green oak

“Well I can’t say I’m unfamiliar with popularity. I have stories about back in my day!”

GREEN LOOK AT THIS CAN YOU BELIEVE

Something about those words struck a irate chord within the male that prompted him to stop. Again, again. Why was it so damn important for these mission hindering emotions to be introduced to the limelight!? Gold tried his best to not let that turmoil spill out, keep it withheld despite the very horrors they had to go and witness, yet his senior seemed to hold different plans. If only looks could burn in such instances, the one granted towards the gym leader was borderline merciless. A sharp stomp upon the mountain path would drive him to a pause.

“You just won’t get off my damn back about that, will you? This damn importance of me tryin’ to keep this mission pushed first..” The words held a seething tint, making it all the more obvious that Green successfully pinpointed that something very well was wrong with him. Turning fully, the delinquent’s teeth would be shamelessly bared as a snarl was finally conjured from his throat. Once again did images of that decimated town was sparked back into his thoughts. His mind threw him back towards the scarred and bloodied hands reaching for help, those  voices croaking for help or to curse their uselessness.

“How can you keep so calm!? Practically the shining damn example of keeping cool under this kind of pressure!” Gold’s voice spiked as slowly made his way towards his companion. By now did the metaphorical lit boiled over in his heart. There was simply no stopping what turned into a moment quickly diving south. Any mixture of regret of hesitance was burned away, leaving the Dex Holder in a unsightly light.

”People are fuckin’ fried to a crisp down there! You’re tellin’ me that something like that doesn’t piss you off either!? Makes you just want to go and rip the damn heads off these damn maniacs!?” Being collected began to show how it was never a true strong suit for the delinquent. Gold had always been the sort to wear his heart upon his sleeve, with pride at that. It hadn’t even taken a second thought for the decision to be made, that he would carry the potential anger against this group, for them just believing they can raise high hell for their just cause.

“I ain’t stopping until I see them forked to a plate. How is that for wantin’ to know how my day is going?”

Kanto was not fine. Kanto had never been fine, not as long as he’d lived in it. Green knew all too well that nothing was fine underneath the shiny surface that the land presented to the outside world. The mafia controlled everything, power changed hands behind the scenes and the people you could trust dwindled by the day.

He hadn’t become Champion to change that. He wasn’t Red, though he doubted Red had gone down this path intending to change anything himself. He had simply stopped where Green had forged on ahead, helped where Green had turned a blind eye, and though Red had righted some wrongs - the world was too broken for a ten year old boy to fix.

He’s not a Champion now. He’s a Gym Leader. And a researcher. And an adult, or as close to one as he’s getting, and he’s not going to bend down and accept what he sees.

@undinaes @ofpalletown

The last thing he expected to be waiting for him in the living room is his boyfriend and girlfriend, posing in their underwear, deliberately attempting to look like they’re not wearing any.

Green freezes in the doorway and looks from Ash to Misty, a hand slowly coming up to cover his face.

As an adult, he’d learned to appreciate the interest Red showed in his work. No longer being a stubborn child blinded by his own hubris, he understood that it was difficult for the other to strike up conversations sometimes.

Still...

He moves to cover it with an arm, averting his eyes. 

“It’s not done yet,” he huffs, embarrassed for anyone to see the half-formed notes and barely thought out thesis statements. Researching whether or not bond based evolutions could appear in the wild was slowly consuming his life, even if he could prove they were nonexistent he still had to figure out why it was only the bond between trainers that brought it about. 

It was exhausting research and he was running himself ragged trying to figure out the mystery. No region seemed to have a definitive answer - except, perhaps, Alola. And even after weeks here he hadn’t managed to spot one for himself.

It was nice to get out of the lab every once and a while. Green has spent the past several years of his living pouring his heart and soul into rebuilding Viridian City’s reputation and investigating the mysteries of evolution... a vacation, or at least, a chance to do something else was sorely needed.

And so when the offer had come down the pipeline to help establish Alola’s gym, he’d taken it with only the lightest pressure from his sister (”You need to stop or you’re going to end up like Gramps!”) he’d agreed to go. After all, who was he to deprive other regions of his greatness? He’d already spent a few years abroad in Kalos and Alola was right up his alley.

And, well...

Once it had got out that Red was going, wild ponyta couldn’t keep him away. 

Work keeps him from boarding the first flight. He’s delayed another week, but the second he hits the battle tree apartments he ditches his things and goes to track down his old rival. Umbreon tags along at his heels, plopping down obediently at his feet when he knocks on Red’s door.

“We leave as soon as you’re ready.”

This is a first step and to some, the biggest step, into a new world. The moment it’s done, the boy will never be allowed to look back, never be allowed regrets or second thoughts. Giovanni fixes a hard stare on Blue and considers for a fraction of a second the luxury that had never been given to him. Nearly thirty years ago it’d been him standing in an office not unlike this one with a man giving him nearly identical instructions, his words weighted with the same expectations he’s forced on this boy.

Back then he hadn’t cared enough to be given that choice to simply refuse. He’d wanted this and it’d put him on that path that’d led him to here. Why wouldn’t the boy not want the same opportunity? After all he’d been given the impression that he’d wanted more than what he had. And now presented with the chance to finally climb that twisted and perilous ladder that would one day lead him to the top, to where he is now, he senses only hesitation.

“Remember, Agent Blue. You can always refuse a mission if that’s what you so desire.” He speaks without emotion, but his hand upon the folder curl into a fist. “There are plenty of members within Team Rocket who’ve remained as agent for years and are perfectly content with remaining as such.”

It’s a step that he has to take.

If he wants to belong here, if he wants Giovanni’s attention and affection... if he wants to stand as one of the few lucky enough to have his attention and a smidgen of his trust, then he can’t fail this. He can’t balk at this test, he can’t retreat, lest Giovanni be disappointed that he’d taken that boy in all those years ago.

What’s a little red in his ledger? 

If he wanted to be a Team Rocket member then he had to stand tall. Stand shoulder to shoulder with his fellow agents and weather whatever came with the same dignity that they maintained. He would not retreat, even if he felt a knot of disgust welling in his guts at the choice he was about to make.

What did a man feed a boy who’d been on the brink of death? In all his years it was never about how he could mend a body back together so much as what he could do to ruin one. His hands were meant to harm and destroy, not heal. And yet the fates and whatever forces in the universe that had some pull over his life deigned to make him the caretaker to a boy who never seemed to know when to shut his mouth. Near death experiences be damned, that wouldn’t be enough to silence his unwanted charge. 

“You sound as if you already have a good idea.” He turned from the cupboard and the provisions, holding a silver packet of dried rations that he knew from personal experience would taste terrible, but at least it would provide the nutrition that a body needed to remain healthy. What the boy really needed was something soft and in liquid form, something that he lacked in this cabin, but Giovanni always knew how to improvise. 

“Why ask questions when you already know the answer? I think you more than anyone else should know what happens when start poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” A lab full of excruciating experiments, a prison cell hundreds of feet underground or an open grave somewhere in a forest – unlike the boy, he knew since he’d given such orders in the past. 

He tore open the silver packet and emptied its contents into a bowl and followed that up by pouring water on top of the block of dehydrated rations. It soaked an entire canteen up in seconds and it looked no more appetising this way than it did before, but it would have to do. He doubted the boy in his current state would manage more than few mouthfuls either. This would be a slow convalescence and he dreaded the coming weeks. 

“Team Rocket,” his mouth twisted around the words as though it pained him to even acknowledge that abomination, “has turned Kanto into a circus ring. Let’s just say those experiments you saw in those labs were only the beginning. There are people missing. Important people and the police can barely lift a finger since they’re nothing but a farce.”

He pauses long enough to shove the bowl and a spoon into the teen’s hands. “Same thing goes for the League itself. There’s no one with the strength or ability to stop them anymore.”

He would have done well to stay his hand, to steer clear of the obvious trap that lay before him. Green had known the game had changed but he had been too stubborn to admit it, too cocksure and certain that he could handle whatever Kanto threw at him as its Champion... but he wasn’t that. Not at heart. That belong to Red, to Lance, to anyone who dared to challenge all that Kanto had to offer and maintained the broader picture in mind.

He was good at planning long term. At zeroing in on his goals.

He wasn’t a big picture kind of guy.

i.

They’re five and don’t get what marriage is, other than it’s a commitment to stay together forever. Green is loud and obnoxious and Ash hasn’t yet come into his own, but he’s pretty sure it’s always going to be like this. He proposes with a ringpop and they exchange hershey’s kisses, and tell everyone within earshot that they’re married.

It doesn’t last.

Ash learns to stand on his own two feet and Green panics, cuts the wedding off. The friend divorce is messy and Green leaves him with nothing but his loneliness.

ii.

He kicks his ass.

Kicks his ass hard. Arcanine is a beast and not even that nightmare of a Pikachu stands a chance. He grins down at him, feeling bright and self-assured. He won’t admit that he’s jealous to see Ash Ketchum with companions, or think about how much he wishes they were on this journey together.

“Well, smell you later loser. I got bigger fish to fry.”

He tries to breeze past but Ash catches his shoulder. Grabs his wrist and tries to yell at him, spins him around and their face to face. The kid is yelling at him and lecturing him even though he’s lost, and Green can’t help himself.

He kisses him.

He laughs it off later but it doesn’t matter it happened. Ash looks stunned and the girl he’s with looks pissed but this is it. No going back.

He shoes him back and storms off.

iii. 

They’re older now. Ash swings by Viridian Gym after trying to conquer another league, and Green flashes him a lazy grin. They’re less angry now and time has cooled their heads, though a friendly challenge still does the body good.

He tells him about the success of the gym, the doors it’s opened, and Ash tells him about the legends he’s encountered. It makes his heart burn with jealousy - but it’s the tales of his friends that make it all the worse.

Ash is having adventures without him.

When he leaves, he stops the other teen with a touch of the wrist. Bends to kiss his hand and grins up at him.

“You’d better be league royalty by the time you get back here!”

iv.

They’re travelling together. The three of them. Him, Misty and Ash. The tension is boiling over and he knows eventually, something’s going to crack. Even Ash seems to be catching on - he catches him looking at the two of them with a confused look, as if he’s seeing them for the very first time.

He doesn’t think he should make a move.

Yet under the starry skies, sitting on the Alolan beach, Green finds his hand seeking Ash’s. He squeezes gently and Ash squeezes back, and he tilts his head just in time to catch Ash’s lips as they crash against his in a clumsy kiss.

v.

It’s all of them or none of them. They establish that early on and it sticks. Four years in and it’s stuck.

He comes home from the conference dead tired and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and die. But he sees them there, holding a card with his name on it - excited and so ready to see him home.

The tiredness abates.

He rushes forward.