Chapter Text
Chapter One----- Blueberry or Chocolate?
There wasn't much to say about Pallet Town. It was small, with a population under five-hundred. Visitors would often call it quaint, and Green used to have trouble discerning which ones meant it as a genuine compliment and which ones didn't know what else to say. Visitors were something Pallet got a lot of. People were always passing through, but never staying. Pallet was a pit stop for everyone but the ones lucky enough to be born into its mediocrity. For all its lack of splendor, the town had a way of trapping its natural-born citizens in its miniscule borders. What inspired such loyalty, Green could never say as he seemed to be the exception to the rule.
Before the year Green turned fourteen, Pallet Town's one and only claim to fame was the Oak Laboratory. His grandfather's laboratory. Green grew up helping with tours from schools as far away as Cerulean City. Never further though, he noted. It was evidently not that interesting, despite the reputation of its namesake.
Green was good at attracting attention to himself so it wasn't too hard keeping elementary schoolers entertained with regurgitated facts he'd overheard, even though he was barely older than they were.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world, at first. But once Oak realized that Green, with a little assistance from the aides, could handle the tours without his help he stopped showing up. Occasionally, he would make a grand entrance and say hello to the kids before slinking back into the section of the lab that visitors, and even Green, were prohibited from entering. The children would whisper in excitement about how lucky they were to see the elusive professor and that made Green seethe because every one of those kids would have had the opportunity to meet Oak if he hadn't pawned all his responsibilities off on his grandson.
Pallet Town's longest standing claim to fame was a monument to everything shitty about Green's childhood and it wasn't long before he hated it. It was the first thing he allowed himself to criticize his grandfather for. Other grievances were to follow.
Red was a different story. The opposite story, to be precise. Red liked the lab, but preferred not to be in the spotlight. Despite much encouragement from Oak, Red would not go to Green's side and help him with the visitors, even though Red knew everything Green did and more.
Green thought that was perfectly fine and didn't understand why Gramps kept trying to nudge Red in a direction he simply wasn't meant to go in. Anyone who knew Red knew he was not and never would be sociable, or at least the general definition of the word. Green knew the Red was all the good things people really meant when they praised someone for being sociable. Nice, accepting, a good listener; the only reason people got it wrong all the time was the Red didn't speak, not since he was a toddler.
Delia mentioned once the Red babbled the same way most toddlers did, but once he had the faculties to understand the concept of what language was, he opted out and hadn't uttered a peep for as long as Green could remember. The townsfolk used to gossip about why Red was the way he was, but like the tiny, insignificant town they lived in, there wasn't much to say.
Until the year that Green turned fourteen, when Pallet Town became the home of not one, but two of the youngest champions in any League's history, and the two youngest period in the Kanto region. On the same day. Within thirty minutes of each other.
Some might say that twenty-four was too young to have a spiking blood pressure. Green was likely to agree, so he resented his sister very much for her role in his acutely declining health.
"It's one week, Green," she pleaded."Just one. How often do I ask you to come home? I know you don't like it there. I wouldn't ask unless we really needed you."
"I thought the muffins were suspicious," Green said.
Daisy avoided his eyes. A look of betrayal was cemented on Green's face as he took another bite out of his muffin. It was delicious.
Truthfully, Greens smelled a rat before Daisy had presented him with a basket of fresh baked goods. She never bothered Green at his office in the middle of the day, saving her ambushes for the evening when she knew he'd be free.
"The kids would love to meet you," Daisy said."All the older folks would like to see you doing well, too...you are doing well, right?"
It was Green's turn to look away.
"Of course I am!" He said with a theatrical flick of his wrist."How could I not be? I have the gym, and my Pokémon. An education. What more does a guy need?"
"Depends on the guy," Daisy said, eyes narrowed appraisingly.
She was five years his senior, old enough to look after him but young enough to remember what it was like to be his age. It was a hard combination to lie to and get away with it. She opened her mouth to ask a shrewd question Green knew he couldn't bullshit through, so he interrupted her.
"Anyway, I doubt the kids will want to see me. I've probably trounced half of them in the gym and the other half have heard the stories of my ruthlessness. "
Daisy's expression was violently neutral as she raised her teacup to her lips and took a long sip, eying him over the rim of the cup.
"Certainly a valid concern, Green. Definitely a legitimate issue."
Green felt like he'd been shot.
"You wouldn't know this considering you never visit," Daisy continued."But not a lot of Pallet Town kids are setting out on journeys these days. Historically speaking, not many trainers come from Pallet. If you'll recall, it was a big deal when both you and Red left at the same time. Color Mania was an exception, of course."
A shiver ran down Green's spine. Color Mania was what the Pallet Gazette dubbed the sky-rocketing rates of teens heading out on Pokémon journeys after Green and Red took the Indigo Plateau by storm. Green balled up that particular newspaper and had Arcanine burn it to a crisp, his only regret being that he didn't have any marshmallows to roast over the flames.
"Don't bring that up again."
"It's a perfectly sound naming choice, you and Red are both-"
"You got to be named after a flower, so don't tell me how to feel about it!"
"Do you want to be named after a flower?" Daisy asked, doubtful.
"Maybe I do. So what? Times are changing, Daisy, I could be named Hyacinth without anyone batting an eye."
"I've let you side track me," Daisy waved away Green's mounting irritation with a flip of her hand."If it's successful, the Firework Festival will bring more traffic to Pallet. The inn, the restaurants, Delia's restaurant; they'd all get a much needed boost. We really need this to work, Green. Things haven't been great lately."
Of course she made a point to say Delia's name. Daisy certainly knew how to pull his strings. Green looked at his lap and the crumbs gathering there, mind suddenly far away.
"That so?"
Daisy nodded grimly.
Green had never managed anything larger than the Viridian Gym, so he couldn't really speak on what sort of shindig was liable to boost the economy of a town that got progressively smaller and poorer every year. Still, he had his doubts and reservations about the plan. One such reservation was, despite spending his entire youth in pursuit of something that made him stand out, Green had begun to appreciate his privacy. It was still nice to meet a fan, but the media was brutal and having his face on the front page was not worth subjecting himself to the slander and lies that tabloids spun on a slow news day.
"We need to pull out all the stops on this one," Daisy said."And Pallet's only got a few of those."
Green snapped back to attention, mouth open and aghast.
"You don't mean..." he trailed.
Daisy scooted the basket of muffins closer to him.
"Have another," she said.
"He's on Mount Silver!" Green stood abruptly, knocking his chair back into the bookcase that towered over his office desk.
"He can leave," Daisy insisted.
"Are you sure?" Green leaned over the desk to get in her face."Because he sure as hell doesn't act like it!"
"Well, maybe he hasn't had a good enough reason." Daisy crossed her arms over her chest.
"And you think some festival is one?" Green huffed a laugh.
Daisy stood up as well and slammed her hands onto the desk, mirroring Green.
"Yes!"
Her bright green eyes shone with something he recognized very well. The will to fight and suffer and struggle for something. The biggest difference between himself and his sister was, now and always, that Daisy only mustered that fire for the sake of others.
Green looked down at the smooshed muffin under his hand, the alluring fruit that had banished him to the underworld, and gave in.
"Okay, fine," Green sighed."I'll go to the festival and do my civic duty."
Daisy relaxed off the desk, expression immediately switched to a broad and sunny smile. She reached across the desk and tugged Green into an uncomfortable hug.
"Thank you, I knew you wouldn't leave us hanging!"
Green sighed again, fluttering the lace around Daisy's collar.
"Can I hazard a guess about who's gonna have to go up that mountain after him?" Green said through clenched teeth.
Daisy pulled back and sat down in her chair, taking her tea cup in hold.
"Probably the only person I know who's done it before," she said.
Green also reseated himself, posture as abysmal as he felt.
"I want more muffins," he said.
Daisy took a long sip of her tea before asking:"Blueberry or chocolate?"