Part of the Saten Ruiko Day 2019 Countdown, published at different times. This is entry #3 featuring my 6th favorite fictional character as of November 2018: Silver from Pokémon Special.
So here we are… with the one oneshot that made me hesitate on this year's countdown's theme altogether as it would require me to step back into this fandom. And, no, just because this oneshot exists does not mean that I am back in this fandom; that said, I will admit that I am curious how much I've changed in the last two years for multiple reasons, and this is the perfect way for me to do this.
Will be canon-divergent… technically speaking, I guess. It's also set after the events of the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc.
The cover image has been graciously made and provided for use by the amazing Reiriniverse!
Disclaimer, and I can't believe I get to say this again after more than two years: I do not own Pokémon, nor do I, in any way, shape or form intend to pretend that I do.
"I understand, I will see you there."
The redhead lowered his Pokégear down from his ear and stared at the illuminated screen in the dark. Heaving a sigh, he ended the call before finally returning the device back to one of his pockets.
It was only then that he started to fully relax, if only by a bit. The earlier battle had taken its toll on both him and his Pokémon, and a glance in his Honchkrow's direction told him that the Big Boss Pokémon needed more time to rest.
"Get some more rest, we have time," Silver reassured his Pokémon, allowing the ghost of a smile to grace his features when he saw Honchkrow lay down in the grass. It was only after seeing his Pokémon rest did Silver realize just how tired he was himself.
Making his way to his Honchkrow's side, Silver plopped down on the soft grass and gracefully let his gloved fingers stroke the bird's head. As he did this and the sounds of genuine appreciation filled the night sky, Silver thought back of past events.
It had been two months since the great battle at the Sinjoh Ruins, and Silver was still recovering from the aftereffects. His body was still aching all over and screaming for him to stop, and it was only now that the scabs on his face and arms were starting to break off.
Silver, however, knew that he could not afford to rest for much longer.
"Weavile, Feraligatr, let's go!" Silver called out, throwing the two Poké Balls on the grass in front of him before watching two flashes of bright light. Out of one of the flashes of light stood a bulky bipedal crocodilian Pokémon of an azure complexion that was standing well over two heads taller than its trainer. Three sets of red spikes protruded from its back, the tip of its tail and on top of its head.
The other Pokémon was a bipedal weasel-like Pokémon that was just over a meter tall. Its grey body was accented by the red feathers growing out of the top of its head, around its neck, on either ear and its tail. As soon as the Pokémon materialized, it looked over the three claws on its right paw before facing its trainer.
"Weavile, Feraligatr," Silver addressed his two Pokémon, receiving a cry of affirmation when they heard his voice. Nodding silently to himself, Silver continued, "Honchkrow is exhausted so this is as far as we will travel today. I need the two of you to go gather some firewood while I set up camp."
"Is what I would have said in a different situation…" Silver trailed off, letting his words linger in the air. All three of his Pokémon were quick to realize what was happening, so it was not a surprise for any of them when Silver suddenly called out, "Weavile! Night Slash!"
"Weave!" the weasel-like Pokémon cried before both of its paws were enveloped in a malicious-looking dark aura. Weavile dashed forward at high speeds and slammed his right paw into the ground right behind a tall and sturdy tree, somehow already knowing where his trainer wanted him to attack.
Weavile's attack missed its mark and the target managed to successfully jump into the open without a scratch. This allowed Silver and his team to get a good look at who they were facing off against.
Opposite Silver stood a hooded figure who was about as tall as Silver was. The black outfit, especially due to how thick the fabric appeared to be, did not allow Silver to try and guess who was standing in front of him right now.
Silver did not let this bother him, however, as he smirked quite visibly.
"You can stop the act, you know. Even with that disguise of yours, I know it is you," Silver said as he motioned for his Weavile to come back to his side. When his first partner finally did, the redhead crouched down to scratch his Pokémon behinds his feathered ear before adding, "There are only two people who would be able to find me at this point in time. One of them is currently in custody so that only leaves you, Nee-san."
For a moment, nobody in the area moved. Silver and his Pokémon did not want to lower their guard until they were completely sure that the other person was who Silver claimed they were. Silver has gotten himself into more trouble than he was willing to admit by lowering his guard too quickly, and he was ready to wait.
Fortunately for Silver, he did not have to wait very long as the hooded person chose that moment to lower their hood.
"I really should have expected that you of all people would be able to see right through me," Blue said, putting on a fake expression of disappointment as she ran her hand through her hair to loosen it up a bit. This expression quickly changed to a smile when she took a better look at two of Silver's Pokémon, "I guess those items I gave you helped you out after all, huh~? So… how do you like your new forms, Weavile? Honchkrow?"
The two Pokémon gave an affirmative content cry of gratitude, and Weavile even allowed Blue to stroke his head a bit. The brunette did not play with the Pokémon for very long, instead focusing her attention on the redhead who was still standing in front of her.
"What are you doing here, Nee-san?" Silver asked as soon as he saw that Blue had turned to him fully. Without wasting time like usual, he went on to get right to the point, "Not that I am not happy to see you or anything, but weren't you supposed to be heading out to meet Red or something?"
"You know me so well, Silver," Blue said with a soft laugh as she pushed her hair behind her ear. When she raised her head to show Silver the look that was on her face, she had lost all signs of hesitation, "There is actually something else that I need to do before that, and I need your help for that. Can you follow me somewhere else?"
Blue had already turned around and expected Silver to follow her but found, much to her surprise, that her footsteps were the only ones in the clearing. Blue looked back at Silver and asked what was wrong.
"I can help, or at least try to help. It's the least that I can do for everything that you have done for me in the past. But how far do we need to go?" Silver added while raising a hand to motion to his exhausted Honchkrow, "My Honchkrow has been flying the whole day and I can't ask him to overwork himself again. Not when I am supposed to meet that guy in a few days from now."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Silvy~," Blue said with a cheerful wink, enlarging a Poké Ball to its regular size in her hand as she spoke. Ignoring the words that Silver said next in reply, Blue released the Pokémon contained within and patted its head, "We can always use the old way for flying, right? Come on, let's go!"
Silver was stunned for a moment as he looked at the Pokémon Blue had. He was about to voice his concerns to his older sister figure but then remembered who he was talking to.
Without saying another word, Silver turned to his three Pokémon and brought them back to their respective Poké Balls. After making sure that they were securely fastened on his belt the redhead turned back to the older girl waiting for his response.
"All right, Blue-neesan. Lead the way."
About half an hour had passed since Blue and Silver left the clearing on the largely expanded Balloon Pokémon before they could feel the solid ground below their feet again. Silver himself took a lot longer to recover from the flight, not having been used to fly anything other than his recently-evolved Honchkrow in a while now.
"All... right..." Silver panted slightly while bending over, a state he was silently happy only Blue could see him in. After calming down his breathing he stood up again, straightened his clothes and combed through his long hair with his fingers, "Can you tell me now why you dragged me here?"
Silver had been pestering Blue the whole ride there what Blue needed his help for and where they were going. He did not know why he even tried, however, as he knew better than anyone that if Blue wanted to keep something a secret that it would remain a secret.
Unfortunately for Silver, today was no exception.
"We're about here, anyway, so I will fill you in while we go, okay~? Just follow my lead and we should be fine," Blue said with a smile before she seemed to notice something. She moved forward to Silver and started unbuttoning his jacket before buttoning it back up in a slightly different manner. When she saw the questioning look that Silver was giving her, Blue couldn't help but chuckle softly, "You buttoned your jacket in the wrong order again~."
"Oh..."
Blue's chuckles instantly turned to loud laughter, all at the expense of Silver. Silver did try to distract Blue enough to stop her but to no avail.
So instead, Silver did what any sixteen-year-old who got humiliated by his older sister would do: he walked off without her. Unfortunately for him, he did not come far as he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Silver, we're going the other way," Blue said in a calm and sisterly voice as she pointed to a nearby café. When she saw that Silver was now walking in the right direction, Blue added, "It's a new café. From what Mama had told me, the owner comes from a long line of famous café owners in their hometown. The café is also named after the family, the Hazawa family."
"Aside from wanting to try out all the good items on their menu..." Silver began while looking at Blue in the corner of his eyes. He had made an accurate guess if the way the brunette stiffened at the accusation was anything to go by, and he grinned internally, "Why did you bring me here? You know that if you want to try out café stuff you would have been better off getting someone else to tag along, right? That Ruby kid we met in the Battle Frontier several years ago seemed like he would be into these kinds of things."
"Unfortunately, as much as I would love to taste test all the wonderful items here, that is not the reason why I brought you here," Blue said as the two of them reached the front door of the café. Silver was about to enter when Blue grabbed a hold of his hand and stop him in the process, "Remember what I told you earlier?"
"Yeah. That I should follow your lead and we would be fine, or something like that, right?" Silver said without batting an eye, pulling his hand away from Blue's grasp. Seeing that Blue would not stop him again, he opened the door, stepped inside, and held the door open for Blue, "Come on, let's just get this over-"
"So is this the young man you have been talking about, Blue?"
Silver was stopped from finishing his sentence when two adults walked up to them. Silver was about to ask who they were, being caught off guard enough to throw all manners of caution into the wind when his unvoiced question had been answered already.
"Sorry to keep you two waiting, Papa, Mama," Blue said as she deftly stepped past Silver to give who the redhead now knew were Blue's parents a hug. As the parents and daughter were enjoying the moment, Silver couldn't help but smile at the exchange. Sure he was feeling left out knowing that Blue had found her family again and Silver was... still struggling with his, to put it lightly. But he also knew that this was exactly what Blue needed to regain that light she had lost so long ago.
He knew that she deserved her own form of happiness and was happy for her that she was—
"Hello? Earth to Silver, is anyone in there or did you get lost in that forest of red hair of yours?"
Silver flinched and was shaken out of his train of thoughts by Blue who was holding on to his shoulders and tilting her head slightly to the side. With a worried look, she added, "You didn't catch a cold or something while you were out there, did you?"
"I-I'm fine," Silver said quickly, disentangling from his captor's grip before turning to the adults behind her. Silver gulped, his past experiences with adults had all been less ideal and he did not know how to break the silence, but still he took a deep breath before addressing Blue's parents, "I know that we have a lot of questions for each other, and I know that I might be speaking out of turn here, but we should probably sit down at a table. We're blocking the exit like this."
Silver pointed at something behind Blue and her parents prompting all three of them to turn around and look. As Silver had said, a few people had been standing behind Blue's parents waiting patiently for them to move out of the way so that they could exit.
Silver saw, with a somewhat amused smirk on his face, how Blue's parents apologized profusely to the people waiting for them. His enjoyment was short-lived as a brown-haired girl in her late teens approached the four and offered to take them to a table.
Blue was walking behind her parents by Silver's side, and despite looking around at the decor herself she saw that she was not the only one; Silver seemed to be just as impressed at how the interior of the cafe looked as well.
Before any of them had realized it, they had already taken a seat at a booth in the corner and placed their orders. Silver was hesitant once he saw the price tags on the menu, but with enough prodding by both Blue and Blue's mother, the redhead had come to a decision.
With nothing else to keep them busy now, the four of them found themselves in an extended period of silence that was only broken when Blue had come up with the right words.
"Mama, Papa, should we start by saying why we brought Silver here?" Blue asked as her parents nodded in agreement. Before either of the adults could do so, however, Blue then turned to Silver and added, "You three probably already realized who everybody is, so let's directly jump into the important details."
"Of course," Blue's father said with a smile and a nod, one that was mirrored by his wife who was sitting beside him. Silver, in turn, only tilted his head ever so slightly, but this was enough of an indication for Blue's father to continue, "Silver, I won't beat around the bush. My wife and I want to thank you for everything that you have done for Blue."
The silence that had been broken earlier came back with friends and family as it lasted a lot longer now. Silver blinked slowly as his mind tried to register the words that his ears had picked up. When it finally did, the redhead voiced the first few words that popped up in his mind, "I'm sorry, but... I really did not do that much for Blue. At least not as much as she has done for me."
"That isn't true," Blue's mother said calmly, stepping into the conversation herself as she rested her chin on top of her folded hands. Supporting her head with her elbows on the table, she continued, "When we lost our little Blue all those years ago we were heartbroken. We thought that we would never see her again or that maybe she would end up becoming someone completely different."
"That isn't the case, and we have you to thank for that, Silver," Blue's mother took a deep breath before smiling warmly at Silver, "It was thanks to you that she always held true to herself, that she could remain who she was. You gave her another reason to continue living as Blue as she probably would not be able to remember us since she was still so young."
"That..." Silver was at a loss for words and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep up the image of himself that he showed the world. Without a word, he turned to look at Blue who nodded her head once.
Although no words were conveyed between the two they both knew each other enough to understand. To understand what the other was trying to say and to convey it without a vocal response.
"I... I am glad that I could help your daughter with that, but I still have one more question if I may?" Silver asked as he looked at both adults waiting for permission to ask what was on his mind. When this had been given, Silver did not waste another second, "What is the real reason why you invited me here?"
A few hours had passed since the four of them arrived at the cafe and they were only know getting ready to leave. The sun was basking the skies in its warm glow, painting it in a comforting orange color.
Silver did not take note of this, however. He was busy getting his jacket back on when he felt that someone was looking at him from very close.
"Are you sure about this?" Blue asked as she walked up to Silver's side, "I know that this is a bit sudden, but it would be a good chance for you, too. Mama and Papa want to accept you as their son as well, it would be a great opportunity for you and it means you can always be close to your Blue-neesan~."
"I appreciate the offer, but..." Silver trailed off and looked away from his sister figure before adding in a soft murmur, "But I can't accept yet. There are still some things I have to do before I can sit down quietly and enjoy the light that you and your parents are in now."
"All right then..." Blue finally relented, knowing better than to try and force the redhead in going through with this. Deep down she already knew what his answer would be, but she also yearned to give Silver some of the joy that she had felt. Even if Blue's parents weren't Silver's parents.
The two teens then turned around and walked down their separate ways. For Blue, it was back to where her parents were waiting for her in the direction of the sun setting behind the horizon. The three of them had finally found a time where they could all be together and they had a lot of plans to relish that fact as a family.
For Silver, this was towards the west where the woods would embrace his very being. With his mind shaken and his very being rattled, the redhead knew that he would need the solitude that the canopy of trees granted him. But something was different for Silver now.
For the first time in years, he finally felt as if he had a place where he belonged.
And that wraps up today's oneshot. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until next time. Take care!
