900 readers total… 50 reviews as of now… how did my story get so popular?
This chapter hints at Luffy's past, way back with Ace and Sabo… Just a heads up, though it shouldn't be a problem for those who've seen/read it, hmm?
caring16: Your Butterfree is accepted!
RyuNoRainbow: Heh, of course not. Didn't I mention in an earlier chapter that he was raised differently by Ghetsis and the gang? In this FanFic N ran away before his head could be filled with nonsense. …or genius, whichever way you look at it.
KingKishin: Whoa, please don't take offense! I was merely trying to clarify, as there was another guest for a while… And congrats on the account! Are you planning on starting FanFics of your own?
"So as I was saying, if we don't speak for five minutes, the Ditto will forget all the vocabulary it learned from us and stop jabbering!" Silver seemed pleased with his plan and looked to the others for praise.
N and Gold remained silent, obediently following his orders. Luffy, on the other hand… "Well, what if the Ditto keeps talking for five minutes? Wouldn't it be able to keep saying the same stuff over and over again forever?"
"If that's the case, Janis might as well put it to sleep with a powder," N piped up. Brimming with spontaneous ideas, he continued. "Or we could overload its memory with the same word or sound. And if that got annoying, we could always knock it out… Or send it to the dance club-!"
Luffy's bag shook as a sick Ralts trembled in his pokeball. "Or you could be quiet," Gold suggested. The others nodded their agreement as Silver proceeded to tie a rag over Luffy's mouth to take care of one problem before it started.
The center of the argument itself was bouncing along and ignoring them completely as it enjoyed its walk. Whitney's gym was small, but there were many beautiful girls waving at the newcomers. Feeling masculine today, the Ditto imagined all of the gestures were aimed at him, and he filled his vocabulary repertoire with the Beauties' quotes as Sparky and Sluggy wiped out their pokemon.
"You're too strong!" He whined at Sparky, who puffed up with pride. "Stop being a meanie!" The Mareep instantly took offense and sent a Thunderbolt at the shapeless blob.
Ditto took advantage of the battle situation and used Transform. A carbon copy of Gold's pokemon, he Tackled the real one off of the high platform while her trainer wasn't looking. "Meep!" He twittered, copying the cry Sparky had made as she'd fallen to the bottom floor. Hopefully, it would take her a while to find the stairs…
Pokey glared at him; the only witness to the mutinous act. Luffy had already gone on to the next trainer to watch N battle, and Gold and Silver were deep in a conversation about whether or not there was a Poffin House in Kanto. Since Pokey was only a cowardly Slowpoke, the ditto-Sparky ignored him and wagged its striped tail.
"Po! Key, poke pokey!" Pokey ran on to his trainer instead, forgetting that the team was supposed to stay silent to limit the Ditto's vocabulary. A spilled, congealed Potion evolving into an electric sheep… If anyone could fix it, his rubber trainer could!
Luffy turned around, pulling out the dirty rag in his mouth to joke around with his nakama. "What's that? A notion about pills is revolving with sleepy Manectric?"
"Manectric are really rare," Gold whispered, not realizing that Luffy was joking. "But honestly, I can't imagine one chasing its tail…"
Pokey shook his head, frustrated and bewildered, as well. Ditto-Sparky trotted up next to him, giving the Slowpoke an idea. "Key poke a pokey, key slow-py!" He chirped, tapping the imposter passionately.
Silver, still recovering from the shock that Poffin Houses were extinct, only heard what Luffy said next; "I'm in love with a Croconaw and red is a stupid color?"
"Hey!" The boy roared, rubbing his hair self-consciously. "Red just so happens to be a nice color if you can get used to it. And if you dare lay a stretchy fingernail on my Toto, the last short seconds of your life will be the most miserable ones yet!"
Luffy's eyes glazed over, a guarded look shadowing his earlier, cheerful expression. Without a word, he turned and abruptly kicked Ditto-Sparky across the room.
Gold was about to let loose with an even worse threat in defense of his own pokemon when he felt a familiar surge of electricity by his ankle. Though it still brought back memories of the Magnezone at Oak's lab, he smiled down at his Mareep. "Hey there, Sparky! …Sparky?! Um… wait a second. Luffy!"
"If you guys can't take a joke, I won't make them anymore," Luffy muttered, his back to the boys. Pokey lay draped in his arms, concerned for his trainer but enjoying the attention. "That Ditto was just being rude, and I wanted to have some fun… But hey, who needs fun?"
Silver exchanged a worried glance with Gold. They had never seen the rubber pokemon like this, and it was a bit disconcerting. An unhappy Luffy was a foreign Luffy, and they weren't sure quite how to respond. Silver opened his mouth to apologize, but closed it quickly when he realized he didn't know what to be sorry for.
N turned around, having beaten his second Beauty. Expecting feedback from his tutor, he was surprised to see the boy striding away in a huff. "…What just happened?"
"Meep! Spark a meep," Spark sadly replied. Her little horns quivered as she watched the glum pirate carry away the Slowpoke that had helped her.
N nodded thoughtfully. "Silver made Luffy remember his past, you say? Sounds like he just needs some time alone." He turned to the other boys, who were gaping openly. "Shut your mouths already! You'll catch Yanma if you leave them like that for too long."
"You can understand pokemon?" Gold gasped. He regarded his Mareep warily. "And she can understand Luffy?!"
"An incredible skill, I know," Silver said dryly, still unnerved by Luffy's mood. "That legendary is just unreadable in times like this."
N frowned. "Well, of course he has feelings. Even a pokemon can tell when someone is remembering an abusive childhood! Who knows whether it was poachers or trainers, but Luffy has been attacked before… And I'm afraid you just brought on a painful memory of that event."
The redhead's gaze dropped to the ground, his expression ashamed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
His friend shook his head. "The one you should be apologizing to is outside by the PokeCenter." He watched the redhead leave, then reluctantly turned to Gold. "That's a very troublesome Ditto, but Luffy is heartbroken over kicking it…"
"Um, what was the big deal, anyway?" Gold leaned over the edge of the raised floor, trying to make sense of the situation.
The teenager sighed. "It's quite clear to me that our friend has taken rough beatings; I'd have thought the scar under his eye was proof enough. And the way he winces when any creature takes a hit… it's as if he knows exactly what it feels like. That empathy was enough to trouble him to take that filthy Ditto to the PokeCenter…" N trailed off, studying the floor pattern intensively.
Gold kept silent, realizing his friends had backgrounds he hadn't even thought to ask about. N sure had a lot of insight in regards to the emotions of others… He looked around at Sparky, Babs, Sluggy, and the exhausted James. What had the pokemon been through during the time they'd run rampant in the tall grass and before they'd been added to the trainers' parties? And Pokey, who had that odd nose… How much bullying had he suffered through to have been in that small corner where Luffy had found him? What was Luffy's family like? And why had Silver run away from home? With a start, Gold realized he didn't really know any of his friends at all.
…
"Luffy, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"
"Drop it," the boy muttered, brushing past Silver as he headed back to the gym. "The Ditto is going to learn more words, and you wouldn't want your peaceful day to be interrupted by a disposable creature."
Silver took a step back, the harsh words stinging like a Beedrill. Why was his friend acting so resentful all of a sudden? "Luffy… we're still nakama, right?"
The boy stopped abruptly, his straw hat sliding to one side as he contemplated his answer. The redhead held his breath until, "I guess so."
"…Then why did you overreact to that one little remark?! I was only joking! I think…" Silver stared at the ground, thinking back on his words. He really had meant to inflict his friend harm if Luffy had tried anything with Toto… But now that he thought about it, that wasn't really his friend's style. Why had he ever thought Luffy was being serious?! "Look, I didn't know you were joking… I couldn't see Pokey, and I-"
Luffy whirled around, his flaming eyes startling the other boy into silence. "I said we're still friends, okay?! It's not your fault!"
Silver felt like sinking into the pavement. Luffy had used 'friend' instead of 'nakama,' and the redhead still didn't know what he'd done wrong. Maybe… "Luffy, were the injuries of your past your father's fault?"
A light smirk played on his friend's face, yet the pirate still seemed sad. "In a way…"
"Oh… well, then…" Silver flushed, embarrassed at the thought of the close shave he'd just avoided. This wasn't the same thing, and if he had blurted that out…
"So, what about your father?"
He looked up sharply to see Luffy's smirk stretch wider. "He didn't… he was great!"
"You say 'was'… So he's dead now?" Luffy frowned. "That's too bad. He never got to abandon you while he was still alive, then."
Silver flinched as he realized what the pokemon was talking about. Pokemon lives seemed just as complicated as those of humans. It couldn't hurt to show a little empathy… "He's not dead! But, essentially, he did abandon me. He always ignored me no matter how hard I tried to please him… Always fawning over that blasted photo of Mom! H-he never let me catch a pokemon of my own. He never… I never got to…" He put a hand up to his eyes and was surprised to feel that they weren't wet yet. It had been a long time since he'd let himself remember those awful years, and he'd been holding in his feelings for so long that he'd been sure he'd start crying if he ever let them out. With Luffy watching, he was glad his emotions hadn't betrayed him…
But when he looked up, the rubber pokemon had averted his gaze and was crooning gently to his bag, where the Ditto and Janis were sleeping. Silver blinked, confused. Was Luffy ignoring his pain? Or was he acknowledging it and preparing to let his friend cry it out without interruption…?
"Sorry I reacted like that," Luffy muttered at length. "I'm not sure why I even did that… Yours was just an idle threat. And that pain wasn't as terrible as it would have been if I'd never met Ace and Sabo…"
For a moment Silver thought he was talking about himself and Gold, but then he understood that Luffy was talking about the friends of his past. The way his friend was gazing into the dark sky with an unfocused gaze was enough to indicate that fact. He wondered what sort of people Luffy would have found friendship in, then shook his head at the absurdity of it. All that came to mind was a rag-tag band of weirdos; a swordsman, a thief, a coward, and a womanizer.
"Hey, did you know…?" Luffy began speaking, and the redhead pulled away from his thoughts and began to listen to a long story about Luffy's antics with a pokemon named Ace and a creature called Sabo. Soon he felt himself drifting off, and sleep finally caught up with the redhead who had spent over twenty-four hours playing with his new pokemon…
…
Gold pumped his fist into the air. "Yeah, Cinders! Good job with Fire Blast; if you hadn't used it, we'd never have beaten that Miltank!" He began to dance with his pokemon, letting Sparky zap their ankles in time with the victory music playing over the intercom.
N let out a long breath. It was about time he changed clothes… Upon seeing the Team Rocket uniform, Whitney had forfeited her match with him and given up the badge right off the bat. …Not that he needed it. After all, he'd beaten all of the gym leaders in Kanto and challenged the Elite Four. Man, how he had hated Bruno…
"Hey guys, we're back!" Luffy waved at his friends from the high platform before dropping down to join them at Whitney's pedestal. Silver lay slung over his shoulder.
Gold was afraid to ask. "Erm, Luffy? What did you… do to him?"
"Huh? Oh, he fell asleep." The boy dropped his friend in a snoring heap on the floor and strode up to Whitney with a renewed confidence. Clearing his throat in preparation for his challenge statement, he threw out Janis.
N listened to the outrageous challenge in amusement. Whatever Silver had told the pokemon, it had been the right thing… But sending Janis out in front of a nearly hysterical pink-haired girl had been a big mistake. The Ralts looked up, instantly infatuated by the accidental wink that had squeezed out a tear. "Jan. Is. Mee-RAWR."
Gold could just imagine the pokemon's eyes lighting up at the sight of the vaguely beautiful girl. …No, he realized; Whitney wasn't even vaguely pretty. She was downright ugly, and didn't even deserve to own pokemon… He started, gazing down at his balled-up fists in wonder. Was this what Luffy felt every time he saw people abusing the power of pokemon? …Or was it just a childish reaction to a girl too whiny to live?
"You're ugly," Luffy blurted, swiping a swift left uppercut at the girl. It struck her square in the jaw, and the momentum of the blow sent Whitney flying through the back wall and into a house further behind the gym.
Gold and N looked on in shock as Luffy picked up the two Normal Badges that had been left behind and applied one to Janis' hair. The other he fixed onto Toto, finding Sluggy too hot to stick anything onto. "Good work, guys! Ah, girl, I mean! Girl! I'm sorry!"
Gold nodded to himself as Silver's Croconaw and the boy's own Ralts thrashed the rubber pokemon. It was good to see that Luffy was back to his old self again… The Pokeman Pirates had a slightly better chance at making it to the Champion with him around.
Pulling his redheaded friend onto his back, Gold set off with his nakama through the Whitney-sized hole. Ecruteak City was waiting!
Whoa, that got surprisingly serious… and seriously long. You're welcome! And the usual short stress-relieving Luffy antics will be back soon, I hope. The length of this chapter was an apology for my past late updates… Thanks for reading! ^-^