Ch.1: Semifinals
[WOULD JADE OF ANVILLE TOWN, UNOVA, PLEASE REPORT TO STADIUM A12 VIA THE HAXORUS ELEVATOR. THE PWT SEMIFINAL ROUND WILL BEGIN SHORTLY.]
"Yeahyeahyeah I HEARD YOU. Gawd, these automated announcements!" Jade skillfully needled and weaved her way through the conflicting traffic flows of Trainers and spectators, forcing herself to pry open a pathway through the now solid mass of people by the time she was a few feet from the elevator. "Oh my Gawd would all you people just MOVE?! D*** IT! I'm late enough already!" Someone from the crowd angrily yelled a slur her direction after she had successfully swam her way to the elevator and was now jabbing the up button, prompting a retaliatory curse from her. Once safely inside, Jade whipped out her competitor keycard and crammed it into the slot below the elevator's floor buttons, frozen as she tensely awaited a response.
[...]
"Come on…...I can't lose by friggin' forefeit!"
[...KEYCARD ACCEPTED.]
Jade let go of the huge breath of air she had been holding in, pressing herself against the wall and sliding down to the floor as relief drowned out the automated voice reciting all the various battle rules and current standings. "Too close. Waaaaaay too close." One of Jade's Poke Balls suddenly vibrated, increasing in intensity until the ball was shook open, revealing her Lucario as it materialized from the ball's red light.
"Y'know Jade," the Lucario began with his telepathy, "perhaps if you hadn't procrastinated at the game booths for so long, you would've been able to save the energy you wasted sprinting here for the battle?"
She had already begun talking over him before he finished, pointing a correctional finger at him. "I don't wanna hear it, Cobalt. I totally would've had that last game if I hadn't gotten stopped because of the stupid warning bell."
"If it weren't for that 'stupid warning bell', you'd still be there, disqualified at that. Besides, it was a game of chance. There was no possible way you could know if and when you were going to win."
"No, I-"
"And wasn't it your gambling addiction that made us enter this competition-the same kind that you hate so much?"
"I like to call it a 'habit'..."
"Jade."
"Just, look." She pulled Cobalt close, spinning him around and hugging him from the back. "...Yeah, I know. I waste a lot of money on that stuff. It's not that I like losing so much money all the time-"
"So quit."
"Lemme finish. It's not that I enjoy wasting money, or coming to these dumb tournaments. If I could have it my way, I'd keep my battles to the real ones at the PBC. But this tournament's cash prize is way bigger than any battle I could win in PBC! So, just put up with me a little longer, k? We just gotta eke out 2 more wins, and then we're done. Alright?"
Cobalt paused, gripping the back of his Trainer's hand gently. "...I wish you would just let it go…All of us do…"
"All of us have wishes too." He gripped a little tighter. "I'm sorry, Cobalt, I just can't right now."
"When will you be?"
"...I'll let you know."
A blast of static echoed out of the elevator soundbox, jarring Jade and Cobalt to full attention before subsiding as an actual voice began to speak. [All Pokemon are to be returned to their Poke Balls now. The match will begin in 10 seconds.] Jade unwrapped herself from Cobalt and stood up, adjusting her mane of rear-length, bark-colored hair that had become so messily splayed around under her dark red visor.
[9…]
"That reminds me Jade, you know there are those two other prizes too, the Prism and Berserk Stones. What do you plan to do with them if you win?"
"Eh, I dunno, probably just pawn them off for some extra cash."
"You don't wanna hold onto them? As maybe keepsakes of Steven?"
[...8…]
"I only met the guy once or twice, Cobalt."
"But you still knew him, and he did help you out when you were getting started. It seems dishonorable to the dead to just sell them-"
[...7…]
"-especially since this whole tournament was organized in his memory."
"If I'm going by how helpful people have been to me I'd give 'em to Angie before keeping them as mementos."
[...6…]
"But aren't you at least curious about what they can do? The scientists at Devon may have decided they were just pretty-"
[...5…]
"-but when they were on display I could sense their power. It was, fuzzy I guess is the best word-"
[...4…]
"-but it was unlike anything I ever saw! There's definitely more to them."
"Yeah, well if THE Rock Maniac couldn't figure out what they did, there's not a snowball's chance I will if I get them-
[...3…]
"-But maybe I will give them to Angie. She's smart, so she might get a kick out of them."
"She's a medical science major…"
"Who has dried my Xtransciever's battery out yammering on about quantum physics. She'd like them."
[...2…]
The elevator gave a hard jerk, clicking into place as Jade and Cobalt began to hear a steady stream of muffled roars and cries. "Well, here we go. I heard this guy's tough, but I don't think he's too too bad."
"I'm sure that as long as you don't try anything risky, you'll be fine."
[...1.]
Jade smirked a bit as Cobalt pressed the button on his Poke Ball, turning back into a red light as he was sucked back inside. "Uh, huh, I see how you timed that last bit, sneaky boy," Jade talked into the Poke Ball as the elevator slid open, revealing a gigantic dirt arena with perfect white chalk boundary lines ringed by a bowl full of wildly chanting and screaming spectators.
[HELLOOOO POKEMON WORLD!] The mic'd up announcer called in a pretentious, echoing voice Jade often heard spoken by sports announcers at Nimbasa Sports Stadium. [WEEEELCOOOME TO DRIFTVEIL'S SPECIAL, POKEMON WOOOORLD TOURNAMENT!] The crowd roared back its own hello as Jade strolled into the Trainer's Box outlined in red chalk. [SPONSORED BY DEVON CORPORATION, PBC INTERNATIONAL, AND UNOVA'S OWN T.E.R.R.A. ENTERPRISES] She adjusted her visor as the midday sun bared down on her. Jade began to tune out the announcer as he continued his intro, choosing to try and size up her competitor, standing on the arena's opposite side in the Trainer's Box drawn in blue.
Her opponent was a guy of average height from what she could see, definitely taller than her petite self but not a bean pole by any means. Not old at all but still old enough to have a few years of experience under his belt. He had his one hand placed firmly in his pants pocket, the other swinging a little bit as he kicked up dust impatiently. Jade was surprised at how he could possibly keep cool in the long-sleeved, navy and red jacket he was wearing when she was already sweating in her white tank and light red and white plaid shirt jacket, ends tied below her breasts. His steely gray eyes radiated almost as intensely as the sun shining off his sharp red shoulder-length hair.
[...AAAAND IN THE BLUE CORNER! ALL THE WAY FROM THE JOHTO REGION! SIIIILLVEEEERRR!]
"Hm, he doesn't look scary, more like a punk with some extra sass to him."
[...AND WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, COMPETITORS AT THE READY!] Jade unclipped her Poke Ball from her loosely hanging belt, already pulling back to throw. Silver did so likewise, removing a Fast Ball from the pocket his hand was buried in. Their eyes dug into each other's as they awaited the announcer's voice,
"Yeah, I can definitely take him."
[BEGIN!]
Artist's Comments
Oh my an update. Apologies for the cliche title. The title is a placeholder until I can think of a better one. Anyways this story is one I've had in my head for quite some time now, but before I really got going with the story, I thought I would use Chapter 1 as a sort of Prologue. See, I always thought it was kinda sad that Silver never had any sort of reconciliation with his father or Team Rocket. He just came in and messed up some Rocket Grunts and the rest was left to Gold/Ethan. I would think there would be a hint of lingering unfulfillment there, especially since Silver's main motivation to become stronger was originally to show his Dad up and prove he's not like the coward his Dad is. Seeing as he never had a final confrontation, I'd imagine he'd still be dealing with some parental issues. So, onwards with the story! Here we have our two main heroes, good ol' Silver (chronologically now 16 or so) and a fancharacter, Jade (who is around 18). Jade is of course down on her luck and hoping this special tournament will give her the cash she so desperately needs if not for herself then at least her Pokemon. Silver has his own reasons for entering, which will be revealed/explained next chapter (if it isn't already obvious). Also, just a note, as I stated on my page, this story will eventually shift to primarily Kalos but other regions and locations will be visited as well, including Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Faraway Island. Team Rocket's grunts and Executives (they're all back!) will also not be pushovers either. I have made them quite a bit more smarter to give the cast a challenge. Also, ALL of the characters prominently featured will get some good ol' development. Also I will give fair warning now: This story will have transformation. Not the slow kind, though, more of the instant 'Poof! Transformed!' kind. I have my reasons, which will be explained as the plot addresses these issues. Also yes Jade was referring to Steven Stone. Sorry for being so short, after all it is a Prologue sort of chapter. I promise Chapter 2 will be longer. No critiques please, I know my mistakes. I do not own Pokemon/its characters and locations featured here.