Chapter 8-Ghostly Disturbances to Sweet-Smelling Help!
Silva and Aaron decided it was best to take the Rock Tunnel off of Route 10 to Lavender Town since the gatehouses leading to Saffron were still closed, and the best part to them was that Tiffany and her Glameow decided to tag along! The three of them battled many Trainers along the way, allowing some of their newer Pokémon to evolve or learn moves before having evolution stones used on them from the training. The boys also learned that Tiffany also used a Seviper, a Tropius, a Zangoose (that she trained to get along with Seviper to the boys' relief), and a Lumineon, in addition to Glameow and Wartortle.
"Most of these I got through trades with other Trainers," she explained when Aaron asked. "But the only two that I kept are Glameow and Seviper since they came from Eggs Mother and Father gave me. The others are from horrible Trainers like that retched Cassie and needed someone with a gentle heart to help them get stronger."
"And because of that the Pokémon you saved through the trades listen to you despite not having enough badges," Silva added, very impressed with his higher-classed friend.
They entered the Pokémon Centre outside the Rock Tunnel…only to be met with a good wave of a vanilla/Oran berry kind of smell, causing Silva to chuckle.
"Oh I forgot this Joy's incense-loving habit," he said with a smirk as he noted the burning incense behind the counter…make that about 12 sticks of it beside a radio that was currently playing Pokémon March. "Either it's in overdrive or someone came in here with a Skuntank again."
"Yes on the Skuntank part…" the usually-cheerful nurse said in annoyance. "I wish some of those Youngsters would listen when a Trainer with one asks not to annoy it!"
He chuckled nervously, remembering his father warned him the stink from those Skunk Pokemon is so bad, many humans and Pokémon faint instantly sometimes. Of course when annoyed they only give off a weaker dose as a warning, causing the responsible party to run and it takes a while before it wore off.
"Hey Silv," Aaron whispered after they handed over their Pokémon, "Is this the unique quirk of the Nurse Joy here?"
"Yeah she likes to burn incense unless there's a bad stink then they become a natural air freshener."
"I forgot you know of most of the Nurse Joys' quirks Silva!" Tiffany said. "What are the others? I remember you saying the Viridian City one likes wearing lip gloss or something last time you visited me?"
"Yeah she wears cherry-scented lip gloss," he replied as they waited. "The one in Pewter has a slight weakness for rock candy lollipops, the one in Cerulean likes listening to old Ecrutek music, the one in Vermillion likes to work out at the Gym with the other trainers to keep in shape on her off time since she's actually more the tomboy of the area but she keeps it hidden, the one in Celadon likes adding some rare flowers to the Centre to brighten it up, the one in Lavender likes reading mystery stories and the one in Fuchsia is a direct descendant of another branch of the Fuchsia ninja clans off of her father's side so she is allies with Koga-sensei when called for, but usually she likes eating sushi and sweet bean buns."
Aaron's head was spinning while Tiffany was very impressed as Nurse Joy and her Chanseys came back with their trays of Pokéballs. Silva decided to let Sassy and Shadow out for some fresh air, since despite them being canine and feline, the Persian and Mightyena are very good friends. They sat down and started a conversation with Peachy as he looked through his supplies and decided to stock up on more Potions, Great Balls (selling the old Pokéballs), and stat healing medicines since he knew the next Gym in Celadon City would be causing such problems.
But the thought of Celadon got him thinking about a certain IP Agent and her Lucario and how they are currently in Celadon dealing with Team ShadowSoul as he put his newly-bought supplies into his bag. *I hope they are alright… but what could be happening over there? I think I'll call mom and see if she can get into contact with Erika since they are both Gym Leaders…I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this…*
Suddenly the radio cut out and a strange broadcast came on!
"Attention Kanto Region!" a voice said with an evil laugh. "Enjoy the peace while you can! For soon you'll feel the might of Team ShadowSoul! I repeat-"
But Silva couldn't bear to hear anymore as he grabbed his bag and dashed outside towards the Rock Tunnel with his Pokémon, Aaron, Glameow and Tiffany on his heels. His eyes were blazing with anger as they navigated through the Tunnel with Aaron's Pikachu using Flash to light the way. The Trainers as well as, surprisingly, the wild Pokémon seemed to keep out of his way as they saw he was a man on a mission, prompting Aaron and Tiffany to make a mental note to come back for extra training later before the Gym. (Plus the added fact that the wild Pokémon were unnerved by something they sensed.)
Because of all that, it took them next to no time reaching the area just outside Lavender Town where a crowd of Trainers were stopped by men in black and bright violet-trimmed uniforms with what seemed to be a beast-shaped logo on the front in the form of the letter "S" and a ghost-like shape on their hats unlike the trio from Mt. Moon; ShadowSoul Grunts, but of a certain type.
Silva glared and gritted his teeth at the look of his enemy, who then noticed him and one member ran off into the Radio Tower. When he returned, he brought another dark violet-haired ShadowSoul member, but this one was obviously their leader. His uniform had light grey stripes on the sides and his Ghost-shaped symbol was on his shirt behind the ShadowSoul logo. His piercing navy eyes glimmered with the sneer on his face as he went over closer to Silva with a Gastly by his side.
"Well lookie here boys…" he spoke with a boastful air in his voice, matching the one on the recent Radio broadcast. "Isn't our silver-eyed friend who stopped those three bozos in Mt. Moon! I had no idea he'd be close by!"
The others smirked and some snickered at this as Silva held his ground while Shadow, Sassy, and Peachy backed him up with similar glares as he asked him in a firm tone, "Who are you?"
The leader of the group gave a wider sneer. "The name's Reaper, the Ghost General of Team ShadowSoul, making me one of the 18 Elemental Generals in our fun little group! You've been under our radar for the last few years, Silva Ketchum, and I'm so glad to finally meet you at last!"
Shadow growled at his tone but Silva said nothing since he knows his Mightyena wouldn't attack without him saying so. "How am I of interest to you? Is it about some legends you guys know and I don't?"
For once Reaper looked surprised. "How'd the heck did you know about that?"
"Pyro and Glace mentioned something general about them as I was doing some recon before confronting them and Flash back in the mountain," Silva replied with a casual shrug. "They didn't say what the legends were though so you're still safe on that point."
Even though he looked slightly relieved, Reaper wasn't satisfied as he took a Pokéball from his belt and tossed it into the air. It opened and let out a Dusknoir, it's glare caused all but Silva to become unnerved. Shadow, Sasha, and Peachy held their ground since it looked like Reaper wanted to battle.
"Well either way," he said with his smirk returning, "even if those morons said nothing at all you still would go sniffing around and we can't have that! Dusknoir use Shadow Sneak on our target!"
Dusknoir's shadow soon slipped behind Silva but the young Trainer noticed and jumped out of the way before it lifted up to attack. "Sassy use Shadow Ball on him!"
The Persian complied by creating a dark ball from the orb on her head then launching it at Dusknoir, causing it to reel back from the hit. Then Shadow, through a mental command from Silva, chomped down on his foe with a Crunch attack and Peachy finished it off by shocking it with bolts of electricity caused by Thunderbolt.
Reaper looked surprised but then the grin came back as he returned the now fainted Dusknoir to its Pokéball. "Well it looks like your abilities are wakin' up after all. Boss will be pleased."
Before Silva could ask anything, a ShadowSoul grunt came up. "Reaper sir! The leader requests our immediate return!"
"Speak of the devil…well I guess we can continue to have a little fun next time Silva!"
He gave a laugh and soon several other Gastlies and Haunters surrounded them and helped them slip trough the cliff walls like ghosts, leaving behind a very confused group of Trainers and one glaring Silva.
"What do they know about my powers?" he asked as he gritted his teeth, not noticing a orange-haired Trainer come up behind him until his shoulder was tapped and he grabbed the Trainer's arm much like he did Proton.
"Whoa easy there!" the Trainer said…or rather IP Agent from the badge on his bag strap. "I'm not with those guys!"
Silva could see this agent was slightly older than Light Trainer and had yellow tips in his orange hair. He also was wearing a white felt hat with an red brim that was decorated with a Volcano Badge, a red shirt that sported a gold-orange silhouette of Ho-oh covered by a black vest, blue jeans that had his Pokéballs on his belt, a dark red shoulder bag, and red/yellow running shoes. Behind the Agent stood a powerful and friendly Delphox, who was worried about her master but understood that it was mostly reflex.
He relaxed and soon let go. "Sorry about that…The adrenaline is still fresh in my system."
"No worries," the agent said. "My codename is Agent Firestorm and L.T sent me out here to get your help on something."
"What's wrong?" Silva asked in concern as Firestorm continued while they both went to the House of Memories to visit Ash's grave.
"It seems that Team ShadowSoul has another Elemental General causing trouble in Celadon City. She's using the Game Corner to give out Shadow-Gripped Pokémon as prizes but she's now hit a snag. Some Team Rocket agents have stopped their latest shipments of Gripped Pokémon so she's stalled right now. I'll escort you guys to Celadon after you finished catching up on your training in the Rock Tunnel to keep prepared against this woman. We still don't know her name as of yet but what we do know is that she, like Erika, specializes in Grass-type Pokémon, much like this Reaper character does with Ghost-types."
Silva nodded to that but one thing still bugs him. "Do you know anything on any legends about me? Or about any silver-eyed Trainers in general. These freaks know them but said nothing."
The older agent just shook his head as they went inside. "Sorry Silva but this is news to me as well. I'm usually doing legends-based research for HQ anyway so if I do come across something, you'll be the first to know."
Silva nodded in appreciation before going towards a single grave at the end of the room…and seeing an interesting surprise. Decorated all around his father's grave were multiple Badges from the various regions across the Pokémon world. Another trainer was already there with a Rattata by her side giving a prayer, then placing an extra Thunder Badge on the grave before leaving. He immediately figured that these Badges were placed there in Ash's honour by many Trainers that he touched or inspired.
This caused tears to form as he kneeled down and gave a small wish to his father to watch over him as he continued his battles. He soon reached into his pocket to an extra Cascade Badge he found in his backpack after leaving Cerulean and placed it on the grave in the centre.
"This is from both mom and I dad," he soon said aloud as a tear slipped down his face and fell right beside the Badge. "Please watch over her as well."
Firestorm said nothing as Silva wiped away the other tears, understanding that despite his suffering, the younger Trainer is doing his best to keep strong.
A point only proven as Silva looked at him with nothing but determination in his silver gaze.
XXX-XXX
Like Firestorm promised, Silva, Aaron, and Tiffany back-tracked through the Rock Tunnel to not only train up their Pokémon against the Trainers they missed (causing Melody to evolve into Venusaur) for the upcoming ShadowSoul battles ahead, but also Silva managed to get SUPER lucky in catching a shiny Cubone (who didn't want a nickname so he respected her wishes and didn't give her one). Aaron got himself a Machop while Tiffany caught another Golbat that was 10 times friendlier than the old one she traded to Cassie.
They also did similar training on Route 8, that allowed Wartortle to evolve into Blastoise, while also hunting for Pokémon in that area. Silva got a very friendly Growlithe that he called Archie, Aaron got a shy little Vulpix while Tiffany captured a Bellsprout who as far tougher than she seemed since she gave Glameow quite the fight. The boys were impressed with that Bellsprout and made a mental note to not get her angry since she seemed to have a similar personality to Tiffany.
That's when they were presented with another problem as Firestorm came out of the gate that led to Saffron City with a frustrated look on his face. "It seems like we still can't get to Celadon from Saffron yet. The commotion in the city hasn't died down yet."
"Oh great…" Aaron muttered. "And taking the Route through Fuchsia City is a no-go because I heard there's a Snorlax in the way on the bridge between Vermillion, Lavender, and Fuchsia!"
Silva was wondering what to do when a Biker roared up on his motorcycle and asked, "Hey you guys need to get to Celadon?"
"Yes we do actually," Silva answered. "We need to get there to help with an emergency."
The Biker nodded then pointed to a gatehouse that led to a tunnel much like the one connecting Cerulean and Vermillion. "Then just take our tunnel. We spoke with the cops some years back and agreed to quit makin' trouble in order to get it opened up again. My boys are inside but they are just mindin' their business. I saw your eyes and knew you were the late Pokémon Master's kid so I figured I'd help out. Your old man got us thinkin' about the trouble we caused a few months before his sudden death and helped us change if you know what I mean."
Feeling touched by the gesture, the Trainers and Agent thanked him and went inside. The gang members kept to the sides not to block anyone, but the group also saw younger Trainers with them learning the basic ways of Pokémon training through a hands-on approach; their way of "mindin' their business" as their leader said. Because of that, they made it to Route 7 in no time at all and soon went inside Celadon City, feeling impressed by the gang and their way of helping young Trainers.
That's when they saw the ShadowSoul members wandering the streets. Unlike Reaper's group, these ones had either a leaf (for the men) or a purple flower (for the women) on their caps.
Silva had the notion to put on a special set of removable lenses on his goggles to make them like sunglasses and slipped them on to hide his eyes while Peachy took off her collar for him to put in his pocket. Neither one of them wanted to be recognized by the enemy as the group made their way to the Pokémon Centre and slipped inside without being spotted, thankfully.
"That was close," he commented as he lifted his goggles back onto his head and gave Peachy back her collar to put on again. "I had no idea that the problem was this bad."
"And it happened so quickly too," another voice sounded and they turned to see it was Erika, the Celadon City Gym Leader who was looking quite worried for the future of the city. "They're even making it hard for me to call for help to any of the other Gym Leaders since they tapped the phone lines."
"What happened Erika?" Silva asked, surprised that they would go this far. "Who's behind all of this?"
"She calls herself 'Thorn' and she asked the Mayor and I if they could take over the Game Corner to help Trainers get rare Pokémon they bred, or so she said. At first I thought there was no real danger since she was quite polite but when I witnessed a Trainer become attacked by one of their prizes, I knew something was wrong. I confronted her but she badly defeated me and now has taken over the city. I managed to get into contact with a friend who sent word to the International police before the lines became tapped but that was all I could manage. Please help us Silva. I know you just started your journey but I have faith that you can chase them away."
His eyes widened at what he heard in shock, then he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger as his eyes soon had a defiant flame in them.
"I'll do it…I'll help you out Erika. They're causing fear and darkness all around and I feel that I'm the only one to beat them. I'll go to the Game Corner and flush them out of Celadon!"
"I'll come too Silv because friends need to stick together in this," Aaron volunteered as Firestorm said, "I too will join you since my fellow Agent Light Trainer is already inside waiting for some help."
Melody, Peachy, and Delphox also voiced their willingness to help so their masters and Silva won't get hurt.
"I'll stay out here and see about punishing these members on the outside," Tiffany added with a glint in her eye like her mother would when she used to try to capture Pikachu in her younger days.
Erika was practically in tears now. "Thank you…thank you so much!"
Silva nodded and soon picked up supplies and healed his Pokémon for what would be the start of his own personal war with Team ShadowSoul!
XXX-XXX
Author's Notes:
Now we start getting into the good stuff here! It's time for some major ShadowSoul troubles!
Which introduces a concept I thought up for a while and that's the Elemental Generals.
Basically they are generals with Grunts working for them of a specific element, like Reaper is for Ghost and Thorn (who will be coming next chapter) will be for grass. And they have a symbol or two to represent them of being that element.
Originally I thought of only 17 elemental generals but since we now have the Fairy Type (which I am loving!) I bumped it up to 18. But Silva won't be facing ALL of them in the same region, just a select few for each.
So here's some basic bios on the OCs that you see here: (I'll be saving Thorn's bio for the next chapter)
Reaper is the Ghost General of Team ShadowSoul and he's one you REALLY need to keep an eye on as the story progresses. To sum up his personality; he is trouble! He loves the feel of other people's fear and if you cross the line with him, don't expect to live long! He can be merciless as much as his Pokemon can be so Silva's gotta stay on his toes!
Firestorm is an IP version of L.T's fire-using boyfriend. Like the original, he's kind, brave and focused. The only difference here is that the L.T and Firestorm of this story are only friends but I MAY eventually change that. Like his codename implies, he uses mostly the Fire Type and always has his loyal Delphox outside of her Pokéball unless hurt.
And the game corner thing came from the first Gen games when Team Rocket used the Game Corner as their hideout, but that wasn't in the anime so I did it for ShadowSoul.
Next Chapter: Infiltration Time!
Enjoy and leave comments!
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