Chapter Text
Somehow, when Red became champion, he hadn’t been expecting the vast amount of paperwork he’d have to do. Yet here he is, struggling his way through a stack of paper an inch high.
Why is he doing this instead of battling? Red has no idea. Absolutely none.
“Red?” Lance asks from where he’s sitting at the lounge table across from Red. “You okay? You look a little zoned out there.”
That’s because I am, Red thinks morosely. Tilting his head towards Lance, he writes out a question on a slip of paper.
Why are there so few challengers now?
Because for the first couple years of him being champion, there had been around five to six trainers challenging the League every week. Not a lot, but enough to make his position interesting. Now, though? For the past few months practically no one has been coming along to challenge them and the only people Red got to battle were the Elite Four. A challenge, sure, but not enough to ward off the boredom.
Lance chuckles when he reads the question Red had written. “That’s probably because of our new gym leader,” he says. “Practically no one gets through him.”
Who is it? Red writes. If the new gym leader is so good, maybe Red should go battle him. It could be interesting.
“Don’t you know?” Lance asks, frowning. “It’s Green. Your old rival. Remember?”
Red most certainly remembers Green. He remembers a smirking, prideful brunet who was somehow always one step ahead of Red and mocked him for it. He, however, does not remember when Green became a gym leader.
When did he become gym leader? And which gym? Red asks. Lance reads the questions, then looks at Red incredulously.
“Don’t you remember?” he asks. “We discussed this a few months ago. I asked you to approve Green Oak as the new Viridian City gym leader.”
Actually, Red does have a faint recollection of Lance asking him that, but Red hadn’t really paid attention. He’d just signed the form wherever Lance asked him to.
Lance sighs. “Guess you don’t,” he says, sounding exasperated. “Well, if you want, you can go check out the gym. You don’t seem very interested in your paperwork anyway.”
Red nods guiltily and stands up, pushing his chair back. Lance stands up as well, sifting through a binder.
“Here,” Lance says. “It’s a gym inspection form. Just go in, show the form to one of the trainers, and they’ll take you to the gym leader. Follow the form and fill it out, then come back. Okay?” He hands Red the form, as well as a clipboard and a pencil.
Red nods, feeling rather nervous. He hasn’t seen Green in years. If he’s being honest with himself, Red misses their friendship. He misses how close they were when they were younger.
“Good,” Lance says. “Go on, then.”
Red nods once again and walks out of his office, one hand gripping the clipboard(now with the form attached to it) and pencil, the other on Charizard’s pokeball.
Maybe Green will be the same jerk as always. Maybe he won’t.
Red doesn’t know. Standing outside of the Indigo League building, he summons Charizard and points towards Viridian City.