Authors note: Yeah, my username is RahuIV, but that doesn't mean that I don't do stories for things other than Custom Robo. I hate to advertise, but I do have another story about Custom Robo that I'd appreciate reads and constructive criticism on... anyhoo, about the story. This story takes place years and years and YEARS after an incident where the humans displeased Arceus and he wiped them all out. Pokemon adapted to live on their own like the humans did, such as with their own houses, a universal language (English... uncreative, I know :/), and other such human characteristics. And this is about a young Snivy's journey. And I gave all the Pokemon actual names, so if you don't know what a Pokemon is, refer to it's first appearance or last name. It will ALWAYS be shown there.
As always (despite it not being often, exactly), I hope you enjoy the story, and I do not own Pokemon in any way shape of form (if I did, things would be more like this, and probably worse XP).
I grumbled a little, got out of bed, and immediately went to my closet. I chose a random puzzle, about 700 pieces, and put it together in the 10 minutes it took me to wake up. Afterwards, I went to my mirror and stared into it, thinking the same thought over and over again:
I am Raegan Dry Snivy. I am nobody's puppet, especially not my fathers. I will beat him today with intellect rather than brute force.
I brushed my teeth and got myself to look generally presentable, then went downstairs. My father was immediately shouting at me: "You're LATE! TEN whole minutes! What took you so long?!" I sighed and said, "Dad, it was 700 pieces this time, it was a tad longer than usual-" Of course, I was rudely interrupted, as always. "Puzzles again?! I told you not to do any puzzles until you're done training with your Leaf Blade!" "Leaf Blades. It's plural, father," I mumbled, unable to look him in the eye. "It doesn't matter how many you use, if you don't train, you don't win! This is why you're a disgrace to the Dry family! You're ruining our tradition of being master swordsmen!" "And women!" my sister, Daisy, exclaimed cheerily, hopping into the room and planting a cheek on my father's cheek. Our entire family, in one room. As was customary for meals, such as breakfast.
My father, named Adams Dry Serperior, was at the top of this food chain of swordplay, being the best in the family, and the oldest. Not to mention the fact he's Daisy and I's father. You may think a Serperior wouldn't be able to wield a blade effectively, as he doesn't have any arms, but his tail is miraculous at handling a weapon, much better than even two arms. He takes everything he does very seriously, and oftentimes criticizes me for being the worst at swordplay in the family. I simply prefer intellect.
My sister, Daisy Dry Servine, is the opposite of my father. She's cheery, lighthearted, and actually treats me like I'm better than a pile of dirt. The only topic her and father seem to be able to agree on is sword fighting, yet that's still one more than I have for him. She also trains with a single Leaf Blade, but is still better than I am, despite my two.
And then there is me. Raegan, or rather, Ray, Dry Snivy. Of course, the middle name is the same as my fathers and sisters, as we are part of the same family. The last name displays the Pokemon name and the middle displays the name of your family. Of course, I'm sure that you know this, as you are a Pokemon yourself. Anyway, I've always been much more intellectually involved than physically, and despite my father's words, I AM a very good swordsman. I'm just not as good as father or sister. I'm sure if I WAS better than sister, then SHE'D be the disgrace, despite the fact she's still incredibly good. As I said though, I'm much more intellectually inclined, and tend to take my training hours to the library with my friends, Flame and WashaWasha. They don't like studying as much as I do (WashaWasha even tends to hold books upside-down on accident), but they still enjoy each others' company. If only my father would see eye to eye with me on the importance of study.
"Study doesn't make for good swordsmanship! Practice does!"
Yeah. Right. Practice IS a form of study.
After breakfast, before anyone else was done to keep me from going off (not that my sister would), I took off for the library to meet Flame and WashaWasha. I thought of them, then my thoughts wandered to their fathers for an inexplicable reason.
Flame's father was Flameboarr Smoke Emboar, and he was easily the coolest father on the planet. Flame never seemed to get in trouble for anything, and Flameboarr could easily take out the Champion of Unova on his own. At level 93, however, this is to be expected. His father took him all around the world, from Unova to Kanto and everywhere in between. Oddly enough, Flame was still only a level 5. I would have expected him of all people to do more battling.
WashaWasha's father, Lance King Samurott, was not exactly up my alley, but he's still better than MY father. He's extremely religious, and prays to Arceus for everything. It's not that I don't believe in Arceus, there's so much proof that he exists, I just doubt that he would answer anybody's praying, especially for a man that did so incessantly. Because he pays so much attention to Arceus, he hasn't given his son enough attention, so I'm afraid WashaWasha grew up a bit, er... stupid. But I love him as much as I do Flame. Teaching him things is incredibly fun.
My thoughts snapped back to the present when I heard a voice call, "Ray!" My head turned in the direction of the voice to see miss Juniper Cinccino, the lovely lab lady of our town, rushing over to greet me. She was incredibly nice, and often tried to help me out with my father whenever he was scolding me in public. She greeted me and we had a slight chat about piddly things, but I told her I had to go meet Flame and WashaWasha, and she let me off.
I reached the library shortly after that and went inside, the kind Leavanny that ran the place giving me a friendly nod as I walked by. I ignored her, which I always seemed to think about rather extensively. I ignored her friendly nod. I should have nodded back, or maybe waved or even said, "Hello"... god, now I feel like an ass. The way I thought about it sometimes, you'd think I was trying to impress her or something of the sort. I spotted WashaWasha at a table not too far off, went over and greeted him, and flipped his book right-side up. "Is Flame here?" I asked him quickly. He stared at me for a second before saying, "Yessir, he went to gets a book." Once more, I corrected him, telling him not only that he went to GET a book, he didn't have to add 'sir' at the end of 'yes' every time he said it. He said, "Yessir," and I rolled my eyes as Flame came and sat down with us. I noticed his nostrils giving off a bit of smoke. "'A Tepig's nose gives off smoke when it is sick.' Are you sick, Flame?" I asked, reciting a passage from a book I had read a while ago. "Just gettin' a little something, you don't gotta worry about it," he said with a grin, opening the picture book he had found. I rolled my eyes once more. He reads books like he's three or something. Then again, WashaWasha hardly even reads at all, which I suppose is worse. I looked over some books on a shelf when suddenly I felt some... well, appendages on my shoulders. "Do you need help finding something?" the Leavanny asked politely. I looked down at the table and shook my head quickly. I could practically HEAR her smile fade as she walked off. Damnit, I could have at least said, "No, thank you", or looked her in the eye and smiled, or SOMETHING! God, I'm such an asshole... I thought quickly. "Raegan is feeling shyyyy..." Flame teased, poking me in the shoulder. He knew I hated it when he used my extended name. I swatted his hand away and changed the subject. "So, here's a shot out of the cannon... what do you want to do with your lives in the near future?" "Changing the subject from the hot librarian, eh?" Flame said with a smirk. "Excuse me?" she asked from behind him. She must have come back to put some books away or something of the sort. This time it was Flame's turn to look at the table and say nothing, cheeks red in embarrassment. The librarian blushed slightly but, realizing that she was not to be seduced by the small talk of teenagers, she walked off. "...Well?" I asked, the smirk now planted firmly on my face. "I wanna get smarts," WashaWasha said with a grin. I corrected his grammar once more, but congratulated him on such a fine goal, and turned to Flame. He was over his embarrassment, and now he said with a grin, "I wanna beat the Champ of Unova, just like pop did!" I smiled at this. Typical Flame, a chip off the old block. "And you?" he asked me. I closed my eyes and said with a pompous smirk, "I want to take down Team Plasma." I opened an eye to see that Flame had raised an eyebrow at me. I sighed. "Team Plasma is an organization that has existed for an extended period of time, even since humans were still alive," explained the librarian from behind me. "When the humans were the ones they were made of, they stood for Pokemon liberation. You know, humans used to catch and battle Pokemon, of course, don't you?" We all nodded, though I still couldn't bring it upon myself to look at her while she was talking for some reason. "Right, and now they stand for making battling illegal. It's a fine goal, for sure, but I just don't get it... it's not like Pokemon are FORCED to battle. Anyway, do you all get the idea?" Everybody nodded, but WashaWasha raised his hand. "Er... yes?" she asked slowly. "Why're you always here and not at your desk or with other peoples?" he asked, putting his hand down slowly as he asked the question. I felt that I should correct his grammar, but before I could say anything, the librarian said, "Well, you're the only one's here at the moment, and I've just finished all the recording that I need to do. So I'm just around in case you need any help!" and smiled broadly. "You sure it's not 'cuz of this kid?" Flame asked with a smirk, leaning back his chair and pointing at me coolly. I kicked his chair from under the table, causing him to fall backwards. "Goodness, are you okay?" she asked quickly, helping him up. "Yeah, guess I must've slipped or something. But I'm good," Flame said, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Well then. To answer your question, no, it's not just for him, that would be, well, creepy. I'm... well, I'll tell you in my mid 30s, and he's just a teenager! I'm not like that." "Oh yeah. Forgot that you're old," Flame said without thinking. The librarian frowned and walked off. "...Oops. Oh well!" he said with a grin. I frowned at him. "You should go apologize to her, really," I mumbled. "So? It's not like YOU'D go over and talk to her if you said something dumb," he retorted. "True, but I generally tend to avoid saying stupid things in the first place." Before he could say anything else, the doors to the library opened. I heard the librarian say, "Oh, good morning Mr. Dry," which made my mind quickly go blank. My father was here for me. "Snaaap..." Flame mumbled, clearly as disappointed as I was. WashaWasha hid under the table. He was incredibly scared of my father. He approached the table and smacked me upside the head. "What are you doing here again?! Get back to the house and start your training now!" he shouted. "Father, I'm studying..." I groaned, but got up just the same. "You don't need any more studying, your head is already the size of a watermelon. Hurry up and get to the-" "Excuse me!" the librarian said quickly, coming over. We both turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, but I'd like it if he could stay and help me finish my research on er, Team Plasma, if you wouldn't mind. He's been helping me out recently, you see, and um, I need him here for a bit..." she explained. In my opinion, it was a rather white lie, but my father seemed to buy it. "Well, if that's the case... boy, don't slack off, and at LEAST be home by lunchtime! If you don't even eat, then you're really no good..." my dad mumbled. "I can feed him if he'll be late!" the librarian called to his already receding figure. "Dinner, then," I heard him mumble before he headed out the doors. She turned to me and smiled. "Stay as long as you like," she said sweetly. I smiled, nodded back, and returned to my seat.
Aw, man, you could have at LEAST said "Thank you"!
Shut up...
The next morning, I woke up, did a random puzzle, brushed my teeth, and generally got presentable. Then I went downstairs to a pleasant surprise. "Hey, Ray, my buddy! How you doin'? Why are you up so early?" Flameboarr asked excitedly. "Hm? Mr. Smoke? What are you doing here?" I asked. "C'mon, call me Flameboarr! And your dad had to go do somethin', er, what was it now... something about Team Plasma? They're showing up in the next town over, and him and your sister went over there to make sure there's no violence." My mind perked up at the part about Team Plasma. "Really? The next town over? I could make it there before they arrive if I hurry, I would bet..." I thought aloud. "Huh? You wanna go over there? He didn't give me any instructions to keep you in the house, just to have you train..." he said with a mischievous grin.
That's what I was talking about. World's coolest father.
We attacked a single Patrat on the way to the next city, which Flameboarr said was my 'training', and arrived at the city just before Team Plasma arrived. My eyes quickly met my father's, and he scowled at both me and Flameboarr (who grinned at this reaction), before focusing his attention on Ghetsis (a rather formidable looking Hydreigon). Ghetsis began speaking to the crowd: " I am pleased to be here today to talk to you about my beliefs in battling. Beliefs in this, how should I put it, dangerous game that many Pokemon play with their lives. There are many things wrong with battling..." "Boooo," shouted Flameboarr. Ghetsis shot him a look and continued. "Battling, as you all know, causes injuries." "No shit, dumbass!" Flameboarr shouted again. Ghetsis groaned and continued on once more. "If you aren't careful, you may severely injure, or even KILL, your opponent." "Sorry, were the Lillipup on Route 1 too much for ya? You get a big boo boo or somethin'?" Flameboarr continued to prod. "Can somebody please get him out of here...?" Ghetsis asked, obviously irritated. "Not without a fight. Oh snap! That won't go down well at one of your speeches!" Flameboarr said with a grin. "This IS a public reception..." I added. Flameboarr patted me on the back, and I'm fairly certain even my father cracked a slight smile at the comment. Outsmarting those who claim to be the boss is a fun thing to do. Ghetsis glared at the both of us and tried to continue once more. "This has always been a problem in battling..." "That's what fucking CENTERS AND POTIONS are for, you ass clown," somebody else shouted from the back of the audience. Looked like Flameboarr got a bit of a following. Ghetsis narrowed his eyes at us. This was obviously not the kind of receptive crowd he was used to talking to. "Perhaps my lady will give a more persuasive argument..." he said with a frown, turning towards the trees behind him. I was surprised to see the legendary Reshiram rise up. She must have been sitting back there, listening to the whole thing. Most people gasped at her appearance, and I'm fairly certain a few crowd members ran away. To even further my surprise, Flameboarr grinned. "All of you, listen here, and heed my words. Battling does not need EXCUSES as to why it should be banned. It should be obvious as to why it is despised and hated," she said loudly. "You just used two words with the same meaning," Flameboarr said. "Obviously. Now shut your mouth, Flameboarr, before I break your jaw and shut it for you," Reshiram growled angrily. "Watch out, we got a badass over here," he said with a grin, holding his hands up. I recognized this as one of those 'memes' that circulate around the Internet. "Perhaps you shouldn't be mocking your legendary..." I said with a frightened frown. Reshiram smiled at me. Suddenly, she reached down, grabbed me (not incredibly tightly, it was actually quite agreeable) and held me out to everyone in the palm of her hand. "This is the picture of our new world. What we have the potential to be like if we stop fighting. Intelligent, respectful, and admittedly cute," she said. I felt a strange mix of awkwardness and honor. The great legendary Reshiram, calling me cute? "C'mon, Turboblaze. That's a stupid point," Flameboarr said with a frown. I assumed Turboblaze was Reshiram's name, despite it also being her ability. She cocked her head to the side slightly as if to ask the meaning of this. I was wondering what he meant as well. Then, surprisingly, my father spoke up. "We live in a world of fighters. Roughly 80% of this world's population battles. And yet we produce this so called 'picture of the new world' already. We don't need to stop our training and traditions just to make more of HIM..." That phrase made me and Turboblaze frown slightly. "...what we need is a world of strong and capable warriors. What we NEED is to continue with our long lived and respected traditions. And WHAT WE NEED is to keep Team Plasma from taking that all away from us." The crowd actually cheered when he finished speaking. I knew that my father was good with speeches, but I didn't know he was THAT good. Turboblaze huffed. "I suppose that you simpletons wouldn't know why we stand for what we do. Isn't that right, Snivy?" she asked, turning to me. I didn't know what to say. On the one hand, if I agreed with her, that would make my father and Flameboarr unhappy, as well as everyone who agreed with them. On the other hand, if I DIDN'T agree with her, well, let's just say she was holding me rather high up and I wouldn't like to take a nasty fall. Or worse, I wouldn't like her to THROW me that distance. So I changed the subject. "My name is Ray, not Snivy."
Really? That's the best you can come up with? Idiot.
I'm doing my best here! I'm under a lot of pressure!
Surprisingly, Turboblaze laughed. "Of course it is, forgive me, Ray. Well, I might as well put you down now, I'm sure this height is making you uncomfortable." She gently set me down and I walked back over to Flameboarr. "Really? That was the best you could come up with?" he asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and said, "My thoughts exactly," and we shared a quick chuckle. Turboblaze spoke back up: "Well, I sincerely hope that you all think about what your battling is doing to Pokemon across the world, and I hope that you will choose the right thing to do. Stop the nonsensical violence." With that, Ghetsis got on her back and they flew off. Ghetsis' bodyguards became confused and quickly ran out the nearest exit from town after them. My father and sister approached me. "Wow, Ray, that was so cool! You were in a legendary's hands and everything!" Daisy exclaimed, hugging me excitedly. My father, however, was not so pleased: "Idiot! You come here without my permission, completely skip your training, act like you support their cause by getting all friendly with Turboblaze, and then you don't just say you support battling when she asks you about it?!" He smacked me upside the head and I cringed. "I didn't want her to get angry at me while she was holding me up at that sort of height..." I mumbled, rubbing my head. "I coulda caught you," Flameboarr grumbled, clearly not pleased that I didn't exactly support battling as well. "Well, I would have done the same thing. Good job, Ray," my sister said with a smile. Father smacked her upside the head then, too. "Don't encourage him. Now get back to the house, we all need to do our training."
That night, something very interesting happened, however. I went to bed as usual, but just before I went to sleep, I heard something large land outside. Intrigued, I went to my window and looked outside. It was Turboblaze, looking into some house's windows. She looked over at mine and perked up. I opened the window and leaned outside. "Lady Turboblaze? Are you looking for me?" I asked curiously. "I am, in fact. I wanted to have a little chat with you," she said with a smile, extending her hand directly below my window. I hopped on, and she held me closer to her face. But her smile quickly faded. "Ray... do you or do you not like battling? Don't avoid the subject this time..." she said forcefully, giving me a stern look. I sighed. "I do not particularly like battling, but I do in fact support it. I apologize if this doesn't agree with your values, my lady, but that is how I feel." I was surprised when she just sighed as well. "It's fine, of course... but I'm not sure how I feel about it myself. Everywhere I go, there seems to be more and more people that love battling, that live for the thrill of the fight... Ghetsis just uses me to frighten them into agreeing with him, I think. He had convinced me so thoroughly that battling is evil, I'm just not sure what to think anymore... he was so right, battling has taken lives, it has caused hatred and death and pain and misery... but if that were really true, then nobody would do it anymore anyway. Nobody would battle because they would know that it's wrong. I was in Johto recently, giving a speech there, and a particular team, named N and Jaws, that gave me that realization. All that happened was the Feraligatr said, 'Pokemon aren't retarded, you know.' That's when I got that realization. They really aren't stupid. If they noticed something was wrong, then they would fix it. If they noticed something was right, then they'd leave it be. I'm just not sure what to think..." I shook my head. Telling her to support battling would be the same thing as everyone else who said it. It wouldn't make any difference to tell her that now. But then I got an idea. "A challenge. To Team Plasma. If a team I create wins, then they must disband and accept that battling is fine. If I lose, then the team that I created helps them in their quest to rid the world of battling. Sound good?" I asked. Turboblaze looked at me in surprise. "Well, I suppose... but that would mean we have to fight at some point. Do you think you would be ready for that?" she asked. The tone of her voice sounded kind and caring, almost motherly... it reminded me of my own mother before she had passed away. I nodded in determination. "All right, but I think there should be some ground rules..." I raised an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue. "Well, I think that you should only be allowed to use six Pokemon, just like the humans of old." Only six Pokemon? Against Team Plasma, which was practically an army, this seemed unrealistic. But I nodded. "And you have to get all of the badges of Unova and beat the Elite Four. And you obviously have to do this before our plan succeeds. Those are my only rules." I nodded once more. She extended her other hand out to me, and I extended my own. Her massive hand wrapped around my arm and shook, sealing the deal. She smiled at me and placed her hand back underneath my window. "As soon as I fly off, we're enemies... so this is it," she said with a sad smile. I gave her a smile similar to that and climbed back into my house. "Oh. One more thing. I want you to have these..." she said, handing me a stone and ticket. The ticket didn't look like anything fancy, but the stone was strange. Pitch black, and it was mesmerizing to look at... "What are they?" I asked, holding them out to her for no particular reason (she probably already knew what she gave me, there was no reason to hold them out, I realized). "You'll find out in due time. Consider them help for you. Now, goodbye," she said, readying herself to fly away. "But wait, I need to know what they..." I started, voice trailing off as she flew away. I sighed. I supposed I could use the information at the library if need be.
And see that librarian again, eh?
...Really?
A real quick note... I do not approve of the use of the word 'retarded' as an insult! It was just how that particular Pokemon would have talked. Sorry to all you offended readers. :(
I woke up in the morning and got ready as usual. My dad knocked on my door before I was done with my puzzle, however, which I found quite odd. I opened the door and he looked at me suspiciously. "...Yes, I was doing a puzzle, it's just a warm-" I started, assuming that was the reason he was here. "That's not it," he interrupted forcefully. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I heard you talking to somebody last night. Who was it?" "I... didn't talk to anyone last night," I lied, not wanting him to know that I had talked to Turboblaze. "Ah really? And I assume you just had that stone and ticket lying around beforehand?" my father asked, nodding to my nightstand. I stared at the objects, at a loss for words. "Who was it, son? And don't lie to me now, or I'll smack you upside the head." I told him the truth and he nodded slowly afterwards. "That makes sense... all right then. You need to get to the first gym as soon as possible," he said quickly. I was surprised, not only that he knew that I had to go to the first gym, but also that he was supporting my decision. "But now training is more important than EVER, Raegan! You have to train to beat these strong leaders, or else you'll be destroyed! I'm not just saying this for the family name, I'm saying it for YOU! Do you understand me, son?" he asked forcefully, glaring down at me. I nodded quickly, knowing that these gym leaders would be the strongest foes I'd have to face. He walked over to my nightstand and grabbed the stone Turboblaze gave me. "This... is important. Most definitely," he murmured, holding it up above his head. "So you know what it is?" I asked with an eyebrow raised. "...I do not. But I can tell... whenever I saw an important artifact on my travels, I knew it was important. So hold on to this, no matter what." He handed me the stone and I nodded. I realized I would have to get a backpack to keep these things in.