Note: A bit late this month, sorry. Enjoy!

Follow Me

A Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Story

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Endeavor

"Have you got everything?"

"Yep, all set," Soul replied to her mother as she closed her bag pocket.

"You're sure you don't want to stay another day?" Heart asked. "I know you probably have things to see and do, but Christmas was only just yesterday…"

"Mom…" Soul said with a sigh.

"I know, I can't keep you here forever, I get it…" Heart sighed and then looked pensively at her daughter. "You promise to call once a week to check in with me?"

Soul smiled, exhausted and endeared by her mother's relentlessness. "Don't I always?"

"And you, Silver," Heart said, turning to the boy who stood in the doorway, dressing in his new winter clothes, "you be sure to keep warm and eat right."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a nod as he put his hand into the second glove and tugged it into place on his fingers.

"And be careful, the both of you," she scolded in her doting tone. "I know you're both Pokémon Trainers and completely capable of independence, but it doesn't mean you should be reckless."

"When am I ever reckless, Mom, honestly!" Soul protested, her cheeks huffed.

"I just want you both to be safe, that's all," Heart said, wringing her hands.

Soul clasped her mother's hands with her own for reassurance. "We'll be fine, Mom." She turned to Silver. "Won't we, Silver?"

He nodded with a slight half grin. "Nn, of course."

Smiling, her eyes glossy, Heart pulled Soul into a deep hug. "Ohhh, I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too, Mom," Soul said, returning the embrace.

Heart pulled away and turned to Silver. Closing the gap between them, she put her arms around him as well. "And you are welcome back any time," she said, patting his back a few times.

It had been quite a few years since he had been hugged by an adult; the last person to do so had been his mother. Recalling this with melancholy, he raised his arms in a half hug to politely accept the gesture.

She stepped back from him, smiling, and then she turned to Chocobo, who was chatting to Pyro in farewell. "And you," she said, regarding the Pokémon, "I look forward to seeing how much you've grown next time I see you." She ruffled his head feathers, and the Combusken crowed affectionately.

Soul turned to Pyro and petted his head. "You take good care of Mom for me, okay? You're the only one I can trust to do that."

The Typhlosion leaned his head into her hand and growled an affirmative.

"Pyro and I will be fine," Heart said, joining the Fire type's side. "You don't have to worry about us. Though, knowing you as I do, I know you will."

Soul grinned. "I learned from the best."

The two women smiled, mutually comforted.

"All right, we'd better get going," Soul said, shouldering her bag. "I promise I'll call you before New Year."

"Okay then," Heart said with a nod. "Good luck to you both in your travels."

Silver raised a hand in farewell. Heart returned the gesture, but Pyro leered at the redhead and growled in his throat. Eyebrow twitching, Silver glared back.

Waving good-bye, Soul opened the door, the crisp breeze of the December morning bursting across the threshold. "Bye, Mom, bye, Pyro!" She grabbed Silver's arm, his eyes still glare-locked with Pyro's, and she dragged him with her through the doorway, Chocobo close behind them as the door swung closed.

"Right then," Soul said, shivering a bit at the cold and turning up her collar to warrant her ears some protection. "Shall we head for Tohjo Falls?"

They rode together on Rosa, Soul's red Gyarados. Route 27's waters were icy but hardly impassable. Silver stared the water's surface, his reflection rippling in the path Rosa cut through it. He swallowed. "Did I ever tell you the story of how I first came to Johto?" he asked abruptly.

Soul, who sat in front of him, a ridge on the great serpent's back between them, turned her head. "No, I don't think you did. Though Crystal did tell me about the day she met you. Was that it?"

"Nn, yeah, she and Gold were the first people I met in Johto," Silver confirmed, inclining his head. "How much did she tell you?"

"She told me about how they found you on the beach like a drowned Rattata," she said with a sly smile, "and about how the three of you saved a Gyarados." Rosa turned her head at the mention of her species name, and Soul gave the Pokémon an affectionate thump on the neck. "Not you, silly," she cooed. She then turned to him as fully as she could on the serpent's back, which wasn't much. "The raft that got stuck on its head, it was yours, then?"

Silver nodded. "Nn, I slapped it together with stuff I stole while I was living on Route 26."

"You lived on Route 26?" Soul asked, surprised.

"For two months, yeah," he said. "After my father left, I went back to our house in Viridian. About a week later, the police came there, looking for him. I was only a kid, still too green for Pokémon, and I worried that since I was Giovanni's son, they might put me under arrest, so I ran for it. I eventually made it to the gateway at Route 22. The gateways toward the Indigo Plateau and toward Mt. Silver were both guarded, so the only way I had to go was south, toward Route 26. But I didn't have any Pokémon, so traveling on the Route was dangerous. I spent a lot of my time running.

"I was young, and I had left in a hurry, so I didn't bring many supplies. The first thing I ever stole was food from some Trainers who were camped out on their way to the League." Silver sighed and looked at the sky, recalling harsher times. "I was so desperate and starving back then. I got really skilled at stealing because of that." He frowned. "Anyway, a month after starting out, I figured I should try to press forward with the supplies I'd stolen. That's when I came across this river," he said, regarding the water they currently traversed. "It was too wide to swim, and I didn't have a Pokémon or any Poké Balls to catch one. Poké Balls were the one thing I could never successfully steal, for some reason. So I got some tools and some rope and spent the next month building a raft, stealing supplies as I needed them. Finally, when summer was starting to settle in, I made the decision to cross."

The moon in the early June sky hung low, full and luminescent, near the end of its nocturnal journey. Bug Pokémon chirruped in the calm of the warm, sticky night. The waters that separated Route 27 from Johto sat ominously, a vast, wide pool of blackness.

Silver looked into the inky depths as he stood on the shore. It was time. Weeks of planning behind him, he took a deep breath. With much grunting, the nine-year-old dragged the dilapidated raft toward the water's edge. It was extremely heavy, and the individual logs shifted as they scraped across the ground. When he had pulled it close enough, Silver stopped, wiping his sweaty brow with the back of his hand. He tugged at the ropes that held the raft together, reassuring himself of their security. Frowning, he tightened several of the ropes, then he shouldered his backpack and faced west toward Johto.

Silver swallowed. Inhaling through his nostrils, he took one last look at the river and then turned to reposition himself behind the raft. The moment of truth was upon him. Crouching beside the ramshackle vessel, he leaned his body weight against it. His sneakers dug into the sand, and he grunted in his effort. With a rush of momentum, the raft shifted and splashed into the water. He stood quickly and squinted at the murky river with baited breath.

The little craft bobbed on the waves it had created upon entry. Picking up the large branch he had carved into a crude oar, Silver poked the center of the vessel. It sank negligibly at his pressure but swiftly righted itself when he ceased. He gripped the strap of his bag, swallowing. With a deep inhale, he lifted one foot over the raft, his other foot firmly planted on the sandy shore. He nudged the ship a few times then put some of his weight on it. Encouraged by its stability, he removed his other foot from the land and fully boarded the vessel.

The tiny raft rocked as it tried to equalize the weight of the small boy. It eventually did so, and he sat in the center of the vessel, heart racing with excitement. Nodding, he reached and retrieved his oar from the shore, then, without a second glance at the Route on which he had lived for the past eight weeks, he shoved the raft forward by pushing against the shoreline.

Traversing the vast river proved more difficult than he had anticipated. He realized with each hard stroke against the water that his oar truly was poorly-made. Not much point in dwelling on it, though. Not like he could change it now. He paddled onward, his arms aching from the strenuous effort. Sunlight crept over the surrounding mountains, the dawn of a new day. Sweat poured from his brow as he struggled against the water, his muscles screaming.

Quite suddenly, and to his terror, he felt a cool sensation on his legs. He looked down and discovered the raft dipping beneath the water. He was sinking. Panicking, he stood, hoping the redistribution of weight would help his plight—it did not. Frantic, he paddled faster. Water crept up his ankles as the raft sank further. He glanced up—the shore was on the horizon, if only he could last long enough. His rowing speed increased as his knees disappeared below the waterline. Only a little bit further…!

As water lapped at his middle, Silver glanced at the shoreline again. Could he swim the difference? He questioned his capability. The waterline reached his armpits, and he swore as he felt the raft sink beneath his feet. Tossing the oar aside, he floundered into the current.

The river was cold, even for summer, but Silver hardly noticed. His eyes focused intently on the sandy beach of New Bark Town. The pain in his arms numbing, he swam toward his goal in a desperate struggle for life. He had to make it to Johto. Kanto wasn't safe for him any more; his criminal father had seen to that end. His new life awaited him in that new region, on that sandy beach. He fought against the waves, the morning sun glistening off the ripples in his wake. Water lapped at his exposed face, his body engulfed up to the shoulder, and as his muscles screamed their protest, he panicked at the thought of drowning, his mind buzzing with adrenaline. Just as his strength began to wane, a rush of euphoria pulsed through his body—his foot brushed the murky bottom. Elated, he struggled forward until he staggered out of the water and collapsed on the foreign shore, his lower half still submerged in the shallows.

Silver wheezed, chest heaving as he lied on his back, his muscles twitching from the exertion. Staring up at the lightening sky, a chuckle started in his chest and quickly consumed him. Success! He had made it. All by himself, he had done the impossible and made it to Johto. All by himself…

His body swiftly reminded him of the price of his endeavor, and his eyelids drooped. Exhaling slowly to calm his pounding heart, he settled into a steady breathing pattern as his exhaustion overtook him, and he closed his eyes on the warm sand, the sound of the waves lapping against his lower body lulling him to sleep.

"That's incredible, Silver," Soul said, awed.

"It's not, really," Silver said, shaking his head. "I had a problem, and I tackled it in the only way I could."

"No, really, that is amazing," Soul disagreed, turning more to face him. "Silver, you're amazing."

His heart swelled, and he shook his head to mask his blushing. "It's really nothing special."

"It's more than I could've done at that age," Soul said, facing forward. "Sometimes I forget just how challenging things must have been for you, being on your own."

"Yeah…" Silver said, eyes distant.

"Oh, we're here," Soul announced as they approached the shores than marked the Johto-Kanto border. "From here, it's just a short trip to Tohjo Falls."

Silver grunted in his throat in acknowledgement, nodding.

Silver stepped from Rosa to the slimy slope carved into the cave surface, then he turned and offered a hand to Soul, who accepted his assistance. Turning, she returned Rosa and tucked the Ball into a special pocket in her bag with the rest of her Pokémon. "It's just a bit further from here," Soul said, passing Silver to lead the way. "Be careful, though; the path is really slippery."

The deafening roar of Tohjo's namesake waterfalls buzzed in Silver's ears, and he shuddered against the frigid, moist air. They walked past the first curtain of water, spray from the descending cascade spritzing their bodies. At the end of the narrow ridge, Silver noticed a small cave entrance, masked by the second waterfall. The location was fairly hidden, he noticed as he glanced around the immense cavern; only Trainers headed for the Indigo Plateau from Johto traveled this way, and even then, this ledge was well concealed on the cliff face and out of the way of the route he figured most Trainers would take. It was damp, to be sure, but then, he imagined his father didn't have the luxury of being choosy about his hiding spots.

Arriving at the edge of the waterfall, Soul gestured for Silver to pass her and enter first. Sidling against the wall to avoid being drenched by the downpour, Silver entered backward into the doorway and turned.

Pitch blackness greeted him, so he dug in his backpack for his flashlight, and Soul, joining him in the room, did likewise. Two beams of light pierced the darkness and scanned the room. It was more spacious than the cavern they had discovered on Route 47 several weeks prior, but only by a small margin. Jagged rocks and boulders accented the floors, and above them, craggy stalactites dangled from the ceiling. The air in the room reeked of mildew and dampness. Against the back wall, Silver's flashlight found a small radio, and he crossed the distance to it, his footsteps echoing in the small cave.

"Giovanni was listening to Archer's broadcast on that radio when I battled him," Soul explained as Silver crouched beside the device.

Silver examined the machine in the glow of his flashlight. It was several years old, judging by the design, and made for traveling. Silver hazily recognized it as a gift his mother had given his father in what felt like another life. Hesitantly, his hand reached for a knob and twisted it. No sound came out. Frowning, he tested a few other knobs, but nothing.

"It's broken," he said quietly, staring down at the defective device.

"Are you sure?" Soul said, joining him in the back of the cave.

Silver twisted the knobs in the glow of her flashlight beam for proof. "Busted," he said.

Soul bit her lip. Hesitating, she turned and took a step toward the entrance. "Well, maybe there's some other kind of clue here, like the pin we found."

"Doesn't look like it," Silver said, casting his light around the room. "It's clean. Too clean, like he purposely covered his tracks. And yet," he said, turning back to the radio, "he left you behind." He picked up the device. "But you're broken. What good are you to me?"

Soul wrung her hands, weighing her words. "Look, Silver...I know you were probably hoping to find something here, but...maybe he left it behind because it's broken, not for any special reason."

"Then why did he clean the cave so perfectly?" Silver asked, turning to her, still crouched, brandishing the radio. "Why leave no sign of human life here but the radio?"

"I don't know, Silver," Soul admitted, sighing. "But it's like you said: what good is a broken radio to you?"

Silver stared at the device in his hands, mouth dry, his head buzzing with questions to which he had no answers.

Soul swallowed, timidly stalling her words. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. "I guess this is the end of our journey together, then."

He looked up at her, eyes wide, then he swallowed and lowered his head. "Right...you only agreed to bring me here to Tohjo," he recalled.

Soul nodded and then paused, her face impassive. "I really do wish you the best of luck, Silver. And hey, you have my PokéGear number, so you can always call me if you need my help again or if you're just looking for a battle…" She trailed off, eyeing her feet.

"Nn, sure," Silver said, swallowing again to unsuccessfully ease his dry throat. He stood and turned to her. "Thank-you...for everything, Soul."

"It's nothing," she said, shaking her head.

"No, I mean it," Silver said, closing the gap between them in a few steps. "If you hadn't been with me, there's no way I would've made it this far." He extended his hand to her and stared into her eyes. "So, thank-you."

Eyes glossing, Soul reached for his hand and shook it. In that moment, she very much wished she hadn't lied to him about her feelings two nights ago.

Her hand met his, and he shook it, wishing he could pull her into an embrace. Instead, he released her hand, returning his own to clutch the radio in his other hand.

"Right then…" Soul said, tucking her bangs behind her ear in the way Silver loved, "...see you around." She turned on her heel and shuffled out of the cave. Outside the entrance, Soul leaned her back against the damp cavern wall, fighting her emotions. Her chest ablaze, she allowed herself a sharp, quick sob, and a tear drizzled down her cheek, a lone, rebel escapee. Wiping fiercely at it, she inhaled deeply to clear her thoughts. Fists clenching, she turned to head across the ledge.

A loud, mechanical crash echoed behind her, and, gasping, she whirled around and reentered the cave.

Slumped against the back wall sat Silver, his face in his hands. Directly across from him lied the radio in a scattered, broken pile of electrical innards and plastic.

"Silver?" Soul asked in almost a whisper.

He looked up at her, face distraught. Jaw trembling, he put his face in his hands again and curled into his knees. "...I'm so tired of it, Soul…" he said, his voice cracking.

"Tired of what?" Soul encouraged, taking a step forward.

The words, "Of being alone," remained in the space between his mind and his throat, so instead, he said, "Of trying so hard to find someone who doesn't give a crap about me. Of being the only one who cares."

He heard Soul's footsteps as she approached him, his face still buried in his hands. He lifted his head just in time to see her wrap her arms around him to pull him into an embrace. He sat stunned as she leaned her head against his, her tenderness engulfing him. Pulling down his knees so they no longer obstructed him, he lifted his arms to hug her back right as she pulled away to look him in the eye.

"I'm sorry," she said, face saturated with sympathy. "I wish I had something better that I could say, but I don't." She hung her head.

Fighting his sudden romantic urges, Silver stood, shoving his hands in his pockets to preoccupy them. "Don't worry about it," he said with an air of his usual aloofness, fighting his longing to disassemble in front of her.

She stood as well, still staring at him. "D...Do you want me to stay for a little bit? Until you feel better?"

Silver shook his head despite the screaming of the opposite in his brain. "I'll be fine. Just need to cool off for a bit. You can go, if you want to."

Soul watched him as he turned his back to her, her heart crumbling. She didn't want to leave him. Not when he was so volatile and broken. But what good would come of her staying? It was in the best interest of their friendship that she kept things casual between them, but if she stayed, she would only burden him with her affection. Closing her eyes tightly, she turned.

Silver heard her shoes scrape on the gravel, and he closed his eyes, his mind numb.

She headed toward the exit, glancing at the wreckage that once was Giovanni's radio as she walked past. Something odd caught her eye, however, and stopping, she crouched beside it.

Tucked in between the innards of the radio, jutting out noticeably among the metal and plastic, was a folded piece of paper. Extracting it, Soul unfurled it, noticing the small, neat handwriting, which she read. Her mouth fell open.

"Silver?"

He turned, hands still in his pockets. "Nn?" he grunted, eyebrows furrowed at her peculiar position.

She stood and brought the note to him, retrieving her flashlight to aid him. Silver took it and scanned the page, eyes widening.

"To Scarlet's son:

Seek me at the beginning."

Silver reread the note in rapid succession, mind unable to keep up with the explosion of thoughts.

"It's for you, right?" Soul gasped at his shoulder. "The note, it's definitely meant for you, isn't it?"

Silver nodded, adding quietly, "Scarlet was my mother's name."

Soul gasped excitedly, tugging on his arm. "Ohh, Silver! This is fantastic! It's a clue! A real, solid clue to where your father is!"

Silver inclined his head in agreement, still gazing at the small slip of paper. "And I'm pretty sure I know where he's asking me to go."

Soul held her breath. "Where?" she asked after a few tense seconds in which he did not respond.

Silver swallowed. "Our house back in Viridian City."

Soul blinked. "But...wouldn't someone else be living there now?"

"No," Silver said, shaking his head. I went by there over the summer. The police treated it like a crime scene and taped and boarded the whole place. But the problem is," he said, looking up at her," the place is crawling with police at all times, like they're convinced he's going to turn up there." Silver glanced back at the note, grinning. "And that arrogant bastard did just that."

"So would it be difficult for us to get in?"

"Nn, probably, but if we go at night, it's possible they might have a lax guar—" He froze, the realization dawning on him. He turned to her. "'Us?'"

She smiled cooly at him. "You honestly think I'd leave now, when we're this close?"

Selected quote from the next chapter:

"Of course I'm going in, too."