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He never sought it out, but somehow pink always found him.
It was a stray thought that passed through his mind one day. He’d never put much weight on the color before he’d met Ms Opal, of course, but thinking back…
It had started innocently enough, with Hatenna. A gift from that individual, once so revered; granted with instruction to remain diligent, to study while other children played, to train while other children roughhoused. To grow strong. To grow worthy of such a generous gift. To make the chairman proud. To not be a burden on the staff.
Pink. Beloved. Stressful.
Next was the coat. Handed down to him after an older kid was adopted and left it behind, it was less of a gift and more of a necessity. The coat was warm, the orphanage was cold, and so he wore it often despite the jabs and jeers from the others. It was better that way, to ignore them. They were like wayward Torchic; they would peck incessantly at any visible wound until it consumed you. His hair, his voice, his coat; this was just one more target for them – he ignored them all, learning to receive jabs without showing anything at all.
Pink. Warm. Painful.
The Hatenna and the coat both followed him into the championship league, where he met her. A country bumpkin from a tiny nowhere town with a timid smile and a bright pink dress. He thought nothing of her at the time – naively, he mistook her timidity for weakness and wrote her off. Perhaps that was the true start of his downfall. Even in their first battle she trounced him. She quickly became a thorn in his side, beating him at every turn, yet for some reason she always had a smile for him.
Pink. Challenged. Enraged.
She was there at Stow-on-Side, too. He saw her horrified face in the crowd when it happened. Even later, when he was detained by Officers Jenny, he could hear her pleading on his behalf. He didn’t understand why, at the time. Even the chairman had turned his back on Bede this time. Why hadn’t she?
And yet she persisted.
Pink. Supported. Confused.
Her pleas…the Officers Jenny seemed to disregard them, eventually removing her from the office, but when he was released with hardly a slap on the wrist he couldn’t help but to wonder. Still, his status as challenger was stripped away and he was left to wander. That’s when Ms Opal found him.
To call her pink would be an understatement. She lived pink, breathed pink, surrounded herself with and truly loved the color. She looked at him and saw pink, and loved that pink, and pulled him into a sea of pink that was as suffocating as it was well intentioned. She was strict, yes, but cared for him so much more than anyone ever had before.
When he agreed, she signed the papers in pink.
Pink. Forgiven. Accepted.
When he announced that he was going to fight Gloria again he expected Ms Opal to interfere. No…she sent him along his way with her blessing, and a warm, yet sage warning to never leave loose ends hanging. This time, he was the one in pink; his new uniform, a statement to all he had worked for, the physical proof to his development and his choice. She saw him, and she faced him with the same determination she had before, and when she thoroughly beat him once more she met his eyes with the largest smile he’d ever seen on her face, flushed pink with exertion.
Looking back, he realized that was the first time he truly chose pink.
Pink. Congratulated. Recognized.
And as the days, months, years rolled on by, pink never left, and pink always brought warmth. Ms Opal, always waiting for him for family meals; Hatterene and all of his Pokémon, working together with him for every battle; his gym, and the town of Ballonlea, and the Glimwood Tangle beyond; Gloria.
Always, always, it went back to her. So much pink, so much life, so much love to give to the world. To give him, somehow. Smiles, laughter, battles and kisses alike, always alight with rosy cheeks and an exuberance for life he’d never encountered before they met.
And with every battle, every show, every smile and blush and gift she gave him after, he started to wonder if maybe Ms Opal was really right about pink all along.