Authors Note at the bottom - and while it's mainly me whining and making excuses for being a loser who disappeared for a year, there is a bit of an update about a change I'm making to the story moving forward, so check that out if you care. Or don't. Y'know.
If you're here because you got a new chapter update, it's called 'Interlude Pt. 1' as was posted beween chapters 6 and 7, so go there!
Chapter 10
How Adventures Begin
It was cold. So unbelievably cold.
He'd lost track of how long it had been. Night had fallen, and with it, the temperature. He hadn't thought he could get any colder than he already was.
He was wrong.
He'd stopped shivering. He knew, somewhere in the back of his fog-thickened thoughts, that that was a bad sign. He could barely feel his extremities anymore - which was nice, actually, considering that his leg was broken and it dulled the pain somewhat.
But none of that mattered now.
It was over. For him, at least. He'd reached the end of his tether. If his friends were still looking for him - if they were even still alive - he hadn't found them. He'd been walking for hours, through knee-deep snow, no food or water, no warmth, no shelter. And ultimately, it had come to this. Stranded on top of some gods-forsaken mountain in the middle of nowhere. No one was going to find him. His journey ended here.
He'd collapsed against a boulder, too tired to go on any further. The air up here was so thin. His lungs were burning, every breath seeming incapable of bringing in the oxygen he needed to function. He leaned back against the rock, letting his hazy eyes rake the skies, unsure if the glimmer he was seeing stretched out across the dark were the stars or the tears literally freezing in his eyes.
His fingers were completely numb at this point. Unable to move, but that wasn't a bad thing. In his last act of defiance, he'd somehow managed to recall both Gallade and Leafeon to their balls, and had each of them held fast between his frozen fingers. They wouldn't be able to escape on their own. Not yet, at least. Not until the last of the strength had left his body.
The egg that he'd found now sat between his legs. He didn't know why he hadn't left it behind. He could feel movement inside of it every now and then - or he could, back when he could still feel. The ringing noise sounded out occasionally, but whatever it was, it refused to hatch. Perhaps it, too, was waiting for someone. Someone who would never come.
Gengar lingered nearby. It was said that ghost pokemon could sense death. Could he sense it now? The sun setting on his trainer's life? Did it see the darkness slowly bearing down on him, dimming his vision, numbing the pain and grief? Did it mourn, or did ghost types have some sort of intrinsic understanding of death that superseded human logic or intuition?
Sammy had issued his final command already. When he died, he was to take Leafeon and Gallade's balls and find AJ or Jade. If it couldn't find them, it was to make its way back to Pallet, somehow, and return them to his mother and father. They'd never forgive him - his pokemon, that is. But they'd survive. That was all that mattered to him now.
Leafeon had been his first pokemon. The offspring of his mother's Glaceon and his father's Umbreon. Would his parents ever know what had happened to him? Leafeon had been more than his partner. She was practically his sister. And Gallade had been a gift from his aunt before he'd even left Pallet, as she'd known he'd always been partial to Ralts. AJ had been so mad when she'd found out, claiming he got to have two starter pokemon and that wasn't fair.
Thoughts of AJ made him smile involuntarily, and dimly he could feel the sting as his lips cracked. AJ, with her long hair and cerulean eyes. He'd loved her since they were ten years old, and he'd never told her. Probably for the best. Her friendship meant the world to him, and he'd never want to risk that.
And Jade, with her sharp wit and ceaseless comebacks. They'd become better friends than he could have ever imagined. He could still remember the day when they'd boarded the ship for Hoenn, and AJ, after having been literally shoved by Jade, had asked him to officially travel with them. That was the happiest day of his life. If he was going to die here, then he was content to bask in it, losing himself to memories of happier times with his favorite people as the world gradually slipped away…
The haze thickened, his vision slowly growing white. There was a distant ringing noise, growing louder and louder. Was this… death? He was surprised to find he was scared, but… It wasn't so bad…
Vaguely, he registered the feeling of something moving on his lap. The ringing cut short with a crackle, like ice over a frozen pond. The fog seemed to thicken - no, not fog, snow - and in the back of his head somewhere, Sammy registered that the sky had been clear not even moments before and wasn't that odd?
A new sound reached out to him. Heavy and rhythmic, like the beating of wings.
A shadow darted forward, placing itself in front of him, and for a wild moment, Sammy wondered if his Gengar was going to be the one to spirit him away and how nice that would be. His eyes slowly began to close.
But not before just barely registering the silhouette of something large descending toward him out of the white gloom.
Something seized him physically by the arms, and he was wrenched into the air.
Darkness overtook him.
If there was one thing that Jade absolutely hated, it was awkward silences.
Not that she couldn't appreciate a good silence, of course. She wasn't one of those people who needed to chatter incessantly to fill the empty space, no matter what Sammy said. But awkward silences? Those moments where the quiet presses down on you, thick and uncomfortable as a wet wool, where you struggle to do or say anything because other people are being emotional and you don't wanna accidentally trip a land mine? Yeah, those suck.
She'd always hated being over at a friend's house when one of them got into a fight with their parents. Listening to AJ and Misty go at it in the kitchen at AJ's party had been uncomfortable enough. But this? This was in a whole 'nother league.
Then again, she wasn't sure what she had exactly expected. It wasn't every day that you get lost in the mountains, almost freeze to death, get rescued by a kind old man, then have your best friend's long-lost-and-thought-to-be-dead-daddy just waltz on in like it was a typical Tuesday happening.
Wait, was it even Tuesday today? She honestly had no idea. How long had they been up on this mountain anyway?
At the moment, Jade was standing beside the table in Cole's cabin, helping him clean up after the hasty round of emergency first aid they'd been performing on AJ's pokemon.
They'd been in bad shape. Jade honestly didn't know what was more surprising; that Ash Ketchum was apparently every bit the unstoppable phenom that rumors and legends had always hyped him up to be, or that AJ had not even stood a chance against him. The way his team had so effortlessly and mercilessly driven hers into the ground… Honestly, it was scary. She couldn't even think of another word for it.
They were miles and miles away from the nearest Pokemon Center; Cole had said the closest was over near Victory Road, though apparently the Rangers Station they'd passed through would have been closer. But that would have required them leaving in the night without shelter or supplies, crossing over freezing and unknown terrain filled with aggressive wild pokemon, AJ without her team and still not fully recovered from her brush with death. And it would have meant leaving without Sammy.
That was out of the question, for obvious reasons. So instead, in spite of how unbelievably awkward it was, they were forced to retreat to Cole's cabin for the night.
Ash had left almost immediately, not saying another word to Jade or AJ. Just picked up his things and marched right back out the door.
Jade wasn't really sure how she'd felt about that. On the one hand, how dare he? Just walk out on AJ again like that? Knock her feet out from under her, kick her when she was down, then just waltz off like it wasn't his problem? He may as well have just spat in her face. For the man who was supposedly her father's best friend, the hero of a hundred stories, and - allegedly - the goodest guy to have ever done good, he was seriously coming across like a heartless, arrogant jerk.
On the other hand, however, Jade could almost sympathize. Coming off of what had to be the world's absolute worst first impression - both for him and for AJ - what else could he do? AJ had locked herself away in Cole's bedroom once they'd returned to the cabin, clearly not interested in speaking with anyone, content to wallow in her own misery. The tension in the air had been so thick, Jade was certain she could have carved it with her pinky nail.
It had lessened somewhat after Ash had walked out, except now without AJ for company, Jade found herself alone with Cole. And that was awkward enough in its own right.
No one had said anything - Jade wasn't even sure if AJ had made the connection yet, having been so hyper-focused on the surprise reappearance of her not-so-dead father - but Cole had referred to Ash as his son, and Ash had called him dad… Didn't that mean that Cole was AJ's grandfather? Was this situation going to somehow get even more awkward?!
These Ketchums and their ridiculous drama. Why did she ever let herself get tangled up with them in the first place?
She must have had a look on her face - or maybe Cole had had his fill of awkward silence - because the older man cleared his throat rather pointedly and offered up a hesitant, "You know… You're pretty skilled at this. I was expecting to have to do all of the work myself, but you've got a deft hand."
He was gesturing to the table, indicating the messy collection of used bandages, piles of desiccated herbs and berries, and the mortar and pestle they'd used to mix them together.
Jade shrugged, deciding that any topic of conversation was better than this cloying quiet.
"I learned it from my dad, yeah. He's pretty famous for being a pokemon doctor and breeder. I'm his only kid, so I was kinda forced to learn about it when I was growing up. He likes to bring his work home with him."
"Your father being Brock, yes? Pewter's Gym Leader?"
She nodded, but didn't elaborate, instead busying herself with brushing the leftover plant detritus off of the table with one of the unused rags.
She could feel it, almost like a sixth sense - how badly Cole wanted to segway from her father to Misty. To ask about his daughter-in-law, about AJ, maybe even about Delia. But if he asked, Jade was resolved to stay quiet. It wasn't her place to talk, and to be honest, she wasn't certain that she felt he had the right to know.
So instead, in an attempt to divert the fledgling conversation along another route, she said, "We'd be lost without your knowledge of herbs, though. I mean I know a few things, but a lot of this traditional medicine stuff is lost on me. You taught me a lot."
And she meant that. Cole's first aid kit had hardly been sufficient to treat all of AJ's pokemon, so they'd had to get creative - hence the mess.
Most of AJ's team had actually been fine - well, not fine, but not in any serious danger. Arcanine, Togekiss, and Aegislash were injured, yes, but not terribly so. Jade had helped Cole whip up a large amount of medicine for them to drink to dull the pain of sprains and bruises and speed the healing process - mostly oran and sitrus berries blended with powdered energy root, which was horrifically bitter but effective - then returned them to AJ's pokeballs to sleep. Jade knew from experience, and Cole agreed, that they shouldn't need much more than a day or two of rest before they'd be up and about again.
Pichu and Milotic were another story.
Both had sustained several broken bones during their battle, with Pichu still unconscious and Milotic sporting a terrible burn that covered nearly half the length of her body. Their situations were far more critical - especially Pichu, who clearly had sustained internal trauma and appeared to be having trouble breathing.
They'd all but exhausted Cole's supply of rawst berries trying to make a salve to treat Milotic's burn, creating several bowls of a thick mint green paste that they'd carefully spread along her once-glittering scales. Cole had also made her some foul-smelling concoction using Revival Herbs that had put her straight to sleep, which made the process of spreading the salve and bandaging the wounds a bit easier. She'd been returned to her ball not long after.
Pichu, however, remained outside of his ball, as though AJ couldn't bear to see him leave her sight. They'd done what they could with him, but it was difficult to fashion a splint for his leg considering how small it was, and there wasn't much at all they could do for his internal injuries. They'd bandaged his torso, dribbled as much of Cole's revival herb concoction as they dared down his throat, but ultimately could do nothing more than let him rest.
Right now, he was asleep on Cole's bed. The last she'd checked, AJ had been lying beside him, half curled around him as if she could physically shield him from any more harm, quietly crying where she thought no one could see.
The sight of it had made her skin itch. AJ never cried. It had always seemed like she never knew how.
As Cole picked up one of the baskets of herbs, meaning to return it to the cabinet where it belonged, he made another valiant stab at conversation.
"So… You and AJ been friends for long?"
"Sort of," she replied, picking up the bowl they'd used to crush up the herbs and berries and frowning at it. How were they supposed to clean this without running water? Oh, right - there was snow outside. Duh. "I've known AJ since… forever, it feels like, but I wouldn't say we were really friends until I was twelve, when she dragged me out of my dad's gym and made me go on an adventure."
Cole quirked an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face.
"Sounds like there's a story behind that. Care to share?"
Jade hesitated, aware that he was probably just trying to pull more information out of her about the granddaughter he'd never cared before to meet, but before she could think of a way to tell him off or change the subject, he added, "You don't have to, of course, but we don't have much else in the way of entertainment up in these parts."
Well, that was certainly true. Plus, if she let his attempts at conversation die, the awkward silence was going to come back, and she really didn't think she could stomach any more of that.
Deciding there really wasn't any harm in telling him the story, she gave in and began to talk, opting for the more detailed version if only because that would mean she'd be talking longer and there'd be less uncomfortable quiet.
Maybe Sammy was right. Maybe she did have a problem.
She and AJ had basically been cousins, in a way. In the sense that their parents had always had a sibling-like bond, they lived far away from each other, but they saw each other's faces mostly through holiday cards or the odd visit. Jade had real cousins, of course - her father had what felt like a million siblings - but he'd been older than all of them, which naturally translated to her being the oldest of the next generation of Harrisons. She'd never really been all that close to them as a result - more of a babysitter than a peer.
AJ being closer in age, it probably would have made sense if the two had gravitated towards each other when they were younger. But they didn't. Part of that was the distance and only seeing each other maybe once or twice a year. But the bigger reason had to do with them being such completely different people.
AJ was always the wild child. Running around outside, picking fights, chasing pokemon, getting herself into trouble. Jade was her opposite in almost every respect. She preferred to stay indoors, she cared about her appearance, and while she liked pokemon well enough, she'd never really been all that interested in battling. Oh, she'd probably take over the family gym one day - tradition and all that - but she had no desire to challenge the League, no dreams of being the Champion like most kids her age.
Jade liked her creature comforts. Living alone in her dad's big house. Never having to work all that hard. Getting to laze about. She could admit now that she was older that she'd enjoyed having things handed to her. Expected it, almost. Like she didn't think she'd needed to work for anything.
Which is probably why, when she turned ten, she didn't start her own pokemon journey.
Instead, she'd stayed home, where it was comfortable, where she didn't have to traipse through the wilderness or get chased by Beedrill or learn to get comfortable peeing behind bushes. Most of her friends and family had looked at her like she was crazy, but what did she care? This was her life. Let her live it like she wanted.
She still went to get her license when she turned ten, of course. She may not have any interest in going on some grand life-changing journey like all of her friends, but she still liked pokemon. And it's not like she needed to study for it. Not with everything her father had taught her.
"You're close to your father, aren't you?" Cole had asked, pulling a knobbley broom out of a corner and getting to work, sweeping up the shredded leaves and crushed stems from off of the stone floor. Jade almost asked why he didn't just pull his handy-dandy Slugma out to clean up for him. If she had had an all-purpose Slugma vacuum, she'd use it for just about everything.
"Yeah, I guess," she replied, moving the chairs out of the way so he could more easily reach under the table. "My mom died when I was little, so I'm an only child. My dad was never really the same after, and he started to dote on me kinda excessively. Not that I minded too much. I mean I complained about it loudly, but I secretly loved it. I liked the attention. I kinda feel bad about it now, though. I could be a brat when I wanted to."
"I'm sure he knew how you really felt," he said with a warm smile. "Fathers always know."
He turned his attention back to sweeping, either ignoring or else completely oblivious to the way the awkward tension seemed to come rushing back into the room.
Deciding not to linger on the topic of fathers, Jade pressed on with her story.
Her dad had been surprised and concerned when Jade had told him she didn't want to go on a journey, instead preferring to stay home and work at the gym. The logic being, or so she told him, that she was probably going to inherit the gym from him anyway - which was a fairly bold assertion at the time, but she had been ten - so she may as well spend her time getting as much experience as she could.
She could tell he disapproved, but one of the great things about her dad was that he never tried to force her to do anything. He'd make suggestions, but rarely ever demands, always content to let her find her own way in life so long as she understood that she was responsible for the consequences of whatever actions she took.
"Everything changed the day that AJ showed up in Pewter," she said, taking a seat in one of the chairs she'd pushed aside. All of the cleanup seemed to be done now, save for the sweeping, but that wasn't exactly a two-man job.
It had been almost two years since Jade had received her license and announced that she wasn't going on a journey. She'd been lounging about at home late one afternoon, grooming her Vulpix and watching some trashy celebrity drama on the tv when her father had come home and called her down, announcing they'd had a guest.
If she'd been surprised to see AJ there unexpectedly in her entryway, it had been nothing at the absolute shock evident on AJ's face at seeing her.
"What are you doing here?!" she had asked, looking positively thunderstruck, and when Jade had sarcastically responded that she lived there, AJ had said, "Well sure, but I mean… Why are you here… now? Did you come back to visit? Are you hurt?"
And it was then that both Jade and AJ learned that AJ had had no idea Jade hadn't left on a journey like everyone else.
If anyone had ever needed any evidence that the two hadn't been all that close when they were younger, this was it. Jade had been twelve at the time, two years past the day when she could have started her journey, and AJ had had no idea that she'd chosen not to until just then.
"And she was so… judgy about it," Jade said, laughing to herself as she helped Cole move the chairs back under the table. "AJ had been a very… 'my way or the highway' kinda kid at the time. She didn't have a lot of patience for other people's opinions or perspectives if they were contrary to her own, and I wasn't exactly in the mood to try to justify myself to this short, entitled brat, so we kinda ended up getting in a fight."
Jade took a seat at the newly cleaned table and accepted another steaming cup of cider from Cole with what she hoped was a grateful smile that didn't let on how much she hated sour things. Seriously, was this all this man drank?!
"How did your father react?" Cole asked, seating himself opposite her with his own cup, a look of genuine interest on his face. "You said he liked to let you do your own thing - did he tell you off, or just let you two shout at each other?"
"Dad?" Jade asked, letting out an exasperated noise. "You kidding? The old man planned that interaction from the start. He's an evil mastermind. He just stood in the corner looking all smug while AJ called me ten kinds of idiot, looking down on me with all of her one week's worth of trainer experience behind her. Needless to say, I was pissed."
"So what did you do?"
"I decided I was going to shut her up," she said, taking a sip from her cup and trying not to make a face. The flavor seemed to stab at her tongue like Maractus spines. "After we yelled for a bit, AJ made some comment about me being pathetic or something - I don't really remember what she said, but I just about lost it. So I told her that if I couldn't get anything through that thick skull of hers, then I'd have to beat it in."
"So you challenged her to a battle," Cole said, nodding as though he were following along.
Jade laughed uneasily.
"Uh, no. I mean, yes, but no. When I said I was going to beat it in, I meant literally. I was full-on ready to throw down, no pokemon needed."
"Oh," Cole replied, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah, I can go a little crazy when I snap," Jade continued, smiling ruefully. "Luckily for us, my dad was still there. He said it sounded like a great idea for us to overcome our differences. A pokemon battle, not a… yeah. Put our anger aside, get to know and understand each other through battling, yadda yadda… You know how old guys talk."
Cole's smile let her know he took no offense to that.
"AJ was all for it, of course. Pokemon was all that girl ever thought about. Still is, actually. But I didn't want to. I'd given her enough of my time as it was and I just wanted her gone. AJ tried to make a bet on it, saying that if she won, I had to travel with her on her journey - which, I have no idea why she wanted that, we weren't exactly getting along. But if I won, she'd agree to leave me alone - which, I mean, was pretty stupid. She was going to have to leave Pewter at some point to continue her journey anyway, so I didn't have to battle her to eventually get what I wanted. But then my dad decided to sweeten the pot by saying that the winner would get his badge, and…"
Jade shrugged, remembering the sudden surge of eagerness which had surprised even her.
Trainers who worked at her dad's gym had varying levels, but to move up to the level that got to battle challengers, you had to have earned the Boulder Badge yourself. It wasn't the only requirement, of course, but it was a requirement. Those trainers earned more and didn't have to spend so much time cleaning or feeding the pokemon who lived at the gym.
Normally, she'd have to work at the gym for a couple more years to earn her way up to that rank - that, or beat her dad in an official battle, which she'd never even thought to try doing before. Battling for a badge as a Gym Trainer was different than battling as a challenger. Challengers faced different pokemon depending on how many badges they'd collected, which for Jade was obviously zero. Battling for a badge as a Gym Trainer meant facing him as if you'd earned at least four badges, and she knew she had no hope of that.
But if she could win the badge now, and just by beating this newbie trainer who likely still had no idea what she was doing, then what was the point in waiting?
And so her dad took them both to the Gym that evening after it had closed for the day, having them square off in the central arena while he played referee. It all felt very official, in spite of the fact that it was essentially a grudge match between two irate preteens. She'd been surprised, however, when he told her she wasn't allowed to use the gym's pokemon to battle.
"You're only allowed to use your own pokemon," he had said. "This is a battle about your beliefs. You need to compete using your own strength."
Which was a problem, because the only pokemon Jade actually owned was her Vulpix - a gift from her father when she'd gotten her license. And she didn't really battle with her much. When helping out at the gym, she had always used her dad's pokemon.
To complicate matters, AJ had three pokemon, and when her dad announced that there was no limit on the number of pokemon either party could use, she felt the anger of the apparent unfairness boiling in her belly. Of course he was going to give AJ the advantage. He really didn't want her to win that badge, and he'd always wanted her to go off on a journey just like he had. He'd rigged this!
The battle started, Jade called out her Vulpix and was prepared to match AJ's Pichu with all that she had… only to be surprised when AJ called out a Spearow instead.
"You need to understand," she said to Cole. "I was totally confused. My Vulpix was an Alolan one, so it was an ice type. AJ knew that, yet she still sent out a bird pokemon. I thought she was mocking me, trying to act like she was better than me by sending out a pokemon she knew had the disadvantage."
"And was she?"
Jade could still remember that battle almost perfectly, even now, eight years later. Her Vulpix had taken down AJ's Spearow with almost embarrassing speed. The type advantage mixed with AJ's lack of experience and Spearow's limited training all combined for a very rapid knockout. That, and while Jade hadn't been journeying herself, she had been working at her dad's gym. Despite AJ's insistence that she was the pathetic one, Jade had learned a lot about proper battle strategy.
Powder Snow to knock Spearow out of the air and leave it vulnerable. Tackle to send it out of the ring. The fight had ended before it had even started, and while Jade was left feeling oddly flushed and proud over her first real victory, AJ had looked suddenly stiff and unsure.
She must be sending her Pichu out now, Jade had thought, and had been once again surprised to see a Kakuna take the field.
A bug type? And this time, a cocoon who couldn't even move or attack? Was she just sacrificing her pokemon one by one in some bizarre play at attrition?
When the second round started, AJ tried for a Harden, but it didn't matter. Powder Snow once again to knock it down and make the ground slick. Then her Vulpix didn't even have to use tackle. She just pushed Kakuna out of the ring.
What was going on? Where had all of AJ's bluster and bravado gone? Why talk so big when she had nothing to show for it? Was the girl just an idiot?
Finally, down to her last pokemon, AJ had no choice but to pull out her Pichu, but she did so with some obvious reluctance, like it was the last thing she wanted to be doing. Jade had no idea what that was about - was she trying to protect it because it was still a baby? - but if she won this last fight, then she'd get her dad's badge and prove AJ wrong. It was time to get serious.
The battle between Vulpix and Pichu dragged on for several minutes, full of Tackles and Powder Snows and Sparks. As the seconds ticked by, she could see AJ growing more and more frustrated, shouting at her Pichu, urging it on, trying to encourage it. Jade, however, found herself growing more and more embarrassed, as, in a rare moment of self-reflection, she took stock of the situation and felt a cold, bitter understanding settle on top of her.
Tackle and Powder Snow were about all her Vulpix could throw out. True, Pichu wasn't much better, but AJ at least had the excuse of being a brand new trainer who just started out, and Pichu was a baby. Jade had had her license for two years now. Why hadn't she ever seriously trained her Vulpix? She knew she should have more moves at her disposal - Quick Attack, Aurora Beam, Confuse Ray, Disable. So many things that could easily turn the tide of the battle, but not in her arsenal because she'd always treated Vulpix like a cute pet to cuddle and fawn over and nothing more.
And there was nothing wrong with that - she still believed that to be true. Not everything with pokemon needed to be about battling. But as she faced off now against a newbie trainer two years her junior, it finally occurred to Jade that maybe she'd allowed herself to get a big head because she'd always been using her father's pokemon at the gym when she'd been battling or training. Pokemon she'd had no hand in raising. Pokemon that had all but been given to her, that she hadn't had to struggle and grow with on her own.
Maybe she wasn't ready to be a full Gym Trainer after all.
"So how did the battle end?" Cole asked, sounding far too interested considering how positively embarrassing the entire thing had ended up being.
"With a whimper," Jade said with a shrug. "Pichu charged in with a Spark, but slipped on the icy ground from all the Powder Snows we'd been tossing about. Crashed head-first into Vulpix, which was the intention I guess, and managed to knock her out with the Spark - but Pichu knocked himself out in the process. The battle ended with a double KO."
In a real, high stakes battle, that might have been really exciting. For two idiot new trainers who barely knew what they were doing, it spoke more to how inept they were and how much further they still had to go.
Cole shook his head, looking far too amused for her liking.
"And? Did either of you win the badge?"
"Nope. Dad said we were both disqualified, which meant no one had to hold up their end of the bargain. AJ stormed off back to the pokemon center looking furious. Dad tried to stop her, offered to let her stay at our place since she was practically family, but she brushed him off.
"When we got back home, we didn't speak. I retreated to my room, treated Vulpix, then sat on my bead and stared out the window for hours, thinking. When dawn came, I had already left the house, and left my dad a note telling him I was leaving. I met AJ at the Pokemon Center just when she was about to leave, back to Viridian Forest to train, and I asked if I could go with her."
Jade shrugged, taking one last gulp of the tart beverage before setting her empty cup down on the table. After a momentary hesitation, she pushed it away lest Cole get the idea she wanted a refill.
"And that's that. We've been friends ever since."
If nothing else, Cole certainly had that 'grandfatherly smile' thing down pat.
"Well now, that's quite the tale. I'm a little jealous."
Jade snorted.
"Of what? How much of an idiot I was?"
"We're all idiots at some points in our lives," Cole said, not unkindly. "Truth is, most of us are idiots most of the time. But it sounds like you and AJ had an eventful start to what became a strong and enduring friendship. The sort of friendship that most people can only dream of. I'd say you were fortunate, but friendship takes work and I can tell you've worked hard. I think you've earned the right to be proud - and to expect others to be a little jealous."
Jade smiled softly, her eyes on her fingers as they drummed absently across the empty tabletop.
This was going to be a problem. If Cole kept being this nice, it was going to be tough to hate him.
When Jade entered Cole's room, she found AJ exactly where she'd left her, curled up on her side atop the bedspread next to Pichu.
Her eyes were closed, which made it hard for Jade to tell if she had finally fallen asleep or was merely wallowing in misery.
Deciding not to press the matter, Jade did her best to quietly tiptoe over to the small workbench that had been set up beneath the lone window. She could see AJ and Sammy's belts lying across the top, mixed in among the hammers and chisels and the accumulation of wood shavings. The belts were the sum total of their current worldly possessions. Three belts. Two trainers.
Outside the window, Jade could see the clouds from earlier in the day had parted. The sky was inky black, as dusted with stars as the table before her was with wood shavings. The moon hung not quite round and not quite full above the top of Mt. Silver.
Unbidden, AJ spoke.
"I wasn't trying to show off," she said softly, and Jade tried not to wince at how scratchy her friend's voice sounded.
"I know you weren't," she replied, thinking she was talking about her battle with her father.
"I never wanted Pichu for my starter," AJ continued as though she hadn't heard Jade speak. "I was so mad - so mad that other people kept trying to make me into something I wasn't, that I took it out on him. I refused to use him in that first week. Never trained him, never spent time with him. I caught that Spearow and Weedle so I would have other options, so I wouldn't have to rely on him.
"But he still fought so hard for me in our battle. Even though I didn't deserve it, even though I'd hated him…"
She sniffled, her eyes still locked on her unconscious partner.
"He deserves a better trainer than me."
"Stop it," Jade said, shucking off the kiddie gloves and giving AJ her sternest glare. "He loves you, you love him, and you make an amazing team. You can't let one loss shake you up this much."
AJ didn't respond, but she didn't have to. Jade knew what she was thinking.
This wasn't just about the loss. It was how she had lost. To whom she had lost.
It hadn't taken long, after they'd started traveling together, for AJ to come clean to Jade about how she felt about her father. After a few months of traveling together, of challenging gyms and run-ins with Sammy Oak and a thousand different variations of 'you remind me of your dad' from familiar faces and strangers alike, AJ had reached some sort of limit and had finally let it out in a rush of rage and frustration. How much she hated being compared to him. How much it hurt for everyone to always be celebrating someone who had abandoned her. Her desire to get revenge in the only way she knew how - to beat him at everything and anything he'd ever done. To prove she was better. That she was better without him.
The very foundation of who AJ was as a trainer, of what she wanted to be, had just been upended. She was like a puzzle that had been thrown to the ground, pieces lying in a discordant heap, unrecognizable, not even a semblance left of what she was supposed to be.
For a moment, Jade struggled with finding the words she needed to say. She knew it was time to play the best friend card, but honestly, the drama of this moment was so absurd it made soap operas look mundane in comparison. What would her dad say right now? Probably something like, 'people aren't defined by their mistakes', or 'one bad day can't undo eight years of good ones'. Something old man-ish like that.
Only, Jade never got the chance to say it.
Before she could speak, they heard the unmistakable sound of the front door of the cabin being thrown open, slamming into the wall with a resounding crash that had Jade jerking upright on the stool with a fearful squeak.
Ash's voice rang out throughout the small cabin, loud and clear through the thin wooden walls.
"Someone's entered the sanctuary."
As Jade struggled to calm her suddenly galloping heart rate, confusion started to take over her momentary panic. Sanctuary? What sanctuary? How could there be a sanctuary up in the middle of nowhere?
If Jade's fear was dying down, however, Cole's was just warming up.
"Who?!" he demanded, sounding fearful and, surprisingly, furious. "How?!"
"I don't know," Ash replied tersely, and from the hurried sound of his footsteps, he'd hastily crossed the room. There was a shuffling sound as he presumably gathered a few things. "I just got a message about it. I'm heading there now. Stay here and watch them."
And without another word, Ash was hastening back across the cabin.
"Ash-!" Cole tried, sounding harried, but a moment later the door slammed shut and silence once again engulfed the cabin.
Jade hazarded a glance at AJ.
She was still lying on the bedspread, but she'd lifted her head up at the sudden arrival and had frowned cautiously at the door during the whole spiel. They couldn't see anything through the walls or closed door, of course, but the inner walls were thin and the cabin wasn't exactly large. They'd heard everything.
AJ glanced back at Jade and a silent understanding seemed to pass between them. Hesitantly, Jade rose to her feet and headed back out into the main room.
She found Cole pacing nervously in front of the fireplace, chewing on his thumbnail. He was going to ruin his cuticles that way. Assuming he hadn't already.
"Everything ok?" she asked cautiously.
Cole actually jumped in surprise. That was a sight.
"Fine, lass," he said, running an agitated hand over his gray beard. "Everything's fine."
His tone didn't exactly inspire confidence. Her doubt must have shown on her face, because he added, in a softer voice, "You should stay with your friend. Get some rest. You've had a long day."
She had had a long day. A spectacularly long one. But she wasn't going to be brushed aside that easily.
"What's the sanctuary?"
He flinched.
"Nothin'. It's not important. Don't worry about it."
"It sounded pretty important to me…"
Something irritated seemed to flash across Cole's countenance, letting her know she was pushing too far. She didn't care. She wasn't the type who quelled easily.
"He said someone was in there, right?" Cole seemed to swell for a moment, like he was getting ready to muster all of his old man authority to try and force her to drop the subject, when she hastily added, "Is there any chance it's Sammy?"
The old man blinked in surprise. Clearly, after everything that had gone on today, he'd forgotten about their third friend.
For a wonder, his agitation seemed to decrease somewhat.
"Yes… Yes, that makes sense," he said, running another frazzled hand through his thin hair. "There's a good chance that's who it is."
"Then let's go!" she said, suddenly excited. "If it's him, then-!"
"No, lass. Ash will find him. You need to stay put."
"But if he's hurt-!"
"Girl," Cole said loudly, suddenly stern, and his deep voice had a surprising power to it. "It's full dark out now, and you don't know the mountain as well as we do. Plus, your friend's entire team is down for the count. The last thing we need is for you two to go out wandering about and getting lost again, especially when she can't defend herself."
Jade bit off her retort, looking furious. He may have had a point, but she didn't appreciate being told what to do.
"Ash will find him," Cole repeated. "He'll get him and be back here before you know it. Now, go look after your friend. I'll let you know when they've arrived."
For a moment, Jade stared at him, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Then she turned and returned to the room, closing the door firmly behind her.
AJ was sitting up now, staring at her intently.
"We're not really going to stay put, are we?"
A smile quirked at the corner of her lips. Finally, a bit of AJ's old fire was coming back.
Still, Cole had been right about one thing. AJ's team was down for the count. They wouldn't be able to rely on them.
Jade hated this. Not just being stuck inside while some old dude tried to boss her around. Not just being stuck wondering if Sammy was ok or if he was even alive. She hated not knowing. She hated the idea that there was something going on around her but she had no idea what it was.
Sanctuary? What kind of sanctuary? Why was it some kind of secret? Why did it matter that someone was in it? Because it clearly did. Something must have notified Ash that someone had found it, and if something had notified him, it must be something important. Something they're protecting? Something related to pokemon, surely. There were a lot of introduced species on this mountain. Was that somehow related? And why did it need to be protected? Is that the real reason why Cole and Ash were here?
And Sammy. Cole had forgotten all about him. Hopefully, his Froslass and Braviary were still on the hunt. Assuming he'd ever even sent them out to find him. But if Cole hadn't immediately assumed it was Sammy who had found the sanctuary, then who was it he was expecting? Who did he think would find it? As far as he knew, no one else was on the mountain but them.
Jade, however, knew that wasn't true. There was someone else on the mountain. A kindly, fantastically wealthy man who had found and fed her, helped her find AJ again, and asked for her secrecy. Was that a mistake, then? Was this Sanctuary, whatever it was, what that old man had been looking for? Should she tell Cole? Could she trust him? Either of them?
Ultimately, she decided she didn't care. The sanctuary, whatever it was, didn't matter. These old men and their stupid games didn't matter. None of it mattered.
She'd spent too long sitting around, counting on other people to help Sammy. If you wanted something done properly, you needed to do it yourself.
"Come on," Jade said softly, conscious of how thin the walls were and hoping Cole couldn't hear them - or that if he did, he only heard vague whispering.
"But…"
Jade, who had already crept her way back to the workbench and, more importantly, the window just behind it, glanced back over her shoulder and found AJ gazing down at her still unconscious Pichu with evident distress.
"He'll be fine," she said. "He just needs to sleep."
But when AJ didn't move, Jade sighed and picked up her belt, calling out her Mawile.
"Mawile will keep an eye on him and get Cole if there are any problems. Also, Mawile, make a bit of noise every now and then so he thinks we're still in here."
If her pokemon thought that was an odd command, she didn't comment on it, instead nodding and offering her master twin smiles from both of her mouths - one sweet, the other feral.
"But my team," AJ started again, and Jade felt frustration at AJ's newfound lack of confidence suddenly flooding through her. Where was the girl who, only days ago, had slipped out of her bedroom window and ran away from home on a whim?
Jade picked up Sammy's belt and lobbed it at her, feeling no small bit of satisfaction as it smacked AJ right in the face. Oops.
"There. You have a team. And they'll listen to you because they know you and they'll want to help us find Sammy. Now are you coming or not?"
AJ's hands tightened around Sammy's belt. Lifting her eyes off of her Pichu, she met Jade's gaze and nodded.
Sneaking out of the window, as quietly as they dared, Jade felt a strange surge of… not quite nostalgia. Deja vu? It felt similar to when they'd left AJ's house on Cerulean Cape just a few days ago to set out on a wild adventure together, sure, but it also felt very similar to when AJ had asked Jade to travel with her when they were kids. Only this time, their roles were reversed and it was Jade pulling AJ out of the comfort of isolation and into the wild unknown.
She didn't think she'd ever properly thanked AJ for that. Then again, she'd probably say she never needed to. That's just what best friends do, after all.
There were tracks leading from the cabin. Ash's, she assumed, but it never hurt to make sure.
Calling out her Ninetails to track his scent, they scurried off into the night.
So, uh... Hi.
Well, first off - I'm not dead. So that's good. Sorry for the, uh... honestly, 100% unplanned almost year-long hiatus there. I don't even have a good excuse for it. Like, I didn't come down with 14 separate illnesses, my hands weren't sawed off by a rampaging butterknife, and pirates didn't kidnap my laptop and hold it for ransom until I collected one of ever flavor of jelly bean in the world - or any of the other totally normal things that fanfic authors claim happen to them when they disappear without notice.
I honestly just... lost any and all desire to write. Anything. I dunno. It happens to the best of us. And also the worst, and then there's me, I guess, I dunno.
But I'm back now. Kinda. I hope I can keep up a consistent posting schedule from here out, but we'll see. Feel free to kick me if I've gone quiet for too long. Sometimes, I need a good kick in the pants.
Oh, but I do have an actual update - I actually came to a decision during my impromptu vanishing act. I mentioned back in Chappy 1 that I had another story that I was considering writing that was related to this one. Basically, this was originally one big story, but it was too long, so I cut the other parts out and was writing just the AJ/Ash story, and would maybe do the other half later.
Well, that's silly, because it's... kinda integral to the ending. But it's also too long to stand on its own, especially since the 'heart' of Generations is this story here, the one with AJ and Ash. So here's what I'm going to do instead:
I'm going to be telling a truncated version of the other half of the story, but split it up as 'Interlude' chapters that are spread throughout the larger Ash/AJ story. The Interlude chapters will focus on other characters, like Ethan and Hilda, who aren't on the mountain but who still matter to the overarching narrative. I'm hoping to post the first one this weekend, but I'll probably have to go back and, like, add it in between some earlier chapters so they're spaced well. I'm thinking right after the avalanche. That's cliff-hangery, right?
So yeah. Sorry again. Um. Have a... nice Tuesday? Yeah? Yeah.
Keep it Zesty.