Disclaimer: i don't own Pokemon, if I did Steven would've been the world coronation champion instead of Leon.
Liam Saterr's Pov
Two months since arriving in Hoenn
Hoenn was different than Paldea. There was a sense of wonder that felt more present than at any point in Paldea. Probably because Hoenn had always been my second favorite region after Sinnoh so I was a little star struck just being there. Thankfully my new parental units were interpreting this as me being home sick. Rustboro City was a thriving city which given that it housed the Devon Corporation's HQ wasn't a huge surprise.
" Liam it's time to go." My Mother called out snapping me out of my reminiscing.
"Ok I'll be right down." I said before grabbing Charcadet's poke ball and tucking it in my pocket. Quickly adjusting my sky blue tie I raced down the stairs to greet my parental units. My mother was wearing a sky blue sleeveless dress which looked nice with her blond hair. My father was wearing a black three piece suit with Devon Corporation cufflinks and a black tie over a sky blue shirt.
" Oh look honey he's so cute." Mother gushed over me in my black suit with a black button up and sky blue tie.
" Yes dear, but we have to get going if we're going to be at the gala on time." My father said as he opened the door. My mother and I walked out and allowed him to lock the door as we headed to the Devon Corporation HQ for the annual fundraiser gala.
Our house was rather close so the walk wasn't very far. Entering the building I was surprised by the festive atmosphere, lights and decorations littered the main entrance and lobby.
" Walter, so glad you and your family could make it." A voice called.
" Joseph, I wouldn't miss it." My father said turning towards the voice which was a man who appeared to have the same hair as Steven. Instantly I knew I was looking at Mr. Stone the CEO of Devon Corp.
As my father and Mr. Stone began talking, a group of women came up and began chatting with my mother. Taking this as my cue to go and mingle I began walking around looking for anyone that looked interesting. After minutes of searching I had yet to find anyone that looked like they would be interesting so I decided to go explore the building. Going up the stairs to the second floor I was greeted by a hallway with seven doors.
!!!!! Bang Crash!!!!!
A loud banging noise got my attention so I headed down the hall towards it. Opening the door I was shocked to see a Beldum trying to fly through a circle filled with spinning steel doors and repeatedly getting pushed out. Looking carefully I noticed that the doors were rotating similar but in different directions and would occasionally change directions. Pulling out Charcadet's pokeball I clicked the button and tossed it into the air to send him out.
" Hey Beldum mind if we have a try." I called out to the steel pokemon. The Beldum stopped and looked over at us before backing away from the spinning doors seemingly content to take a small break. "Alright Charcadet when you go through and a door is about to hit you spin like this in the direction of the door."
I stepped forward with my right leg before bringing my left leg up behind it while twisting forward, to demonstrate how I wanted Charcadet to move. Not for the first time I was glad for Charcadet's human-like form, it made it far easier to teach it various movements and stances since it could emulate my own movements.
" Char Char char." Charcadet said nodding his understanding before replicating my movement.
" Alright go ahead and give it a try." I said.
Charcadet stepped up to the doors and slowly walked into them and immediately began graceful spinning with the door's momentum and after about a minute came out the other side.
" Great job buddy." I said holding out my hand for a fist bump.
" Char Char char chAR." Charcadet said raising it's hand to fist bump me as it preened under the praise.
I felt something softly bump into me. Looking up I saw Beldum who then pointed at the spinning doors.
" Oh you want some help figuring out how to get through?" I politely offered. " Well I think the goal is to learn to go with the force of the doors rather than trying to force your way through. I had Charcadet spin to nullify the majority of the impact while propelling itself forward. A similar tactic might work for you. If you want I can have Charcadet do it again so you can better observe him doing it."
" That's an interesting way of looking at the exercise." A voice from behind me said. " I was using it to try to increase Beldum's calculating speed but you and your pokemon's method is shockingly effective for increasing agility."
Turning around I was greeted by the sight of Steven Stone standing in the doorway with his iconic suit on and an amused smile on his face.
" Your Steven Stone. Can you sign my copies of your books sometime?" I asked unable to stop myself from fan boying over my favorite champion. " You probably get this a lot but I'm a big fan."
" You own copies of my books?" He asked, seemingly surprised. Probably cause his books were really advanced and I was at present time a six year old.
" Yeah. You're like the best champion in the world." I said like it was super obvious as I looked up at him. " Your book on training a pokemon's durability is super informative and your book on stones is a fascinating read."
" In that case I would be happy to sign your books ..." Steven began before trailing off. " It just occurred to me I haven't asked your name yet."
" Oh, how rude of me I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Liam Saterr." I said extending my hand upward for him to shake.
" Walter's son? " He asked as he extended his hand and shook mine. " Shouldn't you be down at the party? "
" Yeah, I got bored so I decided to explore this place, I heard Beldum crashing into the doors which is how I ended up in here." I explained hoping it wouldn't get me into trouble.
"Hmm." Steven hummed seemingly thinking. " Well a few more minutes probably won't hurt. Go ahead and have your Charcadet run through the doors one more time then we'll have Beldum try before heading down together."
" Alright Charcadet if you don't mind going through the doors again." I said while turning to face Charcadet.
" Char char chAr char." Charcadet said as it walked towards the spinning doors and got ready to go through the circle again.
" Beldum make sure to watch his Charcadet closely. So you can calculate a way to apply it's method to yourself." Steven told his Beldum which floated up higher and turned it's eye towards Charcadet.
"Alright Charcadet go ahead and start now." I said, as soon as I finished speaking Charcadet began going through the circle of doors spinning gracefully and once again after a about a minute came out the other side. " Once again good work Charcadet."
" Alright Beldum now it's your turn." Said Steven, Beldum floated over to the doors and began to go through through doors. After about 3 minutes it emerged from the other side. " Excellent work Beldum. Go ahead and take a break."
Steven then held out a pokeball and recalled Beldum. Realizing I should do the same I recalled Charcadet after praising him again. Steven headed over to a console and hit a few buttons that caused the doors to power down.
" Alright let's go down to the party before someone notices your missing." Steven said as he walked over to the door.
" Alright." I said following him out the door and down the stairs back to the gala.
" Steven there you are. You weren't training instead of attending the gala where you ? " Mr. Stone said as he walked up to us.
" I wouldn't dream of it Dad, I was actually talking with Liam here." Steven said gesturing to me as if to prove his point.
" Ah yes Walter's boy. It makes sense you two would end up talking, from what I'm told he's quite the pokemon trainer. He even has some of your books according to his parents." Mr. Stone remarked.
" Yeah I was asking him if he'd be willing to sign them some time in the future." I chimed in supporting Steven's alibi. Personally I'd also rather train then be here even if I recognized it was for a good cause and our presence showed support for the Devon Corporation. " Then we ended up talking about training our pokemon's agility."
" Well I'm glad you guys are getting along." Mr. Stone said with a smile on his face. " I'll leave you two to your conversation then."
Mr. Stone then walked off to continue mingling with the guests leaving Steven and I alone. Steven looked around and sighed.
" Guess I better go and mingle." He said, turning towards me. " Thanks for covering for me. Dad hates it when I skip portions of this in order to train."
" No problem." I replied with a smile before continuing. " I should probably go find my parents anyway before they think I've disappeared."
With that we split up and went our separate ways, smiles on both our faces.
Author's note:
So Steven appeared, what'd you all think? Keep in mind that he's a little younger than when we see him in canon where he's about 25, here he's 21 so he's a little less mature but no less talented.
The spinning doors idea came from a Legends of Korra episode. The spinning movement Liam and Charcadet use is actually something i picked up watching The Dark Knight Rises and then implemented during Taekwondo sparring irl and really liked the results. So I hope i explained it well enough. It will eventually become a key part of how Charcadet fights post evolution.
I would to take a second to acknowledge the reviews I've gotten.
To Walkmanapprenticewordsmith- Yes Charcadet will be a Ceruledge. In regards to Baxicaliber while it's cool looking I don't really want to use more than one pseudo-legendary on Liam's team. In regards to needing a fairy, I'm not overly fond of most fairy mons but maybe we'll see. In regards to you'll Flying type idea I'm not actually sure a flying type is needed since we're going anime rules where fly isn't this absolutely necessary game mechanic so we'll see. Treeco is an interesting pitch I'll put in him in the strong possibility category. I'm not a big fan of Noivern but i could see it's value so maybe. Corviknight while ok wouldn't be my first choice for a flying type so probably not. Yeah no on the Pikachu but i do have a potential electric type in mind depending on how the rest of the team turns out. Liam will indeed meet Ash. His journey and adventures will run simultaneously with Ash's and they will occasionally cross paths. Your rambling is welcome and suggesting pokemon you like is perfectly fine. even if i don't have Liam use them maybe another trainer will.
To Jeyko- Thanks and I'm glad you liked the Charcadet pov.
To Brie45- Probably a no for Eevee simply cause it has to many potential evolutions and I have a Gmax candidate in the form of Inteleon. Clefa while potentially interesting i don't think would be a good fit with existing members but we'll see. Meowth is actually a very interesting suggestion and not something I had previously considered, it'll go in the strong possibility category.
To Runeion- I actually have plans for a character other than Liam to have a Shiny Ralts(Gallade) as his ace so for the sake of not making him less special probably not. Going to be honest Feebas being a water type hurts it's chances, unlikely but maybe.
To NineKings- Yes I'm aware the chapters are a little short. In hindsight I probably could've grouped 1-4 together as one then had 5-6 be one and then 7 and this chapter stand alones. Part of the reason those chapters are shorter was because of a somewhat major rewrite that had me cutting large portions of what I had written because I realized what I was originally going to do probably wouldn't work very well this early. Explaining what I would've done unfortunately falls into spoilers that i don't want to give away just yet so please don't ask. Thanks for saying it was good though.
