Last time, our hero defeated the Elite Four and became the new Champion of Johto. Now he must learn to cope with the sudden fame that comes from his new title. What length will he go to to keep from having to Aeroblast a bitch?
Chapter 9
Fame and Frustration
Silver glanced over his shoulder once again.
It had been a few days since he'd been crowned champion and gathered up most of Soul's old team, but now he had stalkers.
At first it wasn't too bad, the occasional autograph here or there, a picture or two for the press, but then it started getting creepy.
He had fangirls.
Creepy fangirls.
One was following him right now; he could sense them with his psychic abilities
He also didn't like the rumors that had been going around.
He'd become good friends with Jasmine, but they'd both confirmed that it was strictly that, and nothing more.
The tabloids however ate it up like starved Houndoom.
They fed on rumors and speculation, and used that as their "Credible Sources".
Poor Jasmine received constant glares from other girls, glares of jealousy with no basis.
And then there were the reporters.
They constantly harassed both of them.
Silver had tried to make it clear multiple times that they were just friends, but the stubborn media would have none of it.
He was in Olivine here today to lend Jasmine a form of... repellant:
Raikou.
He entered the gym and the presence moved to the door.
He took a few steps forward and stopped.
"I know you're there. Get out of here and tell your stupid press to leave me alone!" Silver growled.
The presence hi-tailed it away.
Silver sighed and walked over to Jasmine.
"Hey, Jasmine. How you holding up?"
"They're everywhere! I can't get a moment's peace except here or at home!"
The fragile girl was in shambles.
"Calm down. I've got just the thing to deal with them. Here."
He handed her Raikou's Dusk Ball.
"Take Raikou. If they bother you again, have him use Roar or something to scare them off."
"Thanks."
"No problem. I still owe you for trading me Rusty. How's that Pineco doing by the way, good?"
"Yes very. Thanks again."
"Like I said, don't mention it."
Silver walked back to the entrance and stopped in the doorway.
"If this doesn't work, I'll have to use fear to keep them away. And that means I'll have to let on about my little secret."
Unfortunately, Silver had lowered his senses and when he raised them up, noted that one of those troublesome reporters had caught the last bit of his conversation and was running off.
"Shit."
"'The Champion's Secret: What Could It Be?'" Silver read off the newspaper the next day. "You've got to be kidding me! Now they'll be badgering me about this!"
"You know," Lugia stopped to take a sip of coffee, "You could just show them."
"Well that could just cause even more rumors. Then they'd bug you and mom and I don't want that. It's bad enough as it is; if it wasn't for Entei they'd be here all the time." Silver let out an exasperated sigh. "This sucks..."
Silver decided he'd give the news something else to talk about.
He'd go to the whirl islands, cause a commotion in his Shell Forme, and freak the media the fuck out. Maybe go on a minor monster-flick style rampage somewhere for a little while.
Preferably a news studio.
Silver was in the Waterfall Basin Entrance and cracked his knuckles before putting on his shell and diving into the passage.
It honestly felt good, in a creepy, instinctive way;
The waters, the current, it was as if Silver could "feel" even the tiniest change in any of it.
But he wasn't doing this to find himself... well the part of him left to find.
The voice was gone, but he had yet to fully explore his Pokemon side.
He was a bit afraid to do so, like a young child who just learned how to swim entering the deep end of a pool for the first time.
He shook off his thoughts as he noticed the shoreline approaching quickly in the distance.
He made an abrupt turn up and shot out of the water, earning gasps and cries of terror from the beachgoers below that soon vanished in favor of Olivine's city.
As his shadow swept over the land, eyes turned skyward to see what it was, but only a silver-navy blur was visible.
Then he got to Ecruteak.
This was where he'd put on his little show.
He circled the Burned Tower, slowly, several times until a crowd gathered.
This included Morty, who could tell it was him from his size.
But nobody else was old enough to remember what happened... or how big the actual Lugia was.
Suddenly he broke from his circling and looked down at the crowd.
He mustered everything he could and let out a very convincing roar of anger.
He started charging an Aeroblast, slow enough for the crowd to dissipate enough that he wouldn't hit anyone and let it hit the ground in front of the tower, sending dirt into the air.
Pandemonium ensued.
After creating a few more small craters and blowing up a few trees, he headed off again at high speed.
The Headlines the next day were no longer about the champion, but the so-called "Return of Lugia".
The actual Lugia had been kind enough to cause a heavy downpour that would last all week, the limit of his abilities.
Unlike Kyogre, he could not create rain indefinitely.
Which somewhat disappointed Silver, but it would do for a nice distraction.
Silver sighed as he finished off a toaster pastry.
He was trying to plan things out from here forward.
Suicune had mentioned Kanto, but Silver wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.
Soul had vanished, so he couldn't battle her for training.
'Maybe...' he thought, 'I won't go out today. I'll just enjoy some normal things like TV or the internet...'
Frustrated. That's what Silver was.
He was bored and frustrated.
He needed somewhere to think, somewhere nobody would think to look...
He knew where he needed to go.
He crept out of the house and used Noble to get to Blackthorn.
Silver watched the Dratini in the waters of the Dragon's Den and sighed.
Drai looked up from where she was curled up next to him and cocked her head.
"I'm fine... I'm just a bit confused. Maybe I should spend the rest of this week finding more out about... well... me. Coming to terms if you will. I guess there's one way to do that right now."
Silver put his Bag, Pokegear, and Pokeballs on the wooden platform and stretched.
"Come on, let's go for a swim."
He took off his jacket, shirt, socks, and shoes before diving into the water.
He fell that chill run down his spine again.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
There were a few Dratini but several more Magikarp.
Then of course there was Drai.
The Pokemon were, suirprisingly, not afraid of him.
A very small dratini came over to him and bumped his arm with its nose playfully.
Silver decided he could indulge it with a game of tag.
Of course he had to come up for air more often, which gave the small Pokemon an advantage.
But Silver felt at home in the water. He was a strong swimmer to begin with (protecting his mother from anything meant strong swimming skills after all) but his new instinct refined his abilities.
Clair finished coming down the ladder and looked down at the massive lake.
Unlike Silver, who unbeknownst to her had come here to think and unwind, she came here to train every morning.
However, she noted his discarded items and recognized the hat immediately.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Using this place as a swimming pool...the nerve! Champion or not, he'll regret his actions!"
Silver's game had taken a turn for the worst.
The Dratini was getting sucked into a nearby whirlpool.
Silver's memories of what had happened at the Whirl Islands the first time came back to him and he froze for a moment.
Then he remembered; whirlpools were no longer a threat to him.
He began to glow as he activated his shell.
Claire saw the light from the bottom of the small lake and her eyes widened.
Suddenly a large avian figure shot out of the water with a small Dratini held gingerly in its mouth.
It landed on the old wooden dock and set the Pokemon down.
"What...!"
Silver turned his "head" over to Clair.
"...Clair? What are you doing here?" He remembered what he looked like. "Oh shit."
He dove back into the water and hid away the best he could.
'That voice...'
"Whatever you are! Come back out!"
No response.
"Fine. Have it your way. Kingdra, go after it!"
She called out her Pokemon and it dove after Silver.
Silver spotted the Pokemon and narrowed his "eyes" and sent out a wave of psychic energy that shoved the water type back some.
"Leave. Now."
The Pokemon approached once more and Silver fired an Aeroblast that send the Pokemon into the side of the lake and sent water shooting out of the small body of water and causing Clair to step back.
Kingdra surfaced, heavily wounded.
"That's it... Go, Dragonite! Hyper Beam!"
The Pokemon dove into the water and fired the attack at Silver.
Silver raised a hasty Light Screen, but the attack overpowered it and hit him.
He let out a roar and charged Dragonite, dragging it out of the water and throwing it to Clair's feet.
She was unphased however.
"What are you, and where is Silver?"
Silver (awkwardly) took a position to float on the water's surface.
This required his actual physical body to do something akin to sitting in a meditative position.
He moved his "head" inches from Clair's.
"Trying to intimidate me? It won't work."
"I know that. I already told you, I'm far from normal."
"...Silver? Is that... you? What happened..?"
"Turns out I didn't just have the power of Lugia. He's my father... let me explain."
Silver recounted the events up until this point to Clair.
"...and so I came here to think. I can't find head or tail of Soul, I've got stalkers chasing me, and I'm dealing with well... this."
"I see... Well then, what about a battle to take your mind off of all of that? I've been itching for a rematch!"
Silver removed his shell and climbed back out of the water.`
"Sure, why not?"
Crobat roosted on Soul's arm as she looked out to the docks of Olivine.
The rain poured down and made noise on the sheet metal overhang above her.
She wanted to go home, back to Kanto, and yet, she didn't at the same time.
She was terribly confused as to what could possibly keep her here.
What could be that important?
It was driving her mad and she growled in frustration.
"Is.. now a bad time?"
Jasmine and Raikou were standing (well, Jasmine was anyway.) under an umbrella nearby.
"It depends. What do you want?"
"I've noticed you come here often."
"I'm frustrated. Part of me longs to go back to Kanto, but there's another part of me that wants to stay here and I don't know why!"
"Hm... Is there perhaps some unfinished business you have? Or maybe a person?"
Soul shook her head when a certain boy's image crossed her mind.
She wasn't going to let that be the reason.
Never. Not him.
It didn't matter what the specifics were; Rivalry, camaraderie, hate, or... no. Definitelynot that...
"You're blushing." stated Jasmine.
"W-what! O-of course I'm not! What would I be blushing about?" Soul stammered.
"So there is someone. Well... I won't pry... maybe you should find that person and tell them how you feel before you leave. Good luck."
Jasmine and Raikou returned to the gym and left Soul not only stuck in the rain but aggravated at the truth Jasmine had forced her to realized.
She pulled up her umbrella and headed back to New Bark Town.
"Hmph. Not bad. I can see how you beat Lance now."
"Actually, that wasn't how I beat Lance. I fought his last Dragonite myself. Well, it was a nice battle, but I should get going. Parents kind of don't know where I am right now, and mom might freak when she wakes up in a few hours if I'm not home."
About eight AM there was a knock on the door to Silver's room.
He groaned and rolled over.
"Silver, there's a girl here to see you."
"Great. If it's another fan girl tell her to get away or Entei will eat her." Silver said with his face in his pillow.
"She says she knows you."
"That's what they all say. Leave me alone please, I'm tired."
"Okay dear, if you say so..."
There was silence for a few seconds then loud thuds before Silver's door shot open.
"Silver!"
The boy knew that voice.
"...Soul? Where the hell have you been?" Silver mumbled.
Soul walked over and ripped the covers off of Silver, sending him to the floor.
"Get up! We're going to Kanto!"
"Come on, I hardly got any sleep last night." Silver groaned from the floor.
"Not my problem!"
Silver just let out a groan from the floor and wrapped himself in the bedsheets on the floor.
Soul looked around his room.
"Wow your room is boring... hey, what're these?"
She pointed to a trophy case.
"Eh? Oh. Trophies from when I trained in Martial Arts."
Silver curled up.
"Now leave me alone..."
"Not a chance! Besides, didn't Suicune want you to follow him or something?"
Silver sighed.
"You have a point. I'd like to know what he's up to as well. There's just one problem."
"That is?"
"How am I supposed to get to Kanto from here? The path from the Pokemon League is under construction right now."
"Hmm... Well, my Father purchased a ticket for the S.S. Aqua before he left so I can take that..."
Just then, Silver's Pokegear went off.
He scrambled for it and picked up the line.
"Hello?"
"Silver, it's me, Elm! Could you drop by my lab? I have something for you!"
"Again? Well okay. Give me a minute."
Silver gathered a change of clothes and headed over the bathroom he had in his room.
It was very small, with barely any walking room and a small shower, but it was nice to have.
"Go on downstairs and wait for me, Soul."
"Whatever."
Silver took his shower and got dressed before gathering his things and heading downstairs.
"Soul, come on, let's get moving."
Silver and Soul walked over to the lab.
"Silver, here, take this!"
Elm handed him a ticket.
"What is it?"
"It's a ticket for the S.S. Aqua! Now you can go to Kanto and catch Pokemon!"
"Oh I will. Don't worry about that. Thanks Professor.
Silver had once more changed up his team.
This time it consisted of Feraligator, Kros, Noble, Drai, and a newcomer whom he had captured on Victory Road, Crusher, a Rhyhorn.
This Pokemon was an oddity in its own right.
It was enjoying the boat ride.
It also wasn't very bright.
Its "speech" was very simple.
Not retarded, but it didn't use big words or complex sentences.
Silver had also agreed to help an elderly man find his missing granddaughter.
He was somewhat regretting this choice as he was now playing a game of hide and seek with her.
Soul had retreated to their cabin, so it was him and his not- so- intelligent comrade.
Silver turned another corner and finally found the girl.
"Aww... I'll go back to Grandpa now..."
The girl ran off and Silver followed to ensure she did so.
"Thank you," greeted the man when Silver arrived. "Here, take this Metal Coat. Not only does it allow Steel Types greater power, but it allows certain Pokemon to evolve."
Then there was a "ding!".
"We have arrived at Vermilion City."
Silver met up with Soul and they exited the boat.
Something caught Silver's eye, something blue and violet.
Silver narrowed his eyes.
"Suicune..."
The Pokemon noticed him and took off.
"Darn it all! I thought I had it cornered!"
Silver looked to his left.
"Eusine?"
"Silver! How goes it?"
"Meh, so-so. Let me fill you in on my... situation."
He explained his abilities to Eusine.
"I see... well, in the sense of fairness, I'll tell you what I've learned of Suicune. It likes water. I thought I could corner it here, but I was wrong. I'm off again! Goodbye!"
Eusine took off after Suicune.
"Crusher, stay here with Soul."
"Eh? Where are YOU going?" Soul exclaimed.
"I'm done with Suicune keeping me in the dark, and I'm sick of this stupid game of glorified Tag! I'm chasing him down!"
Silver burst into his Shell Forme and took off after Suicune.
"Suicune!"
The Northern Wind glanced back then accelerated.
"Oh no you don't!"
Silver continued his pursuit.
Eventually he caught up with Suicune and rammed the Pokemon, sending him tumbling over his own paws.
"I'm done with your bullshit. Now that I know everything about myself, it's time you start answering questions. When are we going to be done playing your stupid game?"
"...Soon. Very soon."
Silver eyed the beast for a moment before turning.
"Alright. Soon."
After returning to Vermilion, Silver headed over to the Gym.
Soul had just... vanished, leaving Crusher tied to a post.
Silver decided that he'd have to call her later.
He started the unsanitary task of digging through garbage to find switches that opened the path to the leader.
He noted the barriers were composed of bolts of electricity between four pylons.
'Electric... Good thing I still have some of that berry juice left.'
Finally Silver found the two switches and (after a healthy dose of hand sanitizer and a swig of the berry juice) proceeded to meet the gym leader.
He was a muscular man in his thirties with an olive green tank top and baggy pants tucked into black combat boots.
He had blonde hair and wore sunglasses and a smug grin on his face.
"So you're my next challenger, eh? When it comes to Electric-type Pokémon, I'm number one! I've never lost on the battlefield. I'll zap you just like I do all my enemies in battle!"
"We'll see about that."
"You talk big, but let's see if you can back those words up! Go, Raichu!"
"Alright, get in there Crusher! Use Dig!"
The Pokemon burrowed into the dirt ground of the gym arena.
Raichu looked around frantically for its opponent to no avail.
Then Crusher burst out of the ground and sent Raichu flying.
"Raichu, use Quick Attack!"
The move impacted Crusher, but it didn't do much damage; the Pokemon's rock-solid hide made sure of that.
"Crusher, use Rock Blast!"
The Pokemon sent five rocks in succession at Raichu.
The nimble electric type dodged two, but three hit home and knocked it out.
"Not bad kid! Go, Electrode! Double Team!"
The Pokemon instantly multiplied into a circle of duplicates.
Rhyhorn, being... slow... was extremely confused.
Silver on the other hand was determining which was the original.
"Crusher, use Take Down on the one at Eleven O' Clock!"
The Pokemon understood the command and rammed into a solid object:
The real Electrode.
"Take Down, again!"
The attack once more hit home, and the electric type was down.
"Go Electrode! Self-destruct!"
The second Electrode sent out a wave of fire and fainted.
Crusher held on... but just barely.
Silver used a Hyper Potion and healed his Pokemon.
"Go, Magnemite!"
"Get back, Crusher. Go, Kros! Use Close Combat!"
The blue Pokemon charged forward at full speed and delivered a series of rapid blows to the steel type, knocking it out.
However, Kros was left drained from the attack.
"Go, Electabuzz! Use Shock Wave!"
The attack hit the weary bug and fighting type and took it down.
"Go, Crusher! Use Rock Tomb!"
The Pokemon stomped a foot on the ground and sent four large rocks into the air that crashed down around Electabuzz and then slammed in on it.
The Pokemon took the hit however.
"Electabuzz, Quick Attack!"
Once more the attack did little damage.
"Crusher, use Dig!"
The attack hit and sent Electabuzz crashing to the ground.
"Aaargh! You are strong! OK, kid. You get the Thunder Badge!"
Surge handed Silver the badge and Silver pinned it on the opposite side of his jacket.
His first Kanto badge... the first of eight he planned to get.
"Those badges... You wouldn't happen to be that Silver kid that beat Lance would you?"
"The one and only."
Surge laughed out loud.
"Then it makes total sense you beat me! Go on kid, you've got badges to earn!"
Silver exited the building and called Soul's number.
It rang several times but he didn't get an answer.
He shrugged his shoulders and checked his map; he'd head north to Saffron next, but not until he got a certain Pokemon out of his PC.
It was an Eevee he'd received from a man called Bill, the man who invented the Pokemon Storage System.
He'd managed to badger Morty into coughing up a second copy of Shadow Ball, and this Pokemon was now his secret weapon against Ghosts and Psychics alike.
Of course when he'd been back in Johto he'd kept it mostly as a house pet, but he'd trained it some, and it was sufficiently strong to stand up to the Pokemon here in its homeland.
Now the Eevee followed Silver closely, cheerful as ever.
The two soon arrived at the Gym in Saffron.
Silver felt very dizzy and disoriented after the puzzle of teleportation tiles, but he managed to reach the Gym Leader without vomiting.
His senses were going crazy however; the young woman was letting out strong psychic power.
"I saw this day coming," she started. "Three years ago, that you would come to challenge me. You're after my Badge. I don't enjoy battling, but it's my duty as a Gym Leader to confer Badges on anyone who has proven him- or herself worthy." Sabrina said to him.
"I see. You think you're a psychic? Please. You're not even close to my level. You see I," he started. "am the son of Lugia, a powerful Psychic and Flying type Pokemon. But I don't need to see the future to know you're going to lose."
"If you say so. Go, Espeon!"
"Get in there, Eevee!"
"Espeon, Psychic!"
Eevee took the attack, but just barely.
"Eevee, Shadow Ball!"
The normal type launched the attack and it successfully took down Espeon.
Silver healed his battered Pokemon.
"Go, !"
"Eevee, Shadow Ball!"
"Light Screen!"
Silver knew the effects of this move... first hand.
A wall of green light appeared in front of Mr. Mime.
The Ghost-Type attack managed to break the barrier, but it held barely any power when it hit.
"Eevee, Shadow Ball, again!"
This time the attack hit home.
The slow Mr. Mime wasn't able to raise a defense this time.
"Very well... Go, Alakazam! Psychic!"
Eevee was knocked out.
"You did good, Eevee. Go, Feraligator! Use Crunch!"
The Pokemon bit down into Alakazam, and the frail Pokemon hit the ground.
"So you did speak the truth; your power is beyond my psychic abilities. You deserve this."
Sabrina handed him the Marsh Badge.
Silver pinned it on his jacket and headed off to the Pokemon Center; it was getting dark.
"What brings you here?"
Soul jumped.
"Wah! Oh, it's you, Mewtwo."
Soul sighed and looked out at Cerulean City from the Cape.
"I was hoping to get to Viridian... but mostly I just wanted to come back to Kanto... to home. That... and I have them back. Most of them anyway."
"Them? Ah yes, your Pokemon. That boy Silver gathered them up again for you himself you know."
Soul nodded.
"They were delivered to me soon after I got here."
"...I sense your uneasiness. What you should do is put your past behind you. Everything you have done is in the past. Think of what you will do."
Soul nodded again, but gave no verbal response.
"...It grows late. Come. I shall allow you to stay the night within the safety of my living area within the Cerulean Cave."
"Petrel's dead," Ariana said matter-of-factly.
"He served his purpose. His death was... unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. We lost our clones, but now that everyone thinks that I'm dead, we'll be able to start Team Rocket up again somewhere else, preferably somewhere far away from here. Any ideas?"
"Of course. Why do you think I'm the one in charge of planning missions? We go to Unova. Sure, Giovanni's there, but once we build up enough power, even he won't be able to interfere." suggested Proton.
"Any objections? No? Then let's get started on Operation: Refuel and Rearm."
Archer wouldn't fail next time.
There would be no Soul, no Silver, and no Mewtwo to interfere with his plans.
Archer's trickery has allowed him to survive. But when will he resurface? Soul and Silver have once more gone separate ways. With two Kanto badges under his belt, Silver is well on his way to completion of his journey.
