Authoress' Notes: On this day, 10 years ago, the franchise Pocket Monsters made its debut in Japan in the form of Red and Green Versions. A decade later, they're still going strong... :) Anyway, here's my tribute. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POKETTO MONSTAA!
My Best Friend
She stood there, motionless. The wind swept mindlessly past her feet, brushing the trimmed grass against the side of her dirt-stained sneakers. Her cerulean hair flowed along with the wind as it increased in speed, ruffling her hat a little.
We can't play this game anymore, but
Can we still be friends?
Things just can't go on like before, but
Can we still be friends?
In front of her sat a strange-looking creature; one unlike most other animals. Its posture and shape resemble that of a canine, except it was anything but. The creature's long black ears, tinted with only a single ring of yellow, copied her hair's motion. The flaccid ears swayed with them in the wind as if they were moving together on their own, forever mimicking one another's motions.
The fur on his paws was nicely trimmed and his legs, toned with strong muscles capable of carrying his slim body up to 40 miles per hour; his coat smooth and glossy. His eyes were gentle, yet intimidating, as they were meant to be. The blue in his pupil brought out the red of his sclera. A soft tail similar to his ears graced the earth in quiet contemplation, yet he wasn't sure if he was lying to himself and the tail was actually wagging in frightened hope.
He'd been trained well over the last five years and yielded incredible results. He was unlike any other Pokémon she'd ever owned and seemed more like a doting older brother than the animal he was.
We had something to learn
Now it's time for the wheel to turn
Things are said, one by one
Before you know it
All gone...
She had gotten all the badges...
Won all her challenges...
Beaten the so-called Elite Four nearly a hundred times...
Captured every Pokémon know to man...
It was useless to go on as a Pokémon Trainer...
She knew Johto like the back of her hand, Kanto too. And even Red, the undisputed champion of both regions, fell in defeat at her hands...
No... He fell in defeat at the hands of her Pokémon. Not just their hands... but their claws, their wings, tails, horns, fangs, and a myriad of other attacking endeavors.
She knew her faithful Pokémon knew this well, for it was their blood that splattered against the cold, hard dirt of the gloomy Mt. Silver...
It was their screams they cried as each attack connected with excruciating pain...
And it was their tears they shed struggling to stand on wounded legs to win this battle...
...But it was their victory and their claim to fame once the fight was won.
Let's admit we made a mistake, but
Can we still be friends?
Heartbreak's never easy to take, but
Can we still be friends?
He could remember how he met this human... It wasn't like most other Pokémon encounters. She never battled him, she never captured, and he was never her opponent. Neither was quite sure if she found him or if he found her...
He could remember much of his birth, though most he wished would wash away like his tears in the rain...
It happened so long ago. He was born with a litter of brother and sisters in a warm, sunny place. It was filled with flowers and Butterfree quietly fluttering from flower to flower, as if not to disturb nearby natives.
...But this nirvana was never meant to be, not with the dark attributes he now donned in what he'd become.
The humans, wearing dark clothing with a big, red letter on their shirts, came to his home with their white and red devices and fellow Pokémon already bound by fate in their chains. They destroyed his home and cut down trees to make homes of their own. They killed some Pokémon for natural goods and captured others to work and toll with the rest of their slaves.
He watched them kill his mother and siblings, nearly being killed himself.
But Ho-oh's blessing smiled on him that dark and stormy night...
And he was saved by the illustrious Suicune of the North Winds. She brought him from that awful and place and into human territory, where the trees were made of metal and blinked on and off like the lights of a Lanturn and the ground was hard and gray like the body of an Onix.
Instead, she left him on a doorstop outside this bustling city and as the wind blew, she disappeared.
It's a strange, sad affair
Sometimes seems like we just don't care
Don't waste time feeling hurt
We've been through hell together
He stayed at this 'breeding facility', as the two old humans called it, lonely and sad. The humans took good care of him and the other Pokémon, but he needed something else...
He needed someone to be his friend...
And then, she came...
She welcomed him into her family of friends, which at that point, only consisted of a few others; her favorite, a spunky Chikorita.
It took a while for him to warm up to her... after the other humans ripped his home and family away...
But she compensated for all that and gave him a new home with a new family...
Over time, he watched her Pokémon collection grow and his friends evolved every time he turned around. He saw new lands and places he'd only dreamt about, new Pokémon he'd only dreamt of seeing, and old adversaries who'd he dreamt of forever haunting him...
Those humans... The ones with the big, red thing on their shirts.
They began their assault not long after he joined his human. He heard of their battles in stories from his fellow Pokémon, as he wasn't allowed to fight such lethal opponents at that point.
But it soon came to a crucial point where he had to take a stand and fight for the human who he believed in.
He remembered intercepting an attack from a disgruntled black-shirted man in Mahogany Town. He bit hard into their glove, breaking their skin and tasting the sour blood in his mouth.
But his endeavor wasn't enough. The human threw him against the wall, knocking over a big Persian statue and nearly crushing his tiny body.
And it struck...
The anger, the bitterness, the sorrow... It finally came to a head that fateful night. That night where somewhere in the world, his kind were looking to the mysterious light of the moon and wishing for their greatest desire...
He rose from the ground a new Pokémon, no longer cute and innocent. Upon his evolution, he gave his body to the darkness and was sentenced to carrying around the consequences for the rest of his life.
And he attacked that black-shirted man and mauled him. He made sure this human would never harm anyone's family ever again.
His Trainer was powerless to stop his blind rage, afraid if she interfered, it'd be fatal...
He soon stopped, leaving the man on the brink of death, and looked at his Trainer. Her gaze was blank and confused, while his was mad and enraged.
She approached him and consoled him, telling him it was all right and the threat was gone. She wasn't mad; she was still his friend.
Despite the crime he committed, he was still her friend...
Can we still be friends?
Can we still get together sometime?
Can we still go on and on and on?
"Will you come with me?" was the question asked on that cool, calm day outside the Battle Tower.
Her voice... her lips... They never made a sound. Her eyes did all the talking just fine.
"Will stay with me... until the end? Like you promised when you became mine?"
No, he'd never promised her a thing. And he never became hers. He was born into this world and had the right to do as he pleased. He didn't have to listen to this human...
This human who nearly let him die from an Ekans' Poison Sting...
This human who trained him hard and pushed him to his limits and far beyond...
This human who stood by and did nothing but growl in defeat as his spine was nearly snapped in half by a Machamp's Submission...
This human who... loved him. In every single way she could, she loved him.
She was hard on him... but only so he could learn from novice mistakes and make the most of his attacks as he possibly could. Who else could manipulate a Mean Look so well that the victim wouldn't have time to counter as he launched his ghastly Toxic attack?
"Thank you, Marina," his bright eyes said. "You've earned my respect."
She smiled.
It wasn't time to stop... There were still thousand of Trainers out there, itching for a fight. And there were still more to come...
As long as her heart beat deep within her chest with the anticipation of losing a battle, she would go on.
As long as there were new worlds to see, she would go on.
As long as her Pokémon were up to it, she would go on... They would all go on.
Around the world, they traversed in their quest for superiority. Stopping right here? Right now?
...No. Stopping here would end their journey; their sacrifices and struggles would've been for nothing...
"Come on. We've got a big day ahead of us."
A simple nod was all he gave her, followed by another one her confident smiles.
Walking over to a nearby gate, she fetched her bicycle and pushed it over to her loyal companion. On the handlebars was a small basket that he used to ride in when he was pure. When she received the bike, she actually paid extra to have the owner install that basket on there... so he could ride on it... and they'd be together somewhere else other than a heated battle.
After evolving and practically doubling in size, the basket proved too small for him now.
But he didn't need it anymore... He could run as fast as she could ever pedal.
"I'm not leaving you behind," she said. "You're coming with me..."
Only wind responded to her...
"And... and you'll always be my best friend."
He returned the affectionate gaze. "...And you'll always be mine..."
...They walked away together, side by side, into the distance. Behind them, they left the lands of Kanto and Johto and their past victories and failures.
It was time to start over... Time to begin anew with another land and adversaries to defeat... but she wouldn't leave him behind.
She wouldn't leave any of them behind...
We awoke from our dream
Things are not always what they seem
Memories linger on
It's like a sweet sad, old song...
...Because they were and forever would be her best friends.
Authoress' Notes: Out of all the Pokémon games, the Crystal Version was my favorite, so I based this one shot off of that. The song "Can We Still Be Friends?" by Mandy Moore DOES NOT belong to me and neither does Pokémon! I refuse to say who thePokémon was, but the "bustling city" I referred to was none other than Goldenrod, my favorite place in the G/S/C Versions. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it:)