Chapter 381: The End of FireRed and LeafGreen Arc
~Third POV~
[Kanto Region, 2 Days Later, Pallet Town – Oak's Lab]
The silence was the loudest thing Azure had heard in a long time.
He had expected the thunderous roar of Rayquaza, the psychic strain of manipulating Mewtwo's powers, or the desperate, collapsing hull of Team Rocket's colossal airship. Instead, there was only the soft, rhythmic whirring of some unknown machine and the gentle weight of a thick, warm blanket molded to his body.
Azure's eyes fluttered open, adjusting slowly to the clean, beige walls of an unfamiliar room. The air was sterile, smelling faintly of disinfectant and old paper—the unmistakable aroma of Professor Oak's research laboratory.
He was lying in a spare bed, tucked away in a quiet corner of the facility, far from the main bustle of Pallet Town. A dull ache radiated from his chest, where he vaguely recalled Sird's final attack failing.
He felt utterly depleted, as if every ounce of energy and every drop of physical reserve had been stripped away and repurposed into sheer willpower. He shifted his gaze. Resting against the edge of the bed, curled tightly around the blanket's hem, was his entire immediate operational team.
His Partner, Pikachu, lay belly-up, his tiny paws twitching as he dreamt, electricity occasionally sputtering weakly from his cheeks. Nestled right beside him, snoozing with the innocence of a cloud, was Eevee, her luxurious fur puffing slightly with each breath.
A little further away, the formidable members of his active roster were also deep in slumber, clearly having pulled guard duty. Scizor, gleaming chrome under the gentle morning light filtering through the window, had one claw resting near Azure's pillow, acting as a sturdy, if intimidating, alarm system.
Arcanine, a magnificent beacon of loyalty, was sprawled across the floor like a massive, fiery hearth rug, his heavy breathing warming the room. From the shadows of the room, his sleeping Gengar.
And Dragonite—the towering orange powerhouse—was practically wedged into the corner, curled into a shape far too small for her size, snoring rumble mimicking distant thunder. Azure smiled—a genuine, deep smile that reached his weary eyes.
They had been worried. They had always been worried.
He reached his hand out slowly, careful not to disturb the others, and gently brushed the soft fur of Eevee's head. The Pokémon instantly registered the familiar presence.
Eevee's ears twitched, her eyes snapped open, and she let out a high-pitched, joyous squeak that was instantly contagious, "Ee-vee! Vee! (You're awake!)"
Pikachu bolted upright, his cheeks flaring with uncontrolled excitement. He cried, leaping onto the bed and immediately nuzzling hard against Azure's chin, "Pika! Pi-ka-CHU! (You're awake! Hey guys, he's alive!!)"
The rest of the contingent woke in a cascade of relieved noise. Scizor retracted his claw and let out a metallic chirp of approval while Gengar cackled joyfully. Arcanine stretched with a low growl of satisfaction, while Dragonite—perhaps forgetting he was indoors—let out a booming, happy cheer that rattled the windowpanes.
The racket, predictable as a sunrise, immediately summoned the master of the house. Professor Samuel Oak, looking tired but relieved, hurried into the room, holding a clipboard like a shield.
He stopped dead in the doorway, peering over his spectacles at the chaotic scene of happy Pokémon attacking their trainer with affection. Oak sighed, the sound carrying the weight of two days of deep-seated worry, "Ah! Azure! You are awake! Thank goodness!!"
He placed a hand over his heart as he continued speaking, "For a moment, I feared we might need to call upon a certain psychic friend again just to check your vitals."
Azure chuckled, gently extricating his face from Pikachu and Eevee. He felt a pleasant, distant exhaustion, the kind that came after accomplishing something impossible.
Azure managed, his voice a little raspy, replied, "It's nothing to worry about, Professor. Just a bit of a beauty nap. Nothing a little sleep can't fix."
He paused, his brow furrowing slightly as he asked bluntly, "But how long was I out for, though?"
Professor Oak adjusted his lab coat, stepping further into the room and waving a hand at the Pokémon to encourage a little less aggressive cuddling as he explained, "Two days, Azure. Forty-eight hours straight. You pushed yourself well past your limits. It showed us, quite clearly, just how taxing stopping that monstrous airship was, even with the aid of the Legendary Pokémon and your friends."
Two days. Azure felt a brief, distant pang of guilt, recognizing how frantic his companions must have been. He had vague, scattered memories of the immediate aftermath: the metallic screech of the airship's hull hitting the ground; the bewildered, captured face of Giovanni; the worried, exhausted faces of Yellow, Red, Blue, Green, and Silver.
He quickly dismissed the image. Guilt was unproductive.
Azure asked bluntly, running a hand along Eevee's back, "So, what happened while I was knocked out, Professor? Did everything settle down?"
Professor Oak nodded, leaning against the door frame as he explained with a smile, "Indeed. Things are rapidly returning to equilibrium. After you collapsed, Green and Silver took charge of the main operation."
Azure raised an eyebrow and asked, "Green and Silver? Handling Giovanni?"
Prof. Oak explained with a nod and genuine smile of relief, "Precisely. They successfully turned Giovanni—and select members of his executive force—over to the International Police. It was a remarkably efficient handover."
Oak paused, looking towards Pallet Town as he explained his friend's states after the Team Rocket attack, "Blue is still around, resting up and helping Crystal with some logistical matters. Red is recuperating here as well, mostly just resting in the living quarters. Yellow, too, is taking the moment to recover within the Lab, though she keeps pestering me for updates on your condition."
Azure absorbed the information. Everything sounded appropriately wrapped up, fitting the pattern of the world he had transmigrated into—a world where the heroes often dealt with catastrophic threats before returning to their mundane lives of challenging gyms and catching Pokémon.
Azure asked curiously, the memory of the massive flying fortress still vivid, "And the airship? Is it just wreckage?"
Professor Oak chuckled, a deep, knowing sound, replying, "No, not entirely. It landed mostly intact, courtesy of Mewtwo's stabilizing field. Remarkably, it seems our powerful friend had a request regarding that behemoth. He mentioned you would be needing a new base of operations, or perhaps, a change of scenery, and suggested you might like to take the Airship as your new home."
Azure processed this, a slow grin spreading across his face. The Team Rocket Airship. A flying base.
That was perfectly, ridiculously in character for his life trajectory. Azure muttered, already imagining the modifications, "Yeah, that sounds about right. But wait—back to Green. How did she waltz Giovanni over to the International Police? Isn't that usually a job for… well, actual police?"
Oak gave a secretive smile as he cheekily said, "Ah, Azure. I forgot to mention a minor detail discovered during the investigation into Team Rocket's activities."
Azure waited expectantly. Oak said boastfully with quiet pride, "Green has been operating as an Interpol Police Member for some time now. She used her specialized knowledge and contact network to facilitate the entire transfer."
Azure blinked, sitting fully upright in bed, momentarily forgetting his aches. He asked, genuinely baffled, "Excuse me? Surprised her? The previous thief and expert manipulator is now a police officer? Are you sure we're talking about the same Green here, Professor? Was she wearing a disguise?"
Before Professor Oak could explain properly, a new voice—loud, sharp, and slightly offended—bellowed from the doorway, "Yeah, what's so hard to believe about that, Azure! I'm a changed woman!!"
Green strode through the door with characteristic confidence. She was dressed in her typical adventurous attire, though she looked considerably less harried than the last time Azure saw her, which was when she was shielding her parents from the Deoxys Duplicates and fighting for their lives.
She carried a rather ostentatious gift basket laden with fruit, dried meats, and what looked like a rare bottle of Oran Berry wine. Professor Oak let out a soft laugh as he continued, "Ah, there you are, Green. I must confess, Azure, I forgot to mention that Green has been checking up on you almost every time she could slip away from the paperwork."
Azure shot the Professor a mild glare as he uttered frustratedly, "Couldn't have led with that, first?"
Oak merely shrugged conspiratorially, then clapped his hands together, uttering, "Well, I shall leave you two to catch up. I have research to attend to, and frankly, I need to make sure Red hasn't been sneaking out to battle any wild Pidgey yet."
With a polite nod, the Professor slipped away, closing the door softly behind him. Green immediately placed the gift basket on the nearby nightstand, assessing Azure with a critical, yet warm, gaze.
Green said thoughtfully, her voice softening slightly, "It's good to see you up again, Azure. You had everyone worried about how long you were resting in bed. Yellow was convinced you had fallen into a coma of sheer exhaustion."
Azure smiled, rubbing the back of his neck as he accepted the gift basket and set it closer. His Pokémon, sensing the conversation was moving into personal territory, settled down slightly, though Eevee remained perched on the bed, watching Green with inquisitive eyes, seeing the drama.
Pikachu slowly grabbed a bucket of popcorn, along with Gengar, eyeing the scene with genuine curiosity. Azure replied wryly, "Apologies for the extended beauty nap. Just needed to recharge my batteries."
He shifted the topic, knowing Green's own journey had recently hit several monumental checkpoints, as he asked curiously, "But enough about my napping habits. How did the reunion with your parents go, after this whole… shitshow with Team Rocket?"
Green walked over to the window, watching the Pallet Town scenery pass by. The morning sun illuminated the deep shade of her hair as she replied, "It went well. I got the time I needed to spend with them. It's strange, being recognized, being known, after so long."
She turned back, her expression earnest as she continued, "And I have to thank you for everything, Azure."
Azure instantly put up his usual shield of modesty as he says dismissively, "Oh, come on, Green. Don't be dramatic. I wasn't that much of a help to your cause. You're resourceful—you would have found them eventually, with or without my input."
Green chuckled, a rich, confident sound that implied she saw right through his self-effacement. She observed, crossing her arms, stating bluntly, "You always do that. You deflect praise like a Focus Sash. But I'm not talking about finding my parents, not entirely, at least."
She walked closer, her posture radiating seriousness as she said in a serious voice, "I'm talking about Silver."
Azure remained silent, allowing her to continue. He knew exactly where this was going. He had made a crucial, timeline-altering decision years ago.
Green's voice dropped to a near whisper as she said softly, "Throughout my entire adventure—the capture, the escape, the search for my family—I still wanted to say thank you for what you did earlier. For encouraging and guiding him. He would have been utterly devastated, or spiraled into despair, if you hadn't spoken to him years ago."
Azure's mind flashed to the tenth Pokémon League Tournament, long before the chaos of the airship or the tragedy of the Masked Man was fully resolved. It was near the beginning.
Azure, armed with meta-knowledge derived from years of reading the Pokémon Adventures manga, knew the truth would eventually break Silver, causing a horrific identity crisis. He'd decided then and there to intervene, gently but firmly, to avoid added stress in the future for Silver.
He had provided Silver with the undeniable, yet carefully phrased, information that Giovanni was indeed his father, but crucially, he stressed that Silver could make his own choices and was not bound by the man's shadow or bloodline.
It was a soft-pedal intervention, designed to give Silver time—years—to handle the shock, process the truth, and begin moving on from his traumatic past before the full, violent truth came crashing down.
He hadn't realized the lasting impact it would have on Green's perception of him. Azure finally replied, looking away toward his sleeping Dragonite, "It wasn't anything special. Just a conversation. The boy needed a different viewpoint."
Green leaned against the footboard of the bed, her gaze fixed on the bright square of the window as she continued, "But I'm still grateful. After Silver and I escaped from the Masked Man, I silently swore three things to myself, three guiding principles once I was free."
She listed them slowly, deliberately, as Azure turned his attention towards her in a grateful voice, "First, to keep Silver safe and in good care, ensuring he never became the tool Giovanni wanted him to be."
Azure nodded. Silver was safe.
He was on the road to recovery and finding his own identity as a trainer. Green continued, "Second, to get justice against the Masked Man—the one who stole our childhoods, though thankfully, you largely handled that nightmare for us."
The defeat of Pryce, formerly known as the Masked Man, was a collective effort, but Azure had certainly played a disproportionately large role in pinning him down. Green finished, turning back to him, her eyes bright with resolution, "And finally, to find my own parents. The ones you gave me the info to find years ago—information I possessed, but never dared to act upon until I was ready."
Azure remained calm, though a wave of unfamiliar warmth washed over him. He was often praised for his victories, his League titles, or his strategic mind, but rarely for the quiet, behind-the-scenes manipulations driven by his knowledge of destiny.
Azure said calmly, giving a small, weary salute, "Well, congrats. You've achieved all of them. You're free, Green. You're a detective, you're a daughter, and you're a big sister. What more could you want?"
Green smiled—a soft, sincere smile that few people ever saw, reserved perhaps only for her closest allies. She leaned in closer, positioning herself so that her face was partially framed by the morning light as she said thoughtfully, "Yes, I know. But I also know you've been helping me far more than you admit, and far more than you even realize."
She listed his contributions, meticulously detailing her debt, "Whether it was privately providing the information that led me to my parents, or dealing with the powerhouses like the Masked Man and even Giovanni for us, or comforting Silver, giving him the years he needed to mentally brace himself for his future and prevent him from falling into despair—you are instrumental. You fixed what was broken before it could shatter."
She reached out, placing a hand gently over his. Her touch was firm and steady, lacking the usual mischievous energy as she said kindly, "I keep all your help in my heart, Azure. And I wanted you to know that."
*Bdmp*
Azure felt a familiar awkwardness tighten in his chest. He was unsure how to handle this level of pure, heartfelt praise.
He knew the source of her thanks was his meta-knowledge—an unfair advantage he held over their world. He knew Green had a tragic backstory, and he had simply decided, early on, that fate didn't have to be quite so cruel to her and Silver as he helped.
He looked at Green's genuine expression, then down at his Pokémon resting nearby. He was a Champion, a hero. Yet, in this moment, he was simply a friend receiving thanks for a kindness he had rationalized as necessary interference.
Azure finally managed, the tension easing with a return to lighthearted banter, "Just… try to stay out of trouble now that you're an Interpol officer, alright? I'm still recovering from this last disaster. I'd appreciate a quiet retirement on my brand-new flying airship."
Green laughed, the sound bubbling with genuine joy as she flicked his forehead, "No promises. The world is too interesting for quiet retirements. But if I do run into trouble, you know I'll have your number on speed dial."
The exhaustion was still there, but now, it felt laced with profound satisfaction. The world was safe, his friends were recovering, and the destinies he had subtly altered were turning out much brighter than the grim comics had suggested.
Azure felt a strange mix of unease and warmth. Unease because she was so perceptive, so close to understanding the full extent of his hidden hand. Warmth because her gratitude was so genuine, so open.
He knew why he'd helped her; he knew her tragic backstory from the pages of a comic book. He'd simply decided to make things a little easier for the people of this world, to mend some of the cracks he knew were coming.
But to hear her verbalize it, to see the sincerity in her eyes… it was disarming.
Green chuckled softly, her eyes sparkling mischievously. She stood up, smoothing down her clothes as she stated, "Well, I should probably go check on Yellow and make sure she's not over-exerting herself. But I have one more gift for you, Sleeping Beauty."
Azure, still caught in the emotional afterglow of her words, turned his head to meet her gaze but then felt it. His eyes widened as Green leaned in swiftly, her lips meeting his in a soft, unexpected kiss.
*Chu*
It was brief, a fleeting brush of warmth and softness that sent a jolt through Azure's entire system. He froze, his mind rebooting, processing the unexpected intimacy.
*POOF*
A soft, almost audible hiss escaped his lips, followed by a faint imaginary plume of steam that seemed to visibly rise from his ears. His face, usually so composed, flushed a bright, undeniable crimson.
Green pulled back, a triumphant, knowing grin spreading across her face. She looked at his utterly stunned, unconscious state, then at the smoking ears, and let out a bright, infectious laugh as she stated confidently, "Heh. Still got it. Charming even the most stoic champion into a sputtering mess."
She winked playfully. As she turned to leave, she paused at the door, glancing back at the speechless, red-faced Azure, who was still trying to form a coherent thought. She purred, a sly glint in her eyes, "Oh, and just so you know, if you're ever looking for anyone, Azure. I'm single. If you're interested."
And with a final, confident sashay, she was gone, leaving Azure utterly flustered, surrounded by his Pokémon who looked at him with a mixture of confusion and amusement. Pikachu chirped, nudging his steaming cheek. Eevee tilted her head, a questioning sound escaping her.
Azure just stared at the empty doorway, his mind a whirlwind of blush and disbelief as he muttered, "Well, that was certainly… unexpected…"
*Bdmp*
His heart raced after the kiss. And a part of him, a very small, very embarrassed part, couldn't help but wonder if he was interested.
He had done some good. Now, all he needed was a few more days of rest, and perhaps a few blueprints for modifying a massive, criminal airship into a habitable Champion's HQ for himself.
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A/N: Reach the goal of 200 PS to get a Bonus Chapter!
And as a special thanks to the readers who read this to the end of the year, I'll be posting 3 chapters to celebrate! Hope you all have a good end of the Year!