Chapter 91; The fanboy
The first day of the Hoenn journey found Sonic awakening from another rough night of nightmares, albeit this time less severe than back in Green Hills.
"I guess one could say I'm starting to hope again. Or maybe I'm just a fool" he thought.
Heading to professor Birch's lab for his official registration as well as to pick his starter pokemon, he found the professor outside with the batch from which Sonic would pick his starter.
"Morning professor".
"Oh good morning. Come, they're ready for you".
Before he could finish his sentence one of the three pokemon, a small golden chick with orange bits jumped off the table approached Sonic, hopping around him and Raichu joyfully.
"Fire type?" Sonic accurately guessed.
"Yes. This is torchic. May also picked a torchic as her partner. It may not look like much at first but when it grows no its final form, it is a devastating fighter".
Sonic knelt and gave the torchic a petting. Torchic was indeed very cute.
"I guess this little guy made the choice for me".
"Actually it's a she. But yeah. I think you two are meant to be" Birch said handing Sonic a pokeball.
Sonic set it on the ground. Torchic knew what to do, headbutting the pokeball, being absorbed and caught immediately.
"And so your journey begins" Birch joked.
"Yeah. The journey to redemption" Sonic thought.
"Anyway, your first destination is Rustboro city. It's a good distance away so you're going to have a lot of time to connect with Torchic".
"I see. Thank you professor.".
"Hey just to make your start a bit easier, would you like a lift to the next town, Oldale town? I got to run some errands there so it will be no trouble. Unless you prefer walking of course".
Sonic accepted the offer, although he was filled with guilt. May, Max and now professor Birch were so nice to him even though they knew what he had done.
As the two rode to Oldale town, Sonic was silent.
"Not much of a talker?" Birch jokingly asked.
"Just a lot on my mind lately" Sonic answered.
"I'd be surprised otherwise. Rumors have been going around about you and your crew a lot. You three took Johto by storm".
"That's only the public point of view. Very few saw the dark times me and my friends faced".
Birch nodded.
After a few more minutes of silence Sonic addressed a question he had.
"Professor… how can you know all I have done to Ash and still treat me normally?"
Birch took a moment before responding.
"Your act of breaking Pikachu's tail was indeed horrible. But even so… coming here to apologize to Ash in person when you could have easily tried texting him or anything that didn't involve travelling… that's something only someone truly sorry would do".
"Yeah I am sorry but still…"
"Oh look! It's a wild mightyena! The evolved form of poochyena!"
Sonic did notice the wild Mightyena and was indeed impressed and bewildered by its terrifying form. He recalled Birch's words from yesterday and tried imagining it as an affectionate pokemon.
As they arrived in Oldale town and Sonic got out of the car, Birch lowered the window.
"I didn't forget what you were trying to say before that Mightyena appeared. My advice to you; try looking inwards too in this journey as well as outwards. You will be surprised at what you may discover. Oh and by the way, when you get to Petalburg, do visit the gym there. It is normally the 5th in line for the challenge but the gym leader, Norman is a good friend and neighbor and, upon hearing from his kids that you were here, requested to meet you. Anyways, got to leave! Good luck on your journey!" he shouted as he drove away.
Sonic, Raichu and Torchic which was sitting on Sonic's shoulder, its legs wrapped around the hedgehog's shoulder for balance.
"Well, you guys hungry? Should we get something and get going?"
Both Pikachu and Torchic were in agreement.
Torchic rubbed against Sonic's cheek joyfully giving him a faint smile.
As he got some supplies for their journey as well as snacks to himself and his pokemon, Sonic looked at Torchic playing with Raichu.
Torchic was so innocent and happy to be in his team. It didn't know his dark deeds.
His mind then drifted to Birch and May. The way they had not cast him aside the moment they learned what he had done to Pikachu.
And then there was also that meeting with gym leader Norman Birch wanted Sonic to have. For him to request to meet Sonic, it meant he was looking past his horrible deed.
"Why?" was all Sonic could wonder as they headed off, officially beginning their journey.
The landscape of Hoenn was unlike Kanto or Johto. The two former regions were seaside regions with mountains in the North. Hoenn was an island region which as the map showed was half land and half sea which intrigued Sonic. Furthermore it contained several habitats Sonic had not traversed before like a desert or just the actual sea. Sure he and his friends had visited Alto Mare but it was more of an excursion. If he was going for the gym challenge, that would require a lot of traveling.
One option was to have his Moltres rejoin him when that time came or even to have Blastoise surf him there. The latter choice wasn't all that appealing to Sonic as the distances were huge but he decided to cross that bridge when he got there.
As the team followed the path, Sonic chewed on a sandwich while Raichu and Torchic shared one, or more accurately, Torchic attempted to eat as much as Raichu but the sandwich was too big for it so it ended up feeding on the bread crumbs that fell off of both Sonic's and Raichu's sandwiches.
Taking in the peace of the moment, Sonic came to a shocking revelation. Throughout both his Kanto and Johto journey, he had very few moments like these. Sure he had bonded with his two teams but it was more so because they were training to fight their enemies.
But now there was no battle to fight. In other words, even though they would train for the league, it wouldn't be as severe a training regime as his previous two were. And therefore the bonding process with Torchic would likely be way different. That was all pretty much an uncharted territory for him.
Although the realisation did give Sonic a sense of peace and control as he had been working with himself to understand what he was feeling eventually, he also realized a lot more.
Throughout his depressive state in Green Hills, he hadn't tried to process his feelings on the deaths of Morrison and Latios as well as the darkness of vengeance he had shoved himself in and come to terms with them. Instead he had shoved them down and acted strong and ok, ironically the same piece of advice Knuckles had given to Morrison's son, Nolan.
In other words, Sonic was finding himself in a much brighter and more peaceful reality and yet he himself had become such a dark individual it was all disturbing and unfamiliar to him.
"How did I allow myself to fall so far?" he thought as he observed Raichu and Torchic play while walking.
The new mindset also allowed Sonic to be more receptive of the world around him. Everything, from the trees to the sky to even a small lake they passed by. All of them seemed like a first time to him.
Along the way, he allowed Torchic to fight off some species they encountered. Before he left Littleroot town, professor Birch updated his pokedex so he would get some info on Hoenn species. Although none of the species they encountered seemed worth catching, grass and bug types like seedot and wurmple made great target practice for Torchic's ember attack.
Having had no previous fire type to train from scratch, Sonic was a bit unimpressed by the low intensity of the ember but didn't allow that to spoil his view on Torchic's potential. After all Knuckles had started with Cyndaquil and the now Typhlosion had been an incredible ally in their battles and a worthy adversary for anyone it came across in the Johto league. Although as he noticed soon, Torchic felt more adept to using scratch instead, looking to be a physical fighter. Sonic smiled as Raichu would be the perfect mentor in that field.
Eventually the trio walked into Petalburg city. As they walked through the streets, he was met with all shorts of reactions ranging from smiles to greetings, to some giggles from girl groups but also some not so pleasant reactions like dirty looks.
"Guess not everyone thinks I had no ill intent back then" Sonic thought. Although he wished back in Green Hills for anyone to have such a reaction, he wasn't sure what to make of it now.
After asking for instructions on how to find the gym, Sonic and his two pokemon arrived. He mentally prepared himself, wondering what this Norman guy wanted with him.
Walking through, they found themselves in a rather normal arena. Nothing to indicate any one specific type.
"Huh. No hints on the typing. That's new".
A door from a side room opened and in walked the man himself. Grey shirt, red blazer, dark blue trousers and dark hair.
Norman smiled upon identifying Sonic.
"So we meet at last. Sonic the hedgehog".
"I heard you wished to meet me. Is it for a battle?"
"Oh the time for that will come. My good friend professor Birch told me you registered for the gym challenge. Though admittedly I am hoping to battle either of your legendary pokemon".
Sonic nodded. Norman looked at him in question.
"It's not the first time a gym leader has told me that" Sonic quickly explained.
"I see. Anyway as I was saying, no, I didn't want to meet you for battle but to introduce you to someone".
Sonic's eyes widened. Introduce him?
A big part of him wanted no part in this but for him to ask something like this out of the blue, literally one day after Sonic arrived in Hoenn, there could actually be a valid reason.
"Ok. And who's the one you want to introduce me to?"
"He'll be here shortly. In the meantime, why don't we spar?"
With those words, he sent out a white ape like pokemon. Intrigued Sonic scanned it with his dex.
"Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokémon. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk, will destroy anything in its path by spinning both arms, and goes more berserk when done".
True to the dex's words, Vigoroth slammed its arms to the ground in anticipation, calling out Raichu.
"Vigo! Vigoroth!"
"Rai!"
"You want it?! Fine!" Sonic heard in his head as Raichu hopped into the arena. It still felt bizarre as throughout his month of depression he couldn't hear Raichu's thoughts. Or it could be a matter of vicinity.
Norman and Sonic stood opposite each other.
"Ready?"
Honestly, Sonic wasn't. He wasn't sure just how much power Raichu could use without seriously injuring Vigoroth. He nodded nonetheless.
"Very well then! Vigoroth! Slash!"
Vigoroth moved with terrifying speed, taking Sonic aback.
Raichu was slashed by the claws but after all it had been through it would take a lot more to beat it. Using its iron tail and with a quick spin, it pushed Vigoroth back.
"Thunder punch!"
Raichu charged forward before Vigoroth regained its footing, delivering a devastating punch. Vigoroth, overwhelmed by the attack, stumbled back before falling over.
Sonic gasped. Had he just done it again? Go too far?
To his relief, Vigoroth sprang back up, rubbing its jaw with a grin.
"Ahahaha" Norman burst out in impressed laughter "just as strong as my family and I witnessed in the Johto league. I think our real battle will be one for the ages".
"Is Vigoroth ok?" Sonic asked in concern.
"But of course. Why wouldn't it be?"
The door of the gym slid open.
"Mr Norman I'm here".
"Right on time. Come in".
Sonic turned and came face to face with a young boy, around Ash's age maybe one or two years older. The boy had green hair, and a rather semi formal outfit of a very light blue jacket, a white buttoned-up shirt and green long trousers.
Upon crossing eyes with Sonic, the boy's eyes gleamed.
"No way! Are you Sonic the hedgehog?! THE Sonic the hedgehog?!" the boy almost screeched as well as getting into Sonic's face.
Sonic took a step back in surprise.
"Well that kid is certainly excited" he thought, unable to utter a word.
"Why yes he is Wally" Norman verified "and since the day has come to get your first pokemon, I couldn't think of a better surprise to accompany that".
He then turned to Sonic.
"Would you be so kind as to help Wally catch his first pokemon? You are already an experienced trainer and I'm to meet up with my children soon so…"
"Oh" Sonic uttered, not expecting such a development "ok. I suppose to wouldn't hurt".
"Really?! You would?! I can't believe it! Sonic the hedgehog will be there when I catch my first pokemon! Somebody pinch me!"
After Norman handed Wally a rental pokemon so Wally could battle whatever he was going to catch, Sonic and Wally headed out back to route 102.
"I can't believe this is happening! I'm like your biggest fan! Your battles are the stuff of legend! Please tell me how did it feel battling the legendary pokemon you've caught?! Or when you battled team rocket's boss?! Are your friends just as cool as you?!"
"Woah woah slow down there kid uh… Wally is it?"
"Yes".
"Look Wally… I'm kind of in a rough patch right now so the questions you ask I don't really want to talk about. Tell me about yourself instead until we find something" Sonic asked him as they walked into a patch of tall grass trying to find anything. Raichu and Torchic took the lead.
"Me? I don't know exactly what to say about myself. I haven't had any cool adventures like you yet".
"Well sure, but why do you want to walk this path? The pokemon's path?"
"To go on this adventure of course. Pretty much everyone knows how you started your journey without planning or even considering it beforehand. I wanted to go on a journey last year but my parents are a bit overprotective and wouldn't let me. Even now they're not fully aware of my intentions".
"You intend to start a journey without telling them? Why would you do that?"
"Oh and now that I remember, you might be wondering why I am going to catch my first pokemon myself instead of receiving it from professor Birch like most trainers do" Wally dodged the question.
Sonic noticed the dodging of the question but the point Wally made was valid so he forgot about it.
"True. Why?"
"Because of you" Wally explained as it witnessed Raichu scare away a poochyena "and your Raichu. I learned how your Raichu was not your first pokemon but the first wild one you caught. But you two have grown into an unrivalled team and I was deeply inspired. Usually trainers tend to bond with their first pokemon deeper than the rest of their team members so I wanted to have a similar experience if possible".
"Oh I see" Sonic said, feeling bad about Wally seeing him as his idol when he felt so rotten inside.
"Hey look at that" Sonic stopped him as they ducked.
In a small clearing of the tall grass was a very peculiar pokemon.
It was very small with a white body and a green hairdo of bangs that covered its forehead and eyes, if it had of course.
"Woah this is rare! I'm going to catch it!" Wally sent out Norman's rental pokemon without much thinking.
A small pokemon called zigzagoon emerged facing down the wild pokemon.
"Alright zigzagoon! Tackle!"
Zigzagoon tackled ralts which cried out and then growled.
"Huh? It doesn't fight back?" Sonic tilted his head in confusion.
"All the better! Tackle again!"
Ralts was tackled again. And again it only growled.
"I think that's enough zigzagoon! Go pokeball!"
The wild pokemon turned into red energy and was absorbed. The pokeball wiggled thrice and clicked, confirming the catch.
"I… I did it! I caught it! My first pokemon!"
Eagerly he sent it out. The small pokemon looked scared at first until Torchic assured it it was in no danger.
"Which pokemon is this?" Wally eagerly asked Sonic.
"No idea. Let's see" Sonic scanned the wild pokemon with his dex.
"Ralts, the Feeling Pokémon. It can use the horns on its head to read human emotions. Ralts rarely shows itself to humans, but may occasionally approach when it senses positive or happy feelings".
"Huh. Guess this little fellow sensed your excitement and allowed you to find it" Sonic surmised.
Ralts turned to Wally and just as the dex suggested used its horns. It confirmed Sonic's assumption as it immediately became more joyful, hopping around and rubbing its head on Wally's leg.
"Glad you're my friend too ralts" Wally took it in his arms and hugged it.
Ralts then hopped back down and used its horn power on Sonic.
Its expression turned from joy to concern and it immediately hugged Sonic's leg with its two tiny hands as if trying to comfort him.
Wally looked at Sonic in question.
"Ralts looks sad. Why would that be? What did it feel in you?"
Sonic hesitated.
"I'd rather not say right now. Anyway, why don't we go back to return the zigzagoon?"
"Oh right. Let's go".
The two trainers got out of the tall grass and back on the path towards Norman's gym.
Along the way, Ralts and Torchic played with each other as they were more like children than Raichu.
At the same time Wally bombarded Sonic with more questions about how he spent time with his pokemon and how he trained them, saying he wanted to be the best trainer he could be for Ralts. Sonic answered all these questions with a single phrase.
"Just be the best version of yourself and the pokemon will grow just fine".
Although the answer was correct, it felt wrong in Wally's ears. Not when it came to its content but the reason it was spoken.
As if Sonic was trying his hardest to remain distant from Wally.
Finally arriving at Norman's gym the two were about to head in when the door opened and someone rushed out, crashing into Sonic.
Sonic and Ash fell down, only looking at each other after the fact.
"Oh great, it's you" Ash sarcastically said.
"Hi to you too".
Norman rushed out.
"Are you kids ok?"
"Yeah. We're just fine. Didn't know he had gotten here before us" Ash added.
"I was just leaving" Sonic added quickly "I only brought Wally back so that he could return your zigzagoon".
"Oh excellent. And I see you caught a rare one" Norman complimented Wally.
"I did sir. And it's thanks to Sonic".
"What are you talking about? You battled and caught it" Sonic reminded Wally.
"But it was thanks to you I found it. Oh by the way, would you help us with training? I'm not sure what to do about it?"
Sonic contemplated whether he should accept or not but Ash beat him to it.
"You might want to reconsider. You would find training with him a little… accident prone".
Sonic felt it is a low blow but didn't object.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Wally fired back.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Let's go guys. Expect me soon Mr Norman. And if you happen to spar with Sonic again, make sure he plays nice".
Afterwards Ash and his squad left, Brock, May and Max not having said a word.
"What's the deal with this guy? He looked familiar but is undeniably a jerk".
"Don't mind him. He may have been a bit sour because Sonic won our small exchange while his Pikachu lost".
"I won? When? The battle stopped because of Wally's arrival".
"Raichu overpowered Vigoroth. That's a victory in my book" Norman shrugged.
It didn't feel like a victory to Sonic but he nodded.
"Though it is questionable why my kids would hang out with him".
"Your kids? Wait. May and Max are your children?" Sonic inquired.
"Yes".
"Oh. I see".
Norman raised his eyebrow in question.
"Oh nothing major. One of my friends who moved back to our hometown recently knew May from here but assumed she was professor Birch's daughter because she saw them together in Rustboro city".
"You a friend of Wave's? May spoke about her plenty of times but their friendship didn't manage to blossom as much as they hoped. As for the misunderstanding, yes May visited Rustboro because we had recently moved and ended up meeting Wave there".
"Oh I see. Yeah my crew and I know Wave she is one of our oldest friends. Also Wave did mention she wants to visit me during my journey here and meet May again in the process".
"I think May will like to know that. Do tell her if you run into her again please".
"Why don't you? I… am probably not exactly welcome in their midst".
"Why would you say that?" Wally inquired but Sonic ignored the question.
"Well… the situation is a bit complicated. But it's better if you do it" Norman replied without going into detail.
Sonic sighed but ended up agreeing.
After bidding goodbye to Norman, Sonic realized it was evening. The day was almost already over.
"Oh shoot I got to home. My mom will be worried sick. Hey um… how do I hide Ralts?"
"Why would you need to?"
"It's… well um… I just don't want them to know yet. They can be a bit much sometimes. Oh and about that training?"
Sonic didn't have the strength to resist anymore so he agreed to spend the night in Petalburg and meet Wally in route 104 the next morning to help him train. Wally profusely thanked the hedgehog before excitedly heading home.
After finding room in a pokemon center as he didn't have the strength to go camping, Sonic just laid in bed thinking about Wally and the fact that the kid had called Ash a jerk even though Sonic was the jerk here.
"At the same time though… how do I tell him his idol is not who he seems to be?" the question lingered in Sonic's mind as he fell asleep, and so did Raichu and Torchic, cuddled together.