A/N: It's been forever since I first posted this. To anyone who read the first chapter and waited for an update, I'm sorry it's taken so long!
I took the moronic (coughghettocough) bullies from my school and made them into Rocket Grunts for this fanfic. That's why most of the grunts have non-Japanese names.
No, I don't think that Athena/Ariana is Silver's mom. At least she's not for this fic.
This chapter doesn't have Champion in it very much. The story is really supposed to be Silver's autobiography… so, sorry to anyone who liked the first chapter because they like the relationship between the rival and the protagonist… but this story isn't completely focused on that. (Champion will have a bigger role in other chapters though.)
Sorry if I'm rambling; it's time for bed. I really need to stop posting fanfiction chapters before bed; I get too nervous about what people will think and then I can't sleep… and one more thing.
I like to use Japanese names for human characters and Pokémon. Name changing ticks me off. But anyway, reviewers of my other fanfic were asking me to make a glossary when using lesser-known Japanese names, so here.
Koiking: Magikarp
Pippi: Cleafairy
So you're probably wondering how I got this crevice. It's a long story. But I'll talk about it. I got this crevice because my father sent me to live on this mountain. I'll get this out there right away: my father is Sakaki. Yes, that Sakaki. The former leader of Team Pathetic. Hmph. Are you shocked? You shouldn't be – after all, you "know me." Isn't that right? Heh.
I was going to talk about the crevice, but you probably don't care. You're probably wondering what it was like to have the leader of Team Rocket as a father. Well, I didn't see much of him. He spent all his time in his room doing "secret" things. He spent just enough time with me to successfully indoctrinate my young mind. While you were listening to bedtime stories, my father was teaching me about his plans for world domination.
He was nuts. He had all kinds of crazy ideas in his head, like capturing Mew – as if Mew exists – and cloning it to create the ultimate weapon. And what would he do when he created it? Gain power over all the weaklings. In his opinion, weaklings were any Pokémon who couldn't battle well, or any human who had a weak Pokémon. Or anyone who actually had a conscience. He wanted to eliminate them because he hated them. Never mind the fact that weak Pokémon – like Koiking – grow into strong Pokémon, like Gyarados. Or the fact that weak Pokémon – like Caterpie – are an essential food source for strong Pokémon – like Pigeot. He just liked to go on about how weaklings were just a drain on the strong, always getting in the way.
I hate him. I didn't hate him then, but now that I know how crazy he was, I hate him. I don't even hate him just because he was crazy. I hate him because he was crazy and influential. He spewed out all those lies at me and I believed him; I never even questioned. If I did question him he'd give me this look, like I was the most clueless person in the world. I couldn't stand that look. So I stopped listening to my doubts. I started to just absorb all his lies like a sponge and then, like a sponge, dump it out on others. At school I was always getting in trouble for talking about how the weak deserved to die. The teachers called my father more than once, and he would flat-out deny that he had ever told me any of it, and then he'd punish me for getting in trouble at school. I didn't understand. I was so confused. I was so weak back then…
It wasn't just me though. There were a whole lot of people who listened to him without question. Team Rocket. They had to listen to him; he paid their wages. Maybe that's how he forgot that he was a flawed – a horribly, disgustingly flawed – human being. With everyone sucking up to you all the time, most people would forget. That could explain how you got so full of yourself, Champion. Maybe if Team Rocket hadn't split up before I could inherit it, it would have happened to me, too.
I wish I could find him. I wish I could defeat him. Prove to him that he was wrong about me. About everything. And then I'd kill him. I wouldn't shed a tear.
After I'd been expelled from too many elementary schools for fighting and bigotry, my father decided that signing me up for them just wasn't useful anymore. He didn't believe in schools, anyway. He claimed they taught the wrong things. The only reason I was even there was because he needed someone to watch me all day, and so when Team Rocket started its fossil excavation project in Mt. Moon, he decided to send me there along with his Grunts.
I hate Grunts. I hate all of Team Rocket, but the Grunts are the worst. If there was a list of the most pathetic people to ever walk the planet, everyone at the top would be a Rocket Grunt. They complain. They start drama. They fight. Most of them have no idea what Team Rocket is even about; they just follow my father's orders and pick up a paycheck. They're cruel, and stupid, and they gang up together for no reason other than to look big. If you catch them alone, they won't be so tough. But I didn't learn that lesson soon enough.
My father left me officially in the care of a red-haired Rocket Grunt called Athena, probably because she was the only female around at the time. If he thought Athena would be a good nurturer, he was grossly mistaken. The minute my father looked away she turned towards her little Rocket Grunt friends and loudly whined, "Why does he expect me to take care of his little brat?"
The grunts who hung out with her erupted in laughter, the cocky kind that comes at someone else's expense. "I always thought you'd make a good mommy!" one of them jeered.
"Stop it, morons!" She swung a fist at them and they ducked and ran, still laughing. I watched her chase after them. I looked into the unfamiliar, high-up faces, overwhelmed by their loudness. These people would be raising me for the next few months.
As the boss's son and future heir to Team Rocket, I was technically the superior to these Grunts. Even if that wasn't so, I was supposed to be their future boss, and should have gotten some respect for it. Unfortunately, Rocket Grunts have no foresight. Whenever my father stopped by to supervise the Rocket Grunts' activities, Athena would be the nicest person to me in the world. Any other time, she was either hazing me to the point of child abuse, or ignoring me completely. Just like all the Grunts did. Some of them treated me like their own personal tool, threatening to beat me up if I didn't do them favors like passing notes or bringing them their shovels. Others beat me up just for fun. Some of the "nicer" Grunts merely observed these activities, lecturing their friends on their cruelty even as they laughed along. It didn't matter how actively they participated; I hated all of them.
When I could get away from the Rocket Grunts, I spent my time waiting in the secret entrance that the Rockets used to get in and out of the cave, planning my escape. I could climb up out of the tunnel and onto the surface of Mt. Moon, then climb down from there and find my way back to Viridian City. I could live in my father's Gym; there was always plenty of food there even if the Leader never was. When my father returned to it, I would tell him what the Rocket Grunts had done to me. Then he wouldn't make me go back. And he would punish Athena and the others who bullied me. Then they'd be sorry.
The only problem was that the exit wasn't easy to reach. It was blocked by a boulder three times my size. To escape, you had to have a Pokémon move it, and then climb up and out of the cave. Not even most of the Grunts had a Pokémon strong enough.
I hated that boulder. I can't even tell you how much time I spent trying to shove it away. One time I even head-butted it. It was impossible, but I guess I just didn't know when to give up.
One day I awoke by that exit to find myself surrounded by a cluster of mumbling Rockets. Light was pouring down from the top; the boulder had been moved. A blue-haired man I did not recognize was dangling from the entrance. He dropped down and landed on his feet.
Always the bossy type, Athena stepped forward. "You the new guy?"
"Yes." The man saluted. "My name is Noshio."
"You have your uniform yet?" demanded Athena.
"Yes," Noshio said stiffly.
"Put it on," she ordered.
"Right away." Immediately the man dropped to his knees and began ruffling through his backpack.
A few Grunts snickered. "Why're you listening to her?" one of them criticized. "She's not the boss!"
"Yeah, but she's crazy as the Boss!" another jeered.
"Don't make fun of your boss!" I ordered, but the Grunts ignored me.
The newbie, Noshio, was slipping his uniform shirt on over his T-shirt. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "I needed to put on my uniform anyway."
Somehow those two soft sentences commanded everyone's attention. He had just learned that Athena was not the boss, and yet he continued to speak politely. Rocket Grunts did not speak to each other politely. What an anomaly. Noshio himself didn't seem to notice that everybody's first impression of him had gone from neutral to disapproving. His eyes flickered over the crowd of co-workers. People began to introduce themselves or shuffle away.
I was one of them who shuffled away. The emergency exit was too crowded with Grunts to sleep. That was pretty much the only thing I did, sleep all day. And I hated sleeping when Grunts were around. Not only did they find it particularly amusing to bother me when I was asleep, but their voices would bore into my head, fading in and out like a static-ridden radio station. Stupid, noisy Grunts.
"Why is there… a little kid here?"
I spun around and glared at the newcomer. "I'm not little. I'm seven."
The grunts didn't hear me, or they ignored me. Indignant, but powerless, I stormed away. And yet I couldn't help but listen to their voices behind me.
"That's Sakaki's brat."
"What's his name?"
A lot of confusion and mumbling. A lot of Rockets didn't know my name because they all called me "Sakaki's brat." Finally someone said, "Silver."
"Silver, eh? He's pretty scrawny and mangy-looking."
One day I was sitting against the cave wall and watching as identical pairs of boots shuffled past me. The grunts were going to lunch. I didn't eat with them. They were savages when it came to food; they even literally climbed over each other to get to it. They would have murdered me if I'd been there. My only hope was to go to lunch early, before the madness set in. But I'd been asleep, and now it was too late.
One pair of boots stopped. The other pairs pushed against or navigated around it. I looked up.
The newbie, Noshio, had stopped in front of me and bent over with his hands on his knees.
"You're little Silver, right?" he asked pleasantly.
I scowled. "I'm your superior. Call me Boss Silver."
He just laughed. "I'm Noshio. Nice to meet you, Silver."
I hated him instantly.
For a while, that was the extent of our relationship. He'd pass me, pat me on the head, completely ignore me when I told him to show some respect for his future boss, and then be on his way. He wasn't cruel like the other grunts, but he weirded me out.
One day another group of grunts saw Noshio talking to me. "He's always talking to that little kid. What is he, a pedophile?" a grunt named Jessica questioned loudly.
Another, Charmaine, giggled. "Probably. I always knew there was something weird about him… he acts nice, so he must be some kind of pervert… hehe."
The next time Noshio tried to talk to me, I shouted, "Leave me alone, you pedophile!"
He looked shocked. Other grunts turned to watch. Athena guffawed. "Did you hear that? Kid just called him a pedophile!" Other grunts in the background laughed and applauded, and I couldn't help but grin, proud that I had impressed them.
"S-Silver," stammered Noshio, "do you even know what pedophile means?"
I had no idea, but I wasn't about to admit that. "Sure I do!" I boasted. "It means a pervert – like you!"
The other grunts hooted. One called out, "He got burned!"
Noshio took a step back, flustered. "I- I'm sorry if you've misunderstood me, but I'm not a pedophile. I had no intention to… hurt you."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I wasn't about to back down. "Yeah, yeah. You just keep telling yourself that. Later, pervert." Quickly I ran away before he could figure out that I didn't know what those words meant.
Noshio avoided me for a long time after that. I assumed it was because he was mad at me. The news of what I'd said circled quickly and it wasn't long before the other grunts were calling him "pedophile," too. Clearly, "pedophile" and "pervert" were very offensive words.
Of course, I know what the words mean now. And now I understand why he was avoiding me. It's kind of funny, looking back – though I feel bad that I made him another target of all the other grunts' bullying. Then again, I had it worse than he did, and it wasn't like he was ever popular in the first place.
Was I supposed to be talking about this crevice? I'll get back to it. First I want you to know a little bit more about Noshio. I don't want you to misunderstand anything.
Well, the next time he spoke to me was during lunch time one day. The Rockets were provided lunch as part of the pay; their other meals they were supposed to bring themselves. But Rockets are lazy and most of them didn't bring their other meals, so they were always hungry and always taking more than one lunch at one time. I was supposed to get a lunch every day, but I didn't. Athena was supposed to bring me breakfast and dinner, but she didn't. So I really didn't get to eat much, unless there were graham crackers. For some reason, most grunts refused to eat the graham crackers.
Noshio woke me up. "Silver, did you eat yet? Most of the lunches are gone."
Drowsy, I looked around. Grunts were crowded around the cheap table that was used to set up lunch, all complaining about the morons who took more than one. I was not about to contend with them. There were no graham crackers.
"Yes, I ate yet," I lied. "Now go away so I can go back to sleep."
The grunt shook his head. "You did not eat yet. You've been sleeping out here since lunch arrived."
I glared at him, embarrassed to have been caught lying. He would ask a question even though he already knew the answer. "I don't need to eat. I'm tough!"
"Wouldn't you be tougher if you ate your lunch?"
I glared. "No. It's impossible for anyone to be tougher than I am now."
He stood there for a minute, then left. "I'll be right back," he said.
He wasn't right back. By the time he came back, I was asleep again. He woke me up.
"Stop waking me up," I ordered.
He ignored me. "Sorry, Silver. By the time I got there, all of the lunches were gone. I guess some people take more than one."
I couldn't believe how stupid he was. What was he expecting?
He crouched down next to me and pulled something out of his bag. "I'm sorry you didn't get a lunch today. But I have a chocolate in my backpack. Do you want it?"
Of course I wanted it. But I didn't trust him. Why would a Rocket grunt give me anything? He'd probably ask me to do something for him later. I could not be indebted to a Rocket.
"I don't need a chocolate!" I announced loudly. "Strong men don't eat candy!"
"Oh, really?" He seemed amused for some reason. "Well then, I guess I have no use for this, either, being a strong man and all. I think I'll just drop it here." He did so, and walked off, patting my head as he passed me. "Later, Silver."
After he left, I stared at the candy for a long time. Could I eat it if he didn't give it to me? It wasn't the same as taking it from him. He'd just thrown it away, so it wouldn't mean I'd owe him anything. But maybe it was poisoned. Of course it was poisoned! Otherwise he wouldn't have thrown it away; he would have eaten it himself.
I heard footsteps coming closer; more grunts were approaching. They'd eat the candy if they saw it. I snatched it up and ran down the hall with it.
I heard screeching above me. Zubat. "Hey, dumb Pokémon! Eat some of this candy!" I picked off a small bit and threw it at them.
They screeched and flew away. Maybe Pokémon didn't eat chocolate. I ran and grabbed the piece I threw. It was covered in mud. I didn't care. I realized that I didn't even care if it was poisoned. Besides, the wrapper had been on it anyway, so it couldn't have been poisoned. I used this as my rationalization to eat the whole thing right then.
I did not die a horrible death from it.
The same thing happened the day after that, and then the day after. I didn't understand why he kept buying me candy just to throw it away, but I was glad he did. When he asked what happened to the candy after he threw it away, I told him Athena ate it. I always smirked when he was "dumb enough to believe me."
But that was the nature of our relationship, really. Mostly I didn't like him, but despite the fact that I had landed him with a horrible nickname, he didn't dislike me; he offered me candy. Most of the time I didn't see him though. He was always working hard to excavate fossils and I was always as far away from the excavation areas as I could be.
Until one time when there was a commotion. A mass of grunts was clustered together. Their movements were fast, excited. They were chanting, shouting ideas, daring each other.
Curious, I joined the cluster, careful not to get to get squished in the crowd. I broke through to the front, looking through the cracks in the mass of bodies to see the source of the commotion.
A ball of pink was backed against a cave wall. A Pippi. We saw them around every once-in-a-while, but they generally ran away from us. This one couldn't run; it was surrounded. It was also shivering out of terror while a Zubat attacked it from above. The Zubat darted back and forth, lunging at it. The Pippi would swat when it got close, but normally only succeeded in getting its attacker to dodge out of the way temporarily. At last the Pippi swatted with all its might, but missed and fell over. The Zubat pounced and sunk its teeth into prey.
Pippi writhed around on the ground, crying out in pain. Grunts cheered and laughed until, finally, the Pippi stopped struggling. Or so it seemed. Most of its body was still, but its hands twitched periodically – and then they were twitching faster and faster. One man shouted, "Hey! What's it doing?" – but by then it was too late. Suddenly a stream of fire shot out from its fingers, scorching the Zubat and going straight at us. We all cried out and ducked into another crevice to the side, coughing from the smoke that was produced. The flame grazed the top of one man's head, and he screamed and rolled around on the ground.
"It's using Metronome!" someone shouted desperately. "You know how dangerous that is in a cave!"
I stuck my head through the side. Zubat was burnt but still able to battle. It returned to darting back and forth, this time with a fury. But the Pippi had given up on trying to sway the bloodsucker and instead focused its efforts on another Metronome attack.
"It's doing it again! We have to stop it!"
"Someone go catch it before it kills us all!"
"Lewis started this – he should catch it!"
"I ain't gettin' near that thing!"
Tension. Everyone knew what needed to be done, but no one was willing to do it. People glanced at each other accusingly. And then someone noticed me.
"Hey!" He grabbed me by the sleeve. "Silver, you're tough, right? Go catch that Pippi!"
"Me?" I gasped. Then I realized – this was my chance. If I could catch the Pokémon that no one else would catch, they would have to respect me. Plus, if any of the Rockets tried to bully me again, I could just have my newly-caught Pippi shoot fire at them. That would shut them up.
"OK!"
Someone thrust a Poké Ball into my hands and I quickly ran back to the scene of the battle. Pippi was still waving its fingers. I took a deep breath and threw with all my might.
I missed. Badly. The Ball bounced off the cave wall and rolled. I ran back to the Grunts helplessly. "I lost the Ball!" I confessed.
"Well, go back and get it!" a man said cockily. "I'm not gonna give you another one!"
Terrified, I rushed back to the Pippi. The Ball had ended up a few feet away from it. I sprinted to it, grabbed the Ball, aimed it at the Pippi, and gasped. Its fingers were waving at lightning speed.
I screamed and threw the Ball with all my might. But I was too late. Just as the Ball was opening to ensnare the pink Pokémon, I felt the earth shake beneath me and heard a loud boom! Before I could turn my head towards the source of the noise, I had been knocked to the ground and pinned down by falling rocks.
Rocks fell around me like rain. "Help!" I shrieked, but no one came. More crashing.
"What did it use! Explosion!"
"No. Magnitude."
"Earthquake! That was totally Earthquake!"
"Did that kid die?"
That was the last thing I heard before I passed out.
I was in this crevice when I woke up. Noshio was there, kneeling over me.
"Noshio?" I asked weakly. I realized I couldn't move. Even breathing hurt.
"Oh, you're awake," Noshio stated. "I couldn't get a hold of your father, so I had to move you here myself. This place is quiet and out-of-the-way, so hopefully everyone else will leave you alone."
"Did I break my leg?"
He grimaced. "Y-yes. Your leg and a few fingers. But I can heal them. I went to a medical high school and all…"
He made a crappy doctor. He had to make a cast out of cloth He didn't have very good pain killers; all they did was knock me out so I could feel the pain in my dreams. When I was a awake he told me stories and things. If I was feeling lively enough, I'd interject them with a seven-year-old's attempt at witty commentary, but usually I was too doped up to speak.
Thus this crevice became "my spot." Even once I healed, I came to spend most of my days in here. I slept in this crevice, ate in this crevice, and I amused myself by chasing the Zubat outside this crevice.
Noshio came to visit every once-in-a-while during lunch break. He'd started bringing lunch for me and he continued to bring me candy bars. I'd long since stopped pretending that I thought I was "too tough" to eat them. I still never understood his motives, though.
One day I asked him. "Noshio, why do you always bring me candy bars? Is it because you want me to make you an admin when I become the boss someday?"
"No. That's not the reason." He was quiet for a long time before continuing. "I have a kid about your age who loves candy bars. I don't get to see my family very much, so I always carry around a bag of candy bars so I can share them when I get home. But right now, I think you need the calories more."
I didn't talk to him for the rest of the day. His answer pissed me off. Come to think of it, everything he said pissed me off. I know that you're probably puzzled at that; here's this benevolent guy who gives me candy bars and I don't even appreciate him. Think what you want about it, but I can be pissed off it I want to.
I wasn't always yelling at him, though. Sometimes I did try to get along with him. I just… wasn't ever really good at showing feelings of appreciation.
"Noshio," I said one day, "I have something to confess to you."
"What is it?"
"I, um… I know you're not a pedophile. I never really thought you were."
He just laughed and said, "I know you didn't." It pissed me off.
I really got on a tangent there. I don't know why I keep talking about Noshio. I've just been thinking about him a lot lately. I wonder what happened to him, after, I mean… never mind. I was just never sure what to make of him. I'm still not.
There is something about him that reminds me of you, though – or something about you that reminds me of him. I'm not really sure how to put it into words, though. Maybe your ability to be nice without actually giving a crap.
And I guess I'm doing the same thing that you do – being nice without caring. 'Cause it was nice of me to bring you here. But I don't really care. Part of me wants to think that I'm a good enough person to care about you, but I know I'm not. Because you've been unconscious for a really long time, and it's starting to seem unhealthy. If I cared about you, I would have taken you to a hospital by now.
But I don't care, and I'm tired. Good-night. Or something.
