[Pokemon][Super Junior] Victory Road (1/1)
Title: Victory Road
Fandom: Super Junior, Pokemon
Author: blahchiharu
Characters/pairing: Kyuhyun/ Zhou Mi
Rating: G
wordcount: ~6,200
Summary: Zhou Mi tries to collect all eight badges on his journey to the Indigo Plateau. Between his disgruntled traveling companion and misplaced town maps, gym leaders are the least of Zhou Mi's worries. Qmi. For chrysa.
For chrysa! Thank you for proofreading all of my stories last semester! Special thanks also goes to lark for beta-ing ♥ I love my pokepals. If anything, I'd say that this fic follows the gen2 games pretty well.
Zhou Mi thinks he can see the Celadon skyline in the distance, past the sea of trees as his vision starts to blend into a canvas of green and blue. He lies down, watching a herd of pidgeys fly across the sky. Zhou Mi’s back is digging into the root of a tree, and Jigglypuff only looks at him in confusion when he asks for a song.
He knows he wouldn’t be having this problem if only he had taken that damn map from Liyin’s sister. It’s been five days since he last saw a pokémon center, and Zhou Mi fed the last of his berries to Vulpix after a battle on Route 15. His hunger has long since abated, replaced with a feeling of exhaustion and pure nothingness. Zhou Mi’s throat aches, but the sea water from Route 14 burns, so he gives it to Butterfree instead. It is spring, and he can smell the changing of the seasons as he lies in a blanket of dead leaves. Zhou Mi thinks he can see Celadon City on the horizon, but for now he is too tired to continue. He thinks that if he can just get some shut-eye, then maybe he can muster the strength to reach Celadon by tomorrow.
Jigglypuff starts to sing, and Zhou Mi vaguely remembers calling her back into her poké ball before everything falls silent. When he closes his eyes, all he sees is blue, and all he remembers is the memory of stillness. He recalls hearing something in the distance, but when he reaches for something, anything, there’s nothing there.
Chills run down his back. Someone is shaking him, telling him to wake up. Zhou Mi looks up for a split second to find dark eyes peering at him. Someone is pulling at his arm, and when Zhou Mi doesn’t respond, he hears the faint click of a poké ball and watches as a pidgeot is released.
The next time Zhou Mi opens his eyes, he is greeted by a sea of white. He recognizes the familiar ceiling of the pokémon center and winces as he feels exhaustion tugging at every joint.
“What kind of idiot sings himself to sleep?” The boy at the opposite end of the room asks, sitting on the opposing bunk bed as he stares at Zhou Mi, eyes unreadable. “Were you trying to become bug pokémon food?”
Zhou Mi opens his mouth but promptly closes it. He pats at his jeans and asks, “Where are my pokémon?”
“I gave them to the nurse.” The stranger gives him a look when Zhou Mi tries to stand up. He watches as Zhou Mi sways for a few seconds before pushing Zhou Mi back onto the bed. “Just go back to sleep.”
Zhou Mi tries to complain, but the room is starting to spin again, so he closes his eyes and sighs. By the time he wakes up again, his poké balls are set in tray on his bedside table, and the other bunk beds are now filled with other trainers catching some sleep. The sky outside of the window is dark, but Zhou Mi picks up his poké balls and heads downstairs regardless. All he has in his bag are some pecha berry seeds, but he’s sure that he can sell his X defend at the Poké mart to cobble enough money to pay for his room and board.
“Oh, but your friend already paid for you.” The nurse smiles at him when he approaches the counter. She pauses when a trainer hands over their poké balls, shuffling towards the back as she sets them carefully on the machine.
“My friend,” Zhou Mi repeats, eyes wide.
Zhou Mi doesn’t see “his friend” again until the next day. The stranger is leaning against the TM counter in the department store, deciding between TM05 and TM07. In the end, he buys both, pulling out his overstuffed wallet. He looks up when Zhou Mi approaches him, almost as if he was expecting Zhou Mi.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Zhou Mi starts to say. He extends his hand. “Um, for saving my ass. I’m Zhou Mi.”
The stranger looks at him for a few minutes before accepting his hand. “Kyuhyun.” The sleeves of Kyuhyun’s black jacket are rolled to his elbow. His hair is slightly messy, as if he hasn’t bothered to smoothen it into place after wearing his hood. His cargo pants look worn, but his shoes are surprisingly clean, as if traversing through the terrains of Route 13 had been child’s play. “What the hell were you doing out there?” He asks.
Zhou Mi gives him a sheepish grin. “I got lost and kind of ran out of money… and food. My pokegear was out of battery too, so I couldn’t call anyone. I was using Butterfree to navigate my way through the forest, but she got knocked out by an ace trainer and hence, I lost all my money. And, just- please let me stop talking.”
Kyuhyun looks amused. “Your life is so hard.”
Zhou Mi shrinks. “Don’t make fun of me!” He pauses when Kyuhyun tosses something at him, catching it out of the air. Zhou Mi looks at his hand to find two nuggets. “What are these?”
Kyuhyun shrugs, already heading towards the escalator. “Think of it as a present.” He ignores Zhou Mi’s protests and continues towards the exit, his hands digging into his pockets. Zhou Mi follows him regardless. He dodges a lady with a stroller and a pair of twins playing by the exit, and manages to make it out of the department store before catching up to Kyuhyun. “Wait!”
Kyuhyun is turning around when someone steps in front of them.
It’s Team Rocket again, and this time, they’ve brought friends. “Hey, kid! Your last victory was a fluke, okay?! I challenge you to a rematch!” He doesn’t wait before calling out Ekans. Zhou Mi tenses and calls for his Vulpix. He doesn’t remember what really happens after that, what with all the people gathering around them. What Zhou Mi does, remember, is that Butterfree is one move away from ko-ing Ekans when another grunt calls out his Zubat.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, Zhou Mi thinks and reaches for Eevee’s poké balls. He doesn’t get a chance to, because Kyuhyun is already stepping in, and suddenly there is a Machamp in front of them.
The battle ends with the grunts scrambling away, promising to make them pay. Kyuhyun turns to Zhou Mi and says, with a wry smile, “So you don’t suck after all.”
“No, of course not!” Zhou Mi sulks. He picks up Vulpix when she rubs against his leg. “I’m just directionally challenged, okay?”
Kyuhyun looks at him. “So, what are your plans here? Are you going to challenge Sungmin?”
Zhou Mi blinks, unaware of the crowd dissolving around them. “Is he the gym leader here? Have you battled him? What pokémon does he specialize in?”
Kyuhyun gives him an amused look and scratches Vulpix behind the ears. Vulpix purrs in response. “I think you’ll be fine. Well, I’ll see you around. ” He’s walking away again before Zhou Mi can respond, waving a hand absently in Zhou Mi’s direction before disappearing.
Kyuhyun is right, because Vulpix easily takes out all of Sungmin’s grass pokémon. Sungmin gives him the Rainbow Badge and Mega Drain, telling Zhou Mi not to be a stranger. One of the trainers even wink at Zhou Mi on his way out.
Zhou Mi finds Kyuhyun again in the game corner. Kyuhyun is playing at a slot machine when Zhou Mi approaches him. “I won the badge!” Zhou Mi says, bouncing on his heels. Kyuhyun makes an acknowledging noise, attacking the lever of the machine and avidly pressing buttons. He pulls at Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun finally slams at the button, turning to look at him. “I wanted to thank you for helping me.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re eternally grateful to me, etc.” Kyuhyun waves at him.
“Have you battled Sungmin too?” Zhou Mi scoots Kyuhyun out of his spot, taking a seat next to him. “Where are you planning to go now?”
Kyuhyun shrugs. “I was thinking about staying in town for a few days and then heading east.”
“Great!” Zhou Mi grins, wrapping an arm around Kyuhyun. His smile doesn’t falter when Kyuhyun slaps his hand away. “Then we can go to Saffron together!” Kyuhyun doesn’t get to reply, because Zhou Mi is already tugging at him. “It’ll be fun, I promise!”
Route 7 is relaxing, and Zhou Mi lets Vulpix out of her poké ball as they make their way to Saffron. Vulpix spends the majority of the trip headbutting Kyuhyun, begging to be picked up and scratched. Kyuhyun looks a little perplexed, but after much prodding, he plays with Vulpix and lets her follow him around.
“Isn’t she adorable?” Zhou Mi grins. “She doesn’t get along with Jigglypuff, though. I let them play together once, and they kept on scratching each other. Vulpix burned Jigglypuff’s ear and Jigglypuff tried to sing her to sleep.”
Kyuhyun laughs. “Your pokémon are fighting for the position of alpha female. You know, this wouldn’t happen if you didn’t have an all female team.”
“Well, maybe you should have a cuter team!”
They argue all the way into the city before taking a break at the pokémon center. “I heard that the gym leader here is really strong,” Zhou Mi says as they sit on the steps of the Poké mart, watching as a group of kids run by with a meowth. “Have you battled him?”
“Once, a long time ago,” Kyuhyun answers at last. “He’s tricky, so you should watch out for his Alakazam.”
“He has an alakazam??” Zhou Mi buries his face into his knees. “I’m screwed. I’m totally screwed.”
He looks up when Kyuhyun pats him on the back, dropping something into Zhou Mi’s lap. It’s a full restore. “I’m going to check out the dojo. Come find me afterwards.” He pauses when Zhou Mi gives him a pitiful look. “Good luck.”
The squeeze he gives Zhou Mi is somewhat reassuring, so Zhou Mi gives Vulpix a look and says, “Are you ready, girl?”
Vulpix purrs in reply.
Zhou Mi manages to make his way through the gym puzzle without using his full restore. The person he finds waiting at the end of the warp holes, however, looks unsurprised to see him. “I had a vision of your arrival,” Heechul tells him, seemingly more interested in his nails than Zhou Mi. “I’ve had psychic powers since I was a child. I first learned to bend spoons with my mind, etc., etc. Blah blah blah. No one cares. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Wait, you can bend spoons with your mind?” Zhou Mi pauses. “Can I see?”
Heechul grins. “I’ll show you if you beat me.”
Zhou Mi never gets to see Heechul’s spoon trick, because Heechul’s Espeon knocks every single one of Zhou Mi’s pokémon out. Zhou Mi remembers the unimpressed look Heechul gives him before Zhou Mi collects his pokémon and makes a run for the pokémon center.
Kyuhyun finds him wallowing in self-pity a few hours later in the trainer’s fan club. “You lost, huh?”
“I never even got to see his alakazam,” Zhou Mi mumbles. “I was completely unprepared. His trainers were okay, but I don’t have anyone in my team that can take down his psychic pokémon. They’re just too strong!”
Kyuhyun is silent for a while. “Maybe you should reorganize your team.”
Zhou Mi sighs, collapsing on his back as he stares at the ceiling. “I hate level grinding.”
“Hey,” Kyuhyun says, leaning over the couch as he blocks Zhou Mi’s view. “Have you ever been to Lavender town?”
In retrospect, Kyuhyun is really the one who bullies Zhou Mi into the Pokémon Tower. Zhou Mi had taken one step into Lavender town and tried to bail, but after Kyuhyun’s verbal beat down (“Are you trying to lose?” and “Do you want that badge or not?”), he sighed and headed towards the tower.
Zhou Mi nearly flees when he runs into the first ghost pokémon, knocking into Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun spins Zhou Mi around and pushes him back into the battle. “I’m going to die,” Zhou Mi decides. “I’m going to die and then haunt you for the rest of your life. I’ll even live in your closet, free of charge.”
“Stop being a drama queen.” Kyuhyun responds, putting an ultra ball in Zhou Mi’s hand. “Go and catch that ghost pokémon. It’ll be the key to your victory.” Zhou Mi eventually catches a ghastly, who takes a liking to Eevee and Vulpix. Jigglypuff, however, is unimpressed that her attacks don’t work.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Kyuhyun says as he watches Zhou Mi train Ghastly. “There’s another pokémon on your team that’s capable of taking Heechul’s pokémon out.”
Kyuhyun is right again. Butterfree’s bug attacks and Ghastly’s ghost moves, when combined efficiently, manage to defeat the last of Heechul’s pokémon. Heechul himself looks impressed, although he tells Zhou Mi that he saw this coming. “I see that your special friend gave you a clue.”
“My special friend?” Zhou Mi blinks. “So, are you really psychic? Let’s see that spoon bending trick.”
Heechul pulls out a plastic spoon from his pants pocket and bends it with his hands. When Zhou Mi starts to complain, Heechul shuts him up by giving him the Marsh Badge.
They eat dinner by the Poké mart that night, and Kyuhyun makes Zhou Mi treat him for helping him win the badge. “How come Heechul seemed to know who you were?” Zhou Mi asks, handing Kyuhyun a bento.
Kyuhyun shrugs. “Heechul claims to be pyshic, doesn’t he?”
“Is he really?”
“Who knows,” Kyuhyun says as he splits his chopsticks. “Psychic or not, what I do know is that he’s nosy. Nothing happens in Saffron without Heechul knowing, probably.”
“Why didn’t you challenge him to a battle?”
Kyuhyun’s expression is unreadable as he picks at something in his bento. “I’m not collecting badges.”
“So what are you doing? Soul searching?”
“I guess.” Kyuhyun replies with a mouthful of rice. “It’s been too long since I last traveled.”
“So you’ll come with me, right?” Zhou Mi beams, grabbing one of Kyuhyun’s hands, only to have him bat it away with his chopsticks. “Let’s travel together! Maybe now I won’t get lost all over the place!”
“And why should I travel with you?” Kyuhyun asks, more focused on his bento than Zhou Mi.
“Because I’m cute?”
Kyuhyun snorts.
“Because my Vulpix is cute?” Zhou Mi tries again, calling out his pokémon. Vulpix jumps onto Kyuhyun’s shoulder and swats her tail against Kyuhyun’s face.
“Okay, okay,” Kyuhyun says and lets Vulpix try some of his food. “Fair enough.”
They get lost regardless. Somewhere between the forest and all the caves on Route 16, Vulpix accidentally sneezes and burns Kyuhyun’s town map. They set up camp at night, Kyuhyun gathering branches while Vulpix builds a fire.
“Why don’t you let your pokémon out?” Zhou Mi asks at dinner as they make a salad from all the berries he collected.
“If I did that, they would probably step on you in your sleep.” Kyuhyun picks at his salad. Looking up, he finds Zhou Mi beaming at him. “Do you get lost a lot?”
Zhou Mi scratches the side of his head while Butterfree and Ghastly float around them, playing chase. “I don’t actively try to get lost, you know.”
“How do you find your way back?”
Zhou pauses. “I usually listen to the sound of water. I’m drawn to it, and I don’t stop until I reach the water front, one way or another. Is that weird?”
“Yes, but I think we’ve already established that fact that you’re weird to begin with, so this doesn’t surprise me.”
“Ha!” Zhou Mi pretends to be insulted and lightly punches Kyuhyun on the arm. Kyuhyun pushes him back in jest until Zhou Mi tackles him. Butterfree squeals in the air, circling around them while Ghastly makes a bubbly, laughing noise. Zhou Mi laughs until they roll into a patch of tall grass and a batch of pidgeys try to pull their hair out.
“Ouch, ouch,” Zhou Mi says when Butterfree scares away the pidgeys. Zhou Mi’s sides hurt from laughing, and even though Kyuhyun tries to look mad, even he grins when Zhou Mi pulls grass out of his hair.
Fuschia City is calm and peaceful, yet Kyuhyun disappears into the Safari Zone as soon as they set foot in the city. Zhou Mi finds Bill’s grandfather and spends a whole day looking for an Oddish. Kyuhyun reappears to find Zhou Mi lying in the gardens, watching a stone shine in the sunlight. “What’s this?” Kyuhyun asks, rolling up the hem of his pants. Kyuhyun’s shoes are covered in mud, and there are more than one scuffle marks gracing his arm.
“What have you been doing?” Zhou Mi asks, tilting his head.
Kyuhyun crouches down next to Zhou Mi. “Catching pokémon. Do you know what the encounter rate for a Dratini is?”
Zhou Mi laughs, reaching up for Kyuhyun’s face. Kyuhyun grabs his hand instead. “No, but I know what the encounter rate for a magikarp is.”
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun mumbles. “Like a fucking thousand. Don’t ask me how many safari balls I wasted.” He pauses when he feels the stone in Zhou Mi’s hand, bring it to the ground and opening Zhou Mi’s palm. “What’s this?”
Zhou Mi sits up, running a hand through his bangs. “It’s a fire stone. Bill’s grandfather gave it to me.”
Kyuhyun looks at him. “You want to evolve Vulpix?”
“No, what I want is for you to take a shower!” Zhou Mi makes a face of disgust and pushes Kyuhyun away.
They don’t talk about it again, but Zhou Mi does ask Kyuhyun about the gym leader during dinner, half way into his sandwich. They’re sitting on the fence of the community gardens again, Zhou Mi’s leg knocking into Kyuhyun’s while they watch the villagers take evening strolls. “The plaque says he specializes in poison pokémon.”
“You have Butterfree, don’t you?” Kyuhyun replies, chewing thoughtfully. “Want me to lend you Rhydon?”
“No.” Zhou Mi makes a face.
“Good, because I would’ve said no.”
Zhou Mi laughs, punching Kyuhyun lightly on the arm. They get into a pinching fight, which suddenly dissolves into a tickling match until they both fall off the fence, landing in a bush of chesto berries. They pick themselves up and escape before a group of youngsters tries to challenge them to a team battle.
Kangin’s poison gym is no biggie for Zhou Mi. What he doesn’t expect, however, is for Kangin to invite him to drinks afterwards. “Come on,” Kangin says. “So many pipsqueaks come to challenge me. I haven’t had a good drink in weeks!” He ignores Zhou Mi’s complaints and effectively wheels both of them into the nearest bar.
After Zhou Mi’s third glass of Kangin’s special berry concoction, Zhou Mi merrily dials Kyuhyun on his pokegear. Kyuhyun shows up just in time to stop Zhou Mi from falling flat on his face.
Kangin looks surprised to see Kyuhyun. “Here to take our winner home?”
“Jeez, what did you feed him?” Kyuhyun asks, pulling Zhou Mi by his arm. Zhou Mi is mumbling incoherent things into Kyuhyun’s shoulder at this point. “This is why the league is trying to ban you.”
“They’re not trying to ban me,” Kangin gives them a thumbs up. “They’re trying to promote me. Between you and me, I think Eeteuk is lonely up on that mountain. The Indigo Plateau is boring, you know? And what can I say? I’m kind of the life of the party.”
“I want to go to the Indigo Plateau!” Zhou Mi says suddenly. “I’m going to be the champion!”
Zhou Mi blacks out after that. Kyuhyun refuses to tell him the story the next day, when Zhou Mi is nursing his growing headache. “Enough fooling around,” Kyuhyun says as they drop by the Poké mart. “It’s time for you to get serious.”
“I am serious,” Zhou Mi complains. “Seriously hung over… Kind of.”
“Seafoam Island is up next, and how do you plan on battling Shiwon? You have no water pokémon. All you have is that fire stone, and you refuse to evolve Eevee into a vaporeon.”
“Can I borrow your Gyarados?” Zhou Mi looks hopeful.
“You know that I can’t help you at the Elite Four, right?” Kyuhyun tells him. “I think you should revamp your team.”
Zhou Mi doesn’t respond to that, so they set off for Route 19 wordlessly. They spend the majority of that week fishing on the banks of Cinnabar Island. Hours of the day go by as they sit in silence, Zhou Mi waiting for the familiar tug of his Super Rod. “I’m going to catch a horsea,” Zhou Mi says after the third day. He rolls the hem of his pants to his knees and steps into the water. Gazing up at the summer sun, he asks, “That should be easy, right?”
Kyuhyun watches him for a moment. “Why do you want to be the champion?” Behind him, Zhou Mi’s pokémon play outside of their poké ball. Occasionally, Eevee tries to lick at Kyuhyun’s Arcanine, who ignores Eevee and continues to sunbathe by the water.
Zhou Mi pauses and turns to Kyuhyun. He gives Kyuhyun a lazy smile. “I want to be famous?”
“That’s a load of Tauros shit.”
“Okay, okay,” Zhou Mi says, turning his back to Kyuhyun and staring at the sea. “When I was young, I nearly drowned.”
Kyuhyun says nothing, waiting for him to continue.
“I was playing with my friend Liyin by the water in pallet town, and I fell in. I couldn’t swim, and the current carried me deeper off shore into Route 21 before anyone could come save me. I don’t remember what really happened. I just remember struggling and reaching for the surface of the water. Every time I thought I could grab onto something, the water would dissolve into nothing. A tentacool saved me, though. It pulled me out of the water and rolled my body back on shore. When I woke up, these rattatas were licking me.”
Zhou Mi turned around, smiling a little. “Anyways, I really don’t remember the majority of it. Liyin still remembers, though. She says that’s why she only trains water pokémon. My parents didn’t want me to go off into the wilderness by myself after that. That’s why I didn’t start traveling until recently. I guess I’m kind of behind, right? I mean, Liyin is already in Hoenn now, and you’ve already battled the Elite Four.”
Kyuhyun looks away for a second, knees pulled to his chest. “I think that you, too, are Elite Four material.” He blinks when Zhou Mi splashes him with the water.
“Stop being so serious!” Zhou Mi laughs. “I didn’t tell you that story for you to get all depressing on me!” He cries when Kyuhyun tackles him into the water. They play until a swimmer catches sight of Zhou Mi and challenges him to a pokémon battle. Zhou Mi wins, but by the time he returns to shore, Kyuhyun is already building a fire with Arcanine. His jacket is discarded on the ground as Kyuhyun pulls his shirt over his head, squeezing the water out of it.
Kyuhyun’s waist is incredibly thin, his skin pale. For a second Zhou Mi simply stares, until Kyuhyun turns around and calls him a creep. Kyuhyun calls out Pigeot and uses whirlwind to dry their clothes.
“It’s like having a personal blow dryer,” Zhou Mi laughs as he combs his hand through Kyuhyun’s hair. Kyuhyun simply sighs and looks up at him. “Hey, so now that I’ve told you my secret, tell me something more about you,” Zhou Mi says.
“I-“ Kyuhyun pauses. “I’m not who you think I am.”
Zhou Mi makes a face. “Are you a member of Team Rocket?”
“I-what- NO.”
“Then you’re exactly who I think you are.” Zhou Mi grins, and for once, Kyuhyun grins back.
At night, they sleep by the fire, Vulpix cuddling around Kyuhyun’s legs. Zhou Mi wakes up once to the sounds of goldeens wailing in the distance. He finds Kyuhyun staring at him, eyes dark. Zhou Mi reaches for Kyuhyun’s hand and gives it a small squeeze. To his surprise, Kyuhyun doesn’t let go.
Zhou Mi doesn’t find a horsea, but he does manage to catch a corsola. They spend another day on Cinnabar Island, eating the last of their food supply while arguing over what to do with Zhou Mi’s Eevee.
“You need a jolteon,” Kyuhyun explains, watching as Eevee plays with Vulpix. “There’s no electric pokémon on your team, and jolteon has the best stats.”
“I told you.” Zhou Mi pinches Kyuhyun’s arm a little. “Stats don’t matter. As long as I train my pokémon with tender lovin’ care, they won’t disappoint me.” They stop talking when Jigglypuff starts screeching by the shore. A polywag has swam up the bank and is spraying Jigglypuff with water.
Zhou Mi laughs. “Do you want to play? Jigglypuff, use double slap!” Jigglypuff does as she is told and effectively pushes the polywag away. She’s pushing it into the water playfully when a beam of light catches from the sun, and suddenly Jigglypuff is changing shapes.
“No way. No way in hell.” Zhou Mi says, running towards his pokémon. What they find underneath the pile of rocks is a buried moon stone.
“Wiggly?” Wigglytuff looks confused, nudging at Zhou Mi.
“I guess you wanted to evolve so badly that you found your own moon stone, huh, girl?” Zhou Mi laughs, hugging his pokémon. Wifflytuff simply squeals in delight. “Oh man,” he looks to Kyuhyun. “Now she’s really going to fight Vulpix for the alpha female spot.”
Zhou Mi defeats Shiwon on his second try after Wigglytuff sings Shiwon’s rapidash to sleep.
“You’re starting to get better, technique wise,” Kyuhyun tells him as they head to Pallet via Route 21. Zhou Mi tenses a little when they approach the shore, but Kyuhyun squeezes his shoulder and Zhou Mi smiles in return.
He takes Kyuhyun to his house and introduces him to his mother. They drink tea and then play the old game console in Zhou Mi’s room. Kyuhyun kicks Zhou Mi’s ass, but Zhou Mi thinks it’s not that bad as he collapses back on his bed. “Just one more,” he says, looking at his collection of badges.
“Mi, listen,” Kyuhyun starts to say, peering over Zhou Mi’s figure. Instead, Zhou Mi pulls at Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun’s arm buckles under the weight. He can feel Kyuhyun’s breathing. Up close, Zhou Mi sees a faint splash of color in Kyuhyun’s normally dark eyes.
Zhou Mi is about to kiss Kyuhyun when the other boy pulls away. “Listen,” Kyuhyun says, jabbing a finger at Zhou Mi’s shoulder. “We can resume this under one condition.”
“What’s that?” Zhou Mi grins, shifting his weight to one elbow.
“I’ll kiss you after you get all eight badges.”
Zhou Mi laughs. “That sounds like a deal.”
Route 1 is nostalgic the second time through. They arrive at Viridian within the day. Kyuhyun follows Zhou Mi around wordlessly as they visit the trainer house. The school children in the pokémon academy gives them sodas and ice pops for answering their trivia challenge, and Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi split a pair of ice pops. “Hey,” Zhou Mi remembers suddenly. “How come you’ve never treated me to anything?”
Kyuhyun smirks at him. “I’ll treat you if you get your last badge in one piece.”
“Yeah, well, if the leader is even here.” Zhou Mi says as they head towards the direction of the gym. “The last time I was in town, no one knew where he was.” They stop to examine the plaque. The name of the gym leader is worn out, and when Zhou Mi turns to give Kyuhyun a helpless grin, Kyuhyun steps forward, pulls out a pair of keys, and opens the doors.
Zhou Mi is speechless for a minute as he watches Kyuhyun enter the gym. He picks his jaw off the floor and follows Kyuhyun, only to find the original puzzle disengaged. The lights suddenly flash on, and Zhou Mi finds Kyuhyun standing on the platform at the end.
Zhou Mi blinks. “Okay, I know you’re a fan of breaking and entering, but I thought we learned our lesson after that one lady tried to kick us for taking leftovers from her trash?”
Kyuhyun laughs. “It’s not breaking and entering if I have the key, stupid. You want to battle, right?”
“What?” Zhou Mi says, and suddenly it becomes clear to him that the balcony of the gym is now filled with trainers watching them. He pauses when the familiar sound of battle music emerges from the speakers.
Kyuhyun gives him a small smile. “I’ll determine whether you’re fit for the indigo plateau or not.” He pulls a poké ball off his belt. “I’m the leader of the Viridian City Gym, and I accept your challenge.”
Hindsight is always 20/20, and in the aftermath, Zhou Mi realizes that it had always been so, so obvious. He wonders why it never occurred to him that his traveling companion had been the missing gym leader all along. Zhou Mi blames it on Kyuhyun’s gambling streak, really. Still, sitting here in Kyuhyun’s office, surrounded by all the plagues, awards, and photos from past challengers, Zhou Mi realizes that Kyuhyun’s status had been evident from the start.
“I can’t believe you beat me,” Kyuhyun says, head buried into his hands.
Zhou Mi gives him a small nudge. “Come on. I’ve been traveling with you for months. I know your pokémon almost as well as I know mine. Are you really that surprised?”
“Maybe you’re getting shabby,” one of his assistants, Yehsung, says as he dumps a pile of paper work on Kyuhyun’s desk. “You have been playing hookey for the last few months. Do you know all many times I had to cover your ass in front of the league? Have you seen Eeteuk angry?”
“Speaking of which,” Kyuhyun says suddenly. “Did you know that Eeteuk is lobbying for Kangin to replace someone in the Elite Four? That means his gym will be open. Maybe you should apply for his old position and, you know, get your whiny butt out of my gym.”
“Don’t change the subject, Kyuhyun.” Another one of Kyuhyun’s trainers, Ryeowook, says, setting two bottles of lemonade on the desk. “You missed a lot of challengers while you were gone. What happened? You told us that you were going to Celadon to meet Sungmin for lunch, and suddenly you disappear for months.”
“Ryeowookie thought you got kidnapped by Team Rocket or something. He wanted to contact the police, but then Heechul said that he saw you loitering around Saffron. What did he say you were doing again?” Yehsung turns to Ryeowook.
“Soliciting.”
“Engaging in indecent activity.”
“Throwing trash on public property.”
“He also said that you kicked a rattata.”
“Okay, okay, enough.” Kyuhyun says, turning to Zhou Mi. “I did none of that stuff.”
“So,” Zhou Mi speaks up. “Does that mean you won’t be accompanying me to the Elite Four?”
“No way Jose,” Yehsung cuts in. “We have months of paper work to backlog. As soon as word gets out that Kyuhyun’s back, trainers will be lining up at the door. In fact, I think I see someone there right now-”
“That’s Henry,” Ryeowook cuts in, “he’s sweeping the entrance.”
“Why would he be doing that? Who sent him to do that? He’s supposed to be reading through official reports for me.”
“That’s your job.”
“No, it’s Kyuhyun’s job. Ky-” Yehsung stops. “Where did they go?”
“So,” Zhou Mi says when they finally settle in a patch of grass. “I beat you. I think you owe me a kiss.”
“The only thing I owe you is this.” Kyuhyun grins, putting a small badge in Zhou Mi’s hands. It flashes green under the light, clear and bright, just like Kyuhyun’s smile. When Zhou Mi looks up, Kyuhyun is leaning against him, lips brushing against Zhou Mi’s. “Congrats.”
“What happens now?” Zhou Mi asks, grasping the badge.
Kyuhyun leans back. “I don’t know. Go to the indigo plateau, defeat the Elite Four, become the champion.” He squeezes Zhou Mi’s hand. “Find what you’re looking for when you stare into the water.”
“What am I looking for?” Zhou Mi asks, squeezing back.
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun says. “But until you find it, I’ll be right here.”
“Waiting for me?”
“Doing paperwork,” Kyuhyun corrects.
“When I defeat the Elite Four,” Zhou Mi begins, kissing Kyuhyun’s hand. “Let’s go on another trip.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun laughs, his voice ringing in Zhou Mi’s ear. It lingers, like the scent of flowers in lavender town in the spring, like the way the waves crash against the inlet of Pallet, almost like a memory from a dream. When Zhou Mi closes his eyes, he still sees blue, and the world is still silent, but then he hears Kyuhyun’s laugh and the way Vulpix squeals, and all the colors come back.
fin
Zhou Mi's team: Vulpix, Jigglypuff -> Wiggleytuff, Eevee, Butterfree
Kyuhyun's team: Exeggutor, Rhydon, Machamp, Gyarados, Arcanin, Pidgeot
In the original Gold/Silver games, Green (Kyuhyun) is the last gym leader you battle, but he's never at his gym and you have to find him on cinnabar island before making him return to Virdian. So yahhh. Sungmin = Erica, Heechul = Sabrina, Kangin = Koga, Shiwon = Blaine, and Kyuhyun obviously = Green. Get your gym leader trivia here.
Love it? Hate it? Please leave some feedback, even if it may be a little late. You can also join the community, since I'll be locking up NC17 fics.
Fandom: Super Junior, Pokemon
Author: blahchiharu
Characters/pairing: Kyuhyun/ Zhou Mi
Rating: G
wordcount: ~6,200
Summary: Zhou Mi tries to collect all eight badges on his journey to the Indigo Plateau. Between his disgruntled traveling companion and misplaced town maps, gym leaders are the least of Zhou Mi's worries. Qmi. For chrysa.
For chrysa! Thank you for proofreading all of my stories last semester! Special thanks also goes to lark for beta-ing ♥ I love my pokepals. If anything, I'd say that this fic follows the gen2 games pretty well.
Zhou Mi thinks he can see the Celadon skyline in the distance, past the sea of trees as his vision starts to blend into a canvas of green and blue. He lies down, watching a herd of pidgeys fly across the sky. Zhou Mi’s back is digging into the root of a tree, and Jigglypuff only looks at him in confusion when he asks for a song.
He knows he wouldn’t be having this problem if only he had taken that damn map from Liyin’s sister. It’s been five days since he last saw a pokémon center, and Zhou Mi fed the last of his berries to Vulpix after a battle on Route 15. His hunger has long since abated, replaced with a feeling of exhaustion and pure nothingness. Zhou Mi’s throat aches, but the sea water from Route 14 burns, so he gives it to Butterfree instead. It is spring, and he can smell the changing of the seasons as he lies in a blanket of dead leaves. Zhou Mi thinks he can see Celadon City on the horizon, but for now he is too tired to continue. He thinks that if he can just get some shut-eye, then maybe he can muster the strength to reach Celadon by tomorrow.
Jigglypuff starts to sing, and Zhou Mi vaguely remembers calling her back into her poké ball before everything falls silent. When he closes his eyes, all he sees is blue, and all he remembers is the memory of stillness. He recalls hearing something in the distance, but when he reaches for something, anything, there’s nothing there.
Chills run down his back. Someone is shaking him, telling him to wake up. Zhou Mi looks up for a split second to find dark eyes peering at him. Someone is pulling at his arm, and when Zhou Mi doesn’t respond, he hears the faint click of a poké ball and watches as a pidgeot is released.
The next time Zhou Mi opens his eyes, he is greeted by a sea of white. He recognizes the familiar ceiling of the pokémon center and winces as he feels exhaustion tugging at every joint.
“What kind of idiot sings himself to sleep?” The boy at the opposite end of the room asks, sitting on the opposing bunk bed as he stares at Zhou Mi, eyes unreadable. “Were you trying to become bug pokémon food?”
Zhou Mi opens his mouth but promptly closes it. He pats at his jeans and asks, “Where are my pokémon?”
“I gave them to the nurse.” The stranger gives him a look when Zhou Mi tries to stand up. He watches as Zhou Mi sways for a few seconds before pushing Zhou Mi back onto the bed. “Just go back to sleep.”
Zhou Mi tries to complain, but the room is starting to spin again, so he closes his eyes and sighs. By the time he wakes up again, his poké balls are set in tray on his bedside table, and the other bunk beds are now filled with other trainers catching some sleep. The sky outside of the window is dark, but Zhou Mi picks up his poké balls and heads downstairs regardless. All he has in his bag are some pecha berry seeds, but he’s sure that he can sell his X defend at the Poké mart to cobble enough money to pay for his room and board.
“Oh, but your friend already paid for you.” The nurse smiles at him when he approaches the counter. She pauses when a trainer hands over their poké balls, shuffling towards the back as she sets them carefully on the machine.
“My friend,” Zhou Mi repeats, eyes wide.
Zhou Mi doesn’t see “his friend” again until the next day. The stranger is leaning against the TM counter in the department store, deciding between TM05 and TM07. In the end, he buys both, pulling out his overstuffed wallet. He looks up when Zhou Mi approaches him, almost as if he was expecting Zhou Mi.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Zhou Mi starts to say. He extends his hand. “Um, for saving my ass. I’m Zhou Mi.”
The stranger looks at him for a few minutes before accepting his hand. “Kyuhyun.” The sleeves of Kyuhyun’s black jacket are rolled to his elbow. His hair is slightly messy, as if he hasn’t bothered to smoothen it into place after wearing his hood. His cargo pants look worn, but his shoes are surprisingly clean, as if traversing through the terrains of Route 13 had been child’s play. “What the hell were you doing out there?” He asks.
Zhou Mi gives him a sheepish grin. “I got lost and kind of ran out of money… and food. My pokegear was out of battery too, so I couldn’t call anyone. I was using Butterfree to navigate my way through the forest, but she got knocked out by an ace trainer and hence, I lost all my money. And, just- please let me stop talking.”
Kyuhyun looks amused. “Your life is so hard.”
Zhou Mi shrinks. “Don’t make fun of me!” He pauses when Kyuhyun tosses something at him, catching it out of the air. Zhou Mi looks at his hand to find two nuggets. “What are these?”
Kyuhyun shrugs, already heading towards the escalator. “Think of it as a present.” He ignores Zhou Mi’s protests and continues towards the exit, his hands digging into his pockets. Zhou Mi follows him regardless. He dodges a lady with a stroller and a pair of twins playing by the exit, and manages to make it out of the department store before catching up to Kyuhyun. “Wait!”
Kyuhyun is turning around when someone steps in front of them.
It’s Team Rocket again, and this time, they’ve brought friends. “Hey, kid! Your last victory was a fluke, okay?! I challenge you to a rematch!” He doesn’t wait before calling out Ekans. Zhou Mi tenses and calls for his Vulpix. He doesn’t remember what really happens after that, what with all the people gathering around them. What Zhou Mi does, remember, is that Butterfree is one move away from ko-ing Ekans when another grunt calls out his Zubat.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, Zhou Mi thinks and reaches for Eevee’s poké balls. He doesn’t get a chance to, because Kyuhyun is already stepping in, and suddenly there is a Machamp in front of them.
The battle ends with the grunts scrambling away, promising to make them pay. Kyuhyun turns to Zhou Mi and says, with a wry smile, “So you don’t suck after all.”
“No, of course not!” Zhou Mi sulks. He picks up Vulpix when she rubs against his leg. “I’m just directionally challenged, okay?”
Kyuhyun looks at him. “So, what are your plans here? Are you going to challenge Sungmin?”
Zhou Mi blinks, unaware of the crowd dissolving around them. “Is he the gym leader here? Have you battled him? What pokémon does he specialize in?”
Kyuhyun gives him an amused look and scratches Vulpix behind the ears. Vulpix purrs in response. “I think you’ll be fine. Well, I’ll see you around. ” He’s walking away again before Zhou Mi can respond, waving a hand absently in Zhou Mi’s direction before disappearing.
Kyuhyun is right, because Vulpix easily takes out all of Sungmin’s grass pokémon. Sungmin gives him the Rainbow Badge and Mega Drain, telling Zhou Mi not to be a stranger. One of the trainers even wink at Zhou Mi on his way out.
Zhou Mi finds Kyuhyun again in the game corner. Kyuhyun is playing at a slot machine when Zhou Mi approaches him. “I won the badge!” Zhou Mi says, bouncing on his heels. Kyuhyun makes an acknowledging noise, attacking the lever of the machine and avidly pressing buttons. He pulls at Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun finally slams at the button, turning to look at him. “I wanted to thank you for helping me.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re eternally grateful to me, etc.” Kyuhyun waves at him.
“Have you battled Sungmin too?” Zhou Mi scoots Kyuhyun out of his spot, taking a seat next to him. “Where are you planning to go now?”
Kyuhyun shrugs. “I was thinking about staying in town for a few days and then heading east.”
“Great!” Zhou Mi grins, wrapping an arm around Kyuhyun. His smile doesn’t falter when Kyuhyun slaps his hand away. “Then we can go to Saffron together!” Kyuhyun doesn’t get to reply, because Zhou Mi is already tugging at him. “It’ll be fun, I promise!”
Route 7 is relaxing, and Zhou Mi lets Vulpix out of her poké ball as they make their way to Saffron. Vulpix spends the majority of the trip headbutting Kyuhyun, begging to be picked up and scratched. Kyuhyun looks a little perplexed, but after much prodding, he plays with Vulpix and lets her follow him around.
“Isn’t she adorable?” Zhou Mi grins. “She doesn’t get along with Jigglypuff, though. I let them play together once, and they kept on scratching each other. Vulpix burned Jigglypuff’s ear and Jigglypuff tried to sing her to sleep.”
Kyuhyun laughs. “Your pokémon are fighting for the position of alpha female. You know, this wouldn’t happen if you didn’t have an all female team.”
“Well, maybe you should have a cuter team!”
They argue all the way into the city before taking a break at the pokémon center. “I heard that the gym leader here is really strong,” Zhou Mi says as they sit on the steps of the Poké mart, watching as a group of kids run by with a meowth. “Have you battled him?”
“Once, a long time ago,” Kyuhyun answers at last. “He’s tricky, so you should watch out for his Alakazam.”
“He has an alakazam??” Zhou Mi buries his face into his knees. “I’m screwed. I’m totally screwed.”
He looks up when Kyuhyun pats him on the back, dropping something into Zhou Mi’s lap. It’s a full restore. “I’m going to check out the dojo. Come find me afterwards.” He pauses when Zhou Mi gives him a pitiful look. “Good luck.”
The squeeze he gives Zhou Mi is somewhat reassuring, so Zhou Mi gives Vulpix a look and says, “Are you ready, girl?”
Vulpix purrs in reply.
Zhou Mi manages to make his way through the gym puzzle without using his full restore. The person he finds waiting at the end of the warp holes, however, looks unsurprised to see him. “I had a vision of your arrival,” Heechul tells him, seemingly more interested in his nails than Zhou Mi. “I’ve had psychic powers since I was a child. I first learned to bend spoons with my mind, etc., etc. Blah blah blah. No one cares. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Wait, you can bend spoons with your mind?” Zhou Mi pauses. “Can I see?”
Heechul grins. “I’ll show you if you beat me.”
Zhou Mi never gets to see Heechul’s spoon trick, because Heechul’s Espeon knocks every single one of Zhou Mi’s pokémon out. Zhou Mi remembers the unimpressed look Heechul gives him before Zhou Mi collects his pokémon and makes a run for the pokémon center.
Kyuhyun finds him wallowing in self-pity a few hours later in the trainer’s fan club. “You lost, huh?”
“I never even got to see his alakazam,” Zhou Mi mumbles. “I was completely unprepared. His trainers were okay, but I don’t have anyone in my team that can take down his psychic pokémon. They’re just too strong!”
Kyuhyun is silent for a while. “Maybe you should reorganize your team.”
Zhou Mi sighs, collapsing on his back as he stares at the ceiling. “I hate level grinding.”
“Hey,” Kyuhyun says, leaning over the couch as he blocks Zhou Mi’s view. “Have you ever been to Lavender town?”
In retrospect, Kyuhyun is really the one who bullies Zhou Mi into the Pokémon Tower. Zhou Mi had taken one step into Lavender town and tried to bail, but after Kyuhyun’s verbal beat down (“Are you trying to lose?” and “Do you want that badge or not?”), he sighed and headed towards the tower.
Zhou Mi nearly flees when he runs into the first ghost pokémon, knocking into Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun spins Zhou Mi around and pushes him back into the battle. “I’m going to die,” Zhou Mi decides. “I’m going to die and then haunt you for the rest of your life. I’ll even live in your closet, free of charge.”
“Stop being a drama queen.” Kyuhyun responds, putting an ultra ball in Zhou Mi’s hand. “Go and catch that ghost pokémon. It’ll be the key to your victory.” Zhou Mi eventually catches a ghastly, who takes a liking to Eevee and Vulpix. Jigglypuff, however, is unimpressed that her attacks don’t work.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” Kyuhyun says as he watches Zhou Mi train Ghastly. “There’s another pokémon on your team that’s capable of taking Heechul’s pokémon out.”
Kyuhyun is right again. Butterfree’s bug attacks and Ghastly’s ghost moves, when combined efficiently, manage to defeat the last of Heechul’s pokémon. Heechul himself looks impressed, although he tells Zhou Mi that he saw this coming. “I see that your special friend gave you a clue.”
“My special friend?” Zhou Mi blinks. “So, are you really psychic? Let’s see that spoon bending trick.”
Heechul pulls out a plastic spoon from his pants pocket and bends it with his hands. When Zhou Mi starts to complain, Heechul shuts him up by giving him the Marsh Badge.
They eat dinner by the Poké mart that night, and Kyuhyun makes Zhou Mi treat him for helping him win the badge. “How come Heechul seemed to know who you were?” Zhou Mi asks, handing Kyuhyun a bento.
Kyuhyun shrugs. “Heechul claims to be pyshic, doesn’t he?”
“Is he really?”
“Who knows,” Kyuhyun says as he splits his chopsticks. “Psychic or not, what I do know is that he’s nosy. Nothing happens in Saffron without Heechul knowing, probably.”
“Why didn’t you challenge him to a battle?”
Kyuhyun’s expression is unreadable as he picks at something in his bento. “I’m not collecting badges.”
“So what are you doing? Soul searching?”
“I guess.” Kyuhyun replies with a mouthful of rice. “It’s been too long since I last traveled.”
“So you’ll come with me, right?” Zhou Mi beams, grabbing one of Kyuhyun’s hands, only to have him bat it away with his chopsticks. “Let’s travel together! Maybe now I won’t get lost all over the place!”
“And why should I travel with you?” Kyuhyun asks, more focused on his bento than Zhou Mi.
“Because I’m cute?”
Kyuhyun snorts.
“Because my Vulpix is cute?” Zhou Mi tries again, calling out his pokémon. Vulpix jumps onto Kyuhyun’s shoulder and swats her tail against Kyuhyun’s face.
“Okay, okay,” Kyuhyun says and lets Vulpix try some of his food. “Fair enough.”
They get lost regardless. Somewhere between the forest and all the caves on Route 16, Vulpix accidentally sneezes and burns Kyuhyun’s town map. They set up camp at night, Kyuhyun gathering branches while Vulpix builds a fire.
“Why don’t you let your pokémon out?” Zhou Mi asks at dinner as they make a salad from all the berries he collected.
“If I did that, they would probably step on you in your sleep.” Kyuhyun picks at his salad. Looking up, he finds Zhou Mi beaming at him. “Do you get lost a lot?”
Zhou Mi scratches the side of his head while Butterfree and Ghastly float around them, playing chase. “I don’t actively try to get lost, you know.”
“How do you find your way back?”
Zhou pauses. “I usually listen to the sound of water. I’m drawn to it, and I don’t stop until I reach the water front, one way or another. Is that weird?”
“Yes, but I think we’ve already established that fact that you’re weird to begin with, so this doesn’t surprise me.”
“Ha!” Zhou Mi pretends to be insulted and lightly punches Kyuhyun on the arm. Kyuhyun pushes him back in jest until Zhou Mi tackles him. Butterfree squeals in the air, circling around them while Ghastly makes a bubbly, laughing noise. Zhou Mi laughs until they roll into a patch of tall grass and a batch of pidgeys try to pull their hair out.
“Ouch, ouch,” Zhou Mi says when Butterfree scares away the pidgeys. Zhou Mi’s sides hurt from laughing, and even though Kyuhyun tries to look mad, even he grins when Zhou Mi pulls grass out of his hair.
Fuschia City is calm and peaceful, yet Kyuhyun disappears into the Safari Zone as soon as they set foot in the city. Zhou Mi finds Bill’s grandfather and spends a whole day looking for an Oddish. Kyuhyun reappears to find Zhou Mi lying in the gardens, watching a stone shine in the sunlight. “What’s this?” Kyuhyun asks, rolling up the hem of his pants. Kyuhyun’s shoes are covered in mud, and there are more than one scuffle marks gracing his arm.
“What have you been doing?” Zhou Mi asks, tilting his head.
Kyuhyun crouches down next to Zhou Mi. “Catching pokémon. Do you know what the encounter rate for a Dratini is?”
Zhou Mi laughs, reaching up for Kyuhyun’s face. Kyuhyun grabs his hand instead. “No, but I know what the encounter rate for a magikarp is.”
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun mumbles. “Like a fucking thousand. Don’t ask me how many safari balls I wasted.” He pauses when he feels the stone in Zhou Mi’s hand, bring it to the ground and opening Zhou Mi’s palm. “What’s this?”
Zhou Mi sits up, running a hand through his bangs. “It’s a fire stone. Bill’s grandfather gave it to me.”
Kyuhyun looks at him. “You want to evolve Vulpix?”
“No, what I want is for you to take a shower!” Zhou Mi makes a face of disgust and pushes Kyuhyun away.
They don’t talk about it again, but Zhou Mi does ask Kyuhyun about the gym leader during dinner, half way into his sandwich. They’re sitting on the fence of the community gardens again, Zhou Mi’s leg knocking into Kyuhyun’s while they watch the villagers take evening strolls. “The plaque says he specializes in poison pokémon.”
“You have Butterfree, don’t you?” Kyuhyun replies, chewing thoughtfully. “Want me to lend you Rhydon?”
“No.” Zhou Mi makes a face.
“Good, because I would’ve said no.”
Zhou Mi laughs, punching Kyuhyun lightly on the arm. They get into a pinching fight, which suddenly dissolves into a tickling match until they both fall off the fence, landing in a bush of chesto berries. They pick themselves up and escape before a group of youngsters tries to challenge them to a team battle.
Kangin’s poison gym is no biggie for Zhou Mi. What he doesn’t expect, however, is for Kangin to invite him to drinks afterwards. “Come on,” Kangin says. “So many pipsqueaks come to challenge me. I haven’t had a good drink in weeks!” He ignores Zhou Mi’s complaints and effectively wheels both of them into the nearest bar.
After Zhou Mi’s third glass of Kangin’s special berry concoction, Zhou Mi merrily dials Kyuhyun on his pokegear. Kyuhyun shows up just in time to stop Zhou Mi from falling flat on his face.
Kangin looks surprised to see Kyuhyun. “Here to take our winner home?”
“Jeez, what did you feed him?” Kyuhyun asks, pulling Zhou Mi by his arm. Zhou Mi is mumbling incoherent things into Kyuhyun’s shoulder at this point. “This is why the league is trying to ban you.”
“They’re not trying to ban me,” Kangin gives them a thumbs up. “They’re trying to promote me. Between you and me, I think Eeteuk is lonely up on that mountain. The Indigo Plateau is boring, you know? And what can I say? I’m kind of the life of the party.”
“I want to go to the Indigo Plateau!” Zhou Mi says suddenly. “I’m going to be the champion!”
Zhou Mi blacks out after that. Kyuhyun refuses to tell him the story the next day, when Zhou Mi is nursing his growing headache. “Enough fooling around,” Kyuhyun says as they drop by the Poké mart. “It’s time for you to get serious.”
“I am serious,” Zhou Mi complains. “Seriously hung over… Kind of.”
“Seafoam Island is up next, and how do you plan on battling Shiwon? You have no water pokémon. All you have is that fire stone, and you refuse to evolve Eevee into a vaporeon.”
“Can I borrow your Gyarados?” Zhou Mi looks hopeful.
“You know that I can’t help you at the Elite Four, right?” Kyuhyun tells him. “I think you should revamp your team.”
Zhou Mi doesn’t respond to that, so they set off for Route 19 wordlessly. They spend the majority of that week fishing on the banks of Cinnabar Island. Hours of the day go by as they sit in silence, Zhou Mi waiting for the familiar tug of his Super Rod. “I’m going to catch a horsea,” Zhou Mi says after the third day. He rolls the hem of his pants to his knees and steps into the water. Gazing up at the summer sun, he asks, “That should be easy, right?”
Kyuhyun watches him for a moment. “Why do you want to be the champion?” Behind him, Zhou Mi’s pokémon play outside of their poké ball. Occasionally, Eevee tries to lick at Kyuhyun’s Arcanine, who ignores Eevee and continues to sunbathe by the water.
Zhou Mi pauses and turns to Kyuhyun. He gives Kyuhyun a lazy smile. “I want to be famous?”
“That’s a load of Tauros shit.”
“Okay, okay,” Zhou Mi says, turning his back to Kyuhyun and staring at the sea. “When I was young, I nearly drowned.”
Kyuhyun says nothing, waiting for him to continue.
“I was playing with my friend Liyin by the water in pallet town, and I fell in. I couldn’t swim, and the current carried me deeper off shore into Route 21 before anyone could come save me. I don’t remember what really happened. I just remember struggling and reaching for the surface of the water. Every time I thought I could grab onto something, the water would dissolve into nothing. A tentacool saved me, though. It pulled me out of the water and rolled my body back on shore. When I woke up, these rattatas were licking me.”
Zhou Mi turned around, smiling a little. “Anyways, I really don’t remember the majority of it. Liyin still remembers, though. She says that’s why she only trains water pokémon. My parents didn’t want me to go off into the wilderness by myself after that. That’s why I didn’t start traveling until recently. I guess I’m kind of behind, right? I mean, Liyin is already in Hoenn now, and you’ve already battled the Elite Four.”
Kyuhyun looks away for a second, knees pulled to his chest. “I think that you, too, are Elite Four material.” He blinks when Zhou Mi splashes him with the water.
“Stop being so serious!” Zhou Mi laughs. “I didn’t tell you that story for you to get all depressing on me!” He cries when Kyuhyun tackles him into the water. They play until a swimmer catches sight of Zhou Mi and challenges him to a pokémon battle. Zhou Mi wins, but by the time he returns to shore, Kyuhyun is already building a fire with Arcanine. His jacket is discarded on the ground as Kyuhyun pulls his shirt over his head, squeezing the water out of it.
Kyuhyun’s waist is incredibly thin, his skin pale. For a second Zhou Mi simply stares, until Kyuhyun turns around and calls him a creep. Kyuhyun calls out Pigeot and uses whirlwind to dry their clothes.
“It’s like having a personal blow dryer,” Zhou Mi laughs as he combs his hand through Kyuhyun’s hair. Kyuhyun simply sighs and looks up at him. “Hey, so now that I’ve told you my secret, tell me something more about you,” Zhou Mi says.
“I-“ Kyuhyun pauses. “I’m not who you think I am.”
Zhou Mi makes a face. “Are you a member of Team Rocket?”
“I-what- NO.”
“Then you’re exactly who I think you are.” Zhou Mi grins, and for once, Kyuhyun grins back.
At night, they sleep by the fire, Vulpix cuddling around Kyuhyun’s legs. Zhou Mi wakes up once to the sounds of goldeens wailing in the distance. He finds Kyuhyun staring at him, eyes dark. Zhou Mi reaches for Kyuhyun’s hand and gives it a small squeeze. To his surprise, Kyuhyun doesn’t let go.
Zhou Mi doesn’t find a horsea, but he does manage to catch a corsola. They spend another day on Cinnabar Island, eating the last of their food supply while arguing over what to do with Zhou Mi’s Eevee.
“You need a jolteon,” Kyuhyun explains, watching as Eevee plays with Vulpix. “There’s no electric pokémon on your team, and jolteon has the best stats.”
“I told you.” Zhou Mi pinches Kyuhyun’s arm a little. “Stats don’t matter. As long as I train my pokémon with tender lovin’ care, they won’t disappoint me.” They stop talking when Jigglypuff starts screeching by the shore. A polywag has swam up the bank and is spraying Jigglypuff with water.
Zhou Mi laughs. “Do you want to play? Jigglypuff, use double slap!” Jigglypuff does as she is told and effectively pushes the polywag away. She’s pushing it into the water playfully when a beam of light catches from the sun, and suddenly Jigglypuff is changing shapes.
“No way. No way in hell.” Zhou Mi says, running towards his pokémon. What they find underneath the pile of rocks is a buried moon stone.
“Wiggly?” Wigglytuff looks confused, nudging at Zhou Mi.
“I guess you wanted to evolve so badly that you found your own moon stone, huh, girl?” Zhou Mi laughs, hugging his pokémon. Wifflytuff simply squeals in delight. “Oh man,” he looks to Kyuhyun. “Now she’s really going to fight Vulpix for the alpha female spot.”
Zhou Mi defeats Shiwon on his second try after Wigglytuff sings Shiwon’s rapidash to sleep.
“You’re starting to get better, technique wise,” Kyuhyun tells him as they head to Pallet via Route 21. Zhou Mi tenses a little when they approach the shore, but Kyuhyun squeezes his shoulder and Zhou Mi smiles in return.
He takes Kyuhyun to his house and introduces him to his mother. They drink tea and then play the old game console in Zhou Mi’s room. Kyuhyun kicks Zhou Mi’s ass, but Zhou Mi thinks it’s not that bad as he collapses back on his bed. “Just one more,” he says, looking at his collection of badges.
“Mi, listen,” Kyuhyun starts to say, peering over Zhou Mi’s figure. Instead, Zhou Mi pulls at Kyuhyun until Kyuhyun’s arm buckles under the weight. He can feel Kyuhyun’s breathing. Up close, Zhou Mi sees a faint splash of color in Kyuhyun’s normally dark eyes.
Zhou Mi is about to kiss Kyuhyun when the other boy pulls away. “Listen,” Kyuhyun says, jabbing a finger at Zhou Mi’s shoulder. “We can resume this under one condition.”
“What’s that?” Zhou Mi grins, shifting his weight to one elbow.
“I’ll kiss you after you get all eight badges.”
Zhou Mi laughs. “That sounds like a deal.”
Route 1 is nostalgic the second time through. They arrive at Viridian within the day. Kyuhyun follows Zhou Mi around wordlessly as they visit the trainer house. The school children in the pokémon academy gives them sodas and ice pops for answering their trivia challenge, and Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi split a pair of ice pops. “Hey,” Zhou Mi remembers suddenly. “How come you’ve never treated me to anything?”
Kyuhyun smirks at him. “I’ll treat you if you get your last badge in one piece.”
“Yeah, well, if the leader is even here.” Zhou Mi says as they head towards the direction of the gym. “The last time I was in town, no one knew where he was.” They stop to examine the plaque. The name of the gym leader is worn out, and when Zhou Mi turns to give Kyuhyun a helpless grin, Kyuhyun steps forward, pulls out a pair of keys, and opens the doors.
Zhou Mi is speechless for a minute as he watches Kyuhyun enter the gym. He picks his jaw off the floor and follows Kyuhyun, only to find the original puzzle disengaged. The lights suddenly flash on, and Zhou Mi finds Kyuhyun standing on the platform at the end.
Zhou Mi blinks. “Okay, I know you’re a fan of breaking and entering, but I thought we learned our lesson after that one lady tried to kick us for taking leftovers from her trash?”
Kyuhyun laughs. “It’s not breaking and entering if I have the key, stupid. You want to battle, right?”
“What?” Zhou Mi says, and suddenly it becomes clear to him that the balcony of the gym is now filled with trainers watching them. He pauses when the familiar sound of battle music emerges from the speakers.
Kyuhyun gives him a small smile. “I’ll determine whether you’re fit for the indigo plateau or not.” He pulls a poké ball off his belt. “I’m the leader of the Viridian City Gym, and I accept your challenge.”
Hindsight is always 20/20, and in the aftermath, Zhou Mi realizes that it had always been so, so obvious. He wonders why it never occurred to him that his traveling companion had been the missing gym leader all along. Zhou Mi blames it on Kyuhyun’s gambling streak, really. Still, sitting here in Kyuhyun’s office, surrounded by all the plagues, awards, and photos from past challengers, Zhou Mi realizes that Kyuhyun’s status had been evident from the start.
“I can’t believe you beat me,” Kyuhyun says, head buried into his hands.
Zhou Mi gives him a small nudge. “Come on. I’ve been traveling with you for months. I know your pokémon almost as well as I know mine. Are you really that surprised?”
“Maybe you’re getting shabby,” one of his assistants, Yehsung, says as he dumps a pile of paper work on Kyuhyun’s desk. “You have been playing hookey for the last few months. Do you know all many times I had to cover your ass in front of the league? Have you seen Eeteuk angry?”
“Speaking of which,” Kyuhyun says suddenly. “Did you know that Eeteuk is lobbying for Kangin to replace someone in the Elite Four? That means his gym will be open. Maybe you should apply for his old position and, you know, get your whiny butt out of my gym.”
“Don’t change the subject, Kyuhyun.” Another one of Kyuhyun’s trainers, Ryeowook, says, setting two bottles of lemonade on the desk. “You missed a lot of challengers while you were gone. What happened? You told us that you were going to Celadon to meet Sungmin for lunch, and suddenly you disappear for months.”
“Ryeowookie thought you got kidnapped by Team Rocket or something. He wanted to contact the police, but then Heechul said that he saw you loitering around Saffron. What did he say you were doing again?” Yehsung turns to Ryeowook.
“Soliciting.”
“Engaging in indecent activity.”
“Throwing trash on public property.”
“He also said that you kicked a rattata.”
“Okay, okay, enough.” Kyuhyun says, turning to Zhou Mi. “I did none of that stuff.”
“So,” Zhou Mi speaks up. “Does that mean you won’t be accompanying me to the Elite Four?”
“No way Jose,” Yehsung cuts in. “We have months of paper work to backlog. As soon as word gets out that Kyuhyun’s back, trainers will be lining up at the door. In fact, I think I see someone there right now-”
“That’s Henry,” Ryeowook cuts in, “he’s sweeping the entrance.”
“Why would he be doing that? Who sent him to do that? He’s supposed to be reading through official reports for me.”
“That’s your job.”
“No, it’s Kyuhyun’s job. Ky-” Yehsung stops. “Where did they go?”
“So,” Zhou Mi says when they finally settle in a patch of grass. “I beat you. I think you owe me a kiss.”
“The only thing I owe you is this.” Kyuhyun grins, putting a small badge in Zhou Mi’s hands. It flashes green under the light, clear and bright, just like Kyuhyun’s smile. When Zhou Mi looks up, Kyuhyun is leaning against him, lips brushing against Zhou Mi’s. “Congrats.”
“What happens now?” Zhou Mi asks, grasping the badge.
Kyuhyun leans back. “I don’t know. Go to the indigo plateau, defeat the Elite Four, become the champion.” He squeezes Zhou Mi’s hand. “Find what you’re looking for when you stare into the water.”
“What am I looking for?” Zhou Mi asks, squeezing back.
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun says. “But until you find it, I’ll be right here.”
“Waiting for me?”
“Doing paperwork,” Kyuhyun corrects.
“When I defeat the Elite Four,” Zhou Mi begins, kissing Kyuhyun’s hand. “Let’s go on another trip.”
“Okay,” Kyuhyun laughs, his voice ringing in Zhou Mi’s ear. It lingers, like the scent of flowers in lavender town in the spring, like the way the waves crash against the inlet of Pallet, almost like a memory from a dream. When Zhou Mi closes his eyes, he still sees blue, and the world is still silent, but then he hears Kyuhyun’s laugh and the way Vulpix squeals, and all the colors come back.
fin
Zhou Mi's team: Vulpix, Jigglypuff -> Wiggleytuff, Eevee, Butterfree
Kyuhyun's team: Exeggutor, Rhydon, Machamp, Gyarados, Arcanin, Pidgeot
In the original Gold/Silver games, Green (Kyuhyun) is the last gym leader you battle, but he's never at his gym and you have to find him on cinnabar island before making him return to Virdian. So yahhh. Sungmin = Erica, Heechul = Sabrina, Kangin = Koga, Shiwon = Blaine, and Kyuhyun obviously = Green. Get your gym leader trivia here.
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