhere around here too.

And then he just had to do that. Teasing her was one thing, but this? This was way too much — for both of them. It’s bad enough that she thought it was going to be some perverted thing, but.

Come on.

“ … …. …. eh. ” 

Leaf whirled around, all fangs and hisses as she glared at Green. How dare he walk in like he owned the goddamn scene. How dare he come in as if this was all an elaborately orchestrated scheme. Just seconds ago, she had been calling him out on his shit. He would have heard all of it.

Every single word of it. 

“What is your idea, huh?” 

She spat her syllables as she turned on Green, slapping away his hand on her back as she balled her hands into fists. The gaze that she shot at him was sharp enough to pierce through even Mewtwo’s barriers. 

“What’s awesome, Green? Your stupid idea of a treasure hunt, or your dodrio-dumb plan to hang out near Fire’s apartment until I found the magazine that doesn’t even have the limited edition poster I wanted?”

She would have kicked him in the abdomen right there and then if it weren’t for Fire. Green got lucky this time.

Leaf reached out, grabbed Fire by the collar, pulled him closer, and pointed to his face.

“This guy here – had his house turned upside-down courtesy of me because you promised me he had the poster I was looking for. And what’s here? Nothing. Nothing but a box of magazines. Where’s the thing, Green? WHERE IS IT?!”

If his answer was the wrong answer, some violence was about to go down, no shit.

Aw, she’s all embarrassed. How cute. He knew she was always the tsundere type. Just look at her! With that kind of power behind her, she had to be one of the two stereotypes and --- hey, Red and Fire definitely called the kuudere thing. Anyone who’s just met her, could probably tell she’s the “tsun” type all the way.

Just --- look at her anger. 

It’s perfect.

“Well yeah, I mean --”

He stopped and stared at her for a moment. Those gears in his head came to a pause and then spun into over drive.

It still didn’t compute.

“Wait a minute.”

 His hands up and flailing by the time Fire (poor Fire) came into the picture, dragged by his own handiwork into their little misunderstanding or two. Or five? 

It was hard to keep track.

He looked down at her, trying to make sure if she was serious about this.

She was.

“You haven’t even looked at it yet?”

He dragged a hand over his face, pulling his hand downwards. What the heck, Leaf. Was she really this dense? How far into her thick skull did he gotta hammer down? And Fire, as sorry as he was for the kid, he’s and adult now. He’s gotta learn to stand up to her, even just a little or enough not to be literally dragged around by her.