Renny: . . .
Red: . . .
Green: . . .
Renny: Sorry?
Red: Another new fanfic, seriously?
Renny: Sorry. I'm kinda doing a SoulSilver Nuzlocke right now . . . And it inspired me to make a Johto thing for you three. Or at least Green.
Green: I'm the main thing again? Yay . . .
Renny: Yep! And you also get to be an eleven year old who needs to learn to be friends with his pokemon. That's actually most of the reason why I wanted to make this, so people would see that even the coldest of people can change.
Red: Are you gonna put Team Rocket in this?
Renny: Nah. Those guys come into it at the GSC arc, so I can't have you three beat the poop out of them before that happens. No, there's a new team. And guess who they're after?
Green: . . . I hate you.
Renny: Uh-huh. Red, you do the disclaimer this time.
Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!
Renny: On with the show!
OOOOOO
-New Bark town, Johto, Elm's lab-
"WE'RE GETTING NEW POKEMON!"
Green winced at the volume of the two slightly older kids in front of him. They were bouncing around happily, squealing about the new pokemon. Of course they wouldn't abandon their old ones, but Oak had offered to look after them.
Why were they getting new pokemon?
Because Elm had some new ones that were way too rowdy. He wanted the three of them to try and calm the pokemon down so they could help with his research, and he wanted to research how the three new pokemon reacted to evolving into their final forms.
"Yes, we're getting new pokemon, no need to shout it." Green grumbled. He crossed his arms, looking at the floor.
"Aw, don't be such a grump!" Red laughed. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Oh, which pokemon you gonna choose?" Blue asked.
"Hm . . . Maybe the fire one this time." Red grinned. "I didn't get a choice last time, so it'll be good to have a choice."
"You mean you didn't want Saur?"
"What? Of course I wanted him!" Red cried. "If I did have a choice he'd be the first one. I'm just saying I want a change."
"You're not getting the fire type." Green snapped. "I am."
"Good luck with that. Oak said that Blue picks first, them me. You go last." Red snickered.
"What!?" Green yelped. "Why am I last?"
"Dunno, but maybe he wants you to actually appreciate the stuff you don't want?" Red shrugged. "Mew knows you need to anyway."
"I hate the both of you so much."
"We know." Red and Blue said.
Green glared at them and sat down on the bench in Elm's lab. There were at least three sections of it, as far as he could tell anyway.
The first section was what he and the two idiots were in. This one was for visitors and such. The second was where Elm did his research on the bonds of Trainer and pokemon (Green scoffed at that). Visitors were allowed there to interact with the different pokemon. The third and final one was where the special pokemon, namely the three they were getting, were kept for special testing and/or research.
Green's mind wandered back to a couple of days ago, when his Grandfather first announced they were getting new pokemon.
oooo
-Oak's lab, flashback-
"W-we are?" Red blinked. "Why? What'd we do to our other ones?"
"Nothing." Oak said. "They're fine. It's just that Elm wanted three Trainers, skilled ones at that, to help with some research on three pokemon. However, these three are sort of . . . difficult, so that's why he needed skilled Trainers and not new ones."
"So naturally you send us in." Green muttered. "I'm fine with the team I have now. I'm not interested in building a new one from scratch."
"You don't actually have a choice, Green." Oak sighed. "I've already agreed."
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" Green screamed.
"Calm down!" Oak cried. "Look, Elm will explain everything when you get there-"
"Didn't you just explain it now?" Blue asked.
"Well . . . Only the part about the Trainers. Elm will explain everything else."
Green hissed at him.
"Right . . ." Oak said. "Anyway, Green. You go and pack some stuff and get ready. Red, Blue, I need to talk to you two in private."
Green huffed and walked out of the room as Oak led the two idiots into the other room. He didn't care what they were talking about, he just wanted to get out of this.
What was wrong with his old team?
Green kept running that through his head over and over as he got some stuff, Potions and such (they could shrink down. Technology was amazing at this point), and put them into a light brown messenger bag his sister had gotten him a few weeks back.
Back to the pokemon thing. Green didn't get it, and when he didn't get something he worked and worked until he knew everything about it. He'd ask Elm when they got to the lab in Johto.
-Flashback end-
oooo
So that's how he'd gotten here. Red had packed up some other stuff and put them into a small backpack, and Blue had her own handbag thing. It was sort of bigger than a handbag, but Green didn't know or care what it was so he called it a handbag.
While Red and Blue were chatting quietly to each other, with the occasional glance at Green, he bored holes into the door that Elm was meant to come out of.
It had been at least an hour, and he was getting really impatient.
"That's it, I'm going." Green snapped. He stood up, ready to walk out of the front door, when Elm suddenly walked through the other door.
"Where are you going?" The man asked. "I haven't given you your pokemon yet."
"I don't need it." Green muttered under his breath.
"Professor Elm!" Red grinned. "Hi!"
"Hello, Red!" Elm waved. "At least someone here is friendly."
"I'm friendly too!" Blue giggled.
"Two friendly people then. Just one hostile." Elm smiled.
Green scowled at him, and the man laughed nervously.
"A-anyway, you three can come through to the last room now. They're all ready."
"Yes!" Red cheered. He and Blue followed Elm at a fast pace, while Green just trudged behind them, glaring at their heads.
Elm took them to the back room of the lab, where a machine was resting with a glass case. There were three pokeballs, with three pokemon in there of course.
"These are the new pokemon?" Blue squealed. "They're so cute!"
"Well, just be glad I managed to get them to settle down long enough to put them away." Elm rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Green noticed Elm glance at him, but then the man turned away so fast Green was sure it was just his imagination.
"Now then, why doesn't the lady pick first?" Elm offered. He opened up the glass casing and stepped back for Blue.
"Ooh, so exciting!" Blue giggled. "And this time I'm not stealing my starter as well."
" . . . I'd prefer if you didn't." Elm nodded. "Go on then. I'm sure they're eager to get their new pokemon as well."
Green wasn't as eager as Red or Blue, but he was actually starting to get curious. Not that he'd say it out loud of course.
"I pick . . . this one!" Blue cried. She reached in and grabbed a ball, then brought it back out again.
"All right, now why don't you let the pokemon out so they can see which ones are left?" Elm smiled.
Blue nodded, and released her new pokemon. It was sort of like Bulbasaur, only it was a lighter colour, and its neck was a bit longer. There was a leaf on its head, and it didn't have a bulb.
"This pokemon is called Chikorita." Elm said. "She is the grass type of the bunch, and she's also the most docile of them. Although she does sometimes have her days, of course."
"Oh, so cute!" Blue squealed. She picked up the Chikorita, who was female according to Elm, and grinned. "I think I'll call you . . . Chiky!"
"That's a cool name, but I'm choosing a cool pokemon as well!" Red exclaimed.
"Hold it!" Green snapped. "You're not actually serious, are you?"
"About what?"
"That Grandpa actually let you two pick first and me last." Green said. "You two are gonna leave me with the weakest one, aren't you?"
Blue and Red looked at each other. Green could see some sort of emotion in their eyes, but he didn't know or care what it even was.
"We just want our pokemon." Red said. He seemed quieter than he normally was. "We're not leaving you with the weakest. It'll only be the weakest if you don't actually help it instead of order it about like a machine. Now suck up whatever pride you have, and shut up."
Green, for one, actually did shut up. But he only did it because he was more surprised than anything. Red smirked at him, and grabbed a pokeball from the machine thing.
"Come on out!" He shouted, releasing the pokemon inside. A small, four-legged creature with a cream-coloured underbelly and a darker back/head/whatever. It squealed something, and flames burst out from its back.
"That one would be Cyndaquil." Elm said. "He's the fire type, and he's also a very quick and smart little guy. Although he prefers to use more . . . unorthodox methods."
"Cool!" Red grinned. He picked up the Cyndaquil, and frowned. "I'll call you . . . Quil!"
"Smart." Green huffed. He reached forward to grab the last pokeball, before Elm suddenly stopped him.
"Wait, wait!" Elm cried. "Before you meet your own pokemon, Green, I want you to have this."
Elm produced a pokedex with a black streak mark going across it out of his pocket. He gave it to Green.
"Why do I need this before I take the pokemon?" Green asked as he fiddled with it. The pokedex suddenly opened and Green saw a flash, and then he was dizzy.
"Hey!" Red cried. Like in the Silph Co building, he rushed forward and grabbed Green before he fell down.
"W-what was that?" Green mumbled. His head was hurting.
"Well . . ." Elm sighed. "You'll see, or rather hear, when you let out your pokemon."
Green shook his head slightly. He pushed Red away, growling under his breath. Green muttered obscenities about his Grandfather, and looked over at the machine with the last pokeball in it.
"Whatever you are, you'd better be a good pokemon." He snapped. Green grabbed the pokeball and threw it, and looked at the small and blue crocodile thing that blinked up at him.
"Now that one is Totodile." Elm told him. "He's definitely the smartest out of the group, he's able to read and write you see, and he's also great at coming up with plans, battle or otherwise."
"Yeah? Well, while he's with me, he does the fighting and I do the thinking." Green huffed.
"I'm sorry, but when did I ever agree to that?" The Totodile asked, staring at Green with blank and uncaring eyes.
"You didn't, I made that decision for you, Totodile." Green snapped. He paused.
Green stared at the Totodile, and the Totodile stared at Green.
"You just spoke." Green blinked. "You . . . just spoke."
"Yes, I did." The Totodile said, glaring at Green. "And I'm not Totodile. My name is Ice."
" . . . He just spoke again." Green said. "I-I'm going crazy. I'm going crazy . . ."
"You're not going crazy." Elm said. He sounded soft for some reason.
"I'm going crazy. The Totodile spoke."
"Yes, he did." Elm said. "Well, to you anyway."
"Is . . . Is that what that pokedex thing did?" Green asked. Red and Blue were looking at each other. He couldn't tell what they were thinking, but they must have been laughing on the inside about how confused he was right now.
"It was." Elm nodded. "Did you see a flash, right before you got dizzy?"
"Yes."
"Well, that flash was installing something into your head." Elm explained. "Basically, it gave you the ability to understand the words of any pokemon you register under your name."
"So . . . I'm not crazy?"
"No." Elm shook his head. "You're not crazy, and Ice, as he calls himself, speaks to you and only you."
" . . . Why?"
"Well . . . Did Oak say that I would explain everything else to you three?" Elm asked.
"Actually just Green." Blue said. "He already told us."
"But you'd probably want to listen anyway in case he missed anything out."
"Yep."
Elm nodded and turned to Green, who was still staring at 'Ice'.
"Green." Elm called. Green squeaked and looked up. "Now, I know you're a bit scared-"
"Scared? Who's scared?" Green asked. "I'm not scared. Me? Scared? No. Not at all."
"You're rambling. Calm down."
"I-I'm not scared."
"Sit down."
Green sat on the floor, trying to avoid looking at 'Ice'.
"Now then, I'll explain why you got the pokedex and why you were told to pick last." Elm said. He sat on the floor, and Red and Blue followed. "Green, you remember a week after the league, yes?"
"Grandpa talked to me about something . . . something . . ."
"He spoke to you about the way you operate with your pokemon." Elm said. Green nodded. "Well, he told me about it as well. We discussed it for a while, and finally came up with the conclusion that you needed to learn how to work with your pokemon instead of just commanding them.
"Oak sent me an empty pokedex, with nothing in it, and I started work on it. I made all the right components, and also installed a chip that would allow the owner of the pokedex to understand whatever pokemon is registered to him or her. Oak also had you re-register your Trainer license at that point, yes?"
Green nodded again.
"It was verbal wasn't it?" Another nod. "Well, when you said your name, the pokedex registered your voice. This one, I mean. After that, all it needed was for you to touch it and you'd be the full owner of it."
"But you made me understand pokemon." Green said. "Why?"
"Like I said, you needed to learn to work with your pokemon." Elm said. "To do this, Oak had a pokemon sent over from his own lab. That pokemon was Totodile, or Ice. Ice was a smart pokemon, and he was also more advanced than the other starters we had bred. So Oak decided that you would have him, and Red and Blue would have the two left over.
"However, we couldn't guarantee that you would choose Ice. So, Oak talked to Red and Blue, told them what they needed to know and do, and that you would choose last. Whatever they choose, they had to leave Totodile."
"He told us everything up to that point." Blue nodded. "Is there anything else we need to know?"
"Yes, actually." Elm said. "Oak originally intended for only Green to do this. But when he realised that there would be three choices for Green, he had to get you two in on it and tell you what was planned. Now, remember, this whole thing happened because you couldn't connect with your pokemon, Green."
"I don't need to connect with them." Green bristled. "They just need to follow my orders, and-"
"Don't you dare talk down to me." 'Ice' snapped. "If you can understand me, then you are my partner."
"Please stop talking." Green gasped. "Please."
"And don't tell me to shut up either!" 'Ice' snarled. "Look, you uptight brat, you gotta learn to actually work with someone other than absolutely no one!"
"I don't know what Ice just said, but I'm sure you're a bit unsettled by his speaking." Elm smiled.
"You think!?" Green yelled. "You just gave me a pokedex that gave me a headache and an unwanted ability, and you tell me I'm gonna be out there because Grandpa wants me to 'connect' with a bunch of brainless beasts!"
"Brainless?" Elm raised an eyebrow. "I've just told you, Ice can read and write. He may even be smarter than you."
"Pokemon are animals, and as such they act like it." Green snapped. "This . . . This is a dream. Or something. Someone hypnotised me."
"Can I pinch you?" 'Ice' asked.
"SHUT UP!" Green screamed.
"Green, I don't know what he said, but you don't tell him to shut up." Red snapped.
"He's . . . He's freaking me out, ok!?" Green yelped. "Pokemon just don't talk!"
"Well, I am, and-"
"SHUT UP!"
"Moving on." Elm sighed. "Red, Blue. Oak said he wanted you two to keep an eye on Green, which was actually another reason why he had you two come as well."
"We're traveling with him?" Red asked, dismayed.
"No." Elm shook his head. "The three of you will meet in the local pokemon centre of each town or city, and Green will tell you his progress. Or you could have a battle to see if he's gotten any better, because he'll probably too busy telling his new team to shut up."
"Well, at least we don't have to travel with him." Blue shrugged to Red.
Their reluctance to go anywhere with Green was hurtful. Was he really that bad a person?
Elm stood up and gestured for Red, Green and Blue to do the same thing.
"Now then, you two come with me to get your pokedex's and I'll-"
"Hold it." Green said. They all looked at him. "Last time that happened Grandpa told those idiots what you two had planned for me. By the way, I don't have a say in this at all and I don't like it. So, I'm going with you in case you're gonna keep even more secrets from me."
"I wasn't doing that." Elm muttered. "But fine. On one condition."
"Yes?"
"Keep Ice out of his ball."
Green stared at Ice (he'd accepted the fact that it was real now, sort of) and glared.
"No."
"Then you don't get to know what I say. If I even say anything." Elm said. Green growled and put the pokeball onto his belt, but didn't return the Totodile into it.
"Fine, but he stays quiet." Green snapped.
"I'm not staying silent just because I scare your pretty-boy face." Ice scoffed.
"You two really need to work with him." Elm sighed.
"I know." Red murmured.
"It'll probably take some huge disaster to actually make him care." Blue said.
"And even then he'd still be a jerk."
Hurtful.
oooo
-Outside Elm's lab, a few minutes later-
"So, you two are gonna travel together?" Green asked as they walked out. "And . . . you don't want me anywhere near you unless we're in a new town or whatever."
"Pretty much." Red shrugged. "I don't wanna deal with your complaining about Ice talking or something, so me and Blue are gonna go on ahead to Cherrygrove city."
"Yep!" Blue grinned. "We're gonna do whatever, and then wait for you so we can check your progress. Then we'll battle you."
"You can't expect me to actually get anything done in a day." Green snapped.
"We sort of do. It's what an Oak does, right?" Red raised an eyebrow at Green, who scowled again. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.
" . . . You're sure Grandpa didn't say anything about staying together?"
"Nope. He said nothing of the sort." Blue said. "Why? You scared?"
"Freaked out is a better word for it." Green scoffed. "I'm given a pokedex that allows me to understand whatever pokemon I catch, and you two are acting like this is totally normal. And on top of that, you're ditching me."
"Well, we kinda freaked out when Oak told us." Red laughed. "But we said stuff more along the lines of 'if Green gets a talking pokemon then he's gonna do bad stuff' and all that."
"You have so much faith in me." Green muttered. "Can you two not tell everyone how 'violent' I am, just once?"
"Hey, the world needs to know about Green the Jerk." Red shrugged.
They both walked off to Route 29. Green stared after them, and sat down in the grass. Ice walked up beside him.
"You have some pokeballs, so we should go and catch more pokemon." The water pokemon suggested.
"I've already got one blabbermouth." Green said. "I don't want another one."
"Well, excuse me for volunteering to be with you." Ice snapped.
"You volunteered?"
"No one else wanted to. They all knew what you were like." Ice huffed. "And honestly? The stories are true. You're a selfish little brat with a serious case of anger issues."
"Hey!"
"Just saying it as I see it, brat." Ice said. "Move it."
"I'm the Trainer. I give the orders." Green said.
"Not while I'm around."
Green glared at the small crocodile as he walked off. Green stood up and went after him, trailing behind at a slow pace.
He still didn't want to do this. Green didn't understand why his Grandpa couldn't have just given him the new pokedex and let him keep his old team. There was nothing wrong with them at all.
But what about what Ice said?
"No one else wanted to."
Did that mean the pokemon were all scared of him? Green frowned. Was it a bad or a good thing if they were scared?
On one hand, if they were scared they were easier to command. But it also made them prone to being terrified during battle, and he might lose control of them.
Ice went because the other pokemon didn't want to. He didn't seem scared of Green at all, but Ice was probably a brave, or just really serious, pokemon. But, if Ice wasn't scared and all he did was insult Green, then that probably did mean that the other pokemon weren't scared either.
And if that was true, then that would mean none of them wanted to go with Green because none of them liked him, and they all thought the same as Ice did.
Well, that's just unfair and . . . cold.
And Red said he was the jerk.
"Hey, Totodile." Green called.
"The name's Ice."
"Fine, Ice, whatever. Why didn't one of the other lot wanna go with me?" Green asked.
"They heard stuff about how ruthless your training is." Ice said. "One time there was a Meowth that came in. She was covered in scratches and bruises. She told us that your training nearly got her killed."
Green could sort of remember a Meowth he'd tried to train. He'd heard once that Persian was an amazing fighter, but the Meowth was hard to train when all it wanted to do was sit and get its belly rubbed.
"She told us that you'd given her over to your Grandfather, saying that she was completely useless." Ice went on. "Even if she hated the way you trained, that comment still hurt her. She was the first of many to come, though. Any pokemon that was boxed straight away was spared from your training, and any unlucky ones were pitied."
Ice was making Green sound like a Rocket or something.
"Sometimes one would come in, crying and wailing about how you called it names or trained it way to hard." Ice huffed. "To be honest, I hated you the second the Meowth came in. The others only fuelled it."
"So . . . why go?" Green asked. His voice seemed quiet and weak for some reason.
"Like I said, the others completely hated you." Ice said. "They wanted nothing to do with you unless it was to give you a piece of their minds, and I was the only one who was willing to go. Of course, I'm only here because of Elm and the fact that I want to help teach you a lesson about real training, but I see you're pretty much a lost cause."
Green slowed until he wasn't even moving. Ice seemed to notice and the water type turned around.
"Having second thoughts? Doubts? Gonna cry?" Ice smirked. "Good. Because that's what I'm here for. I'm a spokesperson for the pokemon you abused. I'm here to make sure you actually do something right for a change. I'm here because you're an idiot in serious need of an actual beating."
Now he was just rubbing salt into Green's wounds. How much more verbal abuse was he going to take today?
"Pidgey!" A bird cawed. It was up in a tree, somewhere above Green's head. "Pi!"
"Thank you." Ice bowed. The Pidgey flew off, cawing something else.
"See?" Ice would have raised an eyebrow had he had one. "Even wild pokemon agree."
" . . . Of course they do." Green said. He started off again, walking past Ice. Ice tried to talk again, but Green tuned him out because all he could hear was the stories of how badly he'd trained or failed to train the boxed pokemon.
Ice even went as far as to talk about how Green's old team had bad stories as well.
"Ice." Green said. Ice stopped talking for a second. "Can . . . Can you please stop that? I've heard enough."
"Enough to change?"
"Enough to box you forever, if this is how you carry on." Green snapped. "Look, I don't see a pokemon who's weak and train it. I see a pokemon who's weak, catch it, and I box it. I see a strong one and I train it because it can take it."
"Clearly that's not going to work here, since you can actually hear us." Ice said. "That means you need to work with all of us instead of just picking and choosing."
"I do what I want." Green snarled. "And you, you stupid little pokemon, have no say in anything I do. Understand?"
"No. And I'll keep opposing you until you actually realise what a failure you are."
"I'm not a failure. And I don't ever intend to be."
OOOOOO
Renny: I should probably mention that this is only based off the run, and as such it won't have the same pokemon or the same deaths. Of course, we all know that Ice is the only one who's actually the same as in-game Ice, but anyone else is changed or they stay the same with different personalities.
Green: You've given me issues in the first chapter! Why so soon, you little piece of-
Renny: It's funny. Plus, we get to see just how bad of a Trainer you are. This way people can read, and they can see how you evolve from bad Trainer to amazing Trainer.
Red: She has a point.
Renny: I'm the author, I always have a point. Read, review and comment!