Chapter Text
The streets of Viridian City were suddenly filled with screams, shouts and commotion. Yellow stumbled out of the small mart, large grocery bags in both her arms, trying to make out the source of the commotion.
"The witch is here, the witch is here!", an old man rambled, trying to get everyone's attention.
But it was hard to look anywhere else than West. Black polls with huge red and gold banners were carried down the mountain path and into the town. Due to the large crowd, Yellow couldn't see the three men following the flag bearers. That wasn't necessary, though, everybody in the Kanto Region knew who these belonged to. "Make room for the Inquisitors!"
When their caravan came to a halt, a redhead with a fancy cape spoke up with a demanding voice: "Reports have reached the Indigo Plateau that magic has been witnessed here. What dark deed has occured?"
"The water of our lake has turned to blood, Sir Lance", a woman, still visibly shaken, spoke up from the masses, which had otherwise turned dead-silent upon the witch hunter opening his mouth.
Yellow usually wanted to avoid trouble, living outside of town in the forest for that reason. This time, though, she remained on the city square. If Inquisitor Lance was there, maybe that meant...
"Have you managed to capture the individual that is responsible for this?", a muscular man with long, blue hair tied into a ponytail wanted to know. From what the girl had heard, this was Inquisitor Bruno, although she had never seen him in person before.
The old man from before had waited for an opportunity to shout again: "The witch is here, Sir, I caught her!" He held up his hand, with which he held a clearly uncomfortable young woman by the wrist.
"And you think she is a witch?", Lance inquired, scanning her exterior with judging eyes.
His counterpart nodded furiously. "Don't you see her orange hair?" A gasp went through the masses at this almost undeniable proof. "And she was walking near the lake when it happened!"
"What is your name, girl?", Bruno finally addressed the accused personally.
She had given up on escaping her situation, which only left her more frightened of the fate that probably expected her. "D-D-Daisy. Daisy Oak."
Everyone in the crowd started mumbling over whether the esteemed Professor Oak's granddaughter might actually be a witch in hiding. "I went to school with her, I don't believe it", one of the guys near her spoke out what Yellow thought as well. She was a few years younger than the supposed witch, but she knew her brother quite well, so she doubted the accusations strongly.
"Now, let's not rush to conclusions", the third member of the Inquisitors spoke up, finally revealing himself, confirming her hopes. She would recognize his voice anywhere. "When the water turned red, did she touch it in any way?"
This scrutiny clearly surprised the old man, who still held on to Daisy tightly. "Well, Grand Inquisitor, I didn't see her touch it, but-"
"Did you hear her mutter any sort of incantation?", the leader of Indigo Plateau went on asking. Yellow caught a glimpse of his spiky black her when he put a hand in it, a gesture she remembered him doing all the time.
"Uhh, not exactly, but-"
Now the whispering among the street went louder, confusion and uncertainty overtaking the residents. They all went quiet again once the Grand Inquisitor continued. "When you apprehended her, did you find anything like a wand? Maybe a broomstick or a hat?" Everyone looked at the old man expectantly, including the Inquisitors.
This gave him the opportunity to reveal what he considered his trump card: "Indeed, Sir, she was carrying this bag of herbs with her!" The bystanders immediately turned against Daisy again, and it took gestures from both Bruno and Lance to silence them.
It wouldn't last long, however. "Miss Oak, if I am not mistaken, you are currently studying to become a doctor's aide?", the Grand Inquisitor asked. He clearly knew the answer and only wanted the others to hear it, yet he sounded so curious regardless.
"Yes, that's why I got the herbs for my lessons", the addressed confirmed quickly, her voice relieved at the understanding.
The person in front of Yellow turned their head, finally giving her full view of the leader's wide, shining smile. Oh, how she had missed it. "There you have your answer, good man. Evidently this is all just a misunderstanding."
"Forgive my father", a woman requested and hit the latter on the shoulder until he let go of Daisy's wrist. "He hasn't had his morning tea yet."
"It's no problem at all", the savior quickly returned, then he turned to the surrounding people. "The real witch has gotten away today, but let this be a lesson not to mistrust your neighbors out of fear. The devil's forces can't harm us if we stand together. I promise that we will catch and punish all the witches in hiding and return peace to this region. Until we meet again, stay vigilant!"
"Red, Red, Red, Red, Red!", everyone cheered the Grand Inquisitor's name as his convoy turned to return to the Indigo Plateau.
Yellow cheered, too. She had not seen her teenage crush since he had left the Viridian school two years before her, and felt a rush of adrenaline at seeing him again, every bit as dashing and handsome, kind and capable as she remembered him being. Her body wanted to start sprinting, running after him to see if he remembered her, too.
That would have been a terrible idea, though.
With her being a witch and all that.
"Sorry for being late, Murky, I was a little held up", Yellow apologized to her pet upon returning to her hut in Viridian Forest. She quickly put down the grocery bags next to her fireplace and grabbed the food for her companion from them to fill its tray.
For a moment, her companion crowed resentfully, but it quickly forgave her when tasting the treats.
Its owner smiled at the speed with which it picked them up. "That's better, isn't it? Now, where is..." She started rummaging through the items she had bought for the potion ingrediants she had been missing, got a hold of them and threw them into her large kettle.
Her focus didn't remain on potion making for long, however, as a familiar voice called for her from outside. "Hey, Yellow, you returned?" Blue knocked on the door before letting herself in. "I stopped by on my journey earlier, but you weren't here yet."
The hut's inhabitant was used to her friend's antics and didn't object. "I went to get groceries from the city right when they Inquisitors came down, so it took a little longer", she explained to her fellow witch, who was already eyeing the concoction in the cauldron curiously. "Someone turned the town's lake water into blood."
The accusatory undertone didn't escape her guest. "I was thirsty for some red wine but my flask was already empty", Blue justified herself.
"Wasn't it too early in the day for wine?"
It didn't surprise the blonde when her question was ignored. "Which Inquisitor did they send after me?", the traveller wanted to know instead.
"Lance, Red and Bruno", Yellow answered, hoping by putting his name in the middle she could make it sound like his presence was no big deal to her.
This utterly failed. "Uhhh, you got to meet Red again?", Blue immediately picked up and leaned towards her. "How was it? Did you go and talk to him?"
"Of course not!", came the quick retort. The idea alone was ridiculous. "He was there to hunt witches, and I am..."
The brunette's grin grew wider and wider. "I don't see where the problem is. I dated a hot witch hunter once. Messy orange hair and a dramatic cloak", she remembered.
Trying not to sound too curious, Yellow still had to ask: "Oh, how did it go?" Her counterpart thrived on having her on the hook.
While surpressing a laugh, making it casual like her host wished she could, too, her fellow witch narrated: "Ah, well, he found out I am a witch by the second date. Figured out due to a roadblock I could only have made it in time on a broomstick. He handed me over to Inquisitor Blaine and I had to go for a swim to escape. That was fun times..." She thought back fondly to the memories of her hijinx.
That somehow did not sell the other on contacting Red at all. "Thank you, now I am sure I am not going to do it", she settled.
"Come on, don't tell me you crushed on him throughout our entire time at school just to chicken out now." As if to prove her own bravery in contrast, Blue took a spoon from the table and tasted a sip from the potion Yellow had been brewing. "Could use some sitrus."
Demonstratively, Yellow pulled the fruit out of her grocery bag and began cutting it up to add it. "That is exactly what I am telling you."
Meanwhile, Blue got a piece of paper and a feather, which she enchanted to write for her. "You mind me copying your recipe? Your healing potions are the best!" She made a wide smile that made it hard not just for boys to say no to her.
"Sure, I am glad you like it", her host shared enthusiastically. The change of topic was very welcome to her.
However, after a few minutes of passionate exchange over potion making, the feather came to a stop, and the conversation circled back around. "Alright, since you clearly need a push", Blue suddenly returned to their previous conversation. She picked up the piece of paper and folded it. Only when she put it inside an envelope did the text's real nature dawn on Yellow. "Let me ask Red out on a date in your name."
Frantically, the blonde tried to get hold of the letter. "No, wait, you can't do that!" But she was too slow.
Her friend held it up and spoke: "Murky, mail delivery please." Yellow's pet was quick to pick Blue's side, flying to the envelope before she could grab it and carrying it out the window and towards the mountains. Where Red lived.
"No, Murky, wait!" Crying after it was no use, it was already too far.
When the hut's owner regained enough composure to shoot her guest a reproachful stare, the latter waved it away. "Don't give me that look, soon you will thank me."
"Blue, what if the Grand Inquisitor himself finds out I'm a witch?", Yellow panicked.
"Well, one way or the other, he will be totally enchanted by you~"
When a letter with the Inquisitors' seal had been delivered to Yellow, she had not been sure what would have been worse. Red rejecting the invitation, telling her he was not interested. Or Red agreeing to meet her, putting her face to face with the man in charge of hunting her kind down.
For a few hours, she had not dared to look inside, pretending that if she didn't open the envelope, it could still be neither of the two options. But then her curiosity had gotten the better of her. "I guess the content won't change whether I look at it or not", she had relented, and had opened the ornate seal carefully as if damaging it was a crime.
"Dear Yellow", Red had written, and she had needed to steel herself to continue after almost squealing at the implication that he had remembered her. "I am so happy to hear you are well. Life on the Indigo Plateau is exciting and fulfilling. Sadly it is very busy, too. I was in Viridian City recently and considered visiting you, but our schedule was too tight. It's worth it, though, if I can protect the innocent citizens of Kanto from the wicked witches. Still, I would love to meet up with you again. Are you free on Sunday afternoon? You can meet me in the local of Celadon City if you have time, I will gladly invite you to dinner. Hope to see you soon, Red."
And so, the young witch made all the preparations to head out for Celadon. Not showing up to an invitation would have felt like the worst out of all her bad options. She combed her long hair, she put on her favourite clothes and she journeyed the long way around Mt. Moon to reach the region's capital ahead of time. Flying directly East from her home on her broomstick above the usually impassable moor would have been far easier and quicker, but she was not going to repeat Blue's mistake.
"How do I look", she had nervously asked Murky before setting off, only to realize she couldn't really rely on fashion advice from a pet. Now, looking herself over in the mirror of Celadon's hotel, she wished she had her animal companion here for a second opinion.
But it couldn't be helped now. Red had always appreciated her the way she was, so she gathered her confidence that it wouldn't be different this time and headed for the meeting place.
Yellow had been in the capital before, but she had never been eating at one of the fancy places for important people. She felt horribly out of place when she entered the large building full of men in ornate clothes sitting on stone tables decorated with candles. A few inquisitive gazes fell on her, surely regulars wondering who she was, or how she dared to enter their space. "Have you seen her before?", she heard a woman in a dress whisper to the person on the other side of her table. They all already felt like she was an intruder.
All that was forgotten, though, when she spotted a beaming smile lighting up the room more than any of the orange flames. And this time, the smile was for her alone. "Yellow, you came!", Red spoke up delighted, not caring who heard it. With him, it always felt like they were the only two people in the room.
It was just like back then.
Except that now he wore the badge of an Inquisitor. And he wouldn't even know what that put her through.