Kidnapping is Not a symbol of Friendship
I own nothing but my own Ideas. Warning for some OOC. Then again, given the premiss, that should be expected. I will explain more at the bottom. The Quotes at beginning and end are from N.
"Restrained to imprisonment in Poké Balls...
Pokémon cannot be perfect creatures. For the sake of my friends, the Pokémon, the world must be changed. The Pokédex, hm...?' "That would require a great many Pokémon to be imprisoned in Poké Balls... I, too, am a Trainer, but I am always doubting. Am I making my Pokémon happy, I ask...?"
"What are you doing?" Cheren asked N, shifting into a karate stance he learned long ago. Although he had never been the best at karate, he was sure it would give him an advantage over a person carrying someone else.
N looked up from where he had been picking up the unconscious Black.
"I won."
That point was really debatable. After all, even if Black had been knocked unconscious by an effect from an attack, over half his Pokémon were still able to fight. Samurott growled at N, croching in preperation for an attack..
N hastily put down the unconscious Black. He turned twords Samurott. "I wasnt going to harm him." he promesed, holding up his hands.
"What were you going to do?" Cheren asked again, trying to keep calm. If it was anywhere close to what he thought it was, then he was going to send the green haried punk to Giratina's realm. Even if it was the last thing he did.
"He was going to be my friend."
"What?" That wasnt quite what Cheren was expecting to hear. He had been expecting something more along the line of excutuion. Kings often excututed their rivals or enimies in front of his subjects. N was the king of Plasma, and Black was the face of the resistance. Stll, what exactly did N mean by friendship?
"How exactly did you plan on becoming his friend?" Cheren asked, strugling to keep his voice calm. N's 'explaniations' often had a side effect of giving him nightmares.
"When I win, I plan to keep him, in a room in the castle , I prepared just for him. I'll visit him every day, and we will talk about things. Eventualy, he will come to see my point of view, and we will be friends forever." He told Cheren in his creepy monotone.
There were so many things wrong with that picture. "Thats friendship?" he had to ask.
"Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two people. Surely spending so much time with me will bring him to like me. I wont hurt feed him well, and give him almost everything he could ask for. I'll reward him for it, and keep him very happy. There are many things in life that we agree on. I'm sure we will get along great." N reasoned.
"Friendship also involves trust, honesty alterisum, mutual understanding, and freedom of expresion. By kidnaping Black, you are denying him all of that. He also has other people in life that are important to him. People like his mother, Biancca, and I. How will he see us if you have him all the time?"
"He can use his phone, after the first month. As long as he is monitored." N pointed out.
"So we would never be alowed to see him again?" Cheren asked, incrediously.
"Perhaps we could negotiate visiting hours after the first six months?" N asked him.
"Even if we did, thats only one of many problems!"
He took a deep breath. He could not blow up. He had to keep calm, and talk N out of this. If this went wrong, at best it would become a hostage situation.
"N do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?" He continued without waiting for an answer. "Its also knowen as captive- bonding, and its defined as a captive expressing empathy, sympothy, and positive feelings twords their captor. It is a form of tramatic bonding, and often seen in abusive relationships. If you do this, Black will never be your friend, he will be your victem. Kidnapping him puts him under your power, and does not alow you to be eaquals, a necesity in friendship. Keeping him isolated makes him suseptabele to your belief's, and after a time he will come to belive them. That is brainwashing. Giveing him almost anything he could want, after a time will be mistaken for kindness, when all it is doing is makeing you look good. As kind as you are to him, you are still his kidnaper, and that method treats him like some sort of pet,instead of person."
N was silent, so Cheren continued.
"In fact, your treating him like some sort of Pokémon. You say that Pokémon should be free, and here you are, takeing him and confining him in your room to be your friend. You fight for the freedom of Pokémon, but your a complete hyporcrite! How can you call Pokémon your friends, if this is how you show friendship?"
At that, N got angry. "People call Pokémon their friends all of the time, and they capture them and put them in Poké balls! How is this any diffrent?" He shouted.
Cheren took deep calming breaths and closed his eyes. He could not rise to the bait. Black's freedom depended on him. Finaly he opened his eyes.
"It is diffrent because you are trying to change things. And to do so, you must not make double standereds. You must make things eaqual for people and Pokémon. To be a good king, you must balance the scale, and end the discrimination on both sides."
N started to shake, as Cheren continued.
"If you ask me honestly, what you are doing will not change anything in the long run. You will just be forcing people do do your will- rather then letting them make the choice for themselves- and that will build up resentment. Eventualy, they will rebel. And you will lose. I can't say all Pokémon trainers are perfect, beacuse they are not. There are people who abuse Pokémon in the world.
But there are also people who love Pokémon, and can not imagine life without them. Pokémon who will be upset if they are torn from their trainers. Don't judge all of mankind by the worst of what they do, and dont judge all Pokémon trainers by the worst ones. I agree that things should be done about abusive trainers, but not like this. Not by condeming everyone."
Cheren paused to cacth his breath, and smiled bitterly. His next words would go against every point he had just made about Stockholm syndrome and friendship. It was entirely hypocritical after his last statement, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to say something. Not when it was his last chance to do so- to make N see the other consequences of his dream- and not when N was actually listening instead of running away.
"And maybe Pokémon do suffer from stockholom syndromem, but our entire culture is built around Pokémon, and there is a reason for that. I remember that reason everytime I think of Biancia's older sister. Her parents never told Biancia about it, she still thinks her sister is in the Kanto. Its why her parents are so protective of her. One day, when Biancia was visiting her grandma, her sister went swimming. Her sister had a dream of becoming the next Misty, and often spent hours practing in the pool. That time, her sister decided to try swimming in the Ocean. She did not have any Pokémon."
N had stoped shakeing and was staring at him. "What happened next?" He asked.
Cheren gave him a bitter smile. " Route's 17 and 18 is the only part of the ocean one can swim in, and is genraly avoided by ships, and all but the bravest swimmers for a reason. The routes are the home of Frillish and thier eveloution Jellicent. Both are carniviorus, and have a habit of draging things deep under the ocean. It is said there is a graveyard of ships under the ocean. That they feed of of life energy. What do you think happened next N? What do you think would happen if people didnt have Pokémon?"
"Your wrong! Stop trying to sway me!" N shouted.
"Am I wrong, N?" Cheren asked.
N didnt answer.
A noise came from behind them.
Black stood up.
"What are we standing around for?" Black asked. "Arn't we in a battle?"
As the two resumed their battle, Cheren sighed. He may not have solved anything, but he hoped that if Black lost the battle, the consequenses would be less dire.
"Yes... Pokémon are not playthings for people to control!" "As such... It pains me a little to separate Trainers from their Pokémon when there are ones like you who respect each other..." "Even if I lose, is the future you see different... or not?"
First off- before anyone accuses me of anything- I would like to say that this was directed at no one .I have seen many fan fictions with this idea that were well written, and many that were not. That is not the issue I am concerned with at the moment. What I am concerned with is that N- a man fighting for the freedom of Pokémon , beings that he considers his closest friends- kidnaps the protagonist. For friendship. That in its self, seams contradictory to his characterization. Sure he doesn't have a lot of friends, but he considers Pokémon his friends, and protests keeping them in Poke balls, so why would he do that to the protagonist if he wants a friend? Is it really that hard to visit them in at their hometown, or call them to ask for a ride on the fairs wheel? And with the villainous breakdown he has over the series, would he be that extreme if he won?
Stockholm syndrome is a real, and whats more is Not friendship, it is a captive bonding with their captor, and coming around to the captors ideals. Many of the things Cheren has said are real definitions from wonderfully informative sights, such as Wikipedia, that I do not own by the way. Stockholm syndrome should not be advocated, and will not end up as a psychologically healthy relationship. No matter how nice N treats the protagonist, or how socially starved he is, or how many lemons or limes are added , or whatever, it is still a kidnaper-prisoner relationship, where the protagonist is isolated from the rest of society, and therefore, vulnerable to N's brainwashing, regardless of how inadvertent it is. Being friends with your kidnaper does not stop it from being a kidnapping. I'll wrap it up by saying the idea of kidnapping an N/Protagonist friendship feels degrading to both of them, and if it is still your intention to do one, do some research and portray Stockholm syndrome right, not as a glorified relationship. Stockholm syndrome is a real condition, and so should be researched and portrayed accurately, and show respect to victims of Stockholm syndrome by doing so.
Bianca's older sister is AU, but the Frillish and Jellicent facts are in the poke-dex, and what happened to her is something that could reasonably happen in the Pokémon world . A child being disobedient, and running off and doing something they shouldn't, is not unusual. Something simple like "look both ways before crossing the road" being ignored, could result in getting killed if ignored. And even ignoring dangerous water animals (or potentially dangerous anyway) even a kid swimming alone in a pool is a bad idea. What if she hits her head and knocks herself out? Its also not a bad explanation for why her dad is so protective.
Why Cheren? I don't think the protagonist's friends would let him/her get kidnapped so easily, particularly if they are not far behind, like in cannon. Cheren would have a physical advantage over N if it came to a physical fight or running, because having an extra person would hinder N's movement. Don't forget the other leaders who were not far behind, and could probably provide decent backup to getting the protagonist back. I don't know who would win an all out brawl, and I didn't go that route. Cheren, as much as he had physical advantage in that scenario, knows that N is closer, and could use the Protagonist (in this instance Black) as a hostage if he needed, and tried to talk N out of it.
I don't normally put so much in my authors notes, but kidnapping and Stockholm syndrome are real issues, and I felt they deserved explanation and accurately when I wrote about them. I have no intention of offending anyone.
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