Well, once I was playing Pokemon Gold on a plane, and I found a shiny Bellsprout! So I captured him and named him Flashy. Then he was stuck in the box and forgotten. This fic takes a view on shinies. How do they feel, being so unique? And how would Flashy feel, being captured only for show? I (attempt to) answer these questions in this fic. Yes, I was inspired by Angstic Articuno's oneshots based on her game.
When I hatched, I did not yet realize I was different. Sure, my bulb was a lighter shade of yellow. Sure, my coloration was slightly different. But surely there were others like me? But there were not. I was one of a kind.
One of a kind. Ha. Sounds nice, doesn't it? It isn't.
I was teased. Ridiculed. Considered a monster by some. The other youngsters wouldn't play with me. Even my parents shunned me. They said nothing, but I felt their discontent. And I understood not. Shouldn't they have been proud? I, their son, so different, so special. But I knew that they thought of me as the others did.
A freak. Dishonorable to our family.
So I left. I wandered into the grass, to test my luck with the humans. From my hideaway, I saw many others fall. And suddenly, one stood before me. It rasied a strange item that resembled a Voltorb, and suddenly a red light came from where the Voltorb's mouth would have been. The light formed into a strange, ugly Pokemon that I had never seen before. It had an elongated, pointed head as long as its body. Its fur was dark, shading to cream on the underside. Four stubby legs, barely long enough to touch the ground, grew from its belly. There were several unusual red spots on its hindquarters as well. Upon seeing me, it gave a cry of "Quil!" and the spots flared into fire! Fright surged through me, but the human gazed upon me, and muttered something in its tongue. To my surprise, it raised the Voltorb-thing, and the Pokemon turned into light, and withdrew into it.
Then, it took out another Voltorb-thing. (o0 I'm getting tired of calling the trainer me "it" and Pokeballs "Voltorb-things." Yeh, lazy me.) This one opened as well, but this time the red light changed into a female Hoothoot, a Pokemon I recognized. She tilted her head, and suddenly lunged forwards, thrusting her entire weight against my body. Thrown backwards, I quickly wrapped some vines around her head, trying to immobilize her. The human yelled something, and she drove her beak into my eye. I screeched in pain and released her, then shot acid at her beak. However, the pain made me go off-mark, and the poisinous goop splashed harmlessly onto a clump of grass. The human grinned triumphantly, then grabbed a Voltorb-thing and threw it at me. I expected pain, but there was only a brief instant of it before the mouth opened and swallowed me.
And the sky turned red.
The human raised the Voltorb-th-Pokeball. It-she smiled at me and hissed softly, "Yes! A shiny!" How could I understand her now?
But I had no time to mull over that, for suddenly she rasied a red thing and touched something on it. And then, I was in white space. Blinking, I saw a shape before me, one that resembled a pale yellow cloud. I blinked, and saw that the cloud had a blunt blue head and similar legs. Its most distinguishing feature was its long tail, yellow with black stripes, tipped with a golden yellow orb. Its ears, too, were yellow, with black stripes as well."Yo! New here, aren't you?" it called. "I'm a Mareep, and I'm a girl. My name is Shelly, but Griffin calls me Apple."
"Griffin?" I asked.
"Our trainer. This is the box, where her extra Pokemon go."
"Extra?"
"A trainer can carry only six Pokemon with them at a time. The rest come here. Meet Andy the male Wooper, also known as Splashy to Griffin." Shelly gestured to the side.
The Pokemon that appeared this time was...odd, to say the least. It was pale blue, and vaguely resembled a handless human, with large floppy feet and a large ovular head. Its eyes were black and round, and it had purple antenna growing out of each side of its head. Three wide "V" shapes, a slightly darker shade than its skin, decorated its chest. Finally, to complete this odd picture, it had a large tail almost the length of its body, although flatter and paddle-like. It grinned at me.
"Greetings. What's your name?"
"I don't have one..." I whispered softly.
"Now that I think about it...you're a shiny, aren't you!" cried Shelly.
"A 'shiny'? What's that?"
"The name the humans give to Pokemon who are colored differently, who are also slightly stronger, more resistant, faster. They call them 'blessed,'" explained Andy.
"Blessed? Ha!" I hissed. "I was an outcast, and now..."
"Griffin will surely call upon you," said Andy calmly. "A trainer does not capture a Pokemon without purpose."
That was many years ago. Both Andy and Shelly are gone now, "released" as the trainers say. I have heard rumors of the outside world, rumors that Griffin has defeated the Elite 4, the supposed "best." Why are humans so contridactorary? If they are the best, how can they be beaten? But I am straying from my subject.
Griffin has a team of legends now. Suicune, Raikou, Entei, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Celebi. The elusive creatures, hunted down and captured one by one. And for each capture, one of her original team has been released. I have barely known the legends. Immediately after capturing one, she would fly to a Pokemon Center, and withdraw it. Suicune stayed the longest, for she was the most sly. Griffin was forced to travel far for that capture, and she did not bring a Pokemon with Fly. So she and I became friends of a sort. But we will never meet again...
A trainer does not capture a Pokemon without purpose.
I know my purpose now. I am Griffin's bragging point, her pride, if you will. Every trainer she meets, she brags of me to them. While I linger here, time and age eating away at me. Time is slowed in the PC, but it will not be stopped. Yet, my "shininess" does not only bring enhanced strength and such...
It also brings longetivity.
I will outlive Griffin, spending the rest of my days in the PC.
The guy up there sure has a cruel sense of humor.