Pokémon Ultra: Sparkling silver

Ah, the wonderful world of Pokémon… But hey, you already know about all that, right?

Hello there! You can call me Ara! And today is about to be one of the best days of my life… You wanna know why? Well, last week was my twelfth birthday, and I was promised that I’d finally receive a starter Pokémon once I turned twelve! I live in New Bark Town in the Johto region, and there’s also a Professor named Professor Elm who lives here too… And today is finally the day Professor Elm is gonna give me my starter Pokémon! Then I can go out on my own journey! Pretty much my whole life, I’ve always wanted nothing more than to travel the Johto region and learn everything there is to know about Pokémon! I’ve heard about the challenge of defeating all the gym leaders on the region as well, and It’d be fun to do that as well… But now I’ll think about all that later! I gotta head over to the lab right now!

I put my hat on, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I ran downstairs, my mom running out of the kitchen and up to me in a frenzy.

“Oh! Ara, honey… Are you heading over to the lab now?” My mom asked.

“Yup! Sure am…” I nodded in response, my mom running over to a nearby shelf, grabbing a bunch of items and running back over to me. “Ok, before you head over there, make sure you bring all of this with… First, here’s your Pokegear…”

“Ooh, nice…”

Pokegears are pretty much used as phones and other stuff in the Johto region, so I was pretty excited to use one of these now too! I quickly strapped the Pokegear around my wrist, my mom handing over more stuff to me.

“Ok, now here’s your trainer card… And some money… Oh, and a first aid kit, and some extra clothes and underwear…”

“Whoa, mom! I’m just going over to the lab…” I say, sturggling to hold onto the pile of stuff, as I put it all inside of my backpack. 

“I know. I’m sorry honey, you know how much I worry about you…” My mom sighs, giving me a quick hug as I hugged her back.

“It’s alright, mom… I promise nothing bad will happen to me today, so don’t you worry! I’ll see you later!”

I quickly ran out the door…

“Marill! Marill!” As I saw a familiar Marill run up to me, happily jumping up and down.

“Marill! Wait up!” I could hear the voice of my friend Lyra, who runs up to me and Marill. “Oh, hey Ara! Ooh, are you getting your starter Pokémon right now?” She asked.

“Yup! Sure am!” I nodded in response.

“Yay, that’s awesome! I can’t wait to see which Pokémon you choose, Ara…”

“Marill! Marill!” Marill excitedly ran away, Lyra chasing after it.

“Marill, wait up! Ara, come find me once you get your Pokémon!” Lyra called to me, before running off after Marill. I ran down the paths of the town, making my way to the lab. Once I arrived there though, I noticed something a bit weird…

I saw a young red haired boy, who looked like he was around the same age as me… He was ducking around the side of the lab, looking into one of the windows. I slowly walked closer to him…

“Hmm… So this is the famous Elm Pokémon lab…” The boy spoke to himself, looking around as he quickly noticed me. “Hey! What are you staring at?“ The boy snapped at me. “I’m sorry, I just-“

The boy quickly cut me off as he shoved me, pushing me to the ground. 

“Oww, hey… What was that… For…” When I sat back up, the boy was then gone. Hmm, that was weird… Why did he push me like that? I didn’t say anything rude to him. Or at least, I hope not…

Eh, I won’t make a big deal out of it. I walked into the lab, quickly finding Professor Elm, who was next to a big machine that held three Poke balls in it.

“Hey, Ara! I’m glad you’re here, I’ve been waiting for you…” Professor Elm happily greeted me, walking up and grabbing the Poke balls.

“Hey, Professor Elm! I’m so excited to finally get my Pokémon!” I say.

“I’m glad you are! I’ve got the three Pokémon you can choose from right here…” Professor Elm says, opening up all the Poke balls, revealing the three Pokémon…

“Ooh…” I kneeled down, looking at all three of the Pokémon. Let’s see if I can remember their names correctly… So there’s Chikorita, Cyndaquil… And Totodile? Yeah, I think that’s right…

“I understand if you need time to decide which one you’d like to keep…” Professor Elm says. “I know a lot of people have a hard time deciding…”

“It’s an easy decision, actually. I know which one I want!” I say…. As I look over at Cyndaquil. “So, Cyndaquil… You wanna be my Pokémon, and go on a journey together?”

“Cynda…? Quil! Quil!” Cyndaquil happily squealed and jumped up and down, as I grabbed Cyndaquil, happily hugging it.

“Oh, you’re choosing Cyndaquil? That’s the same starter your brother chose, right?” Professor Elm says.

“Yup! Ever since he chose a Cyndaquil all those years ago, I always wanted to choose a Cyndaquil as well…” I say, smiling down at my new Pokémon. “…I wanna follow in his footsteps and train this little one into the strongest Pokémon it can be…”

“Yeah, I remember him choosing his Cyndaquil all those years ago…” Professor Elm says, taking a deep, almost nervous sounding breath. “But um… About that Cyndaquil… Are you… Sure you want that one in particular?”

“Yeah, of course I do! Why, this Cyndaquil isn’t mean or anything… Is it?” I asked.

“Oh no, on the contrary! That Cyndaquil is a sweetheart!” Professor Elm says, nervously twiddling his fingers. “It’s just that… That Cyndaquil there has some… Power issues of some sort? You see, Cyndaquils have the blaze ability, but this Cyndaquil’s blaze ability is particularly more powerful than the average blaze… Whenever his blaze ability activates, Cyndaquil goes out of control, and struggles to contain his power… And I’m just not sure if a new trainer like you is ready for that kind of responsibility or not…”

“…Ooooh, ok…” I paused, looking down at Cyndaquil, smiling down at the little Pokémon. “…But you know what? I don’t mind, actually. Being a trainer is already gonna come with a lot of challenges to begin with! I think Cyndaquil is worth it.”

“Well, alright then… Hey, can I ask you something?” Professor Elm says. “You see, lately I’ve been doing research on a certain topic… I’ve heard about some trainers, who walk around with their Pokémon outside of their Poke balls… It’s said to be good for both trainers and Pokémon, and it might even be able to increase both growth and friendship as well. I also remember hearing about how the last champion of the Kanto region always had his Pikachu walking around outside his Poke ball with him, and those two are said to be closer than they possibly can be! But um, I don’t wanna ramble too much… Anyways, to help aid in my research… You think you could walk around with Cyndaquil outside of his Poke ball? I’d like to see how true this research is.”

“Ooh, yeah… Sure, I’d love to!” I nodded, setting Cyndaquil back on the ground, Professor Elm putting Chikorita and Totodile back in their balls. 

“Great! Thanks so much, Ara. Here… Now that you have a Pokegear, too… Here’s my number.” Professor Elm gave me his numbers, as I gave him mine.

“Ooh, thanks Professor Elm! I’ll see you later! Come on Cyndaquil, let’s go!”

“Cynda! Quil!” Cyndaquil happily followed me out the door outside, as we were once again greeted by Lyra and her Marill, Marill excitedly running up to us.

“Marill, you really gotta slow down… Whoa, is that your new Pokémon?” Lyra says, kneeling down and smiling at Cyndaquil. “Ooh, you picked Cyndaquil? Nice! Looks like you’re taking after your brother, then… Aww, he’s so cute…”

“Cynda! Quil!”

“Marill! Marill!” Cyndaquil and Marill ran around in circles for a bit, Marill suddenly running off. 

“Hey, come back Marill! I’d love to play with you and Cyndaquil Ara, but I gotta make sure Marill doesn’t get lost…” Lyra says, waving goodbye as she runs off. “See you two later!”

“Later Lyra! Hey Cyndaquil, let’s play tag! See if you can catch me!” I gently patted Cyndaquil on the head, running off into the next route as Cyndaquil chased after me.

“Cynda cynda! Quiiiiil!” Cyndaquil squealed happily as we ran around in the grass together. We kept running throughout the route, until we ended up arriving at the next city over… Which was Cherrygrove City. Ooh, I’ve been here a few times, but I’ve never been here alone before… Wow, it’s so awesome having my own Pokémon! Now I can protect myself and go anywhere without worrying about wild Pokémon anymore…

“Cynda!” Cyndaquil tapped me on the leg, happily jumping up and down.

“Hey, good job! You got me! Here…” I picked up Cyndaquil, walking over to this nearby beach, as I sat down on the sand. “You’re an awesome Pokémon, Cyndaquil. I’m glad you’re my friend now…”

“Cyyynnn…” Cyndaquil purred happily, resting his head against my chest, as I gently patted him on the head. “Aww… You really are so cute.”

Sometime later…

After resting on the beach for a bit, me and Cyndaquil continued running around and playing over on the next route. After playing some more, I ended up resting at this man’s house for a bit. He was talking about these things called… Apricorns for a while? Yeah, I think that’s what it was… Afterwards, we continued running around the route, until we found another house, and when I went inside…

“Hey, wait a minute…” There was this one man, who quickly got up and walked up to me. “…By any chance is your name Ara?”

“Yeah, actually… Wait, how do you know my name?” I asked.

“I was talking to Professor Elm earlier on email… He told me about a boy that would have a Cyndaquil with him…” The man explains. “You can call me Mr. Pokémon. I wanted Professor Elm to examine this Pokémon egg for me. Wait here a sec…” The man walked away, grabbing an egg from a nearby shelf, as he handed it to me. “You think you could deliver this to Professor Elm for me?” He asked.

“Ooh… Yeah, of course!”

“Hmm…” There was another man working at a computer nearby, getting up out of his desk as he walked up to me. “So, you’re Ara… I’m actually a friend of Professor Elm’s, he was telling me about you earlier… I’m Professor Oak! I’m a Pokémon researcher as well, and I’m visiting here from the Kanto region…” He says, smiling as he looked down at Cyndaquil. “Goodness, what a rare Pokémon… You must be helping with Professor Elm’s research, right?”

“Yup! I sure am…” I nodded yes.

“Good! I can understand why Elm would entrust you with this Pokémon… It looks pretty happy. You must be taking care of this little one quite well! Hey, would you like to help me out with something as well?” Professor Oak pulled out a small red device from his pocket. “This right here is the latest model of the Pokédex… It automatically records data on any Pokémon seen or captured… Here, I’d like you to have it!”

“Whoa… Seriously?! I’d love to have it, thank you so much!” I say, grabbing the Pokédex from him.

“I’m glad! Now, if you two will excuse me, I have to get to Goldenrod now for my usual talk show… Here Ara, let’s exchange numbers!”

Me and Professor Oak exchanged numbers, as I waved goodbye to Oak as he left. “See you later! Here, I’ll go deliver this egg now…” I say, grabbing the egg from Mr. Pokémon as I left the house as well…

Ring! Ring!! Then, I quickly my Pokegear ringing, seeing that Professor Elm was calling.

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Professor Elm: “H-hello? Ara?”

Ara: “Hey! What’s up, Professor Elm?”

Professor Elm: “Ara, it’s a disaster… T-this is so terrible…”

I could hear that Professor Elm’s voice was in a panic on the other side.

Ara: “Professor Elm, what’s wrong? Did something bad happen?”

Professor Elm: “Y-yes, I don’t have time to explain… Just please get back here now!”

Ara: “Ah geez, alright… I’m coming right over!“

Click!

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“Oh no, this isn’t good… Come on Cyndaquil, we gotta hurry back to the lab!”

I quickly ran back over to Cherrygrove City, about to run over to the next route… But I stopped when I suddenly ran into a familiar face… It was the red haired boy from earlier. The boy stopped right in front of me, crossing his arms as he looked down at Cyndaquil, raising an eyebrow. “Hm… You got that Pokémon from the lab, didn’t you? What a waste.” The boy scoffed. “That Pokémon is too good for a wimp like you.”

“Wh-what? I don’t understand how, I just…”

“What, are you stupid or something?” The boy says, cutting me off. “You really don’t get it… But, whatever. I have a good Pokémon too…” The boy says, holding up a Poke ball. “I’ll show you what I mean.”

“Um… Oh… Ok.”

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BATTLE… BEGIN!!

Oh no, is this my first battle?! Aw geez, I have no idea what I’m doing… But if this boy wants to battle… I can’t really say no.

Boy: “Go, Totodile.”

Ara: “Alright, let’s do this Cyndaquil! Um, let’s see… Use Tackle!”

Boy: “Use Scratch.”

Cyndaquil attacked Totodile, Totodile attacking back. Wait a minute… Why did this Totodile look familiar to me? Hmm…

Boy: “Again. Scratch.”

Ara: “Um… Dodge it, Cyndaquil!”

Cyndaquil tried dodging the attack, but Totodile still landed it’s attack, doing a bunch more damage.

Ara: “Cyndaquil, you can do this! Use Tackle again!”

Boy: “Dodge it. Then use Scratch.”

Totodile swiftly dodged the attack, landing its attack and doing more damage. Oh on, poor Cyndaquil… I-I have no idea what I’m doing here, what if Cyndaquil gets seriously hurt because of me?! Oh no… Wait a minute…

I could hear Cyndaquil whimpering quietly, as flames started spewing from its back… Then, Cyndaquil let out a loud scream, as the flames grew bigger and starting spewing everywhere, touching and hurting Totodile a bit as well.

Ara: “Oh no… Cyndaquil, what’s wrong with you?!”

Wait… Is this what Professor Elm was talking about earlier? This has to do with Cyndaquil’s blaze ability… Oh no…

Ara: “Cyndaquil, d-don’t worry! Try and stay calm!”

Cyndaquil kept squealing loudly, flames bursting forth from his body even more. Cyndaquil then used Tackle on Totodile, attacking Totodile repeatedly. The flames then scorched Totodile even more… As it fainted.

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“Wh-what the?!” The boy quickly returned Totodile back to his ball, backing away from Cyndaquil’s wild flames. “Are you trying to kill me or something?! Keep that Cyndaquil of yours under control!” The boy snaps, as he quickly runs away.

“No, wait, I wasn’t…”

“QUIIIIIIILLLL!!” Cyndaquil kept squealing, flaming spewing out and charring the grass around us, nearly hitting me.

“Whoa! Cyndaquil, please calm down! The fight is over… Please, I…” I slowly got closer to Cyndaquil, reaching my arms forward… “I won’t want you to be afraid anymore Cyndaquil, I… OW!!” I tried grabbing Cyndaquil, but his flames suddenly burst forth, burning my hands a bit. 

“…Cynda?” Cyndaquil suddenly stopped squealing and screaming, looking curiously at me… The flames slowly then dissipated and fizzled out, Cyndaquil jumping onto my lap with a worried expression. “Cynda…Quiilll…” Cyndaquil nervously whimpered, gently touching one of my hands with his paws, where I could see the burn marks.

“Hey, I’m fine Cyndaquil, don’t worry…” I smiled down at Cyndaquil, patting him on the head. “It’s not as bad as it looks, don’t worry… Hey, it’s a good thing my mom gave me this first-aid kit today…”

I opened up my backpack, grabbing some ointment and bandages, patching up my hands. Man, I wasn’t expecting to actually use this thing today…

After patching up my hands, I looked around at the grass around us, bits of it now being charred. Man… I mean, it could be worse, at least… Hey… What’s that?

I saw something in the grass, picking it up. It was a trainer card… That belonged to the boy. And it had his name on it…

“Hey! Give that back!” The card was suddenly yanked from my grasp, the boy right behind me, as his eyes went wide. “Oh no… You saw my name… Didn’t you…?”

I didn’t respond, looking up at the boy, as he ran away once more.

“Ok…” I stood back up. “…Let’s go back to the lab now.”

I made my way back over to New Bark town, going into the lab… Where I saw Professor Elm, who was with a police officer, as I ran up to the two.

“Hey! Who are you?” The officer says, looking at me with a stern glance. “We’re investigating the case of the missing Pokémon here…”

“Wait, missing Pokémon?!”

“Hmm…” The officer raised an eyebrow at me. “Rule number one! Whoever did it will come back to the site… So you… Must be the one who did it?!”

“Wh-what?! N-no, I’d never do something like that!!”

“WAIT!!” I could suddenly hear the front door burst open, Lyra running up to us. “Hold on a second! Ara has nothing to do with this! I saw it… There was a red haired boy looking into the building earlier today!”

“Whoa, you saw him too, Lyra? I just ran into and battled that same boy earlier! And he had Totodile with him! I saw his name on his trainer card too…” I state. Man, no wonder Totodile looked familiar to me… 

“Really? He must be the one who did this, then…” The officer says. “So, what was his name?”

“It was…” I remembered the name on the card. “…His name was Silver.”

“Silver… Alright then… Well, thanks for helping out with my investigation!” The officer says. “Now, my next assignment is to look for this red haired individual…” And with that, the officer left.

“Whew, that was a close one…” I sighed with relief. “Thanks so much for the help, Lyra.”

“Of course! I’m glad they understand that you’re innocent… I’ll see you later, Ara!” Lyra waved goodbye, leaving the lab.

“Ara, what happened to your hands?” Professor Elm asked, pointing down at my bandages. “O-oh, these? I, um…”

“Don’t tell me… Did Cyndaquil’s blaze ability go out of control?” Professor Elm asked. I gave him a slow nod yes, Professor Elm sighing with a worried expression. “Ara… Maybe I should take Cyndaquil back… I can’t have you getting hurt like this…”

“No! Please don’t!” I pleaded. “Look, I promise I won’t get hurt again… I’ve already bonded with Cyndaquil, and I don’t want to trade him away for anyone else! We’re both gonna learn to control his powers together…”

“Um… Alright then…” Professor Elm sighed. “But if this happens again, you have to contact me about it, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I will… Oh, I just remembered something…” I placed my backpack on the ground, pulling out the egg and handing it to Professor Elm. “I was at Mr. Pokémon’s house earlier, and he wanted me to give this egg to you.”

“Oh, right! I was just emailing him about the egg earlier…” Professor Elm says, taking the egg. “Thank you very much, Ara.”

“Oh course! I also saw your friend Professor Oak there too, and he gave me this Pokédex!” I say, holding up the small red device.

“Whoa, seriously?! That’s incredible!” Professor Elm says, looking pretty surprised. “Professor Oak is pretty superb at seeing the potential of trainers… Does that mean you’re leaving on your journey right now? Make sure to tell your mom first…”

“Yup! And I will, thanks Professor Elm!” I say, running out of the lab, and over to my house. Before I went into my house though, I made sure to hide my hands in my hoodie pockets… I didn’t want my mom to worry about them too much. 

“Hey, mom! I’m gonna leave to go on my journey now!” I say, mom running up to me, looking down at Cyndaquil.

“Ok, honey… A-are you sure you have everything you need?” My mom asks, as I nod yes. “Alright… If I’m being honest, I’m still a bit nervous about all this, but I’m still gonna support your decision to go on your own journey…” My mom paused, taking a deep breath. “…There’s just one thing I’d like to ask you for before you go… I know it’s a bit of a long shot, but if you ever find your brother Ethan out there… Can you please bring him back home?”

I guess I haven’t told you all much about my brother, Ethan. Well, the thing is, he went off on his own journey as well many years ago… He ended up battling the top elite four member Lance, and almost became champion, but he ended up losing the battle pretty badly. That battle was recorded for the public years ago, and since that battle, I haven’t seen him since. I really do miss him… Honestly, I’ll be so glad if I can reunite with him during my journey. My mom’s never been a fan of Pokémon, to be honest, and I think it’s probably because of what happened to Ethan…

“Yeah, mom… I’ll try my best.” I say, giving my mom a hug.

“I know you will, honey. I love you.”

“…I love you too, mom.”

Man, today really was a crazy day… But it was also so cool! And now I can finally start my Pokémon journey… One things for sure…

…This is gonna be so much fun!!”