[Even though they've already established the bizarre difference in timelines here, it hasn't quite hit Blue in that way, looking at Lance; maybe not in the obvious way it was to Lance. The other man was... nearly 40, last Blue had seen him, and although Lance hadn't changed much in all the time Blue had known him, surely there would have been subtle differences, looking at him then and now...]
[But hey. It's easier to be a brat.]
Tch... Maybe those old gits should learn to do it now rather than later, before Kanto gets left in the dust by all these more modern Leagues, [Blue grumbles. A large part of why he'd been traveling so much was that- once he realized how big this world was, how much more there was to learn, how many other challenges lay outside the borders of Kanto- the region felt so small, so insignificant. It had become clear to him as he studied in Kalos, as he traveled to tournaments and to participate in battle facilities elsewhere- that Kanto's stubborn reliance on traditional battling styles would mean the region's stagnation, if no fresh new ideas were brought back into the region.]
[Blue had put his mind to it. Maybe he had complicated feelings for his home region, but for the sake of the Gyms and trainers there, he had become determined to push the bar ever higher for what made a Kanto trainer. If the Indigo League wouldn't adapt to the ever-changing world around them, Blue would force it to- from the inside, by returning from his travels and embarrassing them again and again until they caught up. Already there were glimpses of results; the Kanto Gym Leader contingent at the PWT hadn't done too poorly, but there was still much more to be done for the ideas to proliferate throughout the region.]
[....Lance had been the earliest proponent of that, one of the first in the ranks of the Indigo League to push the limits and travel far and wide to discover what else this world offered.... If only all in the League thought that way, he thought sourly.]
[As they approach the shoreline of the lake, Blue plops down at the bank and swings into his backpack, taking out a traveling canteen; this lake must be safe to drink from, he figures, if those Jellyrabbits don't have a problem with it.] Sheesh, yeah, I guess they didn't have videogames in the cave you grew up in, huh?
Well, fine with me! You won't get your hands on my money by battling, heheh! [Do you really think Blue Oak has a pokerface?]
no subject
[But hey. It's easier to be a brat.]
Tch... Maybe those old gits should learn to do it now rather than later, before Kanto gets left in the dust by all these more modern Leagues, [Blue grumbles. A large part of why he'd been traveling so much was that- once he realized how big this world was, how much more there was to learn, how many other challenges lay outside the borders of Kanto- the region felt so small, so insignificant. It had become clear to him as he studied in Kalos, as he traveled to tournaments and to participate in battle facilities elsewhere- that Kanto's stubborn reliance on traditional battling styles would mean the region's stagnation, if no fresh new ideas were brought back into the region.]
[Blue had put his mind to it. Maybe he had complicated feelings for his home region, but for the sake of the Gyms and trainers there, he had become determined to push the bar ever higher for what made a Kanto trainer. If the Indigo League wouldn't adapt to the ever-changing world around them, Blue would force it to- from the inside, by returning from his travels and embarrassing them again and again until they caught up. Already there were glimpses of results; the Kanto Gym Leader contingent at the PWT hadn't done too poorly, but there was still much more to be done for the ideas to proliferate throughout the region.]
[....Lance had been the earliest proponent of that, one of the first in the ranks of the Indigo League to push the limits and travel far and wide to discover what else this world offered.... If only all in the League thought that way, he thought sourly.]
[As they approach the shoreline of the lake, Blue plops down at the bank and swings into his backpack, taking out a traveling canteen; this lake must be safe to drink from, he figures, if those Jellyrabbits don't have a problem with it.] Sheesh, yeah, I guess they didn't have videogames in the cave you grew up in, huh?
Well, fine with me! You won't get your hands on my money by battling, heheh! [Do you really think Blue Oak has a pokerface?]