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“I’m leaving.”
Green stands on Red’s front porch with a gift basket of wrapped butterscotch cookies and sunflowers. The air outside is torrid with summer and noisy with the cries of butterfree and pidgey.
Red stares at his rival as he stands frozen, his hand stuck to the door, his expression a surprised mess. Green really blindsided him with this. After a minute to process, Red signs confusedly. “Where?”
“Anywhere,” Green says impassively. “Galar. Kalos, maybe. I’m leaving.”
“Why?”
Why stay?” Green counters with a tilt of his head.
Red’s stumped on how to answer that. It's been a year since he returned from Mt. Silver and he’s just now getting around to feeling normal again. Green has been instrumental in that, and he thought—well, he’s not sure what he thought. But Green leaving so soon after he got back was not something that ever crossed his mind.
“Gym?” Red offers, eyes squinting. It’s not like Green to abandon his responsibilities. That’s Red’s shtick.
Green shrugs that concern off. “My second has that handled. I already signed the paperwork. Finding a permanent replacement is Lance’s job now. Or Gold’s I guess. Not sure how that works.”
Red’s not sure either. He didn’t stick around long enough to learn how the league actually works. But this is a lot to take in at noon. Red just got up. He keeps looking at Green like he’s insane.
Green holds out the gift basket. “I got you this as a parting gift—rival to rival. I can vouch for the cookies.”
Obviously, Green is not seeing that Red is having a moment. Galar? Kalos? That far? And why all of a sudden? This abrupt departure doesn’t sit well with Red.
Red leaves the door open as he steps back and puts on his sneakers. This isn’t how they’re going to say goodbye. There’s more to this story than what Green’s telling him and—from rival to rival—Red deserves to know the truth.
“Walk,” Red signs before closing his front door behind him. He motions to the forest surrounding Pallet. There’s no set path in there, but that’s what makes it fun.
Green groans over-dramatically. “Red, just take the stupid basket and accept what I’m tellin’ you.”
Red points again to the forest and starts walking.
Green groans louder this time, but he follows.
Going into the forest that’s rife with bushes, vines, and large branches probably wasn’t Red’s best idea, but what else is new. He’s known for his foolhardiness. Either way, Green follows him through the thickest part of the forest, grumbling the whole time.
They enter a spot where the grass smooths out and the trees part a bit. It's a small clearing where a group of caterpie, bellsprout, and weedle’s are hanging out. They don’t immediately run when Red and Green enter the space, but they’re wary. The caterpie in particular begin to wiggle back into the bushes.
Red breathes in some of that sweaty summer air and then turns to Green. “Why?”
Green scowls. “I answered that already, didn’t I?”
Red shakes his head.
“Ugh, it’s—” Green sets the basket down and puts his hands on his hips—”it’s dumb. I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to go.”
Red bites his bottom lip. He hesitates just a bit, but he wants to hear the truth. “Professor?”
Green stares at Red’s hands for a moment before breaking out into a bout of bitter laughter. “Nah, for once it’s not Gramps. It’s...somethin’ else.”
“Talk.”
“And why should I?” Green hisses, eyes sharpening into daggers that he aims at Red. “Why should I tell you anything? You didn’t tell me jack shit when you left!”
The air stills. The whole of the clearing comes to a standstill. Red’s eyes darken at the reminder of his time on the mountain. His mistakes surrounding that are still fresh in his mind. But Green isn’t special in that regard—Red had told no one. He supposes it’s unfair of him to ask Green to divulge his secrets when Red didn’t do the same years ago.
Red brings his right hand to his chest. “Sorry.”
Green sighs. He rubs at the back of his neck and sighs with exhaustion and frustration both. “Don’t be sorry. Just…” Green walks in a small circle around the gift basket before he sinks down next to it. He pulls out one of the cookies and tears the wrapper. “Don’t.”
Not knowing what else to do, Red joins Green on the forest floor. He sits cross-legged across from him and puts his hands in his lap. He feels like an ass for bringing Green out here. What if leaving is truly what Green wants? What if it’s something he’s been considering for a while? Even if it wasn’t shared with Red before today, that doesn’t invalidate Green’s feelings regarding it.
Red looks up at Green and notices that he hasn’t yet taken a bite of the cookie. He’s staring at the basket full of sunflowers, lost in thought.
“Do you know what everyone called me while you were gone?” Green asks softly.
Red doesn’t know. He shakes his head.
Green chokes back another laugh. “The Phantom Champion. Can you believe that?”
Red’s blood runs cold.
“I was eleven,” Green tells him. He finally takes a bite of the cookie. “I heard it again today in Pewter. That’s why I’m leaving. I have to get out of here, Red.”
Red stopped listening after Green told him about the faux title that Kanto bestowed upon him. Silently, he stands, his hand reaching for Charizard’s poké ball. He walks around Green and begins to leave the clearing.
No one has the right to call Green that. They weren’t there that day in the championship room. They didn’t see that battle, and they didn’t see the look of heartbreak on Green’s face. Green is as much a champion as he is. It seems like Kanto has forgotten that.
Red will remind them.
“Whoa—hey!” Green scrambles to get up and blocks Red’s path. “What are you doin’?”
Red turns his furious eyes to Green. “Mad.”
“Yeah, I can see,” Green says. He puts his hands on Red’s shoulders. “Hey, look at me. You can’t torch the whole region, Red!”
Red grits his teeth. That’s not what he’s going to do. He’s not certain what kind of display he’ll put on to prove Green’s worth as a champion—a message in the sky or scorched into the earth—but he needs to do something. It’s not right what they did.
“Wrong,” Red signs. “Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.”
“I know,” Green whispers. He takes Red’s hands in his and holds them tight. “I know they are.”
Red holds Green’s hands just as tightly. He can feel their combined anger and want to set this right. It doesn’t sit well with either of them, but fighting back won’t do anything. It’s a cruel title likely made up by tabloids to add drama to an event that was so personal to them both. It’s terrible that it stuck with the general populace to the point of it impacting Green’s daily life.
But Green’s expression doesn’t look as bitter as before. He’s even smiling, just a bit. He rubs his thumbs along the back of Red’s hands. “I just need to leave, Red. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
Red understands that—truly, he does—but they just became okay again. It’s too soon. He doesn’t want to say goodbye to Green yet.
He reluctantly takes his hands from Green’s. With a bittersweet smile, he begins to sign. “Take me with you.”
Green’s breath catches. He looks up at Red, startled. “Wh-what? Hey—”
“Please,” Red continues, holding his hand against his chest. He grips his shirt as he waits for Green’s answer, a tightness in his heart that he doesn’t understand. After years of being separated from Green, Red can’t stomach the thought of any more lost time. They’ve wasted so much of it. They’ve made so many mistakes. Red wants to make the right call this time.
The thought of traveling with Green gets his heart pumping. They could decide together where they’d go and what they’d do. They could walk side-by-side this time. Green wants to get away from it all? Red will show him how. They can disappear together and forget about what they’re known for.
Green’s lips turn up into a disbelieving smile. “Not surprised you’re all for droppin’ everythin’ to come with me.”
Red grins. He takes Green’s hands again and his heart soars when Green goes right back to caressing them.
“Where would you want to go? Somewhere close? Hoenn?”
Red shrugs. He doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter. The destination isn’t important, the relief that comes from leaving is. It’s the beginning of something fresh and new that makes the spirit rise. It’s a feeling that can’t be replicated or ignored, and it’s just what Green needs after all this.
Green looks down at their hands, to the basket of cookies and sunflowers behind Red, and to the meadow just outside Pallet, bustling with life and verdancy in the warm afternoon.
He smiles coyly at Red, the sunlight making his eyes shine. “I guess I wouldn’t mind the company.”