#dyinginferno

    “You can’t just — Leaf.”

Yeah, there’s nothing he could do. At least his room wasn’t messy. How’d she even find what apartment he was even staying at this time? Did she have Green keep tabs on him? Or —

He quickly snatched a few magazines, hiding it from her view. She was getting too close.  

“I can’t just what, Fire?”

Leaf’s question hung in the air as she stopped moving for a bit, and stared straight in his direction. What was he holding? Magazines?

Good thing she wasn’t looking for a magazine, or she’d have kicked it out of his hands right then and there.

“I’m not leaving; I’d just arrived! And I’ll never ditch you, so you throw away your hopes and dreams of me doing so. ... Now... Where is that thing?”

It’s blaring through the speakers, just like always, bringing him to wince as he holds his phone out a good distance away from his ears. She’s always been this loud, hasn’t she? Maybe it’s just him growing old, ‘cause he brings his empty hand to brush back his spiky bangs before speaking, hearing the bones of his spine pop as he straightens back up again. He can’t be that old yet, can he?

He looks at the time and realizes that little ‘nap’ he’d taken a bit ago, isn’t as short as he’d hopes it is, so he shuffles off to his closet. There’s a pile in the corner there with an old picture of the route raiders all framed up, half covered by a worn shirt.

Green’s answer comes in a lazy drawl, “yeah, yeah. ‘m up already.” He juggles the phone between his shoulder and his cheek as he struggles to get some decent pants on. “I’ll be there soon.” The shirt can stay; it’s not that dirty anyways, (and it’s just slightly wrinkly,) and he grabs his belt with his pokeballs.  

It doesn’t take Green long before he makes it to Leaf’s house.

“Oh, you are already?” Leaf’s voice is as bright as ever, even though the covers are still all the way up to her shoulders. She remembers him as the type to sleep in and be grumpy in the morning -- but it seems that time really did change everyone for the better. Leaf rolls over to her side to free her arm that’s holding her phone. 

“See you soon -- ma’s downstairs, she’ll get you the door.”

She cuts the call and lays in her bed for a while more. The box for Green is on her study desk (check!), the box Green is to hand to Red right next to it (check!), and there’s also Fire’s. That one she’ll personally hand to him, she thinks. 

Groaning, Leaf drags herself out of bed. But once her feet touch the wooden floorboards, she’s off running towards the bathroom -- today’s the day they’re going to Celadon! 

“Lea-aaah! Don’t run upstairs!” her mother yells from downstairs, and Leaf slams the bathroom door in response. “Lea, I tell you -- oh!”

Mrs Wolfesbane just shakes her head at her daughter. She’s only just getting ready when Green is already walking through the gates to their house? Thankfully breakfast is already done -- Green can eat while he waits.

They’d told her that the League had gotten a legendary trainer to join the Pokémon World Tournament south of Driftveil. Leaf didn’t believe them until she heard a girl gushing over her defeat -- that the trainer had had all the starter pokémon from Kanto, and that they were all unnaturally strong. That could only mean one person, because Green would have told her if it was Redmund, and --

The words were out of her mouth before she even realised it. “Red?!”

“Yes, it’s Red. That child prodigy. The mythical champion,” said the girl, almost swooning as she waltzed away with her altaria. “Oh, I should have gotten an autograph!”

That ... didn’t sound right to Leaf. No way he was off the mountain. Green hadn’t told her anything -- or was Green hiding something from her? She grabbed her phone and started mass texting Green in blatant ignorance of the time difference between Unova and Kanto.

The light from the two monitors atop Cal’s desk was the only source of illumination in his room. With his hood over his head and nothing but the sound of his fingers dancing about on his keyboard, Cal felt safe. Untroubled. Like he could finally catch his breath.

He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of someone trying the door. Too bad -- it was locked. Why would he leave it unlocked if he didn’t want to be disturbed? Whoever had tried it had evidently no inclination of giving up.