Iron Island – its walls once rich with valuables, now stand bare for all to see. At least, only to those who know the immediate route. For off the beaten path rests tunnels inlaid with precious metals and eye-catching gems (some the size of his fists, Riley once noted). These secret paths, privy to Riley and his grandfather, always held an intimate place in his heart.
This was the place he had spent his life training.
Along these twisted corridors and chambers, Riley had sacrificed his youth here to hone his abilities.
It is for this reason that Riley feels protective of these caves –
… and it is the reason that he feels anxious when someone else enters them.
He senses them from yards away – the aura of a young man, excitable and intense. Their aura radiates an immense curiosity, the multi-spectrum of their soul speaking loud and clear from beyond feet of stonework. Judging by the way it brightened among the cave suggests that the aura’s owner is a new visitor to the island. While obvious that this stranger means no harm to the island’s Pokémon, nor their environment, the fact that they are fast approaching one of Riley’s secret tunnels is cause for alarm.
Riley takes a deep breath.
He waits for them to draw close before he moves himself into their line of view. While unnecessary for him, Riley starts his flashlight. He allows the beam to dance on the walls for a moment, before shining it in Green’s vision. Wouldn’t want to give impression that he’s been waiting here for him, after all.
Now that would be creepy.
Maybe all this person needed was a shove in the other direction; away from his walls. Not that Riley thought Green was terrible -- far from it, now that he was getting a closer look...
❝ Excuse me, ❞ he says, maintaining his most polite but firm tone. ❝ Is this your first time here on the Island? ❞
In his grand office tucked in the back of the Indigo Plateau, Lance was hunched over his desk, a pen in one hand and a document in the other. The stack he had been steadily working through finally reached its end. He’d been going at it since the crack of dawn, taking small breaks here and there but mostly staying within the room. The only sounds were the rhythmic ticking of the old grandfather clock, the rustle of paper and his pen scribbling with his signature.
Once the final document had been checked over and signed, Lance leaned back against his chair with a deep, weary sigh. His body felt especially tired today, like lead was settling deep into his joints and weighing his bones. A small headache had emerged, which wasn’t surprising at all but he did found it irritating in how quickly it developed from a small pound to an incessant beat. It made things harder to focus on, even with his reading glasses on.
He would blame it on stress but really, when had he ever felt relaxed these days? There was always something that needed his attention and being the type who hated to leave when work is unfinished, he’d stay and continue on, even if he had to burn the midnight oil to do so. Lance had pulled a couple of all nighters for the past week, grabbing a few hours of sleep here and there. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that was finally catching up to him.
It would be so nice to just stop and sleep for more than three hours at a time but alas, he still had work to do. Finished with his paperwork did not mean his day had ended. In about half an hour, Lance was supposed to meet up with Green for a private meeting. He would like to get Green’s input on the Trainers that had earned the Earth Badge and their potential to see if it matched up with the performance reports that he received from the other Gym Leaders. If they were truly strong, then that showed the Gym Leaders were performing their duties.
Lance took off his glasses and stored it back in the drawer. Eyes sliding shut, he hoped he could catch a quick cat nap before Green arrived. In his light doze, the sound of the door opening pulled him back into wakefulness. The redhead swiveled on his chair to face Green, giving his friend the go ahead to seat. After that, he clasped his fingers, lips forming a small smile. “Thank you for coming Green. How have you been these days?”
Once small talk was over with, Lance quickly went to the matter at hand. He pulled out a file document that looked filled to the brim. “These are all the Trainers that the other Leaders had reported positively on their potential. What do you think? The ones that received the Earth Badge... Do they have what it takes to challenge the League?” Lance placed his full attention on Green, though he privately admitted that it was a bit hard to do so with how heavy his head feel.
At some point, Lance had stood up far too quickly for his current state. A sudden dizzy spell washed over him, causing him to stumble back and gripped the back of his chair for support as he rode out of the sensation. A few deep breaths later, his vision cleared and his head no longer swam, though it did make his headache return full force. The champion resisted the urge to groan. He just had to power through it a little while longer. Once this meeting ended, he could sit down and just rest for a bit before he continue on with his work.
He took another deep breath before he stood under his own power again. Lance turned back to flash a faint smile at Green, which looked more like a grimace with his pale complexion. “Apologies for that. Where did I stop at?”
Ultra space is simultaneously too dark and too much. Her memory of the place, draped over and dripping with haze, is fuzzy at the edges; it’s hard telling where her recollection of reality starts, and where it bleeds into fabrication, a fever dream still too hot to touch.
She remembers the sharp, tapered barbs at the ends of the beast’s— of Lusamine’s tentacles. How, in that moment, those barbs had resembled warped, horrifying claws, reaching out with the sole intention to hurt. How Lusamine’s eyes had shone unnaturally bright with malice; her standard issue pokéballs, identical to the ones clutched in Moon’s trembling fist, dwarfed in those monstrous hands.
But it’s aether paradise seared into the backs of her eyelids; the antithesis of ultra space. Bright and white and clean, lines defined to the point of harsh, antiseptic impersonality. A massive pool of clear, blue water; a monolith of white-tiled concrete rising from its depths. Life encased in clear, blue ice; a promise of forever—
“Ultra space, I guess.” Moon folds her arms across her chest and hunches into herself. She doesn’t like to think about either thing, but one’s easier to be vague about than the other. “Nihilego.”
((It took me three shuffles to get a song for this, it was either a nsfw song, a instrumental or the sonic x theme song. Which I have to admit I was really tempted to do. Instead you get an ironic Disney song that makes me cackle for days))I won’t say I’m in LoveRed couldn’t believe it. There was no way this was happening, he refused to believe it. This was all so new to him, he had been too busy for romantic relationships and there wasn’t anyone to fall in love with on top of a mountain or at a world tournament.He had gone to his childhood friend and sister figure for help when he noticed certain…symptoms. He had mentioned that his heart would start racing and his cheeks would feel hot, he would feel light-headed, but surprisingly happy. She had jokingly told him that he was probably in love and teasingly asked if anyone was around when these feelings occurred. Then it hit him.There was someone, but it was Green.Green, as in Green Oak his childhood rival and best friend who might he add, hated his guts at one point. The Green Oak. There was no way Red was in love with him. Red sat on the hotel bed, rubbing the sides of his temples in confusion.“M-maybe it’s just allergies…”
1. Okay but full-on magical fantasy kingdom. King Mohn was lost in a war, assumed dead but no body found. Queen Lusamine loses it afterwards pretty much, and refuses to let her two children Prince Gladion and Princess Lillie out of her sight.
2. Gladion is a shitty prince honestly, like if he applied himself he’d make a great ruler someday but dammit mom I refuse to stay locked in this damn tower my entire life, I’m ditching the crown and sneaking the heck out.
3. After running away he has no clue how to support himself out in the real world and ends up doing mercenary work. It takes awhile for him to git gud because ceremonial dueling lessons are not a 1:1 correlation to assassinations or the battlefield.
4. Befriends a wolf probably. Calls it Silvally. They make one hell of a tag team.
5. Shows back up at the castle four years later way more mature and ready to handle a kingdom but in his absence everything’s gone to shit and now he’s gotta try to fix things.
OH absolutely. he used to do it when he was nervous as a kid (which was. all the time), and he kicked the habit when he left on his pokemon journey at age fifteen. (because he grew more confident!) but there’s a few times today where he still does it. better than biting nails, anyway
i headcanon that green is……… ridiculously good at super monkey ball. nobody knows why or how. he doesn’t play it very often. he doesn’t bring attention to it. but it’s a useless skill he has. and it is. a very powerful skill.
“Leaf got me some new snacks today! Eva tried to take them, but I got them back! They were little cakes with these puffy things on them, and they were super sweet! I loved them. I want some more, but Leaf won’t let me have some more until I do some training. Training makes me tired, but it’s super fun! And I get to play with Kain! Sometimes after we’re done, he’ll take me flying! And then Bulby will let me run arounf on his flower and Anya will lift me in the air! Eva won’t play with me though, she just likes to sit around all day, but everyone else likes to play! And everyone is really nice! I love them,”
