Chapter 9
Japanese Name:
Professor Utsugi - Professor Elm
Natsume - Sabrina
Disclaimer: We do not own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, and Satoshi Tajiri. OCs and plot belongs to us. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. Enjoy the fanfic.
New Bark Town
Silver was sitting in Professor Utsugi's lab with a stack of papers lying on his desk. He appeared to be in his mid teens and wore a black shirt and pants underneath his lab coat. It was too hot to be wearing a jacket in this weather. The redhead boy groaned. What was it with adults and their paperwork? The professor had discovered a new method of hatching eggs again and he had asked Silver and another lab assistant to go over his research paper again. The professor was going to a conference in Unova in a few months and he needed to polish his English again for his lecture.
"Um, Silver?" A blue haired girl said over the stack of papers. Her hair was tied into pigtails. She wore a pink shirt and a skirt underneath the lab coat she was wearing.
"What's up, Crystal?" he answered, not looking up from decently sized packet in his hand.
"Gold called me all morning to say that he was coming over," Crystal said and showed her teal colored Pokegear to the redhead for evidence. There was a list of phone calls and all of them read 'Gold' in katakana (1).
"When he gets here, ignore that fool."
"Pst, Silver!" a raven haired teenager peeked from the nearest window. Speak of the devil... Silver thought as he kept his back to the voice and continued to sort the mountains of paperwork.
"Silver..." he continued to quietly call out, not knowing that he is purposely being ignored. Crystal smothered a snicker that threatened to arise. "Hey, can you hear me?"
"Stop being mean to him," she whispered as she dropped a project folder into its corresponding box. "You know that if it wasn't for him, you would be in there twenty-four seven."
"I'm here because I was a fool," the teenage boy said in a flat voice.
His pokeball on his belt shook in disagreement to its trainer. Silver looked up to gaze at the glass case placed casually underneath a huge pile of books in the back of the lab. The case was carefully locked with several keys and contained a held item that was brought over by that Sinnoh professor a month ago. He recalled the older professor talking in a harsh voice of more security and caution of protecting the item. Why, he never found out.
The blue haired girl looked sad. "You brought back the pokemon to the professor, but even he could see that your pokemon has learned to like you." It wasn't necessary for Silver to work for Professor Utsugi out of debt. Even the professor said so. Silver however, was stubborn and insisted that he would work to repay for his crimes and to remake his identity. If not, he would work for rent as he was living with Professor Utsugi and his family, who lived above the pokemon lab.
"Is the pokemon still with you?" Silver ignored her statement and took out a highlighter to correct the professor's grammatical mistake. It was sometimes hard to understand what the pokemon professor was trying to say. His use of jargon was overdone and his writing was messy and hard to comprehend.
"He came back," she said. "It looks like something is going to happen again." Before Silver could ask the blue haired girl what she meant, he heard a tap at the window. Silver groaned. It would only be one person...
"Silvy, pst Silyy!" The trainer outside started using odd pet names that he forced upon his friend. He wore a red hooded jacket with black knee length pants. "Silv, Silvy Silv Silv!"
A vein pulsed in Silver's head as he continued to correct and file the papers before him. The raven haired teen silently fumed, puffs of smoke were almost visible as they erupted from his head and ears. His eyes perked up and his grin stretched from ear to ear as an idea struck him.
"Oh Shirogane~" he cooed (2). Silver snapped around, his eyes on fire.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT, YOU IDIOT!"
The usually calm trainer roared at the sound of his birth name. Professor Utsugi's son looked at the redhead curiously when he saw the angry redhead lose his temper. He stormed out of the building to give the teenager a good punch, only to have Gold pin both his wrists with his own hands.
"Yay, you finally came out!" He smiled brightly as his friend's anger was about to cause a lightning storm.
"That's real mature of you, Hibiki." Silver said sourly. The raven haired teen's smile dropped as the two glared at each other with infinite rivalry when Silver spat out Gold's real name.
"That's not my name," the gold eyed trainer mumbled. He readjusted his black baseball cap that was worn backwards with his black hair underneath it. The cap had yellow stripes on it to resemble an Ultra Ball.
"You were born with that name. Your mom chose it." His former rival shot back.
"Well, your dad named you after a stupid mountain," Gold glared back at the other trainer.
"Don't talk about my father!" The black clad redhead burst a vein. "And you renamed yourself after a Super Sentai ranger. Like that is any better."
"Your name sounds like something coming out of a video game," Gold rolled his eyes with his Typhlosion laughing. The fire pokemon was a large man sized mammal with dark green fur and a yellow underbelly. Typhlosion had fangs and had fire coming out of its upper back like a volcano.
"Can you two knock it off?" Crystal came out to find the two idiots arguing like children. The lab assistant went over to separate the two teenage boys. "I'm wondering how you two are supposed to the strongest trainers in this region." The blue haired lab assistant sighed, "You two can be such a disappointment."
"No one asked you Crystal," Gold muttered as he continued to glare his rival down.
"Let go of my wrists," Silver demanded with a somewhat calm tone, his eyes failing to smother his anger.
"Don't wanna," he stuck out a tongue. The next thing he knew, he was flipped into the air as his grip on his friend tightened. The redhead slammed him into the ground, using his own body to keep him down, as Gold hissed out a breath. But that breath wasn't from pain.
"Man, that was hot..." the raven haired champion said with a straight face, earning him a fist to his cheek. "OW!"
"Sometimes I can't tell if you're just fucking with me or if you were dropped on the head too many times," the silver eyed trainer said as he stood up, massaging his wrists.
"Gold, sometimes I wonder if you have a death wish," Crystal sighed as the Johto trainer moped in a corner, his injured cheek flaming bright red.
A steam punk looking trainer watched a group of trainers interact in an odd and immature manner as she quietly stalked towards the white building. They seem to be having fun, she thought. She shook her head and went back to her main goal. The item should be in the building. It seemed amateurish to store a sacred item in a small lab where it could easily be stolen overnight.
"Eevee... Eve ee." Satsuki... I'm hungry. A small brown fox like pokemon whined behind her. The rest of her pokemon were in their pokeballs beside Ralts, who was staying close to her trainer. The psychic pokemon expressed discomfort to her trainer, who was more focused on the lab at the moment.
Satsuki shushed the normal type pokemon and crawled to the white building from the back. From a distance, she saw that the man's family was upstairs. She saw his wife cooking something near the window with his son sitting down to do his homework. The child looked like he was around Satsuki's age when she left the village. When the teenage girl took a quick glance at the lab through the bottom window, she saw that the professor was nowhere to be seen. Bathroom break? Lunch break at the restaurant nearby? Unwittingly, she leaned back on the heels of her left foot as she tried to get a better view through the window, causing a twig to snap.
"Who's there?" One of the voices from earlier snapped. She watched the redhead spin around to face her general direction. The teenage boy watched her movements, but focused on her eyes. He knew that look. How could he not?
"Vee..." That doesn't sound good...
She looked around using the corners of her eyes, trying to find the nearest escape route, and her heart nearly stopped. A blue haired girl whipped her head to her direction too.
"You're a thief," The girl said. Her Jolteon stood beside his trainer with his spiny body posed towards the newcomer. Silver wore that same expression five years ago when he snuck into the same lab to steal a pokemon while the professor was absorbed in his work. By the time the professor figured it out, the redhead trainer was long gone, on his way to Cherrygrove City.
Satsuki clenched her teeth as she silently recalled her two pokemon. She walked sideways out of the bush, keeping her legs bent and her movement minimal. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she calmly accessed her situation.
"What are you here for?" Silver sneered, a pokeball already in his hand. Gold finally noticed the punkish trainer, and pulled himself next to his rival. Without saying a single word, the red head's pokeball opened to reveal an Alakazam. The pokemon cried its name before calmly staring at the other trainer.
The punk trainer waited for the redhead to shout out a command, keeping an eye on his lips if he was to whisper. Her Eevee came out of his pokeball and stepped in front of his trainer in attempt to defend her. Eevee held his head up high and growled at the psychic pokemon in front of him.
"Elliot, what are you doing?" She scolded quietly, trying to deepen her voice and failing. Silver's brows narrowed as he noticed that the thief's voice is not as low as it should be for a teenage boy of her size. Not a single word was uttered when Silver suddenly nodded his head once with Alakazam crossing his spoons and used Psychic on the evolution pokemon.
Shit! Satsuki mentally swore as she grabbed her normal type and threw out her own pokeball. A large brown dog like pokemon emerged with his head facing her opponents. Without flinching, it took on the psychic attack with its own roar.
"What the- He has Entei!" Gold's mouth dropped. He turned to his friends and asked, "Do you think this is the collector Blue warned us about?"
Silver's Alakazam sharpened its mind and narrowed its eyes as it sat briefly in meditation. Calm Mind. Its trainer still hasn't said much since the battle began. How did he...? Satsuki asked herself. Most trainers shouted out their attacks for their pokemon to follow, yet this one didn't? He wasn't even moving his lips so she couldn't read his commands. The other two trainers had their hands on their pokeballs; ready to step in if worse was to come.
She did hear of one case, Natsume. She and her pokemon can communicate through the same wave length, a form of psychic communication that was almost as rare as Telepathy itself. It was only possible to achieve by forming a very close bond with a psychic pokemon, a hard feat to do as many psychic pokemon are found when they are older. Many trainers who achieved the ability to share the same wave length were thought to be psychics themselves. Non-psychic trainers being able to do the same were rarer.
One of Crystal's pokeball shook and wobbled. A flash of red shone out of the blue haired girl's lab coat with its inhabitant landing gracefully in front of the volcano pokemon. The legendary water pokemon tossed its violent mane with a majestic bellow of its name.
So, you were already caught, brother. The fire legendary faced its counterpart. His icon clad hooves left heavy footprint marks on the sandy pavement of the small town.
I only allowed myself to be re-caught, if I may be specific. Suicune growled. It gave Entei a glare; Do you understand what you have gotten yourself into? The aurora pokemon said all of this in a quiet voice, never taking its eyes off of the other legendary pokemon.
"Entei, the Alakazam and his trainer can Mind Sync, we need to leave, NOW." The steam punk called out. The fire type reluctantly backed up slowly and away from their previous target. She leaped onto his back, the Eevee in her arms, when the legendary pokemon leaped into the forest.
"Hey!" Gold called out. "Where the hell do you think you are going?"
What do you mean by Mind Sync? I believe that we can still get what you needed!
"There was no way we can battle without having to call on other pokemon," Satsuki explained as the three screamed at her to stop. "If he has that bond with his pokemon, there is no doubt that the pokemon was as strong as you. And that girl had Suicune too. I'm not going to gamble, and the third trainer hadn't even called out his pokemon ye- LOOK OUT!"
The fire dog skid to a stop behind a tree in time to avoid a shot of ice coming their way. Suicune used Ice Beam to freeze a path and slid on the slippery surface to gain speed. The aurora pokemon's attack froze several yards of grass and made a few Pidgeys fight out of the grass in surprise. A few Sentrets and Rattatas had wild look in their eyes and went silent from their argument when they saw the legendary pokemon pass by with the wind. The two legendary pokemon sprints pass New Bark Town's border and continued the chase in a new route.
"Stop in the name of the Johto Champion!" The raven haired teen shouted out, riding his Togekiss. The big white bird had a red and blue speckled body with cloud like wings. "Togetaro, Aura Sphere!" Blue aura concentrated in front of the happiness pokemon and aimed it at the volcano pokemon. Entei skillfully evaded the attack and flew off course of the usual path in route 29.
"Why did you announce that we were following him too?" Silver snapped, flying with his Crobat not too far behind his rival.
The bat pokemon was slightly taller than Golbat and was purple with wide blue wings and short legs. The redhead had to hold onto Crobat's feet due to the bat being too round for him to ride on its back. His Crobat crossed its wings and hurled Cross Poison at Entei, who took some damage from the poisonous attack. The fire pokemon barely took damage.
"Happiness pokemon? Of all pokemon, two happiness pokemon and a legendary?" The steam punk trainer mumbled to herself. Her Eevee was wrapped in her short sleeved hoodie jacket; one hand holding the jacket together and the other gripping the fire dog's fur. "Argh, Entei, WE ARE NOT FIGHTING THEM!"
We are running again? The fire type snorted in annoyance. Despite his attitude, the pokemon increased its speed as it dashed like a Rattata in its tunnel.
What could you be doing with him? Suicune was right behind them. The water type legendary pranced with ease with the help of the wind. Its white tails flew as the aurora pokemon summons a tidal wave rushing towards Entei.
"Rain Dance," Crystal said. The blue leopard like pokemon pranced in zigzags with grace. It cried into the howling wind and briefly touched the dry ground with its blue snout. The once clear sky started to form dark stormy clouds with rain pouring down the trainers and the thief.
"Swoop down and use Fly!" Gold shouted over the pouring rain. His Togekiss flew down low to attack the fire legendary pokemon.
"Entei, leap to your right!"
Into Suicune? It asked, its voice riddled with confusion. The rain was beginning to soak into his mane and made it look like an angry cat that was forced to take a shower. Entei shook itself slightly to get the water out of his coat.
"Just do it!" Satsuki leaned to that direction. The legendary pounced on its brother, who in turn, slid to a stop as the happiness pokemon pulled up from a nose dive towards a tree.
The raven haired trainer aimed to grab the thief's wrist, but grabbed hold of a dew shaped necklace wrapped around the stranger's arm instead. His odd colored eyes widened. "What's this?" He asked in a low tone.
Panicked, Satsuki immediately yanked the gem out of his hand, nearly falling off her pokemon. She caught a glimpse of gold reflecting the dimmed sunset when she looked her opponent in the eyes as she hissed, the chain of the necklace slicing into her skin from the pull.
The feeling pokemon in her pokeball sensed her trainer's discomfort as she broke out of her capsule and clung to her from the hood of her jacket. Are you alright? She asked in a frantic voice.
"Hinata, Teleport." She gritted her teeth from the burn of the friction. The chains began to draw blood as the doll like pokemon's red horns glowed white in the heavy rain. With a flash, the black clad trainer and the pokemon with her disappeared.
Professor Utsugi's House
"We lost him!" Silver growled. "Damnit!" He pounded his fist against the table. They came back to the lab to warn the professor that someone had tried to steal something. The young professor automatically panicked at the bad news and ran around the lab like a lost pokemon. Professor Utsugi's wife had made lunch for the Johto trio earlier; she was now cleaning up the kitchen and putting away the washed plates from the sink.
"We need to move that item immediately," Crystal said. "I'm sure the thief will try to come here again to get it."
"What was he trying to steal?" Gold asked, not understanding why the thief was there in the first place.
"That item in there," Professor Utsugi came in the middle of the conversation. "Is the Azure Flute delivered here personally by a pokemon professor in Sinnoh with his lab assistant." The professor appeared to be in his early or mid thirties and had brown hair. He wore a blue polo shirt and pants and had glasses. He was currently out of the lab, so he wasn't wearing his lab coat.
"The Azure Flute?" Gold gave the young professor a questioning look.
"It's a flute that is made out of an unknown material," Professor Utsugi explained while cleaning his glasses. "It's blue and it was found in Sinnoh a few years ago. It is believed that the flute may not be from this world."
"We need to call Red," the golden eyed trainer said. "By the way, did you notice what was wrapped around his wrist?" He asked, still pondering on the dew shaped necklace he saw the thief have.
"It looked like a Mystic Water, though it should be on a water pokemon, not his wrist," Crystal answered as she repacked the flute into a new and less conspicuous box.
"Where are you going?" The redhead asked the girl, who was also packing a few travel items into her backpack.
"I need to go find him," the blue haired lab assistant said. "He's from Celadon."
She thought of Suicune, who was now in its pokeball. The aurora pokemon came to her a few days ago when she was returning from work. Suicune's sudden appearance surprised her where it nudged her to let it be re-caught again. The water pokemon shared its emotions with its trainer of worry, distress, fear? It was hard for her to understand the cause of these swirls of emotions. Perhaps that man could tell her what was wrong with Suicune.
"Mystic Water?" the Johto champion murmured to himself, detached from the situation at hand. He shook his head, thinking, There are plenty of trainers who has that item. Whatever, it can't be that important. Silver froze in the middle of his silent tantrum. He recognized that look in his eyes.
"What's up?" The redhead asked his rival.
Gold snapped up with a confused look on his face like he wasn't paying attention before answering, "Nah, it's nothing. Are you okay Silver? I don't think you reacted well when we met that punk."
"Don't change the topic," he said. "What's bugging you?" Silver gave Gold a hard look in the eye.
"Don't worry about it Silv," Gold laughed, whatever concern that weighed upon him completely gone. "Just wondering why he wore it himself. Maybe he doesn't have a water pokemon." Silver blankly watched his friend go back to his usual antics with an unsettling feeling down in his stomach.
Route 39
"Corsola, Recover!" A Beauty trainer commanded her pokemon. A pink coral like pokemon glowed bright blue and recovered from the damage down upon it. The water type pokemon hopped on its stubby base and cried its name.
"Corsola, sola, cor!" I can heal all day! The Corsola said as it eagerly bounced back into the battle. Its opponent was panting from the tough battle. There seemed to be no end to it. When Pidgeotto was almost done knocking out the pokemon, the water type would only use Recover again. How long could that Corsola continue to fight?
"Sora, try to knock it down again with Steel Wing!" Mirei shouted to the bird pokemon.
"Pidgey, geo, to!" You are so annoying! Pidgeotto's wings shone white. His wings became metallic and he flapped his wings as he sent metal blades flying at the coral pokemon, which made Corsola fly across the grass. The pink pokemon cried and tried to pick itself up again.
"Cor! Sola!" The coral pokemon turned its head and said, Hey! How rude! Corsola glowed with pink light; sharp needle like spikes flew at Pidgeotto and stung the bird like a bumblebee. The bird pokemon shrieked from the surprise attack as Corsola cried, "Corsola, sola, corsola!" That's not how you treat a lady! Corsola was barely standing from Pidgeotto's Steel Wing.
"Pidgjo?" Wait, you're a girl? The bird pokemon turned his head in attempt to pluck the needles from his feathers. His feathers were ruffled and were scattered all over the grass from the fight. "Pidgey, pidgeotoo?" How was I supposed to know? Pidgeotto fluffed out his feathers in anger. It's not like he was capable of telling Corsolas apart. He only saw one once.
"Sora, finish it with Steel Wing!" Mirei ordered.
"Pidgeotto!" Yes, please! The bird pokemon happily shot more metallic feathers at the Corsola. The pink pokemon fainted before she could make any comments. Corsola's trainer handed the brunette trainer money and left the route with a huff.
"Geez, her Corsola was annoying to fight." Pidgeotto's trainer complained.
"Pidgey..." Ugh... Pidgeotto's whole body glowed white as the bird grew taller in size. When the light disappeared, Sora was Mirei's height. His head crest has grown longer and extended to the length of his body and his tail feather was red.
"Sora evolved to Pidgeot!" Chiharu stared at the newly evolved flying type. Pidgeot swooped down to send a light gust of air above their heads.
"Another battle won!" Mirei cheered. "If we keep going like this, we'll get to Olivine in no time and I can defeat the gym leader!" She pumped her arm up, jumping up and down with her Leafeon smiling beside her.
"Let's rest," the other girl said. "I think I need to rest from biking through this route." Her bike was lying on the grass floor.
Although she and Mirei took turns participating in pokemon battles, Chiharu herself was more interested in catching the pokemon in the area. Chiharu saw two Magnemites earlier and enjoyed watching them interact. The two electric type pokemon flash light in different patterns. The catcher wondered if they communicated that way and saw that one Magnemite was impatient and charge against its friend when it tried to offer a nail to it. She guessed that the first Magnemite had a Hasty nature while its friend was Jolly because the second Magnemite didn't take the charge as an offence and happily offered a different nail instead.
"I guess we should rest," Mirei said. "So we can train some more!"
Her pokemon groaned in unison at the mention of more training. Leafeon did a face palm as his sister sighed at her brother's situation. Pidgeot stopped flying in the air and suddenly dropped to the floor with Psyducks flying around his head. Nidorina and Kazama exchanged wary looks and groaned.
Chiharu looked at her friend's pokemon and said, "I don't think they need any more training..." She chose her words with care, "They look very strong right now." She watched Leafeon's face change from tired to hopeful.
Mirei paused, "You're right. I'm tired." She looked at her newly evolved pokemon. "I just defeated a rock type with a flying type! That trainer was too weak for my pokemon!"
The brunette girl laughed like a madwoman. Chiharu almost found herself groaning with Mirei's pokemon and almost missed Mirei being mopey. Mirei flopped herself onto the fresh sweet grass to take a nap with her pokemon scattering around to catch up on free time.
"Leafeon, leaf, eon!" Thank you Chiharu for convincing her! Leo cried in joy. He rushed into a patch of flowers to sniff them and hugged them with his soiled paws.
"Alakazam, kazam." I suppose this is the closest we got to someone translating for us, Kazama said as he closed his eyes to take another nap.
"Nido, nido, dori, rina." I think we would be level 50 by now if Chiharu wasn't here, Kisaki said.
Espeon walked around the long route. The psychic type flicked her tail as she caught a glimpse of Gloom, who had evolved yesterday while fighting one of the Kimono Girl's Vaporeon. She watched the grass pokemon focus hard to the task with Golbat flying above to watch her training. It was odd seeing how a grass and flying pokemon could get along so well. When Chiharu wasn't training Gloom or Golbat, the two of them would have long conversations while training to become stronger.
"Growlithe?" Asahi? Helios walked over to the psychic pokemon. "Ruff, ruff?" You looking for something? The puppy pokemon was shorter than Espeon, but she knew that he would soon be several times her size when he evolves.
(I'm looking for Shion,) Asahi said, turning her head around for the yellow duck. (Have you seen him?) She noticed that the fire dog was staring at her when she asked the question. (What?)
"Ruff, ruff, growlithe!" You're talking out loud again! He said in amazement. "Growlithe, lithe!" I'm jealous. Helios wished that he could talk directly to his trainer. That way, he could tell her that he loved her very much and that she was the best trainer ever. And they could play fetch together, and roll in the mud, and chase Pachirisus, and-
Espeon sighed, "Espeon, espeon, peon, ep." That's why I'm looking for him. She said to her childhood friend, "Espeon, esp, peon." I need to get better at Psychic and Telepathy.
"Ruff, ruff, growlithe!" I saw Shion sitting by that berry patch! The dog pointed at the direction where the duck was with his nose. "Growlithe, ruff, growlithe?" You want to go find some berries after you're done training?
Growlithe asked the psychic pokemon with excitement in his eyes. Besides Chiharu, Growlithe spent most of his time talking and playing with Asahi when she was an Eevee. Helios was the first pokemon Chiharu had ever caught. When Asahi evolved, the energetic pokemon discovered that his childhood friend had become calmer and didn't run around as much as he did. She spent more time worrying about controlling her new powers than playing with him, much to his disappointment. Helios wagged his tail as he waited for Asahi's answer.
"Espeon, peon..." I don't think I can... Espeon said, (Training will tire me out. Using Psychic all the time makes me hungry.) The sun pokemon felt guilty for making the fire pokemon sad at her decline.
"Ruff..." Okay then...
"Espeon, esp, esp," I'm sorry Helios. She hugged the fire dog briefly, "Espeon, espeon!" But you'll always be my best friend! At that, the psychic pokemon ran off to train, leaving the puppy pokemon alone.
"Grow...lithe?" Best...friend? Growlithe repeated her words. He covered his eyes with his paws and lay on the grass with a small whine.
"No, you did great against them!" Psyduck remembered his trainer praising him yesterday when that Umbreon nearly made him faint. "We did well for going against six strong pokemon!" Chiharu gave Psyduck a hug when they left the Ecruteak Dance Hall. She always gave him hugs. Every day.
Psyduck sat under a small berry tree, far from Chiharu and Mirei's pokemon. It wasn't that he was afraid of them or that he hated them. The water type felt like he couldn't be compared to them! Asahi was Chiharu's first pokemon and was the strongest, Helios was favored because he was always jolly and happy to serve his trainer, Kera was good at confusing pokemon for being captured, and Phoebe was new.
(There you are, Shion!)
The water pokemon looked up to see Espeon walking up to him. The purple feline excitedly exclaimed, (Now you can help me with training!)
"Psy?" Didn't you train yesterday with Chiharu? The yellow duck remembered the Espeon nagging on her trainer for a while before the blue haired girl finally gave in to train her again. Although Asahi had tried to practice using Psychic on food and boulders, it would usually result in an annoyed Leo or angry pokemon attacking them for disturbing their sleep.
"Esp, espeon, peon." Yes, but I still can't keep my mind private, Asahi said sadly. She nearly made a Lass trainer trip on her pokemon when Asahi accidentally started talking in battle. Chiharu had to make up an excuse that it was her who talked and that she was practicing to become an anime voice actor.
"Psyduck? Psy, yai, yaiduck?" Why me? Shion pointed to himself, Why don't you ask Kazama? The stubborn pokemon may be disobedient, but he was good at manipulating things with his psychic powers. "Psyduck, duck, psy." He's a psychic pokemon, not me.
(You can use Psychic!) She got excited, (You're good at it too!) Shion wasn't used to getting much attention from the sun pokemon and was feeling uncomfortable. Espeon then paused, (And I don't want to talk to Kazama. He's an ass. He's going to laugh at me for being bad at using Psychic.) In fact, the psi pokemon would be rolling on the floor from laughter.
"Psy...duck?" You...think I'm good? No one beside Chiharu ever complimented him before... "Psy, psyduck, psy, duck, yai." Well, the yellow duck pointed to the berries from the tree. We can practice with those.
(Aren't those too small?) Asahi wasn't used to moving things that were smaller than a poffin.
"Duck, duck, psy, duck, yai." No, Shion shook his head. If you can move small objects with ease, then you can move anything.
Psyduck demonstrated by closing his eyes. He opened them again; his eyes were glowing blue. Blue aura outlined the small oran berries on the bush and floated away. Shion moved the oran berries in a small trapezoid formation with the berries moving in different rhyme and time. At last, he allowed the berries to drop to the floor and handed one to the sun pokemon.
"Psyduck," You try. The water pokemon said to Asahi.
Asahi focused her mind on the blue colored berries and glared at her target. A few berries rose from the grass and floated for a few minutes before dropping back to the ground. Espeon tried again and managed to make a few of the berries rise above a yard before letting them go to roll on the floor again.
As she continued the exercise, Shion watched her carefully, making sure that she was in the right mindset and was entirely focused to her task. They talked very little with only a few comments in between the mini exercises. Each time Asahi redid the exercise, the berries stayed in the air for a longer period of time than the last. By the time Espeon noticed that the other pokemon were returning to their pokeballs, she had managed to manipulate the berries long enough to perform the same feat as Shion did in his demonstration. Her psychic powers were still wobbly, but she had managed to learn how to use for powers for small detailed work. She was starving when they were done training.
"Psy, yai, psyduck." That's good, Shion said when they were wrapping up their training. We can work on bigger objects later. Psyduck practiced with Espeon and was hungry as well.
"Esp, espeon?" Hey, Shion? Asahi said, "Peon, eon, esp, esp?" Why do you talk differently than most Psyducks? The two pokemon were now walking back to where Mirei and Chiharu were.
Shion looked down and said, "Psyduck." I don't know. "Psyduck, psy." I'm different.
Most Psyducks complained about their headaches and forgetting what they were doing. They didn't hold very long conversations and would constantly hold their heads out of pain. Shion spoke normally and his vocabulary was noticeably higher than the average Psyduck. Shion only held his head with his arms when he was having a severe headache, which was rare. Chiharu's Psyduck almost functioned like a normal pokemon.
The duck then continued, "Duck, psy, duck, psy, yai, duck." My group always tried to abandon me because I wasn't like them. Some of the Psyducks would pretend that they have forgotten Shion, not a difficult task to do as they were forgetful pokemon. "Psyduck, yai, psyduck." They forgot me in the flowerbeds at Chiharu's house when she found me.
(I...didn't know that...) Asahi was speechless. (Your group really forgot about you?) She never met other pokemon of her kind besides her family, but to be ignored by the same species... It was so sad.
"Psyduck, psyduck." I thought there was something wrong with me, Shion continued. "Psyduck, yai, psy." Chiharu was so nice to me when I came to her.
She was so patient when the yellow duck waddled behind her around the house. Chiharu didn't yell at him when he accidentally spilled the flower vase on the piano. His trainer didn't mind him always trying to help and would thank him for trying. She even defended him when Keigo accused Shion of tracking mud in the house when it was actually a Rattata who did it.
(There's nothing wrong with you!) Espeon snapped at Shion. (You're better than the other Psyducks! You don't abandon your friends!)
"Psyduck?" You mean we're friends? The yellow duck looked at the purple pokemon questioningly.
(Of course we are!) She exclaimed, (All of us! Me, Helios, Chiharu, Mirei, Sora, all of us!) The psychic type said, (Is something worrying you?) Psyduck seemed depress ever since he left the Ecruteak Dance Hall yesterday. Was he worried about not being able to fight?
"Psyduck," Sora evolved, Shion said and pointed at the bird pokemon, who was flying in the air doing acrobatic stunts. Psyduck moved his arms from side to side, "Yai, duck, duck." I think I will soon. His headache was getting lighter and he could feel his body signaling him to change.
(Isn't it a good thing?) Asahi asked, (You're going to evolve!) Psyduck would become stronger and be a more efficient pokemon to surf with. She saw Shion's uncertain expression and asked, (You don't want to evolve?) Shion shook his head.
His trainer liked Psyducks because of the way their waddled and were 'cute'. Chiharu liked water pokemon in general and liked to use them in battles when given the chance. She could have easily caught another Psyduck. She could have caught a different pokemon instead of a Psyduck.
"Psyduck, psy, yai." Chiharu only likes me because I'm cute, Shion looked doubtful. "Psyduck, psyduck, duck, psy." I was only picked because Satsuki had her catch me.
(That's not true!) Asahi said, (Those Psyducks were near her house her whole life! She could have caught one before she got you, but she didn't!)
"Psyduck, psy." Only because Satsuki wouldn't let her. He scratched his head, remembering seeing the other girl put her hands over her ears whenever she walked by his group.
(Chiharu kept you because she liked having you around,) the psychic type tried to cheer up the yellow duck. (She even hugs you every day!) Shion received more hugs than Asahi ever did in a lifetime. The feline pokemon wasn't jealous of Psyduck; he deserved it with his low self esteem. Shion worked hard to please his trainer, almost as hard as their newest friend, Phoebe.
"Duck, yai?" What if she stops hugging me when I evolve? Psyduck cried, I'm not as strong as you or Kera!
(Stops hugging you if you evolve? Not strong enough?) So that was the problem. Asahi was unsure of how to handle the sad pokemon and was struggling to find the right words to comfort him.
"Shion?" Before Asahi could continue, Chiharu walked up to the two pokemon. She kneeled down and said, "You're afraid of evolving?"
Then it came to Asahi. She must have said the entire conversation out loud. The sun pokemon mentally cursed to herself. She could lift objects at ease, but telepathy could still use some practice. Espeon took her cue and went back to Mirei and the other pokemon, leaving Chiharu and Shion alone.
"Psyduck, psy..." I'm not ready... He looked unhappy. "Yai, yai, psy, yai!" I'm not good enough! He could never be as strong as Chiharu or Mirei's pokemon. Shion waited for disappointment from his trainer.
"I don't think you're weak," Chiharu said slowly. "You're not." She thought of the times Shion helped her catch pokemon with Disable and Psychic. "You helped me beat Matsuba and find out about that prophecy." She smiled at the pokemon.
"Psy..." But...
"Strength isn't all about fighting," she continued. "Asahi's right. You're better than those other Psyducks. I wouldn't choose them any other day." She never knew that Shion was rejected by his own kind. The girl always assumed that Shion got lost because of his forgetfulness.
"You don't have to evolve now," Chiharu said and hugged Shion. "You can evolve whenever you're ready. I'm not forcing you to change."
(You'll be fine,) Psyduck saw Asahi come back for them. "Espeon, esp, peon, esp," She'll still hug you anyway if you evolved. She pointed at the trainer who was still hugging the yellow duck.
"Psy, duck." Thank you, Asahi. Psyduck quacked, still in Chiharu's arms. "Psyduck, psy..." Thank you, Chiharu...
"What took you guys so long?" Mirei asked when Chiharu came back with Psyduck and Espeon. The water and psychic type pokemon were walking right behind their trainer. Mirei had already called back her pokemon and had her pink bike in position. "If we bike downhill, we can get to Olivine City soon!"
Chiharu smiled, "Asahi was just training again. I had to talk to them about something." She returned the two pokemon into their pokeballs and made her blue bike stand up. "I'm ready when you are."
"Last one to Olivine City is a rotten Exeggcute!" The brunette speed down the slope laughing.
"Hey, no fair! You cheated!" She chased after her friend down the hill.
"Alakazam..." It's like they never fought... Kazama said as he floated through the air with his trainer. He wondered if it was her victory in battles that made his trainer almost forget about the argument the other day.
"Golbat, bat." Let's enjoy that for now, Kera flew over Chiharu. The two trainers bickered childish taunts as they raced down route 39 to the port city ahead.
Extra Notes:
katakana (1) - A Japanese phonetic alphabet system used for foreign words and names.
Shirogane (2) - We can't see a parent naming their child Silver in Japan. As cool as the name Silver is, I can't see that being his birth name because it is a foreign name. Shirogane is the Japanese name of Mt. Silver. For those who are curious, yes, Hibiki is Ethan's Japanese name for Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver. Silver however is still known as Silver in the remake games for some reason.
Author Notes: It took awhile to write this chapter because there was a lot to cover in the chapter. Question of the chapter: Did you play as Gold or Crystal in the original Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal? For those who only played HGSS, did you play as Ethan or Lyra? Please leave a comment or review the story. Until next time, see you later!