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Cresselia92

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Partners
  1. ho-oh
  2. sneasel-nyula
  3. rayquaza-cress
  4. celebi-shiny
Two teenagers from another dimension looking for their father.
A teenager hunting his father from another dimension.
Somehow, they join forces to oppose a newly formed Team Cipher,
fighting new and more powerful Shadow Pokémon and threatening Ultra Beasts.

A new adventure for three renowned tsunderes begins!


***

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The Meaning of Power

Rating:

Teen

Genres:
Action / Adventure / Friendship

Features:
• Silver, Gladion and Lillie as protagonists!
• Orre, Shadow Pokémon and Shadow Trainers!
• Double Battles and Pokémon Masters-like matches!
• A Giovanni from another dimension!
• Ho-Oh: all rainbows and sunshine!
• A not-so-friendly original Champion!
• Original universe vs Mega Evolution universe!
• Returning characters and main protagonists!
• (Almost) Every game is relevant in some way: Pokken, Masters, Battle Revolution…


Content Warnings:
Cartoon violence.
Near-death situations.
Sparse mentions of blood.

Mild swearing.

***​

Greetings, folks! Here’s a brand new trainerfic by yours truly! :D

So, what is “The Meaning of Power” about? Well, this story acts as a sequel of both Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver and Pokémon Colosseum / XD, as well as a sequel of Pokémon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon.

The main protagonist of this story is Silver of HGSS, former thief and jerk rival who aims to become a better Trainer and, more importantly, a better person.

However, things will soon get awry for him when he will get involved in a massive conflict with invaders from Ultra Space, controlled by someone he wishes he never met: Giovanni, but from another dimension.

However, he won’t be alone in his quest (for better or for worse). Two siblings from yet another dimension will cross into Silver’s world, with two main objectives in mind: hunting down the intergalactic Giovanni and finding out what happened to their own father.

With this said, I hope you’ll enjoy this new story. ^^

***​

⦿ Disk 0: “The Monster… Coach and the Rainbow”

“Flashes of Viridian”
“Shining Leaves and Phantoms of the Past”
“Bullies, Athletes and Golden Bonfires”
“Welcome Aboard the MV Rising Sun!”
“Old Friends, Old Rivals”
• ??? (coming soon)


⦿ Disc 1: “Got Lost in Orre”

???
 
Last edited:
Disc 0, Chapter 1: "Flashes of Viridian"

Cresselia92

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Partners
  1. ho-oh
  2. sneasel-nyula
  3. rayquaza-cress
  4. celebi-shiny
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln


***


[Note: this chapter uses Japanese names of Pokémon, people and locations. I’m making sure to help determine who is who and what is what throughout the narration, however.]


***​


Darkness. There was only cold, wet darkness all around him.

An immense weight had crushed his body and was pushing him further and further toward the abyss. Even if his remaining willpower screamed to react, to get out of that situation, to save himself… he couldn’t.

His mind ringed, blurry and distorted. His forehead throbbed, a red cloud around it. His body was unresponsive, rigid and torn.

A crushing pain pulsated from his entire being, albeit slowly dulling, and his consciousness threatened to leave him at any given moment.

The exhausted lungs burned, on the verge of collapsing…

And then they collapsed. Air went out, water rushed in. His sight blackened and his mind drifted away.

Yes. He knew it. He was dying.

How… How did he end up in that situation…?


***


Disk 0:
The Monster… Coach and the Rainbow!

“Flashes of Viridian”


***​


A few days earlier…


“Nyula, finish it with Ice Punch!”

A dark brown blur with turquoise streaks, and claws cloaked in ice. A swift swipe, followed by a sonorous strike. Then, a dull thump amidst brown leaves.

And just like that, everything ended.

The defeated Spear buzzed wearily on the floor, the entire body of that venomous wasp marred by claw marks and covered in icy crystals. Nearby it landed a Nyula, who stood pridefully over his opponent with spread out arms. With a quick flick of his paws, the frigid energy surrounding the ice weasel's claws dissipated, and he whistled a cheerful victory cry while flashing the white gem on his forehead.

A teenage boy wearing a straw hat stared in disbelief at the barely conscious Spear, flabbergasted and taken aback by the sheer power of his opponents. His entire team… crushed by a lone, brown weasel.

On the other side stood another boy, his face marked by a bored and unsatisfied expression, who shook off some leaves stuck into his red hair.

“Tch. How pathetic,” the redhead grumbled to himself, before crossing his arms and staring at his opponent. “So, I won. You know what you gotta do now.”

“…R-right…”

Sighing, the straw hat boy pointed a blue sphere with a net-like pattern toward the Spear, who turned into a blob of bright energy and vanished inside its Net Ball. Then, he rummaged into his pocket and produced a few banknotes, which he handed over to the redhead.

“700 Poké. This is all I can offer,” said the straw hat boy with a barely audible voice, before lowering his hat to hide the face. “…I gotta take my Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. Huh… s-see ya…”

Without looking back, the straw hat boy scuttled away and disappeared through the foliage, leaving the redhead alone with his Nyula.

“…Hmph. Tokiwa Forest never changes: always full of weak Bug Catchers training weak bug Pokémon,” scoffed the redhead, shaking his head and pocketing the won money. “I can’t believe there are Trainers who struggle against those kids with those cheap strategies…”

He recalled the shocked stares of all the local Bug Catchers he had faced that day, which Nyula defeated all by himself. They never saw their crushing defeats coming.

“I suppose this is a way to weed out talentless people. Only the strongest and most determined Trainers prosper, after all.”

The redhead studied the surrounding oak trees and shrubs. While for most travelers it would have been a challenge to discern a path from the others (and the perpetual darkness permeating the forest didn’t help), that wasn’t an issue at all for the boy. He knew those woods by heart, having navigated through those dirt paths and viridian trees countless of times as a child.

Two paths merging and heading southwest, close to a patch of damp grass brimming with ever-renewed red mushrooms… Yes, the gate for Tokiwa City was nearby.

“Well, at least we’re about to exit from this forest. Let’s go, Nyula.”

However, the only response he got was silence. He blinked and looked at the spot where his Pokémon stood a few seconds ago — empty. Alarmed by his absence, the redhead peered frantically through the forest.

“Nyula? Nyula!”

Dozens of startled hoos filled the air. Alerted by those cries, the redhead whirled toward the ruckus. What he saw was a flock of dazed Hoho, who burst out of the foliage of some yellowing trees. The feathers of the round owls scattered in brown clouds, and their flight was clumsy and disorganized. It seemed like something dangerous scared them.

The redhead observed the fleeing owls who disappeared into the sky, but shifted his attention back to the ground when he heard a chilly whistle besides him. Nyula had returned, beaming a mischievous grin and holding a black arrow-shaped feather in his clawed forepaws. The weasel raised his treasure with one paw and held it close to the long turquoise feather on his left ear, before lowering it to his forehead and brushing his gem with the dark feather.

The redhead stared at the weasel in disbelief. Then he sighed, unamused. “…Did you really have to wake up those Hoho and steal that feather, Nyula?”

Nyula squealed and twirled around, waving the stolen feather and his turquoise pupils gleaming with pride. The gesture meant that yes; he had to steal it.

“We shouldn’t steal anymore, remember? We’re supposed to be the ‘good guys’ now. It was hard enough to shake off that ‘Silver the Thief and his Nyula’ title, so let’s not fall back to those bad habits again. Alright?”

Nyula pouted and exhaled a frigid cloud from his nostrils in mild annoyance. He stared at the feather for a long time, unwilling to let go of his treasure. However, he quickly tossed it aside, pretending to have grown bored with it.

Silver rolled his eyes and shook his head, before walking away from that location with Nyula in tow. He knew well that Nyula were natural-born thieves, and it was a strenuous task to teach them that stealing was wrong. So, he couldn’t really fault his Pokémon for behaving like that — the weasel was following his instincts, and needed some more time to learn how to keep them in check.

Nyula, who took things from others for their own benefit. Just like Silver took Waninoko from Dr. Utsugi’s lab…

He frowned, having detected the thinly veiled irony. ‘We aren’t that different in that regard, are we?’

But the redhead shook his head once more, refusing to bring up those memories. He had left that petty and weaker version of himself behind a long time ago, and the professor had forgiven him for stealing the water crocodile. Ordile really likes you, said that man, and he let Silver keep his Pokémon.

The fact stunned the redhead, but he felt genuine joy and gratefulness toward the professor for understanding and allowing him to keep Ordile. He had… grown very attached to his Pokémon — all of them, actually — and didn’t know what he would have done if the professor ordered him to return Ordile or to separate himself from any of his teammates.

After that event, Silver decided to be a true Trainer — no, the best Trainer — and someone who didn’t need to resort to cheap tactics, robberies, and other workarounds to accomplish his goal.

Speaking of goals…

“…One Badge. All it’s left is the Green Earth Badge.” Silver smirked smugly. “The one issued by Green, the second strongest Trainer of all of Kanto.”

Nyula looked at his Trainer with interest. As a battle-hungry Pokémon himself, he was itching for a genuine challenge. All Trainers faced in the last couple of months had been so weak and predictable. And luckily for him, Silver seemed to have heard his silent request.

“That Green… The grandson of Dr. Ohkido,” mused Silver, thinking about something he had read some time ago. “A talented and resourceful Trainer, who collected all Badges in Kanto in a little less than a year. Because of this, he became the youngest and fastest Champion of the Kanto region… until that other kid dethroned him, that’s it.”

The weasel tilted his head. That other kid…?

“…Red. He’s the one who defeated Green. Another true prodigy, from what I’ve heard. Hailed as some kind of undefeatable Champion and legendary hero. And…”

Silver paused, and his expression darkened. He knew what to say next, but the words were hard for him to utter. He glanced at his partner, who stared at him in confusion, and took a shuddering breath.

“And Hibiki… defeated that Red, a mere week ago…”

To say that Nyula was shocked upon hearing the news would be an understatement. So that annoying, perpetual smiler of a kid, who defeated their team over and over with unnerving ease, had beat one of the strongest Trainers in the entire world. Now that was… impressive.

“Just when I thought to have reached his level… this happens.”

Silver clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. Just thinking about Hibiki’s skills made him question his own achievements as a Trainer. They both started their journeys the same day and at mere hours of difference. And yet, they were at two entirely different levels, with the harsh truth becoming undeniable when they joined forces against Gym Leader Ibuki and former Champion Wataru, by the shrine of the Dragon’s Den.

Hibiki’s Pokémon were a veritable force of nature, evenly matching Wataru’s dragons. Even the almighty Kairyu, that same dragon who cleansed the Team Rocket’s hideout all by himself, could barely withstand the powerful attack that was Bakphoon’s Eruption. The blazing wolverine had become so powerful in so little time… how?

Meanwhile, Silver’s Pokémon? They were just powerful enough to handle Ibuki’s dragons. Despite training non-stop at the den and studying the secrets behind the prowess of Dragon-types — which paid off when Ordile learned Dragon Dance — Silver found frustrating that he didn’t progress as much as he wished. He surely wouldn’t have stood a chance in that battle if he didn’t have Hibiki by his side.

Heck… As much as it pained to admit it, he felt like he had dragged his rival down during that battle, instead.

“…What’s his secret? How did he beat a legendary Trainer, of all things?” He scowled at the dirt path. “Can I even… reach that level?”

Silver blinked when he felt a tug at his pant leg. He looked at Nyula, who flailed his arms and squealed aloud.

When the weasel got his Trainer’s attention, he pointed at Silver’s shirt, right where the redhead kept his Badges, and cloaked his claws in frost. Then, he swiped at the air in front of him, scattering snowflakes around and freezing the grass underneath him. He dispelled the energy and stared at his Trainer, hoping that his message went through.

Silver stared blankly at Nyula, trying to decipher what his Pokémon was saying. The sharpness of those frigid claws… the icy power that cloaked the grass in frost… the gathered Badges…

Was Nyula trying to cheer him up? Something about his power and the Badges?

The Badges… the power… oh! Of course! Those collectibles were the tangible proof of their strength and progress as a team, weren’t they? They had gathered all Badges in Johto and were about to finish collecting the Badges of Kanto. That wasn’t something that many Trainers could brag about.

A determined glare replaced Silver’s defeated scowl. “…I think I get what you’re trying to say, Nyula. What am I thinking? We shouldn’t give up! Not when we’ve come so far!” He smirked with renewed confidence. “We’ll trounce Green, and then we’ll go after Red!” Silver’s eyes narrowed and his smirk widened, a burning cockiness radiating from his dark red pupils. “And as soon as we’ve dealt with Red… Hibiki will follow! Next time we face off, we’re going to crush him!”

Nyula whistled happily, clicking his claws and showing a determined grin of his own. Now that was the confident and cocky Trainer he knew and respected!

Yes. They were going to become Champions soon. All they needed was more power, and defeating Green was the first step toward achieving that.


***​


“Tokiwa City… It really feels weird to be back home, after all this time.”

Silver walked at a sedate pace toward the city and glanced behind. The thick forest was just a mix of orange and viridian shades, and the buzzing of insects made way to the buzzing of urban life. He turned back to the city, his gaze lingering on the bright green roofs and the evergreen trees, and sighed.

“It sure brings back memories…”

Nyula stared into his Trainer’s eyes. They seemed to brim with blissful nostalgia… and painful regret. He whistled a brief cry, then a longer one, then he motioned toward the closest houses. Silver redirected his attention to Nyula, totally at a loss of what his Pokémon said. The houses… what about them?

“Hm? Do you want to know about Tokiwa City?”

Nyula shook his head and pointed a claw toward his Trainer, before motioning again toward the houses.

Silver frowned, still confused. “My… home?”

A whistle and a nod were the weasel’s reply.

“Not yet. We need to go to the Gym and get the last badge.” Silver narrowed his eyes. “Better do that sooner rather than later.”

Now it was Nyula’s turn to be confused. While he was used to his Trainer being expeditious and wanting to conclude matters as soon as possible, he could detect a faint urgency in his voice. The weasel considered inquiring about that, but how could he ask such a question to the redhead? Silver had many qualities, but perceptivity wasn’t one of them.

…Except that it wasn’t completely true. Despite the obvious language barrier between them, Silver could tell that there was something in Nyula’s mind, but he didn’t know how to ask the weasel about his thoughts and how to translate the response.

And not being able to understand his Pokémon was beyond frustrating for the redhead. He was trying hard to get to know his Pokémon better; he really put plenty of effort into that! But despite everything, he still struggled to get what his Pokémon said and meant most of the times.

If only there was an easier way to understand his team…



…Whatever, that was an issue for another time. He needed to stay focused. So, without further ado, he resumed his journey. “C’mon, let’s go! The Gym isn’t far from here.”

Silver and Nyula scurried on the paved road leading to the city, passing by a sign placed between two lampposts: “Tokiwa City, the Eternally Green City”.

The redhead raised an eyebrow: a mostly green city with a green gym, controlled by someone named Green who handed out Green Earth Badges… the irony in all of that was palpable.

As soon as they entered the city, something piqued their attention: a maglev train station, swarming with people who entered and exited the imposing white building. Silver stopped underneath the elevated railroad to study it, and noticed some Coil. He was very familiar with those one-eyed magnets, as he trained one himself, and he deduced that they were looking for some way to drain some electricity. However, they flocked besides a series of steel beams and generated a constant flow of blue electricity. If there was the maglev train… was that a Magnet Rise, perhaps?

All of that was a novelty for Silver. He knew about the Yamabuki Station for Kanto, but didn’t know they had built a station in Tokiwa. When did that happen?

“Things have changed a lot in these past three years, huh…” he mused, before tracing the path of cement and steel with his gaze.

The railroad disappeared among the rocky walls of Mt. Shirogane, the secluded mountain area brimming with powerful and aggressive Pokémon — like the rock-armored draconic Bangiras. Only the strongest and most experienced Trainers could trek into that area because of its infamous dangerousness.

Silver stared pensively at the faraway mountain. It was there where Hibiki faced Red, from what he heard. He scowled at the distant peak and hailstorms and turned around, not wanting to look at the panorama any longer.

‘Focus! One step at a time. First Green, then Red, then Hibiki!’

Silver marched toward the path by the side of the station, forcing Nyula to quicken his own steps. The redhead and his Pokémon noted a cafeteria collocated besides the ticket booth. Passing by it, they heard happy chatters of travelers and loud chirps of Onisuzume. Those red-winged sparrows seemed used to the new station by now, and they checked underneath the tables for stray crumbs and other fallen food.

But above those cries sounded the exclamation of a jovial old man, who was complimenting the barmaid for the fantastic coffee with sake. Even though Silver didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the conversation, he could detect a faint tipsy tone in the man’s voice, and the stacked empty cups spoke by themselves.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Some old man should really lay down on his sake…’ he thought, before redirecting his attention to the road.

After getting through the unusual gathering of people (and making sure Nyula didn’t disappear or try to pickpocket anyone), Silver took a linear and less crowded path, which made him feel more at ease.

Nyula was quick to follow his Trainer, but slowed down momentarily to look at a building on their right. Countless young children gathered around the building, with some of them carrying books under their arms or staging fights with their pet Pokémon — a school, most likely.

“…There it is. The Gym.”

Nyula blinked and stared at Silver, then he followed his Trainer's gaze. Sure enough, he could see the silhouette of the imposing building ahead of them, its copper-colored tiles a stark contrast with the surrounding green roofs. A sign with a stylized half-Poké Ball was placed in the proximities, confirming that what they were seeing was the Gym.

Silver aimed straight to the door, with only one thought in his mind: winning the final Badge. His determination was like a raging fire, fueled by his desire to prove himself… but those flames dissipated when he slammed into the automatic door.

“Oww! What—?!”

Silver took a step back and shook his head, earning a concerned cry from Nyula. He dismissed the mild throbbing of his nose and the worried weasel with a swift hand-wave, and took a step forward. Nothing; the door refused to open.

“…the heck? The Gym is closed?”

He checked out the door and found a note: ‘I’m on an important journey and I won’t be available until the next month. Sorry about the inconvenience, Green.’

…Seriously? The Gym Leader was away? And he only left a note behind? Seriously?

Silver growled, infuriated by the news. “You gotta be kidding me! What kind of Gym Leader leaves their Gym as if it was some holiday home?” he grumbled and stared unhappily at the door. “…The previous Gym Leader wouldn’t have done anything like that…”

He froze when he recalled who was the original leader and shook his head.

“Hmph! And of course he had to abandon everything! Only because he was too cowardly to face the fact that a kid defeated him.” He crossed his arms. “How pathetic.”

Silver gave his back to the Gym, and his gaze zeroed on a southern path. “And I can’t even go to Masara Town and ask Dr. Ohkido where to find his runaway grandson. Last I’ve heard, he’s way more occupied conducting that stupid talk show in Johto than—”

A chilly whistle interrupted his rant, and Silver turned to his Pokémon, who was staring at the door and exhaling a frigid breath on the glass. He could easily infer that the situation disappointed Nyula, if the weasel’s narrowed eyes and twitching claws were any proof.

Silver huffed and shook his head again. “Pah. There’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s just go.”

The duo walked away from the Gym at a much slower pace, the adrenaline and excitement waning significantly. They were so close, and yet so far. Who knew when they would have gotten the chance to get the last Badge? They had to be patient and wait for Green’s return.

However, what could they do in the meantime?

Silver placed his hands in his pockets; a common posture he took whenever he racked his brains. He didn’t like to just sit around and do nothing productive. So, how could he satisfy his battling needs? He had no simple answer to that, aside from… the Battle Tower in Asagi City, perhaps?

After Silver busied himself by crafting the vague semblance of a plan, he noticed that he and Nyula had reached a quieter area of the city close to the Gym, shrouded by dark foliage and filled with intense scents. He glanced around for any familiar landmark, until he realized where his wandering had taken him — home.

Silver stared uneasily at the house, his gaze darting on every single detail of that forgotten building: the cracked white paint peeling off of the walls, the dust-covered windows filled with cobwebs, the wild Koratta crawling through the drainpipes…

Even the names on the mailbox had faded away. Nobody had lived there in a very long time.

“…Wow. Things have gone in the gutter, huh…” he murmured ruefully, feeling a swift but strong tug at his heart.

He gazed at the door. It was a miracle it was still standing, since the wood had marks of fangs in some places and the hinges were rusty and bent. But those details didn’t matter much to Silver, as everything around him vanished in a thick haze and his mind traveled back in time…



In that first memory, the door swung open. A tall man with shoulder-length dark hair exited from the house, getting the attention of a nearby Sidon. The bipedal rhino walked toward him and bent forward, tail thumping on the ground. That action rewarded him with a gentle pat on his head and a crunchy carrot in his jaws.

While Sidon savored the snack, the man diverted his attention from the rocky creature and smiled warmly at a six-year-old Silver.

That was Father. He was the best! The renowned Gym Leader Sakaki, expert of Ground-types and number one Trainer in Kanto. Very few challengers got the Green Earth Badge from him, and his strength as a Trainer was so well known that the Elite Four themselves asked him if he wanted to become one of them someday. That was a great honor!

The man approached Silver and scooped him up in his arms, much to the excitement of the young boy, before returning to his Sidon. Silver stared in awe at the impressive creature, and his Father recounted his latest challenges and victories. While Silver didn’t remember those retellings, the proud and happy tone in his father’s voice was an indelible memory.

Yes. Silver wished to become a great Trainer someday, just like his father. That was his greatest dream…

Another memory; the door swung open. An elderly woman with long dark hair and red clothes exited from the house: that was Grandma Johanna! She told something to Father in a foreign language — Galarish, as Silver found out later — and while the seven-year-old boy couldn’t understand most of what they were discussing, her harsh tone and his father’s crestfallen expression were a clear sign it wasn’t anything pleasant.

She walked away from the door and glared at the young boy, making him back off in fright, and left the house in a limousine. As soon as the car disappeared on the horizon, Silver looked again at his father.

His expression… he would never forget it.

Father was looking so disgruntled, enraged, perhaps even hopeless. His hands clenched into fists and his mouth twisted into a snarl. Also, there was a darkness in those eyes that the young boy had never seen before.

Sidon stepped forward to comfort his Trainer, but Father stopped him by raising a hand. The message was unmistakable — he needed some space.

What did Grandma tell behind those four walls to upset him so much? If only Silver knew…

Another memory; the door swung open. Many men wearing dark clothes and with long whips tied to their grey belts exited from the house and saluted Father with respect. They turned to salute the eight-year-old Silver, who stared blankly at them, and promptly left in some black cross-country vehicles.

Silver looked at his father, Sakaki… no. That wasn’t his name anymore. Now his name was Giovanni, a name meant to strike fear into his opponents’ hearts, but Silver found it very cool.

However, something was bothering Father, who had a perpetual scowl on his face and didn’t smile at him or anyone anymore. All he beamed were fake smirks and scripted words, meant to evoke a confidence and intimidation that weren’t his own. His general appearance had changed, too: he only wore black business suits and kept his hair very short. Not even Sidon’s affectionate gestures could cheer him up anymore.

What happened? Father had never behaved like that before…

Another memory; the door swung open. Father exited from the door, hiding his face with a fedora and carrying a suitcase. He glanced at the dumbstruck ten-year-old Silver, but said nothing. Instead, he just walked away, much to the dismay of his son who ran after him. And then…


“Where are you going, Father? You… aren’t really leaving, are you?”

And yet, here they were. Father was truly leaving, as he didn’t deem himself worthy of his position anymore. Nonsense!

“You told me… you were the number one in the world!”

Acknowledge one defeat… right. As if Father didn’t lose a few times while he worked as a Gym Leader. What was so different about the latest defeat? Was it…? No. Did the entire Team Rocket business and that Trainer have anything to do with all of this?

“Gathering so many only to be defeated by a mere child!”

Father failed, apparently. Failed at what? He didn’t need others! He had reached great heights all by himself! Why didn’t he recognize that? What was he getting at?

“I don't understand you! You don't make any sense!”

One day you will understand…? Sure, whatever. That’s the answer of someone who doesn’t have answers himself. Silver couldn’t believe that such a great Trainer had become a… whimpering coward! Well, he sure as heck wouldn’t follow his path!

“I will become a stronger man all by myself! All by myself!”

With that, he left Father to satisfy whatever caprice he had. So, the great Giovanni didn’t want to face the bitter truth and swallow his pride and ego? Fine! Silver didn’t need him. He didn’t need anyone!

Then he arrived home. The door was still open and Mother was sitting beside it. She had a letter in her hands, holding back her tears and scowling at that dastardly paper. Her Kusaihana stood by her side, releasing an aromatic scent from her bulbous petals and orange leaves and looking at her Trainer in concern.

Silver stared hard at his mother, before kneeling by her side and hugging her. She barely acknowledged the hug, too distraught by her husband’s departure, and Silver felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart.

…Well, they didn’t need that traitorous and weak man in their lives. They would have done everything all by themselves. That was their new path…

Another memory; the door swung open. The twelve-year-old Silver glared at the man with teal hair that stood by the door. What was his name again…? Was it Apollo? Or perhaps Archer, as his subordinates called him?

Tch. Irrelevant, the boy didn’t even want to bother picking a name.

So, the fool wanted to take Father’s place, in more ways than one… and Mother seemed content with that! She even changed her name from Athena to Ariana, signaling that she had joined the circle of Team Rocket. Also, they were planning to look for Father so they could restore Team Rocket to its former glory? And even to have Silver get into the organization so he could become a leader someday?

…No. No. He wouldn’t have accepted that farce. No.

He didn’t want to have anything to do with Team Rocket, or Father, or whatever! Team Rocket was an organization of weak cowards who turned others into weak cowards, and he refused to get himself roped into all of that!

When nighttime came and everyone was sleeping, he opened the door and gazed around, gripping his belt bag. Once assured that there was nobody, he closed the door slowly to not alert anyone and took one last look at his house. He sighed, thinking about the memories he was leaving behind. Then, before he had the chance to reconsider his decision, he fled toward Route 22…

And the door remained closed, three years later. Silver was back to the present, and only then he noticed Nyula squealing frantically. He looked down to meet his Pokémon’s gaze, seeing the concern and anxiety in his pupils. The weasel pointed a claw at the house, then at the redhead.

“…Yes, Nyula. This is my house.” Silver sighed. “Or rather, it used to be.”

Nyula tilted his head and looked quizzically at his Trainer, before looking pensively at the house. No wonder Silver didn’t want to come back: it was in such a sorry state. Also, he saw the purple fur of the Koratta scattered on the grass like thin twinkles, alongside some of their… huh…

No. Nyula wasn’t itching to approach that decaying building, that’s for sure.

Silver crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “So, you saw my house. Are you satisfied now?”

Nyula merely shrugged. Not exactly what he expected to see, but it was something.

“Good. Then I’d say we can just—”

*breeep breeep*

The noisy ring startled Silver and Nyula… and the wild Koratta, who rapidly disappeared into the house. The redhead looked straight at his belt, right where he kept his Pokégear, and produced the device to check it out. Great was his surprise — even if he didn’t show it — when he opened the notification.

A digitalized mail was waiting for him in his Trainer account, sent by an unknown deliverer just a few minutes ago. That was new: nobody had ever sent anything to him.

“A mail? For me?” he asked to no one, rubbing his chin while his pupils brimmed with curiosity. “Could it be… one of those so-called Mystery Gifts?”

Wanting to check out the mysterious delivery, Silver withdrew his Pokégear and started his trek back toward the center of the city. Tokiwa Pokémon Center was their new destination, and any excuse was good to get away from his house and his past.


***​


Silver and Nyula walked into the Pokémon Center and saw some people scattered on the first floor; most Trainers crowded the poison control ward of the medical center, waiting for the doctors and nurses to treat and detoxify their Pokémon.

It was undeniable that poison control was an essential service in Tokiwa. The surrounding wild areas were brimming with Beedle, and it was astonishingly easy to get pricked by a stinger of one of those toxic caterpillars. There were also many Nidoran who swarmed the woods, and there have been many cases of people stung by their toxic spikes, especially during mating seasons.

Also, it wasn’t uncommon for the Poké Mart to run out of antidotes and Pecha Berries. Those remedies sold out much faster than hot cakes.

‘Good thing that none of my Pokémon got poisoned… The PCW seems busier than usual,’ pondered Silver, before looking at the nurse standing by the reception. ‘…But I suppose they could still use a check-up, especially Nyula. I wouldn’t want them to become too weary and get themselves hurt unnecessarily…”

After handing out his Pokémon to the nurse, Silver headed straight to the PC. Nobody was using the device, so he scanned his Trainer Card on the magnetic band reader to log into his account. Sure enough, he found a digitalized letter stored at the end of his inventory.

“Hmm… Who could have sent that?” wondered Silver, gazing at the screen.

With his curiosity piqued, he clicked on the icon of the letter, and a machine installed besides the PC turned on and flashed a white beam. The mysterious letter materialized almost instantly in the stream of light, and as soon as the machine halted, Silver opened the envelope to reveal its content: a couple of papers and a dark blue magnetic card with a stylized white Poké Ball, very similar to a regular Trainer Card.

Silver held the piece of plastic at a fair distance from his face to study it under the artificial light. On the top right he read the text ‘Battle Pass’, and by moving his gaze to the center he read the words ‘Trainer Silver Tsubaki’. There were also seven empty circles: was that some customizable card?

He raised an eyebrow, puzzled by that Battle Pass. He had heard a few things about those cards: sought-off by Trainers and collectors alike for their rarity, since they are sent only to a few small elites of Trainers by the founders of battle parks (like the Battle Frontier) or facilities (like the Battle Maison).

That fact only made him more curious, and he studied the two papers. The first sheet was a timetable with various names of regions and cities, while the other was a letter. He began reading it.


Dear Silver Tsubaki,

The head of our island, Master of Masters Mysterial, is pleased to announce the inauguration of the first Pokétopia Championship in the Colosseum of Stargazer City, Pokétopia.

Master Mysterial’s primary goal is to gather the best Trainers in the entire world and have them compete in exciting battles, all of them with their own unique rules and spins, in one of the most prestigious tournaments to date. Local transportation, accommodation and meals are all covered.

If you are interested, show the Battle Pass we have annexed to this letter and your Trainer ID to the ticket booth at the closest port. We have arranged ships that stop by the principal ports — you can find all the details on the timetable — and the pass will act as your ticket to our beautiful island.

We hope to see you in Pokétopia, the dream place of every Trainer!

Regards,

Joe, Sashay, and Kruger
The Colosseum Masters and Head Organizers



An invitation for a high-level championship with an official stamp… for him. Now that was something Silver would have never expected.

He took a nearby seat and stared at the papers in his hand, then at the blue card, then again at the papers.

He didn’t know what to think. Receiving that invitation was… almost too convenient, especially considering he had just missed his chance to challenge Green.

…What if it was just a well-crafted prank? Or some random spam?

Doubts gnawed at him, so he pulled the invitation closer to his face and checked the letter inquisitively.

A few rubs on the filigrane told him it was a rough paper of excellent workmanship. It wasn’t cheap ink paper, but something very close to vellum. Not the stuff used for childish pranks, throwaway ads, or free leaflets.

Three signatures, very elegant and fluid. He took out his Pokégear and browsed those names with the News Card: real people, and the incoming championship was an actual event. Also, after a quick comparison with the signatures on the official site, he could tell that the signatures on paper weren’t forged. There was no tremor in the lines, and the pen pressure was even.

A purple stamp in the shape of a wizard’s hat, most likely done with a heat stamp, and with a signature on top of it. Another detail that is near impossible to falsify.

There was no doubt in Silver’s mind. The invitation and championship were genuine, and his suspicions turned into a veiled thrill. They had invited him to such a prestigious tournament. That was almost too good to be true.

“Interesting…” he said pensively, rubbing his chin and rereading the letter. “Pokétopia… I’ve never heard about it. Where is it?”

Silver activated the Map Card on the Pokégear, before studying both the maps of Kanto and Johto. But he found nothing.

“Could it be in another region?”

He picked the timetable and scoured through the various names. Mio City, Sinnoh. Aqua Resort, Oblivia. Pueltown, Almia. Summerland, Fiore. Kuchiba City, Kanto.

Silver frowned when he read the date and schedule for Kuchiba City. The ship would depart in less than an hour. He wouldn’t have caught it in time. However… Ah, Asagi City, Johto! The ship would reach that port and depart in two days.

Now that was workable: he could take the maglev train for Kogane City, pass through Enju City, and then he would be in Asagi City by the next day.

Still, he had yet to find out about Pokétopia, so he kept reading.

Minamo City, Hoenn. Neos City, Ferrum. Gateon Port, Orre.

“…Ha. Found it.”

Sure enough, there it was: Pokétopia was in the Orre section, just below Gateon Port. Silver narrowed his eyes.

“Orre…” he muttered, leaning on the seat and pondering about that name. “Hmm… Sounds familiar. Did I hear about it on the news or something?”

Silver crossed his arms and stared at the ceiling. He thought hard about that name until fragments of a buried memory echoed in his mind…

…actions of a young boy… Cipher operatives… trying to take over the entire city… Orre region is endangered again…

He blinked in realization. Yes, he remembered hearing about that crisis. Radio stations all over the world bombarded breaking news after breaking news, with Team Cipher and the stolen Pokémon in Unova on the first page most of the time. Didn’t those accidents happen… almost a year ago?

Team Cipher… Yes. Yet another infamous criminal organization, just like Team Rocket. A syndicate made of imbeciles who pumped their Pokémon with shadows or whatever to strengthen them. Corrupted Pokémon, just to satisfy those dastards’ selfish purposes.

And yet, Silver was ashamed to admit he had entertained the idea at some point, back when he would have gladly let a sick Denryu die if it proved itself useless in battle. Pokémon were just means to an end — if they broke, they could be replaced. Injecting some shadows into some Pokémon to make them much more powerful was a really enticing idea. Battle performance was all that mattered. Who cared about their feelings?



Silver didn’t care, all those years ago, and the thought made his stomach twist and churn. He didn’t even want to fathom what would have happened if he was in Orre during that crisis and they offered him some of those… shadows. No doubt he would have accepted in a heartbeat, ready to send war machines against innocent Trainers to test their powers. Just to test the sheer power of his team.

‘Gods, I was such an idiot back then…’ he reminded himself, the rare traces of sadness and regret seeping into his mind. ‘A heartless monster…’

A strained sigh and his eyes closed. Despite the reluctance to accept facts, deep down he was grateful that Wataru had knocked some sense into him. That the Dragon Tamer had shown him the truth and consequences of his actions, and suggested a way to become a better person. He was far from perfect, and it was tough for him to relate with others, but… he was trying. Only the gods knew he didn’t deserve that chance, not after everything he had done…

But before Silver could sink any deeper into his self-pity, the gentle cry of a Lucky rippled throughout his mind-space. The darkness receded and his eyes snapped open, back to reality. He gazed at the pink egg-shaped Pokémon standing beside the seat; she smiled sweetly at him and pointed toward the reception.

Oh. The check-up was over. Silver nodded in understanding. “Gotcha. Thanks.”

He put the card and papers back into their envelope and stored them in his belt bag, before hurrying past the Pokémon and toward the desk to retrieve his team.

There was a train to catch.


***​


The Tokiwa Station wasn’t crowded anymore. There were only fifteen or sixteen people either sitting on the benches or standing. Not exactly surprising, considering that rush hour was over. Employees working at Silph Co. or similar places had surely taken earlier rides.

Silver leaned against a wall, waiting patiently and away from the crowd. He gazed passively at the screen: the earliest train for Kogane would be there in five minutes. Other five minutes… hopefully, they passed fast enough.

He took a sip of his Psycho Soda. Sweet, perhaps too sweet. And the lime flavor tasted a bit too artificial for his liking. How could those guards by the gates of Yamabuki City drink that saccharine stuff every day without gaining weight or feeling nauseated by the flavor, he didn’t know.

At least his Pokémon liked it, and by drinking some Psycho Soda they could regain some of their stamina quickly… for some mysterious reason.

“Hmm… I wonder why is that. Could it be because they metabolize sugar much faster than humans or something?” mused Silver, staring at the black bubbles painted on the blue can. Then he frowned: why was he even thinking about that? Was he really that bored?

The redhead shook his head and crushed the empty can. “Pah. Whatever. It could be because of some scientific ‘food turned instantly into energy’ mumbo-jumbo, for all I care,” he muttered and threw the junk into a nearby trash bin. After slipping his hands into his pockets — the air was cooler than usual, a clear sign of the incoming autumn — he resumed looking at the empty tracks. Other four minutes.

*crooow-ooown*

Silver blinked. What was that cry? Where did it come from? It sounded… close. Very close.

He turned his head left and right, trying to locate the source of that sound. “Huh? What…?”

*rooooown*

Another cry, but something was different. That time, it seemed like it came from within his head.

“W-what’s going on?” demanded Silver, unnerved by that occurrence.

And then, the redhead felt a strange sensation, which was something akin to a strong tug at his mind. He didn’t know how else he could describe that unknown feeling — it was something difficult to grasp.

The entire station became blurred static, but what shocked Silver the most was seeing a translucent scene playing in front of him, tinted by a light green hue.

Visions of people walking in front of him, all of them wearing kimonos and yukatas with leaf and feather patterns. Were they… ghosts?

Silver mentally scoffed. ‘What nonsense! Ghosts don’t exist! Only Ghost-types are real! …Right?’

And yet, he couldn’t deny what he was seeing. Even after rubbing his eyes with a hand, the phantoms were still there. It took all his willpower to not drop his jaws.

‘Okay, seriously, what’s going on?’

The people vanished in pillars of mist, which converged into a ball of viridian fire. Silver stared in shock at the phantom sun shining over the station and shooting tongues of flames that didn’t burn. It began quivering and losing its shape, producing long and flat appendages that looked like… wings on fire?

The ball exploded, and Silver instinctively shut his eyes. But there was no heat or scorches. Just autumn breeze.

The redhead reopened his eyes, and to his astonishment, everything was back to normal, as if nothing ever happened.

No more green people, green fire, or other green stuff. He could see with clarity the station, the glassy ceiling, the Coil floating around, the train…

…Wait. Train?

「 Tokiwa-eku! Viridian Station! Tokiwa-eku! Viridian Station! 」

Ah! The train! It had arrived, and the last few passengers were already going aboard.

“Drat!”

Silver bolted forward, getting inside the vehicle right before the automatic door closed. He breathed heavily, to recover from both the sudden rush and from… whatever thing happened a while ago.

The redhead glanced outside — no, there weren’t green visions anymore. He blinked in confusion, unable to find an answer to what had just transpired.

“…What the heck just happened? Was it… the work of some Psychic or Ghost Pokémon or something?” he asked to himself, feeling his mind somewhat numb after the experience. But after a few seconds of fruitless questioning, he shook his head and tried to dismiss the event as quickly as he could. “Hmph. Whatever… At least it’s over. If it was the work of some random Pokémon and it tries a similar stunt once more, I’ll send Foodin after it!”

Somewhat annoyed by that unusual string of events, Silver took an empty seat and sat roughly on it. At least he had gotten on the train, and he was on the way to leaving Kanto behind him once more.

*breeep breeep*

Silver sighed audibly. “What now?”

With a disgruntled groan, the redhead reached out for his Pokégear and turned it on; the display shone with a pale green light. Silver checked the notification and saw the blinking icon of a letter. There was a new message… from Hibiki.

Of course. Yet another stinking news to add to a pile of stinking news.

Silver rolled his eyes and pocketed the device. He wasn’t in the mood of replying to that other boy. The wound at his pride was still too fresh.

A whiz sounded from outside, and Silver gazed at the source: a train inspector, holding a whistle in his right hand while a Pikachu stood by his side. The electric mouse lowered herself on all fours and her heart-shaped tail flashed yellow.

Following the signal, multiple Coil surrounded the train. They buzzed noisily and blue static electricity surrounded their bodies. And then, zap and clank! The train started moving, suspended by an electromagnetic force. The train sped up and sped up, zooming on the railroad like a rocket.

When the surroundings became nothing more than blurs of green and brown, Silver leaned comfortably onto his seat and exhaled another deep breath, deciding to put aside all the bad stuff that had happened that day and to focus only on the good stuff that was going to happen, especially the tournament.

It was really happening! Soon, he would reach Kogane, then travel to Asagi to get on the ship for Pokétopia. He was going to take part in the championship… and win, of course! He would show to the world his prowess as a Pokémon Trainer.

“All the other participants should prepare themselves,” he exclaimed, smirking at the reflection on the window, “because I’m gonna win, no matter what!”


***​


Back at the station, the few passengers that got off of the train dispersed quickly. Calm returned and the ticket collector left his post, as that was the end of his shift. When the man left the place to find his replacement, a small hare emerged from behind the counter; his eyes fixed on the empty track, full of curiosity and marvel, while the gems around his neck jingled.

«By the stars! How can humans use the power of Magnet Rise to lift an enormous vehicle of metal like it was nothing?» The figure floated toward the end of the glassy arch, following the suspended railroad and earning a few puzzled looks from a few Coil. «Truly outstanding!»

However, he snapped out of his wonder when he heard a loud buzz. The hare turned toward the source and spotted a small green flatworm crawling amidst the foliage of a pine tree. It glowed with a faint green light before turning invisible.

«Oh, apologies for involuntarily missing your drone, Zygarde. My mind wandered again, kah hah hah! I really can’t help but marvel at humans’ ingenuity,» said the hare, floating toward the not-so-empty branch, making sure that nobody else noticed his presence.

The drone buzzed again and flashed green, earning a nod from the hare.

«Yes. I’m confident about that. He matched the description given to me by my future self — Calyrex from Hereafter,» continued the hare, before closing his eyes. «‘On the day of the start of fall and when the sun is at its highest, go by the station of the city known as Tokiwa City in Kanto, and find the human child with red hair and red eyes. He shall be your temporal eyes and the key of everything.’ This was his last message.»

The drone relayed a buzz and Calyrex gazed at the blank spot.

«Yes. I have linked my mind with that human child to foresee the future. He probably witnessed a few of those events, but I telepathically prodded him to divert his attention elsewhere.» Calyrex frowned. «Unfortunately, my powers are still too weak, so I could only grasp a few fragments of the events to come.»

The drone flashed a reassuring green light, and Calyrex nodded.

«Very well. I shall send my visions, then.»

With that said, Calyrex’s bulb on his head glowed with intense light and he pointed his paw at the invisible flatworm. A psychic link connected Calyrex and all of Zygarde’s cores, with the mindless drone acting as their intercom.

«I saw… a festival. Celebrations for the incoming fall. And then, a rainbow feather… burning… in a pyre… flames… a ship ablaze… otherworldly creatures going berserk… and water, rampaging water. Then… a growing darkness… and black. Only black.»

The light in the bulb dimmed, and Calyrex gazed at the flatworm with a blank expression. «…This is all I could gather.»

Silence reigned for a few seconds before the flatworm quivered and buzzed worriedly. Calyrex lowered his head and rubbed his necklace.

«Yes, indeed. The last vision is foreboding, I’m afraid. The foreboding of an inauspicious result,» he responded, his voice barely audible.

Tension and slow breathing from Calyrex, incessant quivering from the drone. The two legendaries assimilated the information in two different ways, with Calyrex looking visibly torn by what his clairvoyance showed him and Zygarde studying the situation.

But then, the flatworm trilled a long hopeful tune and crawled closer to Calyrex. The hare stared at the spot of the invisible drone with widened eyes.

«Hmm, yes. If the balance of fate will be tipped, then our odds would improve. Drastically, I daresay,» answered Calyrex, showing a curious gaze. «Do you have something in mind?»

A series of buzzes, trills, and chirps came from the drone in rapid sequence. Calyrex floated backward in surprise.

«Oh? This is your plan?» he asked, before pondering Zygarde’s suggestions.

The drone sent an affirmative chirp, and Calyrex gazed intently at the branch in awe. The hare couldn’t stop being impressed by Zygarde’s quick thinking and the fact they always had a solution for any problem. But that made sense, coming from five brains working in unison.

After some careful thinking of his own, Calyrex nodded in agreement. «Yes… It might work finely. But are you sure they will agree to that?»

The drone quivered and chirped a few tweets, its gelatinous core glowing softly.

«Really? This is new to me.» Calyrex tapped his chin thoughtfully. «However, I’m not too surprised. He can read the hearts of humans and has seen the entire world multiple times. He has been searching for so long…» The hare floated closer. «But where are they right now?»

The drone trilled and shook, making Calyrex blink in confusion.

«…On their way to Navel Rock? Why is that?» A series of trills and buzzes was his answer, and the hare nodded. «…I see. This explains quite a few things, actually.» He waved his paw. «But for a swift change of topic, how are things going with your… ally?»

An intense glow illuminated the drone, then it chirped a few times. Even if the message of the flatworm sounded mechanical, the hare could clearly sense the happiness radiating from the cores on another side of the world.

Calyrex smiled. «Ah, it’s good to hear you’re supporting each other and making fine progress. It’s so beautiful and encouraging when we can work so well with humans for the sake of the same cause.»

But then, the drone made a short questioning cry, which made Calyrex frown.

«…My steeds?» The hare lowered his gaze. «Still no trace of them. I scoured lands far and wide, but found nothing. They just… vanished from my tundra, after we vanquished those distortions…»

The flatworm stayed silent for a long time. Then it chirped something with a low tone. It sounded concerned about something.

Calyrex’s pupils shrunk in dread. «You… believe there could be a correlation between their disappearance, those visions of events to come, and the Eternal Eclipse?»

Another short affirmative tune, laced with fear, before it chirped another questioning message.

«I’m afraid I can’t see that far into the future. Something is blocking my powers. Even Celebi can’t travel through the flow of time anymore.» Calyrex looked pensively at the sky. «I suppose Dialga could be responsible, but I can’t think of any good reason for her to perform a time lock.» He shook his head and gazed again at the drone. «If my loyal steeds were still with me, perhaps I could find out the cause…»

The drone trilled something short, but reassuring. There was a brief pause, with Calyrex looking stunned by what he had just heard. Then the hare beamed a smile.

«…I appreciate your help in trying to locate them, Zygarde. I can’t be any more grateful than that.» Calyrex blinked when he sensed that the energy of the drone was very low. «But I believe we should let your drone rest. It seems drained after relaying all those messages.»

The drone buzzed one last time, before crawling toward the top of the tree. It began sunbathing, slowly starting to regain some of its strength.

«Likewise, Zygarde, likewise. I wish you good luck with your search, too.»

Calyrex looked at the horizon, unable to shake off the visions seen with his clairvoyance and the last warning sent by his future self. Pitch black darkness, wilted hopes, and an unseeable future… what did all of that mean?

«Oh, human child. I hope your heart and soul shall be strong enough for what’s awaiting you…»
 
Last edited:

SparklingEspeon

Back on Her Bullshit
Staff
Location
a Terrace of Indeterminate Location in Snowbelle
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. fennekin
  3. zoroark
Hello! I'm here for Catnip... And somehow had no clue this had actually been released, even though I wanted to read it Failmander.png

I only have one chapter to go on, so I'll keep that in mind, but so far I think this story has been a bit of a mixed bag. I feel like there are a bunch of interesting concepts flying around - it's clear you have big plans, from expanding on Silver's backstory to that tournament he was just invited to - but also some things that kind of kept me from enjoying it completely. They're mostly taste, but there were a few things that were a bit hard for me to comprehend at times.

I think that you've very faithfully recreated the atmosphere and feel of the Pokemon Games - While I've never played Gen II, I would definitely have said this is the closest portrayal to Canon Silver that I've ever really read. I also enjoy that you've made an effort to expand upon his childhood and used some of the really obscure Team Rocket lore Madame Boss. Although I can't say semi-sympathetic Giovanni is an angle I expected. While I thought the flashback was nice and definitely expanded on Silver's backstory, the "A white flash" quirk of the narration did kind of throw me off. I later realised you were trying to do the flashback thing, but at first I thought that there was literally a white flash and were they being attacked or something why does the narration not acknowledge thi--oh.

Honestly, that's going to encompass most of my negatives here: that there were little things all around that threw me off, and I had to pause so I could figure out what they were. For instance, one thing that I had trouble parsing was that you used the Japanese names for everything. I wasn't left completely in the dark, as I was able to piece together that "Nyula" meant Sneasel and "Coil" meant Magnemite, but they definitely threw me for a second. I'm assuming that this is a quirk of Silver's POV, since the moment we switch back to Calyrex everything has its normal names again, but you'd probably benefit from a glossary/mention of the different names somewhere, since the only reason I actually caught on to them being the Japanese names was because Dragon's Dance did a similar thing.

My one negative that's not connected to this is that it often feels like whenever Silver talks, he's spouting a bunch of Maid and Butler dialogue/vague proclamations of his internal dialogue in public - which, okay. He's basically talking to himself, or to a pokemon that can't necessarily talk back, for the whole chapter, but even so. His dialogue mostly fell into one of two camps for me: (A) expositional stuff, and (B) extremely anime proclamations in the middle of public. And there may not necessarily be anything wrong with that, if that's the tone you were looking to strike. I'll admit I have a huge bias against really goofy lines like that, because I genuinely can't imagine someone proclaiming something out loud like Silver does on the bullet train IRL and not getting like a thousand weird looks, but that's me.

Two teenagers from another dimension looking for their father,
and another teenager hunting his father from another dimension.

I also felt that this was a bit clunky for a title slogan/blurb. It's a mouthful to read all at once, and there are a lot of repetitions - It's actually a bit hard for me to parse (although that might be the line break's doing).

That said, there are a lot of positives to go around too! This chapter reads like a well-oiled machine, and I liked how many details you threw into the narration - like the bullet train being operated by Magnemite, and all the falsification checks that Silver did when inspecting the envelope. Some of the more out-there things you did this chapter were interesting too, especially with the introduction of Calyrex and the Zygarde cell. I know that you talked a lot about Orre, and it looks like this fic is due to jump right into that with the tournament and everything. Even though it's postgame, I don't really see anything about Orre nowadays and I am so ready for Orre shenanigans Copyka.png

Overall, this is a really interesting start to a fic that looks like it's about to go off the rails soon in a pretty interesting way! There were some things that threw me off at the start, but I enjoyed the expansion open Silver's backstory and the little bits and pieces of lore you threw in. I know I don't have that much to say, mostly because there's only one chapter and I don't think that's enough to get a good handle on this story yet, but I'm interested nonetheless.

Until next time~

~SparklingEspeon

Listening to: Les Betes
 

Jedi Shulk

Master Driver
Hi Cresselia92 the charter art from the discord got me cures about this story. So I read it and I have a good idea of where it's going based off of the opening and ending paragraphs. I infer Silver will got to a festival, then got on a ship to participate in the championship he was invited to only for the ship to be attacked and the opening paragraph is him dying on the shrinking ship.

Now for some witty remarks.

Darkness. There was only cold, wet darkness all around him.

An immense weight had crushed his body and was pushing him further and further toward the abyss. Even if his remaining willpower screamed to react, to get out of that situation, to save himself… he couldn’t.

His mind ringed, blurry and distorted. His forehead throbbed, a red cloud around it. His body was unresponsive, rigid and torn.

A crushing pain pulsated from his entire being, albeit slowly dulling, and his consciousness threatened to leave him at any given moment.

The exhausted lungs burned, on the verge of collapsing…

And then they did. Air went out, water rushed in. His sight blackened and his mind drifted away.

Yes. He knew it. He was dying.

How… How did he end up in that situation…?

Don't worry Isaak well save you.

A few days earlier…

Time reversal sound.

Now it was Nyula’s turn to be confused. While he was used to his Trainer being expeditious and wanting to conclude matters as soon as possible, he could detect a faint urgency in his voice. The weasel considered inquiring about that, but how could he ask such a question to the redhead? Silver had many qualities, but perceptivity wasn’t one of them.

…Except that it wasn’t completely true. Despite the obvious language barrier between them, Silver could tell that there was something in Nyula’s mind, but he didn’t know how to ask the weasel about his thoughts and how to translate the response.

And not being able to understand his Pokémon was beyond frustrating for the redhead. He was trying hard to get to know his Pokémon better; he really put plenty of effort into that! But despite everything, he still struggled to get what his Pokémon said and meant most of the times.

If only there was an easier way to understand his team…

Be careful what you wish for.

An invitation for a high-level championship with an official stamp… for him. Now that was something Silver would have never expected.

He took a nearby seat and stared at the papers in his hand, then at the blue card, then again at the papers.

He didn’t know what to think. Receiving that invitation was… almost too convenient, especially considering he had just missed his chance to challenge Green.

I was going to say too convenient, but Silver had the same idea.

The hare turned toward the source and spotted a small green flatworm crawling amidst the foliage of a pine tree. It glowed with a faint green light before turning invisible.

«Oh, apologies for involuntarily missing your drone, Zygarde. My mind wandered again, kah hah hah! I really can’t help but marvel at humans’ ingenuity,» said the hare, floating toward the not-so-empty branch.

Spy/Coms Zygarde a Pokemon fanfic classic.

The drone relayed a buzz and Calyrex gazed at the blank spot.

«Yes. I have linked my mind with that human child to foresee the future. He probably witnessed a few of those events, but I telepathically prodded him to divert his attention elsewhere.» Calyrex frowned. «Unfortunately, my powers are still too weak, so I could only grasp a few fragments of the events to come.»

So Calyrex is using Silver to get a foresight boost?

«I saw… a festival. Celebrations for the incoming fall. And then, a rainbow feather… burning… in a pyre… flames… a ship ablaze… otherworldly creatures going berserk… and water, a rampaging water. Then… a growing darkness… and black. Only black.»

The light in the bulb dimmed, and Calyrex gazed at the flatworm with a blank expression. «…This is all I could gather.»



«…My steeds?» The hare lowered his gaze. «Still no trace of them. I scoured lands far and wide, but found nothing. They just… vanished from my tundra, some time after we vanquished those distortions…»

So post gen 8 DLC?

Calyrex’s pupils shrunk in dread. «You… believe there could be a correlation between their disappearance, those visions of events to come, and the Eternal Eclipse?»

I think that was a Z move.

«I’m afraid I can’t see that far into the future. Something is blocking my powers. Even Celebi can’t travel through the flow of time anymore.» Calyrex looked pensively at the sky. «I suppose Dialga could be responsible, but I can’t think of any good reason for her to perform a time lock.» He shook his head and gazed again at the drone. «If my loyal steeds were still with me, perhaps I could find out the cause…»

Time is not with Calyrex.
 

Equitial

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
he/him
Partners
  1. espurr
  2. inkay
  3. woobat
  4. ralts
[Note: this chapter uses Japanese names of Pokémon, people and locations. I’m making sure to help determine who is who and what is what throughout the narration, however.]

Quick note before I get into the meat of the chapter – I was never confused by any of the Japanese terms! I was a bit concerned going in, but the description applied to Pokémon and other terms made things perfectly clear. I also think that this choice lends to the atmosphere of the chapter.

I have to admit that I have a bias against the type of flash-forward openings you used for your first scene. To me, it can feel a bit like a cheat; an easy method to start your chapter in a compelling way without actually making your start compelling. I’m not saying your chapter is uncompelling (I did like it) but that is my first impression whenever I read those types of things.

The official start of the chapter (or disc?) I quite liked though! It does start with action, albeit less pressing, hah. However, it leads nicely into the focus on Silver’s character! I like your take on how he’d be after the events after the HG/SS. He’s still definitely Silver, intensely ambitious and somewhat acidic, but he’s a better Silver. I’m looking forward to reading about a flawed character who's trying his hardest to improve himself.

I especially liked his interactions with Nyula. This was touched on more when he thought about Shadow Pokémon in Orre, but he used to be not good in that regard, so it’s heartening to see that’s he’s legitimately fond of his Pokémon now. Teammates, not tools, and I’m looking forward to see his dynamics with other members of his team and just other Pokémon.

Speaking of Pokémon:

Nyula squealed and twirled around, waving the stolen feather and his turquoise pupils gleaming with pride. The gesture meant that yes; he had to steal it.

Aw, Nyula was cute in this 😁. I really like how you portrayed him. His attempts to communicate with Silver were endearing, as well as his affection toward his trainer. It can be difficult to portray a character who can’t contribute their own dialogue, but Nyula came through well. He’s a darling!

Other things I noticed in this first scene are the game-y elements of this fic.

“…Hmph. Tokiwa Forest never changes: always full of weak Bug Catchers training weak bug Pokémon,” scoffed the redhead, shaking his head and pocketing the won money.

I instantly noticed Bug Catcher being capitalized. I’ll get into more of my thoughts later in the review. I also noticed that Silver’s dialogue felt like video game dialogue as well? I’m struggling to articulate my exact impression, but it feels a bit artificial, more direct than usual dialogue. It wouldn’t feel out of place if I were reading it in a text box, but in prose it felt a bit jarring in the beginning. However, as I read on, it became more natural to me. I feel like this is a purposeful stylistic choice? Either way, a bit confusing at first, but then it slotted in with the tone of the rest of the fic.

Smaller nitpick: I found referring to Silver as “the redhead” to be somewhat distracting. We’re in omniscient third instead of limited, but it felt off to me. I don’t think there’s any particular advantage gained by withholding his name; even if you hadn’t stated Silver would be a protagonist in the synopsis, most readers would guess by the Nyula/Sneasel, red hair, and personality who it is.

Moving on, when Silver enters Viridian Tokiwa City, the description utterly brimmed with vivid details. The setting was lovely. I also liked all the callbacks to the games, some of which were quite creative and some of which lended more questions about the worldbuilding.

But above them all sounded the exclamation of a jovial old man, who was complimenting the barmaid for the fantastic coffee with sake.

I particularly like this reference. This calls back to the fact that the old man was drunk in the original games, but was softened to only wanting coffee in the English releases, yes?

His determination was like a raging fire, fueled by his desire to prove himself… but those flames dissipated when he slammed into the automatic door.

“Oww! What—?!”

This just made me giggle.

Many men wearing dark clothes and with long whips tied to their grey belts exited from the house and saluted Father with respect.

This description of Team Rocket is interesting. Rockets only had whips in the original games; they were removed later on. What does this say about Silver’s particular universe? I don’t know quite where you’re going with the multiverses, but all this is very intriguing…

Speaking of Rockets. I’m interested in the interpretation of Giovanni in this fic. Your take was more sympathetic than I expected; I never imagined Giovanni was ever a warm father, but his affection during the beginning was noteworthy. Silver and his father’s relationship is quite complex, and I’m the most interested to see where you take this. I know with multiverses Silver will see his father again in one way or the other. It makes me wonder how alternate Giovanni’s will compare to Silver’s own. Will he get to see his original father too?

In the rest of the chapter, Silver gets sent an invitation to some sort of competition. It must be a catalyst to the main plot, but I’m not sure how that will fit in yet. It amplified Silver’s current internal conflicts with seeking to prove himself, though.

I felt like the last scenes dragged on a bit. It maybe feels like you have a lot of concepts you’re trying to fit in, but it’s difficult to pace them with the actual story? The beginning of the scene where Silver sees ghosts I feel like could have trimmed; lagged a bit getting to the main point. The final scene with Calyrex and Zygarde felt significantly too long for me. There’s a lot of mystery, but maybe too much. I can only have so many mysterious details thrown at me before I have trouble keeping up.

All in all, I think this chapter served as a nice introduction to Silver’s character, though the ending parts dragged somewhat. Your interpretations of the canon characters are what interest me the most; I’m eager to see what you do with Silver as well as other characters to be introduced

Generally your writing was clear and detailed, but I spotted some ways in which it could be compressed. In particular, I noticed filter words, clarifications about character emotions that aren’t needed, and overly complex description.

Some examples:

And luckily for him, Silver seemed to have heard his silent request.

Nyula stared into his Trainer’s eyes. They seemed brimming with blissful nostalgia… and painful regret.

Those two sections use “seem” when I don’t think they should. In the former, Silver explicitly demonstrates that he heard the request quite concretely. In the latter, “seem” would be appropriate if this scene were in third person limited from Nyula perspective, but we look into every one of the characters’ heads. I don’t see the point of writing “seemed” – just say his eyes brimmed.

Silver redirected his attention to Nyula, totally at a loss of what his Pokémon said. The houses… what about them? “Hm? Do you want to know about Tokiwa City?”

He raised an eyebrow, puzzled by that Battle Pass.

In these passages, you demonstrate emotion through body language or context, but write it out anyway. In the first, you portray Silver being at a loss via his internal and external dialogue. In the latter, the raised eyebrow in the context indicates puzzlement on its own.

Here and there I noticed lines that could be phrased more concisely. Here is the most noteworthy example.

On the top right he read the text ‘Battle Pass’, and by moving his gaze to the center he read the words ‘Trainer Silver Tsubaki’.

The second part of the sentence uses quite a few words when you could have just said, “in the center.” Generally your prose reads wells, but I think you have a slight tendency to overexplain.


Typos:

I’m on an important travel

“Travel” doesn’t quite work here. You could substitute “trip” or say instead “I’m out on important business.”

he murmured ruefully, feeling a swift but strong thug at his heart.
which was something akin to a strong thug at his mind.

I’m assuming you mean “tug” instead of “thug.”

The redhead and his Pokémon noted a cafeteria collocated besides the ticket booth.

The word “collocated” usually refers to words which are commonly used together, for example “maiden voyage.” It can mean to be placed side by side, but that is noted to be a rare use of that word. In that case, you’d probably be better off using a more common synonym.

(I had to look "collocated" up :P)

Also, I noticed a word mix-up several times in the chapter. Above, and for example also here.

some Coil — one-eyed creatures with magnets and bolts — flocking besides a series of steel beams and generating a constant flow of blue electricity
“Besides” is a synonym for “except.” The word you want is “beside” with no 's'. "Beside" refers to location.

Nearby it landed a Nyula

You either want “Near it landed a Nyula” or “Nearby landed a Nyula.”

Other four minutes, almost three.

“Only four minutes.”
 

Shiny Phantump

Through Dream, I Travel
Location
Hallownest
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. sylveon
  2. absol-mega
  3. silvally-psychic
  4. ninetales-phantump
  5. cosmog
  6. gallade-phantump
  7. ceruledge-phantump
All the things I was multiquoting got forgotten, and I went through a lot faster this time. I had more things quoted for take one, I think... But anyways, here goes take two:

Gladion and Lillie as protagonists!
I'm sold let's go.
Tokiwa Forest never changes: always full of weak Bug Catchers training weak bug Pokémon
I find it odd that the first real impression we're getting of this Silver is that he's still a jerk trainer, because the rest of the chapter really doesn't seem to be going for that. I get the sense you're trying to imply he hasn't gone entirely heel-face turn, but it seems an odd choice for a first impression when that doesn't seem to be the way his character is leaning overall.
Nyula had returned, beaming a mischievous grin and holding a black arrow-shaped feather in his clawed forepaws.
I love Nyula!

Also, Nyula is such a cute "name" for Sneasel! I only wish it didn't come with all the name confusion for the other species. Or all the other places. Or the character names... I'll get back to that point later.
Silver the Thief and his Nyula
Yes thank you I love it. I can't put a finger on why but something about "Silver the Theif and his Nyula" is just... *chef's kiss.*
If only there was an easier way to understand his team…
Hmm. For one reason or another, my foreshadowing sense is tingling...
First Green, then Red, then Hibiki!
This stark contrast really does highlight the name weirdness. Like, don't get me wrong, I like the flavour the names add, but... I still don't know who Hibiki is, and that should probably come first.
…Seriously? The Gym Leader was away? And he only left a note behind? Seriously?
You're telling me this punk didn't get made to done one dumb sidequest this whole time? Bah. Welcome to the real world, Silver. Gym Leaders have lives, they don't just live in the gyms 24/7. Who do you think they are, elementary school teachers?

...

I feel like I had more to say, but... if there was, I've forgotten it. Despite my name gripes, (which were disproportionately represented in the quotes I managed to re-add before forgetting,) I did really like this. I'm looking forward to more, especially if that mean Gladion and Lillie. (I'm a sucker for Sun/Moon, sue me.)
 

Flyg0n

Flygon connoisseur
Pronouns
She/her
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. swampert
  3. ho-oh
  4. crobat
  5. orbeetle
  6. joltik
  7. salandit
  8. tyrantrum
Time for my review blitz! Gonna have a shot at this with my new rating system. I'll discuss 7 key points I think are critical in any story.
[Main Character, Side Character, Plot, Subplot, Antagonist, Theme, Prose]

MC: Silver here seems very well written. You've given solid insight into his psyche and character. I can see that he's troubled and desires to change and become a better trainer and person. I like the additions of the flashbacks to give some context. And his relationship with Sneasel was very cute! I loved how he still seems to retain his attitude towards other people even as his affection towards Nyula stays in place.

Side character: technically your story hasn't exactly revealed its side character yet since its only chapter one. That said, if I count Nyula the Sneasel as a side character then I give this story a pass! Nyula is adorable, has some very nice moments of characterization. I enjoyed seeing little bits of her personality.

Plot: Hard to judge too much plot yet since, again, chap 1. But what I've seen so far is interesting. I can tell that there's something strange going on with Silver, and this tournament. Also, is that Calyrex I see? Gotta say, I wasn't expecting such a recent legendary to make an appearance! It seems Calyrex and Zygarde are colluding about something.... wonder what it is.

Subplot: Silver's growth seems like it will be a central subplot. You've planted good seeds for beginning subplot with him. He's struggling to be better but also can't understand why he's so far behind his rivals. I thoroughly look forward to seeing how his character will grow and evolve.

Antagonist: Nothing to say about this for now. Giovanni is interesting though... hm

Theme: I'll skip this for now, until I get further.

Prose: Your prose is very enjoyable! I liked your style a lot. There were a few grammar errors or missed words, but overall everything was fairly clear. The only part that threw me was the 'white flash' in the flashback which was honestly confusing for me to read, and made me pause. While it would work great for animation, I feel like it jars me too much in writing. If you're attached to using a flash though...

*flash*

The door swung open. Many men wearing dark clothes and with long whips tied to their grey belts exited from the house and saluted Father with respect. They turned to salute the eight-year-old Silver, who stared blankly at them, and promptly left in some black cross-country vehicles.

Silver looked at his father, Sakaki… no. That wasn’t his name anymore. Now his name was Giovanni, a name meant to strike fear into his opponents’ hearts, but Silver found it very cool.

However, something was bothering Father, who had a perpetual scowl on his face and didn’t smile at him or anyone anymore. All he beamed were fake smirks and scripted words, meant to evoke a confidence and intimidation that weren’t his own. His general appearance had changed, too: he only wore black business suits and kept his hair very short. Not even Sidon’s affectionate gestures could cheer him up anymore.

What happened? Father had never behaved like that before…

*flash*

The door swung open. Father exited from the door, hiding his face with a fedora and carrying a suitcase. He glanced at the dumbstruck ten-year-old Silver, but said nothing. Instead, he just walked away, much to the dismay of his son who ran after him. And then…


*flash*

Or something like that. Even so, I might recommend ditching it entirely and opting for just line breaks or something.

Otherwise, everything else was pretty good. The Japanese names still give me pause, although you did a good job describing things well enough.

A few line comments:

Silver found frustrating that he didn’t progress as much as he wished. He surely wouldn’t have stood a chance in that battle if he didn’t have Hibiki by his side.
I believe this should be 'Silver found it frustrating'

The redhead raised an eyebrow: a mostly green city with a green gym, controlled by someone named Green who handed out Green Earth Badges… the irony in all of that was palpable.
Ah, I love the pokemon world. :3

“Pah. There’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s just go.”
I enjoy these dialogue ticks like 'Pah' and 'tch'. They feel very videogamey, which if that was intentional, good work. I'm always a sucker for things that feel like the source material.

The duo walked away from the Gym at a much slower pacing
'slower pace' works better, I think.

With his curiosity piqued, he clicked on the icon of the letter, and a machine installed besides
'installed beside' is the proper use I think.

…What if it was just a well-crafted prank? Or some random spam?

Doubts gnawed at him, so he pulled the invitation closer to his face and checked the letter inquisitively.

A few rubs on the filigrane told him it was a rough paper of excellent workmanship. It wasn’t cheap ink paper, but something very close to vellum. Not the stuff used for childish pranks, throwaway ads, or free leaflets.

Three signatures, very elegant and fluid. He took out his Pokégear and browsed those names with the News Card: real people, and the incoming championship was an actual event. Also, after a quick comparison with the signatures on the official site, he could tell that the signatures on paper weren’t forged. There was no tremor in the lines, and the pen pressure was even.

A purple stamp in the shape of a wizard’s hat, most likely done with a heat stamp, and with a signature on top of it. Another detail near impossible to falsify.

There was no doubt in Silver’s mind. The invitation and championship were genuine, and his suspicions turned into veiled thrill. They had invited him to such a prestigious tournament. That was almost too good to be true.
This part stood out to me. I really enjoyed seeing the little details Silver knew to look for to see if the letter was faked. It adds to his character and the fact that given his background, he would know what to look for.

Other five minutes… hopefully they passed fast enough.
This sentence confuses me. I am not sure what 'other five minutes' means? It reads odd.

The electric mouse lowered herself on all four and her heart-shaped tail flashed yellow.

'lowered herself on al fours' I think.

Nice detail about the heart shaped tail!

Other than that, everything looks good. I like everything so far and I really can't wait to read more!
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
I have been meaning to read this, and our review exchange and Review Blitz was a good time!

Like Pen's fic, the one thing that threw me off was the use of Japanese names - again I'm not much of a fan of anything but localized names - but like them you also have good workarounds. Like your descriptions of the Pokemon species were good enough I could immediately tell, like "oh, it's THAT pokemon"

I love seeing Silver fics, he's fun. The way you write his personality is great, and I love his relationship with his Sneasel and the looks into his backstory. The flashbacks are definitely anxiety-inducing! I see you went with the "Alana is Silver's mom" headcanon, makes sense. But who are these mysterious other preople, especially if one is Galarian? Adds an intresting wrinkle to things. And what did make Giovanni fucking snap? I am. Very intrigued.

Silver's struggle to get into the gym was fun, I wonder what role Green has in this story. Also the Poketopia people! You gave Battle Revolution some love! No one does that! Not even I've considered doing that and I am fucking determined to scour every corner of canon I can. Nice job.

Also. Caleryx and Zygarde! Good to see them here. I love their interactions, and their methods of communication. There's very much something foreboding on the horizon, and given what you've mentioned about this fic hoo boy.


Can't wait for more of this! I know you have big plans. Really big.
 
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Navar

Professional Mudkip Lover
Location
Brazil
Pronouns
He/Him
Partners
  1. swampert
  2. chesnaught-apron
  3. lucario-mega
Hi Cress! Here for the Blitz! Wow, this chapter was so fun to read! Truly, an amazing experience from start to finish. I'll give you my thoughts now, but to be honest, I'm really impressed with your work!

Okay. So we have Silver, the rival from the Johto games, as the protagonist. A nice choice, I must say, Silver is an interesting character, and watching him develop from edgy boy to a kinder person was fun to see in the games and specially the manga. I can tell you're passionate about his character and because of that, I'm invested on him. I want to see him grow and change as the story continues. In other words, I'm sold on him as a protagonist!

Now, we're introduced to the main plot. A trip to the Orre region. If I'm not mistaken, that's the region from XD? Sorry, I never actually played those games, and only know them from the Shadow Pokémon, which, by the way, I'm looking forward to read about! It's something I wish Gamefreak expanded more upon, but nonetheless, guess we gotta read to know about them, right?

So Silver decides to join the tournament. I am curious about who sent him the invitation, and for a few moments I assumed it would be Giovanni, but probably not, now that I think about it. With that in mind, I guess the plot has kicked in. Cool!

And that last scene... Calyrex! I know almost nothing about Gen 8, but I do know that Calyrex is a nice Legend, so kudos for choosing him!

Well, those were my thoughts so far! I'm very excited to see how this story goes, and I think I'm reading the next chapter as soon as you upload it!


navarchu_blitz.png
 

IFBench

Rescue Team Member
Location
Pokemon Paradise
Partners
  1. chikorita-saltriv
  2. bench-gen
  3. charmander
  4. snivy
  5. treecko
  6. tropius
  7. arctozolt
  8. wartortle
I'm really intrigued by the beginning of this chapter, showing a character dying, then rewinding a few days. It's a very good hook for the rest of the chapter!

The battle and scene right after is a great introduction to Silver's and Nyula's personalities! Silver still cares a lot about power, and Nyula is still sort of stuck in their thievery days. Nicely done!

Looks like Silver still really wants to beat Hibiki, and is a bit discouraged from hearing that Hibiki beat Red. Very interesting.

The flashback at Silver's house showing his family gradually falling apart was very well done! Seeing the house all broken and decayed, then showing how it was when everything was ok, how everything spiraled downwards as the years went on, seeing Silver gradually become more and more bitter...I teared up a bit at the end there.

The letter Silver received is very interesting! Seems like a Masters-esque tournament is happening, in Orre of all places! I'm excited to see how this goes.

The bit where Silver realizes that he'd have used Shadow Pokemon back then if he had the opportunity to is absolutely amazing. It shows just how far Silver's character development has come, from caring about little other than power, to caring about his Pokemon for who they are, and slowly but surely trying to become a better person. This was excellently done.

The scene on the train with the "ghosts" raises a lot of questions. Just what are they? Why could only Silver see them? What was that ball and those wings of fire about? It leaves me wanting to not stop reading until I learn more.

Then there's the notification of the message from Hibiki. I wonder what that was about? Maybe it's about the tournament?

Despite everything, Silver is still rather arrogant, going by that final line of his. I'm interested to see his character development continue in this fic.

The ending bit with Calyrex and the Zygarde cell was very intriguing! It's not often you see Calyrex in fics, and it looks like they're going to have a pretty big role in this! Seems like Calyrex was the one who caused Silver to see the "ghosts". I wonder what those visions Calyrex had are all about, and what they and Zygarde's plan is?

Overall, I really, REALLY liked this, and am excited to read more!
 

kintsugi

golden scars | pfp by sun
Location
the warmth of summer in the songs you write
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. silvally-grass
  2. lapras
  3. golurk
  4. booper-kintsugi
  5. meloetta-kint-muse
  6. meloetta-kint-dancer
  7. murkrow
  8. yveltal
hi Cress! here as your review blitz prize

I thought this was a really interesting opening! I always find your fics fun because of how many things you manage to juggle and tie together, especially connections that aren't immediately obvious--I personally don't see the relation between Calyrex and Zygarde, or Orre and Gladion, but I trust that you'll find a way to link together a lot of canon details to weave something together here! That tends to be your specialty and I'm excited to see it play out with a large scope project like this.

The opening is intense, and I do have a soft spot for intros that come in this shape
unknown.png

simply because of how many questions they can pose right off the bat. How did Silver end up underwater? Dying? Badly injured? It's a good way to introduce a lot of tension initially, because even when we flash back to everything is fine times, we're still left with a lingering sense of suspicion, trying to figure out what went wrong. Is it something about the tournament, or does he not even make it there (given that he's planning on travelling by boat)? Are the organizers luring people, or is there someone else invested here? Are Zygarde and Calyrex involved? It's a good use of the achronological format and leaves us questioning details that might normally seem mundane and forgotten, simply because we know that something that happens in these next few days/chapters will result in massive consequences.

Silver's a compelling character and I like how you portray him here. There's a lot of angles, and I think as a rival I found him particularly memorable because of all the different things he can come to represent--fleeing your past, forgiveness/acceptance, loving people who hurt you, perpetuating cycles of violence. You lay out his conflict with his father really well in this section, and I'm intrigued that Sakaki might not have been nefarious the entire time--there was a small period where he was a doting father, before something corrupted him into the power-hungry man that we know today. In particular though, I liked the bit where he's briefly annoyed at Nyula's stealing stuff before he sees the parallel between Nyula and himself--it's clear that he hasn't left all of that behind mentally, even if he has physically. Wrestling with redemption! It's hard.

I also like the commentary on Shadow Pokemon, particularly through Silver's eyes. Shadow Pokemon are a sort of dark mirror of battling--this idea of winning at all costs, only seeing pokemon as battle machines--but I like the additional commentary that they're a dark mirror for young!Silver as well. As someone who's still struggling to get away from his past, it makes sense that a good antagonist for him will be someone who reminds him of the things he's trying to get over.

The Badges… the power… oh! Of course! Those collectibles were a tangible proof of their strength and progress as a team, weren’t they? They had gathered all Badges in Johto and were about to finish collecting the Badges of Kanto. That wasn’t something that many Trainers could brag about.
one might say this is the ... meaning of power?
I think it's interesting that Silver and Nyuala fixate on the badges here, since they're more symptoms of power than causes--you need to be strong to get badges, but you don't need badges to be strong. Power, how we earn it, and what we use it for seem to be running themes in this fic, so I'm glad that this gets introduced a bit early, even if I expect the actual meaning of power will be much more complex. I like that in this chapter we can see that whatever power means, Silver doesn't have enough to make him satisfied--he's still jealous of Red and Hibiki, and still feels the need to prove himself. Will beating everyone up finally make him happy? Is the only reason that he's upset with his father that Sakaki failed, or is there something more to power beyond just beating people? Only time will tell.
He didn’t want to have anything to do with Team Rocket, or Father, or whatever! Team Rocket was an organization of weak cowards who turned others into weak cowards, and he refused to get himself roped into all of that!
In light of that, I find lines like this particularly interesting as well--what is weakness? What is strength?

Some notes on worldbuilding:
In general I think it's pretty effective! I liked the set pieces of Tokiwa forest being dark and full of poison types; how the PCW is an essential but specifically-adapted part of the Pokecenter in Tokiwa due to the native pokemon populations. I also like this idea that Silver is returning to a familiar place after being away for a very long time--we get to see the nostalgic places for him, but we also get to see how much they've changed. Little details like the new train station build into big details like his abandoned childhood home, and I think those are particularly powerful scenes especially because we see the bits of Tokiwa that are still familiar.
“Hmm… I wonder why is that. Could it be because they metabolize sugar much faster than humans or something?” mused Silver, staring at the black bubbles painted on the blue can. Then he frowned: why was he even thinking about that? Was he really that bored?
Silver mentally scoffed. ‘What nonsense! Ghosts don’t exist! Only Ghost-types are real! …Right?’
In contrast, these stand out in comparison--these are questions that get asked only for the answer to be unimportant (the former especially. I'm not convinced that ghosts aren't playing a major role here with apparitions of green fire and mysterious visions). It just seems weird to bring up the holes in a world only to brush them off as unimportant and boring--why bring them up in the first place? What's the difference in a ghost and a ghost-type anyway, and what does it mean to Silver?

Coil — one-eyed creatures with magnets and bolts —
A note on names! I also want to put my hat in the "the Japanese names were fine and I had no issues" boat, although I can say from watching Dragon's Dance reviews go down that people do tend to fall into distinct camps here. So, knowing this is particularly personally biased, I found the generic descriptions after the names to be a little awkward and unnecessary, similar to lengthy descriptions of default pokemon biology in a fic that uses English names. For a parallel example, if I were reading a story that said a "giraffe", I could take this as shorthand to mean "a very tall, yellow quadruped with orange patches running up a very long neck"--but if the text specifically calls that out, I would expect either 1) the narrator is unfamiliar with the word "giraffe" or 2) the description of the giraffe is somehow different from other giraffes that the narrator has previously seen. Otherwise, it feels redundant, since "Coil" and "one-eyed creatures with magnets and bolts" are practically synonymous here, especially in light of how Silver would see them.

Which! Even typing this out now, I know there will probably be a similar camp of people who won't be as familiar with the Japanese names and as such will find these descriptions helpful or even necessary. I can't help but wonder if there's maybe a middle ground where it's a little more integrated into the narration? I'd find it unlikely for Silver to describe their appearance in such detail when he's already familiar with them (he raised a Coil of his own, no?), but perhaps he'd find their activities uncommon and as such worthy of description.
Silver stopped underneath the elevated railroad to study it, and noticed some Coil — one-eyed creatures with magnets and bolts — flocking besides a series of steel beams and generating a constant flow of blue electricity.
> Silver stopped underneath the elevated railrod to study it, and noticed some Coil flocking beneath a series of steel beams. The magnets on the sides of their bodies whirred constantly, while a steady stream of blue electricity fizzled between the bolts atop each of their heads.

Dunno, food for thought! It's a delicate road to walk. For the most part, I find that close-third POV like you use here works best when it relies on the narrator's knowledge.
When the weasel got his Trainer’s attention, he pointed at Silver’s shirt, right where the redhead kept his badges, and cloaked his claws in frost. Then, he swiped at the air in front of him, scattering snowflakes around and freezing the grass underneath him. He dispelled the energy and stared at his Trainer, hoping that his message came through.
There are maybe one or two bits that switch to Nyula's POV and then immediately switch back to Silver--not really sure if we needed the swap here.

I thought the broad strokes of this were really fun. The Calyrex/Zygarde bit at the end felt a bit out of place, especially since the first chunk is so closely focused on Silver, but first chapters are really hard places to make judgment calls for what does and doesn't belong. But as a character study for Silver, I think this is a really strong introduction, and I'm curious to see where he'll end up going!

I think the prose is pretty good in general! Some places could be tightened up + a few typos here and there, but things made sense. I have some line-by-lines on places you could streamline/change wording for the sake of clarity here:
An immense weight had crushed his body and was pushing him further and further toward the abyss. Even if his remaining willpower screamed to react, to get out of that situation, to save himself… he couldn’t.
The use of "had" here gives me a weird sense of the chronology--was there a previous weight that had crushed him and is now pushing him further down? If this is referring to the pressure of the ocean, I think it'd make a lot more sense to omit the "had" since crushing his body and pushing him down further at the same time (instead of one before the other)--"crushed his body and pushed him further".

I'm also a bit lost on "willpower screamed"--maybe his mind? His conscious thoughts?
His mind ringed, blurry and distorted.
"ringed" refers to something that is marked by rings; you want "rang" here
The exhausted lungs burned, on the verge of collapsing…
I thought that referring to "the lungs" when the rest of the body description is "his" felt out of place--what's special about the lungs that they're described in the abstract?
A swift swipe, followed by a sonorous strike.
"Sonorous" usually refers to sounds that are deep and full, like a deep gong or an echo in a big cavern. I wasn't particularly sure what it means when applied to a "strike"
a giant wasp with needles in its arms
As a description this one threw me a bit--wouldn't it be more accurate to say that it has needles for arms rather than in them?
a brown weasel with a white gem on his forehead and teal feathered tails
"feathered tails" strikes me as awkward here because usually we don't refer to feathered objects in the plural--you wouldn't say that a bird has multiple tails, for example.
On the other side stood another boy, his face marked by a bored and unsatisfied expression, who shook off some leaves stuck into his red hair.
I didn't quite follow how he got leaves in his hair or how he only just noticed. "Marked" also reads a bit strangely.
Sighing, the straw hat boy pointed a blue sphere with a net-like pattern toward the Spear, who turned into a blob of bright energy and vanished inside its Net Ball.
This one is a bit similar to the descriptions of Coil/Nyula/Spear--it feels weird to have Silver describe the Net Ball in lots of detail and then immediately call it a Net Ball. Again, it feels like narration that's done for the sake of the audience rather than coming from Silver.
He recalled the shocked stares of all the local Bug Catchers he had faced that day, which Nyula defeated all by himself.
While for most travelers it would have been a challenge to discern a path from the others (and the perpetual darkness permeating the forest didn’t help), that wasn’t an issue at all for the boy. He knew those woods by heart, having navigated through those dirt paths and viridian trees countless of times as a child.
I liked this bit of narration because it makes perfect sense that Silver would be intimately familiar with the forest, but does this mean that all the Bug Catchers he's facing out here get lost? If he's off-trail, isn't the other trainer as well? It seems a little dangerous to have a forest full of poison-types without a marked trail, especially if it's noted that it's common for people to get lost.
I imagine you want "who" instead of "which" here--the former is for people and the latter is for objects, so unless Silver thinks that the bug catchers aren't people, he'd probably use "who".
Ordile really likes you, said that man, and he let Silver keep his Pokémon.

The fact stunned the redhead, but he felt genuine joy and gratefulness toward the professor for understanding and allowing him to keep Ordile.
I was curious which fact Silver is referring to here--that he gets to keep Ordile or that it's visible that Ordile really likes Silver? I think both are important and say a lot about Silver, but in different ways. Is he surprised that Ordile likes him or that Elm is capable of forgiveness? A bit of both?
“…One Badge. All it’s left is the Green Earth Badge.” Silver smirked smugly. “The one issued by Green, the second strongest Trainer of all of Kanto.”
"smirked smugly" reads a bit redundant--smirks imply smugness by default.
"all it's left" -> "all that's left"
As a battle-hungry Pokémon himself, he was hitching for a genuine challenge.
I think you want "itching" over "hitching" here.
Because of this, he became the youngest and fastest Champion of the Kanto region… until that other kid dethroned him, that’s it.”
"that's it" at the end confused me--did you mean "and that was that"?
"fastest" strikes me as a bit redundant in tandem with "youngest" here, unless it's common for trainers to start at different times? But even so I think youngest would still be the more notable achievement by far.
“Just when I thought to have reached his level… this happens.”
This would read more smoothly as "Just when I thought I reached his level"
Just thinking about Hibiki’s skills made him question his own achievements as a Trainer. They both started their journeys the same day and at mere hours of difference.
This second sentence would read more smoothly as "They both started their journeys within mere hours of one another" or even just "Silver had started his journey mere hours after Hibiki."
And yet, they were at two entirely different levels, with the harsh truth becoming undeniable when they joined forces against Gym Leader Ibuki and former Champion Wataru, by the shrine of the Dragon’s Den.
Likewise, this would read more smoothly as "And yet, the harsh truth that they were at two entirely different levels became undeniable when they joined forces against [...]"
I'm also not sure why this is the moment where Silver is surprised--if Wataru is already the former Champion, then Hibiki must be the current Champion, right? So Hibiki beating Wataru again doesn't really establish anything new. Perhaps it's the moment that Silver sees this happen in front of him, as opposed to hearing about it second-hand--in which case I think that'd be helpful to clarify.
Even the almighty Kairyu, that same dragon who cleansed the Team Rocket’s hideout all by himself, could barely withstand the powerful attack that was Bakphoon’s Eruption.
"the powerful attack that was" felt redundant in context with "barely withstand" and "Eruption"--I think this could be condensed to "[...] the same dragon who cleansed Team Rocket's hideout all by himself, could barely withstand Bakphoon's powerful Eruption"
[also, you'd probably want either "the Team Rocket hideout" or "Team Rocket's hideout"]
Silver found frustrating that he didn’t progress as much as he wished.
> Silver found it frustrating that he didn't progress as much as he wished.
A determined glare replaced Silver’s defeated scowl. “…I think I get what you’re trying to say, Nyula. What am I thinking? We shouldn’t give up! Not when we’ve come so far!” He smirked with renewed confidence. “We’ll trounce Green, and then we’ll go after Red!” Silver’s eyes narrowed and his smirk widened, a burning cockiness radiating from his dark red pupils.
This dialogue struck me as a bit too broken up, and I'm not really sure if it's necessary--does the determined glared have to come before the "we can't give up", and does that have to come before the smirk of renewed confidence? It reads a little stiled:
Determined thing! "Saying a thing!" Renewed confidence! "Saying a thing!" Cockiness!
I think it'd read more smoothly if you bunched them together:
A determined glare replaced Silver's defeated scowl, and he smirked with renewed confidence. "I think I get what you're trying to say. [...] We'll trounce Green, and then we'll go after Red!"
A whistle and a nod were the weasel’s reply.
This felt a bit indirect--it'd be more clear as "The weasel replied with a whistle and a nod."
The redhead raised an eyebrow: a mostly green city with a green gym, controlled by someone named Green who handed out Green Earth Badges… the irony in all of that was palpable.
I'm not sure if this is irony--usually irony is when something happens that's the opposite of what's expected, so it'd be ironic for instance, just spitballing, if the leader of the green gym in the green city were to be named Blue. I think "coincidence" would fit better.
But above them all sounded the exclamation of a jovial old man, who was complimenting the barmaid for the fantastic coffee with sake.
Coffee + sake always struck me as a very westernized take on Japanese drinks--is the intent here that Kanto is a bit mixed culturally?
Countless young children gathered around the building, with some of them carrying books under their arms or staging fights with their pet Pokémon
"pet Pokemon" felt a bit redundant--are there pets who aren't Pokemon, or Pokemon who aren't in some sense pets? I feel like the implication here is that these children are too young to be official trainers, but then I think "staging" fights gets that across clearly enough.
A sign with a stylized half-Poké Ball was placed in the proximities, confirming that what they were seeing was the Gym.
I don't think the plural of "proximity" is used often, and I think this could be trimmed a little:
> A sign with a stylized half-Poke Ball was placed in the proximity, signifying that they were seeing the Gym.
Silver aimed straight to the door
you'll want "straight for the door"
‘I’m on an important travel
"trip" instead of "travel" here
“…The previous Gym Leader wouldn’t have done anything like that…”

He froze when he recalled who was the original leader and shook his head.
I'm surprised that he'd forget who the previous gym leader was, even briefly--there's a lot of emphasis on nostalgia in this chapter for him, and he certainly can't shake the feeling of being home/escape the shadow of his father. And I'm surprised that Sakaki was the original leader--are the gyms that new? Sakaki can't be that old.
Perhaps ["No self-respecting Gym Leader would do something like that..." / He froze when he recalled who the previous leader was and shook his head].
(You also drop the capitalization of "Gym Leader"/"leader"--I don't really know if there's a right answer to that debate, but for consistency's stake I'd do all one or all the other.)
Even the names on the mailbox had faded away. Nobody had lived there in a very long time.
Hmmm wow the real estate market must be terrible
The bipedal rhino walked toward him and bent forward, tail thumping on the ground. That action rewarded him with a gentle pat on his head and a crunchy carrot in his jaws.
I like herbivore sidon!! This is so tender.
The renowned Gym Leader Sakaki, expert of Ground-types and number one Trainer in Kanto
"expert of Ground-types" reads a bit strangely--maybe "Ground-type expert"?
The man approached Silver and scooped him up in his arms, much to the excitement of the young boy, before returning to his Sidon. Silver stared in awe at the impressive creature, and his Father recounted his latest challenges and victories.
This seemed a bit strange since the previous paragraph suggests that Sidon was just walking around freely before, as was Silver--is that idea that Silver was Silver afraid to approach with his father being there?
Also, there was a darkness in those eyes that the young boy had never seen before.
:(
Silver looked at his father, Sakaki… no. That wasn’t his name anymore. Now his name was Giovanni, a name meant to strike fear into his opponents’ hearts, but Silver found it very cool.
I like when kids don't understand things like this and instead think they're cool. Curious what drives him to take the name "Giovanni"/what makes it more intimidating than Sakaki, though.
All he beamed were fake smirks and scripted words, meant to evoke a confidence and intimidation that weren’t his own.
"all he beamed" doesn't really make sense. And "intimidation" isn't really a quality that you can fake, since it's defined by your effect on others--either they're scared of you or they aren't.
> "All he had now were fake smirks and scripted words, meant to evoke a sense of confidence and [poise/control/power] that wasn't his own.
She even changed her name from Athena to Ariana, signaling that she had joined the circle of Team Rocket.
As with the Sakaki->Giovanni name change, I'm not sure what this one is supposed to evoke. Their names in the Japanese games are also puns on different space/rocket programs, so it's not like she's changing from a non-rocket pun to a rocket-pun here.
With his curiosity piqued, he clicked on the icon of the letter, and a machine installed besides the PC turned on and flashed a white beam.
You want "beside" instead of "besides" here.
Regards,

Joe, Sashay and Kruger
The Colosseum Masters and Head Organizers
This reminds me of the scene in the Mewtwo movie! Where nothing bad befalls the people lured out to this very prestigious and very legitimate tournament with no secondary motivations.
A purple stamp in the shape of a wizard’s hat, most likely done with a heat stamp, and with a signature on top of it. Another detail near impossible to falsify.
I think you'd want "seal" here if you're referring to something like this, as a "stamp" on a letter looks more like this, so: "a purple seal in the shape of a wizard's hat [...]"
“Interesting…” he said pensively, rubbing his chin and rereading the letter. “Pokétopia… I’ve never heard about it. Where is it?”
Strange that he googles their names first before seeing where the tournament is!
He wouldn’t have caught it in time.
"wouldn't have caught" suggests something like "unless [thing], he wouldn't have caught it in time"--"he wouldn't catch it in time" would work better here.
Yes, he remembered hearing about that crisis. Radio stations all over the world bombarded breaking news after breaking news, with Team Cipher and the stolen Pokémon in Unova on the first page most of the times. Didn’t those accidents happen like… almost a year ago?
Interesting that Unova is involved too! I wonder what Cipher was doing there?
Silver didn’t care, and the thought made his stomach twist and churn. He didn’t even want to fathom what would have happened if he was in Orre during that crisis and they offered him some of those… shadows. No doubt he would have accepted in a heartbeat, ready to send war machines against innocent Trainers to test their powers. Just to test the sheer power of his team.
I wonder if there's a way to differentiate Silver as he sees himself now vs how he sees his younger self--because the current Silver does seem to care! Maybe "...the old Silver wouldn't have cared, and the thought made his stomach twist and churn."
He took a sip of his Psycho Soda. Sweet, perhaps too sweet. And the lime flavor tasted a bit too artificial for his liking. How could those guards by the gates of Yamabuki City drink that saccharine stuff every day without gaining weight or feeling nauseated by the flavor, he didn’t know.
Thought this was cute. That's why they gotta switch to tea in the remakes; the soda's too sweet!
“Drats!”
This looks like two curses in one (Rats!/Drat!). Given that rats don't seem to exist, you'd probably want "Drat" here.
Of course, because the day didn’t stink enough as is.
I was under the impression that he was in a good mood from the tournament thing?
The electric mouse lowered herself on all four and her heart-shaped tail flashed yellow.
Really cute detail and I love how pokemon have jobs here beyond battling! You'll want "on all fours" instead of "on all four" here.
He would show to the world his prowess as a Pokémon Trainer.
Few extra words; could be--"he would show the world his prowess"
Calm returned and the ticket collector left his post, as that was the end of his shift.
This was a bit jumbled. I think it'd be more clear as:
> Calm returned. The ticket collector left his post at the end of his shift.
«Yes, indeed. The last vision is a foreboding, I’m afraid. A foreboding of an inauspicious result,» he responded, his voice barely audible.
"foreboding" is an adjective, so it's weird to see it as a noun here. I think you'd want something like:
> The last vision is foreboding, I'm afraid. Foreboding of an inauspicious result.
> The last vision is a portent, I'm afraid. A portent of an inauspicious result.
Tension and slow breathing from Calyrex, uncessant quivering from the drone.
"incessant" instead of "uncessant" here
«…On their way to Navel Rock? Why is that?» A series of trills and buzzes was his answer, and the hare nodded. «…I see. This explains quite a few things, actually.» He waved his paw. «But for a swift change of topic, how are things going with your… ally?»
This aside felt a bit weird since it's unresolved--one of those "as we both know" moments where it feels like they're having this conversation for the benefit of the audience rather than for one another.
 
Disc 0, Chapter 2: "Shining Leaves and Phantoms of the Past"

Cresselia92

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Partners
  1. ho-oh
  2. sneasel-nyula
  3. rayquaza-cress
  4. celebi-shiny
Thanks everyone for the reviews so far! I really appreciate your support! Truly, it warms my heart! :D

I'll answer them very soon, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter! ^^


***


[Note: this chapter uses Japanese names of Pokémon, people and locations. I’m making sure to help determine who is who and what is what throughout the narration, however.]


***​


Darkness, coldness, solitude: three elements that used to be so normal and comforting, and yet now they felt so alien and frightening. And as an abyss-dweller, those feelings were very unusual for a Lugia.

Dark red wine dorsal fins raised and lowered, working hard to detect even the faintest glimpse of any living soul. Faint flickers pulsated into her mind-space, signaling nearby underwater creatures. However, as soon as she got close, the pulses disappeared. Very few Pokémon dared to stay around a powerful legend, and the notion saddened Odessa immensely.

It was ironic, really: she used to love staying alone with her thoughts, craving every brief nap she could get between a redirection of a marine current and another. But that changed when darkness invaded her heart and ominous chains locked her willpower and perception of reality, forcing her to do the most nefarious actions for those heartless humans while her soul screamed to the void.

Since then, the mere idea of staying alone for too long terrified her. Even if her physical and psychic powers were immense, even she wasn’t safe from her own nightmares. And in that moment, Odessa would have given everything to have some friendly presence by her side.

‹If only I could bring some company… But Zygarde were very specific — no one else but us must attend this meeting.›

She hummed a soft tune, hoping to cheer herself up. It did nothing to fill the emptiness on the physical plane, but with the echoes of her voice she could pretend that other members of her species were ahead of her, leading the way.

‹…Almost there. Navel Rock is not too far.›

A few minutes later and with only her song as her company, Odessa reached an immense column made of silver and golden ore. She descended deeper into the abyss, way beyond any other Pokémon could dive into, and entered through a passage hidden among black rocks. Then, with a blast of aerokinesis and hydrokinesis, she surrounded herself in a twister and shot upwards, speeding through the rocky tunnel.

The first gleams of the surface shone on her face, motivating her to travel even faster. And then, she burst out of the water and spread out her wings, the twister breaking apart and her body radiating an intense silver glow. The saltwater flowed down her waterproof scaly feathers, but she sped up the process by shaking her entire body.

Wings tucked by her sides and dorsal fins raised, she scoured the small rocky chamber with her sharp eyesight and psychic reach. She glanced at a few of her older feathers scattered on the floor, their faint metallic pink shade as resplendent as always, before looking at the ceiling. Her fins quivered and flickers flashed in her mind.

A ripple, then other nine. Brain waves, radiating from one commander and nine followers, and quickly approaching.

‹Ah! Zygarde are here!›

Sure enough, the shadow of a canid bolted through the rocky arc at the end of the chamber. The amalgamation of flatworms strode toward the pond, its red jewel glowing with power and small portions of the ground emerging with each step.

The Lugia made the first move, all too pleased to have some company. «Greetings, Zygarde! It’s really nice to see you!” she chirped, swimming toward the shore.

«Same here, Odessa. It’s lovely to see you again, and without shadows infesting your aura,» responded Zygarde with a cheerful tone, wagging their tail. «Your recovery has been a total success.»

Odessa suppressed a shiver. She couldn’t quite say that her recovery was a total success, but she was grateful that her heart was devoid of shadows. Or at least, she hoped so.

«Yes. Michael is a truly delightful child. It’s all thanks to him and his friends if I could free my heart from those dark binds,» she said with gratitude, before shaking her body and ruffling her feathers. «What a never-ending nightmare, to have my mind ravaged by those twisted energies…»

Zygarde lowered their head, tail tucked between their legs. «We cannot even fathom that, and we apologize for not being able to help during that crisis. If only we had some drones close to that island, perhaps we would—»

«It’s all right, Zygarde. I don’t blame anyone for what happened, aside from those… horrible Cipher humans!» she grumbled. «How could they do such atrocities to all those poor, defenseless creatures? It’s a good thing that Michael rescued all of them and there are no more shadowed victims, otherwise—»

Odessa stopped when she noticed Zygarde whimpering and fidgeting in their spot. She detected unpleasant waves plaguing the central brain of the amalgamation — nervousness, anxiety, and also a touch of fear.

«Zygarde? What’s the matter?» she asked, craning her neck toward the other legendary.

«…It’s a long story. We’ve already given a rundown to Calyrex, but we can’t explain the situation in full until we confer with the others. There is still much we don’t know yet,» they replied, which did nothing to soothe the Lugia’s concerns. The amalgamation stared at the draconic bird, their eyes narrowed. «Are you the only one in Navel Rock?»

Odessa closed her eyes and her dorsal fins quivered, her mind outstretching far beyond the boundaries of the island. After a few seconds, she reopened her eyes and frowned.

«…Yes. Spectrum is having some troubles with his journey — avoiding humans’ satellites has become a much harder task,» she explained. «He should try learning how to teleport at this rate…»

«Well, we must make do with the gifts and powers given to us,» said Zygarde, walking forward and stopping at only one step from the water. «However, if he’s not here, we have to ask you to relay the message in our stead when he arrives. We can’t stay here much longer — there is plenty we need to arrange.»

This time, Odessa shivered. She didn’t like the idea of being left alone once more, but she could resist a few minutes until her friend arrived, at least.

«Yes, I can do that…» She tilted her head. «But why the hurry? Can you tell me what’s going on?»

Zygarde’s stare hardened. «Very well. Here’s how things stand…»


***


Disc 0:

The Monster… Coach and the Rainbow!

“Shining Leaves and Phantoms of the Past”



***​


A journey on a train can be long and tiring, even on cross-country trains traveling at 340 miles per hour. That is more so for lone wolves with poor social skills, who would much prefer to spend time by themselves than to listen to gossips and random chatters of unknown passengers. Luckily there are countless ways to kill time while riding a vehicle, like reading a book, playing video games or listening to some entertaining shows and music with a Radio Card. While wearing an earplug and with the Pokégear in his hand, Silver surfed through various frequencies.

「 —bzzzt—re here live, with the returning Challenge Cup Champion: Ronald! Congratulations on your victory! 」

「 Well, I didn’t inherit these Legendary Pokémon Cards for nothing! They’re what make my deck, “Invincible Ronald”, so pow— 」

Skip.

‘…Why do people collect cards and fight with holographic creatures when they could just catch and train real Pokémon?’ thought Silver, unimpressed. ‘That makes no sense.’

「 —bzzzt—Pocket Monsters: Gōrudo and Pocket Monsters: Gin! Available now in the best sto— 」

Silver rolled his eyes. Just an ad about games featuring fake creatures. Useless. Skip.

「 Tsugino teiryujyo wa Kogane-eku desu. Next stop, Goldenrod Station. 」

Silver blinked; that didn’t come from the Pokégear. He glanced outside the window and spotted the tall silhouette of the Kogane Radio Tower. Evening had come, and the dull gray metal and glass reflected bright orange gleams.

That was his stop. He stored the earplug into the belt bag and pocketed the Pokégear, then he trudged toward the door while keeping his balance with the handrails. Soon, the train halted, with some Coil arresting its run with a strong blue magnetic force generated by their magnets.

「 Kogane-eku! Goldenrod Station! Kogane-eku! Goldenrod Station! 」

Once outside the station, Silver glanced at the tower that cast an imposing shadow over the other buildings. He frowned when he recalled the day Team Rocket invaded the tower, and when Hibiki destroyed him in battle despite the latter’s Pokémon being weary after facing multiple grunts. Not even with that advantage he could prevail over his rival.

But worse of all, he didn’t help at all during that crisis and only got in Hibiki’s way. The one-track mindset he used to have, fixated with the sole purpose of crushing both Wataru and his rival and uncaring about everything else…

Silver sighed in regret. What would have happened if he helped during that crisis? Could he have made a difference?

…Well, there was no way of knowing for sure, wasn’t there?

Without uttering a word, he slipped his hands into his pockets and walked away from the tower. Mulling over what-ifs was pointless, so he focused on a more pressing matter: renting a room somewhere. He seriously needed some good quality sleep after the emotional whirlwind of that day, to be well-rested for his incoming journey.


***​


“…Shining Leaves Festival, huh?”

Silver glanced curiously at the banners hanged on some poles by the outskirts of Enju City. Orange and brown leaves crackled under his feet, which turned to dust by Ordile’s heavy stomps. The blue alligator stared gleefully at the colorful posters, his mind enraptured by the paintings of golden leaves and rainbow and silver feathers.

As they got closer to Enju, a plethora of festive energies flooded their senses: the overlapping folk music and chants of monks, followed by the warm scents of roasted chestnuts, fried savory food and pastries. To cap off the festival picture, red paper lanterns with black bird motifs and rainbow stripes decorated the streets, livening the stalls brimming with all kinds of snacks and knickknacks. Most of the participants wore orange and white yukatas and kimonos with leaf patterns, headbands with rainbow and silver feathers, or both.

Silver narrowed his eyes in thought. He had some vague knowledge of that festival, but never took part to it. Or to any other celebration, really. He considered them just a waste of time and money, which drained precious hours and resources that could be better spent with training.

Well, no matter. As Silver wanted to give a day off to his team and he had plenty of spare time, he wondered if he should dive into the celebration… even if the mere thought of that made him huff and roll his eyes.

‘C’mon, it’s supposed to be… fun. Yeah. Just some harmless fun…’

The redhead sighed and looked at his Pokémon. “Oh well, let’s get through this, Ordile.”

Ordile nodded and hissed affirmatively. Unlike his Trainer, he was looking forward to get into the festival and relish in that spectacle of sweet scents and gorgeous colors. The alligator grinned: perhaps he could show the beauty of festivals to Silver and convince him to take part to future celebrations? His Trainer seemed more open to new ideas, so that didn’t sound like a farfetched plan.

Silver and Ordile strolled through the various lantern-filled streets of Enju, with the former glancing scathingly at the various stalls and the latter marveling at the multitude of decorations and sniffing the delightful blends of fried food: the crispy scent of Crab Skewers and a foreign specialty called Crabrawler Pinchers; then the spicy aroma of Slowpoke Tails imported from Galar (when Silver inquired about that, the vendor clarified that the Yadon shed those tails naturally); and the delightful scent of pancakes filled with berry jam, sweet beans or honey.

The duo was so focused on the festival that they barely registered a feminine yell that cut through the chaos.

“Yoo-hoo! Silver!”

Silver blinked in surprise. That voice…

He turned around and his gaze darted from a person to another, looking for the source of that call. And then, he zeroed on a girl with brown twin ponytails standing by the local pond, waving at him and Ordile. She was wearing a white velvet hat, a short azure kimono with patterns of golden leaves and a rainbow belt around her torso. Even her Maril was wearing something for the occasion: a crown made of shining leaves and a rainbow ribbon tied at the tip of her tail, just below the blue sphere.

Silver’s eyes widened slightly. “Kotone?”

Kotone strode toward the redhead, beaming a bright smile. “Hey! Long time no seen! How’re you doing?”

“…Fine, I’d say,” he responded flatly.

“Ah, well, that’s great to hear! I’ve been doing good, too!” she chirped, holding her hands behind her back and showing a friendly smile. Then she gazed at Ordile. “Hello, Ordile! You’re looking fab as well!”

The alligator growled happily and waved his paw, earning a paw-wave back from Maril.

Kotone looked again at Silver, who just regarded her with a serious stare. “I didn’t expect to see you here, of all places. It’s such a pleasant surprise!”

“To be fair, I didn’t expect to be here, either.” He slipped his hands in his pockets. “Never been a festival type.”

“Oh? Well, there’s always a first time for everything, don’t you agree?”

Silver shrugged dismissively. “I guess so.”

“Anyway, any comment about my outfit?” she asked, before turning around to show off her clothing. “I’ve bought this specifically for the festival — it’s so comfy and easy to wear!”

Silver gazed hard at the kimono. He had never been into girl’s fashion and wasn’t keen to answering such futile questions. However, he was trying to be a more approachable individual, so…

“…A azure kimono, huh,” he stated simply. “Unusual.”

Kotone stared back at him, somewhat unimpressed by his answer, but beamed a bright smile despite that. “Well, yes, it’s my unusual azure kimono! Do you like it?”

Silver looked again at the brunette, then at the clothing. “It’s… cute, I guess…”

“Thanks!” she exclaimed, smirking with pride. “I’m glad you like it, too!”

The redhead raised an eyebrow, bewildered by her reaction. ‘Wow. She’s behaving as if she has just received a compliment from Wataru himself…’

“So,” Kotone grinned, “are you enjoying the festival?”

“I… well, maybe? Admittedly, I’m feeling kinda out of my element.”

“Oh. I suppose Mr. Battle-hungry Silver doesn’t meddle too much with fun and pointless stuff, huh?” she replied with a playful smirk.

Silver narrowed his eyes and looked away. “Hmph! Something like that…”

“Well, then lemme help you get into a festival mood! Shining Leaves Festival is my all-time favorite celebration! I could be your guide and show you the best of the best!” chirped Kotone, holding her fists close to her face and bouncing happily. “Whatcha think?”

Silver gazed at the girl, uncertain of what to answer. Sure, he considered spending some time with other Trainers, but did he want to have the most chipper and unabashedly optimistic of his rivals as his companion? That girl was like a walking smile, and he still didn’t know how to feel about those overly cheerful people.

But before he could answer, something tapped his back, and he turned to Ordile. The alligator grinned and nodded excitedly, hoping to send some encouragement with a few friendly growls. The redhead stared at his Pokémon in disbelief: even his own Pokémon wanted that?

Silver looked at Kotone, a bright grin. Then at Maril, a bright grin. And once again at Ordile, a bright grin. Finding himself outnumbered, he relented. “…Fine, I accept.”

“Yay! This is gonna be so much fun!” exclaimed Kotone in delight, before motioning to follow. “C’mon! There’s plenty to see! Let’s go!”

Without waiting for a reply, the girl sauntered among the crowd with Maril in tow, and Ordile was quick to tag along, all of them eager to have a pleasant time.

Silver stared blankly at the other three, before sighing and walking after them. That was going to be a long afternoon.


***​


No seasonal festival was complete without a traditional parade, and Kotone lead the group toward the Main Street so witness the merry event.

Groups of men with different flags carried shrines with miniatures of the local towers and legendary birds, while performers wearing costumes with rainbow and silver feathers accompanied the committee and directed some fire Rokon and Naty. The six-tailed foxes controlled their Will-O-Wisps and Mystical Fires with grace and elegance, the spectral and magical flames tinged in a multitude of colors — red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, a rainbow of flames. Meanwhile, the tiny green birds sent flurries of Air Cutters and Feather Dances into the air, which merged into a makeshift twister of crescents and glowing plumage.

Kotone and the two Pokémon cheered when the parade walked past them, but Silver did nothing more than observe the situation in silence. He had never been someone who liked to stay in chaotic places brimming with people, and the athletic skills of the performers didn’t captivate him. Sure, those performers and Pokémon practiced very hard, no doubt, but the flashiness of attacks had never been one of his interests.

Luckily for him, Kotone seemed to have noticed his lack of enthusiasm and led everyone toward a quieter side of the city: the temple area. Still not something that piqued his interest, but it felt good to be in an area devoid of racket.

“Say, Silver… What day is today?”

Silver glanced at Kotone, wondering why she asked such a silly question. “It’s Fall Leaves Day, obviously.” He motioned toward the paper lanterns and banners. “Heck, this entire festival is all about that!”

The brunette nodded. “True, but this year’s Shining Leaves Festival isn’t a festival like any other.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Today’s the 700th anniversary of the construction of the Brass Tower and the Bell Tower!” exclaimed Kotone, clasping her hands together. “In fact, in the Bell Chime Temple it’ll be possible to see many important paintings and artifacts belonging to that era. It’s a unique event!”

Silver stared at Kotone for a good minute, before cocking an eyebrow. “That’s the part where I’m supposed to get excited?”

“If you love myths and legends, then yeah!”

Myths and legends… Silver had read countless texts and books about all kinds of legendary Pokémon, with his interest being heavily oriented toward their sheer power. Getting such a Pokémon under his command… that would be a dream come true, and it surely would have taken him one step closer toward his goal. Or, well, that was what his younger self used to believe.

But the redhead had yet to see a real legend in the flesh. Glimpses, fleeting shadows, distant howls — that was all he got in the past three years as a Trainer. That was more than what most people got in a lifetime, but it annoyed him immensely that Hibiki was one of the few privileged Trainers to have actually interacted with real legends. That kid with black hair didn’t receive an authentic Silver Wing for nothing, after all.

But despite his grievances, Silver had a pretty good guess of why he got nothing more than crumbs: legends only sought after Trainers with pure hearts, and he didn’t have one. That was a tough pill to swallow, but… his rival fitted that description way more than he did.

“However, there’s more about those artifacts than simple folktales,” added Kotone, while making her way toward their destination. The teenagers and their Pokémon could see the distant golden pinnacle of the Bell Tower from their location, reflecting four faint beams of light toward the sky. “Those are also valuable lessons and memories of past times, when humans and Pokémon didn’t need Poké Balls to forge bonds and become friends. In fact, back then they often traveled side by side.”

“Hmm… So, you always keep Maril outside of her Poké Ball to emulate those past times?”

“Not really. It’s just that it’s much more fun to travel around with some company. Besides,” she glanced at Silver, “you’re doing the same with your Ordile now. Don’t you like that?”

“Well…”

Silver glanced behind: Ordile was chattering with Maril in his native speech, with a pleased smirk plastered on his muzzle. He stared at the two for a while, before turning to the brunette and nodding.

“…Yeah. I admit it was a bit weird when I walked around with Ordile for an extended amount of time, but… I’ve got used to that. And I can understand my Pokémon a bit better now.”

Kotone grinned. “Ah, I’m so glad to hear that! Your auras and hearts are becoming stronger and more united, aren’t they?”

“…Our auras and hearts?” Silver blinked, before narrowing his eyes in confusion. “I… can’t really say, but I guess so?”

“Well! A trip to the Bell Chime Temple is going to be helpful,” exclaimed the brunette, winking reassuringly. “I bet you’re gonna like that!”

Silver couldn’t figure out what Kotone was planning, but by the way she was grinning at him, it seemed something worthwhile. And if that would not be the case, then he was more than ready to not let her live it down!

“Hmph… Alright. Let’s see what’s so special about this oh-so-unique event,” he rebutted, crossing his arms and staring at the building ahead of them. The copper-hued roof and doorway of the Bell Chime Temple immediately stood out, giving off an aura of magnificence and peace to whoever gazed at it. Even the redhead felt some inner peace by just staring at that building.

“So, here we are,” announced Kotone, before walking through the door.

A silent atmosphere greeted the two teenagers, with very few visitors and monks walking around. Lit ceremonial incenses filled the air with an intense aroma, reminiscent of both cherry wood and saltwater — so different, and yet they complemented each other perfectly, just like the legendary birds themselves. Ancient tapestries and bronze statues decorated the area, depicting either an imposing bird with long tail feathers or a more draconic creature with enormous wings. Several artifacts were stored in unbreakable reliquaries and guarded by some Gardie, who sniffed and growled at whoever stepped too close. But more often than not, people just wanted to pet the small striped dogs, despite the warnings of the monks.

“Ho-Oh and Lugia…” muttered Silver, walking toward two statues placed at the entrance.

“Yup! The former guardians of Enju City, who lived by the two towers until a mysterious fire destroyed the Brass Tower. They’ve been missing from the city since then.”

The redhead nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard about that tale when I first came here.”

“And to think that the people of Enju built those towers precisely to commemorate the perfect union between humans and Pokémon…” Kotone sighed. “I wonder what would have happened if the Brass Tower was still intact — would the legendaries still be here?”

Silver shrugged. “Who knows? It’s not like there’s a way to find out, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, I know. I was just thinking about the possibility, that’s all. I mean,” she grinned dreamily, “wouldn’t it be cool if we could meet and talk to the legendary birds whenever we wanted?”

Silver narrowed his eyes in thought, his gaze lingering on some tapestries depicting Ho-Oh with a trailing rainbow behind it. Only then he noticed that Ordile and Maril weren’t by their side anymore, having preferred to stay by the door to watch the parade from afar. Once reassured of their status, he focused again on the paintings.

“Heh. It’d surely be something,” he replied.

Kotone sighed again, thinking about that impossible dream, but regained her enthusiasm quickly. “Anyway! Let’s look around, shall we? There’s plenty to see here!”

The two teenagers walked past the two statues, but Kotone immediately froze. She blinked a few times and tilted her head. “Wait, isn’t he…?”

Silver gazed at the brunette in puzzlement, before following her stare. He spotted a blonde young man, wearing a purple headband and a scarf around his neck. The redhead had seen that man before, but where…?

Ah! Of course. The Phantom Fog Badge! So he was…

“Matsuba, the Ghost Gym Leader,” responded Silver. “What’s he doing here?”

“Hmm… Well, Matsuba visits the Bell Chime Temple and Bell Tower very often to study their various artifacts. I’ve heard he’s looking for a way to bring back Ho-Oh and see it with his own eyes.”

“Well, tough luck with that! With this city’s track record, he desperately needs it,” muttered Silver to himself. Then, his gaze drifted toward someone talking to the Gym Leader. “Hm? Who’s with him?”

That question piqued the attention of Kotone, who gazed at the people standing in front of Matsuba. It was then that the mild curiosity of the two teenagers turned into bafflement.

The unknown individuals had a very pale skin and wore white and blueish gray suits, while white helmets protected their heads — they seemed to have jumped out of some high budget sci-fi movie! The young man had a tuft of magenta hair dangling from his forehead and light blue pupils, while the teenage girl had a long orange braid and light blue pupils with a veil of ginger.

Silver had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t imagining them, but his eyes kept showing the same vision and his gaze lingered on those strange uniforms. ‘…Okay, I’ve seen all kinds of ridiculous costumes, but those beat all of them!’

“Heeey! Matsuba!” chirped Kotone, walking toward the trio.

Silver glared at the brunette. Why did she have to attract the attention of the Gym Leader and those weird people in white? Perhaps he could sneak away before—well, too late for that! Matsuba and the new individuals noticed them.

“Ah! Greetings, Kotone. It’s good to see you,” replied Matsuba with a small smile, then he gazed at Silver with a more neutral expression. “And Silver, too.”

The man-in-white studied the teenagers with tired eyes, while the orange-haired girl beamed a grin. “Oh? Acquaintances of yours, Matsuba?” she said, making an imaginary square with her hands. “Alola! Nice to meet you! I’m Zossie and he’s my colleague Dulse!”

“Zossie, remember that they don’t use that greeting in this region. What they use is,” Dulse waved his hand left and right, his movement resembling a wide-screen wiper rather than a hand-wave, “this salute.”

“Oh! Right!” Zossie was quick to emulate her companion, with her hand movement just as mechanical. “Hello there!”

The two Trainers quickly inferred that those two were tourists, by the way they spoke and behaved.

“Um… hi to you, too,” replied Kotone, looking curiously at the new individuals and greeting them with a hand-wave.

Silver said nothing, still staring at those humans-in-white in disbelief. Just… where did they come from? Did they bring the wrong costume for the wrong festival or something?

“Are you two here to learn more about Enju and its history?” inquired Matsuba.

“Something like that, yeah,” replied Kotone, beaming a grin. “We’re here to find out more about the bonds between humans and Pokémon in ancient times.”

Silver blinked and glanced at Kotone in puzzlement. “Huh? We are?”

“Ah! That’s great! Dulse and I have come to this temple for more or less the same reason!” exclaimed Zossie, smiling and swaying back and forth. “We’re investigating about bonds, auras, and all that stuff.”

Dulse nodded in agreement. “Indeed. We hope that the history and culture of Enju will help us understand our Pokémon better and strengthen our bonds with them. The bonds between humans and those legendary birds…” he gazed at a nearby tapestry, depicting Lugia eating some offerings alongside a group of people, “are truly inspiring. They used to live in perfect harmony — immortals and mortals, under the same sky.”

Matsuba smiled at Dulse, heartened by those words of appreciation toward his city and the legends surrounding it. Then he glanced at Kotone and Silver. “You can tag along, if you want. I know everything about these artifacts and the folktales of this city.”

“Oh, that’d be great!” chirped Kotone, before turning to Silver. “What do you think?”

The redhead froze at that out-of-the-blue question. “What…?”

“Oh yeah! It’d be real fun!” exclaimed Zossie, beaming an excited grin. “We could even get to know each other better!”

“Of course! C’mon, Silver! Let’s do it!”

Silver gazed back and forth between Kotone and Zossie, utterly baffled. Did that brunette have a doppelgänger from another country or something? As if one hyper girl wasn’t enough, now he had to tolerate two?!

“…Lemme guess, you’re gonna pester me until I say yes, aren’t you?” he asked, glaring at Kotone.

The brunette grinned mischievously. “That’s a possibility~!”

‘Okay… Can I still take a pass on exploring this temple?’ pondered Silver, contemplating his options. However, the cheerful smile on Kotone’s face became brighter and brighter with each passing second, which did wonders at pressuring him further and further. Annoyed by her stubbornness, he crossed his arms and stared hard at her. “…Tch. Fine! I’ll tag along if that means you’ll wipe that guilt-tripping look off your face.”

“Oh? You will? Really?” asked Kotone, her eyes gleaming.

“Yeah. Besides, it’s not like I have much better stuff to do.” Except that Silver could think of many more interesting things he could do, but he didn’t voice them out.

“Awesome! Then let’s get going!” exclaimed Zossie with enthusiasm, before walking by Dulse’s side. “This is gonna be very interesting!”

Silver rolled his eyes. “Hmph, whatever. Let’s just get over this…”

As such, the group started walking around the temple, led by Matsuba. Dulse and Zossie were behind the Gym Leader, with the former studying tiredly the tapestries and the latter marveling at the various colorful artifacts. Kotone and Silver walked after everyone else, and the brunette alternated between looking at the statues and chattering with the other girl, while the redhead stared silently at the various relics.

“…So, as I was saying, the Bell Tower used to be the residence of Ho-Oh in ancient times, while the Burned Tower — formerly known as Brass Tower — used to be Lugia’s residence, before it was destroyed by a fire,” explained Matsuba, walking toward a tapestry depicting Ho-Oh, a rainbow descending from the sky and people basking in its colors. “According to a legend, Ho-Oh left behind a fragment of its own soul into the Bell Tower, which allows it to sense hearts even from far away — if it were to sense a pure heart, it will return to the city.”

The Gym Leader paused to let the information sink in and stopped by a chipped pot. The relic depicted Lugia and Ho-Oh sharing some mysterious orbs, while some humans were surrounded by lines arranged in circular patterns — auras.

“Some people claim to have gained unique powers after witnessing Ho-Oh, which is also why the sages limit the access to the Bell Tower — a crowd of power-hungry and dark-hearted people might risk keeping Ho-Oh away.”

“Wow!” chirped Zossie, her eyes shining in admiration. “Ho-Oh is truly awesome!”

Kotone grinned. “It sure is, but Lugia is equally amazing!”

“Heh, they’re cool, I guess…” muttered Silver with feigned disinterest, diverting his gaze from the relic and looking again at the statue of Ho-Oh. Something about it was very familiar… in fact, didn’t it look like that green ball of fire from the day before?

…Nah, it couldn’t be. Could it…?

“…I have a few queries about that, however,” mused Dulse, staring at Matsuba. “You said earlier that Ho-Oh leaves behind a rainbow trail whenever it flies, and that it can grant great powers to whoever sees it.”

The Gym Leader nodded. “This is correct.”

“But nobody living in this city has seen it since the Brass Tower burned down. Is that correct as well?”

“Yes.”

Dulse furrowed his eyebrows. “Then there are quite a few things that do not add up. Namely, how do these people gain those powers? Do they need to just see Ho-Oh, even from a distance, or they need to stay in its proximity? What are those powers, and how is it possible to determine whether they are authentic or fabricated?”

“Oh, Dulse, don’t you think you’re going ahead of yourself?” replied Zossie, tilting her head. “Some questions don’t have real answers, y’know!”

“I mean, this is all for the sake of our research. We must get as much information as we can. Besides, most legends have some truth into them,” rebutted Dulse, his tone serious and professional.

Matsuba hummed in thought, before showing a small smile. “Well, according to a few ancient runes, Ho-Oh grants those powers by sharing some of its aura with the chosen humans. Though, there is no telling whether it can share its aura from a distance.”

“So, the phenomenon painted on this relic,” Dulse motioned toward the pot, “is aura sharing?”

Matsuba nodded. “Yes. This is a depiction of an auric link. Apparently, in Ransei they still perform this kind of ritual to this day.”

“Fascinating.”

“Okay, then here’s a pop quiz,” interjected Silver, crossing his arms and staring at the Gym Leader. “Just what is an auric link?”

“Yeah! I’m very curious about that, too!” added Zossie, bouncing on her spot with enthusiasm. Kotone gave her own support with a quick nod and an intrigued smile.

“An auric link,” parroted Matsuba while rubbing his chin. “So, to put it very simply, an auric link is a special bond formed when a human and a Pokémon are in perfect sync. If love and trust are mutual and absolute, then the auras will resonate in unison and unlock their maximum potential.” He readjusted his scarf. “Conversely, if there is a total lack of sync and those auras clash constantly, then both humans and Pokémon become weaker as a result. That’s a phenomenon known as auric chasm.

Dulse and Zossie nodded in understanding, while Kotone rubbed her chin and pondered about those phenomena, wondering if she and Maril shared an auric link already. But Silver… what he just heard shook him to the core, his attention receding into the depths of his mind as the epiphany dawned on him.

‘Lack of sync… Weaker… Auric chasm…’ He shook his head in realization. ‘Could it be?’ Is that what Wataru and those Kimono Girls…?’

Silver stared blankly at the pot, and long-buried memories rushed back to him like an unwelcome gust…


***

A strained yowl, a cold wheeze, and a soft thump. Nyula laid unconscious on the floor, his fur and blue feathers disheveled and electric sparks zipping all over his body. The weasel showed the signs of a tough battle, while the Thunders in front him had barely any scratch. The speed and power of the Electric-type fox had been no match for his opponent.

Silver stared at his fainted Pokémon in shock, completely taken aback by what just transpired. His entire team… crushed by those unexpectedly powerful girls.

Dancers. He lost to simple dancers! How?!

“Young Trainer. There is much potential lying dormant inside of you, this much we have noticed through your impressive display of strength and skills,” commented Tamao, the eldest of the five Kimono Girls and owner of Blacky, the Dark-type fox. “However, you are treading on a murky path. By keeping all that rage into your heart and not opening yourself to others, you won’t be able to unlock the true power of your Pokémon—”

Silver said nothing as he recalled his Nyula into his Poké Ball. He lowered his arm and stared despondently at the floor, barely registering what Tamao was saying.

First, he lost to that Dragon Tamer with his Kairyu, then to Hibiki in the Kogane Tunnel underneath the Radio Tower, and now to those girls with oversized Eievui.

The losing streak stung deep. His goal was to become the strongest Trainer in the world. Losing so many times in a row was out of the question!

“—as soon as you will trust your Pokémon and forge a tight bond, you will realize what it means to be a Trainer.”

Silver stared blankly at Tamao. Again with that thing about bonds and trust. They were spewing the same rigmarole of that bleeding heart Wataru.

…But what if there was some truth in those speeches? Trust… was that what he lacked?

Without saying a word to the maiko, Silver turned around and trudged toward the opposite side of the theater, ignoring the sympathetic look of the director and his Sidon. Shadows as dark as his mood shrouded his face as his red locks cascaded over his eyes, and a boiling anger toward himself manifested as incessant shudders and heavy steps.

“How…? How is this possible?” he mumbled, almost stumbling through the door. “How can I lose to mere Kimono Girls…?”

Then he bumped into someone, who gasped in surprise. Silver winced and redirected his attention to the struck individual. His dismay intensified when he found the last person he wanted to meet: Hibiki, accompanied by his Bakphoon. The wolverine’s shoulder flames burned intensely, a clear indicator of his great strength and impeccable health.

“Oh! Err. Hi, Silver!” said Hibiki, grinning sheepishly and waving his hand slowly. “Um… Fancy meeting you again!”

Silver was unimpressed by the black-haired boy’s greeting and scowled at him. “You were watching me, Hibiki…”

“Huh… Yeah, but just a little,” replied Hibiki hesitantly, having detected the venom in the redhead’s voice. He frowned. “Did you… lose the battle?”

“Yeah, that's right! I never thought defeating five Kimono Girls would be so hard… I got beaten to a pulp…”

“Wow…”

Silver gathered his thoughts, before glaring at Hibiki with renewed fervor. His rival being by the theater seemed really suspicious. “…You must have come here for the same reason, right?”

“Um… We could say that…” replied Hibiki, scratching his cheek nervously. “I thought I could give a shot after all the training I’ve done, so—”

“Don't get cocky just because you defeated Team Rocket! These Kimono Girls are insanely strong,” growled Silver, before pointing toward the door. “Go ahead! See if you can defeat them. But I'm not going back. I don't want to see you win.”

Frustrated, Silver shoved Hibiki out of the way, earning a startled gasp from the latter and a warning growl from the Bakphoon. He walked away from the theater, before stopping at a few meters from it. He was trembling, his fists clenched and his breaths harsh, while a storm raged in his heart and mind.

“Silver…?”

Then, without looking back, Silver zoomed as far away as he could from that place, ignoring the concerned cries of Hibiki. He wouldn’t have shown his moment of weakness. Not in front of that wimp.

…The wimp who beat him all the time, and who surely would have beaten those Kimono Girls.

The Trainer who succeeded wherever he failed. Every single time.

Why? Why did he keep losing, despite training hard every day? Why was that other boy always ahead of him? He didn’t understand. What was he doing wrong…?


***

“Hey, Silver! Earth to Silver!”

Silver flinched when the yell echoed in his mind, dragging him back to the present. “H-huh?!”

Once the memories faded, the first thing he noticed was Kotone standing in front of him and waving a hand on his face, while staring at him in puzzlement. He took a few seconds to process what happened and groaned inwardly: he didn’t want his mind to bring up a stupid flashback for every terrible moment of his life!

“…What?” he grumbled, more toward himself than toward the girl.

“Oh, sorry. You were zoning out, and I got kinda worried,” she replied. “What’s the matter?”

Silver looked away. “…It’s nothing important. I was just thinking about something that happened some time ago.” He glanced around, noticing that the others weren’t around anymore. “Hey, where’s everyone?”

“Oh, they went ahead. I told them we would have caught up with them later.”

“Ah. Then let’s just go forward. We don’t wanna keep them waiting or something, do we?”

Without giving time to reply, he walked toward the others, forcing Kotone to rush after him.

“Okay, but… if you feel the need to talk about something — anything — just lemme know, alright?” she offered, staring intently at the redhead. “I’m always willing to lend an ear!”

Silver glanced at the brunette, then rolled his eyes. “Tch, sure. But whatever concern you have… forget it. I’m fine, really.”

They quickly caught up with the trio, who had stopped by a reconstructed mural made of a light grey mineral with silver and gold clusters. The relic depicted some… faded blurs of something. Only one detail stood out about that mural: the dark blue painting of some draconic creature circling the smears.

“Hey, we’re back!” announced Kotone, beaming a grin. “Did we miss anything?”

“Not really. Matsuba here was about to talk about this relic,” responded Dulse, before nodding at the Gym Leader. He got a nod back.

“So, this is one of the most important pieces of our city,” said Matsuba, motioning toward the rocky relic. “A mural discovered very recently in the lowest floor of the Burned Tower.”

The others stared hard at the mural, trying to make out whatever painting hid inside those blurry and faded colors. Time had been very unkind, they could tell.

“Huh… What’s this mural supposed to represent?” asked Zossie, glancing at Matsuba in confusion. “I can’t make heads or tails of what’s painted here!”

“Ah, you see… the real treasure isn’t what is outside the mural, but what is inside of it,” responded Matsuba with a small smile.

Silver frowned and brought a hand on his hip. “What? Is that supposed to be a riddle or something?”

The Gym Leader didn’t respond and instead turned to the mural. “…Barney, wake up.”

Perplexed stares appeared on everyone’s faces — the Gym Leader gave a name to a… rock?

But then, their bafflement grew tenfold when the relic began shaking, its cracks splitting completely and ectoplasmic matter pooling from the newly formed holes. The mural rearranged itself to take in the shape of a creature with two long ghostly arms and one tail with a piece of rock at its tip, before the eye of the painted silhouette glowed with a pale magenta light.

The mural… was alive!

“Wooooh!! The mural is a Pokémon?!” shouted Zossie, staring into the eye of the creature. Kotone was just as shocked about the revelation, while Silver and Dulse reacted with veiled surprise.

“Huh. Interesting,” replied the redhead, cocking an eyebrow.

Matsuba turned to the others. “Everyone, meet Barney, the Deathbarn of Enju. Dulse, Zossie, perhaps you two know this species as Runerigus, where you come from.”

“Runerigus…” parroted Dulse, showing a thoughtful stare. “Yes, I have read something about them during one of my researches.”

“That’s so awesome!” exclaimed Kotone, looking at the Pokémon in amazement. She waved her hand and smiled happily. “Hello, Barney!”

Barney curled its painted jaws into a grin and craned its neck toward the group, its ghostly wisps quivering with a black energy. The Ghost-type glanced curiously at the humans-in-white and the Trainers, then he drifted closer to Matsuba and hissed happily.

“A Deathbarn…” muttered Silver, before staring at Matsuba. “Okay, you caught a Pokémon hiding in the lowest floor of the Burned Tower. Cool, but what’s so special about that?”

“Well, this is where things get interesting.” Matsuba motioned toward the arms of the Deathbarn. “You need to clutch Barney’s tendrils.”

The others traded quick glances, then stared again at the Gym Leader. Out of them, Dulse was the one who spoke out. “Hmm… Is that a good idea? According to my research, the visions showed by a Runerigus can be… frightening, if not outright horrifying.”

“Oh, you’ve got nothing to be worried about. Barney is docile and has great mastery of his visions. He wouldn’t scare or unsettle anyone on purpose,” replied Matsuba reassuringly, patting Barney on his head slab and earning a pleased rumble. “There are a couple of visions that might be a bit strong, but Barney will make sure to not show more than you can handle. He’s a real sweetheart.”

While the others discussed the implications of touching the ghostly goo, Silver stared intently at the strange Ghost-type. Barney sensed the gaze trained on him and stared back at the redhead, his eye shining with the same magenta glow. He flapped his arms and coiled himself on the ground, mirroring the perching of a bird, and his tail waved gently. Silver could tell that the Deathbarn was trying to make everyone feel at ease, by appearing relaxed and friendly. That was… something he didn’t quite expect from a Ghost-type, that’s for sure.

“…So, are you ready to glimpse into the past?”

Silver turned to Matsuba, who was smiling at the other members of the group. Apparently the Gym Leader convinced everyone, including Dulse.

“When you’re ready, touch Barney’s tendrils and don’t let go unless I say so.”

Picking on the cue, Barney extended his two arms toward the group and coiled his tail around Matsuba. His eye gleamed with a pale pink hue and his painted grin widened slightly, and a few quiet rumbles reverberated from his goo. However, certain people needed an extra push to touch the tendrils, so Silver took that task up to himself. After all, he wasn’t a coward!

The redhead reached out for the ghostly appendage and grabbed it. Dark and cold wisps spread on his arm, and he felt… perfectly fine. He gazed at the Ghost-type, who grumbled happily at him, before staring impatiently at the others. “C’mon, you three! Just grab those tendrils already!”

One by one, the others followed suit…

Swoosh! A cold gust blew over their faces, and their bodies became as light as feathers. The temple was swallowed by a black haze, which slowly faded away to reveal another location — a square roof with four Lugia statues placed in each corner, like rocky guardians surveilling the city below, and wearing blue bells with tidal patterns around their necks. But the most outstanding element of that vision was a pinnacle of silver ore built in the middle of the floor, towering over a shrine with indecipherable runes. The full moon radiated a pleasant white glow, giving off a silvery luster to the illusionary surroundings.

“Whoa! What’s this place?” inquired Zossie, looking frantically around.

Matsuba looked at the phantom shrine. “This, Zossie, is how the roof of the Brass Tower used to look like 700 years ago.”

Everyone looked in amazement at the memory shown by Barney. The details were so vivid, almost as if they warped back in time.

“…So this is the power of a Runerigus,” muttered Dulse, rubbing his chin. “Intriguing. I shall add this experience to my research.”

“Okay, but what’s so special about this illusion? It can’t be just the panoramic view, right?” asked Silver, glancing at Matsuba.

But then, a mighty roar pierced the silence of the night, making everyone but the Gym Leader jolt in surprise. A giant shadow zoomed over their heads, before a few small silver feathers floated toward them and phased through their bodies. Kotone looked up and gasped in amazement. “No way! That’s—!”

Everyone gazed toward the sky, their eyes widening upon realizing what was hovering above them all — Lugia, one of the legendary guardians!

That draconic bird… it was even more imposing and majestic than they had ever expected. Its eyes were gentle yet authoritative, and its entire body radiated a silver aura that cut through the darkness, making its shape stand out like a star in the black sky.

Lugia looped around the tower a few times and made the bells chime, while glancing back and forth between the building and the city. After not long, it descended toward the roof and landed on top of the shrine. The legend folded its wings and its dorsal fins raised, then it surveyed the area. Was it looking for someone?

A chorus of unknown voices reverberated in the group’s minds…


Oh, great guardians of the soul and life

Golden healer of hearts and silvery mender of minds

May our mutual auras resonate with power

So that earth and sky and mortal and deities shall become one

Our hearts echo with you

Our souls echo with you



“Huh? What was that?” asked Zossie, looking for the source.

Matsuba showed a heartening smile. “That was Barney. He can telepathically project the words transcribed by our ancestors,” explained Matsuba. “There are many mantras they used to recite whenever they communed with the guardians, and this is one of those mementos.”

A dark mist cloaked the scene, but it dissipated just as quickly. Three monks were now standing in front of the legend, carrying offerings to appease their guardian. Lugia scrutinized the monks, then it checked the offerings by pecking at them. Its gaze softened significantly and its throat made a guttural cry, before spreading out its wings and staring at the sky. That seemed to be a signal, as the monks raised their hands and aimed at the legend.

Dulse rubbed his chin. “What are those monks doing?”

“They’re about to connect with Lugia through an auric link,” responded Matsuba.

Silver glanced at the two men, then again at the scene. He made out something akin to a dark blue fire surrounding the monks, which flowed toward the legendary Pokémon and made it glow with an intense silver aura.

“Through an auric link, minds and hearts become one, and that is when humans and Pokémon can draw out their true potential…”

A loud thumping reverberated around them — a heartbeat, perhaps? — and the tower shook. Lugia roared, and the entire room flashed dark blue and silver. Grey clouds cloaked the sky and droplets began falling, rapidly turning into a gentle rain. The legendary extended a wing over the monks to protect them from the water, while the humans bowed in reverence and appreciation. The memory froze with the humans and Pokémon watching the rain.

“So, the monks connected their aura with Lugia to make it rain?” asked Kotone, tapping her mouth with a hand.

Matsuba nodded. “Yes. With an auric link, it’s possible to share wishes and hopes with a Pokémon. Back in those days, the people of Enju had found the perfect symbiosis — Lugia and Ho-Oh offered rain and sunlight, while the humans repaid them with offerings and products of the earth.” He closed his eyes. “Unfortunately, that era of unity between mortals and immortals didn’t last…”

The others stared at the Gym Leader, but before anyone could say or ask anything, the entire tower was once again shrouded in a haze. When the mist faded, the tower was still dark, and peals of thunder echoed from the black sky.

“Well, isn’t this reassuring,” muttered Silver, surveying cautiously the illusion.

Kotone frowned and glanced around. “But… where’s Lugia?”

As if to answer the question, Lugia announced its presence with a mighty roar, and the group turned toward the beast. However, there was something off about it.

Marks of battle marred its previously immaculate and splendent feathery scales, with countless scaleless patches exposing the dark blue skin underneath. Its eyes glowed with an ominous red light, matching the color of the malignant aura surrounding its body. A crimson twister surrounded the beast, who launched it toward some giant shadows hidden among the black clouds. Lightning struck, flames engulfed the tower, and a dark smoke veiled the scene.


Darkness and tyranny extended their venomous binds

Brothers fought brothers, and friends fought friends

Corrupted minds and broken hearts brought an unending night

The tower of the mind mere burnt ruins it became

Our hearts pray for you

Our souls pray for you



The haze faded, but the tower was no more — only rubble and debris surrounded the group. Matsuba had a solemn expression on his face, while the others realized immediately what happened: that was the moment in which the Brass Tower became the Burned Tower.

“This is so sad!” whined Zossie, frowning at the scene. “What was that red aura? Why was Lugia fighting?”

The expression on Matsuba’s face darkened. “…There was a war. Johto and Sinnoh fought a long and grueling battle, in which even the legends themselves ended up involved… and corrupted.” He sighed. “That red aura… it’s theorized that was a shadow auric link. While with a regular auric link you share your positive feelings and thoughts, like happiness and hope, with a shadow link…”

“…you share negative feelings and thoughts, like anger and despair,” continued Dulse, his expression neutral. “Right?”

Matsuba nodded.

“It’s weird that it didn’t result in an auric chasm…” wondered Kotone, studying the desolation surrounding them.

“This is because the hearts and minds of both humans and Pokémon were corrupted by the same anger, which grew in intensity and strength when they linked together.” Matsuba motioned toward the debris. “And this is the result.”

Silver took a deep breath and scrutinized the wreckage. The anger in the hearts and minds of those people and Pokémon… resulted in that destruction? Cold shivers ran down his spine, the words of the Kimono Girls ringing once more into his mind: what would have happened if he kept bottling up his anger? And his rage… was that the primary reason he could beat up those Team Rocket losers and delinquents? Because both he and his Pokémon shared the same feelings toward them?

But the story was different whenever he fought other Trainers — good and unwilling Trainers. When he forced them to fight, just to prove his superior strength.

Perhaps his Pokémon didn’t share the same sentiments of animosity in those cases and didn’t resonate with the redhead’s fury and prepotency. This could explain why they progressed as a team only once he let go of most of his rage… when he finally started to trust them…

So… was he the one who held back his team?



…Wow. That vision shocked Silver; he took so long to understand the words of people who criticized his training methods.

But now that he knew, he could become better. He was even more determined to become better. He only needed to figure out how…

A snowflake floated in front of the redhead, and he blinked in curiosity. He looked up and saw light gray clouds covering the sky, while the snow became more copious. Stray leaves glowed with a golden light and turned to ashes, and strong winds scattered the powdery remains.


The mighty legends and their emissaries granted a parting gift

The snow shall cool down burning spirits and foul thoughts

The ashes of fallen leaves shall sustain new life

The rainbows following rains shall preserve our hope

Our hearts rejoice with you

Our souls rejoice with you



“…and that is the origin of the shining leaves, and why fall leaves are so important in Johtonian culture — they are an indelible reminder of the end of the war, a symbol of restored peace and unity. The Sinjoh Ruins were also built for the same reason,” explained Matsuba. He extended a hand toward the sky and an illusory rainbow feather phased through his fingers.

A rainbow feather…

Golden and silver lights flashed throughout the wreckage. Three figures bolted in front of the humans: a yellow creature cloaked in sparks, a brown beast surrounded by embers, and a blue entity propelled by winds. Kotone’s eyes widened in realization. “Those creatures…”

Two shadows flew above the three beasts, and the group noticed Lugia… and Ho-Oh. Its multicolored plumage… what a magnificent sight! Everyone felt a wave of serenity rushing through them, as they watched the imposing bird flying in the sky.

“Someday, I’ll be able to see you for real, Ho-Oh…” whispered Matsuba, staring at the illusory legend with eyes full of hope.

A rainbow shot through the clouds and hid the birds and the beasts, and once its colors dimmed, the legends were gone.


The wound burns deep, but it will not ache forever

As for every dusk, it shall always follow a dawn

When the age of darkness its end it will reach

A new rainbow light shall unite us once more

Our hearts wait for you

Our souls wait for you



Dark clouds surrounded the group, and everyone started feeling heavier and heavier. The mist dissipated and unveiled the first details of the temple. It took them a while to regain their bearings and realize that the illusion broke. Luckily for them, the other visitors seemed distracted by the other relics, or by the Gardie. Someone could have thought that the visitors were more interested in the guardian dogs than the relics themselves! Meanwhile, Barney tilted his head and stared at the humans, waiting for some reaction and preparing himself to help if needed.

“So, this is it,” announced Matsuba as he let go of Barney’s tail, prompting the others to do the same with the tendrils. “Wasn’t that quite the trip back in time?”

“That was trippy, yeah…” commented Silver, before looking away, “but also very interesting.”

“Oh yeah! Being able to see Lugia, even as an illusion, was so cool! It’s way better than how I imagined it!” chirped Kotone, her eyes gleaming with joy.

Zossie nodded enthusiastically. “Yup! Barney, you’re kind of awesome!”

At hearing those positive comments, Barney cried happily and clapped his arm slabs together, making his ectoplasm quiver like jelly. He was very pleased that the humans appreciated his show of powers and were in good mood.

“…That was indeed a very instructive experience.” Dulse looked at Matsuba and Barney. “Matsuba, Barney, I thank you both for this opportunity. Now I have a clearer understanding of the bonds between humans and Pokémon, which will be a valuable asset for our research.”

Matsuba smiled at the other man. “Glad to have helped.” Barney rumbled happily and showed a thumbs-up. Something he picked up from the Gym Leader, most likely.

“So, it was a catastrophic event that destroyed that beautiful bond between those birds and the humans of Enju,” commented Zossie with a sad tone. “Kinda like what happened between us and the Blinding One…”

Silver narrowed his eyes and stared at the orange-haired girl. “Blinding One? What’s that?”

“The Blinding One is the name we give out of respect toward the creature who used to share its light with our people. Its actual name is Necrozma,” responded Dulse. Upon noticing the confusion on the others’ faces — bar Zossie — he explained. “That’s an entity mostly known in Alolan culture, so it’s understandable if you don’t know much information about it.” He crossed his arms. “For a quick summary, Necrozma used to share some of its light with our ancestors, until they got greedy and tried to control all of Necrozma’s powers at once. Deprived of most of its powers and in constant pain, Necrozma became wild, violent and corrputed with an insatiable hunger for light.”

“Yup! And just like that, our bond broke!” added Zossie, before sighing. “Perhaps, if our ancestors knew about the power of auric links, they wouldn’t have done that…”

Dulse nodded in agreement. “And this is partly why we came here. We wanted to check if there was something in common between the Enju legends and our history, and see what we can learn from our respective mistakes to fix things and improve.”

“Well, I sure hope you found what you were looking for!” said Kotone, smiling faintly.

Both the humans-in-white nodded.

“We sure did! Aah, I can’t wait to tell about that to the others! They’re gonna be so thrilled!” chirped Zossie, swaying in excitement.

Dulse frowned. “Speaking of that, I think we should depart as soon as we can. We have gathered plenty of material, and we have to report our progress and findings.”

“Aww, do we have to leave so soon?” whined Zossie, pouting at her companion.

Dulse simply nodded, his gaze firm. He wouldn’t have budged from that decision.

“…Well, okay.” Zossie turned to the others. “So, it’s been fun meeting you all! Thanks for the nice chitchat, Kotone!”

Kotone grinned. “You’re welcome! Hope we can see each other some day!”

“Yeah! See you around!”

And with a few goodbyes and hand-waves, the group split apart. Silver and Kotone rejoined their Pokémon, who were all too happy to reunite with their Trainers, and they all left for another side of the city. There was still a whole festival to explore.


***​


The Koiking Jump: a popular sport where the speediest orange carps pull small wooden floats carved in the shape of Lugia while facing the strong currents of a whirlpool. A rite of passage for the oldest and strongest Koiking, who must rely on their Swift Swim to gain enough speed and leap over a waterfall. In this way, they learn how to master the currents and awaken their dormant dragon spirit.

The leading Koiking was a calico white and pink variant belonging to a kid wearing an oversized red cap — it was so big that its brim hid his eyes! An excellent Trainer who trained many Koiking throughout the years, and who became so popular that he got featured on a Pokégear app. And there he was, looking toward his next victory.

Ordile and Maril stood by the pond, growling and squealing in excitement to cheer for their fellow Water-types. Having waterproof bodies meant they could stay close to the water without worrying about random dribbles. Meanwhile, Silver and Kotone stood at a couple of meters behind them, commenting and chitchatting about the race. Predictably, the brunette was much more lively in her commentary than the redhead, who mostly replied with a few nods and some quick quips.

«Go, Pink! Show them what you can do!» squealed Maril, wagging her tail.

«You’ve got it, Grey Smudge! Splash harder!» roared Ordile, thumping his tail and staring at a Koiking with gray patches, who was right behind the leading carp.

Maril crossed her paws. «Wow! Seeing all of those Koiking swimming makes me wish I could just hop into the water and join the race…»

«I know, right? I’d love to show everyone my improved Aqua Jet! I’ve been practicing hard for it!»

«Ah, I can tell. You seem much stronger than last time I’ve faced you. And all those muscles, wow!» Maril chuckled. «Makes me wonder who got Huge Power of the two.»

Ordile smirked with mirth. «Heh. I’ll take that as a compliment.»

The two focused again on the race and noticed that the gray Koiking was in the lead. This cheered Ordile up, but Maril’s thoughts went elsewhere.

«…You know, it’s been long since we battled each other.»

«Yes. Last time we battled was…» Ordile hissed in displeasure, «not exactly a friendly meeting, huh?»

Maril shook her head. «It wasn’t, no,» she put her paws on her hips, «but I guess that’s what happens when you meddle with certain people…»

Ordile frowned at that remark. «…Are you talking about Silver?»

«Who else? No offense, but I don’t understand your Trainer at all, nor how you can tolerate him.»

«Um… Well, he surely has his flaws — pretty big ones, too — but he’s actually not that bad. Deep down, he’s a good kid. He even risked his life for us a few times.»

«But didn’t he force you to become his partner?» asked Maril, narrowing her eyes.

«Yes, but…» Ordile took a second to gather his thoughts. «He was… scared, alright? He fled from home, he didn’t have friends, and he was looking for some strong Pokémon to keep him safe. Heck, he feared his mother could find him at any given moment and force him to join Team Rocket against his will.»

Ordile waited for Maril to retort, but when she just stared at him in silence, he continued.

«True, I was mad at him for taking me away and making me fight Hibiki and my good friend, Hinoarashi, against my will. I even showered him with a Water Gun when he sent me out the first time.»

Maril giggled at hearing that, and Ordile himself chuckled at the memory — the stunned stare on his Trainer’s face was priceless! However, the laughter died quickly, and Ordile took a more serious expression.

«But then, once he experienced firsthand how hard it is the life of a Trainer and after a few… things I’m not comfortable bringing up, he began opening up to me. He had a pretty rough childhood, to put it simply, and when I’ve heard about what he went through, I… I didn’t have it in my heart to abandon him.» Ordile took a quick sad glance at his Trainer, then he looked at the race. Every Koiking had just become a featureless blur. «So, I stayed by his side and helped him out, to make sure he didn’t get in trouble or danger with his abrasive personality. And at the end, everything went in the right place.»

Maril blinked. «What do you mean?»

«He experienced the world. He saw other Trainers, other Pokémon. He fell many times, but always stood back up, stronger and wiser. He learned about friendship, love, and trust — things he couldn’t get back in his hometown.» Ordile grinned. «He became a better person, and he is still improving. I’m very proud of his progress, and I’m glad the professor understood my wish to stay with him. I… don’t know what I would have done if we had to part ways.»

«…Wow. I had no idea,» said Maril, stunned by Ordile’s tale.

«Yeah. Most people don’t know anything about him, and he still struggles to open up to others. However, I can see that Kotone is slowly chipping away at the barrier he’s keeping around his heart.» He chuckled. «I guess she’s rubbing off some of her unlimited cheerfulness on him.»

«Hmm…» Maril looked again at the race — Pink and Grey were swimming side by side. «Okay, but even if your Trainer is getting better, that doesn’t mean he has to be such a spoilsport; he doesn’t like anything!» she grumbled. «We have tried some seasonal snacks; checked a competition of craft made from shining leaves; strolled through the orange paths of the garden besides the temple. Every time, he either huffed, or sighed, or rolled his eyes!»

«Nothing that I didn’t expect from him,» responded Ordile, before glancing behind. «However, I’d like you to look carefully at him now.»

«Huh?»

Maril turned around and stared hard at Silver. She saw the narrowed eyes, the eyebrows furrowed, the neutral… smile? The mouse’s eyes widened subtly, while Ordile grinned.

«You’re seeing it, aren’t you? That smile. He’s actually enjoying the festival!» The alligator’s grin widened. «It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him happy about something that doesn’t involve training and battling.»

Maril stared at Ordile as if he had grown a new head. «What? He’s happy

«Yeah! He doesn’t like to show off his emotions, but I’ve been with him for three years and I can more or less tell what he’s thinking.» Ordile glanced at Kotone. «Oh! And look at Kotone’s smile. I bet she’s considering that the greatest of feats, too.»

Maril observed her Trainer carefully, who was talking about something while Silver listened. The grin on Kotone’s face was one of the brightest the mouse had ever seen. The brunette was truly using her best tricks to get Silver out of his shell, and most puzzling of all, it was working!

However, was she so cheerful because her persistence was paying off, or because of…?

But before the two Pokémon could continue their conversation, shocked outcries came from the surrounding crowd, and they looked around in puzzlement. What was happening?

Maril noticed that everyone was looking toward the sky, and she followed their gazes. «What the…?! Ordile! Look over there!»

Ordile did as asked and immediately understood why everyone was freaking out: a wild Pigeon caught the calico Koiking. The mid-sized pigeon flaunted the pink feathers on its head with confidence and clutched the carp harder, which squirmed helplessly. Whatever Splash the Koiking had pulled off to jump so high was about to turn the fish into bird lunch. Ordile growled, droplets of water gathering inside his jaws.

«Hey, you punk! Leave that Koiking alone!» roared Ordile at the pigeon, readying himself to shoot a water stream.

But then, the struggling Koiking glowed with a blinding white light, while its body became more amorphous… and bigger. Ordile dispelled the watery energy, surprised by the turn of events.

«Wait, is that…?» cried Maril in alarm.

«Oh darn! It’s really that

With a burst of draconic speed, Ordile rushed toward their two Trainers and wrapped his arms around them, much to the astonishment of both. That proved to be timely, as the snatched carp morphed into an enormous serpent of light and dragged the startled bird down with its increased mass.

Splash! A tidal wave drenched the unlucky guests, who didn’t interpret the warning signs in time. Luckily, Ordile’s imposing size shielded both Silver and Kotone from the wave, the water flowing harmlessly down his scales and not a single drop hitting the two teenagers. Maril was unfazed as well, her water-repelling fur keeping her completely dry. Groans, huffs and murmurs sounded all around them, echoing the displeasure of the various guests.

“Whoa, huh! Thanks, Ordile,” breathed out Kotone, baffled by what transpired.

“…Yeah. Good job,” said Silver, flashing a small smile. However, he quickly realized how close he was being held to Kotone and winced in embarrassment. “…Huh. Okay, you can let us go now.”

Ordile nodded and released both Trainers from his grip. Kotone readjusted her cap and checked on her kimono to make sure no water ended on it, while Silver dusted off the sleeves with his hands, unconsciously trying to shake off the awkwardness.

The two still-dry teenagers and their Pokémon looked at the other guests, soaked from head to sandals or paws with the fresh water of the pond. The local six-tailed foxes were quick to offer their help, starting a few rounds of Heat Wave to dry the participants faster.

And the newly evolved calico Gyarados? It looked at everyone around in embarrassment, its stare going from the fleeing Pigeon, to the wet guests, to the rival Koiking flopping helplessly on the floor, to its own Trainer who was squeezing his soaked cap.

Kotone sweatdropped and chuckled nervously. “Err… Well, that’s one flashy way to awaken a dragon spirit, I suppose!”

“Hmph! There’s a time and place for evolution,” commented Silver, crossing his arms and looking impassively at the scene, “and that wasn’t it.”

“Um, I think we could… just go somewhere else, yeah? I very much doubt they’ll continue the race.”

“As long as we won’t have other surprises…” Silver glanced at the brunette. “What’s in your mind?”

Kotone narrowed her eyes in thought, before clapping her hands and grinning. “Say… Are you hungry? I know a good place…”
 

HelloYellow17

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. suicune
  2. umbreon
  3. mew
I’ve had this on my list for a while, and then you went and uploaded a new chapter, so I thought—let’s do this!

Overall, your prose is very nice and flows pretty well. I do think you could probably trim down on a lot of extra details to help with the pacing—it feels like there’s a handful of extra scenes or snippets that don’t appear completely necessary to tell the story, and some of the important details can get lost in everything else that’s being mentioned. That being said, though, you have a really interesting premise and there’s a lot of mysterious things being hinted at that has me very interested! Now for some line-by-lines:

He knew those woods by heart, having navigated through those dirt paths and viridian trees countless of times as a child.

You can get rid of the “of” in this sentence—in fact, it reads better without it!

Nearby it landed a Nyula — a brown weasel with a white gem on his forehead and teal feathered tails —

Oh?? Brown and teal?? Is this Nyula a specific variant or something? I was going to guess shiny, but shiny Sneasel are pink. Hmmm!

Silver clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. Just thinking about Hibiki’s skills made him question his own achievements as a Trainer. They both started their journeys the same day and at mere hours of difference. And yet, they were at two entirely different levels, with the harsh truth becoming undeniable when they joined forces against Gym Leader Ibuki and former Champion Wataru, by the shrine of the Dragon’s Den.

Oh, ouch, poor Silver. Feeling like you’re constantly outmatched despite rigorous effort is not a good feeling, and I can’t imagine how frustrated he must feel.

And not being able to understand his Pokémon was beyond frustrating for the redhead.

I think you’re using the epithet “the redhead” a tad too liberally so far. It’s perfectly fine to use “he” or Silver’s name a little more frequently, and will probably be a little less jarring for the reader.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Some old man should really lay down on his sake…’ he thought, before redirecting his attention to the road.

Sake! Also, is this a reference to the Japanese version of the games?? If I remember correctly, the grumpy old man that wouldn’t let you pass originally wanted alcohol instead of coffee in the Japanese version. LOL.

smiled warmly at a six-year-old Silver.
and while the seven-year-old boy couldn’t understand most of what they were discussing

at first I was confused because I went, “Wait! It just said he was six!” and then I realized each white flash was time passing. Lol. Perhaps something else can be added to make this a little clearer? But this could also just be a me problem, haha.

“Orre…” he muttered, leaning on the seat and pondering about that name. “Hmm… Sounds familiar. Did I hear about it on the news or something?”

Silver crossed his arms and stared at the ceiling. He thought hard about that name until fragments of a buried memory echoed in his mind…

…actions of a young boy… Cipher operatives… trying to take over the entire city… Orre region is endangered again…

ORRE TRAIN ORRE TRAIN ALL ABOARD THE ORRE HYPE EXPRESS

«Oh, human child. I hope your heart and soul shall be strong enough for what’s awaiting you…»

Oooh what a good chapter closer.

Dark red wine dorsal fins raised and lowered, working hard to detect even the faintest glimpse of any living soul. Faint flickers pulsated into her mind-space, signaling nearby underwater creatures. However, as soon as she got close, the pulses disappeared. Very few Pokémon dared to stay around a powerful legend, and the notion saddened Odessa immensely.

👀 Shadow Lugia?? Did she keep her Shadow coloring, then? The “red wine” colors seem to hint at that—or wait! Maybe she’s a SHINY? I’m very curious.

The first gleams of the surface shone on her face, motivating her to travel even faster. And then, she burst out of the water and spread out her wings, the twister breaking apart and her body radiating an intense silver glow. The saltwater flowed down her waterproof scaly feathers, but she sped up the process by shaking her entire body.

This is a beautiful paragraph, well done! :D I just got this really vivid image of a majestic Lugia bursting out of the ocean with the moonlight behind her and water streaming off her scales and...oooh. It was amazing.

Silver gazed at the girl, uncertain of what to answer. Sure, he considered spending some time with other Trainers, but did he want to have the most chipper and unabashedly optimistic of his rivals as his companion? That girl was like a walking smile, and he still didn’t know how to feel about those overly cheerful people.
Silver stared at Kotone for a good minute, before cocking an eyebrow. “That’s the part where I’m supposed to get excited?”

LOL Silver and Wes need to...uh, meet. I was going to say, “become friends,” but that’s not really either of their strong suits, is it? Haha!
Lyra and Silver have big Wes and Rui energy and I am HERE for it. Also, Lyra/Kotone is a precious lil bean. I LIVE for the happy friend cheering up the grumpy friend. Such a fun dynamic to both write and read!

«He experienced the world. He saw other Trainers, other Pokémon. He fell many times, but always stood back up, stronger and wiser. He learned about friendship, love, and trust — things he couldn’t get back in his hometown.» Ordile grinned. «He became a better person, and he is still improving. I’m very proud of his progress, and I’m glad the professor understood my wish to stay with him. I… don’t know what I would have done if we had to part ways.»

Aww Ordile is so sweet? So forgiving, considering everything Silver put him through and how horrible he used to be. What a wonderfully loyal companion. 10/10 wholesome.

“As long as we won’t have other surprises…” Silver glanced at the brunette. “What’s in your mind?”

probably a typo but “in” should be “on.” :)

Great job so far!! This story has a lot of promise and I’m excited to dive in deeper!
 

Adamhuarts

Mew specialist
Partners
  1. mew-adam
  2. celebi-shiny
  3. roserade-adam
Okay, so I just read the first chapter and these are my thoughts on it.

To call this a long chapter would be an understatement and it's hard to pick anything specific to talk about, but I will try to talk about the things that stood out to me most. I'll start off by talking about some of the things I didn't necessarily like, some of which are purely subjective nitpicks and it's up to you whether they should carry any weight or not.

I think to me the biggest issue I had with this chapter is that so much of it was exposition. I won't pretend balancing exposition in narrative is the easiest and most intuitive thing for all writers, but I would say that the exposition being done in the form of monologues by Silver wasn't the best approach.

It's just that the things Silver talks about with Nyula are all mostly things that he should have already talked countless times with his pokemon before, and it felt less like he was explaining things to Nyula and more like he was explaining to get the readers up to speed.

Since it's a first chapter, I think it's better to not go too much into the exposition and spread out the info dumps in small portions across the chapters, because we don't need a recap of Silver's bitter rivalry with Hibiki, his somewhat criminal lifestyle in the past, his falling out with his father, and Calyrex & Zygarde's exposition dump all in one chapter. Each of these events could be great highlights in a chapter on their own, but when they come back to back in the same chapter none of them manage to stand out. At least that's the way I see it.

The other thing I want to mention is purely a nitpick and you can absolutely disregard it. What I'm talking about is the choice to use the Japanese names for characters and locations in the story. This isn't anything new to me by any means and I'm accustomed to it from Pen's Dragon Dance especially, but I feel like it was handled a bit inconsistently in this chapter. The most obvious example for this is why Silver's name is an English name, yet Gold goes by Hibiki. Or why Red and Green both have English names even though they both hail from Kanto.

To your credit, you stayed consistent when it came to the pokemon and location names themselves, but I feel that you could've gone further with this idea in the end. To reiterate, it's a pretty minor and fairly insignificant nitpick, and also one that I'd probably just get used to moving forward. As such, you don't really have to give it much consideration.

Moving on to the things I liked, I'd like to say that I really like your writing style and prose. I think it's easy to digest and follow, and barely does it feel like things are getting too little or too much description.

On less broader things, I enjoyed seeing the interactions between Silver and Nyula. I like how Nyula is a mischievous little weasel and Silver has to remind him to act against his thieving instincts. That part got a chuckle out of me honestly.

I also like that this story takes place after the events of gsc, and it's nice seeing a Silver seeking a path to redemption, though he still has more growing to do. For one, I'm curious to see what will become of his rivalry with Hibiki in the future, or if the story will touch on it further. I also would like to see if Giovanni will have any further presence, but ultimately I just want to see where this path will take Silver and how his journey will come to an end.

I'll leave my review off here. There's not much room for me to speculate further at the moment since I've already had prior knowledge about what might go on in the story's future. However, there's still plenty of room for surprises. As such, I will remain optimistic about that.
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
A new adventure for three renowned tsunderes begins!

I like how there's a bit of a joke like this in the synopsis. The feel given is that there's some self awareness, that you're not too 'precious' about the fic, which bodes well.

The cover art is, of course, absolutely gorgeous. I feel a thrill when I look at it. You should be very proud.

The 'blurb' is excellently formatted, to the point where I'm tempted to actually adopt the same format myself!

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
That's a fantastic quote to start off. Very nicely done. Was it an inspiration, or did you find it after you chose the title?


The death fakeout is a nice way to telegraph some stakes. I'm not a huge fan of 'how did he get here???' openings, but this is a good example of one done well, I think.

The battle scene is excellent, in my opinion. Good description, doesn't drag, I particularly like the integration of Japanese names and brief indications of species. Probably a slightly less accessible read for some, but I had no trouble following.



Silver's characterisation from the start is great. He's exactly as much of an asshole as he needs to be, I think, with his terse voice and his fixation on strength balanced by his desire to improve and his remorse for his past. I like that he identifies his former thievery not foremostly as immoral, but as weak, as he wants to be powerful. Surely he will become powerful, and this will test his character!



How come Hibiki is named so, and not Gold? Just a thought.



The lexical register of the prose to some extent and the dialogue to a great extent is very anime. Hugely so. I think it works great, I really have the impression I'm reading a novelisation of an anime spinoff.



Nyula's nicely written. I like his little charades and Silver's attempts to understand him. Haha you'll understand your team soon enough, dickhead.



I feel like you could use a beta to clear up infrequent very slightly odd word choice, but not that much. Honestly, the technical competency is easily enough that this reads as if written by a native speaker of English. I'm never not impressed at how fluent you are.



“…The previous Gym Leader wouldn’t have done anything like that…”

I fucking laughed out loud at this one. Nice.



His home is literally abandoned! I like that. I never think about stuff like this, and it's a good way to show he has literally nothing to go back to.



Galarish! I credit myself with that one.



So Giovanni inherited Team Rocket suddenly upon a death? That's the vibe I'm getting. You actually did make me feel a modicum of sympathy for the bastard, the way he suddenly has leadership of a weird cultish militarised crime syndicate forced on him.



Silver voices or thinks stuff that's implicit or could be in close narration, and I reckon that trimming some of the less necessary explanations and thoughts could shave a few hundred words off your word count.



I like Silver's scrutiny of the invitation, and the nods to many canon locations. Feels like a big world he lives in! It's lovely to see so many shout-outs.



SHAME. AND. GUILT. It's frankly delicious to read Silver feeling so bad about himself.



The hallucination is interesting. Not entirely sure what the purpose of it was, but it was a good little moment.



Drat! Such LANGUAGE, Silver! How uncouth! You motherfucker.



Calyrex and Zygarde being present so early is another nice flag about the scope, and I really like the addition of generation six and eight Legendaries in a story that opens on generation two characters. The pseudo-crossover vibe is excellent.

You might want to indicate that the Calyrex situation has a different POV straight up, though.



Chapter 2!



Odessa the shiny lugia! Former shadow lugia! She's ever such a sweetheart, I love her instantly. The scene isn't very efficient in what we learn from it, and we've already had some 'Legendaries meet up' content, but I don't really care because XD-001 is a protagonist and she's CUTE!



Invincible Ronald! I had to google that one, and as I suspected, it was another reference. Nice.



Regrets about not helping Gold are FANTASTIC. Like, Gold did just fine in the end, but he feels terrible anyway because his stubborn egocentrism stopped him helping a friend. Good stuff.

Really love the descriptions of the festival, and how Silver's a tightass about it even though he's obviously paying a lot of attention to how lovely everything is.



I've told you before that character voice is a big strength of yours. I think it's one of your best qualities as a writer. Every character has such distinct dialogue that half the time I can recognise the speaker purely by the words themselves. That's a talent. Practically every speaker so far has sounded like their own person!



Constant references continue to be a delight.



Really charming interactions between characters in this, adds to the strong anime vibe.



Silver doesn't believe he has a pure heart! Genuinely so sorry for the poor kid. He's got a real determination in him to be better, which is the number one thing I want to see in a character, and to see him beat on himself like this hurts in a good way.



Let tourists pet the growlithe!



You describe the ultra rangers (holy shit, it's these guys!) has having blue pupil colour? Do you mean irises? It's also a pretty unecessary descriptor, I think. Eye colour doesn't matter to me. I'm much more interested in their body language, you know?


SOMEONE WITH A PURE HEART WILL ATTRACT HO-OH BACK HUH I WONDER WHO THAT WILL BE



Ransei! So many references. I love the concept of ultra rangers learning about auric links from a runerigus in Johto. It feels so whole and complete and unified!



Auric chasms are a fantastic concept. Are they yours, or canonical?



The speed and power of the Electric-type fox had been no match for his opponent.
This implies the jolteon was weaker. You mean Nyula was no match.


Really love Silver's projected anger at Gold. He's still sympathetic, but still an asshole. We feel for him, but groan at his bad emotional regulation! 'Zoomed' is a silly word to use, though.



I love barney. What a wholesome and adorable possessed rock. He provides a really nice flashback scene that does double duty as a scene while also being a fun visual.



HE HELD BACK HIS TEAM! Oh, Silver. He feels so guilty. I love it. And not only that, but it unifies common themes about pokemon-trainer bonds and shows his progress so far and implies his progress to come! It's great!



were in good mood.
I didn't notice many outright errors, but there were at least a few, I think. Nothing serious.


Magikarp Jump? Cress you maniac! You're getting EVERYTHING in this fic! Love the calico gyarados idea.


I want totodile water gunning Silver to exist as a doodle.



TINY SMILE! He's softening up so slowly! This is a great moment and I love the moment of characterisation for Feraligatr. Very pleased. The way the dialogue trails off in is so very anime, which aids the 'bright' vibe I get all the time in this fic.



FERALIGATR PROTECTED THEM! I love moments like this.



In summary, this was a splendidly fun read, and I'm so proud of you for publishing the second chapter. Please keep going with this fic, it's simply charming. I look forward to seeing more of this, and in particular, to all that delicious payoff that's sure to come! Keep it up!
 
Disc 0, Chapter 3: "Bullies, Athletes and Golden Bonfires"

Cresselia92

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her/Hers
Partners
  1. ho-oh
  2. sneasel-nyula
  3. rayquaza-cress
  4. celebi-shiny
unknown.png


Disc 0:

The Monster… Coach and the Rainbow!

“Bullies, Athletes and Golden Bonfires”



***


[Note: this chapter uses Japanese names of Pokémon, people and locations. I’m making sure to help determine who is who and what is what throughout the narration, however.]


***​


A Lucky Yakisoba for Kotone, filled with fried noodles, fresh eggs and thinly cut mushrooms, and a Matoma Ramen for Silver, an explosion of mild spicy tomato flavor and seafood. Those were the specialties of the Oceanic Blast, a restaurant popular among Trainers because of its lovely atmosphere made of enthralling scents, freshly prepared dishes, wooden tables and black paintings on blue walls depicting Lugia and other underwater creatures.

Also, it had a well-kept internal garden where people could let their Pokémon out and give them foods appropriate to their species, ranging from protein shakes enriched with iron and other minerals for Silver’s Crobat and some stranger’s Ariados, to some berries for Kotone’s Pichu and Silver’s Foodin (who was entertaining the younger Pokémon by telekinetically juggling some bowls with his two psychic spoons), to raw fish for Ordile and a Persian with a pink ribbon around its neck.

Despite the minor grievance of not being able to eat with their own Pokémon for hygiene reasons, that was the ideal place for many Trainers to talk about their respective journeys and trade battle tips.

Kotone’s eyes gleamed under the lighting of the restaurant and her cheeks became rosier as she stared at her dish; what a wonderful aroma!

“Oooh yeah! This gotta go to my food diary!” exclaimed the brunette. She activated her Pokégear and snapped a few photos, choosing the best angles and beam her best smiles. Just the time for her photos to be online that she received plenty of virtual Lovecus — or, as her Galarish-speaking friends would say, Luvdisc — in response, which made her grin in delight.

Silver, however, focused entirely on his ramen, nodding a few times as he enjoyed the taste and texture of the handmade noodles. And that sauce! It had the perfect balance between spice and spiciness, enough to give that tingling pleasure without making the mouth burst into flames. A massive step up from the instant noodles he used to eat, that’s for sure.

He blinked at his table companion, befuddled by her behavior. “I thought you were hungry. What’re you doing?”

“Oh, I gotta update my blog. My friends love to check out my food diary, where I upload photos of the dishes I try out and recipes of bon juices to improve my Pokémon’s performance,” she responded, her gaze locked on the screen. “I could send you a link, if you want.”

Silver inspected her smartwatch: crisp LCD graphics, customizable cover, and dozens of available functions. That was a Pokégear HGSS-09, the latest trend popular among young Trainers… Tch! What a waste of money! He was perfectly fine with his five-year-old Pokégear GSC-00. It’s not like he used it for anything outside of messages, radio and GPS, anyway.

“I’m not really interested in that kinda stuff,” he said, wrapping some noodles around his chopsticks, “but you mentioned bon juice recipes.”

Kotone nodded. “Yeah?”

“Aren’t those usually prepared by Pokéathletes?”

Another nod. “A-ha.”

Silver paused, his eyes narrowed, and the dots connected. “So you’re a Pokéathlete?”

“Yup! That’s correct.” Kotone put her Pokégear in sleep mode and started digging into the noodles with her chopsticks. “Participating to the Pokéthlon has always been my dream! Pokémon battles are fun and all, yeah, but they’re a secondary goal for me.” She took a piece of mushroom out of her plate. “Though, I always do my best to balance both activities out. After all, Pokémon must build their stamina and strength, too.”

“Ah…”

Neither teenager talked as they focused on eating their noodles — they had to eat their dishes while they were still warm, after all! However, it didn’t take long for Kotone to speak up again. “…And say, have you ever tried the Pokéthlon?”

Silver glanced at the girl, before staring at his ramen and fishing a piece of crab from his bowl. “No, never cared about it.”

“I think you should give it a go. The Pokéthlon is an excellent way to improve a Pokémon’s finesse, after all.”

“Tsk! That’s hardly relevant during actual Pokémon battles. Working on ways to overpower my opponents has worked well for me,” he rebutted, before chewing on the crab piece. “So why should I bother with that frivolous stuff?”

“Because brute force alone isn’t enough.”

Silver rolled his eyes. “Hmph. I know well that brute force alone isn’t enough! That’s when strategy comes into play.”

“Well, what if I told you that Akane participates in those, too? And that she’s very good at both her Gym Leader duties and athletic performances, especially the speed competitions?” asked Kotone, waving a piece of egg in her chopsticks.

That bit of information piqued Silver’s curiosity: Akane, the infamous Normal-type Gym Leader and renowned “Destroyer of New Trainers”, participated in those competitions, too? Not that it was too surprising, considering her obsession with cute and graceful Pokémon.

“Okay… so?” he asked, not understanding where Kotone was getting at.

“You must have challenged her to get the Regular Plain Badge, right?”

“Yeah, of course I did.”

“Then you must know how tough she is, no? From what I’ve heard, her Attract and Rollout combo is really strong and can catch many inexperienced Trainers by surprise.” Kotone waved her chopsticks. “And how did her Pippi’s Attract become so effective? How did her Miltank’s Rollout become so fast? That was by focusing on her Pokémon’s appeal potential and speed, too, which are essential skills in both competitions.”

Silver frowned. He remembered clearly what a nuisance that combination used to be. That pink star-shaped Pokémon throwing hearts left and right… Ugh! Such a sappy-looking attack!

“Yes, that was indeed annoying. However,” he glanced at his noodles and wrapped a clump of them around his chopsticks, “people make a bigger deal about it than it really is. All I needed was to use Ghost against Pippi to disrupt her with Confuse Ray, then go with Coil to paralyze Miltank and finish the job with a few Sonicboom.” He ate the noodles, then chuckled with pride. “Got the Badge on my first try!”

“Wow! That’s impressive!” remarked Kotone, staring at the redhead in awe.

Silver smirked. “Heh. Nothing more than some basic planning, really. Anyone can come up with some half-decent strategy if they stop to think about what they’re doing for a second.”

“Well, you’ve surely grown a lot as a Trainer! What have you been doing these past months?” she asked, before eating a clump of soba.

Silver narrowed his eyes, trying to recall the last time he met Kotone so that he could start from there… but nothing came to mind. He stared blankly at her, not knowing how to begin.

Kotone sensed his plight, so she lent him a hand. “Hibiki told me he has seen you in Kanto, and that Trainers are tougher over there. It must have been an excellent place to train!”

Silver grumbled: why couldn’t Hibiki mind his own business and not blab about their meetings and stuff with strangers? Granted, Kotone was no stranger, and that was the hook he needed to not keep staring at her in awkward silence.

“Yes… that’s correct,” he responded, stirring the remaining broth. “I’ve been gathering the Badges over there so that I can participate in the Kanto League at the end of the year.”

“Oooh! Planning the big stuff here! Nice!” exclaimed Kotone, looking at the redhead in admiration. “And how’s your progress? Did you get ‘em all?”

“Almost. I’m missing the Green Earth Badge.”

“Oh? Why’s that? Is the last Gym Leader too tough?”

Silver glared at the remaining noodles and poked at a piece of octopus. “No. The Gym Leader’s on a trip and won’t be back until next month.”

“Really? That’s odd.” Kotone poured some green tea into her glass, pondering about the closed Gym. “Shouldn’t there be a temporary substitute, in case a Gym Leader can’t attend their duties for such a long time?”

Silver’s glare intensified. “Hmph! Indeed, but apparently that concept makes way too much sense.”

“Wow. It must really suck, though. To know you’re one Badge short and that you can’t get it yet…”

Silver grumbled, refusing to say anything else on the matter, and brought some noodles into his mouth. Kotone got the message loud and clear and drank her tea, scrambling to find some way to change topics. Then she found a small foothold.

“Well, huh… but you already have other plans, right?” she inquired.

“…Yes. I must reach Asagi by the end of the day.”

“Ah! Lemme guess, you wanna try the Battle Tower?”

“I considered that,” he shook his head, “but no. I need to catch a ship tomorrow in the late morning.”

Kotone blinked. “A… ship? Funny that you mention that, because I’ve got to catch a ship tomorrow morning, too! For a tournament, to be exact.”

Now it was Silver’s turn to be surprised, and he stared suspiciously at Kotone. “…For Pokétopia?”

“Yes! That’s it!” She took a second to connect the dots and her eyes widened. “Wait! If you know about it, that means… You’ve got an invitation as well?”

“Yeah. I received it yesterday.”

“For me, it was a week ago. Though, I hung around at my grandparents’ place to help them out with their work.” She grinned and placed her hands on her lap. “Even so, it’s great that you’re in! I always knew you were a capable Trainer, and the fact they’ve invited you is the proof. You’re pretty famous, after all!”

“Famous, or infamous?” asked Silver, his eyes narrowing.

“Does it matter? Your skills as a Trainer are undeniable. I mean, didn’t you place in the Top 4 or something at the latest Johto League?”

“Yeah, I was the runner-up…” he muttered, before drinking some tea to placate the increasing tingle in his mouth.

The winner of the silver trophy… it was almost like the universe itself looked for creative ways to mock him about his ‘perennial runner-up’ status.

But! Things would have changed soon! He knew it! Next time, he would have reached the top of the top!

“Then you have what it takes for this tournament!” exclaimed Kotone with confidence. “I’m sure you’ll go very far!”

And of course, that girl had to bring more of her optimism to the table. Silver cocked an eyebrow and lowered his glass. “…You know we’ll be competing against each other, right? Encouraging and rooting for your opponents doesn’t seem exactly a wise strategy.”

“Well, I’m participating more for the experience than for the victory. There will be so many people from all regions: it’s a unique opportunity!” she responded, before pumping her fists with enthusiasm. “But don’t get me wrong; I fully intend to give it all during the tournament! So watch out; you’ll have to sweat to snatch the victory from me!”

Silver chuckled, somewhat amused. So even she had some competitive bones. Good. “Heh. We’ll see about that.”

“Anyway, wanna know a few goodies I’ve found out about the championship?” she asked, winking meaningfully.

“…I’m all ears.”

“Okay, good! So, as you might have found out from the timetable, Trainers from all over the world will attend the tournament. However, I’ve heard that many members of the various Elite Four and regional Champions will participate as well. In fact, Wataru will be there, too.”

Silver regarded Kotone with a stunned glance, before flashing an intrigued smirk. “Now that’s interesting! I have a score to settle with that Dragon Tamer!”

“And, ah… as the current Johto League Champion, Hibiki told me he has accepted and will be there, too.”

That goody was far less exciting, and Silver’s smile faltered. Not unexpected, but it didn’t make the news any easier to swallow. “I see…” He looked again at his bowl and sipped some broth.

“And the same goes with… huh…” she started twiddling her fingers, knowing well that Silver wouldn’t like that news, “with Kris…”

Silver stiffened; the shock was so great that he sipped the broth too fast. He coughed to clear his throat and his eyes widened. “K-Kris?!”

Kotone looked apprehensively at the redhead and patted him on his back to help him out. “Oh, my! Do you need water?”

Silver coughed again and shook his head. “N-no, I’m fine now…”

Kotone sat back and scrutinized Silver, looking for any unconscious signals for trouble: she knew from their few meetings that he refused to ask openly for help, so she got ready to assist him even without being asked to. However, the redhead recovered without a hitch and huffed when his windpipe was cleared of any liquid.

“So, Kris will be there, too.” He groaned. “What joy…”

The shift of expression on his face was noticeable, with one emotion standing out — disgruntlement.

“Huh, yeah. I could infer that you two are still on bad terms, from what she told about you…”

Oh, great! Not only Hibiki had to blab about him, but that annoying blue girl had to do the same and share whatever nonsensical gossip with other people? It was a matter of time until Wataru emulated those two kids… if he wasn’t doing that already, of course.

Pushing his grievances aside, Silver stared unhappily at Kotone. “‘Bad terms’ is quite the understatement. She plainly despises me!”

“Err… You just need to give her some time; Kris is stubborn like that. She… always disliked criminal organizations and irresponsible Trainers, and her hatred toward them intensified after a grunt of Team Rocket tried to steal her Chicorita. And considering that your relatives are… huh, well…” she trailed off, unsure of where her train of thought was going.

Silver’s eyes narrowed and his lips thinned. “Right…”

“B-but I’m sure she’ll get around that and get to know you for who you are!” She paused, drumming her fingers on her lap. “Someday…”

Silver shook his head. “It’s far more likely that Donfan will learn how to fly than to get Kris to change opinion about me.”

“Aww, don’t think like that,” replied Kotone, her eyes full of sympathy toward the redhead. She could only imagine how difficult it must be to stay in his shoes.

Silver gazed downward. “…But I can’t really blame her. I always pushed my Pokémon too hard and rarely thanked them for their efforts.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m still surprised they didn’t abandon me by now…”

“Hmm… But you’ve got better at understanding their needs and feelings, no? That’s what matters!” she pointed out, before rubbing her chin. “Besides, Pokémon are very accepting and forgiving by nature, for better or for worse. I bet they’ve found something in you that attracted them.”

Silver laughed hollowly. “Indeed. Perhaps they appreciate my dry sense of humor or they have bad tastes in people…”

“Silver! Don’t say such things!” exclaimed Kotone, pouting and placing her fists on her hips. “Besides, I can tell you’re taking good care of your Pokémon!”

The redhead flashed a taunting gaze. “Oh, really? Then enlighten me. How d’you reach such a brilliant conclusion?”

Kotone cocked an eyebrow; Silver was definitely provoking her into proving him right, but she knew already how to respond. It was time to show off her newest skills!

She motioned toward the garden, where Ordile was interacting enthusiastically with Maril.

“Well then, let’s look at your Ordile, for example. I don’t see any loss in the muscle mass around his jaws, nor his neck, nor even his tail. That’s a sign of both good alimentary habits and training regimen — Wakinoko and its evolutions need plenty of food and exercise to have firm muscles and swift reflexes. So, that’s covered.”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “His scales have minor to none signs of injuries. That means he’s producing enough keratin to keep his external armor as sturdy as possible, limiting the risks of getting seriously injured by attacks. Also, those scales are bright, so his thermoregulation works efficiently, and he isn’t suffering from any illness or emotional stress.” She glanced at the redhead. “So, to put it simply, you’re taking good care of your Pokémon. Nice job!”

Silver stared at Kotone in stunned silence and the brunette beamed a proud smirk, amused by the redhead’s flabbergasted expression. He wasn’t expecting to have his taunt countered so cleverly and scrambled to find some angle to tackle her argument.

Then, after a minute of awkward silence, he found his voice. “How d’you…?”

Kotone kept smiling, but her pride made way to cheerfulness. “My grandparents are the owners of the Pokémon Day Care in Route 34. You should have heard about it.”

“…By hearsay.”

“Anyway, I’ve learned a lot of things about how to raise Pokémon from them. They taught me all the secrets to detect the most common body signals and find out whether a Pokémon is stressed out or sick, and what to do in the various cases.” She sighed. “I sure hope I’ll be able to reach their level someday…”

Silver flashed a puzzled expression. “So, wait… You wanna become a Pokémon Breeder?”

“That’s a path I had considered, yeah.”

“Ah.”

“Nothing’s confirmed, though. For now, I’m focusing on becoming a better Pokéathlete, alongside my team. After that, well, I’ll see what to do. But I believe that it’s better to develop multiple skills in various areas, so that I can be ready to take on whatever path I choose later, no?”

“…I suppose,” he narrowed his eyes in deep thought and nodded, “there’s some merit in that.”

“Glad we agree!” She gazed at their empty dishes and glasses, before looking again at Silver. “So, shall we get going? There are a couple more activities we could do before traveling to Asagi.”

Silver blinked. “Huh? You’re… suggesting going to Asagi together?”

“Well, yeah! We have to take the same ship, so I don’t see why we can’t travel together, if only for a day.” She paused, her smile waning somewhat. “Unless you… don’t want to do that? It’d be fine either way.”

Deep inside, Kotone hoped to spend some extra time with Silver. It was very refreshing to see that side beyond his usual gruff battle persona, and Silver himself seemed genuinely intrigued by that idea. Sure, a part of him balked at the thought of traveling with such a Pollyanna, but another side was actually… warming up to her? It felt nice to talk with someone who didn’t hate his guts, that’s for sure.

In the end, his intrigued side won.

“Heh… Sure, why not?”


***​


Having returned to the main plaza, Silver was waiting by a stall alongside Ordile and Maril. He turned a rainbow-colored feather in front of his face — a common feather like any other, embellished with cheap paint and sold as a lucky charm. He saw nothing special about it, but Kotone had made a huge deal about the Ritual of Purification, right before she went to perform the ritual herself…

That rainbow feather will help cleanse your heart, so that you will have an easier time turning a new leaf and connecting with others! Or at least, this is what the legends claim.

Silver huffed. ‘She can’t really believe that trash! It’s not like burning a feather will erase my past mistakes and magically turn me into a better person.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s… not that easy…’

He glanced at the enormous bonfire, enclosed between a circular wall of stones and fueled with some charcoal, monitored constantly by a few Rokon and Gardie — any stray ember was caught into their manes and neutralized with their Flash Fire.

He spotted Kotone among the crowd, holding a silver-colored feather in her hand. She mentioned wanting to use it to clear her mind and help her find her true vocation or similar nonsense. With a swift motion, she threw the feather into the fire, held her hands together and bowed in a quick prayer, and returned with the others.

“Okay, I’m done. You can go now, Silver!”

The redhead frowned at the brunette, then glanced at his feather. “So, all I need to do it’s dropping this feather into that bonfire…”

“Yup! Nothing else.”

Silver stared skeptically at the feather, still unconvinced about that whole ritual, before feeling a pat on his back. He turned to Ordile, who gave a few reassuring nods and motioned toward the bonfire. There was no harm in attempting that, wasn’t there?

“We’ll wait for you here.” Kotone beamed an encouraging smile. “Remember to pour your heart into that feather, so that Ho-Oh can connect with your soul and send its blessing!”

Silver rolled his eyes. “Tch, alright.”

Without another word, he walked in front of the giant bonfire. The warmth of the flames caressed and shone on his face, giving to his eyes a golden tint. He glanced around, noticing a sign with depicted Ho-Oh and Lugia, as well as some texts:


If the soul is of pure heart, Ho-Oh shall grant it eternal happiness.

If the soul is of wicked heart, Ho-Oh shall feed it to the sacred flames of the spirit realm.

If the soul is of pure mind, Lugia shall bestow it boundless wisdom.

If the soul is of wicked mind, Lugia shall plunge it to the bottomless depths of the spirit realm.



Silver cocked an eyebrow. “How reassuring…”

He continued checking out his surroundings, this time focusing on the crowd — people of all ages were feeding the flames with their feathers. Some elders prayed to the bonfire, thanking Ho-Oh for blessing them with longstanding and joyful lives, while some young people thanked Lugia for clearing their troubled minds and helping them make life-changing decisions.

Silver sighed and turned to the flames. “Well, since I’m here, I may as well go through with this nonsense.” And so, he tossed the lucky charm into the burning coals.

The feather caught fire immediately, its shape twisting and crumbling and the paint evaporating. Dark smoke rose from the vanishing ashes, carrying a pungent scent reminiscent of hot vinegar mixed with pepper. Silver was unperturbed by the smell, however. He stared impassively at the bonfire, wondering why people made such a big deal about this Ritual of Rebirth. If they were so eager to burn feathers, they could just collect some of them and light them up with a Fire-type or something. They didn’t need to wait for a seasonal festival to do so.

Also, pouring his heart into a cheap feather to connect with Ho-Oh? Pfft! Sure, whatever! Even if that were true, that legendary would surely be eager to connect with him, of all people. Right.

Silver turned to rejoin the others when he saw with the corner of the eye a golden gleam in the middle of the bonfire. He blinked and leaned toward the flames to see better. However, all he could see was a red and orange fire in the middle of red and orange fire, and he shook his head.

‘This was just a waste of time…’

He sighed and stepped away from the bonfire, walking past the crowd to rejoin his companions.


***​


The sun was about to set, its fiery form barely above the Burned Tower and its beams tinging the sky in a bright orange glow. The festival was reaching its end, and the monks and Kimono Girls gathered in front of the ancient building and readied themselves to perform one of the last events.

“…The Seinaru Hai Mai,” muttered Silver, narrowing his eyes in thought. “I may’ve heard something about it. That’s the Dance of the Sacred Ash, right?”

Kotone nodded. “Yes. It’s the traditional dance performed in honor of Ho-Oh, in order to reach out for it and ask it to share some of its life force with the land, so that the plants can survive during wintertime and be reborn in spring. I’ve heard they do something like that in Unova, Kalos and Galar, too, with people communing with Landorus, Zygarde and Calyrex.”

“Wonderful, more stuff about the oh-so-amazing Ho-Oh…” commented Silver, his tone oozing sarcasm.

Kotone shrugged. “I mean, this festival takes after this city’s folklore, and Ho-Oh and Lugia are prominent figures. So…”

That made sense. It would be kind of stupid to celebrate and give tributes to the legends without featuring the legendaries prominently. However, even with that notion in mind, hearing the constant ‘Ho-Oh here’ and a ‘Lugia there’ all day long got old, and very fast.

However, that was the last activity. Only a few more minutes, and then nothing would have stopped Silver from traveling to Asagi, whether or not he was in company. As such, he cleared his mind and focused entirely on the incoming event.

The Kimono Girls were standing side by side, their clothes and poises as graceful as always. Their Pokémon were with them, focused and unmoving as they waited for the signal. Silver noticed three more Kimono Girls, who looked younger than the ones he had faced years ago. Each of them owned a different evolution of Eievui: Leafia, the Grass-type fox; Glacia, the Ice-type fox; and Nymphia, the Fairy-type fox.

A chorus of clear bells chimed, their limpid sounds rippling throughout the surroundings. The crowd quieted down, and even the wild Pokémon became silent, in an unspoken sign of reverence.

“Oh! The mai is about to start…” half-whispered Kotone, readjusting her hat. Silver simply nodded and crossed his arms. It was time to see what that dance was about.

The Kimono Girls broke up the formation and split in couples, with each pair moving beside each corner of the Burned Tower. Dancers and Pokémon looked toward the sky, silently praying for the deities living above, until a soft and pleasant melody of zithers and traditional bells filled the air.

Then it started: the Kimono Girls and their Pokémon strode around the imposing building with slow and rhythmic steps. Shining leaves waved above the dancers, carried around by a gentle breeze and illuminated by the shy sunset beams.

One, two, three steps; a slow clockwise twirl and a bell chime.

Thunders, Booster and Showers stepped toward the crowd. A skyward thunderbolt from the electric fox and a pillar of fire from the fire fox illuminated the tower with yellow sparks and bright embers, giving off the impression that it was ablaze. The musician sounded their zithers faster, even faster, almost frantic.

Then, the water fox summoned a rain cloud, making droplets fall in front of the tower. A calming rain, accompanied by a relaxing melody, and the flames became embers, then smoke. The three Pokémon walked after their Trainers.

One, two, three, a twirl and a chime.

It was the turn of Blacky and Glacia. The dark fox unleashed a pulse of darkness and surrounded himself in a black veil, while the ice fox cloaked himself in a faint mist made with his frosty breaths. Thick darkness permeated the base of the tower, with only Blacky’s crimson eyes glowing in the haze, and hoarfrost chilled the terrain. A gloomy atmosphere, rueful and heartbreaking — even the melody of the zithers slowed down and took a more melancholic and somber timber.

The darkness and frost dissipated, and the two Pokémon rejoined their Trainers.

One, two, three, a twirl and a chime.

Eifie, Nymphia and Leafia took the stand at last. The psychic fox summoned a Morning Sun, bright enough to outshine even the sunset, while the fairy fox lifted his tendrils toward the sky and filled the air with a Misty Terrain. The light of the miniature sun gave to the pixie-powered mist a plethora of pastel hues, reminiscent of cotton candy. With a few twirls of Nymphia’s tendrils, the cloud took the shape of a rainbow twister.

That was the cue for Leafia. The grass fox poured his energy to the ground, making many grassy knots sprout underneath the trio’s paws and covering the terrain with fresh grass. The zithers played a joyous melody, the soothing song of life and rebirth, and the three Pokémon dispelled their attacks to rejoin their Trainers.

One, two, three… a final twirl and a final chime. The melody of the instruments faded slowly… slowly… and silence. Only silence.

Seconds passed, and an uproar of applause exploded. The dancers and musicians took in the praise with pride, bowing at their audience. Even the wild Pokémon seemed elated and made loud and cheerful cries from the depths of the woods.

Kotone grinned in delight and clapped with enthusiasm. Despite having watched that same dance countless times as a child, she felt her heart brimming with joy and peace at watching those elegant motions.

“So, whatcha think about it?” she asked, glancing sideways at Silver.

The redhead traded glances with her, mulling over her questions. “That was… something, I guess.” He shrugged. “I’ve never been into dances and that kinda stuff.”

“Hmm… That’s fair. I know many people who don’t like those, either.” She stared intently at the Burned Tower, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. “…Just looking at the tower… it’s hard to believe it’s been two years already.”

Hm? What was Kotone talking about now? Silver blinked in confusion and turned to the brunette, who was tapping her mouth with her hand.

“Two years…?” he asked.

“Yeah. Y’know, since that happened?”

Once again, Silver blinked and looked even more puzzled. “…Okay, can you stop talking in riddles and explain what you mean?”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you forgot!” she replied incredulously.

The redhead said nothing, limiting himself to shoot an impatient glare. Right, no more riddles.

“Well, it’s been two years since the day we met each other,” she replied, before motioning toward the tower. “And it was right there, during a spring day.”

Two years… has it really been that long? Silver never thought much about meetings and encounters, what with his focus being mostly toward training and getting stronger. When he started off as a Trainer, relationships outside of rivalries were irrelevant and just a waste of time.

However, after some quick racking of his brains, vague fragments started surfacing. Burned Tower… spring… Kotone… hm, nope. Still too vague. He needed some other clue to jog his memories.

“Ah! And you also used to wear that black jacket, now that I think about it,” continued Kotone, before winking at the redhead. “Though, you look fab in those dark blue clothes, too! You truly have an expert eye for fashion!”

Silver glanced at the brunette in surprise. Nobody had ever commented about his clothing, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit flattered by that comment. “Huh… It’s just clothes, not really—”

He paused when he registered an important detail. She mentioned a black jacket. When did he wear a black—oh!

Silver’s eyes widened in realization. The black jacket… Yes, he remembered that piece of clothing. But wow, how did he forget about it, to begin with?

Well… there was a reason. That jacket was nothing more than a perpetual reminder of the weak person he used to be and a foul memento of his home. Something he had grown to resent as he kept honing his skills and his heart. Something… painful to keep looking at.

Tsk! No wonder he got rid of it at some point. He wouldn’t have been able to move on if he stayed stuck to the past. It was already hard enough to move on as is.

“…Oh. Yeah.” Silver nodded slowly. “Now I remember. It was back when…” He trailed off, refusing to finish the sentence.

A scaly hand gripped his shoulder, and the redhead turned to Ordile. The Pokémon had a knowing stare, his eyes saying that he remembered that period, too.

Kotone took a deep breath and looked at her Maril, who seemed somewhat apprehensive. However, the brunette’s expression became more serious and determined. She really wanted to tackle that topic.

“…I remember that day so clearly. Back when there were rumors of legendary Pokémon lurking in the depths of the tower and all of that. It was…” she twiddled her fingers, “something…”


***​


Two years prior…


It was a pleasant spring day. Countless light gray clouds filled the sky, announcing an incoming rain, and cherry petals swirled in the wind, carried around by a fresh breeze.

However, there were a few oddities about that day: the sun was hotter than usual, the clouds poured rain at irregular intervals, and an anomalous northern wind blew continuously across the entire city. Also, there were reports of strange creatures lurking in the depth of the Burned Tower, whose descriptions from witnesses matched the ancient legendary beasts — something that hadn’t happened in almost a century!

Despite the uniqueness of that event, very few dared to explore the tower because of its unstable and fragile foundation and the infamous prowess of those creatures. But Kotone was one of those few daring people — she always found legendary Pokémon fascinating and wouldn’t miss this chance to see them for anything in the world!

Some inhabitants warned her about the dangerousness of the tower and recommended her to not fight inside the building unless absolutely necessary — an intense fight could make the already-fragile floors collapse.

Keeping their advice in mind, Kotone ventured into the ancient building, with her Maril following closely. The mouse glanced around their surroundings, using her fine ears to pick up even the faintest noises. She detected echoes of wild Zubat and the noisy squeaks of groups of Koratta, but nothing that made her think of “legendary beasts”… even though she didn’t know how a legendary beast sounded like.

“We’d better be careful,” said Kotone, looking at some holes scattered around. “We don’t want to stumble into any of those — the fall wouldn’t be pretty!”

Maril nodded, keeping eyes and ears peeled. Then, she detected some unknown noise and tapped her Trainer on her leg. Once she got Kotone’s attention, the mouse beckoned the brunette to follow her, and the two walked toward a quieter side of the tower. They could see many more holes scattered around the place, and even the wild Pokémon seemed gone. Maybe they were wary of that area?

Kotone and Maril blinked when they spotted somebody standing beside a giant hole. He was a kid with red hair and red eyes, wearing a black jacket and blue jeans, with his gaze fixed on the darkness below. What was he looking at? Kotone approached slowly…

Crack!

She yelped and looked under her foot, noticing fragments of carbonized wood. The sudden noise had alerted the redhead, who whirled toward her.

“Who’s there?” he demanded, eyes narrowed.

Kotone flinched and stared at the other Trainer, before raising her hands defensively. “Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!”

Silver glared at the girl and grumbled in annoyance. He evidently didn’t want other people around. “…Who are you?”

“I’m Kotone! Hi!” she said with a friendly smile, waving her hand. However, the redhead humphed at her and crossed his arms, which made her lower her hand. “Huh… Did I say something wrong?”

“No. I simply don’t meddle with wimps.”

Kotone frowned. “Wimps…?”

“And why’s someone like you here, of all places? It’s because…” His eyes narrowed further. “You must be here to catch the legendary Pokémon to make yourself look stronger. That is only a dream. You see, the legendary Pokémon suit a Trainer like me,” he motioned toward himself and smirked arrogantly, “who has sworn to become the strongest Trainer.”

“…Huh, I’m not here for that reason. All I’d like to do it’s seeing the legends, nothing else.” She tilted her head. “But wait! You’re… planning to catch them?”

Silver sneered at the girl. “Well, duh! We’re talking about legendary Pokémon here. And I’m going to make them my partners by force, if I have to.”

“By force? But… what about proving yourself to the Pokémon, getting their consent and all of that?” she rebutted, not liking where the discussion was going.

“Tch! That’s the lousy thinking of a loser. Strength’s what matters and gets things done,” his voice darkened, “and I’ll use it to crush whoever gets in my way.”

A roar sounded from inside the hole, and both Trainers looked at it. Was that the cry of the legendary Pokémon?

Silver spotted a nearby staircase and started walking toward it, but Kotone and Maril rushed in front of him. The redhead froze on his steps, then glowered at the girl. “What are you doing?”

“Getting in your way,” she responded, clenching her fists defensively and holding them close to her face. “You’re going to enrage the legendary Pokémon with that attitude! I… I can’t let you pass!”

“Are you asking for trouble?”

Kotone didn’t respond, but she couldn’t help but feel intimidated by those piercing red eyes. Maril stood protectively in front of her Trainer, ready for an eventual fight.

“Hmph. Alright. If you’re so eager to get trounced,” he growled and readied a Poké Ball, “then so be it!”

Silver threw the sphere upwards, which released a middle-sized blue alligator with a cave dweller-like pattern on his belly. The Pokémon roared at Kotone and Maril, showing off his sharp fangs, and took a battle stance.

So that was it — he was asking for a fight, and by judging his glare, he wasn’t going to back off.

Well, there was no time to be cautious. They had to stop him!

“Maril, go!” shouted Kotone, opting for a speedy assault. “Aqua Tail!”

Maril grabbed her tail and started rotating it like a lasso, while a stream of water came out of the glowing sphere. She squealed a battle cry and swung her appendage forward, carrying the power of a wrecking ball. Silver and his Pokémon were unfazed by her bravado, however.

Alligates, bite into that tail!” commanded the redhead.

The alligator nodded and opened his jaws wide. Just before the opposing attack connected, he lurched forward and bit hard into the blue tip, easily enduring the stream of water. Maril winced when the fangs sank into her tail, but that was nothing compared to what followed. Alligates threw his head back, pulling the trapped mouse with him, before swinging his head forward and slamming Maril into the floor. She squealed in pain, the wood breaking under her back and the splinters scratching her skin.

Kotone gasped in shock, horrified by Alligates’ assault. “Maril!”

Maril hissed as she endured the ringing pain, then glared at her opponent. She pulled at her tail and bolted forward with a spring-boosted Body Slam. That counterattack took Alligates by surprise, who received the attack head-on and let go of the mouse’s tail.

Freed from the alligator’s vise, Maril distanced herself from her opponent and puffed her fur, while her tail swayed threateningly — she wouldn’t lower her guard anymore.

Silver smirked arrogantly. “What a joke. A battle with Team Rocket grunts is just right for you!” he sneered, before shaking his head. “But hey! Out of desperation, weak people sometimes do okay at fighting back.”

“Do okay…?” parroted Kotone in disbelief, before glaring at her opponent. “We’re just getting started! Maril,” she clenched her fists, “Defense Curl!”

Maril nodded and emulated her Trainer. Her fur puffed and her skin hardened, covering all the scratches sustained so far and giving to her body a rounder shape.

Silver cocked an eyebrow. “That’s really all you got?”

“…Rollout.”

The redhead’s eyes widened. So that was what she was trying to do. “Alligates, Rage!” he shouted.

Alligates nodded and crossed his arms, just as Maril curled into a tight ball and rolled toward him. The smoother skin allowed her to race at higher speed, while rocks and debris stuck on her body to strengthen her attack.

And slam! The rolling mouse rammed into the alligator, who clenched his fangs as he let his ire build. He swiped at his opponent, hitting the living ball with a rage-powered strike and sending it against a column. Maril didn’t seem bothered by that, as her hardened skin cushioned both blows.

“Keep going, Maril! Rollout!”

“Rage once more! Take her down!”

The two Water-types glared at each other and carried out their respective commands. Maril became faster and stronger with each rush, while Alligates’ rage built up with each collision and retaliated in kind. With each charge and swipe their stamina took heavier and heavier tolls, but then the tides turned: Alligates dodged the last Rollout, making Maril lose her momentum… and leaving her open to another assault.

Silver smirked in triumph. “Aqua Jet!”

Alligates roared, feeling the surge of power from both his rage-induced status and his Torrent ability, and sped toward the mouse like a watery bullet. Both Kotone and Maril stared in shock at the massive stream of water surrounding the alligator, and the mouse braced herself with a last-resort Defense Curl.

Smack! The impact had such raw power that it sent tremors and bursts of water across the entire area. Maril careened into a nearby column and squealed aloud when she smashed through the wood. The collision was too much for the mouse, who fell forward and lolled on the rim of the wood, senseless.

“M-Maril…” stammered Kotone in dumbfound, before withdrawing her unconscious Pokémon into her Poké Ball.

“…Hmph! I’m not fighting with another weakling ever again. It’s just too much playing around,” said Silver, dusting off his sleeves with indifference.

Kotone glared defiantly at the redhead and reached out for another Poké Ball. “You think you’ve already won? Then—”

A sharp crack and the wood shook. Kotone blinked and checked out the area: the water blasts from the Aqua Jet had smashed enormous holes into the floor. The weakened floor cracked underneath her feet, and she gasped when the planks split into a zigzagged crevice. But before she could even move, the floor collapsed, sending her screaming and plummeting into the darkness below.

Alligates cried in shock, and even Silver’s mood shifted instantly. Gone was his cockiness, and his face twisted into a horrified grimace.

No! He didn’t mean to… that wasn’t meant to happen! He wanted to teach a lesson to that girl, not to…

Silver and his Pokémon ran toward the hole, making sure to not fall into it as well. Even though the redhead didn’t have a high opinion of Kotone, he didn’t want her gravely injured… or worse. He peered through the raised dust, trying to spot her silhouette.

“Hey! Can you hear me?”

The two waited for any sign of life — groaning, moaning, even crying — but all they got was silence.

Alligates hissed a concerned call. More silence. More dust clouds. No, she couldn’t be…

“C’mon! Answer already!” yelled Silver, growing anxious.

Still no response. Only silent dust. Dread crawled on their backs as they began fearing the worst…

“I-I’m here…” came the pained response.

Alligates made a soft hiss and Silver gasped. The dust cloud dissipated completely, showing the girl lying on her back. She was regaining consciousness!

“Hey! Are you hurt?!” asked Silver, barely able to mask his concern.

“Ow…” Kotone slowly sat up and checked on herself. “No, I’m fine… sorta. My bag cushioned the fall. I’ve got a few scrapes, yeah, but nothing concerning.”

Silver sighed in relief. “Thank goodness…”

However, nearby creaks alarmed everyone. Silver supervised the area where Kotone was sitting, finding out that more cracks were making their way on the blackened wood.

There was no time to lose.

“Don’t move a muscle, alright? We don’t want that other floor to collapse, too,” commanded Silver. “I’ll get you outta there.”

“O-okay!” responded Kotone, staying as still as she could.

Okay… okay… but how could Silver get her out safely? He took another look at his surroundings when his gaze stopped on a mostly intact column. Mental gears spun, and he rummaged into his belt bag. There it was — an Escape Rope. Perfect!

Without skipping a beat, Silver tied the rope to the pillar and tugged the rope to test the endurance of the wood. No creaks, no jolts. Yes, it would surely support her weight.

He brought the other end of the rope toward the hole and threw it to the brunette. “Tie this around your waist! Quick!”

As soon as the brunette did as told, he looked at Alligates. “C’mon, we gotta pull her back up!” he commanded, clutching the rope. Despite being weary, the Pokémon nodded and emulated his Trainer.

“Ready?”

Another quick nod.

“Then pull!”

Silver and Alligates started pulling the rope, slowly lifting the girl. Kotone glanced around the dark floor, holding onto that line for dear life. With the corner of her eyes, she noticed a few shadows in the darkness. Were those…?

But then, a jolt startled her, and she looked upward. Her eyes widened in shock: the rope was unraveling, as the jagged wooden pieces cut through it like knives. “Aah! The rope!”

Silver became alarmed by her shout and studied the rope, immediately spotting the problem: it was going to break! He had to act quickly!

And then it snapped.

Kotone felt her breath rushing out her lungs and she shut her eyes, too shocked to even scream, when something caught her arm. She looked back up and gasped — Silver was holding onto her arm.

“I… gotcha…” he grunted, straining to not let her go. Alligates came to his aid, and with their combined effort, they pulled the girl back up. And just in the nick of time, as the floor below collapsed not a second too late.

Deep breaths and gasps were the only noises heard in that area. Kotone was holding her hand over her heart, feeling it thumping as if ready to burst out of her chest. Meanwhile, Silver wiped the sweat with a sleeve, and Alligates lied down on the floor, completely drained after the effort. The Water-type tapped his Trainer on his leg, and the latter withdrew him into his Poké Ball without uttering a word.

Then Kotone caught enough breath to speak. “T-thanks…”

Silver shook his head dismissively. “…Don’t mention it.”

The two teenagers stayed silent afterward, looking in completely different directions. Neither knew what to say, with Kotone still assimilating everything that happened and Silver finding himself in an awkward spot between what his mind wanted to say (“What an idiot! That’s what happens when you get in my way!”) and what his heart reminded him (“It wasn’t even her fault. I shouldn’t have behaved like that…”).

Tired of the stifling silence, Kotone tried to start a conversation. Something friendly. “Um… Say, what’s your name? You didn’t tell me earlier,” she said, leaning forward with mild curiosity.

The redhead stared hard at her for a long time, then he looked away. “…I’m Silver.”

Silver? Silver… why did that name sound so familiar?

Then, Kotone remembered: Hibiki and Kris had warned her about a kid with red hair and red eyes. He was a thief. He was a bully. And yet, in that moment, he was a hero. She smiled sweetly. “That’s a nice name!”

Silver glanced at the girl in puzzlement. How did she retrieve her cheerfulness so fast?

“Hmph. Yeah, well, my name isn’t exactly popular nowadays…” he grumbled.

“Yeah, I guess I know why.”

He blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

“You’re the red-haired thief, right?”

Silver scowled at Kotone and growled. “If you’re gonna lecture me, then—”

“I won’t.”

“…What?”

“Yes, you’ve done some bad things. And that rudeness you’ve shown earlier… I didn’t like that, either. However,” she smiled sweetly, “I can’t hate the person who just saved me. That was so brave~!”

Befuddlement filled Silver’s mind. That was a turn of events he didn’t expect. Nobody had ever talked or behaved around him in such a way in a very long time. With… kindness. That was new.

“Well, I… couldn’t just leave you there…” he muttered, finding it harder to keep eye contact.

Kotone tilted her head and stared curiously at the redhead, as if analyzing him with her sharp receptivity. The rapid shift from uncaring jerk to audacious rescuer didn’t go unnoticed to her, and suspicion started seeping into her mind. “…You’re one of those guys who hide their sensitive sides by behaving grumpy and gruff all the time, huh?”

Silver stiffened and felt uneasy, almost panicky. “What?! N-no, I’m not—!” He quickly regained his composure and scowled at the girl. “Don’t spout such nonsense!”

Ha! There it was: stammering, followed by a vehement reaction. She had seen right through his act and her grin widened. That was enough to unnerve Silver.

“Oh my gosh! You totally are, aren’t you?” she chirped, holding her hands together. “Aw! That’s so endearing!”

In one fell swoop, Silver’s entire gruff persona shattered once more, and he stared numbly at the brunette. “E-endearing?!”

“Yup! But don’t worry! I won’t tell anyone.” Kotone winked reassuringly. “Your little secret is safe with me.”

Silver stared blankly at the girl, struggling to process the entire situation.

What was going on? He didn’t understand! Just… how? Why did that make him feel so restless? What was that strange fuzzy sensation? What was happening to him?!

Unable to wrap his head around his own emotional state, Silver got back to his feet and gazed at the floor. He was grateful that his hair was long enough to cover his face; he didn’t even want to imagine his expression and surely didn’t want that girl to look at him like that.

“Hmph! Whatever! Don’t go fall into other holes on your way back!” he grumbled in annoyance, then bolted away from Kotone, much to her astonishment.

Only once he was out of the tower he stopped running and took several calming breaths, trying to get a grip of his racing emotions.

How did that girl make him feel like that with just a few pretty words? How dare she make him feel so weak?! He hated feeling weak! He wasn’t weak!



But despite the initial panic and anger, once his adrenaline worn off and his heart slowed down, he began feeling… good, almost as light as a feather.

Yes. Those words of hers felt… nice. For once, someone didn’t treat him with scorn and contempt, and that was… very nice. Much appreciated, even. And… no! He refused to admit that. He was too proud to admit that.

Silver huffed and glanced pensively at the burned building. With a conflicted mind, he slipped his hands into his pockets and resumed his journey. There would have been another time to capture the legendary Pokémon…


***​


“Ooh! So you really remember!” exclaimed Kotone, before ginning at the other teenager. “Especially the last moments!”

Silver grumbled and crossed his arms. “Yeah… Did you really have to spout all that sappy stuff?”

That remark got a hearty laugh out of Kotone, making Silver humph and roll his eyes in annoyance.

“Well! That ‘sappy stuff’ was my younger self being my younger self,” she responded between her giggles. “Still, it was back then that I understood.”

“…Understood what?”

“That even though you treated everyone with hostility and everyone treated you with hostility, there was some good in you.”

“Good in me…” Silver scoffed at that sentence. “Tsk! Right…”

“Oh, c’mon! You know that’s true, and I don’t understand why you keep denying the evidence.”

“Ah, I dunno. Maybe because I’m an irredeemable jerk and everything?” He frowned unhappily. “Or maybe because ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, so I must be as horrible as…” he paused as the memories of his grandma flashed in his mind, and growled, “my family?”

Ordile stared sadly at his Trainer, his gaze screaming ‘no, don’t say such things, you aren’t like them’. Luckily for him, Kotone shared his same sentiment and wasn’t afraid to voice that out.

“Now that’s not true! You’re different, and you’ve also changed,” she protested.

“Am I really? I don’t think so.”

“And I believe that.”

“Oh please! Do you honestly think it’s that easy for people to change? Besides, you barely know me! Most of the stuff you know it’s from others!”

“I know what I need to know.”

“No, you don’t, so don’t make absurd assumptions about me!” he hissed angrily. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve done many terrible things, like stealing someone’s Pokémon and treating people who got on my nerves like garbage! I’m not some goody two-shoes like you!”

For the first time in the entire day, Kotone dropped completely her cheerful demeanor and challenged his glare with her own serious stare. She wouldn’t back down.

“My gosh! Will you stop berating yourself so much? Nothing stopped you from just abandoning me in that hole!” she harrumphed, before pointing toward the tower. “Why bother getting me out of that place if I just got in your way? You could have just treated me like garbage — like you said — and move on as if nothing happened!”

Silver gnashed his teeth and scowled at her. “C’mon, what’s the big deal? I’m not that heartless!”

A heavy silence fell as soon as those words registered in everyone’s mind. Kotone gasped and her frown turned into a triumphant smirk, while Silver’s eyes widened upon realizing what escaped his lips. Even the two Pokémon were stunned.

“…Forget I said anything…” muttered Silver, trying to sneak out of that uncomfortable situation.

“Nope! Won’t do. Especially not that final sentence~!” teased Kotone with a playful wink. “‘I’m not that heartless?’ Those are your words, not mine!”

Silver blinked and noted the pleased grin on Ordile’s muzzle — even the alligator seemed elated to hear those words from his Trainer. The redhead was disorientated, completely taken off-guard, and failed to come up with some witty comeback.

‘Drat! I’ve been had… again!’

Having detected his discomfort, Kotone beamed a reassuring smile.“Aw, don’t be so flustered. There’s no shame in being open about how you feel, and I see you needed to tell those words to yourself.” Her hands went behind her back and she giggled happily. “I’m not gonna think any less of you!”

Silver said nothing at first, slowly processing everything, then he looked toward the floor. “How…?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t understand how you do that…”

Kotone tilted her head in confusion. “Huh… do what?”

“How you… always treated me so kindly despite our divergences, and after…” he winced, his guilt weighing on him once more, “everything I’ve done. And even now, you…” He trailed off and shook his head. “I don’t get it!”

“Well, I’m not someone who dwells on grudges, Silver. I’ve forgiven you back then, and I forgive you now.”

“But why?”

“Because I know who you really are. You aren’t just some irredeemable jerk like some people claim, and I’ve seen how regretful you were and still are about everything. I trust you’re doing your best to atone for your past and are working very hard to change,” her smile became radiant and her voice melodious like a lyre, “and that’s something I admire and respect. You’re an inspiration for me, Silver.”

Silver stared at Kotone with genuine surprise, touched by her words. “…Really?”

“Yeah! Of course!” she said, not a single trace of doubt in her voice. “Sure, you may act tough and gruff all the time, but I know that deep down you have a soft heart of gold.”

His eyes widened. “Hey! What do you mean by—?!”

“Teh heh heh! I’m just messing with you now! Relax!” she said reassuringly, amused by his reaction.

Silver blinked, feeling some heat going to his cheeks, and hastily turned his back to everyone and crossed his arms. If he waited a second longer, his face would have flushed as red as his hair. “Hmph, whatever! What we get over with this stupid festival?”

“Hmm… Yeah, I’d say we can go. We’ve done pretty much everything,” responded Kotone, before glancing at her kimono. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the Pokémon Center to change my clothes first. I’d prefer to travel to Asagi with my usual attire — it’s better suited for long walks.”

Silver huffed. “Tch. Fine. We can take a detour there. But you’d better be quick or I’ll leave you behind.”

“Sure, sure! I won’t take long, I promise!” she said. “Let’s go, then!”

Kotone walked by Silver’s side and nodded at him, and the two teenagers and their Pokémon started their trek toward the Pokémon Center. They noticed that there were fewer guests around, and some merchants were retiring their merchandise and closing their stalls. The brunette gazed curiously at the booths, while the redhead’s stare was locked toward the ground. Multiple thoughts were flooding his head, longing to flow out of his mind, with one thought ringing louder than the others.

He gazed at Kotone. “Hey…”

“Hm?” She turned to Silver. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“…I’m sorry. For lashing out at you back then,” he murmured, his expression slightly softer than usual. “That was uncalled for.” And then he looked away, refusing to say anything else.

Kotone blinked. She wasn’t expecting an apology, but that was far from an unwelcome surprise. That Silver… he was slowly but surely changing for the better, and it was a pity he couldn’t see that yet.

“It’s okay, Silver,” she replied with a sweet voice. “No hard feelings.”

A lone hmph was the redhead’s response. Nothing that his companions didn’t expect. Soon, the Pokémon Center came into view, and Kotone glanced at Silver.

“I’ll be right back.”

Kotone got a slow nod as her answer, which was her cue to enter the Pokémon Center with Maril in tow. Silver stared silently at the building, when he felt a pat on his back, making him jump in surprise. He glanced at Ordile, who grinned and showed a thumbs-up with his free paw, expressing how proud he was of his Trainer. Silver shot an unimpressed stare and huffed, then looked away.

But even though he refused to acknowledge it, Silver felt like his chest had become warmer and lighter.


***​


Dusk had come, and the first stars became visible in the sky. Route 39 brimmed with swarms of Barubeat led by their leaders Illumise, who coordinated the male fireflies to form complicated geometric designs, almost as if they wanted to compete with the firmament itself for the most creative patterns. Hidden amidst the tall grass there were some Korotock, playing a concert of violin-like melodies with their long knifelike arms, and wild Nyarth looking for lost shining items or producing golden orbs with the coins on their heads.

Silver had become much quieter, his mind working hard to process and assimilate the events of the day, and Kotone gave him the space and peace he needed. It’s not like she had anything to talk about, and she didn’t want to spoil the mood when they were just starting to get along. When they were… almost friends.

Flying in front of them there were Silver’s Crobat, who clicked happily as he played sound-and-find with the hidden musician crickets (winning every time thanks to his echolocation), and Kotone’s Morphon, who illuminated the path ahead of the humans with beams of light projected from her compound eyes.

The purple moth gazed curiously at the bat zipping from a direction to another, following his movements with a fraction of her eyes. «You seem to have fun over there,» she trilled.

«Yes! These melodies are so good! Also, I love flying around!» replied Crobat with a few rapid squeaks. «Hey! Why don’t we chase after those Korotock together?»

«As nice as that would be, I can’t. I’ve got to lead our Trainers with my Flash.»

«Hmm… Yes, makes sense!»

Crobat flew silently above Morphon, attracted by the bizarre scent coming off of the moth’s wings, and she clicked her mandible nervously. «…Why are you flying above me now?»

«I like the scent of your wings! It reminds me of lavender, and…» He paused and tilted his head. «Hey! How did you know I was above you? I didn’t make any sound!»

«I can see everything around me with my compound eyes. I’m seeing the path ahead of us, our Trainers behind, you above me, and… I can also see a few Persian prowling through the grass with my sonar. All of that at the same time.»

«Really? That’s impressive!» squealed Crobat, zipping downward to fly by Morphon’s side. «Speaking of eyes, I still find them weird. I’ve lived my life as a Zubat without being able to see, and then,» he swung his upper wings upwards with a dramatic flair, using his lower wings to keep flying, «whoa! I evolve into a Golbat, I gain eyes and I can see!»

«Sounds like that was quite the experience.»

«It was! But it was also worth it — I could finally see my friends’ faces!» he squealed, before clicking his fangs in delight.

«Yes, I get what you mean…» Morphon tilted her head. «Well, not about the eyes, but about gaining an extra body part and not being used to it. Like, I never had wings as a Kongpang, and then I evolved and I could fly. I took some time to get used to that.»

«Yes, I… see!» Crobat moved close to Morphon and stared into the black orbs. «How many eyes do you have there…?»

«Kyah!» squeaked Morphon, scattering some toxic powders in fright. Crobat noticed the purple cloud and hastily flew underneath, then blew the dust away with a powerful gust to keep their Trainers safe.

The moth took some time to calm down, rubbing her head with one of her upper legs. «Ugh! Don’t fly so close, please! That was startling!» she squeaked in annoyance.

«Sorry, sorry! I won’t do that again!» squealed Crobat, his ears flattening in shame. He flew once again by Morphon’s side and shot a curious gaze. «…But wow! How did you do that?»

«What? My powder attack?» she trilled in confusion.

«No. How did you speak like a Crobat?»

«Oh, you mean,» her trill morphed into a squeak, «with this voice?»

Crobat nodded. «Yes! That!»

«This is a skill that we Morphon have developed to protect ourselves from predators — we confound them by speaking like them.»

«Aah! But why imitate a Crobat?»

«Because Crobat are our primary predator, of course.» Morphon paused as she remembered with what she was talking to and fluttered in embarrassment. «Oh! Huh… No offense.»

«None taken! In fact, I find that amazing!» squealed Crobat with admiration.

«Oh… thank you?» trilled Morphon uneasily, her Flash faltering a little. «But, well… You aren’t hungry right now, right…?»

«…Hm?» The bat narrowed his eyes in confusion, before flying backward in shock. He shook vehemently his head. «Oh! No, no! I’m not one of those Crobat, no! I prefer to feed on fluids — much easier to find.» He clicked his fangs. «Besides, I would never eat a friend! That would be horrible!»

Morphon trilled, feeling somewhat reassured. «Good…»

«And if there’s some Crobat around who tries to sneak on you,» he flashed his sharp fangs, «I’ll chase him or her off, alright?»

«…Thanks. I appreciate that.» Morphon cleaned her eyes with her upper legs, while her wings flapped slower. She felt more relaxed. «It sure is weird, though, to talk so casually to a predator…»

«Keh heh heh! I can only imagine!»

The Pokémon kept chatting to themselves, with Crobat and Morphon also challenging each other to see who was the loudest squeaker of the two. Kotone was amused by their antics and shenanigans, while Silver stared impassively at them… or at least, that was the impression he gave.


***​


When dusk gave way to the night, distant illuminated windows greeted the two teenagers and their Pokémon (even if Crobat had to hold back the light-obsessed Morphon with a wing), but one powerful glow from an elevated position outshone the others — the Flash of the Denryu living in the Radiance Lighthouse, leading safely night ships with his beams of light.

Silver stared intently at the rotating yellow beam, recalling his callous comment about just letting the Pokémon die because he couldn’t fight, and felt a knot in his stomach. He sighed and looked away, mentally kicking himself for that lack of consideration. It was no wonder that Kris became even more indisposed toward him when he told her those words — Silver himself would feel the same way if he were to hear that kind of comment from his younger self.

“So, where do you think we should spend the night?”

Silver turned to Kotone, somewhat grateful to be brought back to the present, and narrowed his eyes in thought. “…I’d say we should go to a capsule hotel. They have a good combo of quality and price.”

“Capsule hotel… Sounds good to me.” Kotone looked at her Pokégear and typed on its screen. “Let me check where we could—”

“There’s no need.”

She gazed at her companion in puzzlement. “Huh?”

“I know a place. Follow me.”

Without saying another word, Silver led his companions through the illuminated streets of Asagi. They walked past the Gym, with Silver barely stifling a sigh, and they reached the port. The gentle sounds of waves lapping against the pier and the underwater glows of Lantern brought some serenity to the four—no, three travelers, as Kotone withdrew Morphon before she dove toward the lights. After some more minutes of walking (and flying, in Crobat’s case), they reached a building that seemed made of multiple azure bubbles glued together. There was a sign placed by the entrance, depicting a Starmie with a glowing neon gem and an illuminated text: Starmie Hotel, a most original name.

“So, this is the place?” asked Kotone, staring at the building.

Silver nodded. “Yeah. I stayed here the night before traveling to Kanto to start my Badge quest. It’s pretty good.”

“Well, I trust you. Let’s go check if they have some vacancies!” she chirped with confidence.

Silver stood in numb silence as he mulled over what she just said: I trust you. Those words were so simple, and yet they felt like a victory for the redhead. However, he showed nothing aside from a neutral expression and nodded again.

“Hmph. Yeah.”

After withdrawing Crobat into his Poké Ball, the two teenagers walked through the door and left their shoes by the reception to wear the complimentary slippers — a common custom in every Tojohnian hotel.

They were in luck: the hotel had some available slots for both, which they immediately took. While eating a light dinner, they discussed their plans for the next morning: wake up at eight o'clock so that they could take a refreshing shower and some breakfast, then they would have enough time to reach the terminal and get aboard the ship.

Having struck an agreement, Silver led Kotone through a familiar path to him while she glanced around: the hotel was splint in half by a long central corridor, with the left side filled with capsules reserved to females and adorned with Love Ball patterns and the other side for males and decorated with Moon Ball designs. Just a typical male/female capsule hotel like any other.

Silver and Kotone stopped by the crossroads of the sleeping area. The brunette stretched her arms as the fatigue got to her, and even the redhead had to suppress a yawn. They were exhausted after walking around all day.

“Phew, I’m beat! I can’t wait to lie down on my bed and catch a few Z’s,” mumbled Kotone, managing out a smile despite the soreness in her cheeks.

“Yeah. Same here…” responded Silver, blinking slowly.

“Anyway! I had a lot of fun today, and I bet tomorrow will be even better!” She held her fists close to her face. “Aren’t you excited?”

He shrugged. “Not really. It’s probably gonna be a ship journey like any other ship journey.”

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she smirked, “and that’s doing as planned so that we can get on-board on time.”

Silver cocked an eyebrow, his gaze silently saying ‘no kidding’. The brunette didn’t seem to notice, however.

“So, um… We’d better sleep now. I wish you sweet dreams.” Kotone waved her hand slowly. “Until tomorrow, then~!”

The redhead nodded. “Yeah… Until tomorrow.”

Kotone flashed one last grin and entered the women’s area, leaving Silver alone in the corridor. With nobody around to see him, a content smile made its way on his face and he entered the men’s area to look for his assigned spot.

He had to admit it: that was one of the best days of his life.
 

HelloYellow17

Gym Leader
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. suicune
  2. umbreon
  3. mew
!!!! Another chapter? Yes, please!!

I really enjoy the themes that are already making themselves known in this story—largely, ones of redemption, forgiveness and loving yourself, etc. Kotone is a lovely little ray of sunshine, she is simply too pure for this world—and she’s exactly what Silver needs. Love their wholesome friendship, it brings me so much joy!

The little snippets featuring Silver’s Pokémon were lovely, too. I always enjoy when a story remembers to include the Pokémon and make them characters just as much as their human companions. After all, it wouldn’t be a Pokémon story without them!

Overall, this was a really nice, wholesome chapter with some lovely character development on Silver’s end, along with some rich world building details! That dance and ceremony featuring the Kimono girls was beautiful and fun to read about. The entire festival really adds some flavor to world in which this story takes place.

now for some line-by-lines!
A Lucky Yakisoba for Kotone, filled with fried noodles, fresh eggs and thinly cut mushrooms, and a Matoma Ramen for Silver, an explosion of mild spicy tomato flavor and seafood. Those were the specialties of the Oceanic Blast, a restaurant popular among Trainers because of its lovely atmosphere made of enthralling scents, freshly prepared dishes, wooden tables and black paintings on blue walls depicting Lugia and other underwater creatures.

All right, now I’m craving yakisoba and/or ramen and it’s all your fault. Hnnnnn it’s been so long since I’ve had real ramen and now I can’t stop thinking about it hahaha



Silver inspected her smartwatch: crisp LCD graphics, customizable cover, and dozens of available functions. That was a Pokégear HGSS-09, the latest trend popular among young Trainers… Tch! What a waste of money! He was perfectly fine with his five-year-old Pokégear GSC-00. It’s not like he used it for anything outside of messages, radio and GPS, anyway.

hahaha loved this little Easter egg comparing the original games to their remakes! Very nice.

The winner of the silver trophy… it was almost like the universe itself looked for creative ways to mock him about his ‘perennial runner-up’ status.

Oof, that is bitterly ironic in a handful of ways. I wonder if Silver dislikes his name due toassociation with “second-best?”

“Err… You just need to give her some time; Kris is stubborn like that. She… always disliked criminal organizations and irresponsible Trainers, and her hatred toward them intensified after a grunt of Team Rocket tried to steal her Chicorita. And considering that your relatives are… huh, well…” she trailed off, unsure of where her train of thought was going.

Oh boy, now I HAVE to see some Kris and Silver interaction! I love the different relationships all the player characters have with him: Kotone is just a sweet little cinnamon roll who sees the best in him (and everyone), Hibiki is kind and probably would be his friend if Silver wasn’t so angry about always losing to him, and then Kris just. Straight up hates him. It’s a nice variety of dynamics that you can play with here! Here’s to hoping Kris and Silver learn to get along.

Silver sneered at the girl. “Well, duh! We’re talking about legendary Pokémon here. And I’m going to make them my partners by force, if I have to.”

Lololol get a load of this kid who thinks he can force a legendary Pokémon to do whatever he wants.

The rapid shift from uncaring jerk to audacious rescuer didn’t go unnoticed to her, and suspicion started seeping into her mind. “…You’re one of those guys who hide their sensitive sides by behaving grumpy and gruff all the time, huh?”

Kotone, the word you’re looking for here is... “tsundere.” ;)
“That even though you treated everyone with hostility and everyone treated you with hostility, there was some good in you.”

“Good in me…” Silver scoffed at that sentence. “Tsk! Right…”

If I have one criticism to give, it’s that this theme overall can feel a bit too heavy-handed at times. We already know that Silver is ashamed of who he used to be, and as a result, doesn’t think highly of himself, so him constantly talking down to himself doesn’t feel entirely necessary to keep getting that point across. I feel like a more realistic reaction here would be to simply roll his eyes and brush off most of Kotone’s compliments as nothing but idle chatter, rather than directly confronting it with dialogue every time—or, scenes in which this is directly brought up could be cut down a little, as it starts to feel just a little repetitive.

Those are just my two cents, do with that as you wish!

«Really? That’s impressive!» squealed Crobat, zipping downward to fly by Morphon’s side. «Speaking of eyes, I still find them weird. I’ve lived my life as a Zubat without being able to see, and then,» he swung his upper wings upwards with a dramatic flair, using his lower wings to keep flying, «whoa! I evolve into a Golbat, I gain eyes and I can see!»

I like details like this! I mean, some Pokémon go through major changes on evolution, so it makes sense that they would have thoughts on it.

Kotone flashed one last grin and entered the women’s area, leaving Silver alone in the corridor. With nobody around to see him, a content smile made its way on his face and he entered the men’s area to look for his assigned spot.

He had to admit it: that was one of the best days of his life.

D’aww, this was really sweet. Prickly angsty baby just needs some love.
 

HaruMiju

Hero in their dreams
Location
London
Pronouns
They/them, She/her,
Here for Catnip! Sorry for being slow and wordy on this one. I read the first two chapters and tried to focus on what would be helpful to point out. I hope it's helpful. But as always, I have to mention that I'm a weirdo with a weird brain that you shouldn't feel bad about completely ignoring if I'm just rambling off my head~

...



I think this is the first time I’ve personally been interested in a story revolving around Silver. Usually I’m turned away by the surface level representation of his character, but right away this story serves to let you know that it’s written by someone who knows and loves the character more than that. Being a sequel to Silver’s story works massively in that favour, of course. Our main character isn’t supposed to be a one-track mind anymore and the story literally acknowledges that with the way he laments on his past self, which I appreciate.

There are lots of things I like here, and Silver being made into a good main protagonist was the best one. The first chapter in particular highlights something I think is a very strong writing ability: the fact that most of that chapter is Silver and his Sneasel, accompanied by lots of time to think and reflect to deliver backstory and current circumstances to the reader. Physically speaking, it’s quite an exposition dump, but the way the information is weaved between trainer and Pokémon interaction as well as new story events to push the plot forward allowed me to get invested.

The pacing and depth hits all the right notes. Adapted from the core series and what little is delivered from the games to let me know that Silver is a currently developing character, and now we’re going to see where that’s going to go from here. He’s not there yet and still harbours some pretty strong adversity towards Hibiki and his parents, while still holding onto the base goal of becoming the strongest trainer. And then we get the mysterious tournament invitation, as well as the vague hints of certain legendary Pokémon requiring his help for some great climax later.

It’s exactly the kind of risky pacing that I know goes into the strong narrative of a fantasy series. I could argue that the persistent flashbacks or unnatural thoughts and dialogue could throw other, more impatient readers off, but for me, I was interested and impressed. The colourful prose saved a lot of it, as well as the emotional tones and the way nothing outstayed its welcome. From this first chapter, I know this is a story I will read.

I could see some people being thrown off by the casual use of Japanese names for species, characters, and locations, however. I appreciate the attempts to clarify what things are and the consistency with that, but it still creates an awkward disconnect. Even as someone relatively familiar with the original Japanese names, having to stop and recall certain things, like Sneasel’s original sprite being brown, took me out of the rhythm when reading. I can only imagine what it’s like for someone who might not know the Japanese names at all.

I do acknowledge this is near unavoidable, however. If you absolutely must use the Japanese names or lore like this, then I feel that the story would benefit from mentioning the localized name somewhere close by, through whatever means necessary. A strong example would be when you had the train announce Goldenrod in both languages. It’s snappy, identifies the thing, and you never have to mention the localized title again because it has been identified the same way a new character would be introduced.

Back to risky pacing, it almost hurts to say that although it was so carefully managed in the first chapter, the mark was missed pretty badly in the second chapter. I feel like the reason for this isn’t due to the prose, but the direction of the plot, which then has a knock-on effect that spoils said prose. Simply put, there is a lot of explaining in the second part.

Silver meeting Kotone is fine. Them deciding to go to the festival is also kind of fine. We know it’s to kill time until his cruise ship takes him to the main plot. The problem is then that the chapter almost goes into an encyclopaedia of expository filler to talk about legends and lore that feels unrelated to everything we saw and learnt in the first chapter. And since this content comes directly after a first chapter that already felt quite heavy on exposition, it was difficult to stay interested. Then, because everything was so carefully and wordily presented, it made the scenes really drag.

If the story is heavily dependent on creating and using terms like auric chasm, or elaborating on legends like Lugia and Ho-oh’s, then it will be at its strongest when those explanations and tales are kept to a minimum and sprinkled throughout the story whenever and wherever it would be relevant to the reader, rather than all in one place. This way, chapters have a more plot relevant direction that moves the story forward and keeps things interesting, rather than delivering a constant flow information that isn’t going to be used right away.

The legends and the terms themselves are fine, but it’s so tough to appreciate them right after the introductory chapter. I was interested in Silver’s character and the battle facility he was ultimately heading towards. I was intrigued by the potential encounter between Silver and Calyrex, or him looking into the vision he had. In fact, I was happy he met another character to talk to, and that his trials of character development led to him giving Kotone attention.

But instead of character interactions and activity that led towards the points of interest the first chapter brought up, the chapter almost solely focused on telling the story of Lugia, and then fully introduced the Ultra Recon Squad and gave them a full paragraph of lore and legend directly after finishing Lugia’s tale. And let’s not forget the hard focus on the festival and the reason for it being special this year in general. It’s exhausting.

It’s difficult to say without it seeming harsh, and I don’t want this to feel like a negative review because I can’t stress how little else there is criticise. The prose, tone, and emotions employed are strong, could only be nitpicked at, and they wouldn’t be nitpicked at by me – I enjoyed them all. I strongly enjoyed reading these two chapters, but I just can’t help but feel like this puzzle of a story needs to be picked apart and pieced back together with a new direction.

It’s almost like you could cut and paste parts of that chapter into more suitable scenes later on in the story without touching the words and it would instantly save the pace and direction. If the plot had moved along and I learnt about these legends and lore bit by bit at different times in exactly the same way they had been told here, I would be fine. In fact, perhaps if this chapter had happened much later on in the story, it would have been fine.

I don’t know exactly what your plans for the story are so it’s tough to give a suggestion other than to keep things focused on the present and moving along in terms of Silver’s story. We know about Silver’s backstory and the kind of character he used to be since that was well delivered in the first chapter and is part of the canon anyway, so continued focus on flashbacks or Silver’s past as a conversation topic are no more than bloat to what is already a couple of chapters floating around nine to ten thousand words.

I’m not saying it needs to have action suddenly sprinkled in, either – just, if it were my story, I would focus on where its going rather than clarifying its many more intricate details. It can be exciting having cool ideas, but be careful with how and when you present those ideas. You could have no action in this chapter at all, and just follow Silver and Kotone’s activities throughout the festival. Lugia’s story can come up when they actually need to get to Lugia.

As it stands, I worry for the length and focus of later chapters. I feel that chapter 2’s legend dumps and ‘filler feel’ combines awkwardly with the unfamiliar Japanese names to make a fanfic that will trip up readers a bit too hard to give future parts a chance. And that’s a massive shame because the seemingly perfect portrayal of characters, their tones and emotions, and the potential greater plot are ready to bloom and flourish. The writing quality is there.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
Sup Cress. I'm here for one of your Blacklight prizes--since you have three chapters posted so far, I figured I might as well read through them all!

I've obviously seen you talk about this story a lot on the Discord server, as well as a lot of art, and it's fun to see it come to life here! And it's a very lively world you've constructed so far. I think you do a really good job of integrating pokémon with the world of the story so they're an integral part of the fabric of the world rather than an afterthought. Little touches like the magnet train literally being powered by magnemite/magneton and wild pokémon being affected by the Kimono Girls' dance as well as the crowd of humans and domestic pokémon, add a lot of color to the world and make it feel like a lived-in place outside the lives of the main characters. And a place that's lived in by pokémon, specifically! There's a real sense of "pokémon magic" to the story; it strikes me as a bit similar to the anime, but it's an effect that a lot of fic writers don't quite manage to create. The attention to details like the specifics of the festival and the various stories about the legendary birds are likewise a nice way of showing off worldbuilding that's unique to you but which nevertheless follows logically from what we see in canon and feels right at home in the setting.

You also do a really nice job of getting the pokémon involved in the story! I particularly enjoyed Nyula's attempts to communicate with Silver despite their language barrier. We get a sense of how frustrating it is for Silver to try and decipher Nyula's meaning, but also how dedicated he is to understanding his pokémon despite the difficulty! The relationship between trainers and pokémon is obviously an important theme for the story so far, so it's great that you're putting so much spotlight on Silver's pokémon and how he relates to them through his actions rather than simply talking about how he wants to be a better trainer and so on. I wonder how his revelations during his visions of the past might have an impact on how he works on them in the future, too! The decision to have some straight pokémon-pokémon interaction scenes is great, too. I particularly enjoyed Maril's skepticism over Silver's character and difficulty understanding why Ordile was still hanging around with Silver despite everything he's done. It makes sense that some people have reasonable doubts about Silver's character, even despite the fact that they know he can be nice sometimes!

And, not really relevant to the story itself, but I love how you draw together all different facets of the franchise. Obviously the "base" here is HGSS, but we've already seen elements of the Orre games, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Pokémon Conquest, the Alola games, and even Magikarp Jump! As a fan, it's just a lot of fun to spot all the references and see the way you've combined disparate parts of the frachise to create your own world and story. I also like the way that you nod to game mechanics now and again and try to make them feel like a natural part of the world. I especially enjoyed the fact that Kotone's smartwatch is an HGSS-era Pokétch compared to Silver's old GS model, and the nods to Silver's design change with talk about the "black coat" he used to have.

The pacing of the story is something I'm less sure of at this point. The main thread with Silver has almost been slice-of-life, grounded in Silver's struggle to change and the prospect of a tournament on the horizon; lots of focus on his internal narration, flashbacks, and character interaction. On the other hand, we've had some portentious stuff with Lugia and Zygarde, mentions of Cipher and Green's mysterious "important trip"--all of these speak to a much grander and potentially sinister plot in store. At this point, it's not clear how these two different threads are going to come together, and I don't know that they harmonize well thus far in the story. It's natural to want to point the reader towards the fact that the story will be expanding in scope later so nobody feels like the rug's been pulled out from under them when actual legendaries get involved in things, but I don't know if spending so much time with characters halfway across the world who are carefully witholding a lot of what's going on from the reader is the way to do it. I found the conversation between Calyrex and Zygarde in particular a bit frustrating--we only get half of what's being said there, and it's obvious that the really juicy stuff is contained in the half we aren't privy to. I don't know that it added a great deal to have Zygarde chirping or whatever and Calyrex responding, "Ah, yes, I had been wondering about that" or whatever; it didn't take me long to figure out what was going on there, and it didn't feel like showing the full conversation added much extra to me.

In general the exposition so far has been a little heavy-handed at times, I think. We get a lot of lore about both Silver's life and Johto in general in these chapters, and I wonder if it might be better to spread that out a bit more as we move through the story. There are loads of flashbacks and flash-sideways scenes where we go off to check in on someone in a totally different part of the world; at times I think it disrupts the progression of the main narrative with Silver a bit. It's good stuff, but maybe not all at once? Similarly, some of the pokémon POV bits have felt a bit extraneous, and another case of jumping away from the main narrative, which is already a bit fragmented. A good example is the scene towards the end with Crobat and Venomoth. It's a cute little scene, but it's also our introduction to these two particular characters, and it felt like a scene that would have worked better with characters I already knew and would be happier to see simply being cute together. Meanwhile, even if it isn't included as part of a separate scene, at times it feels as though the exposition could be introduced into the narrative more fluidly. It's not uncommon for characters to explain things to each other that it seems like they should already know--Silver getting told about Lugia and Ho-Oh and the Brass Tower, for example, when I think he even says he's already familiar? Or Kotone's interest in the Pokéathlon. They've know each other for two years, and while they're not super close and I don't know how many times they've even crossed paths, that struck me as something that would already have come up, given how into it Kotone seems to be! There are ways you could introduce these things without it feeling so much like one character explaining to another things they already know. For example, if Silver already knows Kotone's into the Pokéathlon, she could say something sportsy, he could respond along the lines of, "Is that some Pokéathlon nonsense?", and she could go off about the Pokéathlon a bit, similar to the way she does here already.

Other than that, there were a few grammar/phrasing things I noticed--under the spoilers below if you're interested!

On the whole, I'm curious where Silver's character development is going to go from here. In some ways, it feels like he's farther along the path of redemption than I'd expect--he's already decided he had a problem with his behavior, resolved to change, and is actively taking strides to better himself; and people are definitely noticing! I wonder how that's going to progress over the course of the story. I can already see the paralleles with Odessa, who likewise has something in her past that she needs to move beyond. Excited to see how those two are going to come together, and what Silver's encounter with Kris is going to be like, ha. This is a really interesting, deep dive into Silver's character, and it takes place in a wonderfully vibrant world--good stuff! I hope you're having fun with this one, and that we get to see more soon!

The exhausted lungs burned, on the verge of collapsing…
Everything up to this point has been described as "his" X: "his mind," "his forehead," etc. So why "the" lungs rather than "his" lungs?

Then, a dull thump amidst creaky brown leaves.
Creaky? Maybe you meant "crinkly?"

The defeated Spear — a giant wasp with needles in its arms — buzzed wearily on the floor, its entire body marred by claw marks and covered in icy crystals.
I think you want "needles for arms" here; "needles in its arms" suggests it has something like an IV or that it's shooting heroin or similar.

Sighing, the straw hat boy pointed a blue sphere with a net-like pattern toward the Spear, who turned into a blob of bright energy and vanished inside its Net Ball.
You want "toward Spear" here rather than "towards the Spear."

- I found the use of epithets ("the straw hat boy," "the redhead," etc.) rather than names kind of distracting here. Any particular reason to withhold the names? It's not a big reveal that the boy we're following is Silver, I don't think, and the epithets are generally more distracting than simple names would be--and wordier, too!

Nyula had returned, beaming a mischievous grin and holding a black arrow-shaped feather in his clawed forepaws. The weasel raised his treasure with one paw and held it close to the long turquoise feather on his left ear, before lowering it to his forehead and brushing his gem with the dark feather.
This was a really cute little moment!

The redhead observed the fleeing owls who disappeared into the sky, but shifted his attention back to the ground when he heard a chilly whistle besides him.
You want "beside" here rather than "besides."

“…One Badge. All it’s left is the Green Earth Badge.” Silver smirked smugly.
All *that's left.

- You use quite a lot of ellipses, which I think gives the dialogue kind of a weird, airy feel, with everybody trailing off all the time. It's especially weird when the ellipses come at the beginning of dialogue rather than the end! It might be a good idea to cut down on the ellipses a little bit.

Heck… as much as it pained to admit it, he felt like he had dragged his rival down during that battle, instead.
*pained him to admit

Silver walked at a sedate pacing toward the city and glanced behind.
sedate *pace

The thick forest was just a mix of orange and viridian shades, and the buzzing of insects made way to the buzzing of urban life.
made way for or gave way to

He scowled at the distant peak and hailstorms and turned around, not wanting to look at the panorama any longer.
Hailstorms? I imagine there could be hailstorms around the mountain, but the way it's casually tossed out here disoriented me, like did I miss where we were told it was hailing on the mountain?

The redhead and his Pokémon noted a cafeteria collocated besides the ticket booth.
Here again you want "beside" rather than "besides." "Besides" is rarely used outside of dialogue, where it means "in addition to," more or less.

I’m on an important travel and I won’t be available until the next month.
important *trip

He froze when he recalled who was the original leader and shook his head.
*who the original leader was

After Silver busied himself by crafting the vague semblance of plan...
*a plan

The duo walked away from the Gym at a much slower pacing, the adrenaline and excitement having waned significantly.
Here again you want "pace" rather than "pacing."

When nighttime came and everyone was sleeping, he opened the door and gazed around, gripping his belt bag.
Silver's belt bag is mentioned a few times, but I'm not totally sure what that is. Coin purse kind of deal? Fanny pack?

- You do a fair amount of description of characters' pupils, which seems kind of odd to me! They aren't very expressive... they do dilate or constrict a bit in response to emotion, but not by much, and it's not the most obvious way that the characters would be emoting! Maybe look at different ways to describe emotion than by talking about eyes?

He had heard a few things about those cards: sought-off by Trainers and collectors alike for their rarity, since they are sent only to a few small elites of Trainers by the founders of battle parks (like the Battle Frontier) or facilities (like the Battle Maison).
You want "sought-after" rather than "sought-off" here. Also, the end of this sentence randomly shifts into present tense; you want "were sent" rather than "are sent."

If you are interested, show the Battle Pass we have annexed to this letter and your Trainer ID to the ticket booth at the closest port.
You don't want "annexed" here. Maybe "attached?"

Radio stations all over the world bombarded breaking news after breaking news, with Team Cipher and the stolen Pokémon in Unova on the first page most of the times.
You're missing a word after "bombarded"--what was being bombarded with breaking news? Maybe something like "bombarded listeners with breaking news after breaking news..." It's also "most of the time" rather than "most of the times."

Other five minutes… hopefully they passed fast enough.
A couple times you use this "other X minutes" construction. Usually the construction is instead "X more minutes," so here "Five more minutes..." instead of "Other five minutes..."

It took all his willpower to not drop his jaws.
The wording's a little off here. In the first place, I hope Silver only has one jaw! The way this is worded now, it sounds like he's afraid of, like, dropping his jaw on the ground or something, heh. "It took all his willpower not to let his jaw drop" or similar would sound more natural.

At least he had gotten on the train, and he was on the way of leaving Kanto behind him once more.
on the way *to leaving Kanto

He was going to take part to the championship… and win, of course!
take part *in

Tension and slow breathing from Calyrex, uncessant quivering from the drone.
*incessant rather than "uncessant"

But that changed when darkness invaded her heart and ominous chains locked her willpower and perception of reality, forcing her to do the most nefarious actions for those heartless humans while her soul screamed to the void.
I was a little unclear on the timeline around Odessa's purification. My impression is she's already been purified, but this bit here makes it sound like she's still shadowed.

A ripple, then other nine.
*another nine

The amalgamation of flatworms strode toward the pond, its red jewel glowing with power and small portions of the ground emerging with each step.
Emerging? Not sure what you're getting at there.

He glanced outside the window and spotted the tall silhouette of the Kogane Radio Tower.
*out the window

Not even with that advantage he could prevail over his rival.
*could he rather than "he could" here.

But worse of all, he didn’t help at all during that crisis and only got in Hibiki’s way.
*worst of all

Orange and brown leaves crackled under his feet, which turned to dust by Ordile’s heavy stomps.
Here Silver's feet are getting turned to dust! Something like, "Orange and brown leaves crackled under his feet and were turned to dust by Ordile's heavy stomps" would fix this.

He had some vague knowledge of that festival, but never took part to it. Or to any other celebration, really.
Both instances of "to" here want to be "in" instead.

And then, he zeroed on a girl with brown twin ponytails standing by the local pond, waving at him and Ordile.
A couple times you use this "zeroed on" construction--it's "zeroed in on."

No seasonal festival was complete without a traditional parade, and Kotone lead the group toward the Main Street so witness the merry event.
*led rather than lead, and *to rather than so.

“Hmph… Alright. Let’s see what’s so special about this oh-so-unique event,” he rebutted, crossing his arms and staring at the building ahead of them.
Hmm, that's not really a rebuttal. He's more acquiescing rather than arguing here.

The young man had a tuft of magenta hair dangling from his forehead and light blue pupils, while the teenage girl had a long orange braid and light blue pupils with a veil of ginger.
Pupils aren't colored in the real world... irises are the colored part of the eye. Not sure whether you're intentionally talking pupils to go for an anime sort of effect here (idk what these characters look like in canon), but it would look pretty freaky.

Nyula laid unconscious on the floor, his fur and blue feathers disheveled and electric sparks zipping all over his body.
*lay unconscious

The speed and power of the Electric-type fox had been no match for his opponent.
This sentence makes it sound like Jolteon lost! I would expect something more like, "The speed and power of the Electric-type fox had overwhelmed his opponent."

Once the memories faded, the first thing he noticed was Kotone standing in front of him and waving a hand on his face, while staring at him in puzzlement.
hand *in his face

“Huh. Interesting,” replied the redhead, cocking an eyebrow.
What's he replying to here?

After not long, it descended toward the roof and landed on top of the shrine.
"After not long" reads odd. Usually you would reference some specific span of time or event when using after: "after a few moments," "after what felt like an eternity," "after ten minutes," etc.

Its gaze softened significantly and its throat made a guttural cry, before spreading out its wings and staring at the sky.
Here "its throat" is spreading its wings and staring at the sky! Changing this to "before it spread out its wings and stared at the sky" makes it read as I assume you intend.

Perhaps his Pokémon didn’t share the same sentiments of animosity in those cases and didn’t resonate with the redhead’s fury and prepotency.
Prepotency?

“Hmph! There’s a time and place for evolution,” commented Silver, crossing his arms and looking impassively at the scene, “and that wasn’t it.”
"Impassively" seems like an odd descriptor here, since he clearly has a reaction to/opinion on what happened. Doesn't strike me as impassive!

Just the time for her photos to be online that she received plenty of virtual Lovecus — or, as her Galarish-speaking friends would say, Luvdisc — in response, which made her grin in delight.
Not quite sure what's going on at the beginning of this sentence. Is the idea that Kotone's almost immediately getting likes? Then something like, "No sooner had her photos gone online than she received..." would work. But I'm not clear on what you want to say here.

Things would have changed soon! He knew it! Next time, he would have reached the top of the top!
You want "would reach" rather than "would have reached." "Would have reached" would mean he'd already done it in the past!

That goody was far less exciting, and Silver’s smile faltered.
Goody?

“So, all I need to do it’s dropping this feather into that bonfire…”
*is drop

There was no harm in attempting that, wasn’t there?
*was there

- I think it's kind of her signature thing, but Kotone nonetheless does a lot of "beaming" at things.

Only a few more minutes, and then nothing would have stopped Silver from traveling to Asagi, whether or not he was in company.
Here you want "stop" rather than "stopped."

The Kimono Girls were standing side by side, their clothes and poises as graceful as always.
*poses rather than "poises"

The redhead froze on his steps, then glowered at the girl.
"The redhead froze" works better without the "on his steps" part. (Maybe you meant "in his tracks" rather than "on his steps?")

“M-Maril…” stammered Kotone in dumbfound, before withdrawing her unconscious Pokémon into her Poké Ball.
You want "dumbfounded" rather than "in dumbfound."

Meanwhile, Silver wiped the sweat with a sleeve, and Alligates lied down on the floor, completely drained after the effort.
"the sweat" and "lay"

Only once he was out of the tower he stopped running and took several calming breaths, trying to get a grip of his racing emotions.
Couple of things going on here. First, since you start out with "only once," you'd use "did he stop running" instead of "stopped running" and "take several calming breaths" rather than "took several calming breaths." You'd say get a grip *on his racing emotions rather than "of" them.
various

“How you… always treated me so kindly despite our divergences, and after…”
I think "divergences" might be technically okay to use here, but "differences" reads far more natural.

The purple moth gazed curiously at the bat zipping from a direction to another, following his movements with a fraction of her eyes.
A fraction of her eyes? Since she has compound eyes, I'm guessing you mean she was looking at him with only parts of those somehow? It's unclear to me.

...the Flash of the Denryu living in the Radiance Lighthouse, leading safely night ships with his beams of light.
"Leading safely night ships" is a little jumbled. I'm guessing you meant something along the lines of, "leading ships safely through the night."

Having struck an agreement, Silver led Kotone through a familiar path to him while she glanced around: the hotel was splint in half by a long central corridor,
hotel was *split
 
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bluesidra

Mood
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. hoppip-bluesidra-reup
  2. hoppip-bluesidra-pink
  3. hoppip-bluesidra3
Hello! I’ve just read through chapter 1 and wanted to share my thoughts with you.

This chapter introduces us to Silver, his team and his backstory as well as presenting the hook.

So, in this chapter, Silver trains a bit in Viridian Forest, preparing himself to challenge Blue. But when he finds Blue has left his Gym for a while, he wanders off to his old house, where he thinks about his past a bit. He receives a mysterious invitation and decides to follow it, only to find himself admits a strange event at the train station. Then we have a shift in focus to three? Pokemon, who are very mysterious.

I absolutely love how this is probably the truest depiction of game-Silver I’ve ever come across. Also, you’ve somehow managed to have him on his way to becoming a “better” person and already knowing about the wrongs of his ways, while still being conflicted by it. I love that so much.

As to his backstory: It is great. Because I’m so sold on the manga version of Silver, that I can hardly see anything else than the Masked Man in his past. But after that flashback, you’ve solidified this Silver in my mind. The flashback was so nice. I never thought I’d see Silver actually having a wholesome family time.
Nyula is a total cutie. I’ve always pictured him as being just as broody as Silver, but that playful little weasel is incredibly refreshing.

Giovanni was only mentioned briefly. The only issue I have with him is that I don’t believe he was able to set up his crime ring in such a short amount of time. Also, I don’t get his intentions behind it. But seeing how Gio will be a big part in this fic, I’m sure that will come into play later.

Green leaving an actual nice note on his gym? Did he undergo some character development while nobody was looking? No “smell ya later”? ;)

Lance is best boy and I can’t stress enough what a blessing he is for both regions. Good for Silver that Lance took him in.

And, on a more personal note: Don’t harp on Archer. He is a good noodle. (As good of a noodle as psychopaths can get, but hey, I have a soft spot for him)
A personal highlight was what happened at the train station. It was quick and took me completely by surprise. It was very strange and immediately got me back interested again.

Oh, also your use (or rather avoidance) of swear words is adorable. I tend to just not use them (the two exceptions being “Shoot” and “Darn”), but hearing Silver say “Heck” is one of the most adorable things ever.

Oh, yeah, the use of the Japanese names is actually less confusing than I initially thought. They work especially nice in the city names. I’m sure they are stupid as heck too if you speak Japanese, but to a non-Japanese speaker, those sound like actual city names right there.
Ok, so this is a very long chapter. And I see that your other chapters are even longer. It’s about three times as long as my average chapters and I really struggled to get through. I had to stop two times while reading because some real-life things, even though I’ve sat down with the intent to read your story. But that is just a personal thing. There is nothing wrong with longer chapters. I just like to be able to finish a chapter in one sitting and then mentally check it off the list, even if I have to read more chapters now.

I’ve had a few issues with the pacing, mainly because it was such a long chapter. There are a lot of things happening here. And all of them are relevant. I wouldn't know either what to cut. But when Silver was back at the train station, I was like “whoa, we’ve been to so many stops already and now another one?” This is probably also something that I’m just used to differently form my own work, where one chapter usually takes place in one location, with about three scene shifts in total.

I especially liked the flashback and the train station. But even after the high of the flashback, I was kinda hanging in the air until the train station had me fully gripped again.

I’m sorry. I wish I could help you better. Instead I’m probably making you incredibly nervous. Please don’t be. It’s probably because I’m used to shorter bits. Also, your fic has so many strong parts (especially the character) that it easily balances out.

Style was good. I had no issue following along, the sentences were easy and understandable. I noticed that you tend to repeat names (“Silver”, “Nyula”) a bit in close proximity. This was especially noticeable in the first part, when Silver and Nyula trudge back from Viridian forest.

I did not notice any problems with Spelling and Grammar :)

So, ok, now I’ve finished the first chapter. The good thing about long chapters is that the fic as a whole is way more manageable than if you broke your three chapters down into nine. Then I’d probably panic at the sight of so many chapters. Now I’m looking forward to ma man Morty. Bring on the ghosts, little punk!

Your work is suuuper good. Silver is a very strong character. Please don't be discouraged!

Also, if you're interested, these are my unfiltered notes from my first read:
Silver feels positively like silver
Nyula is so cute. I‘ve always figured him as being just as grumpy as silver
It‘s super nice to see that Silver has moved on but still has his attitude
I‘ve never knew that Silver is from viridian
Holy shit, that nod to the old man :D
Heck! I love that
Green is actually nice on the note? I see character development
Wait!!! Giovanni had his gym closed at all times
Oh god! Viridian! Makes a lot of sense. Silver and Gio having family time? That is really cute
Galarish – Galarian
Oh gosh, those whips. This sounds so wrong…
Giovanni‘s turn to the dark side!
Noooo! Don‘t harp on ma boi Archer!
Holy heck, very good backstory for silver
Mystery Gift… or a virus
Japanese city names sound way better than the english. They actually sound like cities
Master Mysterial sounds sus af
Silver is really likeable, and very flawed still
Yes! Lance, ma boi at it again doing good stuff
Aaaa! Another nod with the guards! I love it!
Whwhwhwhwhat is happening at the sation???
Hare?
Zygrade and Clayrex together? I like
 
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