Title: Solidarity
Rating: G
Word Count: ~1,700
Genre: Slice-of-life, Friendship, Fluff
Fandom: Pokémon
Pairings: Green + his team! Green/Red if you squint
Warnings: Probably diabetes-inducing (again)
Summary: Every pokémon plays a different role in Green's life. (A collection of shorts focusing on Green hanging out with his pokémon.)
Author's Note: Originally published 18 March 2011. I started this in June 2010 and it took me a year to finish it ;_;. Sort of a companion piece to Fidelity. There are too many Green+Eevee fics and not enough Green+everyone else fics. If I could draw, this would have just been a series of fanarts, but instead you will have to let me try to show you with words. This focuses on his HGSS team, but if I have time (lol) I'll try to write a sequel including his other pokémon too.

Arcanine's paws thunder across the ground. His great head bobs as he lunges forward; his mane whips in the wind and his tail streams out behind them. Green leans low over his pokémon's neck, eyes flashing, and feels Arcanine's chest contract and expand in time with his own.

The pokémon puts on a burst of speed before his muscles tense in a quick coil-and-release. They fly into the air, soaring over the gorge like a bird, landing lightly on the other side and taking off again.

Arcanine throws his head back and howls up at the summer sky. The sound mixes with Green's echoing laughter, and the two skip across the earth like pebbles on a lake.

—

Two of Exeggutor's three heads are dozing in the heat, but the third—the right one—is trying to read over Green's shoulder. It's always been a little smarter than the others.

Green gives it a wry smile. "It's boring," he tells it. "Just a gym report." The pokémon is undeterred, and its trainer shakes his head affectionately.

He points at a word. "Applicant," he says. "See that first letter? 'A.' It makes an 'ahh' sound. Remember?" The exeggutor's brow furrows as it thinks hard. "A," Green says encouragingly. "Apple. Ariados. Agatha." It gives him a questioning look, and he chuckles. "No, I'm Green. That starts with a 'G.'" Exeggutor blinks rapidly, looking panicked. "Don't worry about it," he says, patting its trunk. "I'll just read to you, all right?"

It nods, its face breaking into a childlike smile, and Green starts to recite. When he looks up a few minutes later, it has fallen asleep, just like the other two.

Green chuckles. "See? Told you it was boring."

He leans back against his pokémon, enjoying the shade, and reads the rest quietly.

—

"No," Green snaps when Tyranitar appears in the doorway.

The pokémon stops, whining. He wags his tail in supplication, and a clump of mud on his tail lands with a splat on the gym floor. Green winces.

"I've told you, no dirt in the gym," he says.

Tyranitar's ears flatten, and the huge pokémon growls.

Green points. "Out!"

The earth shakes as Tyranitar turns around and stomps outside. Green follows. When he picks up the garden hose, Tyranitar bares his teeth.

"Do you want me to get Gyarados?" Green demands. The pokémon shakes his massive head, eyes wide and pleading. Green stares at him until the look drops, and then sprays him.

Tyranitar howls and twists away from the water and Green chases him down, shouting and ducking the occasional lump of dirt that the pokémon flings at him. Eventually, the pokémon is dripping, but clean, and Green is soaked with sweat and water. He pulls on his shirt where it has gotten stuck to his skin and brushes his bangs from his face.

Tyranitar shakes furiously, sending sheets of water everywhere. Green is too tired to dodge, so he just throws his arms up in front of his face and curses until the deluge stops. Then the pokémon lies down in the grass with a sigh, and Green collapses beside him—maybe the sun will dry him off, or at least help him warm up. He tries to wring out his jacket, but soon gives it up as a lost cause.

The pokémon growls at him, but it's half-hearted. Green pats him on the shoulder—that, too, is half-hearted. "Just resting—for a bit, okay?" he says, still breathing hard.

Tyranitar grumbles, then leans over to whuffle his hair.

—

Green stares out of his window, still not really believing what he's seeing. Outside, Gyarados snakes his way across the ground, followed by a small mob of screaming, running children. A stream of bubbles trails from his mouth. The children jump to catch the bubbles which, if caught correctly, shimmer in their hands for a few moments before vanishing (but usually they just explode).

Some have managed to catch up to the slow-moving gyarados and clamber on his tail and body, their feet slipping on his slippery scales. Those who are successful at riding the huge pokémon wave at their parents from their proud positions on its back—at least until he shrugs and they tumble off with excited shrieks.

"Who would have thought?" Green murmurs. Gyarados turns to him and he swears the corners of his perpetually-open mouth turn up in a smile. Green chuckles, waves at his pokémon, and turns away.

Then he realizes that this must be how Red's mother used to feel.

—

"One more!" Green shouts across the roaring water. He's not sure Machamp will be able to hear him, but the pokémon nods and easily lifts the massive log over his head. He heaves it across the river, and the end of it lands on Green's side with a thunderous crash. Green pulls it into position and one of his ace trainers lashes it in place with rope.

The non-stop rain has caused flash flooding in Viridian and the nearby forest, and everyone in Green's gym has been working hard to build a makeshift bridge so that supplies and medicine can come in from Cerulean. Machamp isn't the only pokémon out, but he's worked the hardest and the longest.

"Test it out," he calls, and Machamp inches onto the rough-hewn logs, all four arms out for balance, delicate as a tightrope walker. Green calls encouragement and Machamp inches forward one step at a time.

When Machamp steps off and stands in front of him, Green grins and slaps his massive bicep. "Good work, partner," he says. Machamp beams.

—

A memory from an earlier time:

Pidgeot screams as he twists in the air, wings and tail flaring in response to Green's rapid weight shifts and called commands. The dragonite before them dodges and darts, surprisingly agile for its tiny wings and large size.

His pokémon catches an air current and soars up hard and fast, overshooting the dragonite and making it pull up short. Dragonite dives toward the ground, away, and Green grins. "Down!" he shouts, and they drop like a stone.

Green clutches at the smooth, glistening feathers in his hands, flattening himself against Pidgeot's body as they gain on their opponent. The dragonite whirls to face them and its mouth opens. Green hurls himself to the left and they spiral away, the sun and earth whirling about them as the hyper beam goes wild. The attack has cost the dragonite speed, and with a twitch of his tail Pidgeot is back on course.

They're close enough now to see the flare of panic in the other pokémon's eyes. Green's grin widens as Pidgeot shoots past their opponent and lands a glancing blow against the dragonite's shoulder, sending it tumbling out of control. It roars in dismay, and Green digs in his pack for an ultra ball.

"Steady," he calls, leaning back as Pidgeot stretches his wings and hovers in the air, the two of them eyeing the pokémon above them. Green waits—waits—leans forward. Pidgeot powers up to meet the falling dragonite, closing the gap just enough for Green to throw the ball.

The dragonite vanishes in a flash of red light and Green catches it. The ball struggles wildly for a moment, and then falls still.

Green shouts and pumps his fist in the air, his pokédex finally complete.

—

Green kicks at a pile of leaves and turns away, muttering a curse under his breath. He looks up when he hears a snort and meets patient brown eyes.

Rhyperior walks towards his trainer, shaking the forest as he goes. "Sorry," Green says, reaching up to scratch Rhyperior behind the armor plate on his neck. "It's just...you know."

Rhyperior leans into Green's hand, but his eyes remain on his trainer, waiting. "Two years," Green says. "Since he left." The pokémon nods, understanding.

Then he leans over to gently headbutt Green in the chest, sending him stumbling back a step or two. "Hey," Green complains, "that hurt."

Rhyperior's chuckle sounds more like a rumble as it lowers itself into a wrestling position, tail thrashing across the forest floor. "What," Green says, "you serious?"

His pokémon flashes him a taunting look.

"Well," Green says with a lopsided grin, cracking his knuckles, "if you insist—" he steps forward and meets his pokémon in a wrestling lock, laughing as Rhyperior checks his strength and matches Green push for push.

"You big oaf," Green huffs a few minutes later, red-faced and laughing, "I'm going to put you on a diet, you fat old—" his words end on a yelp as Ryperior pushes a little harder and sends his feet skidding back through the loam. Green nearly falls, but catches himself. In the next instant he ducks low and slips out of Rhyperior's hold to shove with all his strength against Rhyperior's chest. The pokémon doesn't budge an inch, of course, but his surprised snort makes Green grin wider. "Point for each," he pants.

Rhyperior's eyes flash with amusement before he steps back, starting the match again, and again, until they lose track of the score and Green is breathless from cursing and struggling (and trying to cheat and failing, because Rhyperior's been wrestling with him since he evolved into a rhydon and he knows every trick in Green's book by now).

At last, Green flops on the floor. "No more," he pants, "enough."

Rhyperior, not winded at all, kneels beside him.

"I am going to feel this tomorrow," Green says, staring at the sky through a small clearing in the trees. Rhyperior makes a sound of agreement ("Liar," Green retorts, and is rewarded with another chuckle) before they lapse into silence.

"Thanks," Green says. Rhyperior nods.

When Green's eyes fall shut and his muscles slacken, Rhyperior gently picks him up and begins the short trek back through Viridian Forest to the gym.