A.N: Hi, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait . But I'm still alive and here's a new chapter! It's really short this time, courtesy of a certain virus and the fact that this is kind of a filler? I didn't want the Dreamyard stuff and the first gym battle to be in this chapter, so I had to cut it short and settled for this. I hope you guys like it regardless ^^
At imaginair: No worries, I have no intention of giving up on this project (I swear, this chapter is only short because I didn't want to add an endless amount of nothing into it) ^^ Due to the nature of my job my workload has increased significantly the past few months and I really hope it will get better soon ^^ I'm glad you want to read more, because honestly, that's the best compliment one can get as a writer =D
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon (If I did, there'd be a lot of Gen 2 remakes, because I just love Gen 2) and in addition, I still take a lot of inspiration from the OneShot "The truth will prevail" by Maydei. In fact, the name of the Pansear stems from the story, so be sure to check it out ^^
Also, do you guys think I should try to keep the length of the chapters like this? I think I should be able to do it now that most of the exposition stuff is out of the door, though I tend to have a rather long writing style (courtesy of being German), so maybe I should just stick to what I'm used to.
Too little colours
Chapter 8
Through red tinted glasses
.o.O.o.
They were gone.
Gone.
A whimper left his throat when he realized it, once he had finally been allowed to return home, once he had left all those sirens and voices and people behind. But all that was left was an empty house. Not even a last fleeting memory was there anymore. Not a single sound made its home here although his aunt was busy talking to him. Trying to cheer him up. Trying to wipe the tears of his face while he fought her violently.
His aunt had never been good at comforting people. It ran in the family. The fact that his father had been good at it...He didn't want to be cheered up anyway. So he crawled into his bed, ignoring his aunt, pressing his favourite plushie against his chest and started sobbing once more.
It had been hours. Hours since he had seen their laughing faces. It wasn't all that long ago.
And now they were gone. Simply gone. In a heartbeat, one mistake, one oversight.
Gone.
He didn't want them to be gone.
At some point, his aunt gave up. She pushed him into his room, telling him to call one of the servants if he needed something. Then she left.
Three hours later someone brought dinner to his room. He didn't touch it.
Three days later and his aunt came back to his room. He was the only child of her sister's. He was the only heir to their name, their estate, their glory. And here he was, throwing a temper tantrum.
She invited the tutors back over the next day. Life had to go on. She sure didn't have time to take care of a nuisance like him. But at least he had stopped his crying.
.o.O.o.
Touko stared at the PokéBall in front of her. She tried not to bite her nails, tried not to get her hopes up too much, as she tried to memorize every last bit of it.
It looked normal. Red and white. A black button in the middle of it all. The perfectly smooth surface indicated it was new or at the very least had rarely been used. It was merely yet another Pokémon, it seemed. Yet, Touko knew better. If one reached close to it, they could feel the ever present warmth radiating from it, indicating a Fire-Type. A Fire-Type! Now it'd be a piece of cake to beat Cilan! The fact that the ball didn't move at all indicated said Fire-Pokémon wanted to be left alone though.
Touko was still rather confused at the sudden turn of events. The strange girl had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and had disappeared into said nowhere again, her only trace being the PokéBall sitting in front of Touko.
She hadn't opened it yet.
Anxiously, Touko started biting her lips. She still couldn't really believe it. She had even gone back, looking for the girl, but to no avail. She was gone and not to be found again. And why had she given the Pokémon away in the first place? She had sounded as if she felt like a bad trainer, but why? The ball was new or rarely used. Most Pokémon needed some time to get used to their new life. Surely the girl had just been to unsure of herself, right?
Touko shook her head and went back to starring at the ball sitting in front of her. Well, she'd have to open it sooner or later after all and then she'd figure it out.
And Touko was always someone who preferred "sooner".
The radiant light blinded her for a second before revealing the Pokémon inside. It was a Pansear, just like the girl had told her. The Pokémon blinked at her in confusion for a few seconds, before stepping back and hissing at her. Confused Touko leaned back, but then she started to smile reassuringly. The poor little guy must be scared. Did...did it feel bad because its trainer had abandoned it? Her smile dropped again. She...hadn't considered that yet. What if it wanted to go back to its original trainer? What if they had had a strong bond, what if…
The Pansear hissed again. Touko snapped back to reality and tried to smile again, concentrating on the task before her. The girl wasn't to be found anymore and this was her new team member. She had to get to know it. A look at her PokéDex revealed the Pansear's gender – male – it's nature – serious – and level – 10. It had all the moves it was supposed to have and seemed to be rather fit. It's type was perfect coverage for her team and Touko wondered whether she maybe, maybe didn't have to substitute it with a, no, no, snap out of it. She had successfully suppressed her future team plans and she wouldn't start to rethink them now. Not right now.
She focused back on the Pansear and stretched out a fist, her smile reaching her eyes as she hopefully watched the Pokémon consider her offer, waiting for it so smile too, promising the start of an everlasting (if she didn't catch a Litwick that was) friendship.
Except the Pansear's didn't smile. In fact, the Fire-Pokémon just starred at her with a guarded expression, though she felt like there was something like scorn to be seen in his eyes. Maybe it wasn't fond of humans yet? That would make sense. Surely, not every Pokémon was like Lil who couldn't have been happier to be part of a team or Ollie who had never known anything else but humans. Maybe it had made some bad experiences in the past! Surely there were Pokémon out there that had more trouble getting used to humans. But that didn't matter! Touko loved every Pokémon there was and she wouldn't treat this one any different!
She watched the Pansear for a few more seconds, before realizing it may just dislike her starring at him like a maniac and therefore decided to introduce, uh, Emblitz to the rest of her team.
"So, Emblitz, those two are Ollie and Lil! They're part of our team and I hope the three of you will get along just fine!", Touko said.
She hoped the two other Pokémon would cheer her newest Pokémon up and it almost seemed like they did. His face lit up and his guarded stance lost some of it's fevor, now looking almost inviting.
Upon seeing her newest partner, Lil immediately tackled him to give the Fire-Pokémon a hug while Ollie stayed a bit behind, eyeing him carefully. He did look somewhat angry and reminded her of Green Parade, except that Green Parade only put up a show to impress other Pokémon and she didn't like they way this newcomer viewed her. He had this almost murderous stare and she couldn't help but gulp.
Emblitz was, in fact, not all that angry. Sure, he did not enjoy getting tackled, but at least there was another Pokémon! He hadn't seen one ever since he had been taken away from his home! And the Lilipup seemed nice, aside from her rather interesting way of introducing herself. Furball was her name? Well, he was sure he could get along with her. And she seemed to dislike her trainer as much as he did, judging from her happiness at just seeing another Pokémon.
His other new "team member" (Emblitz knew that trainers didn't have teams. They had slaves) was a whole different story. She looked timid, hadn't as much as said a single word to him so far. He was glad she hadn't. Her smell was off. To human-like. He had heard of that kind of Pokémon. Human-bred Pokémon. They didn't know what freedom felt like. All they knew was how to obey their masters.
Emblitz told her as much. She shot back immediately, arguing he had never experienced what humans were like. There was this protective fire in her eyes Emblitz somewhat admired. But then he reembered the looming shadow above him and he simply grunted in response. He turned away, now eyeing his new "trainer" more thoroughly, wondering if there was a way to get away from her, to get back home, to get away from this life he hadn't chosen. She stared at him with that disgusting gleam in her eyes and she had the most sinister smile on her face that he had ever seen and it made him shudder.
Slowly, he backed away.
"Trainer nice! Trainer nice! Don't be scared!", Furball chimed into his ear, but he didn't listen. All he could see were those blue pools of eyes and he suddenly felt himself thrown back into the forest he once had called home, remembered of the beautiful ponds he used to play next to.
He missed his friends. He really did.
Regardless of what this two new "team mates" were saying and regardless of the obvious happiness the girl radiated. He'd never stop missing them.
And once again, Chestnut reached the same conclusion. He hated humans. He hated them so much.
The were on Route 2 once again. It was the only place useful for training unless you wanted to battle another trainer in which case the Dreamyard was your best option.
Touko didn't want to battle another trainer though. She needed to get to know the newest addition to the team and that meant normal training. A bit of exercise, maybe some battles against wild Pokémon, some sparring...Nothing too difficult.
It was difficult.
Emblitz didn't follow her orders at all, but unlike Ollie, he had no interest in battling whatsoever. Whenever Ollie disobeyed her it usually just meant she wanted to use a different move or tried a different approach. But she battled. Emblitz didn't. Emblitz just completely ignored her and took naps. Lots and lots of naps.
It wasn't easy, but Touko decided she wouldn't let his behavior affect her. He was lost and sad and She shouldn't make him feel bad about it.
They still had to train though. Touko finally wanted to get her hands on that badge. So she kept on trying, kept on offering different styles of training until finally deciding that maybe, he should simply battle on of his teammates.
Lil was rather excited at the prospect of being allowed to spar with her newest partner. At first, that was. Then he started to be an utter pain and she felt herself dislike him more and more. He kept telling Soft Wave that she had missed true freedom and told her she shouldn't be happy to be part of the team. And he just kept refusing to properly fight until Soft Wave stated he was simply afraid to lose.
And maybe the fact their trainer had announced they couldn't stop until Chestnut and she had formed a bond had helped too.
Whatever it was, Lil did not like him at all. But at least he started listening to Touko.
They could do this. He just needed time.
Touko stared at the statues in front of the gym, gulping as she realized what she was going to do.
She had to win this battle. She just had to. This was the third one. Losing the second one sucked. It did. But it wasn't the end of her career as a trainer. Losing a third one, however, was. Well, actually not, but Touko kept telling herself that to get herself in top form.
She couldn't lose.
She couldn't.
The girl glanced back, at her team, at her Pokémon that would surely do incredible well today. They had spent some days training, they had gotten Emblitz into form and they seemed to be jut as excited to finally do this as she was.
Lil was currently carrying Emblitz. For some reason Lil did not like him, but she didn't complain about Emblitz hoping onto her back. The Pansear hated walking, apparently, because he refused to follow Touko around, but she didn't want him to be the only one stuck in a PokéBall. She was glad her Lilipup was so responsible. She was glad to have her on her team. Ollie was still perched upon Touko's shoulder/head and this time she let her be, though she had to admit it was starting to get painful. She knew they weren't going to keep it that way forever. But for now, all that mattered was that her line-up was in best form and if that meant she had to carry Ollie around like this, so be it.
They seemed to be so happy this way too! Lil was jumping up and down and if she had been able to understand her partner, she would have heard her say:
"Can't wait to show them! Can't wait to beat him!"
Touko didn't hear it though. Her mind was focused on the battle. Her mind was focused on her strategy. She knew how she'd beat him, without a doubt.
Another glance. Another breath.
"Lets go, guys!"
It was his day off. Usually he'd be guarding the King, but Ghetsis himself had hand-selected him for something different. What it was he hadn't been told. All he knew was that it was dangerous and illegal, but in the best interest of the team.
He'd do everything for the team. Anything he was asked. And a mission given by Ghetsis himself was one he simply couldn't refuse.
He knew what this meant. He had heard rumors. Getting selected by the sage meant something. It was a way to skip some ranks. To get to the juicy positions. It was a way to prove one's loyalty, to be put on the front-line of their cause. He wasn't a normal Team Plasma grunt anymore. He was so much more, though no one on the outside would see a difference between and the other grunt, guarding their king.
He was taking a stroll through the city, taking in all the sights it had to behold. He wasn't from this place of Unova, he came from far north. He liked the city, though he preferred his hometown. It was closer to the legends that drove them to action.
Oh, he knew about what Team Plasma wanted. It was something you learned upon being selected by Ghetsis. Or any of the other sages.
Technically even if you got selected by the King, but he seemed to be rather reluctant. Not, that it surprised the grunt. He was an angel, their King. Innocent and sworn to the protection of Pokémon. It was truly inspiring.
No wonder, considering who his father was.
His father, the greatest man on earth. The man who would lead them all to victory. The grunt grinned. He'd do whatever he was asked if it meant serving their cause.
This time Touko had been too early. She had been pacing up and down the floors that connected to the gym, she had thrown glance after glance at her VisoCaster, making sure she didn't miss her battle and when the time had final arrived she had rushed in through the front doors, her heart rate spiking once more.
She had to win. Today, she had to win. She couldn't lose a third time. Not this early into her journey.
Challengers weren't supposed to come in any earlier than ten minutes before the battle started. They couldn't have the whole place crowded with angsty teens after all.
Hastily Touko scrambled to the front desk once more. The same waitress like last time was sitting in the chair, looking bored as ever. Her Audino was sitting next to her and she didn't even as much as raise an eyebrow at the girl. She scanned her ID and then waved her of informing her she was late and they'd call her name once Cilan was ready to battle.
She couldn't help but bite her lip until she tasted blood from excitement. Her entire body was shaking more than she was doing last time. She hadn't been too cocky last time, she knew as much, but she wouldn't risk to be it this time either. She knew she had an advantage, but it didn't matter. She couldn't risk anything.
And then she was called upon.
Her heart skipped a beat when she made her way to the battle field, nervously clutching onto two Pokéballs. She had recalled her team before entering, deeming it to unsafe for the three of them to be out and about. They might just trash the entire place.
No, scratch that, they would trash the entire place.
Just like always she stepped onto the assigned field. She pressed her lips together (they were still hurting) and looked at her opponent, a determined glitter in her eyes. She was going to win. There was no way the gym leader stood a chance. Her hands were clutching the fabric of her top. She was leaning forward just a bit. Her face was…
"Is everybody ready? Then select your Pokémon!", the announcer shouted. It sounded so much louder in her head and immediately, Touko grabbed two PokéBalls from her bag.
Two PokéBalls. Ollie's and Emblitz's.
N had been watching this girl, Touko, for quite some time. Well, no. He hadn't been watching her, he had simply seen her several times. Completely coincidental. He hadn't followed her, Concordia and Anathea had told him that that kind of behavior was known as "stalking" and was, in fact, a criminal offense. A judgment N could get behind. He didn't like being followed all the time either, though he felt like stalking and having some grunts escort him wherever he went were seen as two very different things.
But no, no stalking, no following, no spying had been involved. N had simply seen her enter the gym one day, all excited, followed by two Pokémon. He recognized Soft Wave from the battle he had had with her and then there was a Lilipup she had named Lil. The three of them had vanished into the gym and N had decided to wait a bit so see whether she would win or not. He didn't have any plans other than waiting anyway, his gym battle being in the late afternoon and all.
So he had sat down in a cafe and had waited and then she had emerged again. An expression of panic and despair on her face. Or so Retienne had told him.
Despair made sense. She had probably lost the gym battle. N just didn't get why she was panicking, after all one could have as many gym battles as one wanted. Retienne had pointed out that one was expected to win after the second time and losing the second time may make the girl doubt her abilities. N had agreed that this was most likely the case and had gone back to sipping his tea, trying to ignore the fact that he wanted to follow the girl and comfort her.
It was a stupid though, really. He had talked to her for once and sure, she had been nice. He had, in fact, enjoyed her company. But she was a trainer and if she stopped being one, the world would be a better place. If she freed her Pokémon now it wouldn't be too late and the Lilipup wouldn't have to go through any additional trauma.
The feeling got worse once the girl had left the PokéCenter and he saw her running off. Once again he was left puzzled by her reaction until Retienne stepped in and explained further.
The Shadow Triad member was a blessing, though he could have done without her constant supervision.
They had speculated about what the girl was going to do and N got worried. Would she hurt her Pokémon? They had lost the battle after all and N knew what trainers could do to punish their team for losing. Ghetsis had told him time and time and time again and N had been locked in his room with the results of such abuse plenty of times.
Soon enough, the girl had returned. This time, the Lillipup and Soft Wave were trailing behind her, all three seemingly content and Touko even smiled.
N smiled too. Her Pokémon looked healthy. They looked happy (as happy as one could be when being part of a trainer's team) and the boy had visibly relaxed, much to Retienne's amusement. The woman was usually so guarded and it was strange to see her carefully crafted facade faltering once in a while.
But it didn't matter. Touko hadn't hurt her Pokémon. She wasn't that kind of trainer and N was glad she wasn't.
She was a victim of the system, like so many other trainers.
She probably didn't even know how much pain she inflicted on her team. She was just confused and not a bad person.
N's face lit up at that thought. He hadn't talked to any trainer as much as he had talked to her and he had already decided to talk some more to her. She seemed so...normal. So through and through normal and average. She was the perfect person to show him what trainer life was like. He'd be able to access a truly true picture. And he wouldn't even mind becoming something akin to friends with her (for research of course, she was a trainer after all!). Luckily, Anathea and Concordia had encouraged this (Anathea with this weird, knowing smile on her lips), though Ghetsis had been less than thrilled by the prospect.
Humans were hurtful creatures, the sage had warned him time and time again. He'd have to watch out, he'd have to be careful, regardless of how pretty the face looked and how soft the voice sounded. They were manipulative and dangerous and he better not get caught up with the wrong ones.
N had replied he was fairly certain this one wasn't anything like that but he had promised his father to be careful. And he had agreed to let the Shadow Triad check her background. After that Concordia had berated him on the topic of "stalking" which made him feel ever so slightly uncomfortable of watching Touko, when he had spotted her entering the gym once more, this time followed by not two but three Pokémon. Judging from her long strides and the way she held her face she seemed to be fairly confident in winning.
But he wasn't actively following her anywhere, so it wasn't actual stalking, right? He'd have to check in with Concordia again.
His eyes flitted away from the cup in his hands when the gym's doors opened again. And without a doubt a new winner left, still clutching the badge in her fist and a triumphant glimmer in her, well, in her entire face.
Undoubtedly, Touko had won the battle. He almost smiled but then he realized the implications of her having won the battle and didn't. If she had won the battle, she'd continue her journey. Which meant more suffering, more pain, more abuse. N couldn't wait to meet Soft Wave again and see just how badly her view of all of this had changed.
He couldn't wait to make her wake up. Her and her trainer.
It had been some time since they had last been allowed to leave their PokéBalls. Trainer had been busy checking in with her friends and family and only after three hours she had realized she hadn't let her Pokémon out of their respective balls.
She hadn't even spent five minutes with the three of them before she had rushed of. If her team had understood it was something about food and closing stores. Ollie's eyes lit up when she saw a pancake appear in front of her inner eyes and Lil was equally excited at the prospect of dinner.
Emblitz didn't say a thing. His expression was guarded but Lil was long past the stage where it bothered her. She had already come to the conclusion she didn't like him all that much to begin with. He hadn't even thanked her for carrying him around!
Touko didn't recall them while leaving the room, undoubtedly trying to be on time. They just had had a difficult battle after all and she planned on celebrating it! She knew most PokéCenters had a small cooking area for trainers and she planned on making a nice dinner for her team, if she still managed to get to the shops in time. And the three probably wanted to talk about the battle. Maybe they could fill in Lil, Touko was sure the Lilipup would be excited to hear the news!
"See you guys!", Touko said. Then she left, running through the empty halls, clutching onto her purse. She had to hurry.
The moment the door fell closed two rather curious eyes attached themselves onto Ollie, who glanced curiously at Furball. What…?
"Battle? Which battle?"
The Lilipup's ears perched up as she shuffled closer to her teammate. Technically speaking, she was in a great mood. She had been allowed of her ball for a short time earlier today and her trainer had showed her a video of a new move. It hadn't been very interesting a a few minutes later and she was able to copy it. She may need some more time to perfect the move, but she felt rather confident that she could pull it off. Plus, she didn't think her team mates knew this move, which meant she had been chosen for it.
Which was amazing. Furball could hardly contain herself, didn't want to do anything other than telling her team mates, friends? (was she friends with Emblitz?), but her trainer's weird thoughts made her hesitate.
They hadn't battled today, had they? Lil hadn't battled, though they had headed toward that weird building. She had been so excited, but then they hadn't battled and all her excitement had died down quickly. Maybe her trainer had had second thoughts? Maybe Lil had missed something? Something important? Well, her friends would tell her, right? But why did Soft Wave look so uncomfortable all of sudden?
Just seconds after asking pictures of the green-haired guy flooded Lil's mind and she spared Emblitz a confused glance, wondering whether he knew what Soft Wave was talking about. Why was she replaying those moments? Was she nervous because of the battle? Lil could understand that, so was she. But this time she wouldn't disappoint her trainer. Not this time. She was going to win that battle for her, regardless of the Pansage's strength.
Even if it was ridiculous, the battle.
Even if she was scared.
But it was all about growing and getting stronger, right? Actually, Lil couldn't await the next battle.
Excitedly she barked and jumped up, running around the room, awaiting her trainer's return. When would she be back? When would they train? The Normal-Type Pokémon could feel energy surge through her body and she barked another time. She couldn't stop her happy thoughts from bursting from within her.
She almost didn't catch Ollie's sad expression. But it made her stop dead in her tracks.
"What's wrong?"
It was a first for Lil to see Ollie pity her. And if she gathered all the pictures she sent out right then…then it hit hear.
"When?", the Lilipup asked. Slwoly, she backed aay. Slowly, her ears pressed themselves to her head. Slowly she uderstood what had happened. She spared Emblitz a glance. He simply huffed and crossed his arms, his expression a mixture between pity, smugness and rage.
Lil could see the pictures. She could almost feel the excitement when Ollie had battled (though the blue Pokémon would never admit that).
"We won?", the puppy asked. She sounded so hopeful. Maybe they hadn't, maybe she could pro…
"Yes."
Yes. Lil pressed herself even more into the carpet. Yes.
Of course they had won. They had won and Roasted Chestnut and Soft Wave had probably done a better job than her. At least in the eyes of her trainer.
Trainer. Had...Had trainer not trusted her? Had...had…
"Should have fought...", Lil muttered. She was fighting back tears. She should have fought. She should have fought the Pansage. She shouldn't have shown her fear, surely her trainer hadn't meant to make her feel like this, surely...
"Yes, she did. She meant to."
It wasn't Soft Wave who answered, who stopped her thoughts. It was Chestnut. And it weren't nice, comforting words that came from his mouth, but harsh ones that Furball didn't want to hear.
"They always do. They're humans. They're evil. They take what they want and give nothing back. They rip you apart from your family and your friends and expect you to be perfectly obedient. I've heard the stories. I've seen the results. I've seen it plenty of times. They use you and then, once you're not good enough anymore they throw you away. The moment your precious trainer realizes that it doesn't need you, it will let go of you, shove you into a new part of the world you don't belong to. Just you wait and see!", he rambled, coming closer and closer.
Slowly, Lil backed away, farther and farther. No. No, no, no. No, her trainer wouldn't do that. Right? Right? She loved trainer!
"I love trainer!" She could feel the wetness of her fur, now clinging to her skin like it did on a rainy day. "I love her!"
"Alas, it doesn't love you."
Alright, that's the chapter ^^ Again, I'm sorry for how short it turned out to be, but I didn't feel like anything else would fit here (originally I had another scene with Bianca in mind, but it felt really unnecessary and I scrapped it).
I decided against describing the battle because I'm really just not good at it and the fact that every single Pokémon has access to basically two moves makes it even more difficult to write an exciting battle scene (at least imo at least). Plus, somehow it felt unnecessary? I don't think anyone would expect Touko to fail a third time and it really wouldn't have added anything other than a few words and some unnecessary action.
I still hope the chapter was enjoyable and like always, please review and give me some feedback, I
it's much appreciated ^^ and thank you imaginair for you review, I really love reading them ^^
