smash_logs | Dorm Log: Scorching Summer Edition

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There was a small voice in the back of Vinnie's brain that noted how... unusually haughty that response was, for Red. It was a little off somehow. The Venusaur may not have been as reliant on his trainer as the rest of his team, but that didn't mean he didn't know him just as well. Either that, or Vinnie was really more anxious than he thought he was, and he'd read far more into those two words than necessary.

Well, all he could do was keep pushing on.

"You made me stronger... you saved me, back then. There's no way I can repay you for that." Vinnie paused, steeling himself for what he needed to say.

"But I need t'see how far I can go down my own path right now."

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Guiltily, Vinnie's gaze wavered for a second, trailing down towards the floor. But he forced himself to meet Red's eyes again as he blurted out with as much resolve as he had in him, "Yes."

He planted his weight between both feet and stood up straight, away from the wall. Hidden in his pockets, his hands were balled up into fists. "I wanna make my own way, and work for my own dreams. I'll always think of you - of everyone as family, no matter what. Please..."

I need your blessing, was the unspoken plea. With all that out in the air finally, the Venusaur hung his head, awaiting judgement.

Slowly, as the words began to sink in, Vinnie raised his face to stare at Red with total disbelief in his eyes. He could feel the pit of his stomach drop, sinking, boring deep down until it became a bottomless abyss. A cold, empty hole right in the core of him.

This... this wasn't right. No. It was their team that re-taught Vinnie how to be a family. Before they ever even set foot at the school, or tried human form, that was the truth he knew in his heart. To hear it from Red's mouth that they weren't... no, it contradicted everything Vinnie was built upon.

Becoming a family wasn't weak. Becoming human wasn't weak. He knew this for himself because he'd already experienced what it was to be truly helpless, to be brought down to the lowest possible point.

He took a step backwards to find his back up against the wall. Suspicion began colouring his gaze as the Venusaur narrowed his eyes. The trainer was normal just a few hours ago...

"Red? What happened...?"

This was when a fire began to flare up inside of him, filling up the emptiness with anger. The possibility that this was not the Red he knew was momentarily forgotten, overwhelmed by the sting of his words, tearing at old wounds.

It was true Sasha nearly died, but now she was brighter and more confident than ever. And Marie... Marie, who was closer to Red than any of them were, who'd needed him most, he'd suffered and grown too. Did Red really not see any of that? It felt like a complete betrayal of everything a trainer should've been, to write off all their struggles so easily.

As for Vinnie, who'd fell harder than any of them and fought harder to crawl to the point he was now, old words began to echo in his head. Old fears that he had sealed away.

Baring his teeth, he took his fists out of his pockets and growled, "Yeah? Y'wanna tell me what you see?"

"Apparently, I don't," Vinnie hissed, his voice on the brink of shaking. He could feel his heart racing, pumping ice into every inch of his body.

This was so wrong. That was Red's face, and yet... it wasn't. There was an uncanny feeling of disgust rising in his throat as the Venusaur stared into those pitying eyes. He'd worked too hard to be pitied. He was more than this.

"Cuz I know what I'm worth. An' if you don't think it's enough for you, then I'm glad I'm fuckin' off," he spat.

Vinnie's eye twitched as Red stepped away and turned away - the very obvious message in the act being, you weren't even worth his time. Well, fine. If that was the case, then the Venusaur didn't want to waste his time being anywhere near him either. Not while he was like this.

It had to be some trick of the school. Three years of this school and of Max, Vinnie knew he couldn't trust everything at face value. Maybe it was a curse or a heartswap or some weird magic, but this couldn't possibly be the person he followed for so many years.

Maybe it was denial, but it wasn't implausible either.

The rational half of his brain knew that it would probably blow over in a week's time - that's how long it usually lasted. But his emotional half was still reeling. He wanted to bite back, regressive as it was.

"I haven't needed you in a long time," he said coldly, finally taking a step away from the wall and towards the door. "You think you're such hot shit that you can judge who's strong an' weak? What the fuck've you done since you've been here?

"I'm not takin' shit from any human who's all talk."

Vinnie's hand had already reached the doorknob by the time Red called to him again, and on reflex, he turned to see what it was.

The entire sequence seemed to happen in slow motion, with the Venusaur frozen on the spot. He forgot how to move, how to breathe - how to do anything except watch the way his Pokeball's hinge strained as it was forced open to the point of breaking. It snapped with such a small, plastic sound, and yet it seemed so loud that it stamped itself deep into his memory.

There was no going back now. Vinnie was officially an unregistered Pokemon - but instead of leaving, he'd just been thrown away.

His face broke into an expression of hurt as Red discarded even his name. With his knuckles almost white from the grip on the doorknob, Vinnie wrenched the door wide open, wishing he had the Max-like strength to simply rip it off its hinges as he did so.

Vinnie gave one last, seething glance at his former trainer as a lone vine came slithering out of his sleeve. With a crack! it whipped across the room and slapped the broken Pokeball from Red's hand.

Without another word, the Venusaur slammed the door as hard as he could and did as wild Pokemon do - he ran. Somewhere out of the suffocating dorm hallway where he could scream and swear and try to stop himself from shaking.

Dorm Log: Scorching Summer Edition

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