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Green doesn’t remember where their friendship began—he’s always tried to stay hidden, unknown, and Blue is the opposite of that. She knows everybody and has a major presence in the classroom. If a teacher has never taught her, they at least know of her.
And yet Blue sticks to him like glue. They live in the same town, so while it’s not a stretch for them to talk occasionally, Green is closer to her than he will admit. They walk home together, usually with Blue chatting for most of it. He doesn’t mind. She knows all the friend groups at their small school and still chooses to sit with him at lunchtime. They have a mutual understanding of each other. Blue bounces tales of her day off of him—they only have one class together—and he’ll give sarcastic replies. She doesn’t press him to talk about his classes; half are specialized studies and practicums coordinated by his overbearing grandpa/principal and he’d prefer to keep them confined there.
Blue remains the most interesting person in his dreary life for a long time until a new kid moves into their town and starts attending their high school. And she still is because they’re only interesting by extension. Blue has to be the first to meet them, so she leaves him to walk by himself to school. He doesn’t mind that either-it simply means she’ll have a lot to say at lunch. What he doesn’t expect is the kinds of things she has to say.
“Green, he’s perfect . You know how I’ve been wanting to start dating but I know everyone here too much? Red—that’s his name by the way—hits all the points. He’s new, he’s hot , and he’s adorably dorky.” Blue’s making grand gestures with her hands and has a longing look in her eyes. She hasn’t been this excited since she got the lead role in their freshman play. That was three years ago.
“So you’re going to ask him out?” Green’s curious about the new guy, but he doesn’t let it show. He must have made quite the impression on Blue, and that’s not easy when you’ve met basically every type of person.
“Not yet,” Blue drops from her half-standing posture and raises her fingers to start counting as if she saw this question coming. “First I need time. I’m positive he’s the real deal but you never know what people can be like when they get used to you. Second, I don’t want to come off too strong. He seems like a sensitive guy. Third, I want you to meet him.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I want you to like him! And Red needs a guy friend; I can’t be his only friend,” she replies.
“You’re my only friend.”
“Not for long! Oh, here he comes!” Blue flags down someone behind him and Green turns around. He guesses Red is the one with a bewildered look who then smiles at Blue. So he smiles easily.
Blue gets some credit for the description. Green gives Red an above average on the appearance scale and his choice of clothing definitely shouts dorky. It’s a bright red and white jacket with an equally bright yellow backpack. The black wristbands suggest jock but the Pikachu keychain says nerd.
“Hi, Red!” Blue pats the spot next to her and Red doesn’t hesitate to seat himself. “This is my friend Green.”
“Hey.” He’s not used to meeting new people on short notice and looks away when Red smiles and greets him in return. He glares at Blue when she says he’s just a little shy with new people. He’s uncomfortable , not shy. Red laughs, as easy as he smiles.
Red holds out his hand and Blue signals with her eyes to Green to shake it, but he keeps his hands right where they are until Red has to rescind his. The rejection doesn’t appear to faze him as he gets right to talking.
The table quickly becomes a two-sided conversation between Blue and Red with Green making the rare one-word answer when she asks him a question. He’s the first to stand up when the bell rings, and walks away, not bothering to say goodbye to either of them.
It’s afterschool before he knows it, and he waits in the library for Blue to finish up her last class by writing in his journal. It’s not his personal one, but his creative writing one. He’s in the middle of writing potential epithets for the sea when a voice startles him from behind. He snaps the journal shut.
“Hey Green! What are you writing?” It’s Red, who apparently hasn’t noticed the heart attack he nearly caused, and he plops himself on the seat across from Green.
“Nothing.” The word comes out like acid, disintegrating any remaining esteem he had for Red.
“Really? Looked like words to me.” Red still has his chipper tone. Maybe he’s made of steel.
“Why are you here?” Green stuffs the journal in his bag. Not even Red’s absence could get him to write in this mood.
“Oh, did Blue not tell you? She wanted us to walk to Pallet together since we all live there.”
“Of course she does.” Green runs a hand halfway through his hair. He could get out of this. Make an excuse to stay afterschool and though Blue would be able to tell, she wouldn’t call him out in front of Red.
He should have thought ahead. A classmate delivers a message to him and Red that Blue has to stay afterschool so they should walk home together. Green underestimated her, and now he’s stuck in the position he was going to put her in. Well played, Blue.
On that note, Blue must be dedicated to making Green a friend if she’s willing to pass up flirting time with Red.
Red looks a little more uncomfortable after hearing the message, but not enough to make his own excuse to stay afterschool. Green gets up first; he won’t be the one following.
The walk from Viridian is quiet. Red’s not used to Green’s reticence like Blue is, and Green doesn’t make it easy to for him to find something to talk about. Anything about writing earns Red a glare.
They’re halfway through the woodland path to Pallet when a scream pierces the silence. They stop in their tracks but Red acts first, dashing into the forest—the forest rumored to be full of aggressive creatures. Green has no choice but to follow. It’s either that or face Blue’s wrath if anything were to happen to her crush.
His pace is much slower. If something bad is actually going on, Green wants either the choice to back out or the advantage of surprise. The dense leafage blocks much of the sunlight as he traverses deeper but Green doesn’t want to risk being spotted by his flashlight.
A clink at his feet rings out, and he lifts his foot to see a kitchen knife, clean and large, underneath. He has to find Red. Soon. He picks it up and tiptoes a little faster than before.
The sunlight starts to reach the forest floor and Green realizes he’s at the small stream that eventually runs through Pallet. He waits for his eyes to adjust and conceals himself behind one of the surrounding trees.
There’s a few middle school–looking boys and one of them has a iron grip on another boy huddled on the ground, hands covering his neck. One of the boys towering over the huddled one has a knife similar to the one he picked up. Green spots Red a few paces away from them, his hands raised in a show of goodwill.
He’s too far to hear what they’re saying, but he can surmise that the boy with the knife is making the calls. Green does not want to have a fight, so he backs off, skirting the surrounding trees until he sees an opportunity to intervene.
Some rustling behind him causes him and the boys to turn around. He’s still behind a tree so they can’t see him, though he hears a faint ‘who’s there’.
It’s a Kanghaskhan, a foot taller than him, and it’s slowly approaching him. Green swallows air and doesn’t make eye contact. The baby is halfway out of the pouch and is reaching for something on the ground: an apple. Green can see bite marks on the skin, but they’re too dull to break through.
He has an idea. It could get him killed, but there’s already a pretty good chance of that when you’re between a pokémon capable of punching trees down in a single blow and a belligerent teenage boy with a knife. He gingerly picks up the apple but keeps his arm extended. The Kangaskhan growls quietly and the baby whines a little. Green slowly pulls out the kitchen knife, choosing to ignore the stomp Kangaskhan makes, and slices off part of the skin. The baby immediately perks up and extends its little limbs towards the partially peeled fruit. Green backs up into the open, one step at a time, until both he and Kanghaskhan are completely visible to everyone by the stream. He hands the apple over to the baby, who squeals in delight, and Green stares directly at the boy with the knife.
“Get out of here. Now.”
Kanghaskhan makes a noise and the boys instantly sprint along the stream towards Viridian, leaving the huddled boy behind. Before Green can check on him and Red, he feels a tap on his palm. The baby hands over the apple again and pokes at the skin covering the rest of the apple. Green peels the fruit completely and returns it, and the Kanghaskhan makes one final snort before turning back into the forest.
He can see Red help the boy up, and he realizes that they might not be a boy after all. Their hair is a blonde ponytail now tucked in a straw hat that was lying beside them before.
Red is the first to speak. “Green, that was awesome! Where’d you learn to do that?”
“Nowhere, and I’m not doing it again.”
“But you made it look so cool!”
You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew how terrified I was , he thinks.
“Umm, thank you for helping me...” The blonde murmurs. They tilt their head up just enough to look Green in the eyes. “I’m Yellow.”
He nods. “Green. You should head home.”
“Nice to meet you, Yellow! We’ll walk you home,” Red offers.
We? Green wants to remind him that daylight is running thin, but he can’t argue when Yellow sports a small smile and jumps a little ahead to lead the way. Green finds himself unable to ignore their questions and Red uses it to make him chat with the two of them.
By the time they get back to get to Red’s house, which is closer to the town exit than his own, Blue is standing in front of it and waves at them. The sun is hardly visible and the whole town is cast in an orange glow.
“Where were you guys?!” He can see Blue is worried; Green never comes back this late.
Before Green can come up with an vague answer that doesn’t mention the fact that they both nearly died today, Red shouts, “Blue, you won’t believe what Green did today: he handled a pokémon!”
Blue gives him a surprised look, and he doesn’t even bother contending Red’s statement.
So Red retells the story and makes him into some kind of superhero when in reality all he did was cut fruit. But when Red tells the story with his wild gestures and high praise, it’s almost enough to convince him.